#jordan peele hits it EVERY TIME

[d-criss-news]

Darren Criss, Rachel Zegler, Joy Woods, and More Celebrate Theatre Kids at Elsie Fest 2024

After a two year hiatus, Elsie Fest returned to New York September 8, and joy was in high supply.

Staged on the picturesque Pier 17 rooftop, the theatre-themed music festival was filled with reunions, surprising moments, and special previews of the 2024–2025 Broadway season. The beloved brainchild of Emmy winner (and star of the upcoming Broadway musical Maybe Happy Ending) Darren Criss, his influence could be felt across every inch of the festival, from performers setlists to the colorful shirts emblazoned with his face worn by many of the attendees.

Beginning at 5 pm on the temperate Sunday, the festival loomed over New York Fashion Week as the Tommy Hilfiger show was held on a Colin Jost and Pete Davidson's ferry only a few stories below. Kicking things off with Broadway Rave (a DJ dance party that spins a mixture of new theatre hits and modern classics) and Marie's Crisis-style singalongs, fans flooded onto the rooftop in order to scope out their ideal spot before the live performances began. This year's lineup of performers was a doozy; the setlist for the evening, which spun through sunset and up until the 10 pm noise curfew, was as followed:

----------

Darren Criss: As the festival's steward, Criss had the largest set of the night, paying tribute to his past, present, and future with a setlist that was filled to the brim with nostalgic surprises. Opening with a raucous rendition of "Teenage Dream," Criss stayed close to his Glee roots with "Cough Syrup," an onstage Warbler reunion ( featuring Telly Leung, Curt Mega, and Max Adler) where the group performed "Sincere" from The Music Man, "Arthur's Theme," and Billy Joel's "Movin Out" with his Glee costar Chord Overstreet (who summoned thrilled screams from the crowd when he came out to end Criss' set). Criss even found the time to tip his hat to his Team Starkid roots, bringing out Little Shop of Horrors star Andrew Barth Feldman and Maybe Happy Ending co-star Helen J Shen to perform "Granger Danger" from A Very Potter Musical, the college project that launched Criss into the public eye.

Speaking of Shen, Criss let fans into his present with a special preview of the upcoming Broadway musical Maybe Happy Ending, which will star Criss and Shen as two outcast robots nearing the end of their lifespan. Performing the show's title track, the duo also welcomed newcomer Dez Duron to share his Sinatra-esque ballad, "A Sentimental Person," which seems destined to become a slow-dance staple. The present portion of Criss' set also included a touching duet of "Dear Theodosia" from Hamilton between him and Hadestown star Jordan Fisher—the performance was particularly poignant since Criss became a father for the second time this past June, and Fisher has a young son at home.

Oh, and one more thing. While celebrating the music that made him during his adolescence, Criss brought out JC Chasez of *NSYNC to sing "It's Gonna Be Me" and "Bye Bye Bye" before peeling back the curtain on the future: Chasez announced his impending Frankenstein musical Playing With Fire.

----------

Death Becomes Her: The sheer scope of Criss's artistic family became clear upon the entrance of Julia Mattison and Noel Carey, the lyricist and composer of the upcoming Broadway musical Death Becomes Her. Mattison, who has known Criss since they were five years old, debut new lyrics for the show's song "Let’s Run Away Together."

----------

Hazbin Hotel: The popular animated musical series made their festival debut, with star Blake Roman (Harmony) performing the song "Poison," with Criss ducking back out to play guitar and provide background vocals.

----------

As the evening came to a close with a massive group sing-along of "Defying Gravity" from Wicked, a sense of community and camaraderie glimmered under the darkened sky. As these stars from theatre, film, and music came together, one thing was made clear: Once a theatre kid, always a theatre kid.

[kingofstag]

I just watched Nope for the first time last week and it's been on my mind 24/7. It's just nice to see the hard working rural people presented as the protagonists and not creepy pitchfork people meant to be feared. They did rural horror better than anyone else imo

Completely agree. It's so fantastic. Legitimately my favorite film with my favorite actors and director. I went to see it three times because I was so obsessed with the nausea that built in my stomach everytime. Even after I'd seen it and knew what was coming! Also anything with black cowboys has my heart. It's such a fucking rich story Jordan Peele built and it's horrifying and intriguing and there's something new about it every time you look. It's so funny I just saw this ask after watching Nope cast interviews for like two hours. I'm glad you got to see it there's a million things I love about it. It's funny you mention the setting I feel the same. I grew up half in Tennessee and I lived between a ton of farmland and there's so much you want to see and also don't want to see out there. Also I worked on a farm and also had my own horse as a kid (my mom comes from farm folks lol) So yeah this movie hit so many boxes for me. I'm also really intrigued about what others took from it/like about it so you totally have to give me your opinion! Because it's been spinning in my mind like a rotisserie chicken since I saw it.

[babychosen]

ohh... i would love to know your favourite book, movie, or videogame of all time? maybe all three? - @okiankeno

favourites questions... my worst enemy...

the first two are easy because i barely read and barely watch movies (pls don't come for me)

favourite book - the seven husbands of evelyn hugo by taylor jenkins reid - i know this is a recent book but it blew me away. i read the whole thing in one day and it was a phenomenal read. and i don't even read books!!

favourite movie - us (dir. jordan peele) - i'm a sucker for a good psychological horror/thriller and this checked every box for me

this is where things go downhill please be prepared

i cannot choose a favourite video game. this would be like asking me to choose my favourite child if i had a bunch of them. it's morally incorrect. instead, here are a bunch of my favourites in no particular order:

fallout 4 animal crossing (all of them) legend of zelda wind waker pokemon platinum spongebob battle for bikini bottom pokemon puzzle league super mario sunshine simpsons hit and run

thank you kindly for your question and thank you to anyone who made it this far. u a real one

[wellntruly]

Happy Day After Oscars Day. Honestly, pretty darn sweet & moving time, a lot of that!

Which was really nice for me, because honestly again, this was an odd year for me in movies. While I was going wild on things from 20-70 years ago, just so many of the 2022 releases I reacted to like, sure! A gentleman's 3 out of 5. I eventually petered out at 38 new releases, my lowest number in a few years.

But when I closed off the list yesterday right before the ceremony, fussing again one final time over the order, I found that I did actually care quite a bit about a few of these. There were some that really did reach me, ones that stuck. And so I want to share them with you.

My top ten list for 2022, new ones this time

(Title link is to my original Letterboxd log; apologies that some are basically mini essays and others are like, a line. Keeping it unpredictable!)

1 The Fabelmans, dir. Steven Spielberg

My curse to bear this season has been that all the marketing for The Fabelmans makes it look like the most saccharine celebration of ~the magic of movies~, when in fact it's like, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Disassociator. It's a depiction of movie-making that's ambiguous and complex and in many instances quite dark, if not even quite fucked up, and also it looks like a Steven Spielberg movie: glowy and perfect. And that itself becomes part of what is fucked up and complex and ambiguous in this context! Best scenes are all the ones where, to paraphrase Emily St. James again, you can feel Spielberg's screenwriter, bestie & off-book therapist Tony Kushner, going, huh, do you think we should maybe unpack this a little, Steve?, and Steve going oh, no thanks!, that's what making it a movie is for! This is one of the most legible filmmakers of all time, an incredible skill that often gets discounted as "populism" because he presents scenes and ideas and emotions just so understandably, here presenting scenes and ideas and emotions that sometimes he still doesn't understand, for which he has no answers, just knows that everything that was going on here was important. And that shimmering push & pull between his clarity as a filmmaker and the thorny, confused memory project he's engaged in, seems to either not land (many viewers, of those who even saw it), or land so fucking hard (the few, the brave, the Sammy Fabelman fans).

2 Aftersun, dir. Charlotte Wells

It has a tragic fragmentary dream ballet they keep returning to with incrementally building context like the Christmas party flashback in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, obviously I am heart-sore in love with this one.

3 Hit the Road (جاده خاکی), dir. Panah Panahi

Do you know about the Iranian family road trip movie? It's a jewel. Alive and inventive and funny and beautiful, and tragic, as while the rest of the family is hiding the purpose of their trip to the Turkish border from their irrepressible youngest, we understand all too well why they're taking his older brother there. Of the top five needle drops in film this year, three of them are in this movie. I love everything about the way this film constructs itself. Hit the Road!

4 Everything Everywhere All At Once, dir. Daniels

I ping-ponged between this and Nope for my fourth slot for ages, but finally I just kept thinking about how Dan Kwan accidentally wrote a line from the Nine Days song 'Absolutely (Story of a Girl)', and then decided to just do it a few more times and make it a ~motif~. There is simply such renegade joyousness in the creation of this movie, and it pours through in every earnest unhinged minute. I'm so proud of them!!!!!!

5 Nope, dir. Jordan Peele

I LOVED this. This year's best marriage of ideas and filmmaking, and also somehow about filmmaking without ever feeling too recursive, instead feels frankly--hi to number one--most of all like a '70s Spielberg horror movie. And not for nothing, also several of the best performances of the year. I actually wrote quite a lot on Letterboxd about this one, more there! (spoilers!)

6 Benediction, dir. Terence Davies

The film equivalent of the time someone sent me this message and I replied like this

I mean of course it was for me.

7 Marcel the Shell With Shoes On, dir. Dean Fleischer Camp

A remarkable and wonderful amount of depth packed into this movie about the tiny shell.

8 Decision To Leave (헤어질 결심), dir. Park Chan-wook

The Really Kept Growing On Me champion of the year? I just kept thinking about images and vibes from this movie! THE romantic drama of 2022, understanding that something that is so romance is a pair of sad weirdos surveilling each other.

9 TÁR, dir. Todd Field

And the Meme champion of the year, which is like, you know how at the start of a project it's good to define 'what would success look like for us?'

10 Catherine Called Birdy, dir. Lena Dunham

Do you know how hard it is to make a movie this watchable and winning?? Buoyant with talent and colorful textiles, I laughed, I cried, what a treat! Give it a watch! Give us something like this every year!

*****

And some assorted specific performances and crafts not part of the awards conversation that I'd like to single out too:

Cinematography: Gregory Oke, Aftersun, and Hoyte van Hoytema, Nope

The perspective in Aftersun, I've been talking about it everywhere. You are so rooted to this young girl, who sees a lot, and yet you are also piecing together things that are going on that you can tell she isn't quite seeing. Just gorgeous filmmaking.

And are you KIDDING me with what they pulled off in Nope! Depicting not looking at something immense, but still capturing the immensity of it--the finesse! Also that day-for-night, kiss.

Supporting Actors: Steven Yeun, Nope, and Andrew Scott, Catherine Called Birdy

The best supporting male performance of the year actually won and that's so fucking incredible, LOVE you Ke Huy Quan. But I also want to mention these two guys, who similarly do beauuutiful supporting work in each of their films, rich and dynamic and perfectly elevating the work as a whole at exactly the right moments, with exactly the right notes.

Lead Actor: Jack Lowden, Benediction

The best lead male performance of the year, astonishing, real ones know (my parasocial critic friends who also kept bringing him up)

Supporting Actress: Kristen Stewart, Crimes of the Future

Haha what the fuck <3

Lead Actress: Tang Wei, Decision To Leave

She's so key to the lingering quality this one had on me. A masterclass in rendering an enigmatic performance that somehow isn't opaque. Enchanting, in a magic trick kind of way.

Director: Dean Fleischer Camp, Marcel the Shell With Shoes On

This man deserves more credit for spending seven years carefully making a stop motion movie with his brilliant ex-wife and managing to find exactly this emotional balance of soft and spiky and grieving and hopeful. Lovely work.

Adapted Screenplay: Dan Trachtenberg and Patrick Aison, Prey

Tight, tight, tight action filmmaking. And love you, Amber Midthunder!

Costumes: Alex Bovaird, Nope, and Amela Bakšić, Murina

Two words: Keke Palmer, and those two swimsuits.

[rookie-critic]

Wendell & Wild (2022, dir. Henry Selick) - review by Rookie-Critic

Wendell & Wild was a wonderful stop-motion animated film with one of the best soundtracks of 2022 and a story that, while nothing spectacularly new, was wildly entertaining and full of Halloween heart. The newest from Coraline and The Nightmare Before Christmas visionary Henry Selick from a script co-written by Selick and Jordan Peele, Wendell & Wild follows Kat, an orphaned girl who, failed by the system, is dumped into a school for girls as a part of a juvenile detention rehabilitation program (the headmaster of which is very much just in it for the funding it gives to his school). Shortly after arriving, Kat starts to notice strange powers arising within her, and sees two demons (the titular Wendell & Wild, played by none other than Keegan-Michael Key & Peele) that tell her they can bring her parents back if she'll summon them to the land of the living. It of course is a bit more complicated than that, but there's your bird's eye view.

The cast of this film is a nice mix of a few veteran names alongside a slurry of fresh talent, and almost all of the newer names give fantastic performances. I'll note that a couple of the performances felt very wooden, and stood out all the more because of the phenomenal job being done by the rest of the cast. Another win for this film is its commitment to positive representation with a number of characters, the most prominent of which being the trans character Raúl. Outside of a handful of moments where the fact that Raúl is trans are brought up, the character is allowed to exist and not have his whole character defined by his gender, but rather by his loyalty and artistry. It just really seems like a lot of love and care went into making sure his character, as well as other characters representative of a marginalized group, were not portrayed as a token character of that group, but just as another character in the movie, who are fully realized personalities that are not just pigeonholed into "the trans character" or "the disabled character." That effort did not go unnoticed and I applaud Selick and Peele for making that happen. I'll also applaud this film for daring to be dark and go places that a traditional "family friendly" film wouldn't and discuss themes that most studios would say are "too mature" for a younger audience. Discussing death and loss in such a direct way, and especially framing that loss as a child losing both of their parents at an intensely young age, is a bold move on Selick's part. He, of course, is no stranger to darker themes, having made movies like Coraline, but somehow Wendell & Wild feels more grounded, more real in its depiction of death, even though it still has a foot firmly planted in the darkly fantastical, and I appreciate a movie that's willing to give a younger demographic a little more credit and give them the exposure to mature themes with the idea that they can understand and handle them.

Now it's time to give a shout out to the biggest pro this film has in its corner: the soundtrack. The needle drops in this film are insanely well done with near Guardians of the Galaxy levels of style and precision, with a track list mostly consisting of punk rock music from the late 70s/early 80s, but that ventures into alternative rock acts like TV on the Radio, and even throws in some ska for good measure. Every track hits as intended when it plays in the film, and I could not be more of a fan. If this collection of songs were available for purchase on vinyl or even CD, I'd be first in line to buy it. This one's been at the back of my head, buried in my much-neglected "streaming watch list," ever since it dropped on Netflix back in late October, and I'm glad I finally took the time to sit down and check it out.

Score: 9/10

Currently streaming on Netflix.

[tailsrevane]

2022 in review, part 2: movie first watches

as you can probably tell from the fact that the vast majority of my top first watches were actually from this year, 2022 was an incredible year for movies. with that in mind, here’s my top 10 first watches.

1. kiki’s delivery service (1989)

okay, i know i said this was a great year for movies, and it was. but unfortunately for every other movie i saw this year, this 33-year-old stone cold classic was actually the first one i saw this year? saying that it set an impossible standard for the rest of the year is a bit of an understatement, considering that i recently did a long-ass movie tournament to officially crown it my favorite movie of all time.

for me, this is the ultimate realization of what a ghibli movie can be (and considering how incredible they all are, that’s saying something), and it also happens to have some obvious factors that make it appeal to me specifically (it’s witchy, there’s an adorable kitty, there’s an incredibly sensitive portrayal of what living with depression is like, etc etc). just a truly incredible movie.

2. glass onion: a knives out mystery (2022)

if rian johnson & daniel craig could just make another one of these things every few years until the heat death of the universe that would be pretty great. because i’m never going to get tired of them. i ran back to a movie theater again as soon as possible to see this again, which is just kind of a thing i don’t usually really do anymore?

3. the batman (2022)

this is the first batman movie that has really felt like a detective movie, gotham has never been seedier, but i think the real killer app here is that this one just blatantly has the best filmmaking any batman movie has ever had.

4. prey (2022)

hot take alert but this is the only truly good predator movie. and it’s not just good, it’s incredible. this one caught me completely by surprise.

5. everything everywhere all at once (2022)

one of my favorite performers turns in a career-best performance in an emotionally arresting, visually stunning, timely, and staggeringly smart titan of a movie.

this movie asks questions that i never really expected a movie to ask, and it doesn’t just ask them, it does its level best to answer them, or at least explore them in an honest, vulnerable way. this is a fearless movie.

i kind of feel like an idiot for not having this as my top movie that came out in 2022… and keep in mind it’s actually in the number 4 spot? we were unbelievably spoiled this year, y’all. movies are back.

6. nope (2022)

jordan peele is an institution unto himself. i know he came in to filmmaking with a ton of experience working on parodies for key & peele, and people super underrate how useful that can be for crossing over into serious filmmaking, but it’s still incredible to me that he hit the ground running as a staggeringly-good filmmaker and just hasn’t let up once.

7. avatar: the way of water (2022)

i’m not super sure where this one is gonna end up on this list when all is said & done, it feels like it needs at least a rewatch or two before i really have a full grasp of it, but this feels right for now. regardless of where i end up landing on it, it is refreshing to see this kind of blockbuster movie in an era where most tentpole movies are all commercials for the next one or for disney plus or whatever the fuck.

8. turning red (2022)

yeah so this is my favorite pixar movie ever and it isn’t particularly close. i’m still salty that disney forced pixar to take all the explicit queerness out of it, but even what was left made me feel more seen than anything they’ve ever produced.

9. sonic the hedgehog 2 (2022)

yeah okay i can’t argue that this is an artistic masterpiece like a lot of the others on this list, nor is it a movie without pretty obvious warts (just like 90% of the human stuff, basically). but look, i have some pretty exacting standards for how i want these characters and their relationships portrayed, and this movie shocked me by meeting & exceeding those expectations with flying colors.

i’m not going to try to force myself to be objective about the movie’s many & rather obvious flaws, because that’s just frankly not how i authentically experience movies anymore. i got exactly what i wanted to get out of this movie, and i consider that a minor miracle.

10. luca (2021)

there is so fucking much thematic gayness in this, just fucking make them gay, gods.

apparently they weren’t even originally going to be though, the thing that disney censored was their friend being a lesbian, but like are you shitting me how do you write these characters this way and not intend them to be gay? they are so gay, fucking hell.

nevertheless this is a beautiful movie. i hate disney as a company but there are clearly just so many smart & talented people working under their umbrella. the post-lasseter pixar era is looking pretty promising so far.

[natehoodreviews]

Best Films of 2022

As some of you might have noticed, I didn’t publish many pieces or read many fiction books this past year. The reason for that was that 2022 was a particularly busy year for me in terms of schoolwork and regular old work, specifically my first unit of CPE residency to become a hospital chaplain. Still, though, I did manage to see around 50 movies released this past year. Here are my picks for the best of them.

15)  Armageddon Time – Dir. James Gray

If I had a nickel for every Jewish-American cinematic Künstlerroman released in 2022, I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it’s happened twice. Jokes aside, Armageddon Time is a fantastic coming-of-age story, and the specter of Anthony Hopkins really helps keep its head above the water of becoming excessively maudlin. In the hands of a lesser filmmaker, this material could've come across as excessively preachy, but Gray nails the correct tone for making it hit like a sledgehammer. That said, somehow in all the time before watching this movie I'd managed to avoid the news that the Trumps were in it. When I tell you that I felt ice water in my gut when they first appeared, I mean I felt like I cannonballed into the Arctic Ocean. I've said it before, but one of the most obnoxious things about Trump is that he's going to become as ubiquitous in future media as a metonym for everything that's corrupt and evil in the USA as Lincoln is for all that's good and noble. I just want Trump to GO AWAY.

14)  Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe – Dirs. John Rice and Albert Calleros

I cannot believe that this ended up being one of my favorite movies of the year. It begins with one of the cinema’s greatest nut-shots and only gets funnier. A bacchanalia of juvenile stupidity.

13)  Nope – Dir. Jordan Peele 

We as a society need to do whatever it takes to keep Jordan Peele making his intensely unique, intensely bizarre flights of cinematic fancy. This damn thing was a slow-burn horror film, a heist movie, a thriller, and a creature feature rolled into one.

12)  Top Gun: Maverick – Dir. Joseph Kosinski

The best male weepy since ONLY THE BRAVE (2017). Light years better than it had any right to be, and not really as toxic as I expected. Some of the most fun I’ve had in a movie theater all year. Not the MOST fun, but it’s definitely way, WAY up there.

11)  32 Sounds – Dir. Sam Green

I've been a fan of Sam Green and JD Samson after seeing one of their Live Cinema shows at the Brooklyn Academy of Music several years ago. I am thrilled to report that Green's new film 32 SOUNDS is probably the best translation of their specifically mind-blowing, tender, and intimate live performances that we'll ever get. With only 32 sounds, Green captures a kaleidoscope of the human experience in ways at once amusing yet profound, devastating yet hopeful.

10)  The Batman – Dir. Matt Reeves

“I don't know if that was the BEST Batman movie, but it was definitely the MOST Batman movie. That said, it was refreshing to see a Batman film that remembers that he's a world-class detective. I have issues with this film, but almost all of them fall away when I think about how we finally got a superhero film that truly, deeply cares as much about images as it does the characters and stories. The Batmobile emerging from a wall of fire, muzzle flashes illuminating dark hallways like bolts of lightning, Batman leading a spiderweb of survivors through floodwaters while holding aloft a flare—these are IMAGES that are going to stick with me for a long time. Also, that opening sequence of petty criminals getting scared by the sight of the Bat-Signals leading up to Batman emerging from the subway tunnel... #chefskiss“”

[Full review at http://www.unseenfilms.net/2022/03/nate-hood-on-batman.html]

9)  The Fabelmans – Dir. Steven Spielberg

An extraordinary work of compassion, contrition, and grace. So much more than an autobiography—it's a Rosetta Stone for one of the cinema's greatest artists. I am have no idea how Spielberg and Kushner can explore feelings and emotions of such byzantine complexity while making it seem so effortless and natural. Pure wizardry.

8)  Elvis – Dir. Baz Luhrmann

The first half is pitch-perfect rhinestone gaudiness and the second half almost Shakespearean tragedy. It's equal parts pathos and bathos, wrapped in silk and slicked with pomade. Baz Luhrmann has been preparing his entire career for this one movie and it shows. I'm honestly mystified by people dunking on Tom Hanks' performance. Was it an accurate depiction of Colonel Tom Parker? Probably not, but Hanks created perhaps the greatest ghoul in popular American cinema since J. K. Simmons' Terence Fletcher. And finally, the early sequence juxtaposing a young Elvis spying on a blues joint and attending a gospel revival ranks up there Bheem attacking the British gala with his animal friends in RRR and the opening scene from THE BATMAN as my favorite so far of 2022.

7)  The Banshees of Inisherin – Dir. Martin McDonagh

This one absolutely gutted me. I spent the last forty minutes of that film scarcely breathing because I kept waiting for The Bad Thing to happen after the banshee made her prophecy. Also, this film was like watching an autistic person's worst nightmare made real. I'm serious. You want to know the one thing an autistic person fears the most? The people they love suddenly deciding one day for no apparent reason that they just don't like you anymore.

6)  RRR – Dir. S. S. Rajamouli

“After years of Hollywood franchise glut—of reboots and remakes, spin-off miniseries and bloated two-part finales—watching S. S. Rajamouli’s Telugu-language epic RRR is like taking that first breath of outside air after being cooped up all day in an office building with no air conditioning. It’s like taking a long, cool sip of ice water after days in the desert with nothing to drink but lukewarm Diet Coke. It’s like being reminded for the first time since you were a child amazed by the moving pictures on the television that movies can truly do anything, say anything, and be anything. It’s not just the most triumphant, crowd-pleasing blockbuster in years, it’s the best, most exhilarating action movie from any country since George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road (2015).”

[Full review at: http://www.unseenfilms.net/2022/06/nate-hood-on-epic-masterpiece-rrr-2022.html]

5)  ACTION BUTTON REVIEWS: Boku no Natsuyasumi – Dir. Tim Rogers (YouTube: Action Button)

The Ross McElwee/Lester Bangs of video game journalism returns with another 6+ hour opus on a video game most gamers outside of Japan may never have heard of before. Somehow, it’s his best yet. An exhaustive yet somehow never exhausting autobiographical examination of nostalgia, loss, and memory, Tim Rogers somehow finds in the act of playing a video game about a young boy’s summer vacation in the Japanese countryside a simulacrum for the universal human experience.

4)  We Met in Virtual Reality – Dir. Joe Hunting

Talk about a dark horse pick for one of the best movies of 2022. I've said it before and I'll say it again: my favorite kind of art is the art that makes me feel more human. WE MET IN VIRTUAL REALITY is a stunningly moving and sincere look at how humans have begun creating social ecosystems in virtual spaces. It would've been so easy for director Joe Hunting to play the things he found for laughs—and in fairness, it's easy to chortle at the idea of an anime couple proposing to each other after meeting in an exotic dancing class or a group of furry avatars talking about their sexual orientations around a campfire—but he looks for the human beneath and within his subjects.

3)  Mad God – Dir. Phil Tippett

A Voynich Manuscript of stop-motion blasphemies; a compendium of Švankmajer nightmares and H.R. Giger fever dreams. Hieronymus Bosch wept. If your reaction to this movie was that it didn't have enough plot, I hate you. If anything it had TOO MUCH plot. Don't be fooled by the stop-motion animation—there's more Stan Brakhage in this film's DNA than Hieronymus Bosch. I can say with no exaggeration that this film was one of the most overwhelming aesthetic experiences I've ever had in a movie theater. I could feel myself frozen to the seat for its entire runtime.

2)  Everything Everywhere All At Once – Dir. Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert

As a film critic, I've seen literally thousands of movies. But only a handful have ever given me an experience close to approximating Stendhal syndrome. I can say with some certainty that EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE is the only one to involve a sex toy kung fu fight.

1)  Glass Onion – Dir. Rian Johnson

GLASS ONION left me in a near-constant state of shock and disbelief for its last hour. I have no idea how Rian Johnson was able to outdo KNIVES OUT, but here we are. It's smarter, funnier, nastier, and proves that the first film's populist overtones were no fluke. That it wrapped BEFORE Musk bought twitter is one of the greatest acts of cinematic prognostication maybe ever? But it's so much more than just a furious defenestration of billionaire tech bros, it's another condemnation on how the uber-rich close ranks to protect their own. That whole scene where Miles' "friends" joined in Janelle Monáe's destructive rampage—but only for a little bit!—is such a powerful statement on how celebrities will performatively ape leftist politics in between private jet flights to cross union picket lines. But my favorite part of the film was watching it with my mother. She originally had no interest in it when I chose it (it was my turn to pick the movie!). I LOVED watching it cast the same spell on her that it did on me until by the end she was LITERALLY on her feet cheering! I'm sorry, but I don't know how you could look at Rian Johnson's last three films and NOT consider him one of the best filmmakers working today. I don't know if any director since the heyday of Spielberg has more perfectly mastered the art of the crowd-pleasing genre film. THE LAST JEDI then KNIVES OUT then GLASS ONION back-to-back-to-back? Ladies and gentlemen, THAT is a friggin' cinematic pedigree.

[themovieblogonline]

Dev Patel Crushes It at SXSW with "Monkey Man"

Hold onto your popcorn because SXSW just got a serious shot of adrenaline! We're talking about the world premiere of "Monkey Man SXSW," the directorial debut of none other than Dev Patel, the dude who stole our hearts in "Slumdog Millionaire." And let me tell you, this ain't your mama's feel-good flick. Patel's not just directing and producing "Monkey Man," he's also the star, and let's just say he throws down like nobody's business! The movie itself? A brutal, emotional rollercoaster ride about a guy named Kid seeking revenge for his mom's death. Think dark alleys, bloody brawls, and a whole lotta grit. And guess what? Austin's Paramount Theatre went absolutely apesh*t (pun intended) for it! The crowd went so wild, they practically gave Patel a standing ovation. Yeah, you heard that right. Standing. Ovation. For a first-time director! But here's the thing: this movie wasn't born with a silver spoon. Apparently, Patel poured his blood, sweat, and probably a few tears into making it. He even joked that people online were wondering if he'd fallen off the face of the earth! Well, consider him back and badder than ever. Here's the scoop on the film's journey, straight from Patel's mouth: shot in India's biggest slum, Covid threw a major wrench in the works, and everything that could go wrong, well, went wrong. But then, enter superhero Jordan Peele! Yep, the comedic genius behind "Get Out" saw the potential in "Monkey Man" and swooped in like a cinematic savior. Peele even switched studios to help get this movie on the big screen! Speaking of inspiration, Patel got the itch for action flicks after watching Bruce Lee movies as a kid. He wanted to create something raw, something real, something that showed the struggles and triumphs of the underdog. And that's exactly what "Monkey Man" delivers. Patel himself? He describes the film's protagonist, Kid, as someone who "doesn't have a quip for every scenario, isn't the biggest dude in the room, and doesn't look like he's going to win." Sound familiar? That's because Patel himself has probably felt like that underdog more than once. But here's the beauty of "Monkey Man": it's a story about overcoming those feelings, about finding strength in unexpected places, and about the power of unity. Plus, there's some seriously mind-blowing action sequences that'll have you on the edge of your seat. Oh, and did I mention Patel basically became a human action figure while filming? He broke his foot two weeks before shooting, then went on to break his hand during filming (you can even see the bandage in the movie!). Talk about dedication! So, what's the verdict? "Monkey Man" is a must-see for anyone who loves action, drama, and a good underdog story. Plus, seeing Dev Patel kick butt on screen? That's worth the price of admission. Mark your calendars for April 5th because this movie is hitting theaters and it's gonna be a knockout! Source: Deadline Read the full article

[hmucla-black-horror]

Jordan Peele's US and United States’ emptiness of the American Dream

[Spoiler Warning]

Upon initially watching the movie US by Jordan Peele, I was left thinking in terms of pure horror and in comparison to GET OUT, the movie had been a drop-off. I felt as though I wasn't scared enough and there were predictable outcomes that were nothing special. It wasn't until the second viewing of the film that I picked up on the slight and subtle cues that Jordan Pelle sprinkled into the film and the overall point he was trying to get across. The disappointing realization that hit me was that my initial watch of the movie fell under the same idea and point of criticism Jordan Peele makes.

What I perceived as the main theme and overall idea of the film was an idea of emptiness, a point that within current-day American society, although with an element of subjectivity, lies this “American Dream” that every citizen of this country aspires to reach, be it though status, superficial means, material means, and overall factors that fall in the same vein. Why does having a boat despite all its flaws and time consumption an almost meaningless piece of material wealth become held to such a high standard? To simply say I own a boat or to check it off from the bucket list of superficial, empty material gain. Then begins the social clout game of posting on social media who has the latest piece of material wealth to post. We see characters despite having the so-called perfect life with all one could ask for, are depressed and still see the need to want more and seek to do something more like performing unnecessary plastic surgery. All the empty hedonism surrounding the American dream is a pit that can never be filled, what we get are people devoting their lives to this pursuit living devoid of substance just like how the opening of the movie shows, an empty and hollow inside to the glamorous and sparkling outside with no substance. In the end, we see that Adelaide had been tethered the whole time, yet despite the fact she is soulless, she is indistinguishable from the rest of society. 

The point Jordan Peele makes in this movie has to do with the hollow emptiness the average person living in this country seeks to obtain. There is a void which is materialism, and this void can never be filled as a metaphorical black hole. American society as we see it today and at the time of the movie’s release is growing more and more hollow as individuals seek to fill this black hole.

[steddie-island]

What tv show/movie do you wish everyone would watch? Either it's underrated or it has a meaning/theme that you think is important or it's just your favorite of all time etc etc :)

Okay I’ve been thinking about this for over an hour and honestly I do a lot of TV watching so I feel like sitting on it for longer is not going to make this an easier thing to answer.

Crazy Ex Girlfriend - It’s a musical show with such a diverse cast. It hits on mental illness as like the main theme but it also has - a fat character who never diets and her fatness is never talked about (which, please god more of this. If I see another fat character written so someone can be on a goddamn diet or be the comedic relief the whole show I’m gonna rip my own hair out.) She’s allowed to be a whole person and have wants and needs outside of her family and her job and I just fucking love Paula. It has middle aged queer representation (please go look up Gettin’ Bi, where the man who owns this law firm comes out to his entire company during a meeting.) Like there’s just so much good shit that we get to see not just talked about but talked about in a way that I feel like is handled really fucking well. Plus it’s just so goddamn funny ( ‘Heavy Boobs’ is a song that still gets referenced a lot in my house lmao.)

Honorable mentions (because like I said I watch a lot of TV): Bob’s Burgers (please god that family is so messed up and they love each other so much. The season 13 Christmas episode makes me weep it’s so soft), Galavant (another musical show but one that did not get a satisfying ending since the main character’s actor left to do something else and they kind of sort of ended on a cliff hanger? But it’s still a good show overall!!) Drop Dead Diva- not a musical show but a show about a thin woman who dies in a car accident and comes back in the body of a fat woman, and she has to learn about fatness and loving herself and has to unlearn a lot of Shit that we’re force fed by society about fatness and. I don’t remember if that one holds up completely, it’s been a long time since I watched, but at one point it made my fat girl heart so happy. She’s strong and beautiful and so goddamn smart and she had love!! Interests!!! 🥰🥰🥰 Like she’s seen as desirable and that was so surprising and made me cry. I ALMOST LEFT STEVEN UNIVERSE OFF OF THIS! The body representation, the gender representation, the way mental health and trauma are talked about just. 15/10 I love that show to death. Plus it’s a cartoon with such gorgeous animation and the best color palettes and just. Yeah. I cannot believe I almost left it off. (plus it’s also musical in the way that Bob’s burgers is. Not every episode has a song but the ones that do are *chef’s kiss.* love that shit.)

I know I’m leaving a lot of good shit off of here, (I was trying to think of movies and literally cannot think of anything outside of Jordan Peele’s work right now, but slap that man’s name on it and I am fucking watching it at least once).

I could literally talk about this shit for days. 😂😊😅😅

[russell-crowe]

6-10 for movie ask!

i am not sure if you meant 6 and 10 or 6 up until 10, but because i have a Too Much Talking Gene i decided to go for all of them <3

6. A horror movie you like

The horror genre is not among my favourites, so I tend to avoid horror movies. I do like Jordan Peele's approach to the genre, by moving more into playing with people's and society's real horrors and fucking around with it. Purely based on what Letterboxd labels as horror, my favourites that I have seen are The Lighthouse (2019), A Quiet Place (2018), Take Shelter (2011), Naboer (2005), Shaun of the Dead (2004), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) and Jaws (1975).

Our of those I want to give a special shout out to Naboer (2005) because I love how Kristoffer Joner looks covered with blood like the little rat man he is in that movie.

7. A sci-fi movie you like

Sci-fi is also a true hit or miss with me, but I tend to be more in favour of the genre than horror (I am a wimp, I am sorry). Not to sound like a Ridley Scott wh*re, but The Martian (2015) is an example of a sci-fi movie I really like. I liked the pacing, the humour and the attempt at realism. My favourite sci-fi movie is probably Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) because it is so comforting <3. And I also like the Jurassic Park franchise, but since meeting Jeff Goldblum I have not rewatched it because he is the only celeb I have met who turned out to be a dick. I hope to come back to the franchise though because [kisses Spielberg with tongue]

8. A fantasy movie you like

... I feel like it gets clearer and clearer that I am mostly a drama hoe. Out of the ones that Letterboxd labels as fantasy, I most like The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013). I really like the trope of people embarking on journeys to seek their identity and to escape certain elements of their life, and I feel like this movie just really nails that subject. <3

9. A movie in your native language you like

Honestly the only good movies we make are somewhat related to war, so I am stubbornly not going there and recommending a kids movie instead. Minoes (2001) is a movie about a cat turning into a woman - I rewatched it recently and it is actually.... still really charming and the cats are SO CUTE.

10. A foreign-language movie you like

I watch mostly foreign (for me) language films and Nordic cinema is my jam... I thought about not going for any of those as it feels like a cheap answer, but I feel like I can get away with it if I pick an Icelandic movie, considering I really do not grasp the Icelandic language out of the Nordic ones.

My absolute, absolute favourite one is Fúsi (2015) - the international title does it dirty with Virgin Mountain. It is about an older guy who still lives with his mother, has a clear routine to his life and he's never had the nerve to really spread his wings. Then he is almost forced out of his comfort zone and this beautiful, but incredibly heart-breaking story happens. I just like seeing this shy, awkward man open his heart and try to do his best as a member of society after years of avoiding living life. It is also the reason why Islands in the Stream makes me want to cry every time. It is such a real story and my favourite movies are these ones where they are sharing such a small story. It really makes me believe that the best, most heartwarming stories are right around the corner. (No I am definitely not getting emotional typing this <3)

[med684blogs]

5 Film Comparisons to Heathers Remake

Halloween (2018) Horror, 10 million dollar budget, 159 Million world wide.

Pet Sematary (2019) Horror, 21 million dollar budget, 55 Million world wide gross.

Child's Play (2019) Horror, 13 million dollar budget, 64 million dollar world gross

Scream (2022) Horror, 24 million dollar budget, 140 million world wide gross

Ready or Not. Horror, 6 million dollar budget, 55 million dollar world gross.

ROI: The 500 thousand dollar budget will break even when it hits 1 million dollars world wide. The small budget almost confirms that each producer will get what they paid back and then some

Breakeven Point: The breakeven point would be 1,000,000 dollars but it is likely that more people would come see the movie which will pay back every loan and grant that needs to be paid. That goes to every investor, not just one. With Box Office recognition the remake is certain when it comes to making its money back, and some.

An example of this being done before is with the Academy Award winning film Get Out. Jason Blum, the head producer of the Blumhouse studio, always gives his films very small budgets. This results in a lot of movies being made from the studio. He makes so many movies with relatively small budgets that he is guaranteed to make his money back one way or another. He most notably did this with the movie Get Out. Get Out had a very small budget of just 4.5 million dollars, and it made 255,745,157 dollars world wide. The film also went on to win the Oscar for best original screenplay. The film made more than 10 times it's money back, so much that Jordan Peele now owns his own movie studio.

Blumhouse Studios would be the perfect studio to pitch the Heather's remake to. They are mostly known for making cheap horror movies, but there have been exceptions including the film Whiplash ,and the previously mentioned psychological thriller: Get Out. Just this studio alone would give Heathers (Remake) a huge head start and all on a small budget.

Investors will be the film's source of budget. A estimate would be at least 5-7 different investors giving a good portion of money to the budget. The film's budget will be 1.5 million dollars.

ROI Math:

$80,000 will go to the actors in the film.

$70,000 dollars of the budget will go to the crew.

$100,000 will go to the filming locations. As well as vibrant sets.

$50,000 will go to Make up and hairstyling

$60,000 will go to Costume and Clothes

$100,000 will be used to rent a high quality camera and other equipment.

$460,000 dollars will be the film's overall budget. That is not a large amount, and it's not a small amount either. With the right studio and producers this budget can definitely be paid.

Let's say we got 7 different producers to give up $50,000 each and the film's box office gets 20 million on it's opening weekend. That would be plenty of enough money to not only pay the producers back, but also to give them a profit. If Heathers (Remake) is as successful as it should be, considering the cult following it has, then the whole budget should be set.

[horrorfanaticjas]

BLOG POST #1

Horror movies have presented a new perspective on the way culture, backgrounds, people, and more, have been represented in media. As an individual who loves horror, I am elated to receive the privilege to discuss and explore Black horror on a deeper level, and the way it has transformed an industry that has been dominated by white directors, actors, writers, and more. Black horror has altered the industry in a massive way and created a shift in the manner that horror can be designed and perceived. System racism is pervasive and every aspect of life can be affected – whether you work in a corporate office, go to school in New York, take the bus in Oregon, or are a store owner in Alabama. 

Get Out is a clear example of a movie that explores systemic racism, microaggressions, and involves multiple horror aspects. The intriguing thing regarding the horror aspects of Get Out is the way it is portrayed within the movie – Jordan Peele mixes science fiction and racism to create a horror movie that feels realistic, especially for Black people in America. The microaggressions, interactions, and racial comments made by white characters throughout the film to Black characters, such as Chris, Rod and Andre are representative of what many Black individuals face in the present day. 

The strategic placement of characters and minute details that add to the film’s cinematography aid in enhancing a viewer’s comprehension of it, specifically when the film is watched multiple times. An example of carefully placed details that stood out to me was the beginning of the movie, where Chris and Rose hit a deer on their way to her parents house, and a mounting of a deer was later placed on the wall where Chris was stuck to the chair. While I would not have realized this on the first watch, the details stood out more on the next viewing, and I realized how many hidden meanings that are present in Get Out. Georgina being hypnotized after hearing Missy smack a spoon against a glass resulting in her spilling tea is another detail I would not have noticed without watching the film multiple times. The calculated placement of easter eggs, or “secret messages”, throughout Get Out provide an additional horror aspect that is developed as you see and understand the messages. The Sunken Place in Get Out is an important aspect as well, as we are able to see the impact of systemic racism and how it traps individuals, and they are made to feel small. Overall, Jordan Peele’s Get Out is a horror movie that allows a deeper understanding of racism and discrimination in the industry. 

[maximvassilenko]

Was “Get Out” Really an Exaggeration?

I think the purpose of “Get Out” was to spread a message of awareness and with that, we can make sense of why certain themes were put at the forefront. Jordan Peele linked microaggression with the deeper underlying racism which still exists. By turning Chris into a chattel slave and directly exposing the reader to these age-old themes and stereotypes (like the black servants, objectifying blacks, and hyper focusing on their sexuality) It seemed at first that maybe Jordan Peele would make some sort of twist. Considering how he turned the stereotype of the white savior on its head, I was expecting something different. I think I hoped I would be proven wrong: that these “woke” liberal households were accepting. However time after time the Armitage family would fit every stereotype to a tie and there was no twist about it.

Especially coming from a liberal state this hit different. How many “children of god” and love are there out here in liberal California that secretly say the n-word on their golf courses? It was just in October that members of the city council representing the Latino community were caught being racists behind closed doors. This coexistence of liberal appearance and deep-rooted racism is what I believe to be liberal racism. I would go as far as to say that this is the new modern racism. It keeps blacks equally enslaved, imprisoned, and disadvantaged by a disconnected white majority. 

Was this all really exaggeration? The isolation that blacks feel? Not only is there the issue of the world making blacks feel like the “others” but even the blacks within their own communities do not want to see each other win. A lot of times blacks really can be alone. A lot of times someone who seems like they made a harmless comment or slip-up is giving insight into their character. The little actions that we take are the result of our cumulative exposure and upbringing. There would be no microaggressions or slip-ups if people really cared about blacks truly growing up in an environment of acceptance. I used to not understand what a microaggression was and thought it to be a preposterous term until I realized what microaggressions could stem from and stood for. By gradually expanding on the level of racism throughout the movie, I realized a lot of the things I thought were insignifigant were part of a bigger problem that still exists today. For that reason, I would argue that this movie is not an exaggeration but an artistic expression of reality. The anticipation of having Chris shot dead or arrested at the end of the movie shows just how corrupt and sad society is: the necessity to change the reality of the film to incorporate a happy end shows just how corrupt the reality of our society still is.

2.

Why “Nope” is Black Horror 

This movie is all about steering away from toxicity and I think it is also fundamentally toxic to distinguish between black horror and horror with black characters. That is especially true with a film like “Nope.” Every black story is different and so it is toxic to assume that trauma stemming from being black has to be the norm for every black. How can we rule out that the message of empowerment in “Nope” is not a black concept? It’s not healthy. Showing that black actors do not need to follow the roles and storyline in what we traditionally considered to be black horror is a positive thing. Literature and its offspring are all about breaking barriers and norms to improve society in ways deemed beneficial. What is the use in having a strict yet very subjective criterion for what is a black story and what is not? That almost sounds a little posh. I would define any story with black characters as black. This is reasonable because as long as there are black characters there is some literary dimension that can encompass that alternative existence for blacks. There is depth and dimension to blacks just like there is to white folks in real life. While this may not be the case in film as of yet, ideally we would want to promote trends toward that. What would a strict view defining what black horror do for black science fiction? It just creates more of that segregation that we try to get away from. Ideally, we want everyone to be one and not be divided into groups. What does that do for progress in the way that black characters are portrayed in film? I think ideally we should not be able to distinguish between black and white film and there should not be a concept of “black” film at all. Maybe that is too hopeful but I think this sort of posh elitism is getting people nowhere!

There are a lot of unnatural and foreign processes that go into the making of creating a story or film. Even the concept of filming acclaimed movies with good budgets and fabricating a story is unnatural: you need gear, people who pose as a character aka actors, a storyline, and a network of critics to steer your work towards some sort of commercial success. Even when you shoot a documentary, there is a whole list of things that could be argued as to why your documentary does not reflect reality. I think we should view reality as a subjective experience so that way everybody and their story can be included.

3.

                    Lord of the Flies Arguement

In “the Abandon” by director Keith Josef Adkins, there was this interesting paradox of how societal constructs still exist in the apocalypse. Someone could be so jealous of a woman that even in the wake of the end of humanity, instead of uniting the remaining, the last humans fight each other. Imagine that this encounter happened the day before when there were laws. Would it still happen? Would Kendal still push Craig? Some issues are such primal offenses to human nature that one will retaliate out of anger without regard even for their well-being. It was apparent that the group was dependent on the fitness of all of its members so I think Kendall would have done the same the day before. As a political science major, I can compare this to the prisoner's dilemma: although the better outcome would be for two prisons to not rat each other out and cumulatively get lighter sentences, two will always rat each other out and get a worse outcome for both of them. The issue is people usually look out for their interests first and ironically this usually ends up hurting everybody. 

Although we like to put black rationality as a staple in distinctly black storylines, the reality is that in this context where you need to fend for yourself (which is the reality that blacks live in). Yes, maybe people would panic and look at the light even when they were told not to. What does that say about respecting authority in nature? Sometimes something we traditionally see as the right thing is an instinct that leads to bad outcomes. For example, when the humanity in the group pondered about leaving Jeff out in the cold, dead, that could have been fatal. On one hand, humans are too selfish for their own good but also are too humane at times. I wonder if in the days before society, before civilization, the mentality of people was different along with the different forms of evolution because I am honestly shocked the human race survived through so many historic events: human nature makes little sense and is flawed.

Building on this theme, there is an interesting parallel to “Nope” in how looking at the enemy, representing a primal fear, leads to your demise. In a civilized society, you have to look away and not face your fear directly due to being conditioned to respect authority. I think this is representative of black trauma and the coexistence of blacks in a white society: you need to blend in, assimilate, straighten your hair, and bleach your skin to just barely fit a mold. You feel like you can’t confront racism because the enemy is too strong so you choose to survive by looking the other way. Maybe the characters' actions are a result of still being cultured by a society that keeps them in a box, so when it comes to a primal battle for their lives, black are unable to fend for themselves. Maybe this is the ultimate representation of free will in an unrestricted society.

4.

        To Trauma Porn or Not: Which Candyman was a Better Black horror Film?

How traumatic and how scary should a film be? Keep in mind we are studying horror and not a documentary, so a large aspect is how enjoyable something is. If a film draws on previous experiences a collective archetype shares to create an entertaining or thrilling experience, I think trauma porn is fine. However, the issue is when horror creates new trauma. A major criticism of trauma porn and how the term began specifically points to how black horror is making the plotline play out too realistically. While it is not exactly boring, it is not exactly entertaining to watch an everyday scenario play out. That does not mean it is wrong, but generally, this type of trauma porn should be avoided because it simply does not fit this genre of entertainment. I also fundamentally believe that elements of horror in a film should progress the plot but that is just my opinion. Still, everybody has subjective tolerances and sensitivities about what is classifies as horror (for example phobias) but what makes this easier is that we are dealing with a specific subculture within society so we can make better generalizations and guidelines specifically tailored for those who generally cares for and watches this subgenre. Generally speaking, if age guidelines are followed, generally a film should not create a trauma that impairs your everyday life. For instance, most of the class seemed to become afraid of saying Candyman (including me) five times, however, that does not disturb my daily life processes. I think that specifically, the purpose of black film should be to progress society in some way by depicting messages. This is because of the dire state that society views blacks around the world. The very clear part is that there are many ways to portray the same message. Take for instance very old horror films. There often was not so much as a drop of blood or an instance of contract physical violence still the movie can thrill. This is little excuse to use trauma porn for no reason.

Considering all of this, I would say Jordan Peele’s Candyman is a better film than the 90’s version, regardless of my enjoyment from either film. There is senseless violence for the sake of violence and little does it portray a message other than painting black men as oppressors or gangbangers. This shows how far the evolution of blacks in film has come. Although neither film is more valid or important as they are respective products of their time periods, in retrospect, from the position of an observer in the current day, it is fair to say that one film is better than the other because we can attach these two films to a specific subculture and subgenre. The 90’s candyman was problematic, to say the least. Seriously. In the 90’s film, Candyman had this King Kong-esque vibe ( remember the brown coat that looks like gorilla fur?!) by pursuing a white, blonde chick. It is not a good look and I do not think that film, considering it is black horror, should be present. I think by even having black characters you have this responsibility to understand that yes you are making black horror (I talk about this in my previous blog post) and to follow certain guidelines because of how important this film is to a culture.

5.

                    Some things are just not Okay!

    A key purpose of film is to change society. In “ the Lake,” a superpredator takes the form of an attractive school teacher who preys on young little boys who don’t know any better. This is not a typical form associated with a predator and it brings awareness to the different forms that predators can take on. It helps build confidence for people who have stories of abuse but are too afraid to come out because of fear that they will not be taken seriously. It is especially important to continue the trend that this film sets: that some things are just not okay and need to be called out publicly. There is no better way to do this than through entertainment. Film is one of the easiest intellectual media to process and is widely accessible which is why there is such a powerful tool. Many horrible acts would not be as common if they were more publicly condemned. A great number of people identify by the things they watch so it is important to create good examples even in genres like horror. 

     Someone like R Kelly went years and years without being accountable although public sex tapes were floating around about his whereabouts. He talked about his pedophilia on camera and interviews, and he was very open about it. At the time, this was no big deal but with the accessibility of media, everything changed. There are countless examples of this: where the media and society have a greater say than current laws and norms. Things can change and laws can change if there is just more awareness brought to certain topics. Some ills are so fundamentally wrong that just bringing awareness is enough to stop them. 

Films and mass entertainment directly influence what is okay and what is not. It is a chain reaction when regular people like me call out higher authorities, influencers, and celebrities who make money and exist thanks to their audience or subordinates. In turn, these important people are forced to do something to change society and reflect what the majority wants. There is still just too much bs in society to not be creating films without any messages. They do not necessarily have to be explicitly present and detract from the experience. Many times in films, even like “The Lake” we recognize the existence of something in a neutral way and that is enough to bring awareness. This is the purpose of documentaries. In the entertainment world, we can just dumb down the message but achieve an even greater result since more people are watching this type of media. It is at least better to have a simple underlying message for positive change than to have none at all and be complicit in ill going on in society.

6.

        Were Adam and Eve Racist? What does the Comet teach us about Racism?

It is clear that race is a social construct by definition and that racism is a societal concept but what if society broke down? No, not a zombie appololypze. Worse. Society no longer existed at all. This is exactly what “The Comet” covers. It seems that there is only one man left on earth (Jim) and he is black and one woman on earth is white (Julia). This is a little different from “The Abandon” considering that for some time there was no form of group setting at all. At first, they get along but what does that say about the nature of racism when things fall apart? Is it a natural occurrence? If so, why would we distinguish people based on skin color and not the shape of their noses or how big someone’s toes were? If I were that woman I would think that the stereotype of the black man as a physically dominant being would strike fear of superiority or dominance or maybe fear of retaliation for the wrongdoings of whites. White culture is built on secretly copying blacks but hating them. Considering the features in which blacks are superior beacons of culture and physical beings, it would be very plausible to base the root of racism on the superior attributes of black people versus what they are most easily identified by. 

I think what keeps racism alive is like a self-feeding loop. Some people might not agree with it particularly but when they are thrust into a group setting, their opinions are strengthened. It is difficult to believe that there are millions of people who independently concluded that black people were to be hated since the reality is quite the opposite of negative stereotypes. Racism is fundamentally not true because it is defined as a bias that clouds rational and neutral thinking. It is an error in processing information. A lot of times you can appreciate something beautiful or superior from afar without hurting it but I think that vile feelings of hatred/racism are learned. 

    As long as there are strong, influential figures of racism, people will feed this belief into each other. It is almost like a zombie virus that makes people impaired to logic. In the modern days, this takes place through virtual communications. In communications studies, these are known as media bubbles and this is what account for people who have radical beliefs. The reality is that most people are towards the center of things but this radical majority is very dangerous as they keep the sentiments of racism alive.

 I think in the Comet racism is depicted in a very accurate way: it really can never fully go away. The plot at the end aligns with that when Jim is thrust right back into the society that existed before. I think this is similar to a nuclear arms race: once it starts there is no going back. However, the silver lining is that there are serious ways to change society for the better through that very same media that brings people apart. 

[reallybadblackoutpoems]

twelve golden threads (1997) - aliske webb

“why would you willingly live in utah”

[cassscainss]

back on my Nope (2021) bullshit

[SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!]

But i've seen a lot of people say the popping noise of the jellyfish form of jean jacket is meant to be the balloon pop from gordy's home, and i don't agree. i don't think it's even close. Due to my (bear with me here) misguided stint a film major, I can't help but be fully of the camp that the big dark box in the center of the jellyfish is the same size and aspect ratio of the original cameras, pre "moving" pictures. the kind of curtain over the head, long cord with the button cameras from the late 1800s/early 1900s. the same cameras used to take the the very photos that were strung together of the jockey on the horse to make the first "moving" picture image. to me, that's why jordan plays that famous clip inside the box at the start of the movie. it's meant to link the two, and present the idea that it's not a mouth, or it's not primarily a mouth anyways. It's an eye. It's the eye of the beast just as it's the eye of the camera, the sensor of the camera. As it stares right at you, jean jacket sees you just as the camera sees you. jean jacket longs to consume you through its eye just as the camera longs to consume you through its eye. to me, every time it opened that eye for a second, it looked like the shutter opening up, which is how a camera lets light in to hit the sensor and take the photo. and the loud pang sounds exactly like the sound of one of those old cameras going off, at the press of a button. the poof and the bang of the flash powder with the snap of the shutter. as if jean jacket was taking picture after picture of a black man on a horse. and in that way, to jordan peele, it seems, there is no difference between a giant alien mindlessly consuming human flesh for a brief moment of satiation before moving on and a camera mindlessly consuming a subject to spit out an image for an audience to have a brief moment of satiation before moving on. does that make you go cuckoo bananas or what.