One Person Carried the Entire Season

Best friend and girlfriend of Poussey finally find an appropriate tribute to their lost loved one and I cried all the way home. 

It's rare in a multi-protagonist show that one person stands out. Early on, before OITNB became a thing, most of the first season was about Chapman. The writers saw that this clearly didn't work so they gave everyone a storyline, an arch, and a flashback …standard multi-protagonist rules, just watch Lost.

I was talking to a friend earlier about Mad Men, getting a little sidetracked, but that did also start out about one person; Don Draper, and then evolved with a plethora of new characters and the OG's having some serious stories, laments, and flaws. That's what makes them relatable.

Spoilers coming but you should have watched it by now; that show basically invented the binge watch culture.

Daya at the climax of Season 4. Sensing a pattern here. 

A little bit on what is happening in the new season. Daya shoots the sadist CO Humps in the leg, and a riot breaks out in the prison. The riot actually lasts through out the entirety of the season and that MCC bitch Linda somehow gets mistaken for a prisoner so she's along for the ride. If you remember correctly, The girls at Litchfield are pretty eccentric to put it mildly so the riot has some wonderful and sometimes cathartic twists and turns. It's really a great season, and there's one woman that carries it through to the very end.

Taystee leads an action to throw away the 'bribes' that the governor provides in order to stop the riot because according to her, it wouldn't be justice.

If you haven't guessed, I'm talking about Tasha 'Taystee' Jefferson. Poussey's best friend. Danielle Brooks who plays her is barely old enough to rent a car, but her training at Julliard did her well, to say the least. Usually we focus on actors 'on the brink' if they bag a role like Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook at the ripe young age of like 23. When OITNB started, Brooks was actually the exact same age, and has maintained a consistency to the character and a commitment to the arch of Taystee. This season was definitely hers. I don't know of the season's past if I could assign them as belonging to someone. No, she doesn't get the most airtime, or the smartest quips, but my god, the depth of this girl was incredible.

And of course they set in on fire because they want 'to be motherfucking taken serious!' You go Taystee.

I kept having to remind myself of the youth of this actress and subsequent inexperience because you would never be able to tell, and though just like every season, a different character gets a flashback, and in the end, it's all about Piper (who is the worst), Brooks upstaged everyone in her passionate fight as Taystee struggles to deal with her grief and get justice for Poussey.

At the climax of the last episode, it was like watching a Shakespearean tragedy, just watching the performance that Brooks gave. I don't often say this, but it seemed to come from the bottom of the gut, and I cried rivers. It was a catharsis that no one was expecting, and Brooks definitely spread her acting wings.

What Brooks is able to accomplish as an actor in this scene is beyond me. She keeps you guessing the entire time, and the emotion is so palpable that it's impossible to separate yourself from it. 

But what's truly important is that she is instrumental and a catalyst in every episode. As an actress, she has so much stamina, and so much of herself to give to the role I have no idea how she didn't fall down from exhaustion by the end. I've really never seem anyone so committed and playing the same character for 5 years, but her nuanced performance gives her so much staying power. It boggles the mind as to why we don't acknowledge her more. For such a tender age, you would never expect her to carry a show of over 30 main characters in its most chaotic season, but she managed, and she should be commended for it. There are a lot of brilliant actors that make up the Litchfield prisoners, and usually it is Uzo Aduba (Suzanne 'Crazy Eyes' Warren) who walks away with the Emmy's, which she definitely deserves, but I was taken aback at how well Brooks managed some really tough and complex material. Put it this way, if there was a riot at a prison I'd want to shadow Taystee, and if we were doing acting exercises at Julliard, I'd want to do them with Brooks. She is somewhat of an unsung talent that deserves way more recognition than she gets.

Prolly seen the trailer, but here it is anyway, it premiered in early June on Netflix so your binge should just about be over by now. Happy watching!

I Have Something For You to Watch on Halloween

One of the more memorable scenes from the film. Can't tell you what's going on though, and it's hurting my soul.

The VVitch came out of nowhere, and I do mean nowhere. Shot in some desolate woods in Canada over 25 days by a freshman director who looks like he just stumbled out of the most hipster hipster bar in Los Angeles, I had heard things about it. Mostly that it was legit the most terrifying, unsettling film that will make your blood run cold. I was assuming this was coming from people who had never seen The Shining, or Rosemary's Baby, or The Exorcist. But now that I too have seen it, I will gladly put The VVitch into that group. I've read Arthur Miller's The Crucible more times than I care to remember and the Salem Witch Trials were never handled with that much honesty and brevity since. 

Does this not remind you of a certain famous painting?

But this is not about that. And the parallels between it and the New Testament were so subtle, nuanced, and brilliant it made me think; 'wow, hipsters can direct'. Robert Eggers, barely 32 (so exactly my age) cast a film with an all British (with the exception of one Scot) cast for this unsettling horror-type movie. I'm hesitant to call it a horror movie, even though that's how it's been marketed. To me, it's a period piece; a bleak drama much like There Will Be Blood with a lot of seriously disturbing images and themes. This is not a film for your parents or for the faint of heart, seriously you've been warned. 

I am not going to give away any spoilers, what I will give you is the premise. Set maybe a few years prior to Salem, a Puritan family is banished for the patriarch's disagreements with his elders about interpretations in the Bible. Defiant, he moves his family; wife Catherine, daughter Thomasin, son Caleb, and two really annoying twins around 5 or so to the wilderness...oh and there's a newborn who's pivotal to the story. What he was thinking I don't know, but it's his pride that spurred the journey and that's already giving stuff away. Now, anyone who is a horror purist knows that only bad shit can happen to you in isolation in the woods. The daughter Thomasin is the central character, who is about to reach 'womanhood' i.e. puberty, and the parents discuss selling her to another family so she can properly deal with it, which was not uncommon at the time. They are completely isolated save for their farm animals one of which is a surly black goat with giant horns called Black Phillip. The twins claim that he speaks to them and they speak back, and as we know, when animals do that and only little kids notice it, it's a common horror trope. But then it launches into a whirlwind of bizarre and such visceral happenings that you WILL have trouble sleeping at night. Even though you live in the middle of the city and don't own any goats. 

Black Phillip

What is beautiful about the film is the pacing (borrowed no doubt from Ingmar Bergman) where it emphasizes the feeling of degradation and isolation and eventually hopelessness and loss of faith. The other major aesthetic (borrowed from Kubrick no doubt) is the decision to shoot exclusively with natural light. And anyone who has ever made a movie, whether a 3-hour opus or a student film knows that negating your Omni's is basically film suicide. But to get the authentic feel the director strove for, it paid off.

Again, can't say what's happening. It's not a cliché exorcism I can tell you that much.

Now, you're probably thinking, they are in the wilderness near creepy woods, the film is called The VVitch...there's a witch in the woods, bam, you solved the puzzle...NOPE! And if you want to know what's actually up, guess what, WATCH IT. Stay home from the lame Halloween party you were invited to where everyone will be dressed as either Donald Trump or someone from Orange is the New Black, and just cuddle up with a pet or a stuffed animal like a child because no matter how tough you think you are, this movie will crawl under your skin and scare the life out of you. 

The climax of the film...have I left a good cliffhanger?

It was so impressive to see a film that was not only shot for under 2 million, made the rounds at Sundance and got picked up by A24, but that resurrected a genre that's basically become a parody of itself. If we label it a horror film, it's definitely up there with the aforementioned Rosemary's Baby, The Shining, etc. And it was directed by a guy who's basically the bastard child of Polanski, Bergman, and Kubrick; not a bad label to have. AND it's his first film. This was such a relief and single handedly restored my faith in the genre while making me slightly suicidal. Just kidding, but it did stick with me for so long and so strongly that I'm still not able to shake it off. 

Oh and in its defense, people were wondering why the fuck it's spelled the way it's spelled and that's because that's what pamphlets that made rounds in the colonies around that time looked like when they were asking people to beware of VVitches. It's not a hipster thing...well maybe a little bit. There I just gave you Halloween plans, you're welcome. 

Trailer below. 

Let's Talk About 'The Shining' #Kubrick

First scene and I already don't trust her, even though she's the 'victim'

It's Saturday night, I cancelled my plans so that I could watch The Shining by myself...at night. This is crazy for many reasons, I should be around three-dimensional people or so they keep telling me, it's night time, and though I've seen the movie, oh I don't know, a BILLION times, it still scares the living christ out of me. I recently went to a Kubrick exhibit, granted it was almost exactly the same as the Kubrick exhibit I went to see with a bunch of former NYU folk at LACMA in LA, but it's still great. There's always something new to learn about Kubrick. Although The Shining is not my favorite film of his by a long shot, it does basically create the blueprint of modern horror, of haptic psychological thrillers, and mysterious happenings and endings; open-ended storylines, bizarre manifestations, and best of all...NO JUMP SCARES. 

I'm writing as I'm watching it, so let's examine a few things. The film starts off with the already terrifying looking Shelley Duvall (Wendy Torrance) shoving some unimportant exposition down our throats that give us an insight into the family. The husband Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) doesn't drink because he had a violent episode with the kid in the family Danny after a few too many adult pops. 

So immediately you're thinking, she's going to be trouble, something's up with her...and when they check into the Overlook Hotel, she's just a little too excited and too nice. So we focus our attention on her being possessed by a baby killing demon or something. Kubrick has a thing for agoraphobia. And the first scenes at the Overlook Hotel play to that brilliantly. It's a huge open space that when people talk to each other, there are echoes. This comes back into play later, but not before Kubrick turns the atmosphere on its side when it is revealed that the Torrance family will only be using this tiny room in the corner of the hotel as living quarters. 

The first serious scare that we get is when Danny is playing darts in the game room as his parents take a tour of the hotel. We hear a weird meandering noise, that's basically the only way I can explain it, it's not music, but it's so ominous it's scary on its own. He turns his head and instead of immediately pointing out his POV, Kubrick meditates on Danny's reaction which is stoic AF. That's when we see those twins for the first time. Strangely enough had that noise not been playing in the background, we might think that they are just guests leaving the Overlook just like everyone else, but they just stand there. The longer they do, the scarier they become. Now we have horror movies where apparitions jump out at people grab them, push them down stairs etc. But admit it, the scariest thing you can experience is feeling like you're being watched. 

Before I continue, I'm not going to incorporate ANYTHING about Stephen King's novel into this. I'm judging the movie and the movie only. You would think that Kubrick's brilliant blue-print and first and only horror film would change the landscape, but there's a reason why it still scares the pants off even the most hardened Clint Eastwood type grown man, because nothing has ever been more frightening. 

The scene that everyone remembers, even if they haven't seen the movie, and that has been the only take away from The Shining that filmmakers use as a horror trope today.

At this time I'd like to defer to one of the scariest moments in my opinion, one that involves one character, and it seems like that's where his biggest thrills are. It's not Jack confronting Wendy with the infamous 'Give me the bat' routine, nor Jack discovering what's in room 237, though that is pretty gross/horrifying. It's when Jack is upset because Wendy blamed him for being rough with Danny again, though it was actually one of the ghosts. A tracking cam, which is so important in this movie moves backwards as he walks towards it unbelievably pissed off, screaming to himself. That noise again permeates through the halls, and you realize at that moment it's not the ghosts of the Overlook we should be scared of, but Jack. In that, Kubrick turns the film from supernatural horror to psychological horror. 

I'm sure I'm not giving you anything you haven't already heard in the film Room 237, but I'm trying to stay away from things that are too easy like the damn hedge maze, the scooter scene down the hallway, etc. Yes those are iconic shots that Kubrick so brilliantly messes with before the payoff. If you pay attention, Danny rides around on that scooter about 5 different times before those two girls appear to him again. And Wendy and Danny take a morose stroll through the hedge maze for fun before it ever becomes a game of kill your kid with an axe. 

Perhaps a symbol of the labyrinthine craziness of Jack Torrance's mind...I don't know, ask the weirdo's from Room 237.

This movie is so terrifying because it literally messes with your head. When we first meet Dick Hallorann, there's something off about him too. Kubrick decides not to distinguish between who is the scary influence and who is the innocent. He confuses you to basically be on edge about the whole thing. It's pretty brilliant. Kubrick loves to meditate on every scene, stretching every scene makes it somehow more frightening. 

Also, to finish off because I'm rambling, and some of my favorite parts are coming up; what is it that makes this movie fucking shit balls scary? Different from all other horror films ever? It's the setting, not the characters. Not the humans, not the ghosts, not the weird hallucinations, or people's ability to 'shine'. 

Filming the 'give me the bat' scene. 

The Overlook Hotel itself symbolizes people's fear of being alone in a large ominous place, it's uncomfortable, it's disconcerting, and in the case of The Shining, it drives people completely out of their minds. I don't even find the Wendy chase sequences that frightening except for her face with the bulging eyes and her clenching a knife like she's doing shake weight exercises, nor do I find Jack Nicholson's thousand yard stare that particularly uneasy. It's the scenes that are absolutely quiet, eerie, and you know that something is just not right. The music is great tonality for that. But what are we most afraid of? I'll just speak for myself, but it's long hallways. Swear to god. The Overlook is full of them, whether they be in the the hotel itself or in the hedge maze. The unknown behind every corner is truly something that is universally terrifying, and my opinion of why Kubrick kept the film so open ended, is because it's not about what actually the fuck is going on. The sound of the typewriter, the tracking shot of the scooter, the look on Dick Hallorann's face when Danny shines to him. Those are the images, sounds, and occurrences that sink their teeth under your skin. It's a weird setting for a weird film, and it's not supposed to make sense; it's supposed to scare the living shit out of you. Mission accomplished. 

Happy 20th Birthday Clueless! You Have One More Year Before We Can Party

Dude what's wrong with you? Are you suffering from buyer's remorse or something? 

Can you believe that it's been 20 whole years since knee-high socks, plait skirts, and a cannon of pop culture phrases that are so timeless that we still use them in conversation were the basis for how we functioned as human beings? Your 'as ifs' your 'whatevers' your 'I totally paused' par example. 

Don't you feel ancient? I do. Let's travel back in time. It's 1995. I'm an awkward overweight 5th grader with greasy hair and I come to school one day and everyone is dressed up exactly like Cher in the opening scene. Well, we all kind of had to because we went to a Jewish private school and we already had plait skirts, that's right Clueless, we did it first. I also noticed a lot of those topless range rovers driving around the campus by the cooler older sisters, even though that thing would fling like a sling shot over a speed bump and violent crumble like a piece of aluminum foil, it looked fly. Another archaic term from the mind of Amy Heckerling. The girls in my class basically turned themselves into little mini-Cher's because let's face it, who wanted to be Tai. We all used pagers and flip phones, bulleted to the galleria after school was out, and started to believe we could argue our way from a C+ to an A- if we told our teachers that an evil male broke our hearts. Seriously I can quote that film from beginning to end verbatim so for all of our sakes, I'll try to keep it at a minimum.

Those outfits, ladies. Those outfits were so amazing that they were a character in the film unto themselves. We collectively thought. Wait, we can dress like that? No one told me! 

Based surprisingly enough on Jane Austen's 'Emma', the film tells the story of a loaded Beverly Hills blondie who has a rotating closet, a mansion in the 90210, and silky blonde hair, and absolutely no clue. It's laden with more 90's nostalgia than the front page of Buzzfeed, and oozing with snarky and quippy one-liners. It's literally the perfect teen movie, and I just feel so sorry for the generation following us that nad nothing better than Twilight to cling to. Mean Girls came close, but c'mon, there can only be one. And Clueless is the undisputed gold medalist.

Here's the thing, it's not just dumb funny the likes of which we see with the frat pack, where fart and pot jokes are front and center. Yes, it's a film for the ladies, but for how much it glorifies being a bit hair-brained, and CLUELESS, superficial and dense, it's a smart satire with such amazing writing that only a woman's sensibility could have brought to it. Amy Heckerling is like the Nora Ephron that doesn't take herself too seriously, and she's damn talented. Female filmmakers to this day like Tamara Jenkins, Nicole Holofcener, and Sofia Coppola takes major queues from her. As they should. She was a trailblazer in her own right, and the film is still relevant today, despite being a fluffy comedy, despite being totally dated, and despite having little substance.

Pillow lipped, gorgeous, and quirky, Alicia created a character that we couldn't help but love and aspire to be. 

Why is it most of us can still quote from it, name at least 3 actors that were in it, and dress like Cher at the Valley party? It's not just teenage fodder. Perhaps unintentionally, Heckerling made a landmark film that through its carefree whimsy became a solid piece of pop culture history.

All of us Gen-Y'ers are starting to procreate (well most anyway), and I'm sure the first thing we sit our kids down to watch when they're about 8 or so is going to be Clueless. You know why? It's very simple. It's fucking fun. It's not Citizen Kane, and it doesn't have to be. It's entertainment in it's purest form, salted and peppered with a great wardrobe, and some of the most memorable spoken lines ever, this film changed our entire cultural landscape. For those of us who remember, we went from wearing Nirvana T's and coming to school with unwashed hair, to pulling up those knee-high socks, charging our giant flip phones, and giving everyone in our path some kind of make-over. Yeah we might not have grown up loaded in a giant mansion in Beverly, nor fallen in love with our step brother (lest we forget, that was also our introduction to Paul Rudd). but we could all relate to Cher's plight. In fact, she is in a very strange way Charles Foster Kane. She's a girl that has literally everything, but in the end realizes she needs to 'make-over' her soul. If only Kane had come to the same conclusions. (I realize film buffs reading this are very close to shooting me right now) I honestly don't care.

Still rollin' with the homies. 

Clueless is a timeless genius piece of filmmaking, and what's great about it is that it doesn't make you think, and it doesn't make you cry. It makes you laugh and it makes you happy. And, escapism is a very important cog in the filmmaking institution. Also, talk about roles people were born to play. Had anyone been cast as Cher aside from Alicia Silverstone, I think the film would definitely have been forgotten damn fast. Her faces alone are unforgettable. The 'oops my bad' big eyes, or the 'anything you can do to attract attention to your mouth is good' dreamy stare, and of course the 'She's a total Monet' side-eye. She was our perky, blonde, Gloria Steinem. So bless you Heckerling, bless you Alicia...now if you'll excuse me I left my Cranberries CD in the quad I have to get it before someone snags it.

And I couldn't resist so here's my favorite list of quotes:

'He's a disco dancing, Oscar Wilde reading, Streisand ticket holding friend of Dorothy, know what I'm sayin'?' - Murray

'At least I didn't skin a collie to make my backpack' - Dionne

'What was that about?' - Cher
'Lucy's from El Salvador' - Josh
'So?' - Cher
'It's a whole different country' - Josh
'What does that matter?' - Cher
'You get upset if people think you live below Sunset' - Josh

'You're a virgin who can't drive' - Tai

'My foot hurts, can I go to the nurse?' - Elton

'Duh, it's like a famous quote...from cliff's notes' - Cher

'And I think I remember Mel Gibson accurately, and he didn't say that. That Polonius guy did' - Cher

'I'm not offering I'm asking you IF you drink, you think I give alcohol to teenage drivers taking out my daughter?' - Mel Horowitz

'Girly, as far as you're concerned I'm the Messiah of the DMV' - DMV instructor

'Isn't my house a classic? The column date back allt he way to 1972' - Cher

'You like Billie Holiday?' - Christian
'I love him' - Cher

'That's Ren and Stimpy. They're way existential' - Cher

'You look confused' - Josh
'Well, I thought they declared peace in the Middle East' - Cher

'It is one thing to spark up a doobie and get laced at parties, but it is quite another to be fried all day' - Cher
'Do you see the distinction?' - Dionne

'Cher get in here' - Mel Horowitz
'Yes daddy?' - Cher
'What the hell is that?' - Mel Horowitz
'A dress' - Cher
'Says who?' -Mel Horowitz
'Calvin Klien' - Cher

Ok I'll stop now. Add your own. You know you have some.

Below, clips! What else?