America is lazy and wants to be comfortable. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, in fact I am exactly what I just described. We have progressed so much as a species that it seems that we deserve a good break isn’t that right? Why not, we work hard to create a world that is comfortable why shouldn’t we take full advantage? It seems that our careless comfort has actually become an issue for certain areas of society.

I believe that art has suffered in the last 10 years. In general people want art to be easy and unchallenging. Why should we have to think about what art means when we can put a sign under it telling us. Why watch a film with subtitles when we can get it dubbed (and then we get to turn it into a comedy because lip sync doesn’t match)? Why should we read books when there are cliff notes and movies made of them. (even comics!? How Lazy Are We?)

I remember the day that our local theatre in Scottsdale Arizona opened with brand new seats. I remember it was so exciting because watching a movie in a theatre would be just like watching it at home on the sofa. I remember being inordinately happy that I would no longer need to sit on my folded legs to see over the person in front of me. Im a short guy and learned to sit in unique and uncomfortable positions for long periods of time. I also actually liked sitting in the front row for the same reason. I still do actually:)

Old theatres were pathetic! Musty, hard walls that bounce sound in uneven ways unforgiving to THX sound, hard chairs that reminded you that you did in fact have a rigid skeleton that wanted to be free of its flesh suit and the quickest way was apparently sitting in those seats for 2 hours. In these theatres you could hear every wrapper crinkle like it was in your own lap. And the slanted floors were deadly for combinations of shoes and spilled drinks flowing from the rows behind you. The hard wood and steel clapped and creaked with every movement of the fidgety kid (me) and old man who needed to take another trip to the bathroom.

New theatres were the second coming. I never saw a head in front of me again. The silence of the theatre was beautiful (Yay THX certifications for theatre envrionments)! The seats were silent and felt like sitting in an alpaca chair stuffed with clouds in comparison to the rat trap wire and wood creations of old.

I have another soapbox that discusses the problem with in home entertainment, really just films in the home. The main focus of that diatribe is that I think that not only do we want to be more comfortable in life we want to have the option to ignore those around us. Let’s face it that is often the most comforting thing we can imagine (especially if we are Faust fans as many of us are admittedly or not.)

The issue is that since movies were in the home we could start to ignore people as a whole when we were being entertained. We no longer had to hear those annoying laughs, constant comments, people eating their food, or foot tapping, etc. We could limit our entertainment annoyances to those we knew and not have to deal with strangers. You have to admit it is easier to hear a friend eat popcorn than a stranger do the same. Other people are disgusting, horribly rude, loud, smelly, fat and should be put out of their misery. Ourselves and our friends are just fine though.

Movies used to be made to be seen in community. There was time for laughs and cheers and part of the film was the experience of the theatre. You could learn what was appropriate and not by the reactions of those around, you could spent time before and after chatting about the film. Now theatres are inside other distracting and entertaining centers where you are tempted not to spend time talking about the movie afterwords. Besides you wouldn’t want to offend someone with your opinions or be found to have the wrong opinions. Truly a fate worse than death.

Now the Theatre is a place where you go with a group of people so that you can be alone for 2 hours (just like at home). And if you get tired of (nervous about) talking about the film afterwords…”Hey let’s go shopping!”

New theatres are horrible. They are designed so that the minute that you walk in the door you can begin your journey into the depths isolation so that you can see a film all by yourself with the satisfaction of crediting yourself with some “family time” or something of equal value.

Movies have suffered. The people have suffered. The solution is simple…burn them down!! Wait, no never mind that would be worse.

The solution is simple. Regardless of the institution and how it has ruined itself be the handful that actually treat the theatre like it should. A place for people to congregate and learn more about being human by great Myth and Story, let the characters guide you for a few hours and them see how others were affected and how they may be different because of the experience that you, as a community, shared together.

Matthieu Kassovitz is truly an inspired director.  Apparently an actor to begin with this film truly highlights the performer without letting the misé en scéne falter.

A film created by an obvious student of American cinema with nearly every shot an homage to an American film, Kassovitz is able to really make this film his own.  I cant fault him for any shot because these homages are indicative of the characters lives. and because of that his execution these technical elements is beautiful.

La Haine was truly an excellent film.  I don’t have much to say about this that hasn’t been said before in other reviews.  So I wont try.  What I do want to do is bring up something that we should all be aware of.  we are living in America and don’t pay attention enough to what the rest of the world of doing.  do yourself a favor and find out what is going on in France right now.  about the hundreds of thousands of unnationed people who are living in the country and how they are treated.  look at what is happening I deplore you.  Then watch this film.  This film is IMPORTANT in the most powerful sense of the word. Sadly it was an unfunded film by France for obvious reasons but because it was so good people like Jodie foster and others brought it to America so that we can see the horrible and beautiful truth of these people.  This film is even more relevant right now than when it was made.  Go see it please.  support this director and his vision because he is creating beauty in a dark and terrible place in desperate need to hear the truth.

This film isn’t Christian and I realize that the last few things sounded distinctly Christian.  That is not my intent. This film is just beautiful and true and important.  Please do yourself a favor and buy it!

Wow. Let me tell you this movie was a real surprise!  I thought I would be walking into something rather simple and lame.  I thought it was going to be advertising for Nappa.  What I found was a really quaint histo-drama on a very special unique time for California and for America.  It was kind of like Seabiscuit without the national pride.  Now that I think of it that doesn’t surprise me.  It is a movie about selfish people trying to make a difference without knowing how.  It is typical of how California thinks of itself in terms of the country it is part of.  The fact that on their site they compare this moment with the moon landing and 1980 hockey win seems a bit of a non-sequitor.  But I digress from my thoughts on the film.

So this film was pretty amazing in one spectacular detail.  I have been researching to see how true the facts are but have found squat, so I will just go with it an hope that it is based on real events.

Spoilers follow:  as in total spoilers:

So as I walked out of the theatre I felt way better than I should and as David Wilcox would say “I was bugged for metaphorical reasons.”

You see I had just saw something really beautiful and didn’t know why it was beautiful.  It wasn’t until 2 days later that it struck me.  Christ was the entire focus of this film he was the driving story the reason these people were in community and he taught them about love life and how to be better human beings. He even was a perfect creation that died and rose again in this film.  And it was because it was perfect that it HAD to die and rise again.

Now by no means am I saying that this is a Christian Film, I would never condemn a film like that. :)  what I think is that these filmmakers knew the power of Christ imagery and of the story that so much of the world is familiar with that it became their story.  I am sure a lot of it was coincidence or just playing on tradition western storytelling, but it is there.

Ill be short with the explanation then let you play with it a bit on your own.

The grapes and wine are Christ.  OK for all you sacramentals out there you say “Of course Marshall!” I hope so beacuse this movie mad me want to take communion ASAP.  so the one quote about wine from Galileo “Wine is sunlight held together by water” is ever so meaningful. That image Christiologicaly is very cool.

If Christ is the wine in this story some things need to be there.  Well the wine is brought into the world by the unequipped and unprepared.  People society would never imagine a savior coming from.  It should be prophesied.  It should polarize people.  It should die. it should rise again. and finally it should save people’s lives because of the death and rebirth.

In the film the wine does all these things and more.  it even goes through a 3 day death and rebirth.  AND durring its death it is still sweet and beautiful.  In fact the reason for its necessary death is its perfection. and it literaly saves a “nation.”