My Dystopian Life

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Category: Film (Page 1 of 3)

Review: Burn It Down – Maureen Ryan (2023)

July 17, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Wondering why actors, writers and other Hollywood workers are on strike right now? Then you need to read this book. In it Maureen Ryan, an entertainment reporter, lays out what is wrong with Hollywood and how things need to change in order to move forward.

What is wrong in Hollywood? Rampant abuse of all kinds is rewarded, while those who complain about it are blacklisted and unable to find work in the industry. There is so much abuse detailed in this book that it was emotionally a tough read for me. I had heard about some of the abuse before but I had no idea that it was this bad. She devotes a whole chapter to the production side of the series Lost and what happened on set and behind the scenes will make your toes curl. A black actor complained that they didn’t have enough lines and that their character’s arc didn’t make sense and what happened to them? They were fired from the show.

The studio execs are a huge part of why this keeps happening and they refuse to change their ways. They are almost exclusively older white men, who see nothing wrong with the way things are. As long as their pockets are full of money who cares about people being verbally abused by directors or fondled by staff writers. They will give known abusers jobs because they make them a lot of cash. Remember folks, making money is more important than the basic human rights of others.

What I really love about this book is that she puts forward ideas that could make things change in a meaningfully way. Did you know that there isn’t a centralized place for people to report abuse going on in the industry? That really blew my mind. An industry that literally makes billions of dollars can’t bother to do this simple thing? That speaks volumes as to what kind of people are in charge.

This is a great book that gives you the truth as to what is really going on behind the scenes and it is a must read. With all of that being said, people in the industry deserve to be treated with respect. I stand behind all of the industry people on strike right now and I hope something good comes out of it.

Thoughts On Living With Chucky (2022)

July 9, 2023 / / 0 Comments

I love the Chucky films. Why? Because they are fun as hell and always a good time. Last night my husband and I watched this and it is definitely one of the better horror franchise documentaries that I have seen. The makers of it very obviously love the film franchise. Sometimes in film documentaries everything is presented too perfectly; meaning that you actually don’t get the real story. Horror film productions don’t go to plan quite frequently and it was cool to see that side of the filming process brought forward up and center. You get to see just how much work it takes to bring Chucky to life.

They speak a lot to Jennifer Tilly, Brad Dourif and to various people who have been a part of the franchise in one way or another. The one thing that very much impressed me was all of the work that went into creating the Chucky doll and how they refused to use CGI effects. Practical effects make Chucky who he is, and I think if they had chosen the easy route with CGI that it would have killed the franchise. I am not totally against CGI type effects, but they shouldn’t be allowed to take over a film. Looking at you Peter Jackson.

If you are a fan of horror films this really is a must watch; it’s beyond peachy-keen.

I Finally Own A Shirt Featuring The Classic Post-Apocalyptic Film Hardware!!!

June 22, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Let me give you some background as to why I love this film. One of the alternative clubs I went to just over thirty years ago used to play the entire film without sound on a big screen above the dance floor. In fact I didn’t see the film with sound until later on in the decade. It is one of Dylan McDermott’s first films and my god is the dude hot in a post-apocalyptic kind of way in it. Carl McCoy from Fields Of The Nephilim plays a wasteland scavenger and this film’s director Richard Stanley also made the band’s Blue Water video and was the art director for their album Dawnrazor.

Since this film holds a whole lot of nostalgic value for me I have always been on the lookout for associated merch. There really isn’t a whole lot to find out there. I already own some pins of the film but I never thought I would actually find a shirt. By the way I got it from this store on Etsy. I also bought their Blade Runner and Mad Max II shirts and all of them are of a really nice quality. Their designs are pretty unique so if you are on the lookout for a sci-fi/horror film shirt I would check out that shop first.

I highly recommend watching this film because the visuals are stunning and the story itself is actually kind of apt as to what is going on in society right now. It’s timely and makes you wonder whether or not it is worth living after a post-apocalyptic type event. I will be writing a separate post about this film at some point in the future.

Thoughts On The Netflix Series Arnold

June 13, 2023 / / 0 Comments

As many of you know I am a total Arnie fan-girl, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I have watched the three part Netflix series Arnold. I have always had a lot of respect for him and after watching this series that respect has grown.

This series is pretty much Arnie talking about his life and how he got to where he is today. I have read his autobiography Total Recall a few times so a lot of what he shared wasn’t new to me, but the emotion that he conveyed in the series really brought the events closer to home.

Arnie talks about his politics and what he did as governor of California. I moved out of California about four months before that election so I didn’t get to vote which bummed me out! Yes, Arnie is a republican but he has never gone down the far right rabbit hole. He has more sense than to do that. When he talks about loving Reagan it made me wince a bit, but I can understand where he is coming from. He was an immigrant to the US, who bought into the whole ‘American Dream’ lie. What I really, really respect him for is that in this series he denies that he is a self made man. Rather, he says that he was very lucky to be surrounded by people who helped him to achieve his dreams.

He talks about how he was sexist back in his body building days and that he really regrets it. There is no glossing over the facts when it comes to some of the crap things that he did through the years. He takes full responsibility for his past actions, including cheating on Maria and fathering a son with their housekeeper. That son by the way looks a lot like him and Arnie loves him and is in his life. That part got me teary because some men would have just walked away from that situation and he didn’t.

If you are a fan of Arnie, or are just curious about his life, I would highly recommend watching this series. It’s really good and is how TV biographies of famous people should be done.

Thoughts On The Film Judgment At Nuremberg (1961)

May 4, 2023 / / 0 Comments
One of the best scenes. Spencer Tracy gazing at the spot in Nuremberg where Hitler gave his speeches, trying to understand how such evil could happen.

Judgment At Nuremberg is a fictionalized account of the war crime trials that took place in 1947 against some Nazi judges; ones that ordered people sterilized, sent to the death camps or immediately executed. It may be a work of fiction but all of the crimes described and shown in the film did indeed take place. For these reasons and more I really consider this film to be one of the best made about the atrocities that happened during WWII.

After WWII a lot of German civilians claimed that they didn’t know about the extermination camps and the other atrocities that took place, but that has been proven to be false by modern historians. That is one of the reasons why this film is so damn important; it shows what some Germans actually knew and calls them out on it. Also, the fact that it wasn’t filmed in colour gives it more gravitas. Steven Spielberg used the same technique in Schindler’s List so I wouldn’t be surprised if he got that idea from this film.

There are so many great actors and actresses in this movie: Spencer Tracy, Judy Garland, Marlena Dietrich, Maximilian Schell, Montgomery Cliff, Burt Lancaster, and Richard Widmark. Everybody in this film is excellent and I can’t imagine how emotional it had to be to make this film. I always get teary during the scene in which Judy Garland’s character testifies against one of the judges, it is perhaps her best ever performance. This is a very emotional watch, but it is worth the tears.

I feel that this would be an excellent film to show teens, and adults, about the trauma that WWII brought forth. With the rise of neo-Nazi type crap happening yet again in Europe it is very important for them to know what occurs when you let monsters lead nations and don’t do anything to try to stop it.

I Went To See The Film Outland Last Night

October 6, 2022 / / 0 Comments
When film posters were cool.

For those of you who don’t know the film Outland was made in 1981 starring Sean Connery. It is a thriller set in a mining colony on Jupiter’s moon Io in which Connery is a federal marshal investigating a series of gruesome deaths. It has been largely forgotten for years, so when I learned that a local film group was screening it I got very excited since I had never seen it in an actual theatre before.

What is so great about this film? The social commentary. In fact I would say that this film was way ahead of its time, and that is probably the main reason why it has been largely forgotten. Back in the 80’s people under the thrall of Reagan and Thatcher thought that corporations could do no wrong, that they were trusted to do what was right because why would a corporation want to hurt people? Leap forward 40 years and a lot of people now realize that corporations don’t give a crap about them; it’s all a profit driven con to separate people from their money no matter the true cost of that profit.

I honestly think this is Sean Connery’s best role because he is playing an actual man, not some sort of spy superhero. The character has to figure out what they want and need to do to take care of the situation at hand and he really emotes that struggle in such a way that makes you care about him, whether you agree with his actions or not.

Another thing that makes this film special is the fact that a lot of the crew who worked on it also had a hand in making Alien. Because of that it has the same kind of feel; a dirty dystopian future in which people have to work in dangerous situations in order to survive. The future isn’t perfect, rather it is imperfect just like now.

Look, I’m smiling!

I very highly recommend watching this. If you like dystopian, sci-fi or 80’s thriller films this movie will be right up your alley!

My Hair Goal

June 27, 2022 / / 0 Comments
Lord Vakko, from Chronicles Of Riddick, has a very badass haircut.

If you haven’t guessed it yet I am a huge sci-fi, horror, and action film lover. The Chronicles Of Riddick can be a very polarizing kind of film but I think it has been slowly turning into a cult classic as the years go by. The Necromongers are very stylized and leave no doubt as to what side of the equation they are on; evil world conquerors.

I have no shame as a Necromonger fangirl. My husband an I went to London one time and visited this little film museum near the London Eye. In it were some props from the film, including a whole suit of Necromonger armour. I felt like I had found my people! They were planet destroyers and evil, but they looked very good while doing it. Something I could get behind.

Love those braids!

So, because of all of the above, I have decided that Lord Vakko’s hairstyle is going to be my hair goal. I have both sides of my hair shaved and have let the back grow out. I would say that it is going to take me six months to a year for the back of my hair to get long enough to do the braids. I have braided my hair myself in the past so that is not a barrier. I just have to be patient.

The world is seriously fucked right now but at least I will look good while watching it all burn. You have to think positively sometimes.

I Bought A Rotary Tool And I’m Gonna Use It!

June 13, 2022 / / 0 Comments
My precioussssss…………….

I finally took the plunge and bought a rotary tool to use in my DIY projects. I am so excited about this because I can now cut, etch, drill and sand to my heart’s content. It isn’t something that I will use every single day, but it will come in very handy and it will let me expand some projects which is cool.

Yes, this is a cookie cutter. I found it on Etsy.

I bought some nuclear symbol green plastic cookie cutters in a few different sizes last year, because I knew that they would look cool hanging from belts, bags and jackets. I just didn’t have the tools to do it. I could hang them as is but it really wouldn’t move freely and it would look awkward. Well, today I cut into the lip and then I made a hole underneath it.

Peachy-keen!

I put some purple jewellery wire through the hole I made, wrapped the ends around a swivel clip, and then attached that clip to my new bag. Remember, never be afraid of colours. You use what you can find in the wasteland. I am very happy with how it looks and I look forward to coming up with other ideas.

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