Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
American Digest: And I like this from "The Blog That Nobody Reads", because it is -- mostly -- about me. What can I say? I'm on an ego trip today. It won't last.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Morgan Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes (pftthats a mouthful) honors big boned women in skimpy clothing. The picture there is priceless--keep scrolling down.
Exile in Portales: Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth...and it's fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.
Just Muttering: Two nice pieces at House of Eratosthenes, one about a perhaps unintended effect of the Enron mess, and one on the Gore-y environ-movie.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
The Virginian: I know this post will offend some people, but the author makes some good points.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
Another movie-related post. Another self-explanatory title.
Meat located here. Summary in case the link goes away:
1. Nuclear Man here
2. The Nothing here
3. Anakin Skywalker here and here
4. Jareth here
5. Daleks here
6. Chucky here
7. John Kreese here
8. Madison Lee here
9. Megatron here
10. Mr. Glass here
11. This guy in pretty much anything
Honorable Mention: General Zod here
To this, I would add:
1. Zorg here
2. Serleena here
3. The Mayor here
4. All the bad guys here, here and here — yes, Michelle too
5. Mola Ram here
6. Sleestaks here
7. Renard here
Not sure this belongs here, but it’s an interesting observation and it does have a relationship to the subject at hand. I was watching this for the first time in something like twenty years and it suddenly occurred to me…do you realize what a fabulous villain Rene Belloq is? He holds the whole movie together and in so doing, so much of his work is done on a subconscious level you don’t realize what he’s doing. In fact, it would be an accurate assessment to say being the “bad guy” is simply a side gig for this character.
As the impassioned protagonist, he holds only temporary authority in the dig, and none whatsoever in the Nazi command structure. So he persuades others to do his bidding by arguing with them. He neither lowers himself to a mutual exchange of ideas, nor imposes his will on this antagonist. He simply asks rhetorical questions.
Now as he is doing this, he reveals to the audience in a wonderfully subtle way a) he is Belloq, super-genius; b) the situation in which the other person has has been placed within the overall story, and c) that other person’s overriding phobias, doubts or both. What an ingenious way to keep the audience invested in the story, and keep said story moving along. The machine guns have stopped firing for a minute or two…and yet, you want to keep watching. And you’re learning something about the characters in the best way possible: without your consciously realizing this is taking place. Consciously, you think you’re just being reminded that Belloq is smart, and creepy, and has a weird-ass accent.
There is another angle to this too: His professional rivalry with Dr. Jones aside, Belloq’s misdeeds rise no higher than an attempt to place a holy superweapon under the control of the Nazi regime, for money. Okay, yeah that’s pretty bad. But mundane in the world of villains. He’s a mercenary, a punchclock-badass, in it for the money. Nothing personal. Nothing to give the character an inherent creepiness…
…except one thing. He is using psychology to peel the other characters apart, like bananas. He can see right through ’em. This taps into the audience’s phobia that someone can see through them.
Yet another element in a Spielberg movie, that would lose much of its appeal if displayed to a race of beings that were somehow perfect in every way. We are flawed; this movie character depends on our flaws to survive. Without this phobia we all have, the character is reduced to just being a guy who does bad things for money. Hell’s bells, every fight scene in Ultraviolet has at least fifty of those. No, he reads people. Accurately. And he knows he’s reading them accurately…and he’s got a big mouth.
To some folks, that is more frightening than, a shark, or some voodoo priest who can set your ass on fire without bothering to figure out where you are first. Spielberg’s a genius, or at least he is when he tries to be.
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[…] Well, that isn’t fair I guess. Five minutes is quite impractical, and for reasons stated above you can’t always have everything resemble real life. So how about…the two scenes where Belloq starts psychoanalyzing people? Not realistic dialog by a damn sight, but certainly excellent dialog nonetheless. Motivations are established. Feelings are manifested. Characters are built. The story…proceeds. […]
- House of Eratosthenes | 11/08/2007 @ 10:06