Spotlight November 2012 -A ClockWork Orange

Released originally in 1971, A Clockwork Orange was deemed to be to violent for it's time and was banned in Britain due to it's portrayal of physical violence and rape which was so extreme for it's time.

Alex and his friends going out to cause chaos on the streets 

The film itself to me was refreshing, after only watching films that are deemed mainstream and sometimes high concept, to actually sit down and watch something that is still relevant today was brilliant.
The film itself follows the main protagonist Alex and his journey through his adolescent years being a thug in all respects. Beating up people brutally and raping women for fun and ending up murdering a women in her home and sent to prison for his actions for 14 years (which is a light sentence for murderers in modern day Britain) to then be subjected to a painful pioneering  experiment to change his ways there was no surprise that this would make him vulnerable and easy to manipulate and harm by his victims and his so called friends.

The Book 

As with most of Stanley Kubrick films from this period it is a slightly odd film to sit down and watch, with it's strange costumes, wired sets and scenery as well as editing styles that do throw you off balance and to make you slightly uncomfortable throughout the film.
The film is an adaptation of a book , written by the author Anthony Burgess who's shocking prediction of modern day Britain and it's society which is rife with youth crime and violence and intolerance for the law. It was no surprise that this topic was going to be explored in the medium of film.

Stanley Kubrick

Kubrick himself is a master of the wired and slightly untouchable narrative that Hollywood would not want to make, but when the film was released earning 4 Oscar Nominations in the process it seemed Hollywood and the film critics were starting to embrace films that were outside of the Box and futuristic and alarming in Narrative. Kubrick himself had been living in Britain for a while, after becoming disinterested and disenchanted with Hollywood.
The move would inspire him further for him to first release the film Lolita in 1962 which wasn't offensive and did well in the UK.
The question was why did A Clockwork Orange offend so many people? Including the British Government?

Singing 'Singing In the Rain'
Whilst beating someone up? 

Like I mentioned before some of the scenes in the film are of a violent and extreme sexual nature, the thing with the way that Kubrick actually put it onto film was just to put it out there. The controversy surrounding the film possibly elevated it's profile in other countries and may have got it those important nominations at the Oscars. The film itself is rather odd, the whole narrative is told from Alex's point of view with him Narrating throughout. The use of Music especially Beethoven is interesting, as although the scenes you are seeing on screen are violent and awful the music is a massive contrast with it being somewhat helping the narrative along and seeming to intensify the images on screen.

As for Alex, you go through several emotions, at first you don't like him in fact he's someone who you don't understand. He is Misunderstood and it's only when things start to go wrong that you start to feel sympathy towards him as a character. It's almost like the audience have seen that this boy isn't evil or a bad character that can't be reformed. He is just a misunderstood and misguided youth in some ways, which most of the teenage population around the world now and his punishment was a little bit to much.

Alex being exposed to aversion therapy
which have some severe consequences.

But from what I took from the film after a while was that Alex was in a world that was overprotective and afraid of taking risks and seeking extreme methods of correction to solve simple problems.
He has been in prison for two years when word spreads that there is a new cure that will stop subjects from committing any form of crime.









The problem with that is that it is conditioning to be averse to extreme forms of violence and from committing them by making the subject feel sick and fear that in the end will bring on feelings of suicide. Which have horrid effects when released back into society, although corrected Alex is now vulnerable with no way to defend himself from the people who he inflicted pain to. Alex is now has no moral choice, and with this people can take advantage. As seen from the picture below of Alex licking someones shoe.

Unable to defend yourself and subjected to licking someones shoe. 

Overall I enjoyed the film, I thought when I first sat down to watch this I wouldn't like the film and would turn it off, I actually enjoyed it!

The Movie Brats themselves- A Generation that changed Film.

Now most people call the Movie Brats the saviours of the film industry.

Their films developed and change the way that we see film today, with their radical ideas to change the face of film.
But what are their stories and what are the films that launched their careers.

Again in my previous post I described the situation in the film industry in the late 60's it was bleak to say the least for Hollywood, with profits shrinking and audiences becoming disengaged with the films Hollywood was producing something had to change and therefore Hollywood decided to open the Golden Gates of the Studios to  new and talented Directors and Writers.

The Movie Brats started out from humble beginnings with the most famous being Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola   sharing their Little Italy New York Routes.
These Routes inspired the films they began to write and direct.

Francis Ford Coppola 

Francis Ford Copolla expressed his routes of being in an Italian/American family by making the Godfather and the importance of the Mafia and the ideal of Family. The film itself received a great reception at the US Box Office with it making over $302,393 in it's first weekend.
In total the film has grossed over $245,066,411 in total World wide.

Martin Scorsese 

Martin Scorsese was a talented young director like  most of the Movie Brats working hard to get their break in Hollywood. He'd been making films before he got noticed by Hollywood like the majority of Movie Brats directors. In 1976 a film would be suggested as the beginning of his career with Taxi Driver. The story follows a Vietnam War Veteran (quite an touchy subject as the War was a major issue in the USA.) with it making over $28, 262,574 worldwide (this was calculated in 1996).
With these successes, The Movie Brats were the key to a Hollywood revival, gone was the Hollywood of Old with films that pre made and packaged and in came fresh new content that finally was what the auidences of America wanted.





Brian De Palma



Other Movie Brats to focus on are Brian De Palma and Stanley Kubrick.

Brian De Palma became famous for the film Scarface (1983) which deals with Cuban Immigrants into America and the drug trade. The film is along the same narrative dealing with crime and drugs. When the film was made Cuba was still a hot topic in America, with the US and Cuba still diagreeing. Of course Cuba is still a comunist state, where as America is a democarcy with ideals of freedom and capitalism more importantly.

Scarface did well at the Boxoffice, although at the time was critisied for it's sceens of extreme violence (this was mainly due down to a writer called Oliver Stone who became famous for directing the film Natural Born Killers in 1994) with the Chainsaw scene being the most horrific.

De Palma's inspiration and drive came from his love of Alfred Hitchcock films. Alfred Hitchcock at the time of his career was making what would become the classic Horror Movie. Pyhsco in 1960 with the Shower Scene was deemed at the time highly outragous and to violent to be put onto cinema screens. In a way this inspiration allowed the Chainsaw scene in Scarface to almost take the violence to the next stage and make the film stand out from the rest.


Scarface Poster



Stanley Kubrick



Stanley Kubrick on the other hand was a contriversial and slightly more surreal director and writer. His most famous films are A Clockwork Orange (1971), The Shining (1980) and Full Metal Jacket (1987).

Kurbrick had a talent for making films that were often than not more surreal in nature and a little bit outside of the mainstream. A Clockwork Orange was a great example of this as at the time of it's release in cinemas worldwide it was banned in the UK as it was deemed to violent to be viewed and the fear that the young auidence watching the film would then act out the sceens of violence protrayed on screen.
It is well known that Stephan King disliked or infact hated his version of The Shinning. This did not detere Kubrick who blatently ignored the writer and still released the film without consulting it's creator.

Full metal Jacket was an example of how brilliant Kubrick was as a writer. Kubrick sadly died before completing a joint project with another director. This project came to be the film A.I (2001).

So The Movie Brats have made an impact on Hollywood, before the birth of the Modern Blockbuster in 1975 and made a stamp on the industry forever, continuing to inspire generations of new film-makers coming fresh from UCLA and The New York Film Academy following in the footsteps of these great film directors and pionners.



Movie Brats - A history of desperate times

Just done A MASSIVE PRESENTATION on Movie Brats and their contribution to Hollywood.

In a lot of ways they have contributed to the Hollywood we know today.


The studio system was in turmoil losing millions of Dollars, you have to imaging you were in the late 1940's (I know- difficult!) and the 1950's. The TV was starting to dominate with many people now moving away from major cities and settling in the suburbs.

A key thing socially to understand it was the end of World War II so  soldiers were coming home from war at the time and getting married and having kids and living the perfect 1950's life.
Instead of going to the movies instead Americans had found new ways of entertaining themselves, with popular sports being the focus such as baseball.

One of the studios that suffered the most was MGM.

The top dog of the Major 5 

MGM Suffered losses of over $72million, with the overall loss to the film industry being a massive $200 Million!

Something was going wrong with the films being put into cinemas, Americans were changing and in the 1960's this was the most important issue Hollywood had to face.

The 1960's was a time of social change and freedom. The Black Population of America had finally won their battle over segregation, The Vietnam War was just about to begin and Hippies were spreading the teachings peace and love.

With all this change Hollywood were still churning out their pretty, glossy movies that stared the most beautiful Starlets.

Doris Day- A Beautiful Starlet of a golden age of Hollywood

The mass audience of the American population that went to the movies were 16-25 year olds! They didn't want the glossy motion pictures of glorified narratives and beautiful stars.

They wanted films that reflected the time, the actual changes that were occurring in America and to have them displayed from their point of view.

Although American Movies were suffering the European films were thriving.

James Bond for example on release in US cinemas was a massive success with young people rushing to the cinemas to see this english super spy.



The appeal of the fast cars, beautiful women but with a narrative that dealt with real social threats appealed to young American audiences.

The Names Bond, James Bond
Sean Connery the original Bond. 

James Bond had the appeal of the old Hollywood with the gloss and the fancy cars, gadgets and beautiful stars.
In 1962, Hollywood was trying to cling onto the golden era when all around them everything was changing. Music, Fashion and social attitudes were majorly changing and this was making the film industry suffer.

Imported films were making more at the Box Office than Home Grown films.











The biggest shock came when little low Budget independents became massive box office hits.

And so Enter the MOVIE BRAT!

Easy Rider (1969) was a important film of the time as it connected to the mass audience.
Directed by Dennis Hopper, the film looks into the hippie movement and the real life interpretation of taking drugs from a personal point of view.

Easy Rider film image 

The Late Dennis Hopper 

This was the start of an age were Hollywood began to take risks.

Update on the SpotLight Feature

As you saw I have now FINALLY got my hands on a copy of A ClockWork Orange!!!!

I am absolutely bogged down with work at university at the moment so I will try as soon as possible get the feature up and actually watch the film.

Many apologies again.... it will be watched hopefully before the month is over.


Thanks for still reading I really hope you are enjoying the Blog?


comments are welcome :)

A Clockwork Orange - SpotLight

It finally came so over the weekend will watch and write up the feature better later than never

The Departed and updates

Just got a copy of Martin Scorsese's  'The Departed' (2006) will write up on it soon.

In other news I might have to change the spot light feature for this month as my copy of  'A Clockwork Orange' hasn't arrived, but will do the part one of the feature on Stanley Kubrick soon.
Swamped with assignments so I am sorry for the lack of content!

Hope you are enjoying the blog!!!

Also over Christmas might do some video uploads as well!!!

Twilight: The Start of a Modern Teenage Vampire Era

 It is just the start of the Vampire era with loads of TV Shows exploring the idea of a Human Falling in love with a Vampire.

But unlike the rest of them, Twilight has been dominate on cinema screens for years now! 

Yes who would've thought that droves of teenagers would fall in love with a film based on a book that was inspired by a rock band called Muse? (Muse are an amazing British Band) 

But it happened, with me being pulled into the hype for a little while before I found TV programmes such as The Vampire Dairies and True Blood. 

Millions even Billions of teenage girls were fighting over which team they supported!

When I mean team, The film company started producing merchandise for the second film 'New Moon' to either support the two main male characters.

So you were either:

Team Edward 

A Smouldering R-Pazz

Or Team Jacob: 

A Wolf with Long Hair 

Whatever you may think of the twilight saga, it is one of the biggest films since Harry Potter, with the last book being split into 2 films just like Harry Potter 7 which was a major success.

As someone who has moved on from Twilight, I know that the fans are going to be heart broken with the loss of most of their adolescent life. With many of the actors now moving onto further film productions outside of the Twilight Bubble. 

Although I know that the films they may move onto may be different, to many of the general public they will still be related to Twilight. 

Twilight itself frustrated me, not because of the narrative but because of the slow pacing of the first three films , and for the fact that Bella was just to MOODY!!!! 

Edward was not the traditional Bad Ass vampire that the general public prefer (R-pazz please watch The Vamp Dairies and take some tips off Damon Salvatore and even the veggie vamp Stephan!) to being quiet boring for the lack of gusto and attitude. But I did fall in love with the narrative itself of a girl torn between two supernatural beings both willing to die for her. This is a modern day twist on Romeo and Juliet in some ways with a love story between an immortal that could kill the only person who he loves. Someone has to die in the end or turn into a Vampire. 

So here is where Part 1 left off, Bella gets Pregnant and dies having this vampire baby that is half human and dies in childbirth! 

To then be injected with Venom which turns her into a vampire which then opens up a real can of worms to do with the oldest vampires in the world the originals! 

Yes rather complicated but it's good to know that they are going to tie up loose ends and finally close the book on an epic chapter.

I hear the tears of millions of Twihards around the globe already! 

Hello New Readers!!!!

Really pleased to see new readers from different countries!

I hope you are enjoying the content?

There will be more on the way soon.

A Clockwork Orange

i've ordered it and i'm waiting for it at the moment !

SkyFall - The Return Of 007 !

Sophisticated, Intelligent, The Best Of British?

What ever you think of Mr James Bond, he is a British Icon with even getting a spot with the Queen for the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony in London!!!!

Film Poster- with a License to Thrill! 

So it would be fitting to release the newest film in the Bond Franchise 'SkyFall' which hit our screens on the 26th October (In the UK anyway!) and has been a major success at the Box Office with making over  £53.4Million in over two weeks in UK cinemas. In it's opening weekend it grossed £16.1 million with UK cinema goers sitting down with a tub a popcorn with the expectation to be thrilled and amazed, which I can confirm they were.

Last night being 10th November 2012, I sat down in my local cinema with two people behind me kicking my seat and talking about how they weren't interested in Bond. In my head I was like:
"WHY ARE YOU WATCHING THE FILM ANYWAY?"

Anyway back to the point, waiting for the typical opening sequence of any James Bond film before the beautiful opening titles with the theme of the film, which again varies on the artist on how good it was going to be.

Adele was amazing, the song 'SkyFall' is one of beauty, and reminds you of the classic Bond themes from the 1960's, taking you back to the days when Shirley Bassey was singing the Bond themes of Old - like Diamonds Are Forever and GoldFinger!

This was a theme throughout SkyFall had an air of the first Bond's with the return of the Aston Martin DB5 , first seen in GoldFinger in 1964 and driven by the Original Bond Mr Sean Connery!

Daniel Craig (aka 007) With the Classic Aston Martin DB5 

Speaking of which the narrative starts with the return of Bond, I don't want to give to much away but something does happen. The film gives the audience in James Bond himself, we learn where he comes from and what happened to his parents and why he turned out to be the killing machine he is, but with all this nostalgia there is some new faces and modern threats in the Bond Villain who happens to be a former MI6 agent who has some serious issues in the Mental Health Department- also he has fake teeth and part of a Jaw that he can take out which you get to know why in the film but it was really really creepy.

The New 'Q' very young for Q Branch!
Which Bond likes to point out! 

The narrative arch explores the threat of Cyber Terrorism which is mainly the threat that is predicted to actually be important in the Intelligence World. How using a computer is more likely to become the weapon of choice and how are MI6 as well as the world deal with this threat.
You can also say goodbye to the typical gadgets that comes with any James Bond Film, The Old Q has been replaced with a younger new version that spends most of his time on his laptop which is no surprise with minimal gadgets such as a radio and a gun that registers Bond's palm print.



London is also the centre of most of this film making it's appearance regularly with using iconic locations such as the Underground, World War II Bunkers and of course the SkyLine of London. But Scotland also gets a feature right at the end, with beautiful scenery from the Highlands of Scotland!



I don't want to reveal any more of the film, as it is a one to sit down and watch yourself and also I would be ruining it!

Daniel Craig as Bond! 

Daniel Craig as always is brilliant of Bond, Sean Connery is still the number 1 Bond, but I like the edginess of Daniel Craig the urgency that he brings to the character and the slight narcissistic tendency he brings to Bond.

If you want to watch a film and you don't know what to watch please go and see this film. Like all Bond Films it has the thrills, Action Scenes, Car Chases, Exotic Locations, Beautiful Girls and Beautiful Cars as well as the typical Jokes that always appear in any Bond Film.

007 Doesn't just have a License To Kill, he has a License To Thrill To!

Even The Queen Approves! 

Skyfall

Getting my 007 fix tonight !!!
finally getting to see skyfall !

Rock Of Ages - From Stage to Screen

The American Elections are over so now it's time to relax and grab your hairspray and your leopard print Jeans and sit down on your sofa and listen to some ROCK!!!!

Take yourself back to 1987, the bright lights of the Sunset Strip and the sweat and mess of a rock club that has seen it all Rock And Roll Wise!
Staring Tom Cruise as Stacey Jaxx, Catherine Zita Jones Politician's wife with a big axe to grind, Julianne Hough as Small Town Girl Sherrie and the newest hottest film star Diego Boneta as Drew a City Boy Chasing the Rock God Dream!

This film is a love story intertwined in the classic Rock sound track at it's heart is the anthem that is Journey's 'Don't Stop Believin' (Made famous to a new generation by of course the Glee cast which is not Rock and Roll) with hints of Def Leppard, Guns and Roses, Bon Jovi and Whitesnake thrown in!

Anyway onto the plot- Small town girl Sherrie moves to LA in search of Fame and Fortune with her Rock LP's in toe. She ends up in LA wide eyed and happy only to get her records stole by a local.
City Boy Drew (originally from Boston not LA) also has come to LA in search of fame and fortune and follow in the footsteps of some of the rock gods by working in the a bar that has launched so many careers, When he see's Sherrie getting her vinyl stolen he goes straight her rescue (again the old clique in movie narrative the princess and the hero!) and brings her into the bar and tries to convince his boss Dennis (Alec Baldwin) to give her a job which with some persuading from Sherrie herself offers her a job.
From this soon a love story begins, but not is all well as Catherine Zita Jones's character is a women on a mission, the new LA Mayor's wife she is on a quest to get rid of the 'seedy' appearance of the strip and get it back to what it should be in her opinion. Her character is a traditional conservative republican wife that thinks that Rockers and Rock music is dirty and disgusting(Hey Rock is meant to spin a few heads, but in the 80's they didn't have Slipknot or Marilyn Manson) and that the children of LA shouldn't have to grow up in that environment.

The film itself is fast paced, slick and glitzy with all the Hollywood shine or is that all the hairspray fumes going around. Unlike your traditional musical film it is different with Sweaty Hot Scenes not seen since the Moulin Rouge which was steamy enough have we seen scenes like that.

Anyway enough said!
This film will go down a treat with the speakers turned up, the lights down low, air guitar on stand by and of course a lighter for those slow songs!!!!

A one to watch!

Are Disney Going to Far With Star Wars

Yes George Lucas you have sold the rights to Disney but making an episode 7,8&9 going to far?
Where can you go with the story ???
I thought Star Wars was finished? The story had been told.
I love Star Wars but I don't see where it will go narrative wise.