Hour 21: A Film and Interactive Media Blog

  “Compassion is a weakness”      It's fascinating what our minds choose to latch on too, what they seek to remember. I… I remember a snow storm so deep and so long That my family and I were able to watch Avatar: The Last Airbender The animated series all the way through twice. That number may be a product of time or a conflation of two events. It doesn't matter. What matters is that, at some point six siblings and their parents. with a few friend, gathered around a TV in the midst of a snowstorm. Watching what had seemingly become a tradition. Experiencing the journey of the Avatar and his friends as they tried to do the impossible, save the world.      Memory is a strange thing, I don't know how many times I had seen the series at that point but it was many. I knew the characters in and out. I knew who they were. I knew what they wanted and how they would get it. I knew their struggles, their pain. I knew them, and there was nothing more to know. D...

     There is a unique narrative decision in X-Men First Class that seems at odds with the films main conceit of mutation. The character flaw is an essential part of any narrative, if not it's beating heart. You would be forgiven then if you thought that Charles Xavier has no such flaws, he is seemingly perfect in every way. He also, as an added bonus has mind reading abilities. In every way Charles Xavier exemplifies the human desire to be perfect, or at least what we wish perfection would represent. So what gives, in a film filled with human weakness where is his. Charles's weakness is that he thinks he has none. He is flawless, and he knows it. It is here that I would like to thank Matthew Vaughn and his team on how they decided Charles Xavier would overcome this flaw. You see, Xavier in most of the X-Men comics is synonymous with his wheelchair. Not in this film However. In X-Men First Class Charles is fully able-bodied until.... He isn't.      This cha...

     Ar gylle, is backyard fun filmmaking at some of its most inventive and childlike. Matthew Vaughn and his team take us on an excursion through the human mind. In this cocktail of imagination and the joy of film editing, Argylle asks us if imagination is really the only weapon we have in our arsenal. I enjoyed this film. I hope you do too.

     Marcel The Shell with shoes on, is a charming journey through the every day joys and difficulties of life. What could have become just a technical exercise of bringing a YouTube short to a larger audience, instead becomes a meaningful reminder, that going beyond our comfort zone ultimately leads us into a new one I enjoyed this film. I hope you do too

       T he Marvels is a film that recaptures the kinetic joy of the superhero comic book. Yet, Nia DeCosta and her team three-dimensionalize that joy with a heartfelt exploration of grief, and the need for friendship. It may come across as a bit too Kinetic for some, but that speed is a keen indicator of how life can be filled with joy in one moment and sorrow in the next. I enjoyed this film. I hope you do too.

            In a moment you see him walking out the door.... In a moment the cap on your head is more than a great day with dad and a high score... In a moment you are on a dinosaur tour... And in a moment, a man again runs out of a door, and you know what fear is for.... But in a moment the dinosaur man will say, that he will not do what the two men did before. Welcome to Jurassic Park!      I Hope these small moments convey just how deep a single moment in a film can go, especially in the hands of Steven Spielberg and Michael Crichton as it is here. A mixture of both novel and film. These moments are meaningful on their own, but together I think they tell an even more poignant story. A story that sadly isn't mine to complete. I think that honor goes to Steven Spielberg and his most recent film, The Fabelmans. Where he captures every moment. I enjoyed these two films. I hope you do too.