Sad truth: not everyone watches the news. I do not always watch it. In fact, I learn of most of my news from the internet, especially when it is trending on social media. However, once a week I get to sit down for half an hour and watch the news. No, not from a far right source like FOX News or a far left and down the drain source like CNN, but from a more unlikely source: HBO. (Or more accurately, HBO GO. And it isn't even my account, it's my friends. And she doesn't even pay for it. But its okay because it allowed me to catch up on Game of Thrones. For the Watch...!) Anyways, I'm not here to about how I totally think Jon Snow is going to come back from the dead, and how maybe some leaked set photos support that theory. I'm here to talk about another John, John Oliver.
A former correspondent on The Daily Show, HBO trusted Sunday nights to John Oliver to bring us the news. And not just using funny slap stick jokes and hilarious imagery, but with an underline of truth. In between every laugh, you will learn something from John Oliver. Just this past episode, which aired last night, he talked about the current refugee crisis in Europe. Most news outlets have negative statements and accusations to make about the refugees, with FOX News even using a video from 2010 to try to paint the refugees as terrorists. In reality, most people fleeing the middle east and Northern Africa are scared, hard working people looking for another chance at life. We learned about a sweet, innocent 16 year old, disabled girl who was leaving a life where she wasn't sure if she would be alive the next day.
We would not have learned about this girl from American news, American news is focused on two extremes: fear and chaos, or the obscure and unnecessary. If you turned on the news in the last week, the anchors were probably hating on the Pope (which is crazy! Right wing crazies watch FOX News, right wing crazies are predominately religious, and the Pope is the leader of the western religious world, a.k.a. the Catholic church). Or you could have read some news on the internet, such as this ultra-important Huffington Post article. (really? That was found on their front page section..)
What John Oliver cares about is more simple: the truth, and comedy. What could be more important?
A desert landscape; a two-headed lizard; a man explaining who he is, yet otherwise quiet. And then we're off! Mad Max: Fury Road has as exciting an opening scene as you'll ever see. From beautiful visuals, a captivating musical score, and having a knack to make you think and ask questions as you're going, the first few minutes of the movie is a great introduction to what you're about to experience for the next 120 minutes.
I've only ever fully watched Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, and that was for a film class in college. I've seen bits and pieces of the other two, but do not remember much aside from the post-apocalyptic Australian desert. However, I was hooked since the first trailer I saw of this latest film from George Miller (Happy Feet). It looked great (Miller is considered a visual genius). It sounded amazing (thanks to composer Junkie XL, who also did the soundtrack for 300: Rise of an Empire, and is lending a hand on Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice). I had to see it. Unfortunately, I missed it while it was in theaters, but I had heard of how great a movie it was from critics reviews and friends. So when I had an opportunity to purchase the Blu-Ray the other day, I did not pass it up.
One of the main reasons I wanted to see this movie was Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises). Everyone knows him as Bane, but he's been on my radar as one of the top talents in Hollywood since he played Twombly in Black Hawk Down. He was good in Inception, great in Warrior, but you need to see him in the BBC/Netflix show Peaky Blinders (which stars an incredible Cillian Murphy, also known from the Dark Knight trilogy as Dr. Crane/Scarecrow) Anyways, Hardy proved to us in TDKR that he knows how to act with his eyes and body language, and he does it no better than in Fury Road. His character, the titular Max Rockatansky, is a man of few words. He starts the movie by telling us he is crazy, and then uses the rest of the movie proving just that. Whether it is fighting several men at once, or nearly escaping death on multiple occasions, Max is a character that only needs his physical prowess and cunning to survive.
Plus, you can tell the explosions are real!
As good as Tom Hardy was, he wasn't the one who stole the show for me. Charlize Theron (Snow White and the Huntsman) was an absolute force to be reckoned with in this movie. We know little about her at first, as she only comes off as a gritty rig driver. Yet, as the movie goes on, she quickly shows us who is the strongest character in the movie. A single woman, defying an entire army, leads an exodus for those who need her, and ends the movie a hero for the masses. We know Theron can act, we saw that in Monster, but the emotion she shows in Mad Max, all while kicking ass, is great. You really believe she is doing the best she can for what she believes is right.
Another standout of the movie is Nicholas Hoult (X-Men: Days of Future Past). I truly believe his character, Nux, is the audiences window into this movie. In the first act of the movie, Hoult is going full throttle into his role, running a fine line between religious devotion and insanity, very much like the visual and auditory fine line the audience is presented between artistic beauty and overwhelming nonsense. We are being introduced to this world full of poor, suffering masses and the religious radicals, the Half-Lifes, where you need to do anything to survive. As the second act widens our knowledge of what really is going on with the story and Theron's Imperator Furiosa, Nux begins to question what he is really fighting and living for. His whole life was in service to Immortan Joe, played by Hugh Keays-Byrne (who interestingly enough was in the original Mad Max) on a path to the gates of Valhalla, yet all the fighting and chaos helped reveal how ungodly Immortan Joe really is. It isn't until he runs into Capable, played by Riley Keough (The Good Doctor), that he finds something to fight for, and his emotional arc runs parallel with the third act and helps drive the movie home. I'd like to believe he finally made it to the gates of Valhalla.
Mad Max: Fury Road is a good movie. Between George Miller and Junkie XL, they created a world that amazed both your eyes and ears. This is an action movie that never stops, that has your attention from the first scene to the last. However, the story is weak, and at times confusing. I do not believe we know enough about the villain to hate him (other than the fact he looks repulsing). We are told that he treats his wives badly, and that we want them to be saved, and that he is the typical religiously, radical dictator that you're taught to not like. But why is he doing what he's doing? Why are his men chasing Max in the beginning? This movie creates more questions than answers, but I think that is a good thing. It makes me want to see another installment that much more.
Finally, despite the title, this movie is not about Max. There is nothing wrong with that. This is Furiosa's movie, through and through, and Max is just a vessel to help her find her redemption. And that is just how the character has been throughout the franchise. Max just ends up being at the right place at the right time, or maybe the wrong place, and helps those who need it most. He only helps Furiosa because he's trying to get home, but so is she. And when the movie ends with her where she belongs, we see Max disappear into the crowd, presumably, and finally, on his way home.
Rating: B+
Also staring: Josh Helman (X-Men: Days of Future Past), Nathan Jones (Troy, plus hes 6'11" and 360 lbs...damn), Zoe Kravitz (The Divergent Series), and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (Transformers: Dark of the Moon)
"Where must we go... we who wander this Wasteland in search of our better selves?"
On this date in T.A. 2890 and 2968, Bilbo and Frodo Baggins were born, respectively! From liberating the Lonely Mountain from the clutches of Smaug, to liberating the entire free people's of Middle Earth from the tyranny of Sauron, these two might be the most famous and well traveled uncle-nephew duo ever!
In all seriousness, of all the fictional birthdays, September 22 will always stand out to me. The Lord of the Rings movies came out at a time where I was just starting to discover the fantasy genre, along with Harry Potter. They put me on the path that lead me to how I am today, from loving to read (I love the Harry Potter series with all my heart, but The Hobbit is the single greatest fantasy novel around), to buying blurays, and not for the movie, but because of the special features (the LOTR extended editions, despite being cinematic genius, are revered for their top of the line extras!). To me, there is nothing better than getting lost in Middle Earth, whether on screen or on the page. So happy birthday to the best burglar in all the land and the one true ring-bearer!
Do you have a favorite fictional character and want to see when their birthday is? Check out this website!
Full disclosure: I am exhausted. It is late Sunday night, yet here I am typing away. Why? Because if I want this blog to work, if I want it to blossom, and maybe turn into something more in the future, I need to get used to typing away late on Sunday night! Regardless, this is my first real foray into blogging. With my introductory post out of the way, yet well received (thanks everyone!), I can now talk about what I want. And if you're still with me...
The first subject I want to broach is art. No matter the media, whether it is television, film, or music, it is still art.
Art is not objective. There is no measurement, no exact number to determine which piece of art is better than the other. You cannot say that Picasso is better than Michelangelo. You can only say that you have an opinion of one's artwork over the other because of your preferences or how it makes you feel or what it makes you think. The same is for music, where one artist is no better than another. You may not like Miley Cyrus or her music, but that is based on a personal level of beliefs. She is an artist with talent, however her form of art is one that you may not favor in comparison to your favorite artist.
Art is subjective. Quantifiable only in that you can measure in numbers how many tickets are sold, or albums/singles are bought, or how many television sets are tuned into a show (I guess nowadays it would be cable boxes, not television sets). To give an award to one individual, show, or movie over another based on sales or ratings does not determine who the better artist is, only which is most popular.
I can get behind awards shows. A friend of mine, who used to be an RA in my building in college, Go Bearcats!) works on them in Hollywood! (You can follow her here!) With The Oscars, a movie is a singular performance, whether by an individual actor, a director, or any of the hundreds of people behind the scenes. You can judge (once again, based on opinion) who does the best job in an individual category. And there are new movies every year, a fresh crop of content to peruse and find greatness in. The same goes for The Emmys: an individuals performance on a particular show can be great. You can debate who was a better villain, Vincent D'Onorfio as Wilson Fisk on Daredevil or Matt Nable as Ra's Al Ghul on Arrow (easily D'Onorfio), or who is a better dramatic actor, James Spader as Red Reddington on Blacklist or Kevin Spacey as Francis Underwood on House of Cards (umm...rain check on that decision?). Directing on a television show is a little bit harder to judge, because each individual director must work within the predetermined rules and guidelines of the show made by the shows' creator(s). But if said individual director is able to direct a singular episode in a way that is more captivating than others, than yes, we can judge them accordingly.
My point is, these decisions on awards are still based on opinion. Mass opinion does not turn into fact, it simply is an opinion of the masses. Thus awarding Jon Hamm with the award of "Outstanding Actor in a Drama" does not make him the quantifiable singular best dramatic actor, only that the masses opinionized him as the best (did I just make up a word?! Nope, on Wiktionary...anyways Jon Hamm did in fact win that award tonight for Mad Men, a great show that has concluded. Maybe he'll join TWD as Negan?! Here's to hoping! But I digress...) The winners at the Emmy's tonight were great on their respective shows, but so were the losers. And so are dozens, if not hundreds, of other actors who did not even get any recognition tonight. Are their performances any less than those who won? The answer: no!
Awards shows makes art something it is not. Art is not a contest. Art is a talent, a hobby, a passion. Art is something that made the ancient Greeks so revered, and that keeps us talking about Shakespeare until this day. Art is what drives architects and landscapers. Art is a device for young kids to learn, or for the elderly to feel young again. Whether it is a great book, a thrilling movie, a beautiful song, or this painting (titled Rabbit in a Snowstorm), you can simply get lost in art.
Stay tuned!
My recommendations:
Doctor Who is back! (hence the GIF theme tonight)
Fear the Walking Dead (I'm excited for my season review)
Hello! Hello? I'm not quite sure if one should say hello in this instance. I'm talking to you, although I'm not quite sure who "you" are. Who you are doesn't matter. What matters is that you are taking the time out of your day to read this, for which I am incredibly grateful! And hopeful that you will make it a habit. And unto you, hope giver, I say, "hello".
It has personally been a weird month. I went from being as comfortable as comfortable goes, in a job I've had for two years, in a town I've been in my whole life, and with everything going well. And then I was laid off. I don't talk about it much publicly (i.e. on social media), but its a fact. And it sucked. It made me question what direction my life was going in. In a way, it made me ask myself, "Who am I?" Well I know who I am. I am a somewhat recent college grad doing nothing specific with my degree, yet using the skills I learned almost every day. Could I make better use of those skills living somewhere else? Probably, and I probably will soon. Yet that's the thing, I do not know where I will be in six months. And all of this pondering has lead me here today, to this blog, talking to you. And that excites me. Because for the first time in a long time I'm going to be doing something out of my comfort zone that could either end so poorly, or so so well.
And thus this is my first of hopefully many posts to this blog. A blog where I will talk about things that I am interested in. My passions. Things that excite me, that make me sad, or scared, or hopeful. Things that help make me, me. What are these mysterious things, you ask? They could be movies, or television shows (both of which I love many of). They could be local news stories, or big national headlines. They could even be about the 2015 World Series Champs, the New York Mets! (here's to hoping!) I plan on posting articles with my thoughts on them, or reviews to shows/movies I've watched. I might even write about a book I've read, but that would depend on me finally choosing just one book to read and finishing it before starting another.
I've never blogged before, not even in college. My mother does it, oddly enough. I have friends who do it. And I myself even frequent a couple different blogs daily, and I might even share those with you. So what I am trying to say is, this is different. This is new to me. Getting to write about what I love and am interested in excites me. And makes me nervous. But I enjoy writing, and I know if you are patient with me, and, more importantly, I am patient with myself, that this could be a lot of fun. And who knows? This could one day turn into something more.
So for all the nerds out there who aren't too ashamed to talk about comics, or for those people out there that still enjoy going to the movies, or for those who love reading books, I say to you, "hello".
