A hundred movies and two videos

[la_belle_laide]

I've been watching movies in my time off school (along with slowly feeding the tail-end of Qualia into our fun critique group, among other things,) and it's time to make some comments on those films. Keep in mind that most of them have actors from Inception in them. I really wanted to see Inception again, and while I usually go to the movies by myself, this time I waited on this friend and that friend, and no one else felt like seeing it. Now that it's probably too late (it's not playing locally anymore,) I've just been watching the movies that the actors did before it.

It's not that I fell in love with Inception or anything, 'cause I didn't. It was nifty. But I've seriously seen better movies and I don't really get all the hype. What I really loved what the cast. (And the costumes. Uhh yeah. :D )

First I watched Batman Begins to have another peek at Cillian Murphy. Yup, he's always pretty. I first saw him in 28 Days Later, and then in Red Eye. He's a pretty good creeper. But I like him better as the nice guy. Batman Begins was all right, I guess. Sorta. It didn't do much for me. Maybe I'm just not a Batman fan. Not a huge fan of what's-his-head either, the guy who plays him, the one who DOES NOT. HAVE. THROAT CANCER. (Still hilarious.) Umm but Cillian Murphy was creepy.

Then, on the recommendation of some kind folks, I watched Mysterious Skin. This is a story about two boys who were raped as children, one of them repeatedly, and how it affects them as teens and young adults. One kid forgets it all, and believes he was abducted by aliens. The first kid looks at it as his sexual awakening, and later becomes a homosexual hustler, an emotional black hole. Umm, OMG, that kid is Arthur, the Point Man. And, I don't really have a lot of coherent thoughts about the movie. It was totally stunning, I mean subjectively a fantastic movie. The acting was incredible (except for Jeffrey Licon who just didn't ring true to me, and seemed very self-conscious the entire time,) and the whole thing was just, wow, brilliantly done. It was a great movie that I never want to see again in my entire life. Like seriously, never ever. I watched portions of it from between my fingers which I kept over my eyes for many scenes. And I couldn't sleep that night either. Yeah, it was really, really horrifying.

And a few days before that, I watched The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo or rather, Män Som Hatar Kvinnor or, "Men Who Hate Women." The real one, I mean, obviously not the stupid American version that they're only starting work on now. :/

Mysterious Skin and Dragon Tattoo – two very different movies, both with really explicit rape scenes that were almost impossible to watch, at least without flinching.

I found that I felt moral outrage over Lisbeth, and anger – but Lisbeth gets her revenge in the most hardcore way. I sort of cheered during the revenge scene (though it was so much "better" in the book.) You get to see Lisbeth kick ass in return.

In Mysterious Skin there's an equally unflinching rape scene, but the pain never gets resolved and just ends in more destruction. It was just pathetic and heartbreaking. Seriously, will never watch this movie again.

Which is in no way to say it was a bad movie, or an unnecessary one. Obviously rape culture is rampant, it's actually the norm. People think it's hilarious, just a joke. This goes for men and women, both as victims, as perpetrators and as tacit approvers. I would dare anyone to watch this movie and think it was funny, or "hot," but on the other hand, I already know (just looking around the internet) that this mindset exists. The person who recommended the film to me told me that all over various LJ communities, people have made .gifs of the movie's most violent scenes because they were "hot." So, yeah. While I think difficult movies like this are necessary, I also don't believe that they change many people's views, in the end. I remember thinking the same thing of American History X, back when that one came out. If you hate the mindset, then you don't need to be schooled. If you think the mindset is okay, a movie isn't going to change you. Unfortunately.

Back to Dragon Tattoo, I wonder how the American version will treat Lisbeth's story? I'm almost afraid to find out.

Last night, My Wonderful Glassworker Friend came over. We had pizza, ice cream, and watched Shutter Island. My first observation on typing that is how unfortunate it is that the "U" and the "I" are right next to each other on the keyboard, seriously. Okay, but anyway, yeah, so what a mindscrew!

First lemme get this out of the way: I fought really hard, for a really long time, to not like Leonardo DiCaprio. I really tried, after Titanic, to make him a huge DNW. But then he was good in Catch Me If You Can, and The Departed, and Inception. During those films I kind of grudgingly gave him the ole, "Well, he was good in this, but he still did Titanic." Now I have to admit that he's been pretty consistently good since The Big T – at least in everything I've seen him in. Oh well. I remember that I loved him when he was a kid, because he did such a great job in The Basketball Diaries, which, oh look, another totally hideous yet honest look at the loss of innocence.

So, I guess I like him. Lately he seems to play older men. So hard to believe he's two years younger than I am. O_O

Oh, so Shutter Island! Well sure, we spent maybe about 9% of the time making Inception jokes (some similar concepts there, I guess you could say,) but it was a totally different kind of mindscrew, at the end of the day. And now for SPOILERS.

I spent some time trying to make a case for Teddy Daniels being right about everything. I kinda sorta wanted to believe that the doctors were truly the bad guys and they had set him up, totally destroyed him, turned him insane, planted ideas in his head (INCEPTION,) and that he was right the whole time.

That, like the spinning top at the end of Inception, reality was up to your interpretation.

I mean, maybe the woman in the cave was real. Maybe the migraine pills were psychotropic drugs. Why would they give the most dangerous and intelligent person the run of the hospital? Why would they let truly insane people interact with him? Why would his primary caretaker abandon him to possibly die on the cliffs, and why would the same doctor leave him the hell alone in Ward C? That doesn't make any sense!

I wanted to make the case that, yes, even if he did did kill his wife, but that doesn't make him insane, or even evil. If, in fact, Crazy Bitch murdered their children and she asked him basically to put her out of her misery. BUT. Maybe they put those ideas in his head, too? And maybe the anagram names were made up? (Although, it's kind of hard to deny that his name is an anagram of the name of the guy who he thought burned down their apartment. I guess that would be a hell of a conspiracy.)

And then, freaking, the huge storm, the electricity going out, all the crazy patients escaping, and they still don't call off their "experiment" to get him to see the truth? They don't just strap him down for a few days until calmer times and then try again?No, they send him out alone, a dangerous man among other dangerous men and women, total Bedlam, explosions, violent attacks, slippery cliffs and such. NOT VERY WISE, IS IT.

And maybe they just planted the idea in his head that all these sinister experiments were going on in the lighthouse, and then when he gets there and finds it empty, BLAM, his "delusion" comes crashing down. Maybe the experiments were going on somewhere else, and they just mindraped him to think that it was the lighthouse, so that they could prove him wrong?

So, I tried to make that case, but it's kinda hard. And the only real reason I can't make the case is because, you'd have to wonder why they'd bother with him and what they would get out of it. Like my friend said, why not just kill him? They had enough chances.

So, gotta go with "Teddy" being the delusion.

Yet I still think he was sane, and not a monster for killing his wife. And true enough, he's faking insanity at the end so that he doesn't have to live with what really happened.


I guess that's my take on it. But I was intrigued about the parts they didn't clear up ("the law of 4") so I got the book on my Kindle. (Seriously, why put that part in the movie and leave it dangling there?)

Movies, movies. Then two nights ago, SB, Jo-chan and my uncle came by and we all watched ADVENT CHILDREN. Unfortunately, it was not Advent Children Complete (which I have on my computer but didn't have time to lug the whole thing up,) but Advent Children in any form makes me happy. I was happy to later learn that we watched it on Cloud Strife's birthday. WEE. I am that much of a poodle.

Mostly though, it was good to have company.

Umm, so that's movies so far, and tonight I'm watching Brick. OMG, that kid is Arthur the Point Man. :)

Onward and downward.

Today on Twitter, my favorite agent-turned-editor (YAY for her, BOO for me, 'cause I never got to send her my query letter that I wrote specifically for her!) posted this: F--- Me, Ray Bradbury! NOT SAFE FOR WORK / CHILDREN. But hilarious! I love SF as much as the next geek and all, but damn. :)

Then after that, my fave aunt posted The Most Beautiful Song Ever. I have no idea WTF he is saying, but I laughed through the whole stupid thing. My aunt commented, rightly, that he sounds like the greased up deaf guy from Family Guy. Haha, OMG.

So those are my many movies and two videos for today.

The rest of my vaca? Mmmm, editing, watching more movies, working out, trying to finish up some Kung Fu videos... Yeah, heaven, right?

Oh, one more thing.
Tired of this style yet? Or this ginger?




Sucks, I guess, because it's the only style I know how to draw / paint, and the only character that really inspires me to put pen to tablet. :D

Okay, now I'm off to make DINNER.

Comments

[ilanlerman.wordpress.com (from livejournal.com)]

I enjoyed your ramble about Shutter Island. I had similar thoughts after seeing it, but came to the conclusion that, sure, he was insane, but the real question was about whether the doctors were benevolent or evil. Good film, though.

If you enjoy 'Brick', which I really did, other great films with 'Arthur the point man' are 'The Lookout' and '500 days of summer'. I really like him as an actor - great, quirky charisma.

Oh, and a really unlikely early appearance from Inception's 'Eames the forger' is in the campy piece of nonsense that is Star Trek Nemesis.

I saw Inception a second time, and enjoyed just as much, and even got something new out of it as you can sit back and analyse it a bit more. I get the feeling I enjoyed a bit more than you did (from your comments). Always hard to put your finger on why that is the case, but something about it affected me on a deep level. I am very into dreams (kept a dream journal for close to 21 years), which is probably the reason.

I read your chapters this evening - 20, 21 and 22, and was going to review them tonight, but I'm too tired after work and full of Indian food. I need a bit more time to ruminate over them. There is a lot to chew there!

[shonagonchan.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm glad you enjoyed my take on it! I love babbling about movies; could do it all day.

I really think he was sane at the end. He made the decision to pretend to be delusional because he knew that they would do a lobotomy, giving him the peace that he wants. This way, he won't even need delusions. I think it was his choice, because he asks the doctor if it's better to live as a monster, or to die thinking you're a good man?

I should clarify that I actually really did like Inception. I thought it was a really fun ride and very well done. MY eyes glazed over a few times during the 5th level (the snow fortress,) but on the whole, I got a lot of enjoyment out of it. It's just that, it's now rated the top movie of all time, and I can think of tons of other movies I thought were better. So it's a little overhyped.

I LOVE Tom Hardy. Did you see him in Rock N Rolla? Great film. I heart that Nemesis was fun, I just don't know thing one about the Star Trek universe. I've never even seen the TV show. :)

I'll totally check out those other films.

Looking forward to your critiques as usual! Can't begin to tell you how much they help. Also looking forward to more Lempkin. :)

[tongari.livejournal.com]

I was about to roll into bed but I saw you mention Mysterious Skin, which I really want to watch but haven't yet ;; It sounds amazing, though I do wish it had been less painful for you to watch! I kind of wish someone would write / make a movie about a homosexual relationship that didn't result in pain and death and people going crazy.

Also Leander (?) <3 <3 <3 I need to catch up with chapters!!

[shonagonchan.livejournal.com]

It's BRUTAL. And it's not really about homosexuality as much as it is about child abuse. I feel like it just so happens that one of the characters is gay. The destruction isn't because he's gay, it's because he was totally destroyed as a child. The pain and death and crazy is a result of rape. The straight kid is just as messed up. The movie is amazing - just nightmarish.

Totally recommend "Brick" which is equally amazing and much less painful, with one of the best fight scenes this side of Inception's zero gravity one, hehe. Though after all these movies I honestly don't think I could watch another person smack JGL around anymore. A bit too much, really!

Yep Leander! I'm going to try to put up some more chapters soon. I can't tell you how HAPPEEEEE it makes me that you want to keep reading. :D :D