Yeah, yeah. I know that I said when I started The Pharonic Fantasy Theatre that it would be a movie-TV-whatever blog and that I wouldn't talk about my personal life or whatever but you know what? I gotta rant.
As I said in my last post, I'm working retail again (BLARRRRRRRGH) and I pulled a loooooong shift on Thanksgiving/Black Friday/Whatever-The-Hell-It-Holiday-It-Has-Mutated-Into-Now-We-Should-Probably-Just-Call-The-Whole-Time-From-Halloween-To-New-Year's-CONSUMEFEST and it got me thinking. Actually seeing people lined up in front of stores in the cold made me sad for my country and humanity in general. Is snagging a Good Deal on a giant TV set or an iPad so important that you sit outside in the cold in November on Thanksgiving, a holiday where you are SUPPOSED TO BE THANKFUL FOR WHAT YOU ALREADY HAVE? I mean, it's sad that Americans' wages are so low now that they have to wait for one day a year to be able to afford this stuff, but it's even sadder that they think they HAVE to have it in the first place... I mean, TVs... electronic devices... toys... all the big selling items I was running through my check lane during The Time Of Consumption was absolutely non-vital. Look, I know that this is a movie review blog (barely, I know, especially lately) but it's just a bit of fun for me - movies to me are not vital. Food is. Shelter is. A genuine feeling of love and well-being for myself and others is. Even in the realm of entertainment, something like a good book or music is much more important to me than any electronic means of entertainment. How have people come to believe that they need this stuff for their happiness? I would never sit in the cold and the dark to wait to get a movie, or a TV or even a CD or a book, no matter how cheap they would be. It makes one think and reflect in sadness on the modern state of our society.
And I'm not even going to go into the violence that can accompany any of this (thankfully I didn't see any of that).
Well, just my ruminations - I will try to actually review a movie next time. No promises though.
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Still No Pretty Pictures
Long time, long time.
Working retail again (ARRRRRRRRRGH) and the holiday season is upon us... already the stores fill with endless consumeristic crap and maddening Christmas jingles. And I work Black Friday for 12 hours straight this year. Yum.
But I don't want to talk about any of that today. No, what I want to talk about is the purpose of film and a reflection on its place in human existence.
What, did you think I would use that shot from Scanners here? Pft - that's getting old.
Anyways, I saw Thor: The Dark World last Saturday. It was... okay. The villain was rather underdeveloped (supposedly because the studio removed over 20 minutes from the final cut, booooo) but the rest was entertaining enough. If you like superhero movies or just fantasy movies in general I suggest you go see it.
The point is, the film got mostly lukewarm reviews, while the movie opening the same weekend that got all the rave reviews and had the critics jizzing their pants was Blue Is The Warmest Color. I have not seen it myself, and do not plan to considering it doesn't seem to be my cup of tea - a movie that includes a 10 minute long sex scene seems a little gratuitous and artsy for its own good in my book. But of course the film critics *ate it up* (I think they were biased because it was Freeeench). And there are those who will say that it is "real" art, and that something like Thor is "mere" entertainment. Well, guess what, people... it's all entertainment. Well, unless you are watching a documentary film or something - something like Inequality For All, which I saw last month that basically told me what I already knew (but is still worth watching anyway, I recommend it) but oh well.
Films are entertainment. They are a means of amusing yourself and keeping your mind occupied so that it is not occupied with the banalities or (heaven forbid) unpleasantries of your life. All of the emotions they evoke, all of the drama or comedy or tragedy or excitement - they are meant as entertainment. Yes, they can point out things about the human condition and show us ourselves - but they do so as entertainment... diversions... otherwise we would just get it in manual form. People who believe they are watching certain films purely as art to enlighten themselves are just deluding themselves.
Because it's all the same. Even viewing "pure" art is just a way of entertaining yourself... keeping your mind occupied until the day you day... because All Work And No Play and all that. It's just that some people have different tastes.
In the end, whether something is artsy or actiony or well-made or badly made or whatever... it's all the same. It's entertainment. And I have learned not to judge others for their entertainment, no matter how shitty it appears to me. They probably think my tastes are just as shitty.
So the lesson today is... if you have film snob friends, don't let them make you feel guilty or stupid for preferring Thor or The Hunger Games: Catching Fire or The Fast And The Furious 23: Nursing Home Wheelchair Challenge to Blue Is The Warmest Color. Because one day we are all going to die and our tastes in movies won't count for jack shit.
Except mine of course. Keep reading my shitty blog.
Working retail again (ARRRRRRRRRGH) and the holiday season is upon us... already the stores fill with endless consumeristic crap and maddening Christmas jingles. And I work Black Friday for 12 hours straight this year. Yum.
But I don't want to talk about any of that today. No, what I want to talk about is the purpose of film and a reflection on its place in human existence.
What, did you think I would use that shot from Scanners here? Pft - that's getting old.
Anyways, I saw Thor: The Dark World last Saturday. It was... okay. The villain was rather underdeveloped (supposedly because the studio removed over 20 minutes from the final cut, booooo) but the rest was entertaining enough. If you like superhero movies or just fantasy movies in general I suggest you go see it.
The point is, the film got mostly lukewarm reviews, while the movie opening the same weekend that got all the rave reviews and had the critics jizzing their pants was Blue Is The Warmest Color. I have not seen it myself, and do not plan to considering it doesn't seem to be my cup of tea - a movie that includes a 10 minute long sex scene seems a little gratuitous and artsy for its own good in my book. But of course the film critics *ate it up* (I think they were biased because it was Freeeench). And there are those who will say that it is "real" art, and that something like Thor is "mere" entertainment. Well, guess what, people... it's all entertainment. Well, unless you are watching a documentary film or something - something like Inequality For All, which I saw last month that basically told me what I already knew (but is still worth watching anyway, I recommend it) but oh well.
Films are entertainment. They are a means of amusing yourself and keeping your mind occupied so that it is not occupied with the banalities or (heaven forbid) unpleasantries of your life. All of the emotions they evoke, all of the drama or comedy or tragedy or excitement - they are meant as entertainment. Yes, they can point out things about the human condition and show us ourselves - but they do so as entertainment... diversions... otherwise we would just get it in manual form. People who believe they are watching certain films purely as art to enlighten themselves are just deluding themselves.
Because it's all the same. Even viewing "pure" art is just a way of entertaining yourself... keeping your mind occupied until the day you day... because All Work And No Play and all that. It's just that some people have different tastes.
In the end, whether something is artsy or actiony or well-made or badly made or whatever... it's all the same. It's entertainment. And I have learned not to judge others for their entertainment, no matter how shitty it appears to me. They probably think my tastes are just as shitty.
So the lesson today is... if you have film snob friends, don't let them make you feel guilty or stupid for preferring Thor or The Hunger Games: Catching Fire or The Fast And The Furious 23: Nursing Home Wheelchair Challenge to Blue Is The Warmest Color. Because one day we are all going to die and our tastes in movies won't count for jack shit.
Except mine of course. Keep reading my shitty blog.
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