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The Shape of Water: Guillermo del Toro and the Failure to Consecrate

Guillermo del Toro’s new movie — The Shape of Water — is a high-minded movie that looks great, sounds good, but ultimately fails to consecrate the point of the story: Communication Creates Love.

There are all sorts of movie tropes packed into the The Shape of Water — but the center of the swirling is a “mute” janitor, played by Sally Hawkins, who falls in love with a sea monster because they are able to communicate using American Sign Language; and that major flaw in discovery, reason, and accessibility, will serve as the remainder of my argument why The Shape of Water, in the end, fails as a facilitation for a grander, romantic, connection of human/serpent longing.

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Soviet Year 1987: The Making of Amerika by ABC Pictures

The year was 1987 and Lincoln, Nebraska was still fresh off its Oscar-winning buzz for “Terms of Endearment” in 1984.  The new high was a 14.5 hour, seven-nights-in-a-row, mega-miniseries called “Amerika” to be shot on location around the outskirts of Lincoln and aired on the ABC Television network.

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The 2012 Movie Ratings have been updated!

Here are the last films added for 2012:

(more…)

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In Love with the Gun: A Deadly Night for the Dark Knight

The East Coast awakened to the news overnight of at least 12 deaths and 50 woundings in Aurora, Colorado as a 24-year-old madman opened fire during the midnight showing of The Dark Knight movie.

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The Quiet Horror of "We Need to Talk About Kevin"

Last week, I finally was able to watch the movie — “We Need to Talk About Kevin” — and I came away shocked and stunned and shaken.  It is an incredible movie in every sensation.  It is a modern day classic American Gothic Film.  I will talk about plot points in the movie and its general dramatic construction, so if you don’t want the movie spoiled, stop reading now.

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The Importance of the Bully Documentary

For the duration of my public high school experience (prior to attending The Peddie School for the second part of tenth grade through my senior year) I was reassured by my brother that I didn’t have to worry about people verbally or physically abusing me because he would take care of me. When I got to the Peddie School I did not even notice that there was any bullying.

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We Elect People to Take Things From Us: The Start of Dreams

Here at the Boles Blogs Network, we get hundreds of promotional emails a day asking us to write articles about people, products and issues.  Sometimes we act on a tip that catches our fancy, but more often than not, we can’t abide the coverage request.  Last week, I received a spectacular request from Byron Horne of THB Films and this article is the result of that inquiry.

Continue reading → We Elect People to Take Things From Us: The Start of Dreams