151MM June 2017 by 151MM

Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Inside

Preview: June 2017 FEATURE: Urban Poverty and Gang Violence

4 Cidade de Deus: A Case Against Escapism by Nick Jin

7 The Summer 2017 Edition

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Chasing Coral: The Silver Lining of an Ecological Nightmare by Everett Shen

From Cage-Fighting to the Silver Screen by Alan Wo

Days of Temptation

Logan: A Wholesome Family Road Trip

by Francis Moon

by Miles Bardzilowski

Legends of Tomorrow Season 2 Takes a Legendary Turn by Emily Wang

Tolkien's War Memories in Peter Jackson's Middle Earth by Leah Bakoulis

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A Change of Seasons.

The Staff*

You may know us by now, and if so, welcome back! If not, that’s alright. Some of us are new here too. We’d like to think of this issue as both a hello and goodbye as we welcome our new staff members and send off the old.

Editors-in-Chief: Everett Shen, Madison Richmond

The issue sheds light on a broad range of topics, from the critical, pressing issues of modern urban poverty and coral reef deterioration to the masterful techniques exhibited in releases like Logan. It’s also our first edition to incorporate a review of television.

Copy Editors: Brian Lu, Ashwin Dandamudi

As always, we have two great covers to accompany the issue. Leslie Liu’s mixed-media front cover, titled "quatiens", features a snapshot of the daily life of a city-dwelling youngster, reminding us of the frustration and boredom that comes with the package of childhood, rendering it vulnerable to the seduction of gang life. The back cover is a love-filled tribute to our graduating seniors, in the style of an old-fashioned movie theater marquee, designed by Midafe Adogame.

Graphics Team: Leslie Liu

As you begin to break out the sunscreen, remember that Princeton in the summertime is a great place for movies. Don’t miss the public library’s Student Film Festival on July 19th and 20th, and be sure to check out the Garden Theater’s Hollywood Summer Nights.

Website Staff: Charles Lu, Anya Sachdev, Andrew Xie

See you in the fall! 151MM

Writing Staff: Leah Bakoulis, Miles Bardzilowski, Lena Dibble, Emily Erlichson, Sarah Hou, Brian Hwang, Matthew Karns, Spencer Katz, Charles Lu, Thomas Martin, Francis Moon, Sara Mills, Angel Musyimi, Ashley Wang, Emily Wang, Trevor Weng, Alan Wo

Managing Editors: Matthew Dodds, Anika Sonig

Quality Supervisor: Theodore Tenzlinger Graphics Manager: Nicole Ng

Design Team: Midafe Adogame, Anya Sachdev, Alan Wo, Andrew Xie, Charles Lu Business Managers: Alan Wo, Daniel Shahab-Diaz Website Manager: Robert Zhang

Social Media Managers: Francis Moon, Miles Bardzilowski

Advisor: John Sullivan

Front cover "quatiens" by Leslie Liu | Back cover design by Midafe Adogame | Graphics: Coral P10: Nicole Ng | Quality check by Theodore Tenzlinger

*Article suggestions? Inquiring about a position? Want to contribute? Interested in subscriptions or advertising? Email us at 151mmprinceton@gmail.com. Meetings every Thursday in Room 132.

CIDADE DE DEUS: A Case Against Escapism

Cidade de Deus: A Case Against Escapism By Nick Jin When 151MM asked PHS students what they associated with the word “film,” one response was “no more pain,” as if film provided some sort of pleasing, anesthetic effect. This is certainly true of many movies, where the intent is to provide an escape or lull from daily life. City of God (2002) is not one of them. It is a film of opportunities lost, crushing poverty, and a cycle of continued pain. The slums of Rio de Janeiro are not an image of where we would rather be but a reminder of how lucky we are to not be there. Directed by the Brazilian Fernando Meirelles, City of God is honest and uncondescending, almost playing off as a stylized documentary, and offers a glimpse into the favelas of Brazil. Meirelles began his career directing TV commercials, where it was necessary to quickly adjust and take the shot. His technique is quick and concise

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and enables him to shoot much of the film on small, handheld cameras. The result is an abundance of shaky shots befitting the lively shootout and chase scenes but also never lacking in detail. These are juxtaposed with extreme, almost claustrophobic close-ups which focus on the bright sheen of sweat on the children's faces or their dark, haunting eyes. City of God’s spinning transitions and flashbacks, as well as its vibrant scene changes, are only fitting for a story where each turn may result in unexpected opportunity or sudden death. The movie begins in medias res, following an escaped chicken from a gang cookout as it flees through the slum streets. As the gang chases it, we jump cut to Rocket (Alexan-

dre Rodrigues), who unwittingly becomes trapped between it and a police squadron. As the camera spins around Rocket, who finds himself surrounded by gun-toting gang members and policemen, the movie flashes back to the undeveloped outskirts of Rio, where young Rocket and his friends are playing soccer. In this scene, the gang roots of later antagonist Li'l Dice (Leandro Firmino) are revealed through his association with the “Tender Trio,” a group of older gangsters who pull off petty crimes for cash. Their recklessness and loose lifestyle gain the respect and admiration of Rocket’s young friends. From an early age, they see the older gang members as Robin Hood figures, charismatically stealing from the rich and giving money back to their slums. But unlike Robin Hood, they have no ideals to strive toward — their robberies are habitual, the result of the poverty that raises them and undermines their education and legitimacy. Their Sheriff of Nottingham is the gang culture that traps them and becomes their only means of survival. Another ten years passes, and

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Urban Poverty and Gang Violence: A Deadly Courtship the vast, rural wilderness of the City of God has now become an urban jungle, with rusty tin roofs and dirty, narrow alleys. Using a diverse set of shots and angles, Meirelles subtly portrays the passage of time as well as the constantly changing power of the drug lords. Often shooting from above or from a fixed camera with quickly changing sets, Meirelles creates a time lapse effect, showing us that while poverty remains constant, the City of God is a dynamic place. Rocket has become a truant teen who is equally consumed by his passion for photography and the beautiful Angelica (Alice Braga), for whom he is willing to do anything, including buying her cocaine from the local dealer. Unfortunately, love never seems to pan out in the City of God. Angelica is portrayed as an Estella Havisham-esque figure, unable to love others and readily flaunting her beauty. Other relationships are short-lived and fall apart in horrible ways, often involving rape or violent, gruesome deaths. Meirelles shows us that when basic human needs are barely met, love becomes an unnecessary luxury good, distracting or impeding us from safety. As the movie fast forwards to the

present, we find a grown-up Li'l Dice, now rechristened as Li'l Z, who has become a ruthless gang leader, having eliminated all other competitors. Only the drug dealer Carrot (Matheus Nachtergaele) and his dwindling turf remain to oppose him. Ironically, this brings a period of relative lawfulness to the ghetto, as Li'l Z lays down rules against petty crimes. Unfortunately, he uses brutal violence to enforce this peace. In one heart-rending scene, he makes an example out of a little boy, so young that he still runs around in his underwear, by shooting him in the foot for stealing a chicken. Often the only one standing between him and his lethally compulsive tendencies is his best friend Benny (Phellipe Haagensen), the “coolest hood in the City of God,” whose charisma and relative generosity make him stand out and almost transcend the slums. And yet, just as Benny is prepared to get away from it all and start anew, gang violence inevitably makes its mark on his life — by taking it. On the night of Benny’s going-away party, one of Li'l Z’s enemies, aiming for Li'l Z, accidentally shoots Benny instead. “Why remain in the City of God where God has forgotten you?” a

soothsayer asks earlier. Rocket answers that for us: “If you run, the beast catches you; if you stay, the beast eats you.” Without Benny’s calming presence, Li'l Z goes on a rampage, prepared to take out Carrot once and for all. One night, in a fit of rage caused by his romantic failures, Li'l Z humiliates the handsome but meek Knockout Ned (Seu Jorge) and rapes his girlfriend before proceeding to mow down his house, killing his brother and uncle. Ned, seeking revenge, breaks his peace and joins with Carrot, preparing for a final showdown with Li'l Z. Knockout Ned’s fall from grace is one of the most heartbreaking in the movie. Once a charismatic and likable figure, he was the ‘white knight’ who opposed Lil’ Z using his “peace and love” ideals. But he is quickly brought down to the gang level and, by his third holdup, is killing like a seasoned member. Contrast this with Benny, who enters the drug business as a child with Lil’ Z but is almost able to rise above and escape the slums. The metaphorical decrescendo and crescendo of their lives are another reminder of the inability to escape from death in the favelas. Even for Benny, whose

CIDADE DE DEUS: A Case Against Escapism death seems like a product of bad luck, safety is constantly threatened by the environment around him. For them, death is simply a matter of time. Meanwhile, Rocket has found a job delivering newspapers. While he is developing a roll of film for Li'l Z, his photos are accidentally discovered by the press, and his photo of Li'l Z is used on the front page. Rocket agrees to become a photographer for the newspaper and acquire more pictures of Li'l Z. At this point, we arrive back at the escape of the chicken, where Li'l Z is holding a cookout to recruit young boys to fight for him. As Li'l Z and Carrot’s forces finally face off, many gang members are killed, including Ned. Both gang leaders are arrested, but while the police keep Carrot “for the press,” they release Li'l Z after he pays them a bribe, all of which is caught on camera by Rocket. The children Li'l Z recruited come back with guns and kill Li'l Z, claiming his drug empire for their own. Even with the death of the hated Li'l Z, there is no positive resolution or looking up for better times ahead. His death is gruesome, cruel, and lonely, and symbolizes the continuation of crime as the next generation comes to take his place. The cycle continues, even after the death of the villain. The film ends on Rocket’s ultimatum — expose the picture of police bribery and rise to national fame or give pictures of Li'l Z’s body to the newspaper and earn a job there. Fearing retribution from the deeply corrupt and dangerous police, he decides to stick with the newspaper. He remarks cynically, “I won’t have to worry about Li'l Z anymore. But the police?” Only Rocket seems to end up okay, becoming the professional photographer Wilson Rodriguez upon whom the story is partially based. But even he, who seemingly stays relatively clean of crime, seriously considers robbery at one point due to dearth of opportunity. It was completely by chance that he was discovered by the newspaper agency and earned a shot at legitimacy. The same undiscerning, fickle chance that took Benny’s life. The experience of watching this movie is comparable to eating comfort food. During the film, many aspects of it are highly enjoyable — wonderfully vibrant sets, a beautiful love interest, and witty narration. Yet afterward it leaves the viewer with a sick, greasy feeling in the stomach, as well as a guilty conscience hanging overhead. Of course, much of it stems from the strong feeling of hopelessness in the film: love is spurned, role models are criminals, poverty is crushing, and death is everywhere. Yet more importantly, it stems from the cinematic work of Meirelles, who, rather than creating escap-

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151MM JUNE 2017 ism for entertainment’s sake, seeks to draw attention to the slums of Rio, where many of these conditions still cotinue. The film garnered international attention, being nominated for four Academy Awards, and drew praise

from the Brazilian president, who deemed it a call to action for fighting poverty. Strikingly, all the child actors used in the film were actual children from Rio’s favelas with no prior acting experience. While this adds to the mer-

it and enjoyability of the film, it also enables the film to achieve its authenticity, enables the realization that these children lived these roles, that no longer is it acting but simply an extension of their lives captured on camera.

Days of Temptation By Francis Moon Before British actor John Boyega rose to international fame through his work in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), he starred in the little-known Netflix original Imperial Dreams (2014). Many of us have a soft spot for a rags-to-riches story or one of people turning their lives completely around, and Los Angeles-based filmmaker Malik Vitthal provides us with just that in his uplifting, low-budget debut film. Boyega’s character, Bambi, returns to his home in L.A.’s Watts district after over two years in prison for assault. During his time in prison, his child was raised by Bambi’s drug-dealing uncle and alcoholic mother. While Bambi tries to turn his life around and detach himself from his past, many temptations nearly drag him back into the criminal life that he is all too familiar with. His uncle, Shrimp, repeatedly attempts to pressure him into running a delivery truck full of Oxy across state lines, offering him four grand for the deal.

Shrimp’s son Gideon, who shows up with a bullet hole in his arm while fleeing from a rival gang as well as the police, also serves as a reminder of the dark past that Bambi is desperately trying to run away from. Wayne, Bambi’s half-brother, represents a more positive path, as he was awarded a scholarship to Howard University to study business, successfully escaping the street life. But Shrimp refuses to let Bambi go, forcing Bambi to move into a car with his son, Day. To make matters worse, he can’t get a job or driver’s license and struggles to support his child. Vitthal and Ismet Prcic, who cowrote the script, cleverly steer away from gang movie clichés and offer a refreshing take on the struggles of inner-city life by carefully incorporating many obstacles common for anyone trying to climb their way out of poverty. Boyega successfully inhabits the setting and shows genuine empathy for his character’s unique situation. Glenn Plummer also strikes gold as the menacing drug runner holding

back Bambi. The true core of this film, however, is the relationship between Bambi and Day, which is why Boyega’s chemistry with the twin brothers (Justin and Ethan Coach) playing his son is so vital to the film. Day’s existence is the true motivation for his father’s actions and therefore helps define Bambi. When their lives depend on a broken-down sedan on the curb of a street in Watts, the depth of their relationship is apparent. Vitthal understands that sometimes, less is more. Perhaps the most striking components of the film are the camerawork and editing — the complexity of shots is minimized and the characters are almost always the main focus. In this way, Vitthal enables viewers to empathize with characters they may be unable to directly relate to the experiences of. Another asset to this film is the soundtrack by rapper Flying Lotus, which sets the intense mood and tone for the movie. Imperial Dreams is a relatively unknown and underrated film, as it never appeared in theaters and debuted at Sundance, yet it has the opportunity to realign opinions about how inner-city movies should be made. Boyega delivers a memorable performance in his determined pursuit of an unknown future, creating a character that has no choice but to think that freeing himself from the chains linking himself to his past is worth the struggle.

SCREENING ROOM: Legends of Tomorrow

Legends of Tomorrow Season 2 Takes a Legendary Turn

By Emily Wang

I’ll admit: I wasn’t the biggest fan of the first season of Legends of Tomorrow. As a die-hard Marvel enthusiast, I had slowly weaned myself from my dependence on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, only to be hooked onto the Arrowverse TV shows. From Arrow to The Flash to Supergirl, I was introduced to a myriad of characters, all of whom I thoroughly adored. So when I was alerted by my trusty CW app that Season 1 of Legends of Tomorrow was being released, I held high standards for what I prepared to watch. But as the season progressed, I was quickly let down. Sure, it was exciting and action-packed like Arrow and The Flash, and I remain indebted to the creators for resurrecting my favorite Arrowverse character (none other than Sara Lance herself). But there seemed to be something that was lacking. There were simply too many characters, and the plot was a little too fast-paced. Luckily, they slowed it down for Season 2, and by then, I had grown accustomed to the cast, which made the plotline that much easier to follow. With Season 2, Legends of Tomorrow has made its way into my heart and has become one of my favorite releases. Cutting out Kendra and Carter from the show and adding Amaya and Nate to the roster proved to be the redeeming decision of this season. Having defeated their mortal enemy Vandal Savage in Season 1, the former pair’s purpose had been fulfilled. As such, it was important to give other, newer characters space to be introduced and developed. As the grandson of a Junior

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Society of America member, Nate is essentially a superhero legacy, although this was not what made him such an important asset to the team. Instead, he filled a niche in the team as a historian. After all, what time-travel themed TV show doesn’t have a reliable story-teller? Furthermore, there was a certain complexity to his character, as he struggled to find a line between his spontaneous, passionate nature and his responsibilities as a team member. Amaya’s entrance was also greatly welcomed, as she served as a buffer for the hot-headed team, especially at the start of the season when she dissuaded them from terrible decisions. As the grandmother of Mari McCabe (Vixen), Amaya also provided a present day tie to the Arrowverse. By adding Amaya and Nate to the team, the writers shifted the direction and purpose of the Legends away from defeating Vandal Savage, towards creating a team that would work cohesively to protect the progression of time. In addition to individual character development, it was intriguing to watch the development of relationships between the characters, which, in Season 1, often seemed forced and unnatural, such as that between Ray and Kendra. Relationships were allowed to grow naturally in the second season and felt much more realistic. Especially for me, it was the brotherly relationship that developed between Ray and Nate which gave for a lot of humorous moments in the tense plot line. I was also a great fan of the villains in this season, whose portrayal was one of my biggest issues with Season 1. Earlier, Vandal Savage was portrayed as a heartless monster, driven by jealousy and his instinct for survival, and he might as well have belted out an evil laugh each time he entered. His stereotypical “villainous” actions made his choices overly predictable. Season 2 brought in some of my favorite villains from the Arrowverse, and it was enthralling as these were all characters I hadn’t expected to see again. Introducing them gave a personal stake to several of the Legends, especially Sarah, who sought vengeance against Damien Darhk for killing Laurel (her sister), and against Malcolm Merlyn for killing Sarah herself before she was brought back to life by the Lazarus Pit. Furthermore, Eobard Thawne’s existence addressed the consequences of The Flash’s creation of Flashpoint, an issue that had previously been left unexplained. The best part of this season was the fun. Arrowverse shows tend to get very dark and intense, but Legends took a more light-hearted and comedic approach, seizing every opportunity possible to make viewers laugh. And while there were still plot holes and head-scratching moments about the workings of time-travel, it was hard to care too much when the show was just so much fun. As a whole, by learning to overcome the weaknesses of the first season and playing to its strengths, Legends of Tomorrow Season 2 has become one of the best seasons of an Arrowverse show to date.

151MM JUNE 2017

Chasing Coral:

The Silver Lining of an Ecological Nightmare

A Princeton Environmental Film Festival Screening

By Everett Shen

When asked about the biggest news story of 2016, what comes to mind? South America saw a Zika outbreak, the UK voted to leave the European Union, and we in the US elected a new president. But there’s one little-reported event that could potentially have more far-reaching repercussions than them all. Last year’s El Niño of the spring and summer brought more than just storms—it unleashed a global mass bleaching event that affected 93% of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and left 22% of its coral dead. With half a billion people worldwide economically reliant on the sustenance that reefs provide and regions approaching the size of the US East Coast being lost to climate change every year, this ought to have been one of the summer’s largest talking points. But alas, it was doomed to be overshadowed by the raging fire of the political arena. Enter Jeff Orlowski, director of Chasing Coral (2017), leading a determined team of videographers, divers, and scientists on a mission to document it all for the first time in history and give it the audience it deserves. I saw the film at the public library’s Environmental Film Festival, an annual event founded in 2007 that has now grown to have become quite the spectacle. It was closing closing night, and judging by the fact that the room was packed twenty minutes before it even started, someone had clearly spread the word that we were in for a ride. By the halfway mark, hands were wiping faces, and when the curtains finally fell, about half the audience looked teary-eyed. So how did Orlowski manage to make a group of adults cry about coral? It’s a simple concept: manmade climate change causes coral to become “sick” and reject its algae cells, which it depends on for food, eventually causing the coral to starve and turn white. We know how the process works, and data to support mass bleaching has been available for decades. As one adman-turned-activist pointed out in the doc, “a lot of the issues are basically advertising issues.” People can’t rally around a cause if they don’t even know what the cause is. So the obvious move for the filmmakers was to advertise the epidemic—by bombarding the audience with eye-poppingly gorgeous footage of vibrant, almost extraterrestrial-looking, coral reefs. Lots of it. And then showing them what they look like dead. With the opening shot of a diver falling backwards into the sea at magic hour, Orlowski creates such a profound sense of serenity and wonder that when he takes it all away, it’s as if he’s tearing away a friend that you’ve known since birth.

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151MM JUNE 2017 Part nature documentary and part investigative report, the film centers on a single project of epic proportions: the filmmakers’ attempt to capture the process of bleaching in a timelapse. After multiple rounds of trial and error, a bold engineering venture yielded only underwater camera systems that slowly unfocused themselves. With the clock ticking, the undaunted team had only one option left: manual capture. In a span of weeks, multiple crews, director included, dove to the ocean floor, placed their cameras on previously marked spots, took a picture, and finally, via boat, moved on to the next location. Twenty-five times a day. In a world where exposure to the world via Internet is available 24/7, there are few things that still carry the ability to shock. Nevertheless, when shown the resulting footage, I began to well up with disbelief. This was happening everywhere across the world on a massive scale, and we had been totally oblivious. Not content with merely letting the audience see the destruction for themselves, the film attaches a human face to the sorrow it evokes. Zack Rago, introduced as one of the engineers working on the camera systems, quickly becomes one of the core participants in the rush to capture footage. A self-proclaimed (and actual) coral-nerd, Zack’s lifelong enthusiasm and exultant expressions while discussing the wonders of coral aid the audience’s emotional understanding and compose a huge factor of the film’s enjoyability. When he breaks down while viewing the aftereffects of bleaching, it’s one of the most heartbreaking things ever captured in a documentary. But despite all these descriptions, Chasing Coral is not a film that relies on fear, desperation, or guilt to deliver it’s message. While watching coral rot away conveys a heavy feeling, the prevailing message is one of hope. Its pathos is pensive in nature, never desolate or despairing. It’s not just a collection of beautiful footage and the documentation of a wild adventure. It contains scores of facts, interviews that put things into perspective, and a strong-willed call to action. Its attitude is best summed up by one of the quotes from the same aforementioned adman: “Anything can be solved with creativity.” Towards the final act, we see Zack leading a new coral bleaching awareness non-profit that tours the country in a classroom converted from a school bus. We see the director reaching out to people living near reefs around the world to document bleaching in their own communities. We hear from leading scientists in the field who discuss the possibility of a turnaround, pointing out how a renewable energy replacement could take place just as quickly as the fossil fuel revolution. The film’s credits overlay more footage of reefs teeming with life, as if to say “all of this is within our reach.” Little wonder that it took this year’s Audience Award at Sundance. I’ve long struggled to find the distinguishing trial that our generation will be remembered for. Our parents had working towards a more egalitarian society. The Baby Boomers had fighting in World War II. Ours will undoubtedly be combatting climate change. I’m compelled to recall words I heard at Princeton’s Earth Day march for science not so long ago, spoken by our mayor. She highlighted that ours will be the first generation to feel the effects of climate change and the last one with the ability to change it. Jon Brodie, an environmental researcher, put climate change in much more graphic terms: “If it’s not under control by 2025, it’s game over for the reefs.”

CHIAROSCURO: From Cage-Fighting to The Silver Screen

From Cage-Fighting to The Silver Screen by Alan Wo MMA, or mixed martial arts, has exploded into the mainstream. The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the world’s largest MMA promotion, sold for over 4.2 billion dollars and broke annual records by selling a total of 9 million payper-views in 2016 alone. With the UFC making headlines on ESPN and fighters attracting celebrity-like TMZ coverage, both B-list action movies and summer blockbusters have seen fighters-turned-actors. Some high profile cases include multiple-time The Ellen DeGeneres Show guest and former bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey in Entourage (2015) and Furious 7 (2015), as well as former light-heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson as B. A. Baracus in the A-Team remake (2010). But MMA’s influence hasn’t been limited to the past few years—UFC co-founder Rorion Gracie worked with director Richard Donner to choreograph fight scenes for 1987’s Lethal Weapon, including the famous triangle choke Riggs uses to kill Joshua, played by Mel Gibson and Gary Busey, respectively. In an interview with Fightland. com, famed coordinator Jonathan Eusebio, whose body of work includes The Avengers (2012), the Bourne trilogy, The Expendables (2010), and many other films, said, “I always like to root choreography to something that is real and applicable. The world audience is well-versed on combat due to

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MMA and other combat sports.” To understand how MMA is lauded for its similarity to real combat, it’s important to first understand the history of the sport. The UFC was founded in 1993, and began as a tournament with fighters representing their own unique disciplines to test which was the most effective. Fighters eventually realized that the best style would have to be comprehensive, incorporating elements from many styles to deter any clear weaknesses. This new, unified style is what we now primarily see in MMA. Though fighters often specialize, they are all at least familiar with wrestling, striking, and submissions to avoid overt weaknesses. The Unified MMA Rules balance mixed martial arts’ features as a sport with its insistence on “real” combat. Fights are divided into rounds, judged, and refereed, but offer fighters multiple paths to victory. These include knockouts from punches, kicks, and knees, or submissions from chokes and joint manipulation. This creates tense fights where what’s practical wins out — leaving many fans in disapproval of some of Hollywood’s unrealistic, high-flying fights. In the 90’s, martial arts was synonymous with Oriental styles like Okinawan Karate, popularized from 1984’s The Karate Kid and Kung Fu from Jackie Chan’s filmography. Though near the twilight of the decade, 1999’s The Matrix was the most influential martial arts film of the

time. The film employed the talents of Yuen Woo-Ping, a famous Hong Kong action choreographer known for his “wire-fu”, shorthand for the cinema-exclusive fighting style that augments the action with pulleys and ropes to perform acrobatic stunts. Narratively explained through his ability to manipulate the Matrix, Neo engages in gravity-defying scraps with Morpheus and Agent Smith. Neo’s fight with Agent Smith was revered for its introduction of bullet time, when the passage of time is slowed to see the movement of bullets, and the two combatants’ fast and impactful kung fu strikes. Fight coordinators have been at the forefront of the mixed martial arts invasion of fight scenes. Many, like Eusebio and JJ Perry, are lifelong martial artists, incorporating new styles into their repertoire and subsequently, their work. “Growing up I trained in Taekwondo and Hapkido but it wasn't until I trained under Dan Inosanto where I was exposed to a wide variety of martial arts. There I trained under Guro Dan in the Filipino martial arts and Jun Fan Gung Fu. I learned boxe francaise under Nicolas Saignac, Muay Thai under Chai Sirisute, Shooto under Sensei Yori Nakamura”, said Eusebio to Fightland in 2014. In anticipation for his newest project, John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017), Eusebio studied Sambo, Judo, and MMA competitions. His work is most apparent in Wick’s

151MM JUNE 2017 For accompanying videos of mentioned scenes, visit the online version of this article on 151mmphs.com

1993 UFC founded

2009 Blood and Bone

2011 Haywire

1999 The Matrix

2010 The Hammer

2011 Warrior

2008 Never Back Down

2010 The A-Team

2012 The Philly Kid

fight with fellow hitman Ms. Perkins, which incorporates techniques found in MMA like the Harai Goshi, or spinning hip throw, and a modified bow and arrow choke, except with Perkin’s leather jacket rather than a traditional uniform. In the film, Wick and some of his adversaries mix weighty strikes and throws with their gunplay, displaying how MMA moves can be integrated into a film primarily about shooting. Perry is an elite in Hollywood stunt choreography and fight coordination, known for Django Unchained (2012), Old Boy (2013), and Haywire (2011). In a 2013 interview with Vice, Perry said, “Some of them [actors] have done private lessons in jiu-jitsu, and some of them have done Muay Thai. I really respect the actors that take the time to learn mixed martial arts—respect for improving his craft and becoming an action star.” A main takeaway from MMA is that it’s essential to incorporate grappling with striking, a sentiment that Perry lives by in his movies. Haywire, which stars former women's bantamweight champion Gina Carano, mixes quick kung-fu with scrappy chokes. Carano uses her ex-MMA pedigree as Marine Mallory Kane, using a guillotine and triangle choke to subdue an MI6 Agent sent to kill her. The scene uses a steady camera and no music to create a tenacious fight. It’s a per-

fect example of Perry’s integration of MMA, using some of the sport’s flashy techniques with fast but impactful combat. In an article about MMA in movies, we have to consider the most glaring example of its influence on fight choreography—the MMA movie. Emerging in the late 2000’s, the three highest-grossing explicit MMA films are the Kevin James comedy Here Comes the Boom (2012), the Karate Kid-esque Never Back Down (2008), and the brother-comrade story Warrior (2011). Kevin James, known for his slapstick comedy, plays on his obesity and clumsiness for laughs in Here Comes the Boom. The cast includes former champion Bas Ruten, and the action is surprisingly realistic. But as seen in the other films, Here Comes the Boom suffers from non-stop action uncharacteristic of the sport. This reduces the tension that comes from the threat of a one-hit knockout or explosive takedown. The fights also suffer from flow-killing cuts, resulting in combat that’s choppy and hard to follow. Never Back Down and Warrior, though far more

Timeline of MMA in Movies 2012 Ronda Rousey Signs with UFC 2014 John Wick 2015 Fast and Furious 7 2015 Entourage 2016 UFC sold to WMEIMG for $4 billion

CHIAROSCURO: From Cage-Fighting to The Silver Screen

“MMA and movies have developed an increasingly strong symbiotic bond”

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smooth in their action, both have incessant shaky-cam and a lack of tension resulting from non-stop action, which can be attributed to the limitations of the format. It would be difficult to develop the story if fights ended too quickly, as there would be no hardship for the characters to develop from. Additionally, MMA fights can range between 15 and 25 minutes, taking up far too long of the movies’ run time, necessitating either cuts between scenes of high action or a sped-up pace. But ultimately both Never Back Down and Warrior are faithful to the sport, incorporating techniques rarely seen in film, like leg-locks and the thai clinch, and establish a realistic balance between grappling and action. MMA movies often defer to a default of fast-paced fights with lots of trading—the exchange of strikes with little defense. This self-imposed limitation can make successive fights

151MM JUNE 2017

Fast 7: Superman Punch

indistinct and too similar. MMA fights are varied because of their open ruleset. Fights involving heavy-hitters will often be slow, tactical, and tenuous, as a single punch could put the lights out. Wrestlers turn fights into energy-sapping grinds, where heart and experience wins out. Jiu-jitsu specialists often result in slick grappling exchanges, with both fighters attempting to sweep and submit each other. As more MMA movies are produced as a result of the continuing growth of the sport, hopefully writers tap into the wealth of variety that the sport offers. MMA and movies have developed an increasingly strong symbiotic bond. Just like the explosion of karate dojos that followed The Karate Kid, MMA exposure from film has been attributed to its surge in popu-

larity. The national chain Tiger Schulmann's had rebranded and switched from Tiger Schulmann’s Karate to Tiger Schulmann’s Mixed Martial Arts, a development of the public's evolving perception of what fighting is. The UFC has made a conscious effort to break, or at this point cement themselves, into the mainstream. They’ve hired celebrities to help promote and legitimize the sport, like Snoop Dogg. And Hollywood A-listers like Mark Wahlberg, Ben Affleck, and Sylvester Stallone are just some of the UFC’s many celebrity investors, whose money also puts their star-power behind the sport. As viewers, we can only expect to see more MMA-styled action and fighters in our films.

Haywire: Rear Naked Choke

John Wick: Bow and Arrow Choke

SCREENING ROOM: Logan

Logan: A Wholesome Family Road Trip By Miles Bardzilowski

Have you ever seen a movie so incredible that it just leaves you speechless? At this point, I can damn sure say I have. I’ve been sitting at my computer for weeks, trying to figure out how to write this review. I think it goes without saying that Logan is a good movie. Even a great movie. So what can I say about it? How do I put into words the profound effect of the grand finale to one of cinema’s greatest characters? Guess we’ll find out. Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine is a character that needs no introduction. He

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first hit the scene in 2000’s X-Men and was a huge influence on the current wave of comic book movies. His portrayal of the character has gone so far as to affect the way Wolverine comics are written. The latest installment, however, flips the script on the entire character. James “Logan” Howlett is a century and a half old by the start of the movie he lends his name to, and it’s finally started wearing on him. The X-Men are gone, save for himself and Professor Xavier, who has now gone senile. The two, along with Caliban (last seen in X-Men: Apocalypse,

though the two appearances of the character are surprisingly unrelated), live in hiding in Mexico. One day, while working as an Uber driver, Logan is tasked with being a hero one last time, escorting a mysterious little girl across the country, all while being chased by some fanboy with a robot hand and his newest creation. ...I know it sounds like I’m describing an awesome road trip superhero movie, but that would be grossly misrepresenting what this film is like. Sure, it’s got action (sweet, gorey, R-rated action), but at heart it’s a character drama and in form more closely resembles a Western. Much like Watchmen (the book), it’s less a superhero movie and more a movie about people who happened to have been superheroes once. One of the biggest influences on the film is Shane (1953), allusions to which are worked into the movie in only the most heart-wrenching ways. Perhaps the strongest element of the film is how it manages to subvert superhero tropes in favor of those more common in Westerns and deconstruct the genre in a way very few can pull off. The obvious comparison is to The Dark Knight Returns (the book), as both follow the resurgence of a retired superhero in a dystopian future. Interestingly, the film actually has more in common with TDKR than it does with Old Man Logan, the book on which it’s most directly based. The storytelling in Logan is much more subtle and somber than in Old Man Logan, as the latter tends to roll around in the tried and true superhero tropes rather than do anything creative with them. Having established the film as a character drama, I suppose I should probably go into depth about the characters, seeing as they are the most important parts of the film. Jackman’s final outing as Wolverine quickly becomes his best, as he masterfully portrays a man who’s lived and suffered for entirely too long. The core of Wolverine’s character is a primal, animal anger, fueled by tragedy, which Jackman brings to the screen in a brilliant performance. The way Logan deals with grief by lashing out in anger is highlighted here, showcasing what two lifetimes of suffering can do to someone who wasn’t entirely alright to begin with. This film is rated R, meaning Logan is allowed to drop as many F-bombs as he wants. While this could

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Back in Black With the blu-ray releases of the film, a new black and white version was included as a bonus, called Logan Noir. This appears to be inspired by the Black and Chrome edition of Mad Max: Fury Road that came out last year. However, unlike Fury Road, Logan doesn’t put a particular emphasis on color for much of the movie, meaning draining the color has a much different effect. The black and white serves the film’s bleak tone, and in certain places, it actually improves on already great cinematography. Scenes that take place indoors and at night, for instance, benefit immensely from the conversion. However, it’s unfortunately a double-edged sword, and varies in quality from shot to shot. For every close-up that uses the higher contrast to show off Logan’s injuries and grit, there’s a wide shot where you just wish you could see the colors of the environment. Logan is at its heart a western, not a noir, so it stands to reason that the noir-ification doesn’t quite work uniformly for the whole film. Ultimately, it’s a neat little idea tacked onto a movie I was planning to buy anyway. If you’re a fan, it’s worth at least one watch, but after that you’ll probably just want to watch the original whenever you decide to revisit it.

come across as forced for the sake of being edgy, it feels completely natural and well-deserved every single time, including when Xavier starts doing it. These guys aren’t in the best place, physically or emotionally, and it doesn’t even register as odd when the bombs start flying. Even if you’re not up-to-date on all the X-Men movies (even just the good ones) Jackman’s acting will no doubt strike you as some of the best in recent years. I mean no exaggeration when I say he deserves an Oscar nomination for this role. The other leads are no less incredible. Like Jackman, Patrick Stewart will be retiring his role as Professor X after Logan. Xavier is almost 100 years old in this movie, and is finally showing signs of senility. Stewart's portrayal of an aging hero losing himself to brain disease will ring tragically true for anyone who has had to watch a loved one go through the same things. However, Xavier isn’t treated as an old man that Logan has to drag around, as both Stewart and the writers take great care to make him a caring father figure, and he even begins to show signs of his old self as he interacts with X-23. Speaking of whom, sweet Yeezus is she great. X-23, AKA Laura, is the little girl Logan has to bring across the country. Making a child a central character is usually a writer's way of giving up on making a decent film in favor of appealing to a young audi-

ence, but Dafne Keen manages to give a performance that frankly has no right to be as good as it is, considering her age. She’s mysterious, she’s cute, she’s badass, she’s everything X-23 should be. She’s acting alongside two of Hollywood’s most celebrated actors and keeping up with them at every beat. I don’t think I can stress enough how great of a job these three do at bringing their characters to life, as it’s one of the major reasons this film serves as a beautifully fitting send-off to a character most of us have grown up with. Great, now that we’ve gotten that stupid, emotional rom-com stuff out of the way, let’s talk about action. Like I said, this film is rated R, and that’s not just for some “naughty words” or “adult themes.” This movie is gory as all Hell. Wolverine comes in full force here, no holding back. The opening scene alone features several dudes getting dismembered, and every action scene follows in the same spirit. I think this movie might have some kind of world record for onscreen brainings. While it’s not the focus of the film overall, it’s never an intrusion, and it always manages to blow your mind. Logan is a perfect example of using a sweet action scene to further the story rather than take a break from it, as so many other movies are wont to do. Logan manages to absolutely destroy some people, but it’s also painfully apparent how weak he’s

SCREENING ROOM: Logan becoming as a result of his old age. Fortunately, he’s got X-23 backing him up, who’s just as savage as he is and filled with youthful energy. It’s honestly pretty amazing what they get away with in some of her scenes. Most movies, R-rated or otherwise, wouldn’t be quite brave enough to impale a little girl through the torso with a harpoon — and that’s just one part of her first fight. The fighting is all fast-paced and inventive; the effort that went into finding new ways to eviscerate people really shows. But perhaps the most exciting action sequence is the slowest. I don’t wish to spoil it for those who still haven’t seen it, but there’s a scene where Logan and Laura rack up the body count while neither can move much faster than if they were knee-deep in molasses. The scene is put together so well that it legitimately feels hard to breathe, even if

Tolkien’s War Memories in Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth by Leah Bakoulis (Spoilers ahead)

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erhaps the best way to convey meaning to an audience is to weave it throughout an epic tale of monsters, men, and extraordinary creatures. Upon first glance, the events of the First World War and Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2003) have little in common. But upon closer inspection, the story of hobbits, elves, and golden rings alludes to scenes of mud-covered corpses of fallen soldiers and homes as unrecognizable as the outlooks of the veterans returning to them after the war. J.R.R. Tolkien, author of the Lord of the Rings canon, delayed service in World War I so he could complete his English degree at Oxford University. After less than a year of service, he was discharged for trench fever, surviving the four-month-long Battle of the Somme, one of the bloodiest battles in human history with a death toll of over four million. However, many of his childhood friends were less fortunate. During an interview with BBC, his grandson Simon Tolkien recalled that, despite his tremendous burden of grief, “he had left no written record [of the event] and, like many veterans, he had

151MM JUNE 2017 your theater isn’t that crowded. It’s a true testament to the extraordinary acting and cinematography. As I’ve said, this film is a grand finale to the Wolverine. I know none of us at PHS have known a world where Hugh Jackman wasn’t synonymous with Wolverine, so that aspect of the film hits especially hard. We’ve grown up with this character. We’ve seen him in movies ranging from masterpieces like X2 (2003) to trash like X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009). For a character as monumental as this, one who defined a generation of cinema, I can honestly say this is the goodbye that the character deserves; anything else would be a letdown. Everything Wolverine embodies comes to a climax in one beautiful work of art. Logan sets a new standard for superhero movies and will not be forgotten any time soon.

apparently rarely spoke of his ordeal.” But that which was never openly expressed can be found in traces in his fictional Middle-earth. In lengthy and fantastic battle sequences, Jackson uses exotic monsters and weapons to parallel the armaments and machinery that invoked fear in the young men of the 1910s as they arrived at the front. As Saruman’s army of orcs attack the white city of Gondor, they launch into it the corpses of fallen men, spreading panic and mayhem for the same reason that gas was released into the trenches of World War I: to spread deadly poison, but also to horrifically shatter the enemy’s morale. By contrasting earlier scenes of a clean, orderly citadel with those of one whose filthy streets are lined with bodies, Jackson displays the destruction of any semblance of comfort upon soldiers’ arrival at the front. Those on the home front—whether it be England, Germany, or the Shire—found it difficult to understand the horrors experienced by the soldiers on the battlefield. Consequently, they could offer little solace to those who would suffer from shell shock and post-traumatic stress disorder for the rest of their lives. The veterans’ silence, along with the fact that

most fallen soldiers were too young to have children able to remember them, earned them the name “the Lost Generation,” coined by Gertrude Stein. Like many other veterans, Tolkien struggled to readjust to the home and life he left behind. Jackson shows this alienation through Frodo Baggins’s final moments on screen. In many aspects, Frodo Baggins epitomizes the returning veterans’ condition through his struggle to remain in his comfortable Hobbit-hole in the Shire. As Frodo sets sail for the Undying Lands at the end of the third film, The Return of the King (2003), a white light shines, implying that he is headed for a better place than the home that can no longer be. Despite the differences between the collapse of the Eye of Sauron and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, a parallel remains in that neither erased the damages of war. Tolkien writes about World War I much more discreetly than many of his contemporaries, but Peter Jackson’s film adaptations of The Lord of the Rings subtly convey the same subtext as is present in the original series. So subtly, in fact, that audiences may hardly realize that a moving tribute to the Lost Generation lies behind the story of Middle-earth.