Monthly Archive for July, 2008

The Dark Knight

Published
by
Pseudo
on July 21, 2008
in Movies
. 0 Comments

1. Christian Bale - Solid, but sometimes that deep, tough-guy voice he does when he’s playing Batman cracks me up.

2. Heath Ledger - Solid, but not as good as the critics are saying - his untimely demise is unquestionably adding a creepy dimension to his performance that otherwise wouldn’t be there.

3. Aaron Eckhart - Sadly, he’s the best actor in the film, but no one noticed. He truly convinced me that I was watching a good man slowly become corrupted by evil.

4. Maggie Gyllenhaal - Merely adequate. Certainly more believable as a lawyer than Katie Holmes, but nowhere near as cute. I hardly believe Bale and Eckhart would be pining away for her.

5. Direction = Nolan gave the film scope, class, and solid performances.

6. Script = Very ambitious, but unwieldy at times, and certainly not for kids. Lots of talk about bank accounts and moral ambiguity. Also, I don’t like movies where characters sit down and explain themselves - The Joker should never say, “I’m an agent of chaos.”

7. Action = One of my biggest pet peeves about the first film is that the action was shot too tight and cut too fast. Nolan pulled back just enough this time to give me the coherency I wanted, but keep the edge he was trying to give those scenes.

8. Cinematography = Top notch, especially the IMAX sequences. Wally Pfister knows what he’s doing.

9. Visual effects = I had a difficult time discerning the visual effects in this movie - and that’s a compliment.

10. Music = Lots of Hans Zimmer-esque rhythm and mood. It works in context, but I challenge you to find one identifiable theme or melody.

11. Conclusion = It’s an intelligent, well-crafted Batman film, but it’s extremely bleak and perhaps half an hour too long. There’s much to admire here, and I give Nolan all the credit in the world for making a sophisticated Batman film, but I just wish it were a little more fun.

Bat(hroom)man

Published
by
Pseudo
on July 18, 2008
in Movies
. 1 Comment

Now I’m just as excited for a new Batman film as anyone. I’ve loved the character since I was a kid, in almost all of his previous incarnations.

But the glowing reviews for The Dark Knight have struck me as being just a mite bit overzealous. Several critics have stated that Heath Ledger deserves a posthumous best actor nomination. Some are even saying the film deserves a best picture nomination!

Really? For a movie about a guy who dresses up in a rubber bat suit to chase a guy who dresses up like a clown? Really?

I haven’t seen it yet, so I’ll give it its day in court. But today, the hype surrounding this film reached a high point of absurdity…

Earlier this afternoon, while I was at work, I walked down the hall to the restroom, took care of business, and as I was washing my hands, a handsome, middle-aged black man came in and started washing his.

He’s an actor - I always see him in the hallways, walking down to one of the casting agencies at the other end of the building to audition, but I’ve never talked to him.

Out of nowhere, he says, “Gonna see Dark Knight this weekend?”

“Yeah…” I say, mildly taken aback. “This Sunday at 8:30.”

He grinned, beaming with pride. “I’ve already seen it.”

“Okay - so is it as good as everyone says it is?”

“Better.”

“Really? Because when I see reviews like that, there’s just no way the movie can live up to it.”

He took a step toward me as he dried his hands with a paper towel. His eyes were shining with emotion.

“Trust me, man - the reviews don’t even prepare you for what you are going to see! And Heath Ledger… brilliant. Brilliant!”

“Okay… well, the next time I see you, we’ll compare notes.”

“You won’t be disappointed, my friend! You won’t be disappointed!”

Talk about hype! Even in the bathroom, I can’t escape the onslaught of the Dark Knight phenomenon…

Daphnis and Chloe

Published
by
Pseudo
on July 15, 2008
in Books
. 3 Comments

Recently, in one of my monastic forays to the Santa Monica Library, I stumbled across this book…

It was written by an individual with the enviable name of Longus. We know nothing about him, and very little about the origins of the book, which was probably written around 300 B.C.

Here’s the story - the inhabitants of the city of Mytilene find an infant boy named Daphnis being protected and nurtured by a herd of goats – roundabouts the same time, an infant girl named Chloe is discovered being protected and nurtured by a herd of sheep.

The gods decree that Daphis will be a goat herder, and Chloe will be a sheep herder. As they grow into adults, Daphis and Chloe start to have strange, inexplicable feelings for each other…

An odd fellow named Philetas puts them on the right track – lie down together naked and you’ll figure it out.

“But what more can there be,” she asked, “than kissing and embracing and actually lying down? What do you mean to do when we’re lying together naked?”

“What the rams do to the ewes,” Daphnis replied, “and what the he-goats do to the she-goats. Haven’t you noticed that when they’ve done it the she-goats stop running away from the he-goats and the he-goats stop having the trouble of chasing them? From some pleasure between them. Apparently what they do is something very sweet which takes away the bitterness of love.”

“But Daphnis, haven’t you noticed that the rams and the he-goats do it standing up, and the ewes and the she-goats have it done to them standing up? The males jump on top of the females from behind.”

It gets better. Daphnis finally figures out the mystery of sex with the assistance of an older woman named Lycenium. As he prepares to go teach Chloe, Lycenium gives him a parting piece of advice –

“I, who am a woman, have suffered nothing in this close with thee but what I am well
acquainted withall. For heretofore another Youth taught me to play at this sport, and for his pains, he had my maidenhead. But if thou strive with Chloe in this list, she will squeak, and cry out, and bleed as if she were stickt. But be not thou afraid of her bleeding; but when thou hast persuaded her to thy pleasure, bring her hither into this place, that although she should cry and roar, no body can hear; and if she bleed, here’s a clear Fountain, she may wash; and do thou, Daphnis, never forget it, that before Chloe I made thee a man.”

What the…?

This is what D.H. Lawrence was talking about – the honesty, bluntness and lack of shame about sex in pre-Christian literature. It’s something he tried (with mixed results) to re-create in his own work.

Even I, an atheist, find myself unconsciously adhering to certain Christian mores in my writing. Why? Because they’re so embedded in our literature and movies that you feel compelled to duplicate those patterns. They feel familiar, comfortable, reassuring.

Daphnis and Chloe go through a number of trials and tribulations before they finally get it on. There are kidnappings, jealous rivals, lies and misunderstandings - you name it. But eventually, they lie down in a quiet spot together and successfully do the deed.

I don’t know how interesting Daphnis and Chloe would be to most modern readers - but for me, it raised a lot of questions. And that’s always a good thing.