Feminist FlashBack: Born In Flames

As part of my independent higher learning, I'm ghost taking a course. By that I mean, I have the syllabus, and I am just going through it myself by watching the films and doing the readings. Most of it 've already done in previous classes but there are a few films I haven't seen, one of them being Born In Flames. From the title song that plays throughout to the seemingly found footage implanted at opportune times, Born In Flames caputres the feeling of a movement in one of the most provocative ways i have seen to date. Since I usually concern myself with as many female filmmakers, women's films, and anything of feminist interest, I figured there was a reason i hadn't seen this yet. Midway through, and after I cleaned up all the drool from being so enamored with it I asked myself WHY haven't I seen this? And furthermore, is that Kathryn Bigelow? The answer is, yes it is, and not seeing this film must be a fluke. Born in Flames put all of the femnist film theory, particularly that of constructing a women's history through it's own filmic means, into perspective. Watch and learn, ladies (and gentleman), watch and learn.

Zombieland

Horror-Comedy tends to be a pretty interesting genre because it seems to be easy to mess it up since you have to turn horrific events into something comical. Zombieland takes a nerdy kid, turns him into a reluctant killer and pairs him with the complete anti-thesis to him. The hilarious rules, mixed with well-placed narration over pretty gorey zombie killings is perfect. I knew i'd like it from the opening credits, and the film upholds throughout, though falling a little too sentimental for my tastes about a 3/4 of the way through. The BEST part for me was Emma Stone in a pretty breakout performance and of course the Bill Murray cameo. Seriously, i laughed until I cried at that part. Add in the "Zombie Kill of The Week" and you realize that the writers had just as much fun writing the film as you did watching it.
4.5/5