Tomorrowland (2015)

Tomorrowland (2015)

Director: Brad Bird

Cast: George Clooney, Hugh Laurie, Britt Robertson, Raffey Cassidy, Thomas Robinson

Every now and then I have to write a review here in defense of a film that was wrongly accused. These are films that had no right in becoming box office flops, but did anyways for whatever the reason. I did it with Waterworld (1995) which in my opinion is an excellent post apocalyptic film that got the shaft because of production woes, once the media starts bad mouthing a movie calling it ‘a fiasco’, people will think twice before spending their hard earned cash to go see it. But in the case of Brad Bird’s Tomorrowland (2015), I think a lot has to do with the message the film sends, you see, this is an extremely rebellious film; it’s a message that clearly speaks against “the system” and those who suffer from living in it. It’s a shout out to all those dreamers out there, those of us who want to make the world a better place.

In Tomorrowland, robots from the future come to our time looking for the brightest, most creative minds. They take these promising young people to a city in the future, in order to create a society where goodness, happiness and creativity can strive. Basically, the people from the future want to create a society that works for the improvement of mind kind, a society in which all those wild ideas you ever dreamed of could come true. Frank (George Clooney) was one of these chosen few, he’s skills for inventing and engineering machines was amazing. Unfortunately, he’s given up on the whole idea of a ‘Tomorrowland’. What will it take to spark his imagination again? Did this ‘Tomorrowland’ ever come true? Did it ever happen? Does the idea have a chance of flourishing?

So of course, the film speaks of us, our society and how it seems we’ve given up on improving ourselves. Sure we got smart phones and internet, but don’t you agree that a whole lot more can be done to improve society than keeping us entertained? What about clean energy? What about recycling on a global scale? How about designing some way to eliminate world hunger? It’s obvious that there are bigger fish to fry when it comes to focusing human inventiveness. And that’s what Tomorrowland is all about. The idea that the future lies in the hands of the younger generations who shouldn’t be afraid to change the world they’ve inherited. Of course, there are those who don’t want you to see this movie because it might put ideas in your head about improving society and “god forbid!” using your mind to its full potential or waking up from that programmed slumber.  So this is probably why this movie got such a bad rap from all those self righteous critics. The media bad mouthed it to hell because its ideas are extremely subversive.  

Why do I defend this movie so? Well, for one, it’s an amazing movie that not only speaks about some very important truths about our society, but also looks beautiful and entertains to the max. And I mean this movie is never boring! The special effects are top notch perfect, which doesn’t surprise me. Brad Bird is the director behind this film and his films have never disappointed in the entertainment/fx  department. The Iron Giant (1999), The Incredibles (2004), Ratatouille (2007), Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (2011), are all visually dazzling Brad Bird films, so expect lots of eye candy in Tomorrowland. Fying jet packs, androids, laser guns, futuristic landscapes…the amazing vistas just keep coming in this movie. There’s this amazing sequence that takes place entirely in Tomorrowland that is just like..wow, it will blow you away; which is cool because it’s a film with an important message that doesn’t stop to preach at you, it sends its message across in an entertaining way. This was a passion project for Bird, so much so that he declined to direct Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens (2015) in order to work on this film, which says a lot about how much he cared about what this film had to say.

Brad Bird

This film is based on an idea that Walt Disney had way back in the 50’s. The whole idea behind EPCOT Center; Epcot standing for Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow, was to start a new kind of city where new technology was to be created and showcased, where human imagination was to be celebrated. This prototype city was to have its own suburb and even an airport. He wanted to create a model community that would continually change and evolve with the advancements of humanity. Epcot Center and its many pavilions are still dedicated to showcasing human advancement, but it is not what Walt Disney had envisioned. Disney wanted to create a new type of society that would set itself apart from the real world, something that we could all aspire to. Unfortunately, that never came to be, and now its all just rides and restaurants, but once upon a time Disney had envisioned a better world, and apparently those ideas died with him; which is mostly what this film is about. Disney’s ideas were probably too radical, and governments don’t like the word radical. They like radical people even less. They prefer clones with a hive like, programmable mentality. The state of our world gets me all sad sometimes, because it shows evil reigns, which is probably why a film like Tomorrowland can bring tears to my eyes, which I’m not afraid to say it did. The questions this movie asks are big and the answers are even bigger; Tomorrowland is a film that deserves to be watched, not ignored.

Rating 5 out of 5

Go here for an in-depth review of the film from the good people at Radiator Heaven! 

Ex-Machina (2015)

Ex-Machina (2015)

Director: Alex Garland

Cast: Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac, Alicia Vikander, Sonoya Mizuno    

Screenwriters are the firsts to bring a film to life, in their minds they see the story unfold in a certain way, down the road of a films production, it's their words and ideas that become the blueprint of a film. Which is why it doesn’t surprise me that some writers feel the urge to sit on the director’s chair and film their story themselves. The problem with this is that sometimes, while a writer might be great at coming up with stories and dialog, they don’t understand the mechanics of properly translating their words into an entertaining and visually interesting film. For example, when David S. Goyer, the screenwriter behind such heavy weight Hollywood blockbusters like The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Man of Steel (2013) and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) decided to sit on the director’s chair, he ended up making horrible stinkers like Blade Trinity (2004) and The Unborn (2009). Another good example would be Frank Miller, a good writer that ended up directing The Spirit (2008), one of the worst comic book films ever made. This is why whenever a writer wants to direct, I go into the film with a little trepidation. In the case of Ex-Machina, we’re talking about Alex Garland, a writer who frequently collaborates with renowned director Danny Boyle. Garland wrote The Beach (2000), 28 Days Later (2002) and Sunshine (2007), all directed by Boyle. He recently wrote Dredd (2012), a good Judge Dredd film that needed to be just a little more epic in order to succeed. So in my book Garland has a pretty solid slate as a writer. In Ex-Machina Garland both writes and directs, did he pull off this double punch successfully?

Since this film comes to us from a true blue writer, and a good one, we should expect a film that’s brainier than your usual film. Why? Well, this isn’t Garland writing a film for someone else, this is Garland writing and directing a film that plays with themes that he finds interesting. And they are pretty heavy themes, Ex-Machina as the title suggests, is a very existential film. The title ‘Ex-Machina’ is an allusion to the term ‘Deus Ex-Machina’ a term used in Greek theater for whenever there was a problem too big to be resolved by the protagonists. Whenever this happened, they would lower a god onto the stage through the use of machinery, the god would then proceed to magically solve the problems the main characters were suffering from. The term literally means God is a Machine. The term is used even today in both theater and films to refer to a miracle solution for a any given problem in a story. In Ex-Machina the problem is AVA, the first android to ever be created. AVA has extremely advanced artificial intelligence which allows her to talk and think like a human, she can even make her own choices. AVA’s creator, Nathan, wants to test her in order to evaluate her human capabilities. In order to do this Nathan hand picks one of his own employees, a young computer programmer named Caleb. Will AVA pass Caleb’s evaluation?

This is a simple premise for a film with deep themes. Garland has always explored deep themes in his films, one example would be Sunshine (2007), a science fiction film that manages to turn into an exploration of human behavior, religion and how it can twist the human mind. That movie was basically about science vs. religion. So it didn’t surprise when Ex-Machina suddenly started tackling heady themes.  It starts out right away by giving the role of God to Nathan, AVA’s creator. By all intents and purposes a rightful title because after all, Nathan is the creator of artificial life, the father of a sentient being that is alive and capable of making its own choices. So in many ways, this film is a mirror of us and of whoever made us of God, or our parents, who are the closest thing to god in our lives, they brought us here, they gave us life. Why do some parents aim to over control their offspring even when they’ve reached a point in their lives when they are fully capable of making their own choices in life? Why is society constantly trying to control our lives with restrictions and commandments? So the film very boldly asks the question, do we really have what is commonly referred to in the bible as ‘free will’? Or is every aspect of our lives being regulated, controlled, judged and observed?

But it goes deeper than that. It also explores modern technology and that whole idea that we’re all part of some big scale social experiment involving the government and the media. It addresses the fact that all phones, televisions and computers have computers and microphones that are being used to spy on our lives. That with said technology “they” can scan our faces and hear our private conversations whenever they want to. Ever wonder how facebook tags someone in a picture before you do? Is  technology being used against us to pry on our private lives and somehow judge our behavior? What if our behavior isn’t acceptable to those watching? This is a theme that’s been explored a lot in films lately, the idea that an elite part of society wants to wipe all those deemed inadequate out of existence. Recently this was a plot device used in films like Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and Kingsman:The Secret Service (2015), which by the way also explores the potential evils of cellular phone technology. In Ex-Machina, Nathan is an all seeing all hearing god. He knows when they talk against him, when they are plotting against him, and is always one step ahead of his “subjects”. For how long can he treat AVA and Caleb like rats in a maze before they rebel? And can EVA and Caleb succeed in their search for freedom? That’s what this film is about, our collective search for freedom and happiness; that idea that we all have the right to live the lives that we want to live. That we don’t want to live under the illusion of freedom, what we want is to truly enjoy it, for real. That we need to accept that not everyone is the same as us, and that we shouldn’t try to fit anyone into our personal mold of what a human should be like.

The story that Garland wants to tell here is one that’s big on themes and ideas, but small in scope. The film has three main characters and takes place almost entirely in one location, but the ideas it explores are so big and the story so thought provoking and interesting that I didn’t care, I love movies that dare to ask these types of questions, the kind of themes that not everyone likes to talk about. I certainly felt a strong subversive vibe from this film, it’s a film against the powers that be, the powers that choke and oppress society, sometimes in ways society doesn’t even realize. This is why the film asks the question: “What happens if I don’t pass your test?” What happens when we don’t fit the mold they want us to fit in? Heavy stuff in deed. I did notice some influences here and there, for example many science fiction buffs will immediately catch the similarities with Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982) because it has that whole concept of an android being angry with its creator because of its possible demise. It has a test to prove if one is a human  or an android, just like the 'Voight Kampf' test in Blade Runner. It also plays with the idea of a human falling in love with an android and wanting to run away together. There’s even doubt if Caleb is an android or not, same thing happens in Blade Runner, we’re never really sure if Deckard is an android or not. So yeah, what Alex Garland did with Ex-Machina was an update on Blade Runner (1982) adding his own themes in for good measure. All in all, a brainy science fiction film that I urge all those who are philosophically inclined to watch.  I’d say that Garland passed my test, he’s directed one of my favorite films of the year on his first try. Can he do it again?

Rating: 5 out of 5 

   

Fantastic Planet (1973)

Fantastic Planet (1973)

Director: Rene Laloux

Fantastic Planet (Le Planete Sauvage) has been my favorite animated film since forever, for many reasons, but primarily because it’s an amazing film experience in every sense of the word; it’s not only a visual feast, but also a feast for the mind. If you guys know anything about me, then you know I have a soft spot for Subversive Cinema. These are films that are about ‘the people’ fighting ‘the system’, people fighting the good fight; which is one of the many reasons why I love Fantastic Planet, it’s all about the rebels versus the oppressors. The Draags vs. the Oms, will they ever learn to live in peace?  

On Fantastic Planet we meet two races; on the one hand we have the Draags, which are these gigantic beings with blue skin and red eyes. They are the ruling class on planet Ygam. They are the elite, also known as those in power or the “high class”. Then we have the Oms, which are basically humans, but in comparison to the Draags, the Oms  are minuscule in size. Humans are like little rodents to Draags and in some instances, they function as their pets. Basically Oms are these wild, uneducated creatures that amuse the Draags, but also seem like pests to them. Yet Oms, aren’t complete idiots, they have the capacity to learn, they have potential within them. Which is probably why  the Draags would rather have them completely eradicated from the planet. The Draags fear that the Oms might one day get smart and overtake Planet Ygam. Will the Oms ever rise and rebel? Or will the Draags succeed in erradecating them from the planets surface?

Fantastic Planet comes to us from Rene Laloux, the director behind two other animated gems: Time Masters (1982) and Gandahar (1987). If you end up enjoying Fantastic Planet, I recommend checking out the aforementioned films as well. The best of the bunch is Fantastic Planet, but trust me; Time Masters and Gandahar are also worth the watch. But anyways, Fantastic Planet deals with themes that are familiar to all of Laloux films, the fight versus ‘the system’. Why are the people oppressed? Should they rebel? Also, it addresses classicist issues. Why do some humans consider themselves superior to others? Why must this barrier exist? To the casual viewer, this movie might just seem like a 'trippy' film (which it is) yet if we take a deeper look, we can see that Fantastic Planet is all about the fight to educate the masses, to give freedom to a population that is enslaved both physically and mentally. Interesting how this film was made more than four decades ago yet its themes are more relevant now than ever. People are still being oppressed, there are still governments that step on its people; education is still being taken away from the working class. I mean, really, most of us can’t pay a hundred thousand dollars a year to go to college. And who wants such a huge debt on their backs when they get out of college? Truth of the matter is that education is available only to those who can pay it, the high class, the rich, the rest can go to community college or get a job at McDonalds, working for the man, which is the way the man likes it. But what happens when the masses wake up?

Fantastic Planet is all about knowledge, education and the importance of acquiring it in order to thrive in the world. You see, the Oms in this film are born ignorant, wild. The ones with the education and the knowledge are the all powerful Draggs who use these rings they place on their heads to educate themselves. The interesting part of this film comes when one of the Oms called ‘Terr’ steals one of the knowledge rings from the Draggs and begins to educate himself. Soon he grows up into a knowledgeable young man, and starts educating the rest of the Oms who live in the wild. He soon begins to organize a revolution. This is the Draags biggest fear, that the Oms will organize, grow smart and revolt; which is basically the same fear that governments of the world have of their people. That they might one day grow a brain, wise up and realize that they've been taken for fools. Education in the world could be made more accessible, more affordable and it should be so much better than what it is. Young people should not be taken for granted, they should be taught to believe that they have the ability to achieve anything they want, because they can. Because anything we can think of can be achieved. But no, instead, books are banned, schools are closed, tuition prices are raised to prohibitive prices and funds for education are either stolen or diverted, or both. Educating ourselves is turned into an uphill battle. I speak of my country, but I know this holds true for other parts of the world as well.

This is why college students revolt and fight back, and that is why police officers are brought in to pacify them, because they are wising up, they are growing a brain, they know things shouldn't be this way. So there lies the conflict, and this is primarily what Fantastic Planet is all about. It goes through all the processes and situations that a rebel cause will go through and face. It demonstrates that feeling of being stepped on by those in power. This might make this movie sound boring to some of you out there, but trust me it is not. Rene Laloux and graphic designer/writer Roland Topor make sure that this film is never boring, not for a second. The planet of Ygam is an amazing place to visit. It is populated with the craziest looking creatures, the most outlandish landscapes, trust me you won’t want to take your eyes off the screen. Yes, this film can be categorized under the ‘trippy/visual films’ banner, it is after all a visual wonder. The artistry and the designs involved in this production warrant a watch, trust me, you won’t be disappointed. Fantastic Planet is an incredibly unique experience;  you haven’t seen anything like it. It still remains, after all these years, my favorite animated film of all time.  Now go watch it!

Rating: 5 out of 5    

  

The Maze Runner (2014)

 The Maze Runner (2014)

Director: Wes Ball

Cast:  Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Aml Ameen, Ki Hong Lee, Thomas Brodie Sangster, Blake Cooper

The Maze Runner comes as a direct response to the success of The Hunger Games (2012) and its sequels. After The Hunger Games made huge bank at the box office, suddenly there’s been a rash of subversive films aimed at the teen audience. I’m talking about films like Divergent (2014) and The Host (2013), films where youth resist the status quo, films where the young want to stand up for themselves and change things. To tell you the truth, I’m not a huge fan of The Hunger Games, I don’t know what it is about that franchise, to me it isn’t as big of a deal as they make it out to be. I mean, I love Subversive Cinema, but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna love everything that shows a bit of a rebellious streak to it. I mean, there is such a thing as subversive crap. So yeah, of course I rolled my eyes a little bit when I heard about The Maze Runner because honestly, it just seemed like more of the same, and in many ways, it is. But then I saw the trailer and the whole idea behind the maze grabbed me; cause I’m a sucker for movies about mazes, puzzles and labyrinths. So anyhow, was The Maze Runner subversive crap, or what is a decent film?

This film has a lot of similarities with an obscure science fiction flick from the 90’s called Cube (1997), in fact, it plays with essentially the same idea, but on a much bigger scale. Cube was the little engine that could, a completely independent film that became a cult success and spawned two sequels: Cube 2: Hypercube (2002) and Cube Zero (2004). All these Cube films played with the same premise; that of a group of strangers with their memories wiped out, who suddenly find themselves trapped inside of a mysterious cube that seems to change every now and again. Together they have to get past their differences in order to survive the deadly cube and escape to the outside world, if there in fact is one.  The Maze Runner uses that same exact premise, but in a giant moving labyrinth! The problem is that the kids trapped in the labyrinth don’t know why they are there; they don’t even know who they are. To top things off, they are afraid to venture out into the Labyrinth. What mysteries lie beyond their comfort zone?

So yeah, this movie was pressing all the right buttons for me cause I like movies that want to expose how crazy the world we live in is, I mean, society, it’s all kinds of messed up. We gotta live in this crazy world, and we gotta figure it out. Like a maze, that literally wants to kill us. In this sense I dug The Maze Runner, which is saying a lot because I went in ready to hate the hell out of it. Thankfully, it had some interesting themes to it. The movie is basically saying we’re all part of some sort of an experiment that the powers that be are conducting on us. That idea that the system is always watching us, that there is some ulterior motive behind their actions, that they are analyzing us and that we are oblivious to it, or choose to ignore it and conform. This is one of those movies where ‘they’ want to know what makes us tick, why we are who we are, so they can control us better. In this way, The Maze Runner also reminded me of Alex Proya’s Dark City (1998), a film that plays with similar themes. For example, in Dark City humanity is also part of an experiment and same as the labyrinth in The Maze Runner is always changing so does Dark City’s constantly changing city, hell, even the idea that the main character does not remember who he is was also used in Dark City. So we could easily say that The Maze Runner is a mix between Cube and Dark City, with a bit of The Hunger Games.  In other words, not terribly original.

What I did like was the maze itself which is this huge mechanical thing, constantly changing, usually trying to kill the young kids trying to solve it. Whenever the kids would run into the maze, the film turns infinitely more exciting. My only gripe with the film is these CGI monsters that the kids have to fight when they go into the maze. For me it’s snoresville whenever characters start to fight computer generated beasties, I don’t know, it just bores the hell out of me; to me all these creatures look the same, to me they are all in one big blur. Thankfully, the movie doesn’t solely focus on these creatures and the story moves on, digging deeper into the mystery behind the labyrinth. Ultimately, what I enjoyed the most about the film is how it mirrors life. We are born into this world not knowing anything, others guide us, teach us. Then comes a point where we take the reins of our own life and become masters of our own destinies, searching for that ever elusive truth; which is usually covered by an avalanche of lies. Only the ones curious enough dare to begin that search, dare to ask the questions.  

So in conclusion, The Maze Runner is an amalgamation of many films and books that came before it. I’ve already mentioned some of the films that influenced The Maze Runner, but I’d also add a little bit of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies into the mix of influences because same as Golding’s classic book, the film also speaks of mans natural tendency to fight each other, to form clans, to separate and of course, the resulting clashes that come from difference of opinions.  My last take on The Maze Runner is that it isn’t ground breaking cinema, but it will keep you entertained for a while. This is what Hollywood is churning out now, cause it's a theme that's hot and it's also a reflection of how we are feeling about society. On the negative side of things, you do get the feeling that they are not giving you a whole lot of information because they are looking to set up a sequel, so this first film feels like an introductory tale, where they aren’t really giving you the whole story, there’s a lot of exposition, a lot of introductions. You kind of feel like they are stretching things a bit, as if they want to save more of the story for future installments, so yeah, this is obviously another franchise wannabe. Will it succeed at the box office? Will it spawn more sequels? How The Maze Runner fares at the box office will decide that, I personally wouldn't mind seeing where the story will go from here on in.

Rating: 3 out of 5

The Legend of Billie Jean (1985)

The Legend of Billie Jean (1985)

Director: Matthew Robbins

Cast: Helen Slater, Christian Slater, Keith Gordon, Peter Coyote, Dean Stockwell, Richard Bradford, Martha Gehman, Yeardley Smith

So according to IMDB, Pat Benatar, the singer behind 'Invincible’, the theme song for The Legend of Billie Jean, supposedly introduces this song by saying “this song comes from the worst movie ever made”; a statement that I am strongly against! I mean, sure, nobody is saying that The Legend of Billie Jean is the best movie of all time or anything, but worst movie ever made? Come on!  This movie is one of the most quintessentially 80’s movies ever made! That’s what it is! And it’s got spirit and spunk! The soundtrack is awesome, and no matter how much Pat Benatar might hate this movie, her song gels to perfection with the film! “We will be Invincible!” It’s that spirit of us vs. them, the oppressed vs. the oppressor, the rebels vs. the system that gives The Legend of Billie Jean its cult status; it’s the reason why it’s gone on as long as it has. We the people identify with the heroically stoic figure of Billie Jean; she will not stand the abuse! She fights back! And she’s a woman! And she will take it no longer!

The films premise is an interesting one. Billie Jean and her brother Binx (Christian Slater in his first role) are two teenagers who enjoy the simple things in life: vanilla shakes, riding their scooter to the lake and basking in the sun as they muse about their possible futures. Their peace is disrupted when a group of rich bullies (read: total assholes) start disrespectfully hitting on Billy Jean. When she refuses their advances and Binx throws a strawberry shake in their faces, the bullies steal Binx’s scooter and take off with it. They later trash it, and give Binx a beating which leaves him all bruised and disfigured. That’s when Billie Jean decides to take matters into her own hands! She goes to the rich kid’s father and asks for the 608 dollars that its going to cost to  fix the bike, the rich bastard says he’ll give her the money little by little, in exchange for sex every time she comes. Billie Jean of course refuses! One thing leads to another and Binx ends up accidentally shooting the rich guy in the shoulder, so Billie Jean, Binx and their two friends run off together, avoiding the law and surviving in abandoned buildings and empty houses, becoming legends along the way. Will they get Binx’s scooter back? Will the rich asshole pay the money he owes? And can Billie Jean and company live on the run for long?

The Legend of Billie Jean is one of these movies in which adults don’t pay attention to the kids and their situations, which is kind of like a staple of movies from the eighties. Billie Jean actually goes to the police, who brush off her story as nonsense. They think it’s just a silly squabble amongst teenagers, but the teenagers are sick of being ignored by the adults, so they take matters into their own hands. The film has that spirity of young people wanting to change the world they are living in, they want to revolt and make things better. But the powers that be don’t want to let them do that, they don’t want teenagers revolting and saying what they think or feel. Billie Jean represents that voice, she’s the voice of her generation. And this particular generation she represents is the generation that was living through the Regan era, a time when capitalism/consumerism was rampant and money was king, it was a generation known as the ‘me’ generation. That selfishness, powered by greed is represented perfectly here.  The whole film is one big message against consumerism. Billie Jean becomes a hero to the people, so suddenly she becomes marketable, so suddenly everyone is selling Billie Jean T-shirts, hats, posters, bumper stickers, you name it. The ending of the film speaks loudly about what the filmmakers think of consumerism. Here’s a hint: they despise it. They see it as something that’s devouring humanity, spreading like a cancer, as we all know, they were absolutely right, consumerism has grown way out of control, it’s stronger and uglier than ever. If you don’t believe me, go to a Wal-Mart on Black Friday and watch people die. Billie Jean hates this money based society, she wants her 608 dollars, but at the end of the day, she hates the fact that this is all about money.

This film is b-movie stuff for many, and in many ways I’d say they are right, but in other ways, the film has a lot to say. Billie Jean identifies with Joan of Arc, she sees herself as a strong woman with a voice, she wants to be heard and treated with respect,  she’s standing up for herself. She wants her brothers scooter back and wants to make sure we are all treated fairly, its Billie Jean vs. the abused, in this case, her little brother and herself. I mean, it’s not just about getting the scooter or the money back, Billie Jean is also angry that she was almost raped by the rich greedy bad guy. At heart, this is a film about a woman standing up for herself and not taking the abuse anymore and that my friends, is something I applaud, even through all the cheesiness. Which by the way I find is one of the many charms this film has, it exudes a certain naiveté, a certain idealism and a passion to set things right. I love this kind of film, where the teens stand up to ‘buck the system’, yelling at the ones running the planet letting them know they are wrong. The Legend of Billy Jean can stand proudly next to films like Turk 182! (1985), Wisdom (1986), Footloose (1984), Heathers (1988) and Pump Up the Volume (1990), all movies where young people give the finger to adults and want to do things their way, which is usually fueled by heart, passion and justice; which is why I like The Legend of Billie Jean so much. It's about being fair with everybody, especially the poor. So the film also addresses classist issues, it's the rich vs. the poor here and the poor want to be treated with some respect. That's all, they want to be treated with dignity.  

Helen Slater nails it as Billie Jean, giving a rebel yell, screaming for all the kids, becoming their hero. Love that whole idea about kids helping each other, like a secret society of youngsters all backing each other up. Like youth existing on a whole other level that adults don’t even know about, it kind of makes me wanna be a teenager again! Watching this movie takes me back to my teenage years. Yeah, I was a kid when this film first came out, I was about ten, so Billie Jean in many ways became a voice for me, I was right there following her with all those other kids. Of course, now the film seems a bit cheesy to me, but I can see past its flaws because to me, it’s more about the feeling, the passion and the ideas that the film projects, it’s that idealistic way of seeing the world, it’s about the way we’d like things to be. What I wouldn't give for everybody to collectively want to produce a significant change in society, to change the status quo of things, or at the very least give it a try. Is it all that idealistic of an idea?    

Rating: 4 out of 5

            

Oblivion (2013)

Title: Oblivion (2013)

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Cast: Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko, Andrea Riseborough

Review:

Joseph Kosinski proved himself to be a very stylish director with great command over the look and design of a film with TRON: Legacy (2010) a film that at first I wasn’t a big fan of, but has sense grown on me. There’s just no denying its visual splendor and the awesomeness of the designs involved in that picture. The look of the sets, the vehicles…the wardrobe, there’s no denying it all looks very slick, very avant garde. So of course, I was extremely curious for his sophomore project, the sci-fi film Oblivion, a film that first started out as a graphic novel written by Kosinski that never got printed. Still, he used that unprinted graphic novel as a sales pitch to studios. Disney didn't bite (they wanted the film to be PG) but Universal did. So as you  can see, we’re talking about an extremely talented individual here. This Kosinski guy isn’t just any run of the mill director, he not only writes graphic novels, and directs films, he’s also got a background in 3-D architectural design, which probably explains why the sets on his films look so freaking awesome and futuristic. It’s pretty obvious that Kosinski siphons all that knowledge into the look of his films. What worries some people is that his films might be stronger on the visual department then on the story or depth department, is this true?

Well, if TRON: Legacy and Oblivion are any indications, Kosinski’s films are solid on both counts, visual and thematic. TRON: Legacy was a film that criticized oppressive governments that want to turn everyone into a robot in their attempts at creating a “perfect society”. This is no light subject matter; in fact, films of this nature have a strong subversive tone to them. I included TRON: Legacy in an article I wrote about SubversiveCinema a while back. Actually TRON even went as far as commenting on how the system controls the media, the entertainment of the people in order to send out a certain message or point of view. Oblivion is the same type of subversive film, it hits on the system and the way things are set in our way of life. So if you ask me, Kosinski is setting a patter as a subversive filmmaker, which is something I love. You gotta have guts to stand up to the system and tell it like it is in this world. Too often people prefer to live life ignoring the realities of the world we live in and “not asking too many questions”. So this isn’t just an empty special effects heavy film that looks pretty. Nope, this is the kind of film that says hell yeah ask questions! In fact, ask as many as you have to and get to the truth. Look at the other side of the coin, not just the side “they” show you.   

First up we meet Jack and Victoria, a couple which typifies the American marriage. Victoria for all intents and purposes is the house wife who stays at home while the man, played by Tom Cruise, goes out to get the job done. Their purpose is to be “an effective team” in service to the system so they can retire and go on to live in paradise, enjoy the good life. This couple has all the comforts of modern technology, but no connection with nature or the planet they live in. In this way Kosinski comments on how technology has distanced us from the finer, simpler pleasures that our world offers us like sitting on a field of grass, basking in the sun, listening to good music, reading a good book. Jack is a character who longs for these things in a world that denies them to him. The system wants to keep him busy, producing, being “effective”, while truthfully, Jack longs for baseball games and a homey, warm cabin by the lake. He wants to live life next to his loved one. In this sense, Oblivion really connected with me and my personal view of life. I, like Jack, and many of you out there I’m sure, long for a life with less buildings, less cars, less machines and more contact with nature, more freedom to enjoy the wonders this world holds for us. But getting the “job done” and surviving in this world always gets in the way.

But there are lies in this world. This is one of those films in which the main character is not who he thinks he is, his entire life is a lie. There’s a bunch of these movies out there that have a main character whose whole life is a lie. I’m doing an article on these types of films so keep an eye out for that, but basically, the message is that you are being lied to by the system, and when I say the system, I mean the powers that be, the media, the government, the big companies that rule everything, big money, the man, you know what I’m talking about. It’s the idea that we’ve been taught one thing, when in reality, things are entirely another way. Take for example the idea of god, as the being who created us, religion as a whole. Is it all real, the idea of an old man floating up in heaven, sitting on a golden throne room with a bunch of angels flying around singing songs to him? The film also addresses this issue, and blasts it into Oblivion. This is a film that is tired of the lies, and wants to unmask them, it longs to unmask the powers that be and show them for what they are.

Take for example war, and the way the media will immediately make you think that people from a certain country are evil or your enemies. I’ve never agreed with this because there is a distinct difference that we as people need to realize, governments are not the same as the people they rule. Sometimes a government will do something which its people do not agree with, but we cannot vilify an entire ethnicity, an entire country for the madness that their government commits. Oblivion speaks of these themes saying if we look at things closer, if we search for the details, for the truth, we’ll realize that we are them, and they are us. Like that scene in Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket (1987) where two enemies at war with each other, end up in close hand to hand combat and end up looking at each other in the eyes and suddenly realize: what are we doing here? Why are we killing each other? Who has programmed us and put us here?  Most of the time, soldiers go to a war and they don’t even know why they are there, same as the character of Jack in Oblivion, who does his job, but doesn’t even know for what purpose. He’s just here to get the job done. Like a soldier who simply follows orders, without knowing why he's doing what he's doing.

As you can see, Oblivion is a pretty deep movie. Yet, its strength in design is not to be ignored. I mean, visually, conceptually, the film is a wonder. Hell, yes, this movie is cool looking! I personally enjoyed these robot drones that appear on the film, they look so robotic, and the sounds these robots emit make them come off as so evil, so cold and inhuman! I’m pretty sure this is exactly what they aimed to project with these drones and in my book they achieved it. True, Oblivion does have themes and situations that will remind you of other sci-fi films you have seen. Some moments reminded me of The Matrix (1999) and The Terminator (1984) others of Wall-E (2008) and Independence Day (1996). It even pays homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey (1969) in some points, but at the same time, Oblivion is a film that gives you lot’s of surprises, new ideas and twists keep popping up all the time, so while it does have similarities with older films, it keeps things interesting and flowing. This was a well made movie, it’s brainy, intelligent sci-fi, with great effects, great moments of action, and heavy themes. A grade A sci-fi film with a rebellious streak to it and lot’s to say, highly recommended.

Rating:  4 out of 5   

Totalitarian Futures (Big Brother is Watching You!)

Totalitarian Futures (Big Brother is Watching You!)

On this blog entry, I wanted to talk a bit about films in which an evil Totalitarian Government has taken over and is oppressing the people. I’ve noticed there’s quite a few of these films out there and I thought it would make an interesting blog entry. Basically, these films have a couple of themes in common. They are always about an oppressive government wanting to maintain a grip hold on society, by controlling every single aspect of the lives of its people. So they take away their rights to individuality, independent thought, culture, art and freedom. Art is banned, books are banned and even freedom of speech is banned. Basically, the people in these films are screwed! But there’s always a rebel that runs like hell trying to get away from it all. So anyhows, here is a list of some of these films. I start from the oldest ones to the more recent ones.

Feel free to mention any that I didn’t mention, I really didn’t put them all in here to let you guys have some fun!

Fahrenheit 451 (1966)

Director: Francois Truffaut

Stars: Julie Christie, Oskar Werner, Cyril Cusack

Synopsis: This movie is about a totalitarian future in which it is prohibited to read books. Books that might make you think and see things differently. Books through which we can learn new things and communicate with one another. So they government has firemen that go around searching for books and burning them. This is the movie that influenced Equilibrium the most. Its almost identical in themes and situations, only Fahrenheit 451 is a bit slower in pace, and yes, even boring. Its based on Ray Bradbury’s novel of the same name.

Signs of a Totalitarian Government: When the firemen discover a house where an old lady has collected thousands upon thousands of books, they burn down her whole house! With her inside of it!

THX 1138 (1971)

Director: George Lucas

Stars: Robert Duvall, Donald Pleasence, Maggie McOmie

Synopsis: On this George Lucas’s first science fiction film and finest day as a director we meet THX 1138, a man who is getting tired and worn out on the way things are in his life. He prays to a computerized Jesus that doesn’t listen or talk to him, except for prerecorded messages of hope. He works in a factory day and night, goes home to a cold soulless existence and is tired of taking the government issued drugs! Pretty soon, he starts showing signs of wear, and the government takes notice and begins to hunt him down, so he decides to run! This is George Lucas’s version of 1984, sex is evil, everyone is the same, and big brother is most definitely watching you.

Signs of a Totalitarian Government: Everyone has to look the same, so in this totalitarian future, everyone has to dress in white (except the police who wears black) and everyone has to be completely bald! Also, sex is an evil thing.

Sleeper (1973)

Director: Woody Allen

Stars: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton

Synopsis: Miles Munroe is your regular every day Joe. He works in a health food store and is a Jazz musician. He is suddenly cryogenically frozen without his consent, and is left in that frozen state for 200 years! When he wakes up, he realizes that the world is being ruled by a dictator looking to brainwash all of society! As is usually the case with all these kinds of films, the rebel ends up running from the evil government while trying to uncover the truth behind the mysterious Äries Project. This Woody Allen film is the film that Mike Judge’s Idiocracy (2006) most borrowed from, with the same plot of having someone frozen and woken up hundreds of years later in a completely altered society.

Signs of a Totalitarian Government: Brainwashing people into submission.

Soylent Green (1973)

Director: Richard Fleischer

Stars: Charlton Heston

Synopsis: In the future, there is not enough food for everyone because humans have sucked the world dry and there is over population. So the government issues special crackers called Soylent Green, Soylent Blue and Soylent Yellow. People are addicted to these cookies, but there isn’t enough to go around! Violence and crime are rampant! Its up to one cop to find out the truth about these mysterious crackers they keep giving everybody! An excellent sci-fi film with a really shocking ending! You got to see it to believe it. Charlton Heston plays an asshole cop.

Sings of a Totalitarian Government: People living in poverty on the streets because of bad planning and administration. Some live in rich luxury filled apartments, while the rest of humanity lives trying to survive on whatever else is left. When things get out of control, simply bring in that riot control to take care of the masses as if they were cattle.

Logan’s Run (1976)

Director: Thomas Anderson

Stars: Michael York, Farah Fawcett

Synopsis: In this future, humans live inside of giant domes that have controlled weather conditions and everyone is looking for the ultimate pleasure. It’s an empty life, where you have as much fun as you can while you are alive. Problem is, that to avoid over population, the government has issued a law where you have to kill yourself once you turn 33! Logan doesn’t want to live by these rules and believes there is a better world outside of the dome; so what does he do? He runs from the evil government! This flick is very 70s, the sets, the clothes…everything screams 70s camp! But, the film has some very interesting themes, and the effects are actually not that bad for the time it was made.

Signs of a Totalitarian Government: When you turn 33 you have to throw yourself into these lasers that disintegrate your body instantaneously! If you don’t do as you are told, you get chased around by these law enforcement officers that will disintegrate you with their own laser guns. Kind of like Blade Runners, but for humans.

1984 (1984)

Director: Michael Radford

Stars: John Hurt, Richard Burton, Suzanna Hamilton

Synopsis: It’s interesting that this film was released on the year 1984. This movie is a faithful translation of the book. Orwell’s vision is brilliantly brought to life here. The film is grim, dark, depressing; this is definitely the world that Orwell envisioned in his book. We follow Winston Smith on his day to day, we see how sad it would be to live in a world that doesn’t let you breathe, doesn’t allow privacy or individuality. It’s a gut wrenching tale, especially once you get to the climax. Sadly, big brother doesn’t want us to watch this movie because it is out of print, and hasn’t seen the light of day in a long time. Curiously, the 1956 version of 1984 isn’t available either. Out of all the movies on this list, I truly think this one is the best one. Its the one that really "got" to me.

Signs of a Totalitarian Government: Sex is prohibited and only used for procreation. Your children are brainwashed starting at a very young age, they are taught to love big brother. Coffee, sugar, butter and all the good things in life are prohibited.

Brazil (1985)

Director: Terry Gilliam

Stars: Jonathan Price, Michael Palin, Robert Deniro, Bob Hoskins, Ian Holm, Kim Greist

Synopsis: Sam Lowry is your regular run of the mill dude who takes pride in being nothing special. He works as an assistant in a government office. And leads a pretty boring life, doing the same thing over and over again. He lives in a cramped little apartment, and is alone. But he dreams. He dreams of being a knight in shinning armor (with wings and a sword!) that goes on a Quixotic quest to save the love of his life. His next door neighbor. Problem is she’s a rebel! And pretty soon Sam finds himself running from the government with her! Will they escape the clutches of the evil government? This film is a masterpiece of fantasy and subversive cinema. Its got Terry Gilliam’s visual flare and is sprinkled with comedy, just so things wont be so dark. The original title that Gilliam wanted for this film? 1984 ½.

Signs of a Totalitarian Government: The flood of burocracy you have to go through to do everything, and in the end, nothing ends up getting done. Gilliam tries to show that in their attempt to control everything, what really dominates is chaos, disorder and confusion.

They Live (1988)

Director: John Carpenter

Stars: Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster

Synopsis: Nobody knows it, but aliens are slowly taking over the earth. Their method of conquer? They make themselves look like humans, fooling everybody! They control the masses by giving them subliminal messages through the television, newspapers, magazines and billboards. The subliminal messages say “obey” “stay asleep” “Consume” “Buy”. Good thing that Roddy Piper discovers these neat-o glasses that let him see the truth! Suddenly, Piper realizes just how many aliens are walking the streets, and just how many subliminal messages are all over the place! Its time to kick some alien ass! This movie was John Carpenters way of criticizing the consumer mentality that is running rampant in society today. We don’t know it, but were being told to buy buy buy buy buy. Don’t believe me; see how far you can go without seeing some sort of commercial trying to sell you something!

Signs of a Totalitarian Government: Controlling the masses by controlling the media. In John Carpenter' s own words: “All they want is our money!”

Dark City (1998)

Director: Alex Proyas

Stars: Rufus Sewell, Jennifer Connelly, William Hurt, Kiefer Sutherland

Synopsis: John Murdock wakes up one day a little off. He starts seeing and noticing things he had not noticed before, like these mysterious pale dudes walking around in black trench coats. Normally, no one can see them, but John Murdock can! Soon, he starts to search for the truth (like any true rebel will) and comes upon an incredible revelation. Won’t spoil it for you because if you haven’t seen this movie, you have to see it! It’s dark, gothic and just plain weird. Like a big budget episode of The Twilight Zone. A movie heavy on themes and symbolisms.

Signs of a Totalitarian Government: Independent thought is eliminated. Thinking on your own and making your own choices is not allowed. Play your role in society and shut up. But what happens when you want to go against that? What happens when you start using your brain and seeing things for what they really are?

Equilibrium (2002)

Director: Kurt Wimmer

Stars: Christian Bale, Taye Diggs, Emily Watson, Sean Bean, David Hemmings

Synopsis: John Preston works as an enforcement officer for the government. All forms of emotion are prohibited in this future, so Preston goes around searching out those rebels who show any sign of emotion. Everyone is cold and emotionless because of a government issued drug that everyone takes. At one point, Preston decides to stop taking the pill, and he starts to feel and decides to switch sides and bring down the evil government leader. This movie has some awesome action sequences, involving a new type of martial arts called “gunkata” which is kind of like a mix between martial arts and guns.

Signs of a Totalitarian Government: Prohibiting emotion and individualism, art, books, music.

The Island (2005)

Director: Michael Bay

Stars: Ewan McGregor, Scarlet Johansson, Sean Bean, Djimon Honsou

Synopsis: On this one a pair of clones grow up inside of a cloning complex (which mirrors the way certain governments like to do things in this world) and are told that one day, they are going to win the lottery and go live in a fantastical island where everything is fine and dandy. They offer you the opportunity to end up on this island paradise. You could be next in line to win the ticket there! But two androids begin to think outside the box and start noticing that things are not exactly what they seem, and that there is more then meets the eye with their current situation. So they run! Michael Bay is the director of this film, and usually that means I’m going to hate the film, but this one isn’t half bad. Its Michael Bay’s dumbed down version of 1984, with lots of action and special effects. This movie has elements of many films that came before it like 1984, THX 1138 and Clonus. Actually, this film copied Clonus so much that the director of that film sued and ended up getting money because Dreamworks accepted that The Island had copied more then 100 things from that film!

Signs of a Totalitarian Government: They lie to the masses; everything you think is real is an illusion. When one of the sheep tries to uncover the truth, the sheep must be slaughtered.

                                      

                                        A Scanner Darkly (2006)

Director: Richard Linklater

Stars: Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Woody Harrelson, Robert Downey Jr., Rory Cochrane

Synopsis: A bunch of looser friends all live together on in a crowded apartment, paranoid and crazy, they always think somebody is after them! They are being watched! They are all paranoid because they are all addicted to a new kind of drug called Substance D. But there’s something strange about the origin of Substance D. And an undercover cop decides to figure out exactly what it is. Problem is, he is addicted to the drug himself! This film is interesting, not only because of its themes, but also because the film is animated.

Signs of a Totalitarian Government: When a guy takes out his megaphone while walking down the streets and starts talking against the government a mysterious black van drives by, picks him up and takes him away. Disappearing forever. If you talk too much, you get whipped out and silenced.

V for Vendetta (2006)

Director: James McTeigue

Stars: Hugo Weaving, Natalie Portman, John Hurt

Synopsis: V for Vendetta is based on Alan Moore’s graphic novel of the same name. Its about a rebel called “V” who dresses up in a Guy Fawkes suit and goes around trying to show the evil government a thing or two. Thwarting their evil plans and turning the people against them. This movie is great because its one of the few that has a real rebellious aura to it. Its like, you don't like how things are going, then do something about it! I was actually kind of surprised to see this film getting such a huge release; after all it has an extremely rebellious vibe to it, and usually films of this nature don't get much exposure. But I applaud this movie for saying what it has to say: Totalitarian Governments should not be allowed to exist, we the people are the ones who need to make sure of that. 

Signs of a Totalitarian Government: Controlling television stations and what is said through them. The prohibition of books, movies, music and works of art.