Penn the Magician
What it means to be careful on how you word things, because it can apparently inflame the opinions of…one person…people…
-DK
I am so ‘Lost’
Whoa…I bet if he was anything like this picture in the TV Series; Lost. The Others would have not been able to fuck with the survivors so much…
This seems like a dedicated move so people can stop calling him “Jack.” But he will always be Jack in my heart.
-DK
Was Wondering When this would happen…
This looks like absolute shit…
But I would be remiss if I said I wouldn’t buy one…just one…
-DK
Billion Dollar Reaction
As you all know Facebook bought Instagram, for a billion dollars.
I want to feel like this…
Lucky motherfuckers.
-DK
Taking the “umph” out of sex
The trailers lie…in no way shape or form was this movie “sexy.”
A Dangerous Method, is a film based on the studies of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, and the birth of “psychoanalysis” basically a method in which the patient talks to their therapist about whatever it is that bothers them and then looking deep into their habits and experiences and somehow correlating it to whatever reason the patient has to see the therapist. (that is as simple as I can put it—-sorry)
A Dangerous Method, is about, how through various analyzations the characters in the film; Carl Jung (Fassbender), Sabina Spielrein (Knightley), and Sigmund Freud (Mortensen) handle the study of their own thoughts.
We see just how a person can be defeated and cured by their own logic; granted, said person sticks to their guns and actually follows their principles and supplements them with their conclusive thoughts.
The film makes you feel like you are a voyeur in one long therapy session. There is a lot of talking. So, unless you don’t already have an interest in the study of human behavior I suggest you run in the complete opposite direction of this film. That being said, the most haunting and best aspect of this film was the talking. The director, David Cronenberg, does an excellent job capturing the true entities of his subjects as they discuss the possibilities and impossibilities to their own logic. This is very haunting to the layman, because the characters in this film were real people who did set the foundation to our modern understanding of human behavior, but watching the actors be able to play out these roles from a totally subjective point of view makes one feel uneasy, for the characters appear to have no real moral stance, just logic. Good and bad are a relative thought; desire, suffering, and pleasure are a hypothesis to these people and it’s their mission in life to find out why. Slowing down to take emotion into consideration is just out of the equation for them, because it would force one to think irrationally, which is something their patients do enough for them.
Cronenberg fans, will note that this film is very “unlike” him, and it shows because I felt that although the costume and acting were on point to go along with its time period I still feel like this film would’ve been better off in the hands of say Sam Mendes or Jonathon Demme, and not left to cult heroes like Cronenberg. It’s different. What I really did enjoy were all the subtle details of all the characters’ habits, it allows the audience to make their own psychoanalysis as to why Freud is presented as to being orally fixated with smoking, why Jung is such a sexual deviant, but such a caring family man, and how Spielrein constantly uses her nymphomania as a tool to study her own theories.
This film takes place after Freud had become a prominent figure in the field of neurology, and people were studying under him, so we can conclude that in the film Freud is already reputable and not some “crazy” spouting about people’s egos and sexual desires.
“Sometimes you have to do something unforgivable just to be able to go on living,” said by Carl Jung. That alone is already a dangerous statement to make especially from the mouth of a reputable doctor. How one interprets this statement can easily explain to oneself if they are aware of the evil they commit or unaware and if they use this statement as an excuse to do fucked up shit or a reason to try and do better. Either way, you think therefore you are. If you’re not going to believe in a religion then at least believe in yourself. (I say that from a logical standpoint not an inspirational one)
“Girl, interrupted”
awk…ward
3/4
-DK
One Giant Corrupt Cluster Fuck
I love it when a film’s pacing and its storytelling plays a pivotal role in whether or not the film is good or bad.
Tropa de Elite aka Elite Squad, is a film about the thin line that some policemen must walk when dealing with criminals in a country where its government has seemingly given up on its people and is now full of corrupt leaders, and the balance they must struggle with between their personal lives and their jobs.
The film centers around an elite special forces unit known as the BOPE (Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais). They were assembled to combat the rampant crime that flows so freely in the slums of Brazil, specifically in Rio de Janeiro. Their jobs are to answer crime with intense prejudice; and they are called upon when the situation escalates out of control, which is why they are considered to be “special forces.” When they are on the scene it pretty much means the antagonizers have hit a level where peaceful negotiations is just not an option, thus allowing the BOPE to come in and use whatever means necessary to first and foremost protect themselves and their team and then worry about extracting information and or making arrests. They are hardened warriors with zero tolerance for criminals.
Enter the main character; Capt. Nascimento. He is one of the BOPE’s best, but is currently in line to become a father. He must now choose a life of a family man or continue to reign terror on the slums of Rio de Janiero. He treasures his men, but loves his wife and wants to be a father. He is troubled at the thought of his newborn growing up without a father, a sense of fear one cannot afford to have when entering an urban warzone. There is however a light at the end of the tunnel, his superiors grant him a promotion so he won’t have to fight any longer, but he cares about the outcome of his men, so he must now find a replacement for himself, someone who is caring, cunning, honest and absolutely ruthless if need be, however this characteristic is hard to find when one deals with modern day corruption. Enter Matias and Neto; childhood friends who grew up and became members of the Brazilian police force. Matias is a hardliner for justice, but is torn between wanting to do his duty and serve in the field or stay behind the scenes and become a lawyer, and Neto is a thrill seeking, noble personality whom eagerly wants to prove himself in the field. Both characters strike Nascimento’s interest and both become the top candidates to secede him once he steps down from his position. (This instance in the film confused me because I kept wondering why they would want a rookie to fulfill a position when they had many other suited candidates that were already a part of the BOPE).
Throughout the film we experience intense brutality used by the BOPE to interrogate criminals be it shooting the criminals limbs, suffocating them with plastic bags or just plain smacking them around, the viewer is gripped tightly and forced to endure the sheer grittiness of the film along with its chaotic cinematography.
The film’s style grips you instantaneously with its provocative opener and graphic content.
Where the film falls short is in its plot holes—-like I mentioned earlier the whole ‘picking a new candidate bit,’ was a bit confusing and the camera angles and its jolts at times frustrated me because it was really hard to focus on the details of each shot long enough to care, because you are conditioned to mentally prep yourself for the quick entrance of the next scene. Lastly, they didn’t really conclude what happens to Nascimento, and or the story. This might have been the intention because there is a sequel and it has the same cast.
Tropa de Elite, touches on the subject of justice in more ways than one. My favorite approach was the ironic views of Brazil’s upper echelon whose cushy lifestyle automatically granted them the self entitlement to pass judgement on the brutality and corruption Brazil’s lawmakers so freely dabble in. However, their views are quickly squandered by a simple statement made by one of the members of the BOPE stating how one does not know past what the media shows them and that to be there in the moment is absolutely terrifying especially when the BOPE are seemingly outnumbered at all times, and the fact that you see most of the upper class members participate in the use and distribution of drugs making their stance completely moot.
Another great aspect of the film is its ability to really manipulate the audience into feeling as if justice can just be a theory and not even an idea since it does fuck with a lot of people’s livelihood; everywhere.
Overall this film was great and I can’t wait to watch its sequel. The ability to develop the story and its characters and a brutal task force all within 2hrs absolutely astonished me.
I honestly went into this film thinking it would have no plot and be Brazil’s version of that new Thai film “The Raid.” I had heard of the BOPE from a buddy of mine who was watching actual news clips of the BOPE in action. I was absolutely behooved at the sight of them literally engaging in what can only be described as “urban warfare.” People were unloading entire magazines from automatic rifles in broad daylight to try and combat the BOPE in order to get away from them.
Students at a University arguing the true meaning of justice
Party time
Getting the info
3/4
-DK
Blake Griffin: Funny or Die
I’ve noticed B. Griffin really likes to show off his “comedic” side…
This is like a weird macabre spoof from those Penny Hardaway Sprite commercials from back in the day.
Whoa is that McG. (no one cares)
-DK
Holy Shit!
Teen’s face blown off by an RPG supplied by either China and or Russia (2 out of 5 of the superpowers).
This is what happens when a country has oil.
Quick lesson: Why isn’t the world police (America) “stepping” in to stop this madness? We did it in Egypt and Libya…why not Syria where the forces loyal to the current ruler are using brutal violence (evidenced in the above video) against peaceful protestors, to try to stop the uprising. Why, are they protesting? Because the current ruler Bashar Assad is privatizing Syrian banks to encourage more foreign business in a region of the world that has come to hate foreigners…I wonder why? So basically the people of Syria want him out.
Well to make shit simple, America does not like Iran, and Syria has “promised” to break off ties with Iran and begin peace talks with Israel, but in order to do that you need Assad to sign off on it, and obviously ousting him out of office would only create an imbalance in power and would probably put the country in more turmoil than it’s in now and would only delay the peace talks with more bloodshed. Slippery slope coupled with a BIG FAT double standard.
So there you have it.
-DK
