You are currently browsing all posts tagged with 'first-person'

The Art of Getting By

  • June 23, 2011 at 11:48 pm

This know-it-all has lots to learnBy Michael O’SullivanFriday, June 17, 2011

What teenager hasn’t felt, at some point, that life is screwed up? It’s a natural adolescent reaction to embarrassing parents, boring teachers, pointless homework assignments and the perplexing behavior of the opposite sex. not to mention a world roiled by wars, global warming and financial disaster. Add hormones into the mix, and why even bother getting out of bed in the morning?

In “The Art of getting by,” George (Freddie Highmore) is such a kid. Smart and artistically talented, but profoundly unmotivated, the movie’s high-school hero makes two classic mistakes. The first is thinking that he will always feel this way. The second is thinking that he’s the first person in the history of the world to do so.

It’s forgivable, though. He’s still young. He’ll grow out of it.

Less forgivable is the fact that writer-director Gavin Wiesen also treats George like this. under the first-time feature filmmaker’s indulgent gaze, George is presented like some sort of Byronic genius, an eccentric loner who really does feel things more deeply than anyone else, when all evidence suggests that he’s really not all that different from other kids. Even George’s sketchbooks, which are presented as proof of his artistic gifts, don’t look much better than the doodles you’d find in any artsy high-schooler’s backpack.

In other words, there’s no sense of perspective here. because George believes the world revolves around him, it does.

For anyone not in a similar state of age-related solipsism — i.e., anyone outside the 16- to 25-year-old age bracket — this is more than a little annoying.

George’s misanthropy is annoying. George’s underachievement is annoying. and, when he meets and then — surprise! — falls in love with Sally (Emma Roberts), a beautiful classmate who makes him reevaluate his commitment to both misanthropy and underachievement, his change of heart is annoying.

Wiesen, for his part, would have you believe that he’s the first filmmaker in the history of the world to come up with this twist, too.

More annoying still — and kind of unbelievable, except to those who think “Gossip Girl” is a documentary — is the larger world inhabited by George and Sally. Set in the milieu surrounding their private Manhattan prep school, “The Art of getting By” takes place in a parallel universe where there appears to be no minimum drinking age. Sally and George appear in scene after scene — a Valentine’s Day dinner in a restaurant, a nightclub party, cocktails with Sally’s mom (Elizabeth Reaser) — consuming alcohol without impediment.

And speaking of Sally’s mom, who also makes a wildly inappropriate sexual comment to George in front of her daughter, she’s not the only bad role model. aside from some perfunctory attempts at actual discipline and instruction from the school faculty, the grown-ups here pretty much leave the movie’s bratty protagonists to negotiate the adult world on their own, thank you very much. this makes their sense of entitlement and lack of gratitude for the obvious privilege that they bask in beyond ironic.

Some may relate to George and Sally. others may want to take both of them over their knees and spank them.

Contains obscenity, a brief scuffle, underage drinking and smoking.

The Art of Getting By

Related Reading:

The St. Valentine's Day MassacreThe St. Valentine's Day MassacreJason Robards as Scarface teams with George Segal (in a rare bad-guy role) to battle the Feds. The 1929 massacre is bloody, indeed.

1 Comment

Call of Duty: Black Ops: DarthEmpire’s Valentine’s Day Massacre by pHaTd (BO Gameplay/Montage)

  • March 3, 2011 at 8:13 am

www.youtube.com Click here to watch Call Of Duty: Black Ops: AUTO AIM Trailer with Darth AiM BoT Edited by pHaTd (BO Gameplay/Montage) Call of Duty: Black Ops: DarthEmpire’s Valentine’s Day Massacre by pHaTd (BO Gameplay/Montage) The music in this video: – The music is from this royalty-free source: www.fixtstore.com Pure Gaming Network Live presents, Darth Empire Valentine’s Day Massacre Teamtage by pHaTdProductions. Make sure to follow everyone via youtube and twitter! DIRECTOR’S CHANNEL: youtube.com DarthEmpire youtube.com Editor www.youtube.com TWITTER: twitter.com Join the Respawn Army – Sign up today! www.therespawnarmy.com – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - This Respawn video will show you: How to make a montage How to play Call of Duty: Black Ops How to quickscope How to edit a montage – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - Follow Machinima on Twitter! Machinima twitter.com Inside Gaming twitter.com Machinima Respawn twitter.com Machinima Entertainment, Technology, Culture twitter.com FOR MORE MACHINIMA, GO TO: www.youtube.com FOR MORE GAMEPLAY, GO TO: www.youtube.com FOR MORE SPORTS GAMEPLAY, GO TO: www.youtube.com FOR MORE MMO & RPG GAMEPLAY, GO TO: www.youtube.com FOR MORE TRAILERS, GO TO: www.youtube.com Tags: yt:quality=high “Call of Duty” “Black Ops” BlackOps Treyarch Activision UPC 047875840034 CoD “Hardened Edition” EAN “047875840225″ Vietnam first-person shooter FPS Microsoft …

Related Blogs

    Related Reading:

    I Hate Valentine's Day (Widescreen)I Hate Valentine's Day (Widescreen)The creative team behind My Big Fat Greek Wedding reunites for an all-new love story with a big fat twist! Nia Vardalos stars as Genevieve, an independent single woman who owns a Brooklyn flower shop along with a strict philosophy on dating: every relationship should last no more than 5 dates so that she never gets dumped or hurt. But when she meets restaurateur-next-door and all-around nice guy Greg (John Corbett of Sex And The City), she still insists that their delicious courtship tick towards its inevitable end. What do you do when the one rule you never break becomes the one thing that could break your heart? Judah Friedlander (30 Rock), Zoe Kazan (Revolutionary Road) and Rachel Dratch (Saturday Night Live) co-star in this hilarious romantic comedy with no strings attached, written and directed by Nia Vardalos.

    Care to leave a comment?