If you are interested in getting a satirical piece of work, a good story, hear some great dialogue, and also see a cinematic treat then then I highly recommend seeing Django Unchained .
In some ways it can be considered a true ‘boy movie,’ or that it is over the top . But I liked it because the protagonist is truly a victor at the end; all the actors do a good job; I am absolutely in love Christoph Waltz’s acting AND his character! I also feel that the art direction was done beautifully because the plantation houses from the outside and inside looked grand and beautiful, in addition to accurately portraying the small dusty southern towns.
It really is a good movie, and I just recommend seeing it!
Author: LitaPitasMusings
I love big dogs, movies from the 1930s-1960s, I am a "girly -girl-feminist" and I love fast food.
PCAP exhibit preview
If you like art and are interested in social issues then this is the event for you. You will see an array of different art work, with all sorts of materials. You will also wonder about the prison-industrial complex and all it’s social woes. You can see art which shows beautiful landscapes, provocative questions about race, and social issues.
It is an event worth seeing before you graduate!
PCAPS Art Exhibit
PCAPS art project
I can happily say that I will graduate from this university rest assured that I finally got a chance to see the prisoner creative arts exhibit. And all I can say about it was that it was magnificent.
I should say that I barely made it to the exhibit. I had just come back from doing some errands and was rather out of breath. But I told myself that it was the last day of the exhibition, and this is something I didn’t want to miss and had missed the last three years. I was racing to find a bus to take me to north campus, and racing to find where the exhibit was. But the feeling that flooded my head once I went there was the immense calm, lightness, happiness, and just feeling refreshed and renewed. Not feelings one would expect to have anything to do with prisoners.
That’s what I had to remind myself that, these paintings were in fact done by prisoners. Which is something I am not saying is a negative reminder. But a reminder that perhaps we should look differently at who we consider as prisoners? The fact is that they are human and many of them are there not because of more serious offenses like murder or rape, but rather possession of cocaine. When they are there for decades for such crimes, it costs the state millions in tax dollars. As Al Sharpton once famously said, “It costs more to send someone to jail, then it does to send a kid to Yale.” Plus, many prisons are private prisons and these owners are profiting from harboring these souls. As a side note, this system of owners getting profit while we taxpayers footing the bill is what an Economic sociology professor called, “Privatizing profit and socializing risk.”
But aside from the art sending a social message of the prison industrial complex and what parts of should and shouldn’t be there, some of the art itself was giving social/personal messages. There were arts which had an eye.. shedding a drop of blood.. and I believe it was called shedding a tear of pain. It was beyond powerful and painful. Even now as I think about it, I find it a bit painful. There was one artwork done in pencil about a girl who was crying on the floor of her high school with her books titled English, Algebra, and Teen Pregnancy. Out of her school bag she lifted a fetus covered with matter ( perhaps blood all over) and she was profusely crying as she held him by his umbilical cord.
There were ones which were trying to send social messages- but I wasn’t sure exactly what they were trying to say. But they were still beautiful. There was one showing the map of Israel surrounded by deep bluest prettiest of waters. There were also some portraits of elderly Hispanic women. Which I should add seemed dark and somber and were well done- they seemed almost Rembrandt-eqsue. There were also some paintings you could tell that were done by Native American artists, because they had the beautiful Native American handiwork done on the frame. Some of them topped of the frame with feathers and one even had a mini-dream catcher. There was also a beautiful portrait of Obama done by pencil and a few other ones of Obama. One even was more about Michelle Obama and stated “Michelle Obama for president.” I should add that seeing many of the paintings with Native American Motifs and Hispanic women really reminded me of how many of the prison population is composed of Native Americans and Hispanics.
Since this is this the semester of RACE at LSA, I should some focus to some arts which focused on race. I would say that my favorite race message art was one where every continent had a different color. But when they painted America.. it had dots from every different continent and the art was titled, “America Land of Immigrants.” I should add that I wish people from other countries would see this, because the current perspective is that America is a Black/White nation and that other colors don’t exist or aren’t American. I am just reminiscing about friends who were Chinese-American and their study abroad experiences.. but I digress… (well this is a good example of how these art got me thinking and feeling passionately..)
And lastly.. As much as I consider myself to be a social activist- minded person I will say that, my favorite paintings were that of the landscape or cute forest critters! Or should I say majestic forest animals ( I guess to me no matter how majestic they get, they will always be cute critters). There was one of these tall deer look beyond the trees. There was another one of ducks. I cannot help but look at the cute cherubic faces of the ducklings! There were also these incredible, incredible, incredible landscape paintings. One was in the Fall of a bus stop. Another was entitled Winter with beautiful snow on the ground and birch trees. Another – and this was my favorite picture of the entire art show was of a red cabin/farm house next to the water during Fall. The colors were so vivid. You could see the different orange, yellow, green, and reds so well!! Furthermore, you could see that the artists showed that some of the leaves on trees were still green and others were red- Which is very realistic!
In sum, this was an excellent event, and I was thrilled to have gone.
Review for Screening for Beasts of the Southern Wild
Well after hearing about this event, I had to go! And it turned out fantastically!!!!!! I will review it in 2 parts:
The movie
Someone else at the screening said that the movie was powerful, when I asked them how they felt. This is also one of the biggest feelings I felt after I saw this movie. I totally felt this at the end when Hushpuppy lights her father’s funerary pyre, says good bye to him, and then leads a group of people on a boardwalk back to the land. Hushpuppy I should point out is 6. But moreover, they were all wearing white on the boardwalk (which is very visually striking against the blue sky) and as the camera pulls back and pans on them leaving the boardwalk as a community- you can feel the strength they have, and this is immensely powerful.
I asked a few other people I knew at the screening what they thought and they said that they loved it, but they couldn’t offer too many reasons why. Which brings to another feeling I felt about this movie.. that it is beautifully done and seems deep, has so many eclectic pieces that it almost seems a bit dreamlike and hard to explain. Since it has so many eclectic pieces I sometimes felt that the movie was a bit “artsy” or confusing for me at times. I mean, I definitely felt that the whole movie was metaphorical and I understood parts of it. For instance, I understood that the bathtub (where Hushpuppy lived) was synonymous with the bayou. But there were many parts that seemed to eclectic/shrouded with fantasy, that I couldn’t quite make sense out of it.
For instance, the father (Wink) was at times, in my opinion, borderline abusive to Hushpuppy. He would yell at her, at times say that he didn’t want to take care of her, cussed at her, and asked her weird things like, “ Hushpuppy, do you want to know the story of your conception?” He was probably trying to protect her in a hard world where they had to be self -sufficient, especially light of the fact that he might not live. But still, I didn’t find it appealing the way he treated her.
Another time, Hushpuppy got upset at her father and tries to get back at him. She was already making some food on the stove by lighting up the stove with a blowtorch. But then puts it on a higher heat, to blow up the house. That act seems a bit harsh, and makes me wonder.. why did she take that route? I also don’t know where she got the blowtorch and where she got the football helmet she donned, when she used the blowtorch to light up the stove. After all.. she does live in the bayou.. And that wasn’t the first time.. throughout the movie there are all these random objects that can be found in her house.. where are they from? There are no stores nearby..
Don’t get me wrong, the main crux of the movie can be understood- Hushpuppy lives in the bathtub with her father, he is sick and at times is not there. She goes to school.. which was is basically a whole bunch of kids learning from their shop owner. They have a whole bunch of friends who live in the bayou and live off the crabs and seafood in the land. Hurricane Katrina comes and they want stay in the bayou- that’s their home. They resist being evacuated- it’s very awkward to see rescue/evacuation forces try to take them. They also go to a brothel/strip club where Hushpuppy meets a woman who might be her mother- who was thought to have left her/died. Then try to blow up a part of the levee ( I am a little confused here) and they end of going to the hospital. Wink is really not doing well.. but does not want to be at the hospital. He tells his daughter not to try the food- they are very distrustful of this world. Hushpuppy is dressed in a very conventional “goody-two-shoes” style dress and hairstyle and doesn’t like it. This is one metaphor I get—among others- they don’t like this world. The father manages to get her and the other kids out of the hospital. But he throws everyone else on the bus but doesn’t get on. Hushpuppy forces herself out of the bus, and gets mad at why he is leaving her. Eventually they come back and hushpuppy feeds him some fried gator meet.. which was a symbol of love.. and he dies. I had already mentioned what happens after he dies earlier—so powerful. So I do feel that it is a powerful rich story, just at times a little too eclectic and hazy for me. Overall I would give it a B+ ( it’s growing on me..).. when others would get it an A+.
The questions to the director and the comments afterward
The questioning was amazing.. people asked him about the context of the film, if he himself lived in Louisiana, what his next projects were etc.
At one point someone asked him if he thought that the movie went exactly as he planned it.. he said, “ When a movie has so fire, babies, children, in a swamp, and little money.. you cannot expect things to run smoothly!”
I will say that maybe this movie went a little over my head.. because I didn’t understand all the metaphors. BUT it was clear that some of the other people did- from their question!!!!
I think my favorite question or speaker was when a speaker came up to the computer and said, “ You may not remember me .. “ But then he said, “ Oh my god.. we went to high school together!!” Then a minute later he said while placing his hand on his head, “ Wait.. Eva??!!” She said, “Yes!”
So needless to say the questions were rather exhilarating and would take me a much longer time to get through…But they were good
Preview for Screening for Beasts of the Southern Wild
Preview for Screening for Beasts of the Southern Wild
This seems like an amazing event to go to because not only do you get to see this amazing movie which was Oscar nominated for best picture, director, actress, and a fourth academy award, but also because you get to have a discussion with the director. Which is pretty amazing because he will skype in from Louisiana; and this is a big-time director!
The movie has been described by some as a fantasy-realism story tale! It is realistic because it is essentially about a little girl living in poverty in the Louisiana Bayou, almost orphan-less when… Hurricane Katrina comes. It is essentially her story about survival and coping in light of these events. It is also rumored to showcase the lifestyle of those living a life which is very different from what many of us in towns and cities are used to living.
But it has a flare of fantasy to it because from what I hear, the little girl’s name is Hushpuppy who lives in the Bathtub with her father Wink. These names seem to hint an air of fantasy and also a bit metaphorical/reference to actual places and events. Which adds a sense of intrigue.. That said, I am rather intrigued by this movie and would like to see it! So to all of you out there, go see it if you can- for free!!!!!!!!!!!
Review for Jack the Beanstalk Slayer/Jack the Giant Killer ( believe it or not there are 2 titles)
Review for Jack the Beanstalk Slayer (Or Jack the Giant Killer)
Albert Einstein once said, “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairytales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairytales. “~ Albert Einstein
Needless to say that I have been a fan of fairytales since I was very, very small. So, seeing a movie about that is essentially am electrified, revamped version of a fairytale makes me happy because it reminds me of the childhood mental adventures I would take- via fairytales. I have to admit that the tv show entitled, “Once Upon a Time..,” Snow White and the Huntsman,” “Mirror Mirror,” “The Great and Powerful Oz” and even “Tangled” makes me think that fairytales are cool again in society. But besides fairytales what is even more fashionable is the revamping of fairytales which leads them to the fantasy genre. As someone who is once in a while, a playful cultural critic, I would say that I cannot help but wonder what this means as a society that we are experimenting with the fairytale genre. Are we interested in their timelessness? Or are we interested in the world they transport us too? The happy endings? Or the beautiful worlds they take us to? I also find it interesting that 3-4 years ago, vampires were all the rage. But now, perhaps we are moving onto fairytales? One last important question might be-is cultural fodder for the books, film, television.. a bit like clothing style is in the fashion industry? In other words, is what is old, new again? From such contextual clues, I would guess so.
Now, I guess I will go on to the actual movie. I will say that unlike other film reviews I have given.. this will be more of a What I liked and didn’t like. I feel more comfortable describing the film in that dimension.
I felt a bit mixed about the story at times. In some ways, the trailer made the movie seem a lot better. So I was a bit disappointed that it wasn’t as epic as the trailer described it too be. I thought that it was going to be this massive life or death battle between the giant and Jack. That is the other thing- I was shocked that there were so many giants. In the original story there was only one. But I still liked some aspects of the movie because it had a story about a kingdom which was set to medieval times, which is usually a favorite setting for me in stories.
It also had the story of two children- from different social structures- who suffered through the same issues so it helped connect the story better. The romance of the two main characters is obvious from the minute they showcase the children- it is a bit archetypal.
But I guess my favorite part was actually seeing the beanstalk grow and seeing the world of the giants. I was surprised at the story of King Eric and what his crown was made from as well as how the giants worshipped it. This piece of the story was the great fairytale or legend piece.. and it was a bit enchanting listening to it. At the same point, I thought that it was a bit weird that a crown was made from the heart of the giants. I am rather grossed out by blood and especially guts so the idea of crown made by hearts seems icky. But I am grateful no blood was shown.
I liked the adventure aspect of the film. It seemed very daring and definitely made the story more interesting. At the same point there was so much of it, that I got just in the details
The acting is also a bit mixed. The main two characters, Jack and Isabelle, are a bit weak. As I wrote earlier, you can kind of tell that they will get together but nothing too much is said about their interests, or them as people. I was also annoyed that for some significant parts of the movie, it seemed like Jack saved the day and Isabelle was once again the female in distress who needed to be saved. Yes, I understand that this is a fairytale but if it is being vamped up in the trailer as an epic fantasy, then it also needs to revamp its portrayal of gender roles.
I of course of didn’t like the character of Roderick but I thought Stanley Stucci played this creepy character well. I also thought that it was weird how they implied that the Crown of Eric was actually contained in the Crown Jewels in West Minister Abbey in London. I can see some thinking that was cool.. that the Crown of Eric still somehow exist. But I also thought that it was weird how, this evil crown ( and weird for being made from hearts) exist in a modern crown now. I know it’s fantasy.. but it just felt funny.
In sum, I give this movie about 2.5 stars. It can be an interesting distraction from doing homework, but it won’t be a great escape as fairytales usually are to many people.
