(#13) / The Last Stand of the 300 / (produced) by The History Channel / (Movie)

Opening

Bibliographic Information:

The Last Stand of the 300 / (produced) by The History Channel /

(directed) by David Padrusch

 ASIN: B000OIOPPE / A&E Home Video

$4.49 (Amazon) / 91 minutes

Release date: 2007 / Rating: Non-rated  

Body of Content

Summary: The Battle of Thermopylae is an event mixed with much folklore, legend, and history.  The Greek city-states sent a last ditch effort to counter a massive army of Persians, who have just landed in northern Greece – with plans to march and conquer the Greek city-states to the south.  In this full-length documentary, the History Channel presents a retelling of the theater-released action-film 300 – doing so in a way that honors the cinematography of the heavily stylistic film – but, at the same time, tries to offer a more historical presentation of the Battle.  To achieve this purpose, the documentary presents the Battle in the proper context – not as an isolated event – but as an ongoing struggle between the Greek city-states and the Persian Empire.

Critique: The documentary is a well-portrayed version of the Battle of Thermopylae – helping to shine light on the historical setting of the events, as well as round out details that are often forgotten.   

Although the legend holds that 300 Spartans stood in the way of an advancing army, the film makes sure to depict the roles of other Greek city-states.  Although the Spartans did send that number (i.e. 300) into battle, other city-states like Thespiae and Thebes contributed soldiers to the campaign – with the total army numbers in the thousands.  The documentary takes time to explain military strategy and war tactics – as the Greeks purposely chose the terrain – the slight, small, cramped mountain pass at Thermopylae – as a means to stack the Persian strength (i.e. massive numbers) into a geographical weakness (i.e. funneled effect).  The film also takes note of various weapons – how the Greek phalanx formation – employed heavily by the Spartans – furthered the geographical advantage – as it served as both a defensive and offensive weapon – simultaneously. 

The documentary is entertaining – as it performs the same camera angles and stylistic colors and backdrops of Frank Miller’s 300 – though with a more modest budget.  But the treatment is full of historical context and details – and overall, it produces a solid production useable to supplement materials in first-year history courses in high school.      

Teaser: A small contingent of brave souls is all that stands between hundreds of thousands of Persian invaders and their goal of capturing the Greek city-states.

Information about the Author: The History Channel hosts a variety of programming.  While the channel now includes reality-style TV programming, the roots of the channel contain a heavy amount of historical documentaries. 

For this production, the History Channel turned to director David Padrusch – a 41-year-old filmmaker from the Queens borough of New York.  As the oft custom for documentaries, Padrusch served at all three roles – producer, director, and writer – for this documentary.  The same holds true for the following historical documentaries: Rumrunners, Moonshiners, & Bootleggers (2002), Bible Battles (2005), Aftershock: Beyond the Civil War (2006), Journey to 10,000 BC (2008), and Art of War (2009) (IMDB, 2011).  Both Journey to 10,000 BC and The Last Stand are historical documentaries written in light of and for purpose of comparison to recent blockbusters which deal with similar content.  More recently in 2009, Padrusch performed filmmaking duties for the History Channel’s TV series Battles BC, which looks at famous military battles and/or military leaders in antiquity – including episodes titled “Judgment Day at Marathon” and “Caesar: Super Siege” (IMDB, 2011).     

Supplemental Material

Genre: Documentary / Historical Fiction

Curriculum Ties: History – Greek city-states, famous battles, Sparta, Persia, Athens, King Leonidas

Booktalking Ideas: 1) Like many war-time battles, local geography helped shape the battle – the same was true of the Battle of Thermopylae. 2) More than 300 soldiers fought for the Greeks at Thermopylae – what was the more valid, historical number?  

Reading Level: The movie aims at presenting the material for younger ages than the movie 300.  Interest level likely falls in the range of grades 7 through 10.  

Challenge Issues and Defense: The film does depict similar events – though from a more historical view – of the movie 300.  The latter movie was a very violent R-rated film; this document is not-rated – but would probably fall into PG and PG-13.  The issue of violence might source as an issue – but the documentary is a well-trimmed version of the violent theater version.  The documentary is also produced by the History Channel – showing the intentionality of the information.    

Personal Reasons for Inclusion: During the year that I taught high school, this was one film I showed in my class given the strong visual representation of the information – as the class examined the Greek city-states in a ninth-grade history class.

Last Thoughts

References:

Internet Movie Database (IMDB). (2011). David Padrusch [Webpage]. Retrieved from

            http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1031819/#Director

Listening to (Music):

Artist – Live / Album – “Throwing Copper”   

(#12) / I Am Number Four / (directed) by D.J. Caruso / (Movie)

Opening

Bibliographic Information:

I Am Number Four / (directed) by D.J. Caruso /

(based upon the book) by Pittacus Lore (i.e. Jobie Hughes & James Frey)

ASIN: B004SBQAN8 / Touchstone Pictures & DreamWorks

$17.99 / 109 minutes

Release date: 2011 / Rating: PG-13

Body of Content 

Summary: John Smith (Alex Pettyfer) lives on a beach-front property with his guardian, Henri (Timothy Olyphant).  After an accident exposes his secret, John and Henri leave their lives behind in Florida and move to a small, forgotten part of Ohio – hoping their secret is not detected by their enemies.  But John Smith holds secret abilities and powers – powers that he is just beginning to understand and control.  When he starts falling in love with an artistic, popular, high-school girl by the name of Sarah Hart (Dianna Argon), John Smith might just bring danger to the both of them.  Set within the fantasy genre, I Am Number Four is the film adaption of the book by the same name.  As the first book in the series, the authors (and perhaps filmmakers) will have a chance to tell more of this narrative story. 

Critique: The film I Am Number Four is a good example of a fantasy film – that tries at several turns not to come across as a science fiction genre film.  To elaborate, a fantasy film often accepts the magical elements within it – not trying to explain the methodology behind them. 

[Spoiler Alert] John Smith has several, for lack of a better word, magical powers – such as generic powers like more-than-human strength and speed along with more particular powers like telekinesis and light projection from his hands (as a possible weapon).  The film never tries to explain the powers in the kind of language that science fiction offers – whether it is a heavy analysis of genetic, biological, or technological language.  The film does mention that John Smith is going through a transformation like “alien puberty” – which does a little to advance science fiction elements – but, overall, helps fill the assumptive mode of many fantasy stories.

While the bad guys (i.e. aliens) have advanced weaponry, the movie does not provide much detail into the operations or processes that govern them.

This is not so much a criticism of the film, as much as it is a critique.  The film version fits more within the fantasy genre.  Having not read the book, whereby the authors might have more space to devote such details into the narrative, I do not know the genre relationship between the film and the book.  With more books planned in the series, the genre may even morph – as science fiction and fantasy are two brothers of the same genre tree.  But overall, the film feels like a comic book adaptation – with a main character as a superhero – though even comics go both directions – fantasy (cf. Superman and X-Men) and science fiction (cf. Batman and Iron Man).    

Teaser: Born on another world and living as an exile on Earth, John Smith must face his fears and a group of aliens seeking his destruction.  

Information about the Author: D.J. Caruso is an American filmmaker – responsible for a host of small to moderate budget films.  Those titles include The Salton Sea, Taking Lives, Disturbia, and Eagle Eye.  The 46-year-old filmmaker also directed some episodes of TV programs – including The Shield, Robbery Homicide Division, Smallville, and Dark Angel (IMDB, 2011a).  Besides cinema and television, Caruso has directed a handful of music videos – including “Sometime around Midnight” by The Airborne Toxic Event (Wikipedia, 2011), which represents a popular and heavily stylistic and conceptual creation.

In his personal life, the director hails from Connecticut. Besides having Italian heritage, Caruso attended Pepperdine University.  Further, Caruso is married – and the couple has five children (Wikipedia, 2011).    

Supplemental Material

Genre: Fantasy / Action / Drama

Curriculum Ties: Sociology – xenophobia

Booktalking Ideas: 1) John Smith lives with a secret – trying to hide in plain sight.  But will his enemies find him out? 2) Sara Hart is falling for John Smith – but when she learns his secret – will that change everything?

Reading Level: With the standard PG-13 rating – along with the film portraying several high-school-aged characters – grades 7 and up would have interest in the film – with more interest in grades 10 through 12 given the age of the lead character and love interest.    

Challenge Issues and Defense: The film contains a run-of-the-mill PG-13 rating.  The profanity and drug references are typical for the rating.  The action sequences contain fantasy elements, but also have, what IMDB terms, “horror film” elements that “could be too gruesome for young children” (IMDB, 2011b).  Even without the language and the drug references, the film is still a PG-13 rating, which is probably the reason the filmmakers allowed those elements to stay in the final production.  The film does not contain much artistic merit – critically speaking.  Some challenges may enter the library based upon section placement – and like The Animatrix, librarians may want to move the title from children literature into YA or from YA into adult sections – as a possible resolution.      

Personal Reasons for Inclusion: I originally watched the movie to gain evidence/data – whether to read the book series.  I am still on the fence about that dilemma.  But the movie is somewhat entertaining and worth some commentary. 

 Last Thoughts

References:

Internet Movie Database (IMDB). (2011a). D.J. Caruso [Webpage]. Retrieved from

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0142286/

Internet Movie Database (IMDB). (2011b). I Am Number Four [Webpage]. Retrieved from

            http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1464540/parentalguide#certification

Wikipedia. (2011). D. J. Caruso [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/

wiki/D._J._Caruso

Listening to (Music):

Artist – Switchfoot / Album – “The Legend of Chin”   

(#11) / The Animatrix / (screenplay) by Andy and Lana Wachowski / (Movie)

Opening

Bibliographic Information:

The Animatrix / (screenplay) by Andy and Lana Wachowski / (directed) by various

ASIN: B00008LDPU / Warner Home Video

$4.14 (Amazon) / 89 minutes

Release date: 2003 / Rating: Non-rated

Body of Content

Summary: Set in the universe created by the Matrix movies, The Animatrix is a direct-release DVD that helps fill out the stories, characters, mythology, and origins of the film franchise.  The animated movie is full-length film – but it is comprised as an anthology of separate stories – many of which are stand-alone entries.  The entries include the following titles – “The Second Renaissance Part 1”, “The Second Renaissance Part 2”, “Kid’s Story”, “Program”, “World Record”, “Beyond”, and “Detective Story”.  Stories like the two-part “Renaissance” tale help provide the origin story behind The Matrix.  Meanwhile, other stories like “World Record” portray everyday people like an elite sprinter whose speed is both a virtue and a weakness, as it allows him to see more of reality than most people.   

Critique: [Spoiler Alert] The original Matrix film was a ground-breaking film for both 1) the creative and imaginative visual world depicted, and 2) the thoughtful philosophical commentary on artificial intelligent and the nature of reality.  The second and third films diverge from these trends – the second film, Matrix: Reloaded, still contains a bulk of wonderful visual cinema but lacks a coherent philosophical contribution – while the third film, Matrix: Revolution, in my opinion lacks both elements.

The Animatrix is interesting – in the sense – since it returns more to the positive territory of the first two films.  The film is animated – but still contains some impressive fight scenes and visual elements.  The divergent storytelling makes the animated film less satisfying than the original movie; however, it contains a better rhetorical feel than the two spawned sequels.

At some level, I really believe the writers could have taken the ideas from the animate film and made a stronger conclusion to the third film.  Revolutions severely lacked a heart – a certain philosophical ethos embodied by the original film.  Given that many trilogies fall back to their prolegomenon in the last film, the directors should have used the source material in the two-part “Renaissance” as an opportunity to tell a more impactful story.  In the two-part segment, more information is learned about the last human cities, the rise of the computers, and the reasons for the impeding war.  All of this material would have served the interests of Revolutions and provided a better ending.  Detailing the exactness of a story’s beginning is a perfect way to tell the end of a story – in fact, it is downright literary to do so.

While I applaud the first Matrix film for all its charm, innovation, and philosophy, the ending to the franchise was unsatisfactory.  Perhaps, the writers rushed the sequels – filming them at the same time and releasing them only six months apart.  The stories in The Animatrix could have made a better final product for the series – if the directors had paused for a moment – and decided to write a trilogy that completes a story arc from beginning to end back to beginning.     

Teaser: Can so many divergent stories present a united film detailing and expanding on the Matrix universe?

Information about the Author: The Wachowski siblings – Andy and Lana – penned the Matrix trilogy.  They furthered their portfolios by writing/directing other films, including Speed Racer, V for Vendetta, and Ninja Assassin (IMDB, 2011).  The pair of directors has a strong interest in the science fiction genre.  While Speed Racer represents the adaption of a fantasy-style cartoon, V for Vendetta represents a dystopian, political thriller.  The pair is attached to a couple of other science fiction film projects – namely, Cloud Atlas – starring Tom Hanks and (Matrix-veteran) Hugo Weaving (IMDB, 2011a).

Supplemental Material

Genre: Science Fiction / Anime / Anthology / Action

Curriculum Ties: Creative writing – canonical issues, compilations / Science – artificial intelligence / Philosophy – ontology, perception of reality, slavery   

Booktalking Ideas: 1) In a world where machines rule, can humans find their place in such a future? 2) This film is a prequel, but it is also a story of origins – come see how The Matrix began!

Reading Level: The animated format (cf. the trilogy of moves, all rated-R) lowers the entry level for the film slightly.  More storytelling occurs in this film than the second and third movies – and there is more time spent on drama besides just action.  Grades 8 and up seems advisable, although the Amazon review believes the officially non-rated film as appropriate of ages 16 and up (Amazon, 2011).

Challenge Issues and Defense: PG-13 films fall between PG and R – making them difficult to know exactly what age is best intended.  This film is non-rated, but IMDB notes the film contains three separate scenes of sexuality/sensuality – along with various fight sequences (IMDB, 2011b). 

The marque movies received some awards – though mostly for technical aspects, not for content.  If displayed in a children’s section, parents may object to this film.  Even though it is animated film (i.e. cartoon), it is (indeed) intended for older audiences.  This film could lead to challenges – most of which librarians could solve by moving it to the teen or adult sections – though the latter section is likely over-reaching.   

Personal Reasons for Inclusion: I am more a fan of the first Matrix than the sequels; however, this represented an opportunity to insert an animated genre selection – one that is a bit edgy given the corpus of work that preceded it.  

Last Thoughts

References:

Amazon. (2011). The Animatrix [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/Animatrix-

Clayton-Watson/dp/B00008LDPU/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid= 1322110500&sr=1-1

Internet Movie Database (IMDB). (2011a). Andy Wachowski [Webpage]. Retrieved from

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0905152/

Internet Movie Database (IMDB). (2011b). The Animatrix: Parental guide [Webpage]. Retrieved

            from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0328832/parentalguide

Listening to (Music):

Artist – Paramore / Album – “Brand New Eyes”  

(#10) / The Blind Side / (adapted from book) by Michael Lewis / (Movie)

Opening

Bibliographic Information:

The Blind Side / (adapted from book) by Michael Lewis / 
(directed) by John Lee Hancock

OCLC Number: 501073267/ Alcon Entertainment / Warner Bros (DVD)  

$9.49 (Amazon) / 129 minutes

Release date: 2009 / Rating: PG-13

Body of Content

Summary: The inspirational movie tells the story of a homeless, teenage boy by the name Michael Oher.  Coming from a broken home, Oher bounces around living dynamics – between foster homes and friend’s houses.  Ultimately, a friend’s family can no longer afford to provide for him and Oher becomes homeless.  The previous family manages to enroll him in a private school – given his athletic prowess in both basketball and football – and that is how Oher’s life intersects with another family from the school – the Touhys.  When the Touhys find out that Oher sleeps in the school’s gymnasium at night, they offer to “put him up for a night”.  As days become weeks, the question becomes how permanent is this arrangement?  The story centers on Oher – who is a shy, African-American, teenage boy – with Mrs. Touhy as the direct opposite – a talkative, white, middle-age, woman.  In a moving narrative, The Blind Side provides the story based on the real-life story of Baltimore Ravens starting left tackle.     

Critique: Thematically, the movie is about charity as much as it is about football.  The movie depicts two individuals – Oher and Mrs. Touhy – whose lives, under any other circumstances, would likely never cross. 

The Touhys take Oher into their household and treat him just like any other member of the family.  Many of the students at school refer to Oher as “Big Mike”.  Mrs. Touhy detects his aversion to the nickname and decides to call him “Michael”.  When, as an under-experienced driver, Oher is involved in a car accident with the Touhys’ youngest child, the parents do not blame Michael for the accident, but instead, praise him for instinctively protecting S.J. with his free arm.  On more than one occasion, Mrs. Touhy defends Michael – as “her son” – whether it is in front of parents from rival football programs, well-intentioned but judgmental lady friends, or a case worker trying to follow the letter of the law. 

Bullock’s performance clearly was recognized by the Academy because of her strong ability to communicate subtle items of charity to Michael.  But the story is, as Mrs. Touhy expresses, not about how much Michael learns from the Touhys, but about “how much he [Michael] is teaching me”.  I did not find the movie cliché – and overall, I’m not one for inspirational films.  However, I found that the kernel contained in Michael Lewis’ book became a well-designed adaption on the big screen.      

Teaser: How could a homeless teen ever become the starting left tackle for a professional football team?

Information about the Author: Michael Lewis specializes in writing stories which revolve around finance and/or sports.  The one-time beat writer for the Oakland Athletics eventually penned the book Moneyball – which, in itself, recently received a film adaption.

John Lee Hancock is primarily a film director and screenwriter – with some work experience in movie production.  His other well-known films include the inspirational tale My Dog Skip and another sports-inspired movie The Rookie (Wikipedia, 2011a).  His next film is one titled The Goree Girls – which is a musical set in the 1940s about a group of inmates who form a country band (Wikipedia, 2011b).    

Supplemental Material

Genre: Drama / Sports

Curriculum Ties: Sociology – race relations, homelessness, class warfare, private schools

Booktalking Ideas: 1) Where would you go – if you were homeless?  Who could you turn to? 2) Why is the left tackle position so important in football?

Reading Level: The film is rated PG-13 – with some adult themes – namely, “for one scene involving brief violence, drug and sexual references” (Worldcat, 2011).  This film is viewable for grades 7 and up – easily.  But the lead character is a high-school student – and interest in the film is easily transferrable and appropriate for high-school-aged teens.

Challenge Issues and Defense: Anytime that a film/book represents racial issues (cf. To Kill a Mockingbird), there exists the possibility of challenges on a wide range of objections.  Still, the film deals with the issues well – and the film produced some awards, including Bullock’s performance – which received an Oscar for “Best Actress”. 

Personal Reasons for Inclusion: I have read some other works by Michael Lewis and loved his interviews on shows like The Daily Show.  This film presented itself as an opportunity to work him into the blog project.  

Last Thoughts

References:

Wikipedia. (2011a). John Lee Hancock [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

John_Lee_Hancock

Wikipedia. (2011b). The Goree girls [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

The_Goree_Girls

Worldcat. (2011). The blind side [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://www.worldcat.org/title/blind-

side/oclc/501073267&referer=brief_results

Listening to (Music):

Artist – Hillsong (Live)/ Album – “A Beautiful Exchange”   

(#9) / Juno / (written) by Diablo Cody / (Movie)

Opening

Bibliographic Information:

Juno / (written) by Diablo Cody

ASIN: B000YABYLA / 20^th Century Fox

$6.49 (Amazon) / 96 minutes

Release date: 2007 / Rating: PG-13

Body of Content

Summary: The title character Juno (Ellen Page) lives with her dad and step-mother.  Taking place in Minnesota, Juno chronicles an unexpected love story that develops into an unplanned pregnancy, as Juno has sex with her best friend Paulie (Michael Cera).  Facing the decision to raise the child or abort the baby, Juno decides on a third option – that of adoption.  One of her girlfriends helps Juno place an ad – and soon enough, a suburban couple takes interest.  The couple is in their 30s but have unsuccessful tried to have children of their own.  The couple represent opposite personalities – with the Vanessa (Jennifer Garner) standing as a straight-laced, analytic person – and her husband Mark (Jason Bateman) comprising a more free spirit who enjoys writing music and watching old-school horror films.  But the decision to give up the child is not an easy one.  Juno must face the prospects of judgment from peers, heavy-handed advice from adults, and more than a few unexpected labor pains along with way.        

Critique: The film Juno succeeds on several levels – including a great ensemble cast, a hilarious comedy, and a well-acted, well-thought drama.  But a hidden strength resides in the vernacular of the film – as the dialogue and cultural allusions represent a realistic version of teen culture.   

The film represents physical props well – as the title character drinks Sunny-D and blueberry ICEEs.  Her room is the typical, clustered mess – complete with a nostalgic throwback – i.e. Hamburglar telephone.  The film even includes a common candied, high-school prank alluding to Tic-Tac boxes – as they overflow Paulie’s mailbox.   

The dialogue is intelligent, meaningful, but completely laced with pop cultural references.  At times, the dialogue feels like word and idiom entries from the website Urban Dictionary.  Characters within the story use phrases like “home skillet” and “pee stick”.  Elsewhere, Juno yells at her dog, “Quiet Banana. Hey shut your gob for a minute, okay?”.  Even minor characters like the convenience store clerk use teen-speak, “This is your third test today, Mama Bear.  Your eggo is preggo, no doubt about it!”  There is a certain rhythm to the dialogue, also.  Overall, the film represents conversations that real people could have – particular the scenes with multiple teenagers having lines of dialogue.   

Teaser: Juno is your typical, high-school girl.  Then, she gets pregnancy.  Is her next decision the typical response?    

Information about the Author: Diablo Cody is actually a pen name for the writer of Juno, as the screenwriter’s birth name is Brook Busey.  Cody came from a middle-class family and suburban upbringing, but she decided to quit from a copy editing job in marketing to become a stripper.  Later she decided to write about the experience in both blog and book form, including the latter titled work, Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper (Valby, 2007).

Cody wrote the screenplay for Juno; and since the film, she is also known for co-creating the Showtime series “The United States of Tara”.  Future movie projects include the possibilities of a film adaption of the Sweet Valley High book series and a remake of the horror classic Evil Dead (Wikipedia, 2011a).   

Supplemental Material

Genre: Comedy / Drama

Curriculum Ties: Sociology/Psychology – teen pregnancy, teen culture

Booktalking Ideas: 1) If you became pregnant, who would you tell first?  Would it be the same person that Juno told?  

Reading Level: Many teens would have interest in this film, given the emphasis on presenting a realistic version of teen culture – along with the lead protagonists (themselves) being teenagers.  The age-appropriateness could fall to grade 7 and up.    

Challenge Issues and Defense: The movie contains some language, some sexual content, and some adult themes.  The premise contains teen pregnancy and controversial issues like abortion and pro-life as backdrops.  The question becomes – at what age is this film appropriate? – And parents may have different takes on that point.  The PG-13 rating is a fair assessment of the content.  The best defense for the film is the wealth of critical acclaim – winning several awards – and appearing on multiple top ten lists by critics (Wikipedia, 2011b).  Also, although the film contains a controversial premise, the film has received positive support from both pro-life and pro-choice camps – and overall, it presents ambiguous statements regarding the issue (cf. Howell, 2008 / Freeman, 2008).

Personal Reasons for Inclusion: I originally saw the film because Jason Bateman plays a supporting 

role.  Since seeing “Inception”, I have also become a fan of Ellen Page.  Juno, in itself, is one of my favorite films within the comedy genre.

Last Thoughts

References:

Freeman, H (2008). A choice that films ignore [Article]. Retrieved from

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jan/28/healthandwellbeing.film

Howell, P. (2008). Juno has a mind of her own [Article]. Retrieved from

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/298588

Valby, K. (2007). Diablo Cody: From ex-stripper to A-lister [Article]. Retrieved from

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20157948,00.html

Wikipedia. (2011a). Diablo Cody [Webpage]. Retrieved from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diablo_Cody

Wikipedia. (2011b). Juno [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Juno_%28film%29

Listening to (Music):

Artist – Audrey Assad/ Album – “The House You’re Building”