Paul Schrader's "Taxi Driver"

       So at CSUN there is a script library with a bunch of physical copies of screenplays. Needless to say, I have been taking full advantage of it since I started this semester. I've been reading one after another as fast as I can. So far I have read: "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", "Midnight Cowboy", "The Truman Show", "Being John Malkovich", "Pulp Fiction", "Big Fish", "The Big Lebowski", and "Taxi Driver".
       I have learned a lot from these screenplays about formatting and story telling but my favorite thing to read in these are the, sometimes, subtle notes left in by the writer to the reader. Sometimes writers will leave vague descriptions or motivations that add so much more to portray what the character is feeling and what the actor should keep in mind while filming. I haven't seen a better example of this (yet) than in Paul Schrader's "Taxi Driver" and I wanted to share some examples that I especially liked.

       This line didn't even make it into the movie but this whole chunk of a page perfectly describes Travis up to this point in the screenplay. It's little details like this that not only make the reading experience better but also gives the actor and director more insight to where the character is coming from. That last part "I am loved to the extent I do not exist" nearly sums up the whole movie up until this next part.

       I am also taking a screenwriting class right now and my teacher has said to tell your story using as few words as possible and to not "direct" the director in the screenplay. But I really don't agree with that at all after reading this. According to my teacher these two paragraphs would be unnecessary and should be left out. I think these two paragraphs are essential to telling the story the way it is supposed to be told. A producer or director can buy a script and change anything they want in the finished project without the writers consent so I think the writer has a right to see their full and complete vision at least in their own screenplay. That way if their work is butchered in the finished product at least they have something they can call their own and be proud of.

       This is another example I found. It just adds so much to the story I would be heartbroken if I had to exclude something like this from a screenplay I wrote.

       This was just another line I really liked that also didn't make it into the movie. Just because it has a typo doesn't mean it's not important! Come on Scorsese!

T. Rex - Electric Love (1971)

I went on AJ's Spotify account, scrolled endlessly, stopped randomly, and landed on T. Rex's 1971 album Electric Warrior. Here are my thoughts:

Cosmic Dancer: Basically has three different lines in the entire song and it's just this guy explaining how he's never stopped dancing throughout his life. Maybe I'm cynical, maybe I don't understand the metaphors, or maybe it's both of these reasons.

This song is my reason in a nutshell as to why I've never been a huge fan of music to begin with. Don't get me wrong…..I get music. I get how beautiful it can be; I get it as an art form; I get it as self expression; I get that it's relatable; I get the history behind it; I get that it's a wonderful tool for societies and a unifying experience for people. I get it. But I've never been that excited by a genre, artist, or song. Maybe I'm crazy and missing out on a great thing. It's difficult to explain yourself after you reply "I don't know" to the ever-popular question "What kind of music do you listen to?" Believe me - it's hard to come back after that one.

Kind of like now. This review is obviously a lot less credible now that you know I don't like music (Really, who isn't a fan of music? Sometimes I think about how weird that is and start scaring myself). I can go to a museum any day, but fine art isn't for everyone. But honestly, I don't get how Cosmic Dancer can be listened to and thought of as a good song. 

Jeepster - "I'm just a jeepster for your love. You slide so good with bones so fair; you've got the universe reclining in your hair." Not sure what it means, but I can dig it. I liked this one because it's so random, makes no sense at all, but I want someone to serenade me with these lyrics for some reason.

Lean Woman Blues: I stopped what I was doing to check the name of the song, which is a good sign. I enjoyed the song but I found myself trying to rummage through all the instruments just to put together his sentences and figure out what he was singing about. It was all worth it once I heard this line: "I'm like a child in the sand on the beach of the land of you."

Bang a Gong: I was surprised to hear a song that sounded familiar but I'm not sure if this was the song I remember or it was another with the same exact beat (because I have a theory that every band ever has used the same tune).

The rest of the songs kind of bored me. Sometimes I wish I wasn't so cynical.

Am I hopping on the T. Rextasy bandwagon? Nope. Expect for maybe Jeepster. AND I STILL DON'T KNOW WHY.

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

I remember seeing the trailer for this movie a while ago and I was kinda excited to see it. It's always nice to see Steve Carell in something and a lot of other comedians I liked where in it too. So I was really happy to see it pop up on Netflix the other day.

*Spoilers after this*

It seemed to really explore all the different scenarios that would play out in a modern pre-apocalyptic world. Once everyone realizes that they only have 3 weeks to live they seem to still project a sense of well being but everyone's a lot more reckless and desperate which is pretty funny to watch play out. Probably my favorite part of the movie was this scene with Patton Oswald about how the apocalypse has "Leveled the Playing Field"

His level of degradation is a perfect example of what all of these people are feeling at the party. Shortly after this moment a woman announces to everyone that someone brought heroin as if it was a bottle of champagne. Everyone is doing all of these things that they would only do because its the end of the world while out main character is just depressed the whole time and then attempts suicide. This is where it started to take a turn for me.

After his suicide attempt he gets stuck with a dog for some reason and ends up meeting one of those "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" played by Keira Knightley. At this point I'm having some trouble writing about the movie actually. I could go into the characters but there are so many characters and the only ones who are in more than two scenes are Steve Carell and Keira Knightleys' character. This would be fine but we really don't even get to know these characters very well besides their Introvert and Extrovert stereotypes. It's almost like every scene is used to learn more about the characters they meet along their way and then we never see them again. By the end the only thing different about our main character is that he fell in love with the other main character and then the world ends.

Overall I feel like this concept for a movie has a lot of potential and the filmmakers realized that. However it just feels that maybe it was too rushed for what was expected of this movie. There are a lot of different quirky qualities about a lot of the characters we meet but because we don't have anytime to explore them they just seem forced. Probably exactly how this post feels because I started writing about this movie and realized halfway through that I had nothing to say.

Midnight Cowboy

"Everybody's talking at me
I don't hear a word they're saying
Only the echoes of my mind"

-Harry Nilsson

    (Everybody's Talkin')

For whatever reason ever since I moved to L.A. about a month ago I've been watching a lot of movies about New York. I finally move here and now New York is somehow calling me through these random movies. I know this is just my subconscious telling me no matter what I do I can always be doing something better. As if somehow I moved to the wrong city and because of that I can never live to my full potential. To me this is something that everyone has to deal with at some point. Never being content with what you have is what makes humans so amazing as a species but it's also one of out greatest flaws on a personal level. This is why it was so good for me to watch the movie "Midnight Cowboy" at this point in my life. 

The main character Joe Buck has a similar mindset about moving to a big city. He has idealized New York so much in his head that no one can possibly change his mind about moving. This movie handles a lot of themes including: loneliness, hope, religious guilt, masculinity and desperation. To me this movie says a lot about the dangers of dreaming too much. If you spend too much time hoping and praying for what you want sometimes you forget the fact that what your dreaming of usually has to do with changing your mindset rather than changing your lifestyle. If your complaining about your glass being half empty, instead of wishing for more water, just wish for a smaller glass. You may not have as big of a glass as that guy next to you but at least it's full and content. Besides you never liked that guy anyways.

I wrote some thoughts in a notebook while watching this movie for the first time and I'm gonna post some of them here. They are in chronological order with the movie so if you've seen it you'll probably have an idea of what part I was on while reading it. 

*Spoilers*: Do I still need this for movies that are 46 years old?

Notes:

Little boy riding a fake horse in front of a stable of real horses. Symbolism for the modern cowboy? The real cowboys are all gone and all we have now are just little kids riding plastic horses?

Drops the soap. Insight into this characters sexuality?

"Where is that Joe Buck!?" Being repeated is a really good way for the audience to remember a characters name.

Right to the song. Love it (I was already a big fan of Harry Nilsson at this point so I knew this song really well)

Cowboy outfit. Clinging to the past? Maybe he see's the past as being better than his present? Trying to distance himself from the people around him?

"I can't hear a word their saying,

Only the echoes of my mind"

He doesn't listen to what anyone has to say about his decision. He's already made up his mind.

"Going where the weather suits my clothes"

He's trying to find a place where he belongs.

(At different points in the movie there are various flashbacks to his childhood)

His dad was possibly a cowboy type. Maybe he is trying to cling to his only idea of masculinity growing up?

I love the shot of him walking through the crowd (This is the picture I posted above)

He seems to be going for a lot of mother figures to pick up on. Definitely something up with this guys childhood (Earlier there was another weird scene where he was watching this little boy giving his mom a massage that was shown for a really long time so this just added to that)

The idea of the channel changing because they are on the remote while having sex is genius and it gives us something to turn to.

So she was upset when he wants money for the sex but she isn't offended when he pays her? She is worried about how she would seem if she paid him but doesn't him paying her make her look like a prostitute?

His handheld radio is such a good addition,

While going back to find a city job he see's himself in the restaurant employee. Why go such a long way just to end up in the same place?

Florida is Rico's New York. If he could just get there everything else in his life would work out.

The way Joe gets so defensive about his cowboy outfit is hilarious. It reminds me a lot of Don Cheadle's character in "Boogie Nights"

Throughout the movie Joe is clinging to his father figure while Rico is rejecting his.

Loneliness strikes again...

The Truth About Emanuel

"If we don't really chat a lot, it's not that I don't like you. It's more that I like to keep to myself."

Because I loved The Truth About Emanuel and everyone who matters in the movie industry hated it, then this is either proof that I should never be a critic since my opinion is worthless or that I'm pretty great at finding positive attributes in awful ideas. For the sake of keeping your interest in anything I have to say, we'll go with the latter.

Despite the fact that the title is misleading (Emanuel is basically an open book - there is no truth to tell), there is a truth to be revealed by Linda, the new neighbor who quickly bonds with Emanuel and later becomes a mother figure for the young woman. *SPOILER ALERT EVEN THOUGH THIS MOVIE IS A YEAR OLD SO IF YOU WANTED TO SEE IT YOU WOULD HAVE BY NOW* However, Linda's "truth" can be seen a mile away. Linda hires Emanuel to take care of her baby - a baby that we soon learn is actually a doll. We find out later that Linda had a miscarriage and Emanuel's mother died giving birth.

Sure, at first the doll thing is kind of creepy. At first. But if you keep an open mind and dig a little deeper into Linda and Emanuel, you can easily see one of the most honest relationships between a mother and a daughter that Hollywood has to offer. By relying on each other to trust their feelings and emotions, they allow the other to truly be themselves in the most honest sense. Linda can be seen as a crazy woman that we too often love to attach to actresses. OR she can be seen as a woman who has gone through trauma; she is someone who lives a loving life to her "child" and Emanuel.

I am always refreshed and excited by a movie that portrays women who aren't revolving around men and their romantic pursuits. The Truth About Emanuel shows us how humans are different than any other species on this planet. Unlike dogs, cows, flamingos, and plants, humans are able to tell each other what we're feeling and thinking. Dolls (no matter what label we attach to them) cannot fill the holes in our hearts like another person can. A person can relate to another person - even if it's just the way we can both talk about the human experience on Earth and the weight of existence. Another person can bring out our true selves and make us realize how valuable we can be for the well-being of an individual. Linda and Emanuel have spent their entire lives being independent women until they let the other shine a light onto their dark pasts. When we lean on each other, when we learn to become someone else's crutch, only then can we begin to understand the hardships they face.

Big Brother 17 Update

Remaining house guests

Johnny Mac: Really likeable and has played a good social game as far as I can tell. He has potential but we haven't really seen any real game play from him yet. Definitely the top pick for America's favorite house guest award at the moment (If I were in the game I would be gunning for this prize for sure. Just in case I didn't make it to get the $500,000)

James: Breaking that deal with Shelli is my favorite moment of the whole season so far. He broke up the power couple and I don't even think he's anyone's target now. I hope he keeps up the big moves. Everyone is so obsessed with honesty this season. It's fucking Big Brother! Get over it.

Meg: Either she is playing a really good social game or everyone is just sorry for her. It's most likely the latter

Becky: Apparently the most interesting thing about her is the fact that she got hit by a train? I think that's all I know about her so far. She would be doing a lot better if she stayed away from Clay and Shelli when they where in the house. I don't think anybody in the house knows her enough to trust her at this point. Besides maybe Johnny Mac?

Liz and Julia: Hopefully this will change after tonight's episode but they seem to be the least obviously floaters in the house. I don't think they are doing very much as far as game play in the house but somehow they play at least a small part of almost everything that's happened this season so far.

Steve: He is way too paranoid. He thinks everyone see's him as a big threat but I don't think anyone is gunning after him at all. He is playing a really weak social game and he doesn't have any strategy as far as I can tell. I kinda feel sorry for him

Vanessa: She was my pick to win on the first episode and she is doing really good right now. She's no Derrick but she is on almost everyone's side right now and somehow magically got passed a double eviction. However she is pulling the emotional card waaay to much right now. People are starting to see through the fake tears and the way she always makes herself the victim whenever drama happens. She just needs to slow down and relax a little bit. But I think Johnny Mac is gonna somehow get her out.

Austin: Honestly how is he still in the house?

Movie "Requiem for a Dream"

I just saw this for the first time the other day and I was really surprised actually. It's been a little hard for me to watch movies on my computer lately. With all the detracting questions I always feel compelled to answer in the middle of a movie like "Who is that actress? I've seen her in a commercial or something before" or "Oh wow! What's that song?" or even "This is boring. I wonder what I've been missing the past 30 mins on Facebook" 

This was different. It my have just been something in this new strain I bought but I was weirdly hooked into this movie. Somehow I cared more about every character in this movie than the main characters in some other movies I've been watching recently. It showcases all of the evils of addiction while still maintaining empathy for all of the characters struggling with them. Along with showing how big of a factor loneliness plays into the pain that these characters so desperately what to escape from.

It actually reminded me a lot of this comic I read a while ago

Pi is the only other film I've seen from Darren Aronofsky and I liked that a lot too. "Black Swan" Is next on my list from him (To be honest all of his others one's seem kinda lame based on their trailers haha)

I don't know how to end this

P.S. 

If you watch it backwards it's a lot less depressing