Saturday 31 January 2015

White House Down

Also Known As:
Unknown
Year:
2013
Country:
United States…
Predominant Genre:
Action
Director:
Roland Emmerich…
Outstanding Performances:
Jamie FOXX…
Premiss:
On a White House tour, a plainclothed policeman springs into action to protect the president from heavily-armed paramilitaries.
Themes:
Courage | Emotional repression | Family | Grieving | Identity | Loneliness | Loyalty | Narcissism | Personal change | Political Correctness | Self-belief | Self-expression | Solipsism | Totalitarianism | White culture
Similar to:
Air Force One (1997)… Die Hard (1988)… Olympus has Fallen (2013)… Seven Days in May (1964)…
Review Format:
DVD

Big Guns; Little Lives

Summary: Die Hard in the White House.

If it were not for the humor, this movie would be completely unbearable.

With Whites being the most politically-cynical and disengaged, it is hard to imagine even them of rooting for this movie - even though it presents the White fantasy of the Personal being Political. Such a childish fantasy of returning to the womb explains the essential childishness of this cinematic enterprise

Reverence for political leaders and the idea of patriotism (not the practice of it) here becomes more important than love of family; making you realize why Whites are so fanatical in times of war: It is the only time they feel culturally-bonded to each because of the false bonhomie of having a common enemy. (The heat of Hate often feels just as good as Love.)

Despite oodles of action, there is not a gram of characterization and the political context (the Military-Industrial Complex staging a coup d’état to protect its gun-running profits) is as flimsy as could be.

Monday 26 January 2015

Sir Henry at Rawlinson End


Also Known As:
Unknown ()…
Year:
1980
Country:
United Kingdom…
Predominant Genre:
Comedy
Director:
Steve Roberts…
Outstanding Performances:
Denise COFFEY… Suzanne DANIELLE… JG DEVLIN… Harry FOWLER… Trevor HOWARD… Patrick MAGEE…
Premiss:
Eccentric English peer attempts, with the help of his mad family & servants, to exorcise the ghost of his brother.
Themes:
Alienation | Atheism | Christianity | Destiny | Emotional repression | Family | God | Identity | Loneliness | Loyalty | Materialism | Narcissism | Nostalgia | Original Sin | Self-expression | Sexual Repression | Social class | Snobbery | Solipsism | Stereotyping | White culture | White guilt | White supremacy
Similar to:
Under Milk Wood (1973)…
Review Format:
Cinema

ECCENTRICITY AS A COVER FOR LONELINESS

Summary: Absurdist critique of Soulless White culture.

Peculiar film about the peculiarities of White culture and its inevitable decline in the face of a changing world and its continuing desire to live on the successes of the past (especially via an obsession with the Second World War) as well as to actually continue to live in the past (Mummy-fixated as all get out).

White supremacy - originating in the upper classes and trickling down to the rest of White society - produces the grudging loyalty of the middle and lower classes who wish to share in the benefits of Aryanism while yet always realizing they will forever be excluded by the self-styled blue bloods - who, themselves, will always be excluded from the benefits of being human. A mutual exclusion which explains the incessant existential White whining successfully parodied here.

As self-indulgent as it is weirdly-funny, this film reveals Whites’ lack of a cultural identity along with their belief in superficiality as a form of insight and in Politics as a substitute for cultural meaning and purpose.

No surprise here that White English lost their Empire, since gene-based cultures do not reflect reality; hence, their inevitable decline when the genes of leaders are considered more important than their leadership qualities. Like any inbred family, Whites are self-doomed to the failure, insecurity and eccentricity resulting from the belief that birth circumstances are the sole determinant of character.

The archetypal characterization shown here cannot sustain any dramatic development; making this movie thankfully short - despite the performers doing the best they can with their unchanging characters. And beneath all the clever humor lies the sneaking resentment that any of the political changes satirized needed to happen at all, since Whites have found nothing to replace the lost cause of their beloved British Empire.

Sunday 25 January 2015

Debut

Also Known As:
Unknown
Year:
2001
Country:
United States…
Predominant Genre:
Comedy
Director:
Gene Cajayon…
Outstanding Performance:
Tirso CRUZ III…
Premiss:
The long-simmering feud between Ben and his immigrant father threatens to boil over and ruin his sister’s 18th-birthday party.
Themes:
Alienation
Coming-of-age
Courage
Destiny
Emotional repression
Empathy
Ethnicity
Family
Friendship
Humanity
Identity
Loneliness
Loyalty
Mankind
Materialism
Narcissism
Personal change
Self-belief
Self-expression
Sexual Repression
Solipsism
Stereotyping
White culture
White guilt
White supremacy
Similar to:
Unknown
Review Format:
DVD

The Importance of Not Being White

Summary: Amusing & insightful comedy about the importance of embracing one’s cultural identity.

Insightful movie about a fundamental difference between White culture and everyone else’s. While Whites are happy to abandon the concept of culture in favor of racialized politics, everyone else knows that culture is always there to define you and to help you. And it never goes out of fashion for the sake of novelty - lest you become cut-off from your roots and lost as a person.

This explains why Whites have such difficulty accepting the validity of other cultures: Their existence holds-up a negative mirror to their lack of anything worthwhile to celebrate. Hence, their penchant for drunkenness, illegal-drug taking & sexual promiscuity, which Whites usually justify by claiming: “Work Hard; Play Hard”. It also explains why Whites will never accept anyone not literally and figuratively White precisely because White culture is immutably-based on only one thing: Skin color.

The Filipinos have no such qualms about others and, despite their young here being largely Americanized, they still revere their cultural roots - because they are what made them - yet, still accept outside influences from Hip-Hop to Flamenco and Line-Dancing. Despite the temptation to act White to obtain White acceptance, the fact is that such acceptance has never happened. An implied warning against spending more than 20% of ones time with Caucasians that does not wallow in White supremacy.

The characterization is good here - especially from Eddie GARCIA - with each representing different ethnic archetypes to good and telling effect. Where the film falls somewhat short (a good & a bad thing) is in electing not to delve too deeply into character motivation; preferring, instead, not to insult the audience’s intelligence and experience with overly-elaborate explanations that they would already understand.


Copyright © 2015 Frank TALKER.
Permission granted to reproduce & distribute this posting in any way, shape or form; provided you mention this Blog.
All other rights reserved.

Thursday 15 January 2015

Community

Also Known As:
Unknown
Year:
2009 -
Country:
United States…
Predominant Genre:
Comedy
Directors:
Directors…
Outstanding Performances:
Jack BLACK…
Ken JEONG…
Joel McHALE…
Jim RASH…
Lauren STAMILLE…
Premiss:
Lawyer is suspended when his false claim to have a bachelor’s degree is discovered, so he enrolls at a Community college.
Themes:
Alienation
Atheism
Christianity
Coming-of-age
Compassion
Communism
Courage
Destiny
Emotional repression
Empathy
Ethnicity
Family
Friendship
Identity
Loneliness
Loyalty
Materialism
Narcissism
Nostalgia
Personal change
Political Correctness
Self-expression
Sexism
Sexual Repression
Solipsism
Stereotyping
White culture
White guilt
White supremacy
Similar to:
Unknown
Review Format:
DVD

WHITE COMMUNITY

Summary: Light & superficial - like the culture that spawned it - yet wantonly-amusing.

Humorous sitcom with a lovable cast of stereotypes that, while funny, has nowhere to go - dramatically - because the characters remain stubbornly two-dimensional.

As with Whites in tv land, the characters do not develop (for fear of losing the only White friends they have); making this a very realistic look at Whites - albeit a comedy going around-and-around in ever-decreasing emotional circles.

However, the cast do OK with their limited characters: The racist, homophobe claiming not to realize how offensive he is (don’t they all?); the neurotic Jewish princess refusing to embrace her femininity; the bookish Asian nerd; the big Black momma; etc.

Joel McHALE is particularly fine as the immature and self-hating White know-it-all with an answer to everything - except his fear of treating women as serious and life-changing.

The light-skinned writers do not know how to invest their dark-skinned characters with an inner life, so resort to irony & sarcasm - rather than any substantive humor coming from real-life people in real-life situations. This is partly-disguised & ameliorated by the sheer absurdity of many of the situations the characters manage to get themselves into - as well as the undoubted energy the many performers bring to the show.


Copyright © 2015 Frank TALKER.
Permission granted to reproduce & distribute this posting in any way, shape or form; provided you mention this Blog.
All other rights reserved.

Wednesday 14 January 2015

Reality


Also Known As:
Unknown
Year:
2012
Countries:
France… Italy…
Predominant Genre:
Comedy
Director:
Matteo GARRONE…
Outstanding Performances:
Aniello ARENA… Raffaele FERRANTE… Loredana SIMIOLI…
Premiss:
Luciano is a charming fishmonger whose unexpected and sudden obsession with being a contestant on a reality show leads him down a rabbit hole of skewed perceptions and paranoia.
Themes:
Alienation | Christianity | Destiny | Emotional repression | Family | Friendship | God | Grieving | Guilt | Identity | Loneliness | Loyalty | Materialism | Narcissism | Personal change | Self-expression | Social class | Solipsism | White culture
Similar (in Plot, Theme or Style) to:
White Sheik
Review Format:
DVD

DEUS EX MACHINA: Caucasian Escapism

Intriguing film about the White inability to clearly separate fantasy from reality and to realize that the former is a subset of the latter.

The sense that Grande Fratello (Big Brother) is a metaphor for God seeing everything, is portrayed here not as a reason to feel paranoid about what one is doing (or not doing) in the absence of clear guidance regarding right & wrong, but as a chance to escape reality by losing one’s identity by merging it with a false god.

Celebrity-without-talent is seen as a Holy Grail toward self-advancement and achievement, such that the celebratedness, itself, becomes the talent - a talent for merely being well-known.

The film fails in not successfully exploring why Whites need such escapism in order to functon. And, despite the high-quality performances on show, the central characters remain cyphers - as trapped in their milieu as the movie itself.

Tuesday 13 January 2015

Shooting for the Stars

Also Known As:
McKenna Shoots for the Stars
Year:
2012
Countries:
Canada…
United States…
Predominant Genre:
Drama
Director:
Vince Marcello…
Outstanding Performances:
None
Premiss:
Determined gymnast must focus on her strengths to overcome challenges and find a way to believe in herself again.
Themes:
Courage
Destiny
Emotional repression
Empathy
Family
Friendship
Identity
Loyalty
Materialism
Narcissism
Personal change
Republicanism
Self-belief
Self-expression
Solipsism
White culture
White supremacy
Similar (in Plot, Theme or Style) to:
Unknown
Review Format:
DVD

Children without Childhood

Like a Mothercare catalog, children acting like adults without the irony, wit and charm of a Peanuts is a delight for pedophiles who can then assume children are no more than little adults and just as sexually-available through the age-of-consent appearing to be no longer relevant. Almost as if Whites want their children to grow up as quickly as possible to minimize the costs of raising them.

Whites divide the world between winners and losers; making their upbringings traumatic because of obsessing with being better than others despite the fact that no matter how good you are, there is always someone better - a recipe for psychological disaster.

Worse many of the parents here live through their children and want them to be successful to appear the ideal parents they are not. Yet these issues are neatly evaded by the simple process of projecting-and-displacing such tendencies on to a Western ethnic minority.

The needy dependency this all engenders in White adults - and its creation of a superficial culture - is so often the subject-matter of dramas more mature than this. A product of a culture and a people without an basic philosophy worthy of the name. The Brady Bunch was better and, somehow, less embarrassing.


Copyright © 2015 Frank TALKER.
Permission granted to reproduce & distribute this posting in any way, shape or form; provided you mention this Blog
All other rights reserved.

Monday 12 January 2015

2012


Also Known As:
Unknown
Year:
2009
Country:
United States…
Predominant Genre:
Adventure
Director:
Roland Emmerich…
Outstanding Performances:
Woody HARRELSON… Oliver PLATT…
Premiss:
Frustrated writer struggles to keep his family alive when a series of global catastrophes threatens to annihilate mankind.
Themes:
Alienation | Compassion | Courage | Destiny | Emotional repression | Empathy | Family | Friendship | Humanity | Loyalty | Materialism | Narcissism | Personal change | Self-belief | Self-expression | Sexism | Snobbery | Solipsism | Stereotyping | White culture | White supremacy
Similar (in Plot, Theme or Style) to:
Day After Tomorrow (2004)… Impact (miniseries) (2008)… When Worlds Collide (1951)…
Review Format:
DVD

Out of Africa and Back

Highly entertaining movie imbued with the idea that White civilization & culture is a sham, behind which Whites hide greed, meretriciousness and death-worship. Yet the writers still expound-on the belief that human nature is essentially good and that their melodramatic plot also reveals the goodness in Man.

Yet, few of the White characters here actually reflect this and we are left with the realization that - when all is said and done - it comes down to the paradox of dog-eat-dog and every-man-for-himself to save civilization; while simultaneously realizing that such a saved entity is not really civilized in its intent and not much in its forms. One thing is for sure, few Blacks are allowed on to rescue ships built by Whites.

The inability to dramatically-explore the space between reality and the White political fantasy that Whites are fully-human while remaining emotional children (snobbish; self-regarding; whining; etc) reveals the White writers as in conflict with their own material and what it says about them and their culture & civilization: That it is designed to be quintessentially unfair, unjust and homogeneous precisely to cushion those on the inside from the worst effects of the very social policies initiated for the benefit of insiders - as well as to protect insiders from the righteous wrath of those permanently-excluded, on the outside.

It is difficult for Whites to be open and honest about whom they really are - as so many of the politicians here want to keep the end of the world a secret until the last possible moment; thereby averting the very global panic that will destroy them and their kind from the realization that it is they - and not the rich who can afford to pay 1,000,000,000 Euros to survive - who are as doomed emotionally as the poor and uneducated are doomed physically.

Contact Form:

Name

Email *

Message *

Science:



No science is immune to the infection of politics and the corruption of power.



Jacob Bronowski… (1908 - 74), British scientist, author. Encounter (London, July 1971).


Sleep of Reason:



The dream of reason produces monsters. Imagination deserted by reason creates impossible, useless thoughts. United with reason, imagination is the mother of all art and the source of all its beauty.



Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes… (1746-1828), Spanish painter. Caption to Caprichos, number 43, a series of eighty etchings completed in 1798, satirical and grotesque in form.


Humans & Aliens:



I am human and let nothing human be alien to me.



Terence… (circa 190-159 BC), Roman dramatist. Chremes, in The Self-Tormentor [Heauton Timorumenos], act 1, scene 1.


Führerprinzip:



One leader, one people, signifies one master and millions of slaves… There is no organ of conciliation or mediation interposed between the leader and the people, nothing in fact but the apparatus - in other words, the party - which is the emanation of the leader and the tool of his will to oppress. In this way the first and sole principle of this degraded form of mysticism is born, the Führerprinzip, which restores idolatry and a debased deity to the world of nihilism.