The Deer Hunter: Fantastic Picture of America 70’s

The movie The Deer Hunter is a masterpiece drama and war story directed by Michael Cimino. The story portrays the life of a bunch of working-class people who are friends and enjoy deer hunting. The characters are Michael (Robert De Niro), Steven (John Savage), Nick (Christopher Walken), Stanley (John Cazale) who are Russian-American steel workers in a small town in Pennsylvania. Also, Meryl Streep as Linda plays the supporting role as the Nick’s soon-to-be-wife. The movie depicts the cultural and social atmosphere of America in late 60’s and 70’s. Bars, cars styles, music, people’s fashion, and wedding ceremonies all attract the viewer’s attention and makes a nostalgia for those who have lived in that period. The beautiful nature of woods where they hunted deer, the innocent sunset of ordinary people near the factory, and American pure traditions all remind the viewer of lovely time of past. Michael is pictured as a leader and the “big brother” of the others. It seems the others especially Nick see Michael as a shelter.

In the first act of the movie, the wedding ceremony for Steven and Angela in a Russian orthodox cathedral is shown. Although the director tries to include some important events such as dialogue between Michael and the soldier in US Army’s Special Forces uniform, the wedding part seems to be a tedious verbiage as it takes several minutes. Probably, the viewers were more patient some 30 years ago compared to the time of writing this review! Anyways, let’s remind that everything was influenced in 70’s by the outcomes of war between United States and Vietnam. All of a sudden, the story jumps from the small town to the battle-field where the helicopters (the unforgettable symbols of Vietnam War) open fire to North Vietnamese forces. Michael, who is now a staff sergeant of the Army Special forces, bump into Nick and Steven.

Unexpectedly, the “Three Musketeers” were captured by Vietnamese soldiers and held in a cage in shallow water. The prisoners were forced by the guards to play Russian roulette which is probably the most violent mental game in the world. The Russian roulette remains as an inseparable element to the end of the movie. Michael deceived the guards by asking them to load the revolvers with more bullets to electrify the game. However, he used the semi-fully loaded revolvers to kill the capturers and save his brothers. They were floating on a river when an American helicopter finds them and try to save them. Nick and Michael were able to get into helicopter whereas Steven fell back into water. At the moment, Michael jumps into water and saves Steven whose legs are broken now. This is the departure point where Nick and Michael will no longer see each other for a fairly long time.

After a provisional return, Michael realizes that a person regularly sends money to paralyzed Steven from Saigon. Michael is now convinced that the person is Nick. As a result, Michael returns to Vietnam to find his friend. Unfortunately, Nick is found devastated and pretends that he does not remember Michael. Eventually, Michael tries to save him by getting involved in a Russian roulette where his opponent is nick. Finally, the trigger is pulled by Nick and he kills himself. The heart-broken Michael brings back Nick’s body to America for funeral as he had promised him to do so.

Many reviewers of this movie believe that after Nick was hospitalized in Saigon, he suffered from amnesia. Amazingly, these reviewers state that Nick was the person who sent the money to Steven which is an obvious paradox. Nick did not suffer from amnesia as he was just psychologically devastated. Anyways, these are not the significant points.

In this movie, a working-class people under the flag of capitalism put step in a battle with socialism. Actually, Nick is the symbol of a worker whose spirit was left behind in Vietnam. A worker needs money and does not care how he dies. He prefers a sudden death to a gradual one if there is no money and the Russian roulette is all about such a life. In fact, the whole playwright could be interpreted as a metonymy. That is, similar persons may belong to diverse territories. The movie, however, conservatively returns to its start point “America”. Finally, the director as if has an unaccomplished job, gathers all of his crew at the dining table to sing an American patriotic song “God Bless America”:

While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,
Let us swear allegiance to a land that’s free,
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer.
God bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Through the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home
God bless America, My home sweet home.

Rated R for Strong Disturbing Violent Content including Graphic Images and Torture, Pervasive Language, and some Sexual Content

RISE OF THE GUARDIANS is an epic and magical adventure that tells the story of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman, and Jack Frost – legendary characters with previously unknown extraordinary abilities. When an evil spirit known as Pitch lays down the gauntlet to take over the world, the immortal Guardians must join forces to protect the hopes, beliefs and imagination of children everywhere.

From the producers of Little Miss Sunshine – When an unusual classified ad inspires three cynical Seattle magazine employees to look for the story behind it, they discover a mysterious eccentric named Kenneth, a likable but paranoid supermarket clerk, who believes hes solved the riddle of time travel and intends to depart again soon. Together, they embark on a hilarious, smart, and unexpectedly heartfelt journey that reveals how far believing can take you.

Decorated Vietnam hero Frank Vega returns home only to get shunned by society leaving him without a job or his high school sweetheart. It’s not until forty years later when an incident on a commuter bus (where he protects an elderly black man from a pair of skin heads) makes him a local hero where he’s suddenly celebrated once again. But his good fortune suddenly turns for the worse when his best friend Klondike is murdered and the police aren’t doing anything about it.

As someone who has a personal interest in Leprechaun’s Revenge, it would be difficult to write an unbiased review. Instead, I have decided to explore the multitude of references and winks to the genre fan that are prevalent throughout the film. For those with an aptitude and desire to learn new things, this should be a fun read and will hopefully lead to further exploration of the items briefly discussed. Even in a fun B movie such as this, there is ample opportunity to explore and dig deeper into the influences shown on screen and hopefully realize that every film can be a learning experience.

Leprechaun’s Revenge is set in a town called Keening in Massachusetts. Keening is a form of vocal lament associated with mourning, traditional in Scotland, Ireland and Africa. The word keen comes from the Gaelic term “caoineadh”, which means to cry. Louisiana doubles for Massachusetts for this shoot, that’s why you may see some foliage and scenery not normally associated with the northeastern state, much like in Halloween where we see palm trees in a town supposed to be in Illinois.

While on the topic of scenery, did you notice the green light bathing many of the scenes? For those who considered this unorthodox or nonsensical, what about the green glow coming from the tomb in The Mummy or the green that appears in many of Mario Bava’s films, such as Whip and the Body, associated with decadent settings and corrupt characters? For Christians, green is the color of Epiphany, but it is also often associated with decay, death and simply creating an effective eeriness. As far as colors go, the abandoned warehouse that the kids break in for the beer is called Silver Shamrock. Many fans remember the name as the company prominently featured in Halloween III: Season of the Witch. Green is featured again, not in lighting this time, but in blood. Other notable films that predominantly featured green blood are Mad Doctor of Blood Island and The Green Slime (one of Drew’s favorites).

Continuing with the scenery, did the Tree of Tears remind you of any spooky trees from other movies, such as Poltergeist, The Guardian or Sleepy Hollow? And what about those horseshoes attached to the tree? Many people realize the horseshoe is a symbol of luck, but do you know why? There are various reasons, so let’s break it down. The shape of horseshoes, the crescent, is where it all begins. This shape is known to have been used by the Chaldeans and Egyptians, with the hieroglyphic of an upside down U representing the mystical door of life. Horseshoes are made of iron, which is traditional known to have power against fairies and goblins. “Iron, because of its strength, was thought to be a very special and even somewhat magical material. Those who were able to work it, such as black smiths, were believed to be magicians with supernatural abilities. It was believed that iron could ward off demons and witches and horseshoes were often hung on people’s front doors for this reason.” For many cultures, the horseshoe is lucky simply because of its association with the horse itself.

What about the other prominent symbol in the film, the triquetra? For different cultures it means different things. In popular culture, the symbol has been used by/in the television show Charmed, on the cover of Led Zeppelin’s IV, in the films Constantine and Thor, and in the video game Assassin’s Creed. Without getting into each culture or religion and its use of the symbolism of the trinity and the Celtic Triquetra, I ask you to look up the conspicuously similar Shamrock of the Druids, the Fleur-De-Lis of the Merovingians, the Nordic Odin’s Horn, the Germanic Trefot, and the ancient Sicilian Trinacria.

Even the vehicles in Leprechaun’s Revenge are worth investigating. Karen’s friend Amanda is just the latest in a line of actors who drives a Volkswagen in a horror film. Others films featuring the “Love Bug” include: Cronos, Dellamorte Dellamore, Wolf Creek, Trick ‘r Treat, Willard, the 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Skeleton Key, Phantasm, Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, White Noise and Sleepwalkers. Speaking of Sleepwalkers, seeing Pops driving the old Mustang instantly brought to mind the shape shifting car (that is at one point a ’65 Mustang) that’s also in the movie.

The characters in the film are another lesson in imitation being the sincerest form of flattery. Billy Zane does a remarkable combination of Ed Norton and Barney Fife as the bumbling town sheriff. He harkens back to the tried and true clueless cop authority stereotype that was present in Halloween with Sheriff Brackett and Scream with Dewey. Pops, played by the great William Devane, instantly struck me as a character reminiscent of Barnard Hughes as Grandpa from The Lost Boys, someone who knew exactly what was going on and was ready to take care of it. Probably the most recognizable nod to the horror genre through a character in the film was with Karl Morris, the conspiracy theorist and newspaper writer who is ready to believe whatever Karen will tell him, and subsequently publish it on his blog “Strange Happenings” (which for some reason made me think of Unsolved Mysteries). His presence is part Fox Mulder, but mostly Carl Kolchak: The Night Stalker incarnate, right down to the hat.

This finally brings us to the leprechaun itself, or luchorpain. The story of this name derives from the deity Lugh. “The Birch deity is Lugh, also known as the “Shining One.” Lugh was a Hero God whose symbol in Wales was a White Stag and whose sacred symbol was a spear. Always accompanied by two Ravens, Lugh is sometimes depicted as having only one eye. He was a deity of many skills, a diverse God whose jurisdiction included the Sun, light, grain harvest, fire, metallurgy and weaving. He was also known to be a protector of the weak. Lugh, whose destiny it was to kill his grandfather, was Chief Lord of the Tuatha De Danaan and may have originally been a King of the Fomorians who was adopted by the Tuatha De Danaan and then by the Celts. Though divine, Lugh is thought to have possibly been sired by an earthly father and, because of this association, is perceived as a “bridge” between the mortal and immortal worlds. More statues and holy sites were erected to Lugh than to any other Celtic deity and he is often equated with the Greek God, Apollo. Lugh’s final claim to fame is that his name became part of the term used to describe a certain fairy common in Irish folklore…over time, “Little Stooping Lugh” or “Luchorpain,” evolved into the word “Leprechaun,” the tiny expert cobbler and guardian of hidden treasure.”

Other fun things to look for in the movie are: Drew’s Hitchcockian cameo (Alfred Hitchcock made a cameo in 39 of his surviving 52 major films), the fact that the guys were the stumbling victims here instead of the usual clumsy females, the rows in front of the O’Hara house that made me think of Children of the Corn, and last but certainly not least, the subtly insane speech that Billy Zane gives about losing his wife while shopping on Black Friday, which could only be a wink to the wonderful speech about Christmas and Santa Claus Phoebe Cates gives as Kate Beringer in Gremlins.

All in all, a great way to spend a Saturday night with friends but probably annoying for anyone having to watch with someone like me who points out trivia info like this as we watch.

The problem with a film like Attack the Block is that it isn’t necessarily a bad film, it’s that you open yourself up to unrelated criticism for declaring it’s mediocrity and the faults you have with the film itself. On the surface, it’s hyped as a Goonies like alien invasion film where the heroes of the story are reformed through the course of the events. Because the entire ordeal ends up being the main character (and leader of the group) Moses’ (John Boyega) fault, I felt little sympathy and never found myself rooting for them to succeed. The hardest thing for me to deal with was the fact that the nurse Sam (Jodie Whittaker) decides that it would be better to go with this gang of child thugs who robbed her at knife point than look around for a more suitable group of companions. In fact, Moses and the group only feels sympathy for her after they realize she lives in the same building as they do. This change of heart comes towards the end of the movie, even after Sam saves Moses from an alien by stabbing it through the head.

Maybe as a parent, I am projecting my anger at how these kids act on screen into my review? Maybe. It’s no secret that anti-heroes have been popular in films for a very long time. Film noir even made the prototypical leading men in their projects very reluctant to get involved, knowing that no good was to come of their decision. Attack the Block is almost a film noir for the sci-fi horror crowd. Not in shooting style, but in subject matter. The difference is, the feelings of bleakness and despair that makes film noir so great is lost on a group of kids in this film that seem to relish in, instead of trying to rise above, the situation they are forced to be in.

All in all, Attack the Block isn’t a terrible movie. Unfortunately, I think that any criticism about it will lead more towards a class discussion instead of the more appropriate and relevant discussion of character development. Maybe it’s worth a watch just for the discussions it may initiate?

Rated R for creature violence, drug content and pervasive language

Full Metal Jacket: Story of a Brutal Society

Full Metal Jacket is a war movie directed by Stanley Kubrick in a seemingly two independent parts. The first part is concentrated on a platoon of marines being trained by Sergeant “Hartman”. The story is focused on Private “Gomer Pyle” who is a maladroit newcomer. Private “Gomer Pyle” is scorned and vituperated from the very beginning day as he is chubby, clumsy, and even gourmand. However, he does not show the signs of a slothful person. The canteen in Paris Island is a metaphor of a society. It can be anything, a graduate school, a company, a factory, and even a family. What happened to Private Pyle may happen to any individual within a society. Many people are singled out for the troubles incurred by them from the society, intentionally or unintentionally. The society does not take responsibility for those who have lagged behind and this is the hallmark of a brutal society. Although pairing Gomer Pyle with a skillful person like Private Joker may partially improve his performance, but the mentally devastated Pyle is not able to catch up with the others. It is a reality that the society is not able to predict the threshold of tolerance of individual as it was the case for Private Pyle who ended up with assassinating his instructor and himself. Even the collective punishment policy, which emanates from criminology in the sense that all people are responsible for social deviance of an individual, does not work out sometimes. Firstly, the society may revenge back from those who are responsible for the collective punishment. The blanket party for punishing Private Pyle was such a reaction. Secondly, sometimes all the ways are blocked to let someone return to society.

The character of Private Joker who is apparently the favorite of the novelist as he is alive all along the movie has been tried to be portrayed as a leftist. The promotion he receives from his fastidious instructor is also interesting. Private Joker who is a journalist is sent to front by Lieutenant Lockhart accompanied by Private Rafterman (a combat photographer). This Private Joker is the connecting bridge of the two pats of this movie especially with this motto on his helmet: “Born To Kill”. Although many believe that these two parts are tenuously connected, Kubrick tries to depict the internal and external aspects of brutality. The second part is devoted to illustration of the Vietnam War. Although this work is not as controversial as his other works such as Paths of Glory, Lolita, and A Clockwork Orange, Kubrick narrates the Vietnam War in an overcritical manner. The Kubrick’s view is unreservedly unique. He produced this movie as real as possible leaning on American popular culture. At some moments, the viewer may forget he/she is watching a movie as it resembles a documentary. All the details of a war have been incorporated in a movie produced in 1987. Kubrick’s main art was intangibly playing with the psyche of viewer. That is, he takes the viewer’s hand and brings him into the screenplay and makes him to unconsciously make judgment.

The movie is rife with American military popular culture elements. The “rifleman’s creed” is a good example:

“Before God, I swear this creed. My rifle and myself are the defenders of my company’. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life. So be it, until victory is America’s and there is no enemy, but peace!”

In the second part of the movie where the squad leader gets killed by a booby trap, Cowboy becomes the commander of the group. A Viet Cong sniper repeatedly shoots and wounds Eightball and the squad medic Doc Jay who die eventually. This situation puts the squad in a limbo to save the wounded folks and to entrap the sniper from the other hand. While attempting to find the sniper, cowboy the Private Joker’s friend from the canteen, is shot dead in the arms of Joker. At this time, the viewer sympathizes with the remnants of the squad and feels their wrath and motivation to find the voracious sniper! The building where the sniper has taken advantage of as an ambush is besieged by the ulcerous soldiers. They cautiously arrive the building fearing the presence of professional gunmen. While a viewer may expect seeing a bunch of Viet Cong soldiers, American trained marines expose an adolescent girl who has assassinated their brothers. Kubrick has tried to disclose something else. He has probably tried to challenge the whole war by this question: “What was really behind this war?”. Was it worth the life of many Vietnamese people and Americans? Finally, the “Born To Kill” guy, a journalist and a joker, shoots the moribund girl.
 

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter explores the secret life of our greatest president, and the untold story that shaped our nation. Visionary filmmakers Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov (director of Wanted) bring a fresh and visceral voice to the bloodthirsty lore of the vampire, imagining Lincoln as history’s greatest hunter of the undead.

“The world is asleep, dreaming, peaceful, safe. These are the hours I love. When all that I hate is silent and unconscious. The world is different when people are asleep. Better. I wish they would sleep forever. But they always wake up and ruin everything.”

With Familiar, Richard Powell and Zach Green of Fatal Pictures take us (literally) inside the troubled mind of a man who is fed up with his life. John Dodd (brilliantly played by Robert Nolan) hates his wife Charlotte (Astrida Auza) and daughter Jordan (Cathryn Hostick) – although seemingly less so than his wife. He resents them for taking away all of his hopes and desires and yearns to break free from the shackles he believes they have imposed on him. While his actions display a loving husband and father, they belie his true feelings, which are revealed through the voice over of his internal thoughts. As his daughter is set to attend college in four months, John plans on leaving his wife and never looking back. As he puts it, “After forty five years of existence, my life is about to begin.”

As with most great stories, this is where the conflict begins. John’s wife reveals to him news that will set back his plan to leave and John reacts, internally of course, with the seven stages of grief – minus everything but the anger. He devises a plan to take care of the problem at home and, in the process, makes things much worse. As his wife recovers, John’s internal dialogue becomes much more devious and sinister. It’s almost as if it is now an alternate personality.

This is where my take on the film may differ from some. At this point, I believe John snaps. In his mind, he creates a reality that can explain what is happening to him and that will allow him to deal with what is going on. The horror elements that are introduced are done so, at least to me, from the perspective that John alone can see them. Without spoiling the ending, the easiest explanation is that John buckles from the pressure of the reality of his insurmountable situation and we are left with the result of that snap.

For a film just over 23 minutes, Familiar packs quite a punch. Kudos to the team at Fatal Pictures for not extending the film’s story in efforts to make a feature out of a short.

I recently spoke with Mr. Williamson about his current and future plans as well as his involvement in the film shown on that day. Here is our interview:

JGH: You made a point to include on your bio that you were born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi, but “no, not on a farm, but thank you for asking.” Do you find it surprising the stereotypes people get when they come from the South?

Kit: I’m always amazed by the things people assume about you based on where you’re from. I’m really proud to be from Mississippi.

JGH: I read a review that Nientara Anderson from The Jackson Free Press did with you and I wonder, do you still feel pretentious getting paid to be an artist?

Kit: Now that I’m pursuing film and television I feel a little less guilty getting paid for doing what I love– because being on set can be a lot more grueling than being on stage. But I still love what I do and am constantly surprised when people give me money to do it!

JGH: We are showing you in The Many Doors of Albert Whale at the film festival in Jackson. Do you get as many people asking you to explain the short as I do? How was it working with the Daywalts and Tara Cardinal?

Kit: People definitely have a lot of questions about Albert Whale! Marichelle and Drew Daywalt did such an amazing job creating this twisted little puzzle box for an audience to try to solve. It’s available on the internet, on the Daywalt Fear Factory YouTube channel, so I’ll usually just point people there so they can watch it again to look for more clues. They can also cheat by looking at the comments, but that ruins some of the fun I think. Working with the Daywalts was amazing– they’re both geniuses. And Tara’s discipline really impressed me– she had to spend the whole day with her mouth sewn shut!

JGH: So you’ve got Opious, Drive-In Massacre and The Brute Killer coming up on your radar; any other projects you want to talk about? Didn’t you just work on something with Brea Grant?

Kit: I just got back from shooting a project in Texas called Best Friends Forever, which Brea Grant directed. It’s a dystopian road trip comedy about two girls running from the nuclear apocalypse.

JGH: I did a little research on you for this interview and I found somewhere (I think your blog) that you loved the 90’s animated X-Men show (as did I) and your favorite character is Storm. Is there any particular comic book character that you would love to play on screen?

Kit: I’m actually about to shoot a short film called The Cartridge Family by Jackson Stewart that satirizes 90s video game characters and I get to play a parody version of Megaman. Definitely a fun one to cross off the list.

JGH: I know you produced The Pink Campaign on Broadway for the Susan G. Komen Foundation. What do you think of all the controversy surrounding the charity right now?

Kit: I definitely understand the outrage– I hope everyone can agree that the fight against breast cancer should not be politicized. I don’t think this situation invalidates all of the great work that the Komen foundation has done over the years, and I hope they continue to fund Planned Parenthood in the future because they’ve helped so many women I know who wouldn’t have been able to afford a doctor’s visit without them.

JGH: Do you still keep in touch with your high school coach John Maxwell? Any chance of you two working together on a project in the near future?

Kit: Thank you for reminding me that I need to catch up with John Maxwell! I’ve definitely been following his career– he’s a really inspiring artist and someone that I’d be thrilled to work with.

Not only did the MS Pulp Con feature Kit and the film festival, there was also numerous other artists and special guests, including the Mississippi Mandalorians, the Mississippi Ghostbusters, and the Mississippi Society of Paranormal Investigators, just to name a few. The day was full of opportunities to explore culture and celebrate what Mississippi has to offer artistically. Hopefully, you had the chance to check it out.

 
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