#the song i took this title from is on the breaking dawn part 2 soundtrack. just a fun fact

[jimmyjrsmusoems]

birthday boblin for @jimmypesto who i love very much :) ❤

[osleyakomwonkru]

10 Days of Favourites - Songs

7 days to season 7!

Today’s countdown topic: My seven favourite songs that have appeared in the show! 7. The Spiritual Machines - “Couldn’t Stop Caring” (2x13 Resurrection) “I could see the signs/She was fixed to fly/It's always better fought than won/For those not afraid to die/I couldn't stop, couldn't stop, stop stop it...” I just like the sound of this song, as everyone starts marching off to war. All of their expressions, hardened for war - except for Abby’s, who is instead distraught about what war has done to her daughter, and doesn’t want to accept that she’s been making the same decisions as they did back on the Ark, and the knowledge that it is because of the way she (that is, Clarke) was raised that she was able to make them so easily, as Abby and Kane discussed earlier in the episode while they were trapped. 6. Jim James - “State of the Art (AEIOU)” (4x07 Gimme Shelter) “...Are we better human beings?/We've got our wires all crossed/The tubes are all tied/And I'm straining to remember/Just what it means to be alive/A life worth living...” Another cool-sounding song, that pans over all of the different storylines of the episode - Octavia and Ilian, where Octavia decides to go home with him; Bellamy recognizing to Kane that he can’t save everyone; everyone in Becca’s lab preparing to run the radiation test on the Grounder thief. Many stories shift in this episode, an important step heading into the final act of the season. 5. RAIGN - Knocking on Heaven’s Door (2x16 Blood Must Have Blood Part 2) “Mama, take this badge from me/I can't use it anymore/It's gettin' dark, too dark to see/I feel I'm knockin' on heaven's door...” This is a classic, the song that closes out the Mount Weather storyline of season 2, where everyone returns to Camp Jaha - except for Clarke. She chooses to go off on her own to (not) deal with what she’s done. Bellamy tries to dissuade her, but there’s no changing her mind. The RAIGN cover of Bob Dylan is quite suitable for this scene - they’ve all lost more pieces of their childhood innocence after the experience at Mount Weather, but for no one is that more profound than for Clarke - all the choices and sacrifices she made in season 2 to secure the alliance with the Grounders so they could defeat Mount Weather without an all-out massacre - only for it to end up that way anyway. 4. Aurora - “Through The Eyes of a Child” (4x12 The Chosen) “World is covered by our trails/Scars we cover up with paint/Watch them preach in sour lies/I would rather see this world through the eyes of a child/Through the eyes of a child...” This is a poignant song for a pivotal moment - the second Culling of Skaikru, this time in the Second Dawn Bunker. I can’t help but see a twofold meaning to this song, where it talks about wanting to see the world through the eyes of a child. First, it is referring to the quite literal emphasis on saving the Skaikru children - seen both how Kane tells the Grounders that all of the children stay and how Jaha picks up Ethan after Hardy is taken away, essentially adopting him as his own. Second, the more metaphorical death of the last of Octavia’s innocence. Earth has been chipping away at Octavia’s innocence ever since she stepped out of that dropship in 1x01, but here as she steps into a leadership role, what last bits of it remained are washed away. Just like the adults did on the Ark in 1x05 when the Culling took place, Octavia doesn’t shy away, she stands there and bears witness, even as all manner of accusing glances are thrown her way. 3. Koda - Radioactive (3x13 Join or Die) “...I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus/This is it, the apocalypse...” “Radioactive” is a classic for this show, ever since it was the soundtrack to the delinquents landing on Earth in 1x01, and this more muted cover of the Imagine Dragons original is so appropriate for a flashback to the hours before that, when they were boarding the dropship. It’s a bittersweet moment, thus the somber version, because we’re reminded that most of the characters we’re seeing board the dropship are dead. 2. RAIGN - Empire of our Own (2x11 Coup de Grace) “...Our minds are full of freedom/We're in a world where we all come alive/And oh oh oh, when love becomes the reason/We fly with kings tonight and come down/With an Empire of our own...” This is a moment that exudes Big Dick Energy as Clarke and Abby confront each other and come close to blows and an all-out fight between Skaikru and Grounders. But backed up by Octavia, Indra and the rest of the Grounders, Clarke gets her way. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about that, but I do appreciate the song in this scene. 1. Tree Adams/Julia Dominczak - Osleya gon Rouz/A Champion in Red (5x04 Pandora’s Box) “...Soncha kik thru, noda raz/Osleya gon rouz/'So groun op kon'cho drein au/Folau gon folau, klaka gon uf” (A light survives, another dawn/A champion in red/We grow from what we've bled/Ash to ash and bone to brawn) Come on, you had to have seen this one coming. A song *about* Octavia was always going to take the top spot. I love this song in Trig much more than the Grounder anthem “Take A Life With Me”, because, well, Osleya is kind of my brand, to go ahead and state the obvious. To muse more on the title Osleya I feel is relevant. The only person who seriously uses it, as far as I can remember, is Indra. Brell uses it mockingly during the meeting of delegates, and Niylah uses it playfully (and it’s because of Niylah’s usage of “Osleya kom Wonkru” and my shipping goggles that I chose this title of Octavia’s as my username). Indra dresses Octavia in the Commander’s garb, but she doesn’t go so far as to use the title Heda. I wonder if that was her concession to Gaia and her faith, or if it is because Octavia insisted on not claiming such a title, or what, but Osleya is my favourite of Octavia’s titles, because it was the one that was uniquely hers and that represented hope. And hope is all I ever want for her. 

[yigittezcan]

A NEW CONCEPTUAL ALBUM "DAWN FM" BY THE WEEKND

   As a committed The Weeknd fan, I was hyped by the rumors about his new conceptual album “Dawn Fm”. He only teased one track from the album in the summer which is “Take my Breath”. It was born to be a hit and is still one of my favorite from the album. Keeping up with the updates on the album, I wasn’t convinced that he would release the album in 2022. His previous album “After Hours” was a commercial hit and chart-breaker tyrant . It's strategical release at the beginning of the COVID era when all the other singers are worried about the album tours and sales whereas his choice lead its success. The Weeknd released the “After Hours” on 20 March 2020, in a little while he gained worldwide success and placed in number one on Spotify. Hence his latest success, both financially and artistically pretty satisfying for releasing or even working on a new album. In addition to these, he only released one song before the album. Usually, The Weeknd release at least 2 songs before releasing. However, The Weeknd confidently stated that (in the GQ interview) he will release one of the first albums of 2022. In that interview, he also elaborately talked about his past work and success. After that, I also remembered that every time The Weeknd promised a certain date for releasing music he always delivered his music on time.

   Celebrating the new year, I always thought about his promise, and that following week he shared the tracklist and feature list. I saw the name of a genius “Oneohtrix Point Never” the Canadian producer who excelled in electronic music. He also composed Safdie’s Good Time soundtrack and work with them on several projects. Honestly, I discovered him thanks to Safdies. There was a rumor that he was the mastermind behind the production. With the new updates, I get more hyped as The Weeknd shared that It’s an album that he took on the concept of after life. As the title reveals our listening experience of the LP would be similar to a radio program. There was a second name which made me even more excited Jim Carrey as the presenter of the radio. I knew that Jim Carey and The Weeknd are neighbors in LA and hang out each other with several times. Eventually, on 7th January (during my midterm week) it was available on every streaming platform. On Thursday (which is also an infamous The Weeknd song) and sunday I had a midterm. I thought that in-between days I would give a listen to the album. I woke up early and first thing first, I connected my music system to my PC and finished the whole album. I was a bit frustrated as the second part of the album felt quite repetitive. However, I was amazed by the concept and transition between the songs. Furthermore, Jim Carrey carried the album on a new level. The album reminded me of the 80s pop, time to time rock and club hits. Especially I found some resemblance with The Zombies’, The Sonics’, and Michael Jackson’s music. Besides, I felt like this album was heavily influenced by the legendary French-Duo Daft Punk. There is also a homage to Daft Punk's Giorgio by Moroder whereas this time Quincy Jones tells his own bizzare story.

   Overall,  I really appreciate The Weeknd’s ambition on synth-based music and his post-modern approach to the creation of a concept album. It is quite an enjoyable album to invest your time in. As you push the play button you would finish the album in one listening. It offers an increasingly immersive listening experience. However, the second part of the album (the tracks after "Here We Go Again") is risk-free and felt repetitive for me. Songs like “Best Friends and Don’t Break my Heart” are arguably the weakest and most conventional songs of this album. To be honest, lyrically it isn't an engageable and moving album. However, with its all deficits, I strongly recommend with its entertaining execution, radio concept, and Jim Carrey effect.

8/10 Fav Tracks: Gasoline, Starry Eyes, Take my Breath Least Fav Tracks: Best Friends, Don’t Break my Heart, Out of Time

[illumelilac]

Juliette’s Diary - Part 3

This took a hecking long time! I’m really sorry! It’s not as long as I wanted it to be, but it’s something… (also unedited because I’m garbage) Thanks @illumegeoff @i-keep-craving-craving and @ihaveabadreputation for constantly motivating my lazy ass. 

Part 1:  

https://illumelilac.tumblr.com/post/164319494474/juliettes-diary-part-1

Part 2:

 https://illumelilac.tumblr.com/post/165884390759/juliettes-diary-part-2

Just like that the trance is broken. Their eyes fall away from each other, her’s darting to her fingernails,finding them particularly interesting in that moment, and his closing briefly trying to focus on catching his breath. He pulls himself together quickly and clears his throat, as his heart had managed to find it’s way in there.

“So where to?” He asks before making his way around the car and into the front seat. He does up his seat-belt and checks his mirrors before sticking the key into the ignition. The engine comes to life, filling the silence with a calming hum, and starts to play Dear Marie by John Mayer softly on the radio. Shawn’s eyes flutter to her’s briefly. She sighs, deeply overcome with emotions, and the slight drizzle that had graced their peaceful August afternoon picks up to a steady rainfall.

“Do you know where Elderberry Road is?”

He ponders for a second before nodding his head. Shawn reverses out of the spot, his car had been occupying and exits the parking lot. The neighbourhood they were heading to, which she happened to live in, was about five minutes from the library. Just a straight drive down the road past Riganelli’s Bakery and the community pool. Those places holding so many memories of her and her dad.

Before he got sick.

“Are you cold?” He wonders aloud breaking her away from the bittersweet nostalgia of her past. She had been shivering; however, was too deep in her own thoughts to pay any attention to how chilly it had gotten. He turns to look at her for a few moments, noticing her hair framing her face so perfectly and the freckles scattered across her nose, before bringing his eyes back to the road in front of them.

“Yeah. A little, I think. I hadn’t really noticed.” She explains awkwardly and Shawn adjusted the temperature slightly. Warm air flooded around them enveloping them, like a warm duvet that had just come out of the dryer, not only stopping her from shivering but also, heating up the atmosphere between the two of them.

“There’s a blanket on the backseat if you’re still cold,” he offers politely, still concerned about whether or not she felt comfortable. They drive down the road for a few minutes before she realises that yet another John Mayer song had started playing.

“So I take it that you like him then,” she infers gesturing to the car radio.

“Yeah, I have a few of his albums for the car. I think he’s just one of those artists I can always listen to - no matter what mood I’m in,” he answers, his words spill from his lips, flowing so naturally, somehow managing to bewitch her for a few sweet moments.

“Which one is this?”

He reaches across her, carefully keeping his eyes on the road, and opens the glove box in front of her. Reaching in, he grabs a few of the albums and hands them to her as they pull up to a stop light. Her eyes light up with brilliant shades of blue and time stops. He wasn’t aware there were so many glorious colours he had never taken the time to appreciate. He was positive that he had never seen someone so beautiful before. Her eyes were deep and mysterious, like the ocean on a stormy day, but they still sparkled like the sky at the break of dawn. He openly stares, fully gaping at the angel before him, finding it almost impossible to look away. She looks up at him and smiles, nearly stopping his heart. He was completely blown away by the mere thought of her. He swallows thickly, trying to keep himself together a little longer.

“My dad would have loved these,” she says flipping through the albums.

“I think the one playing is from Paradise Valley,” he says before reluctantly returning his eyes back to the road before them.

With a of couple strong beats from his merciless heart, the light in front of them turns green again and Shawn puts the car in drive. She nods silently before turning the album over and reading the titles on the back. She had never been more intrigued by such a gorgeous soundtrack. It was unbelievable how similar Shawn’s music taste was to her dad’s. It made spending time with him so easy and comfortable, but at the same time, it was a little heartbreaking.

“My house is up here on the left,” she spoke as they pulled up towards a small white house. She lived in a developing neighbourhood. There was lush greenery surrounding the entirety of the property and more at the end of the road. Her backyard had a small path that lead into some woods that she often found herself exploring and losing herself in. Shawn pulls into the driveway and they both unbuckle their seat-belts and make their way to her front door. She struggles with her keys for a moment, fumbling around until finally she manages to unlock the door and they step into the house. She kicks off her shoes quickly, dumping her book bag on the bench by the door and rushes out of the foyer and into another room. Shawn quickly discards his coat and shoes, observing her erratic behaviour and follows her aimlessly into the kitchen.

“Are you allergic to anything?”

“I don’t like tomatoes.”

“That’s not what I asked, and what do you mean you don’t like tomatoes?” She laughs while handing him a peanut butter sandwich she’s made for him. He rolls his eyes at her as he takes a bite of the sandwich.

“Weirdo,” she mutters quietly and giggles to herself. She proceeds to make herself a sandwich as she sits beside him at the dining table.

“I’d advise you to take that back,” he says, still chewing his food, his eyes full of mischief. The remark had caused butterflies to form and flutter around in her stomach. She starts to feel the blush begin to spread across her cheeks, but she couldn’t let him get the upper hand just yet.

“And I’d advise you, not to talk with your mouth full, it isn’t polite in the presence of a lady,” she teases and suddenly it was Shawn’s turn to blush but he quickly came up with a smart retort.  

“Oh I didn’t know your mother was home.”

“I’m talking about myself, asshat.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t associate with tomato sympathizers.”

“You’re honestly lucky I’m talking to you right now, Mr. I Haven’t Read Any Of The Harry Potter Series,” she fires back at him. The pair had somehow gotten really close to each other. They invaded each other’s space with no sense of boundary, till their noses were practically touching. She could smell his musky cologne and minty breath and it was the most overwhelming experience she had ever endured. They were completely connected. It was surreal and all they could do was wonder how they had gotten so close in such a short period of time. Although neither one of them would ever complain. They had always gravitated towards each other, even if they had only spoken a few words to the other before today, they knew. They knew there was some spark between them. There was always some tension, some strong cosmic power that made them crave the other’s presence.

Shawn gulps. She was so close. He could barely move and inch without accidentally kissing her, with the lack of space between them. He could just imagine how soft her lips would be. How nice it would be to hold her face and confess his overwhelming attraction to her. Her eyes flicker to his and suddenly he couldn’t breathe. He was weak. She was the sun and he was the planets in her solar system, drawn to her, by this invisible force he couldn’t seem to explain. He leans in, completely at her mercy. His lips aching to feel hers.

So close.

Nearly there.

Her eyes widen, not expecting his sudden advances. This wasn’t her plan. It needed to be perfect. She exhales in nervousness before quickly bringing her sandwich between them and taking an aggressive bite from it, thus ruining any potential of a seemingly romantic moment.

“Oh um?” He mumbles, backing away awkwardly, running his fingers through his wild curls that always managed to make her mouth dry up.

“Hurry up and eat. We’re losing daylight, Mendes,” she says assertively. She turns away from him, her heart pounding dramatically. She knows that she should have kissed him. She really wanted to have kissed him. But, she needed a moment. There would be time for kissing later, and it would be worth the wait.

[aaroncutler]

Sunrise as Comedy [by David Kalat]

June 11th: The following text was written by film critic and historian David Kalat on the occasion of this year’s F.W. Murnau retrospective at the Brazilian festival Olhar de Cinema. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans screens in the festival June 11th and 12th. More information about the retrospective can be found in English at http://olhardecinema.com.br/2017/en/2017/retrospective-f-w-murnau/ and http://olhardecinema.com.br/2017/en/screenings-2/#.retrospective, and in Portuguese at http://olhardecinema.com.br/2017/2017/olhar-retrospectivo-f-w-murnau/ and http://olhardecinema.com.br/2017/filmes/#.olhar-retrospectivo.

Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau’s Sunrise is the dictionary definition of a classic film. It won (for all intents and purposes) the first ever Academy Award, has been placed on the National Registry, and was the first silent film put out on Blu-Ray.  It routinely places in “Best Of” lists, it’s a picture whose artistry is intended to be accessible to mass audiences.  It is conventionally beautiful, conventionally narrative, conventionally stirring.  It needs no apologies or excuses, it’s just excellent in every way.  

But did you know it was a comedy?

Consider the basic premise: Sunrise presents a sexy, vampish “Woman of the City” who invades a rural idyll where her very presence corrupts a naïve young man.  In order to pursue this temptress, the young man comes to believe his only escape from his existing small-town romance is to kill his girl, which he utterly fails to accomplish, and thereby sets in motion the plot developments of the rest of the film.

Just six months before Sunrise hit theaters, American audiences saw the exact same plot in Harry Langdon’s comedy Long Pants!

In this context, it’s worth remembering that Langdon’s film crossed enough taboos (or do I mean tabus?) that some audiences didn’t find it funny at all.  Meanwhile, Murnau does pitch Sunrise like a comedy, and its contents are not very much distinguishable from what constituted comedies of the same period. For example, Sunrise’s main characters go on a date to a carnival, where they run into money problems and an out-of-control animal (see Harold Lloyd’s Speedy), and the film climaxes with a catastrophic storm (see Buster Keaton’s Steamboat Bill, Jr.)

The young man (George O’Brien) rows out to the middle of the lake with his trusting wife (Janet Gaynor) where he intends to drown her.  But when push comes to shove, as it were, he loses his resolve and rows mindlessly to the opposite shore, where they board a trolley car.  And in one of the most astonishing sequences in all of cinema, the shell-shocked couple gather their wits as they are transported from what might as well be a medieval village straight out of Nosferatu through a forest to an industrial patch and finally arriving in a futuristic Metropolis, all in the span of a couple of minutes.  There is no such trolley ride anywhere in the world—this thing might as well be a time machine.

The transformation is absolute.  The opening scenes take place in a silent movie world of exaggerated gestures and portentous symbolism.  But the city reveals more naturalistic acting, more observational in tone.  And the city scenes are obsessed with the details of the setting—the cars, the clothes, the architecture, the store fronts, the people-watching, the traffic.

Dramas do not often get bogged down in such observational fascination with their setting.  Although it happens sometimes (as with the semi-documentary approach of Billy Wilder’s People on Sunday, or perhaps Robert Wise’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture), this is a technique more familiar from comedies, where the observational detail is part of establishing the ironic commentary. Think Jacques Tati’s Playtime, or Chaplin’s City Lights, or Jean Renoir’s Boudou Saved From Drowning, or just about anything by Harold Lloyd.

Murnau introduces two outsiders into this cityscape—scraggly, haggard refugees from a horror film who have stumbled into this world in a state of high emotional dudgeon and will encounter it as if they are visitors from another planet. Again, the parallel is to a comedy’s structure, with the outsider hero(es) providing for a commentary on the world around them.  Charlie Chaplin rarely stumbled into any of his adventures after a botched murder attempt, but all Murnau has done is to provide a context for his protagonists’ alienation where someone like Chaplin uses his costume as a shortcut to the same ends.  Like Boudou or Mr. Hulot, George and Janet are outsiders invading this space.  We will witness its familiar contours through their eyes.

Setting in a film in the juxtaposition of old versus new has been a central recurring feature of many important comedies (Steamboat Bill, Jr., Mon Oncle, Modern Times, Yoyo) and also specifically places Sunrise squarely in the zeitgeist of late 1920s comedy.

For example, consider what happens once George and Janet arrive in the city.  They proceed to stumble from one episodic set-piece to another. In one of these, they crash a wedding ceremony and are overwhelmed by the moment (wedding vows take on an eerie significance when juxtaposed with trying to kill your wife).  George breaks down, begs for forgiveness, and the two stagger into the street in a romantic haze.  In another transformation of setting not unlike the trollycar ride that brought them here in the first place, they lose track of where they are and see themselves in the fields of home—until car horns bring them back to reality.  And what ensues?  Slapstick havoc in the middle of traffic, that’s what—a punchline, just like you’d expect.  Traffic-based gags abound in comedies of this era.  The scene emphasizes the modern tribulation of city streets packed with noisy cars going every which way.

Observations on the comic aspects of traffic are fundamentally the stuff of movie comedy. Thanks to the coincidence of the age of movies and the age of cars, there wouldn’t have been much to say about traffic prior to the dawn of film.  It doesn’t really belong in any other medium.  Paintings can’t capture the movement well; theatrical performances can hardly stage this indoors; no one would write a book about traffic because it isn’t a literary subject--but 1920s comedians put such material into movies all the time. 

Pointedly, Sunrise does not view this transformation from rural life to modernity as a bad thing.  It seems to be tilting that way in its early scenes, the way the evil vamp is called “Woman of the City,” as if her corruption is connected to her sophistication. Once George and Janet arrive in that city, however, what they find is wonder, fun, and welcoming strangers. The city folk are sometimes a little perplexed by the two rubes, but never in a mean way—and no matter what George and Janet do or misunderstand or break, they are greeted by smiles and tolerance.

Sunrise shows how the new world, threatening as it is to the old, doesn’t have to lead exclusively to corruption—it is possible to navigate your way through this modern world and still come out morally whole.  As such, Sunrise is about hope in the face of wrenching change.

As it happens, 1920s screen comedy was itself undergoing a wrenching change, metamorphosing from silent physical slapstick to a new talkie genre of romantic comedy.  The solo comedians of slapstick’s Golden Age had to make way for a new breed of female stars, who took equal footing with their male costars.  The end product of that transformation would be the screwball comedy, whose genre conventions presuppose flirtation as a form of combat, or vice versa.  The stars of 1930s romantic comedies “meet cute” and engage in reel after reel of open combat, before discovering that hate is just a variation on love; you have to really care for somebody deeply to want to fight them that badly.  Fists give way to embraces and the former opponents end up in each other’s arms.

This is, you may note, the template of Sunrise—in which the couple starts off as opposed to one another as humanly possible, and end up as tightly allied as conceivable.

Sunrise is not just structured like a comedy, it is absolutely jam-packed with comedy actors.  Janet Gaynor, the female lead, was a fairly inexperienced young actress whose resume before showing up here largely consisted of comedy work—Laurel and Hardy’s 45 Minutes From Hollywood, Syd Chaplin’s Oh What a Nurse, Clara Bow’s The Plastic Age, Charley Chase’s All Wet, and various and sundry Hal Roach one-offs.

Once she and her hubby/attempted murderer George O’Brien make their way into the city, they spend the rest of the film encountering comic actors: Ralph Sipperly, the Barber, came from Fox’s own comedy shorts division.  Jane Winton, the Manicure Girl, came from such comedies as Footloose Widows, Why Girls Go Back Home, and Millionaires.  Then there are the Obtrusive Gentleman (Arthur Housman) and the Obliging Gentleman (Eddie Boland).  Both Housman and Boland were small-time comedy stars who were brand names in their own right, having top-lined their own respective series of comedy shorts.

On top of all the comic actors, there are actual jokes: the wedding reception mistaking the peasant couple for the bride and groom, the business at the photographer’s and the headless statue, the comic misunderstandings at the salon, and a drunken pig!

This is a “silent film” in that no dialogue is spoken, but it has a synchronized soundtrack that includes sound effects and music, and sure enough the various slapstick punchlines get their little “boing!” and “wah-wah” music cues just like you’d expect. 

Murnau’s allegiance with the world of comedy continued in the follow-up feature to Sunrise, City Girl (whose title, a riff on “Woman of the City,” signals from the outset its agenda vis a vis Sunrise).  City Girl opens with a scene in which a rube on a train unwisely reveals a fat bankroll and his own unwary attitude towards his money, rendering him an easy mark for the attention of a grafter.  And once again we find Murnau pulling plot points from the films of Harry Langdon—in this case, the short Lucky Stars.

Murnau stuffed the cast of City Girl with comedy veterans, too: Eddie Boland is back (briefly); Guinn “Big Boy” Williams was a regular supporting actor in silent and talkie comedies (including the brilliant Ladies Night in a Turkish Bath with Jimmy Finlayson); David Torrence earned his slapstick comedy credentials a few years after working with Murnau, in the Laurel and Hardy film Bonnie Scotland; and Richard Alexander was on the front end of what would prove to be a wildly varied career that included Harry Langdon’s See America Thirst, as well as Laurel and Hardy’s Them Thar Hills and Babes In Toyland.

Finding such comedy references in a Murnau film may be jarring to those who think of him only in terms of Nosferatu and other grim fables.  That may be a sizeable contingent, I realize.  It is generally the tendency of critics who write about Murnau’s films to identify the comic elements as something imposed on Murnau against his wishes by the studio in an effort to Americanize and popularize his films.

The primary English language text on Murnau is Lotte Eisner’s The Haunted Screen — the very title of which signals its preoccupations and prejudices when it comes to Murnau.  And so in her fealty to those prejudices, Eisner skips over, dismisses, or otherwise brushes under the rug any of Murnau’s works that don’t fit the bill.

Lotte Eisner suggests that all these tawdry jokes were inserted into Sunrise by Fox gag men and Murnau was obliged to go along with them.  Hey, but wait a minute–Sunrise was famously made without studio interference, and even after his falling out with Fox, Murnau never said that Sunrise was anything other than a work of total creative freedom.  You can’t have your cake and eat it too—you can’t say Murnau had total creative freedom but he also had to tolerate jokes inserted into the script against his will. If Sunrise was Murnau’s vision, his vision was prone to flirt with comedy.

Now might be the time to note, ahem, that The Last Laugh has its own comic elements, in which a bleak story comes to a tragic end, and then reboots itself as a comedy for its final reel—inspiring the English language title.

For that matter, Murnau made The Finances of the Grand Duke, a mild action-comedy about a master thief that in many ways anticipates similar lighthearted fare along the lines of Arsène Lupin or To Catch a Thief or a fair chunk of Steven Soderbergh’s back catalog.

The magic of Murnau is that his genius was not limited to vampires and demons—the man was also gifted with a deft comic touch.  Sunrise is Murnau’s comedy masterpiece.

[daleisgreat]

Guardians of the Galaxy

We are mere weeks away from the release of the latest Marvel Studios film, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, so naturally it felt right to pull 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy (trailer out of the backlog box. I specifically remember thinking that this was going to be the first full-on flop from Marvel Studios. The comic it was based on was around off and on over the years but I never considered it a top-tier book from Marvel by any means and could not name a single character by the time the film arrived. GotG was certainly going to be the first Marvel film to focus on a character that was not in the upper-echelon of Marvel Heroes such as Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk and Thor. I also despised the original trailer for the first film. For whatever reason it played before nearly every film I caught at the theater for several months before the movie hit. The preview gave me all the wrong vibes that this was going to be full of bad jokes from a bunch of unknown heroes in the cosmic branch of the Marvel Universe that will go right over my head. I could not have been happier to be so wrong.

GotG centers around one Peter Quill aka Starlord (Chris Pratt). The film starts off with him as a young child at his mother’s deathbed, when all of a sudden a mysterious spaceship abducts him and the film immediately jumps a couple decades ahead where Quill is now a ‘junker’ (futuristic treasure hunter?) residing in a intergalactic community somewhere in another universe. A routine quest for a mysterious orb goes haywire and lands Quill in prison. It is here where Starlord teams up with some unlikely allies. His new comrades consist of Gamura (Zoe Saldana), Rocket the raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper), the monstrous brute Drax (David Bautista) and a full sized animated tree capable of speaking only five words Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel). Ronan (Lee Pace) is GotG’s lead villain. He is a lieutenant of the high and mighty Thanos, but breaks off from him after he finds a new source of power. Minus Groot, Marvel did a tremendous job with the casting. I will give props to Quill for this being his big motion picture breakout performance after several years on the ensemble mockumentary TV series, Parks & Rec. Saladana proved she is already capable of sci-fi greatness in the latest line of Star Trek films and went on to double down on that expertise in another sci-fi franchise. Bautista went above and beyond what anyone expected out of a pro-wrestler. Bradley Cooper shows all kinds of range with his voicing of Rocket, but Marvel could have saved a good chunk of money on the budget by having anyone voice Groot. Vin probably commanded a high dollar since he is in the midst of riding the success of the Fast & Furious money train. Watching the GotG unwillingly come together to break out of prison in a fantastic scene and transition into a well-oiled machine by the time they take on Ronan in the final act is simply an awesome experience. Part of the reason on how they got there is a stunning job in the CG department. GotG got nominated for two technical Oscars for Best Visual Effects & Best Costume Design. After witnessing a few of its dazzling-yet-intense spaceship duels and watching the behind-the-scenes feature on the multi-hour process of what Saladana and Bautista had to go through in makeup justifies the film as being a Oscar contender in those departments.

What also helped round off this sublime audio/visual package is a five star soundtrack consisting primarily of 1970s pop hits such as “I Want You Back,” “Hooked on a Feeling,” and “Cherry Bomb.” Director James Gunn stated in the commentary for the film that Disney got every single song he requested approved for the soundtrack, and I am presuming Gunn must have spent a great deal timing when each and every song would kick in at just the right moment to add that extra dose of impact. A couple of my favorite examples of this are when the Guardians are planning their final assault on Ronan to “Cherry Bomb” and the opening title screen where Quill is dancing away to “Come and Get Your Love.” I remember being super giddy the day Google generously released the soundtrack for free on its Play Store and it has been in a consistent rotation in my running playlists ever since. There is only one noteworthy qualm I have with GotG and it is the fact that it is too lighthearted. Do not get me wrong, nearly all the jokes and zingers in here are clever and witty and each character has several standout lines/moments in the film that cracked me up. That there is the problem however! Unlike other past Marvel films that know when to cut back and get serious, this one never lets up on the jokes, so the few times that GotG attempts to have a pivotal, meaningful moment in the movie I found myself waiting for the surprise gag to come from out of nowhere to steal the scene, and in a couple of those moments that is exactly what happened. Again, that qualm is not a deal-breaker by any means and when you are dealing with a talking raccoon and tree as two of your main actors, I could see why Marvel felt like they had to dial up the jokes to help the audience suspend their disbelief. They just dialed it up a bit too much.

There are a few extras on the BluRay you can easily cruise through in no time, but are worth consuming. There are four minutes of deleted scenes with or without commentary from James Gunn. If you have watched past Marvel films on video, you know they have some of the best produced gag reels out there, and GotG does not disappoint with a killer array of bloopers that culminates with a spectacular dance-off you have to see to believe. Intergalactic Visual FX is a seven minute look at the costume and makeup design that made me get sympathetic for what Saldana and Bautista had to go through every day on set. Guide to the Galaxy is a 21 minute all-encompassing behind-the-scenes look at the film hosted by Gunn where he explains the world lore, interviews the cast and goes into what it took to pull off the huge final battle scene. Finally Gunn goes solo for a commentary track on the film, and it is a decent solo commentary where he has a lot of notes filling everyone in on the backstory of the universe from the comics and a lot of recollections about the casting for the film. Guardians of the Galaxy made me feel like a fool for doubting it as it went on to be both a critical and commercial success. It is one of several movies I have seen in the theater twice. If you somehow had my original premonitions on this film being a flop and avoided it because it featured a lot of characters you were unfamiliar with then go ahead and put those reservations to the side and watch this immediately so you can be ready for the sequel in a few weeks. I recommend watching it solo so you can avoid others judging you as you jam out and get your dance on to the songs throughout the film! Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs 3 12 Angry Men (1957) 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown 21 Jump Street Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie Atari: Game Over The Avengers: Age of Ultron Batman: The Killing Joke Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Bounty Hunters Cabin in the Woods Captain America: The First Avenger Captain America: The Winter Soldier Christmas Eve Clash of the Titans (1981) Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special The Condemned 2 Creed Dirty Work Faster Fast and Furious I-VIII Field of Dreams Fight Club The Fighter For Love of the Game Good Will Hunting Gravity Hercules: Reborn Hitman Ink Interstellar Jobs Man of Steel Marine 3 & 4 Mortal Kombat The Replacements Rocky I-VII Running Films Part 1 Running Films Part 2 San Andreas ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Steve Jobs Source Code Star Trek I-XIII Take Me Home Tonight TMNT The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2 UHF Veronica Mars Wild The Wrestler (2008) X-Men: Days of Future Past