Thursday, September 4, 2008
Movie Review: Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Yes, in my immense boredom I went to see the newest Woody Allen movie Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and with a 81% Rotten Tomatoes rating I figured it could not be too bad. And yes this movie has been out for two weeks but being from Santa Barbara, small movie releases don't come out for weeks, if ever. So, on with the review.The movie was about Vicky, a woman who though she knew what she wanted in life, and Cristina, a woman who knew she did not know what she wanted in life, and their summer visit to Barcelona. There, they meet an artist, Juan Antonio, who attempts to challenge Vicky's conception of herself and helps Cristina find her way. Then, with the return of Juan Antonio's ex-wife, Maria Elena, a rather interesting love affair ensues.
It is hard for me to say exactly what this movie is about because I think it is about whatever the viewer wants it to be about. What I enjoyed most of this movie is that it was not the typical love story because it breaks down the commonly held notions of relationships thus freeing itself from the cliche narratives of the typical "chick flick." While watching this movie I often found myself not only analyzing the themes of the movie but applying them to my own life. Although the story lines differ in many ways, I felt the same watching Vicky Cristina Barcelona as I did Garden State, and if you do not know what I mean by that than absolutely do not see VCB.
This movie was not perfect, it felt a little slow at times and at other times the movie seemed very unfulfilling yet the movie shines with its originality so I ended up really liking this movie. Vicky Cristina Barcelona is not for everyone, but if you do go and see it, I urge you to keep an open mind, otherwise you will definitely hate this movie. ¶ 10:28 AM - 1 Comments - Links to this post
Monday, July 14, 2008
RIP Blockbuster. Actually, Good Riddance
Today marked the beginning of E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, basically the biggest convention of the year that has to do with video games. Today was Microsoft's big press conference for their XBox 360, and one of the many things they announced was a partnership with Netflix! What this means is, with a Netflix subscription and a internet connection you can rent a movie from your XBox 360 and watch instantly. No going to a store, no waiting for it in the mail.This was the smartest move Netflix could make and will any person who owns a 360 and a Blockbuster pass should, and probably will, switch to Netflix because you cannot get any more simple than pressing a button and watching.
Blockbuster has been a company I have never liked, and I will be happy to see them go the way of the Dodo. Another bonus is that it will hurt Apple and the AppleTV. Yay!
Labels: Apple, movies, video games
¶ 4:30 PM - 5 Comments - Links to this post
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Wall-E: In depth Non-Review
Yesterday I went and saw the movie Wall - E. The movie was about the environment, human sloth, and of course love. Before the movie was released there were rumors that the movie only had 10 minutes of dialogue; there is more than 10 minutes but not much, but even with the lack of talking I thought the movie was excellent. The one and only bad thing about this movie is that it is a Pixar movie which means the theater was packed with kids *shutters.*One kid directly behind me decided to dictate everything that was going on in the movie, and continued to do so after his mom asked him to stop. He did eventually stop but before he did he said something kind of interesting. When the second robot was introduced, Eve, this boy immediately said "That's a girl robot," and then referred to Eve as a she and Wall-E as a he for the remainder of his in depth analysis. This got me thinking:
1) When in a kids education/socialization do they learn the necessity to assign gender to things like robots?
2) What about Eve made it look female and what about Wall-E made it look male?
3) And what sort of consequences does this have in long term conceptions of gender and gender roles?
And my conclusion:
1) From the second they are born. "It's a boy" or "It's a girl" posters are plastered everywhere to announce the sex of the child. I propose that, instead of describing the sex of the baby it should say, "It's alive and healthy, and that is all that really matters."
2) I have no idea, here is a picture, maybe you all have some insight? http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/features/wall_e/wall-e_3.jpg
3). I think if kids are taught gender and gender roles at a young age then it simply reinforces the strict concept of roles which can only slow down feminist and gay rights movements.
Anyway, the movie was really good, if you hate kids it may be smart to wait a couple of weeks to see it or just rent it. Or you can see it now and just listen and analyize what they say.
Labels: hegemony, kids, lgtbq, movies, patriarchy
¶ 9:51 AM - 5 Comments - Links to this post