Case for Zack Snyder

I watched half of Batman v Superman (the 3 hour director's cut) because I can't remember if Zack Snyder is a good director or not. He's a very wise stylist. One of the most visual directors, but the morals are weak. There isn't much method to his aesthetic and he hasn't grown all that much as a storyteller. He reminds me of Jess Franco if Franco sold out and became a millionaire marketing puppet and rightwing government propagandist.

I've found a few decent articles arguing that Snyder is a pro-fascist director. I think its quite the opposite. By applying a "Triumph of the Will"/"Fountainhead"/"Birth of a Nation" lens of disturbing nostalgic Americana, he calls attention to the problematic elements in his subjects, much like Franco used the fascism of Spain as villainy in his own films. The stilted melodramatic dialogue, unrealistic abstracted action and torturous tone of tragedy are intentional and meaningful. Snyder's films have been called "rightwing" merely for playing and analysing imagery and ideology and showing sympathy for modern working class paranoia in the post-9/11 West. His version of Watchmen and Dawn of the Dead exploit racism, Nazism, fascism sexism, etc. But he never condones it. Its exploitation for subversive and transgressive motives. His films are pro-America but not nationalist, white culturally but not white supremacist. He takes a very balanced, neutral, communist stance on nearly every level.

Now I know these Snyder attacks are totally Disney/Marvel propagandists who call themselves fans, so Snyder's work represents a mirror of our recent resistance to corporatist, colluding conspiracy for capitalist gain. "Batman is a vigilante, Superman is a messiah". Totally. This was set in stone before Snyder was even born. And correctly, Snyder honors the tradition of their origins by keeping them old school liberal champions who are pro-state but not of the state. Superman as a journalist seeks truth, justice, blah-de-blah. He lives a modest middle class life and polices THE WORLD equally. But Snyder recognizes the fascism and elitism inherent in Superman's totalitarian-level power. He even shows us Superman as the ultimate threat, a God-like ruler executing humanity's last hope, represented in Batman. Batman comes off like an obsessed, terrified, scarred, alienated sadist. Thats what the character would be in reality. But his hardcore moralism to use his bourgeois status to protect both classes makes him a powerful ally to Superman... and also a threat. Batman, working in his own jurisdiction, has too much power and not enough socialism. Batman is shown killing in dubious moments, falling victim to a crazy Lex Luthor-created conspiracy theory to kill Superman and basically coming up short in his quest to do what's right. Snyder clearly favors the working class alien pacifist Superman over the violent macho anarchist-capitalist extremism in Batman. Snyder is firmly a liberal director and spreading as liberal a message as you will find within mainstream Hollywood "high concept" franchise pictures.

So why was the media so against him? Why are fanboys and fangirls so anti-Snyder and pro-Marvel? I don't think they are. Since BVS, DC's comics have soared and fans have a newfound serious respect for the characters as mythic icons and political archetypes. The failure of BVS's sequel Justice League can't be a determiner of anything as it suffered from both a terrible distribution deal (certainly rigged by Marvel) and then forcing their spy Joss Whedon to replace Snyder as director. Its a blatant infowar. Disney is pushing a neo-conservative/neo-liberal corporate takeover of Hollywood and news media. Time-Warner is targeted heavily in this push towards the extinction of freedom of speech.

Warners knows why JL sucked and so does DC: because Snyder is being silenced by the Elite. Snyder seems canned from the DC franchise. Maybe not a bad thing. It was probably too conservative and not populist enough to really maximize his influence positively. I mean, half of previous Batman and Superman films were pretty lame. But he needed to make a strong run with these successful canons to cement a place in film history.

Zack Snyder is not at a level where I would call him one of the greatest directors ever, but he's certainly among the strongest of the last generation. As the most anti-Oscar and most "for the people", he can never earn the respect of elitist critics, fans and industry insiders. But no one can dispute the incendiary recognition or passionate debate over his name. And that is way more important to an individual film-goer than, I dunno, an IMDB rating (bleck!)

Commercial Hollywood has its place. But as conglomerate propaganda? Pass

The Last Jedi tanked critically because, with Hillary NOT winning office, neoliberal's coercive methods are revealed, as the plot of Kathleen Kennedy's Disney franchise reboot was mapped to coincide with Hillary's pre-election. The series has trashed Han Solo and Luke Skywalker as desperate old guys who were better off dead and retired while Carrie Fisher maintain power and reverence in this 100% government-driven narrative that is feminist, liberal, inclusive, progressive, but still Neo Liberal: matriarchal, racist, capitalist, authority worshiping, fetishistic and demonizing of "the other". This is the exact weak morality that the Prequels warned and fought to expose when it attacked Bush Jr.

With Baywatch and Jumaniji, you see Obama's surrogate representative in Hollywood - The Rock - totally exposed for what he is. And the conservative, anti-progressive, faux-youth rights, religion-pandering, sexually confused and disrespectful to their own roots. Barack Obama was not of the people he represented, the working class blacks, the middle class whites. But he did a lot for Africans, Hawaiians, the gays, the CIA and a sentimental list of private interests that don't effect my life positively at all. So I don't reminisce or cherish the Obama years. Especially with the parade of hate spewed constantly at him - racist hate, religious hate, xenophobic hate, personal hate. It all came from Donald Trump, his most famous heckler. But plenty of rich people hated Obama just for being less conservative and more economically fair than they are.

Most of Hollywood's past in Republican or NeoLiberal. Which is to say they love slavery, love exploiting workers, love being in a high ruling class and love showing off expensive fashion and meaningless crappy melodramas for the poor. Soap operas are the elite's original brainwashing. Working class women in a newly rich economy, packed tightly into suburbia, listening to the radio and watching TV 24/7 as kids learned and husband worked and climbed the ladder meant only for middle class white men. That demographic has always been the company's first priority: conservative white women. They make her their trophy that everyone else aspires to and has to do more than, meanwhile she helps the white man keep dominance and mental slavery by government vote. White women are most guilty of many crimes against humanity. Women in general, but white women are the worst.

So no I am not impressed with Star Wars' long history of white feminism and making it the focus of the saga is probably not the direction George Lucas would've gone. He made Padme the ultimate example of white women's attraction and blind support of criminal white nationalist capital control. Lucas then married a black woman, so I think his next female protagonist would've been a more drastic leap than "Rey". This new character has no purpose that is original. She simply exists to make sure the next Jedi Master is white. Making her English, a peasant girl who becomes "princess", is classic Disney European monarchism. Walt Disney had that creepy fetish for little princess girls and it lives on. But in Star Wars? Thats too far. Disney has finally fucked itself beyond repair, at least in this generation's eyes.

Blade Runner 2049 also had a white feminism/NeoLiberal/pro-Hillary thing. Its not that this is evil or altogether terrible, but its such cowardice. "We will hand over White Male Supremacy only to someone who will hand it right back". We see through you, Warner Bros.

I respect that this is painful circumstance is inevitable with how closed and segregated white communities are and how its institutionalized and most people are asleep to its horror or they are trained to authorize it. But fucking get a clue and stop supporting these bloodthirsty industries and making billionaires out of old child rapists with the morals of vampires.

What else sucked? Power Rangers. You can't make a film that is famous for its identification with a certain generation and time period just to ignore all of it to brainwash, ego-stroke and "consumerize" kids. "Fuck you, Gen Y. Its all about these Beiber/Young Thug faggots." How dare you when Prince and David Bowie just died penniless compared to talentless bean counters who live 24/7 on island resorts. I hope global warming fucks them up first.

I enjoyed Ninja Turtles 2. I think its much more inspired than the majority of Hollywood movies, but its still mostly tone deaf, clueless, poser and without any positive direction. Because the first film, like the Transformers films, are just crappy commercials for the police, military, prisons, counter-intelligence, espionage, hacking, the whole industrial complex of protecting you from yourself. They feed crime more than prevent it. Its another empty racket that has nothing to do with movies, yet has taken over movies.

And I think its accidental 3/4ths of the time. Commercial product is inherently propagandist. They are advertisements ALWAYS. Every work of art is advertising an idea. But most shit just advertises "Advertising". Its just mindless consumption, "dog eat dog" cannibalism and self destruction. To be alive is to be famished and always seeking to be full. We are enslaved to our beast dimensions. Why? Because we don't let the intelligent run things. Leadership shouldn't be based on political maneuvering or even prior experience. Its on how well you pass the test without cheating. But the artists don't run things. The geniuses don't make the laws and the scientists don't map our futures. I say this is calling for revolution. Nature itself is disgusted with humanity's actions and that effects our collective mood and decision-making. The planet is being forced to change positively or suffer negatively.

How does cinema or art in general play into this? Should I be doing something? What can my camera do to help? Just help. Help in any way. Small or big. Its a start. Inspire others to help. This I believe is the ultimate message of all art and all communication. The aggressive noise is just animal barking, clouded bestial thinking and its been beaten into men & women for too long.

Check out filmmakers that make a difference positively: Bunuel, Jodorowsky, Franco, Ozu, Kurosawa, Coppola, Bertolucci, Kubrick, Spielberg, Lynch, Hitchcock, Greenaway, McQueen, Cronenberg, Argento, Godard, Snyder, Fellini, Chaplin, Kaufman, Waters, Bergman, Tarkovsky, Fassbinder, Truffaut. There are so many great stylists and technicians, but how many make you feel better, make you feel alive?

Enough of the pretty camerawork and moody lighting and scared models who can't act and who look like children. Well, most directors fall into using those tricks to get eyeballs, but they brought more to it. They brought themselves and a wealth of knowledge about more than just "craft". They were teachers, not "masters".

What does cinema mean in the Trump Era?

Hopefully the Trump era isn't long and we head into a better epoch soon, but cinema is a process and not a result or "product".

In 2017, movies were finally reduced to flooding, disposable, expensive junk. Popcorn movies have as much fluff and flavor and nutritional value as popcorn. That ain't much, which is why you have to eat so much to feel satisfied.

Trump's America is the worst I've experienced. Reminds me of the dark, bleak days of George Bush Sr & Jr mixed with the willfully ignorant, gaudy, desensitized numbness of Reagan and Ford era content. Republicans have steadily declined into deeper lies, conspiracy, crime, genocide and evil (the lack of God). But hopefully this is America bottoming out.

If Trump is to be president for 2018, expect Hollywood to keep losing money and investing in bigger, dumber movies (think The Farting Butt film in "Idiocracy") while indies continue to dry up. I expect Netflix will probably hit a snag before their big push for cinema. Stranger Things is already tired and Kevin Spacey was Netflix's biggest star. Troma and Full Moon might get a minor boost in bank loans but highly doubtful. I think this tiny economy recovery is going to serve only the rich and most indie producers are too small and disorganized to compete. Maybe Lloyd Kaufman and Charles Band will finally team-up... or Roger Corman can buy their catalogs.

But, I think grass roots REAL underground cinema by independent directors might have a shot. When America's elite become outwardly fascist, conservative and criminal, its the American people who get pissed off, informed, active and creative. Art needs inspiration. Survival, liberty, justice. These are things that inspired the best films of all time. And you don't need a budget or new technology to make real art. All you need is a camera, a subject and an eye.

seismic reactions in political thought will change movies

I hope 2017 was the death year for reboots and unoriginal scripts. Hollywood knows that audiences want original experiences and to relive classic history, but instead of "hip" unoriginal recreations of the past, they are forced to make historically relevant new narratives.

The Last Jedi was another glitzy paint-by-number remake of a classic sequel. Enough already. It made a billion dollars? Well, people have to go to the movies and Hollywood lets one fucking movie own the month of December, its going to do well. Especially since Disney funds theaters to only show their content, killed net neutrality and probably bankrupted Fox. Neoliberal capitalist pigs. At least they got rid of Fox which was sinking in mud anyway.

Logan sucked and appeased the sleeping masses, but thankfully its the finale of the franchise (knock on wood).

Leatherface was a massive, massive disappointment. A waste of hungry young global talent and a total jerk off of a classic folklore by greasy, greedy producers of schlock. At least they lost the rights to make more.

Power Rangers, Jumanji, Baywatch, Spiderman, Kong, IT, Puppet Master, Jeepers Creepers, Thor, Blade Runner. Old shit that didn't need new chapters. Cash-grabs, not inspired scripts that demand to be shot.

Hollywood is tone deaf at appealing to young people but thankfully they've engineered a generation who appease whatever Hollywood says. You feared the communists taking over the state? The capitalist takeover of the working class is much, much worse. And its deep state neoliberals who caused this. With their rejection of Marxism and exploitation of the free market, posing as leftists when they only serve the conservative 1%.

Liberals are running scared and bleeding money and doubling down on brainwashing as much as possible. With Trump in office, they are afraid of who will get exposed and they know the working class is turning against them. So they will show their true racist, sexist, conservative colors to keep them happy. And Trump's hordes of idiots will remain in the vocal minority but will spread more division, chaos, ignorance and hate as long as their spoiled mama's boy senpai is in office.

This is the moment where Libertarians have a moment to take control. To trust Anarcho-Capitalists would be a return to the collapsing 1980s (which is what has just happened). Plus they are are basically the racist, sexist, religious, gun crazy wing of Centrism.

Its up to the Far Left Marxists to rise again as an organized bunch beyond class, ability, tax bracket, minority group, whatever. They have to repair the economy by repairing the government. All Trump will do is defund and slash jobs, without any clue who is actually valuable (actually with crooked leanings to protect crooked pirates that serve him and his cronies). Anyone out for the better good must side with the better good.

This is the time for independent enterprise. Individuals coming together to achieve a global dream of freedom, independence and protection by state from big business. We must use small business to take back our communities. Don't give money to politicians or corporations. Put that money into your own future by investing in the poor, not the rich. Demand democratic socialist leaders and not self-serving liberals or conservatives.

resurrecting the original (First Generation)

I count 19 sequels released and many more films are remakes or based on TV shows or intellectual property. What is this? Its an obvious strategy for the film producers but why are so many critics and audiences receptive to these films that are rarely non-disposable?

I think they see the disappointing truth of Hollywood cynicism, deny it and reframe it as subversive "pop art" appreciation or some heroic aesthetic recontextualizing for Gen Z. That is always the message spread by the PR stooges who run social media "entertainment news". What would that really mean if it wasn't a lie?

I remember the first wave in the mid 90s: Brady Bunch: The Movie, Addams Family, Lost in Space, Beverly Hillbillies (thankfully Gilligan's Island's corpse was not molested). Besides the sequel to Addams Family, these are truly abysmal movies that only appear positive in contrast to what Hollywood has devolved into. But they are easy to make.

I think this return to aesthetic laziness is tied to our digital zombification, as ADHD ties to our acceptance of the disposable and shallow. The only people unamused by these movies are people with longer concentration and memories. The rest are comfortable watching 1000 hours of mediocre content so they reject the standard that 1000 hours of content should or could be good.

Push for "anti-franchise" films. Anti-nostalgia. Anti-remake, anti-sequel, anti-prequel. This is the new aesthetic of radical narrative commercial filmmaking.

cinema of the subconscious

I love that John Carpenter's They Live reveals not only the exploitative nature of commercial propaganda and media brands, but it deconstructs the very mechanism how cinema works.

When we watch a film, we read each frame for symbolic messages. Only a philistine examines and grades a film on visual arrangement or surface beauty alone or most prominently (Socrates taught that spectacle is the least important aspect of drama).

We read film the way we read words in a book, except instead of turning symbolic text into sounds in our mind to find subtext and imagine time-space, we break down symbolic shapes, colors, motions, progressions, contrasts and compositions into text.

Writing filters through the superego before the ego gives it to the subconscious. It takes work to read unless its subliminally forced in advertisements, etc. Cinema plugs right into the subconscious because the hard part (reading) is so much faster, easier, monosyllabic and natural. We are perceiving a rearranged, idealized version of the physical world. A child or idiot or animals with similar eye sight can watch a film and be hypnotized by its images and programmed with whatever mass idea the filmmaker wants.

That is why only auteurs should be trusted with such a powerful tool. Its mental magic, playing with dreams and effecting the core of beings. You can't do that for profit and simple special effects. It must pass psychoanalysis, politically correctness and brain food. You can do that creatively without becoming a boring puritan, but this is the intrinsic philosophical nature of cinema voyeurism. Its more than just "moving pictures", the insidious industrial label used to denigrate its artistic influence.

film as excrement

Exploring and learning about culture from books, art, video, audio, culture is what I do for fun. Movies have been my favorite for most of my life, but I think we are entering a dry spell for new movies. Which is okay because most moviegoers are very ignorant, need to educate themselves and stop serving the production of garbage.

I will keep this blog alive but I do not care about Hollywood trends right now, not do I care about the opinions of mainstream audiences. This is good fortune and blessings because I want to create & distribute my own filmed content and not stuff money in the pockets of the old fashioned film barons. Nothing worse than the critics and film freaks who ONLY like old films, but that doesn't mean you like any piece of shit because its new. There's very healthy lovely shit and putrid sickly shit. Flush wisely!

I don't see much feminism in movies

The actresses I see getting acclaim are terribly one-dimensional. Its their youth & beauty (which will fade) that are always showcased, violently fetishized now to even more younger and vain actresses. Hollywood, twitter and instagram's female celebrities are like a cult of vain, plastic, youth-worshipping witches who have no value outside of looks.

Gal Gadot, Zendaya, the little Stranger Things girl, the Logan girl, the Annabelle cast, pretty much every actress under 30 in a film or show this year was the exact same character: depressive, waifish, "desirable object" girl-children who get a predictable moment to strike back but are ultimately tools. Hollywood has this perverted fixation with this female image. And eerily, this is true to life of a generation of very vain, vacuous little girls who are being indoctrinated into the old system.

And as usual, women over 30 are depressed moms & career women, mindless sex goddesses who kick ass or crazy old ladies who are funny. Of course there are films like Pitch Perfect 3 or those (Blank) Moms comedies and there's an upcoming pro-Hillary slate of all-female ensemble dramas. But why are female-focused films always relegated to unoriginal plots based on bland male-focused films? Ghostbusters was an experiment to go the other way, but that was just sacrilege. Does Hollywood fear giving a good script to women? Are they afraid of showing women of different ages getting along? It can't be in the nature of women to be obnoxious catty harpies. This is the male idea that they simply roleplay to get by and spend male money to survive.

With the long overdue destruction of the Weinberg empire, let's usher in real women in film. Realistic characters, written and directed and PRODUCED by women

The Last Jedi's producer Kathleen Kennedy has tried earnestly to make a feminist blockbuster in The Last Jedi. It did big business but the film sucked. There was a strong scent of chauvinism involved but also the feminist message didn't fit the story (which was foolishly written and directed). And the "underdog" heroine is uninteresting and handed everything.

I don't think audiences or creators in power have any clue how real victims of sexism (WORKING CLASS WOMEN) are a cog in the giant system of exploitation and oppression. Clearly as the films are still stupid and audiences still pay for the empty Mary Sue, the infantilized Lolita, the evil Ice Queen and the generally worshiped Manic Pixie Dream Girl.

Get Out did a great job deconstructing the insidious nature of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl archetype. Mother! was a valiant effort to contextualize the Ice Queen and the Infantilized Lolita. Wonder Woman's characterization is very problematic to me in Justice League and her own film, but it is a push towards heroines with some depth (even if its still very shallow, cartoony, childish). But its still not enough.

Hillary Clinton is a hard person to defend or empathize with, but how did the country empathize with a complete woman-hating troll/creep/huckster/demon over a "nasty woman"? Because we've had generation after generation of women in the public who are simply cartoons with no inner life. Hillary is an example of this but she's also a symptom of the real problem. We need better representation of everyone. I don't even think we need female superheroes or 3rd-wave propaganda or "Girl Power!" buddy comedies. Just write women as people!!!!

The most progressive and respectful instance of feminist writing was oddly in Roger Corman's Death Race 2050. Two women, both supporting characters, meet at a bar called Bechdel's to discuss the male protagonist in a great tongue-in-cheek Dadaist moment. Its subtle, meta protest to the way they are relegated in the oppressive world of the film. Filmmakers need to lampoon cliches to shred their power and create a better work environment for women everywhere. They are half of the audience :P

"Good vs Evil" in Cinema

I've written some on occult/religious influences on art history, i.e. cinema. Using critical theory I trace the character of our Western mythological moralism to the patriarchal notion of "The Light Bringer" (ex. Horus, Saturn, Lucifer, Christ) to tame a black chaotic (female) universe. The Far Right find this fact threatening because it unwinds their notion of Manifest Destiny & White Man's Burden. Its a great power trip narrative supported by an edited version of facts.

Resistance to change is to be expected, especially when surrendering illegally, immorally accrued power, but its inevitable that what is in the dark must eventually come to light. "Cultural Marxism" is a misnomer for the progressive movement in art media to reform culture with these newly discovered or rediscovered conceptions towards an evolved mutual understanding.

Its time that representation of binaries like light & dark, good & evil, masculine & feminine be analyzed and their myths dispelled. Cinema is the biggest propaganda machine on Earth and its symbolism is taken to heart by the working class public who can't get philosophy elsewhere.

I'm mostly concerned with this long standing Hollywood archetype of The White Male Savior. The Light Bringer is a positive figure, right? Prometheus bringing knowledge of fire to the dirty apes! But to prop up this commercialized image, it takes a concentrated industrial effort. The White Male Savior's dominance comes from a never-ending supply of less valued but equally important "apes" to be saved, browbeaten and worshiping. This is the moral failure of cowboy movies, superhero films, cop films, anything that boils heroism down to a kind of "selfish altruism" built on money and egomania.

Hollywood's modern Left have made efforts to leave this archetype built on racist dogma, but have they been successful? "The Force Awakens" casts a white woman & black male as protagonists who are less original characters than white male cliches given to thin racial/gender stereotypes. Finn & Rey are still second banana to Kylo Ren, Han Solo & Luke Skywalker. Don't let Disney fool you.

Western society spent 8 years politely ignoring the fact their "black" president had a white mother & black father but rejoices as the future King of England finds a biracial wife. In fact, throughout Obama's term, media (especially commercials) pumped up images of dominant white men with black female partners. There was little representation of the opposite interracial relationship because it is unwanted by the power elite. "Work for us, we won't work for you." Get Out is the only major film to show a black male with a white woman and it was accepted because it was shown as a White Male power fantasy where black men are rejected by white women. It played safe by showing what they want to see and only waking them up to reality in distorted and minimized terms (genre theatrics). Its mission is guilting white people to see black men as "damsels", a postmodernist exercise in reversing racist roles, but is it really interested in dismantling white patriarchy and exposing its real goals (pure exploitation and superiority)?

But if humans are going to transcend this ill spirit, they must have a reversal of the status quo that has grown conservative & evil by embracing the reversal. This does NOT mean destroying the union between white men & women or dark men & women. It means a fair power balance between all relationships. Just analyze the representation of the different interracial relationships. They are based on statistics or historical fact, but also stereotypes and dated power hierarchies. And it extends to the images of Jewish men & white women, Asian men & non-Asian women, Asian women & white men. The white woman is a trophy, a power symbol & object, to reflect the white man. The goal is not preservation of the white race as much as "white = masculine". The concept of a white = feminine undermines white masculinity. Black = feminine aka weaker, subservient, emotional, less competant. They need darkness to be defined by light out of a fear of the dark. Keeping darkness as scary and evil distracts from light's own failures, weaknesses and evils.

So much propaganda. So much objectification. All in the interests of a racist, sexist infrastructure for the elite's demographic. I would enjoy (and I think we all would benefit from) seeing dark skinned people as romantics capable of love without white male permission. I mean thats what this is all about.

So what is the antidote? Presenting the facts correctly. White men have brought as much darkness as light. The "minority" are not a minority at all and have brought as much light as the darkness they are assumed to live in. These notions of a white Heaven and dark Hell, a white Jesus and a black Satan, the fetishizing of feminized black men, masculine white women, the "wigger" white male, the white-lusting "tragic negro" woman... These are all symptoms of an outdated and evil structuralism that must be deconstructed and reformed to create a fair and tolerant communion NOT to serve one, but all. A cinema beyond gender, race, class, age. These are characterizations that are subjectively important but not objectively testament to anything outside of identity politics. You can't create a morality from collective traits. You can't claim superiority from something that was handed to you genetically. I think this is elementary but we are so programmed and barred from deprogramming, that this has to be spelled out in culture. So don't support bullshit racist, sexist movies anymore, 'k?

Lets present good vs evil in terms of actuality

Many Tarantino films don't age well for me and some I just don't connect with as much as the masses, but I respect that his indie-inspired aesthetic has a motif of inspiring kid/amateur filmmakers. His films feel more like "How To..." guides than actual movie experiences or stories. They exist just to show what he would have made at age 13. And I envy the opportunity he's had, but why hasn't he supported indie films by working on more of them.

He's been in that seedy Weinstein corner of L.A. with budgets spent on advertising and not on making great films. Tarantino was their go-to for solid work that draws money, like the minor studios and Tim Burton. But really make a masterful, important, historical film on your own. I chalk a big chunk of Pulp Fiction's success to his producer, co-writer and editor. And my 2nd favorite QT film is Jackie Brown, which works because its based on a novel that he didn't improve too much. Tarantino needs to make some radical art films. He began his career comparing himself to Godard and Truffaut but where is his masterpiece?

Superhero films sell the notion that an elite class of wealthy, attractive Ubermensch should run the world and protect a voiceless, powerless society from anyone brings change to that faux-democracy/polyarchy. In Marvel, these heroes are the military wing of The State. And in DC, the heroes are a private group led by 3 independent democrats.

I haven't seen "Justice League" yet, but I should because I enjoyed Snyder's previous films because he is a great stylist and a valid political thinker who sneaks some decent moral philosophies through Warner Bros' many, many corporate filters. BVS showed the possibility of a fascist state run by Superman, the evils of private wealth in Lex Luthor, rogue intelligence agencies, sex slavery, stuff at least applicable to our world's real illnesses, while Marvel is just numb comforting illusion based in funny distraction and optical effects.

I might review this shit soon enough.

I think 100% of the Marvel movies' success is Robert Downey Jr.. He's basically the acting coach and director of those things. I mean, he has all of the stroke and he's making suggestions that aren't ignored and probably controlling the hip populist alt-rightwing politics of that franchise and setting most of the tone of the films he's in. Its starting to wear thin or he's spent or he's second guessing what he's started. These films are basically dumb military-industrial complex training films so little kids will conform to old white Christian values, multiply and consume Disney products with most of their brand loyalty. RDJ thought he was bringing a 21st century post-punk pop art fun to these films but he hadn't really tested the morals he was adopting. Remember this guy s riding a massive comeback after being a crackhead & junkie. He just wants to stay clean and happy and make money privately. But he's betraying his once democratic and artistic freedom. I think because he can't accept the depressed gay leftist artist cliche he was. THAT is exactly what the rest of Hollywood accepted him as but he wants to live as some macho cowboy in a weird kiddie porn fantasy land built on money and anti-Semitic ghosts. I dunno. Maybe it comes from his dad being a promising but failed Marxist indie director. There's some weird fucked up Freudian thing with the Downeys and its very disturbing but  not even shocking or uncommon sadly. Seeing how horrible Hollywood is now and knowing the rumors and legends of the past, Robert Downey Jr might be in a safe haven (as a child he did cocaine with Jack Nicholson and his father at adult parties!). But we need real movies. These tentpole spectacles say the same thing on loop and it just gets flashier but not deeper. At least not noticeably as our culture is changing so fast and there's so much conservative censorship of the facts.

I would be impressed if guys like Downey or James Gunn or Patty Jenkins and of course Zack Snyder actually started reasonable indie production companies to fund their own films and not stay slaves to bean-counting factories. What Coppola tried with American Zoetrope, Corman with New World, you know the rest: Cannon, Troma, AIP, Republic, United Artists. Where are the artist run studios???? Noticeably, Spielberg is back directing/producing for Warner Bros and DreamWorks has become almost as silent as MGM. This depression and monopoly has effected even our biggest directors. But James Cameron is still going. And George Lucas lost LucasArts, but that was just a shell. He could start a studio tomorrow and produce steady films if he wanted. But I think these guys are squeezed out of theaters by the conglomerate studios. Its the tragedy of our era as movie buffs. We have access to all of the greats of yesterday but we're not allowed to get new greatness easily.

Motivation for my fellow filmmakers

It sucks when you can't put a film on to relax because the world events & news climate are so crappy. You can't even escape it because its online and new stuff is soaked in it or a pathetic cowardice in facing it. Thats when you put down entertainment and start making art. And you need to study & appreciate art. Art is separate from entertainment in that it should be guaranteed by the state when corporate propaganda rules.

Socialism protects citizens from the state & business while Communism protects the state from business but does Capitalism protect business from the state and the people? People abuse capitalism left & right everyday. Capitalists cheat & exploit consumers and workers (look at China). Communism exploits government employees & civilians (look at Russia). What is the true history of the few societies who practiced Socialism? They turned to the extremism of  Communism and Capitalism when, the merits of both make up the halves of Socialism while avoiding the binary conflict by anchoring in the middle. This achieves balance to regulate both sides of human freedom and human employment in a fair trade agreement. We are so steeped in bad deals that society doesn't trust good deals when they see them.

America needs someone making progressive, fair deals where everyone wins. Trump is going in the wrong direction and I think we're losing him mentally. The scope of the job is hitting him and he sees how much intellect, support & analysis this takes. He's not a mentalist or layered thinker. He doesn't have any dimensional theory of politics or economics or infrastructure or epistemology or deep philosophical moralism or science theory. Because he's always been a sheltered rich boy with things handed to him. He's a victim of bad upbringing really. His society and their moral system and outlook is so scary in its coldness, vanity, detachment, ignorance, foolishness and foolery. I think Trump at heart is a rogue clown & petty con man, not as bad as his masters, but definitely their gem and the cog that keeps this ancient empire of evil mind control through dishonest business and monarchical control. He must expose it if he wants to be a hero and save his own skin. Make some kind of deal where you can bring down all of the puppetmasters of American politics. If its Russia then we will have to handle it American style. We have our allies who we've protected from Russia & we have enemies of Russia who need us. Everyone loves America because its more than the people who live there now. Its the heartbeat of the world and a place for everyone who wants to be free. But being an American has lost its identity thanks to off-shore pirates.

These are unsure, tense times for everything. We may been on the eve of total war or on the eve of a tremendous victory for free democracy and democratic freedom. On a fair playing field for every life on Earth from beast to beauty. Our species has forgotten its roots and its original purpose to thrive and spread exploration and unity, not get locked in incestuous in-fighting and the resulting personal unraveling. We are all family and should care about one another. Stop hunting each other and start loving as many lives as you can.

No matter what comes we are the ones God meant to document it. We shouldn't feed it or exploit it. Simply document. Some will put a slant on it, but I just want to present reality's facts as I see them and let the audience agree or disagree. Its hard to do that in Hollywood or even mainstream independent cinema. Go to film school, make no budget camera experiments, vlog, master still photography, keep cinema alive until you are in the position to prove what you got. I've had some hiccups where I could act or write or edit for a good audience of friends & locals. You have to start somewhere and I'm happy at whatever level I can be at. I keep learning but you have to actually practice the craft or you might fall on your face when luck shines on you. And I don't mean filmmakers like Tommy Wiseau or American Movie's Mark Borchardt. They at least made ambitious personal films that are watchable. I mean the great directors likUwe Boll, Lloyd Kaufman, Renny Harlin and I think eventually guys like J.J. Abrams (whose rebooting of Star Trek & Star Wars will sour with age and won't last as long as expected) and I'd even mention Tarantino, Tim Burton and Martin Scorsese. All guys who went too corporate from their indie roots or got a lucky break to start in the majors and didn't have A+ talent yet, so they never had the stroke or trust or support for something more universal or paramount (to use cheap puns). They should not be duplicated when it comes to careering as filmmakers. And not because of their auteurism or ego or uniqueness. But because they were too young & inexperienced. David Lynch should be making films much more frequently but Hollywood has a long memory and only look at past drawing power. These investors don't follow audience tastes. They follow their bank accounts. And thats a bad measurement for which films get produced or not. Totally subvert Hollywood or triumph outside of its system.

Make your movie. Make sure you've studied enough that your film leads to a bigger film. Don't care if it sucks as long as you're getting better and stop sucking. Fight. Speak out. Borrow. Work. Save. Do what yoou have to do to finance a film. That means its only as big as you make it. It can be a film about a fly or spaceship or an island or a bald spot or your depression or your 1st love. Document what you see & someone will want to see what YOU see.

We're waiting on virtual reality or imagining we're in a holographic movie, but we create the dreams with camera, editing, sound, movement. These tools technology gives us make our art into a dreamed reality to help our reality have better dreams. We can also create nightmares to warn them. We are society's psychiatrists. We don't just analyze them, we help them. Don't just medicate them with numbing eye candy and sensory overload. Explain the diagnosis of the symptoms to treat the cause. Earth is sick. Its not just the people. Its our planet. We've abused her too much. She's striking back and we must make amends before she kills all of us. One of the only ways I know to protect myself and those things I love is magic. And not voodoo or witchcraft or Satanic sacrifice magic. Magic originated in writing, craft, recipes, medicine. Its the original art and its in all descendant arts. But its forgotten and hidden by those who profit from it wrongly. But they destroy themselves and magic is set free whenever the evil of untruth mystify it. I only feel comfortable discussing this because I've learned so much about magic from cinema & its the type of cinema I'm interested in making. Spiritual meets technical. That is artistic.

Take what I've learned and use it well and converse with other filmmakers. We're living in a great time to teach yourself to be an artist. Its a personal journey for every artist but so many have walked before so why not learn from them? But remember film isn't the only art. Its just the most conjoined & democratic art besides actual living. Know that they balance and serve each other and movies can't be your entire life. Well, they can be a lot of your time but not all. Well, thats enough for this cinema diary for tonight.

Shoot cameras, not guns.

DIY or DIE

Senseless production for production's sake is anti-art. Purely commercial films can not solve society's problems, only contribute to them. As studios turn out product simply to stay ahead of competition with incoming revenue, the true filmmaker must make spiritual works of art that are for no one but the Self. Not a masturbatory ego piece but something that connects the auteur's vision to to the spectator's in a mutually positive and progressive way. Some of the dreck we've seen this year is only interested in the keeping the status quo instead of probing it.

I've yet to see Get Out, but I already admire its headstrong bravery to confront dangerous and unpopular mainstream topics. Jordan Peele brought up the elephant in the room, something "entertainers" are prohibited from by their masters, agents, sponsors and even their fanbase. I've intentionally saved Get Out for my yearly ritual of the major releases that I wasn't able to see in theaters.

I enjoy the theater experience but not locally. We have some seedy mini-multiplexes here. They occasionally get cool revival showings or a new indie film, but its mainly commercial films aimed at teens, the military, Christians and old people. I live in the Southern United States which has a long history as a conservative, bigoted market. My best theater experiences have always been out of state (Colorado, Pennsylvania, Florida) and Atlanta is one of the better Southern cities. Florida has a good history of exploitation and indie film of a more left and experimental nature.

Please, comment where you're from down below and what the local cinemas are like.

What gets me is that films (at least in North America) are made mostly by the banks' money. Now the theaters probably are in debt to banks too because its just expensive to start anything in this economy. So the banks are in control of both the production and consumption of media. I think its a rigged system that eats itself. Government regulation of cinema & maybe all media is preferable to consumerist propaganda put out by conglomerates. And it doesn't mean all films will be sanctioned by gov. Just the ones made with high government subsidies. The new independents will be the films made by Hollywood or big media empires. If you want to start your own indie, use the profits kept from the government film you made. And by "government film" I just mean it passes some democratically agreed standards. Cinema developed because of science labs given government grants to innovate technology. Never forget cinema is first an artistic science. 

http://www.filmsite.org/pre20sintro.html

And Thomas Edison, who gave the resources to start the North American film boom, was not a fan of banks and the current, almost mandatory trends in movie production. From his wiki:

Thomas Edison was an advocate for monetary reform in the United States. He was ardently opposed to the gold standard and debt-based money. Famously, he was quoted in the New York Times stating "Gold is a relic of Julius Caesar, and interest is an invention of Satan."^[110]

In the same article, he expounded upon the absurdity of a monetary system in which the taxpayer of the United States, in need of a loan, can be compelled to pay in return perhaps double the principal, or even greater sums, due to interest. His basic point was that, if the Government can produce debt-based money, it could equally as well produce money that was a credit to the taxpayer.^[110]

He thought at length about the subject of money in 1921 and 1922. In May 1922, he published a proposal, entitled "A Proposed Amendment to the Federal Reserve Banking System".^[111] In it, he detailed an explanation of a commodity-backed currency, in which the Federal Reserve would issue interest-free currency to farmers, based on the value of commodities they produced. During a publicity tour that he took with friend and fellow inventor, Henry Ford, he spoke publicly about his desire for monetary reform. For insight, he corresponded with prominent academic and banking professionals. In the end, however, Edison's proposals failed to find support and were eventually abandoned

Film should be treated as it once was as more than a cheap entertainment business but a kind of encompassing technology like print to educate in classrooms, share journalistic news, spread spiritual awareness (church films have always been big in the South). Cinema is bigger than Hollywood or narrative commercial filmmaking. Its a social service that should be regulated and given bigger tax breaks. State government gives small tax incentives to film producers but the government doesn't own the federal reserve banks that milk them dry through media conglomeration. 

The U.S. gov needs to give huge tax breaks to INDEPENDENT producers and less to the debt financiers running corporate Hollywood (and trying to run the government). That would give leverage back to the artists and/or capitalists producing the films and maybe help pay off our country's serious debt. The private money in Hollywood takes too much profit from the world through monopolizing. 

Let true socialist American cinema take the money back from those who abuse it. I think a mixed economy of socialism & capitalism is the only answer for the world's dollar and filmmaking should be at the forefront of making this transition that will lead the 21st century into the future. So much of cinema is already Marxist leaning anyway. Its always better than the purely capitalist or communist cinema (aka fascist, authoritarian & solely technical). The government is afraid to get behind the arts but the arts are the only reason we live to enjoy the government. Not to be morose but you know modern life is centered on entertainment, escapism and distraction from terrible world government issues but now even our amusement is stifled. We are reaching a head where none of the old system works anymore and it all needs new life. 

Directors like Godard, Fellini, Lloyd Kaufman & definitely Jess Franco have anticipated this future for cinema. Its fun to see how tuned in they were, but now our generation has to see independent art thrive and have its own Revolution & Renaissance. The 21st century of cinema must be better than the 20th.

What gets me is independent creators want to work for Disney, Star Wars, Marvel, WWE, Adult Swim, Comedy Central, all of these distributors of only mainstream content. They buy indie talent sure, but only to make their kind of product. And thats their right. So indies need to create their own intellectual property. That originality is the only leverage that indie filmmakers have.

But if someone is just a fanboy at heart or its their aesthetic to make fan-art or adapt popular mythos or they just don't have original ideas, I think indie creators can land established characters. You just have to know who to lease from and for what kind of money. The old exploitation filmmakers mined Zorro, Tarzan, Dracula and other popular names that were public domain. I've seen a few filmmakers use Night of the Living Dead in this way. I think young filmmakers need to raise money to make projects for more affordable famous franchises.

Someone can raise the money for a new Friday the 13th or a new Toxic Avenger. In fact some indie producers are leasing Puppet Master who once leased SyFy the rights to a one-off film. Get creative with investors and make connections to people who do business reasonably. Shit, maybe you can shoot a short film they can use as a commercial/media traffic.

I'm about depowering the wealthy's exploitation of the poor. I'm not above helping other struggling artists who also stand for independence, liberty and the love of cheap art. Art should be free and paying should be optional, but thats for another rant.

An auteur is a DIY director

Hollywood is the center of production only for the studios. Its not the capital of filmmaking. But it is the distribution capital for America. We have to destroy this old psychology of Hollywood as a disgusting, corrupt, artificial place. It needs to reflect better of the world's best films. Hollywood theaters are always packed with agents and producers looking for the next trend or talent. For years they watched the more exotic films like exploitation, foreign, animation, ethnic, genre, etc. But now they've appropriated their own corporatized version of what were the indies' territory.

If Hollywood isn't going to support indie filmmakers (and there will always be many) then indie film must start investing in other cities, countries and communities to bring cinema to the people in the audience. 2017 was one of the poorest years ever for new films. Everything across the spectrum of the mainstream is homogenized, neutered and stale creatively. Its a revolutionary period for digital effects, art directed cinematography & crossover with existing intellectual properties and popular non-cinema. But much of it is mediocre or frankly harmful to the genre. Because we are in a recession still and profit is the underline for most producers who resist risk and experimentation or idealism.

But the indie artists, new or already established, must return independence to audiences. It doesn't matter if its streaming or downloaded or shown for free at a local cafe. Cinema is cinema. Thats something the audience has learned in the 2010s. TV, news media, video games, our dreams and wishes for the future are all essentially cinema because cinema is more than a technology or artistic practice or an aesthetic judgment. Cinema is the soul's ability to see the unseen and make it real. Its pure magic and the only physical evidence of it. You can project an abstract original idea from your mind's eye and years later it is being seen by someone you will never meet and they can feel everything you felt but see it from their own perspective. We should be embracing this gift of art to save our bring back peace & positive social standing. Cinema has done it many times before and will only become more powerful with time & innovation from fans.

I'm just a big fan of the "art house" cinema. Abstract, surrealist, auteurist, spiritual, postmodern. Those films always have their own text from the artist that must be translated by the audience, but these filmmakers leave open the personal emotional reaction as its own thing. They aren't dictating the reaction and not trying to push buttons for expected effect.

Since my reviews reflect whatever I'm focused on at the time, I should post that I'm lately watching cinema looking for post-modernism, radical Leftist ideals, anti-fascist propaganda and conscious or unconscious occult influences.

Right now I'm obsessed with Nietzsche's idea of Master & Slave and The Ubermensch, how that leads to Ayn Rand's more populist ideas about Free Market Capitalism & a Libertarian Utopia. Basically he rightly divides society into those who feel meant to rule and those who feel meant to serve and the dichotomy that leads to high level sadomasochism aka war & peace through slave labor. Nietzsche favored the 1% wolves who feast on the oblivious sheep they control and breed at large. While Rand agrees on this power dynamic, her invented morality of Objectivism tries to marry capitalism with the Golden Rule of "do unto others". She gives it a valiant try but ultimately leads to a utopia that has been proven impossible by Wall Street, the banks, Enron, you name em. She loved her masters too much, but hey she grew up rich under Lenin.

But this divide applies to not only politics & morals but religion. Essentially we are seeing more & more of the Luciferian image of the anti-hero grow in popularity. Mad Max, Kylo Ren, Death Wish reboot, Donald Trump, Satan himself is becoming a popular character in shows. After 8 years of Obama, white rightwing audiences (who America keeps as their prime "demographic") want a rejection of Jesus Christ, role models, martyrs, altruists, heroes & saviors. They want the Tragic Fool, the trickster, the crybaby, the greedy, the jealous, the amoral and the vengeful. By the bipolar, bipartisan, binary thinking nature of our sick version of "modernism", this is the only option for people who don't know they are slaves. See the Left know they are slaves so they resent their masters and want to kill them or see them fall. The "good" slaves on the Right will sacrifice themselves to protect their masters, like good coons, bucks and mammies. Its trippy how this all ties into the negative brainwashing done to blacks in the early years of cinema. Its come back to haunt the white blue collar audience.

I think the Rightwing is finding how hollow their religious fanaticism is, their soldier worship, their love of violence & sex. Its traumatic to look in the mirror. This is all reptilian brain shit that everyone grows through in adolescence but this immense populace of the 1st world is stuck on the emotional level of children. Guaranteed that cinema & entertainment will follow this. Just like in George W Bush's terms.

This over saturation of gritty dark heroism was a kind of wish fulfillment from the Left about Obama, their desperate need to take this friendly average guy and make him their avenging perfect black knight. In a way, they led to this current Satan complex in the zeitgeist. Is society's mission to create an AntiChrist to affirm 1000s of years of paranoid nightmares? This is essentially confirmed by the most popular religion in our country. We are a bunch of ticking psychopaths trying to destroy our world and create a Rapture. The best films in recent memories keep exploring this. We must transcend this deep, black phobia of success, love, happiness. Why do we hate happy endings? Why do we think failure is reality? Did the fiction poison our fantasies or were they rotten to begin with?

We need an overhaul in enlightenment and evolution, intellectually and spiritually. Fuck the stupid aesthetics of lighting and CGI. That is Hollywood carny trickery. 21st century cinema must be a tool to fight the collective oppression of self and the selfish oppression of the collective. Balance pre-conceived notions of Good & Evil. We need new heroes and truer villains. We need light & dark. Both Marvel & DC, WB & Disney. Indie & mainstream. American & foreign. Male & female, all races. The worst of us will follow the path to conservatism, laziness and reject any change or growth. If you are a filmmaker, resist this Luciferianism. It is still Satanism, no matter what they sell you.

I worry about the future of Troma. They seem far removed from their roots and very segmented. It feels like Michael Herz isn't around at all and its just a small publicity team run by Lloyd until they get enough money for a Toxic Avenger 5 (which might never happen) which will definitely be a flop unless there's some miracle that SyFy or ElRey picked it up.

Troma should merge with Full Moon films as a bi-coastal library of retro exploitation. Distribute & produce new films occasionally, but mainly keep these films alive in media anywhere possible and how about giving film grants to indies for once? Not just distributing their scraped together work in some unfair deal. These 80s companies that followed Cannon and AIP always did shady business and saturated the market with crap, so now their best efforts go unnoticed.

If Troma and Full Moon go belly up I want there to be other companies to take up their mantle. And their intellectual property could totally energize the film world if utilized properly. If Michael Herz (not Lloyd Kaufman) could make a deal for a Toxic Avenger show on MTV or let Adult Swim borrow the character or something, Troma could remain independent.

In this economy every company depends on every other company. Competition is impossible with the monopolies and conglomerates in place. All of the indies should unionize because they far out number the big Two (Warner & Disney) because the "big 5" model is dead. Universal, Paramount, Sony, MGM, is New Line dead? Miramax? Everyone under WB & WD are independents imo. And there have to be 100 strong indie media companies thanks to foreign & online channels. We think so domestically in America that we give no credence of influence to anyone else. But it will take a global effort of economy & ecology to save the world, let alone stupid movies about super villains. 

The Farce Awaken Pt 2

That last post turned into a long-coming political rant. This net neutrality decision shows the Trump administration is on the side of Hollywood and not independent film, so I am thoroughly disgusted.

But Disney's handling of Star Wars details how gloomy the future of mainstream film is. They took the most successful truly independent film company, LucasArts are turned it everything evil about cinema. They quickly killed Han, Leia and Luke (because old people are not cosmetic enough) to replace them with dumb Millennial aged puppet characters who add nothing but superficial social progressivism to grab a broader base of tickets. Its such shallow, cynical and morally bankrupt garbage for human toddlers.

I'm disappointed in George Lucas for selling Star Wars to them, knowing the positive influence it once had and how much Disney would liquidate, neuter and corrupt it. But maybe they gave him no other option. They could've waited til he died to buy it from his estate, but Lucas decided to enjoy and use the fortune while he still can. I can't hate him for selling out but it ruins the whole sentiment behind Star Wars a bit when they are owned by Hollywood's "evil empire".

I expect Luke becomes the new Emperor but Rey and Kylo overthrow him because Kylo turns Rey against him. Uh-oh! Kylo becomes the new ruler or whatever with Rey by his side... until the 3rd movie where she comes to her senses thanks to her old buddies... Is that an inspiring Disney princess feel good message for kids? Sure. But its just rewriting the old movies and not actually telling a new story. Gender-swapping. Race-swapping. Extra happy endings.  Its glorified fan fiction. And I wouldn't be surprised if Disney cops out now that Hillary Clinton isn't president. They love to go conservative when their fanbase leads them to it. Because its about dollars to them.

Fuck, I don't care. Disney has bought and sold tons of cool properties before and I doubt Star Wars will stick once Disney has milked the cow dry, like they always have. They always over-do things and kill the golden goose. I just pray Star Wars doesn't get too shitty beyond repair. Ironically this is the nightmare that movie fans claimed the Prequel/Expanded universe was. Fools.