Two New Items of Resarch

So, my secondary research continues. I think I'll be doing the majority of my primary research on college grounds for practical reasons.

I've found 2 more items I can possibly use in my catalog of research.

The first is this countdown by DangerDolan of 15 racist movies.
It touches on issues of race bending casting and covers some of the films im focusing on.
However it delves mostly into issues of racism in plot and context, so for that reason it may not be totally applicable to my catalogue. It may go in the unused section.

This next video however is very applicable. I will use it as secondary research. It is very opinionated but offers a heap of examples and facts I can use.

An Interesting Article

No, I'm not writing an interesting article..

I'm just attaching a link to one


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/10/hollywood-whitewashing_n_5515919.html


This is the first bit of Secondary research I'm doing for my investigation into Hollywood Whitewashing
A very useful article which features a lot of the things I am planning to talk about in my work.
This is one for the catalogue.

Film Investigation- A Focus and Direction

So as my last post stated I have some work to do to investigate a topic for Film Studies.

Since then I have had my AS Level Results and yay I'm definitely coming back for Film next year (Me gots the A Grade!)

So that means the hard work must continue and my investigation has to be high quality.

Well I now have a direction and focus.



My work has to amount to a catalogue of 10-15 items that I have used to research my topic (both primary and secondary sources) as well as a script for a presentation on my topic.

As decided earlier, I am focusing on the issues of race in Hollywood.
I now have to add to that a focus question title and a game plan.


My investigation is centred around the question; 'Is Hollywood still Whitewashed'?

I'm going to explore the history of white washing in the film industry from the days of the black and white minstrels up to today and even the future...

I have a focus film in mind- 2010's The Last Airbender. There's lots to discuss about casting and race in that film!
Unfortunately that means I have to watch the darned thing all the way through.

To support this ill be looking at supporting films from 1953's The Conqueror up to 2013's The Lone Ranger and even 2017's upcoming Ghost in the Shell.


For my research I'm going to get active and do a questionnaire, a focus group and hopefully find an industry related person to interview one on one about my issue.
As well as this I've begun looking at pre existing research such as articles and websites.

The investigation begins here. And its all due in a few months so let's get cracking! 

 Cant wait to watch this ...

My Investigation Begins!

Starting Here

As part of my A Level Film Studies Course-
I have been tasked with investigating a chosen investigative topic surrounding the world of film.
This can range from a focus on an actor, a focus on a genre or a look into film issues.

I begin my task by having to choose what topic to pursue and already I have struggled to narrow down the numerous ideas floating around in my head.
Spending my every night watching YouTube videos about film news as usual it has been hard to come up with just one solid idea.
I could go down the road of focusing on a particular actor. In which case I'm inexplicably drawn to examine the work of Gary Oldman. I feel as though his wide range of roles would be an interesting one to look at. I could compare his villainous turns in Leon or Hannibal to his calming heroes in Batman Begins and Harry Potter.
My other idea would be to explore the issue of the Directors Cut. To  debate what really is the true version of a film. the cut the studio sends to the cinema or the cut that the auteur himself decided upon. With various novels being turned into films there is always the book V film argument that could be tied in. Deleted scenes that famously could've added lots to their respected films.

However I want to push myself to investigate something out of my comfort zone. Something I can really learn from as I go.

Which is why I want to investigate the issue of ethnicity. Specifically the topical issue of Whitewashing in Hollywood.

I want ot investigate whether whitewashing is an issue people recognise and whether it affects the quality of films. How casting white actors in iconic black roles from other media can cause a stir and whether the opposite effects (non white actors in white roles) is fair treatment or edgy publicity stunting.  I can tie in topical of the moment examples such as the Oscars So White debacle, the debate of a black James Bond and many more examples of films being accused of racism for their white washing of respectable cultures.

This investigation begins here.

Back at it again with the Blog Plans

So.. that post last year where I promised I'd blog regularly. It was too ambitious. Little did I know that A Levels were gonna take over my life. Believe your teachers guys. They do.
But luckily- one of the perks of taking Film Studies is that this blog is just the sort of thing I'm being encouraged to do. Yay.


So expect more wit, spit, tears and reviews.


Quick updates on recent films.


So far in 2016 I have seen Deadpool, Batman  V Superman and Civil War among others.
Here's some one sentence reviews for now:

Deadpool- Perfect comic to screen translation with an A star for Ryan Reynolds. Fox should be this brave more often with their Marvel properties.- 9/10


Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice- Last time I talked about this film I was hyped. Now- I am still hyped for the future. But lots of missed opportunities here. However Batfleck was a good call- just stop killing people please. And lets make Justice League improve on the mistakes we fell into here. - 7/10


Captain America: Civil War- I went crazy coming out of the cinema after this. I was convinced it was a 10/10/. Admittedly I need to watch it more and it will probably fall down to an 8 at some point I don't know. But this film proved that Marvel is killing it. This film made BVS look like garbage.
Spiderman and Black Panther are inducted in the MCU perfectly.
For now this film stands as a 9/10.






I might do some more in depth reviews or articles on these three at a later date. But probably not.
However expect reviews on Suicide Squad, Rogue One and Doctor Strange. All three of which I am hella excited for.
I promise more consistency.




For now- this is the teenage (now 17) Film Buff (now backed by exam results)

Ant Man SPOILER REVIEW

Ant Man Spoiler Review

My spoiler free review will tell you my general thoughts on Ant Man

As for Spoilers- there were so many amazing surprises in Ant Man- ties to the wider marvel cinematic universe as well as more obscure references. As well as some stand out scenes- here's my Top 6 Ant Man Features!

BEWARE SPOILERS

6) Michael Pena-

Walking into Ant Man- you know it's a film carried by Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas and Evangeline Lily. You may also recognise the films baddie Corey Stoll from his stint in House of Cards. However you probably didn't know of Michael Pena- who plays Ant Man's best friend Luis. Luis is a scene stealing character. 90 percent of his lines are hilarious and a huge majority of the films comedy element relies on Michael Pena himself. His delivery and character are both laugh out loud funny.

The best moments were when Luis would tell a intricate and confusing story of how he's found out information from a long line of people in a quick cut style- seeing all the people that have passed on Chinese whispers about a new job through to Luiz himself. No one expects the comic relief to be a stand out. It didn't feel out of place either - and that's an achievement,

5) The Opening Scene-

We all love the fact that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is connected. Every film has some sort of tie to the avengers and beyond. It's a fresh and exciting idea- having a tied together universe on film. 

Well Ant Man is no exception. The only way that the idea of starting off with the second Ant Man instead of the first was if we had a flashback of sorts that establishes the past adventures we don't see. What better way to do this than with the opening scene. It starts out in the 80s where The Triskelion (Shields headquarters seen in Captain America : The Winter Soldier) is still under construction. We are greeted with two familiar faces and two new ones.

Our familiars are Peggy Carter (Captain America's WW2 love interest and star of her own new TV series on Fox [every Sunday at 9pm btw]) and Howard Stark (father of Iron Man himself). The new faces are Mitch Carson- who turns up later in the film as a revealed Hydra Agent (those damn guys never die) and Hank Pym- the original Ant Man. In this scene we get the knowledge that Ant Man was a shield hero in the 60s and now Pym is leaving the company in anger as people are trying to steal his science- The Pym Particle (the thing that makes other things into smaller things. You know the Ant Man thing). 

In this short opener we get lovely little callbacks to our wide universe with the returning characters as well as just enough info to set up that there's already been an Ant Man and that we can go straight on from there. Exciting from the start.

4) Hank and Janet- 

Another great moment in Ant Man is the flashback later in the film where it's revealed how Janet Van Dyme lost her life. Kept an intriguing secret for most of the film. We are shown that one of the missions Hank Pym went on as Ant Man included his wife Janet as the Wasp. Something all marvel fans had hoped to see in some form. We see that Janet sacrificed herself to stop a missile by going Sub Atomic (which basically means you shrink forever until you end up in the 5th dimension from Interstellar). It was great to see a nod to the original comics where Hank and Janet played a huge role. I always thought the implication was that Hank caused Janet's death as the comics saw him turn on her once and the movie stated that the suit had taken a toll on Pym. However that direction was not touched on and it appears that Janet died a heroic death to save the world and her loving husband. The inclusion of Wasp was well wished for and it meant we could get the Mid Credits scene I'll talk about in a minute

3) The Smaller References-

There were so many Easter eggs and nods to the fans in Ant Man. Some of my favourites being Cross' description of Hank Pym's adventures- calling them "Tales To Astonish" (a callback to the original comic series in which Ant Man appeared).

There were references to The Avengers, Tony Stark's Iron Man, The events of Avengers 2 were referenced with "they're probably busy dropping cities out of the sky"

Stan Lee had his cameo of course- this time as a bartender in one of Luiz' hilarious montages who calls a woman "Crazy Fine' in the voice of Luiz himself. Hilarious stuff,

The best little reference has to be just minutes later where Falcon (who I'll talk about later) is tracking down Ant Man via a woman with super hero connections. The woman says she has "a guy who jumps, a guy who swings and a guy who crawls up walls". And with that we have the first reference to Spiderman being in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Just a little nod to let everyone know he's on his way soon. 

2) The Credits Scenes

As always the credits have a surprise or two in store. This time it was two.

The mid credits scene showed Hope Van Dyme and her father Hank Pym. Hank reveals to her a prototype Wasp suit he'd made for his wife Janet. He finally tells her it's time to suit up and Lilly says to Hank just what was on everyone's minds; "it's about damn time". It's great to finally have another female hero join the ranks of the marvel universe. Even if it did take a whole movie to actually see her get her moment.

The post credits scene is one hell of a tease. A scene taken straight out of next year's Civil War. It sees Falcon and Captain America finally come across Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes- who's trapped and defeated by someone. In the scene Cap decides against telling Tony Stark of his find- the first sign of tension and mistrust between our avengers that will lead to the ultimate battle of battles in March. Falcon tells Cap he knows someone that can help- meaning our hero Ant Man himself. This acts as the ultimate teaser to get us roaring for next year's movie. Which will undoubtedly be a cinematic event.

1) That Falcon Scene-

Halfway through the movie the biggest stand out moment of all happened for me. Ant Man has to go to an old Stark Industries warehouse to retrieve some tech. A lovely little way to tie in more of the universe. But that's just the start. Upon arriving at the location- he finds it to now have changed its layout. Ant Man has ended up right outside the new headquarters of The Avengers (the HQ seen at the end of Age of Ultron), what ensues sees New Avengers Falcon step up for a fight with Ant Man. A long fight that tickles the inner nerd. Ant Man wins the fight and leaves- with falcon hoping that Cap doesn't find out about it. Funny and exciting- it served as a great tie in to the Avengers movies and a way to push things forward both in Ant Man's plot and the plot of Marvel's Civil War.

All in all - Ant Man didn't disappoint. Some are complaining it didn't feel grand enough. But this wasn't a Hollywood blockbuster as big as Avengers, it wasn't supposed to be. It's a heist movie. A heist movie that takes place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And it's a welcome addition to the series- introducing us to essential Marvel characters with a rounded stand alone story while also being immensely important in the build up to the next Marvel Movie- Civil War.

Ant Man was amazing. A little hero- with a huge way ahead of him. I hope to see more of our insect sized super hero.

Ant Man Review

Ant Man Review (Spoiler Free)

This Years second Marvel Movie is smaller in scale than Avengers Age of Ultron (Pun intended)- yet it feels like a big new step in the road to Civil War. Being the last film we will see before 2016's crossover movie - Ant Man gives us one more new story and character to know and love- Ant Man.

This idea of the movie is potentially ridiculous- A guy who can shrink and communicate with ants? 

Believe it or not- this movie not only makes that believable; it makes it enjoyable.

The Films director Peyton Reed does a great job at capturing the wide lore of Ant Man from the comics- tying it into the marvel universe with Shield, the Avengers etc and also taking the original ideas from Edgar Wright- who left the project before directing. 

A funny, exciting and enjoyable ride for comic book fans and the average movie goer. 

Characters- Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is an interesting and emotionally layered main character- being a criminal with a conscience who we really root for as a good guy. 

Michael Douglas does a great job as Hank Pym- the original Ant Man. He acts as a great mentor figure to Scott with a morally ambiguous character to him. 

Evangeline Lily is a badass heroine. I must say YellowJacket is a good villain for a marvel standalone movie.

Some great cameos and references to the marvel universe are strewn throughout. 

All in all- Ant Man is giant fun (Pun intended again)

If you have seen the movie and don't mind spoilers- Check out my Spoiler Review where I get to talk more in depth about the film.