Looking for Something to Make You Melt?

Traditionally, I write film blogs for all you nutcases who can't bear to see a movie first, yourself... but, as my avid viewers have seen in the past, every now and then I break from that trend to show you something outside of my box that I find worth looking at. This is one of those times. PREPARE YOURSELVES!

City Shade/Country Sun (2010) is an Indie/Folk Rock album produced in July. The music has elements of Regina Spektor to me, as well as that delightful honesty that often accompanies acoustic musicians. It's easy to listen to, and works as a film soundtrack- even though it isn't. Many of the tracks are strong enough to bring about visual metaphors without being accompanied by any video that I've seen. They're relatable, and emotional-- not sad. They make me emote.

The album was created by local Philadelphia artist, Jesse Gimbel. He writes, performs, records, and mixes the music himself- not unlike Trent Reznor of NIN-- what's not to like about a one-man-band? Self-taught on all of the various instruments he plays, he started when he was about 14 and has worked himself up to where he's at now. A Graphic Design major, he also designed the cover for the album, seen below.

I'd have to say my favorite songs on the album are Illinois, Outburst, and Circles, though this is a really easy album to just play straight through- which I don't do often. I'm an individual song person, no real loyalty to most bands, save The Grateful Dead.

Here's the url to where you can listen to and download songs off of City Shade/Country Sun.

City Shade/Country Sun

This is Jesse Gimbel's Youtube Page for other fun things not found on the album site. :)

Youtube: Jesse Gimbel

I really like this album and I know you guys are going to give it the change it deserves.

The Fighter

The film The Fighter (2010) is a Biographical Sports Drama about Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) and his work as a stepping-stone boxer, paired up against other boxers so that he may lose and strengthen their climb to the top. Symoltaneously, he's trained by his older half-brother, Dicky Eklund (Christian Bale)- a has been boxer, who's crowning moment was taking down Sugar Ray Leonard on an HBO special, and has since fallen prey to the abuse of crack-cocaine- is being filmed by HBO for a documentary which he believes will be his "comeback." Micky's career is a family matter, and his mother, Alice Ward (Melissa Leo), is his manager. He has a gaggle of sisters who support him, but he meets a former college-athete turned bartender, Charlene Fleming (Amy Adams), who he finds himself very attracted to and he takes her out. Micky is offered by his father's friend to train in Las Vegas for the year to become a better fighter. He grapples with the idea, his family largely blaming Charlene for not immediatley saying no. His brother, frequently bailing out of windows of crack houses to spare his mother seeing him there, is arrested when he poses his girlfriend as a prostitute to get money from a stranger, and then busts the man in the act, pretending to be a cop. Micky attempts to help him, running to the arrest, but the police break his hand and arrest him as well. In trial, Micky gets off, but Dicky is sent to prison. Micky washes his hands of his brother, and with Charlene's blessing, takes the training in Las Vegas, wanting only to drift away from the life his family started for him. But, his family is not so easy to let go... and what kind of a boxer can this second-rate stepping stone amount to?

This film is based on the real-life story of Irish Boxer Micky Ward. The rights were purchased by the writers, Eric Johnson and Paul Tamasy, in 2003. When Walberg came on the project, he wanted to show the film a great deal of dignity, loving boxing movies, himself. He showed the screenplay to Martin Scorses, hoping for him as director after his work on Raging Bull many years ago. Scorses had no wish to direct another Massachusettes picture after just finishing The Departed, and was equally disinterested with directing another boxing feature. Wahlberg passed the script to Darren Aronofsky.  Aronofsky accepted, but later traded it in to work on the Robocop remake, followed by Black Swan. Wahlberg and Bale chose David O. Russel to direct, bumping Aronofsky's credit to Executive Producer. It was filmed on location in Ward's true hometown, Lowell, Massachusettes. Some interesting cinematic contributions came out of Russel's work: he elected to use the cameras of the time in the film, giving it a certain realistic quality, and he also hired the team of cameramen who did the actual HBO shooting from the fights to replace the shot-by-shot work to produce a very nice likeness.

The Fighter was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Two counts for Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Editing. It received the Oscars for Best Supporting Actor, and Melissa Leo (not Amy Adams) received the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. The two also took home Golden Globes, Broadcast Film Critics Awards, and Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Acting. As one might notice, a great deal of the acclaim following this film is in the selection of the actors and the work they produced. I would have to agree. I think that Christian Bale's performance especially was quite notable- and I am NO fan of the wife-abusing yahoo himself- but his work remains distinguished in this piece. The mother, Melissa Leo, is completely nauseating and so easy to dislike, but at the same time, so essential to the conflict of the story. Many of the roles- even those portayed by the gaggle of foul-mouthed sisters- stick with the audience. These are roles written for actors to want to play, and Wahlberg especially was completely invested in this piece... that being said, to me his performance was the most lack-luster of the bunch, but I want to credit him respectfully with his work in director selection, as I completely understand and agree with his lineup of choices for first, second, and third pick. This seems to be a film largely made by the actors, for the actors, and for the actors to explore. I think they did it.

Writing. The writing in this film was not really my favorite, but I didn't think it was bad, either. I'm not a huge fan of sports movies in general, and boxing is no exception, so the A story of the protagonist was not that interesting to me; I was much more attracted to the character of Dicky, and HIS story. This, in many ways, is a Family Drama piece, and Dicky's story is a large chunk of the conflict jigsaw mess, but the writers still chose to place the emphasis on Ward. I'm not sure I would have done such a thing if I had been the party adapting this story. To make this story about Ward is a clear and direct attempt to make another "boxing movie." But, one could argue that to make the story about Dicky is to clearly attempt to make another movie about a drug addict.

Cinematography. I did notice that there were some very interesting shots in this film, and only researching it later did I see that Russel paid such attention to his camera work. I think that's great, because in many contemporary films, the camerawork is always commercial and passable, but not necessarily interesting. This was an artistic decision and it worked really well for the subject matter.

Set design. Loved it-- very white trash; very appropriate. One thing I will note- which is really interesting- is that when I looked this film up after viewing it... this family is supposed to be Irish... but they all seem to be portraying themselves as Italians. They have the accept, and the million children- specifically daughters- and the fighting, and the set design reminds me of The Italian Bronx... it's very interesting, and I think that perhaps this has something to do with Wahlberg's great interest in Raging Bull which happens to center around Italian Boxer, Jake LaMada. The film is very much Italian, and boxers get kind of stereotyped with this "Italian-ness." Perhaps that's why the film took such a direction-- and perhaps the family, though Irishborn, really DOES talk like they're Italian- that may be natural to the piece. Whatever the reason, the design was very Massachusettes, and very realistic. Artistic.

My general opinion of this movie is, "Not bad," with a few really good scenes here and there. Would I have chosen it for Best Film of the Year? Definitely not- not even a nominee, but I can still detect the very moving nature of the film that bumped it up to such a status, and for someone who enjoys boxing movies, I'm sure this film would have been a home run.

Hanna

The film Hanna (2011) is an Action Adventure piece in which a 16-year-old girl, Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) has been raised by Erik Heller (Eric Bana), former CIA agent, to be the world's most perfect assassin. He has taught her to be strong, to kill for her food, to hunt, to be stealthy, and above all, to think on her feet, "even when I'm sleeping." He has done this so that when she flips the switch on his signal radio, and Marissa Vilders (Cate Blanchette) learns of where Erik has been hiding all these years, they will find Hanna instead of Erik, and take her into the belly of the beast. What Erik doesn't expect is that Marissa is clever enough to send another woman in her place to meet the young Hanna, and Hanna believes she has killed the "witch." She flees from capture by the CIA and embarks on an almost Road-film-esc journey to return to her father in Grimm's Fairytale Castle, Berlin Germany, but something isn't right. The DNA analysis they did on her reflects information that is making the CIA uneasy. Hanna cannot read the paper, but she takes it with her on her journey to find someone or something that can. "I also have a dog called Trudy."

The story was developed by Seth Lochhead, who also wrote the screenplay with David Farr. This is Lochhead's first feature-length screenplay, to date, and Farr's first as well, though he's currently part of another project, Paani, which is in pre-production. It was directed by Joe Wright, who also directed Pride and Prejudice and Atonement. This is the only his fourth film in directing, though he has several television series, or mini-series under his belt at this point. The scenes of Hanna and Erik's life in Finland were actually shot in or around Finland, sometimes in Germany, where temperatures could and did reach anywhere to -33 degrees. The actors comment however that despite the chill, it really helped to capture the fantasy, fairytale feel of the modern day motion picture.

Cinematography. The shooting in this film is really nice, and semi-unique. At this point there's not a lot a cinematographer can do that we've NEVER seen before, but they took some non-commerical risks in this film and in my opnion, it paid off. There are certain shots I remember, such as the upside down spinning scene of Hanna running through the CIA base, and it's remarkably similar to Sherlock Holmes, where you don't need the fancy camera work to get into the picture, but you have it anyway, and it's surprising and satisfying.

Acting. The acting in this film was really spot on, and it's important to be that way in a character piece. The most memorable performance was undoubtedly Ronan's portrayal of Hanna, which is no surprise to those who have seen The Lovely Bones because she may be young, but she's very talented. Her characters are easy to get into and explore, and she has a very memorable face.

The Score. The Chemical Brothers are responsible for this awesomesauce. The score is thumping and grinding, electric, funky, and creative, and it PERFECTLY fits the tone of the film. I'm already a fan of The Chemical Brothers, personally, so this is just one more reason to love them. This is a soundtrack I will most likely spend money on.

In general, I was very surprised to learn that most of the dominant contributing forces in this film are pretty new to the experience, not having a lot to say for themselves yet. Hanna does NOT watch like an amateur piece, it watches very well. It's smooth and easy to look and and listen to. The story itself isn't the most unique thing you've ever heard of, but the CHARACTERS are great. I would definitely reccomend this film to a friend, and I think more people should go see it! Especially since it's main opponent at this point is Arthur, which is TANKING the box office. Save yourself $11 and go see Hanna! (PS: What's up with all the first name pieces?!)

Look

Look (2007) is a Thriller/Drama juxtaposition of the lives of a teenage girl and her quest for male domination (Spencer Redfield), a high school teacher caught in her line of fire (Jamie McShane), a retail manager who can't keep his hands off his female employees (Hayes MacArthur), a cubicle worker who's the butt of the joke (Ben Weber), a closeted homosexual lawyer with a wife and two children (Paul Schackman), a gritty teenage boy who works at a mini mart planning to make it big singing, and two psychopaths on a killing spree (Sebastian Feldman & Rhys Coiro). The story is told to us through security/hidden cameras located in the lifes of the characters, and as each of their individual stories unfolds, we come to see how they've been connected all along at the end.

The film both written and directed by Adam Rifkin, who has infamously written childhood films of mine such as Mousehunt and Small Soldiers. It's shot entirely on CineAlta cameras placed where a hidden camera already existed to give it the realistic feel of characters being caught unaware in their daily lives. Hopefully the viewers have already figured out that this is not a "reality" film. The characters in the film are scripted and played by actors. The film recieved relatively mized views on many different film review websites, but interestingly enough, the concept was picked up by Showtime as a realilty TV show in January of 2010, released in October, 2010, which aired every Sunday. There was a bit of scandal surrounding advertising for the film, as they asked the post office to distribute a photograph of a mail room with a man screwing a girl with his pants conveniently around his ankles. The nudity was not the issue. The issue was the caption, which read: "It is LEGAL for your company to get permission to install HIDDEN CAMERAS IN THE WORKPLACE!"

Acting. In a film that's set to mimic or mock reality, acting is one of the most fundamental tools available to the filmmakers. In this case, I would say it achieved a 7/10. The beginning of the movie was a little hard to swallow- the scene of the young girls talking to one another. It was heavy-handed, hoakey, and not good. Several of the actors however were natural as could be, such as Mr. Crabbs (Jamie McShane) and Marty (Ben Weber). After the first 15 minutes of the 95 minute movie, the actors seemed much more into their roles and playing them slightly above the B Movie line, so it was easier to fall into and watch more pleasurably. An interesting fact about the film is that during the climax of the movie- which I will not detail for spoiler purposes- the filmmakers shut down the Santa Monica Freeway for exactly 1 hour to film the entire climax. 20 minutes from time running out and they still didn't have the crucial shots. They raced around like chickens with their heads cut off, in the traditional sense of an ACTUAL climax and managed to scrap together something climax-worthy just in time for the cops to tell them to pack up and get out to reopen the freeway.

Cinematography. Again, in a film directly immitating reality TV this is an essential part to get DOWN. I think they had it. It's hard to write a shot plan for a movie that's going to look like reality TV, and we've all seen an episode of reality television, regardless of what your stance on it is. There's not a lot of shot variation. It's tempting for a cinematographer to add more shots than its really possible to have so that the movie flows with more entertainment value. In my opinion, the cinematographers did that very little in this piece, so 9/10 there. Based soley on the shot plan, it definitely felt like "reality" filmmaking.

Writing. We all knew I was going to talk about the writing, of course. At first glance, I thought the writing for this film was going to be an interesting thing to take in. After the film started, I was like, "Oh... God, no." There are moments- especially in the beginning when the writer is trying to define a character for you when things are simply too obvious; characters don't say exactly what they feel CERTAINLY not in real life. There are moments when the young girls aren't believable, or the retail manager. Aside from that, the story itself genuinely surprised me. I knew it was of the thriller genre, but I sortof forgot that when I was watching the characters go about their lives, so the many twists and turns that come out suddenly felt great to me. The ending of the movie was really nice- and the ending SCENE was fucking hilarious, given what you've learned about the character. Priceless.

Soundtrack... in the film, you're made to believe that the mini-mart worker Ben was the person writing the soundtrack to the film, as when the music ends, he's always conveniently putting away his electric keyboard- and I thought that was wicked funny. In truth, the sountrack was done by BT, a well-known soundtrack composer who has also worked on Zoolander, Go, The Fast and the Furious, Mortal Combat, and American Pie 2.

All in all, I liked watching this movie. It's not my favorite film I've ever seen and it's certainly not for everyone. I would say that it's for a person who can get past the "this isn't reality but I'm meant to think it is" barrier. Also, I'm not sure how exactly this happened, but this film has a very Cabin Fever feel to it. It's not a horror movie, it's not gorey, and it's not by Eli Roth, but somehow it reminds. It has moments of humor, shock, and definitely entertainment. It's not perfect, but it's not bad.