Sunday, July 20, 2008

Dark Knight Review


Dark Knight is amazing in so many ways. It smashes many ideas of one dimensional characters that we often see in comic fair. Batman is being attacked on two fronts. In love and war. We find that his love interest is tired of the save the world routine and is dating the District Attorney and the Criminal world have turned to a character like The Joker to get rid of The Batman. Even Gotham's towns folk are tired of the Batman as well because the body counts continues to rising in the battle between cops and robbers and they are the collateral damage. So Batman finds himself unliked, unloved and wanted.

The Joker is one of the finest villains you will ever see on screen. Heath Ledger will win the Oscar for this role. The Joker is a villain who rises above thuggery. He is on a higher mission. He calls himself an agent of Chaos. This is what makes him so dangerous. He has no vulnerable sides. He is the great disrupter to the status quo. He is in it for the sport of it. The Joker burns a mountain of money because it mean nothing to him. This film in many ways is a biblical battle between Gabriel and Lucifer. The agent of Order vs the agent of Chaos. Yen meets Yang. As the plot thickens the Joker puts life so clearly to Batman (to us)..."We need each other. You can't kill me and I can't kill you".

The Dark Knight is a defining film of our times. It does not give us answers, but asks us questions. The imperial idea of what is good and what is evil is not so simple any more. As a Nation we seem to have lost our way. By any means necessary is the new motto. Laws are only to enforce on those we see as criminals. We want to be right at any costs. The right God, The right Oil and the right brand of freedom. When a great nation doubts it self it needs someone to fight to define it's ideas. And the agents of chaos hiding in the mountains of far away lands need an empire to fight, an oppressor to destroy.

In one of the final scenes Batman has the Joker suspended upside down and as the Joker explains to Batman that he can't kill him because he needs him. The camera rotates 180 to give a Joker world view and we find even in all his killing he is an agent to serve the same universe. Batman realizes this is true. We are looking in the mirror at self. There is very little difference between these two Knights they are twin brothers. The quote by Lord John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton "
Absolute power corrupts absolutely", comes to mind and the Joker is an equalizer very similar to the battle between the Architect and the Oracle in the Matrix. It's as if these films are trying to remind us of our humanity. In our digital age or differences can travel as fast as our similarities if we chose to focus on them. I am my brothers keeper.

Stacy Spikes

Monday, July 14, 2008

New Yorker Obama Cover

Wow, New Yorker you can't be serious. I am speechless. In so many ways you would think that we have come along way, but it looks like we have not. Sales must be really poor at the New Yorker for a stunt like this.

There is a great documentary film called "Soldiers With-Out Swords" on the history of the Black Press in America. The Black Press would emulate the mainstream press in their tactics to vilify people of color. To be balanced I wonder if we will see Mr and Mrs McCain dressed in White Sheets, with photo of Hitler on the wall as they click their boots in an Arian salute. Probably not!

New Yorker GROW UP! And members of the staff who are persons of color SPEAK UP! You have a responsibility to your families, your community and your country at large.

Spikes

http://stacyspikes.blogspot.com

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Hellboy 2 Review



Hellboy picks up where it left off in this dysfunctional super hero family. Hellboy old plot is saved just in time by the departure in the Guillermo Del Toro directing and script. The film gets a little stale.Del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth Director) gives the film great depth. We enter a world very similar to the Cantina bar in the Original Star Wars. These characters are refreshing. Hellboy is definitely worth seeing and will do great at video.

Spikes

http:www.stacyspikes.blogspot.com

Friday, July 4, 2008

Adidas Olympic Ad Campaign

Here are some images from the upcoming Adidas Olympics Ad Campaign. Using China Nationalism. What do you think?




Thursday, July 3, 2008

Hancock Movie Review


Hancock (played by Will Smith) is a bold, daring movie taking a shot at our present super hero culture. It takes a complicated hero and tries to rehabilitate him to what should be his natural sober state. People want to love Hancock, but his drunken blunders just seems to make everything worst. Peter Berg does a great job in directing this cast with Charlize Theron and Jason Bateman. At the end of the day Hancock leaves you wanting more. The flaw is in the script. The film can't decide if it wants to be a Super Hero Flick or a Love Story. We all know that underneath all super hero films is a love story, but Hancock gets confused by it's brilliant opening and does a sloppy job ending the film.

Spoiler - Cover your eyes. The 2nd half of the film is similar to Cast Away when Tom Hanks character comes home after he was considered dead. We discover that Smith and Theron both have super powers and we're married prior. Smith lost his memory following an injury and Theron settled into a normal life with Bateman leaving Smith to fend for himself. That part is fine and a great twist, but at the end of the film our hero ends up with nothing. When Hanks character in Cast Away is standing at the crossroads and not sure which direction to go. Hope drives by with the wings on the back of the truck similar to the package that kept him alive all those years. We see that the hand of fate was there all along. Giving our hero a shot at love after all. That's is missing in Hancock. Smith ends up with a bird and making hearts on the moon. He does not get the girl or any girl.

Hancock is still worth seeing, even though it's not the great film it could have been.

Spikes