Men Who Hate Female Characters: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Review and Discussion

This post was originally posted on wordpress. 

Rating: 6/10     Director: David Fincher     Length: 158 minutes       Genre: Drama, Crime, Mystery

"Isn't it interesting how fascists always steal the world freedom?"

Synopsis
This is an American and English-speaking adaptation of a 2009 Swedish Film of the same title directed by Niels Arden Oplev . These movies are based off of a book by Steig Larsson called which in English translates in to "Men who Hate Women." The is a movie about the one and only bad ass computer hacker named Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), who helps out recently disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) solve a case about a woman who has been missing for 40 years. You quickly learn that this film is about misogyny and rape. It's not just a regular crime film. In the course of looking for this woman they stumble into serial rapists.

Remake Or Adaptation
When I originally saw that they were going to do the US adaptation of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. I was worried that it was just going to be a shot for shot remake. I knew from watching the original Swedish version exactly what was going on when I watched the US Trailer. [Though I did like Trent Reznor and Karen O's remake of Immigrant Song]
While the US movie looked exactly the same as the Swedish version it didn't feel like the same movie. They explained how Lisbeth did certain things, they didn't talk as much about Listbeth's background and they hyped up her relationship with Blomvist. While the ultimate resolution of certain scenes are the same, how they got there is different. For example, Lisbeth (who makes a living using her computer [and camera]) has her computer broken making it so she needs money to get a new one. In Sweden, her computer is broken when three possibly four men (read..assholes) beat her and cause it to break. In US one man tries to steal her bag from her. Ultimately the computer is broken, but the meanings the audience takes from these moments are very different. Will Brooker wrote in his wonderful review* of this film that…

"Fincher's film cuts a key scene where Lisbeth is abused and called "bitch" by random men in a subway; by adapting the incident into a simpler property theft, he lessens the impact of the original novel and earlier film. Like Nazism, those versions reminded us, a hatred of women is not confined to twisted individuals, but symptomatic of a broader culture, and it is manifested in the smallest street abuse as well as in the grossest multiple homicide."

Before I talk about the things that really bothered me. I should say that the US version never made me bored. [There are, however, many long unnecessary sections in the film. They didn't need a long title sequence and they didn't need to explain certain thing.] Trent Reznor's score created a pace that made me focus on this film. My boredom from the 2009 Swedish version I think has more to do with the nature of the story than the work of the director. BLOMVIST IS BORING. He's okay, he's a nice guy but he is nowhere near as innovative, different and awesome as Lisbeth. So when he's on screen I would check out. Yes, his sections help at information [and not even in a cool computer hacker kind of way]. But still, in a movie that is 2 hours and 46 minutes long I just don't care about Blomvist and I'm wondering "Where is Lisbeth?" This one helped distract me from that feeling with the score and some of Finchers swooping camera angles. I also liked that the film was darker than the Swedish one, it was aesthetically pleasing. [And while  its superficial, it does help that it’s in a language I understand]
Changing scenes, adding lines, adding McDonalds product placement, are all in the spirit of adaptions. The problem is that everything that was changed in the movie,, that would make this movie "it's own" watered down the message of misogyny and watered down the badass-ness of Lisbeth Salander. There are times when she asks Blomvist for permission to do things, which Lisbeth would never do. It really sucks for actor Rooney Mara. She did great job, unfortunately she was portraying a distorted version of Lisbeth no where near as awesome as the original Swedish Lisbeth played by Noomi Rapace.

Rape Scenes In a Rape Culture
[Trigger Warning: Discussion of rape and grave details from the scenes. Please feel free to skip this section. ]

"It [directing] isn't about the actor...it's a ballet between so many different people" - David Fincher

"If the whole center of [a] film, a supposedly brutal and disgusting rape, turns on even one person in the audience just a little bit then the film has completely missed it's mark "

I was so close to considering this movie the best of the year. I was sooooooooooooooo close. Unfortunately the more I think about the rape scene the angrier I become. I want to clarify that in this film there are three rape scenes and that I don't feel telling you about this is really a spoiler. I think its necessary. (If you disagree skip to the next section)  I have watched many movies (for myself, in a class settings, and with friends) I've learned its way better to know a rape scene is there than to be shocked by it. Also reading something is nothing in comparison to seeing it. I feel people should be informed before letting people walk into a theater without knowing.

Background. Because of Lisbeth's history with  violence (the reasons for that aren't thoroughly explained in this version like it is in the Swedish version) the government assigns her a guardian. When the guard she has goes ill she is assigned a new one Nils Bjurman. He uses the power he has over her (the guardians can decide if a person goes to an asylum or not) he forces her to preform oral sex on him (1st rape scene) then she asks for money for food and this time he asks her to come to his house and there he handcuffs her hands and feet and anally rapes her. (2nd and the one I will be mentioning the most). Then she comes back  and we find that she has recorded her rape so that she can get control of her own money and he won't have a hold over her again. She then rapes him with a didlo  (which I will admit  the American version was nice enough to make it metal and larger than the one in the Swedish version) Afterward she tattoos the phrase "I'm a rapist pig." on his chest (3rd rape scene)
I think this is the most erroneous change that director David Fincher made in this movie. I was sick when I watched it. I was very close to watching out. (I didn't by popcorn so I couldn't throw anything.) I have read the original book up to this point in the story, but even if I hadn't I don't think it matters. Anyone who calls themselves a director knows that something that works on paper can be horrific on screen. It's the director's(and screenwriter's) job to think of context.  I DO believe my albeit low knowledge of semiotics (study of signs) and my knowledge of rape scenes in film  make me worthy of reviewing this scene.

The rape scene was sickening. It was an act of violence against the viewers and all of the people who hold this trilogy dear in their hearts. It is softcore pornography. The camera work give it a feel of bondage not of rape.  It’s the only movie for many people I know that has a rape scene that people can watch. The original Swedish movie 1. shows rape as violence and exists for plot purposes only 2. she retaliates and isn't framed as irrational or "crazy" because of her actions; she is a hero and thinks of the other women he may come in contact with in the future 3. the entire movie talks about rape and holds rapists (of all classes) responsible for their actions  4(my favorite) the sexism and racism/antisemistism in religion (or the way religion is used) is also attacked which I think is one of the most powerful things in this story.

So, with all of that build up at stake the director of the movie/Columbia pictures seemed to decide to fuck it up. There are many fundamental differences between the two movies depiction of the rape scenes. In the first rape scene (America) we see her unzip his pants while in the Swedish film she doesn't. In the both the first and second rape scenes.  The Swedish movie focuses on Lisbeth's face the entire time. So we focus on what Lisbeth is feeling / what what she is doing /what she is thinking.  In the second scene, we see her trying to fight him the entire time.  We see him punch her in the face and wrestle her on the bed.  (There's nothing erotic about it; its terrible and terrifying.) In the American version we focus on the rapist face/what the rapist is doing/that the rapist puts on a condom/that the rapist thrusts/that the rapist is enjoying himself. We see him sniff her behind (a detail I should add that isn't in the book) We see her pant/we see her crying(not screaming)/we see her try to get out of the hand cuffs once but by that time both her hands and feet are cuffed. We see a lot of her body.  This scene is fundamental to the course of the trilogy. It returns in multiple scenes. WHY MESS IT UP? So many things are similar to the original Swedish trilogy but for some reason this needed it's own take? There were so many details in the book that they could have added instead of changing this the way it did.

Fincher mentioned in an interview that Mara ended up with bruises  after doing the scenes. Mara herself didn't seem to have much of a problem with preforming the scene and said "It's not that I'm tired of talking about them, but people really need to up their game with the question. Everyone is like, 'So, the rape scene. Was that hard?' You're just like, 'No, it was really fun. It was really titillating'. But I'm not sick of talking about them," [It's like she wants me to take that out of context]

"..Rape scenes found in a American cinema are filmed from the p.o.v. of men, who evidently experience some kind of personal gain by humiliating women. I do not know if the men who make movies enjoy humiliating individual actresses or if it is a symbolic show of power over women in general. I do know that too many movies contain scenes that deal with rape in an unrealistic male fantasy based manner...We (the women in the audience) are powerless to help the woman on the screen...we are forced to watch the pillage of one of our sisters unfold under the charmed auspices of something executives in Hollywood refer to as a plot." [Cunt by Inga Musico]

The other issue with the American version's depiction of rape was that it was shot from the rapist's perspective. In the first rape scene the camera lets us know how much he is enjoying himself. The second rape scene is a little bit more tricky. It seems to have a a mix between the rapists perspective and a voyeuristic perspective. Instead of seeing the extent to which Lisbeth tries to fight him off we see a door. This is gives the audience the idea that we aren't supposed to see what we are seeing. Also there is one shot that made me furious. By this point Lisbeth is on the bed. The rapist is on top of her body. There are many times in this scene that Lisbeth isn't in the shot, which is very annoying. In this particular one, the camera is situated so it must be over Lisbeth's body. It makes it so that it's possible for the audience to forget what Lisbeth is going through.

The third rape scene confirms the idea that we are viewing from the rapist perspective. Specifically when she looks at the camera [from what must be the rapist's perspective] and says "I'm insane." Again Will Brooker describes what that sentence does to the audience.

she herself confesses "I am insane" - which narrows Larsson's message about misogynistic violence down to a personal vendetta.

Now I want to point out what this means in an American context. American film (and probably around the world) has managed the blur the line between what is sex and what is rape. Ultimately it comes down to consent. People must be consistent in showing that they don't consent in An American context. In the sickening James Bond film Goldfinger (1964) he fights a woman named Pussy Galore (Really.) I mean they literally flip each other over until we see him pin her on the ground as her arms shake and he kisses her. That was rape, but it was never seen that way.  There is a scene in an episode of Family Guy where they mock James Bond and in their parody scene they illustrate the way rape was dealt in those films. Their parody version of James Bond says to the camera "See that, 50 nos and a yes means yes." (Their lead played the newest James Bond so you can't pretend they don't know about it.) Then we have family guy where we have the "funny" rapist character Quagmire who in one scene gets to sleep at night by listening to a woman's screams we also see him with women running out of the trunk of his car. On that show alone there are many jokes about rape. This is a country where a Yale Fraternity chanted "No means Yes , Yes means anal" near the women's freshman dorms. It's a country where other fraternities send around emails to comparing women to food and detailing how to get a woman. They write things like "Non-consent and rape are two different things."  We live in a world where 15% of rape survivors were under 12 years old.
So we needed to see her fighting him off (So we can't even pretend she is ever consented) or to see her screaming no and giving her the chance to kick him or something is necessary.  And the eroticization of this scene was bad directing. I can't think of any other way to describe it.

Btw... For anyone directing rape here is a math equation to remember: S ≥ 2r The sex scene (S) I feel should be more explicit than a rape scene (r).

The "Pornification" of Lisbeth Salander



I should admit though that the blame of a watered down Lisbeth isn't all on the film itself. Melissa Silverstien wrote on Indiewire about how the movie wasn't really doing well with the female audience. Her theory was  possibly because it's about rape and violence against women. It could also be what Silvertien calls the pornification of Lisbeth.

Champions of the book think that the boob poster was a huge mistake and is not in context with the character. I guess we shouldn't be surprised because David Fincher, one of the most successful and interesting directors around, is in charge and let's remember that he is not known for making very pro-women films.

Doing a quick search I found other pictures that had a similar effect. An effect very different to the way that the 2009 Swedish version had. For example, I was at the Grocery Store and I found a picture of Rooney Mara that said "The Girl with The Pierced Nipple."

The problem that I ultimately had with the posters is that the ones that aren't sexualized focus on Blomvist. The one currently on IMDB has her looking to the side and we see Blomvist straight on.  The one that was their when I watched the movie has it so you [dirty joke coming] see him in her. Don't get me wrong there can be pictures of both Lisbeth and  Blomvist but..they could try..idk making them seem like partners.

"Central to the reason to want to make the movie was this amazing duo, this man and this girl, and their odd partnership." - David Fincher

[Sidenote: If you ever feel the need to watch the sexist /racist James Bond film,  Goldfinger they do the same thing to the women in the title sequence. We see women but then we see James Bond and other men in those women.] This focus on Lisbeth and Blomvist is seen in the film. The relationship between these too characters makes her seem like she is cured by Blomvist's love. [Ugh] American film is pretty notorious for being heavy handed with adding romance in their crime/action films.

Conclusion

So here is a second math equation:

Sexualized Images + Sexualized Rape Scene (the first time we see her naked in the film) + Watered Down Lisbeth= Problem

So, my suggestion for people is that they check out the original 2009 films on Netflix. Then see the 2011 version with open eyes.If you know nothing of the original book or film when watching it you will probably love it. I think that's because even after going through the American ringer Lisbeth is still amazing. Unfortunately I feel that was only by accident.

Links & Notes
About the Film

Will Brooker's Review
Melissa Silverman via IndieWire
Trent Reznor's Immigrant Song Cover

Interviews with David Fincher: On Directing, On the Film, On The Rape Scene
Rooney Mara on The Rape Scenes
About Rape
Rape Statistics
Yale Fraternity Chants Yes Means Anal
Fraternity Sends Out Email About Sex
James Bond Parody on Family Guy
Some of my extra quotes come from the book Cunt written by Inga Muscio.

Best Movies of 2011

1. Miss Representation



Original Review Here
Miss Representation is a documentary that analyses the ways that women are portrayed in films. It contains an array of brilliant interviews  with people in government, authors, directors, actresses, activists etc etc etc.  It even talks (too briefly) about how sexism affects men and how men aren't allowed to be emotional. If at all interested in discussing gender an any fashion I would start with this movie. It has so much amazing information in it (I left the theater with about 5 pages of notes. I would have had more if I could write faster)  It is a beautiful film that opens up your eyes to how these images impact future generations. I also love that this is a movie that doesn't just die. You can tell that  Jennifer Siebel Newsom was trying to make a film that would further impact discussions of sexism.  Oh, and I loved the score. I only have two (small) issues with this movie. One I felt that because of the variety of people who were interviewed a slightly more full discussion of race could have happened.  Two, I disliked Jim Steyer's  idea that images were better in "the forties and fifties" because supposedly,  that was a time  women could have more roles on screen. I think that, that assumption leaves a lot of women who weren't (in any way) represented in that time (non-white, non-heterosexual).  He goes on to talk about how censoring violent images is important. I totally understand that. I also feel that this statement should have been expanded on, when you consider the history that the MPAA and censoring groups have with homophobia and sexism.
This documentary impacted  the way I looked at gender issues this year. From the role of black women in The Help to the discussion director Jason Rietman and writer Diablo Cody had about sexist images affect on women in Young Adult, to the "fighting fuck toy" image in Mission Impossible. The quote "You can't be what you cant see" is what sticks with me.  What have I seen this year? What do these movie say I can be? As a black woman Hollywood seems to say I can be nothing but a sex object for a (married!) white man (Thanks Mission Impossible)  while my history is whitewashed (Oh, The Help). Luckily there has been some hope. An emergence of black female directors conscious of the problem like, Ava Duverny (who is a pleasure to meet) or Dee Reese(whose movie Pariah is  out at select cities).
Another positive theme this year is how gay rights is inching into the public mind.  Young Adult and Red State show that you don't have to be gay to be effected by the violence of homophobia. There are gay characters in movies (just because) like the Sherlock Holmes' brother or a cop in The Guard. For better or worse it says something about what people are thinking.
This is a year of hiding, of disguises, of looking a little deeper and I was able to see some pretty interesting films.
Miss Representation was an easy  pick for number one. The rest of these movies were not. I tried to base this off of what movie was better, not what movie has the most entertainment value (which is very difficult).  If you disagree with the order I apologize. I put all the movies I saw this year, if there is one I didn’t see that you love please let me know by commenting.

2.We Were Here

This is a documentary that looks at how the community in San Francisco handled the AIDS epidemic. The film is a combination of 5 interviews and photos from the time. You will cry and you won't care who sees you. This film will tear at your heart. If you learn nothing else from it learn this: the seemingly small actions of people can spark a community that can do almost anything. There were places that allowed infected artist in the community to get art supplies and there were places that took care of pets of the sick.  I took a class where we watched many documentaries about AIDS in the US, unlike those this movie highlighted the contribution of the lesbian community on the epidemic.
I will say this movie had one possible flaw. It is framed so that it ends in an uplifting manor (for obvious reasons) that could be read by an uninformed audience as saying that HIV/AIDS isn't "that bad" anymore. If you look at the way HIV is affecting the deaf and black communities in the US (the two I myself have studied) you will see that that there are still a lot of work to be done in this country and globally. This films main strength is that it focuses on one particular communities actions so discussing others and going into global issues isn't necessary but I think it could have been helpful to include a list of organizations that deal with the disease currently.

3. The Wonder Year.
.
Original Review Here
This documentary about hip-hop producer/professor 9th Wonder was pretty amazing. I can't express what if feels like to watch a movie about a black man (1) from my home town (2) that talks about rap music (3). I feel everyone who left the theater gained a higher understanding of music and what a musician can do. Director Kenneth Price did a fantastic job, it was both beautiful and smart. One of my biggest pet peeves is documentaries where the director includes themselves for no reason. Price let 9th Wonder tell his own story while also showing us what we needed to see.
4.  Sherlock Holmes

Guy Richie comes back with another Sherlock Holmes sequel. This one more action packed, and funnier than the first. I personally liked it, thought Richie needed to redo some of his slow motion effects. I think I liked it because I haven't read the original stories and don't have such a fond connection to them (I also never expect a movie to be true to the book it's adapting in any way).  Two I have been reading queer theory and the ways movies hint at a characters queerness. So all the  "bro-mancing" between Holmes and Watson, was pretty hiliarous to me.  I mean how can you look at Holmes' sad face when he sees Watson get married with out going "awwwww"? Like Holmes said, "It's so overt it's covert."
(Other) Favorite Quotes: "Unlike you I repress nothing."
“Why would I want anything with a mind of its own bobbing about between my legs?"

5. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Review Coming.
This is an American and English-speaking adaptation of a 2009 Swedish Film of the same title. These movies are based off of a book by Steig Larsson called which in English translates in to "Men who Hate Women." The is a movie about the one and only bad ass named Lisbeth Salander, who helps out recently disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist solve a case about a woman who has been missing for 40 years.
If you take out Trent Reznor's score and the lighting you are left with a watered down Hollywood remake that is held up by Rooney Mara's performance. While it still manages to slightly open eyes to sexism director David Fincher didn't give me the movie I was promised. It wasn't "The Feel Bad Move of Christmas" it was a movie that lets people walk out the theater unaware that the issues shown isn't just some mystery it's the world we live in. I highly suggest people watch the 2009 before seeing this version. I hope to pick up a copy of the original novel, if I can find one that doesn't say anything about David Fincher's remake on the cover.

6. I Will Follow

I Will Follow is about woman in the process of packing up and leaving her aunts house. She stayed with Aunt while she had cancer and now her aunt has died. We find out a lot about this woman in the course of this day. I really respect how no one in this movie is represented like a villain. There are even times when we don't like our protagonist. Also it was made with only $50,000 which is amazing: It looks beautiful, the music is great, it was written pretty well. However, I'm not a big fan of day-in -the-life movies/stories. They feel overly sentimental to me, even though the day you move away can be very traumatic. I think this movie could be loved by someone who is a little less shallow about those things than I am.

7. Beginners
[BTW this movie came out in Canada in 2010 but almost everywhere else in 2011]

This is a movie about a man (Ewan McGregor) whose parents have died [his father who was gay died most recently] and he is still trying to get over that. In the process of healing he meets a woman (Melanie Laurent) who helps him feel better and they fall in love. I liked the way they talk about  gay rights and antisemitism. The way the movie used images and voice over to create this story was really phenomenal. However I will say that the one gay character [other than the father] is represented as being paranoid about homophobia which is unfortunate. This movie has also been criticized because Melanie Laurents character is basically a Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Meaning her entire role in the movie is about making this guy feel better about his life. My other issue with this movie is that it's very slow at time and I don't see watching it again.

8. Mission Impossible

Ok so...Mission Impossible shouldn't be that high on the list. It's a very guilty pleasure of mine.If I had to guess I would say that this movie was about 98% percent action. Even things that you wouldn't even consider remotely suspenseful if I told you about them are made to made to increase you heart rate. I love it. However the other 2% of this action fest  feels like boring romantic nonsense. No one cares about Paula Patton's (I can't remember her character's name) dead boyfriend. No one cares (even remotely) about Ethan's (Tom Cruise) wife.  And when the movie tried to slow itself down that's when little different racist/sexist things started happening. Patton's character becomes a "Fighting Fuck Toy" Meaning despite any fights she gets into her role in this movie is to be looked at. Oh and within the middle of the movie she shares a wonderful cat fight with the only other woman in the movie.  Still, I feel this Mission Impossible is probably one of my favorites. It was like an action sandwich.The main reason to watch Mission impossible to see things blow up and see Ethan run on a the side of a building. And in that sense this movie does not disappoint.  Get some pop corn, have some soda. Lets have fun.

Oh and if you are looking for some kind of drinking game play "Find the product placement in Mission Impossible."

9. The Guard

"I Can't Tell If You're Really Mother F*cking Dumb or Really Mother F*cking Smart" - Don Cheadle's character
This movie  is about a very unorthodox Irish cop and an FBI agent (Don Cheadle) who despite their differences (casual racist comments) end up solving a crime. We have an idea in our head of what a good cop is supposed to be and I don't think he is supposed to spend the day with prostitutes instead of work or pick up drugs off of a crime scene. This movie is slightly meta at times, certain lines make me feel like they are trying to comment on the normal cop films. (Metacinema is always a positive.) While I enjoyed this film I can't see myself watching it again or buying. I'm not sure why. It's also possible the casual racist jokes irked me a little bit. (Dear people in the theatre, I don't think they were meant to be that funny.)

10. J Edgar

"A society unwilling to learn from the past is doomed. We must never forget our history."
Clint Eastwood's biopic about J. Edgar Hoover, a man we come to find out of many names and faces, was a 137 minute epic. The movie intercuts Hoover when he starts the FBI and then when he is older in age. I have a serious problem with movies that feel slow especially movies like J Edgar that start out so promising. There is an explosion within the first 10 minutes! Also the script and the direction were brilliant. I have two problems with this movie. One the representation of homosexuality. I know many people don't know that about Hoover's homosexuality but do you really need to explain this by having him talk about a woman's since of fashion? My second issue with the film is that it doesn't thoroughly show what he and the FBI did. There is no real mention his war on the black panther party. (hit up wikipedia for more info) I wouldn't have minded that if the entire point of this film was to show how this man hid documents and represented himself better than he was. This movie was supposed to show us everything but it was way too scared to do so.

11. Young Adult

This was a pretty decent film that felt like it would work better either as a short story or a short film. I could see cutting this hour and thirty minute movie into, say, 40 minutes. It follows fiction writer named Mavis Gray who has a lot of problems. She is recently divorced and trying to get with her old high school flame buddy Slade. It doesn't matter that he is married with a kid. We also meet Matt (Patton Oswald) who in high school was beaten by a group of jocks with a baseball bat because they thought hew as gay.
Despite the length, this movie has a lot of genius in it. It was obviously written by someone who understands how different images and novels affect young women. Some who also understand the rates at which kids are gay bashed and the rates that young girls harm themselves. A lot of people who watch the movie think of Mavis as horrible person. She may be hard to like, but not because of some intrinsic meanness we find in the course of the movie how much she has been through.Deep at the core of this movie is also the moral that you can't go back.   Everybody in the movie makes a least one mistake to that effect. They either ignore the problems that Mavis has, or fall prey to wanting to reminisce. For example her parents still keep the picture of Mavis's wedding despite her divorce. Matt shows an interest in talking to Mavis at all, showing a need to go back to when you were a kid and the old flames people keep in their minds. Songs aren't as wonderful the second time and neither are people.
Quotes: "There is no healing without someone getting hurt"
"Guys like me are born in love with women like you."

12. Beats Rhymes and Life

This is a documentary about the legendary rap group "A Tribe Called Quest."  it was director by Micheal Rapaport. While this movie was entertaining it should have been the second documentary about this group. It doesn't do them justice. It's more of a VH1 Behind the Music-style piece that focuses on a fight that this group had instead of focusing on the music and the influence of the group. I think that it was lazy directing. It is probably the worst edited documentary I have ever seen. There is literally a scene where we see Rapaport hugging rapper Q-Tip in the movie. We hear him asking them  questions which could have easily been edited out. Then the movie is made so you feel like Q-Tip and Phife are fighting even though it's obvious that they are talking at two very different times. Rapaport didn't seem to understand that this documentary isn't about him. Unfortunately because I feel it's important to know about this group I can't say you shouldn't watch it but you should definitely take it with a grain of salt.

13. To.Get.Her

This is about a group of girls from different places who meet online and they come to hang with each other on a nice beach. Or so we think. Each girl has her own story and you find out (too late) that their lives aren't what you think they will be. Despite the traumatic end of this movie, I felt that it started of unnecessarily slow. If you stay with it you are in the middle of one of the most interesting psychological thrillers you have seen. Instead of allowing us to ignore issues of teen suicide this movie gives us five different girls and five different stories all at one time. We can't look away anymore. What is even better about this movie is that despite what I just told you, I gave nothing away.

14. 50/50

This is an incredibly sad film, partly because of my love for Joseph Gordon-Levitt as an actor. In this movie Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is diagnosed with cancer though this is awful his disease prompts positive things to happen in his life. Like I said, depressing, but Seth Rogen's character Kyle saves this film. There is one great scene where Kyle sees Adam's girlfriend out with another guy so he takes a picture and shows Adam. It's probably the best scene in the film. I was laughing so hard.

15. Limitless

This movie was on netflix. I honestly didn't pay that much attention to it. My ultimate problem with the movie is that it sells out. It starts off with a guy(Bradly Cooper) who is a writer who is unable to get anything done, has a messy apartment, and a horrible love life. (It was like made a movie about me.) He then gets a pill that makes him more organized and able to call things from his memory. He becomes able to make millions of dollars and become a politician. Where did the writing go? It may not be that important but I felt the movie was a little classist. It creates this idea that the people who are in power are in power because they are smarter than us. He's not using his new found intellect to concur bigger issues(or rather they don't show that is even an option for him). (Prepare for corny joke.) Instead he's limited to corporate people. This drug as basically like intellectual steroids but it's all okay as long as you end up rich.

16. Red State

"People just do the strangest things when they believe they're entitled. But they do even stranger things when they just plain believe."

Red State (dir by Keven Smith) starts off being about three teenage boys who are going to try to have sex with a woman they met on the internet but that woman turns out to be from a homophobic church that wants to kill them. This movie stops being about these boys and becomes a battle between the government and this church (an obvious metaphor). This horror movie-esq film has some pretty cool camera work but plays with it's audience too much. Just when we find someone to identify with they die. Over and over and over and over again. It happens so often we stop caring about the movie at all. Seeing people protest  gay pride parades and reading about people protesting funerals was enough to make me begin to like this film. Unfortunately bad writing ultimately ruins Smith's good intentions.

[Like I mentioned at the beginning creating a order based mostly on quality is very difficult especially with many films that felt similar to me in quality and in enjoyment value. Luckily for me the last two films were so terrible I didn't have to do much work. The sad thing is these two films will probably win an Oscar. ]

17. Tree of Life

Tree of Life is about a man still dealing with the death of his brother. For most of the time we see this man as a boy dealing with his super submissive mother, his violent father, and random issues around town. I wonder why I had such a problem with this movie. I thought maybe it was because I don't know that much about religion or if I was stupid. I realized it was because this film tries to universalize through a white male from the fifties who is very hard to like.  I think it probably shares less with religion and more with Freudian psychology. Unfortunately I didn't have an Oedipal complex so... I was done with this movie from the beginning. When we heard the voice over say "The nuns taught us there were two ways through life - the way of nature and the way of grace. You have to choose which one you'll follow. Nature only wants to please itself. Get others to please it too. Likes to lord it over them. To have its own way. It finds reasons to be unhappy when all the world is shining around it. And love is smiling through all things. " Feel free to tell me I am miss understanding the quote here but I don't feel that I live in a world that is "shinning" in any way possible.Then director Terrance Malik includes a beautiful but ultimately unnecessary sequence of the world beginning again. It ends with the dinosaurs. (Yes there are dinosaurs in this film.) Which made me feel as though Malik believes everything in this movie is so universal even the dinosaurs understand it. I also want to speak a little on sexism. While the father in this film (who is played wonderfully by Brad Pitt) has a whole back story to explain his actions we learn nothing of the mother. Also in the film when the boy is a kid we see him staring a little girl in his class and watching her has she walks down the street. Literally the creepiest positive I've been in assuming I'm supposed to identify with this character.
I felt really bad about not liking this film after reading many glowing reviews that expressed the idea that only smart people were capable of understanding this. Then I read that Malik also directed another whitewashed version of Pocohantas' life. I stopped feeling bad.

18. The Help

This was easily the worst movie this year. I have nothing to say about it, if you were lucky enough to survive this year without knowing what this movie was about I won't bother explaining it. I'll let Public Enemy handle this...

The Help and Links

The Help is probably one of the most universally hated films in a really long time.Everyone admits that that acting is great but the screenplay should be set on fire. Weird, I'm so used to being the only one on this side that I tried (hard) to find good in this movie just to work up against the crowd.
Anyway I'll let everybody else talk about this movie....
1. Melissa Harris-Perry on MSNBC (video)

2. Thoughts on The Help  

 If given dignity, it’s a kind of unrealistic selflessness that further excuses her [black female characters] character from having the same drives and ambitions as the other characters. She is tired, hard and so used to her low station that someone more privileged must sweep in to let her know how badly she’s being treated. The biggest injustice is that whatever their personal integrity, black female characters are continually shown as the sidekick in their own story, always within the context of race, with their voices used to provide teaching moments for the real characters. 


Take, for example, recent female-driven films like The Devil Wears Prada and Nanny Diaries, in which the helpful black friend (Tracie Thoms and Alicia Keys, respectively) appears on screen solely to assist the central white character (Anne Hathaway and Scarlett Johansson) through life and love. Or consider the 2009 Oscar season: Sandra Bullock took home the Best Actress Academy Award (The Blindside) for playing a white woman who takes on the role of mother to an unwanted black male football player, whose “non-racism” was continually held up as an standing-ovation worthy virtue instead of a basic tenet of human dignity. Meanwhile, Mo’Nique won Best Supporting Actress (Precious) for portraying one of the worst mothers ever seen on film. She not only physically, emotionally and sexually abused her daughter on a regular basis, but she also encouraged her “man” to as well. 


These are the roles that Hollywood rewards and, in the process, reinforces

3. The Help Tidies Up Alot (for some reason this link isn't working)

There are ridiculously few black production executives in Hollywood, none of whom have anything resembling greenlight power. DreamWorks, for example, does not have a black production executive, though it is the only major studio to have an African American marketing head. So while Hollywood has an abundance of white liberals, it is an insular world, full of executives who have little firsthand understanding of the black experience.
Perhaps that’s why “The Help,” despite its earnest, colorblind intentions, feels like such a naive piece of feel-good storytelling.

I bet plenty of people will be beating the drum for Davis’ performance, and rightly so. It would be terrific to see her win an Oscar for her part, just as Hattie McDaniel did more than 70 years ago for her role as a black maid called Mammy in “Gone With the Wind.” In Hollywood, I guess that’s what they call progress.

Women Holding Cameras (My Unapologetic Self Advertising)

I entered into the Lunapads video contest. If you don't know what Lunapads are they are reusable menstrual products. The idea of the Luna Revolution Contest was that women would talk about how using these product has effect their lives. You'll be surprised how much they help women.

What I like about this(aside from the cash prize and how it gave me a chance to learn about video editing) is that made it so women are holding cameras and telling their stories.  It also forces other people (possible just women) to watch the videos because one way to when is to get votes. It's also amazing marketing. The biggest hurdle I would imagine for the company is that people think it's disgusting so now there are women actively saying "It's not disgusting. You should try it."

This is where my unapologetic adverting comes in....


To vote for my video click here


...you can also vote for my friends video.

While I am advertising I do encourage you to see all the wonderful videos. 
UPDATE: I didn't win (awwww) but it was fun..