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Entries categorized as “The Fourth Wall” 62 results
Kevin Fullam writesThe Fourth Wall: The Revenant
[Welcome to The Fourth Wall, CHIRP's weekly e-conversation on cinema. This week's subject is the Leonardo DiCaprio epic film The Revenant. This edition is written by CHIRP Radio volunteers Kevin Fullam and Clarence Ewing.]
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
Clarence: This week’s film is a big shift from last week’s selection. We go from technology to the primal forces of nature in The Revenant, directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu and starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
Set in the 1800s, this is a tale of survival centered on wilderness guide Hugh Glass (DiCaprio), who, along with his son Hawk, is escorting a group of fur trappers through wild territory as they collect a fortune in pelts. A group of Indians attack, and most of the trappers are killed. The remaining group members try to make their way to the safety of a fort. Along the way, thanks to a bear attack and deceit from one of the other trappers, Glass is left for dead and must fight the elements and hostile native American warriors in his quest to get back to friendly ground.
The photography in this movie is drop-dead gorgeous. This didn’t feel like an almost three-hour long movie because there’s so much amazing scenery to look at. The “spherical” camera style of Iñárritu and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki is a perfect fit to capture the vastness of the American wilderness.
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesThe Fourth Wall: Her
[Welcome to The Fourth Wall, CHIRP's weekly e-conversation on cinema. This week's subject is the Spike Jonze film Her. This edition is written by CHIRP Radio volunteers Kevin Fullam and Clarence Ewing.]
Kevin: How real do our relationships need to be?
Here's a thought experiment. Think back to when you were a young child. No computer, no phone, and no postal service. The only people you could maintain relationships with were those you could see and touch -- which pretty much meant your immediate family, neighbors, and classmates. That was your entire universe.
What percentage of our relationships today fall under that umbrella? How many of our friends are those with whom we hardly ever share physical space? Does it matter? Should it matter?
With regards to romance, much of the stigma involving online dating has evaporated in recent years. But even if you're contacting folks via the web, you still have to leave your house to set the actual wheels in motion, right? What if you didn't have to leave your house? (Or even put on a clean shirt?) Welcome to the film Her.
In Her, a 2013 Spike Jonze film set in the near-future, Joaquin Phoenix plays Theodore, a sad-eyed romantic who's in the process of getting divorced. One day, he purchases an Operating System with artificial intelligence (Samantha, voiced by Scarlett Johannson) and the ability to learn and evolve. The OS is designed to be a personal assistant, but they soon bond, and become... well, more than friends.
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesThe Fourth Wall: The Ides of March
[Welcome to the Fourth Wall, CHIRP's weekly e-conversation on cinema. This week's subject is the film The Ides of March. This edition is written by CHIRP Radio volunteers Kevin Fullam and Clarence Ewing.]
Clarence: Kevin, after watching The Ides of March, I want to ask you about two of the bigger names in Hollywood in 2017.
First, a summary: Based on the novel Farragut North, the movie stars Ryan Gosling as Stephen Meyers, a hard-charging campaign manager who is working for Governor Mike Morris (George Clooney, who also directed, co-wrote, and co-produced the film). Morris wants the Democratic party nomination for the upcoming presidential election but, as is made clear several times, he is a Man of Integrity who will not compromise his principles to win any election.
Meyers and his senior campaign manager Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman) are locked in a metaphorical chess match with Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti), the campaign guru of Morris’ main opponent, to see who can collect the last batch of delegates needed to get their guy a shot at the White House. As events unfold, loyalties are tested and secrets revealed in a way that addresses the question, how far are you willing to go to get what you want?
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesThe Fourth Wall: Song to Song
[Welcome to the Fourth Wall, CHIRP's weekly e-conversation on cinema. This week's subject is the Terrence Malick film Song to Song. This edition is written by CHIRP Radio volunteers Kevin Fullam and Clarence Ewing.]
Kevin: Music reviews have never done much for me. Besides the fact that I find music to be a much more subjective art form than, say, narrative fiction, I simply have a hard time translating a paragraph or three about an album into an actual sound. Let me have a listen, and within a couple of minutes, I'll know whether I want to hear more.
Why am I mentioning this? Because I view Terrence Malick's last few films in the same light, from the acclaimed The Tree of Life (2011) to the new Song To Song. One knows early on whether Malick's style is for them, and I don't think it's possible for me to do his brand justice via print. His recent works all share an ephemeral quality which has polarized audiences and critics alike, featuring scenes that seem to have no clearly-defined beginning or end, oodles of internal monologues, and a dearth of exposition. (You'd think the monologues would actually translate into more exposition, but the voice-overs don't have much to do with the actual action on screen; more often, they're ruminations on life in general.)
Quick recap: BV (Ryan Gosling) and Faye (Rooney Mara) are budding singer/songwriters in Austin, Texas, where they're embroiled in a love triangle with big-time producer Cook (Michael Fassbender). The three pick up new significant others of varying durations, reflect on their aspirations and regrets, and bump into real-life celebs (including Patti Smith, Iggy Pop, and Val Kilmer, among others) along the way.
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesThe Fourth Wall: The Big Short
[Welcome to the Fourth Wall, CHIRP's weekly e-conversation on cinema. This week's subject is the Adam McKay film The Big Short. This edition is written by CHIRP Radio volunteers Kevin Fullam and Clarence Ewing.]
Clarence: Kevin, I watched The Big Short twice. In trying to form an opinion of it, I had to look up the word “ambivalent” to make sure I was using it correctly. Turns out I was. I am deeply ambivalent about this movie, and I can’t figure out exactly why.
A brief synopsis: The movie, based on the best-selling book by Michael Lewis, dramatizes events leading up to and immediately following the 2007-08 U.S. financial crisis where the housing market, once considered a bedrock of the economy, blew the F up as a result of Wall Street greed and incompetence.
Three separate groups of hedge fund managers (portrayed by a group of actors that includes Christian Bale, Steve Carrell, Brad Pitt, and Ryan Gosling) see the disaster coming and try to position themselves to make a ton of money by shorting (betting against) the value of the financial instruments they are convinced will soon be in the toilet. The story follows them as they encounter skepticism and ridicule from colleagues while discovering just how far the rot goes when it comes to high finance in the USA.