Essay: The Untouchable 80s

Adding another entry to our essay’s section is an issue of historical fiction, wherein it is a historical event portrayed in a fictional way…or is it fictional history? Well you comment and decide. Anyways, essay is about the significance, accuracy, and entertainment value of Brian DePalma’s 1987 film, The Untouchables. This essay saved my grade in my Studies in Popular History 490 level class.

Brian DePalma’s “historical” crime film, The Untouchables, was released in 1987, well into a decade well known for excess. The story of the film takes place during 1930’s Nation-wide Prohibition, in which American citizens were restricted by law from buying, selling and consuming alcoholic beverages. This was much to the chagrin of bar tenders, but gave the crime lords of the central United States a large market to work with: crime syndicates, lead by men like Al Capone, secured a profitable black market in liquor sales. The story of the film starts with real-life historical figure, Eliot Ness, bringing his “tin star” to a town full of corrupt officials and gun wielding Mafioso. Chicago, Illinois was the headquarters of the real life Al Capone, and Elliot Ness did in fact start his war and end Capone’s reign in that very city. However, aside from the general setting, the two leading opponents, and the final court case resulting in the arrest of Capone, the heavy weight bought on this stage is mostly a dramatic fabrication of the events that could have (or never did) take place.

You can read the full essay here.

Essays Section Now Up!

We have another special surprise for everyone out there on the net, STRIKE A POSE FILMS now introduces it’s Essays Page, a place where you can read and gain cinematic terminology and knowledge from the writings of Dylan Hintz and others.

So two things are happening with this page: One, its a portfolio of my years of paper writing at Salisbury University under the great tutelage of Dr.’s Walker, Johnson, Moeder and others, as well as some private essays I’ve written in my free time. They can be cited if you are ever faced with writing an essay of your own on films like Oldboy, Cache, Aliens, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Rashomon, Gattaca and Life is Beautiful. There is a creative commons notification at the bottom of each essay, so please keep that in mind.

Secondly:
If you wish to get your essay published on a fully-functional and well-read website, please by all means submit it via email to my gmail account, which is just “strikeaposefilm” @ gmail.com.

Here is a sample of my essay on the film The Battleship Potemkin:

Dylan Hintz
English 402, Film History
Professor Johnson

The Warfare of Montage

“Revolution is war,” begins a famous quote from Soviet Revolutionary Vladimir Lenin in the opening slate to Sergei Eisenstein’s 1925 masterpiece of Soviet Montage, The Battleship Potemkin. This statement links clashing close up images of water crashing upon rocks- a natural violence of warlike proportions displayed to give the viewer a feeling of great chaos- to the entirety of the film in a message and theme of collision and amassed disturbance. This quote, delivered through a black and white slate of words and expressing the emotions of the time towards warfare, explains in Lenin’s own words how something of great change, a Revolution, can only come through the great destruction of War. Two juxtaposed ideas, change and destruction, give a concise and explosive example of Eisenstein’s film theory of Montage, most prominently displayed in The Battleship Potemkin. When put together in a subconscious mindset, the words can create an idea of revolution and war- the fulfillment of the formula he created. Eisenstein carries over this equation of words to the medium of film and the images it can convey in the succession of editing- the ultimate storytelling power of a film. He carves out the themes of this film through the use of conflict to convey images within the montages, giving deeper meaning to scenes as well as providing an artistic angle to almost documentary-like situations.

There is one key scene in the Potemkin story that depicts its primary revolution through the use of a heavily edited montage. During the second act of The Battleship Potemkin, the captain has called all sailors and soldiers to the deck to demand information on possible treason. The treason in question is based around a paranoid request: Did the sailors enjoy their meal? In the oppressor’s, the pristinely clothed and thick mustached captain, view had they not, they are obviously denying the consumption of the provided food in an act of rebellion against their suppliers and should be duly punished for such treason. Thus starts the most dramatic montage of this act as the soldiers prepare to fire on the dissenters in following their captain’s orders. In a slow build of solid images, the marines raise their guns in preparation to fire upon the dissenting sailors. Displaying a solemn acceptance of the doom draped upon them, the sailors lower their heads in shame and despair as the rifles are pointed upon their brothers. It is in a slow and breathe-like take that Vakulinchuk, in a dramatic medium shot, is the only man to raise his head upward and take in the image of the oppressive act. The angles then conflict, as victory appears on the side of the oppressors, with their shots being taken from a low angle, putting their guns in the top of the frame, with the cloaked men kneeling towards the bottom of their frame from a high angle, accepting their doom.

You can read the rest of this essay here, and check out the rest at http://www.strikeaposefilms.com/essays

Feel free to comment and let me know your thoughts. These papers are primarily for analysis, not argument, but if you agree or disagree a discussion is more than welcome- it is encouraged.

As I start adding more essays I will be posting them to the main page as well, so more content to look forward to for the next couple of months.

Thanks for paying attention and enjoy the literature!

We’ve got a BIG surprise for all of our fans out there in internet land.

sleepin-off-the-day

The indy-cult-classic, Campbell/Raimi-esque, amazingly manly-B-MOVie masculine greatness that is JASPER CONROY: Salisbury Bounty Hunter is now available in demo form on the internet. Film is about a man, Jasper, who is hired by his local ganglord, Fratelli, to stop a drug-dealer-killing robot from killing his crew. Working with the mysterious Australian Drug Dealer, Tony, Jasper will bring his biggest gun to the table in order to keep Fratelli from leaking embarrassing pictures of him onto the internet. Its tooth and nail, gear and lever, man vs. machine in this high-octane comedic thrill ride from the people who brought you THE INTERSECTION, GULLMAN: Defender of Salisbury, and MAN OF ACTION!

Originally a series of pictures were posted as a preview for the film when it was shot back in April of 2008. Well, at least we got the full thing up in some form within the year.

Jasper Conroy: Salisbury Bounty Hunter was filmed on April 10th and 11th 2008.
Starring:
Thomas England as Jasper Conroy
James Howe as Tony
John Doherty as Fratelli
and
Phillip Krocheski as ROBO-Q

Running Time 7:30, filmed on location in Salisbury, Maryland. Special thanks to Salisbury University and the University Police who didn’t arrest us.

SONGS USED FOR ENTERTAINMENT AND NOT FOR PROFIT. This is an INCOMPLETE DEMO.

Preview: BE A MAN: SAMURAI SCHOOL

Everyone on this site should know of my love for Ryuhei Kitamura, and furthermore his action protege, Tak Sakaguchi, by now. If you don’t, here’s a short video as to why.

Now I am totally with you guys- I have NO idea what that is about. From the English version of the film’s website, here’s a brief synopsis!

Inheriting the Samurai Spirit, Otokojuku is a private boys school to nurture true men. As usual, 1st-year students enroll this year. What awaits them is grilling training by Drill Master Onihige. Momotaro is professed in both academics and martial arts. Hidemaro is a puny coward. 300 push-ups, Oil Bath punishment, Disciplinary Twin Cells are just examples of what the newcomers experience. With blood and sweat, Momotaro and Hidemaro live through the Otokojuku days, but during that time, they become true friends as well as pitch friendship with their other classmates. Meanwhile, Omito Date, a former Otokojuku 1st-year student leader, carrying a grudge on this school, now leads the evil army of Kanto Gogakuren school, is ready for a pay back. He conspires to take over Otokojuku and sets out to their school ground. The Otokojuku principle, Heihachi Edajima, appears and utters: “No personal vendetta is allowed on the grounds of Otokojuku, but it’s a different story elsewhere.” Thus, Otokojuku versus Kanto Gogakuren.

Yes it might make absolutely no sense to the unenlightened, but what lay in store here is a unique parody of over-masculinated, over stylized Japanese animes in live action form. With that new synopsis in mind, try watching trailer 2!

My favorite thing about this is that it is actually direct BY Tak, a guy who just ten years ago was simply streetfighting for a living. Now he’s a successful cult action movie director. I guess I can only dream right?

For more info about Tak, visit his myspace and of course visit the website for BE A MAN: SAMURAI SCHOOL here. Click the ENGLISH text to read the website in a limited English…errr…TEXT!

AND THEN BE A MAN!

BE A MAN!

Preview:Franklyn

This little gem has been popping up all over the internet lately, and recently Rotten Tomatoes released and exclusive director interview to help flesh out the plot.

Synopsis from IMDB.com

FRANKLYN is about four lost souls, divided by two parallel worlds, on course for an explosive collision when a single bullet will decide all their fates.

This doesn’t sound like a typical action movie, until you hear about the character, specifically the Rorschach inspired Preest,

a masked vigilante detective, searching for his nemesis on the streets of Meanwhile City, a monolithic fantasy metropolis ruthlessly governed by faith and religious fervor. Esser (Hurt) is a broken man, searching for his wayward son amongst the rough streets of London’s homeless. Milo (Bettany) is a heartbroken thirty-something desperately trying to find a way back to the purity of first love. Emilia (Green) is a beautiful art student; her suicidal art projects are becoming increasingly more complex and deadly.


Here’s the link to the Rotten Tomatoes director exclusive.

I’ll probably check this one out, it sorta rocks to the same vibes as The Crow, Oldboy, and Dark City. Those are three of my favorite films, if anyone feels like discussing ’em.