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In the Company of Men (WARNING: SPOIILERS)

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The 90's are in no shortage of films set in the world of business, and In the Company of Men is a product of that. Like others of its caliber, it primarily explores power and masculinity in the corporate sector, where appearances and ruthlessness go just as far as skill.  The film's premise is as follows. Two business colleagues, the charismatic, alpha male Chad, and the more passive, awkward Howard, are assigned to an office away from home for a few weeks on a project in which Howard has chosen to be in charge of. Both of the men seem to be going through tough times at the hands of their respective women, and while drinking, Chad makes a proposal to Howard. Essentially, he is looking for them to find a woman, and both pursue her romantically throughout the business trip. Then, when they head home, they both go no contact and drop her, leaving the poor girl reeling. Howard is reluctant, but Chad insists that they have both been wronged and deserve some revenge, and eventually...
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Pumping Iron

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Pumping Iron is without a doubt one of the most important films of its time, bringing bodybuilding to the mainstream and spurring the fitness craze of the '80s. It also propelled Arnold Schwarzenegger into stardom, allowing him to land his wildly popular roles, such as the T-800 from "The Terminator". It would be a redundant exercise (no pun intended) to drone on about how influential the film was; everyone already knows that. The real interest lies in how the film holds up today; after all, a lot has changed regarding physical health and our culture regarding body image since that time.  I want to start by saying that I understand the film is not a pure documentary, but rather a docudrama. While the bodybuilders, and the competitions, were real, there was a significant amount of content that was staged or otherwise framed to produce a more compelling narrative. Arnold had his charismatic personality ballooned up to make a more charming yet villainous character, while Lou...
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Marble Hornets

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Over the course of the last week, I had the pleasure of watching through the Marble Hornets webseries, along with the accompanying explanation expos by NightMind. Marble Hornets was my first foray into an ARG story, though I am watching it many years after it was completed. An ARG- Augmented Reality Game- is quite an intriguing medium of storytelling, as it allows the audience to be actively evolved in the unfolding plot. This should create a very high sense of realism and suspension of disbelief, though for Marble Hornets, I already knew that it was a creative project and it was too late for me to be involved as an audience member. Marble Hornets was begun in 2009, finishing out in 2014. It was forged right at the beginning of the Slenderman mythos- indeed, becoming a founding piece of Slenderman's cultural presence. Of course, the name of Slenderman has primarily become synonymous with two things; with the tragic stabbing that occurred in his name, and the terrible 2018 film that...
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