Posts tagged Ohio
“Take Shelter” Confusion for Confusion’s Sake
Nov 7th
“HOT SHOTS” LOOKS AT A MOVIE BY DAN CULBERSON: Take Shelter is an award-winning, critically acclaimed film that just might leave you wondering what all the awards and acclamation was about.
Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain star as Curtis and Samantha LaForche, they have a 6-year-old daughter named Hannah, who is deaf, and they all live in a small town in Ohio.
Curtis is a crew chief for a sand-mining company, but then things start happening to him that causes him to worry enough to go see a doctor. He is having bad dreams in which weird things happen to him and make him take action about them afterwards in his waking life.
Then he starts seeing things and hearing things during the day, which causes him to question his sanity, considering that he is 35 years old and his mother was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia 25 years earlier when she was 30.
And then one day Curtis says, “I’m thinking about cleaning up that storm shelter out back.”
So, without telling Samantha, he gets a home-improvement loan for $7,000, borrows some equipment from work, and then begins expanding the small storm shelter into a larger, fully equipped bunker for him and his family to wait out the apocalypse that he believes is soon coming.
Curtis articulates this as he is afraid that something “not right” might be coming, he promised himself that he would never leave Samantha and Hannah, and he is doing everything he can to make that come true.
So, are the events that Curtis is experiencing and interfering with his life real or imagined? The audience has to decide that for the time being.
When warning sirens go off and the family hides in the storm shelter to avoid the danger, Curtis doesn’t want to open the door after the danger appears to be over, but Samantha tells him that he has to open the door or else nothing will change.
Now, some critics have said that the final scene in the movie explains everything, but even that is left open for interpretation and speculation.
Take Shelter takes every opportunity to include unnecessary details that just add to the confusion, it is a movie that eventually can cause the audience to question their own sanity, but in the end, you can conclude that it is nothing more than confusion for confusion’s sake.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
Take Shelter – Movie Trailer
Nov 2nd
Curtis LaForche lives in a small Ohio town with his wife Samantha and six-year-old daughter Hannah, who is deaf. Money is tight, and navigating Hannah’s healthcare and special needs education is a constant struggle. Despite that, Curtis and Samantha are very much in love and their family is a happy one. Then Curtis begins having terrifying dreams about an encroaching, apocalyptic storm. He chooses to keep the disturbance to himself, channeling his anxiety into the obsessive building of a storm shelter in their backyard. But the resulting strain on his marriage and tension within the community doesn’t compare to Curtis’ private fear of what his dreams may truly signify. Faced with the proposition that his disturbing visions signal disaster of one kind or another, Curtis confides in Samantha, testing the power of their bond against the highest possible stakes.
“The Ides of March” Shows Dirty Politics
Oct 13th
Official Website
Movie Trailer
“Excellent Portrayal of Dirty Politics”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Ides of March is one of the best movies of the year, but one of the most difficult to enjoy, one of the most rewarding, but also one of the most frustrating, and one that should be seen by everyone who follows politics, but is also a handbook for what not to do in politics.
And expect to hear its name often at the Academy Awards ceremony in 2012.
Now, about the title. To the person who wrote “WTF the title? It doesn’t even take place in March,” I say, “Google it, Dude.” It is a famous expression from a famous play by a very famous author.
George Clooney produced, co-wrote, and directed the movie. He also stars as Gov. Mike Morris, who is campaigning for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States.
The action takes place in Ohio, where the Democratic primary election is coming up, and we are told, “As goes Ohio, so goes the nation.”
Ryan Gosling plays Stephen Myers, Gov. Morris’s press secretary; Philip Seymour Hoffman plays his campaign manager; Paul Giamatti plays the campaign manager for the Democratic rival running against Gov. Morris; Evan Rachel Wood plays an intern working for Gov. Morris’s campaign; and Marisa Tomei plays a reporter for The New York Times.
Stephen is very good at his job and is told that all the reporters love him, even the ones who hate him. However, when the rival’s campaign manager arranges a secret meeting with Stephen, tells him that Stephen is working for the wrong man, and offers to hire Stephen to come work for him, a chain of events are set in motion that will change Stephen’s idealistic views of Gov. Morris.
And then when Stephen learns a secret about Gov. Morris that could damage his campaign severely and perhaps even ruin the governor, Stephen has to battle his own idealistic views, because he can use that information either to further his own career or to damage the governor’s reputation.
We are told that loyalty is the only thing valued in politics and the only thing that can be counted on. We are also told that if you stay in the political business long enough, you become jaded and bitter.
The Ides of March can do the same and is an excellent portrayal of dirty politics.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”