Written In Regard

Things are always written in regard to other things

[writteninregard]

In Regard to Blade Runner

I found this movie dreadfully unwarranted of it's universal praise. I would like to emphasize that I have little to no knowledge of the analysis associated with this movie, other than that it exists. I went in with minimal foreknowledge and was disappointed by how much I didn't care. I found the characters uninteresting and while the set up is cool I felt it would have served a less serious movie better, for me anyway. I did get something out of two scenes however. The first being when Harrison Ford's character initiates a violent crime on a robot, I felt that the rough and unexpected presentation of that scene did snap me back into the narrative for a while. The second was the bit around the last act when the villain female robot is fighting. That sequence was both fun and visually interesting. The rest of the movie is in its way visually interesting but truthfully this was the only part that absorbed me. Conclusively the movie's renown, I think, was the ultimate downfall of the film for me. Those who love deeply symbolic and "artsy" (I know this term is frowned upon and I would love a better adjective if anyone has one) movies will get a lot from this movie, and have probably already seen it. Maybe I just didn't get it...

This was originally posted on Letterboxd.com

This was written in regard to Blade Runner, a film created by Ridley Scott, Hampton Fancher, David Peoples, and others.

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In Regard to X-Men: Days of Future Past

This movie does so much so well to service not only its audience but also its fractured series. I am considerably more forgiving than a lot of people of the various misgivings presented throughout the X-Men Films Universe (or whatever they are actually calling it), I can see that few if any of them are particularly thoughtful films, but when it comes to superheroes, for me, not much beats out X-Men. The original trilogy of films was my first experience with the characters and to this day they are what I think of, even being more versed in the various canons. So going into this movie which was said to “retcon” all of these movies that I like I was skeptical as to how it could handle this in a way that appeased not only the vocal majority of people who do not like several entries in the series and those like me who do. I won’t be discussing the intricacies, but to me the way the manipulation of time is presented and explained is both interesting and faithful to all of the series. That out of the way this movie is a great ride in the way that the whole series has been while also going a step above the others by presenting a fairly unique take on an intricate plot type. The action while sparse is exceptionally “comic-booky” which I’m sure isn’t for everyone it is exactly how I like my superheroes. The real draw for me though has always been the characters, and this movie delivered in full force. The “old” series actors have all mastered their characters and since this is likely the finale for a good few of them it is nice to see even the couple of scenes with them. Also a real impression for me came from the “new” actors, who while rarely “side by side” with the old manage to carry their own against them. For those who love the superheroes and their stories this movie will likely not disappoint, but as with most I don’t imagine those with no interest in superheroes will get much from it.

Having read the name sake arc from the classic comic series after the movie I honestly wasn’t expecting much. I should probably preface this with the fact that the vast majority of classic comics do not appeal to me, I have read a few main stays and honestly I just don’t enjoy them. So with this in mind I did not like the “Days of Future Past” arc. It is two issues and while one of my main complaints about many old comics is the bloated method of storytelling this one really feels under told. I know that some books have been written since that expand on it but as a standalone story it is mostly just boring. I find the movie a wonderful re-imaging of elements into something that appeals much more to me. I will also mention the extended “Rogue Cut”. In this version they extend various conversations and up the rating to a harder PG-13 in a way that manages not to break the tone in any way and gets away with a few more action shots that flow a bit better. The selling point however is that two subplots that were originally cut for time and pacing are added back in, one of which explains why Anna Paquin is in the opening credits and essentially not in the movie. The subplots being added back is certainly reason enough for fans of the franchise to re-watch it, but I will be somewhat contrarian in that, while as a fan I did enjoy this version, as a movie cutting these parts down does pace the movie better and I understand why it was done. In the end I would recommend watching the theatrical cut first, and if you like it, put some time between it, and then watch this extend version.

This was originally posted on Letterboxd.com

This was written in regard to X-Men: Days of Future Past, A film created by Bryan Singer, Simon Kinberg, and others.

[writteninregard]

In Regard to The Hunt

I found a deep level of genuine sympathy in this one. Like many American people I'm sure, I only watched this because it was a critically acclaimed movie with Show Hannibal/Bad guy from Casino Royale. A pleasant surprise came when the narrative of the film presents and builds on an unsung but real event. The film addresses that what children are exposed to cannot be controlled nor filtered no matter how hard we try. The world is unfiltered and traumatization can happen in a second, and this movie presents that in an incredibly subtle piece of reality. Shifting to the tragedy of Mads Mikkelsen's character I found one of the most unfortunate and all together plausible stigmas a human being can be given, and in this one of my personal greatest fears was discovered. This is a human story about a human problem presented in a harsh but accommodating way. I would recommend it to those who like to see how these things can play out, for better or worse.

(This is a Danish language film that was watched with English subtitles by someone who does not know Danish)

This was originally posted on Letterboxd.com

This was written in regard to The Hunt, a film created by Thomas Vinterberg, Tobias Lindholm, and others.

[writteninregard]

In Regard to Manhunter

This is a keen example of how a re-imagining of tone can work. The movie being directed by Michael Mann in the 80’s essentially turns it into an episode of Miami Vice, or so I’ve been told. I’ll be honest in that I have never watched Vice, but if it is anything like this movie I certainly will be. The movie has a balance of gritty and artistic visuals that I would never have thought could carry this story, but it really does. William Petersen’s Will Graham provides an incredibly subtle presentation of the character’s unique mind. Watching him figure out the mystery is made interesting through his performance alone, the movie has several scenes that are just long shots on Peterson talking and these work wonders. The little we see and learn about the villain is what drives the genuine fear he provides, that little bit is enough. Rounding out the series trio we have this movies version of Lecter, here called Lecktor. Brian Cox presents what I see as the most casual version of the character. Being the only pre-Silence of the Lambs movie made in the franchise we keep the character to his originally intended supplemental role, providing some 3 scenes in the movie. In those 15 minutes I got enough to be satisfied by his role in Will’s past and the relationship between the two. I can suggest this to people who like the franchise and enjoy different interpretations, and outside of the franchise to people who enjoy the 80’s gritty cop shows. Over all I found this as a great start to the various film canons

I should also bring up that I read the book basis Red Dragon first. I greatly enjoyed it and this is one of the few times, for me, where I found the book to be superior. Honestly they are hardly comparable, as most re-interpretations should be, but I know some people like to see comparisons. The book does a better job of elaborating on the characters past, but of course the style calls for it as where the film does not. I will continue to point out my personal rankings of the books and the movies, but honestly as far as I’m conserved they are two different stories.

In write-ups covering my experiences with the Hannibal Lecter franchise I would like to note the order in which I experienced its various incarnations. Before I had ever seen any of the films or read the books I watched the first two seasons (at the time the only two available) of Brian Fuller’s Hannibal. I managed to maintain little to no foreknowledge of even the well-known movies throughout my life up to the point of having the show recommended to me during the second seasons run. I found the series to be one of the best executed stories being told through network television, certainly at the time if not ever. The hiatus between the second and third seasons was the time in which I did my reading up on the versions of the story which came before and in turn read/watched them all in order of release. I can start by saying my impressions were and are mostly positive, and even though none of the other versions took over my mind like the show did, they all provide very strong and often unique interpretations on the same world. I have always been a fan of the idea of re-imaginings that manage to use elements of existing fiction to create a unique experience, and this franchise is seething with this motif.

This was originally posted on Letterboxd.com

This was written in regard to Manhunter, a film created by Michael Mann and others.

[writteninregard]

In Regard to City on Fire

It’s very cool to see the story of Reservoir Dogs starting at another point in the timeline. I watched this movie solely because people have said that the Quentin Tarantino movie Reservoir Dogs is a “scene for scene” rip-off of it. Honestly up until around the last half hour of this movie I wasn’t seeing it. Some plot elements were similar but certainly no more than any other undercover cop story. That said those 30 minutes are very similar. I personally still think that it’s more re-imagining than anything and I am fine with it, but I can certainly see that this would make some people think differently of the Tarantino movie. All that said this movie is a fun tale following an undercover cop played by Chow Yun-fat, who makes the character an interesting person to follow and managed to make me care a bit about what happens. The movie starts well before he actually goes undercover with the robbers and seeing his personal life builds a more sympathetic character, which helps the movie. Few if any of the other characters are particularly stand out, but I will say that for how little they actually interact the criminal that he bonds with is very well built up. At this point in time the reason to recommend this movie is as a look at what influenced the future of police films, not just the obvious but I did feel the echoes of many different American crime fictions to come.

(This Chinese film was watched with English subtitles by someone who does not know Cantonese or Mandarin)

This was originally posted on Letterboxd.com

This was written in regard to the film City on Fire, created by Ringo Lam and others

[writteninregard]

In Regard to Christmas Town

I decided to hit the “Flix Roulette” button and of course the first that came up was a cheap Christmas movie. What?: Christmas Town (2008) follows the story of Liz, a self-made real-estate agent and single mother to Mason who, in spite of the impending holidays is only interested in making sales. So much so in fact that her son cannot even convince her to buy a tree. However when Liz’s father calls saying he’s moved to a new town she packs up her kid and heads out to see why her usually strict father is suddenly making huge life changes. Of course the Benz breaks down just as they get into town. Liz and Mason meet with Jack, Liz’s father, who has suddenly not only moved to this strangely Christmas themed town, but also taken to being the town’s cool old guy and top chef at the diner. Apparently after a reevaluation of his life after his wife died made Jack realize he was a terrible person and he wants to do right by his family. We are introduced to Liz’s creepy love interest, the D-tier Rob Lowe looking Kevin and some other things happen. Turns out the town is actually a front for Santa’s workshop, though it’s arguable how well the townsfolk keep this secret as they all have the subtlety of Hannibal Lecter. Mason finds the workshop, that or a Target as the green screen would have you believe and meets Santa in his locker room. Then he leaves, and through this all Liz has found the Christmas spirit, or at least she tells her kid that and hooks-up with Kevin.

Thoughts: Honestly it’s a Lifetime type movie, for all I know it was a Lifetime movie. It’s harmless and could be a fine “Week of Christmas” afternoon movie to put on while doing something else, but it holds no real value otherwise. The acting is TV-tolerable and the story, while anti-climactic, does flow along at a steady beat. There are better things to watch during the holidays.

Reading Deeper: Liz not actually being happy but just giving in for the sake of her kid was probably not the intention of the movie, however it does make it more interesting and actually showcases a very real sensation that a number of parents have to go through around the holidays. Kevin is also very much a loser who is beneath Liz, but the movie makes her settle, at least for the holidays. Settling is something people tend to learn to do as they age and this is Liz’s “coming of age” story in that sense.

Could Be Better: The Santa Clause, A Christmas Carol, any other Christmas movie were a person hates the season and then loves it.

Could Be Worse: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ , I’m not that knowledgeable about Christmas movies. I would recommend this for a family over something like Silent Night, Deadly Night. Well . . . depending on the family.

This was written in regard to Christmas Town (2008), a film created by George Erschbamer, Ron McGee, and others.

[writteninregard]

In Regard to The Room

This was a comparison written several years ago pointing out similarities between the The Room (2003) and classical romanticism.

In the 2003 film The Room we follow the protagonist Johnny (Tommy Wiseau) down the long road for betrayal. Johnny is currently engaged to his beautiful fiancée Lisa (Juliette Danielle) and things are going swimmingly. However starting with the loss of his promotion at work Johnny’s life begins falling down around him. Lisa is discovered to have been having an affair with Johnny’s best friend Mark (Greg Sestero) and this leads the characters to question what love, commitment, and trust truly are.

Several dark romanticist elements can be found throughout the film. Most obvious of which is in the physiological condition and deterioration of Johnny throughout the story. They film opens on a somewhat down sided note having heard Johnny was rejected from a promotion at work again and continues to go downhill with at best a melancholy feeling taking over at some simple nature scenes, the most peaceful and pleasant of the film. The key moments however are when Johnny first gets hard evidence that Lisa is cheating on him. He is suspicious up to this point but actually hearing it sets him over the edge. He goes on an emotion powered tirade through his house obliterating anything in his way. This is the point in which the dark romanticist idea of suffering physiological effects of sin really shows, as it also ends with an unhappy turn based in desperation and loneliness much like its dark romanticist counterparts. Dark Romantics ideas also show in the character of Mark. At one point in the film Mark is revealed to have shaved his beard which he had throughout the film. This is also the point when the viewer learns that Mark has become content with cheating with his best friend’s girl, while up to this point he was sort of forced into it. This shows the idea of negative or menacing facts hiding behind nature. While not specifically spiritual in this since, we can still make a connection between the natural look of the character hiding the darker intents. The last key idea of placing the individual’s intuition over that of societies is shown in Lisa. We clearly see her state that she intends to cheat on Johnny and without regret. She goes against the norms of society and even that of her friends whom she first thinks will see it her way, but in the end do not. This is almost a twist on the classic dark romanticist idea of the individual being over society, in that in this case, it is the antagonist who is against it. However the same traits and tropes are used in the characterization which makes for the comparison.

A comparison can be made of the film to Poe’s story The Masque of the Red Death, particularly in the characters of Johnny and Prince Prospero. Both go through the majority of their story knowing or at least having suspicion of their own unavoidable dilemma, while still doing nothing about it. That is until the problem confronts them face to face and they both go onto have a psychological episode which ultimately results in their demise. Both characters support the basic characterization of many protagonists in dark romanticist literature, and are quite similar.

This was originally posted on Letterboxd.com

This was written in regard to The Room, a film created by Tommy Wiseau and others.

[writteninregard]

In Regard to Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me

This movie made me sad and uncomfortable. A few prefaces, I watched this movie less than an hour after the finale of the series, I knew it was a prequel story with only a few elements of epilogue, I knew that the focus was removed from a lot of the prominent show characters which I was okay with in theory, and I knew that it was rated R...

I watched the series well after I discovered it and thankfully managed to go in with next to no knowledge of the show, but am also glad I waited because seeing a plethora of modern television before this series from 1990 made everything in the show that much more impressive. I was enthralled with everything about the show, and for the sake of talking about the movie I will address two of them 1. The beautiful lighting that made the town and the show look like another world. The lighting and set design made this town for me. 2. The wonderfully stark contrast between the 90% of the show that was a fun melodrama about a weird town, and the 10% that was a rough reality shock that made you feel uncomfortable for a moment, before jumping back to the whimsical melodrama. In the show these elements are dispersed sparingly and that made me feel the impact every time, subtle and forthright alike. With the movie I felt that both of these elements were completely lost. The direction is much more like any other movie and the “look” of the town is lost completely. I honestly went in expecting this, I know movies are made different, but that doesn’t make it any less disappointing to someone who saw that as a key element of the universe. That said I was willing to forgive that if I garnered enjoyment form the rest of the film. The balance between whimsy and reality I felt was the much more meaningful loss. In the show those sequences of reality were sparse and that made them matter. In the movie, past the first half hour which I will address later, the entire movie is that stark reality. In essence the movie shows the events leading up to and including the crime which is the focus of the shows mystery. Slowly discovering these elements after the fact is balanced while seeing them in full form all at once is just depressing. That leads me into what I think could have, maybe not saved, but helped this movie – it should have been limited to a PG-13.

I want to emphasis that I try not to be a prude. Like all other things in the world cursing and nudity and hardcore violence, the R trifecta, can be used meaningfully or in a fun way. However, to unhinge a canonical universe in such a drastic way not only takes me out of the fiction, but also in the case of “Twin Peaks” makes it feel like a completely different franchise. Obviously the network television series did not have heavy cursing or nudity because of its showcase, but just because you can doesn’t mean it should be introduced after the fact. Seeing a character, who we have come to know how they speak and what they act like changed in such a way, even though it seems simple, is very jarring, and in a universe where the jarring moments have always been sparse the common place use of “The F Word” becomes overpowering. I felt much the same about the sequences with nudity. In the show the handful of scenes of sexual deviance were most often shown in such a way that while dramatic were not jarring. The movie does nudity as if it was just common place in this universe, which it wasn’t previously, and this again takes me out of the movie. Quite honestly I think it could have been used in, say, one scene (if you’ve seen the movie you can probably guess which) and it would have provided a very jarring scene that could have contrasted the whimsical rest of the movie. This leads the most important problem, there is no whimsy in this movie. There is an attempt in the first 30 minutes of this 2 ¼ hour movie. This sequence does not work for a few reasons. The first being that the lack of impact on the rest of the movie makes the entire sequence completely unnecessary and clearly only a forced way to bring Kyle MacLachlan’s character into the movie, which he has nothing to do with. Taking the action out of the town at all seems to me like an obvious bad choice, but making the world outside of the town “weird” like the town is even odder to me. I always felt that the unexplained contrast between the town and the world was interesting but should not have been shown to keep it that way, but that’s just me. This sequence teaches us nothing we don’t already know about the mystery (and this applies to the whole movie, but if we feel the need to tell the Laura story then at least the rest of the movie does focus on that.) The perhaps ironic part is that I would have quite honestly preferred to have seen an entire movie about this odd little sequence because at least it was a modicum of fun. The rest of the movie is made up of nothing but those “jarring” moments which are not fun unless they has the “whimsy” surrounding to offset them. I’m sure I can find more I didn’t like but I would like to address a few things I did. The acting is fantastic and it is cool to actually see Sheryl Lee play Laura, even if I felt that she was limited in range by the direction of the movie. Frank Silva is still the creepiest on screen presence ever and his parts are fantastically done. I have no idea who they could get to replace the late actor in the future. The upcoming continuation of the show could go any way as far as I can tell, but I am sure it will be more in tune with this movie than the show. I want to try to be optimistic in saying that perhaps those obtuse “jarring” moments will me better distributed or at least presented in a way that makes sense, since in this series time will have actually passed allowing for change to make more sense than characters acting differently in the past.

Needless to say in the end I did not like this movie. People who watch the show and like it will watch this hoping for more of the show, and perhaps it will work better for others, but for me the movie was easily the weakest entry into the canon. In light of this I am interested in watching the some 90 minute compilation of deleted scenes that may add to the movie, but honestly I don’t anticipate that changing my opinion on the movie. For those like me who were disappointed in the movie I would direct you to the official audio book/play that was released mid-season 2 of the show called “Diane…” while it serves next to no importance to the series it is much more in tune with the universe and I found the 45 minutes far more enjoyable than any of the movie.

(This was written by someone who had seen the television series before the movie and watched the 2 hour 14 minute version of the film)

Originally Posted on Letterboxd.com

This was written in regard to Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, a film created by David Lynch and others