The moment I sign this, can someone please check the guy behind me? He seems fishy.
Arizona recently enacted one of the most backwards and revisionist immigration laws in our country. The piece of paper the governor signed into practice states that the police are now under orders to pull over, question or otherwise force any person in the state that “looks to be an illegal immigrant” to immediately show proper documentation of their status as American citizens. Most pundits and newscasters have been referring to this as the “Papers, Please.” bill. While I do not personally live in Arizona, this is a dangerous game to begin because a number of other Southern states with more conservative leaning electorates are watching very closely as to whether this law will withstand the oncoming onslaught of civil liberty and constitutionality law suits. If it does, you can be assured you will see laws like this popping up all along the southern border and spreading upwards. Honestly, do they think every illegal immigrant just stops in the first border town?
Arizona is the number one crack in the wall for the passage of illegal immigrants and in turn the number one funnel for the Mexican drug trade, but this sweeping doctrine is the result of over-reactionary zealots who are attempting to purify the state. What this does once more is bring back the everlasting debate over what a “real American” looks like. Supposedly this is the only way the Arizona police will know who to pull over and who to let by. I don’t envy any officer who has to enact this incredibly misdirected statute, which, at its core, institutionalizes blatant racism.
Recent rumblings around the legal circles depict this new law being shot down right after its inaugural usage. The first case to be brought by either the ACLU or any other civil rights group will force this into the State Supreme Court and it will find itself tossed out as a poor reminder of immoral laws gone by, like Jim Crow. Governor Jan Brewer states we will not see the abuses of personal and public rights we fear and that she is only doing what she feels is best for her state in the absence of any real immigration reform on the Federal level. I’ll grant her a small point on the lack of movement from President Obama and his administration, but her rash decision cannot be polished into rational judgment by that fact alone. President Obama has immigration reform in his sights and it seems to be next on the list once Wall Street reform gets enacted. He’s on a real roll and the momentum could carry along many of the changes he promised along the campaign trail.
As for me, well, there were days before when I felt that one voice couldn’t do anything, but I’ve learned through many examples set out before me that one voice can be added to another and then to another until the once silent whisper of a concerned citizen becomes the booming cry of a motivated public cheering for justice. In that vein, I’ve taken to writing letters and e-mails to any politician I believe is proposing or supporting laws I do not believe in and I encourage everyone to make your own voices heard as well. If there is one thing the recent Tea Party revivals have gotten right (and as far as I can see it has been only this one thing) is the government works for the people, which means you. Never forget it is your right to inform your employees when they are not doing their job correctly.
Obviously, since Governor Brewer signed the bill into law, my plea fell on deaf ears, but here are the words I sent her way:
Dear Governor Brewer,
Although I don’t live in your state, the bill currently sitting in front of you is going to set a precedent which will affect a growing number of states, especially those along the southern border, like California. I truly empathize with your situation and the need to get illegal immigration under control, but this current attempt is the wrong way to go about it. All the talking points being sent out now in defense of it are only trying to pull the wool over the eyes of a stunned and offended nation. This is going to create state-mandated racial profiling in the worst way. Every Mexican-American, Latino-American or South American, born free here under our nation’s laws, will be treated to regular accusations and challenges to their status as Americans. Yet, while some might say this racial profiling would not happen in such dire terms, can you tell me Irish-Americans, Russian-Americans or even British-Americans are going to feel the same microscope following their every move on their downtown streets?
You have the power to stop your state from changing it’s identity from a piece of what we call the “land of the free” into a racially cleansed country club. Please use that power.
You can follow these links to find the contact info for your senator, state representative or governor. Let them know what you think. Then, let me know what you get back!
Posted 4 months, 2 weeks ago at 4:14 pm. Add a comment
Say hello to my little friends, Laverne and Shirley.
Rating: 7 out of 10
It was only a matter of time until we reached this inevitable moment where the comic book stories started to move away from the radiation-powered heroes and villains to the non-mutant kids that actually read them. Every kid who turned those colorful paneled pages had those moments where they gazed out the window and dreamed of a world where they could fly, burn holes through walls using only their eyes and actually help the good people in the world (or maybe just rob banks, depending on the kid). In the end it was all about wanting to be more than they were – something extraordinary. For some, gaining that elusive feeling meant putting their heads down and burying themselves in study, research and grunt work until they were recognized as experts in their chosen field. Others put on flashy tights. Tomato, tomahto.
Kick-Ass is a comic-book adaptation about a young boy who decides to make the transition from normal teenage wallflower into costumed vigilante justice. Ignoring the lack of any real powers or drive for vengeance, he plows forward only to find himself embroiled in a real-life crime ring, landing himself in the crosshairs of real criminals with real guns who really kill people. There is help though, from a costumed father/daughter pair who mentors him in what it really means to be a superhero.
[A quick disclaimer: I didn't read the original comic series, so this is a commentary on only the movie itself and not how well or not well the adaptation was made. If it was a wonderfully truthful adaptation, that's great, but that only really helps those people in the audience who have actually read it.]
While it starts out with a very Kevin Smith-style conversation, this movie quickly ascends into a level of ridiculousness that separates it solidly from the pack. It’s grows into something more akin to Unbreakable remade by high school kids, but I mean that in a positive way. The viewpoint throughout the film is not looking down or lording over these characters, but it looks from within, through the childlike eyes of what it would really feel like to try and become a superhero and transform yourself into the savior instead of the saved. It’s an old archetypal story — with a lot more spandex and pleather.
The lead character, Dave ‘aka Kick-Ass’ (played by Aaron Johnson), is the moral center of the story and he’s the audience’s window into this world. While his role is integral to the story, as a character he suffers a bit from being the launching pad for the more extreme and entertaining people. Quickly enough we are introduced to ‘Hit Girl’, played with unwavering intensity by Chloe Moretz, and her comically imbalanced dad, otherwise known as ‘Big Daddy’, played beautifully by the constantly working icon, Nicolas Cage. This dynamic duo are the comic book within the comic book, the fantasy within the reality of Dave’s world. Due to the level of violence and brutality these two characters generate throughout their screen time, it was fundamentally necessary to pick people who could play the ridiculous nature of their actions without allowing the characters themselves to seem or feel ridiculous. Cage was a godsend in this respect and there are few people better than him at accomplishing this kind of task. Cage may have become a joke to some, but I think they underplay this man’s range. Go back and watch Leaving Las Vegas, then immediately pop in Raising Arizona. He is supremely talented on both ends of the spectrum. While he might not be getting those prime roles lately, I think that has more to do with the fact he is working non-stop and those roles don’t come along as often versus proof of his decline in skill. Moretz, on the other hand, may be a relative newcomer by some standards, but in her six years of stealing scenes she’s already racked up a ton of voice-over credits and now seems quite poised to take over as the resident precocious, overly-intelligent little sister/neighbor/friend/what-have-you.
As for the man with the plan, Matthew Vaughn only has three directorial credits under his belt so far (Layer Cake, Stardust and this new addition), but all have been incredibly successful in their own right. He continues to do a beautiful job of creating the world of the story, both in front of the camera and behind it (he co-wrote the screenplays for Kick-Ass and Stardust). Yet, so far I think his best overall effort has been Layer Cake, the one script he didn’t touch (it was written for the screen by J.J. Connolly, the author of the original book). The only thing I believe this proves is the original author can be better with the cutting knife on their own story than someone else.
The End of the Page Recommendation: Kick-Ass doesn’t disappoint in the ass kicking department, but it borders on repetition by the closing credits. For comic book fans, it’s required viewing, just to relive the fantasies you know you had at that age. Oh, on a personal side note, National Treasure is popcorn genius! Viva la Cage!
Posted 4 months, 2 weeks ago at 9:01 am. Add a comment
People kick and scream all the time about the desire and need for original story ideas and mostly I am right alongside them, but we shouldn’t count out remakes, relaunches and re-imaginings of classic films. They do serve a grand purpose to the cinema audience (as well as the movie studios whom get twice or thrice the bang for their original buck). Some of these films are far enough back in the annals of film history to be forgotten or completely unheard of by today’s film-going audience. In cases like these, a remake can actually help drive these younger audiences, or those who just missed it the first time around, backwards into the video shelves and dusty pages of their Netflix accounts to dig up these original works. Sometimes the originals are brilliant classics that should be viewed by all film lovers, while others were great concepts but poorly executed due to the technological restraints of the time period. Some, including a handful of my favorites, are so bad they run full circle into being good. In those particular cases, remakes usually fail to capture the novelty and attempt for a more serious and quality version of the original, thereby almost guaranteeing box-office failure. If you need some recent proof, let’s take a glance at the new version of Clash of the Titans.
Clash of the Titans tells the epic tale of Perseus, born half man/half god and plunged into a quest to rally the mortals against the immortals and their control over the mortal world. Along the way he must find allies, battle incredible monsters, defy the will of the gods at every turn and decide what destiny he will write for himself.
Certain films get a good running start, but stumble in the home stretch and leave their audiences feeling unsatisfied in the end. Clash fails to even get its feet squarely underneath it. From the opening moments you get a sense of something out of place, something missing and I narrowed it down to this: quality. From front to back, every aspect of this mostly-animated adventure feels half-assed. For the points I gave for the thrilling CGI mega-monster, the Kraken, and smoke effects around Hades, I had to simultaneously remove points for terrible CGI-effects on the ferryman over the river Styx and the silly glowing around the remaining pantheon of gods. The same formula could also be used for the exciting scorpion fight scenes, which were incredibly reminiscent of the scorpion-type robot fight scene in Transformers 2, followed closely by the laughable costuming used on the mystical desert people, who just end up looking like weird tree folk. Clash never finds a balance between having crappy effects and going the novelty route or using the high-class CGI tools and attempting for action blockbuster status.
Moving away from the unreal monsters and onto the living, breathing actors unfortunately does not improve the situation. Briefly in the beginning I was thrilled to see Pete Postlethwaite, but he only gets a few brief moments on screen and even he couldn’t make the ridiculous dialogue sound palatable. Sam Worthington, starring as Perseus, continues his ascension of the blockbuster ladder (recently starring in Termination: Salvation and Avatar), but he is teetering on the edge of only being cast for his stone-cold glare and not for actual acting ability, which James Cameron was somehow able to access in and out of the ‘blue man’ suit. Liam Neeson, who some might argue was born to dictate orders from the clouds above, found his performance of Zeus pushed off the screen throughout by the more leering and sinister Hades, played by Ralph Fiennes. I think to really find the error here, we need to climb all the way to the top, director Louis Leterrier. I am a devout fan of his work on the first two action-filled chapters of the Transporter series, but their main reason for awesomeness is their sheer logic-avoiding car chases and tracer bullet addictions. We knew they were ludicrous going in and therefore could enjoy it, but Clash tried to be something more, something meaningful along with action-packed and it ended up failing at both.
PS: Just a small note here, but if anything could actually make this movie experience worse it was the terrible quality of picture and sound at the AMC Citywalk theaters. Usually I only have to deal with the crowd being slightly more rambunctious than those found at the Arclight or Landmark theaters, but this time the sound faltered a handful of times, the coloring wavered in and out and at one point I was fairly sure the picture was about to drop off altogether during a reel change. I’m not saying avoid the AMC Citywalk screens, but if you readers begin to see a pattern of crappy sound and picture quality up there, let me know. Maybe we can rally some effective change up there.
The End of the Page recommendation: Get some popcorn, soda or possibly your alcoholic beverage of choice and rent the original Clash of the Titans instead. Relish in the wonderment of Ray Harryhausen’s amazing animation of the time period and chuckle at seeing Harry Hamlin attempt to become a Greek hero. Plus, Bubo rules!
Posted 4 months, 3 weeks ago at 11:11 am. Add a comment
It’s OK. Relax, boy. They said ‘The Hills’ is being canceled.
Rating: 7 out of 10
In the last decade we have been increasingly spoiled by legendary quality in the animated film world. Pixar exploded onto the scene and suddenly changed our Sunday afternoon trip to the movies with our little ones from a chore to a joy. Parents all over the country were now dragging kids along to see cartoons the kids hadn’t even asked about yet. “Trust me, son. You haven’t seen Toy Story 1 or 2 yet, but you’ll pick it up quickly. Now stop running around or we’ll lose our place in line.” Those wonderment wizards behind the screen also took notice of the change in demographic and began to layer their fare with subtle and intelligent adult humor, making it possible (and now possibly common) to see a grown man or adult couple walking into one of these movies without a single child in tow. I applaud this shift in content because I believe it helps remind us all to be a kid ourselves time and again.
How to Train Your Dragon is the newest effort from Dreamworks Animation, the studio once saved from going under by their imaginary friend Shrek. This tale, based on a popular children’s book of the same title by Cressida Cowell, surrounds a scrawny, accident-ridden viking named Hiccup (voiced expertly by Jay Baruchel) who stumbles upon a legendary dragon that no one has laid eyes on and lived. Finding he doesn’t have the heart to kill the dragon, he becomes the proud owner of a dangerous new pet and a planet-sized secret. Oh, his dad is chief of the village as well and their main chore in life is killing dragons. It’s like sprinkles on top.
While this colorful concoction doesn’t match up with headliners like Shrek, Kung-Fu Panda and Monsters vs. Aliens, it provides enough chuckles and consistent story flow to find itself placed above other Dreamworks outings like Flushed Away, Over the Hedge and Shark Tale. The main character of Hiccup is endearing in his self-deprecation and feels perfectly suited to the delivery of Baruchel. Also, if the animation studios have learned anything, it is to make any animal or magically living item into the most adorable thing imaginable. Dreamworks went for the gold here with their rendering of the dragon we all come to know as Toothless. They instilled him with a number of feline qualities, making him instantly loved by all cat owners in the crowd. They also have perfected the shifting of eye sizes (small for suspicion and huge for sugary-sweet cuteness) to the point where it almost feels like manipulation. I could have railed against being used like that, but I had already melted into my seat and mixed into the popcorn box below.
Other voice talents that held up their ends are Gerard Butler as Hiccup’s overly heroic Dad, Stoick, America Ferrera as the young competitor/love interest named Astrid, Jonah Hill as Snotlout (who to me sounded and looked on screen a lot like Jack Black), Kristen Wiig as Ruffnut, one half of a brother/sister twin pairing, and lastly Christopher Mintz-Plasse as the role-playiing stats nerd, Fishlegs.
The End of the Page Recommendation: How to Train Your Dragon provides enough chuckles to make it worthwhile, but the big screen is not totally necessary. Matinee pricing should be a safe bet. Oh, 2D is fine as well (skip shelling out the extra cash for 3D on this outing).
DandyID
Facebook
Twitter