There Is A Movie Called ‘A Teacher’

ATeacher

A Teacher (2013)
Written & Directed by Hannah Fidell
75 min.

There is a movie called A Teacher. I want you to read that sentence again, so in case you’re like me and your automatic reaction to instructions is to ignore them, I will type it again, forcing you to:

There is a movie called A Teacher. 

Here’s why I like that sentence—the most you can say about the movie A Teacher is that the person the filmmaker shot the most footage of was playing a teacher in this movie about a teacher that is called A Teacher. Nothing could ever be more literal. I have no idea what writer-director Hannah Fidell was going for with her title, but she has achieved the strongest connection in history between a piece of art and its title—A Teacher is most definitely 75 minutes of a teacher.

Continue reading There Is A Movie Called ‘A Teacher’

‘Doom’: Worthy Of Doing Right

doom16

It is rumored that there will be a new Doom movie.

I don’t know anything about video games. I buy a new one every winter, just to get me through the cold. Most of them I never bother to finish. It’s just not my medium, I guess. But I know Doom. Doom and Doom II: Hell on Earth are two of a very few games to really capture me.

There are a lot of reasons to love Doom and Doom II—which, in practical terms, I consider just one long game, sort of like Godfather and Godfather II. For one, you run at like 60 miles per hour the whole time. But above all else, I’m an aesthete, so what really gets me are the games’ production design—something we should talk about in light of the upcoming film. I think this is a great opportunity to repair some long-standing damages in the sci-fi horror genre.

Continue reading ‘Doom’: Worthy Of Doing Right

‘Glengarry Glen Ross’: Just Watch It Already

glengarry

A close friend of mine committed suicide this past Monday. Someone I loved dearly and always felt like family. The last time I saw her was about a year ago, and it was wonderful—we had a great time together. It was the most perfect last memory of her that I could ever ask for.

This review is for her. One of the many things we shared was a deep love for this movie. I can’t begin to make sense of her passing, but I can at least write this piece. She’d be pleased to know it was out there.

Continue reading ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’: Just Watch It Already

‘How To Train Your Dragon 2’: Two Good Acts, Followed By A Bad One

bludvist

How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)
Written & Directed by Dean DeBlois
102 min.

Mild spoilers ahead.

This film is a joyride right from the start, soaring us over cloudscapes and real-looking ice formations—all accompanied by Sigur Rós. And compared to the first film, the world, and its inhabitants, are fleshed out more. In one short and refreshingly natural conversation, Astrid actually becomes a real character, her relationship with Hiccup finally more than her being his reward for completing the first film’s plot. This scene sets the bar high, and the film meets it with richly developed characters, psychological complexity, and a few scenes which use silence and subtle body language in ways not often seen in an animated kids’ movie. Meets it until the end of the third act, that is. The third act jolted me out of the film, and proceeded to collapse, or outright ignore, everything that had been so meticulously built.

Continue reading ‘How To Train Your Dragon 2’: Two Good Acts, Followed By A Bad One

‘Transformers’ and the Power of Existentialism

unicron
Spoilers of Transformers: The Movie ahead.

The animated show Transformers functions as a protection from the outside world. Life is a scary thing, and being a kid on planet Earth is often incomprehensible, so a television show where even cars are out to protect the Earth, and every episode the day is saved and status quo is restored, is a tremendous comfort. It would be easy to dismiss its concept as stupid, but in a world as dark and violent and painful as ours, taking refuge in a place of color and imagination is perhaps the best possible thing a young person can do.

Let me tell you about a man named Friedrich Nietzsche who also understood this.

Continue reading ‘Transformers’ and the Power of Existentialism