by Silus Grok

Childhood Anxiety In Film

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, directed by Tim Burton, is one of the greatest films ever made for both the art film and mainstream movie industries.  The book-based film managed to bring across the reality of different kinds of anxiety in children.  According to psychologists, child anxiety is characterized by overwhelming fear, worry and apprehension.  In the film, some of the children who entered Willy Wonka’s confectionery factory exhibited some forms of anxiety.  As the story goes, Willy Wonka announced that five golden tickets would be placed inside chocolates made and sold by his company.  Whoever found the tickets would be allowed a rare chance to enter and see how the factory works.  One of the lucky ticket holders, Violet Beauregard, the competitive and athletic girl, exhibited performance anxiety. Psychological experts say that this type of anxiety is described to be an overwhelming fear of not  being on the top or not being first place. Violet Beauregard, which was seen in the movie, was a goal-getter. Trained by her mom, she managed to amass multitudes of trophies which helped her to go for more. Also, there are number of movie montage that showed the idea of performance anxiety which was seen in Violet. It is also noteworthy to include that her mother helped ignite the performance anxiety in Violet as she always push her to her limit.   

Just like in the movie, many children in real life tend to be overtly conscious of their performance and self-worth. While many children love being in the limelight or being acknowledged as the best in what  they do, some actually do get exhausted due to the chronic pressure of having to always “perform.”  Performance anxiety can also be caused by the high and unrealistic realistic standards set by parents like what Mrs. Beauregard did in the movie. These pressures can escalate to a point where it has a negative impact on a child’s development, engendering a feeling of tension and anxiety.

Another character exhibiting signs of child anxiety was Veruca Salt, the rich girl who always got what she wanted from her doting father. One time, she asked for a horse from a father, and he willingly gave in to would always give into the whims of his daughter. Social anxiety, or the overwhelming care on one’s personal status was exhibited in the part where she asked for one of the squirrels working as a nut sorter for Willy Wonka. Although she did not have any use for a trained squirrel, she demanded the purchase of one from her father believing that their social status and wealth entitles them to anything that she desires.

This type of anxiety is present in children everywhere. Social groups or cliques in school are formed because its members believe that they are privileged and deserve to be set apart from the rest of the population.

Movies can act as a mirror of what happens in real life. In this sense, the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory sheds some light on a part of a child’s life that can threaten their development, educating viewers on the adverse effect of anxiety on children. Whether or not they take these lessons to heart is entirely up to them.

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by DWissman

Two Funny Comedies, “Talladega Nights” and “Wedding Crashers”, But Only One Is a Good Film

Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley

Wedding Crashers – 3 Stars (Good)

Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby – 2 Stars (Average)

There are comedies that can make you laugh that are not good films because they lack any meaningful substance or worthwhile message. An example would be “Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby”, worth a few laughs with Will Ferrell as Ricky Bobby, but not able to get you emotionally involved in a character’s plight.

Then there are comedies that can make you laugh that appear to have a lack of substance, but slowly pull you into a character as you become emotionally involved with his situation. An example would be “Wedding Crashers” with Owen Wilson as John Beckwith.

So what makes one film good and another just average? The difference is in the script, the direction and the acting.

For openers, Talladega Nights was written by Will Farrell, who also plays the lead role, and by Adam McKay, who is the director. My experience has been that when the director of a film also writes the script, the script, the direction and the movie all suffer the majority of the time. When the lead actor of the film is also a writer of the film, the situation becomes compounded, like the blind leading the deaf through a minefield.

Both Farrell and McKay try to tell a story with their comedy but fail because not only is the comedy unbelievable, but the character of Ricky Bobby is not likeable enough to convince us that there is human drama unfolding here.

McKay joins a long list of other writer/directors who have bombed in these dual roles, including Vanessa Parise (terrible rating) for Kiss the Bride; Peter Weir (average rating) for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World; Nancy Myers (average rating) for Something’s Gotta Give; Thomas Bezucha (average rating) for The Family Stone; Michael McGowan (average rating) for Saint Ralph; Jared Hess (terrible rating) for Napoleon Dynamite; Robert Rodriguez (terrible rating) for Once Upon a Time in Mexico; and Paul Thomas Anderson (terrible rating) for Punch-Drunk Love.

Exceptions to this dual role as writer/director are Kirk Jones (excellent rating) in Waking Ned Devine, and Tim McCanlies (excellent rating) for Secondhand Lions. Both Jones and McCanlies are master storytellers in these films, and other writer/directors who have failed could learn a lot from them.

Wedding Crashers, another funny comedy, is just the opposite of Talladega Nights in that Steve Faber and Bob Fisher can tell a good story, and David Dobkin can direct a good comedy film. Their effort comes together because Owen Wilson as John Beckwith is likeable and has the acting style and ability to emotionally connect with the viewer.

We can see ourselves in his predicament—living a life of fun and pleasure at the expense of others, and then developing a conscience that foreshadows personal growth.

After taking advantage of so many lovely, unsuspecting bridesmaids, he slows down enough to notice Rachel McAdams as Claire Cleary, who shares his sense of humor and light-heartedness. The more he looks at Claire, the more he wants to look at Claire.

Claire, however, is spoken for by a person she has not yet discovered is really a self-absorbed, dictatorial, manipulative, rich jerk, whereas John Beckwith appears more worthless but is wanting and willing to change his ways.

It is interesting that Vince Vaughn as Jeremy Grey’s character, Beckwith’s wedding crasher partner and best friend, is not nearly as likeable, although he also decides to get married to Claire’s immature, dippy sister Gloria Cleary (Isla Fisher).

I saw the unrated and uncut version of Talladega Nights, and the uncorked (not rated) version of Wedding Crashers, the theatrical version was rated R with sexual content, nudity and filthy language.

Despite watching the additional footage not shown in theaters, and enduring the sexual content and language, I would watch Wedding Crashers again but would not watch Talladega Nights again if you offered to pay me.

Moviegoers are fooled less often than you may think, and it becomes evident at awards time. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, was nominated in 2007 for the People’s Choice Award for Favorite Movie Comedy, but did not win. Wedding Crashers was nominated in 2006 for the People’s Choice Award for Favorite Movie Comedy and did win.

This is Dale Earnhardt final and 76th win.
Video Rating: 4 / 5

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by Jennifer Janviere

Acquainted with the Night: Documentary Film Review

Feature-length documentary “Acquainted with the Night” (Markham Street Films, 2010), is a brilliantly executed examination of how humanity explores, embraces and attempts to protect the night.  Shot in seven countries and eight languages, director Michael McNamara and co-producer Jen Recknagel analyze the universality of elements embodied in dusk to dawn traditions – curiosity and the quest to learn, ritual celebration, fear and adaptation, and from a Western research perspective the concern for the night’s adverse impact on the individual, and society.

The movie is based on Christopher Dewdney’s book, Acquainted with the Night:  Excursions through the World after Dark.  While Dewdney breaks up the night into hourly vignettes based on science, myth and poetry, McNamara proceeds differently, showcasing key segments of time:  daytime preparations, dusk, night-time activities, dawn and its aftermath. 

In the film’s , individuals in a diversity of cultures and stations in life are shown preparing for darkness, foreshadowing what the night embodies for them:

In the town of Atzompa, in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, a family walks along a dirt road with a wheelbarrow and arms full of flowers, destined for the cemetery, the beginning of its Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) rituals;
Members of Astronomers Without Borders line up telescopes in Bhaktapur, Nepal, for viewing Jupiter and its moons;
A team of researchers arrive at Arches National Park in Utah, to measure light pollution;
On the Greek Island of Chios, villagers from two rival towns ready rockets and launching pads in preparation for a century – old,  middle-of-the-night pyrotechnics competition;
A group sets up high – power lamps in New York City near Ground Zero, for a tribute in lights;
Artists at Parc des Buttes Chaumant in Paris, France, install their art, and lighting, for Nuit Blanche, a unique exhibition.

Introductions continue through , in Austin, Texas.  Crowds gather before dark, eager to watch 1.5 million bats fly out from beneath an expansion bridge in a night-time feeding frenzy. This year the bats emerge unexpectedly early, but the film crew, on the ready, doesn’t miss a beat and catches the event as it happens.  

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Moving into , we’re whisked worlds away, to a marketplace in Marrakech, Morocco.  Children and adults alike are enthralled by the tales of a traditional storyteller, one of only two or three of his kind remaining.  But storytelling is universal, as McNamara illustrates, taking the viewer from this Moroccan custom to Anglo- and French-Canadian homes in Canada where parents read the same bed-time story to their children, “Love You Forever,” in English and in French.

McNamara uses his characters, rather than a narrator, to thread his theses.  Researcher Chad Moore, measuring light pollution with sophisticated instruments, decries the loss of the ability of Americans to witness true darkness.  It “ties all people together across the planet,” states Moore. “We have to decide if it’s worth saving,” he asks rhetorically.  Then in Nepal, as if to answer the question, we’re placed amongst astronomers encouraging onlookers to take a peak at the largest planet in the solar system.  Curiosity, intrigue, marvel and the quest to learn about the night, each transcends culture and age.

Returning to North America, and , a long-haul trucker drives across Canada with her son, after dark, exposing us to the night’s working world – its allure, its danger, and its necessity.  At the Sleep and Alertness Clinic in Toronto we learn of the afflictions which beset the night shift, and are told of modern-day disasters which have occurred during the middle-of-the-night as a result of human error – Chernobyl and Exxon Valdez are cited examples.  If humanity must work throughout the night, as is suggested, how do we better adapt?

The dark side of earth’s most densely populated club district is revealed, under the watch of Toronto Police Department’s 52 Division.  Another aspect of night shift work:  patrolling nightly, and then rounding up mainly youthful revelers as they emerge from partying shortly after 2 a.m., high on drugs or a little too much to drink, in either case resulting in unruly conduct or violence. Detention and in some cases arrest follows; then finally the morning clean-up,  . 

McNamara also illustrates how differently death is approached depending on societal mores. In the candle – lit Mexican cemetery his cinematographers capture the poignancy of an elderly couple lamenting the loss of their son, decades after his passing. He then switches to the somber spectacle of light near Ground Zero. On a subsequent night in the Mexican village, death is remembered no longer through solemnity, but now with comparsas – parades marked by reveling in costume, dance and song.  McNamara then takes us to the pageantry of a Winter Solstice celebration at Toronto’s Kensington Market. The night is a catalyst for celebrating in similar, almost identical fashion, under dramatically distinct circumstances.

Particularly striking and thought provoking contrasts occur within the context of McNamara taking us to a makeshift outdoor hockey rink illuminated by the full moon, then to beyond Yellowknife, where The Dene, one of Canada’s First Nation peoples, emerge from their teepees rejoicing the awe inspiring Aurora Borealis, and yes, telling stories.  Cut to Paris, where artificial light gives art a new appreciation, then to New York, where light pays homage to America’s fallen.  It’s hard to resolve the conflict between utilizing and appreciating the night and all its wonder and beauty – a motive for its preservation – and perhaps just as valid, transforming and celebrating the night, which leads to its adulteration.

As dawn approaches, thousands of spent rockets are gathered on the Greek island, the Parisian art exhibit has lost its glimmer, the 9 / 11 lights are extinguished, the now exhausted Nepalese storyteller heads home, and the villagers of Atzompa depart through the cemetery arch, until next year’s Dia de los Muertos.

Acquainted with the Night takes the viewer on much more than a cross-cultural journey traversing the exotic and the familiar, and then back again. It opens our minds to a sampling of what most of us miss between going to bed, and arising for work the next day.  It inevitably encourages many to re-evaluate an unnecessarily staid lifestyle, through examining a world not previously known to exist.  It ensures that we expose our youth to more, yet at the same time cautions, and raises questions – with answers difficult to reconcile.

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