Blogging in English und auf Deutsch. English: A key topic of this blog certainly is Bullying, and what can be done against it. Deutsch: Ein Kernthema dieses Blogs is ganz sicherlich Mobbing, und was dagegen getan werden kann. E: There are still lots of other topics here, too - feel free to cruise around and take a look :-)! D: Es gibt aber auch noch viele andere Themen - schaut Euch einfach um :-)! E: I look forward to comments on my blog entries! D: Ich freue mich über Kommentare zu meinen Blog-Einträgen!
"Ich hatte niemals echte Freunde, die zu mir gehalten und mir geholfen haben ..."
"Unter der Regie des mit dem Sundance- und dem Emmy-Award ausgezeichneten Filmemachers Lee Hirsch wurde The Bully Project eine wunderschöne cineastische und von den gezeigten Personen getragene Dokumentation.
Im Zentrum des Films stehen jene, die in dieser Sache viel aufs Spiel setzen, und deren Geschichten jede eine andere Facette der amerikanischen Schülermobbing-Krise repräsentieren.
The Bully Project folgt fünf Jugendlichen und Familien über die Dauer eines kompletten Schuljahrs hinweg. Die Geschichten schließen auch zwei Familien ein, die Kinder durch Selbstmord verloren haben, und eine Mutter, die abwarten muss, wie sich das Schicksal ihrer 14-jährigen Tochter entwickelt, die ins Gefängnis kam, weil sie eine Pistole mit in den Schulbus gebracht hatte.
Mit intimen Einblicken in das Zuhause der Jugendlichen, in Klassenzimmer, Schulkantinen und Rektorenbüros, bietet die Dokumentation Einsichten in die oftmals grausame Welt, in der sich das Leben von gemobbten Kindern abspielt. Während Lehrer, die Schulverwaltung, Kinder und Eltern darum ringen, Antworten zu finden, untersucht The Bully Project die verheerenden Auswirkungen von Mobbing, die in den Aussagen starker und beherzter Kinder und Jugendlicher zu Tage treten.
Durch die Kraft dieser Geschichten versucht der Film ein Katalysator zu werden für einen Wandel in der Art, wie wir mit Mobbing umgehen - wir, die Eltern, die Lehrer, die Kinder, und die Gesellschaft als Ganzes."
"I never had real friends to stick around and help me ..."
"Directed by Sundance and Emmy-award winning filmmaker, Lee Hirsch, The Bully Project is a beautifully cinematic, character-driven documentary.
At its heart are those with huge stakes in this issue whose stories each represent a different facet of America’s bullying crisis. The Bully Project follows five kids and families over the course of a school year. Stories include two families who have lost children to suicide and a mother awaiting the fate of her 14-year-old daughter who has been incarcerated after bringing a gun on her school bus.
With an intimate glimpse into homes, classrooms, cafeterias and principals’ offices, the film offers insight into the often cruel world of the lives of bullied children. As teachers, administrators, kids and parents struggle to find answers, The Bully Project examines the dire consequences of bullying through the testimony of strong and courageous youth.
Through the power of their stories, the film aims to be a catalyst for change in the way we deal with bullying as parents, teachers, children and society as a whole."
If a love for a certain novel, for the complete works of an author, or for a literal figure is with you for a long time (in my case for almost three decades now, and counting), you might well get revolted a bit, when you have to witness that what you love gets grabbed by Warner Bros, is being thrown into a big and merciless shredder ... And to see that after that treatment, some product comes out on the other end of that shredder, that only has the most superficial similarity to the literal original left, will make the revulsion start. Well, at least, this is the case with me.
It's kinda like your sweet pussycat has died, and you bury him on the cursed Pet Sematary (from Stephen King's novel). Your cat will come back to you from there, but ... Hmm. Sure, he still answers to the name Fluffy, and his features seem quite familiar at first sight. But all of Fluffy's essence has become somewhat altered, twisted and changed, and not in a good way ... to put it nicely.
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FLASHBACK
During my school days, I got upset big time when watching some really crappy B-movies made by American filmmaker and producer Roger Corman during the 1960's, from stories by Edgar Allan Poe, and from Poe's renowned poem THE RAVEN.
Oh, and don't even get me *started* talking about the sequels to this movie, which was a failed attempt of processing a European made work of precious youth literature into a film, which was mainly financed by money from American studios and investors, and therefore had to appeal to the taste of the American market.
Okay, I admit: Compared to the sequels that came after the original THE NEVERENDING STORY movie, this one was even a piece of well made cinema. But as for the idea of bringing an iconic book, a classic, to the screen, so many things went wrong ... painful to watch for me, unless I took an amnesia pill to just forget all the wonderful ideas and details of the book that did not make it into the script.
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BACK TO THE PRESENT
Okay, and now, some 20 years later, I sit here and shake my head violently about a movie that has become an instant blockbuster sensation, loved by the critics and the viewers, hyped without end, and that, anyhow, for me personally is only a big pain in the a... aaa ... - annoying it is, yes.
I could start now to come up with all that went wrong with this project, but I don't have to! Instead, you simply need to watch the trailer to the recently published BluRay edition of the movie, and listen to one of the last sentences from the narrator. Then you have the quintessence of what irks me and makes me keep a safety distance of at least 2 meters from anything related to this (indeed brillantly made) epic failure ... so take a look and listen:
"Whatever you thought you knew
about Sherlock Holmes
is about to go out the window."
Yep, my feelings exactly. And believe me, I know quite a bit about Sherlock Holmes ... it would require a really big window for me to stand at!
One thing I must give them credit for: They are honest, and at least warn the audience. Hm, maybe this is why the company is called "Warner Bros" ... ha, ha.
And now, as it was to be expected after the massive success in cinemas worldwide, installment #2 is in the final makes and will come to theaters on December 22nd 2011.
Yet, completely ignorant as I was on any news about the first movie, I got wind of the sequel only today, by a tweet from Stephen Fry(yes yes, I know: "Thou shalt not bitch about Twitter, Michael, as thou usest it vividly now!")! I was alarmed, did some research, and found a little documentary - take a look:
Oh dang ... the documentary is no longer online! Well, I'll search for a replacement
They put in all the ingredients that made the first movie a smash hit, but of course they still whipped an extra helping of everything on top. And alongside Robert Downey jr. and Jude Law (who I both like as actors, but not in the roles of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson!), they threw in Brad Pitt as Sherlock Holmes' arch nemesis Professor Moriarty [note: That changed since I wrote my blog; Moriaty was portrayed by Jared Harris instead!], and the wonderful Stephen Fry (who had tweeted that it was his "final day on Sherlock Holmes 2 tomorrow") as Holmes' brother Mycroft.
And just as well as we (until now) search in vain for a Chicken McHaggis on the menu of the world's largest fast food chain, we also search in vain for anything that has really a relation to the famous detective stories. Not much to be found, in these soon to be two installments of something that can not be described as a transcription of a literal original to the big screen, but must be labelled as a steroid and action packed mutation of sorts, made with the utmost (and, I admit it, most impressive) expense concerning visuals, effects etc., but still almost without any traces of the literal classic.
Well, as I said in the title: Sherlock got Warner-ized. And, seen in a critical light, this is not a good thing. Not when it happens the first time, and also not, when this kind of assault happens again.
And you know what kinda irks me the most?
Any viewers who enjoyed the movie(s), and therefore get interested of actually reading the original stories that Doyle published some 100 years ago, will find next to nothing in them of what they saw at the theater. They are doomed to be disappointed to the max - as these two Sherlock Holmes movies do what Roger Corman did in the 1960's with Poe, and what German director Wolfgang Petersen had to do with Michael Ende's wonderful novel:
Tossing everything into the shredder, chuck away all that is vital and important, slosh together what is left over then, and come up with some mass market product that works just like a meal from the above mentioned fast food restaurant: Yummy while you eat it, but probably you will be hungry again one hour later.
Here is a two piece snippet where you can get a more intimate (and accurate!) picture of the person and methods of Sherlock Holmes, and also on the character of Dr Watson, Holmes' friend, colleague and chronicler. The Greek (I guess) subtitles are a random gift of the videos's poster, and belong not to the original Sherlock Holmes universe, ha ha!
This renowned TV production comprises of 41 episodes plus 5 feature length films.
Seasons 1 and 2 are downright brilliant; season 3 is also almost on the same level. And although the fourth and final season has several flaws (due to changes in the production policies of the BBC, budget cuttings, and due to the declining health of actor Jeremy Brett), even most of those final episodes still bear far more closeness to the original than both blockbuster installments of the Warner franchise combined. And this, believe me, for me personally is a really saddening statement on behalf of those two films.
Oh, and I made a little hommage to the great detective myself a while ago, where he teaches his friend Dr Watson about his methods of deduction - featuring me as Sherlock Holmes, and yours truly as Dr Watson :-)! Here you go - hope you enjoy:
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Find the complete written Sherlock Holmes works
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
please check here!
The Granada Television Sherlock Holmes series
as complete editions:
The Granada Television series
As single seasons and more here.
And for those who want to check what I'm complaining about:
Summer 1966. It's time to enjoy the summer holiday, total freedom.
Teenage Élise discovers that the sudden departure of her mother completely disrupts the family. Her brother Coco seeks solace in the garage, building a super racing car. Her youngest brother Benoît throws himself into his own inner world. The father seems absolutely knocked out by the situation.
Élise decides to take control of her family, in an eloquent attempt to save them. With the assistance of flourishing nature around her, she stands on the threshold of an incomparable summer.
Since back in the days when I first watched the outstanding movie THE SIXTH SENSE, Manoj Nelliyatu "Night" Shyamalan is one of my all time favourite writer-directors.
And so, although I did not watch the Anime series AVATAR, and will watch the movie THE LAST AIR BENDER only when it comes out on DVD (as I only will watch the original version, and not the German dubbed one), I know I'll love this movie.
And as I just found that it's legal to embed the trailer of THE LAST AIR BENDER ... I will do exactly this here, by making this blog entry :-)!
Ever so often, I discover things on YouTube by Related Videos of something I watched before, or also by the video recommendations on my Starting Page.
Today, I stumbled over a complete posting of Andrei Tarkowski's debut film IVAN'S CHILDHOOD from 1962. As I knew about the movie, but had not watched it, I took the time and did so. And I found reason enough to collect it in a playlist on my channel, and then also to make a entry here.
The movie is in Russian, with English subtitles.
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I had indeed watched several scenes from this movie before: In a fan-made video for the song THE BOY WITH THE GUN by David Sylvian.
Although the lyrics and the movie's plot don't match in detail, I found the video very amazing, as I loved the song, and was captivated by the intenity of the images. Hope you enjoy ...
A Hispanic boy named Sean, who has recently become an orphan, arrives at his new home, a small orphanage. He meets the teacher and headmistress and the kids that live there, and although at first sight, the surroundings seem idyllic, it becomes clear very soon that this place holds no love, compassion, friendship and trust among the inmates.
Trying to find his way there, Sean soon has to make a decision, whether to blend in with the others, or to speak up against an atmosphere of injustice and maltreatment on so many levels. But tragedy strikes, and leaves every one dumbfounded, aghast and helpless.
"A microcosm of America ..."
(Alessio Cappelletti, director)
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BROKEN CRAYONS
USA 2009
Short movie, written and directed
by
Alessio Cappelletti
LOGAN is a story about two teenage brothers, Tyler and Logan.
Logan, the younger of the two, has got his mind set on a seemingly impossible project which turns out to be much harder than he could ever imagine.
At the turn of an unexpected tragedy, the brothers' relationship is altered forever and Tyler is challenged to do whatever it takes to see his little brother's project succeed, even if that means risking it all.
Dexter, age 11, who has AIDS, and his next door neighbor Eric, a little older and much bigger, become best friends. Eric also becomes closer to Dexter's mother than to his own, who is neglectful and bigoted and violently forbids their friendship upon learning of it.
When they read that a doctor in distant New Orleans claims to have found a cure for AIDS, the boys leave home on their own, planning to float down the Mississippi river and find him.
Note: Find a recent update post (written on September 16th 2011) with some kind of more in-depth views of mine on the movie LIFTED here.
LIFTED
stars 12-year-old Uriah Shelton as a singer whose family life is disrupted when his Marine father (played by Dash Mihok) is re-deployed to Afghanistan.
The boy, despite many obstacles, is inspired to compete in a teen singing competition.
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LIFTED USA 2010
Written and directed by Lexi Alexander
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