Monday Links

*Current U.S politicians as Game of Thrones characters (Via The Warming Glow)

*Anita Heiss shares the fantastic poem Me I Am by Steven Oliver. (Via Anita Heiss's Blog)

*Susie Bubble is a fashion blogger, but her list of blogging tips would work for anyone...well most of them anyway. (Via MFW)

And that's all for this week, hunting for news is far too enticing when I have deadlines looming!

Fanart Friday: Cinna from The Hunger Games

Cinna was easily one of my favourite characters in The Hunger Games. He was so understated and sensible, yet still managed to stand out as an individual. He had a great heart, an enviable capacity for understanding but he isn't afraid to show a little attitude when the time calls for it. Without spoiling anything, I wish he'd had a larger role in the books. Then again, perhaps if he'd been a more central character I would have tired of him, or he'd have done something obnoxious that tainted his early presence. Who could ever know? Anyway, here are a series of pictures of this wonderful minor character. Be sure to click through the links and see the rest of the artwork by these phenomenal artists.

THG: Cinna by Minuiko

Cinna by Akanei-Run

Cinna 01 by MirandaFear

Monday Links

*In case you were after a longer review of the fantastic new(ish) graphic novel American Vampire than I provided last week head over to Booking in Heels. It's a rockin' review. (Via Booking in Heels)

*Here's a link that'll mean very little to most of you, but here are the top ten independent book stores in my home town of Brisbane (Via Concrete Playground)

*I've started a new feature over on my horror blog called Watch This, Not That. So if you want some real mini-movie reviews of which horror movies must be watched then take a trip over there. (Via me!)

*An amazing book sculpture/art installation in Madrid. (Via The Wheeler Centre)

*Got an essay due that you just don't want to write? Why not try Essay Typer? Don't really, but it's pretty fun just to blow your mind how great the doodawatzi that makes it work is! (Via Essay Typer)

*Talking about plagiarism, there have been a few waves in the book blogging world about this particular issue. There are some specific posts around on the latest controversy, but for an insightful and personal look into the issue I'd recommend checking out Belle's post on the subject. (Via Belle's Bookshelf)

Film Review: Take Shelter (2011)

Take Shelter

Directed by: Jeff Nichols

Starring: Michael Shannon
Jessica Chastain
Shae Whigham

Synopsis: Plagued by a series of apocalyptic visions, a young husband and father questions whether to shelter his family from a coming storm, or from himself.

I follow a film Tumblr called Old Films Flicker who I rely on for decent movie recommendations both old and new. A little while ago she went crazy with screen shots and odes to Take Shelter, starring the enigmatic and unbelievably talented Michael Shannon. It's a fairly small film, and while it seemed to open to positive reviews in the US it never opened in cinemas here in Australia, so I added it to my film queue to watch on DVD.

Other than the screen shots and quotes Old Films Flicker posted, I had no real idea what this film was about. I knew that Michael Shannon's character (Curtis) was seeing visions of the apocalypse and a huge storm, but I wasn't aware of the genre so I had no idea if it was going to be a drama, and action-drama or a thriller. This probably could have been disastrous if I hadn't been in the right mood going into it, the film is very slow and at its heart is a family drama of monumental proportions.

Curtis is a small town husband and father who works on a drilling crew by day, and spends time at home with his wife, Samantha, (Chastain) and daughter, Hannah, at night. When Curtis begins to suffer from frequent dreams and hallucinations of a humungous storm with apocalyptic after-effects, their simple life is rocked in its foundations. Fearing mental illness Curtis secretly visits a counsellor and seeks medication, but as the dreams worsen and he develops and obsession with renovating their storm shelter, his family and friends begin to fear (for) him. What follows is a slow descent into madness, paranoia, obsession and fear as Curtis' visions become more frequent, while the question "what if..." is always present, lingering just off to the side, partly out of view.

Is he crazy? Are his visions real? Is he going to snap and murder everyone in their town? Until the end credits roll you will never be 100% sure which way this film is going to go. While it is primarily a family drama about a husband who is suffering from these visions, it never lets go of the possibility for a supernatural inclusion, or for a dark devastating turn that'll mess up your sleep for a week. This fervent questioning plays an important role when you consider how slow the film moves. The film revels in forcing you to just sit and watch as this family is pulled apart by mental illness. There are minimal edits and instead you watch an entire conversation, in all its awkwardness or sadness or distress. The characters progress through the entire gamut of emotion that would occur in a normal fight or moment, there are no easy resolutions, no simple answers. And while this results in a slower pacing that I typically enjoy, I respect the hell out of it.

Going hand in hand with the pacing is the visuals in this film. It's hard to find a film these days that isn't visually beautiful (especially films of the indie persuasion) but the beauty of this films wideshot small town aesthetics is emphasised because it is juxtaposed against the claustrophobic storm shelter and Curtis's dark descent into madness and swirling storm clouds. The effect this produces is astounding and one of the biggest draws in this film. My favourite is most definitely the shots with the birds swirling around the sky in apocalyptic formation (see promo image above), especially towards the closing of the film. It's just so good!

And the acting, man oh man! Michael Shannon is a phenomenal and completely under-rated actor who is superb in this role. Known best for his roles in Boardwalk Empire and Revolutionary Road, Michael Shannon really embraced the character's quiet and unassuming nature and it is both terrifying and heart-breaking to watch him circle the drain and give in to his paranoia and fear. Jessica Chastain gives a beautifully nuanced performance as his worried wife, Samantha. By the way, where did Jessica Chastain come from?! She has delivered some of the best performances in the best films of 2011, and I had never heard of her before! Hopefully she keeps it up because she won my heart in this role. She's so fragile, yet so strong. She's taken on the task of learning sign language so she can communicate with her deaf daughter, and she sells handicrafts on the weekend so that the family can spend one week a year at the beach. She's the glue that holds the family together, but as Curtis falls apart and recedes further into himself, she doesn't have enough fingers to plug the holes that are threatening to burst.

So all in all a terrific film! It manages to balance between a couple of genres yet never lose sight of the characters and their own problems, rather than focussing purely on these apocalyptic visions Curtis sees. I do have to warn you all how slow the pacing is, but if you can handle it then definitely find a copy of this film to watch.

Fanart Friday: Miscellaneous

Hello everyone! I am alive, I swear! I'm a month out from my stage 2 proposal, so shit has been crazy round my way, hence the quietness on the bloggo-front! I'll hopefully manage to find time to do some reading in the next week or so, unless you're all incredibly interested in reading reviews on dry film and cultural studies text books? I'm spending the weekend down on the Gold Coast for their film festival, so at the very least I'll have some film reviews to share with you all shortly!

In the meantime, here are a few art pieces on the sandman from Neil Gaiman's graphic novel The Sandman, and the unbelievably beautiful Jennifer Lawrence. Seriously, could she be more stunning? And cool? Damn I want to be her friend.

Sandman by Kyodainahera

The Sandman by Preacher212

Katniss by Black-Cherry007

Katniss Everdeen by Blackfeatherz29