Nebraska (Sir)

Nebraska (Sir) - Bruce Springteen 1982-Columbia Records

I've always had some distance in my mind when listening to "the Boss".  No particular reason.  In the same way I had never fully listened to this album or read the lyrics until April 1st of this year, '21.  After listening closely I know why the "distance" was there, and a large part of me has shied away from diving into Bruce's dark pool. 

 

From start to finish NEBRASKA is backwoods hick despair, as in sad, depressing, lonely.  Unbelievable, and unbelievably distant from even my own dark experiences.  And I've had a few myself.

The first song reminded me of the film "Natural Born Killers".  And they became progressively darker after that.  Of course, there is a reason for that, as his subject matter was influenced by Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard To Find", along with the Terrence Mallick film "Badlands", and his own research into the 1958 killings by Charles Starkweather and girlfriend Caril.  That pair has become the stereotypical young renegades associated with other works besides Natural Born Killers and Badlands, a slew of films like "The Sadist", "Kalifornia", and "Starkweather", and other songs such as "Small Town" by John Mellencamp, and probably "Take the Money and Run" by Steve Miller Band. 

 

We could give Bruce a great deal of artistic credit here and say possibly that since the language is always in the 1st person (even when he's singing from the electric chair/gallows) he is actually portraying these points of view, totally personalizing them, acting them out, projecting.  But in channeling someone, we become them, as that's inferred, so therefore to your audience, the singer is the person, especially when the acting is good.

 

I found myself wanting to know, however, after several tracks, who this "Sir" is that he repeatedly addresses.  It made sense when his song character was in front of the judge, but then he does it quite often in other songs and consistently includes the address to "Sir" when he's being ironically apologetic.  You get the definite sense that he does NOT like this Sir.  His usage of the impersonal pronoun is not respectful, but blaming, in a backhanded way.  He is, without being direct, identifying for us, the audience, ANY authority.  One senses it could be God, if it weren't for the fact that he also backhandedly declares he is an atheist on the same album...ok, his narrative voice declares it.

We can be reasonably assured that his answer to the "Sir" question would be "corporate bosses", or anyone who owns anything, seeing as how he's a confirmed blue-collar communist, the real kind.  He's immensely popular with struggling life-forms, the bottom of the ladder, the subjects of his songs.  He often feigns having had their same experiences, identifying with them; hicks, wayfarers, factory workers, migrants, street people, drunkards.  

 

Jesus himself "identified" with people like that, so it could be seen as a virtue.  But the identification was one of association, and not necessarily like-mindedness.  Jesus continually drew people away from their lifestyle and asked them unabashedly to "follow me", not "pick up your gun and point it at the nearest rich target you can take down".   Or for that matter, any target, as that is an expression of your anger over being in a world simply filled with meanness and doom.  What we're likely missing here, as it is usually missed by those who perpetrate such chaos, is that they are contributing to the meanness and doom, and have become embodiments of it, extensions of it.  In taking that control, they are essentially admitting they are controlled by the very thing they hate.  It's a vicious Catch-22.

 

This also reminds me of a moment in the TV series "The Expanse", wherein the captain is challenged by a crew member with this rhetorical question: "You know what your problem is?  You think that just because someone is the underdog that they're also the good guy". 

 

I may not give the album another listen, but I am certainly going to do some more research into Bruce's historic motivations, and I'll be reading the lyrics again.  Poetry and prose both reveal things after more than one round.

- Agitatus

The One

Netflix - Season 1 -  2021 - TV-MA

Several obvious problems in logic can spoil an otherwise very effective show. 

1.  The opening of the show drops us into the middle of the story and conflict without very much contextual preparation.  They’ve done a good job of telling the backstory sprinkled throughout, yes, and it’s clear why the service that The One Company provides is compelling, but the emphasis on the negative effects, compounded by the disaster waiting to happen underneath of a murder and coverup almost seems too soon. We are way deep inside of a plot and coverup story line that seems like we should be watching Season 2 instead of getting established.  I believe the show is assuming we’ve completely bought into the idea a bit early. 

 

2. One of the more obvious flaws of The One becomes evident about the middle of the 2nd episode.  We are following several threads of relationships that have married people obtaining DNA matches from "The One" company.  The program and acceptance for getting a match should have been limited to SINGLES ONLY.  Then there wouldn’t be all this heartbreak.  It seems funny to me, actually very obvious, that the primary method for bringing tension into the story is over-emphasizing married couples at the expense of the large number of singles that would likely snap this service up like crazy. We hardly meet any.  They are not in any way a significant part of the plot. 

Credit goes to the opening sequence however in establishing the overarching conflict right away, visually especially.  The very first shot of the show is a deep-sea diver finding a body behind a rusted ship panel.  Then immediately after a convincing speech to the public about The One, Rebecca walks out, and the body bag of the dead person found underwater is opened and closed again by a police person.  Gruesome.  

3. Peripheral themes abound, but most notably LGBTQ expectations and marital androgyny are seen as status quo, and like the over-emphasis on marital involvement in The One program, so are the saturation and normalcy levels of queer presence.  The question most people should have after so many TV series of this nature is, “Are there now an overabundance of “different” people than what could be considered “normal”?”  If I were an alien that learned earth’s languages and its topography and sociology enough to watch this and other television shows as examples of what human behavior is really like, I’d be inclined to say, “People from earth certainly are diverse sexually and they have expanded their consciousness of that into an almost asexual state of affairs, even though the older generation it would seem still have some outlying but largely insignificant qualms about it.”  - memo to space central, planet QuardX8 (a planet where all humanoid life is completely amalgamated sexually and asexual reproduction and gestation are 100% across their “species").  

I am only on episode 3 at this time, but I want to make a prediction about what a casual audience might say about this show, after the last episode... and it is an either/or.  I believe what we’re seeing is 1.  “the potential for better science, if it weren’t in the hands of such dishonest and immoral people”.  In other words, the science is real, but being handled the wrong way, and should probably not be privatized, but made available as a right, and an expectation.  I could be wrong, but it seems that it may be this way.  Or 2. "Of course the science is correct, how can it not be?  But the real point is that something this delicate should never be let out of its cage until studies can be done on the real effects, and definitely should be relegated to singles". 

 

So…don’t mess with DNA until we’re truly ready for it".  BUT...in EITHER scenario, because of the juxtaposition of the science of DNA leading to "inevitability", and the mixed, or androgynous nature of many of the key relationships, it is ex post facto of how the latter presumes the former.

Another peripheral theme that keeps cropping up in the form of a question is about the integrity of human relationships.  Quite a few times during these first 2 episodes the phrase similar to, “Was it Love, or was it just sex?” comes into play, and examples of both kinds of relationships are juxtaposed in the story.  At least that’s an honestly good theme, but of course, which gender is not the concern in the subtext of this series. 

 

We largely replace our logic and thinking when undertaking a film, TV series, and even a book. It's called "suspension of disbelief", and most of us, frankly, have a memorized path to that switch, on autopilot.  We normally don’t really want to find that kind of stuff out...problems with logic, or the story, making the connections... because it can spoil the fun.  A consistent question of some of my friends when I was in Columbia College Film School was,  “Doesn’t knowing all that stuff kind of…uh, spoil the movie?”  I've not found it that way. But on the other hand a few questions come up regarding the "fun".  Is it possible that spoiling the fun might be good for us?  Like vegetables instead of cake?  I say you can still have your cake, but vegetables are a must in any case.  And isn't the problem with being on autopilot essentially just that...that someone else is driving then?  When it comes to morality, I want a completely faithful Chauffeur driving my car, not just any Uber Driver.  I guess the most immediate solution for anyone is: watch, enjoy (eat your cake, fine), but make sure you've had your vegetables, and always refer to your faithful Chauffeur.  For those who believe that they do not have a Driver....why are you reading this?

  

 

Approach with skeptical caution being drawn into an argument you were not thinking about having.  I think that’s my new “review” motto.

- Agitatus

Me, Myself, and the Dying Indecision

2021, today actually

NR- 62 Yrs 89 dys 5 hrs

I've been here many times before.  I'be been blogging about film and music and "k"ulture and America and faith and logic and mystery and love and...ok mostly film, true.

I'm tired.  This blog has been around 17 years out of the above 62+.

If you have enjoyed my comments, articles, film, book or music reviews, and you think they have actually added to your life, or added to the world's body of knowledge in such a way that actually makes a difference, then please write me a note and tell me.  I'd love to hear it.  ...... preturnatural1@gmail.com

I almost never hear from anyone except possibly people that I know, and only if I prod them, normally, and I'm not offended, really.  But there have been 10,437 page views to this day, and approximately 5 comments.  It's quite possible that my articles are SO good, so convincing in fact that it leaves people speechless.  I have my doubts.  I'm more concerned that I've left people possibly bored, intimidated and angry, or possibly thumped you all with diction that is too veiled to really do any earthly good.  Or heavenly for that matter.

I'm not BORED myself, oh no...I'm simply trying to decide if this blog should continue to be a point of reference in my life in which I continue to pour time and effort and real energy into without seeing any other benefit other than something equivalent to a journal.  I have one of those.  I've written in it and read it to myself sometimes to see how far I've come along in my attitudes or ideas, always a bit embarrassed at my own language or naiveté or brash misrepresentations to myself.  Well, at least those are only for myself.  THIS however is public knowledge, so I do regularly scour it for error, faux pas, or your general run-of-the-mill outright blasphemy.

I have considered signing off by making one of those dreaded, painfully subjective "lists" of my top 100 favorite films of all time, the likes of which I know all of you are just simply dying to read.

But seriously, I don't find that much at fault in most of this work I've done.  I just have other pursuits to manage that are bringing more rewards.  BUT, I am giving this up with some reluctance, I guess more because of how long I've been in the habit of doing it, rather than if it's really something effectual.

So....YOU CAN CAST YOUR VOTE FOR "PLEASE AGITATUS, PLEASE KEEP WRITING, BECAUSE I'VE BEEN READING THIS BLOG FOR YEARS, ALL ALONG, AND I'VE FAILED TO EVER SAY SOMETHING, I'M SORRY!!!   

I'LL POST A COMMENT NOW AND THEN TO LET YOU KNOW WHAT THIS HAS MEANT TO ME!!"

Write to this address: preturnatural1@gmail.com

...or conversely, just remain silent and I'll be the judge of whether I continue or not.    Thank you one and all, whoever the all is.

- Agitatus

I Care a Lot

Home Invasion, the suit and tie kind.

I Care a Lot 2019  R - 106 min

If you could condense Breaking Bad into less than 2 hours, you'd get this, only the female version, and a very different kind of "drug"...money.  $$   

Our main character, Marla, is the most savvy and ruthless kind of schemer to be found.  She is in a Lesbian relationship with a partner in "legal" crime...trafficking in the elderly right in front of the legal system, preying on outliers that do not have good family protection.  The problem with one of her clients?  The lady has quite a bit of family protection.  The cast includes Dianne Wiest, Peter Dinklage, Chris Messina, and Eliza Gonzales, along with other supporting roles, all incredibly well-defined characters, a result again of...good casting.

The acting is brilliant, and so is the edit on this one, very fast paced and exciting with some adrenaline inducing scenes.  There is an air of the comic about this, the dark side, but the dark side overwhelms the comic fairly quickly, so it's just drama for the most part.  And the reason I cite Breaking Bad here is because oddly enough, as evil and menacing a person as our protagonist is, there is a point where you find yourself rooting for her and wanting to protect her, because dang it, there is someone/thing more evil than she is!  And you "feel" for her girlfriend as well.

No spoilers here of course, but you do have to take care to watch out who you're taking care to watch out for....as a way of putting it.

Yet we have another one to put in the Girl/Girl category bin, which is growing all the time.  Fascination has never been higher with lesbians, love between same-sex partners, and coupled with authoritative female dictatorshi....uh, I mean leadership, while simultaneously placing men in roles of high vulnerability, cliche' weaknesses and "good old boy" politics and law (such as we see from the judge in particular in this film).  It's like a gender turkey shoot out here.

So "I Care a Lot", while it may have some kind of surface motivation of another expose on the corrupt capitalist system we live in, is a Venus Flytrap of a film, injecting us with more liberal line-towing.  As per usual...great film, horrible inner core.

The "R" rating means restricted, of which I've been thinking lately, that much like they have "R"ed light districts in Europe, maybe we should have "R" film districts that you have to go to in order to view films like these, instead of on Netflix where we all know our teenagers and vulnerable minds go at night when unsupervised and snicker under their blankets at cheddar like this.  I'm not really a "star" person, but if pressed, I'd have to give this 4.5 for quality of filmmaking, and 0 for moral cleanliness.

- Agitatus

Orphan Black

AmzPrime 2013  TV-MA

The label "TV-MA" fits this demi-drama ONLY with regards to the displays of visual material and vocabulary, but it definitely does NOT mean "MATURITY".  This is yet another DNA-Drama that is attempting to manufacture a fiction based on the "what if" scenario of the production of multiple clones and distributing them throughout a populace, as some sort of experiment, most likely to do with the comparison/contrast of their lives.  Therefore in reality this is an exposition on the nature/nurture debate, and it is obviously falling heavily on the side of nurture, while DNA-based research proponents would love nothing more than to prove that science wins and the nature of the molecule would reign supreme over that which is "learned". 

The problem with this series...well, there are many actually...is that there is a continual barrage of insistent LGBtQ+++ Alphabet Soup incursion that is not only distracting and annoying, but completely unnecessary, and an obvious plant by the writers of said show.   As in the main character with this foil...aka one homosexual friend that consistently and blazingly pre-dominates every single episode with his intrusion and near comical cliche' homosexuality.

The latest, and I have to say the last, episode that I will be watching of this juvenile creation, Ep. 3 of Season 1, had the homosexual friend "babysit", in which case the end resulted in both children being found by the responsible adult female in a state of cross-dressed clothing, the boy dressed in a nightclub dress complete with beads and makeup, and the little girl in a dad-shirt, tie, and a man-hat.

It does not take one long to understand exactly where this series is intending us to go, manipulated into believing that human biology and our future lies in the cellular selection of "the fittest" and the random selection of genetic material that will supposedly dictate our identification, and will of course include our tolerance of the same as acceptable and "normalized". 

The show has a definite agenda that is easy enough to see.  It took me 2.5 episodes to see it coming.

This reviewer is also without any need to dive further as well into the dramatic drawbacks of the show which depend on the tension between the protagonist and said homosexual friend, who consistently bicker over every step she is taking in her journey, and which he is privy to, as is necessary when being a "conscience" that must bring the dilemma to the surface because honestly, there would be no other way to hook us... the audience... into said drama without it.  In other words, the "foil" is also the audience's foil.  Ok, it's a clever writer's trick, and one that steadfastly escapes those who are regularly addicted to soap operas.

Negative 5 stars, if that's possible.  Please do not waste your time.

- Agitatus

The Professor and the Madman

The Professor and the Madman 2019

TV-14 - 124 min

Mel Gibson didn't have to wear a kilt for this one, but he brought back the accent that was only a shade away from the Scottish used in Braveheart.  

His character here, the Professor James Murray, was credited with establishing the beginnings and methodology behind the Oxford English Dictionary, which ended up in 12 volumes, 415 thousand words, and 1.8 million illustrative quotations.  And he did it of course with the help of a small army of English-speaking people, and others of some fairly intellectual, yet flawed origin, and amid controversy over the same.  He did not see the end of the dictionary as it was finished long after he had passed away, but it seems that finishing it was no longer then a part of his personal goal.

This story is not just another historical recall, but an intimate look at faith, hope, and love, and the lasting qualities that abide in us in the current life, and that words never completely capture.  This is a beautifully written piece that is fleshed out in a spectacular and believable way.  What else should we expect with Mel Gibson and Sean Penn in the major roles, and surrounded with the likes of Natalie Dormer, Eddie Marsan, and Steve Coogan, faces familiar from so many other successful roles, and very nicely cast here.  I don't believe that the role that Jennifer Ehle played as the professor's wife was given enough space, or possibly not directed as well as she could have been, but she did pull off the "stoic" part without a flinch.  But of course a large part of her supporting character in this was in fact supposed to be confluenced.  The casting and acting made this really work.

Without spoiling it, I'll just say that though the story takes quite a few unexpected turns, and provides high drama, and leads us down a path to a very satisfactory conclusion,  it shakes the balance of the tension of hero/villain and turns that attention where the real villains lie in that English time period, and without some overwrought sense of agenda or any forced affectations.  Here I am using words that will likely be challenged by the Oxford dictionary if I'm not careful.  Affectations....I should look that up to find out it's origin!

So in any case, put this one on your list if you like great personal drama, history, a big dose of romance floating around in it, family ties and challenges, and humanity in general.   Great film.

- Agitatus

While We're Young

2015 - R - 1h37m

Brilliantly written, witty, very witty, 1/2 biting satire and the other half is as seriously straight as Ben Stiller can get, although possibly not possible.  He's always that visiting character Ben in Meet the Fokkers.  Does this help in this instance?  Yep, you bet, perfect casting.  Ben always seems to manage that edge of "I'm being screwed here", and he does it very well.

 

Could not have gotten closer to his opposition in the casting than with Adam Driver, and paired with Naomi Watts as his married partner in life.  

 

What I carried away the most from this was a truth that the industry...ok, wait, our entire social structure in these last 2 decades in particular...values youth above experience.  It's a well-known phenomenon aka age discrimination, aka gerontophobia.  It's sponsored by people who define what "prime" means.  But in truth, it's also a product of selfish ambition, which again, in this particular culture and over the last 20 years has been in great disproportion.

 

This is the story of a man and woman (both equally treated to a great degree here, although the story centers around the 2 male's initial relationship and goals) who are looking back with both longing, and celebration.  But mostly longing.  The loss of youth, the idea of being parents past, the pull of the need for success, the possibility of being fruitless in the face of dynamic personal effort...all play into how the story works when they meet the carefree, giving, inventive, selfless, seemingly original younger version of who they would like to be.  We think the magnet to be natural, but is it?  No spoilers here.

 

Great performances all around, very funny, dripping with irony and good spirits.  

- Agitatus

Ratched (or is it "Retched"?)

Ratched 2020

TV_MA

(TV "Maturity Analysis" needed?)

The LGBTQ+++ Alphabet community strikes again, this time with a sure-fire script for the uninitiated into their wares, selling marginalism juxtaposed over and against emotional hope and anathema relationships gone totally normal.  Buffoonery also abounds in the area of chauvinistic political overlords, aka Gov. of California played by the the overly capable Vincent D’Onofrio, of earlier fame on Law and Order, Criminal Intent, albeit a great many pounds later it seems, something on the order of Orson Wells (he actually elicits that aire, with the goatee still intact, etc).  

Overboard acting and “new” noir is offset by the incredibly bright and crisp cinematography, showcasing deep focus and almost painfully stark lines.  This is NOT Casablanca…it’s Casablanca invaded by a Disney colorist and mise en’ scene by the likes of John Alcott of The Shining (there is a list of a crew of 4 separate cinematographers on IMDB - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7423538/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ql_1).

But people, let’s be “straight” about this ok?  It’s a plot over-poisoned/whelmed by schmarmy same-sex overtones and over the top aggrandizing of the state of queer culture.  The theme of “set my people free” seems to take the day, and at the expense of course of the Catholic Church, or any church authority, and as I said, womanizing politics.  It is conveniently placed back in a time when those themes were “in extremis”.  So just like the almost neon contrasting atmosphere of the scenes, so is the sexuality overexposed.  

I quit the series when Ratched finally kissed the much older and I think not properly cast Cynthia Nixon.  “That’s it”   I declared, and turned it off.  

Wait, let’s throw in euthanasia as a serious subplot, and anti-death penalty as well.  California, ye shall surely fall off into the ocean as many have predicted.  Man, get your head out of that gutter.

- Agitatus

Nightcrawler

Nightcrawler 2014

R - 1Hr 57Min   -  Netflix

I see I'm late to the game here as usual, viewing an older movie that seems fresh to me, at least.

 

The resemblances here to Taxi Driver are plenteous and obvious to anyone who knows a great plot.  Louis Bloom's hair in fact (Jake Gyllenhaal) echoes the different stages of unkempt and disheveled or tied up in a knot states of psychosis that the character finds himself in, as did Travis Bickle in an oily state, or a Mohawk, in his time of crisis in Scorsese's internalized drama. The "lonely man", single mind, up against the world, and finding the violent and disturbing and consistent state of affairs on the street does what he needs to do to maintain self-protection.  In Taxi Driver it's a gun.  In Nightcrawler, it's a camera.  But in both, at least at the beginning, our protagonist is searingly open-faced, vulnerable, almost naive. 

But the analogy breaks down about half way through the film.  Our man Louis it turns out is a Narcissist of the highest order, and Travis in Taxi Driver...well he was simply a kitty-cat lover in the end, and at despair over his own self, along with everyone else.  Travis did not have a perspective of himself that was healthy or disciplined outside of angst, and a conflicted person internally, whereas Louis, in Nightcrawler, is always highly aware of who he is, who others are, and in control.  A real psychopath, a complete abuser of relationships, a ladder climber of the first order.

The really disturbing thing for us, the onlookers to this media tragedy, is that we can see that this is what shapes our voyeuristic nature, our need of inside information, first-hand accounts, our seeming need for abject horror over and above good news or news that may be of political importance.  We crave dirt, salivating over death at times, embellishment drawing us in, as a rule, and will never admit it openly.  At least that is the case until we get absolutely tired of it.  It's not about news gathering, or about Louis, or even greed...it's really about us, or at least one version of a great many of us, as we salaciously want to see the blood on the pavement, the final moments of a life.

Concerning the NEWS...There have been many expositional pieces in cinema...Broadcast News (1987) or Network (1976), all the way back to Citizen Kane in '41. Nightcrawler utilizes the far end of a single human's psyche, and absolutely opaque behavior as the catalyst for the news being conveniently exploitative.

 

It's great, tense, and action packed as films go, with some nail-biting driving scenes and anticipation of events. So it's a fascinating, while also sadly reflective piece of film.  7 or 8 out of 10.

Here's a short list of like-minded subjects to take a look at if you've never seen them:

 

Ed TV

All the President's Men

Talk Radio

Natural Born Killers

The Truman Show

A Face in the Crowd

Broadcast News

Network

Medium Cool

 
- Agitatus

As Good As It Gets (again)

1997

PG13  2hrs 19min

Re-viewed again today, I believe my 4th time through.  Haven't seen this in awhile, but every time....same reaction.  I cannot recall a time during the viewing of this film that my face was not in some state of smiling.  Every single shot and scene just dripping with lovely humor, characters played to the max, pathos, fun, sincere emotional giddyness.  I HAVE to put this film on the top 10 of my all-time list.  

I found myself laughing even at the small scenes, so perfectly wrought....like where Melvin is packing for the trip, and the stuff on the bed.  Ugh...painfully delightful.

It bears some similarities to Silver Linings Playbook in the juxtaposing of hopeless relationships to hopeful romance, and the turn of events that help us look up instead of down.  Playbook brought that sense of identification with losing and yet winning in the end.  Am I a hopeless romantic?  I hope so.


So my advice...If you haven't seen this for awhile, take it in again. 
- Agitatus

Summary of my Spring Viewing so Far 2020

I've just been TOO busy for blogging, so what I'll try to do is catch up on all my viewing experiences in a nutshell, especially since Covid drove us all inside.  You'd think I'd have more time, right?  Well, we're moving, and the house needs renovating to show it...so there's that.  And then there is all this hand washing...

So, I'll try to summarize this crazy season by simply LISTING first my film intake, and then go through each one and give it the "Film Festival" treatment...meaning Thumbs UP or DOWN, and a number between 1 and 5.  That's the protocol we used at Heartland FF.

LIST (in no particular order):

The Place Beyond the Pines
Horse Girl
Better Call Saul
Where the Money Is
On Body and Soul
The 2 Popes
The Perfection
The Laundromat
Hunter's Prayer
Ad Vitam
Extraction
ROMA
The Stranger
The Assignment
Blow
Bandits
What Did Jack Do?
Jupiter Ascending
Maniac S1
Money Heist
The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Glow S1
Killing Them Softly
Blood Father
Road To Perdition (seen before, many years ago)
The Occupant
Twin Murders: The Silence of the White City
Love, Death & Robots
Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool 
The Witcher S1: Ep1 only (if that tells you anything)
All the Bright Places
Lost Girls
Spencer Confidential

Yes...I have actually viewed all of this since March 10th.  And that's just Netflix!

So, the next post will be an attempt to actually do the short reviews for all of these.  If you're interested in any one particularly, please write me at: agitatus@gmail.com

- Agitatus

An entry from my music journal.  03/24/20
- Agitatus

Hunters 2020

Amazon Prime

The FIRST episode was really excellent.  It drew me in in many ways, I was captivated by the trauma of a young man in crisis over the death of his grandmother, surprised at the lengths that people would go to to hide in our midst yet also not surprised. I was impressed with the many little details of the 70s that they threw into the script, and the accuracy of it's buffoonery, to some degree.  It was enough to draw me in to the show and want to see another episode - #2 of Hunters.  Sure!  Could not wait to be done with my days' work to sit back and see what would happen.  The FBI lady in Florida was intriguing and I was already drawing lines between the 2 parallel stories. 

Ok, but half way through the 2nd episode I had to stop. During the torturing of the piano man.  I had had enough.  This is outright the most juvenile and tortuous representation of media that I've ever seen.  It's a laughing stock. There is a point at which I am truly confused, if this is really supposed to be a drama, or a dramedy, or just outright comedic darkness.  Totally confused.  The scene of "hunter" introduction in the elevator was the first huge mistake, and after that it went totally south...

I am just going to stop watching and call it a night and go find something serious to do, like paint a painting, or read a great book or something.  Amazon Prime, you've just outdone yourself with this stupid waste of money and my time, and also demonstrated you have quite a ways to go to get into the Netflix standard, or AMC.  Horrific, ridiculous.  I can't even begin to believe that Al Pacino was willing to put his name on this and be a part of it.  

I LOVE Israel, the Jewish people, their culture, and their lives, and I would die for them the same as I would believe that they might die for me if I were oppressed.  I cannot stand the idea of Nazi perpetuation, their ideology still in place even today in the 21st Century.  I would not have a faith at all if it were not for the existence and the perpetuation of the Talmud, the Torah, and the living scrolls of testimony and history that completely reveals the story of mankind.  I believe in the right of Israel to exist as a nation, in fact I am in favor of those of our own who have fought for that right, and beside them, dying for their cause.  

But this audacious display of nationalistic mockery and buffoonery makes me ill.  I don't care how close to the truth it may be, it is a shame to display the seriousness of this history in a way that makes clowns of it's heroes.  You can call it black comedy if you want, but there is a point at which the black becomes actual darkness, and you've hit it here AP.  

Amazon Prime, withdraw this series please, and reconsider in order to make something worthy of our time and attention. And may I say also that this is why this particular post does not have a picture with it.   The show is not worthy of a screenshot.

And of course this does meet all of the current social rules of including LGBTQEtc heroes and ethnicities, so it has that, consider that a plus or not is your own decision (and that's me partially placating and complying with the LGBTQEtc and Ethnicities social rules for those of you reading this that have a sensitivity this way).


- Agitatus

A Hidden Life  

2019 R - 174 min

I was going to write a review on this film at some point, but I'm quite certain that I found another review that goes beyond my style and states everything QUITE clearly.  A great review by a fellow writer/critic.  And as of this writing I've been able to catch this film in the theater only once on opening day, and it was magnificent, as predicted.  But...also difficult for me to put into words any better than Joel Mayward.  So, without ado...here is his link:
...
Joel Mayward on A Hidden Life
- Agitatus

First there is:

Shock and Disbelief - Denial

then

Pain laden with Guilt

then

Anger and Bargaining (blame)

then

Depression, Isolation, and Reflection 

circular, until...

A Turning Point

and then (time depends on external and internal factors)

Working it Out, Rebuilding

then

Acceptance

These steps are at times revisited over the same subject if they are reawakened by an event that reminds us of where we were when the whole thing started.  A photograph can do it.  A birthday. An anniversary.  A song.

If you find yourself in the first step of a personal crisis again, long after you were thinking it was dead, stop, ask yourself, "Didn't I accept this already?"

RollingThunderRevue

The Rolling Thunder Review - A Bob Dylan Story
- a Martin Scorsese film

TV-MA - 2 Hours 22 min

Netflix

[the Real Deal]

Genuine
Heartfelt
what it was really
all about

Archival footage never looked
this way
From a central vision
Marty did not stray

Joan and Bob and Joni too
joined the train
and made
ballyhoo

Narrated by itself
With a voice
Like Allen
the awkward guru

Flower children
pokin' holes in the night
drivin' hippie wagons
to Jimmy Carter's delight

Genuine
Heartfelt
what it was really
all about

Payin' homage 
To the Natives
Turnin' defendant 
Into Plaintiff
The eye of the Hurricane
Smilin' big now
Free from the big house
And the whisky-drinkin' 
Injun
Holdin' up the flag
Against the wind

Finding love
Shootin' straight
Seeing hate
Dissipate

Trail end
Seems a disaster
In the mind of the
money master

But it was

Genuine
Heartfelt
what it was really
all about


- agitatus

(Incredible piece of modern historical film - nice capstone nod to the brightest side of the generation explosion and a rare look at what sublime intensity lived inside one poetic troubadour - make sure you see this)

Jim & Andy - 2017

Jim & Andy 2017

R - 94 min

I viewed "Man on the Moon" after it came out, somewhere in 2000, and my word for it was simply "incredible".  Then Jim Carrey took all of the documentary footage and sat on it for as long as...well most likely for as long as it took to no longer be entangled with Andy Kaufman.  About 9 or 10 years it seems.

Jim Carrey is everyone.  That's what he's settled on it seems after playing Andy Kaufman in this Hollywood doc.  He concludes the film with the question, "What would happen if I just decided to be Jesus?"  

He's referring to his own ability to house a real-life person, channel them if you say that, reproduce them if you want a dry description of the term, clone them if you like Millennial terminology.  Egotistical if you take that at face value.  I mean, who does he think he is anyway, Jesus? (that's humor ok)

There is true denial, fear, and confusion alongside resignation, peace, and seeming tranquility all at once in the persona of Jim Carrey after he exhausted himself on the role of the unique and stratospherically out-of-the-box Andy Kaufman.  It's in his face, both of them.  In the real-life and updated version of Carrey in this 1/4 tribute film, he is as frank and serious as he's ever been, dropping the giant smile, while at the same time not allowing his cheeks to sag.  They are as uplifted as ever.  Permanent laugh lines.  

"MOTMoon" would have to be on record as his signature film, as Jim Carrey's biggest role ever, not because of box office ROI, but because of the life similarity, familiarity, and depth of the character that he physically embodied before, during, and long after the last take of Jim & Andy.  To be fair to the "exhausted" part of it, he states convincingly in his interview, "I don't miss Andy".   Not for lack of love, for the fact of having completely exhumed him and replaced him for a time.

But I got the sense, towards the end of this film especially, that while a relaxed Jim Carrey seems resigned (by what we can tell he's relaxed because he's wearing a fairly heavy outer jacket for the entire interview that becomes the narrative for this film), he shows a great deal of tension and stiffens the upper lip against the end of himself.  Even the personality-swallowing Carrey (who could embody Jesus most likely of anyone) cannot hide his entire body language.  But that's most likely because this is indeed him and not "acting" Carrey.  Here he is in fact baring himself open, and in that he is relaxed.  I simply mean that his conclusions about the nature of self and the universe...they are less than convincing.  

While the attempted bravado of facing the "unknown" is fed by what he has stated is the abstract nature of the self in the here and now, all things being "placed on us", and therefore exonerating ourselves of responsibility for how it's turned out, or what our "choices" are (hence the tea cup analogy: "did the tea cup choose to be drunk or was it my thirst?" - then I had to ask myself, "Well, does the tea cup have volition, like we do?"), Carry leans far forward when trying to tell us that we all long for what lies beyond.  The subtitle for the film is in fact "The Great Beyond - Featuring a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton".  Now THAT is exactly like the comedian, the escapist, to have a serious title appended by an embellished and decorated facetious one.  It is the hallmark of the lone ranger, the only child syndrome, the reclusive or exclusivity of narcissism and implosive indulgence, however you want to look at it... to put the vanilla icing of Comedy over our vegetables and meatloaf.

This is not to say it's a bad thing, something to shy away from, or deny.  I've been doing it my whole life, so I should know.  I echo this whole thing right down to the core, because it is also me we're talking about here, my own profile.  I've just never written a check to myself for 10 million dollars, and I did not have a chance to put it in my father's pocket when he was buried.  But neither can I blame Jim for his direction here.  It's totally understandable, believable for where he's at and what he's been through (man if you can make it through the Hollywood wringer and still smile....), and unlike many of the words normally used about Jim Carrey, even by himself, "genuine".  Tony Clifton said it on stage, "That smile, he's smiling all the time, that's fake!"

If this film passed you by....NO WAIT! ....if this film passed you by and you ALSO did not see "Man in the Moon", then rewind...........see "Man in the Moon" first, THEN check this one out.  You will not get as much out of this Making-Of  documentary if you don't see the real film first.  You will however need to see MOTM on Prime as a rental or elsewhere, and Jim & Andy on Netflix.  Here are the links:

Man on the Moon
Jim & Andy


- Agitatus