A v. P’ed- this is when a “trailer rape” (I should own that too but I doubt it) occurs, that is to say we as an audience are given shots in the trailer that misrepresent the content of a film. A classic example of this might be the tire flying at the screen that appeared in the trailer for Twister and was never even in the movie. Now I call it A v. P’ed primarily because it rolls off the tounge but also because it is extremly apt. I can remember seeing the trailer for this long anticipated festival of ultra violence and what I saw was a bunch of Aliens and a bunch of Predators fighting it out I thought great this is what the audience for this movie wants to see. Anywho in the actual movie, in all it’s PG-13 greatness, that scene is just a quick flashback cut into the film. The true story of the film is a much lamer and more toned down narrative where there are only a few Predators and only a few Aliens. There are many other examples of this false advertising in a variety of genres and styles such as films that portray themselves as comedies but turn out to be poorly realized, trite meandering dramas. I realize that selling bullshit is a big part of the biz, but don’t cut my bullshit with sugar (this is another term I claim ownership for in all it’s vulgar glory). Sometimes I want sweetness, sometimes I want sourness, or even bitterness I just like to know what t oexpect from the crap I’m going to see so I can mentally prepare my eyes.

Yeah so now there is this . . . looks like I beat out any other namesakes so I get to be middle inital free once I make it big.

granate Seed Productions

Definitions of Film Theory and Criticism

From Biology by Campbell the 5th Ed. page 426 “The colloquial use of “theory” comes close to what scientists mean by a “hypothesis.” Campbell defines a hypothesis on page 14 as being “…a tennative answer to some question – an explanation or trial.” So a film theory could be understood as a potential explanation for what a film does. Unlike scientific theories they are grounded more in dogma and tradition but like scientific theories they must be justified by a rigid methodology of observation and analysis of facts.

Criticism is finding the proper context to judge a work of art and then applying the expectations
that come with that context to arrive at a judgement about how well the artist has fulfilled these
expectations.

” . . . or we could take my car. Gosh!”

A few months ago (back in April when it was apt) I posted about a whimsical cartoon I saw as a child and had recently found. The Cartoon is called To Spring and the guys over at RE-Frederator have just now posted it so if you want to see a pretty cool old timey toon check it out. It isn’t important that Summer is coming to an end and the Fall is beginning, the cartoon is about the cycle of Nature with Elves. Anyway it eases the pain.

While reading through the film junk blog I encountered a link to this article by Chuck Klosterman for Esquire Titled: The “Snakes on a Plane” Problem. The Article makes some good points about participatory filmmaking, the internet, and all that. I’m not sure what to make of the snakes movie. Certainly it could be a sign of the times now that Sci-Fi Channel is finally spending money to make cool stuff like Amazing Screw-On Head, Eureka, and Battlestar Galactica (Edward James Olmos EJO is awesome!) the era of Sci-Fi Channel Original movie badness might be overtaken by extra bad Hollywood crap. I think in terms of the irony factor Klosterman hit the nail on the head. If you make a movie to be bad and it is badly made then it won’t be funny at all. This is why some satire works and some doesn’t. Also if you make a movie to be sincerely scary or whatever (serious) and it is a failure at that then it can be funny (good). An example of this situation can be found in analyzing the Leprechaun franchise. The first one tried to be scary and even though it was idiotic, it was funny as all hell. By the second one the makers seemed to be in on the joke and it wasn’t as good. Then by the third one he’s in Vegas and there is some medallion thing and he seems to have forgotten all about his precious gold. In IV he’s in space! Great so he’s immortal and in his long life he’s managed to get out there into the mix of alien politics and space marines. Then for V he’s “in the hood” and for V2 he’s “back in the hood” presumably these are meant to be prequels to IV or perhaps fall outside of the regular cannon material and do not take place in the Leprachuniverse. I haven’t seen the last two Lep flicks maybe they’ve figured out how to do satire right but I’d imagine they are just something awful in that non-ironic sort of way.

I was sent this stylus top 100 music videos link awhile ago. There are a few good ones in what is an otherwise odd mix of hip hop videos and well regular “pop”. I enjoyed the Kid 606, the Pulp This is Hardcore, and New Order (generally all the 80’s videos are cool). It makes me sad that all the cool channels on TV have completely lost or forsaken what made them cool in the first place. MTV used to be cool in the 90’s, this is not just my nostalgia talking either. I’ve recently found old tapes I had of Liquid Television, The Maxx, and video countdowns (back when they played videos) and I’ve found it all to be quite enjoyable. I don’t know maybe what with computers, the internet, and DVDs we don’t need TV anymore. I guess that’s a fair point but I wonder what teens and pre-teens have to check out these days? Sure many of the cool directors of music videos have gone on to do some great movies but I wonder what will happen to this next MTV generation where Jackass is the best thing going? I just hope that esoteric, creative, and cool stuff does flourish and gain popular audience on the net such that we can eventually have a resurgence of cool stuff with sharp style and good tunes on the airwaves for regular people. Of course that assumes that the internet doesn’t get bogged down by restrictions.

It seems that, despite X3 being sort of a kill ’em off end the franchise total departure from the ensemble approach of the comics, some of the people making comic book movies might “get” them and how to do them justice. Superman Returns had some weird plot elements that for my money are still open and not conclusive. However Singer started the film proper with the original 70’s style cheesy credits and the dramatic John Williams theme that is iconic of Superman. By doing this he ensured a better connection between the previous movies and properly placed Superman Returns as the fifth movie.

A while back I posted about the upcoming Transformers film and just recently heard that it was announced at the San Diego Comic Con that the original voice actor Peter Cullen will be returning to do the voice for Optimus Prime in this movie. Both this and the Superman thing are superficial to be sure but they are important none-the-less and I like that these details are being taken into account. Surely the studio could have opted for some big name star power actor for the voice like they have in so many of these talking animal pictures but to go to the man who is Prime shows an understanding and appropriate reverence for the source material. I just hope that is also reflected in the script.

The Spiderman 3 trailer playing with Superman Returns looks pretty cool! I think we will be getting some Venom, Sandman as the incidental villian, and Harry will become the new Green Goblin (this is the climax which is the best part of any story to be sure). They are bringing the black suit out but it is a different design. Still I think Rami is going to be putting some of his personal touches on this film which looks to be much darker (usually cooler) than the first two.

On a sad note the actor Mako who was the wizard in the Conan films and did the voice for Aku on Samurai Jack and more recently Uncle Iroh in Avatar: The Last Airbender died at the age of 72. I’m not sure how many more episodes of Avatar he had recorded but this will certainly change some element of the story as Iroh was becoming more important in the second season. He had a unique voice in cartoons R.I.P.

The weekend prior to the 4th of July was the first Saturday of the Month is when the local art galleries and shops remain open serving commerce and art (punch) while the local people and tourists (but who really comes to Humboldt Co. to see Eureka) move about and check stuff out; it’s called Art’s Alive! The last evening like this back in June was quite auspicious as my brother and mum had paintings that were featured in one of the local galleries. Since they have both been painting for a few years it was a nice chance for them to get to show their stuff. Then here about 2 weeks ago they ended up with a half page article that included two large full colored images of painting that they had done. This recently local fame coincided with my brother’s band the Never Too Betters wining round 1 of an online battle of the bands competition. Anywho capitalizing on these two events my family decided to open clean up a run down old Victorian house that my Dad bought a few years ago. All part of an eventual plan to transform the downstairs of this house into a full time art gallery featuring many artists they began by featuring some of the paintings of my brother and my mom. I was there for Art’s Alive and along with a friend we got some images of the festivities as the band played to promote their candidacy in the battle of the bands which you can link to and vote for the Never Too Betters Wednesday July 12th between 8:15 AM and 10:00 AM PDT. I don’t know if they will find artistic success or maybe they already have but this counts as a festive evening around these parts so I felt obligated to post about it to spread the word onto the net.

My Brother doing his Jimi Hendrix impression. Ironic since they both usually play/played guitar.

The Band had a pretty sweet set up on the backside of the old Victorian. Behind the drummer Kevin Blevin (I kid you not I’ve know him for like 17 years) you can see a piece of wood that is supporting the delapitating stairs. The guy in green showed up with his gal and was just there to check it out; I’m the guy in the gray looking on like an A and D rep. for some indie label.

The two kids came into the showand my mom showed them a few of her paintings.

Here are a few of my brother’s paintings, I like the 3 part one on the left. My dad made the frame for him custom and it’s pretty cool.

I recently discovered a nice little show on PBS. I liked Jazz music primarily the Bebop and Bossa Nova styles and so I was delighted to find Legends of Jazz with Ramsey Lewis a half hour show each week that usually focuses on 2 musicians that have a common style or instrument. The musicians will talk briefly about their careers, inspirations, etc and then play a few songs (usually one per musician then one with both musicians). It’s a quick show that has some nice music and culture and all that stuff that PBS does really well if you know when to look. At it’s best the show has a sublime quality in viewing that I have not encountered since watching old episodes of Bob Ross. I’m pretty sure the show is syndicated nationally and may only have the 13 episodes but hopefully they will make more. Most PBS stations will probably play it in the evening (it’s on Thursday nights at 8 PM here in Humboldt). If you enjoy this sort of stuff you should check your local listings. Since it’s PBS I don’t think you need cable, to watch it just a TV and some tinfoil.