Tag Archives: film

How We Look At Hitler

Posted on November 4, 2013 by | 2 comments

Recently, my roommate has introduced me to an Australian series by the name of Danger 5, a parody show mocking the camp and melodrama of 1960s spy and WWII shows.

I’m usually not a fan of the saying “it’s so bad it’s good,” but there’s really no denying that Danger 5 captures the aesthetic (or lack thereof) of the genre it’s mocking perfectly. Heck, I’d put money down that if you were to slip in an episode of Danger 5 in with Hogan’s Heroes, Mission: Impossible (yeah, it was a show first), and Matt Helm you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

Like those shows, Danger 5 follows a pretty set formula. The international band of agents are briefed on some new ploy by the Axis to achieve world domination (such as using dinosaurs to invade Holland- I kid you not) and are ordered to infiltrate the Nazi headquarters and sabotage their diabolical plot.

…”and, as always, kill Hitler!” Continue reading →

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Posted in film, morality, news, television

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CWR’s Halloween Movie Recommendations

Posted on October 28, 2013 by | 5 comments

I don’t usually celebrate Halloween readers. Honestly, I don’t celebrate any holiday, if I can help it, May Day being the sole exception.

Nevertheless, we’re always trying to expand our horizons here at Culture War Reporters, and hope that you might be trying the same. To help us both get into the psychotically commercialized spirit of the season (baby steps, people, baby steps), here’s our recommendations for your scary viewing pleasure.

The Mothman Prophecies

I’d honestly be surprised if you had heard of this one. 2002’s The Mothman Prophecies wasn’t a big enough hit or a bad enough flop to gain either fame or notoriety. Regardless of it’s mediocre performance at the box office, I think The Mothman Prophecies is probably one of the most underrated horror/thriller flicks out there. The story follows a journalist John Klein (played by Richard Gere), who in the wake of car accident in which his wife is injured and eventually dies, alternatively hunts and is haunted by a strange, otherworldly presence acting as a harbinger of doom. In a refreshing break from your run of the mill guts-and-gore flick, The Mothman Prophecies forgoes violence in favor of a tense, surreal atmosphere far more disturbing than anything that could actually be shown. If you’re a Twin Peaks or X-Files fan, you’ll probably get a kick out of this one. Continue reading →

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Posted in film

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Why Writing Strong Female Characters Is[n’t] Hard

Posted on October 4, 2013 by | 4 comments
For the past several months I’ve been compiling what different people on the internet have been saying in regards to creating strong female characters, while also observing how others feel about those three words in general.
While not a topic you’d think would necessitate a lot of discussion, the truth is that there’s a lot more to this discussion than “Yes, I like them they’re great and we need to see more of them.”
As a disclaimer I would like state that I let the research in this post come to me. I did not do Google searches for “female writers’ opinions on strong female characters.” All of the quotes and articles below I found organically, if we can use that word to describe my internet browsing habits. Continue reading →

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Posted in comics, feminism, film, television, writing

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Fame Day: The Mako Mori Test

Posted on August 22, 2013 by | Leave a comment

The Bechdel Test, a pass/fail method of determining how female-friendly a film is. Gordon and I discussed it a while back for our first E&GT ever, but to sum it up a movie can only pass the test if:

  1. it has at least two women in it,
  2. who talk to each other,
  3. about something besides a man

During our discussion we arrived at the conclusion that this is by no means a perfect test. There are instances of films that pass that still do a deplorable job of depicting women. On the other hand, take The Avengers, which features both Black Widow and Maria Hill, the former of whom is arguably one of the strongest, capable heroes in the entire thing. The two never interact, but that by no means reflects on their roles as female characters.

Really great at staring intensely, really bad at talking to one another.

Really great at staring intensely, really bad at talking to one another.

Continue reading →

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Posted in Fame Day, feminism, film, media, writing

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Tropes, Archetypes, and Why Original Creative Writing Is Like A Game of Rock, Paper, Scissors

Posted on August 16, 2013 by | 3 comments

Culture War Reporters, since its inception, has never been a place for fiction of any kind. As a result, when both Gordon and I hang out we often find our discussions centre around stretching our creative muscles, asking questions like: “If you had to come up with a team of mercenaries, with a minimum of five members, what would it look like?”

The issue with all questions like this is that we run into a little something King Solomon said, way back in the day [emphasis added]:

What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
  there is nothing new under the sun.

How do you come up with something original, something that truly hasn’t been done before? Continue reading →

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Posted in feminism, film, literature, media, race, television, writing

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A Kiss With A Fist Is Better When Dealing With Giant Monsters

Posted on July 19, 2013 by | 2 comments

Turning the clock back to this past Tuesday, days before I fell down with this cold and what feels like years ago, I saw Pacific Rim with a friend and then got steak. When it comes down to pure quality alone I may shock you by saying that the steak was much, much better than the film. I wanted to hold every bite of that steak in my mouth for an eternity.

My love for food aside, there was something that I really, really enjoyed about Pacific Rim, and to set aside the obvious it was not robots and giant monsters throwing down.

I’m not gonna lie, I did enjoy that immensely.

Reading on will spoil parts of this movie, which I actually think you should go out and see. It also spoils parts of Man of Steel, which you know my opinion of. Continue reading →

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Posted in bizarreness, film, media, sex, writing

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