“My father said that one day, if man continued in his ways, the Creator would annihilate this world…”
I’m no religious scholar, nor do I remember much from my Sunday school classes and CCD studies when I was growing up and attending Christian masses, but the story of Noah’s Ark is an Old Testament tale that transcends the bindings of the Bible. For forty days and forty nights, Noah and his family protected the lives of Earth’s innocent animals – two of each kind, one male and one female – as a giant flood washed away the Earth and made it fertile for a new beginning. The inspiring story is grand, though admittedly short and accessible, and can stand alone without its religious backdrop, which includes Noah, the last living descendent of Cain and Abel’s other brother, Seth, learning of the forthcoming apocalypse through visions provided by God himself and thus crafting an ark suggested by the premonitions. However, like all biblical fables and religious yarns, there are striking segments within Noah’s tale that are glossed over in favor of a cleaner, less controversial take, but when included make for a memorable story ripe for interpretation.
David Ayer is a tasteless filmmaker. When he started his career as the screenwriter for such hits like Training Day and The Fast and the Furious, he had the benefit of filmmakers who knew how to incorporate gritty, over-the-top violence in ways that were emotionally raw, in Training Day’s case, or zanily pulpy, in Fast and Furious’. Behind the camera as a director, however, Ayer seems to have no control, relishing in bloody, bombastic shootouts that overshadow any sense of plot, pace, or character development. Senseless violence on screen has always been a hot button issue and Ayer seems to be its biggest proponent. Unfortunately and unsettlingly, his latest, Sabotage, a DEA actioner starring an aged Arnold Schwarzenegger, is as tasteless as filmmaking gets. Honestly, it’s downright disturbing.
Nymphooooo-maniac. To many, the title says it all: this movie is about sex, sex, and more sex. And yes, those people would be right. The issue comes when people jump to the conclusion that this intense sexual focus makes the already-controversial Lars Von Trier’s latest film nothing more than glorified pornography. On that note, one would be very wrong. This seems to happen every year when a movie like Shame, Blue Is the Warmest Color, or the lesser-known Stranger By the Lake comes along and deals with the fascinating subject of sex in a candid manner, but Nymphomaniac is already infamous for taking that to the next level.
The Indiana Jones franchise would have been better left alone back in 1989 after the third film left the adventures of the iconic archaeologist on a high note. But like any old recognizable franchise, Paramount brought it back for the much-hated fourth installment Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in 2008, and now they’re looking to make a fifth. However, it’s clear after the last film that keeping Harrison Ford on isn’t going to work out, so a new rumor from Latino Review suggests that the studio is looking to “James Bond it” by casting a new young actor in the role. That actor? Bradley Cooper. I can see why, Cooper has a similar rugged charm to a young Harrison Ford, but Ford strikes the right balance between being a hero and being a bit of a prick and Cooper leans too much on the latter for me. So instead, here are my five picks for young actors to take over the role (that is, if we’re forced to see a new film. I’d rather the franchise just die):
To say there was an enormous amount of hype and excitement among science-fiction fans when Prometheus finally hit theaters in June of 2012 would be an understatement. Ridley Scott, the man behind Alien and Blade Runner, two of the greatest science-fiction films ever made, was not only returning to the genre of science-fiction but also to the Alien universe he had begun over 30 years ago with a film that, while not a direct prequel to Alien, did take place in the same universe. While the film was met with mostly positive critical and financial success, many fans were unsure how to feel about the movie and as months went on the cracks of the film began to show up in discussions more frequently.
A bisexual, biracial Yale graduate travels to Africa with her white best friend. When they reach an island off the shore of Kenya, she falls in love with a Swahili Muslim man. As in any love story deserving of such a name, the couple’s happiness is threatened by external difficulties and internal insecurities. Kenya is an earthly hell under President Moi, and the great social and cultural divide between the protagonists only complicate the situation more. This is the catchy synopsis for Rebecca Walker’s novel Adé, published just last year and already popular enough to have caught the serious attention of Bruce Cohen Production (American Beauty, Silver Linings Playbook) and –drum roll – Madonna as a director.
Nothing like a nice little controversy.
On Tuesday, Fox 2000 confirmed plans to adapt John Green’s best selling novel, Paper Towns, into a feature film, exciting young adult fiction fans everywhere. This is not the first of Green’s acclaimed novels to make it to the big screen. On June 6th, the adaptation of his hugely successful, cancer-ridden love story The Fault in Our Stars hits theaters, hoping to provide some emotional counterprogramming to the summer’s mighty blockbusters. Intriguingly, the team that worked on TFiOS will reunite to bring Paper Towns to life, including screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, who also drafted the scripts for (500) Days of Summer and The Spectacular Now, and star Nat Wolff, who will go from TFiOS-supporting player to Paper Town lead.
Childhood is a delicate time. Every person who’s a fan of reading has that one book from when they were a kid that opened them up to the idea that books weren’t just for school. One such book is The Giver, Lois Lowry’s 1993 novel which follows twelve-year-old Jonas as he takes on the role of the “Receiver of Memory” and discovers some harsh truths about the supposedly utopian society he lives in. Though it’s a kid’s book, Lowry doesn’t beat around the bush when it comes to the rough stuff, as she paints Jonas’ discovery of war and death and other terrible things in an honest light. The story is simple and strong, a tale of growing up and the difficult decisions one has to make, and the Newbury Medal award-winning book is a classic for a reason. That’s why the new trailer for the film version of The Giver is so disappointing. Take a look at clip here (
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