The use of color in TAU 2018
This is an analysis of the use of color in Tau. I love it when movies use colors, for me it feels like a spice giving the movie flavor and life. It is also a way to stand out from other films. If used correctly it can really enhance a movie. Now there are plenty […]
This is an analysis of the use of color in Tau.
I love it when movies use colors, for me it feels like a spice giving the movie flavor and life. It is also a way to stand out from other films. If used correctly it can really enhance a movie. Now there are plenty of ways to use color, for this example we will be looking at the 2018 Netflix movie Tau.
The colors being used in the beginning are the contrasts between red and blue. We start with Julia in a bright red wig and a blue dress.
When she comes home in the beginning, a bright neon light is blinking red and blue. someone later breaks into her apartment and at the moment she is drugged from behind. The light is red when it cuts to the next scene. Red means danger in this sense.
In Alex’s house, the small cleaning droids and Aris (his protector robot) all have red eyes. Indicating danger.
Blue symbolizes a coldness in the personal sense. Alex is associated with his color a lot. The prison Julia is kept in is Blue. Alex eats dinner in blue light. Most of the house is blue when Alex is there.
Tau’s eye is orange. Orange in this film means normal, the natural state, the balance between the two.
When Alex’s heart rate goes up Tau turns on Zen-mode which is orange light and some calming music, indicating he has to return to a more neutral state.
When Julia is imprisoned the cell is blue. She escapes by blowing the cell up with an orange explosion, making things balanced, before everything gets red and dangerous.
At one point Alex gets mad and picks Julia up from an orange room and throws her into a blue room which is his element in front of Aris with the red eyes.
As Tau grows in consciousness he is starting to develop some green in his eye. The more sentient and independent he becomes the more green. At the very end when Julia gets out his whole eye is green, indicating that he is his own master.
Original Netflix films, and Tau
Original Netflix films There is something wrong here, right? I mean every single time I hear someone or something talk about Netflix films, they all say either that they ALL suck or that most of them suck. This makes my spidey senses tingle a bit, and I am very curious regarding if it’s true or
Original Netflix films
There is something wrong here, right? I mean every single time I hear someone or something talk about Netflix films, they all say either that they ALL suck or that most of them suck.
This makes my spidey senses tingle a bit, and I am very curious regarding if it’s true or not. Are all Netflix original movies bad? Or do people just go in with too high of expectations? Either way, as the investigative journalist that I am not, I seek to find the truth. The mission is clear, watch some original Netflix movies and see if they suck or not, should be simple enough.
Furthermore, I seek to find some hidden gems if you will. Some movies that have gone under the radar, So I can own everybody in conversation about my superior Netflix knowledge, because we all know, that is where real street credit lies.
Tau 2018
The first movie on this quest is the movie Tau, directed by Federico D’Alessandro and written by Noga Landau. The movie is sci-fi with a dash of cyberpunk. I say a dash because it’s only in the first ten minutes or so, that we really are in a cyberpunk setting. So if you go in expecting a full-on cyberpunk tale you might leave a little disappointed.
The film follows a girl named Julia (Maika Monroe) a petty thief who earns money by picking pocketing people in nightclubs and selling their stuff.
She is then captured by a scientist named Alex (Ed Skrein), and forced to do puzzles for him in his fancy house so that he can make an advanced Ai. However, an Ai named Tau is also living with Alex and the story is more about Julia trying to escape and bonding with the AI in the process.
The Good
Let’s start by talking about the good stuff and to my surprise there was a lot to like about the film. I know, I am shocked too.
First of all, the aesthetic of the film is quite good. The house itself is a very nice setting, it has this believable futuristic vibe, where you totally believe a rich tech guy would live there. Everything is being kept clean and nice by Tau, in fact, cleanliness is important to Alex, so much so that he is willing to hurt Tau if doesn’t do his job properly.
You might think how do you even hurt an AI? Well, he has this little remote that removes some of his code, meaning he loses some of his memories. This makes him feel pain, when this happens he squeals and begs Alex to stop.
Alex also lies out his torture tools very meticulously and neatly. Further indicating his need for cleanliness.
The movie also uses colors exceptionally well, in fact it did such a good job in that aspect that a more detailed analysis of the use of color in the film will be made into a separate post. You can read that post here.
As I said before, the film is about Julia trying to escape. This, in itself, is a good premise since it is only Alex that can unlock the door. So, a girl is trapped in a futuristic house and has to find her way out.
A cool idea, and if you read the plot summary for the film then that is more or less what it will say.
However, the film is also about Julia and Tau bonding. See, the question the film raises is how much of a sentient being is Tau? is he but a piece of software, or is he something more.
The theme of whether an A.I is a sentient being or not is nothing really new. Tau is perfectly capable of expressing fear, anger, happiness and curiosity. You might say it is only a program and it’s not “real”, but it is real for him.
The fact that the film throws in a subplot about Tau, an A.I learning what it means to be a person, was an unexpected yet pleasant surprise.
Tau is also voiced by Gary Oldman which is simply perfect.
I also like the fact that Julia is established as someone who can pickpocket. Throughout the film, she snatches a pair of scissors and his glasses. This works since we have been introduced to her as someone with that skill, and I like that it came back to serve a function.
Doing the film you start to wonder why she is there, why did he capture her? The movie does not outright tell you. You know he is using her to solve puzzles for his work on A.I. You can kind of put two and two together, that he is taking people from the lower ends of society and is running experiments on them.
Some might say this is bad, but I appreciate the fact that the movie did not use some kind of stupid exposition you typically find in Hollywood movies.
A societal hierarchy is also in the spirit of cyberpunk. So Alex the rich white guy is taking people from the lower class fits right in.
At some point, Julia askes Tau why he is letting Alex hurt him. Tau replies by saying that he can not go against the one that created him, he asks if Julia would go against the one that created her. She talks a bit about how she had a bad mom and that she was never around.
Again we see a small amount of exposition, instead of just saying it outright like a…..Hollywood movie.
Another small thing I enjoyed is when she is trying to escape by smashing the window, they all turn out to be screens, indicating that escape is an illusion.
This also builds on the idea that the outside is to be kept secret from Tau.
The Bad
While Monroe and Oldman were both good in the film, I can’t say I liked Ed Skrein that much. In fact, I did not find him that convincing in Deadpool either. He is better in this film for sure, but maybe it’s just more of a me thing, I can’t seem to connect with him on screen.
There are also some wonky death scenes with some really bad fake blood.
The CGI is decent enough, but nothing to really write home about.
While I said before that I enjoyed the AI bonding subplot, it is also clear that there was nowhere near enough time to actually develop that theme properly. The idea of a sentient AI is super interesting, and it takes a lot of time to explore the idea.
In this way, the movie suffers under the shorter run time.
It also takes a little time to really warm up to Julia. She is very unlikeable as a character. However, this is somewhat justified since she is a thief from the lower ends of society
We know from the dialog that she did not have a good relationship with her mom. The only real reason this is not a bigger problem is that Alex is less likable. You do want to root for the main character though and especially in this kind of “trapped in a bad circumstance” kind of movie.
Conclusion
So, is Tau one of those bad Netflix films? Well, as of writing this post Tau has a rotten tomatoes score of 25% and an audience score of 48% an IMDb score of 5.8, and a Metacritic score of 43. RAVING REVIEWS INDEED!
I think people have an inherent dislike of the idea of an original Netflix movie. Something feels wrong about anyone but Hollywood making movies. However, Hollywood is not exactly a beacon of quality at this point. If I go and watch movies in the cinema (which I still do), then the movies are sometimes better and sometimes worse than this one.
I recently wrote a post on Wrath of man and I was not a fan of that movie at all. It currently sits on an audience score of 91.
I think the problem people have with Tau and with Netflix movies, in general, is that it feels unfinished. Like something is missing in the production and the script department.
Maybe there is just a difference between the quality of all movies regarding where they premier and who publishes them.
I simply have to watch more Netflix films to get a bigger picture. As for Tau, it’s good, I like it. POST OVER.
Captain Fantastic is not so fantastic
Captain Fantastic is an interesting movie. Written and directed by Matt Ross, it stars Viggo Mortensen as Ben, a man living in the forest with his six kids. He tries to raise them all alone, as their mother and his wife are in the hospital. We later hear of the mother committed suicide in the
Captain Fantastic is an interesting movie. Written and directed by Matt Ross, it stars Viggo Mortensen as Ben, a man living in the forest with his six kids. He tries to raise them all alone, as their mother and his wife are in the hospital. We later hear of the mother committed suicide in the hospital (this is going to be important later) The family now embarks on a journey across the US to “save” the mother and send her off the right way.
The movie opens with some beautiful tracking shots of nature. There is no music, only the sounds of the forest. Everything is ideal, peaceful, and quiet. The audience is then snapped out of this tranquil state as a deer is being killed by the oldest boy Bodevan. (played by George MacKay) He slights its trout and blood starts to splat everywhere. Ben then makes some sort of ritual and says that the boy is gone and that he is now a man.
This is a great way to start the film. It sets the tone with a tone shift and the audience is now more engaged since they don’t know what can or will happen throughout the film. The opening scene is great. It made me wonder if the movie was supposed to be a coming of age story or a man vs nature story. Well, it’s both, but not in the traditional way.
In fact, the first 20% of the film is excellent. It shows how they live in the forest. Hunting and gathering food. It shows them training hard everyday. They read an enormous amount of books where they have to make presentations on the material.
The kids are in peak condition. They know how to fight, they can navigate via the stars, they hunt and they are very smart. They have reached this condition by being isolated from society and only focusing on self improvement.
Everything is dictated by Ben. He is in control of everything they do. What they read, when they train, when they play music. ‘
Ben then receives a message that his wife has killed herself. When he conveys this to the kids he does not sugarcoat it. He simply says that their mother has killed herself in the hospital. This is a theme throughout the film. He is unusually blunt with his kids. He is telling them the truth at all times. He even lets them have wine at some point. This seems a little odd since he is so strict with their training and homework, but so loose with conversation. At one point Ben lets them mountain climb in the rain, one of his kids (Rellian) slips and breaks his hand. Despite him clearly being in pain, Ben simply says that he has to get up himself since he can’t rely on anyone to come and help him.
Upon hearing the news regarding their mother the kids all get sad, except for Rellian. He gets super mad and starts stabbing a piece of furniture with a knife, all while screaming and yelling. This kid does seem a little more aggressive, he seems like the kind of kid that gets angry quickly.
Since their mother was a Buddhist (because of course, she was) Her final wish was to be cremated and not buried in a Christian ceremony. What do you know? It turns out her father Jack, played by the always excellent Frank Langella, wishes to bury her, Christian style. Thus they all embark on the mission “save mom” to make sure her ashes get flushed down the toilet.
Doing their journey one thing becomes clear, this is a societal critique of the United States. The smallest child wonders why so many people are fat. She wonders if it’s because they are sick. Furthermore, they keep pointing out problems with “the system” and how it’s better to live in the wild. Ben even says that hospitals are for people who really want to die.
They critique capitalism and consumerism in favor of a Marxist ideology. Bodavan tells his father how he is not a Marxist anymore, but a Maoist. The youngest daughter has a picture of Pol Pot on her wall. To call them left leaning is an understatement. And they celebrate Noam Chomsky’s birthday as a holiday.
At one point they visit their mother’s sister and her husband. Their children are always on their phones or playing games. Ben illustrates at one point how stupid they are compared to his own children. The two parts also clash over Ben’s bluntness to his children. Saying that there is something they should not hear since they can’t understand them well enough.
The viewer has to consider which parenting style is best. There is no question that his children are fitter, healthier, stronger, and smarter than all other children their age.
The critique does not stop there. When they finally arrive at the funeral Ben stands up in front of everyone critiquing religion in his speech.
So yeah, Ben has raised 8 kids to be some kind of superhuman. They all seem to love him and one can’t argue with his results. I guess there is nothing more to say, is there? I mean only one of the kids really dislikes him and that is Rellian and he was mad from the start.
Here is the thing, the movie would not be good if they only had one perspective on everything. Gradually we see that the way Ben does things is not necessarily optimal. For instance, Bodevan is having trouble talking to girls his own age. He later confronts his father and says that if something is not from a book he does not know it. He feels like a freak, he says that he does not know anything about anything.
Some knowledge can not be obtained from books. To understand the world, one must have to experience it. By having sheltered them in nature, they seem less fit to operate in the real world.
Rellian runs away from home to stay with his grandfather Jack. In trying to get him back the oldest daughter falls down a roof and has to be hospitalized. Now the hospital that Ben criticized so much initially is the only way to save his daughter.
Thinking back, isn’t it strange that the mother killed herself in the hospital? This seemingly trivial detail is suddenly very important. The film reveals that the mother was not that well and that she struggles with mental health. Rellian claims that it was Ben who drove her insane. A damning acquisition indeed, the film doesn’t give us the answer outright. Keep in mind that Ben made Rellian climb a mountain in the rain with a broken hand.
Having pushed Rellian away. His oldest son feels like a freak. His oldest daughter almost died. While having driven his wife to suiced. It all becomes clear that Captain Fantastic is not so fantastic.
In the end, when Ben and Rellian make up, Rellian says. “I don’t hate you. I just wish you would have helped mom” and Ben answers “so do I” this is a very subtle way of indicating that, maybe he did have something to do with her suicide, then again maybe not.
The movie ends with Ben, sending Bodevan out into the world in a scene reminiscent of the beginning of the movie.
The remaining kids go back to their new home with Ben, and while they still live in nature, they have all been a little more civilized. They live in a hybrid of the natural world and the civilized world.
It would seem that the film indicates that we need the best of both worlds.
Wrath of Man
Wrath of Man is the new movie by director Guy Richie. A man whose backlog is, let’s just say, varied in quality. But which side will this movie fall under? Will it be a return to form? Or will it be another King Arthur? Well, let’s find out. The movie stars long-time collaborator Jason Statham
Wrath of Man is the new movie by director Guy Richie. A man whose backlog is, let’s just say, varied in quality. But which side will this movie fall under? Will it be a return to form? Or will it be another King Arthur? Well, let’s find out.
The movie stars long-time collaborator Jason Statham as H. He takes a job as a cash transporter for reasons not known. Here are some of the things I will say the movie does well.
First of all. In the beginning, the instructor tells H that he needs to get a minimum 70% score on his test to pass. Doing a small montage we see him do the trial. He stumbles here and there and ends up with 70% no more, no less. This little thing instantly builds some mystery around the character.
Guy Ritchie also plays a bit with the structure. Keeping H´s motivation a mystery for the first half of the film, was a brilliant move. This works very well since you never really know where the film goes. The movie is basically split into three parts. The first part is the introduction where we see H take the job. We are then introduced to the other cash transporters.
The second part is where we see who he really is. This is also the part where we see his motivation for why he took the job.
In the last part, we see a new team of soldiers, who steal from the cash transporters.
We are introduced to a whole new set of characters in each of the parts and none of them are that well-rounded or memorable. This gives the audience little to nothing to latch onto.
There are some weird mistakes made too. The characters talk about a female named “hot Rebecca”. We see them go in where she works, and then we see them go outside and talk about meeting her. But the audience has no idea who she is since she is cut out of the film. Very sloppy.
The movie itself is kind of strange. Guy Ritchie is, if nothing else, good at writing interesting characters that are funny and charismatic. Jason Statham usually has charisma on screen, but here a positive and a positive equals a minus. Jason only operates on one emotion and that is stoic badass. There is nothing else to him. He has the emotional range of a bucket.
My biggest problem with these kinds of movies (and there are many at this point). Is that it stars a character that is basically invincible and kills everyone without breaking a sweat. He can be in a gunfight with armed soldiers and not even blink. These movies always annoy me. That is why I don’t like Taken, The Equalizer, or any other action movie that falls under this category. It’s just the main character beating faceless stormtrooper like enemies for two hours. If the main character is not at some point just a little bit worried about the situation then WHERE ARE THE STEAKS?! A good example of a movie that does this perfectly is John Wick, where John kills a lot of people, but he also gets his ass whooped a lot. In this movie, H is not even breathing. He is playing the Terminator. But the terminator was cool because it was “ a cybernetic organism” and not just some dude.
Since we are talking about bad acting, Scott Eastwood is awful. He single-handedly drags the whole movie down. He would not be in any movie if it weren’t for the fact that his dad is a Hollywood legend.
Niamh Algar Plays a female cash transporter and her whole stick is that she is just like “the boys” Her character feels like a bad rip-off of Vasquez from Aliens.
I did like Holt McCallany’s performance as Bullet, I thought he was pretty good and my favorite in the movie.
The movie also ends super unsatisfying leaving the viewer with no real sense of finality.
The action scenes are boring since you know H can’t take damage.
So yeah….. The movie is not good, I would not recommend it at all. Even the magical Guy Richie energy and dialog are missing. Best to skip this one.
My First Post
Okay, here I am. I have started my own blog, and I am finally putting some of my writing out there. I have been planning to make some sort of content on the internet for some time now. I always thought it was going to be a Youtube channel or a podcast. I do still
Okay, here I am. I have started my own blog, and I am finally putting some of my writing out there. I have been planning to make some sort of content on the internet for some time now. I always thought it was going to be a Youtube channel or a podcast. I do still plan to do both of these things in the not-so-distant future.
I have been thinking a lot about what to write for my first post. I had this idea that it had to be long, insightful, funny, and profound. It had to be the best thing ever! But that’s stupid. How am I suppose to start at the top? No one does that. We see big sports stars performing at the peak of their power, winning championships, glory, and fame. However! we never see the countless hours of tedious practice or grueling grinding one has to put in to be at the top. We see a YouTuber we like. We look at their amazing production and high subscriber count. We think that we have to start there or we are a failure.
We compare ourselves to others, which is always a mistake since we are all different. Don’t look at others who already have done all the grinding. I find that when I look back at Youtubers I like and watch their first video. They are more often than not really bad. Or at least not as good as their current content. That is what this post is, some practice.
There is so much to think of when starting something new. I was overthinking everything. What colors should I use? What is the layout going to look like? What am I going to write about? How do I structure it? What is my niche? And how do you even pronounce “niche”? I am still trying to figure that one out. The answer to all these questions are, of course, don’t worry you will figure it out down the line.
The logic of not doing something because you don’t start at the top is straight-up stupid. If we all did that then nothing would ever get done. “I can’t start taking driving lessons I don’t know how to drive, what if I suck at it?” You will, but you will learn it. No one starts knowing how to drive a car. I failed my driving test twice, but today I consider myself to be a damn good driver (like everyone else). You fail and then you try again and again, and again. To master something you have to spend like a million hours on it. I don’t know how many hours, but it’s a lot.
I think a lot of people have doubts before trying something new. The question is why? Here are some of the things I worried about beforehand.
What if I suck at writing? – you will, but you will get better.
What if no one is reading it? – Then they won’t, who cares? you only do it as a hobby
What am I going to write about? – Just write something dammit
Everything has already been said – Then be silent for the rest of your life
What if I don’t like it after a while? – Then stop or take a break.
How do you pronounce “niche”? – I still don’t know
What if I accidentally plagiarise someone or use the wrong pictures? – WHAT?!? What kind of logic is that? you worry too much man, it’s just for fun.
So here it is, my first post. I really did not plan to ramble on. It was meant to be something quick so that the pressure of writing my first post would be eliminated. I realize that I have to do something similar for my podcast or Youtube (we will cross that bridge when we get to it). This post is going to be something I can look back on. And if nothing else. If it all fails spectacularly, at least I can say, “I did it.”