Finding Films Offensive

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As the weekend has come to an end, it's no surprise that Hollywood is facing massive backlash due to the unfortunate incident in Aurora, CO (if you haven't heard about it, you live under a rock). 12 murdered, over 50 injured, in what is supposed to be a safe environment, the movie theater. It's a sad day when people are scared to go see a film just because of one nutter.

The theater where the massacre took place
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 Nolan released this statement in response "The movie theatre is my home, and the idea that someone would violate that innocent and hopeful place in such an unbearably savage way is devastating to me." And truer words have never been spoken. Many attempt to find solace in a theater, escape into something amazing and fantastic, not be concerning themselves with checking every fire escape in case some guy comes in gun blazing.

Somber Nolan is somber.
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But the reason I'm talking about this (which is surprising even me, I'm sick of hearing about the whole damned thing) is because of something that Warner Bros. decided to do today. In September they were to release a film called Gangster Squad, set back in Hollywood's hayday following a group of cops that go off the books to try and right the wrongs of so many gangsters.

Looks awesome right?
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If you haven't seen the trailer (good like finding the unedited one) there is a scene depicting gunmen walking through a movie theater's screen and shooting up the place. We have no idea what the context is, but one can assume it's to "take out the trash", so what's the big deal? Well isn't it obvious? It shows a lack of tact for those who were affected by the attacks...yeah...right...

NON CENSORED WOO!

Now had this film not already shot the scene, written the scene, and advertised the scene this wouldn't be a problem. However they hit all three (the wonderful film hattrick) and teased many individuals with the idea of "Holy cow, that looks awesome!" Instead it is now a blight on the film and they have removed it from the trailers.

But wait...that's not all they have also decided that the scene will be removed from the film entirely and re-shoots will need to take its place. What the hell!? This film isn't coming out in summer it's coming out in fall, those of you who would be offended could just simply close their eyes during that scene but instead WB has decided to outright censor it.

Get it?
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Where do we draw the line? Yes this may be your generic gangster killing movie, guns, sex, violence and all but it is still a piece of art! No one should ever willingly censor art, no matter how the public feels about it.

If this is so damn offensive, why don't we cut out 9/11 references from every movie? Why not go back to films that depict the Twin Towers and digitally alter them out (oh wait there is a list). Better yet, how about we no longer show suicide in films because people kill themselves on a daily basis!? I ask you, WHEN DOES IT STOP!!?

I'm very passionate about art, film especially (if you couldn't tell already), and I strongly disagree with the idea of re-shooting some parts to very discretely cover it up. It just doesn't seem fair in the slightest, especially when it was an isolated incident. Now had multiple attacks across the nation sparked up, yeah maybe then I could see it happening, but even then that's a stretch.

The film is in no way glorifying mass murder in a movie theater. It is not telling you "hey this is a good idea" instead it simply is just illustrating a scene that was probably pivotal to the movie (thus the re-shoots). But I understand completely, I get it, you don't want to turn away your audience and I understand that. However, this was clearly going to be an R-rated film, no ifs ands or buts about it. So why bother with this one thing? Hell I would be okay with them even putting a viewer discretion sticker on there, OH WAIT that's the MPAA rating. The fact is, no matter what you do you will always offend someone. It takes courage to say "Hey, I'm not going to mind if this offends you, take it for what it is." That's what artists do, but unfortunately it's not what production companies do.

I always knew what it was built on.
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I know it's all for the sake of getting money, they want to look good to public and all that jazz but just as a service for the rest of us, who don't really mind when things push the limit, just push it this once. Let this scene stay in the film, it looked incredible. But my calls shall go unheeded, I'll be muted out while they count their cash.

And that folks is Hollywood, that is the industry I want to be a part of, and even silly little things like this won't stop my love for going to the movies, crazy whackjobs or cutting things out and all. I still love film, now and forever.

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Film Friday: Christopher Nolan

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Sorry for the non posting as of late, just got a bit hectic here at Roebot Land. Anyway onto Film Friday (applaud here).

So as you may be aware Christopher Nolan's latest and greatest Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises, came out today. How many of you went to see it? For those of you who haven't, I'll forgive you if you go see it by the end of the weekend. If not I'm sending Bane right after you.

I will break you...if you don't see my movie.
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 It was great, it was amazing and it is my favorite of his trilogy, but I'm biased. I love Bane as a villain (he's in fact my favorite), and I love Nolan's films, well most of them anyway. So without further adieu I bring you a brief, fun history of Nolan's works.

Ahhh my inspiration!
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When Nolan went to college he actually didn't major in Film, but instead English. See Nolan is all about the story, which is my favorite part of any film! So clearly I love this man (number two in my favorite directors list).

He's also a bit of an inspiration for me. Starting out with making short films he eventually built his way up through the ranks to direct his first feature Following. Which is about the dangers of stalking, from a stalker's perspective (that's putting it lightly by the way, much deeper than that (but to be honest I still haven't seen it)). When it showcased at the San Francisco Film Festival in 1998 it eventually attracted bigger production companies to his work.

Following poster
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 Then enters Memento, which has since become a cult film about a man with short term memory loss looking for the man who murdered his wife. It's a very interesting movie and really well done with the different way it's told (completely reversed/out of chronological order) which brought it up to it's stardom level. It also boosted Guy Pearce into more films, but he has since somewhat laid low.

"Have you seen this movie?"
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 Following Memento (see what I did there, two Nolan films...I'm so clever) came Insomnia, my least favorite of his works, simply because he actually didn't write it (or have his brother do it). Not only that but the casting (aside from Williams) was a bit off, it just didn't seem to work. Still a good movie however because Nolan can take any story and turn it into a pretty darn good one.

Work soon followed again with the beginning of his magnum opus the Batman Trilogy (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, & The Dark Knight Rises). I can't tell you how amazing it is in text form, just please go watch them right now. That's all.

Only second to original Star Wars.
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After the initial Batman Begins was The Prestige, based on a novel. Also a great film about obsession, love and magic. Seriously this is called one of Nolan's best. But then a swan song emerged, and it is called Inception. This genre combining masterpiece really upped the ante for me when it came to Nolan's work. I enjoyed him already thanks to what he was doing with Batman and how Memento, played out but this just was an absolute game changer.

It will mindfuck you...so damn hard.
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Like I said, the man knows story, and this does not disappoint. A heist film that takes place entirely in your head...what the hell? How could that possibly work? Well people, it does, and it does wonderfully. I really don't want to drag you all into this, because it would basically be me typing for a few pages about how great Nolan's films are without really delving into why.

Nolan like many other directors has under his belt a writer/director credit. He also works with his brother Jonathan Nolan on almost everything under the sun. He also tag teams with his wife as a producer so he can really cut loose. And he does, with his brilliant story telling and masterful way behind the camera.

Certain shots in Inception, literally brought tears to my eyes, as they also did in The Dark Knight Rises. He composes a shot perfectly and uses his IMAX know-how to really bring certain scenes to an amazing level (even if he has broken two in the process). His attention to detail is amazing and just all around one of the best filmmakers in this day and age.

Another huge factor for me to favor Nolan is that he brings a crusade against digital film making. He believes that films are meant to be shot on film, not some memory card (albeit he and I differ here, but I believe that major motion pictures should be shot on film stock). The point being while the world marches against him, and pushes for a digital age (especially 3D, people are hounding him about that that) he remains strong against them and pushes for celluloid.

The never ending debate.
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 In short, Nolan is great. That's all you really need to know, if you didn't know that already that is. Stay tuned for more regular posting and next week we'll talk about my number one guy!

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