Communications – Page 152 – Fooyah

February 10 2015February 10 2015

Selma

This is a belated communication as I saw Selma about five days ago. I normally write up a film quickly after seeing it but this time I was pretty busy on Sunday at the AST competition and so this has had to wait.

I rated Selma (2014) 6/10 #IMDb http://t.co/aNEak17a3i

— Ian Parish (@iparish) February 7, 2015

So, I rated this a 6/10. In reality it should have been an 8 but then you have to understand my scoring system which is explained here. This was a very good film covering some of the most important issues of the 20th century. It was well acted and well filmed. I would recommend that all go and see it.

Upon reading around the film it turns out that LBJ was more for equal rights than the film makes out. The claims are that the film is not a documentary. Hmm, I’m not sure. If you take something like the civil rights movement and want to make a film about it then I think you have to make it accurately.

While watching this film I was constantly reminded of my main life rule:

Do no harm

The extended version of this is that you can do what you want but make sure you cause no others any harm. This seems a perfectly good rule. It’s essentially the same as my mum’s saying:

If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all

And also similar to the following quotation from the most excellent Tim Minchin:

Sticks and stones will break my bones but names will break my heart.

There was so much hate in this film from ignorant people who had grown up in a segregated society. The USA is still not mended from these issues. Go see it and then promise to do something good.

February 7 2015February 7 2015

Things You Need

This is the store of “things”. You never know when you are going to have to make a rocket or volcano. Just one of those things that you do for your children.

February 6 2015

Air Force

Here’s an update on my Armada. January is complete, just imagine what it’ll look like at the end of the year!

January 31 2015January 31 2015

American Sniper

I went to see this film last night. Here’s what I thought of it on IMDB:

I rated American Sniper (2014) 4/10 #IMDb http://t.co/1EDYTFJedX

— Ian Parish (@iparish) January 31, 2015

I think I’m possibly too old for these films. I just wasn’t impressed. It might be that I had already read some reviews and they weren’t very positive or it might be that I’m just a grumpy old lefty.

MILD SPOILERS FOLLOW

I grew up with war films. I thought they were exciting. I thought they generally made war look glamorous. The motives behind wars always seemed justifiable. Then I saw lots of Vietnam movies and you start to realise that war is used by governments to maintain their economic advantage over everyone else. I should probably write another communication about my views on war and killing people. So, back to this film.

A man, who loves his country so much, sees something bad and gets angry, he signs up to be a Navy Seal. He’s a good shot with a rifle. He trains to be a sniper and then gets sent off to war. Along the way he marries a woman. We’ve all seen Navy SEAL training videos, we know what they do and that they are tough. Nothing new there. The training part of the film completely missed all of the important aspects of training. It looked like a video game where the first 20 minutes teaches you how to play the game.

Being sent off to war and then being liberal with the truth means our man gets even more angry at everything and kills plenty of people fighting for their own country. He carries a bible all the time, because god obviously justifies all the killing. His tour fucks him up and when he returns home he’s not the man he used to be. He bears a grudge against a “baddie” sniper and keeps returning to Iraq in the hope of getting the baddie first. Our baddie has a wife and children but we aren’t allowed to know his reasons for being in this war especially as he’s not an Iraqi.

Sniper boy gets more and more disturbed but we aren’t really shown this. We get snap shots throughout the movie but no in depth analysis. We have an Iraqi tour followed by a bit of home life where he’s obviously troubled but it’s all superficial. Finally our boy kills their boy and he wants to come home, he’s done his job. Never mind the Americans that are still getting killed.

In the end our sniper does good and becomes himself again once he helps veterans. We see him talking to a shrink and after a couple of minutes he appears to be normal again. Bollocks. This film was entirely uncritical of any elements of war. It would have been far better had we seen more of the other characters and their fight with normality. also, this film has been compared to The Hurt Locker, which I also thought was shit.

This is essentially a cowboy movie for the modern MTV-editing age where we aren’t allowed to have feelings and thoughts and questions. Did I say, it was directed by a cowboy star? Some of Clint’s movies have been awesome and great. This one was shit.

January 22 2015January 22 2015

Ex Machina

Overall, this film is worth watching. Hence my IMDB rating:

I rated Ex Machina (2015) 6/10 #IMDb http://t.co/bNRyhFshWl

— Ian Parish (@iparish) January 22, 2015

As ever, you should see this guide to my ratings.

Firstly I think I should point that there are certain elements of this film that don’t ring true. The single person who invented the world’s most used search engine is also a stunning engineer able to create wonderful human looking androids along with inventing a new medium for the processor which also happens to be AI capable. This is not how I suspect it will be done. However, let’s get over that.

First thing: the house was lovely, a wonderful creation, I hope it’s mostly real.

Second thing: Ava looked awesome, really impressive graphics and design, very organic.

Now, the story line. This was generally good although I was reminded a lot of Blade Runner as it progressed. My mind kept going back to the voice of Gaff shouting:

It’s too bad she won’t live! But then again, who does?

The story told us to be wary of recluse like figures who are really intelligent. They will use you to fulfil their own aims. Then, towards then end there was a switcheroo which was nice. I liked the manipulation in this film. I liked the simplicity of the sets and the wonderful scenery, although there were random cuts of foliage to remind you we were in the wilderness [which creates quite a few logistical issues for me].

Overall, at times this film may have seemed slow but I think that’s a reflection on modern film making where action is the requirement rather than making people think. This is worth a watch.

January 21 2015January 21 2015

Experience – The Prodigy

I have an admission to make. I bought this album after getting the Jilted Generation album, which is stunning. This album is a bit more techno that I could handle and I’ve only played it maybe twice in the many years I have owned it. I couldn’t tell you much about it.

January 21 2015January 21 2015

Exit Planet Dust – Chemical Brothers

This is quite an odd album for me to own. I have two by the Chemical Brothers. They are both similar and will get the same type of review. This is a very good piece of art. The album is what I would call dance and a bit too happy for my liking but it does have it’s moments and occasionally it gets played.

You will tap your feet.

January 21 2015January 21 2015