The Pensive Exposition

The Men Who Stare at Goats - aka - The Journey to the East - aka - The Novices of Sais

On a very quick note...  Consciously, or subconsciously... these three works all have something in common (in a glassbeadgame-sort-of-sense) - and 'The Men Who Stare at Goats' was a delight for S. and I to see the other night.  I was glad to see yet another work added to the League library - Bravo Clooney and Heslov. 

1) Protagonist/member who was once - part of the league, then has gone on alone

2) Sometimes doubting if the league/teacher ever did exist; doubting the truth and purpose of the league

3) Finding redemption - rediscovering the league and hearing "the symphony of the universe" (Novices of Sais) in a new chord

4) Finding one's true role in life, and always on the neverending road to Socratic/Romantic higher. understanding

5) A journey of the mind - as well as of place

- Will leave the rest for others to post...

Long live the League!

Free Films: Public Domain and B-Movie Downloads!

http://www.veoh.com/channel.html?channelId=9&network=Cult+Classics

http://msn-cnet.com.com/Its+the+site+of+the+living+dead%2C+as+cult+films+hit+Web/2100-1025_3-6047466.html?part=msn-cnet&subj=ns_3-6047466&tag=tg_ns  (for more general information)

Yes, you've heard it... Yes, its true... Find those hard to obtain older films, cult-classics, sci-fi/horror reels, and sundry unusual plots - all for free on video streaming/download!!!!! 

Memorable genre titles are waiting at the click of a mouse button: Metropolis; Night of the Living Dead; House on Haunted Hill, kung-fu films, and many others...

"I think the human race needs to think more about killing..." -- Robert McNamara

The Fog of War

Directed by: Errol Morris          Year: 2003

Won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature

I encourage every educated American adult to watch this film…  I think McNamara deals fairly and honestly with the issues, and he presents the complexities and disturbing realities that several US presidencies had to deal with.  This piece is especially educational for anti-war activists from any era… to relay a vivid point… Yes, at times the US Military did not have a firm hand on international conflicts and relations, and it made many mistakes – BUT consider some of the more dreadful alternative scenarios that might have occurred instead, had our country not tried to protect itself and its interests effectively – in the Fog of War.  This one gets a Platinum Kierkegaardian stamp!  See Wikipedia for more details.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fog_of_War

"I think the human race needs to think more about killing and about conflict... is that what we want in this 21st Century?" -- Robert McNamara

McNamara summarizes some lessons learned in Global Politics:

1. Empathize with your enemy.
2. Rationality will not save us.
3. There's something beyond one's self.
4. Maximize efficiency.
5. Proportionality should be a guideline in war.
6. Get the data.
7. Belief and seeing are both often wrong.
8. Be prepared to reexamine your reasoning.
9. In order to do good, you may have to engage in evil.
10. Never say never.
11. You can't change human nature.

Destry Rides Again: Pushing the Hollywood Codes

DESTRY RIDES AGAIN -- Starring Jimmy Stewart & Marlene Dietrich
1939 – Black and White
Directed by: George Marshall

Here’s a hilarious movie that pushes the envelope for its time (the period after the early 1930s  Hollywood film codes were implemented)…

In the town of Bottleneck, a man can lose his ranch, his pants, and even his life – all because of a woman in a card game - at the Last Chance Saloon.  In a film were women (Marlene Dietrich) get their asses slapped, and women kick both guys and gals back in the ass, just about anything can happen – including a two minute cat fight! 

Based on a novel by Max Brand, this 1939 cowboy film has just about everything but Indians: sexuality, high & low comedy, parody, astute melodrama, music (sung by the German born actress Marlene Dietrich who plays Frenchy), action, romance, and a message.  Women in corsets, a woman losing her dress, fierce fight’n females, mass public intoxication, and clever innuendo abound in this no-holds-barred Pre-World War II feature. 

Guns blaze obtusely all day and all night long in the streets; gangs of cowhands fight thieving brigands for entry into the bar, and women (business owners, mothers, and lovers) march the streets with clubs -- all in the course of 48 hours.  Adding to the moral chaos is a corrupt Mayor who moonlights as the only judge – providing sufficient liquid refreshment for the jury that deliberates in the pool hall…

But at the heart of it all is a progressive sentimental tale about law and order.  Thomas Jefferson Destry, son of the famous Destry who cleaned up Tombstone… is the new Deputy in Bottleneck who believes in law and order without the guns… that is, without the immediate 'high-noon' style shoot-out… Instead of “filling ‘em full of lead,” No-Gun Destry says, “What for? You shoot it out with ‘em, and for some reason or other - I don’t know why - they get to look like heroes.  But you put ‘em behind bars and they’ll look little and cheap the way they otta look… and it serves as a warning for the rest of them to keep away.”  And well folks, Destry learns the consequences of that statement.

Of course, the film wouldn't be posted if it weren't worthwhile... and it earns the Kierkegaardian stamp of approval; no questions asked.  It also went on to aid in the unusual comedic return to Western Parody: Blazing Saddles.

The mid 1930s brought along a new set of film codes which put censorship into Hollywood… this film pushes those boundaries quite a bit! For more information on Pre-Code Hollywood days, early films of women empowerment, and the roots of film noir, check out the following links:

PRE-CODE HOLLYWOOD

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Code

PUBLIC ENEMY! Warner Brother sin the Pre-Code Film Era

http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/17/04b_warner.html

FUCK HOUSEWORK! The Bad Girls of MGM 1932

http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/17/04a_badgirls.html

"I had a friend once..." -- Thomas Jefferson Destry

"Here's looking at YOU, kid" -- Advice to Aspiring Film Makers

Someone ought to set some rules for young and aspiring film makers… Here are some of my suggestions… ‘without authority’ of course… 

STORY TELLING: First off, 99 percent of all independent and beginner films suffer from bad storytelling.  If you don’t have a good story, don’t drag your friends and crew into wasting time on a project that will amount to nothing.  Bad Story = Rotten Film… plain and simple.  ADVICE: Get a cheap video camera, some legos, a computer, and sound equipment.  If your lego story can’t inspire anyone to fund a real movie - don’t go begging and lobbying others to support you on your next project. Wait until you can sell them on a lego movie… then take the next step.  Clay and Flash animation will suffice for those who don’t like the lego medium.  Plus, you can learn a lot of the camera work by this approach; you can work your own hours, and you don’t have to feed a crew and cast.  What?  You don’t want to ruin your good story with a beginner film that will suffer from budget shortcomings? Remake it when you’ve got a bigger budget… That’s what Hitchcock did with “The Man Who Knew Too Much.”

HISTORY: Most aspiring film makers have no clue about the history of film, let alone world events.  They rush out to see all the latest movies, and write reviews about anything and everything under the sun that was just released into theaters (and direct-to-video sequels) to try to learn all they can about modern cinema. Sure, they’ve seen Citizen Kane, The Seven Samurai, and The Seventh Seal, etc… but there are a lot of films to learn from out there. When young film makers hear Scorsese talk about Powell and Pressburger, they generally don’t have a clue!  You learn about quality cinema by watching the classics… by reading literature, philosophy, and religion… and keeping up with current and past world events.

FILM

SCHOOL

: You can go to film school to learn technical aspects of the camera, how to budget, and how to use light… but you’ve really got to do your solo work in the history of world events, literature, film, and the rest -- to make your film worthwhile.  So get ready to hang out at the Library a lot, if you want to make a good film.  No film school in the world is going to improve your story telling skills.  Steering away from cynicism is a good goal to steer towards. Nobody likes a puny film, and optimism builds good characters.

CHARACTERS:  You can mold a bad actor into something spectacular… but lackluster character writing is inexcusable. Offbeat characters tend to make more poignant impressions on the big screen, but there’s no reason to be unconventional just to attract a crowd.  Having top notch actors helps, but don’t write your first scripts thinking Johnny Depp is going to save your day and your film. The great classic actors were well trained… never choose fame over talent when peddling the town on the recruiting bandwagon.

ART ABOVE ALL ELSE: Don’t think your art is going to save you from the economic pit you’ve dug for yourself by wasting your days of late. Be responsible, get a job, and aim at providing for yourself. Skill and expert craftsmanship are not made overnight.  If your idea for a film is good, it will work out eventually.  If you’re plan is to be a film maker, make sure you can pay the rent, and that your duped ‘producers’ aren’t the one footing your bill on your next trip to the cinema.  Self-Reliance should be any aspiring film maker’s primary trait.

SALESMANSHIP:  If you’re good at film, that doesn’t make you a good salesman. Work on the craft of making a better film, and leave the schmoozing to someone who does it well. If you’re a Renaissance man, its fine to try to sell your film yourself; otherwise, don’t embarrass yourself at Film Festivals trying to find someone to financially back your lifestyle. A good product sells itself… and when people like a film, they generally tell others about it.  Get a real job to pay the bills (that is, until you make a worthy name for yourself) -- which should shed a good five years of young-film-maker-desperation from your face.

"With my double-blade axe and my hob-nail boots" -- Paul Bunyan

One of the better animated short musical films... Walt Disney's 'Paul Bunyan' (1958).  Man vs Nature... Man vs Machine... is a good old bit of American Folklore for the medium (HDTV) screen... with tunes never forgotten from childhood (if you grew up with Disney).  Somewhere (I'm sure of it) hidden in the this tall American tale is the age old philosophical battle of the Ancients vs the Moderns... with all that Lilliputian sentimental stuff. 

Find it on the Walt Disney Treasures DVD set Disney Rarities - Celebrated Shorts: 1920s - 1960s  or the animated Disney collection on DVD - American Legends. 

As another reviewer stated, environmentalists might have a problem with this one... but I don't think they'll have a sore spot in their hearts for poor old Paul and the score by the lesser known band - The Mellowmen. 

PAUL: "Up hear, we cut timber with a Big Axe like this one... and we haul it with a Big Ox like that one..."

JOE MUFFAW:  "Look Bub, you've got to get with the times... become Modern"

The Post War Cuckoo Clock Society - Carol Reed's 'The Third Man'

Synopsis

Orson Welles stars as Harry Lime, and Joseph Cotten plays his childhood friend, Holly Martins, in this all-time classic thriller scripted by Graham Greene and directed by Carol Reed. Martins searches for Lime through the seedy underworld of postwar Vienna and gets caught up in a web of love, deception, racketeering, and murder. The Third Man’s stunning cinematography, twisting plot, and unforgettable zither score are immortalized in Criterion’s pristine special edition, following the 50th Anniversary theatrical re-release.

http://www.criterionco.com/asp/release.asp?id=64

1949                Director: Carol Reed                Black & White

I find it hard to forgive the Literature and History teachers I had in high school for not covering the two world wars properly.  I watched this masterpiece several times, and even read the script aloud with others in the early 1990’s… and wasn’t impressed. Now that I know more about the subject (a topic beyond the scope of this article) I was able to better recognize the superbly fashioned post-war atmosphere of this motion picture.  Towards the tales end, I lost myself in the moral ambiguities and melancholic, drab atmosphere; the suffocating realm of Harry Lime's theater of operations. The unusual noir technical aspects, the great caricatures, and the eclectic accents just get overlooked as the powerful vehicle of the story carries you to the end of the film. Themes discussed are the Reconstruction era by the Allied nations in Post-War Europe, and the deconstruction of friendships and alliances in the face of crisis.  This film gets the Kierkegaardian stamp of approval.

Popular Quote:

Harry Lime - "In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed — they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."