Capture of Culture- Life Itself

This review has two thumbs up.

 

Roger Ebert was the film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times for 56 years of his life, as some like to say half of the history of all cinema. Through his efforts in the industry, film criticism began to gain momentum earning a sort of prestige for the job that made or broke films. Studios went from loving critics, to hating them, to fearing them- a natural progression which today is still followed. One of Ebert's greatest successes was his popular TV show with fellow critic Gene Siskel entitled At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. Pulitzer prize in hand, each week Roger would go to bat against Siskel in debating films. Their opposing personalities led to natural confrontation which added a different sort of interest to the show. Together, they developed a system of rating movies by giving thumbs up or down to evaluate the quality of the film. "Two thumbs up for this one" is a phrase now integrated into reviewing films. His words started so many careers, and his personality bolstered so many young film makers as they slowly entered into the good old boys club of Hollywood. In his later years, Roger developed cancer which slowly ate away at him taking with it his ability to speak and move. Through his surgery and rehab, Roger continued to write reviews for the Chicago-Sun. His combative personality mixed with his love for the industry made him a valued and important figure among the Hollywood Elite.

I don't consider what I do film criticism. I just like to watch movies, and as per routine I suggest them to the vast emptiness known as the internet. I don't keep up to date with new films; I rarely ever watch ones with subtitles; I never give you one I don't like. It's important to have people like Ebert who can weed out the not so great films in Hollywood so that the important ones can shine and continue the perpetual motion known as entertainment.

Stream of the Week- Amadeus

Never have I ever been so jealous of a pink wig.

"I am the patron saint of mediocrity." Court Composer Salieri, has prayed to God his entire life for the gift of music. But, when Mozart appears on the Vienna scene, all of Salieri's hard work and accomplishments seems mediocre compared to the great musings of Mozart. Ordinarily, Salieri would have no hard feelings towards such a composer, for Mozart is truly a much better musician than him, but after meeting Mozart, Salieri questions the sanity of God in gifting such talent to a complete fool. Mozart is immature and quite arrogant. He does not believe that rules should apply to him, nor does he follow them. His music, however, charms people into forgetting his many growing faults. For this, Salieri hates him. He feels as though God is using that laugh to mock Salieri's pride. Mozart is commissioned to write an opera for the National Theater. His work is a great success in Vienna, but his personality lends him to be difficult to work with so though his name is well known, no students come knocking down his door in order for him to earn a living. His lifestyle is way beyond his means slowly killing him with alcohol and lack of sleep. Mozart continues to gain the emperor's favor through his opera's and music. Salieri, plotting against him secretly, befriends Mozart so that he can find a way to destroy him and earn back the love of his city. While in the midst of work, Mozart's father dies forever haunting him. His darkest work comes from this time in his life. Knowing that any allusion to his father will wreck Mozart, Salieri devises a plan in which he will dress to look like Mozart's father and suspiciously order a requiem, or piece for the dead. Salieri's techniques work and slowly send Mozart into a tailspin of emotions leading him to write his best work, but also killing him until finally when his work is complete the requiem can be played at his celebration of death.

The most interesting scene in this film occurs towards the end when Mozart is bedridden and Salieri is taking dictation of what Mozart envisions for the piece. They speak a different language which they both understand in a way the audience never could- they understand the language of music. To us, it is just a compilation of notes leading together to sound pleasant, but Mozart hears the finished piece in his head and plays it with his words to be written down on the staff paper before Salieri. It is easy to see in this moment why Mozart is considered such a genius in his craft and why his music continues to be relevant and well known to audiences everywhere.

Capture of Culture- Levitated Mass: The Story of Michael Heizer'sMonolithic Sculpture

Art means something different to every single person that is part of the observation process.

Famed artist and sculpture creator, Michael Heizer has had the same idea for an art piece since the beginning of his career. He's spent more than 40 years looking for just the right rock to complete his vision. This rock isn't just any rock; it's 340 tons of granite. LACMA takes on Heizer's idea and waits for his rock to be found. In a stone quarry 150 miles from the museum, a gigantic rock is blasted from the Earth and moved to safety in honor of Heizer's project. It sits there for a year before everything can be organized for it's transportation to LACMA. The route that LACMA plans takes 11 days through small towns with high enough bridges and power lines that can be easily raised in order to pass the rock underneath them. Along it's journey, the rock amasses hundreds of people to every part of its route. Facebook groups pop up of people who follow the rock, and Twitter accounts tracking the movement of the rock tweet back locations to excited art fans of where the rock will be at what time of night. Through interviews, the team find out what people thing of the huge million dollar project. Many are excited and see the rock as a form of hope that America can still do something massive in the name of art. Others see the rock as a waste of money, even though it is privately funded, and wish the rock money would have been used to instead fix the failing economy. Either way, the artist doesn't come to see the rock until they are ready to put it on it's base, an 456 foot sideway path that will go under the levitated rock. When it is finally placed on the steel and cement footholds, the rock stands as a huge reminder of how moving art can be.

When art is taken in, everyone sees something different. I look at the 350 ton rock and see a feat of engineering. The amount of time and energy and sheer manpower put into the placement of that art installation says miles more about the people working behind it than the artist himself. He has a simplistic design, but makes it a near impossible task to complete. In this way, I think of the rock as a movement. The art of the rock was the collection of time, energy, thought, and people as it moved for 11 days across 150 miles of American soil.

Stream of the Week- The Odd Couple

There is nothing like two bachelors living in small quarters with combative personality.

 

Felix is recently divorced, his busy body attitude and obsessive, compulsive attitude drove his wife crazy. After he went off the deep end, Felix's friends get together and decided to save him. Oscar offers up his apartment as a place for Felix to stay. He hopes that the help with rent will loosen up his alimony payments and serve as a companion. Oscar's apartment is completely trashed; he has no sense of organization or awareness of his current surroundings, but the second Felix walks in the door Oscar's apartment is in a constant state of clean and his habits are forced into the routine of Felix's carefully planned schedule. The two butt heads immediately. Felix and Oscar have totally different agendas and find themselves in a constant state of unrest. Oscar attempts to romance the girls upstairs with his charm and humor, but instead Felix finds himself appealing to their emotional side forming a fast friendship with the two girls. When Oscar finds himself completely in over his head, he throws Felix out. In retaliation, Felix goes to live with the girls upstairs leaving Oscar a changed man for knowing him. He has a new appreciation for the work and effort of Felix's personality, and Felix has a new sense of independence which he never would have had with his wife.

There is a dry sarcastic nature to Walter Matthau that balances perfectly with Jack Lemmon's obsessiveness. The two comedic geniuses together form a somewhat dramatized slice of life kind of film that is both entertaining and revealing about the nature of men after a divorce- they get lonely too.

Capture of Culture- Now: In the Wings on a World Stage

The important thing about theater is that it is an instant in time. It is a passing moment that will be over eventually. You can miss it.

The Bridge Project is a touring company of British and American Actors and producers that came together to produce the Shakespeare play Richard III. This coalition of actors, technicians, and organizers toured the world starting in London and ending in New York. Their work was rigorous, and their nights were late. Each of them experienced a different kind of tour which helped them each grow as actors and as a company. This documentary catalogues their journey, following their trips through China and Australia and showing parts of their rehearsals which brought the whole company together. With Kevin Spacey as King Richard, the whole cast was propelled into giving such emotional and poignant performances every night. The documentary explores the different challenges presented by being an actor or actress. They are slaves to their art which keeps them from their families and loved ones and puts them through different emotions every night. This group of people is together for a short time with one goal in mind- to entertain. When the curtain closes and the last audience member leaves they disband and go their separate ways, never to be the same again.

I've done some technical theater in my own hometown, but to even glimpse at the sheer magnitude of this production is enlightening. Theater is a moment in time, something I've never thought of before. To me, it's always been more of a job that must be done and then you can go home after but for many people it's a way of life.

Stream of the Week- Finding Neverland

Nothing should ever make you feel that you need to grow up all the way.

Mr. Barrie has just come off a very unsuccessful play, which has received him rather bad press. However, as he sits on his park bench trying to write something to make up for his latest failure, he finds himself face to face with a young boy trapped in prison under the park bench by his older brother. The level of imagination the boys, all four of them, play with is fascinating to Mr. Barrie, and it brings out his inner playful manner causing him to inspire the boys more and more with each day. He spends every afternoon playing with them in their mother's lovely English garden. To the common British citizen of the turn of the century, Barrie's relationship with the widowed mother of the boys seemed questionable, as did his interest in the boys themselves. Speculation runs its course causing Mr. Barrie's wife to fall into an affair and leave Barrie because he does not invite her into his imaginative world like he does the children. "Uncle Jim" Barrie constantly pushes the boys to use their imagination and to never grow up, but he struggles to get little Peter to join in with the rest of them. He is still grieving with the loss of his father, and just when he thinks he'll get back to normal, his mother takes ill. In order to please his investors, Barrie writes a play of the adventures he has with the boys and Sylvia, their mother. He entitles it "Peter Pan" in hopes that it will inspire Peter to grasp his imagination, and that it will comfort Sylvia in her illness.

I love historical dramas. They're even better when based on true stories. The somewhat odd historical assumptions made about Mr. Barrie have made him a difficult person to define within the confines of innocence and playfulness. That being said, no other actor could have played him as well as Johnny Depp. His playful nature and personal imagination propel him into a world completely of his own that one can only imagine the creator of Peter Pan would have lived in. He's the kind of man who clearly loves children, but never had his own. Perhaps that's why Mr. Barrie never grew up.

Capture of Culture- Harmontown

There is one universal story. That story is the growth and development of self discovery through a quest. Some people need to slay dragons, others just need to make a podcast and traverse the country in a tour bus.

Harmontown is the podcast child of comedy writer Dan Harmon, who is a main writer for the show Community. He caused some issues, as most comedians do, on his show by speaking out against one of his actors on his podcast. He was fired from his own show by CBS. After his departure from Community, he began to focus on his podcast Harmontown, a collection of random thoughts, topics, and Dungeons and Dragons games. Dan decides to take his podcast to the next level by taking his show to the road. Each night is hosted in a different city. Each show is unscripted and live in front of an audience. No one knows what is going to happen; there is absolutely no plan, and it's better that way. Dan comes across to his audience as genuine and down to earth as he tells them stories of his life thus far and about the fights he has on the road with his girlfriend all while getting completely plastered and playing D&D. His journey of self discovery helps him understand that in his own work he plays the villain- self destructive, unfeeling, and cold to those around him, while the hero is always a person who is kind and always there to help, listen, and care for others. This hero character is always more like his tour buddy and D&D master, Spencer. Spencer is a self proclaimed introvert who struggles with the popularity and broadcast of the show, but his character within the film is the real hero who helps Dan complete his mission.

I had never heard of Dan Harmon or his podcast until now, but that doesn't mean I didn't full enjoy his story. People are fascinating. Dan is no exception. His interactions with other people and his range of emotions jumping from a super high to an intensely devastating low make him human. And the best story of all is that of the human condition.

Stream of the Week- The Prince & Me

It had "prince" in the title; you can't blame me.

 

Paige has a plan. She's going to finish college, get an "A" in her Shakespeare class, and get into John Hopkins University to become a doctor and take part in Doctors Without Borders. Paige had a plan. Then all the sudden this goon named Eddie ends up being her lab partner and causes her all kinds of trouble. First, he doesn't show up to class, and then he uses her as a reference without her knowledge in order to get a job at the local campus bar and deli. Eddie doesn't know how to do anything on his own, and he's always being followed by this strange older man who does his cooking and cleaning for him. Eddie is really Prince Edward the Third of Denmark. As per cliché, Edward was a playboy back home, and his recent stunts have got him off hiding in America until everything cools down. Paige and Eddie are an unlikely pair, but she has just enough common sense and charity in her to calm the show-off tendencies in Eddie. Just as things are getting serious, the press get a hint of where Eddie is hiding. They catch Eddie with Paige and expose his true name and story to Paige making her question everything he's ever told her. He has to run back home to take over the throne for his dying father. There isn't enough time for Paige to make a decision as to whether she should follow her heart to Denmark with Eddie or follow the dreams she has for her future.

I will always have time for a prince meets normal girl, falls in love, and takes her home to be princess story. Paige is the ideal stereotype of middle American farm beauty. Eddie is the classic bad boy prince. Yes, it's cliché, but gosh is it fun. But underneath it all, I think the main point to these stories is the attempt to make the life of the aristocratic more accessible to the general public. We want to believe that those in power or in the monarchy are just like "us". Everybody wants to rule the world.

Capture of Culture- Searching for Sugar Man

"He was the inner-city poet."

Sixto Rodriguez has been a mystery since the day he hit Detroit. He wrote this music that many listeners compared to Bob Dylan (but better) and somehow he never amounted to anything in America. He was signed to a label after being chased by several agents and eventually recorded a first album in 1970 entitled "Cold Fact". After it's release in America, no sales were made. No one heard his album; no one bought his music. Rodriguez then recorded and released a second album, "Coming From Reality" in 1971. Yet again, there were no sales. Rodriguez was dropped from his label and returned to his life as a day laborer. He worked hard and remained quiet while he raised a family in Detroit. However, Rodriguez's music did not fade away into the music scene never to be heard again. In 1971, so the story goes, a bootleg copy of Rodriguez's album made it to South Africa and was mass produced. The record sold like crazy; every home in South Africa that had a record player had the "Cold Facts" record. No one knew who he was or where he was from. He remained a complete mystery to his adoring fan base in South Africa. Surrounding his mystery was stories of his death- how he committed brutal suicide on stage and such due to the lack of interest in his music. They all believed it. Towards the mid-90s, two fans got together to find out as much as they could about The Sugar Man. Using his music for clues, and reaching out to old associates got them virtually no where, except for one interview with a former record label. Sugar Man was not dead. He was still living. Not long after, the two of them received a post on their website from Rodriguez's oldest daughter explaining that he had indeed been living in Detroit this whole time. Due to his popularity in their region of South Africa, the two men set up a concert which was attended by 20,000 fans in 1998. Rodriguez got his shot at being famous. After the concert, he returned home and went back to demolition and yard work. No one ever knew the impact he had made.

In 2013, this documentary was awarded an Oscar, but I still had never heard a Sugar Man song until I watched this film. It is incredible to me to know that someone that talented could just disappear. What made this film so interesting to watch was the fact that everything was unknown; I didn't know if he was truly dead or if he was still living in Detroit working hard. There is such mystery surrounding his story. This movie is so well shot and uses Rodriguez's music to the best possible advantage. I have been converted. I am now a fan. Watch out America, it's the Sugar Man.