History. Futureworlds. Lies. And Get Out!
DARKEST HOUR (2017), directed by Joe Wright, stars Gary Oldman. As Winston Churchill, Oldman was sure winner in the last Oscars. So I don't want to talk about virtuoso acting. No brainer. This movie is a good subject for a conversation. Churchill's life as United Kingdom's Prime Minister is an episode in history that needs to be told. And discussed. The time was May 1940. Or the time before United States joined World War II. Nazi Germany swept across Western Europe, threatening to defeat the UK. The movie revolves around the friction at the highest levels of government between those who would make a peace treaty with Adolf Hitler and Churchill, who refused. Churchill believed the Germans are untrustworthy.
That time, Churchill wasn't very popular. A brooding alcoholic with short temper and awful diet, his record in the Admiralty was shot owing to the Gallipoli Campaign in the First World War, his views on India, and his support for Edward VIII during the Abdication Crisis. He was cool indeed in his a-la Cicero speeches, but those weren't enough (at first) to convince Parliament and the King (George VI). The French Prime Minister thinks him delusional for not admitting that the Allies are losing the Battle of France. Edward Wood, the Viscount Halifax and Neville Chamberlain (ex PM before Churchill) agree, keen to use Italian Ambassador Giuseppe Bastianini as intermediary to negotiate with Germany. They plan to resign from the government if Churchill refuses, to cause a vote of no confidence that will allow Halifax to become Prime Minister. Didn't work though.
Meantime, what was the situation at hand? The British Expeditionary Force is trapped at Dunkirk and Calais (France). Against the advice of the War Cabinet, Churchill orders Brigadier Claude Nicholson in Calais to lead the 30th Infantry Brigade in a suicide attack to distract the enemy while the soldiers at Dunkirk evacuate. Defeat in France causes the War Cabinet to support negotiating with Germany. But Churchill was either unperturbed or undecided until the King, not wanting to rule in exile (from Canada) should Britain be invaded, encourages the Prime Minister to continue the war. Hence, the evacuation of troops from Dunkirk, codenamed Operation Dynamo, ensued.
Operation Dynamo was the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, between 26 May and 4 June 1940. The operation commenced after large numbers of Belgian, British, and French troops were cut off and surrounded by German troops around the mid-point of the six-week long Battle of France. It was basically a miracle evacuation carried out by a flotilla of civilian merchant marine boats, fishing boats, pleasure craft, yachts, and lifeboats called into service from Britain. In his "we shall fight on the beaches" speech on June 4, he hailed their rescue as a "miracle of deliverance." A year after, Japan (which by then joined Germany and Italy as the Axis Powers), bombed Pearl Harbor. Thus the US joined allies against Hitler et al. That'd be another discussion.
"Darkest Hour" basically tells us what words or speeches could do. Not that simple, right? But it was also about Churchill's stubborn resolve not to sit down with Hitler on a peace treaty. What if he negotiated? Hard to tell since Hitler that time was in the offensive. But good talking point over beer or coffee, isn't it? A kind of subject that I always love to spend hours talking with friends.
HISTORY. I watch a lot of TV series and movies based on historical facts. I just watched both the "Darkest Hour" and "Churchill" about Winston Churchill, the firebrand Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the 1940s. The former is an account of his early days as PM, as Nazi Germany swept across Western Europe, threatening to defeat the UK during World War II. That was before the United States joined the war. The latter deals with his actions and disagreements with Allies (including the US' Dwight Eisenhower) as he awaits the 1944 Normandy landings, which he believes will be a disaster.
Normandy landings were the largest seaborne invasion in history, with nearly 5,000 landing and assault craft, 289 escort vessels, and 277 minesweepers participating. Allied casualties on the first day were at least 10,000, with 4,414 confirmed dead. The Germans had 4,000–9,000 casualties. Codenamed Operation Overlord and often referred to as D-Day, the operation began the liberation of German-occupied northwestern Europe from Nazi control, and laid the foundations of the Allied victory on the Western Front.
Take out some cinematic liberties (with no basis in fact) such as the insinuation that Churchill was anti-American and marital strife with wife Clementine, still pieces of history such as these are fine weekend conversation/s with youths. Meantime, sterling performance from Brian Cox as Winston Churchill, without undermining Gary Oldman's Oscar-winning version in "Darkest Hour." One message: War is evil.
WESTWORLD. Season 1. Although based on an early 70s film ("Futureworld") by Michael Crichton, the series' premise pretty much speaks to current realities. Android hosts (a.k.a. robots) are programmed to behave logically hence they act/react based on basic human reflex and response. Anger. Joy. Empathy. Sadness. Excitement. Libido. Etc etcetera. You gotta be on the same behavioral line. If you're not, you had to be reprogrammed or junked. It's like, these days, if you are not angry as in anti angry like others, then you are not part of that grouping. You are on the other extreme of the "narrative." The pro. And the pro are also expected to act based on their designated tangent. But then humanity is inherently a contradiction because we individually act/react on the basis of changes, per stimulus (not per sociopolitical dogma), around us.
Thing is, in case you present data to those who are already comfortable/conditioned in their "thinking," they'd negate you. No one reads new data that'd only conflict with one's "accepted" programming. That is why meme's and links (supplied by "engineers" who are trained to feed your assumed "microbytes") work better. Easy. We are not "born" anymore, we are "made." And who benefits? If you don't know who really benefits, and you stay on treading your assigned line, then you are an android host. You are cool and "safe." Are you? Or maybe, like robots, you don't really know. (Until the engineer types in stuff on that iPad that is labeled this and that behavior or attitude.)
UNTIL we return to how it was to know someone, we will never know anyone. Anymore. Mantis, a character in the supernatural movie "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" (that I watched in bed last night with Cyd) reminds us. Mantis, till she met Peter Quill and the other Guardians, has never really experienced social interaction. But Mantis knows a person's emotional well-being or moment's feelings by merely "touching" them. She can also somehow alter a person's feelings by continually touching. Of course, "touch" is both metaphorical and physical. Yet touch clinches its human intimacy only in knowing a person, face to face, and interacting the way we used to before the Internet connected us to the universe yet largely disconnected us from our humanity. Feeling is nothing if isn't touching and the other way around. You see, life is not a galaxy in a gadget. Life is 80s pop rock. Uh huh.
GET OUT (2017). Written and directed by Jordan Peele (of the comedy duo Key & Peele). Critics hailed and praised the movie. It had four nominations in the 90th Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay for Peele, as well as Best Actor for lead actor Daniel Kaluuya. It won for the screenplay.
I wasn't bored with the movie but I don't really think it is as awesome as what critics say it is. If there's an awards event for politically-correct movies, yes it is. But it isn't a bad movie either. Categorized under the horror genre? I'd rather label "Get Out" as dark comedy. There's nothing scary in it or on it, at least stuff that we haven't already seen in bunches in a typical screamer movie. No big deal.
On the personal area, I kind of relate with the overlying theme albeit on a lighter vein. Black man and white girlfriend visits her white family in a suburban or all-white small town enclave. There were sequences that remind of 2004 when me and my white girlfriend (her last name is also White) drove to Indiana from North Carolina to spend the holidays with her white family. But I laughed over those memory more than I am reminded of her mom who blatantly told me that she doesn't really favor a colored man to be with her daughter, with a nice rejoinder: "Nothing personal though, no offense, I know you are a brilliant and educated man." Uh huh. LOL!
But for what it's worth, watch "Get Out" but it'd be better to leave your political angst in the kitchen sink before you sit down with the popcorn or PBR. This movie could even be a metaphor of how internet technology jackhammers our brain into submission than racism. Agree to disagree? And Lil Rel Howery (as Rod) is just hilarious!
AH THESE (indie) MOVIES! Last night, I decided to rest my TV series indulgence and thought of feature movies this time. For two consecutive nights I watched "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2" and "The Wizard of Lies," and enjoyed them. But this time I said, I'll try something less bombastic. Like indies. So I skimmed through a few films in Netflix and Hulu. Settled on this one called "Without." It had a pretty good review at Hollywood Reporter so okay, let's see.
Tell you, I finished the movie not because I liked it--it's because I don't want to write this reaction by virtue of the movie's first 3 sequences, you know what I'm saying? That wouldn't be fair.
Look, I don't want to quote those high-fallutin' phrases and words, some are in French (oui!) that the reviewer put down to praise the movie. Big talk bullshit. LOL! I remember smartass film students at Tisch and Austin. (20+ years ago, that'd be me.) Yeah, okay. Art! You know, like sound was this and camera work was that. But this is not Jim Jarmusch or Rich Linklater either.
Bottomline, at the end of the lumbering torment, I asked Cyd: "So?" I got a blank stare, of course. I mean, how much did they spend for this? Maybe $70k? Low-budget. I understand. But at least give me something to distract myself from. Like a storyline that makes sense or a bit exciting, maybe. Otherwise, it'd be more cool to post another political rant. Ha!
BIG LITTLE LIES. Season 1. I encountered a two-word term "organic blowjob" in one of the dialogues. LOL! I heard that before in all those parties and gatherings that journalists and music people go to when I was living/working in New York City and Los Angeles/Long Beach. But as usual I used to respond with, "Okay." Okay as in I don't know whatever. People around me would laugh as though a joke was thrown around that I didn't get. BTW, the less blatant term (than organic blowjob) is "organic lunch." Or a flirtatious saying that can be used in the workforce without being obvious. But I didn't know that before till I decided to google it. Oh well. Damn. I was one clueless organic ninja!
That time, Churchill wasn't very popular. A brooding alcoholic with short temper and awful diet, his record in the Admiralty was shot owing to the Gallipoli Campaign in the First World War, his views on India, and his support for Edward VIII during the Abdication Crisis. He was cool indeed in his a-la Cicero speeches, but those weren't enough (at first) to convince Parliament and the King (George VI). The French Prime Minister thinks him delusional for not admitting that the Allies are losing the Battle of France. Edward Wood, the Viscount Halifax and Neville Chamberlain (ex PM before Churchill) agree, keen to use Italian Ambassador Giuseppe Bastianini as intermediary to negotiate with Germany. They plan to resign from the government if Churchill refuses, to cause a vote of no confidence that will allow Halifax to become Prime Minister. Didn't work though.
Meantime, what was the situation at hand? The British Expeditionary Force is trapped at Dunkirk and Calais (France). Against the advice of the War Cabinet, Churchill orders Brigadier Claude Nicholson in Calais to lead the 30th Infantry Brigade in a suicide attack to distract the enemy while the soldiers at Dunkirk evacuate. Defeat in France causes the War Cabinet to support negotiating with Germany. But Churchill was either unperturbed or undecided until the King, not wanting to rule in exile (from Canada) should Britain be invaded, encourages the Prime Minister to continue the war. Hence, the evacuation of troops from Dunkirk, codenamed Operation Dynamo, ensued.
Operation Dynamo was the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, between 26 May and 4 June 1940. The operation commenced after large numbers of Belgian, British, and French troops were cut off and surrounded by German troops around the mid-point of the six-week long Battle of France. It was basically a miracle evacuation carried out by a flotilla of civilian merchant marine boats, fishing boats, pleasure craft, yachts, and lifeboats called into service from Britain. In his "we shall fight on the beaches" speech on June 4, he hailed their rescue as a "miracle of deliverance." A year after, Japan (which by then joined Germany and Italy as the Axis Powers), bombed Pearl Harbor. Thus the US joined allies against Hitler et al. That'd be another discussion.
"Darkest Hour" basically tells us what words or speeches could do. Not that simple, right? But it was also about Churchill's stubborn resolve not to sit down with Hitler on a peace treaty. What if he negotiated? Hard to tell since Hitler that time was in the offensive. But good talking point over beer or coffee, isn't it? A kind of subject that I always love to spend hours talking with friends.
HISTORY. I watch a lot of TV series and movies based on historical facts. I just watched both the "Darkest Hour" and "Churchill" about Winston Churchill, the firebrand Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the 1940s. The former is an account of his early days as PM, as Nazi Germany swept across Western Europe, threatening to defeat the UK during World War II. That was before the United States joined the war. The latter deals with his actions and disagreements with Allies (including the US' Dwight Eisenhower) as he awaits the 1944 Normandy landings, which he believes will be a disaster.
Normandy landings were the largest seaborne invasion in history, with nearly 5,000 landing and assault craft, 289 escort vessels, and 277 minesweepers participating. Allied casualties on the first day were at least 10,000, with 4,414 confirmed dead. The Germans had 4,000–9,000 casualties. Codenamed Operation Overlord and often referred to as D-Day, the operation began the liberation of German-occupied northwestern Europe from Nazi control, and laid the foundations of the Allied victory on the Western Front.
Take out some cinematic liberties (with no basis in fact) such as the insinuation that Churchill was anti-American and marital strife with wife Clementine, still pieces of history such as these are fine weekend conversation/s with youths. Meantime, sterling performance from Brian Cox as Winston Churchill, without undermining Gary Oldman's Oscar-winning version in "Darkest Hour." One message: War is evil.
WESTWORLD. Season 1. Although based on an early 70s film ("Futureworld") by Michael Crichton, the series' premise pretty much speaks to current realities. Android hosts (a.k.a. robots) are programmed to behave logically hence they act/react based on basic human reflex and response. Anger. Joy. Empathy. Sadness. Excitement. Libido. Etc etcetera. You gotta be on the same behavioral line. If you're not, you had to be reprogrammed or junked. It's like, these days, if you are not angry as in anti angry like others, then you are not part of that grouping. You are on the other extreme of the "narrative." The pro. And the pro are also expected to act based on their designated tangent. But then humanity is inherently a contradiction because we individually act/react on the basis of changes, per stimulus (not per sociopolitical dogma), around us.
Thing is, in case you present data to those who are already comfortable/conditioned in their "thinking," they'd negate you. No one reads new data that'd only conflict with one's "accepted" programming. That is why meme's and links (supplied by "engineers" who are trained to feed your assumed "microbytes") work better. Easy. We are not "born" anymore, we are "made." And who benefits? If you don't know who really benefits, and you stay on treading your assigned line, then you are an android host. You are cool and "safe." Are you? Or maybe, like robots, you don't really know. (Until the engineer types in stuff on that iPad that is labeled this and that behavior or attitude.)
UNTIL we return to how it was to know someone, we will never know anyone. Anymore. Mantis, a character in the supernatural movie "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" (that I watched in bed last night with Cyd) reminds us. Mantis, till she met Peter Quill and the other Guardians, has never really experienced social interaction. But Mantis knows a person's emotional well-being or moment's feelings by merely "touching" them. She can also somehow alter a person's feelings by continually touching. Of course, "touch" is both metaphorical and physical. Yet touch clinches its human intimacy only in knowing a person, face to face, and interacting the way we used to before the Internet connected us to the universe yet largely disconnected us from our humanity. Feeling is nothing if isn't touching and the other way around. You see, life is not a galaxy in a gadget. Life is 80s pop rock. Uh huh.
GET OUT (2017). Written and directed by Jordan Peele (of the comedy duo Key & Peele). Critics hailed and praised the movie. It had four nominations in the 90th Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay for Peele, as well as Best Actor for lead actor Daniel Kaluuya. It won for the screenplay.
I wasn't bored with the movie but I don't really think it is as awesome as what critics say it is. If there's an awards event for politically-correct movies, yes it is. But it isn't a bad movie either. Categorized under the horror genre? I'd rather label "Get Out" as dark comedy. There's nothing scary in it or on it, at least stuff that we haven't already seen in bunches in a typical screamer movie. No big deal.
On the personal area, I kind of relate with the overlying theme albeit on a lighter vein. Black man and white girlfriend visits her white family in a suburban or all-white small town enclave. There were sequences that remind of 2004 when me and my white girlfriend (her last name is also White) drove to Indiana from North Carolina to spend the holidays with her white family. But I laughed over those memory more than I am reminded of her mom who blatantly told me that she doesn't really favor a colored man to be with her daughter, with a nice rejoinder: "Nothing personal though, no offense, I know you are a brilliant and educated man." Uh huh. LOL!
But for what it's worth, watch "Get Out" but it'd be better to leave your political angst in the kitchen sink before you sit down with the popcorn or PBR. This movie could even be a metaphor of how internet technology jackhammers our brain into submission than racism. Agree to disagree? And Lil Rel Howery (as Rod) is just hilarious!
AH THESE (indie) MOVIES! Last night, I decided to rest my TV series indulgence and thought of feature movies this time. For two consecutive nights I watched "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2" and "The Wizard of Lies," and enjoyed them. But this time I said, I'll try something less bombastic. Like indies. So I skimmed through a few films in Netflix and Hulu. Settled on this one called "Without." It had a pretty good review at Hollywood Reporter so okay, let's see.
Tell you, I finished the movie not because I liked it--it's because I don't want to write this reaction by virtue of the movie's first 3 sequences, you know what I'm saying? That wouldn't be fair.
Look, I don't want to quote those high-fallutin' phrases and words, some are in French (oui!) that the reviewer put down to praise the movie. Big talk bullshit. LOL! I remember smartass film students at Tisch and Austin. (20+ years ago, that'd be me.) Yeah, okay. Art! You know, like sound was this and camera work was that. But this is not Jim Jarmusch or Rich Linklater either.
Bottomline, at the end of the lumbering torment, I asked Cyd: "So?" I got a blank stare, of course. I mean, how much did they spend for this? Maybe $70k? Low-budget. I understand. But at least give me something to distract myself from. Like a storyline that makes sense or a bit exciting, maybe. Otherwise, it'd be more cool to post another political rant. Ha!
BIG LITTLE LIES. Season 1. I encountered a two-word term "organic blowjob" in one of the dialogues. LOL! I heard that before in all those parties and gatherings that journalists and music people go to when I was living/working in New York City and Los Angeles/Long Beach. But as usual I used to respond with, "Okay." Okay as in I don't know whatever. People around me would laugh as though a joke was thrown around that I didn't get. BTW, the less blatant term (than organic blowjob) is "organic lunch." Or a flirtatious saying that can be used in the workforce without being obvious. But I didn't know that before till I decided to google it. Oh well. Damn. I was one clueless organic ninja!
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