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Power Rangers (2017)
Autism Can Make You a Better Superhero: A Film Review of Power Rangers (2017), by Alec Frazier and Autistic Reality
This review would like to focus on Billy Cranston, played by RJ Cyler.
The very first thing we see Billy doing is arranging colored pencils quite meticulously. I immediately thought, "Ooh, I used to do that!" And in fact, it is very true. I used to be absolutely obsessed with coloring in floor plans with Crayola colored pencils.
Billy is excellent with gadgets, and when he mentioned that he is on the autism spectrum, I in the audience said, "DUH!! Of course you are!" We are treated to a view of Billy's sanctuary in the basement of his house. It looks like a dream come true for an intellectual individual. There are tons of gadgets, often cobbled together by Billy's own invention from items that he has salvaged from various locations. The thing is that in real life, as opposed to the stereotype, autistic individuals do not tend to be absolute wunderkind savants. This results in a number of hilarious moments throughout the film when Billy accidentally makes things blow up, slip, trip, sproing, fladap, shtoink, and just about every other word invented by Don Martin. (Look him up. One of the greatest cartoonists of all time!)
All of the five are somewhat hesitant to explore being a Ranger, except for Billy. He is extremely excited about the entire thing. During the whole film, he talks a lot, and he sometimes divulges inappropriate information. That is par for the course with autistic individuals, including myself. Luckily, Jason will sometimes politely remind him that his cup runneth over. I would like to reiterate at this point that friends are amazing, and that autistic individuals should never be afraid of socializing. Billy is also sometimes hesitant to engage in physical stunts, and in real life many autistic people are more involved in the intellectual than in physical activity.
When most of the team is unable to generate their armor, suddenly, one of them does. Billy becomes the first one able to do so. They later discovered that, because the unit is a team, their ability to generate armor depends on their ability to know each other. This is actually tremendous news for Billy, and the autistic community. It is frequently said that we autistics do not get the rest of humanity. However, Billy clearly gets the others better than they get each other. Many autistic individuals are incredibly observant of everything and anything, including other people.
At one point, Rita instigates a fight, and the team gets thoroughly thrashed. In fact, Billy ends up getting killed. They take him to Zordon, who was planning on using the Rangers' power to regenerate his life. Before he plans to do so, the rest of the Rangers speak of how they would all give their life for Billy. For autistic people to find real, tangible friendship, the kind which involves self-sacrifice, is a gigantic triumph. As mentioned before, autistic people are not always the best at interpersonal relations. However, with proper time and effort, we can form wonderful friendships. In the end of this scene, Zordon decides to regenerate Billy's life instead of his own, and they go off to fight Rita.
Billy is the first definitively autistic superhero in an A-list Hollywood film. Based on criticism of The Accountant, various members of the autistic activist community may point out that it is not realistic to portray an autistic person as a superhero because we autistics are not special, but rather a naturally occurring subset of society. To this I say, "WTF!?" This film has dinosaurs, ancient aliens, giant robots, a humongous golden monster, and a woman who comes back to life after 65 million years at the bottom of the sea! I think we can learn to suspend our disbelief a little bit.
In addition, it is noteworthy that the Blue Ranger is autistic, as the color blue is symbolic of autism awareness. Although many autism activists do not like the color blue standing for autism, they should recall that the color predates any of the harmful efforts by Autism Speaks. The autism activists would point out that the color blue was chosen because it was initially thought that was prevalent mostly in males. Once again, may I point out that perceptions and symbols can change and adapt. What was once thought of as mostly male is now known to be spread more or less evenly between genders, although autism sometimes manifests slightly differently in each gender. Although the blue color was initially meant to reflect the male gender, the intent was not sexist, and the color can be perceived as applying to both genders.
A word about Trini. There is a wonderful scene where they are all getting to know each other better, and someone mentions boyfriend troubles, and she hesitates a bit. Person that mentions girlfriend troubles, and she also hesitates about that. You see, Trini identifies as a female in terms of pronouns, but she makes it clear that she does not let conventional definitions apply to her. Trini is queer, and may be the first big-budget superhero in the Hollywood film to definitively have that identity.
As an autistic person with autistic friends and acquaintances all across the autism spectrum, I do not think I have seen a more accurate depiction of autism in popular culture, except for possibly the character I review in my first book, Without Fear: The FirstAutistic Superhero. Both myself and my firm, Autistic Reality, would like to fully endorse this film. We will attempt to get in touch with Lionsgate Entertainment and Saban, to make that endorsement official. Both myself and my firm give this amazing wonderful film ten out of ten stars, or five out of five. It is very rare to see a good, high profile film that so flawlessly embodies diversity. SEE THIS FILM!
Attack of the Killer Shrews! (2016)
A Wonderful Satire of 1950s B Horror!
I just finished watching a wonderful and exciting movie! Attack of the Killer Shrews is a remake of the 1950s B horror film of the same name. The original film is extremely cheesy, and, by today's standards, very poorly made.
The remake was locally made in Western New York, using regional and local talent, settings, supplies, financing, and other resources. I have spoken before about the wonder of the Western New York film scene. Western New York has almost fifty studios, all made locally by local people and local resources. I cannot speak highly enough of the Western New York film scene.
My friend Bill Kennedy is the star of this film, playing a small town sheriff whose motley crew happens upon the titular killer shrews, which are result of what else but a scientist's evil plan gone awry. Our crew includes at various times the Sheriff, his deputy who, in true small-town fashion is also his cousin, an eccentric genius professor, his agent, the agent's wife, a movie star, and any number of soldiers and/or small towns people.
As mentioned, the original film from the 1950s is very cheesy, and does not have the best production values. This film, made in Buffalo, New York and the surrounding area, was made with limited financing and resources, and it shows. However! That is not a bad thing! In fact, the exact opposite is true. The fact that the film was made on a shoestring budget with shoestring resources amplifies its fulfillment of its goal.
What is the goal of this film? The goal of this film is to serve as satire and homage to the original film and its genre. In this goal, a small town film made out of Western New York can truly shine and succeed! The film has plenty of cheesy effects, jokes, corny exposition, and breaking of the fourth wall.
The film starts out slow, and although it was initially difficult to figure out, it developed into a fun, exciting effort to rid the small town of what else, but killer shrews! I recommend this film full heartedly for several reasons:
this film is an awesome example of how a great film can be made on a budget this film is a true throwback to cheapen cheesy horror films of the 1950s a local community did a wonderful job putting on this film this is proof that anybody can make a good film if they put their minds and hearts to it
With those reasons in mind, I give this film a 9 out of 10 rating, or a five out of five rating! Please enjoy Attack of the Killer Shrews!
This blog posting is the personal opinion of Alec Frazier and the professional policy of his advocacy firm, Autistic Reality. If you oppose it, please screen grab it! We are very proud of this opinion!
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)
Truly the worst film I have ever seen!
There are many films in this world. Millions. Billions, maybe. I cannot profess to have seen all of them, but I have seen at least 1,000, and probably more. Furthermore, I do not pretend to be hypersensitive to the fine arts. I am a viewer, not a trained filmmaker. Nevertheless, I have seen some really awful films. Now, granted, the definition of awful changes from person to person. However, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016) is the single worst film I have ever laid eyes on.
I have been cooped up in my apartment for the last few days, and was in the mood for something fun. I heard this film was a comedy. Ha! The joke's on me! The reviews looked pretty good, and I have not seen the previews, so I read some of the reviews. Those couldn't possibly have been reviews for this film. They said that although this film missed some of its mark, it remained smart, entertaining pop culture satire. Pardon me, I am laughing as I write this.
One minute into Popstar, my reaction was, "Seriously?" Three minutes in, my reaction was, "My God, this is horrible! I wonder if I should leave
" Five minutes in, I thought, "This is in no way entertaining. I hope this is just a joke that ends soon." Seven minutes in, it dawned upon me, "Holy cow, they are completely serious." This is how they wanted to make the film. Finally, nine minutes in, I decided to stay for the entire damn movie, because I was going to watch them destroy pop culture, rape my mind, and ruin America. Sorry if I seem overwrought, but the film really is that bad.
It's not that Popstar doesn't try; it tries very hard. It tries to be the worst, most tasteless film ever produced by humanity. The film follows a popstar, Connor4Real, played by Andy Samberg, as he comes out with his second solo album. He used to belong to a group called Style Boyz, whose members are played by Samberg's real-life "comedy" troupe, "The Lonely Island". Connor's second solo album starts to tank, and he makes music videos, goes on tour, and interacts with people in his life and business, who are played by a veritable Who's Who of D-List celebrities, except for his publicist, who is played by comedienne Sarah Silverman, who definitely does not give her all for this film. This film insults a number of A-List celebrities by using stock footage of them to associate them with the goings on in the film. A number of other celebrities appear throughout the film to talk about turns of events, and you get the feeling that most or all of them had no clue what they were signing up for.
The film contains many songs authored by The Lonely Island. The songs have the most artificial, forced, intentionally offensive lyrics that one can contemplate. It is stretching it too much to call them music. There are a number of jokes, but they either have no punchlines, or the punchlines do not meet up with the setup. There are only a couple of jokes that actually make you laugh, and you get the distinct impression that those were mistakes on the parts of the writers. The writers, of course, are also The Lonely Island. There is gratuitous nudity, including director Judd Apatow's penis shoved brazenly in your face. He of course directs this film. Popstar film is meant to scandalize, and does not shy away from alienating many populations when possible. This film is also extremely gross, involving turtle vomit and fecal pancakes among other things.
This film will have you cringing, sighing, gasping, groaning, and hiding behind anything and anyone just to catch some peace. This could have been an incredibly successful satire of the modern pop culture phenomenon. Instead, it is absolute, unmitigated trash. At the end of my viewing, I laughed and clapped for several minutes straight. I truly did not know that such a horrible film was possible. Hats off to the cast and crew for lowering the bar of film by several degrees. This film is endemic of a huge problem with this country, and to some degree the world. America is constantly dumbing down, but that assumes that some vestigial amount of intellect is left. This film has no intellect. Common sense has been murdered with a butter knife, and shut down the port-a-potty.
Conclusion
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping is, to my knowledge, the worst film ever made. On a 1 to 10 rating scale I give it 1. On a 1 to 5 rating scale I give it 1.
Good God, this is horrible.
Frankenstein's Patchwork Monster (2015)
Of Immorality and Immortality, A Film Review of "Frankenstein's Patchwork Monster", by Alec Frazier and Autistic Reality
The City of Buffalo, New York and the surrounding areas are home to over forty independent film studios. The amount of arts proliferation in this area is truly amazing. One of the most creative individuals in the Buffalo area is Emil Novak, Senior. Mr. Novak is the owner and operator of the oldest bookstore in Buffalo, New York, Queen City Comic Book Store. Mr. Novak is the owner and operator of Buffalo Comicon, the biggest independent comic book convention in Western New York. Mr. Novak is the founder and coordinating proprietor for Visions Comic Art Group, a group in Buffalo, New York that makes local comics. Another thing that Mr. Novak does is run an independent film production studio, Buffalo Nickel Productions. In this review, I wish to discuss Mr. Novak's latest film, "Frankenstein's Patchwork Monster".
"Frankenstein's Patchwork Monster" is a mix between thriller, intellectual, steam punk, romance, and historical fiction. One early storyline in the film follows Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (Tara Rosado) at that fateful party where she decided to author the book Frankenstein, or, a Modern Prometheus. There is a great unease amongst the rest of the party over the topic of alchemy. In this case, alchemy implies the reanimation of the dead into living. Pay attention to Lord Byron (Jason John Beebe), as he pops up later in the story.
Victor Frankenstein (Bill Kennedy) is an immoral man, aided by his almost equally immoral assistant, Herman (Patrick Mallette), and their strange companion, Proteus from the Erie Lagoon (Sean Sanders), a strange amphibious creature. Victor Frankenstein thinks nothing of endless experimentation upon both the dead and the living. He commissions two famous grave robbers, Burke and Hare (Bob Bozek, Mike Schiabarrasi), who were real life figures, and have gone down in British legend. Burke and Hare serve as comic relief in the film. Although to a great deal immoral, Herman's love for his wife (Melantha Blackthorne) knows no bounds. Victor, however, is jealous of Herman's relationship with his wife, and desires her for himself. It soon becomes clear that Victor is willing to murder and rape to get what he wants.
Arguably the best part of the film comes as Victor has finally created a successful monster. He spends a great deal of time with the creature (Daniel James), watching with fascination as the creature discovers the world. However, the creature starts reading through Victor's journals and discovers the horrible truth, the truth that Victor is completely immoral and has practically sold his soul whilst pursuing his ultimate goal, immortality. The showdown that commences in Victor's laboratory is an epic match of words. The creature accuses Victor of being completely immoral in his search for immortality. Victor argues that immortality is worth the great sacrifice that he has made. The creature leaves Victor, who is left with only Proteus as a sympathetic companion. Victor then performs the final procedure to grant himself immortality, and sets Proteus free. Victor soon learns that rumors of his dastardly deeds have led to the creation of Shelley's book. He spends the rest of his thankless existence cursing the immortal fame that he has been granted, because others are reaping the rewards.
"Frankenstein's Patchwork Monster" is an original take on a greatly repeated tail. This alone makes it worth watching. Another factor that makes the film highly commendable is the fact that it kept itself completely local to the Buffalo area. Local actors, local sets, local locations. Mr. Novak takes great pains to make sure that things are appropriate to their era. Victor Frankenstein's lab in this film is much more contextually accurate than any other representation I have seen of the same lab. Amazingly, the set for the laboratory was completely constructed in Mr. Novak's basement. The film is highly intellectualized, which leads to occasional slow pacing, and the effects are low-budget. There are some editing errors in the film as well. Nonetheless, this is a story worth seeing for many reasons, including those philosophical, romantic, and terrific. We at Autistic Reality give this film eight out of ten stars. Is immortality truly worth the immorality? See the film, and decide for yourself!
This blog posting is both the personal opinion of Alec Frazier, and the professional policy of his advocacy firm, Autistic Reality. If you oppose it, please screen grab it! We are very proud of this opinion!
Scope of Practice (2014)
"Scope of Practice" Reminds Us That Favoritism Can Be Overcome, A Film Review By Alec Frazier and Autistic Reality
Criminals often get what they are due: punishment by the penal system and condemnation by their community. However, as real life events can tell us, there are still many criminals who do not get what they deserve. For example, in 1992, Nicole Brown Simpson was murdered and the person responsible, her husband OJ Simpson, was let off by the courts. Why is this? Why do these horrible people get away with horrible things? The answer in most of the cases is favoritism. In OJ Simpson's case, he was a famous football player with fantastic lawyers. Other crimes by people of privilege throughout the country and the world, both past and present, may come to mind at this moment.
Enter onto the scene the film "Scope of Practice" BeWILderedMedia Productions, and directed and written by Brandyn T. Williams. In this film, a rookie EMT named Derek Reynolds (Chris Barbis). Derek is called to the scene when Emma Phillips (Arlynn Knauff) apparently falls down the stairs at the home where she lives with her husband, Buffalo football player Donnie Phillips (Matt Fleck). Derek notices a footprint on Emma's back, and suspects spousal abuse. He reports the fact, and waits for a result. I won't try to ruin the film for you, but I can summarize the rest by mentioning that it is about the lengths to which Derek will go to see Donnie held responsible for his crimes.
For you see, Donnie Phillips holds a great deal of favoritism within the local community. He is a celebrity. Not just that, but he is a football player. To digress on this for a moment, America has what I believe is an unhealthy fixation with every little minute detail of American football. It is a gladiatorial sport, where we see people beat each other up on a field, and we encourage bad behavior from many of the players, because we believe that it shows that they are more of a man. These are unhealthy values to have. A real man would not beat the person he says he loves. A real man would admit to wrongdoings for which he is responsible. However, just like OJ Simpson, Donnie Phillips' prestige in the community tends to keep him out of trouble.
Unfortunately, Derek Reynolds realizes that overcoming the favoritism held by Donnie Phillips will probably risk him his job and his safety. Are those risks worth the effort to ensure Emma's safety? That is the key question that "Scope of Practice" addresses. At the end of the day, the film teaches us that favoritism can be overcome, a good lesson for anyone and any community.
When it comes to rating this film, I choose four out of five stars. It is a very good film, but it doesn't call to me the way a five- star film like "A Grim Becoming" does.
This review is both the personal opinion of Alec Frazier, and the professional policy of his advocacy firm, Autistic Reality. If you oppose it, please screen grab it! We are very proud of this opinion!
A Grim Becoming (2014)
"A Grim Becoming" is Awesome, Enjoyable, Intelligent, and Worthwhile Fun!, A Film Review By Alec Frazier and Autistic Reality
Death has many faces. Death is often a frightening, intimidating concept. Death is the destroyer of worlds. And, in the film "A Grim Becoming", Death is named Magoo. Of course, this is no laughing matter to Death, who is not familiar with earthly animation.
A promotional banner for"A Grim Becoming", courtesy of the film's website. The film "A Grim Becoming" is a dark comedy set mostly in the fictional town of Metzburgh, New York, with some scenes set in Buffalo, New York. Overall, the premise for this film is so ingenious that one can't help but wonder why it hasn't been made already. The film explores how someone becomes a grim reaper, what their powers are, the politics of life after death, and how death manifests itself in our world. It follows a young architectural executive, Raphael Stockford (Brandyn T. Williams), as he is granted the powers of a Grim Reaper. This poses a great problem though, because he really doesn't want to kill anyone. In this film, the Grim Reapers are employees of Death (Michael Sciabarrasi). Death is a ghastly gentleman dressed in Victorian garb with an ever-present cigar. He takes his job quite seriously, and is not to be toyed with. Nonetheless, he often finds the oddities of everyday human life quite comical. Raphael is coming to Metzburgh from his hometown of Buffalo to take care of final affairs for his nephew, who has just passed away, leaving behind a scarred girlfriend and a saddened family. However, the family is quite out of its gourd with their own problems and quirks. Add to this ever present mix Raphael's office life, which is an absolute nightmare, and the other guests at his hotel, who are just having a devil of a time trying to get laid. Throw in a zombie, the truth about the JFK assassination, and pot smoking Angels.
You may be asking at this point, "Isn't this too much for one film?" Absolutely not! The film is quite well-made by DefTone Pictures Studios, Inc., which is based in Hamburg, New York. In fact, the film, directed by Adam Steigert, is on the level of some of the smaller films made in Hollywood. The premier took place at the historic Hamburg Palace Theater in Hamburg, New York, and there was a question-and-answer period afterwards. The love that the filmmakers have for the film shows through in droves. All of the movie was filmed in Buffalo, New York, by local acting talent and a local production crew. With museums, historic landmarks, a vibrant comic book scene, and excellent independent filmmakers, Buffalo has great potential as an art town. The film clearly shows as an independent flick, but the quality is superb. The film manages to tackle the philosophy surrounding death as well as excellent humor at the same time. The film is terribly funny! The film manages to draw on the hip vibe of current day pop culture in a way that a bigger, Hollywood-made film is not able to genuinely capture. You feel like you are friends with the characters in this film. You don't just feel for them, but you feel like you could BE them! The acting is wonderful, the sets are spot on, and the character development is genius. A local community came together to create this masterpiece!
I will admit that when I went to see this film, I had had correspondence with Brandyn T. Williams, Michael Sciabarrasi, and Adam Steigert. However, attending the premier with them has cemented a friendship among local businessmen. Local businessmen who are, indeed, awesome people on the personal level. On a personal level, I, Alec Frazier, appreciated the film tremendously. My business is a disability rights firm called Autistic Reality. Autistic Reality has also come out with a book, a literature review called Without Fear: The First Autistic Superhero. A big part of our firm's business is appreciating realistic standards, as opposed to irrational expectations or setting the bar too low, or too high. We also have a healthy ideal of what fun should be. Fun should not be afraid to be politically incorrect, and should play to the human element in us all. In our mind, fun should be awesome, enjoyable, intelligent, and worthwhile. It should be awesome in that it fills you with wonder. It should be enjoyable in that it fills you with joy. It should be intelligent in that it makes you think. It should be worthwhile in that it should be worth having. My firm, Autistic Reality, would full heartedly like to endorse "A Grim Becoming" as meeting our criteria of awesome, enjoyable, intelligent, and worthwhile fun! We give this film our highest recommendations! We also would like to give the best of endorsements to Brandyn T. Williams, DefTone Pictures Studios Inc., and the Hamburg Palace Theater. This movie has just become an annual Halloween tradition in my house. Buy a copy! You will be glad you did!