As always, between my books I read a few magazines to clear my literary palate, so to speak.
National Geographic is one I always enjoy. The January issue was good, but I didn't enjoy the article about gold as much as I thought I would. I did like the countdown to extinction article, partially because I know the ocelot pictured in the article! And the inside the presidency article was really good.
Playboy. You know, I always talk about the articles, because I honestly like the editorial viewpoint of the magazine. It is unlike any other I have encountered. But the pictorials bear some mentioning this month, mostly because they surprised me. Look, I did not think yet ANOTHER Carmen Electra spread (yes...I said spread) would thrill me, the first couple of dozen million did it for me. But this one was really nice and showed some new things. Also, the 55th anniversary centerfold...I expected a blond gild next door, but got a ebony haired beauty from the Ukraine. Nice surprises. The interview with Richard Branson was really good. The founder of all things Virgin, has a very healthy take on the economy, and we could do worse than take his advise. A nice retrospective on the 55 most important people in sex. All in all a nice issue.
And the year end issue of People! I love year end issues. With their best of lists...
And it did not hurt that Jennifer Aniston was on the cover...big sigh...The tribute of all the people who died this year, the best movies, books, TV shows...the big moments. The breakups, babies, marriages and moments. Just fun reading.
Now on to my next book!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Movie- Bride and Prejudice
This movie was fun. I read some reviews on Netflix bemoaning how it bastardized Pride and Prejudice, how could you mess with perfection, etc etc. Whatever! This movie was a mixture of western Hollywood and eastern Bollywood and the it came out as vibrant, colorful and fun.
Sure, it was a take on Pride and Prejudice. It admits that up front. But it sets the story in India, with a western twist and lets the Bollywood musical segues run free. The colors make the you almost smell the spicyness of the land, and the interactions of the American, British and Indian cast really set this movie on its own.
Aishwarya Rai called the "Queen of Bollywood" is the star of this movie and she is stunning in all ways. But the whole cast is pretty gorgeous and with a musical appearance by Ashanti in a concert at Goa, the Bollywood aspect really takes on a more mystical and sensual tone. The culture clash between the two cultures is also done nicely, and the middle ground is also shown.
One of the funny parts in the extras features that I have to mention is one of the British actors was describing the Indian actors as approaching the role from the emotional core, and the American approaching from an intellectual introspective side. And he said the Brits ...well the Brits just wondered why everyone couldn't just hit their marks and get their lines! LOL! And if that is not a statement about the different cultures, I don't know what is!
OK, Bride and Prejudice (2004) is not great literature. But it is entertaining and so much fun, and a visual feast. I really liked it a lot.
Sure, it was a take on Pride and Prejudice. It admits that up front. But it sets the story in India, with a western twist and lets the Bollywood musical segues run free. The colors make the you almost smell the spicyness of the land, and the interactions of the American, British and Indian cast really set this movie on its own.
Aishwarya Rai called the "Queen of Bollywood" is the star of this movie and she is stunning in all ways. But the whole cast is pretty gorgeous and with a musical appearance by Ashanti in a concert at Goa, the Bollywood aspect really takes on a more mystical and sensual tone. The culture clash between the two cultures is also done nicely, and the middle ground is also shown.
One of the funny parts in the extras features that I have to mention is one of the British actors was describing the Indian actors as approaching the role from the emotional core, and the American approaching from an intellectual introspective side. And he said the Brits ...well the Brits just wondered why everyone couldn't just hit their marks and get their lines! LOL! And if that is not a statement about the different cultures, I don't know what is!
OK, Bride and Prejudice (2004) is not great literature. But it is entertaining and so much fun, and a visual feast. I really liked it a lot.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Movie-The Woodsman
This movie is a movie that is disturbing in its subject matter, but wonderfully acted by its lead actor, Kevin Bacon, who gives a nuanced and compelling performance, that makes you almost sympathize with a monster. It is the strength of his performance that you do not completely sympathize with him.
He plays Walter, out of jail after a 12 year term for molestation of young girls. He is trying to rejoin society, and not doing it terribly well, taking an apartment across from an elementary school. He dos land a job though, in a lumberyard, which is part of the title of the film.
And he gains a girlfriend of sorts, Kyra Sedgwick (Bacon's real life wife), and does not lose her after telling her his secret. As he struggles not to fall back into his deviancy, he sees at the school another stalker, a pervert who is working on young boys. At the same time he is being harassed by police.
Bacon really works this part. He is haunted and guilty and helpless and sick and twisted all at once, and he has a goodness in him that is wanting to dominate. But he cannot seem to find a way to salvation.
There is a point in the movie where you feel it will go one way or the other for Walter, and I will not reveal which way it goes, because it is precarious. Will he make it in the world, will he find salvation, or will he revert to form?
Again, Bacon acts on a knives edge, and the scene in unforgettable. Sedgewick is a good foil for him and Benjamin Bratt also does a nice job as his brother-in-law trying to accept him and his problem.
The Woodsman (2004) is not a feel good movie, it is not action or romance. But it is thought provoking with great acting, and a fine script. It is mindful of the damage done, and never forgives it, but also looks at the possibility of redemption, however little, however late. It is a movie that is not easily forgotten.
He plays Walter, out of jail after a 12 year term for molestation of young girls. He is trying to rejoin society, and not doing it terribly well, taking an apartment across from an elementary school. He dos land a job though, in a lumberyard, which is part of the title of the film.
And he gains a girlfriend of sorts, Kyra Sedgwick (Bacon's real life wife), and does not lose her after telling her his secret. As he struggles not to fall back into his deviancy, he sees at the school another stalker, a pervert who is working on young boys. At the same time he is being harassed by police.
Bacon really works this part. He is haunted and guilty and helpless and sick and twisted all at once, and he has a goodness in him that is wanting to dominate. But he cannot seem to find a way to salvation.
There is a point in the movie where you feel it will go one way or the other for Walter, and I will not reveal which way it goes, because it is precarious. Will he make it in the world, will he find salvation, or will he revert to form?
Again, Bacon acts on a knives edge, and the scene in unforgettable. Sedgewick is a good foil for him and Benjamin Bratt also does a nice job as his brother-in-law trying to accept him and his problem.
The Woodsman (2004) is not a feel good movie, it is not action or romance. But it is thought provoking with great acting, and a fine script. It is mindful of the damage done, and never forgives it, but also looks at the possibility of redemption, however little, however late. It is a movie that is not easily forgotten.
Movie-My Fair Lady
OK---I'll admit it...I love a good musical. Camelot...Phantom...Fiddler...my favorite, Les Miserables. And My Fair Lady (1964) is a very good musical. Starring Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn, the film version was wonderful, with great songs and elaborate sets. Just loved it.
Hepburn was beautiful and elegant, as she always seemed to be, and seems to be Eliza Doolittle, street gamin, taken in by the eminent linguist Professor Henry Higgins as he tries to shape her by language into a proper English lady.
Now there are so many subtexts to this show. The social hierarchy of English society, the institute of marriage, but one I would like to touch on: are Henry Higgins and Colonel Pickering gay? to which I say...of course!
C'mon...2 older men, living together with no interest in women. They love to dress Eliza up though, eat fine food and drink port. They even sing a song asking why can't women be more like men! A-hem? OK, they may be repressed or closeted or whatever, but they are fruits! And Eliza is the original (and I use this totally politically incorrect term) fag hag. C'mon...father issues out the ying yang...abandoment issues. Puh-leeese.
Now, this does not make me enjoy the movie less...in fact, I enjoy it more becaue it makes a hell of a lot more sense that way. Otherwise, it is just weird. But with Higgins and Pickering as repressed gays and Eliza as their fag hag...it is a wonderful and beautiful story. (And to complete my analysis, there is a part in the end where they both say they don't see each other in a romantic way). I am just saying...
My Fair Lady is a wonderful musical...fun and elegant and full of great songs. And very modern if you look at it in the right light.
Hepburn was beautiful and elegant, as she always seemed to be, and seems to be Eliza Doolittle, street gamin, taken in by the eminent linguist Professor Henry Higgins as he tries to shape her by language into a proper English lady.
Now there are so many subtexts to this show. The social hierarchy of English society, the institute of marriage, but one I would like to touch on: are Henry Higgins and Colonel Pickering gay? to which I say...of course!
C'mon...2 older men, living together with no interest in women. They love to dress Eliza up though, eat fine food and drink port. They even sing a song asking why can't women be more like men! A-hem? OK, they may be repressed or closeted or whatever, but they are fruits! And Eliza is the original (and I use this totally politically incorrect term) fag hag. C'mon...father issues out the ying yang...abandoment issues. Puh-leeese.
Now, this does not make me enjoy the movie less...in fact, I enjoy it more becaue it makes a hell of a lot more sense that way. Otherwise, it is just weird. But with Higgins and Pickering as repressed gays and Eliza as their fag hag...it is a wonderful and beautiful story. (And to complete my analysis, there is a part in the end where they both say they don't see each other in a romantic way). I am just saying...
My Fair Lady is a wonderful musical...fun and elegant and full of great songs. And very modern if you look at it in the right light.
Movie-Hostage
Reading the description of Hostage (2005) you might think that Bruce Willis was starting a new Die Hard franchise due some contractual differences with a studio...it sounds so similar. But despite that, Hostage is really a bit different...enough so to make it interesting and not the same ol' stuff.
When we first see Willis' character, Jeff Tally, he is long haired and bearded and working as a hostage negotiator in L.A. But the scene he is working goes terribly wrong. Flash forward one year and he is clean shaven...of face and pate, and now chief of police of a small town in Ventura County...a very boring job. But about to get more interesting.
Among the population of his city, is a very rich man, with two kids and a magnificent house in the hills. Played by Kevin Pollack, it is clear from the beginning that he does not make his money by any legitimate means, and he attracts the attention (or his daughter does) of some local ne'er do wells.
These guys break into the estate to steal the Escalade, but of course it escalates, and soon...yes...we have a hostage situation. What is Jeff Tally's area of expertise? Uh huh, you remember. There are some interesting twists and turns, it is not quite as straight forward as it sounds. And Willis shows some pretty intense emotion in the movie, with tears and fright that seem genuine.
Overall the movie is certainly not groundbreaking. But it gives enough, and is different enough from Die Hard to make for an entertaining experience.
When we first see Willis' character, Jeff Tally, he is long haired and bearded and working as a hostage negotiator in L.A. But the scene he is working goes terribly wrong. Flash forward one year and he is clean shaven...of face and pate, and now chief of police of a small town in Ventura County...a very boring job. But about to get more interesting.
Among the population of his city, is a very rich man, with two kids and a magnificent house in the hills. Played by Kevin Pollack, it is clear from the beginning that he does not make his money by any legitimate means, and he attracts the attention (or his daughter does) of some local ne'er do wells.
These guys break into the estate to steal the Escalade, but of course it escalates, and soon...yes...we have a hostage situation. What is Jeff Tally's area of expertise? Uh huh, you remember. There are some interesting twists and turns, it is not quite as straight forward as it sounds. And Willis shows some pretty intense emotion in the movie, with tears and fright that seem genuine.
Overall the movie is certainly not groundbreaking. But it gives enough, and is different enough from Die Hard to make for an entertaining experience.
Book-The Devil in the White City
My first description of Erik Larson's Devil in the White City is: Completely Fantastic! I could go on with superlatives ad nauseam, but let me just say that he has written a piece of history with story telling of the most compelling fiction...except it is so bizarre, you couldn't make this stuff up...it would not be believable.
And Devil in the White City is true. It describes the World's Fair in Chicago in 1892-1893...the processes that led up to Chicago getting the fair, building this amazing event, and how it changed many things in America. It concurrently tells the story of a man who used the hustle and bustle of Chicago, and the fair to further his serial killing...and how he almost got away with it.
The fair itself was considered as history making to the people of America in its time, as the Civil War. What is amazing is that so few people today know so little about it. Reading this book, you realize how many products and inventions came out of this exposition...from things like Cracker Jacks and Shredded Wheat, to the Ferris Wheel and the incandescent bulb and alternating current used to light the night. The Pledge of Allegiance came out of this event.
And maybe more than that...city architecture was forever changed by the white city that was created by the America's leading architects. Never before had it been really thought that citys could be clean and beautiful and safe...but from then on, citys or at least parts of them would try to have some open public beautiful places.
Larson's book is amazing in that the story of the fair is equally, if not more, compelling the the horrific story of Dr. Holmes, the serial killer who defined the term psychopath. His method of seducing young women and then killing them is horrifying, and more so in that he was almost not caught, and was not in jail for murder, but for insurance fraud, when it was first suspected that he might be involved in much more serious crimes.
Larson weaves these stories together in a fantastic narrative that left me riveted, wanting to skip work to keep reading. That this was deeply researched is evident, but it never feels scholarly or burdensome. He uses his quotes deftly, always forwarding the plot and the action.
Devil in the White City is history, richly detailed and wonderfully written. It reminds us that events sometimes forgotten are significant nonetheless and offers a great and generous slice of life in Chicago in the 1890's. It is a tour de force and highly recommended.
And Devil in the White City is true. It describes the World's Fair in Chicago in 1892-1893...the processes that led up to Chicago getting the fair, building this amazing event, and how it changed many things in America. It concurrently tells the story of a man who used the hustle and bustle of Chicago, and the fair to further his serial killing...and how he almost got away with it.
The fair itself was considered as history making to the people of America in its time, as the Civil War. What is amazing is that so few people today know so little about it. Reading this book, you realize how many products and inventions came out of this exposition...from things like Cracker Jacks and Shredded Wheat, to the Ferris Wheel and the incandescent bulb and alternating current used to light the night. The Pledge of Allegiance came out of this event.
And maybe more than that...city architecture was forever changed by the white city that was created by the America's leading architects. Never before had it been really thought that citys could be clean and beautiful and safe...but from then on, citys or at least parts of them would try to have some open public beautiful places.
Larson's book is amazing in that the story of the fair is equally, if not more, compelling the the horrific story of Dr. Holmes, the serial killer who defined the term psychopath. His method of seducing young women and then killing them is horrifying, and more so in that he was almost not caught, and was not in jail for murder, but for insurance fraud, when it was first suspected that he might be involved in much more serious crimes.
Larson weaves these stories together in a fantastic narrative that left me riveted, wanting to skip work to keep reading. That this was deeply researched is evident, but it never feels scholarly or burdensome. He uses his quotes deftly, always forwarding the plot and the action.
Devil in the White City is history, richly detailed and wonderfully written. It reminds us that events sometimes forgotten are significant nonetheless and offers a great and generous slice of life in Chicago in the 1890's. It is a tour de force and highly recommended.
Movie-25th Hour
Edward Norton stars in this Spike Lee directed movie, and it is a good one. Norton plays Monty, who has 24 hours before he has to check into prison for a 12 year drug sentence.
He uses those hours to connect with his oldest friends, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Barry Pepper, his father, and also to find out who narced him out to the DEA...his girlfriend played by the luscious Rosario Dawson, or the Russian mobsters who he does business with.
This is a very nuanced movie, despite the very straight forward sounding plot, filled with repressed emotions and feelings, and sometimes disturbing subplots. Norton takes the lead in this, delivering a superb performance...as he usually does, with a lot of material to cover and a lot of emotional depth to work with.
And Spike Lee, many times not one to be subtle, holds the reigns in a bit here, wisely so, and lets the undercurrents plays out naturally, not forcing them to the surface too soon.
Monty must make choices as the clock ticks down, not so much about his actions, but about what his frame of mind will be going into prison. And as the last of the 24 hours starts to slip away his choices close in on him.
25th Hour (2002) was an excellent film, with Norton giving another great performance.
He uses those hours to connect with his oldest friends, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Barry Pepper, his father, and also to find out who narced him out to the DEA...his girlfriend played by the luscious Rosario Dawson, or the Russian mobsters who he does business with.
This is a very nuanced movie, despite the very straight forward sounding plot, filled with repressed emotions and feelings, and sometimes disturbing subplots. Norton takes the lead in this, delivering a superb performance...as he usually does, with a lot of material to cover and a lot of emotional depth to work with.
And Spike Lee, many times not one to be subtle, holds the reigns in a bit here, wisely so, and lets the undercurrents plays out naturally, not forcing them to the surface too soon.
Monty must make choices as the clock ticks down, not so much about his actions, but about what his frame of mind will be going into prison. And as the last of the 24 hours starts to slip away his choices close in on him.
25th Hour (2002) was an excellent film, with Norton giving another great performance.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Movie-The Darjeeling Limited
I was not sure at all what I would get out of The Darjeeling Limited (2007). I saw the previews, and it looked good, yet it was from Wes Anderson, who also did A Life Aquatic which I did not like at all, and it seemed to have some of the same vibe as that movie, so I had some trepidations about seeing it.
The good news is that it took the small bit of good vibe from A Life Aquatic..., and really expanded on it, and jettisoned all the crap, including most of Bill Murray (he does appear in a cameo). The story centers around three slightly askew brothers played by Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartman as they are trying to reconnect to each other on a spiritual journey through India. They are taking this journey on a train called the Darjeeling Limited, that is not exactly the Orient Express as far as luxury goes.
It is a journey that seems fated to fail on all levels. The brothers do not trust each other and don't even seem to like each other, and they have left over wounds from their last meeting at their father's funeral over a year ago. But as they are about to end their ill fated attempt at reconciliation, an event happens that actually does bring some significance into their relationship and into their lives.
This is a times a funny movie, and often times quite strange. But the journey is a interesting one and the characters are entertaining if quirky. And India itself seems to a be a character...as quirky as the brothers... and yet something draws them to this land that is difficult to define.
The three lead actors handle their roles and the inter-relationships very well, playing off each other nicely, and as brothers, knowing each other's weak spots and vulnerabilities, and knowing when to hit them. The movie was nicely filmed with great scenes in India. All in all, a very good experience, and makes me almost forgive A Life Aquatic...
The good news is that it took the small bit of good vibe from A Life Aquatic..., and really expanded on it, and jettisoned all the crap, including most of Bill Murray (he does appear in a cameo). The story centers around three slightly askew brothers played by Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartman as they are trying to reconnect to each other on a spiritual journey through India. They are taking this journey on a train called the Darjeeling Limited, that is not exactly the Orient Express as far as luxury goes.
It is a journey that seems fated to fail on all levels. The brothers do not trust each other and don't even seem to like each other, and they have left over wounds from their last meeting at their father's funeral over a year ago. But as they are about to end their ill fated attempt at reconciliation, an event happens that actually does bring some significance into their relationship and into their lives.
This is a times a funny movie, and often times quite strange. But the journey is a interesting one and the characters are entertaining if quirky. And India itself seems to a be a character...as quirky as the brothers... and yet something draws them to this land that is difficult to define.
The three lead actors handle their roles and the inter-relationships very well, playing off each other nicely, and as brothers, knowing each other's weak spots and vulnerabilities, and knowing when to hit them. The movie was nicely filmed with great scenes in India. All in all, a very good experience, and makes me almost forgive A Life Aquatic...
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Movie-Spirited Away
Spirited Away (2001) is an amazing Japanese animated movie that not only has great animation, but a storyline that is inventive, imaginative, unique and amazing.
Disney released the English dubbed version of this film and did a great job on it, really putting in a supreme creative effort to make sure it came out like it should, and it did.
The movie is a like a dream, and Hayao Miayzaki, the director is the dreammaker, not only directing, but animating and writing the movie. About a little girl, Chihiro, who finds herself in another world, a bath house for mystical spirits where humans are not very welcome. She must survive here not only help save herself, but to save her parents, and her newly found friends.
The scenes and creatures for this movie are so imaginative that they are beyond description...you really have to see it. But the basis of the story is Chihiro...and this 10-year-old girl is a hero in every sense...overcoming odds and her own fears to keep moving forward.
This is simply a triumph. It is amazing. Spirited Away is a movie I would recommend to every one. It is unique and beautiful, and something very special.
Disney released the English dubbed version of this film and did a great job on it, really putting in a supreme creative effort to make sure it came out like it should, and it did.
The movie is a like a dream, and Hayao Miayzaki, the director is the dreammaker, not only directing, but animating and writing the movie. About a little girl, Chihiro, who finds herself in another world, a bath house for mystical spirits where humans are not very welcome. She must survive here not only help save herself, but to save her parents, and her newly found friends.
The scenes and creatures for this movie are so imaginative that they are beyond description...you really have to see it. But the basis of the story is Chihiro...and this 10-year-old girl is a hero in every sense...overcoming odds and her own fears to keep moving forward.
This is simply a triumph. It is amazing. Spirited Away is a movie I would recommend to every one. It is unique and beautiful, and something very special.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
3 Magazines
Ahhh-The December issues, bringing the year to a close for all three of my regularly read magazines. It was a excellent year for National Geographic, especially the last few issues have been brilliant. And while the December issue is not quite up to the level of "supreme brilliance" as the Nov and Oct issues were, it was still damn good.
The article on King Herod, the cover story, in particular was amazing. I love when this magazine takes preconceived notions about a historical figure and really brings the historical record and archaeological facts to bear, leaving behind the innuendo and emotional crap religion and nationalism put about figures of the past. That is when this magazine is at its best. And this article articulates what is best about National Geographic. To other stories really struck me: Saving Lives in India, about the health workers from the Comprehensive Rural Health Project in Jamkhed, India that work with the poor in preventative health maintenance as well as attending to the sick and injured. The work that is being done is amazing, as is the organization. And the story, "The Other Darwin" on Alfred Russel Wallace, who also came up with a very similar theory of evolution, separately, but at the same time as Darwin, was very interesting.
Playboy's December issues are always packed with extra features, and this year there were some nice ones. A couple of good articles about the current financial meltdown, with analysis on how it happened and ideas on how to deal with it, led off the Forum, always a good place for political discussion. The Interview was with Hugh Jackman, and was quite good. He seems fairly reasonable for a celebrity, and gave a great interview, that actually had me laughing in a couple of places. He is talented, working both stage and the movies (and previously TV in Australia), and I think it is one of the celeb interviews that I have most enjoyed. Some great gift guides were featured, and a very funny piece by Denis Leary...acerbic as always. The one piece I did not like was the fiction by James Ellroy. It was undoubtedly well written, but not my genre or style. On the upside, and nice 20Q with Rosario Dawson made me very happy!
And last...Zoonooz. I can't wait for the redesign to take place next month. I haven't seen it yet, but I hope it helps.
The article on King Herod, the cover story, in particular was amazing. I love when this magazine takes preconceived notions about a historical figure and really brings the historical record and archaeological facts to bear, leaving behind the innuendo and emotional crap religion and nationalism put about figures of the past. That is when this magazine is at its best. And this article articulates what is best about National Geographic. To other stories really struck me: Saving Lives in India, about the health workers from the Comprehensive Rural Health Project in Jamkhed, India that work with the poor in preventative health maintenance as well as attending to the sick and injured. The work that is being done is amazing, as is the organization. And the story, "The Other Darwin" on Alfred Russel Wallace, who also came up with a very similar theory of evolution, separately, but at the same time as Darwin, was very interesting.
Playboy's December issues are always packed with extra features, and this year there were some nice ones. A couple of good articles about the current financial meltdown, with analysis on how it happened and ideas on how to deal with it, led off the Forum, always a good place for political discussion. The Interview was with Hugh Jackman, and was quite good. He seems fairly reasonable for a celebrity, and gave a great interview, that actually had me laughing in a couple of places. He is talented, working both stage and the movies (and previously TV in Australia), and I think it is one of the celeb interviews that I have most enjoyed. Some great gift guides were featured, and a very funny piece by Denis Leary...acerbic as always. The one piece I did not like was the fiction by James Ellroy. It was undoubtedly well written, but not my genre or style. On the upside, and nice 20Q with Rosario Dawson made me very happy!
And last...Zoonooz. I can't wait for the redesign to take place next month. I haven't seen it yet, but I hope it helps.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Movie-The Jacket
This was a strange movie, and I cant say entirely good strange, but not entirely bad either.
Adrian Brody plays a vet from the first Gulf war with a head injury that causes amnesia, and he is committed to a mental hospital after being found guilty of the murder of a cop which we know he did not commit, but he can't remember the details of.
Well, the lead doctor at this "hospital" has some really strange therapies, one of which involves giving patients a very potent and strange combo of drugs, butting them in a straight jacket and locking them in a coroners drawer.
Now it is never quite clear how hat comes next happens...whether it is due to Brody's character, the injury he received, the drugs, the jacket or the drawer...or some combo of those things, but somehow, in these treatment sessions he travels in time, to the future, and solves his own murder in the past and some other mysteries.
Brody does pretty well with the material given to him. But the problem is, The Jacket (2005) never really figures out how it wants to solve the problems it sets up. How does this happen? Does it happen only to him? Is it the drugs? Can anyone, even those not mentally ill do this? Nothing is clear, not really touched upon.
Keira Knightly, not quite so wafer thin back then, and looking much better, gives a somewhat unconvincing performance as a girlfriend that seems to me would have been much better off as a non-love interest for this damaged man. And Kris Kristofferson was his usual wooden self. And a pre-Bond Daniel Craig was half convincing as a fellow inmate in the hospital.
This movie had some interesting concepts, but lost those in not being careful in taking care of the details. The lead performance was OK, but the supporting roles could have been much stronger and helped the whole film.
Adrian Brody plays a vet from the first Gulf war with a head injury that causes amnesia, and he is committed to a mental hospital after being found guilty of the murder of a cop which we know he did not commit, but he can't remember the details of.
Well, the lead doctor at this "hospital" has some really strange therapies, one of which involves giving patients a very potent and strange combo of drugs, butting them in a straight jacket and locking them in a coroners drawer.
Now it is never quite clear how hat comes next happens...whether it is due to Brody's character, the injury he received, the drugs, the jacket or the drawer...or some combo of those things, but somehow, in these treatment sessions he travels in time, to the future, and solves his own murder in the past and some other mysteries.
Brody does pretty well with the material given to him. But the problem is, The Jacket (2005) never really figures out how it wants to solve the problems it sets up. How does this happen? Does it happen only to him? Is it the drugs? Can anyone, even those not mentally ill do this? Nothing is clear, not really touched upon.
Keira Knightly, not quite so wafer thin back then, and looking much better, gives a somewhat unconvincing performance as a girlfriend that seems to me would have been much better off as a non-love interest for this damaged man. And Kris Kristofferson was his usual wooden self. And a pre-Bond Daniel Craig was half convincing as a fellow inmate in the hospital.
This movie had some interesting concepts, but lost those in not being careful in taking care of the details. The lead performance was OK, but the supporting roles could have been much stronger and helped the whole film.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Movie- A Collection of 2007 Academy Award Nominated Short Films
A Collection of 2007 Academy Award Nominated Short Films is a title that sums up this collection pretty well. I have seen the previous collections and have really enjoyed the opportunity to see these short films that in the past we really have not has access to.
This years collection featured a really strong live action set, with all five nominees being really good. Usually there are one of two where I think, "ehhh....really?" But all five this year were great, and in my opinion, four of them could have won the Oscar. All very different and all offering something unique to the mix.
My chief complaint was that the animated section this year did not feature all five nominees. In years past, sometimes other nominees in this category were under the extras section, but not this year, and that was disappointing, so we got only three of the nominees. But the winner, Peter and the Wolf, was fantastic! It was an amazing 32 minutes of music and animation with not a word of dialogue.
This years collection featured a really strong live action set, with all five nominees being really good. Usually there are one of two where I think, "ehhh....really?" But all five this year were great, and in my opinion, four of them could have won the Oscar. All very different and all offering something unique to the mix.
My chief complaint was that the animated section this year did not feature all five nominees. In years past, sometimes other nominees in this category were under the extras section, but not this year, and that was disappointing, so we got only three of the nominees. But the winner, Peter and the Wolf, was fantastic! It was an amazing 32 minutes of music and animation with not a word of dialogue.
Movie-Rory O'Shea Was Here
Rory O'Shea Was Here was kind of the anti The Sea Inside which I had recently seen and reviewed. It is about a young man with muscular dystrophy put into a home for the disabled, and fights every way he can to be free of it, and to live as much and as hard as he can.
And he inspires others in the home to do the same, particularly Michael, with cerebral palsy. As they both claim life outside the home, Rory revels in living, while Michael finds that life can be messier than he realised.
This movie must have been such a pain to market. A movie about two men in wheelchairs, one with such a bad speech impediment that you can't understand him, trying to live with the help of a care giver. Wow...really sounds like people will plunk down good money to see this one...no car chases or fights or love scenes (unless you count the scene where the good looking care giver gives Michael a bath and he, to his shame, gets a boner) or graphic nudity. But the movie is really compelling, in great part because of the two lead performances.
James McAvoy (known after this movie most for his role in Last King of Scotland) is brilliant, and I think is building a great reputation for himself as a fine actor taking tough roles. And this is tough, playing the title character. Rory is not meek and mild, he is rock and roll and booze and women...and just happens to be confined to a wheelchair. Equal is Steven Robertson playing Michael. He is meek and mild, and Rory inspires him to find more in life than the Disabled Home he has known for much of his life.
A strong supporting cast gives these two actors plenty to work with, and a huge emotional range to play off of, from triumph and heartache to sadness and victory. And they play it to the limit when it is called for and quietly as that is needed also.
Roy O'Shea Was Here (2004) is a great little film. Even without the car chases and gun fights. Maybe...just maybe, this is what films should strive more for, great characters and stories, with actors who make it work, not just pretty people. Rory O'Shea Was Here reminds us of what movies can deliver. Even more, it reminds of us of what we have and not to take life for granted.
And he inspires others in the home to do the same, particularly Michael, with cerebral palsy. As they both claim life outside the home, Rory revels in living, while Michael finds that life can be messier than he realised.
This movie must have been such a pain to market. A movie about two men in wheelchairs, one with such a bad speech impediment that you can't understand him, trying to live with the help of a care giver. Wow...really sounds like people will plunk down good money to see this one...no car chases or fights or love scenes (unless you count the scene where the good looking care giver gives Michael a bath and he, to his shame, gets a boner) or graphic nudity. But the movie is really compelling, in great part because of the two lead performances.
James McAvoy (known after this movie most for his role in Last King of Scotland) is brilliant, and I think is building a great reputation for himself as a fine actor taking tough roles. And this is tough, playing the title character. Rory is not meek and mild, he is rock and roll and booze and women...and just happens to be confined to a wheelchair. Equal is Steven Robertson playing Michael. He is meek and mild, and Rory inspires him to find more in life than the Disabled Home he has known for much of his life.
A strong supporting cast gives these two actors plenty to work with, and a huge emotional range to play off of, from triumph and heartache to sadness and victory. And they play it to the limit when it is called for and quietly as that is needed also.
Roy O'Shea Was Here (2004) is a great little film. Even without the car chases and gun fights. Maybe...just maybe, this is what films should strive more for, great characters and stories, with actors who make it work, not just pretty people. Rory O'Shea Was Here reminds us of what movies can deliver. Even more, it reminds of us of what we have and not to take life for granted.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Book- The Crimson Petal and the White
This is a book that I should have loved. A huge sprawling novel...set in Victorian England, mainly London...involving the different classes, a wealthy family, the Rackhams, and the lower classes, embodied in the main character Sugar. And to top off its appeal to me, Sugar is a prostitute, so there is sure to be lots of sex in the book...in fact, many reviews about the book talk about its eroticism.
I should have loved this book, but I didn't. I did not hate it, to be fair, but never embraced it at all, not really once through its 900 pages. Sugar is a prostitute in the lower depths of 1850's London, and she is known for doing "anything" for her clients. And that brings William Rackham to her...he is the son of a perfumer who has a pretty good business going. William does not want anything to do with the business until he meets Sugar. When he gets involved with her, he decides he wants more money so he can keep her for his own mistress, so throws himself into the business, taking over for his older father.
Rackham has a wife at home, half mad when we first meet her, and totally crazy by the end of the book. And a neglected daughter.
For me there was no emotional connection to any of these characters, and part of that was the style of narration the author, Michael Faber, starts off with. His narrator in third person omniscient, and when I say omniscient, I mean it. Comments from the narrator like, "Things like this may not seem shocking nowadays, but back in this time period, they were quite shocking," and "Now we will leave this character because they are no longer of interest to this story, and follow this new character because they concern us," kept me emotional distant. he drops this narration style about 200 pages in, but by that time the damage is done (though he uses it on the last page once again).
And I never really felt like I knew the characters. Their actions never quite made sense to me. Sugar is placed in a house all on her own, with a great allowance. Now one of the things that set Sugar off from the other whores of London was that she was well read and could converse with her clients on literature and the arts, etc. So she has all this, but decides to become the Rackham's governess, pretty much giving up any material gains she had made. It did not make sense, and I don't think Faber made the case for her making that decision emotionally either.
And that is the thing...you can buy it if a character does something that does not make common sense if it make emotional sense, but when it fails on both those levels, the story fails. And that is what happens in this book for me. There is never enough common or emotional sense for the decisions these characters make throughout this long story.
The Crimson Petal and the White can paint a great backdrop of London in this era...the grime and the grit, as well as the upper crust gilt. But the backdrop cannot fill the emotional void I felt from these characters. I do not think there was one character that I felt was well rounded and filled in emotionally, and took actions that made emotional sense for who they were. The back drop, though skillful, cannot make up for that.
I was disappointed in this book.
I should have loved this book, but I didn't. I did not hate it, to be fair, but never embraced it at all, not really once through its 900 pages. Sugar is a prostitute in the lower depths of 1850's London, and she is known for doing "anything" for her clients. And that brings William Rackham to her...he is the son of a perfumer who has a pretty good business going. William does not want anything to do with the business until he meets Sugar. When he gets involved with her, he decides he wants more money so he can keep her for his own mistress, so throws himself into the business, taking over for his older father.
Rackham has a wife at home, half mad when we first meet her, and totally crazy by the end of the book. And a neglected daughter.
For me there was no emotional connection to any of these characters, and part of that was the style of narration the author, Michael Faber, starts off with. His narrator in third person omniscient, and when I say omniscient, I mean it. Comments from the narrator like, "Things like this may not seem shocking nowadays, but back in this time period, they were quite shocking," and "Now we will leave this character because they are no longer of interest to this story, and follow this new character because they concern us," kept me emotional distant. he drops this narration style about 200 pages in, but by that time the damage is done (though he uses it on the last page once again).
And I never really felt like I knew the characters. Their actions never quite made sense to me. Sugar is placed in a house all on her own, with a great allowance. Now one of the things that set Sugar off from the other whores of London was that she was well read and could converse with her clients on literature and the arts, etc. So she has all this, but decides to become the Rackham's governess, pretty much giving up any material gains she had made. It did not make sense, and I don't think Faber made the case for her making that decision emotionally either.
And that is the thing...you can buy it if a character does something that does not make common sense if it make emotional sense, but when it fails on both those levels, the story fails. And that is what happens in this book for me. There is never enough common or emotional sense for the decisions these characters make throughout this long story.
The Crimson Petal and the White can paint a great backdrop of London in this era...the grime and the grit, as well as the upper crust gilt. But the backdrop cannot fill the emotional void I felt from these characters. I do not think there was one character that I felt was well rounded and filled in emotionally, and took actions that made emotional sense for who they were. The back drop, though skillful, cannot make up for that.
I was disappointed in this book.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Movie- A Dirty Shame
John Waters film's, I think, are an acquired taste. He is gross, and distasteful and sometimes disgusting. He also can be very funny.
A Dirty Shame (2004)falls somewhere in between his grossest and his funniest, being neither. Starring Tracey Ullman, as a housewife who becomes a nymphomaniac after a head injury, the movie is all about sex. But some critics fail to see the irony of a movie all about sex, actually making fun of our sexual culture. And while I see that clearly, there are still many points where the movie is still downright dumb.
Ullman plays Sylvia, who becomes part of a cult, led by Ray Ray (Johnny Knoxville), and she is prophesied to bring into the world a new and ultimate sexual act. Into the tableau is Selma Blair with largest boob job ever imagined (OK, that one stripper in Montreal was actually fairly close) and other strange and randy characters with every fetish thought of...and that I think is the point.
Waters seems to be saying...we have become so bored with sex, we have to make up new fetishes,just to amuse ourselves, just to keep ourselves interested. What does that say about us?
Anyway, the movie is not great by any means. And I found it sometimes really stupid...but there was also some intrigue to the sub-text and some genuine humor to it, that made me stick with it.
Now, as Ray Ray would say---"Let's go sexin'!"
A Dirty Shame (2004)falls somewhere in between his grossest and his funniest, being neither. Starring Tracey Ullman, as a housewife who becomes a nymphomaniac after a head injury, the movie is all about sex. But some critics fail to see the irony of a movie all about sex, actually making fun of our sexual culture. And while I see that clearly, there are still many points where the movie is still downright dumb.
Ullman plays Sylvia, who becomes part of a cult, led by Ray Ray (Johnny Knoxville), and she is prophesied to bring into the world a new and ultimate sexual act. Into the tableau is Selma Blair with largest boob job ever imagined (OK, that one stripper in Montreal was actually fairly close) and other strange and randy characters with every fetish thought of...and that I think is the point.
Waters seems to be saying...we have become so bored with sex, we have to make up new fetishes,just to amuse ourselves, just to keep ourselves interested. What does that say about us?
Anyway, the movie is not great by any means. And I found it sometimes really stupid...but there was also some intrigue to the sub-text and some genuine humor to it, that made me stick with it.
Now, as Ray Ray would say---"Let's go sexin'!"
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Movie- The Agronomist
Another very good documentary, The Agronomist (2004) is a profile of Jean Dominique, the Haitian journalist, who for decades fought against corruption in Haitian regimes by founding Radio Haiti-Inter. This station run by Dominique fought against first the Duvalier's (Papa Doc and Baby Doc) and then the Aristide regime, not because just to fight but because of the corruption Dominique saw running rampant through the government.
Some of these very corrupt regimes were backed by the U.S., but others merely ran their own course, but Dominique fought for democracy, to give people the right to choose their leaders and to make leaders answerable to the people. And he called the leaders out. In an interview with just ousted former president Aristide, you here Dominique calling him corrupt, listing the gifts he took from "special interests" and the favors he did for these groups. And you wonder where are journalists in America willing to question our leaders in the same blunt way.
Dominque was assassinated in front of his studio coming to work in 2000. He had been fighting against corruption and had faced increased threats, but refused to back down. Gunmen met him one morning, and his voice was at last silenced. His work continues with is wife and many other Haitian journalists who he inspired.
A very strong documentary about a island country that is very unstable and a man who made a difference.
Some of these very corrupt regimes were backed by the U.S., but others merely ran their own course, but Dominique fought for democracy, to give people the right to choose their leaders and to make leaders answerable to the people. And he called the leaders out. In an interview with just ousted former president Aristide, you here Dominique calling him corrupt, listing the gifts he took from "special interests" and the favors he did for these groups. And you wonder where are journalists in America willing to question our leaders in the same blunt way.
Dominque was assassinated in front of his studio coming to work in 2000. He had been fighting against corruption and had faced increased threats, but refused to back down. Gunmen met him one morning, and his voice was at last silenced. His work continues with is wife and many other Haitian journalists who he inspired.
A very strong documentary about a island country that is very unstable and a man who made a difference.
Movie-Elizabethtown
Elizabethtown (2005) starring Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst really brought out two very different reactions in me. First of all, Cameron Crowe is really one of my favorite directors. When he does a great job, it is phenomenal. But this is not his best movie.
In fact, it seems like two different movies to me, one that I very much liked, and one that I thought was so make believe and hokey that I felt it could only be conceived in Hollywood.
I'll start with the good first I guess and tell a little of the plot. Orlando Bloom is this shoe company exec that makes a really bad decision and loses a billion bucks for the company. He gets fired and his dad dies on the same day. His family lives in Oregon and he has to go to Kentucky where his dad was visiting relatives when he died, to pick up the body. On the way there, he meets flight attendant, Kirsten Dunst, perky and slightly irritating. And this is the part of the story I liked. Because when they clicked, it was right.
The night the two spend all night talking on the phone is the perfect perfect night of discovery...finding out who you are and who this person is...what you have in common and what you both laugh at. I think we all remember nights like that with the one we love...where we just wanted to stay that way forever and keep going...where you felt you could be yourself and never have to put on airs again. I really liked the way these two characters related.
And I did not mind the culture shock the south has on Blooms character of Drew. He is overwhelmed by the "kinfolk" and the outpouring of feeling and food and celebration and ceremony. What I did not like at all was the actual ceremony celebrating the father's death. Mom (Susan Sarandon) and sis fly in for a memorial in a convention hall, and mom gets up there for this god awful monologue.
Now, this is supposed to be a few days after her beloved husband of many years has just died. And it seems like she has gone all the way through every stage of grief there is is and come out on the other side, clean as a whistle. It was terrible...the scened sticks in my craw and makes the rest of the movie reek a bit, just stinking it up. Honestly, this scene brought down the caliber of this movie by at least a couple of stars. If that had been better done, the movie would have been a much better film in my estimation. And if I could somehow excise the segment, I would like this movie quite a bit.
I do have to note that Sharlynn felt that the movie was also worthwhile for Orlando Bloom alone. Just had to mention that from her perspective. To which I say...whatever...I'm trying to write a serious review here! HA!
As I said...almost like two movies for me in this one piece...and if I could separate them, one would be quite good, and the other terrible.
In fact, it seems like two different movies to me, one that I very much liked, and one that I thought was so make believe and hokey that I felt it could only be conceived in Hollywood.
I'll start with the good first I guess and tell a little of the plot. Orlando Bloom is this shoe company exec that makes a really bad decision and loses a billion bucks for the company. He gets fired and his dad dies on the same day. His family lives in Oregon and he has to go to Kentucky where his dad was visiting relatives when he died, to pick up the body. On the way there, he meets flight attendant, Kirsten Dunst, perky and slightly irritating. And this is the part of the story I liked. Because when they clicked, it was right.
The night the two spend all night talking on the phone is the perfect perfect night of discovery...finding out who you are and who this person is...what you have in common and what you both laugh at. I think we all remember nights like that with the one we love...where we just wanted to stay that way forever and keep going...where you felt you could be yourself and never have to put on airs again. I really liked the way these two characters related.
And I did not mind the culture shock the south has on Blooms character of Drew. He is overwhelmed by the "kinfolk" and the outpouring of feeling and food and celebration and ceremony. What I did not like at all was the actual ceremony celebrating the father's death. Mom (Susan Sarandon) and sis fly in for a memorial in a convention hall, and mom gets up there for this god awful monologue.
Now, this is supposed to be a few days after her beloved husband of many years has just died. And it seems like she has gone all the way through every stage of grief there is is and come out on the other side, clean as a whistle. It was terrible...the scened sticks in my craw and makes the rest of the movie reek a bit, just stinking it up. Honestly, this scene brought down the caliber of this movie by at least a couple of stars. If that had been better done, the movie would have been a much better film in my estimation. And if I could somehow excise the segment, I would like this movie quite a bit.
I do have to note that Sharlynn felt that the movie was also worthwhile for Orlando Bloom alone. Just had to mention that from her perspective. To which I say...whatever...I'm trying to write a serious review here! HA!
As I said...almost like two movies for me in this one piece...and if I could separate them, one would be quite good, and the other terrible.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Movie-Beowulf
Well--This is the way to take a legend and make it really bad. Beowulf (2007) was an extended video game obstesibly based on the ancient Norse legend.
It was done in the style of live action actors being then animated into fantasy sequences, so you have Anthony Hopkins just looking silly in a flimsy toga, and Angelina Jolie doing a near-nude scene (as a water demon) that I really don't think she would do anymore. And John Malkovich looking like he was constipated the whole time. And since it is "animated" I guess it is OK.
But I digress...the plot is bad, the acting is bad, and the closeness to the legend is pretty scanty...I mean, it gets the big things right of course, but the details, well, Hollywood, as always, just decides to re-do things as it goes, as usual. Even the animation goes awry and does not look to good at points.
Skip it...a waste of time. Bad movie. Not good.
It was done in the style of live action actors being then animated into fantasy sequences, so you have Anthony Hopkins just looking silly in a flimsy toga, and Angelina Jolie doing a near-nude scene (as a water demon) that I really don't think she would do anymore. And John Malkovich looking like he was constipated the whole time. And since it is "animated" I guess it is OK.
But I digress...the plot is bad, the acting is bad, and the closeness to the legend is pretty scanty...I mean, it gets the big things right of course, but the details, well, Hollywood, as always, just decides to re-do things as it goes, as usual. Even the animation goes awry and does not look to good at points.
Skip it...a waste of time. Bad movie. Not good.
Movie-Swimming Upstream
Swimming Upstream (2005) is not a very well known movie, but it is terrific. A true story about Australian swimmer Tony Fingleton competing for a spot on the national team, is sounds a bore. But it really is about his family, his abusive older bother and father, played by the sensational Geoffrey Rush (who is a fantastic actor and never gets as much acclaim as he deserves).
This a finely crafted piece. The currents between the actors is perfect, with Judy Davis playing the mother of this very dysfunctional family, the movie really blends the swimming competition well with the real drama of the family dynamic.
The movie is not really about swimming, but surviving, and somehow persevering in the face of about as negative a start as possible. As I said, Rush is impressive, and I think he never wavers of goes wrong in his performance.
Swimming Upstream is a nice surprise movie, excellent, that few have heard about.
This a finely crafted piece. The currents between the actors is perfect, with Judy Davis playing the mother of this very dysfunctional family, the movie really blends the swimming competition well with the real drama of the family dynamic.
The movie is not really about swimming, but surviving, and somehow persevering in the face of about as negative a start as possible. As I said, Rush is impressive, and I think he never wavers of goes wrong in his performance.
Swimming Upstream is a nice surprise movie, excellent, that few have heard about.
Movie-St. Elmo's Fire
Yes...I am re-living the days of the Brat Pack. St. Elmo's Fire (1985) was a touchstone for people coming of age in the 80's and it still holds some nostalgia and some nice touches to it, though I have to say to those characters, "Kid's, if you think life is tough so far, you ain't seen nothing yet!"
In case you have forgotten the concept of the flick, 7 college friends from Georgetown, a year out of college are having trouble adjusting to real life. They are played by Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Andrew McCarthy and others of Brat Pack fame. They think they will be friends forever and they hang out together and still go to their college bar St. Elmo's for beer and bites.
But real life is closing in on them, and tearing the friendships apart. By the end of the movie, one of them has left, another is going, and they realize they all may not stay friends forever...life has ways of sneaking up on us, and kicking us in the ass.
Now these are are pretty self absorbed individuals, I will admit. And while somewhat likable, the distance of years has made me less sympathetic to their plights. But the truest thing that the movie portrays is the change that life presents...not only after college, but throughout life. It is not one long strand, but a series of interlocking links that connects parts of a life to other parts. And change is sure to happen...and is sometimes difficult.
And watching this movie I felt my own year, where there has been some considerable change. Good friends leaving, not only from working with me, but from San Diego, changing my job status and situation, changing in other friends lives, gaining significant others, gaining babies. Nothing stays the same, and the more you try to make it, the more it knocks you on your ass when it does change. That is not to say you always like it...you don't miss your friends...but it will still happen.
Anyway, that is what St. Elmo's Fire does right, what it can still evoke after 20 some odd years. Is it still a very 80's movie? Oh yeah...Jules (Demi's character) and her pink walls with the mural of Billy Idol and his neon light earring will attest to that! But, it surprised me but what it had that transcended the 80's. It was worth the time to revisit and old friend.
In case you have forgotten the concept of the flick, 7 college friends from Georgetown, a year out of college are having trouble adjusting to real life. They are played by Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Andrew McCarthy and others of Brat Pack fame. They think they will be friends forever and they hang out together and still go to their college bar St. Elmo's for beer and bites.
But real life is closing in on them, and tearing the friendships apart. By the end of the movie, one of them has left, another is going, and they realize they all may not stay friends forever...life has ways of sneaking up on us, and kicking us in the ass.
Now these are are pretty self absorbed individuals, I will admit. And while somewhat likable, the distance of years has made me less sympathetic to their plights. But the truest thing that the movie portrays is the change that life presents...not only after college, but throughout life. It is not one long strand, but a series of interlocking links that connects parts of a life to other parts. And change is sure to happen...and is sometimes difficult.
And watching this movie I felt my own year, where there has been some considerable change. Good friends leaving, not only from working with me, but from San Diego, changing my job status and situation, changing in other friends lives, gaining significant others, gaining babies. Nothing stays the same, and the more you try to make it, the more it knocks you on your ass when it does change. That is not to say you always like it...you don't miss your friends...but it will still happen.
Anyway, that is what St. Elmo's Fire does right, what it can still evoke after 20 some odd years. Is it still a very 80's movie? Oh yeah...Jules (Demi's character) and her pink walls with the mural of Billy Idol and his neon light earring will attest to that! But, it surprised me but what it had that transcended the 80's. It was worth the time to revisit and old friend.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Movie-The Sea Inside
This remarkable and thoughtful Spanish movie, starring Javier Bardem (known best in the U.S for No Country for Old Men) focuses on the one man, a paraplegic, fighting for the right to end his life legally.
The Sea Inside (2004) is based on a true story and Bardem plays the main character of Ramon Sampedro, who does not lead an outwardly miserable existence. He has loved ones and friends and could have an active social and love life. He is charming and creative, and very paralyzed, from the neck down. And he feels his life is not worth living...he feels it is not life, despite all the things mentioned above. And most important to note...he does not try to speak for anyone else...no other who are paralysed, not others who are handicapped...he speaks only for himself, what it means to him, how he feels about the accident that has left him this way. He is NOT an advocate for any group, but an advocate for his individual choice.
This movie, these questions, these legal yearnings, for society to make legal his suicide are far reaching questions, and that is what makes this movie so good. Whether you agree with what he is asking or not--- if you are a moral person, a thinking person, you ask yourself so many questions regarding this question. First---whether you agree or not, should the courts and society agree in his case? What cases should the courts agree in? Where is the line between suffering and just plain living?
This fine film explores these moral dilemmas and so many more in this delicate and very gray issue. And even in this film, there is very little black and white, though it is clear it sides with Sampedro wanting to be able to die with dignity. But it does not make the choice with ease, putting family and friends in the middle of the moral quandary. Does what one person want make it right for all, and does it make it right for society?
The Sea Inside does not answer these questions...indeed, it cannot. But it can make us ask them more, of ourselves and our family and friends. That is a worthy discussion, and I think it may make Ramon Sampedro happy that he provoked that discussion after all.
The Sea Inside (2004) is based on a true story and Bardem plays the main character of Ramon Sampedro, who does not lead an outwardly miserable existence. He has loved ones and friends and could have an active social and love life. He is charming and creative, and very paralyzed, from the neck down. And he feels his life is not worth living...he feels it is not life, despite all the things mentioned above. And most important to note...he does not try to speak for anyone else...no other who are paralysed, not others who are handicapped...he speaks only for himself, what it means to him, how he feels about the accident that has left him this way. He is NOT an advocate for any group, but an advocate for his individual choice.
This movie, these questions, these legal yearnings, for society to make legal his suicide are far reaching questions, and that is what makes this movie so good. Whether you agree with what he is asking or not--- if you are a moral person, a thinking person, you ask yourself so many questions regarding this question. First---whether you agree or not, should the courts and society agree in his case? What cases should the courts agree in? Where is the line between suffering and just plain living?
This fine film explores these moral dilemmas and so many more in this delicate and very gray issue. And even in this film, there is very little black and white, though it is clear it sides with Sampedro wanting to be able to die with dignity. But it does not make the choice with ease, putting family and friends in the middle of the moral quandary. Does what one person want make it right for all, and does it make it right for society?
The Sea Inside does not answer these questions...indeed, it cannot. But it can make us ask them more, of ourselves and our family and friends. That is a worthy discussion, and I think it may make Ramon Sampedro happy that he provoked that discussion after all.
Movie-The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
I don't like Bill Murray much--let me just admit that here, right up front. I think that he plays over-the-hill, egotistical a-holes so well because he does not need to act to get it down pat. But, I had heard good things about The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) when it came out, so I put it in my queue and just left it there...moving movies above it, but never moving it down, just slowly letting it move up.
It finally arrived, and I was right never to move it up. Look, it was not completely terrible. The satire about these wildlife "experts" who put out documentaries about their exploits was pretty amusing. The plethora of these people is astounding, and this satirical part of the movie hit pretty spot on...however, it was a small part of the film.
The rest was Bill Murray just being Bill. And it was not funny, and not bittersweet and not nostalgic...it was boring and annoying more than anything. Even the inclusion of Cate Blanchett (who can make almost any movie decent) into the cast could not save this film.
I did try. As Sharlynn gave up on it, I stayed with it. Saw it through to the end, hoping for redemption. Didn't happen. The final scenes, that somehow were supposed to be meaningful were so hokey and badly special effected that it was pitiful and took away any possibility of meaning to the end.
Ah well...at least THAT is out of the queue now...
It finally arrived, and I was right never to move it up. Look, it was not completely terrible. The satire about these wildlife "experts" who put out documentaries about their exploits was pretty amusing. The plethora of these people is astounding, and this satirical part of the movie hit pretty spot on...however, it was a small part of the film.
The rest was Bill Murray just being Bill. And it was not funny, and not bittersweet and not nostalgic...it was boring and annoying more than anything. Even the inclusion of Cate Blanchett (who can make almost any movie decent) into the cast could not save this film.
I did try. As Sharlynn gave up on it, I stayed with it. Saw it through to the end, hoping for redemption. Didn't happen. The final scenes, that somehow were supposed to be meaningful were so hokey and badly special effected that it was pitiful and took away any possibility of meaning to the end.
Ah well...at least THAT is out of the queue now...
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Movie-The Namesake
The Namesake (2007) is a movie of surprises for me. It is a story of two Indian immigrants, a young married couple (she quite a bit younger than he) making their way in America. We follow their early life, their success, their children and their children's lives.
What was nicely surprises was the superb performances of the two first generation actors, Irfan Khan and Tabu, both of Bollywood fame. Both are subtle and gentle and give so much in a word or a movement of a look...never wasting anything. They are what makes this movie work.
Another surprise is what does not work early on---and that is the high schooler son "Gogol," ostensibly the main character, as played by Kal Penn of Harold and Kumar fame. It just did not work...later, as he is older I could buy it, but as a rebellious high schooler...it was not at all believable.
Gogol is named after the author, his father favorite. But there is another, deeper significance to the name, that Gogol only finds out later. And as much as the movie tries to make him the center of the film...the heart of the movie resides in the parents and their relationship. With these two actors it really is a thing of beauty. If nothing else, see the movie just for this aspect.
The rest of the movie is good, if a tad predictable. the experiences of the children born in American vs. the parents who came to America is an archetypal one that is the essence of America itself, and is seen not only in Indian culture but Italian and Irish and African and Mexican and Chinese and every ethnic group that comes to this land. it is good to see that it is still portrayed so positively and with such hope.
Namesake does not always offer completely fresh ideas, but it does offer what if presents very well, and with such nice performances that you will keep some of these characters in your heart for some time.
What was nicely surprises was the superb performances of the two first generation actors, Irfan Khan and Tabu, both of Bollywood fame. Both are subtle and gentle and give so much in a word or a movement of a look...never wasting anything. They are what makes this movie work.
Another surprise is what does not work early on---and that is the high schooler son "Gogol," ostensibly the main character, as played by Kal Penn of Harold and Kumar fame. It just did not work...later, as he is older I could buy it, but as a rebellious high schooler...it was not at all believable.
Gogol is named after the author, his father favorite. But there is another, deeper significance to the name, that Gogol only finds out later. And as much as the movie tries to make him the center of the film...the heart of the movie resides in the parents and their relationship. With these two actors it really is a thing of beauty. If nothing else, see the movie just for this aspect.
The rest of the movie is good, if a tad predictable. the experiences of the children born in American vs. the parents who came to America is an archetypal one that is the essence of America itself, and is seen not only in Indian culture but Italian and Irish and African and Mexican and Chinese and every ethnic group that comes to this land. it is good to see that it is still portrayed so positively and with such hope.
Namesake does not always offer completely fresh ideas, but it does offer what if presents very well, and with such nice performances that you will keep some of these characters in your heart for some time.
TV On Netflix-All Creatures Great and Small, Season 3
This series still gives me great pleasure. The true story of a veterinary practise in the English Dales in the late 1930 and early 1940's, this 3rd season was a bittersweet one in many ways.
It kept along with the stories of James Herriot and his partners Siegfried and Tristan Farnon, practising animal doctoring among the farmers and other colorful characters of the English countryside, stories often amusing, sometimes downright funny, and sometimes heart wrenching. But the season also had the threat of the impending war over it, and by the end of the season, James and Siegfried are off to participate in WW II, as they really did.
But in the creation of the show it also was bittersweet, because is marked the end of the original run of the series, ending in 1980. After that came two specials, in 1983 and 1985 and then the series started again in 1988. It is true that most of the original cast comes back. Christopher Timothy as James and both Robert hardy and Peter Davison return as the Farnons...but Carol Drinkwater does not return as Helen Herriot, and though Lynda Bellingham tries to fill the shoes, there truly is no other Helen. Also missing is Mary Hignett, as Mrs. Hall, their long-suffering housekeeper, as the actress died in the interim.
So season 3 is to be savored. It is the high point in a series that is wonderful, funny, charming and loving.
It kept along with the stories of James Herriot and his partners Siegfried and Tristan Farnon, practising animal doctoring among the farmers and other colorful characters of the English countryside, stories often amusing, sometimes downright funny, and sometimes heart wrenching. But the season also had the threat of the impending war over it, and by the end of the season, James and Siegfried are off to participate in WW II, as they really did.
But in the creation of the show it also was bittersweet, because is marked the end of the original run of the series, ending in 1980. After that came two specials, in 1983 and 1985 and then the series started again in 1988. It is true that most of the original cast comes back. Christopher Timothy as James and both Robert hardy and Peter Davison return as the Farnons...but Carol Drinkwater does not return as Helen Herriot, and though Lynda Bellingham tries to fill the shoes, there truly is no other Helen. Also missing is Mary Hignett, as Mrs. Hall, their long-suffering housekeeper, as the actress died in the interim.
So season 3 is to be savored. It is the high point in a series that is wonderful, funny, charming and loving.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Movie-Balseros
Balseros (2003) is a documentary about Cuban refugees that came over to the US on rafts in a great exodus in 1994.
The film follows certain members of this group that make it over to the US and sees how they fair, even as far as 5 years later, and it is interesting to follow these disparate people, and to see the lives they make for themselves in America...and it says as much about America, as it does about these individuals.
The film also intercuts between America and Havana, to the refugees and the families they left behind. The documentarians bring videos of the new Americans to show the Cuban families, and vice versa, to illicit raw response to seeing loved ones so far away. This is effective to a point, and then seems somewhat callous, and I really think could have been left out, or used more effectively as video letters to loved ones.
Overall, Balseros was a good documentary, not soaring to great. It does score in underscoring the difference between what is seen as the promise of America, and what the truth of dealing with American life is...which is sometimes a very mixed bag. I thought it also underscores the same thing about Cuba...while poor, and not offering much economically, it does offer some things some of these refugees seem to find hard to find in America...a sense of community and family, shared experience and shared hope.
Does one country offer it all?
The film follows certain members of this group that make it over to the US and sees how they fair, even as far as 5 years later, and it is interesting to follow these disparate people, and to see the lives they make for themselves in America...and it says as much about America, as it does about these individuals.
The film also intercuts between America and Havana, to the refugees and the families they left behind. The documentarians bring videos of the new Americans to show the Cuban families, and vice versa, to illicit raw response to seeing loved ones so far away. This is effective to a point, and then seems somewhat callous, and I really think could have been left out, or used more effectively as video letters to loved ones.
Overall, Balseros was a good documentary, not soaring to great. It does score in underscoring the difference between what is seen as the promise of America, and what the truth of dealing with American life is...which is sometimes a very mixed bag. I thought it also underscores the same thing about Cuba...while poor, and not offering much economically, it does offer some things some of these refugees seem to find hard to find in America...a sense of community and family, shared experience and shared hope.
Does one country offer it all?
Movie-Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is based on a series of children's books that I have heard are quite good. But somehow I really was not expecting too much from the movie. It seemed like it would be a vehicle for an overblown Jim Carrey performance.
But it was a lot better than I expected. And Jim Carrey was kept in rein, thank god, so the movie not just one impromptu segment of him channeling Robin Williams.
The kid performers in the movie were pretty credible, and that gave it a good start right there. Nothing kills a movie like this like bad performances from the kids actors. Some funny guest starring turns by Billy Connelly and Meryl Streep kept the movie going, and yes...Jim Carrey did fine. He kept his various personas interesting and fresh and he did not go over the top (probably due to good editing).
All in all a fun movie and diverting for an evening.
But it was a lot better than I expected. And Jim Carrey was kept in rein, thank god, so the movie not just one impromptu segment of him channeling Robin Williams.
The kid performers in the movie were pretty credible, and that gave it a good start right there. Nothing kills a movie like this like bad performances from the kids actors. Some funny guest starring turns by Billy Connelly and Meryl Streep kept the movie going, and yes...Jim Carrey did fine. He kept his various personas interesting and fresh and he did not go over the top (probably due to good editing).
All in all a fun movie and diverting for an evening.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
TV Update
And the shows continue to fall...two more of my shows have gotten the axe, not getting picked up after their initial 13 episodes run out. Both shows on ABC, Pushing Daisies and Dirty Sexy Money are going to be gone. So Wednesday nights will now have nothing going on the DVR.
Fringe which was one of my bubble shows came off the bubble last week with a really good episode that addressed many of my concerns, and will keep me happy for at least a few weeks.
So my viewing list will become much thinner in the very near future with me dropping Life on Mars and Sarah Connor and Samantha Who? and the networks dropping Lipstick Jungle, Pushing Daisies and Dirty Sexy Money.
Netflix is beckoning!!!!
Fringe which was one of my bubble shows came off the bubble last week with a really good episode that addressed many of my concerns, and will keep me happy for at least a few weeks.
So my viewing list will become much thinner in the very near future with me dropping Life on Mars and Sarah Connor and Samantha Who? and the networks dropping Lipstick Jungle, Pushing Daisies and Dirty Sexy Money.
Netflix is beckoning!!!!
Monday, November 17, 2008
Religious Hypocricy
I know the pairing of those two words above does not really shock too many people, but I have to tell you, I am so pissed off about the Catholic church and its hypocrisy pertaining to Barack Obama, I am ready to take away any tax exempt status it has, and I refuse to support any of its programs, including Father Joes worthy charities here in San Diego.
They have said that any of its members that supported Obama must do penance because of his stand on abortion. And they say if they continue to support him, they should not take communion, because they are committing sin.
What the hell kind of thinking is that from this church that bargained with the Nazis less than a century ago? Are Americans who voted for Bush similarly sanctioned because he has started wars that have killed tens of thousands of people? Is that not a mortal sin? And if not, why not? And yes, those wars have killed children and pregnant women...and yet that is OK by these corrupt religious leaders? I am sorry, I try not to curse too much in my blog, but what the fuck is that?
Not 50 years ago, many Americans would not vote for JFK because they were afraid he would be led by bishops and the pope. Now it appears that the church wishes to re-enforce the idea that there is no separation between catholic Americans' civil duties and their religious duties.
I have a question---how good must a leader be to be OK with the church, even if he differs with them on abortion? Maybe more to the point, can he be as evil as Hitler, but still make deals with the Vatican as he did in WWII, as long as he agrees with them on abortion?
This sickens me to the core of my being! This church that wishes people to live in ignorance...that just in the last 25 years relented its excommunication of Galileo and admitted that he was right, the earth is not the center of the universe. This church that still distrusts evolutionary theory and tries at every turn to condemn it, this church that put to death scientists, excommunicated thinkers, and burned healers and others who worshiped older gods...this church wants Americans to give up our democratic rights in the voting booth and conform to what it says, and tries to say we will go to hell if we don't!
There is a special ring in hell for religious leaders like that. Jesus called out the Pharisees in his time, and these bishops are remarkably similar. They will suffer a similar fate.
It also smells of racism through and through and it disgusts me.
They have said that any of its members that supported Obama must do penance because of his stand on abortion. And they say if they continue to support him, they should not take communion, because they are committing sin.
What the hell kind of thinking is that from this church that bargained with the Nazis less than a century ago? Are Americans who voted for Bush similarly sanctioned because he has started wars that have killed tens of thousands of people? Is that not a mortal sin? And if not, why not? And yes, those wars have killed children and pregnant women...and yet that is OK by these corrupt religious leaders? I am sorry, I try not to curse too much in my blog, but what the fuck is that?
Not 50 years ago, many Americans would not vote for JFK because they were afraid he would be led by bishops and the pope. Now it appears that the church wishes to re-enforce the idea that there is no separation between catholic Americans' civil duties and their religious duties.
I have a question---how good must a leader be to be OK with the church, even if he differs with them on abortion? Maybe more to the point, can he be as evil as Hitler, but still make deals with the Vatican as he did in WWII, as long as he agrees with them on abortion?
This sickens me to the core of my being! This church that wishes people to live in ignorance...that just in the last 25 years relented its excommunication of Galileo and admitted that he was right, the earth is not the center of the universe. This church that still distrusts evolutionary theory and tries at every turn to condemn it, this church that put to death scientists, excommunicated thinkers, and burned healers and others who worshiped older gods...this church wants Americans to give up our democratic rights in the voting booth and conform to what it says, and tries to say we will go to hell if we don't!
There is a special ring in hell for religious leaders like that. Jesus called out the Pharisees in his time, and these bishops are remarkably similar. They will suffer a similar fate.
It also smells of racism through and through and it disgusts me.
Congratulation_ A Journey Completed
About 7 months ago I congratulated the announcement at a poker party from our friends Emily and Seth on their announced pregnancy.
Well, a few days ago, the event happened, and Emily gave birth to a beautiful girl!
She is so cute, and the parents are enamored of her of course. She very mellow and calm, and is destined to become a great poker player I know.
To both parents I can only say Wow! Well done!!! She is a beauty! And the love that is already gleaming from your eyes will keep growing, and will sustain you during the teenage years!
Seth and Emily and Kailie. Blessings!
Well, a few days ago, the event happened, and Emily gave birth to a beautiful girl!
She is so cute, and the parents are enamored of her of course. She very mellow and calm, and is destined to become a great poker player I know.
To both parents I can only say Wow! Well done!!! She is a beauty! And the love that is already gleaming from your eyes will keep growing, and will sustain you during the teenage years!
Seth and Emily and Kailie. Blessings!
Friday, November 14, 2008
Quick TV Update
A couple of TV notes. Samantha Who? that was a bubble show for me, is now off my viewing list. It survived a couple of more episodes because it had found a bit of its warmth again, as opposed to just silliness. But it lapsed again into just silly, so it is gone.
Lipstick Jungle is being cancelled. Not a big surprise considering its ratings and its recent move to the Friday night graveyard. They will probably burn off the remaining episodes of the 13 the have filmed, but it will soon be gone too.
Two more shows to note. Fringe has moved to my own bubble. I really like the interplay between the characters, but it needs to start answering some of its questions, and also needs to not always be so damn gross in its mysteries.
And last, a show I really like is on the real bubble, namely Pushing Daisies. Quirky and odd, it is not like anything else on TV and I hope it survives, but I don't know if it will. It will be a shame if it does not.
Lipstick Jungle is being cancelled. Not a big surprise considering its ratings and its recent move to the Friday night graveyard. They will probably burn off the remaining episodes of the 13 the have filmed, but it will soon be gone too.
Two more shows to note. Fringe has moved to my own bubble. I really like the interplay between the characters, but it needs to start answering some of its questions, and also needs to not always be so damn gross in its mysteries.
And last, a show I really like is on the real bubble, namely Pushing Daisies. Quirky and odd, it is not like anything else on TV and I hope it survives, but I don't know if it will. It will be a shame if it does not.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Election Thoughts
I have been trying to figure out ways to put down in words how I feel about this past election, both good and bad. And so I have just decided to write and see how it flows.
First of all, that Barack Obama has been elected the next president is amazing. I think that he has a chance to become one of those presidents that inspires and changes a generation. I am talking about presidents like FDR and JFK, and on the other side of the political spectrum, Ronald Reagan.
I was a supporter of Obama from early on in the primaries, after it was clear that my original candidate, Bill Richardson was going nowhere. I found his message of change refreshing, and even more so the pragmatism that went with it. The idea that doing the same thing was not working so we had to try new approaches to the problems the we faced. And as the election cycle went on the problems we faced became more and more formidable, and the current administration became more and more castrated in their ability to handle the problems.
Barack Obama put together a formidable political strategy, eschewing some very bright strategists, like James Carville, who mocked the 50-state strategy that Barack Obama embraced from the DNC's Howard Dean. They competed in every state, and spoke to every section of the country. Even if they did not win a state, they diminished the GOP standing in almost every area of the electorate.
I do not know if Obama, when he started his campaign really thought he could get this far. I have to think he must have thought to make a larger name for himself...maybe be on a short list for VP. But as he went on, I think there was a transformation in him too. He really became an advocate for the middle class people that have been left behind for so long. He saw clearly that this country survives not just on how well the well-to-do are doing, but on how well the middle class are doing, and we are not doing so damn well right now after 8 years of Bush.
His nimbleness in the primaries set him up well for the general election, and honed his transformation even more. He seemed to embody the yearnings of young people. You could see his energy in the debates, as opposed to the oldness of McCain---it was clear to many. He spoke across races and genders and spoke of optimism and hard work...and he spoke seriously. He spoke as if he took the job, and his mission seriously. He spoke as if he took the concerns of the middle class and the people without health care and the people losing their jobs seriously. He spoke of uniting the country again.
I don't know. Maybe he will turn into just another politician. If he does, I am OK with that, at least he is on my side of the political agenda. Maybe he will be buried under the nihilism that seems to be Washington DC. I hope he can transcend that.
But I think we may have a chance for something extraordinary here. A president who is a leader not just with his convictions, but with his mind and his heart. A man who listens to others, even those who disagree with him. A man with pride in his country, but without the hubris that makes our current leader arrogant. We may have a chance to be less divided.
A couple of things that worry me, that show this country still has a long way to go:
Rush Limbaugh---When Obama a couple of days off to visit his grandmother on her deathbed, Limbaugh publicly questioned his intentions going to Hawaii, wondering whether he was really going to visit his grandmother who Limbaugh heard was not that bad off, or whether he was going to doctor his birth certificate. Limbaugh is lower than rat shit!
I read the story of the Vietnam vet, who was so upset about McCain losing that he turned his flag upside down on his front porch, the sign for distress. He could not believe America turned its back on a war hero. I wonder if he was that upset when America did not elect John Kerry?
I have read with amusement those McCain supporters who are worried about Obama and do not trust him. First off, welcome to my world for the past 8 years! Some have even said he is not their president. Excuse me? When I said that, I was called a traitor, I was told if I don't like it, I should leave America...and not just by media, by people I know.
So, to those who do not support Obama...I say...stay...you are part of this country too. But do not try to destroy us. Do not try to smear us with gossip and innuendo. We will not play that anymore. We are America too, and we have said we can change this. We can make it better. We can heal the divides but we will not allow you to keep hurting us and making hate and bitterness. We will confront you and say no! We will not say it is politically expedient to use racism and sexism to keep us apart, we will not allow the hatred of others to form policy. We are changing and we can change more.
One more point about the changes we are already seeing. I was at Trader Joes today, getting only three items. It was crowded, and I got in a long line. The woman in front of me had a very full basket, but I did not mind waiting at all. However, she turned to me and said, "You are going ahead of me." I said, "No, I don't mind waiting." She said, "My mother taught me to this courtesy, and I have to carry it out. And I am trying to be better, letting people in in traffic, thing like that. Maybe since this election, we will see some more of that."
If we see more of people taking care of each other, of community, of courtesy to one another...maybe that in itself will be a huge tribute to Barack Obama.
Let us hope it lasts and spreads. Yes it can. Yes we can.
First of all, that Barack Obama has been elected the next president is amazing. I think that he has a chance to become one of those presidents that inspires and changes a generation. I am talking about presidents like FDR and JFK, and on the other side of the political spectrum, Ronald Reagan.
I was a supporter of Obama from early on in the primaries, after it was clear that my original candidate, Bill Richardson was going nowhere. I found his message of change refreshing, and even more so the pragmatism that went with it. The idea that doing the same thing was not working so we had to try new approaches to the problems the we faced. And as the election cycle went on the problems we faced became more and more formidable, and the current administration became more and more castrated in their ability to handle the problems.
Barack Obama put together a formidable political strategy, eschewing some very bright strategists, like James Carville, who mocked the 50-state strategy that Barack Obama embraced from the DNC's Howard Dean. They competed in every state, and spoke to every section of the country. Even if they did not win a state, they diminished the GOP standing in almost every area of the electorate.
I do not know if Obama, when he started his campaign really thought he could get this far. I have to think he must have thought to make a larger name for himself...maybe be on a short list for VP. But as he went on, I think there was a transformation in him too. He really became an advocate for the middle class people that have been left behind for so long. He saw clearly that this country survives not just on how well the well-to-do are doing, but on how well the middle class are doing, and we are not doing so damn well right now after 8 years of Bush.
His nimbleness in the primaries set him up well for the general election, and honed his transformation even more. He seemed to embody the yearnings of young people. You could see his energy in the debates, as opposed to the oldness of McCain---it was clear to many. He spoke across races and genders and spoke of optimism and hard work...and he spoke seriously. He spoke as if he took the job, and his mission seriously. He spoke as if he took the concerns of the middle class and the people without health care and the people losing their jobs seriously. He spoke of uniting the country again.
I don't know. Maybe he will turn into just another politician. If he does, I am OK with that, at least he is on my side of the political agenda. Maybe he will be buried under the nihilism that seems to be Washington DC. I hope he can transcend that.
But I think we may have a chance for something extraordinary here. A president who is a leader not just with his convictions, but with his mind and his heart. A man who listens to others, even those who disagree with him. A man with pride in his country, but without the hubris that makes our current leader arrogant. We may have a chance to be less divided.
A couple of things that worry me, that show this country still has a long way to go:
Rush Limbaugh---When Obama a couple of days off to visit his grandmother on her deathbed, Limbaugh publicly questioned his intentions going to Hawaii, wondering whether he was really going to visit his grandmother who Limbaugh heard was not that bad off, or whether he was going to doctor his birth certificate. Limbaugh is lower than rat shit!
I read the story of the Vietnam vet, who was so upset about McCain losing that he turned his flag upside down on his front porch, the sign for distress. He could not believe America turned its back on a war hero. I wonder if he was that upset when America did not elect John Kerry?
I have read with amusement those McCain supporters who are worried about Obama and do not trust him. First off, welcome to my world for the past 8 years! Some have even said he is not their president. Excuse me? When I said that, I was called a traitor, I was told if I don't like it, I should leave America...and not just by media, by people I know.
So, to those who do not support Obama...I say...stay...you are part of this country too. But do not try to destroy us. Do not try to smear us with gossip and innuendo. We will not play that anymore. We are America too, and we have said we can change this. We can make it better. We can heal the divides but we will not allow you to keep hurting us and making hate and bitterness. We will confront you and say no! We will not say it is politically expedient to use racism and sexism to keep us apart, we will not allow the hatred of others to form policy. We are changing and we can change more.
One more point about the changes we are already seeing. I was at Trader Joes today, getting only three items. It was crowded, and I got in a long line. The woman in front of me had a very full basket, but I did not mind waiting at all. However, she turned to me and said, "You are going ahead of me." I said, "No, I don't mind waiting." She said, "My mother taught me to this courtesy, and I have to carry it out. And I am trying to be better, letting people in in traffic, thing like that. Maybe since this election, we will see some more of that."
If we see more of people taking care of each other, of community, of courtesy to one another...maybe that in itself will be a huge tribute to Barack Obama.
Let us hope it lasts and spreads. Yes it can. Yes we can.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
3 Magazines
As usual, national Geographic came through again. The Nov issue had a great article on Borneo...full of information and great images. But the most amazing article and images was the one about the Cavern of the Giant Crystals. This is amazing! I swear, it looks like something out of a science fiction movie! It is freaky and fascinating and amazing. I just can't believe crystals of this size in in this abundance exist. The other article that really stood out to me was the article about elephant seals...the images of the bulls fighting are frightening...you can almost feel the ground rumbling. What a great magazine.
The Nov Zoonooz is the calendar issue, and the 2009 calendar is hooked to Elephant Odyssey which will be opening next year. It should be a great new exhibit, and the issue offers some graphics of what it will look like. The animals that will be in EO will be animals that once had ancestors right here in So Cal. So the calendar each month shows the live animals and the predecessor. Not too bad.
Nov. Playboy was a pretty good issue, much of it devoted to James Bond. Playboy is linked to Bond in many ways publishing Ian Flemings Bond stories very early in its history, and in Bond's history. The interview was with Daniel Craig, the newest and maybe, best, Bond. And while some celebrity interviews reveal what callow people they are, he actually seems pretty modest and down to earth. There was also a weird but good piece of fiction from J. Robert Lennon...that I am not even sure how to describe. And a profile of Lamont Carolina, a young man whose life was turned around by Barack Obama and his campaign for president. All in all, a solid issue.
The Nov Zoonooz is the calendar issue, and the 2009 calendar is hooked to Elephant Odyssey which will be opening next year. It should be a great new exhibit, and the issue offers some graphics of what it will look like. The animals that will be in EO will be animals that once had ancestors right here in So Cal. So the calendar each month shows the live animals and the predecessor. Not too bad.
Nov. Playboy was a pretty good issue, much of it devoted to James Bond. Playboy is linked to Bond in many ways publishing Ian Flemings Bond stories very early in its history, and in Bond's history. The interview was with Daniel Craig, the newest and maybe, best, Bond. And while some celebrity interviews reveal what callow people they are, he actually seems pretty modest and down to earth. There was also a weird but good piece of fiction from J. Robert Lennon...that I am not even sure how to describe. And a profile of Lamont Carolina, a young man whose life was turned around by Barack Obama and his campaign for president. All in all, a solid issue.
Movie-Alfie
This 2004 remake of the Michael Caine film of the same name is not bad. Starring Jude Law as a fun-loving commitment-phobic womanizer, the film charts a course that shows the consequences of actions...whether they were intended, or whether the actions were carried out with ill-will or just carelessness.
Jude Law is well cast as Alfie, the Brit coming to the Big Apple to get to more women. But life becomes complicated as the women as his fall back girl, Marisa Tomei, stops wanting to play that role in his life. She wants more, and realizes she needs to stop enabling him to use her as he does. So she stops seeing him completely. This certainly throws Alfie for a loop. He also, in a one night stand, sleeps with his best friends girlfriend (Nia Long). It appears there are no repercussions until she turns up pregnant, and he loses both of their friendship in a complicated and yet fairly real storyline.
Alfie-actions have consequences...and he is realizing this. But he thinks he has found the right woman for him, in Susan Sarandon. But when she pulls an Alfie on him, he realizes that perhaps he has been wrong. While thinking he has not hurt anyone, perhaps he has just been blind to what he has done in his narcissism.
There is another woman in the movie, but that is the essential storyline. Alfie starts as a playboy, devil-may-care guy, and grows up a bit.
It wasn't great, but it was reasonably good. The acting was good, and if a movie has both Marisa Tomei and Nia Long in it, it cannot be too bad. That's all I'm saying.
Jude Law is well cast as Alfie, the Brit coming to the Big Apple to get to more women. But life becomes complicated as the women as his fall back girl, Marisa Tomei, stops wanting to play that role in his life. She wants more, and realizes she needs to stop enabling him to use her as he does. So she stops seeing him completely. This certainly throws Alfie for a loop. He also, in a one night stand, sleeps with his best friends girlfriend (Nia Long). It appears there are no repercussions until she turns up pregnant, and he loses both of their friendship in a complicated and yet fairly real storyline.
Alfie-actions have consequences...and he is realizing this. But he thinks he has found the right woman for him, in Susan Sarandon. But when she pulls an Alfie on him, he realizes that perhaps he has been wrong. While thinking he has not hurt anyone, perhaps he has just been blind to what he has done in his narcissism.
There is another woman in the movie, but that is the essential storyline. Alfie starts as a playboy, devil-may-care guy, and grows up a bit.
It wasn't great, but it was reasonably good. The acting was good, and if a movie has both Marisa Tomei and Nia Long in it, it cannot be too bad. That's all I'm saying.
Quick TV Update
I mentioned that I would drop CSI at the end of the season because the character of Gil Grissom is leaving along with so many other departures from the show. Watching this season I stand by that. The new character, Riley I think her name is, is so bland and generic. I know they will try to do more with her, but CSI will be too far from the show I enjoyed so much.
One other TV note. My experiment this year eating at chain restaurants has paid off in me getting a cultural joke on Samantha Who? Adriana got this guy to take her out because she was using him as he had connections to pro sports figures she really wanted to date. he took her to---Chili's! Yep. And his line about the food was something to the effect of "Crispy-jalapeno-orange-chicken, any one of those food descriptions is enough to make you hungry!" And I laughed because I ate there and it was soooo terrible. See, it was TOTALLY worth it!
One other TV note. My experiment this year eating at chain restaurants has paid off in me getting a cultural joke on Samantha Who? Adriana got this guy to take her out because she was using him as he had connections to pro sports figures she really wanted to date. he took her to---Chili's! Yep. And his line about the food was something to the effect of "Crispy-jalapeno-orange-chicken, any one of those food descriptions is enough to make you hungry!" And I laughed because I ate there and it was soooo terrible. See, it was TOTALLY worth it!
Book-Raise High the Roof Beam Carpenters and Seymour an Introduction
Raise High the Roof Beam Carpenters and Seymour an Introduction, a combination of two novellas, by J.D. Salinger is not easy or light reading. With little of the charm of The Catcher in the Rye, and much of the heaviness, the book, though only just over 200 pages is seems somewhat ponderous.
It is probably best to discuss the two sections separately and then how they work together. But it must be pointed out, that both stories have the same main characters, two of the Glass family (who Salinger frequently writes about in other stories), both narrated by Buddy Glass talking about his older brother, Seymour Glass.
In the Carpenters, we see Buddy making a quick trip to New York out of army training camp, to see his brother get married. It is stream-of-consciousness writing, but as there are other characters, we have dialogue and other points of view interrupting Buddy's narrative. The wedding does not happen, as Seymour has backed out on the morning of the wedding, and Buddy gets stuck in a car with relatives of the bride and a really pissed off maid of honor.
This story is not too bad, with humor and some biting dialogue and narrative. Buddy's thoughts about his brother are intermingled with the maid of honor's words, and the two form an alternate running commentary on Seymour.
The second story is ostensibly an introduction written by Buddy for a volume of Seymour's poems, to be published by his wife posthumously. Seymour did end up getting married via eloping, and also ended up committing suicide. this story is very existential stream of consciousness, with paragraphs running pages long. While I don't mind that per se (I enjoy Faulkner immensely) this was not fun or really very interesting, enlightening, enjoyable, edifying or anything else for me. It was merely a character trying to work out his own feelings on a page, and not doing a damn good job at it. Maybe that is the point, but it was so ponderous that it made even that point almost a non-event.
Seymour an Introduction is the longer of the two, and I dearly wish it had been the other way around. The two pieces offer an inter sting counterpoint to each other, one with Buddy as a young man, who clearly idolizes his brother, and one as a middle aged man writing about a brother he still idolizes, but who committed suicide. And he is grappling to understand why, and why he still idolizes him. The two stories do belong together, that is true, I just wish I found the second one to be more effective.
It is probably best to discuss the two sections separately and then how they work together. But it must be pointed out, that both stories have the same main characters, two of the Glass family (who Salinger frequently writes about in other stories), both narrated by Buddy Glass talking about his older brother, Seymour Glass.
In the Carpenters, we see Buddy making a quick trip to New York out of army training camp, to see his brother get married. It is stream-of-consciousness writing, but as there are other characters, we have dialogue and other points of view interrupting Buddy's narrative. The wedding does not happen, as Seymour has backed out on the morning of the wedding, and Buddy gets stuck in a car with relatives of the bride and a really pissed off maid of honor.
This story is not too bad, with humor and some biting dialogue and narrative. Buddy's thoughts about his brother are intermingled with the maid of honor's words, and the two form an alternate running commentary on Seymour.
The second story is ostensibly an introduction written by Buddy for a volume of Seymour's poems, to be published by his wife posthumously. Seymour did end up getting married via eloping, and also ended up committing suicide. this story is very existential stream of consciousness, with paragraphs running pages long. While I don't mind that per se (I enjoy Faulkner immensely) this was not fun or really very interesting, enlightening, enjoyable, edifying or anything else for me. It was merely a character trying to work out his own feelings on a page, and not doing a damn good job at it. Maybe that is the point, but it was so ponderous that it made even that point almost a non-event.
Seymour an Introduction is the longer of the two, and I dearly wish it had been the other way around. The two pieces offer an inter sting counterpoint to each other, one with Buddy as a young man, who clearly idolizes his brother, and one as a middle aged man writing about a brother he still idolizes, but who committed suicide. And he is grappling to understand why, and why he still idolizes him. The two stories do belong together, that is true, I just wish I found the second one to be more effective.
TV On NetFlix-Mad Men, Season 1
This is a new category...or a least a modification of a category, as I realized that I get a lot of non-movies from Netflix too. I watched all seasons of the Sopranos and the even better Six Feet Under. I would have watched Sex and the City, but I bought those before I was a Netflix member. So TV on Netflix is very apt.
The newest series I am watching is Mad Men. I had heard a lot about this show from the TV columns I read, especially Matt Roush on TVGuide.com (very good TV critic), and had been wanting to catch it. Then it won the Emmy for best dramatic series, followed quickly by an e-mail from Sharon saying she and Alex had watched it and it was great. So we caught a season 2 show and it was great---but, I wanted to go back and see the beginning, so, Netflix came through!
This show is set in 1960 on Madison Avenue in an advertising firm. The time was world's away from today...smoking wherever one wanted, everyone had a wet bar in their office and used it liberally, the secretarial pool was also the affair pool, and the bosses regularly sexually harassed the secretaries and cheated on their wives. On top of all this is Don Draper, creative director for his firm, with a beautiful wife and two kids, a mistress or two...he has the life! he even becomes a partner in the firm in this season. But...all is not perfectly well in Don's life...there is something...missing maybe, something essential that he is reaching for, but can't seem to find, can't even seem to name.
This is the world of Mad Men. And it is wonderfully created. The sets and props that recreate this world are amazing. the acting is amazing too, subtle and nuanced. The writing is the best. And in tone, is much like the Sopranos...for everything that is said, there is much unsaid...and that says more than what is said, if you follow my meaning.
I think the supporting cast in the show is about the best there is. The junior executives that work in the firm, trying to emulate Draper, form a cadre of young men, hungry for success as they define it...just starting to see the pitfalls of that success.
This is a fantastic show, and I look forward to season 2.
The newest series I am watching is Mad Men. I had heard a lot about this show from the TV columns I read, especially Matt Roush on TVGuide.com (very good TV critic), and had been wanting to catch it. Then it won the Emmy for best dramatic series, followed quickly by an e-mail from Sharon saying she and Alex had watched it and it was great. So we caught a season 2 show and it was great---but, I wanted to go back and see the beginning, so, Netflix came through!
This show is set in 1960 on Madison Avenue in an advertising firm. The time was world's away from today...smoking wherever one wanted, everyone had a wet bar in their office and used it liberally, the secretarial pool was also the affair pool, and the bosses regularly sexually harassed the secretaries and cheated on their wives. On top of all this is Don Draper, creative director for his firm, with a beautiful wife and two kids, a mistress or two...he has the life! he even becomes a partner in the firm in this season. But...all is not perfectly well in Don's life...there is something...missing maybe, something essential that he is reaching for, but can't seem to find, can't even seem to name.
This is the world of Mad Men. And it is wonderfully created. The sets and props that recreate this world are amazing. the acting is amazing too, subtle and nuanced. The writing is the best. And in tone, is much like the Sopranos...for everything that is said, there is much unsaid...and that says more than what is said, if you follow my meaning.
I think the supporting cast in the show is about the best there is. The junior executives that work in the firm, trying to emulate Draper, form a cadre of young men, hungry for success as they define it...just starting to see the pitfalls of that success.
This is a fantastic show, and I look forward to season 2.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Quick TV Update
I have dropped one of my bubble shows off my viewing list. Terminator, The Sarah Connor Chronicles is no longer being DVR'd in my house. The show has too many directions, too many plot lines, and is just much too grim all the time.
While I still think the concept is good, the details are getting too muddy. First of all, how many terminators and humans can come back in time to destroy or help John Connor? It seems like several a day are popping in and out. And each one seems to have unsure motives. Are they really trying to save him or...
And the lady with the red hair...look, I don't mind an overriding mystery in a series, but when everything, every aspect of the series is a mystery, and new characters are introduced with more mysteries before tie-ing up previous ones...it just gets to be too much. And the lady with the red hair is one of those...frankly...I don't care anymore.
So...as much as I like Lena Headey, this show is gone.
A few other TV notes---my other bubble show, Samantha Who? has gained a short reprieve, but is just on the edge. Also Lipstick Jungle has been moved to Friday nights where it is expected to die a convincing death. So that will probably be gone by 2009, I would venture a guess.
While I still think the concept is good, the details are getting too muddy. First of all, how many terminators and humans can come back in time to destroy or help John Connor? It seems like several a day are popping in and out. And each one seems to have unsure motives. Are they really trying to save him or...
And the lady with the red hair...look, I don't mind an overriding mystery in a series, but when everything, every aspect of the series is a mystery, and new characters are introduced with more mysteries before tie-ing up previous ones...it just gets to be too much. And the lady with the red hair is one of those...frankly...I don't care anymore.
So...as much as I like Lena Headey, this show is gone.
A few other TV notes---my other bubble show, Samantha Who? has gained a short reprieve, but is just on the edge. Also Lipstick Jungle has been moved to Friday nights where it is expected to die a convincing death. So that will probably be gone by 2009, I would venture a guess.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Book-The Best of James Herriot
I have such a fond spot in my heart for James Herriot, I'll admit it. His love for his life is inspiring. He loves taking care of these animals, he loves the place he lives and he loves his family, especially his beloved wife Helen, and it shines through in these semi-autobiographical memoirs of his life as a country vet in England Yorkshire area, specifically, the Dales.
The author of All Creatures Great and Small, and several other books chronicling his adventures with Seigfried and Tristan, puts together some of his favorite stories in this volume, The Best of James Herriot, some of which come from each of his books.
I am a fairly jaded reader, but some of these entries make me laugh out loud! And some make me tear up, as when he has to put an old man's companion, his old dog, down.
This volume has some nice side notes and illustrations about equipment and breeds of animals that Herriot worked with. It also has beautiful photos of his country. This was a very fun and enjoyable read. OK...it is sappy, but the good kind of sappy. And I enjoyed the heck out of it.
The author of All Creatures Great and Small, and several other books chronicling his adventures with Seigfried and Tristan, puts together some of his favorite stories in this volume, The Best of James Herriot, some of which come from each of his books.
I am a fairly jaded reader, but some of these entries make me laugh out loud! And some make me tear up, as when he has to put an old man's companion, his old dog, down.
This volume has some nice side notes and illustrations about equipment and breeds of animals that Herriot worked with. It also has beautiful photos of his country. This was a very fun and enjoyable read. OK...it is sappy, but the good kind of sappy. And I enjoyed the heck out of it.
Movie-Mongol
Mongol (2007) was a nominee for best foreign film last year (from Kazakhstan), and it is a terrific movie. The first of a trilogy about Ghenghis Khan, Mongol focuses on the life of the childhood of the man who would conquer much of the known world.
Before he was the great khan, he was a Mongol boy named Temudjin who was a slave several times. As his life evolves he becomes more determined to unite the Mongol tribes under one rule...his rule. But the evolution is fascinating, because in this interpretation of Khan, he wants mostly to be left alone, to love his wife and children. Only after repeated attacks, where he survived somewhat miraculously does Temudujin decided to take decisive action.
Beautifully filmed with fantastic scenic shots, Mongol is very nice film making. It reinterprets the legend of Ghenghis Khan, much as Braveheart reinterpreted the legend of William Wallace.
There are a lot of similarities between the two films, and I am anxious to see the next two movies in the trilogy, which should explore Ghenghis Khan taking over the world. This film deserves the nomination for best foreign film.
Before he was the great khan, he was a Mongol boy named Temudjin who was a slave several times. As his life evolves he becomes more determined to unite the Mongol tribes under one rule...his rule. But the evolution is fascinating, because in this interpretation of Khan, he wants mostly to be left alone, to love his wife and children. Only after repeated attacks, where he survived somewhat miraculously does Temudujin decided to take decisive action.
Beautifully filmed with fantastic scenic shots, Mongol is very nice film making. It reinterprets the legend of Ghenghis Khan, much as Braveheart reinterpreted the legend of William Wallace.
There are a lot of similarities between the two films, and I am anxious to see the next two movies in the trilogy, which should explore Ghenghis Khan taking over the world. This film deserves the nomination for best foreign film.
Day Trip to Julian
We took a day trip up to Julian...we hadn't been for at least 10 years, maybe longer. It is a nice drive and you could still see the results of the terrible fires from last year, and see how close it came to Julian.
October is the apple festival, but it was not too crowded as we went on a Friday. Did some shopping, and some nice wine tasting in the Witch Creek Winery tasting room, right on the main drag. Bought their merlot and their port, which is quite good. We had nice lunch at the Juilan Grille, and then had apple pie in one of the main shops---warm fresh apple pie a la mode...SOOOOO good. We bought a whole pie for my mom and dad, and then started home, coming through Ramona and Lakeside.
It was all a very pleasant day, very mellow and nice...until---yes, there is an until---
We cruising a long, getting close to Interstate 8, and we are in the fast lane, when all of sudden this ASSHOLE (and I don't use expletive lightly)cuts in front of us with inches to spare, because he is in back of a truck...no signal, nothing. Well, we are waving our arms, not giving finger signals yet. So Sharlynn is inevitably right on his ass, because it is so close, and he flips us off. As she tries to move into the next lane, he cuts in front of us for no reason but to cause problems, and he is laughing about it...literally, he cut us off with feet to spare. So he thinks it is funny to put peoples lives at risk? Probably so did the guys earlier this week who was speeding and killed a 19 year old, 7-month pregnant woman in San Diego.
You don't fuck with people's lives.
We actually pulled off the freeway for a bit, just to get out of sight of the SOB. Sharlynn was shaking she was so pissed off.
Other than that though, it was a really nice day! LOL LOL!
October is the apple festival, but it was not too crowded as we went on a Friday. Did some shopping, and some nice wine tasting in the Witch Creek Winery tasting room, right on the main drag. Bought their merlot and their port, which is quite good. We had nice lunch at the Juilan Grille, and then had apple pie in one of the main shops---warm fresh apple pie a la mode...SOOOOO good. We bought a whole pie for my mom and dad, and then started home, coming through Ramona and Lakeside.
It was all a very pleasant day, very mellow and nice...until---yes, there is an until---
We cruising a long, getting close to Interstate 8, and we are in the fast lane, when all of sudden this ASSHOLE (and I don't use expletive lightly)cuts in front of us with inches to spare, because he is in back of a truck...no signal, nothing. Well, we are waving our arms, not giving finger signals yet. So Sharlynn is inevitably right on his ass, because it is so close, and he flips us off. As she tries to move into the next lane, he cuts in front of us for no reason but to cause problems, and he is laughing about it...literally, he cut us off with feet to spare. So he thinks it is funny to put peoples lives at risk? Probably so did the guys earlier this week who was speeding and killed a 19 year old, 7-month pregnant woman in San Diego.
You don't fuck with people's lives.
We actually pulled off the freeway for a bit, just to get out of sight of the SOB. Sharlynn was shaking she was so pissed off.
Other than that though, it was a really nice day! LOL LOL!
Saturday, October 25, 2008
TV Update
As I suspected, after three episodes of Life on Mars I am dropping from my viewing list. The third episode was the best yet, but it was too little too late I am afraid. And I really thought I would like this show a lot. Good premise, great cast (including Lisa Bonet, who I have had a thing for every since the Cosby Show, and especially since Angel Heart) and good production values. But, I could never get into it. So, it is gone.
Other shows that are on the bubble---Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles and Samantha Who? (which I neglected to review at its premier).
The good news is that 30 Rock starts again next week. One of my favorite shows, this Tina Fey creation makes me laugh. It is hilarious. And so smart--what would you expect from the amazing Ms. Fey?
Other shows that are on the bubble---Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles and Samantha Who? (which I neglected to review at its premier).
The good news is that 30 Rock starts again next week. One of my favorite shows, this Tina Fey creation makes me laugh. It is hilarious. And so smart--what would you expect from the amazing Ms. Fey?
Friday, October 24, 2008
Movie-Beaufort
Beaufort (2007) was a Oscar nominee for best foreign film at last year's Oscar awards. The Israeli movie centers on a fort held by Israeli tropps in Lebanon, a fort that was won in by historic and heroic feats many years before the film takes place. But the fort is to be abandonded now---a victim to political and military ennui that wants to discontinue the fight to keep it under Israeli control.
So the troops there are abandoned too, even before the physical leaving of the fort, they feel as if they should not be there...men keep dying in Hezzbolah mortar attacks, and they know that they are giving the fort up soon...they just want to leave. But orders are orders, so their CO has to keep trying.
This was a good movie, but not great. It was a bit too long, and could have used a tighter script. Though it portrayed the feeling of abandonment well, it also diverged into other plotlines that were not fully explored or needed.
Beaufort is a sad film in many ways, and as such is not exciting watching, but it is powerful in its own way, and thoughtful too.
So the troops there are abandoned too, even before the physical leaving of the fort, they feel as if they should not be there...men keep dying in Hezzbolah mortar attacks, and they know that they are giving the fort up soon...they just want to leave. But orders are orders, so their CO has to keep trying.
This was a good movie, but not great. It was a bit too long, and could have used a tighter script. Though it portrayed the feeling of abandonment well, it also diverged into other plotlines that were not fully explored or needed.
Beaufort is a sad film in many ways, and as such is not exciting watching, but it is powerful in its own way, and thoughtful too.
Monday, October 20, 2008
The Andrew Awards-Best Documentary
It has been a bit since I have been able to comment on another category in last year's Oscars. But with Taxi to the Dark Side, I have completed all the contenders for best documentary.
This was an excellent group of movies. The winner of the Oscar was Taxi to the Dark Side, which was superb. And I can see why it won. The other contenders were: No End in Sight, a look at how we ended up in Iraq, why we blew it and how bad it is; Operation Homecoming, Writing the Wartime Experience, a movie I was disappointed in, as it chronicled soldiers writings from Iraq; Sicko, Michael Moore's funny and scary look at America's health care industry; and War/Dance, about a group of war orphaned children in Africa, competing in a national dance contest.
As I said, Operation Homecoming was disappointing...a great idea, but not skillfully rendered. And War/Dance was excellent, but ultimately did not have the importance of the other movies. That brings me to Sicko. Michael Moore is great, and he did another great movie...and in many years, this would have been the winner. But with two movies left, this did not quite make it.
So Taxi to the Dark Side or No End in Sight?
The winner of the Andrew Award for best documentary is----It is a tie!!!! No End in Sight and Taxi to the Dark Side. Sadly, these documentaries show some of the worst of my country. It is sad that these even had to be made. But they are powerful films, dealing with difficult issues. And they highlight the failure of this administration to do just about anything right, and also show how they deliberately did wrong.
One more category to go...Best Foreign Film. I have watched two of the nominees (I will review Beaufort soon), and will soon be watching Mongol. But the last two films (Katyn and 12) have not had their release dates announced yet. I hope I get to see them before next years awards.
This was an excellent group of movies. The winner of the Oscar was Taxi to the Dark Side, which was superb. And I can see why it won. The other contenders were: No End in Sight, a look at how we ended up in Iraq, why we blew it and how bad it is; Operation Homecoming, Writing the Wartime Experience, a movie I was disappointed in, as it chronicled soldiers writings from Iraq; Sicko, Michael Moore's funny and scary look at America's health care industry; and War/Dance, about a group of war orphaned children in Africa, competing in a national dance contest.
As I said, Operation Homecoming was disappointing...a great idea, but not skillfully rendered. And War/Dance was excellent, but ultimately did not have the importance of the other movies. That brings me to Sicko. Michael Moore is great, and he did another great movie...and in many years, this would have been the winner. But with two movies left, this did not quite make it.
So Taxi to the Dark Side or No End in Sight?
The winner of the Andrew Award for best documentary is----It is a tie!!!! No End in Sight and Taxi to the Dark Side. Sadly, these documentaries show some of the worst of my country. It is sad that these even had to be made. But they are powerful films, dealing with difficult issues. And they highlight the failure of this administration to do just about anything right, and also show how they deliberately did wrong.
One more category to go...Best Foreign Film. I have watched two of the nominees (I will review Beaufort soon), and will soon be watching Mongol. But the last two films (Katyn and 12) have not had their release dates announced yet. I hope I get to see them before next years awards.
Movie-Taxi to the Dark Side
This winner of the 2007 Oscar for best documentary is disturbing and disgusting, but important for Americans to watch. Important because it shows us the consequences of the actions we allow our government to take.
The title derives from a taxi driver, and man in the wrong place, arrested as a suspect in the missile attack in Afghanistan. He was not arrested by American authorities, but by Afghan warlords who were later themselves implicated in many attacks on Americans. These warlords would then arrest people and turn them over to us saying there was evidence these innocents were bad people. The taxi driver was then imprisoned at Bagram and killed by American soldiers. The "dark side" of the title comes from Vice-President Dick Cheney, who is shown saying that we have to go to the dark side to fight these people.
And Taxi to the Dark Side examines what the dark side means. And it is disgusting and anti-American. It would not a stretch to say that the actions of our government are on a par with the worst dictators on earth. The torture that was condoned and encouraged, the dehumanization of people that were totally innocent of wrong-doing. It is deeply disturbing that we did this---because America is a country by the people and for the people. We are all complicit.
I am sure I will now be on some sort of watch list for writing this, but there will be a special place in hell for Dick Cheney and his warmongering friends...Gonzalez and the like. They are the worst of us...and they tried to make us all like them.
This movie needs to be watched...as I said...it is disturbing...deeply disturbing. But if we want to do better, if we want to be a better people and a better country, we need to know our sins. What we allowed is a sin, and this movie throws our sin in our face. Will we be better, or will we follow the road that Cheney is paving...to hell?
The title derives from a taxi driver, and man in the wrong place, arrested as a suspect in the missile attack in Afghanistan. He was not arrested by American authorities, but by Afghan warlords who were later themselves implicated in many attacks on Americans. These warlords would then arrest people and turn them over to us saying there was evidence these innocents were bad people. The taxi driver was then imprisoned at Bagram and killed by American soldiers. The "dark side" of the title comes from Vice-President Dick Cheney, who is shown saying that we have to go to the dark side to fight these people.
And Taxi to the Dark Side examines what the dark side means. And it is disgusting and anti-American. It would not a stretch to say that the actions of our government are on a par with the worst dictators on earth. The torture that was condoned and encouraged, the dehumanization of people that were totally innocent of wrong-doing. It is deeply disturbing that we did this---because America is a country by the people and for the people. We are all complicit.
I am sure I will now be on some sort of watch list for writing this, but there will be a special place in hell for Dick Cheney and his warmongering friends...Gonzalez and the like. They are the worst of us...and they tried to make us all like them.
This movie needs to be watched...as I said...it is disturbing...deeply disturbing. But if we want to do better, if we want to be a better people and a better country, we need to know our sins. What we allowed is a sin, and this movie throws our sin in our face. Will we be better, or will we follow the road that Cheney is paving...to hell?
Huntington Beach
We drove up to Huntington Beach to visit our friend Paul. His girl was out of town, but we met his pets on our visit, and took him out to lunch.
We went to downtown Huntington, and though I forget the name of the restaurant, we sat at an outside table in a typically casual eatery. We ordered drinks and commenced with our fun for the day...namely, people watching. And downtown Huntington Beach is a mecca for people watching. And of course, when I say people, I mean hot chicas. I mean, why mince words.
We were next to the sidewalk, with Sharlynn and Paul facing one way, and me the other, so we would alert the opposite side of the table if there was some interesting eye candy moving this way..."Wait for it...."
The drinks were nice and the food was good, but the atmosphere was the best. Convivial and funny, the three of us then commenced to walk down to the pier, where we came upon a faux Batman and Snow White handing out fliers. While the day was warm enough, the wind on the pier was quite chilly and strong, and poor Snow Whites teeny skirt kept flapping almost up to her navel. Being infantile at best, we enjoyed that.
The walk back was just as fun and we stopped for another drink at a bar where the people watching was just as fun.
It was good to see Paul, see Beans again, and meet Frankie, Ash, Manja and Noonan. And we were sorry we missed Wendy, but we were sure we would come up again for a fun people watching day with friends.
We went to downtown Huntington, and though I forget the name of the restaurant, we sat at an outside table in a typically casual eatery. We ordered drinks and commenced with our fun for the day...namely, people watching. And downtown Huntington Beach is a mecca for people watching. And of course, when I say people, I mean hot chicas. I mean, why mince words.
We were next to the sidewalk, with Sharlynn and Paul facing one way, and me the other, so we would alert the opposite side of the table if there was some interesting eye candy moving this way..."Wait for it...."
The drinks were nice and the food was good, but the atmosphere was the best. Convivial and funny, the three of us then commenced to walk down to the pier, where we came upon a faux Batman and Snow White handing out fliers. While the day was warm enough, the wind on the pier was quite chilly and strong, and poor Snow Whites teeny skirt kept flapping almost up to her navel. Being infantile at best, we enjoyed that.
The walk back was just as fun and we stopped for another drink at a bar where the people watching was just as fun.
It was good to see Paul, see Beans again, and meet Frankie, Ash, Manja and Noonan. And we were sorry we missed Wendy, but we were sure we would come up again for a fun people watching day with friends.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Quick TV Update
Life on Mars will probably not be added to my regular viewing. It is OK, with a great cast, and a unique story line, but just does not put it together well. Tries to be too much. Will give it one more episode, but I am strongly leaning against it.
Favorite shows right now. Chuck, Pushing Daisies (which rebounded nicely after a first episode I did not like too much), My Name is Earl and The Office and Dirty Sexy Money.
Looking forward to the return of 30 Rock at the end of the month.
Favorite shows right now. Chuck, Pushing Daisies (which rebounded nicely after a first episode I did not like too much), My Name is Earl and The Office and Dirty Sexy Money.
Looking forward to the return of 30 Rock at the end of the month.
Restaurant-Lanna, 2nd Time
My opinion of Lanna got even better on my second visit. This Thai restaurant at the cusp of PB is really good, now my favorite Thai place in the city.
We went there with my mother-in-law for her birthday. For starters we had the Golden Triangles, crunchy flour tortillas filled with seasoned ground chicken and potato with sweet & sour sauce. Really good! We each ordered a main dish and shared them all: Thai Basil Pork, slightly spicy and nicely prepared; Tropical Duck with crispy tender duck over colorful fruity sauce with mango, pineapple, bell pepper, onion. this one was probably the favorite at the table; and the Lanna Fitness a steamed fresh fish fillet with shredded ginger root, carrot, green onion in light soy sauce that was delicate and excellent.
The service is excellent and the food is very fresh and well prepared. The menu is big but not tome-like offering varied and flavorful choices. This place is really good.
We went there with my mother-in-law for her birthday. For starters we had the Golden Triangles, crunchy flour tortillas filled with seasoned ground chicken and potato with sweet & sour sauce. Really good! We each ordered a main dish and shared them all: Thai Basil Pork, slightly spicy and nicely prepared; Tropical Duck with crispy tender duck over colorful fruity sauce with mango, pineapple, bell pepper, onion. this one was probably the favorite at the table; and the Lanna Fitness a steamed fresh fish fillet with shredded ginger root, carrot, green onion in light soy sauce that was delicate and excellent.
The service is excellent and the food is very fresh and well prepared. The menu is big but not tome-like offering varied and flavorful choices. This place is really good.
Book-The Red Smith Reader
Red Smith was one of the most read sports columnists in the country, from the 1940s-the late 70s. He won the Pulitzer Prize for his work, and I regard him not only as a good sports writer, but a great essayist.
The Red Smith Reader collects about 130 of his essays, on many subjects. And while i could have used fewer columns on horse racing, Smith has a style all his own. At his best he is poetic and his prose sings. But he also has a sharp tongue that reflect his opinions. Some of his best columns take shots at Olympic officials, such as when they continued the games in '72 after the killings of several of the Israeli team in the Olympic Park. He takes them rightly to task as they try to justify their decision by saying the "political" events should not interfere with games.
He also turns his pointed pen on college officials and how they use and abuse student athletes, preparing them for neither life without athletics nor life in pro sports. They want to profit from these young athletes, but give little back in return. He finds the hypocrisy palpable.
Red Smith was at his best talking about people. His columns about fishing with his son, and later his grandson are quiet and lyrical. In these columns he is as good as any essayist he looked up to, including E. B. White.
Red Smith was also great friends with San Diego's Jack Murphy, and nice local connection.
For decades Smith produced 7 columns a week, a tremendous amount of output. He was a craftsman, working hard on every column. The works shows.
The Red Smith Reader collects about 130 of his essays, on many subjects. And while i could have used fewer columns on horse racing, Smith has a style all his own. At his best he is poetic and his prose sings. But he also has a sharp tongue that reflect his opinions. Some of his best columns take shots at Olympic officials, such as when they continued the games in '72 after the killings of several of the Israeli team in the Olympic Park. He takes them rightly to task as they try to justify their decision by saying the "political" events should not interfere with games.
He also turns his pointed pen on college officials and how they use and abuse student athletes, preparing them for neither life without athletics nor life in pro sports. They want to profit from these young athletes, but give little back in return. He finds the hypocrisy palpable.
Red Smith was at his best talking about people. His columns about fishing with his son, and later his grandson are quiet and lyrical. In these columns he is as good as any essayist he looked up to, including E. B. White.
Red Smith was also great friends with San Diego's Jack Murphy, and nice local connection.
For decades Smith produced 7 columns a week, a tremendous amount of output. He was a craftsman, working hard on every column. The works shows.
Movie-2006 Academy Award Short Films Collection
I have mentioned before how much I enjoy these collections of short films that have been nominated for the Oscar. Until recently we have heard of these films during the ceremony, but they have not been available for the general audience. And I ma glad that has changed.
The 2006 Academy Award Short Films Collection includes all of the live action film as well as the animated ones (the Extras has some of the animated collection). The films are from all over the world and are imaginative and often quite funny.
The winner of the live action film was the uproarious West Bank Story. A take off on musicals in general and West Side Story in particular, this film pits the owners and workers of two fast food restaurants, the Kosher King run by Israelis, and the Hummus Hut, run by Palestinians, against each other. But Fatima and David fall in love. It is laugh out loud funny...the songs and the music are perfect (I loved the fiddler on the roof of the Kosher King), and the whole story is subversive and if it was not so funny, could be offensive.
My other favorite was "eramos pocos" from Spain. A very surprising story wonderfully acted. All the live action films were good, one from Norway-Canada, one from Australia and one from Senegal (made in conjunction with UNICEF).
The animated features are always interesting, though I did not like the Oscar winner, A Danish Poet as much as A Gentleman's Duel, The Guidedog (which is just funny) and One Rat Short. But I enjoyed getting to watch every one.
I highly recommend all the collections of Oscar nominated short films that are out there. I only have last years collection to catch up on. The offer an aspect of film-making that does not always get the acclaim and the recognition it deserves.
The 2006 Academy Award Short Films Collection includes all of the live action film as well as the animated ones (the Extras has some of the animated collection). The films are from all over the world and are imaginative and often quite funny.
The winner of the live action film was the uproarious West Bank Story. A take off on musicals in general and West Side Story in particular, this film pits the owners and workers of two fast food restaurants, the Kosher King run by Israelis, and the Hummus Hut, run by Palestinians, against each other. But Fatima and David fall in love. It is laugh out loud funny...the songs and the music are perfect (I loved the fiddler on the roof of the Kosher King), and the whole story is subversive and if it was not so funny, could be offensive.
My other favorite was "eramos pocos" from Spain. A very surprising story wonderfully acted. All the live action films were good, one from Norway-Canada, one from Australia and one from Senegal (made in conjunction with UNICEF).
The animated features are always interesting, though I did not like the Oscar winner, A Danish Poet as much as A Gentleman's Duel, The Guidedog (which is just funny) and One Rat Short. But I enjoyed getting to watch every one.
I highly recommend all the collections of Oscar nominated short films that are out there. I only have last years collection to catch up on. The offer an aspect of film-making that does not always get the acclaim and the recognition it deserves.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
TV-TV 2008 Season Premiers- Life On Mars
Life on Mars is the second of the new shows I am trying this season. A cop drama with a twist. Starring Jason O'Mara (who Sharlynn says is pretty easy on the eyes) as a cop named Sam Tyler, the series throws this twist in. While searching for a serial killer Sam gets walloped by a speeding vehicle. he wakes up to find himself in 1973...still a cop, but with no idea what the hell is going on.
Sam makes his way to the precinct were his ID says he works and is surrounded but a great 1970's set. And the cast with him at this time is very good too. Michael Imperioli, Harvey Keitel and Gretchen Mol all a fine actors.
So the show has great sets, great actors a pretty good premise (and a fantastic
70's soundtrack)---why did I not think it is great?
First of all, there was some poor writing in the scenes set in 2008. The cops haul in this serial killer suspect and the guys lawyer tosses them a DVD from a casino showing the suspect gambling at the time of one of the murders. And the cops just accept it, a judge just accepts it and lets him go free? C'mon---like they would not take days investigating this coming from a defense lawyer. Turns out, it is not the suspect, but his twin brother, and the cops are surprised. Really? They have been investigating this guys for awhile, and they don't know he has a twin? Not at all plausible.
It got better as they went back in time, but while I am intrigued a bit (and will watch 3 episodes before I decide) it is not quite doing it for me. It seems over done, the cops in 1973 almost a vigilantes---like there were not Miranda rights back then.
And for me, I remember 1973. And while the sets were great, the immersion is overdone. Where ever Sam walks in the streets there are flower children crowding the sidewalks and hippies all over. Again, really? You couldn't swing a cat and not run into a 70's stereotype on those streets.
I will update after three episodes, but based on #1, I am not sure I will continue on this trip.
Sam makes his way to the precinct were his ID says he works and is surrounded but a great 1970's set. And the cast with him at this time is very good too. Michael Imperioli, Harvey Keitel and Gretchen Mol all a fine actors.
So the show has great sets, great actors a pretty good premise (and a fantastic
70's soundtrack)---why did I not think it is great?
First of all, there was some poor writing in the scenes set in 2008. The cops haul in this serial killer suspect and the guys lawyer tosses them a DVD from a casino showing the suspect gambling at the time of one of the murders. And the cops just accept it, a judge just accepts it and lets him go free? C'mon---like they would not take days investigating this coming from a defense lawyer. Turns out, it is not the suspect, but his twin brother, and the cops are surprised. Really? They have been investigating this guys for awhile, and they don't know he has a twin? Not at all plausible.
It got better as they went back in time, but while I am intrigued a bit (and will watch 3 episodes before I decide) it is not quite doing it for me. It seems over done, the cops in 1973 almost a vigilantes---like there were not Miranda rights back then.
And for me, I remember 1973. And while the sets were great, the immersion is overdone. Where ever Sam walks in the streets there are flower children crowding the sidewalks and hippies all over. Again, really? You couldn't swing a cat and not run into a 70's stereotype on those streets.
I will update after three episodes, but based on #1, I am not sure I will continue on this trip.
TV-TV 2008 Season Premiers- CSI
I was anticipating the premier of CSI with great trepidation. Because with the death of Warrick Brown, two of the original five team members have left the show. And the death of this character will now precipitate the departure of another character, Gil Grissom, played wonderfully by William Petersen.
The show was very good. Jorja Fox reappeared as Sara Sidle, to be with the rest of the team as they tried to find the killer. I actually was surprised they found him so quickly. I expected this to take a few episodes.
But this will be my last season watching the show. The character of Gil Grissom was what gave this show its originality, and is why I cannot abide the other two CSIs. It is about the work of a scientist who uses science to solve crimes. He is not a cop, and does not act like one. With William Petersen's departure later in the season, that aspect of the show is gone. As will be 3/5ths of the original team.
While I know they have Laurence Fishburn waiting in the wings, I don't want to see the new CSI. The remaining cast members are OK...I love Marg Helgenberger (have I mentioned I met her---yummy) and she is fine. But Nick Stokes has always been my least favorite character in the show.
So CSI will be off my list next season. While the premier is strong, I don't like the changes they have made (and are still making) so I will be a consumer and stop watching.
The show was very good. Jorja Fox reappeared as Sara Sidle, to be with the rest of the team as they tried to find the killer. I actually was surprised they found him so quickly. I expected this to take a few episodes.
But this will be my last season watching the show. The character of Gil Grissom was what gave this show its originality, and is why I cannot abide the other two CSIs. It is about the work of a scientist who uses science to solve crimes. He is not a cop, and does not act like one. With William Petersen's departure later in the season, that aspect of the show is gone. As will be 3/5ths of the original team.
While I know they have Laurence Fishburn waiting in the wings, I don't want to see the new CSI. The remaining cast members are OK...I love Marg Helgenberger (have I mentioned I met her---yummy) and she is fine. But Nick Stokes has always been my least favorite character in the show.
So CSI will be off my list next season. While the premier is strong, I don't like the changes they have made (and are still making) so I will be a consumer and stop watching.
Movie-Darkness
OK...I shoulda listened. All the movie critics, and all the reviewers on Netflix said this was a bad one. Did I listen? Noooooo.
I thought, well, the main stars are good. I like Anna Paquin, and I REALLY like Lena Olin---how bad could this be? I shoulda listened.
Darkness is bad. You may be fooled by the first 30 minutes or so...but don't be. The plot is terrible...a playoff of The Shining...big old house, slightly crazy dad. But the plot loses it from there. Stupid characterizations, especially of Lena Olin, playing the mother in this family. It is beyond belief stupid.
Anna Paquin acts like she is in a sixth grade play. Terrible.
I heard that they delayed the release of this film onto DVD because they knew it stunk.
Let me tell you...don't be tempted. This a bad movie. Do not rent this film. Don't do what I did...I really shoulda listened.
I thought, well, the main stars are good. I like Anna Paquin, and I REALLY like Lena Olin---how bad could this be? I shoulda listened.
Darkness is bad. You may be fooled by the first 30 minutes or so...but don't be. The plot is terrible...a playoff of The Shining...big old house, slightly crazy dad. But the plot loses it from there. Stupid characterizations, especially of Lena Olin, playing the mother in this family. It is beyond belief stupid.
Anna Paquin acts like she is in a sixth grade play. Terrible.
I heard that they delayed the release of this film onto DVD because they knew it stunk.
Let me tell you...don't be tempted. This a bad movie. Do not rent this film. Don't do what I did...I really shoulda listened.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
3 Magazines
National Geographic ( October) was quite good, with a great cover story about Neanderthals: The Other Humans. One amazing thing is that they have been able to extract DNA from some recent fossil discoveries. What if they could clone that? It turns out this species was not nearly as dumb as they have often been portrayed, and it still remains a mystery as to why we survived and they did not. All the other articles were good too, especially the article about India's new highway system.
Playboy (October) was a standard issue. Two pieces especially stood out, the article about the use of Adderall on college campuses, and the conclusion of the Noir novel by Denis Johnson, "Nobody Move." A great conclusion to this four part novel, it of course ended fast and furious.
Zoonooz (October) was pretty standard (which is not really a compliment for this publication). The redesign is coming in January, and I hope it looks and reads a lot better.
Playboy (October) was a standard issue. Two pieces especially stood out, the article about the use of Adderall on college campuses, and the conclusion of the Noir novel by Denis Johnson, "Nobody Move." A great conclusion to this four part novel, it of course ended fast and furious.
Zoonooz (October) was pretty standard (which is not really a compliment for this publication). The redesign is coming in January, and I hope it looks and reads a lot better.
Movie-The Golden Compass
Another CGI filled extravaganza, The Golden Compass (2007)created some controversy when it came out, particularly among Catholics who saw it as a criticism of their faith. And while I could see that if a read into it really closely, it was really a children's story brought to life with some moral overtones about dictatorship woven into the story.
Starring Nicole Kidman, and an underused Daniel Craig, The Golden Compass young girl who seems to have a great destiny...she seems a chosen one, a fulfillment of some prophesies, especially since she can read a device that show the truth, the golden compass.
She has various adventures, gathering allies along the way in a fairly typical fantasy quest movie, (a la Lord of the Rings). The CGI is good, not quite as good as the Narnia movies) but not bad at all either. The story line was engaging and the acting was fine (admittedly, acting is not always great in this genre).
I liked the movie fine, but did not really like the abrupt ending and TOTALLY unresolved story lines (with hopes for several sequels I am sure). I think the complaints by religious factions was pretty dumb, and actually made more people see that possible undertone, than if they had just shut up (something most religions find hard to do).
In sequels, they will have to step up the story line and the acting to keep up and to keep the series moving.
Starring Nicole Kidman, and an underused Daniel Craig, The Golden Compass young girl who seems to have a great destiny...she seems a chosen one, a fulfillment of some prophesies, especially since she can read a device that show the truth, the golden compass.
She has various adventures, gathering allies along the way in a fairly typical fantasy quest movie, (a la Lord of the Rings). The CGI is good, not quite as good as the Narnia movies) but not bad at all either. The story line was engaging and the acting was fine (admittedly, acting is not always great in this genre).
I liked the movie fine, but did not really like the abrupt ending and TOTALLY unresolved story lines (with hopes for several sequels I am sure). I think the complaints by religious factions was pretty dumb, and actually made more people see that possible undertone, than if they had just shut up (something most religions find hard to do).
In sequels, they will have to step up the story line and the acting to keep up and to keep the series moving.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Movie-Zero Day
Zero Day (2003) was pretty praised by many critics. A movie that looks like it was shot by two teenagers, recording their own actions---their actions being the planning of a Columbine-like attack on their local high school.
While I think the movie is going for shocking, to me it bordered on arrogant, and self-satisfied. The POV camera movement was just irritating and cried out saying "look at me, I am an Indie film." The story, which could have had some relevant message seemed to wallow in the "there is no explanation realm" of these things just happen, it it felt to me like a complete and total cop-out.
The knee jerk reaction that there is no way to understand the motivation of anyone doing this act is to shirk any responsibility; from parents, from teachers and from our violent laden society. There are reasons people commit violence...it takes something deeper than this movie to find it maybe, but to say that there are no reasons we can understand---not condone at all, but understand---is also to say that we cannot change things.
While Zero Day tries to do something a bit original, it sells away that creativity by taking a stupid approach, a simplistic approach, to a complicated issue. I actually am sorry that I watched this movie.
While I think the movie is going for shocking, to me it bordered on arrogant, and self-satisfied. The POV camera movement was just irritating and cried out saying "look at me, I am an Indie film." The story, which could have had some relevant message seemed to wallow in the "there is no explanation realm" of these things just happen, it it felt to me like a complete and total cop-out.
The knee jerk reaction that there is no way to understand the motivation of anyone doing this act is to shirk any responsibility; from parents, from teachers and from our violent laden society. There are reasons people commit violence...it takes something deeper than this movie to find it maybe, but to say that there are no reasons we can understand---not condone at all, but understand---is also to say that we cannot change things.
While Zero Day tries to do something a bit original, it sells away that creativity by taking a stupid approach, a simplistic approach, to a complicated issue. I actually am sorry that I watched this movie.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
TV-TV 2008 Season Premiers- Dirty Sexy Money
Dirty Sexy Money is a guilty pleasure. It is a soap opera about a powerful rich family, the Darlings, led by an amazing Donald Sutherland. But to say that the Darlings don't need help, is like saying Sarah Palin is on top of policy issues: It just ain't true!
The Darlings are as in trouble as any family on TV...whether it is the son running for the Senate that has a transsexual mistress, or the daughter that goes from affair to affair, or the twins, who have never had, and never want responsibility. And so the Darlings need a keeper for their zoo. And that keeper is their reluctant family lawyer, Nick, played by Peter Krause.
He does not want to be the family lawyer...his father was before him, and he saw how that destroyed his father's life. But when the Darlings make an offer he can't refuse (millions to charities of his choice) he goes ahead and works for them.
This is escapist TV at some of its best. And the premiere totally lived up to last season, probably surpassing it in its excess. Krause plays Nick very well, and Sutherland is at the top of his game as the head of the Darlings, spinning his webs and oozing with money and mock concern.
Dirty Sexy Money may be the best prime time soap opera since Dallas, and it may be better because of its rich infusion of humor.
Fun TV, that is for sure.
The Darlings are as in trouble as any family on TV...whether it is the son running for the Senate that has a transsexual mistress, or the daughter that goes from affair to affair, or the twins, who have never had, and never want responsibility. And so the Darlings need a keeper for their zoo. And that keeper is their reluctant family lawyer, Nick, played by Peter Krause.
He does not want to be the family lawyer...his father was before him, and he saw how that destroyed his father's life. But when the Darlings make an offer he can't refuse (millions to charities of his choice) he goes ahead and works for them.
This is escapist TV at some of its best. And the premiere totally lived up to last season, probably surpassing it in its excess. Krause plays Nick very well, and Sutherland is at the top of his game as the head of the Darlings, spinning his webs and oozing with money and mock concern.
Dirty Sexy Money may be the best prime time soap opera since Dallas, and it may be better because of its rich infusion of humor.
Fun TV, that is for sure.
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