If an individual is somewhat introspective and aware, he can't help but notice the pall that has fallen over America. This country has long been in the grips of a fall from grace, so to speak and one can't help but to notice it. More and more of our intelligent young people have fallen into drug and alcohol abuse or have dropped out of society.
Why is this? Why are our most intelligent young men and women fallen into these traps and not made something of their lives? Their are many opinions regarding this situation but there is simply only one answer and this answer can be found in the pages of "Atlas Shrugged."
If you haven't closed out of this window in disgust, you are more honest in your search for answers than most people are. Even if you disagree with Rand's diagnoses, you must be struck, however, with how closely her predictions came to our present situation. If you will allow me to, I will set about in describing how this is.
Like the opening of "Atlas Shrugged" we seem to be trapped in some terrible Film Noir nightmare. Everything seems to be steeped in perpetual darkness lit only by streetlamps through a heavy fog. Jobs that are satisfying are difficult to come by and many prognosticators are throwing different forms of the same answer at us, "You must learn to sacrifice" or "We have to live a less lavish life style" but the most damning thing is "Look at this lavish royal family, just wait and a Prince will carry you away."
The real problem is simply this, incompetence is rewarded and achievement is a sign of some character flaw. If you are like me, you have seen this truth day in and day out at your job and in social interactions. If a person is incompetent, they are rewarded. Jobs are used as a form of charity where job performance earns the inverse of what it should. Higher paying jobs are given to "people who need them" rather than people who have earned them. The same is true in social interactions. A person of culture and intelligence is considered an outsider while a person who is incredibly stupid or inept is loved and cared for in all situations.
Our culture has become one that rewards inferiority and stupidity. This is the reason for the fall of our country and the dystopian present that we find ourselves. So why should bright young people want to excel? Why wouldn't they want to kill off the brain cells which make them different and creative? The society that we find ourselves in does not reward excellence; it rewards mediocrity so it stands to reason that the best and brightest of our society not born into the upper echelons would want to butcher and deface themselves to make themselves appear to be like the rest of the sea of mediocrity that they find themselves in.
America is now a dystopia, congratulations ladies and gentlemen we have made it.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Sunday, June 26, 2011
The Thing With Two Heads
I just finished watching the 1972 film, "The Thing With Two Heads." The trailer to which can be viewed here.
This film was an AIP release from Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson when that company began to move into making movies commonly referred to as Blaxploitation.
The movie itself is extremely creative and imaginative as many movies in the pre 2000's were. The basic premise is that a surgeon famous for transplants is dying and in order to save him, his head is transplanted onto a black man's body. The problem with that is that the famous white surgeon is a bigot. This is where the plot thickens and the comedic elements of the plot actually begin as the entire first act is played deadly seriously while the second act changes tone entirely and the film really kicks into fifth gear.
The Second Act is where all of the action and comedic effects are played up. One of the more memorable parts is the 30 min. long motorcycle chase where the thing with two heads and another doctor are being chased across Southern California by the police. IT is during this bike ride that the effect used for portraying two heads on one body begins to unravel as it is obvious that the actor (Ray Milland) is simply sitting behind the other actor (Rosey Grier) on the bike.
There are more comedic moments which this film would really have done well to play up but didn't. The ending of the film comes when the thing with two heads is snuck into surgery and the elderly bigot's head is removed and presumably left to die and Rosey Grier's character has his woman.
The Good:
This film has lots of faults and IMDB has it rated at a 3.3 out of 10 but this may not be a fair assessment. The idea itself may not be innovative, other movies featured two-headed people but the story is creative. The writers were trying to present something new and unusual and certainly to comment on race. The sparse bit of humor in the film was genuinely funny and I believe that if the movie relied a little more on humor than on action, we would have had a better product. One particular thing, that I liked personally was the fact that the film really had the "AIP feel" of films like the Dr. Phibes movies and the later Poe Cycle movies.
The Bad:
This film was really boring at points and relied way too much on the novelty of the premise to carry it through. After the first act, the story becomes amateur and really falls into cliched territory. The first and second act almost seem to be completely different movies. One is a science drama and the other becomes a action comedy. The worst offense that this movie makes is that it is really dull at points and that kills movies like this.
The Bottom Line:
I would check out this movie if you are into 70's exploitation and grind house films. If you are a casual viewer of movies or watch more movies from the 21st century than the 20th, do not pay any money to watch "The Thing With Two Heads."
Rating: 5/10
This film was an AIP release from Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson when that company began to move into making movies commonly referred to as Blaxploitation.
The movie itself is extremely creative and imaginative as many movies in the pre 2000's were. The basic premise is that a surgeon famous for transplants is dying and in order to save him, his head is transplanted onto a black man's body. The problem with that is that the famous white surgeon is a bigot. This is where the plot thickens and the comedic elements of the plot actually begin as the entire first act is played deadly seriously while the second act changes tone entirely and the film really kicks into fifth gear.
The Second Act is where all of the action and comedic effects are played up. One of the more memorable parts is the 30 min. long motorcycle chase where the thing with two heads and another doctor are being chased across Southern California by the police. IT is during this bike ride that the effect used for portraying two heads on one body begins to unravel as it is obvious that the actor (Ray Milland) is simply sitting behind the other actor (Rosey Grier) on the bike.
There are more comedic moments which this film would really have done well to play up but didn't. The ending of the film comes when the thing with two heads is snuck into surgery and the elderly bigot's head is removed and presumably left to die and Rosey Grier's character has his woman.
The Good:
This film has lots of faults and IMDB has it rated at a 3.3 out of 10 but this may not be a fair assessment. The idea itself may not be innovative, other movies featured two-headed people but the story is creative. The writers were trying to present something new and unusual and certainly to comment on race. The sparse bit of humor in the film was genuinely funny and I believe that if the movie relied a little more on humor than on action, we would have had a better product. One particular thing, that I liked personally was the fact that the film really had the "AIP feel" of films like the Dr. Phibes movies and the later Poe Cycle movies.
The Bad:
This film was really boring at points and relied way too much on the novelty of the premise to carry it through. After the first act, the story becomes amateur and really falls into cliched territory. The first and second act almost seem to be completely different movies. One is a science drama and the other becomes a action comedy. The worst offense that this movie makes is that it is really dull at points and that kills movies like this.
The Bottom Line:
I would check out this movie if you are into 70's exploitation and grind house films. If you are a casual viewer of movies or watch more movies from the 21st century than the 20th, do not pay any money to watch "The Thing With Two Heads."
Rating: 5/10
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