Punching with Your Foot (The Art of Self Defense)

by D. on 23 July, 2019 at 03:58

Small cast, quiet movies, made with nearly no budget are something of an acquired taste for modern audiences. The Art of Self Defense, starring Jesse Eisenberg, rewards fans of such films with dark laughter amidst moments of personal triumph for which the characters really ought to be punished.

The plot is fairly straightforward. An overtly suppressed staff accountant, Casey (Eisenberg), is mugged one night. Terrified of his own shadow, Casey seeks the means for protecting himself and overcoming his crippling fear. On his journey through toxic-masculinity, he wanders into a karate studio and its cult-like  and dangerous world of hierarchical belts, led by a sensei (Alessandro Nivola) who demands his students give a full measure of devotion. Casey’s exploration into this exaggerated world transforms him, pretty much exactly as Sensei plans.

The cast is rounded out by the dojo’s children’s class instructor “Anna” (played by Imogen Poots). She is a true believer whose self-deprecation to fit into her “natural” place in the culture of the dojo gives cringe-worthy moments that completely fit the narrative.

The acting is excellent. Eisenberg sways into positively robotic, but these moments are obviously purposeful. Each character has a dual nature, and each actor pulls it off.

The cinematography is up close and personal, giving an air of contemplation. The fighting sequences are less “fight-scene” and more illustrative. The quietness of it all adds to the shock value of the surprising moments.

It is hard to discuss much of this film without giving away spoilers. Although we do see some of the twists coming – and there are a few – the real surprises are in their resolutions. Overall, The Art of Self Defense is worth a viewing in a theater with good popcorn, but I suspect it will hold up well on a smaller screen, too.

└ Tags: ,

Not Quite NaNoWriMo, but still fast.

by D. on 22 March, 2019 at 11:45

How fast can you produce a book?

That’s a tricky question, and we’ve answered it a few different ways in the past. This time the answer is different, too.

The Case of the North Station Mummy went from first draft to approved proof in 57 days – including six rewrites. It might sound like a long time for a 62 page story, but that is a blistering pace. (And we could not have accomplished it without the help of some very talented volunteers.)

That 57 days is not just the writing, it was also editing, typesetting, cover design and execution – everything from typing the words “I should start at the beginning, but there isn’t time” to actually receiving the three approval copies shipped from the printing facility.

Our personal record for a book of similar quantity is 45 days. The Tick Golden Age #3 was pitched, written, drawn, colored, lettered, proofread, edited, assembled, and proof received in 45 days – and that had 5 times the staff working on it.

The story of how and why this came to be is a little more complicated even than the “speed run” to get it out.

Last year, we encountered a self-publishing collective who produce themed anthologies. Their topic for 2018/9 was “faeries.” This is not at all what we had been working on, but it sparked a question. Since we’ve never been ones to tie ourselves to only one thing, was there a story about faefolk we could tell? For six months the answer was “I’m sure there is, but I don’t know what it is.”

We have a (traditional) fantasy novel / series in the works, surely we could put out a companion short-story about some faerie living in the magic-rich medieval-like world of Galydor. Sure, but that’d be rather journeyman type writing – technically it would fit the bill, but it wouldn’t be a challenge.

What if faeries are real people… living in the real world… right now – not in some world where they can walk around freely – 2019 Boston, Massachusetts.

We’d need a character who can interact with the human world, but still show the hidden-ness of faefolk.  Enter a uniformed police officer with a set of wings stuffed under his shirt – an exiled faerie magicked to be human-scale and forced to live in the human world.

So much potential for another series because that’s what we need, right – um, NO. (Well, yes, but not the point.) We didn’t need another series idea. We needed a new book, because we haven’t had one in a year, and we needed to complete something because Flying Pirate Ships! is still a ways off. In January, we decided to try to have a new book – a novella (12,000 words or more) – in time for our first show this year in the first week in April.

There are two things that motivate us to produce work: money and looming deadlines.

We placed a stock order Tuesday, which will arrive just in time to go straight to the first show this year. (Hopefully it’ll make some money.)

Half Full of Missed Opportunity (Glass)

by D. on 20 January, 2019 at 00:05

M. Night Shymalan has made the best superhero film of all time. It was 19 years ago and called Unbreakable.

Glass is a sequel to two much better movies, the aforementioned Unbreakable and Split. It’s not that Glass is a bad film. It just has all the trappings of a bad film combined with the disappointment of a much desired film that just misses the mark.

We have to point out Split, because it isn’t obvious. The only connection between it and Unbreakable was an incredibly forced-feeling end credits scene. According to interviews Shymalan intended The Horde (James McAvoy’s multiple-personality kidnapping cannibal) to appear in the third act of Unbreakable. This is the first mark of a bad movie: in order to understand some major aspect of the film, you have to have information which is not in the movie. Sequels can get away with that to some extent because they can assume you saw the previous film. Glass requires a recent re-watch of both Unbreakable and Split.

Unbreakable was going to be a trilogy – except it really wasn’t. People wanted a sequel, except they really didn’t. Indecision is the second mark of a bad movie. Glass doesn’t seem to know what it is. It spends the first half of the film trying to convince the audience that the previous two films were an unreliable narrator – the events of those films didn’t happen as we saw them. It tries to be a commentary on superhero films, a self-referential deep conspiracy, and a heist style misdirection, before clobbering the audience with a twist that no one saw coming because it was pulled out of the writer’s ass at the last moment. Shymalan is known for his seemingly out of nowhere twists, but this one required introducing new characters in the fourth act.

Then there is the end of the ending after the end – the third mark of a bad film. Glass is so caught up in not knowing what sort of film it is, that it forgets how to end and rambles for a half hour. It would have been better had it took a cue from The Sopranos, and just cut to black with the reveal (in the puddle). Or full-on jumping the shark and having the doctor sprout wings after she realizes Mr. Glass’s plan (this idea will make more sense when you see this film – her in the hallway).

And here’s the thing: You will see this movie because you loved Unbreakable. Samuel L. Jackson as Mr. Glass is a great character. With his tenure as Nick Fury under his belt, Jackson is really good at his secretly manipulative leader role. There are some great feelings in the first act, seeing what David Dunn (Bruce Willis) and his son (Spencer Treat Clark 19 years older) are doing now. The story is largely told with close-ups of the characters’ faces, so Glass doesn’t require the big screen.

Just because Glass doesn’t live up to its potential, doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy it.

└ Tags: ,

Cohesive Vignettes (Green Book)

by D. on 23 December, 2018 at 21:15

There are two types of films which are essentially a series of vignettes: road movies and biography pictures. Each often suffers from trying to stuff unrelated elements into a single package. Green Book is both a road movie and a biography that tells a single, cohesive story of unlikely friendship amidst societal injustice. It is a worthy and entertaining film that remains enjoyable even where the events are hard to stomach.

Green Book is the “based on real events” story of a black musician (Dr. Don Shirley played by Mahershala Ali) touring the Deep South in the early 1960s. For his safety, he is accompanied by an Italian driver (“Tony Lip” Vallelonga played by Viggo Mortensen) who could be well described in stereotypical terms — he’s essentially a thug.

The movie derives its title from “The Negro Motorist Green Book” — a travel guide listing “friendly” businesses and advisories about local hazards (racist laws) to help keep African Americans “from running into difficulties” while travelling in the United States. The 1962 edition factors into the film, though it does little good for the New York based pair as they encounter the morally repugnant conditions pervasive throughout the South. With its 130 minutes of run time, this film could have gone a lot of directions. It leverages the format of its genres to strike a balance that engages the audience and holds them in a personal and relatable way.

In the standard “hero’s journey” style, the main character grows and is redeemed as a result of his trials. In Green Book we have a pair of heroes, and both change as a result of their travel and, more so, influence of the other. Dr. Shirley begins as an overly refined gentleman accustomed to — even demanding — the reverence he is given living in and above Carnegie Hall. His last performance of the film is playing hustling rhythm and blues style in a chicken-joint — truly enjoying himself. In an opening scene, Tony Lip throws away two glasses in his own home because his wife allowed two black workmen to sip lemonade from them. Naturally, taking the job Driving Miss Daisy — er, Dr. Shirley — reverses his opinions.

The principal actors’ performances ring true, but special mention should go to Linda Cardellini, playing Tony Lip’s wife. Though she is at odds with her husband, over pretty much every story point, she remains devoted to him. The actress manages to convey this dissonance without the crutch of some confrontational monologue. Instead, she demands only that he write her letters while he’s away with the “music doctor” for two months.

It would be easy to write about this story like some “woke hipster” babbling on about how these men encountered only a small part of the daily life for millions of Americans, or ramble about Oscar consideration in a more inclusive Hollywood, such talk would do the movie itself disservice. Though it makes limited use of the grandness of the theatre screen, Green Book deserves to be seen in the theatre.

└ Tags: ,

Kid Soldiers On

by D. on 2 November, 2018 at 17:27

This is one of those things we hate to write – that we try to avoid writing.

One of our close friends has passed on.

It’s not the first time, and we usually don’t say anything publicly when it does. We have rules here about talking about real world events – especially personal events. As strange – or even shallow – as it may sound, the timing warrants highlighting this friend.

With very rare exceptions, we don’t use real people as the basis of characters in our fictional works. There are a few characters which might be amalgamations of several people we have known or met, like real-life stereotypes, but almost never a specific person written as a fictional one. I say “almost never,” because this friend was the exception.

In the story section of this site, you can read old west timey tales about C. A. Jones and the Kill ‘Em All Kid. These were not made up whole cloth. This series of short stories are my “true life” – dramatically enhanced – happenings playing the game Red Dead Redemption. The man who played as “Jones” in these stories succumbed to cancer this week.

I mentioned the timing, and there are two events which are relevant.

The more important is No-Shave November. Our friend died on the eve of men’s cancer awareness month. While the particulars of his case are not (necessarily) some cautionary tale about early detection, early detection and advances in modern medicine save lives. Please consider science and research in your donations and ballots.

The more personal is the release of Red Dead Redemption 2. Knowing my friend was ill, I had looked forward to the game’s release. No longer living in the same state, we didn’t get to hang out very often. Using RDR2 as a virtual hangout, we had planned to saddle up once again and spend what time we could causing virtual mayhem, playing cards, and just enjoying the scenery in the cowboy west. We didn’t get the chance. I downloaded the game last night, right after I received word of his passing. As I now prepare to ride into the west once again, it will be with a heavy heart, remembering a good friend.

Comments Off on Kid Soldiers On

©1994-2020 Power Twins Comics | Powered by WordPress with ComicPress | Subscribe: RSS | Back to Top ↑