I was surprised I’d never seen Brian De Palma’s 1984 film Body Double until I discovered it available for free-to-air viewing on SBS iView last night. My interest was piqued the night before when I watched Noah Baumbach’s doco De Palma, recommended by a friend.
Continue readingArchive for the Pretensions toward cultural theory Category
De Palma Goes For Gold
Posted in Film, Pretensions toward cultural theory with tags Al Pacino, Alfred Hitchcock, Body Double, Brian De Palma, Drill, Eli Roth, Hostel, Hostel II, Jake Scully, Klute, misogyny, Noah Baumbach, Penis, Rear Window, Scarface, still life, Toorak, Trak Cinema, Vertigo, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema on September 18, 2023 by Jarrod Boyle‘The Men Who Came Too Late and Stayed Too Long.’
Posted in Film, Observation, Pretensions toward cultural theory, Real Men with tags Bryan Dorries, David Fincher, Pauline Kael, Peckinpah, Roger Ebert, The Wild Bunch on March 25, 2023 by Jarrod Boyle2.
What I like about Peckinpah is that you never know what you’re going to get. You’re certainly not there to be ‘entertained’. Like David Fincher says, it’s going to leave a scar.
Continue reading‘The Men Who Came Too Late and Stayed Too Long.’
Posted in Film, Observation, Pretensions toward cultural theory, Real Men with tags Apocalypse, Billie Eilish, COVID, hip replacement, Ocean Eyes, Point Break, Sam Peckinpah, Straw Dogs, Surgery, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Wild Bunch on March 19, 2023 by Jarrod Boyle1.
Surgery is a major life event. I had a hip replacement, which means full derailment; it’s a paradigm shift quite unlike any other. And most of the time, paradigm shifts find you stranded in a world that’s changed and requires that you develop new skills in order to cope. In my case, I return to the world with a certain ability that I had lost, namely, the ability to walk and stand square and strong, without pain.
Continue readingPoint Break: Redux
Posted in Film, Observation, Pretensions toward cultural theory, Real Men with tags Bodhi, Bromance, Dirty Harry, Dirty Harry Callaghan, Ex=presidents, High Noon, John Pilger, Johnny Utah, Kathryn Bigelow, Point Break, Ronald Reagan, Simone De Beauvoir, The Hurt Locker, The Wild Bunch, Will Kane on February 18, 2023 by Jarrod Boyle2.
Once he discovers his newfound friends and mentor are actually the ex-presidents, Johnny draws his line. During a botched stakeout shortly after, Utah reveals his identity when he pursues them in an attempt to capture.
Continue readingPoint Break: Redux
Posted in Film, Observation, Pretensions toward cultural theory, Real Men with tags bank robbery, Daniel San, ex-presidents, FBI, Johnny Utah, Keanu Reeves, Mr Miyagi, Patrick Swayze, Point Break, surfing, The Karate Kid on February 3, 2023 by Jarrod Boyle1.
I had very little memory of the film when I switched it on to pass a recent Saturday evening, and was concerned that watching an ‘old’ film from my teenaged years had become a recreational activity worthy of my time.
Continue reading‘A Warrior Culture Steeped in Violence.’
Posted in Journalism, Pretensions toward cultural theory, Real Men with tags America, Apocalypse Now, Australia Day, Ben Roberts-Smith Versus the Media, colonel kurtz, SAS, The Guardian Newspaper, Viet Cong, Vietnam war on December 18, 2022 by Jarrod BoyleMeditation Killed My Motivation
Posted in Observation, Pretensions toward cultural theory, Reading, Real Men, Statement of intention with tags Alain De Botton, Blade Runner, Buddha, How Proust Can Change Your Life, In Search of Lost Time, Luke David, Marcus Aurelius, Nietzsche, Osho, Proust, Roy Batty, Scott Moncrieff, Tim Ferriss on December 1, 2022 by Jarrod BoyleTim Ferriss once said that he had initially avoided meditation for fear it would bliss him out and diminish his drive. In my case, I fear that it’s true.
Continue readingLimp Bizkit: The Last Great Band of the Nineties?
Posted in Music, Pretensions toward cultural theory with tags Big Day Out, Dave Blaustein, Fred Durst, Iggy Pop, Jimi Hendrix, Limp Bizkit, Netflix, Rage Against the Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Trainwreck: Woodstock '99, Wes Borland on October 16, 2022 by Jarrod BoyleI’d never had much interest in Limp Bizkit until I saw the Netflix documentary, Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99. Nu-metal didn’t do a lot for me, and there was something that felt just a little bit entitled about Fred Durst.
Continue readingMillennial ‘Ethics’
Posted in Pretensions toward cultural theory with tags culture, Feminism, ghosting, Glen Waverley, marxism, millennials, prejudice, racism, sociopathy, white guilt on July 24, 2022 by Jarrod BoyleI recently found myself embroiled with a couple of young women, millennials that I will refer to as A. and S., who seemed to defy all criticisms of millennials that I had experienced.
Continue reading