Hour 21: A Film and Interactive Media Blog

                The Tudors is a show that can very easily illustrate what is wrong with modern TV. It's sexing up of the life of King Henry VIII is seen in one of two ways. The first, why should the show even exist? It's historical inaccuracies are numerous and its  portrayal of sex and love is ridiculous. The second, the show brings history to life in interesting and thought-provoking ways. And if the sex is what brings people in, the history is what will keep them.                 I fall in line more with the second viewpoint. That isn't to say that the show's  portrayal of sex is indeed  juvenile and mostly unneeded. The show's creator Michael Hirst has even suggested as much. The sex is a way to bring in viewers, it is a sad but true fact that sex sells. That does not mean that Hirst does not use it to   e...

    There is a moment in the 1995 adaption of A Little Princess where you realize it is a film and for most cases that is not a good sign. However for this particular film it is one of its greatest strengths, being one of the finest advocates to the impact of an image. A Little Princess thrives with its elegant camera work by a Emmanuel Lubezki and masterful direction by Alfonso CaromThere is so much I could say about the film in its simplicity and sense of melancholy and joy. Though, A Little Princes is better seen and not heard.      It is almost too easy to bury this film with superlatives and praise case in point the above paragraph. In all honesty I don't care because this is one of the few films that actually deserves it. This is a film that deals with loss, love and the connection between a father and a daughter in a way that doesn't come across saccharine but sincere. A Little Princess is a case study in what it means to be a film for all ages. S...

"Vincit Qui Se Vincit"                                            – Beauty and the Beast  Introduction  Stained-Glass      This Latin phrase is what kick started my love for film. Not the phrase itself, but what it represents in terms of the power of an image. Translated the phrase reads, "He who prevails over himself is twice victorious". Another translation is, "He who conquers is he who conquers himself". A picture may be a thousand words but apparently all you need is four to change a person's interpretation of a film, because that is what happened to me.      These four unassuming words adorn the first stained-glass window in the prologue to Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Unreadable by most, yet this simple phrase offers a glimpse into the heart of one of the most enduring love stories of all time. This story is ...

Introduction                                 " Vincit Qui Se Vincit""                                                                        – Beauty and the Beast          This Latin phrase is what kick started my love for film. Not the phrase itself, but what it represents in terms of the power of an image. Translated the phrase reads, ""He who prevails over himself is twice victorious"". Another translation is, ""He who conquers is he who conquers himself".   A picture may be a thousand words but apparently all you need is four to change a person's interpretation of a film, because that is what happened to me.       These four unassuming words  adorn the first s...

I have to say I'm amazed that this film works as well as it does. In my mind if a film takes on serious subjects like racism and intolerance it can very easily devolve into a head smashing competition. Where the film is more interested in making its audience learn a lesson rather than telling a story. I am happy to report however Zootopia is not of the above and in fact  very poignantly   gets its ideas across while telling a very engaging and entertaining story.             Perhaps Zootopia works because it is confident, and it knows its characters and its world . A world in which its inhabitants are very regimented. They know where they belong and that is where they're going to stay. Though the main character Judy Hoppes believes her choices will define who she is not how or where she grew up. You see Judy is a rabbit who wants to be a Zootopia police officer. Though only lager animals up until this point have be...

Uncharted 4 beckons.Which is a good thing because it will allow me to get over this bronchitis that  has been pestering me for a week. Hopefully within the next few days I can get back to more in depth post.

And the words so far is Great. The Avengers fight both physically and verbally, oh yeah don't forget that Spiderman is awesome.

We continue with our journey through the joys of numbers with Steven Spielberg's first and only comedy. And that is the problem with 1941. This film about what would happen if a Japanese submarine appeared off the coast of Los Angeles just isn't funny. When I say not funny I mean I literally can't remember a single joke or humorous situation in the entire movie.             It really is a feat that this is stale from end to end because writers Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale would go on to direct and write Back to the Future. 1941 struggles to find a voice, it doesn't know if it wants to be a biting satire or ridiculous farce. As a result it's just all over the place. Maybe that was the point but it doesn't appear that way. It tries too hard to say look at all the stuff happening on screen but none of it really has any point.             What this film ultimately is, is a stop...

Diverse and distinctive, The two words that come to mind when thinking about The 100. A TV show about 100 prisoners sent to the surface of an irradiated Earth 97 years after a nuclear disaster. One of the most striking aspects of The 100 is that it moves. Meaning it does not do what most television shows do, which is stay with one main storyline throughout an entire season.             As fast as the show presents a question, it answers it just as quickly . It's almost as if the show is saying we have all this time so let's tell you a story and not make you wait for it. As a result the characters and situations seem real because they are not constrained by some writers desire to hold off on an answer to a mystery for six years. The show  is creating a world and wants its audience to live in it not wish for its end.             Yet all of this inventiveness in storytell...

This wonderful tale of a Khaki Scout and his first love is at its best when it evokes comics strips like Schultz's Peanuts or Waterson's Calvin and Hobbes. The  excitement of youth is palpable emphasized wonderfully by Wes  Anderson's trademark dry and to the point style. Take for instance this exchange that takes place over the corpse of the Scout Troops dog. Susie: "Was he a good dog?" Sam: "Who could say."     In this simple back and forth Wes Anderson and co-writer Roman Coppola emphasize the films ability to capture a child's point of view. Within these few words Susie and Sam are trying to have a meaningful conversation, which to an older person may seem pointless, but to them it is a thought-provoking examination of life and death.  Anderson and crew   turn back the clock to a time where we all are 12 years old, and we know less than we think we do or perhaps more than we are letting on. All in all this is a great film, and p...