The Sounds of Goats

And no, this site isn't an Ewan McGregor fansite. But let it be said, there is no such thing as a bad Ewan McGregor movie.

This isn't a full blown (perhaps the wrong term when it comes to goats) critique of the underated 2009 Clooney/Bridges vehicle. The A&E editor at ICC's Harbinger decided to take that task as I was left to tackle "Pirate Radio". Having spent the money to see this film to write a review, I was going to get some kind of essay out of this. Fortunately, there was the "Sound Critique" assignment for my Audio Production course, and I believe this critique still serves for anyone to view this film.

Check the review out at HARSHSIDE.COM

The Ghost Writer - Pedophiles v. War Criminals

So...the editors at the Harbinger, Illinois Central College's newspaper, expects their contributing clolumnist to walk by their office that is two stories above the only class he's attending this semester. It's funny because he's only had to enter the office once in his three semesters of contributing.

Enough of this 3rd Person bullocks, makes me feel like those right wing twats who were offended at my "Destroy Popular Culture, Rebuild, Repeat" shirt...at a strip club. Did one of the girls pay them off just, so I'd plead for one of them to take me back for a dance?

The editor had told me, if they could pay me for my reviews and my opinion pieces, they would. Personally, I like not having the hastles of showing up to meetings, and if that cost me a few bucks, that no big deal. All I expect is an e-mail telling me when I have to get my shit finished.

Maybe it just slipped their mind, maybe the A&E editor saw a flick and wants my space, or the editor-in-chief didn't like Ghosting my last opinion piece. Whatever the reason, I feel a little put out by a newspaper that hardly updates its website.

Yes, I guess I maybe taking the inevitable "sorry, we were so busy e-mail" to hard, but I have an ego, and when I don't do too many things well, failing to get published hurts.

After receiving the e-mail, it was a reality check. The staff simply had college things to do, the stuff that will further careers. Writing for a college newspaper is kind of a secondary thing in comparison. Like it or not, that is pretty accurate.

C'est la vie, I guess. With a Polanski movie review, that seems appropriate. As long as my works weren't published for making an observation about pedophilia in this critique, everything will work out fine. I bought a domain for a reason right?

Check out the review at my new website Harshside.com - Satire, Movies, and Anarchy

Pirate Radio - Too Bad Nobody Went Down with this Ship

I appreciate that the Harbinger (http://iccharbinger.com) is trying to catch up the website during the break, but there has to be something more important that Daughtry's October show in Peoria to dominate the entertainment section.

But, they did choose to publish this review for "The Boat That Rocked" instead of "Assassination of a High School President," so it maybe said that I didn't offer anything for the month of November to dethrone the Idol Poser.

“Pirate Radio” is a picture that is nothing more than subplots without substance that allow for fine British actors and Philip Seymour Hoffman to act cheeky. Richard Curtis’s film is non-trippy images to a classic rock soundtrack. Somehow this does not seem to be the fit way of presenting these songs, and the story does not make up for the mistreatment.

In 1966, British radio refused to play rock music, so only “pirate ships” anchored around the country could air it. The government is not too fond of not being in control of it, so Sir Alistair Dormandy (Kenneth Branagh) is on a crusade to shut these stations down. This larger story takes a backseat to focus on the experiences of Young Carl (Tom Sturridge), an eighteen year Englishman and his experiences on the Radio Rock boat owned by his godfather (Bill Nighy).

In turn, this story is pushed aside so that everyone in the cast can have a story that explains who they are with no intention of being relative to any of the larger premises. Thus, “The Boat the Rocked,” the film’s title in the UK which was also changed to “Good Morning England” in France and “Radio Rock Revolution” in Germany, is filled with a lot of humorous scenes that features characters one can laugh at, but not relate to.

It is a picture that offers many opportunities for people in the audience to say, “I know a guy just like that at this one bar.” The audience at it’s opening Sunday’s 9:20 pm showing at Willow Knolls 14 was only one individual.

There can be no complaints made toward the actors. They are given limited roles, and fulfill the requirements of them. With a story that refuses to do anything with these characters, in ends up being a complete waste of talent. This should be a crime to any fan of British cinema.

Characters that have a part in the grand scheme of the film were the biggest strengths of Curtis’s other directorial effort, “Love Actually.” Each subplot in “Radio” picture plays out, and is then forgotten. Without giving an amount of time that would be worthy of master thespian Branagh’s story, the larger plot does nothing more that serve as a cigarette burn, an indication to the audience that there is a change in subplots. At least in “Love Actually,” Curtis was smart enough to not climax any of the subplots to the third act.

As for the direction, it seems to have been ripped straight from the transition scenes in the”Austin Powers” trilogy. In attempt to show that the radio station affected the majority of Great Britain supported the station, there are constant cuts away from the story. Very few of these cuts add to the fun of the picture because unlike the “Powers” films, they apparently lack a sense of humor.

“Pirate Radio” is a poorly constructed film that tortures the audience. Eventually, the funny tales in it become monotonous, and the viewer is just waiting for the film to end. If anything captured the feeling of the season of “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” that John Cleese was not on, Richard Curtis’s film does so.

Hope = Death, a bleak observation

The problem with last night's blog was that it was too repetitive. A struggle to figure out what more can be said about how shitty my existence is. After plenty of calling God a sadistic bastard and thoughts to Frank Miller's "Sin City," I think I may have received a divine answer.

It doesn't get that douche bag Iehova off the shit list, but it is a lesson that I think all should learn and the sooner the better.

Check out this blog at http://headtrip309.blogspot.com

Your beautiful and your god is an asshole

I am confused where to post this blog. Should be on http://harshside309.blogspot.com because I am attacking the fabric of the most hypocritical of society? Or should be on this blog because despite the flaws that almost make it as bad as "Pirate Radio," watching "Persepolis" fuels my discontent with the big guy.

Well I decided to post it on http://headtrip309.blogspot.com

Please check it out.

Mother of Tears, Redheaded Stepchild

A common complaint about legendary Italian horror director Dario Argento is that his directorial style being based around his visuals, instead of his story. With La terza Madre, Dimension Extreme’s Mother of Tears, may have been his attempt to dispel and surprisingly does not span beyond the gore that is associated with the genre, thus may have taken away the chance for its American distributor to claim some of their films as art.

Witches from all over the world are flocking to the Italy’s capitol. Crime is rampant, mothers are murdering their children, and the only person who might be able to stop the rise of the Mother of Tears is Sarah (Asia Argento from XXX, Land of the Dead). She is the daughter of the white witch whose life ended during her battle with the Mother of Sighs (from Argento’s Suspiria). With latent powers inherited from her mother, no other person may be able to prevent the “Second Fall of Rome.”

Being filmed in English and not having the opportunities for the large scale shots Argento is known for, fans of the director might be disappointed in the conclusion to the Three Mothers trilogy. It does not seem as prolific as his other films, and the story is very linear. There is little mystery in the story, so the viewer does not have to think.

Not being forced to think may or may not be a bad thing. On one hand, the images might be considered more disturbing because there does not seem to be a motive for them. On the other, if there is no motivation, do they have to be so frequent? Does the audience have to bare witness to vivid deaths of more than one child? Without reasoning behind them, it can be declared tasteless, and even a waste of characters.

Asia Argento delivers a great performance as the European raised American lead, but with the accent, some might thing that it is what a Winona Ryder performance would be like if delivered immediately after the incident. Otherwise, all of the other characters have nothing behind them. The first male lead is set up to have the story be based around Sarah’s experiences with him and his tragedy, but he is dropped from the film to introduce three more characters that take on the mentoring role.

One of these mentors is portrayed by classic horror actor Udo Kier (Blade, Shadow of the Vampire, Andy Warhol’s Dracula). It was a horrible decision to cast him in this role because the final mentor is an elderly gentleman. In the end, the final male lead becomes a police detective who probably has less than ten lines in the film. No story should have so many disposable characters.

If one gets past the overly populated story, Mother of Tears may be the best filmed Gothic horror picture of the decade. No one can question Argento’s ability as a director, but the audience has to put up with a lot to witness it. Some might think it is to over the top and offensive, but if those who stick with it may leave happy. Not for the casual horror fan, or the Italian horror fan, Mother of Tears, may just be a picture that missed its mark.

Platoon: When Oliver Stone Could Direct

In my opinion, from the middle of the 1980s until 1992, when Quentin Tarantino made his directorial debut with Reservoir Dogs, there were only three directors who almost always released at least one film per year, and whose name demanded the attention of the entire movie going public.  Steven Spielberg, who along with producer/director George Lucas has seemingly defined how a motion picture should be handled since the mid 1970s; Spike Lee, one of the pioneers in films directed by minorities; and the man who seemed to only associate himself with controversial material, Oliver Stone (director of the filmsSalvador, Born on the Fourth of July, JFK, and Nixon).

Probably Stone’s most controversial film (at least until the release of his autobiographical satire of a US President still in office, W.) was Natural Born Killers in 1994.  Peter Travers, Rolling Stone’s premier film critic offered this quote to praise the film and director:

This is one of my all time favorite movies, and it put Oliver Stone on my list of 'Best Directors Ever,' right along with Stanley [Kubrick].

With few exceptions, Kubrick’s films were always controversial, but he never had the same output of Stone, and based on these negative reviews of Natural Born Killers, it may lead one to claim that Oliver Stone is really the classless equivalent to Kubrick:

·        “1 and a half stars,” film historian Leonard Maltin

·        “Stone calls this bile satire. But satire takes careful aim; Killers is crushingly scattershot. By putting virtuoso technique at the service of lazy thinking, Stone turns his film into the demon he wants to mock: cruelty as entertainment,” a staff writer for Rolling Stone

·        “One merely leaves puzzled and wondering: Is that it? He's not telling us anything. He's riffing on a theme and--intentionally or not--contributing to the junk pile he supposedly decries,” Desson Howe, Washington Post staff writer.

Stone definitely seems to have a knack for controversial subject matter in films, but film that he undoubtedly got the most acclaim for was 1986’s Vietnam War film, Platoon.  It may have lacked controversy because The Deer Hunter (1979) was regarded at the best film about the conflict through the exploration of trauma incurred by American participants, but was inspired by Stone’s first hand experience of being a baby boomer who served in the Far East.  It implies the long term effects of the war (Stone an example of the negatives being a cocaine addicted writer before a sober director), but focuses on the struggle of surviving a year in the war.

Through avoiding controversy, Platoon’s reviews may make a viewer now wonder why Stone is so dependent upon rattling the cage of more conservative movie goers.  Like Leonard Maltin who praised the film as being, “Harrowingly realistic and completely convincing,” and the Washington Post critic calling the film, “A triumph! A staggering study of war…a dark, unforgettable memorial.”

I agree with the praise because it is brilliantly directed, and Stone left it at that.  His later films seem to be dependent on what seems to be a goal of his to be considered cutting edge.  Having many friends who are like Travers, I have seen Natural Born Killers more times than I cared to have.  Yes, I enjoyed that film, and feel he is closer to the point of his satire than most young, up and coming writers and directors, but a side from the scene about incest that was filmed with a sitcom’s approach, the film itself was like looking at vomit of celluloid.

Leonard Maltin is absolutely dead on in his description of the film, and when it comes to taking a serious approach to recreate history, Stone delivered with brilliant crane shots of the battlefield, poorly lit night battles.  These make the viewer feel that they are seeing the war through the prospective of Chris, the films main character portrayed by Charlie Sheen.

Another great touch was the claustrophobic feel the viewer may get when Chris is being introduced to the marijuana den where the pacifist and crusaders would spend their time at base camp.  In contrast, the gung-ho grunts poker den was shot in a way that the viewer is not suppose to feel like one of them.

Aside from the great directing, Stone’s story is one that does not have to be set in Vietnam to deliver.  Chris could have been the uptight Godfrey Parker who became a forgotten man known as Godfrey “Duke” Smith, instead of the college drop out who thinks war should not be fought by the people of the lowest class as the Senator’s son is conveniently left from the draft lottery.

It also seems to be a common theme of films about the mean streets where our main character must decide whether to be idealistic or a survivalist.  The fact that these classic archetypical elements are delivered by the outstanding supporting cast of Willem Dafoe and Tom Berenger (both received Oscar nomination for the Best Supporting Actor), secure this film is definitely worth anyone’s while.

Platoon is a textbook example on how to make a perfect film.  It was perfect for the audience that saw it in 1986 because it was about the experience many of the audience members went through.  As stated earlier, brilliant direction, story, and acting allows any movie to stand the test of time in only good ways (as long as it is not tasteless like Stone’s Killers, Spike Lee’s blacks in blackface classic Bamboozled, or even D.W. Griffith’s homage to the KKK, The Birth of a Nation).

This film won the Oscar’s for Best Picture and Director, so I do not know how anyone cannot claim this film as a failure.  Not until 1993 did Spielberg win his first Oscar’s in these categories (Schindler’s List), Stanly Kubrick’s films never won an Oscar outside of special effects (2001: A Space Odyssey), and Spike Lee has yet to receive a nomination since Do The Right Thing (1989) with the exception for the documentary 4 Little Girls (1997).

Some say controversy prevented success for Kubrick and Lee with The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and when one watches Platoon, they maybe right.  This was Oliver Stone’s story from Vietnam, a dark time in American history, and it is the dark times that a society cannot afford to forget.  The film may relate to many viewers now with the paranoia of Middle Eastern conflicts becoming the current generation’s Vietnam.

Controversy, may have prevented this film from being a must see part of motion picture history, and more importantly, may have deterred people from remembering “Those who fought and died in Vietnam,” the dedication Stone placed at the end of his finest film, Platoon.

Russ Stevens,
rohmobile.com

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