http://www.doomlevity.net/blog daily 1.0 2024-10-10 http://www.doomlevity.net/blog/2024/6/7/jul-28-hannah-gadsby-breaks-the-rules-for-the-whole-story monthly 0.5 2024-10-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5810331559cc68e529b7cd72/53859a07-d796-451a-85f4-ff540a4de4f3/review.jpg Blog - Jul 28 - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri — the ironic tone poem against ritual violence - Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri is not an ideal movie because the tone challenges genre convention, it follows the arcs of two characters rather than one, and gets kind of allegorical about violence. But writer-director Martin McDonagh strikes a shaky balance between the small-town familiarity of neighbors lifting each other up in suffering, and a prankster vengeance that escalates to permanent disfigurement. The shaky balance itself, like a fiddler on a roof, is authentic to a small town. Highly opiniated critics such as Armond White get Three Billboards totally wrong if they dismiss the “archetypes” to “snarky.” (To wit, we do need more movie critics that fit a culture-critic archetype, like Armond White.) Three Billboards is also a masterful crime story that escalates to implicate everyone and no one. “Raped while dying – And still no arrests? – How come Chief Willoughby?” The open-ended statements on the side of the road are an omen of its complex tone. This investigation in criminal grief keeps us laughing, which is the only satisfaction we will get. In a crime thriller, we want more bloody satisfaction, more justice. In a comedy, we want more escape from anxious conflict, more romance. McDonough provides neither. But would a grieving mother have this much drive to mess with people? Frances McDormand’s Oscar-winning Mildred Hayes shows a range only a few people have, and not many directors dare attempt. Knowing a sliver of what is right and crossing an entire world of boundaries to prove it is standard masculine-hero crap. But the best scenes show her pushing her agenda while the men around her break under the scrutiny and strain. A few times, she suddenly turns into a nurturer. The joke is on the men who cave in and can barely do their job. Her son and ex-husband let her know her anger is totally out of line. Yet, it is her momma-bear archetype that is secretly charged with keeping order in the small towns, anywhere. In a flashback to that fateful day, the last words exchanged between mother and daughter were a kind of mutual warning of the threshold of adulthood and wilderness: young, rebellious women are destined to be victims of violent strangers. The cold nastiness of Mildred’s grief comes from a deep guilt, because she echoed these reckless threats of exasperated parenting. In the middle of the story, Mildred’s scapegoat, Sheriff Willoughby (Harrelson), ends his life to shield his family from a slow death to pancreatic cancer. People blame Mildred and her billboards. But Willoughby leaves behind Three Letters of Ebbing, Missouri: for his wife, for Mildred, and for his racist deputy, Jason Dixon (Sam Rockwell, also Oscar-winning for best supporting). As the town’s caveman, Dixon looked up to Sheriff Willoughby like a god (despite, nay, because of, Willoughby’s constant scolding.) But his letter intends to inspire conversion to love: “…And I know you’re going to wince when I say this. But what you need to become a detective, is love. Because through love comes calm. And through calm comes thought. And you need thought to detect stuff sometimes, Jason. It’s kind of all you need. You definitely don’t need a gun. And you definitely don’t need hate. Hate never solved nothin’. But calm did. And thought did. Try it…” The three billboards asked, “Why, god?” but the god only has fatherly advice for the warring parties. Dixon’s gumshoe detective effort against a creep that fits the profile is also a self-sacrificial reconciliation with Mildred, but the DNA gives no match. The hope in nailing the guy that did it turns into a vengeance plot shared between them to kill the guy that didn’t do it, because he surely did something, to some girl, somewhere. This is a stroke of genius in Three Billboards. It is not a breaking of the fourth wall, but the audience’s need for that ritualistic third act of violent justice overcomes the two reconciled detectives – overcomes the logic of detective work itself – and returns them to their heroic fantasies as executioners of justice. Mildred and Dixon quietly check the titillation of the audience before the road trip of blood: they both say slow goodbyes to their sleeping loved ones, as if they know that crossing this final threshold will not bring a glorious Return of the Hero. But the journey cannot be completed in the time we have, and is thrown back into the audience’s imagination: on the road, they confess their doubts about killing, and decide to figure it out on the way… same size. To continue typing http://www.doomlevity.net/blog/archetypes-of-disenchantment monthly 0.5 2024-10-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5810331559cc68e529b7cd72/1717760313728-IAIDSDOX0GRH1CH2EDQM/blog-1.jpg Blog - Hacksaw Ridge is Mel Gibson’s Passion for War - In a very general sense, we have plenty of religiously themed movies like Mel Gibson’s HACKSAW RIDGE. Angelina Jolie’s UNBROKEN is only a recent example. At the same time, we do need more movies that dare depict characters with religious conviction that go against the grain of escalating violence. Stories like this should not be limited to the historical war genre. Mainly because war movies made by people who are fascinated by the violence of the Christian passion will tend to glorify war no matter what the hero has to say about it. Andrew Garfield is entirely believable and has an impeccable performance considering the lightness of the first half and the sweltering war of the second half. He smiles a little too much, on his first date, and he chuckles, in the faces of the serious men trying to train him as a killer; it drives them crazy with fear and confusion, so naturally, a few of them beat him up. The holy fool is based on the true story of Desmond T. Doss, a Seventh Day Adventist and army medic who served in Okinawa. He won the Medal of Honor for saving 75 men without firing any gun. Most Mel Gibson movies include a dead wife for motivation of the hero. No such luck here, but the mean old military men prevent Doss from making it to his wedding day, only because he did not satisfactorily complete his rifle training, which is pretty mean. The roles of Vince Vaughn as his sergeant and Hugo Weaving as Desmond’s father have no small challenge. The cruel sergeant and the alcoholic, violent father often get thrown down the scapegoat path by many narratives. Gibson allows them both to come around in the story, and both actors get to play with more depth of character. By the time Desmond gets to know fellow soldier Smitty, played by Luke Bracey, and his captain played by Sam Worthington, doesn’t the holy fool effect punch us in the face with violence of cliché? Desmond Doss was an extraordinary man for his conviction, and these three fellow soldiers were totally wrong about him. But they don’t really discuss the merits of faith or nonviolence. They appreciate his conviction only as applied to his work ethic, in a very cleanly narrated way, because he helped fellow soldiers. There is not much here about the absurdity of war as expressed by thinking beings…however… Maybe Gibson was saving the hell and absurdity of war to be stated by the battle scenes, impressing us with exploding bodies and rapid cutting that reminds us of D-Day in some other famous war movie about saving someone…. The cold brutality is also suffering from attention deficit disorder. Movie critics tend to make sure you know that they know that they think the war scenes are pretty awesome so you can get some bang for your movie going buck. But there’s not much war strategy or history here. When the brutality is over, after most of the soldiers retreated, Doss prays in confusion and frustration. He hears a cry of a soldier, and stays to help the injured. He stays while the artillery shells are still raining down on the ridge, dragging men back to the edge and lowering them one by one down to safety. He helps enemy soldiers too. This is truly inspiring, selfless heroism that cannot be denied…however… ( Something must be said about the ridiculous scene of the injured Vaughn riding on a blanket, being pulled by Garfield. That is some impressive stunt rigging, but totally cartoonish, like Rambo crossed with Looney Tunes cartoonish.) When the shell-shocked Doss descends from the ridge like Moses, it is time for insights and reflection. But they just regroup for more action. On the second wave of the attack, they ask Doss to pray for them. They wait, solemnly; he finishes, solemnly; they are swelled with pride and determination – as if under the solemn miracle power of his prayer and God himself. You can tell by their swelled faces and tighter lips (the solemn-face). Now, the killing machine is blessed with God-power, everyone fights in slow motion, no one misses! The music impels them gloriously forward! And the enemy leader is going to commit seppuku in his dark, shameful tunnel! The non-violent convictions of our best Americans, and religion itself, are means to an end of total war and glorious victory, at least in this story. I can be more fair, because the movie ends with some documentary footage of Doss and his friends and family. Movies in the American style always celebrate people before they celebrate any ideas. But this is all the more reason to improve ourselves as people with some improved ideas. http://www.doomlevity.net/blog/what-is-mimetic-theory monthly 0.5 2024-10-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5810331559cc68e529b7cd72/2685194e-50d3-4968-8898-0464e4d0bd93/blog-22.jpg Blog - What is Mimetic Theory? A General Orientation from the Web… - Please visit these sites below to learn more about the life-changing ideas in Mimetic Theory and the discoveries of Rene Girard. "Man is the creature who does not know what to desire, and he turns to others in order to make up his mind. We desire what others desire because we imitate their desires." - Rene Girard Mimetic theory - Wikipedia http://www.doomlevity.net/blog/archetypes-of-disenchantment-matched monthly 0.5 2024-06-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5810331559cc68e529b7cd72/acaa70b8-5dcd-4cf1-87d0-59787eb8280b/blog-33.jpg Blog - Archetypes of Disenchantment" matched with that red and centered sunset image - There are many variations of passages of Lorem Ipsum available, but the some which even slightly It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is it look like readable English. http://www.doomlevity.net/blog/heros-journey-the-status monthly 0.5 2024-06-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5810331559cc68e529b7cd72/1717806179658-KH1FASK1C23RMHZOMYXW/blog-4.jpg Blog - Hero's Journey - The Status Quo of Violence - There are many variations of passages of Lorem Ipsum available, but the some which even slightly It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is it look like readable English. http://www.doomlevity.net/blog/category/reviews monthly 0.5 http://www.doomlevity.net/home daily 0.75 2024-06-07 http://www.doomlevity.net/creativity-vs-violence daily 0.75 2024-10-08 http://www.doomlevity.net/movie-reviews daily 0.75 2024-06-08