Film Corner!

This weekend, Iain and I used a gift certificate Kenny Blogginz got us (thanks, KBlogz!) for Christmas (there are really not enough movies made for our demographic, lolsob) to the local movie theater to go see a movie. We saw The American. Whoops! It was awful.

(Iain, on the way into the theater: "I read this is reminiscent of '70s thrillers." Me: "So…boring and sexist, then?" Yup.)

But before the movie, we saw approximately 87 trailers, none of which were particularly notable, or even memorable, except for the following two, and those only because they were aired back-to-back, and I found the juxtaposition an interesting, if unintentional, commentary on gender in film.


Video paraphrase: The trailer for the upcoming Hillary Swank vehicle, Conviction, which is billed as "The incredible true story of Betty Anne Waters," a "working mother [who] puts herself through law school in an effort to represent her brother, who has been wrongfully convicted of murder and has exhausted his chances to appeal his conviction through public defenders." In the trailer, we learn that Waters (played by Swank) did not even have a high school diploma when her brother (played by Sam Rockwell) was convicted; she had to get her GED and then her undergraduate degree before she could go to law school. The story takes place over 18 years, while Waters effectively dedicates her entire life to the cause of freeing her brother, with the help of a law school classmate (played by Minnie Driver). The trailer features scenes of quiet desperation and great personal sacrifice.


Video paraphrase: The trailer for the upcoming Russell Crowe vehicle, The Next Three Days, which is billed as a story about "los[ing] who you are to save what you love." It is a fictional story, authored by Paul Haggis, about the picture-perfect life of a married couple (played by Crowe and Elizabeth Banks) getting "turned upside down when the wife is accused of a murder." Banks' character is sent to prison, where she becomes dangerously despondent. Crowe's character then conspires (without her consent, or even her knowledge) to bust her out of prison. The story centers on the three days of the prison break, which is planned and orchestrated with the help of a famous escapee (played by Liam Neeson). The trailer features scenes of shooting and car chases.

I turned to Iain: "So, a fact-based movie about a woman who sacrifices her life on behalf of her brother to get him out of jail, slowly and methodically working through school and then the court system to secure his freedom via legal justice, versus a fictional movie about a man who's never held a gun before going totes commando to bust his wife out of prison with a big explosion, which is his 'only option' because she's too weak to hack imprisonment. Women are martyrs. Men are superheroes. And everyone in the world is white and straight."

Iain laughed and nodded in agreement. "Totes."

I got $10 that says Elizabeth Banks' character is actually guilty, too.