The End of the Line: A short essay By Ben Brown

In the fall of 2003 two of my friends from High School: Craig, Andrew, and myself went on a planned cross country trip that would take us all around the US in about 3 months time. We had the route planned, we had been saving all senior year, and graduation money helped secure our finances. We were ready.

The first 2 months of the trip were amazing. We saw dozens of places, visited 15 states, slept indoors and out, and met tons of interesting people. While the routes and stops were planned, the finances were a little more elusive. Craig had budgeted for us to have about $3,000 each, but we ended up with more thanks to graduation money. Because of this we spent a little more than we probably should have at the start of the trip. All of those dinners and hotels in lieu of camping caught up with us around Tombstone, Arizona.

We were running on low on funds and were almost the farthest away from NH you could be without hitting the Pacific. The day we spent in Tombstone was dreary, both in mood and weather. The desert around us was covered with a steely sky, and rain followed that night. We needed to find somewhere to stay for free, not necessarily home, but free. Eventually we arrived at a plan: We would drive non-stop from Albuquerque, NM our (next planned stop) to Tampa, FL where Craig's Aunt and Uncle lived. So that's about 2,000 miles.

We left at about 9 AM the next day. I took the first shift, and it should be noted here that Andrew did not have his drivers licence at the time so it was up to Craig and I to drive. I drove for 12 hours that day. From the mountains surrounding Albuquerque to the rolling nothingness of Northern Texas. We swapped after dark, and Craig pledged to drive until he couldn't. It turned out that was about 14 hours. He drove straight through the night, and gave up the wheel at a scummy looking McDonald's somewhere in Louisiana. I had gotten about 2 hours of sleep in the back of our big Chevy conversion van, because it is quite difficult to sleep when your bed is directly over the rear axle of the car. I continued on in a haze. Luckily for us the highways in the south are strait as an arrow, so my job pretty much amounted to keeping the wheel strait. How we stayed awake on those dull roads I can't quite recall; due in no small part to the lack of sleep I'm sure.

I got us to Tampa at about 9:30 PM that night. Craig's relatives where ready with beds and food. We skipped the food and opted for bed. 2,000 miles in under 48 hours is not something I can recommended to many people. It's exhausting, but very satisfying at the same time; especially on a map. If we had planned better, that would have never been necessary, and we would have seen tons more places. At the same time, I'm not sure if the trip would have been as memorable with a stricter budget; after all predictability is the enemy of excitement.

"The Runaways" (2009) Review

The opening of "The Runaways" gives the film an edge that you hope it can sustain. We open on Joan Jett (Kristen Stewert) getting her first leather jacket, and Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning) getting her first period. These opening scenes show a different take on the rock biopic: starting young and not afraid to get it's hands dirty. Unfortunately, as the film moves on it loses that edge. It settles for the more conventional rock and roll biopic complete with full serving of sex, drugs, and bad decisions.

And that's too bad, because director Floria Sigismondi tries to show us something different in the first half of the film. Early scenes show the displacement these girls feel in society. Jett can't get anyone to take her seriously with an electric guitar, and Cherie is booed of stage at her talent show for singing David Bowie. Once they are brought together by the delightfully sleazy Kim Fowley (Michael Shannon) it's a lot of fun to see them shaped into a kick ass rock and roll outfit from the cramped interior of a trailer in the valley. It's once the girls leave that trailer and hit the road that the film regresses back into familiar territory.

If there is one thing that holds the attention for the remainder of the film, it's the performances. Despite the title of the film, the focus is put mostly on Jett and Curie rather than the rest of the band. Luckily, both Stewart and Fanning are pretty good here. Stewart definitely delivers more as Jett. She is not interested in fame or the sex appeal of the band, she is there for the music. Dakota Fanning is a bit more hit or miss. She is great in the first half as a girl who treats her sexuality like a kid who found dad's gun: she is excited by it, but doesn't see the dangers inherent. Once she becomes a drugged out wreck in the latter half of the film, Fanning's performance is less and less interesting. However, the most impressive performance in the film comes from Micheal Shannon as the architect of The Runaways: Kim Fowley. He makes Fowley disgusting and electrifying all at the same time. His absence in the later parts of the story leaves a hole that Sigismondi tries to cover with more sex, drugs, and music montages, but these are no substitute for Shannon's special brand of crazy.

So we're left with a film that shows flashes of great potential, but ultimately takes the safest route down the music biopic path. The Runaways were an important part of music history. They proved that girls could rock just as hard as guys. Too bad the film version of their story isn't nearly as memorable.

Check This Out: The Brothers Bloom

So we have to blog about something huh? Anything in the world. Well, after another piece of micro fiction turned out to be not so micro, I decided to fall back on something I know I can do: tell people about movies they probably haven't heard of, and why they should have. So I'm here to tell you about one of my favorite films from last year: "The Brothers Bloom".

What would life be like if you always knew what was coming next? If you are playing a part, how is that different from living that part? These are the two questions at the center of Rian Johnson's 2009 film "The Brothers Bloom". The story follows two brothers: Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) and Bloom (Adrian Brody) who are con men by trade. Stephen writes the cons and Bloom plays the part that Stephen writes for him. Early in their lives Stephen does this to help Bloom, to help him gain confidence by letting him play a part where the outcome is assured. But when we join the brothers in their adult lives, Bloom is sick of being a fake. He wants to live an unwritten life. Stephen agrees, but only after one last con on an eccentric heiress. What follows is a grand scale con that takes them from New Jersey to Mexico by way of Prague, Belgrade, and Montenegro.

Now that plot description is probably not blowing your mind, but it's the execution that makes this movie great. From the great opening, narrated by Ricky J in rhyming verse, to the jazzy score by Nathan Johnson the film exudes style. Most con movies rely on big twists in the end. Who's really in control is always the question. And while "The Brothers Bloom" has its twists at the end, this film is really about its characters, which are thankfully great.

Brody plays Bloom as somber, but not pathetic. Ruffalo's Stephen is the opposite of his brother. He's cool and cocky, just as someone who lives his life in stories of his own creation should be. Rounding out the crew is the mark for the con: Penelope (Rachel Wiesz) a self proclaimed collector of hobbies. Along with Bang Bang (Rinko Kikuchi), the brother's mysterious Japanese explosive expert who speaks no more than 3 lines in the entire film, and still manages to steal every scene she is in.

The end result here is a great, funny, and thoroughly cool con film. It excels as a piece of it's genre while asking some questions about it at the same time. I can't recommend Johnson's film enough, and if you need a little more convincing check out the first 5 mins here to see just how slick it is.

Millyard Cinema site launched

The official site of The Millyard Cinema is open!!! (since this is a fake business it's a free trial, so the site will only be available for 14 days)

Announcing our March 2010 schedule!!

News Release

Manchester, NH (March 8th, 2010) - After an extreamly succsefull opening night, The Millyard Cinema is excited to announce our entire schedule for March 2010.

March 6-12: "Bell-bottoms and Foghat: A look back at the 1970's" featuring Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused and P.T. Anderson's Boogie Nights. Featuring a special Q&A w/ Richard Linklater on March 6th.
1 showing a day, Doors open at 7 p.m. daily.

March 13-19: "Spielberg's Monster's" featuring Jurassic Park and Jaws.
2 showings a day, Doors open at 1 p.m. daily.

March 20-26: "It Looks...Old: A Different Vision of Our Future" featuring Andrew Niccol's Gattaca and Terry Gilliam's Brazil.
2 showings a day, Doors open at 1 p.m. daily.

March 27-April 2: "And now, For Something Completely Different..." featuring Monty Python's The Meaning of Life and Monty Python's The Life of Brian.
2 showings a day, Doors open at 1 p.m. daily.

For more information, stay tuned to this blog, subscribe to our newsletter, or follow us on Twitter @millyardcinema.

Grand Opening!

This coming Saturday (March 6th) marks the grand opening of Manchester's newest destination for movie lovers, The Millyard Cinema. The Millyard Cinema is a revival theater located in Manchester's historic mill district.

Our goal at The Millyard Cinema is to provide an ever changing venue of classic and cult films in themed double features. We want to show people the movies they love in the best possible setting, with stadium seating, great food, a THX certified sound system, and pristine film prints.

We are opening our doors with a 70's themed double feature called "Bell-bottoms and Foghat: A look back at the 1970's".

The movies featured are Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused and P.T. Anderson's Boogie Nights. The films will be shown back to back, with a 30 min. Q&A with Richard Linklater following Dazed and Confused! After that we will have a short break before moving into Anderson's epic.

The first film starts at 7 PM, and tickets for this groovy evening are going fast, so secure yours now! Stay tuned to this blog, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter to keep up with upcoming features.

"A New One" By Ben Brown

"Walk" by Lisa Rae Winat
Image used by permission of the Artist
12 x 24 / oil on panel

Even after the land was blasted bare, some survived. I remember, before, when we used to build great structures to house them, like temples. Now they are crypts, dusty and desolate, though they have always been quiet.

My task is to find them, wander from here to there, looking for more, so that we can remember the time before the land was blighted, and learn from them if we start to rebuild.

The harsh sun beats down on the dry ground and me, the solitary shape making my way across the wastes. The pack on my back is large and awkward. The straps weigh down into my worn shirt and shoulders. I need to find shelter by nightfall; the freaks come out after dark.

I see the outlines of a couple of buildings in the distance, distorted in the heat. As I get closer the sun falls in the sky behind me. I turn to look, and see lights dotting the hills far off; they are waking up.

There are only two walls of a home and a school left standing when I arrive. I haven’t seen a seen a healthy person in 7 months. I’ll try my luck in the school house though; maybe I’ll find a new one.

The door to the school opens with a groan. A short hall with several doors on either side stretches into darkness. The hall is littered with knocked over lockers and rubble from a hole in the roof. I carefully open the first door on my right. The door pushes rubble, scraping the floor. I listen very carefully for any movement--nothing.

A shaft of scarlet light from the sunset stretches across the floor, which is covered with dust and a few scattered bones. I slide the pack off my tired shoulders and let out a deep breath. The pack hits the floor with a dull thud. I put my bed roll in the corner of the room next to the door, so I can watch it from a safe angle.

I should start looking before it gets dark. As I walk past the window I see the lights that were on the hills, moving across the expanse in many directions, hopefully not here. Luckily they usually avoid the structures, most of them are too dull to operate a door, and there isn’t anything in here for them.

I flip open the old desks to see what's inside. A few pencils, pens, a figure made of pipe cleaners, but not what I seek. I open the last desk. This is it! A new one, a dusty rectangle set in the corner of the desk. I brush the grime off the front. “Goodnight Moon” reads the title in yellowing ink. I clean it off, flip through the pages, and place it in my pack with the rest. A good find is always nice.

Truth in Advertising: Why Mad Men is the best show on TV

AMC's acclaimed show Mad Men finished its third season in early November, and I recently caught up with the series over break. It's a show I've been hearing about for a few years at this point, and it is almost universally praised from all the sources I trust. Ever since finishing HBO's amazing show The Wire last year, a show that I now consider the best show ever produced for the medium, I've been looking for a show that could match the scope and storytelling finesse that The Wire made seem so easy. Mad Men may not have a cast that nears triple digits, and the scope is much smaller in comparisons to HBO's opus, but what it does share in common with The Wire is an amazingly realized world filled with exceptionally interesting characters.

Mad Men is, at first glance, a show that seems fairly uninteresting. How interesting could a show about an Ad agency be? There is a reason most T.V. shows go back to the well of the cop, doctor, or lawyer for their profession of choice. These are high excitement jobs, easily adaptable to a weekly storytelling format. But Mad Men stands apart from other dramas because of this. There is simply not another show remotely like it.

The first thing that makes Mad Men special is the place. It takes place in one of the most tumultuous times in US History: The 1960's. These ad men smoke like chimney, start drinking at work, and the only women in their workplace are their secretaries. Admittedly, at first it seems like the show is being a little on the nose with it's depictions of smoking, drinking, and the place of women in society; whether at work or at home. But that is the brilliance of the show the show starting in 1960. These men are used to their 1950's post-war ideals, and the 60's is when these ideals will be questioned and changed. Cigarettes will soon be reviled as a health risk, women will become more and more independent, TV will become the medium of choice for ads not print, one of the youngest presidents in US history will be elected then assassinated before the end of his first term, the US will come within hours of a nuclear attack, we will land on the moon, and eventually start fighting the first war in US history that will result in a loss on our part. The show does a great job of weaving these events into the world of the characters seamlessly, it never feels forced, and in the case of the larger events (JFK's assassination, or the Cuban Missile Crisis) they dramatically change the show. The time period is key, but it is not a show that relies on stunning production design and setting for story.

The real strength of this show is its characters and the way the show constantly plays with expectations. The main character ostensibly (it's an ensemble show after all) is Donald Draper, a executive creative director at Sterling Cooper, an ad agency in Manhattan. Don is handsome, incredibly charismatic, and insanely good at his job. And yet when we first meet him he is loathsome. He has a beautiful wife, two children and a big house in the suburbs, and the first thing we see him doing outside of work is him sleeping with another woman. He is a deeply flawed character, and nearly every we come to sympathize with him, he shows his dark side again just to remind us. This makes following his life incredibly interesting, no matter what he does. There are a few other main characters that we follow in and out of the office and they are no less entertaining than Don himself. There is Peggy Olsen, a secretary the rises to the rank of the agency's first female copy writer (they write ad campaigns). The last major character in the show is Betty Draper, Don's wife who at first seems to be a typical housewife later becomes, in my opinion, one of the very best characters on the show. These characters are surrounded by scores of other equally well realized minor characters that help flesh out the world.

The last part of Mad Men I'll touch on here is the writing. Not necessarily the dialog (which is fantastic) but rather the structure of the show. The pace of Mad Men is leisurely, big action or drama does not fill every episode. The structure of the show is similar to a novel (much like The Wire) building tension over multiple episodes rather than weekly. It is a show that assumes the viewer is paying attention, and does not make concessions when a plot thread that could be weeks old reappears. The tension in Mad Men is built by unease, because every so often the show will break a seemingly normal scene with a shocking event. This makes every scene a potential time bomb, most scenes play out normally, but the longer a scene goes the less comfortable we become, making the rare surprise occurrence so valuable.

Mad Men is example along with shows like The Wire, The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Battlestar Galactica, and many others proving that television is not simply the smaller cousin of cinema. It is an equally viable, and in some cases better, way to tell stories. TV can now do what novels do, build rich characters and worlds over a long period of time rather than being limited to 2 hours stories. That is why I believe that in 50+ years from now these key TV series will be looked back on with the same reverence and interest as the films of this era.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite scenes in Mad Men, it deals with a part of the show I haven't mention thus far, and that is the ads themselves. Mad Men most certainly changed the way I look at advertising, and respect the profession much more than I ever would have. In this scene Don Draper gives a pitch to Kodak for their new Carousel slide projector.

Hello Internet!

This is my first post. Yay me!