Movies, etc.

It's Elementary

nobody@vox.com(WannabeTesla) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 18:11:54 -0800

I am splitting this entry into two parts. The first part will be spoiler free. The second part beneath the horizontal line and with the alert, will contain spoilers, so if you have not seen the movie and do not want it ruined, do not read below the line.

Obviously, the movie I am talking about is Sherlock Holmes. First off, let me say I enjoyed the film. It is not the most spectacularly written or directed movie to ever grace the screen, but it is a solid and thoroughly enjoyable two hours of entertainment.

One of the best compliments I can pay Sherlock Holmes is its spot-on casting. While creative liberties are certainly taken with the characters, I cannot help but feel the film's creators hit the proverbial nail on the head with how they wanted these slightly reimagined characters portrayed.

Watson (Law), Holmes (Downey), and Adler (McAdams)

Robert Downey Jr. brings his A game, as always, and wears Holmes' charm, bravado, sophistication, and arrogance comfortably. Jude Law, clearly much younger than the original Watson, turns in a very good performance opposite a powerhouse such as Downey, and though I wondered whether or not the two would work well together, my apprehensions were quickly quelled. Downey and Law have great chemistry on screen, and play off each other effectively. Honestly, I do not think I have ever enjoy Law in a role as much as this one. Rachel McAdams turns in a charming performance as well. Essentially, she is playing Catwoman (this is not a spoiler, as her character is established as soon as she shows up). She does not have quite as much to do as Downey or Law, but she is a strong character nonetheless. Blackwood, as portrayed by Mark Strong, is the weakest of the main cast in my opinion, but I do not think this is necessarily Strong's fault. Blackwood is bit shallow in his portrayal, and as a villain, he seemed a tad stock to me. I preferred Strong in Stardust, but there he was given more to do. Still, he serves his purpose efficiently, and as an introductory villain to what is sure to be an ongoing franchise, he is more than adequate. Worth mentioning also is Eddie Marsan as Inspector Lastrade, whose primary purpose seems to be to banter with Holmes. He is a sort of comic relief character, but a respectable relief character as opposed to an outlandish farces to which moviegoers are accustomed.

Holmes In A Pit Fight

For anyone feeling apprehensive about the trailers which portray this film as an action-packed thrill ride, allow me to put your minds at ease. First off, do not forget that Holmes as he is originally portrayed by Arthur Doyle, was a very capable and dangerous hand-to-hand combatant. In fact, he was even said to have participated in bare-knuckle prize fights, so placing the character in combat situations is no terrible divergence from his original portrayal. Furthermore, Holmes' approach to combat in the film is very logical and deliberate, as he carefully and craftily plans every second of his encounters. What results are a few creative and entertaining fight sequences.

Regardless, fear not that Sherlock Holmes is merely a violent chain of action scenes. While I imagine that some will scoff at the amount of action in this film, Holmes still does his fair share of deduction and manipulation, and parts of the movie are even quite dialogue heavy. The only weakness here is that most of Holmes' deduction is internalized and kept secret from the audience until the grand reveal, so we are not so much able to follow along with Holmes' logic and are simply given an explanation, satisfactory though it may be.

To say the least, I am excited about this franchise and am already looking forward to the next installment. I think the series has potential to excel beyond this first movie, and handled properly, the second film could be a five star project. Perhaps director Guy Ritchie will even garner some respect from his scoffers once the next movie is released.

My score: an atypical 3.8 stars, because it is not quite solid enough for 4 stars, but it gets very close. Before moving on to spoilers, I think it only appropriate to show you the following trailer.

Spoiler Alert!

I truly do not have much to add with regards to spoilers except to say that, as a skeptic, I truly appreciated Holmes as a skeptical hero as well as the direction Guy Ritchie took the narrative. Long story short, I was very pleased to learn the villain Blackwood was a fraud, as all his evident supernatural powers were produced with clever trickery and technology. Hollywood rarely portrays the skeptic in a positive light (arrogant though Holmes is), and he is even more rarely ever correct in his rejection of supernatural explanations. Consider The X-Files. Agent Scully was one of the more prominent and popular skeptics on television, and yet The X-Files almost always favored Mulder and his willingness to believe the most outlandish explanations for pretty much anything. The story is different in Sherlock Holmes, though, as his skepticism is entirely justified when the movie concludes.

I recommend reading Steven Novella's review at Skepticblog for a more thorough treatment of Holmes and skepticism.

"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

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Movie Theme Songs

nobody@vox.com(Strive2Be) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 13:07:21 -0800

2006

Movie: Tristan & Isolde

Song: Here Without You, Baby

Band: 3 Doors Down

Story: Before Romeo and Juliet, there was Tristan and Isolde. An affair between the second in line to Britain's throne and the princess of the feuding Irish spells doom for the young lovers.

Three Doors Down: Here Without You, Baby

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Well-Produced Independent Music Now Available For Licensing At Music For Film And Television Website

nobody@vox.com(MusicDish) — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 10:06:21 -0800

Url: http://www.musicforfilmandtelevision.com/
Sound: http://www.djquestionmark.com/mp3s/soulspaceship_djquestionmark.mp3

Ventura, CA -- Music for Film and Television announces plethora of new music recently added to growing library of songs available for film and television music licensing. Well-produced independent music is ready for placement in film and television productions. Variety of genres include orchestral, jazz, piano, blues, indie rock, alt rock, pop, dance, smooth jazz, country, ambient, new age, electronic beats, hip hop instrumentals, industrial, singer songwriter, alt country, traditional, big band, rock instrumentals, punk, acoustic, and more.

New additions to the Music for Film and Television website include...

- Allan Soberman: Traditional Prayer Melodies in Beachboy/Queen style Choral
- Alex Bovicelli (AXBV): Dance, Trip hop, Downtempo, Progressive Rock
- Central Services: Upbeat Acoustic Indie Pop, Retro Rock, Singer Songwriter
- Collin Robinson: Ambient, Rock, Alt. Rock Inst
- Crying 4 Kafka: Punk Rock Heavy Alt Rock
- Dan Griffith: Celtic Instrumental, Classical, Country Rock
- Dave Klotz: Orchestral Score, Multi-Instrumental, Piano
- DJ QuestionMark: Hip Hop Funk Rock, Hip Hop Inst
- E.L. Mahon: Smooth Jazz, Orchestral Jazz, R&B Funk
- Eric Goetz: Score, Piano, String Instrumental
- James Shepard: Rock and Roll, 50s Rock, Rockabilly Blues
- Jukebox Serenade: Indie Rock, Female Vocals, Alt Rock, Power Pop
- Geoffrey Keezer: Jazz, Blues Piano, Ambient Score
- Kama Linden: Pop, Dance
- Lawrence Blatt: Acoustic Guitar New Age Jazz Inst
- Mark Allan Wolfe: Score Compositions, Rock Guitar Inst
- Mark Monwid: Electronic Beats, Score, Industrial, Ambient
- Michelle Katz: Indie Rock, Singer Songwriter, Alt Rock, Alt Country
- Midnight Moon Ensemble: New Age, World, Piano, Female Vocal
- Mike Goudreau: Traditional Jazz, Blues, Big Band
- Robin Munson: Country, Adult Contemporary Music
- Rob Johnson: Pop Rock
- Russell Chudnofsky: Ambient Guitar, Acoustic Slide Blues Inst
- Shannon Fayth: Adult Pop Contemporary Singer Songwriter Music

Music for Film and Television is a collective networking resource for film makers and musicians to combine talents through the art of placing music to film and TV. The MFTV website features an organized selection of quality independent music ready to license for television and film music usages including: scene music, background music, score compositions, source music, themes and trailers. Music is available for convenient stream and download, without any sign-ups or fees.

Located in Ventura, CA, Music for Film and Television works with Buzzard God Publishing (ASCAP) to market independent music for publishing opportunities in film music licensing and television music licensing. The official Music for Film and Television web address is http://www.musicforfilmandtelevision.com

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A Quick Disney Reminiscence

nobody@vox.com(WannabeTesla) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 23:11:14 -0800

My wife and I were listening to old Disney music this evening, when I was reminded of my favorite childhood Disney scene.

All things considered, I suppose this an appropriate choice for me, but probably not for the reasons you may first suspect. This number is remarkably unlike most anything I have ever seen from Disney. Immediately following Quasimodo's optimistic number wherein he allows himself to fantasize about a happy life, the mood shifts to the antagonist Frollo who begins praying with his characteristic narcissism but quickly transitions into a desperate plea for his soul.

What makes this scene so unusual, aside from its dark and dramatic tone, is its blatant sexual theme. Disney has been known to throw sexual undertones into their movies (Ariel's first ascension from the water as a human comes to mind), but in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the writers decided to retain from the original work Frollo's carnal obsession with Esmeralda, and it is never more obvious than in this scene.

This is only the second time in the movie Frollo is shown doubting himself. The first instance occurs at the very beginning (another great scene, see right) where his doubt compels him to spare the babe Quasimodo. Here, his moment of weakness reminds the audience of his humanity, but while the first scene showed his propensity, however small, for mercy, this scene represents a "point of no return" for him where it is made clear his infatuation is now driving him inexorably toward a grim conclusion. While we as the audience realize Frollo could use this experience to accept his status a mere man, fallible and equal to the ones he has so ruthlessly judged, he instead maintains his claim to righteousness, refuses to accept his humanity, and seems to plunge into insanity. After this scene, his mannerisms begin a rapid shift away from his powerful, stern demeanor and take on a more sinister and devilish tone.

Frollo Having Evidently Lost His Sanity

Symbolism is used heavily in this number to reflect Frollo's inner turmoil. Beyond the obvious use of demons, more powerfully the fire is used prominently until it effectively becomes a second character. At first, the fire represents Frollo's insuperable passion, teasing him with the spritely image of the object of his lust. While he looks longingly at the flame, the realization of his own convictions descend upon him, and his attraction to the flame quickly turns to terror of imminent hellfire. The symbol of his desire is then replaced by the handkerchief while the threat of God's judgment is replaced by faceless demons with the fire becoming a purging force, passing over him and reinvigorating his resolve to conquer his lust, causing him to cower before Maria in a tearful appeal, and symbolically destroying the sprite Esmeralda. Note the artistic use of the chorus at this moment which resembles the cry of an angelic army, emphasizing that Frollo considers his mission a holy and righteous one. In the final seconds of the number, the fire simultaneously embodies all these motifs: passion, judgment, and cleansing. These three elements completely displace Frollo's divine motivations and drive him for the remainder of the narrative.

Long story short, I love this scene still. It one of the darkest, most dramatic, and most artistic scenes ever produced in a children's movie, and while I appreciated it as a child, I think I appreciate it more now that I better understand its artistic merit. This depiction of Frollo embodies one of my favorite antagonist archetypes which can also be found in Javert from Les Miserables. The key difference between Javert and Frollo, however, is that Javert is destroyed when he finds his humanity while Frollo is destroyed because he fails to.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is probably Disney's most underrated work ever. I cannot help but wonder why Beauty and the Beast was so acclaimed while this movie barely seemed to create a blip in the radar. I commonly find people who saw every movie from the Disney Renaissance, even the mediocre Pocahontas, but missed what was probably Disney's boldest undertaking. If you have never seen it, do.

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Some thoughts

nobody@vox.com(Oliver the Illustrious) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 20:10:37 -0800

Hey Gang,

My buddy is working on creating a website for a webisode I've produce/wrote. He's learning HTML and he's doing it for free, so I can't ask for too much.

So wanted to get your thoughts on the site and what reasonable changes could be made. www.qpid.tv

Let me know, thanks.

Ali

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Funnee vid 4 sure lol

nobody@vox.com(Stella) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 07:21:31 -0800

Funnee vid 4 sure lol

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Dexter Season 4 Episode 11

nobody@vox.com(Watch Dexter Episodes) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:33:17 -0800

CLICK HERE TO WATCH FULL EPISODE

Dexter’s worst fears have been realized. Because of Debra’s unrelenting pursuit, Miami Metro is just one step away from discovering the identity of the Trinity Killer. And Dexter can’t let that happen. Arthur’s arrest would not only deprive Dexter of a satisfying kill, it would also expose the secret life Dexter’s been leading in his pursuit of this monster. Dexter must take drastic action to buy himself time to deal with Trinity in his own fashion. Meanwhile, Rita decides to confide in Dexter, which doesn’t go as well as she’d hoped. LaGuerta and Batista’s breach of ethics paints them into a very tight corner. And Arthur, who still can’t understand why Dexter didn’t simply turn him in, begins his own bloody investigation into Kyle Butler.

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Dexter Season 4 Episode 10

nobody@vox.com(Watch Dexter Episodes) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:30:59 -0800

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When Arthur kidnaps a young boy from a video arcade, Dexter realizes that his killing cycle has started again and that it includes four, not three, killings. The disappearance of the boy is headlines news in Miami and Dexter gets a clue as to Arthur's whereabouts when his son Jonah tells him his Dad was recently looking at houses for sale. Debra finally sits down with reporter Christine Hill to give the interview she promised. Debra turns the tables on her by becoming the interviewer and questioning how she could have managed to get to site of the Lundy and her shooting so quickly, especially since she lives over an hour away. Brenda and Batista decide that a DNA test is in order and are shocked by what they find. Christine desperately tries to contact her father to get his help.

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Dexter Season 4 Episode 9

nobody@vox.com(Watch Dexter Episodes) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:29:12 -0800

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Dexter stops by Arthur's house for a visit and realizes that for all Arthur is in appearance the happy family man, he is in fact terrorizing his family. According to Arthur's son Josh, they are all regularly beaten. Josh is afraid top confront his father and invites Dexter for Thanksgiving lunch. The confrontation between Arthur and his family forces Dexter to take action. While Dexter is away for lunch with the Mitchells, neighbor Elliot kisses Rita and she clearly lets him, though she immediately regrets it. Laguerta and Batista finally admit to what has been obvious for some time. Joey Quinn spends the holiday with his reporter girlfriend Christine Hill but he clearly has commitment issues and is starting to feel hemmed in. After he leaves she gets a surprise visit from her father.

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Dexter Season 4 Episode 8

nobody@vox.com(Watch Dexter Episodes) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:26:34 -0800

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Dexter has always known his father’s Code was meant to protect him from exposure. But after committing a serious mistake, he wonders if it could have been designed to protect him from something even more dangerous – human emotion. When he discovers that Trinity is planning an out-of-town trip, Dexter sees an opportunity to ride along and gain insight into the mind of a fellow monster. Even so, Dexter isn’t prepared for the startling revelations Trinity makes along the way, revelations about his own past which only serve to convince Dexter of what he must do. Meanwhile, back at Miami Metro, Debra refuses to let a technicality keep her off the Trinity case. She works through others to ensure her voice is heard – that is, until she realizes that her single-minded pursuit of the Trinity Killer may have blinded her to the truth.

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