his is a bit of a ramble so bear with me :)

So I have been a casual fan of Dr. Who for a while and I have never seen the original series. The wife and I decided to watch the relaunch on Netflix instant watch (m new favorite thing). after 3 seasons I realized that Dr. Who is something I always tell people Sci-fi has the potential to be, but rarely is.

Have you every thought about mercy and grace and peace? I mean really think about them. How can we bring peace to the world? If you were given perfect wit, power, and intellect would you have the power to restrain yourself? If all you wished was to bring peace to all and you had the powers of a god could you do it?

I’m not sure if it is that every season begins at Christmas or the fact that the most powerful things in the universe are words but something in it makes me so dang excited I can’t even begin to express it. not only is The Doctor this crazy detailed image of God but he actually works in the Sci-fi world they writers created. The show is uniquely able to do some amazing things that would seem out of place or inappropriate in other context. The Doctor on the other hand is a character who I believe capable of unmatched and seemingly irrational grace and mercy. He is capable of moving freely thorough time but will not changing time but allowing free will of all humans determine the outcomes of all events. His acts are called upon by all who ask and even occasionally prayers(physic paper). now with all that said about his mercy and grace the flip-side of that is that it is said (by River Song)just his presence in the midst of those who know him can drive back armies of evil. and that at times his justice and mercy are so great that he hides it from those who it will destroy because he has mercy in a way that we don’t understand and cant comprehend.

So go watch Dr Who…I’m waiting…seriously

Once I watch the rest of the old episodes Im planning on a whole treatise on Dr Who so stay tuned for my newest obsession!

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.

Robert Breson is one of the most respected directors in my “small book of things I respect.” (I should write that!) The biggest problem in writing a review of a Breson film is that you are competing with every other person who has written a review.  Most of these people have advanced degrees and speak French.  I’m obviously at a disadvantage at this point.  while I was watching Au Hasard Balthazar for the third time I made a realization.  Now I don’t mean a tiny realization like hey “preserves are tasty on toast!”  I mean like “that’s no moon” realization!

Breson is a Postmodern director/artist.  I know someone has probably said it already! But here is what I think…

As a true postmodern artist should leave all interpretation to the witness of the art and to the art itself I think that the point of this film and possibly other Breson films is not to examine the film itself but rather to examine yourself using the film as a catalyst for the examination process.

The great thing is that this makes Balthazar an extremely interactive film.  I propose that our job is not just t trust the director with our senses as we normally are required but rather to do that while trying to examining our specific and general reactions to the beats of the film.

Breson’s pacing and his use of non-actors and minimal dialogue allows us the leisure visually and auditoraly.  This is essential for the viewer so that they can take the added effort to consider their own thought and reaction to each beat.

The unique part of this is that it doesn’t not imply any moral standards or a worldview construct.  The film is a myth or fable of sorts that will help reveal your own self rather than reveal the directors self.  this allows people to all have their own opinions and reactions that are valid and also retains Breson’s credibility.

Let me know what you think because This just popped into my head a few hours ago and I’m dying to talk about it!

If you know me you know that I am a huge fan of the more abstract, and experimental films.  And when I saw this film sitting on the shelf I couldn’t resist.

I wish I would have resisted.  This film is supposed to be a revolutionary sci-fi film set in the 80′s and revolves around a club attended only by androgynous singers and models.  The story is that an alien spacecraft (I swear they were soup bowls taped together)lands on top of this girls apartment building and is on earth to find food.  Now by food I mean heroine.  Apparently heroine is the food of choice for this life form (an psychedelic eye floating in spit).  the aliens through viewing the model and her stashes of drugs finds another source for food.  Apparently a hormone that is released in makes during sex is even better and chemically similar to heroine.  So the aliens kill the guys by shooting crystals into their heads. ??? and then they disappear!  Crazy.

So this movie is absurdly tame only because of its absurdity.  Through all of the swearing and nonsensical lines and hilarious fights nothing remains but a great laugh.  Too bad you just get tired of laughing at it after 20 minutes (10 of which I was trying to figure out if this was for real).

Normally I would plan to talk about somethign about the film like the main actress playing both a man and a woman, or how the scientist is mistaken for the cops, or even something along the lines of gender roles and defining the result of sex as a chemical “downer” that others feed of.

Instead I will leave you with this.

DON’T DO DRUGS!!

They are BAD!!!

you might end up like this…yea that is the same person.

So this is the introduction.  I will be spending a lot of time on this topic as I have been developing multiple posts on this topic.  This post will outline what I want to talk about and the breadth of the discussion as I have planed currently.  But as my philosophy requires I will be change focus as the discussion requires.

Let me start with a little bit of a retraction.  “How to read a film” is a bad way to think of this but since it is the way most commonly spoken about how to watch film I will use it still.  in reality reading a film is not al that we want to do.  After reading a bit of a great book “Reframing Theology and Film” I was affirmed in my belief that there is more than just “reading” a film.

What I want to emphasize is the idea if critical analysis.  Watching  a film involves more than just careful watching and a sincere intention to understand it.  It takes an entire shift in our thought process.  So the big deal of watching a film is the attention to all the elements that come into making a film.  Since film is made over possibly years and by hundreds of people and all over the world we have a lot to analyze.  there are so many issues to look at from the basic story, sound and Image all the way to budgets, buisness and cultural issues.  We should be examining political, sociological, phisiological and historical issues. So maybe we should be reading books like films or more likely we are terrible at both and need to be beter educated.

So next time I will be talking about the first thing that we should look at when learning how to watch a film properly.  We will start discussing how to prepare for a film and what to do when you watch the film.

see ya on the next reel!