I just remembered this scene in hunger games and how fucking mind-boggling it is
Not only did Peeta learn like world-class level cake decoration in his time as a baker in one of the poorest districts –
but he had a cake decorating/face paint kit with him
and while gravely wounded sat for hours, presumably with a mirror, painting his own face to look like a rock
Continue reading “Had to get this off my chest”Spoilers throughout.
Both The Babadook and Midsommar explore the horrors of living with grief; but the films’ resolutions are as different as night and day.
Continue reading “The Babadook and Misdommar: Resolving Grief”
Poker is rarely portrayed accurately in films. And that’s not really a big deal, considering that poker is not usually the driving force of a film’s plot, and is more likely used as a dramatic tool or maybe even just as a vehicle for a joke.
But even in films where the poker is central to the story, for some reason it’s a game that filmmakers struggle to get right.
Even in the cult classic poker movie Rounders, starring A-listers Matt Damon, Ed Norton and John Malkovich, there are laughable moments – most notably main character Mike’s story of a successful preflop 4-bet against Johnny Chan (following an hour of not playing a single hand) that is supposed to indicate his innate poker prowess, but instead shows that the writers probably haven’t played much live poker before.
So if a movie all about poker doesn’t get the poker right, what hope do other films have?
Continue reading “The Weirdest Thing About the Poker in Casino Royale”
I’ve just rewatched Room 237, a documentary about Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining and some of the fan theories surrounding it.
In my opinion, much of the purported hidden messages and subtext passionately presented by the fanatical Kubrickians in Room 237 can be disregarded as mere coincidence, continuity errors, or pure fantasy (for example, one pertinent theory is that Kubrick faked the moon landings and is using the film as his own personal catharsis).
However it’s hard to argue that Kubrick wasn’t a meticulous filmmaker who was keen on symbolism, imagery, and subliminal messaging. And there are certainly big themes in The Shining that are hard to explain away.
Kubrick made many changes from Stephen King’s novel in adapting it for the screen. Kubrick even tells us this at the outset of the film – he changes the colour of Jack’s car from red, as it is in the book, to yellow. Later in the film, as Hallorann is driving towards the hotel in a snowstorm, he passes a red VW beetle that has been crushed by a large truck. The shot lingers.
Kubrick has made his point. This is his story now.
Continue reading “Pushing Us Away to Bring Us Deeper: The Shining, Caché, and Funny Games”
Warning: contains spoilers for Oblivion throughout
When Tom Cruise’s agent approached him in 2011 about starring in a new science-fiction epic, you can assume the pitch was something along the lines of “You get to fly your own spaceship, endure two different women vying for your affection, and live in a version of Earth mostly populated by your clones.”
The idea of a planet-sized ego also went over well with most audiences, and the film made a $120 million profit while receiving mostly positive reviews.
On the surface, Oblivion appears as an innocent sci-fi adventure: unwitting (but steadfast) hero discovers that world is not what it seems and subsequently frees humanity from oppression.
But it must also be included in the lofty and ancient archives of “hetero-male-sexual-fantasy posing as imaginative storytelling.”
Continue reading “Oblivion is a hetero-male fantasy wrapped up in mommy issues”
Pat's Hyperbolic Arboretum 