Movies I Like That Most People Hate

Do any of you folks have something that you really enjoy that you have found most other people don't? I sure do. I have a few movies that are among my favorite that seem to be big turn offs for a lot of people. 

Revolver

I have liked "Revolver" right from the get go. In fact, after the first time I watched it, I immediately started it over again. There was something going on that I was trying to grasp. I had been studying up on self-awareness and ego and this movie hit those themes hard, but wove it into the story so well that the film begged to be seen multiple times to peel back the layers. The main character in Guy Ritchies most under appreciated film spends the entire movie trying to beat back that inner voice (his ego) that has kept him in trouble and caused him so much fear. Rotten Tomatoes has this one at 17% and Roger Ebert was scathing in his criticism; "It seems designed to punish the audience for buying tickets."  I suppose I've punished myself about 7 or 8 times since the first time I've seen it. Despite criticism of the film, I think I get a lot of it and that's why I love it. I see it as art and as something that isn't to be viewed once and tossed out. If you are interested in the message, it'll hold your attention and leave you thinking long after the movie has ended.

2001: A Space Odyssey

I can totally understand why there are people that don't like this movie. It's long, it can be boring in spots, and it's not quite obvious on the initial viewing as to what the purpose of the film is. That said, I think it's a cinematic masterpiece and Stanley Kubrick sure has a knack for dabbling in that rare air. Shot in the early/mid 60's, the special effects still hold up today. It was another 10 or so years (Star Wars) before anyone could duplicate what was done. The story is that of man, but only in evolutionary jumps. From our time barely surviving on plant life to transcending our mortal bodies, the film shows how those jumps could occur without being very specific. We just know that we started using tools and weapons and that kick started us into being meat eaters that developed a greater understanding of the universe and our place in it.

The Fountain

This film by Darren Aronofsky is one that a lot of people haven't seen. Generally, people get confused by it and it's a movie that will cause either reflection or revulsion from a viewer, I would imagine. There are three stories going on and each has a tie to the other, though the main character(s) is the same. It's beautifully shot and it's another one of those films that bears repeated viewings. It touches on loyalty, determination, love, death, and dealing with all of those things in the confines of a finite lifetime. In the end, the main character (Thomas) is able to transcend death and accept that we think of as dying is really just rebirth in another form. A different way for the universe to examine/experience itself apart from our conscience being.

Con-Air

This is one that many self-proclaimed, serious film buffs love to pick at and hate on. I won't defend it against assertions that it is text book action film making by Simon West. It is, but it's also a farce. A sort of parody that plays it close to the vest. It has all the elements of a block buster action film, but it isn't taking itself seriously. It throws everything at the audience. Every cliche' of the action film genre gets dealt with. A misunderstood, wronged hero who is just trying to get back to his family? Check. Menacing bad guys that have specialties in their criminality? Check. A wife and child just waiting for their hero to make it home? Check. A good guy that is trying to help out all he can, while having to fight off incompetence from those around him? Check. Corny self-serving dialogue? Check. Gun shots? Check. Shit blowing up? Check. Las Vegas? Check. Sappy and happy ending while a sappy song plays showing a family reunited against impossible odds? Check. It's an easy film to watch and a lot of fun. Remember, you can't watch this seriously.....it wasn't made to be watched that way. It's not taking itself seriously and neither should you! It's just a ride (to steal a phrase from Bill Hicks)!

My Pull Back To The Right

I made a comment last week to a friend that I was feeling a pull back to the right (politically speaking). My reasoning was due to how insane the left and liberals seem to have become in recent years. I have been influenced quite a bit over the past 10 years or so by left leaning writers and commentators such as Bill Maher, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, and Dave Rubin. I also delve into philosophers like Alan Watts and Terence McKenna in an effort to "feed my soul" so to speak and try to keep from being overly accepting of the aforementioned influences. Naturally, being influenced by these people would definitely see me move towards a more overall liberal worldview. I still maintained that I wouldn't necessarily call myself a liberal, but I was done with conservatism as a worldview that I would adhere to in a staunch manner as I had for most of my adult life.

My choice was to stop identifying with one or the other and go issue by issue and stake out positions based on as much information I could get from both sides of any issue and my own personal parsing of that info. That's who I want to be and who I have attempted to be for quite some time now. With that said, I feel like at this point, I need to acknowledge that I am rethinking how openly I support liberalism as a whole. I could always forgive some of the economic things I didn't agree with because I felt that there was more open compassion from the left, because there were more people that could identify with how others lived based on their past and socio-economic position.

Over the past year or so I have been introduced to Jordan Peterson, Michael Shermer, and Ben Shapiro.  I wouldn't call any of them far right, but Shapiro is definitely a conservative, Peterson isn't a classic conservative, but he leans that way in how he attempts to make sense of our social/cultural constructs, and Shermer only appears to be right leaning because of how insane the far left has become. Shermer is probably where I am (or possibly Dave Rubin) speaking comparatively. I may not have shifted as much as the fact that the spectrum has moved under my feet. I don't even know if I'm speaking politically unless we are going to focus on specific policy/issue. This writing is geared more towards my rejection of political correctness and the general attempts of the "regressive" left to impose their fascist inclinations on everyone else. 

Dave Rubin has recently started rejecting his identification as a "liberal", simply because of what it seems to imply at this point in time. I strongly feel that a dishonest media, along with people who believe they need to be offended for others in an effort to gain power or some sort of misguided moral superiority are moving us backwards as a nation. It's going to turn out to be a phase, as we are already seeing a correction, as level headed liberals are moving towards the right and we have a president that is anything but politically correct. People are being driven into the arms of Trump in the same way that moderate Republicans were pushed to Obama or a more libertarian view by the George W. Bush years. I love freedom of speech, even when it offends me (which doesn't happen often, because I need to feel the hit personally) and I don't think anyone's communication with others should be stifled or made against the law. I want to hear from people I don't agree with. I can't understand when others don't want that. It's a chance to sharpen your own beliefs and more importantly, it's a chance to try to understand another person viewpoint. That's been very important to me for awhile. If I have a "fault" when I participate in group political/social discussion, it's that I seem to waffle, but that's really because I am trying to find out how it feels to hold each position. What about a persons worldview, up bringing, or person experience makes them stake out a particular position? I truly believe it's made me a better person by triggering critical thought and patience. 

I would really like to write more on the influence of people like Joe Rogan, Jordan Peterson, Dave Rubin, Austin Peterson, Larry Elder, Michael Shermer, and Sam Harris have had on me, but that would make for a small book. I have kept an open mind, as much as possible. Anyone that knows me or knows my past writing should understand that I try not to live in a bubble. I cull info from a lot of different places and I trust the words of people more than I do any information that comes from a for-profit organization. 

The bottom line for me and what I've picked up from Jordan Peterson in a big way is that none of us have a right to not be offended. If a person is offended, it's a choice. Words have no power that we don't give them as individuals. That's been a position of mine for a very long time. I'm much more interested in seeing our country move forward on the basis of fact than feeling. When people (or a group of people) call others fascists and then seek to shut down those people's ability to speak freely (going so far in some cases as to try to create law limiting speech), the true fascist is revealed. If the middle and moderate right is where I have to identify and where I have to speak to others from, so be it. I accept freedom, personal liberty, and fact as the most important influences on how I think and act, and right now, the left side of the spectrum (and largely from those further on the left) isn't living up to being the progressives that they think they are. They rely on stifling the speech and freedoms of others as a way of making the country better and I firmly believe that is misguided and it eventually will lead to the authoritarianism, and yes, fascism that they fear. 

I'm going to stick with what seems tangible and real. I know that being correct on so many things is subjective and I accept that as truth. On the other hand, there is also fact on many other issues and there is intellectual honesty and working from those areas has to be the best for us all. Maybe I'll have more on this later. Maybe someone will challenge me with a comment. Either way, I will do my best to be honest about how I feel and respond to what is swirling around me every day in the world. 

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