Metaphilm http://metaphilm.com/index.php/ See Through Cinema en read@cleave.com Copyright 2008 2008-08-27T22:54:01-05:00 By the Ladies For the Ladies http://metaphilm.com/index.php/comments/by-the-ladies-for-the-ladies/ http://metaphilm.com/index.php/comments/by-the-ladies-for-the-ladies/#When:22:54:01Z Diane English, of Murphy Brown fame, directs an all-female cast in an almost all-female production called The Women.  Is this one of those 18 million cracks in the ceiling, or is this revenge for Hillary not getting the nomination?  The other odd thing is that Mick Jagger is one of the producers.  Is Jagger paying his dues after getting all that satisfaction?  Themes of the film, according to English, are Female Empowerment, Body Image, and Self-Esteem.  Film is out September 12—interpretations welcome.  Diane English, of Murphy Brown fame, directs an all-female cast in an almost all-female production called The Women.  Is this one of those 18 million cracks in the ceiling, or is this revenge for Hillary not getting the nomination?  The other odd thing is that Mick Jagger is one of the producers.  Is Jagger paying his dues after getting all that satisfaction?  Themes of the film, according to English, are Female Empowerment, Body Image, and Self-Esteem.  Film is out September 12—interpretations welcome. 

]]> phlog 2008-08-27T22:54:01-05:00 publisher ‘X-Files’ Movie Tanks at Box Office http://metaphilm.com/index.php/comments/x-files-movie-tanks/ http://metaphilm.com/index.php/comments/x-files-movie-tanks/#When:02:43:00Z “During the Clinton era—when conspiracy theories ran riot—the show had a real connection to the American psyche. It had additional social resonance in the runup to the year 2000, when some religious folk were predicting world-changing events would occur because of divine intervention, and more earthbound doomsayers claimed that the U.S. economy was going to shut down because computers would not be able to handle the changeover to the year 2000. . . . Today, however, when we face real conspiracies such as 9/11 and the continuing Islam-based carnage in Iraq and in Europe, it seems the fanciful stuff of the X-Files no longer speaks to people. Now we have to believe in horrors we really don’t Want to Believe.” S. T. Karnick’s The American Culture. “During the Clinton era—when conspiracy theories ran riot—the show had a real connection to the American psyche. It had additional social resonance in the runup to the year 2000, when some religious folk were predicting world-changing events would occur because of divine intervention, and more earthbound doomsayers claimed that the U.S. economy was going to shut down because computers would not be able to handle the changeover to the year 2000. . . . Today, however, when we face real conspiracies such as 9/11 and the continuing Islam-based carnage in Iraq and in Europe, it seems the fanciful stuff of the X-Files no longer speaks to people. Now we have to believe in horrors we really don’t Want to Believe.” S. T. Karnick’s The American Culture.

]]> phlog 2008-08-27T02:43:00-05:00 editor If Joe Eszterhas Can Do It… http://metaphilm.com/index.php/comments/if-joe-eszterhas-can-do-it/ http://metaphilm.com/index.php/comments/if-joe-eszterhas-can-do-it/#When:23:30:00Z Nick:  I’m working my ass off, I’m off the sauce, I even stopped smoking Beth Garner:  How’s not smoking? Nick:  It sucks. - From Basic Instinct (1992) Get this:  Joe Eszterhas has come to Jesus.  Is life too weird, or what?  Reminds me of the end of John Gardner’s Grendel:  “An accident has befallen poor Grendel.  So may it happen to you all...” Nick:  I’m working my ass off, I’m off the sauce, I even stopped smoking
Beth Garner:  How’s not smoking?
Nick:  It sucks.
- From Basic Instinct (1992)

Get this:  Joe Eszterhas has come to Jesus.  Is life too weird, or what?  Reminds me of the end of John Gardner’s Grendel:  “An accident has befallen poor Grendel.  So may it happen to you all...”

]]> phlog 2008-08-26T23:30:00-05:00 publisher The Rabbit Hole Gets Deeper http://metaphilm.com/index.php/comments/the-rabbit-hole-gets-deeper/ http://metaphilm.com/index.php/comments/the-rabbit-hole-gets-deeper/#When:18:12:00Z In The Matrix, Neo’s passport expired on 9/11/01. . . . Interpretations? In The Matrix, Neo’s passport expired on 9/11/01. . . . Interpretations?

]]> phlog 2008-08-25T18:12:00-05:00 publisher The Dark Knight http://metaphilm.com/index.php/detail/the-dark-knight-borges/ http://metaphilm.com/index.php/comments/the-dark-knight-borges/#When:19:29:00Z The Three Versions of Batman Have the Nolan Brothers been reading Borges? Have the Nolan Brothers been reading Borges?

(Read the article) ]]> philms 2008-08-24T19:29:00-05:00 Martin Schneider The “Real” Cinematic Geneaology of the Bat-Man http://metaphilm.com/index.php/comments/the-real-cinematic-geneaology-of-the-bat-man/ http://metaphilm.com/index.php/comments/the-real-cinematic-geneaology-of-the-bat-man/#When:17:48:00Z Dug up for you by someone at Terminal Pictures with way too much time on their hands.  Dug up for you by someone at Terminal Pictures with way too much time on their hands. 

]]> phlog 2008-08-18T17:48:00-05:00 publisher How to Analyze Classic Literature http://metaphilm.com/index.php/comments/how-to-analyze-classic-literature/ http://metaphilm.com/index.php/comments/how-to-analyze-classic-literature/#When:03:47:00Z From the web comic “Basic Instructions” by Scott Meyer, How to Analyze Classic Literature. Moby-Dick as “the greatest American novel ever written . . . about marriage.” Hits a bit close to home for us, but most amusing.  From the web comic “Basic Instructions” by Scott Meyer, How to Analyze Classic Literature. Moby-Dick as “the greatest American novel ever written . . . about marriage.” Hits a bit close to home for us, but most amusing. 

]]> phlog 2008-08-13T03:47:00-05:00 editor Life was supposed to be a film http://metaphilm.com/index.php/comments/life-was-supposed-to-be-a-film/ http://metaphilm.com/index.php/comments/life-was-supposed-to-be-a-film/#When:18:50:00Z Stars, the Canadian-Indie band that brought you the ethereally wonderful Set Yourself On Fire (2005), has a new album that’s been out for almost a year, but which I’ve just listened to all summer, In Our Bedroom After the War. If you’re a Metaphilm phan, chances are good you’ll like this one too, especially the song, “Life 2: The Unhappy Ending” which is sort of a melancholy pop rendition of Neal Gabler’s book, Life, The Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality. Where’s my unhappy ending now? Stars, the Canadian-Indie band that brought you the ethereally wonderful Set Yourself On Fire (2005), has a new album that’s been out for almost a year, but which I’ve just listened to all summer, In Our Bedroom After the War. If you’re a Metaphilm phan, chances are good you’ll like this one too, especially the song, “Life 2: The Unhappy Ending” which is sort of a melancholy pop rendition of Neal Gabler’s book, Life, The Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality. Where’s my unhappy ending now?

]]> phlog 2008-08-11T18:50:00-05:00 publisher A Copy of a Copy of a Copy http://metaphilm.com/index.php/detail/a-copy-of-a-copy-of-a-copy/ http://metaphilm.com/index.php/comments/a-copy-of-a-copy-of-a-copy/#When:00:30:00Z The Matrix, American Beauty, and Fight Club as Retellings of Pink Floyd’s The Wall A Sneak Preview from You Do Not Talk About Fight Club: I Am Jack’s Completely Unauthorized Essay Collection A Sneak Preview from You Do Not Talk About Fight Club: I Am Jack’s Completely Unauthorized Essay Collection

(Read the article) ]]> pheatures 2008-08-11T00:30:00-05:00 The Dark Knight http://metaphilm.com/index.php/comments/the-dark-knight/ http://metaphilm.com/index.php/comments/the-dark-knight/#When:02:31:01Z ‘"The Dark Knight,” then, is a conservative movie about the war on terror. And like another such film, last year’s “300,” “The Dark Knight” is making a fortune depicting the values and necessities that the Bush administration cannot seem to articulate for beans.’ Mystery novelist Andrew Klavan, “What Bush and Batman Have in Common,” The Wall Street Journal.  ‘"The Dark Knight,” then, is a conservative movie about the war on terror. And like another such film, last year’s “300,” “The Dark Knight” is making a fortune depicting the values and necessities that the Bush administration cannot seem to articulate for beans.’ Mystery novelist Andrew Klavan, “What Bush and Batman Have in Common,” The Wall Street Journal. 

]]> philm shorts 2008-07-29T02:31:01-05:00 editor Wall-E http://metaphilm.com/index.php/comments/wall-e/ http://metaphilm.com/index.php/comments/wall-e/#When:01:22:00Z “I don’t know if they meant it this way all along or what, but WALL•E plays like a living, glowing embodiment of the marriage of Disney and Pixar, like their inaugural project. . . . And on another level, one starts to wonder whether the concept of a love story between a hopelessly sexy and futuristic piece of technology and a decrepit but nostalgically lovable relic of the past might be meant to depict something more contemporary: the fusion of the barely-remembered legacy of Walt with the all-too-dominant ascendancy of the House of Steve.” (Brian Tiemann, Peeve Farm) “I don’t know if they meant it this way all along or what, but WALL•E plays like a living, glowing embodiment of the marriage of Disney and Pixar, like their inaugural project. . . . And on another level, one starts to wonder whether the concept of a love story between a hopelessly sexy and futuristic piece of technology and a decrepit but nostalgically lovable relic of the past might be meant to depict something more contemporary: the fusion of the barely-remembered legacy of Walt with the all-too-dominant ascendancy of the House of Steve.” (Brian Tiemann, Peeve Farm)

]]> phlog 2008-07-08T01:22:00-05:00 editor Spirited Away http://metaphilm.com/index.php/comments/spirited-away/ http://metaphilm.com/index.php/comments/spirited-away/#When:01:19:00Z “A brief outline of some basic perspectives of the Shinto world view will provide an overall framework for understanding the film and various incidents and characters in it.” (‘Shinto Perspectives in Miyazaki’s Anime Film “Spirited Away"’ by James W. Boyd and Tetsuya Nishimura, Journal of Religion and Film, 2004) “A brief outline of some basic perspectives of the Shinto world view will provide an overall framework for understanding the film and various incidents and characters in it.” (‘Shinto Perspectives in Miyazaki’s Anime Film “Spirited Away"’ by James W. Boyd and Tetsuya Nishimura, Journal of Religion and Film, 2004)

]]> phlog 2008-07-08T01:19:00-05:00 editor Sexcess http://metaphilm.com/index.php/comments/sexcess/ http://metaphilm.com/index.php/comments/sexcess/#When:03:29:00Z Barbara Nicolosi: Church of the Masses. “I thought about the movie, what I have always thought about the TV show. Sex in the City is not so much about sex as it is about female friendship. And more particularly, how female friendship allows women to survive their relationships with men. “I am also always fascinated by how episode after episode—and to a lesser extent the movie—seems to be a Genesis mystery play built around God, rubbing the Divine eyes in the Garden and grimly forecasting to the Woman, “Your desire will be for your husband, and he will Lord it over you.” SATC is nothing if isn’t watching women desperately trying to obtain and then maintain the male focus.” Barbara Nicolosi: Church of the Masses. “I thought about the movie, what I have always thought about the TV show. Sex in the City is not so much about sex as it is about female friendship. And more particularly, how female friendship allows women to survive their relationships with men.

“I am also always fascinated by how episode after episode—and to a lesser extent the movie—seems to be a Genesis mystery play built around God, rubbing the Divine eyes in the Garden and grimly forecasting to the Woman, “Your desire will be for your husband, and he will Lord it over you.” SATC is nothing if isn’t watching women desperately trying to obtain and then maintain the male focus.”

]]> phlog 2008-06-12T03:29:00-05:00 editor Surfwise Up; Surfwise’s Up http://metaphilm.com/index.php/comments/surfwise-up-surfwises-up/ http://metaphilm.com/index.php/comments/surfwise-up-surfwises-up/#When:15:05:01Z If you do nothing else cinematic this year, try try try to see Surfwise at one of it’s limited engagement screenings.  Or buy it on DVD when it comes out.  Of the 400 films you miss this year, DON’T miss this one.  If you do nothing else cinematic this year, try try try to see Surfwise at one of it’s limited engagement screenings.  Or buy it on DVD when it comes out.  Of the 400 films you miss this year, DON’T miss this one. 

]]> phlog 2008-06-04T15:05:01-05:00 publisher The Cube http://metaphilm.com/index.php/comments/the-cube/ http://metaphilm.com/index.php/comments/the-cube/#When:22:36:01Z Thanks to reader Mike Campbell for the link, here’s Jim Henson’s (yes, of The Muppets fame) 1969 TV film, The Cube.  You could think of it as the sequel to 1984 or Brave New World, or you could think of it as the precursor to The Wall, Brazil, The Truman Show, The Borg (of Star Trek), or The Matrix.  But if you get through all of it, you’ll never think about strawberry jam the same way again.  My favorite scene is the one in which the Professor, who can only be Marshall McLuhan channeled through Henson’s brain, appears to The Man to explain:  “Well, as I interpret what you’re doing here, this is all a very complex discussion of Reality versus Illusion.  The perfect subject for the television medium.” Thanks to reader Mike Campbell for the link, here’s Jim Henson’s (yes, of The Muppets fame) 1969 TV film, The Cube.  You could think of it as the sequel to 1984 or Brave New World, or you could think of it as the precursor to The Wall, Brazil, The Truman Show, The Borg (of Star Trek), or The Matrix.  But if you get through all of it, you’ll never think about strawberry jam the same way again.  My favorite scene is the one in which the Professor, who can only be Marshall McLuhan channeled through Henson’s brain, appears to The Man to explain:  “Well, as I interpret what you’re doing here, this is all a very complex discussion of Reality versus Illusion.  The perfect subject for the television medium.”

]]> phlog 2008-05-07T22:36:01-05:00 publisher