"Mountainhead" HBO Film

   

SPOILER REVIEW ALERT   

   "Mountainhead" is a satirical film about  four tech billionaires (well one nicknamed 'Soup Kitchen' is only a multi-millionaire! It's a very American humour where the zingers, sarcasm and put downs are a mixed bag at best...though they do amplify the sense of detachment from reality, as the amount of food on the bench or table grows as the weekend unfolds, with three seated at a table of food for 50 people!

   'Soup Kitchen' hosts the poker weekend in the snowy mountains of Utah, at his new home called 'Mountainhead.' When they get together, they have a ritual celebrating their estimated individual wealth, in the billions (for 3 of the 4), with four hats/props they swap according to who is richest! One has launched a new AI system TRAAM which is wreaking havoc across the world, as fake videos incite violence, revolution and chaos across the world!

   Jeff's technology, offers a 'reality check' and could save the others company and reputation ,not to mention quelling the violence and his wealth skyrockets as they've gathered, while news rolls in of large scale violence and deaths. He refuses to sell the idea in a way which would benefit the other Tech heads.

   The US President is worried and they discuss the possibility of overseeing a coup to remove him. The EU plan blocking the AI technology as the billionaires shift from the all glass windowed floor to the Games Room below, after the water appears to have been cut off (with bowling alley, table games and rock climbing wall). They jokingly speculate retribution attacks, zoom into a military meeting and continue to check their social media and ponder which parts of the world we could do without! It's comedic tragedy descending into farce as three plot the death of 'Jeff,' the closest they get to 'the conscience' of the group...

   The suggested intervention is, the ability for people to say what's real and not - to stop neighbours shooting one another, riots, assignation of political leaders etc... it seems to get lost along the way, as a business deal!

   It's not a "great" film, it's clunky and doesn't meet my long held conviction -  'good scripts make good films!'  On that score the film blends beautifully tone deaf and dismissive shared humour, depicting the tech heads as detached from reality while considering themselves smarter than everyone else! One clever backdrop, the mentor, 'founder' of the four, Randall (Steve Carell) is unwell and his place in the story begins with him considering any doctor who suggests he can't be cured is "an oaf, a simpleton." 

   I think the constant phone checking and the impotence of their ideas, in the face of an imploding world, leaving them pondering how to profit from it - demonstrates the depravity of the growing wealth gap in the world, so the film has a point, sharing it pretty well, from the creative mind of "Succession!"

"Unravelling"

   To say "I've started writing my book!" is perhaps overstating things a little, but there are jargon filled musings on notepaper, a front page and a saved file. I'll be reflecting on Alan Roxburgh's image of 'unravelling' which to me is what's happening to 'church' in the decades I've experienced it. Scraps of paper might one day be crafted into unreliable opinions or history...

   I read with interest from time to time, articles akin to self help guides, surveys, critiques and divided opinion regarding so called 'fresh expressions' alongside advocacy for some genuinely inspired ideas enacted in church communities shaped like those of the last many decades. There's no doubt there is a great 'unravelling' happening across contexts like the ones I've lived in. Much exploring or debate is a 'confusion of style over substance' and arguments about generalisations or inaccuracy are just as big a waste of time as the latest 'shiny ideas.' 

   What God is up to and where we are invited to join in can happen in longer serving or new experimental ways. A key seems to be openness to listen, learn and discern. Also important is where and how we are willing to free up resources and put in our own energy. This sometimes needs agitation or complaint. 

   Inevitably some resources will be freely offered, others need a change in regulations. In my exploring of 'Fresh Expressions' in the UK I learnt about the 'rules' that were changed to allow different forms of leadership and allowing recognition of communities existence to enable help to be offered or leadership to thrive. There were good ideas and dodgy ones, things which had longevity and others a short season. They teach us the value of experiments and learnings, rather than regarding them as failures, consigning some communities 'never to try anything new.'

   We have both effective congregations and reinventions alongside resources locked up in almost empty buildings with communities of people 'happy to be left how we are.' There are communities being shaped around discernment where interests, deep yearnings, meals, art, venues and day or times are experimental.

It takes a level of advocacy to challenge adhoc maintenance of buildings, ordained ministry and resourcing, as societal and neighbourhood character changes. It's not hard to see a small church building on Sydney's north shore will yield more sale proceeds than a similar building in remote NSW. Shifting the profits needs discernment of course, but in the end it mostly needs timely action.

   Blah, blah, blah... something about space, permission and validity as three legs of the experimental stool! One way of thinking about fostering new missional shaped gathering, worship or community, presence in neighbourhood or whatever is about: creating space for the new things; giving permission, through resources, time money and support; and sometimes missing is the decision the new thing is valid, therefore encouraged to exist, not just tolerated or seen as church 'lite', something on the way to growing what already exists...

Sense of Humour, is tricky isn't it!

Sense of Humour, is tricky isn't it!
What I find humorous - dry humour, irony, clever ideas, means little to someone else... so be it! 

Some films and TV shows I cried tears of laughter, are tied to a context, and don't age well! This is my sadness over the 'Pink Panther' films, where maybe the first one is still funny!

Monty Python, many British comedies, some skit programs... Robin Williams, Ben Elton, Sarah Silverman, Sarah Pascoe, Sarah Millikan, Jerry Seinfeld and more... Above them all, Billy Connolly! Only Bob Newhart comes close...

I find Greg Davis really funny, its the self effacing humour, where he (or his mum) are the object of his comedy! Great actors and familiar faces agreeing to appear in his show 'The Cleaner' is only 'icing on the cake.' There's that one poignant human moment in every episode, which is just great story writing! 

I am entertained by endless repeats of 'Would I Lie to You' because the premise is brilliant, other people will say 'what??? I watched 'Schitt's Creek' for 5 minutes only... I expect if it had been british made it'd be different! Gavin & Stacy is great writing, I can tell, but I just never warmed to the characters... Ruth Jones 'Stella' exactly the opposite, despite the high farce needed to sustain 6 seasons!

I enjoy 'Have You Been Paying Attention' but I think it's a combination of being 'into' the news and current events. I know most of the answers before a comedian, who often also does, makes up a plausibly funny alternative! I find Mick Molloy hilarious and HYBPA is funnier when he's on... 'The Front Bar' combines my other love, sport, with humour and well meaning take downs of some stars!

'Working Dog' have my eternal admiration for their stream of very funny projects, nailing things about Australian culture and identity. I think of the subtitles to 'Australian Crawl's' James Reyne singing 'Reckless' and the immortal line "something about public transport." The mistaken name of the feature act at the end of D Gen episodes, giving us Vic Premier Joan Kerner, instead of Joan Jett.

Imagine being able to sum up our Land Rights discussion through a deadpan comedy about forced acquisition of a house near the airport or nailing our national insecurity around major achievements like the Olympics, through the crucial if not well known role of 'The Dish' near Parkes!

All this said "Optics" debuted this week on ABC TV to much fanfare and many people will love it! I set up the evening to catch the new Hard Quiz, then the new comedy. I looked forward to it, because it is a brilliant premise... the idea of comedy in the 'spin' which so dominates politics, media and personality today! Gruen is sharper and funnier, to me, others will give it a couple of episodes and rank it classic!

I found its pace and the delivery of the two lead characters annoyingly clunky and boring and co creator with them, Charles Firth's depiction of a clever idea, wooden and clumsy!

I'd love to say it got better as the episode went on, laying down the tracks for the idea, but I honestly didn't get past the first 10 minutes... It lacks the timing of 'Utopia.' Or is it, they could have written it and found better comedic actors? Maybe I'll try again at a different time of day, maybe not... enjoyit if you do!