Spielberg: Munich part 2
At the end of Act I of Munich, Avner leaves his family behind in Israel (his nation, which, it is implied, is also his family) and ventures out into Europe to track down and kill those rotten terrorists who killed the athletes in Munich.
Spielberg: Munich part 1
WHAT DOES THE PROTAGONIST WANT? Excellent question! The protagonist of Munich changes his mind about what he wants a number of times during the narrative. He starts out wanting to "protect his family" (and we’ll see what a complicated notion that is) but before long he doesn’t know what he’s doing any more in this, Spielberg’s most emotionally complicated movie.
Programming note
Due to the recent disturbing news regarding Livejournal, I’m going to start cross-posting my posts at another blog I’ve created at Blogspot.
I will also start moving the more "important" pieces I’ve done over there — just in case I need to make a speedy exit from Livejournal one day.
Superheroes: Batman (1966)
(For those interested, my earlier thoughts on Batman can be found here.)
WHO IS BRUCE WAYNE? Bruce Wayne is tall, handsome, wealthy and dumb as a post. He lives with his ward, Dick Grayson, who is shorter, not quite as good looking, and also dumb as a post. Wayne refers to himself as a "capitalist" for the benefit of a woman he believes to be a Russian journalist, but as far as the narrative is concerned, Wayne is born rich, a playboy, and does nothing with his life but bear the name of the Wayne Foundation — a wealthy, carefree philanthropist. There is no mention anywhere of the murder of Bruce’s parents when he was eight years old, no mention of any demons or psychological issues that might compel a man to dress up like a bat to go out and fight crime. Like a lot of things in Batman, Bruce Wayne dresses up like a bat to go out and fight crime because the plot demands it.
Movie Night with Urbaniak: The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek
urbaniak and I have an ongoing game, where we try to draw parallels between actors of one generation and another. Certain "types" are always needed for one kind of narrative or another, and so it stands to reason that Cary Grant gets re-born as George Clooney, Robert Redford gets re-born as Brad Pitt, Steve McQueen gets re-born as Daniel Craig, and so forth.
The sad thing is that some actors are never re-born. I’ve searched for decades and not found a replacement for Myrna Loy, or Carole Lombard, or Gene Kelly.
Programming note
Due to a rather pressing assignment, I haven’t been able to spend as much time watching movies as I have intended this week. I am working my way through the tricky, labyrinthine plot machinations and Bergmanian psychological drama of the 1966 Batman, and will post my analysis soon.
Then, at the request of jacksonpublick , I’m going to analyze Steven Spielberg’s Munich before I move on to the rest of the Batman movies. Fair is fair, it’s the only Spielberg movie I have left to analyze and it doesn’t seem fair to keep it hanging like that.
Last night, Urbaniak came over, as well as LA theater maven Lee Costello, and we watched The Miracle At Morgan’s Creek, about which I may have something worthwhile to say when I have time. In the meantime I beg your patience.
FYI
I am now on Facebook. Whatever that is. Continuing my brave march into the 21st century.
UPDATE: If you make a friend request for me, please do mention that you know me through this journal, otherwise how would I know?
Metablog
It’s that time of year again, when I ask my readers to step forward and introduce themselves to me, and each other. This should be an ongoing communal celebration, and we should all know something about each other. Who are you people, where are you from, what do you do, how did you find out about this journal, what makes you come back, what do you like, what do you dislike, what would you like to see more of. This goes double for my anonymous lurkers. My intent is for this journal to become much more purely about screenplay analysis, but God knows my mind wanders, and my kids won’t stop doing cute things. Many thanks for your continued attention, I am in your debt.