I just saw or heard...'s topics - tribe.net

Quantum Of Solace

evil_fish — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 02:44:58 GMT

I just saw quantum of solace.

Another James Bond movie. They managed to hold off for about 20 minutes before the first explosion occured. I was shocked! All in all, it is what it is. In the end, however, he does not get the sultry, sweaty, sexy South American agent. Did I mention that she was dirty and the tanktop fit her kind of tight , mussed up hair and that she was so sweaty that it was almost a wet t-shirt effect...

posted in I just saw or heard... - 1 reply

CSA: Confederate States of America

shamus — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 06:50:42 GMT

CSA: The Confederate States of America
Written and Directed by Kevin Willmott
This film is a mockumentary that postulates an alternate history where the South won the civil war. It’s told as a British documentary that’s being shown on American TV. It’s mostly done as a history of America from the Civil War until present day, but they also cut in commercials that are supposed to be from a present day CSA that still has slavery. There are a lot of big ideas in the film. It tries to put together a plausible timeline of how America would evolve, and mix that in with the severe racism in our near past and that which is just under the surface. The documentary parts draw heavily on the Ken Burns style, and those tend to hit more than they miss, though when it does the parts with a current politician and political campaign, that is stiff. The commercial interruptions mostly miss. They tend to hit the same note of using racist symbols to hawk products, and aren’t that funny. At the end of the film, they show that some of the racist images that they used for products were real and used within the last 50 years. I thought that was obvious from the commercials, but if you didn’t know about Coon chicken
The film has the South winning the war by getting help from Europe and winning Gettysburg. Lincoln was ousted and exiled to Canada. Harriet Tubman was hanged. Jefferson Davis moved into the white house and took over the US. When I first read about the premise of the movie, that’s not what I expected. I thought it would be a separate CSA co-existing with the North. But that would be a radically different history. CSA brings America through much of the same events in the 20th century history, just tweaked. The Davis Plan for re-unification re-introduces slavery to the whole of the US, and the North goes along with it. None of that seems likely, but it’s interesting to think about it, and it’s trying to underscore the point that Willmott is making that even in a free US, the racism was so severe that people would have gone back to slave owning. The abolitionist intellectuals flee to Canada. In the westward expansion, the Chinese are made slaves. Jews are allowed to stay, but given a reservation on Long Island. Some of it is clever. Some of it is over the top. I liked how they drew parallels to US mucking about in central America, and the friendliness with the Nazis.
Some of the commercials are clever. Prozac being sold as a way to keep slaves docile and med school flunk outs going into black medicine. Some just hits obvious targets, like a COPS for runaway slaves. And then there are ads to set up the final bit about how all the racist images were really used, which fall flat.
The production values are all over the place. The documentary bits are very well thought out, from talking heads to primary accounts with voice over, the faked footage, it was all done with a good eye for detail. The commercials looked like something from Amazon Women from the Moon. It is a little jarring. Sure, it’s low budget, but even the cheap sets and acting in some of the fake movies in the documentary party at least are striving for the right tone, and the commercials seem like they were made by someone who doesn’t own a TV.
Ultimately, it’s an interesting film, but it’s a collection of missed opportunities. If Willmott had collaborated with someone with a sharp and strong comedic voice, this could have been something really spectacular. The obvious choice would be Dave Chapelle, who loved to skewer racism and who also liked to use the mockumentary form. Chapelle is hilarious, though, and could have elevated this premise beyond clever ideas and a couple of chuckles, and that would have served the points that it was trying to make much better than the film as it was made.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 1 reply

"When You Are Engulfed in Flames" by David Sedaris on audiobook! YAY!!

Sallysipper — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 19:52:34 GMT

Hey guys,

I just found out you can instantly download David Sedaris' new audiobook: "When You Are Engulfed in Flames" from the book's homepage. I just downloaded it and its friggin hilarious!! Perfect for the morning commute...

Check it out:
http://www.whenyouareengulfedinflames.com/

I also found it at Zipidee:
http://www.zipidee.com/zipidAudioPreview.aspx?aid=15bfff61-40a3-41a1-9344-9dc4ba93cec0

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!!

SS

posted in I just saw or heard... - 1 reply

Into the Wild

fuzzynathan — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 20:37:56 GMT

Wow.

Pretty well done movie on among other things, perception and modern-day dualisms -- nature/evil society, escape/hypocracy, purity/guilt, etc etc etc.

I found it poignant in many ways as I too (like many) travelled in my youth along some of the metaphorical / real routes depicted in this movie. The soundtrack, particularly with some songs by Eddie Vedder, was particularly sharp.

More or less a must see, at least once, imo.

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809698364/info

posted in I just saw or heard... - 1 reply

Nightwatch which I will soon follow with Daywatch

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 23:13:38 GMT

For as long as humanity has existed, there have been "Others" among us; Witches, Vampires and Shape-Shifters who are soldiers in the eternal war between Light and Dark.

Light Others protect mankind from Dark Others, who plague and torture humans.
TAKEN FROM THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
Over 1000-years ago a truce was struck between Gesser, Lord of the Light, and Zavulon, General of Darkness. They agreed that no one could be forced to good or evil, people must choose freely for themselves. To uphold this truce, each side established underground forces; the soldiers of the Light would be called Night Watch, making sure Dark Others obeyed the truce. And the soldiers of Darkness would be called Day Watch, to do the same.

Ancient prophecy foretells that one day the Great One will arrive who can end the threat of an apocalyptic battle between Light and Dark Others. That day has come, and the Great One, once he or she is identified, must choose whether to destroy the light within or battle the surrounding darkness. This choice will reveal mankind's destiny.

Exciting News-There is to be a third movie in 2009

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

Fire on Fire

shamus — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 23:57:17 GMT

Members of the experimental rock outfit Cerberus Shoal, which could be hit or miss, but was fantastic when it hit, gave up most of the electric instruments and formed Fire on Fire, an experimental folk outfit that uses instruments like accordion and dobro. The music has elements of americana and eastern european folk in it, is well played, very catchy.

They have an EP out that's a teaser in front of a full length. It's only available from the record label
http://www.younggodrecords.com/product.asp?P_ID=53

On that page, they have a free MP3 of the song "hangman". Listen to the mp3. If you like the song, buy the EP. It's a fairly representative song, though not nearly my favorite. "amnesia" is fantastic, one of the best songs I've heard in a long time. All five songs are great, and the only thing bad I can say about it is that it's only 30 minutes. Can't wait for the full album.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

Peep Show & The Mitchell And Webb Situation

shamus — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 08:50:24 GMT

These are two British television series that star the same two lead actors, David Mitchell and Robert Webb.

If you haven't seen the series, you may have seen them in the UK version of the PC/Mac ads, which are out on the net, and funnier than the ones that run in the US. Webb was also one of the nudists (along with Olivia Coleman, who is in both shows as well) in the wedding mockumentary Confetti, which had a small run in the US a couple of years ago. Peep Show seasons 1 and 2 have run on BBC America, and season 1 is out on DVD for region 1.

In Peep Show, Mitchell and Webb play an odd couple of guys in their late 20s. Webb plays Jer, a complete fuckwit who fancies himself a musician and is selfish and a terrible slob. Mitchell plays Mark, an extremely neurotic guy who works for a bank and has a horrible crush on a coworker, Sophie (Coleman). The series is often shot from the point of view of the characters, and you can hear their thoughts in voice over. The thoughts are usually horrible, horrible things. The humor is along the lines of the british Office, putting them in horribly uncomfortable situations and drawing them out painfully, with moments of bizzare absurdity. For example, the episode where Mark finally gets a friend, but finds out that he's a racist, so he decides to drop him, but is talked back into befriending him again because Jer needs an oboe player for this honda commercial music he's making.

Like the office, peep show needs to be watched in order. I think it's one of the funniest damn things I've ever seen. Better even than the Office. If you have a region free DVD player, you can order DVDs from amazon.uk, and I think that Scarecrow in seattle rents them. They are also available via bittorrent.

Though mitchell and webb are the lead actors, they don't write Peep Show. They have had a series of shows on BBC Radio and BBC TV that they write, and they are sketch based comedies. Mitchell and Webb situation is one of those, and it's quite good. The sketches are shot on film and they keep coming back to certain situations and themes within a show, but there's no overriding plot like with Upright Citizen's Brigade. It's definitely more hit and miss than peep show, and it's not as consistently hilarious as UCB, but there's a lot to like about it. I got it on torrent. I'd suggest grabbing all 4 seasons of Peep Show, then turning to mitchell and webb situation when you've run out and can't wait for season 5.

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Atonement

fuzzynathan — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 17:57:26 GMT

What a great movie !

Must see, in my opinion................

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When Nietzsche Wept

fuzzynathan — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 17:53:52 GMT

I saw on DVD a few weeks ago, When Nietzsche Wept.

Not one of the best movies I have ever seen, still, a movie I very much got into such that I watched it again the very next night.

Back in my teens I was a big Doors fan, read a Jim Morrison bio, which led me to Nietzsche, as Jim Morrison apparently read and lived a bit of Nietzsche this and that. At 17-18 I didn't even really know what philosophy was, and, well, particularly at that age, reading Nietzsche was like having many tectonical shifts to me and my body/psyche.

...There is plenty in what Nietzsche has said/written that I have not subscribed to, but I do return to this or that volume I have of his from time-to-time. All the same, not really knowing much about the person, his life, and history, I never saw really anything that was attractive enough for me to want to look more into his life.

And then I saw When Nietzsche Wept.

Although it is a movie based on a novel, therefore a work which is a piece of fiction, it nonetheless takes together what it seems to be some very important and factual points in a period of his life, and tries to bring a little more light as to the man and his views.

Probably the single most important fact that I did not know about, and which this movie brought to light, was a relationship Nietzsche had with a very notable woman of the time, Lou Salome. ...Suffice it to say, rather than outline any more of the stories here, I highly recommend anyone who is familiar with Nietzsche to see the movie, while I leave you with this photo, a photo I knew nothing about until this movie, a photo staged apparently by Nietzsche that nevertheless sheds a tremendous amount of light on the man who is otherwise widely and seriously misunderstood:

http://people.tribe.net/fuzzynathan/photos/3c0fefde-17b4-4254-b91a-0ea8313fcbbb

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

Eastern Promises & No Country For Old Men

shamus — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 08:16:36 GMT

This past week, I caught these two flicks that are high up on the year end lists. Eastern Promises on DVD and Old Men in the theater.

They come from directors that have been my favorites for over 20 years. If I had to pick my top ten favorite films, I'd say that Coen Brothers and Cronenberg are likely the only directors who have more than one film on the list. The former for Miller's Crossing and Lebowski, and the latter for Naked Lunch and eXistenZ. I go see maybe two movies a year in the theater. They have to be ones that I just can't wait for, or ones where the big screen cinematography is gonna be so good that I have to see it on the big screen. Films from Coen Brothers and Cronenberg generally fall into the must see category. in 2007, I saw three films in the theater. The Simpsons movie, Blade Runner, and No Country For Old Men. I saw Spider in the theaters, though I managed to avoid the last couple of Coen Brothers movies, which just didn't seem that appealing. I didn't see Eastern Promises in the theater because it was playing at shitty theaters, and it was hard to get motivation. It's great to have events from both sets of filmmakers in the same year.

Besides being from directors I love, both are films that look to be within a genre, but carry a lot of surprises so that when you think you know what to expect, you're taken in a different direction. Both films are also plot driven, so I won't go into any spoilers.

Eastern Promises has a London midwife (Naomi Watts) who is trying to find the family of a teenager who died during childbirth. This gets her involved with the Russian mafia. Viggo mortensen plays an up and comer in the mafia who ends up getting involved. Viggo's performance is outstanding. The pacing of the film creates a lot of suspense. I think this was better than History of Violence. I should not have rented the DVD, I should have bought it.

No Country For Old Men is faster paced than Eastern Promises, and it seems to be more straightforward about its genre, neo-noir. There's a suitcase full of money, and everyone wants it. That was the premise of the first three John Dahl movies, Fargo, A Simple Plan. It's noir in a nutshell. It starts when a hunter comes across the no-survivor scene of a drug shootout. The hunter's reaction to the money is unlike what I've seen in other movies, and these surprises in how the characters react continues to delight. The caper plot is framed by a weary cop, another noir staple, but again with a new angle.

Both movies have incredible cinematography, dialog, and acting. Viggo and Javier Bardem both deserve best actor nods. Bardem's killer is one of the creepiest killers ever brought to the screen. And viggo doesn't even seem like the same guy as in A History of Violence.

Both of these movies are must see. I think I liked Eastern Promises a little better. That's not to knock Old Men, I just really loved Eastern Promises.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 1 reply

Feist

fuzzynathan — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 21:15:09 GMT

Finally heard Feist for the first time a few months ago on Saturday Night Live, oddly during a one or two week time when I began seeing / hearing the name pop up here or there.

Another artist that will grow on me, love it!

Everyone else like them?

Here is one video:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lqVKOilZO2A&feature=related

posted in I just saw or heard... - 2 replies

Cold War, CIA,...

fuzzynathan — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 20:04:48 GMT

Over recent months, I have seen The Good Shephered a few times, Thirteen Days, as well as the tv production of The Company.

I'm not sure what it fully is yet, beyond the affects of ideas/ideology, but Cold War history, and particularly as it involves espionage, has sort of held my attention in these months, and therefore these movies have attracted my attention.

I am looking for other recommendations for really good, top-notch, any-recent? productions in this genre, but, otherwise I consider all of these films very much to much recommended:

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808716032/info

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1804364760/info

http://www.tv.com/the-company/show/73152/summary.html

posted in I just saw or heard... - 1 reply

Rome

fuzzynathan — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 20:54:55 GMT

I studied a lot re Rome and its history, and found the HBO miniseries generally to be a VERY well done production on the history of the republic during its fall. There of course is some fictional take to it, but I found the series to be far more realistic than much of the one-sided accounts typical with history written in order to contrast people and happenings into glorious/infamous relief. All the better that it was co-produced by BBC in Rome with abundant Italian expertise...

A must see in my opinion for those interested in history.

http://www.hbo.com/rome/

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

Exotica

fuzzynathan — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 20:25:05 GMT

Interesting movie, on erotica, obsession, love, lack thereof, and pathology, though some tracks from the soundtrack are more memorable. Definitely needed another at-least half hour to develop the story...

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1800235947/info

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The Hottest State

fuzzynathan — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 20:20:16 GMT

Although it doesn't seem to be getting many great reviews, I liked this movie. Not because it is a movie of "young romance or lack-thereof, heartbreak, and other movie tediums," but because it does seem like a fairly well done attempt at standing all of that on its head to fall in 2 hours.

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809416893/info

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The Dreamers

fuzzynathan — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 19:57:33 GMT

One of the few movies I have seen in the past few months, that really stands out for its style is a film by Bernardo Bertolluci called The Dreamers.

A very interesting different view of what life was sort of like in the 60's, but from a Parisian point of view.

I'm not much for reviewing things extensively, but suffice it to say, this is a movie that I will watch a few times over the years, perhaps learning more about it over a long period of time, and therefore my views of it may mature over the years.

For now, I consider it a must see, though, upon seeing it in a video store the first few times, I was put off by its dust jacket -- the dust jacket says nothing at all of the story -- ignore it:

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808466532/info

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

Smoke City

fuzzynathan — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 19:49:46 GMT

While dong some googling on the band Noonday Underground, I came across another band with several songs I also really dig -- I love lounge music of many varieties!

Smoke City

Highly recommend checking out a variety of their tracks, a somewhat broad range of sounds:

http://www.last.fm/music/Smoke+City

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

Noonday Underground

fuzzynathan — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 19:37:18 GMT

I found out about Noonday Underground through a song of theirs (Boy Like A Timebomb) in the closing credits of the movie of Interview.

Loved it right off the bat!

Here's is a video of another track of theirs, London, though I prefer the song by itself -- i.e. without the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxkW2L_h1NU

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

Interview

fuzzynathan — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 19:19:16 GMT

>>>So, I finally have some time to review some of the movies I have seen in recent months:

I saw Interview on DVD last week, and generally liked it, though I would have much preferred it had been longer, particularly because I felt the characters and their, as it were, relationship, needed more development to make it more palpable.

Generally a movie of one kind of journalism meeting one kind of celebrity, and the conflicts and developments which ensue. Not much further depth than that, unfortunately, though there are some bits here and there of novel views of people.

What I recall most of the movie was a musical group and song (Boy Like A Timebomb) in the closing credits, Noonday Underground, which I REALLY dig!!!!!!!!!!!

See other thread on Noonday Underground:

Overall re the movie, Recommended:

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809423941/info

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

Little Athens

fuzzynathan — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 19:12:19 GMT

So, I finally have some time to review some of the movies I have seen in recent months:

Last night I saw LIttle Athens.

Liked it ! Pretty good indie movie of life in a small Arizona town for 18-22 year olds, a movie I could relate to in some ways, being caught up in a lot of useless crap, and, at that point, not really yet knowing any better.

Recommended:

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809748599/info

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

The King

shamus — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 02:38:38 GMT

Dir by James Marsh and starring William Hurt and Gael Garcia Bernal

Marsh, who made Wisconsin Death Trip, which I still really want to see, created a very well directed, incredibly strange film. I didn’t hear shit about it when it came out, and just caught it deep in the cable channels. This film reminded me of Public Access, Bryan Singer’s first film, in that it was an indie film with a stranger that turns into a thriller.

Hurt plays a preacher in Corpus Christi, TX, Bernal shows up in town and presents himself as a 21 year old who just got out of the Navy. He claims that Hurt is his father, and has stories and pictures of a woman named Yolanda, who is his mother, and with whom Hurt had a dalliance years ago.

The really cool thing that Marsh did was that he populated the story with stereotypical characters—chief among them the southern preacher of Hurt, with his idiotic mustache into beard “groomed Lemmy” thing. It started to look like the movie was going to be like the Robert Duvall preacher movie, The Apostle, then it took a twist. And more and more twists. Any time you think you have it figured out, it zags one you, and it helps that it’s schizophrenic, moving between dark and stepford. And it all pays off.

For most plots, I give away spoilers, because you see that shit coming. Or you should. If a flick can really jerk me around, then kudos, and I won’t spoil it other than saying go see it. This is one such film. Though I will say that the score, which sounded like Michael Nyman scoring the Spanish Prisoner, was annoying.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

Across the Universe

narcissa — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 05:15:36 GMT

And I can't wait to see it again. I love Julie Taymor so I was prepared to like this movie a lot, but I enjoyed for the performances as well. The lead is an unknown, and how nice it is not to have to forget who the actor is so you can enjoy the story. It was fun and different, visually extravagant and off the wall. Taymor busted out her freaky puppets, plus frenetic animation, especially in the Mr Kite sequence. Yay, eddie Izzard! It's a musical of course, so some people will dislike it no matter what.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

Brokeback Mountain

Dragonsp — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 03:33:53 GMT

Yeah, well, I'm a little behind the times :)

Loved it. Very sad, but did not jerk any actual tears from me until the very last scene. It does make one think about the concepts of homosexuality and love in a fairly deep way.

Plus, purrrty scenery!

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

300

LYMEDeLITE — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 13:38:32 GMT

I actually was suprised with this movie. I wasn't expecting to get so attached to the characters. My favorite quote:

Our arrows will blot out the sun.

Then we will fight in the shade?

posted in I just saw or heard... - 1 reply

The Future of Food

fixit — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 17:46:57 GMT

We all pretty much get the feeling that we should try to emphasize local, organic, GMO-free foods in our lives, but this film helps explain why.

You sit there and it just pours information down your throat like a nutritious smoothie- somehow it's not boring, and despite its terrifying news, I walked away feeling energized and validated in my own efforts to feed my kids as well as I can.

In a nutshell, it's a clear illustration of how our for-profit government is one big War/Agro/Pharma machine, with the same chemicals and ingredients used in all three.

Someone described it as one-sided. If anyone has a resource to offer another viewpoint, let me know.

YouTube seems to have it all up, in small increments.
Part 5 has some info I didn't know specifically. This part is not the most entertaining of the film, but possibly the most eye-opening:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmmNXRC_GwY&mode=related&search=

The plant "suicide gene" seems to be the worst, 100% evil element in this story. Nobody benefits from it.
Oh, except those in power/money.
And who knows how even the rich will fare when that attribute gets loose in the wild.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

Desert Blue

LYMEDeLITE — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 17:44:50 GMT

An academic obsessed with "roadside attractions" and his tv-star daughter finally discover the world's largest ice cream cone, the centerpiece for an old gold-rush town struggling to stay on the map. They end up staying longer than expected because of an accident that spilled an unknown cola ingredient all over the highway. They spend the next few days with the various residents of the town which include a teenage girl who loves to blow things up and a boy trying to keep alive his fathers dream of building a beachside resort in the middle of the desert.

Haley: Hey, do you guys wanna party at the aqueduct tonight?
Blue Baxter: Nah.
Haley: Aw, c'mon, you guys!
Cale: The only party I heard about is the one in your patnies.
Haley: Oh, no. There's absolutely no way there could be a party in my panties.
Cale: Why not?
Haley: Because I'm not wearing any.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

Idiocracy, anyone?

fixit — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 16:38:12 GMT

I want to see it.

http://www.avclub.com/content/node/52408

Looks like it may be a wait.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 4 replies

Help save COSM!!!

LYMEDeLITE — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 20:21:13 GMT

Please pass this on and help COSM get their permanent home!

The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors (Alex Grey's temporary art gallery in NYC) needs your help. They want to expand from their current one floor apartment location to a 39 acre area that will be permanent, but the spot they found must be bought by next week! They are trying to raise $1.8 million. Please help this wonderful gallery and artist succeed in this goal. Do anything you can to help. If you've been to the gallery, you know why this is so important. If you haven't, shame on you!

http://www.alexgrey.com/

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

LYMEDeLITE — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 16:55:46 GMT

Anyone seen it? Can I get some thoughts? I think that is now one of my favorite movies. I must get the soundtrack! I could see if this movie was put in theaters it could be Rocky Horroresque. If you haven't seen it, you should. Check it out.

www.finelinefeatures.com/sites/hedwig/

posted in I just saw or heard... - 12 replies

Amazing Grace

fuzzynathan — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 07:24:12 GMT

I liked this movie, and highly recommend it for being a very well done historical piece (sure, with some fiction attached) on the efforts and leaders in England in the late18th and early 19th century to end slavery.

Excellent cast, great costuming, and, of course, not long enough for me, and therefore a little on the light side, but still, one film that most of the theatre applaused and with some tears of joy, a thing that is very very rare here in Reno.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 1 reply

Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others)

fuzzynathan — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 03:12:25 GMT

This was a fantastic movie ! A must see !

The Lives of Others brought home for me personally a lot of the learning I accumulated back in college re the former soviet union and bloc, as well as the few times I was able to travel to "east" berlin and east germany and the czech republick back in the mid 90's.

It was a real shock on my first trip to Berlin in 95 and into "east" berlin, even though it was already 6 years after the fall of the berlin wall.

Berlin was very much the place to be, politically, culturally, and artistically, yet, transformation was still very slow and confusing from its long-isolation and the radical break from the past. The overwhelming impression I experienced in my few short stays there was aside from the excitement and promise, one of a profound sadness, disillusionment, and loss from what the people suffered under communism following immediately upon the nazis. There was also, particularly among the young and "minorities," a huge reservoir of anger, reaction, and oppositionality.

This movie brought much of that out into what is through much of the movie a deep unease. Although I expected to see more violence, one is faced instead with a very widespread belief in the socialism and communism of history and technology, intellectually, making the pervasive authoritarianism of the party absolutely unbearable and unquestionable (especially under Soviet rule) in its practice and intrigue.

The result and cardinal symptom of the disease of the GDR is widespread and unrecorded suicide.

What makes this movie especially moving to me is its eventual coincidence of terror with its inevitable collapse. Some remarkable portraits of people following their convictions within and outside the state party apparatus, for and apart from its illusions, amid the fracturing and fall of the wall, had a cathartic effect of some tears on most of the audience, including myself.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 6 replies

Bridge to Therabithia

christine — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 04:02:26 GMT

I just saw this movie. People safe your money, two tumbs down, boring.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 1 reply

Pan's Labyrinth

A_delle — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 18:15:28 GMT

Cinematography = A
Story = A-
Character Development = A+
Makeup/Costuming =A+

subtitled, for anyone who cares... got to work on my spanish. Only recognizable cast member was "Lucy" from "Y Tu Mama, Tambien." BUT, the cast is very well-selected and I don't think they could have picked an eviller dude for the General's role!

This independent film was beautifully crafted by Guillermo del Torro (a Mexican producer/director). He actually wrote this himself. It has a tragic feel to it, with a goodly amount of violence and disquiet, so don't go in expecting a nice fairytale. ~I jumped outta my skin about 4 times and was squirming in my seat a bit, so I give him credit for that! ;-) I do startle easily, though...

I really enjoyed it and would love to use some ideas for costuming/makeup! Highly recommended for anyone who likes a good fantasy story.
A_delle

posted in I just saw or heard... - 4 replies

Children Of Men

evil_fish — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 19:31:45 GMT

I just saw Children Of Men.

Not my kind of flick really.

They spent all this effort in making the world look dirty and terrible, but when it came to the child scene, the continuity director must have been out to lunch. Cmon, everyone knows a child nurses, even the main character in the film had a child that died 20 years pervious to the setting time. In the end, I am screaming to myself, "Why doesn't the mother nurse that damn child."

I have a feeling that the child was all CG (a well done birth scene) and when it came to nursing, they were out of budget. Even the last few explosion and effects scene were of "draft" quality.

If you like depressing world scenarios augmented by middle eastern voices and music that plays after bomb explosions, by all means, go see this movie.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 1 reply

The Secret

sarasada1 — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 17:35:44 GMT

And i loved it. Sort of alon g the lines of "what the *^*^%&%$ do we know" and good i recommend it/

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

Little Children

fuzzynathan — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 05:42:08 GMT

I enjoyed this movie, found it generally well done, thoughtful, and somewhat novel, alhough there are some difficult scenes / subject matters, which leave me wondering as to how the production is supposed to fit all together (if it is supposed to).

Highly recommended, tho surprised it only showed a week here ?

http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0404203/

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

Scoop!

evil_fish — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 01:32:54 GMT

I just saw Scoop.

It reminded me of how little I really like Woody Allen films.

Not much more I can say, it was a Woody Allen film...

I did laugh at the final scene. As a matter of fact, the whole movie could have been the final scene and it would have been just as funny.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

Legend (again)

A_delle — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 21:53:55 GMT

Okay, I saw this as a teenager, and Tim Curry's devil character has never left my mind. I watched it again to see if my recollection was true or if I was just naive and impressionable. Well... I think that the devil creature, and the overall evilness that was portayed in this movie (the dungeon scenes and the devil's lair) are ABSOLUTELY brilliant and so strikingly perfect that I will never have to look further for a truly evil inspiration! I really just wanted to review ideas for costuimes and makeup, but instead, found myself sitting on the couch, in my dark family room, shaking! I think that the template for evil-darkness-dungeon was formed there and for ANY book I read after that, I probably used parts of this movie to fill in the gaps. (I read a LOT of fantasy/sci-fi when I was youger).

what a great movie (although, I can't help but laugh at Tom Cruise's acting and the overall CHEESEball quality in the romantic scenes. harharhar!). We have an ongoing joke in my house that in every move Tom Cruise is in, he is always running at one time or another, and he fulfilled that here, PLUS some swimming! LOL
A_delle

posted in I just saw or heard... - 8 replies

?

fuzzynathan — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 06:32:18 GMT

hmm?

http://ancap.tribe.net/thread/da749554-0255-44f6-a3ce-5c3e5fb41d86

posted in I just saw or heard... - 1 reply

Letters from Iwo Jima

fuzzynathan — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 22:46:05 GMT

A good film. But not one that grows on me. Not that I wanted to see it, but I expected more war violence and horror from my understanding of WWII and the battle there, than what was depicted in this film. Regardless, one of those films that clarifies quite a bit from the Japanese point of view beyond Japanese Imperialism leading to and American stereotypes following Pearl Harbor.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

Volver

fuzzynathan — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 22:41:33 GMT

I liked this movie, a lot, also. As we don't get many good foreign films, at all, hereabouts, I had to go and see it immeidately, before it went away without warning. A bit difficult at times due to what serious issues Almodovar is trying to get across in realistic, adult, and careful ways. This is the first film in a very long time that makes me to actually want to go to Spain -- been all over much of the rest of Europe, but never really wanted to go down there that much until now. Highly recommeded!!

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

The Painted Veil

fuzzynathan — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 22:38:04 GMT

Finally, a few decent movies in town:

I like this one, particularly cause it was however based on some good writing, i.e. M. Somerset Maugham. Particularly sheds light on the concepts of "true love," "love at first sight," "growing love," and fate, destiny, and all that good stuff. One I will enjoy seeing every now and then, and recommend.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

Rivers and Tides

Caryn — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 17:33:52 GMT

If you love art and are inspired by people who think and create without even considering 'the box' you should really check this movie out!! It follows Andy Goldsworth as he creates inpermanent art in nature. Or just google Rivers and Tides to get a sense of his work.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 1 reply

house of 1000 corpses (spoilers)

shamus — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 11:20:58 GMT

House of 1000 Corpses

Written and Directed by Rob Zombie

Dwight from the office and a bunch of other "college kids" -- Dwight looks like he was about 35 when this was filmed-- are keen on writing a book about roadside attractions, and they come across a doozy. A gas station that also serves as a murder museum complete with a ride of horrors. The proprieter is a gleeful Sid Haig in evil clown makeup. The museum is as if they had tapped David Lynch to direct Pee Wee's Big Adventure. Haig is pitch perfect as he gleefully straddles the line of being creepy for the tourist and being threatening. The other guy in the bunch, chris hardwick, is the one who's the most into the museum, and he get suckered in by the last story, about the doctor in the mental institution who was experimenting on patients, and who was then lynched. Hardwick demands to see the murder tree, and gets a map out of Haig. It's now pouring raining, so they pick up a hitchhiker who claims the tree is right by her house. Someone pops out of the weeds on a side road, deliverance-style, and shoots out the wheel of their car. Dwight and the hitchhiker, played by Sheri Moon, go back to the house, which is crammed with creepy artifacts. Moon claims she's sent her brother to tow the car back, and tries to hit on Dwight. He declines, and she gets mad. The brother shows up with the car and the other three college kids. We learn that there are five missing cheerleaders, and get choppy glimpses of them in other rooms in the house, being tortured to death.

Linda Black shows up, channeling Stifler's mom from American pie, as Miss Firefly, the family matriarch. The kids are told it would be a couple of hours before the wheel would be fixed, so they are staying for dinner. The film is already channelling Rocky Horror by this point, and it's not just that Rainn Wilson bears a resemblance to Barry Bostwick. It's the rain, the car breaking down, and going to the wacky house. This homage continues with a dinner scene that is once again reminiscent of the one in Rocky, though they don't eat flesh. That we know. The family is introduced. There's a crazy old grandpa, and a 7 foot tall burn victim who wears a leather mask and is retarded and a deaf-mute. And of course, Otis, played by Bill Moseley, a character whose hair is stolen from Riff Raff in Rocky Horror. We've already been shown that Otis is the one torturing the cheerleaders. The dinner is gratuitously odd and uncomfortable, and then they cut to a show, which is again right out of Rocky Horror. In this case, the hitchhiker, Baby Firefly (Moon), dresses up a lot like Little Nell and lip synchs to a high pitched song. She finally sits on Dwight's lap, and Dwight's girlfriend goes ballistic. A fight breaks out, and Baby cracks out a knife. At that moment, they announced the car is fixed, and they are let go. Are the kids going to escape? Of course they are. Oh, but the gates are closed, and there are all these creepy scarecrows around the entrance. When Dwight gets out, the scarecrows come to life and club him down, and capture them all.

The rest of the film has the people popping around to different rooms in what must be the largest house in all of Alabama, and being tortured. The characters mix camp with serious brutality, and what little suspense was in the film is gone.

One of the girl's dad was expecting them. He lives close enough to the house of 1000 corpses that they were expected at 11, and it's already late night when they stop at the museum. Though the kids claim that they are on a cross-country tour earlier in the movie. So the dad calls his buddy, who happens to be the sherrif of the town. The cops are pretty funny cop characitures.

Haig is deliciously assholic to the cops. It seems a little unrealistic that a small town businessman would be so confrontational with the police department. The cops find the kids' car, and there's a dead cheerleader in the trunk with "trick" carved into her leg. The cops go out to the area that Haig said he directed the kids to, and arrive right away at the murder house. The freaks do little to hide their operation, and in fact move corpses and one of the rotating torture victims (who are by now so covered in blood I can't tell if they are leftover cheerleaders or the travelling kids) into the shed out back. So they slaughter the cops. The one cop had plenty of time to call for backup, actually, and apparently didn't.

It's revealed that Doctor Satan is actually otis, and he's still doing experiments on some of his victims. Some just get tortured to death, some are turned into near zombies after experimental brain surgery. the operating room is a particularly nice piece of scenery, and there's a guard of sorts that's dressed in this fetish and goggle thing that's pretty cool.

After a chase from the red thing, the only remaining woman escapes, and makes it to the road, where Haig, who is driving down the road, picks her up. Before long, otis pops up from the back seat, and we learn that Haig was one of them, all along. Of course, I wonder how the woman could get in the convertible and not notice that otis was in the back seat. She ends up on the operating table. The end.

The first half of the film, and the very end work quite well for me. I thought at first that perhaps too much was given away too soon, as the audience knew that they were in the murder house right away, thanks to the cheerleader scenes. But then I realized that by the time we were in the house, it was so late into a movie called "house of 1000 corpses" that eveyone knows that this is the house, so it did add to the creep factor. Zombie actually has a pretty engaging directorial style, with a lot of odd angles and quick cuts, and interspersed grainy footage, weird montages, and survielance cam or POV shots. Some of the quick cut footage makes sense, some is completely random and only seems to serve as extra creep factor. Though the style works to make segues more fun, and in chase scenes, longer shots would have brought out the suspense in some of the earlier parts, and really could have helped make the torture seem more brutal. Quick cuts did strip some of the horror out of it.

Pretty enjoyable, and now I can see Devil's Rejects, which I hear is better.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

The Proposition

shamus — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 09:03:09 GMT

The Proposition

Directed by John Hilcourt. Written and scored by Nick Cave. Starring Guy Pierce and Ray Winstone.

I don't think that anyone who has followed the career of Nick Cave would be surprised that he would write a film this great. Perhaps that he would do it this late in his career, particularly after his later albums have been uneven and tending towards a simplicity in lyrics. It's beautiful in the cinematography and the haunting score, and the characters are richly drawn, both the good and the bad guys, though often there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of moral difference between the two. That makes the sudden and brutal violence all the more meaningful and shocking. It's one of the best films I've seen, and by far the finest western ever made.

Ray Winstone plays Captain Stanley, the local constable who is trying to bring civilization to his corner of the Australian outback. He's brought along a young wife from England (Emily Watson) who brings proper english manners and a rose garden to a dirty and brutal place. Even as Winstone lives with the decisions that have a shady moral basis, she believes he's a good man and wants to share his burden.

The Burns gang consist of the three brothers Burns and Sam Sloat. They have committed a series of crimes, the latest of which was the brutal rape and murder of the Hopkins family. Two of the brothers Burns are caught with some prostitutes, and after a gun battle, they are captured. However, the leader is Arthur Burns, and he's still hiding in the hills when the two lesser brothers are captured. Brother Mike is a teenager and is slow in the head. Winstone wants the leader of the gang, so he offers the titular Proposition -- Mike is to be hanged on Christmas day, 9 days hence. If Charlie Burns (guy Pierce) can bring back the head of his brother Arthur, Stanley will pardon both Charlie and Mike. Charlie is released with a gun and a horse, and he heads back to the hills to find his brother.

Back at home, people aren't happy when word leaks out that Stanley let one of the perpertrators go. Sentiment in the town is that's a poor decision, and Stanley is in the position of having to defend the kid. And while you feel for Stanley's trying to do the right thing, he also doesn't hesitate to wipe out large groups of rebel Aborigines. When we finally get to see the evil kingpin Arthur (Danny Huston), he's thoughtful and more in touch with nature than any other white man in the film, and does deeply care about his brothers. Even minor characters, such as the poetry spouting bounty hunter (John hurt) seem fleshed out.

Moments of brutal violence are spaced out with beautiful landscape shots and long stretches of sadness and uncertainty. I shouldn't have rented this, but just purchased it.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

thirteen (spoilers)

shamus — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 12:43:12 GMT

Thirteen

Directed by Catherine Hardwicke. Starring Holly Hunter, Evan Rachel Wood, and Nikki Reed

There's something to be said for the rare genre of teensploitation. I don't meen teen sex comedies like Porky's, which have folks that are clearly 18 looking back to their wacky senior year in high school or going to college. I mean the stuff that gets Larry Clark off, where tweener kids do shit straight out of Trainspotting. It probably says something about me as a person that I really have enjoyed all of the films that I would consider to be part of this genre. Though Jodie Foster's turn in Taxi Driver sowed the seeds, it was Clark's Kids that defined the genre. The latest entry is Thirteen, which got as much attention for how it was made as for the movie. Nikki Reed, who was 13, wrote the screenplay as a sort of journal, and Hardwicke (who was dating her dad) rewrote it and directed. Reed was 14 at the time of filming.

Wood plays a good student in LA who comes from a broken home. Dad's not around, Mom (Holly Hunter) is in AA and runs a hair salon out of her house. Her boyfriend (Jeremy Sisto) drifts in and out of her life, spending time with crack and halfway houses. There's an older brother who's a surfer dude. Wood wants to be popular, and Reed is the it girl in the 7th grade. Wood tries to awkwardly fit in, and ends up glomming on to Reed as she goes shoplifting on Melrose. Wood proves her cool when she steals a distracted woman's wallet, which is full of cash, and they go on a shopping spree. From there, Reed and Wood become best friends forever. Reed pretty much moves into Wood's house, and teaches her how to be evil. They do drugs and guys and steal and run wild. And it drives poor Holly Hunter crazy. The middle of the movie just focuses on their downward spiral. Reed having a partner in crime seems to bring out the worst in her, and Wood proves a quick learner, caught up in the fun of it. Hunter's efforts to shake loose the evil influence on her family prove to be ineffective. What Wood needed was to get walloped on with a belt until she listened to her mama, but that would have been a short film. Reed tells tales of her horrible upbringing. She's with a guardian (Deborah Kara Unger) that is less than attentive. Reed claims ongoing abuse, but it seems to be part of her manipulation. Wood gets in trouble at school, and Hunter finally kicks Reed out of the house and sends her back to Unger. Reed takes that poorly, and seems to be out to get Wood in trouble in return. Finally, Reed gets caught with drugs, and she completely sells out Wood, and there's a confrontation between the two families. The ending is just kind of open. It could be a turning point, or it could be a little lull in Wood's ultimate doom.

The film does tread a melodramatic line, and it could have easily go over the edge into pap. But for the most part it manages to work, thanks to some decent direction and great performances. Hunter is stellar as a woman who has lived a hard life and knows that one should cling to any happiness that comes along. So when we see her having good moments in between horrible ones, and engaging in a little denial, it works. The child actors manage to alternate between childhood stupidity that reminded me of Heavenly Creatures, and scary scenes of them being way over their heads in an adult world. And Jeremy Sisto is Sisto, in the usual, beautiful way. Sisto!

Because the plot is more interesting, and because Rachel Miner is so very naked in it, Bully has to win top honors in the teensploitation industry. thirteen is at least the equal of Kids, which puts it at second. Clark's movies are more sylish. Hardwicke uses more quick cuts and flash, but Clark seems to have a more coherent feel. Clark is also is so voyueristic about the sin that it makes me feel like a dirty old man. I also feel like a dirty old man when I got to the university, or when I wake up in the morning. In Hardwick's movie, the only people we see shirtless are men (including a big old hunk of Sisto) and Hunter. I gotta say that she looks pretty hot. I've loved her since Raising Arizona, even if she did fuck Harvey Kitel. I bet he called her a little piece of chicken.

Thirteen is worth seeing, and running on IFC now.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

The Good Shepherd

fuzzynathan — Sun, 24 Dec 2006 10:12:20 GMT

Not knowing anything about this movie beforehand, other than some of the actors, I ended up finding the movie overall generally well done, with some small bits of food for reflection regarding history, the Cold War, the CIA and American foreign policy, and a variety of roles that people sought to fit into in the past century (and to some extents, into the future).

Recommended as a period piece

posted in I just saw or heard... - 1 reply

Borat

christine — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 18:00:04 GMT

Hilarius. I never laughed so hard with a movie, this ''documentary'' is grossly hilarius.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 4 replies

H

shamus — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 07:48:30 GMT

H

A Korean thriller in the vein of Se7en. I've read many comments that say that it's much more than just a knock off of Se7en, but I'm not sure that I'd agree. It's stylistic, and the director certainly has taken cues from Beat Takeshi, Shohei Imamura, and Takashi Ishii. The early parts of the film contain suspense, but we figure out pretty early on what the most likely solution is to the set up, and it turns out to be correct, so that the surprise ending seems too long in coming and a rather large let down when it does. It's not a bad movie. I don't feel ripped off for the two hours, but I'm not sure it lives up to all the hype I heard.

-spoilers ahead--

The plot centers around three homicide cops -- the cool, detached female supervisor, the hotshot new kid, and the comic relief old school detective. they get on this case of a serial killer that seems to be attacking pregnant women. One was found dead in a field with the fetus ripped out of her, one on a bus with her stomach sliced open and the fetus still moving inside.

The cops quicly realize that the first killings are copy cats of a previous serial killer, who is on death row. Furthermore, the supervisor was involved in that case, and her fiance, the previous homicide supervisor, had killed himself because of his failures to stop the killing. The original serial killer killed 6 women and then turned himself in.

The young hot shot goes and interviews the serial killer, who comes across as a Zen Hannibal Lector. Voices told him to do it, and left him alone after, and now he is in bliss and speaks in looping parables. We learn that the killings are timed based on the menstrual cycle, and started up 39 weeks after the first ones stopped. We know how they're going to get killed and when. We meet the shifty psychologist of the serial killer, who won't help.

The cops don't really look at who the original killer hung out with before he went to jail, and that's never really brought up, oddly, but look at who he associated with in prison. From that, they actually find the guy who did the first couple of crimes, and he is shot as he makes the third kill, of a lesbian. He's in a coma in the hospital. case closed.

Then the fourth woman turns up on schedule. All they find is bloody footprints. Then the hotshot cop is back at the scene and sees a face. After more police work, they start to track this guy, and end up at the bloody scene of the murdered psychologist. They end up finding this guy at a beach cottage, and find him murdered behind a false wall. They're out of suspects, and have one body left to go.

Both of the suspects spent time with the serial killer in prison, and went to the psychologist. Since the last guy was murdered, there's still someone out there. The supervisor pieces it together based on the footprint. It was the hotshot detective all along, who was hypnotized by the serial killer in their first visit.

They race and find the hotshot on a beach where he kills his wife or girlfriend, then breaks down. The supervisor kills him to end the cycle.

The biggest flaw in the film was the way that the investigation immediately focused on how the old serial killer was controlling people after his imprisonment. a good red herring like maybe they all belonged to a cult from before the killings would have kept us guessing. Once they focused on the control issue, it became some sort of brainwashing or a supernatural thing. the scene of the fourth killing was shot so that it would throw suspicion on the hot shot. And I thought that we were going to get a red herring where the cop was suspected, but it was someone else. But when that was not pursued, it pretty clearly pointed to the hotshot as a likely killer. The way the fifth killing was staged, it removed all doubt.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

Twin Peaks Season 1 and 2

evil_fish — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 02:39:54 GMT

I just watched Twin Peaks season 1 and 2. It was nice to see the whole thing again.

A lot of pie eating going on in the series.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders

fuzzynathan — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 07:26:19 GMT

I love almost every Masterpiece Theatre that I have seen, and I just enjoyed a vhs version of the 1996 Masterpiece Theatre production of Moll Flanders, starring Alex Kingston.

Very good depiction of life in the early 18th century, of the extremely deep and pervasive sex , racial, and class inequalities that left women in particular with extremely narrow choices in life.

Much of it of course can shed light in our own day, particularly upon questions regarding "love."

Highly recommended!

posted in I just saw or heard... - 6 replies

Babel

fuzzynathan — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 23:51:56 GMT

I thought this was a very well done movie.

One of the few movies out there in these times that has a lot going for it in my opinion on many levels.

I appreciate most the telling of 3-4 stories in a variety of multicultural contexts that illuminate upon the nature of cause and effect across moralities, belief systems, and reaction.

The lack of the traditionally heroic tale-tell and lead-actors that is common among most movies made the problems arising through the movie more realistically understandable, in my opinion.

Highly recommended.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

hacking democracy

shamus — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 06:06:42 GMT

Hacking Democracy

This HBO democracy premiered earlier this month and is still running. I believe that it re-runs this Sunday. It's a damning look at the accuracy and security of electronic voting systems, focusing on Diebold. I didn't go crazy following the controversies around electronic voting systems during the last couple of elections. The real problem with most elections is that it barely matters who wins, since the major parties are just different flavors of corporate whore. How accurate the voting is seems like a secondary issue. So I knew that there were signs of impropriety like politicians owning chunks of Diebold and diebold giving money to campaigns and the lack of a paper trail. This doc exhaustively goes through the problems with electonic voting systems in design and practice.

Hacking Democracy follow Bev Harris, a critic of electronic voting and crusader for accountability in voting systems. We follow Harris over the course of several years of muckracking across the country. It started with the 2000 Florida problem. one precienct had Gore receiving -16,000 votes. Fraud wasn't proven, but there also wasn't a good explaination as to how it happened, or any good way to check the accuracy of the votes. When King County, WA, bought a number of touch screen voting systems, Bev Harris, a local writer, got involved in researching it. What she found on the Diebold website was a complete version of their code. An IT guy accidentally left it out in the open. She took it to comp sci experts at Johns Hopkins who did a detailed analysis of it, and exposed gaping security flaws. Diebold claimed that the code was stolen, though it was freely downloaded using the sophisticated hacking software known as Internet Explorer. They've also claimed that the code has since been updated, so the findings are irrelevant. Though presumably that code was in place during the 2000 elections.

As soon as the 2004 elections were done, Harris filed scores of Freedom of Information requests. Though Kerry conceded quickly, the Ohio elections had an odd taint to them, and it was the Green party candidate for president that got a recount. The first recount was a 3% random sampling of precincts, and if that matched up, then no more recount. But we find out that it's not a random sampling, that the elections commisioner, who received money from Diebold, chose the precints to be counted.

We follow Harris' group, Black box voting, as they dumpster dive and audit various agencies. Many problems are found. Scrolls of vote counts that are supposed to be saved are found in the trash just weeks after an election. Counts on the tapes don't match up with what was reported from a given machine. They show a very simple hack, done in Windows, to change the votes in the central counting machine. If you go through the diebold software, it asks for a password, but you can just find the Excel file in the directory, and change the numbers, then when you go back in through the official software, the numbers are how you want them.

While some election commisions seem uncooperative, there's a guy in Florida that invites in Black box to test one of his machines. The idea behind the test was that the memory cards that go into the machine are hackable, and contain executable code. Diebold denies this, but the code says otherwise. In this case, if someone got to the memory card before the election, it could make a given machine count votes wrong. They hire a computer expert to try to hack it. He gets a memory card reader from best buy and puts a script on the memory card.

They choose a voting machine at random. They aren't the much maligned touch screen systems, but a fill in the oval system. It gives a print out tape of the votes at the end of the day. The 8 participants agree to vote 6-2 that Diebold machines can't be hacked. At the end of the day, the machine says that the votes went 7-1 that it can be hacked. When they take the memory card to the central counting computer, it repeats the latter count.

The documentary isn't exactly a balanced look at the issue, but it also doesn't appear as if they got a lot of cooperation from Diebold. It does do a good job of keeping the viewer aware that these small problems are troublesome, but the overriding problem is the secrecy in the system. I do wonder why they didn't really propose a solution. I know that there are people putting forth open source solutions.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

Two For The Money

shamus — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 09:43:22 GMT

Man, I must be getting out of touch in my old age. I don't remember this film being made, nor do I remember it being in the theaters, or seeing trailers for it.

It apparently was made. Went throught the theater/DVD/Airplane/PPV cycle, and ended up on HBO.

This had the feel of a movie that was written for and pitched to Oliver Stone, and then handed off to someone else when they couldn't get Stone. Under DJ Caruso, it was handled in sort of a homage to Wall Street, with an Al Pacino that's in full on "hoo-ha" mode. Matthew McConoughhey plays a ex-jock who works at a 900 line, and who starts slipping his sports picks into the advice that they give out on one line. he's more than 80% accurarte, and that attracts the attentions of Pacino, who is a tout in NYC. he runs a line where a call is $25, and you get your picks. Soon Matthew is good at that, and by the next year, he's ready to move up to the real scam room, where people will bet with their bookies, but 10% of the winnings go to Pacino's company.

That makes no sense. How would they ever collect? How would you know that they were only betting the agreed upon amount with that bookie? In any case, it's a MacGuffin, which serves to set up the mentor relationship that Pacino has with McConoughey. The point is supposed to be that Pacino is an ex gambler, and ex whatever, and he's got a junkie wife and they have a kid. Pacino managed to build a tout game out of his addiction, and the scenes inside the bullpen are actually pretty peppy, with folks hard selling the next bet like it was real estate. Jeremy Piven had a good role as the last kid whiz that was being overlooked because of McConaughey's new shinning star.

So Pacino creates this god out of McConaughey's character, a fictional guy name john Anderson that is the king of the picks. They both sacrifice crap, there's a wife in there somewhere, and you muddle along for the second half of the film. The first half of the film showed pep and promise, and all these great subplots proved to be red herrings, like the jealous piven character, or the betrayed Armand Assante gangster. Those plots just were cancelled. And we played out a pedestrian failed mentor thing with a little love triangle tacked on.

Pacino is fun to see in full on hoo-ha. McConaughey, Piven, and Rene Russo as the wife do decent acting jobs. The material of the film ultimately betrays the good effort that is put into it by the actors.

I like a good gambling con movie. but this wasnt' it..

posted in I just saw or heard... - 1 reply

Troy

shamus — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 11:01:07 GMT

Why did Brad Pitt have to go blond to play a greek? That's the question that nags me.

I really like the illiad, even if sometimes reads like the bible. That depends on the translation, but they all read like the bible at some point.

The cast of this one is littered with great actors, like Pitt, Brian Cox, and Peter O'Toole. Maybe not great, but damn good. And they are actors that don't mind getting a little hammy when the situation calls for it. Ask Russell Crowe or Charlton Heston. An historic epic is the one time that you can use all the exaggeration and hoo-has that you can get. Cox and O'Toole clearly get that.

Pitt, not so much. If you think back to 12 Monkeys, there was one big flaw, and it was Pitt's performance. Because he was a mental patient in that, he elected to play it off like he was in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest. That part would have been much more effective had Pitt been subdued, and not invoking all that "hey, I'm Crazy!" ticking. Pitt and Wolfgang Petersen make Achilles into a brooding, down played Achilles. They're taking an epic character and making him more human. Which actually wouldn't be so bad, if when Pitt needed to turn on the hoo-ha! he turned on the hoo-ha!. He seemed to play off the reluctant warrior for too long, like he was Bruce Willis in Die Hard. I don't know, maybe I'm misguided in the criticism, but Pitt took on an epic character in Fight Club, and played it to the hilt, and in this flick he seemed more like Ed Norton.

Until his cousin gets killed. Then Achilles gets a fire up his ass, and the ringing calls for Hector are the stuff we needed. Come to think of it, I could have done with all of that middle introspection if only he wasn't so reluctant in the first battle. They just set the tone wrong, and I had trouble believing that such a petulant warrior was able to command such loyal troops.

Anyhow, while I bitch about the characterizations, that wasn't the real problem with this film. It's the action. Petersen relies on CGI to make armies look big, ships look impressive, etc. Petersen is great at doing claustrphobic. It seems like sunlight and open spaces are not his forte. The epic battles, well, they seemed about as epic as something from attack of the clones. I rather liked the slow build-up, and general pacing of the movie. I liked the mixture of subplots that they took from the illiad, and even the choices that they made to deviate from the poem.

It was decent enough, but could have been more. Particularly with the actors involved.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 1 reply

The Yes Men

jimdubois — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 21:02:15 GMT

What a funny movie. It was all about these guys who pretended to be (and were mistaken for) members of the WTO (the World Trade Organization). They made up fake lectures to try to shock people and get publicity about the actual policies of the WTO.

-Jim

posted in I just saw or heard... - 1 reply

Gilbert Gottfried!!!

DevastatorJr — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 20:10:07 GMT

Walking past Bryant Park on 40th Street! He had on a pink Polo shirt and the squenchy face and everything! He looked like he was in a rush so I didn't bother him, but WOW!

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

prelude to BRC

fuzzynathan — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 07:32:47 GMT

sheesh, that's sort of weird?

For the past 5 hours here in my neighborhood in Reno, there has been an ongoing LOUD bouncing house music from somewhere several blocks away -- that has never happened before -- yet reminiscent of otherwise nothing else than Black Rock City, which I will be returning to in 2 days.............

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

Seed of Chucky

shamus — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 09:12:35 GMT

Okay, this was the first Chucky movie that I've seen. I've seen parts of chucky movies, before I had digital cable and there was info on what's on the screen. Then I would figure out what it was and move on. I generally like horror films, and particularly the ones that mix in a lot of humor, like Cemetary Man or Dead Alive. But not it's poorly done, and when I sat down, back in the 80s, and tried to watch Child's Play, about 15 minutes into it, I went back to trying to descramble cinemax.

I guess I bought into some preview of this movie that made it seem clever. It was clever, when Wes Craven did it in New nightmare. Basically, a horror franchise is extended when, on the set of yet another sequel, the horror character crosses over and starts hacking up the cast and crew. New Nightmare wasn't a great execution of the idea. In some ways, the Seed of Chucky is better. The parts that really work are when it's spoofing hollywood, and Jennifer Tilly, playing herself and starring in a chucky movie, just spoofs herself like Kristie Alley in Fat Actress. Alley wasn't first in that genre, she was going off Curb your enthusiasm, and before that the Gary Shandling show. Just that the Jennifer Tilly parts in the first part of the movie really reminds me of Fat Actress. Though the movie may have come first. Tilly sends herself up as a spoiled hollywood type who's just scared of "ending up on celebrity fear factor in a worm eating contest with anna nicole smith." And who is trying to seduce new hollywood director Redman into letting her beat out julia roberts for the part of the virgin mary in his biblical epic. That's some funny stuff. Throw in John Waters as paparazzi for the C-level stars like Tilly, and that's a pretty good movie.

The movie seemed to screech to a halt when they brought in the dolls. I know that was the reason for the movie, and all, but the doll segments just didn't seem to be as well done. There are some good scenes with the dolls. chucky telling his bride that Jennifer Tilly's voice is annoying. While tilly voices the bride. The death of redman. The fact that John Waters thanks god for the "little people" when he thinks a midget is in the room masturbating when Redman and Tilly make out. Those things are good. But the whole plot with the chuckies and their kid Glen or Glenda, while a nice nod in nomenclature, is just stupid. Not bad enough to be good, which is what I think they were intending. Just bad.

It's fine to have on in the background, as long as there is something to turn you attention to when the doll parts come on.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

collateral

shamus — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 06:32:56 GMT

Okay, I'm not a big fan of michael Mann. I thought that Miami Vice, the show, was terrible. I did really enjoy the first season of Crime Story, but it got stupid after they moved to Vegas. I had to tune into Heat, and man, that movie needed an editor. Basically, fast forward whenever a woman comes on the screen. The cop scenes had some merit, but the relationship stuff was hackneyed. I really didn't like Ali. I love Ali the man, and have watched every documentary on him that I could and read most of the books out there. Will Smith wasn't good, but not nearly as annoying as Jamie Foxx. That guy has annoyed the living crap out of me since In Living Color. And the whole way the story was told, it just pissed me off. there was a great movie there that didn't happen.

I also don't like Tom Cruise much. Though he's good in Magnolia and vanilla Sky.

So you bring three elements that annoy me together, and it works quite well. I think I first caught an HBO showing a couple of months ago, then I watched it again tonight. It's a tight thriller, with some plot holes and implausibility, but nothing shattering. Foxx is by far the best I've seen out of him, but the movie sure would have been a lot better with Forrest Whittaker as the cab driver. Give me that Ghost Dog shit. Cruise is really good in the rare bad guy role. I think I was most surpised with how much I liked the direction. Most of the flick is in a cab, and the camera angles work to shwo what's going on and also make it feel claustrophobic.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

An Inconvenient Truth

See — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 02:15:32 GMT

Anyone else seen it?

It's astounding to me that there are still people our there who seriously believe that Global Warming is not an issue!

posted in I just saw or heard... - 9 replies

just saw....

Patricia — Sat, 05 Aug 2006 22:16:22 GMT

'Angels With Dirty Faces' this morning for the zillionth time, but after three nights of insomnia Pat OBrien's compassionate priest ....best friend of the troubled Rocky Sullivan (Jimmy Cagney). It was pretty steamy if you view it as you would in modern times: childhood reform school best-friends-forever; who love and understand each other despite their differences. And they are parents to the gang of rascally hooligans, whom Rocky loves enough to 'turn yella' while taking that Last Mile stroll, arm in arm with Fadda Jerry, his only true friend, his only REAL friend. His boyfriend. The celluloid practically burst into flame when they looked into each others eyes for the last time. Fadda Jerry looks heavenward, murmuring acts of contribution, or hey mary, or our fadda who art in heaven. sigh! aint love grand.

All kidding aside, the photography is terrific, tons of great unusual shots, and those incredible close ups of Jimmy, smouldering with hate and love all at once. Even though 'Public Enemy' can't be beat for sheer shock value (that last scene where he's deposited, home at last for Mama).

Wow, I'm more and more impressed with AWDF. What I previous considered cornball hooey (while fantasizing about Cagney MY WHOLE LIFE! after seeing that once closeup of his sweaty, intense, grim mug. That's how I knew *I* was hetero even at the age of 10: he's aways made my girlparts sensitive and tingly*

Great to see Bogart doing some TERRIBLE acting, lisping his way and gesturing, with the exact same expression on his face the whole movie, except for when he's *thankfully* shot dead.

Later, chimps,
P
sigh!

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

Miami Vice

J.G. — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 01:25:18 GMT

I'm giving my age away but it's a updated version of the old series. I have to say I liked it especially that little twist at the end.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

The 40-Year-Old Virgin

helenmwalker — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 21:48:33 GMT

Ok, I admit it...part of me is a little trashy...but last night I caught "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" on HBO. I laughed all the way through the movie. It was hilarious! Am I twisted? :)

posted in I just saw or heard... - 1 reply

Reconstruction

fuzzynathan — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 01:07:20 GMT

Reconstruction is a Swedish/Danish film that has been crafted with the view of raising all sorts questions for the viewer, instead of giving answers, or providing entertainment.

In this case, the questions focus around love, relationships, and self.

Upon seeing it only once, I have found that the film primarily constructs its story and scenes with the idea of there being a plurality of worlds possible around relationships of love, raising experiences of choice, destiny, and reincarnation, having different beginnings and different endings, and rather than thinking of time and space in linear terms.

What was especially odd was that two characters in the film are played by the same actress, Maria Bonnevie, and in such a way that I didn't realize they were the same actress, until I watched the interviews included in the special features of the dvd.

These two characters played a variety of subtle contrasts to the nature and questions of love. And vis-a-vis the two lead actors, Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Krister Henriksson, and their own malleability before the viewers, there are innumerable nuances of interpretation as to what is actually happening.

The visual effects and the sountrack were wonderful, moreover, in helping set a modern, mature, and minimalistic tone.

With this in mind, I found the movie simple and therefore profoundly realistic in its honesty about subjectivity, rich with insight and metaphor to relate to, and one that seems to require the viewer to return to view to it on many levels.

At 90 minutes, this is in my view, one of the very few movies that doesn't leave one walking away wanting a longer movie.

There may be in this movie some unnecessary occupation with conventional notions about love, and particularly it's relation to beauty, which makes it seem a little too flashy at times, but I otherwise recommend it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0366943/

posted in I just saw or heard... - 2 replies

TheDevil Wears Prada

Thu, 13 Jul 2006 06:17:42 GMT

Meril Streep was awesome. The story was slow in parts and I hated the music but over all it was a good movie.

What did anyone else think?

posted in I just saw or heard... - 4 replies

Pirates II

See — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 22:55:15 GMT

Has anyone else seen it??? From the numbers it seems like EVERYONE went to see this movie. Just wondering what others thought?

I, personally, was underwhelmed. The beginning and end kept my attention (for the most part) but I thought there was too much 'junk' clouding up he story line in the middle. I also thought the fight scenes were long and drawn out and that this movie could have been a lot better if it wasn't so long (2.5 hours). My boyfriend actually fell asleep during the middle and he's the reason we went to see it to begin with!

I'd love to hear what the rest of you thought!
Do tell....

posted in I just saw or heard... - 8 replies

Tucker

shamus — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 09:34:00 GMT

Tucker: a man and his dreams

starring Jeff Bridges, directed by Francis Ford Coppola

Since this damn movie came out, I have heard that it was great, particularly from my more libertarian friends who felt that it was some sort of fable that captured the entrepreneur getting squashed (sort of) by the evil system. And it does smack of Ayn Rand's Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. Tucker was both designer, like Howard Roark, and industrialist, like John Galt. As presented in this film, he was an idealist who thought that the better product would win out against the system, and the system played dirty. And there was a climactic, completely improbable courtroom speech by Tucker that got him off the hook again, more like Roark at the end of Fountainhead than Galt's marathon radio address.

But you know, even the facts presented in the movie weren't all that much of a libertarian dream. Tucker got his big break as a military contractor. And the big start of his car company was getting a war surplis factory from the government. He also got in trouble for selling accessories to people who hadn't got a car yet, and for generally agreeing to impossible deadlines and using chicanery to pump up stock sales. And if you look into the facts behind the story of Preston Tucker, you can see that a lot of his ideas that were supposed to be all that great, well, they just didn't work out. He never got his porshce rip off design to work, and brought in helicopter engines that weren't well suited to the task. The assembly line that was shown stalled in the movie never existed. The 51 cars they did manage to make were all hand built, and he took them out on several publicity tours that weren't covered in the movie. Tucker's early history as a car salesman and failed indy car producer were ignored. In any case, it was an up and down career, and while he was trying to bring some safety features to the car, it's certainly not clear if he just saw that as a niche or if he was really concerned. And the way that he drives his kids around in the movie in the armored car at 80MPH without seatbelts doesn't suggest that safety is his concern.

Anyhow, in the flick, Tucker's early life is meaningless, then he tries to make a fast battle car for WWII. but the turrett on it is a good idea, and adopted by the army and navy. He makes a little money and gets a factory in his barn. Then after the war he tries to turn that modest success into a car company. He wants a rear engined car that's more aerodynamic than most on the road. It's got seat belts, and pop out winshields, and headlights that turn with the wheels to give better visibility on curves, and a padded dash. All safety features. and has a rear engine.

Tucker, played by Bridges, has a loyal wife in Joan Allen, a designer who sought him out based on a PR article he places in a fluff magazine in Eias Kostyas (with hair!) and a son in Christian Slater, who was a young looking 45 at the time. They all get together with his loyal crew from the turret factory, which seems to only be composed of a crazy jap and a hothead european immigrant of unknown origin, and they need money to start the company. Enter Martin Landau as a banker sort who helps him raise money, and mainly beg favors from the government in terms of a free war suprlus factory and materials that are still on rations.

They have to build a car pronto, rasie the money to do so, and get $15 million in assets, to keep the factory and get things started. So Tucker goes out as the charming idea man. They compromise themselves for the start up capital, and have to face the meddling of the people who are brought in to watch the money of the venture capitalists, who have sinister ties to the big automakers. And of course, the government people that he gets in bed with are owned by the automakers, and conspire to crush him.

Against all odds, Tucker makes a car close to what he set out to make. And he makes 50 of them in an inspiring fashion. And while the government does it's witch hunt via a trial, and does ruin him, he achieves a small personal victory and gets 50 of the cars to the courthouse and offers to take the jurors for a ride. he's found not guilty, and though ruined as a carmaker, gets to see his cars drive around.

Coppola's way of filming the movie is so consciously a hagiography that it's just outright annoying. He uses some unconventional cuts, and a weird mix of voiceover narration and the scenes of the movie, and a kind of over the top romanticism that just falls flat. I haven't seen too many of Coppola's films past 1980, and this is the reason why. I think there was an interesting story here, about the failure of the dream. And while it's pointed out that Tucker could perhaps be more practical in his dealings, that isn't as in the forefront as the conspiracy against him. Tucker is just too damn cheery through all the crap that comes against him. In fact, this movie reminded me of my least favorite Coen Brothers movie, Hudsucker Proxy, which in retrospect plays like a parody of Tucker.

Maybe I would have enjoyed Hudsucker more if I'd thought of it as a parody.

Bridges gives a pretty good performance, even if some of his vocal mannerisms remind me too much of the Dude. The movie is pretty much stolen by the fine performance of Martain Landau, and for that alone it's worth watching. Landau makes the most of the melodrama, and gets some of the choicest scenes, and plays them with an understatement that looks positively dignified compared to the way everyone else in the film hams it up.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

Mostly Martha

Dragonsp — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 05:47:39 GMT

In German, with English subtitles.

Very sweet little movie about a high-strung chef who inherits her newly-orphaned niece. There's a subplot with the new sous-chef, who of course annoys Martha with his little ways.

I don't usually watch "foody movies," so I don't have a good comparison. But, if you like films like The Station Agent, Goodbye Lenin, and Greenfingers, you'll probably like this one, too.

The kid's a pretty good actor, too.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 1 reply

Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas

evil_fish — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 19:06:54 GMT

Hi All,

I just saw this movie for the first time, it was great!

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

Breathe, by Telepopmusik

fuzzynathan — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 06:01:38 GMT

Anyone heard this single, yet (It's been out since 2001, apparently, and was in a Mitsubishi commercial)?

A friend turned me onto Breathe by Telepopmusik last week, and it is fantastic pop!

Turns out I have heard it before, only once (I think), and....sure enough, that was at burning man while dancing....

It is off of the album Gentic World, and there is an extended mix of it on that album, as well as a few other mixes of it out on the web (such as Limewire). There are some other tracks off of that album as well as off their Angel Milk album that I like too, but I'm in Breathe now.

If you like loungie ambient groove downtempo sort of trip hop chill dance chic, then I consider this as a must hear!

Here is a little itty bitty sample via amazon for your real player:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/music/clipserve/B000060K0H001001/1/ref=mu_sam_ra001_001/104-7319255-9827143

The amazon webpage for the album is:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000060K0H/ref=pd_bxgy_text_b/104-7319255-9827143?ie=UTF8

posted in I just saw or heard... - 3 replies

Mirrormask

mandajschultz — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 12:26:38 GMT

Think Alice in Wonderland. Very beautiful and interesting movie. I highly recommend it.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 2 replies

The Omen

helenmwalker — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 15:17:33 GMT

Not a bad re-make of the Classic. Good casting, and some wonderfully startling moments that made me jump out of my seat. Anyone else see it? Thoughts?

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

X Men

narcissa — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 04:20:26 GMT

I recently rewatched the first two before going to see the third. It's clear it was directed by a different person, the general vibe is different, but watching all three in a row has finally motivated me to check out the source material. Even through the Hollwood haze, I can see the stories are really rich.

I couldn't believe how awful Halle Berry's lines were in this one, though.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

Anyone see The Da Vinci Code?

fuzzynathan — Sun, 21 May 2006 03:19:43 GMT

Anyone who has seen The Da Vinci Code, recommend it as worth seeing?

posted in I just saw or heard... - 5 replies

Walk The Line

ladiabla — Sat, 31 Dec 2005 04:12:27 GMT

I wasn't sure what I expected out of this movie, but I have to admit it was really good. I am a big J. Cash fan so I was expecting to be a tad bit disappointed in it but not at all.
It's almost as addictive as that lovely vice Coal Miners Daughter..... you know the movie you never admit to loving but watch it ever time it is on TV LOL!

posted in I just saw or heard... - 4 replies

Batman Returns (with spoilers)

shamus — Mon, 22 May 2006 02:07:22 GMT

batman begins (contains spoilers)
Dir. By Christopher Nolan

Christopher Nolan's career reminds me a lot of Bryan Singer's. Both gained notice with innovative, miniscule budget films (The Following and Public Access, respectively) and were given a little bit more money for their next film (Memento and Usual Suspects), both of which employed unusual narrative structures. Then each followed that with a bigger budget adaptation (the Insomnia remake, Apt Pupil) that was executed very well. At this point, and coming from backgrounds which featured no to very little action, studios threw a lot of cash at them to take on a superhero franchise. And both guys stepped up and made very interesting takes on the story, though I would say that both directors didn't have a great feel for capturing action, and that the fight scenes were the weakest points of their first comic book movies. Singer was much better at it for the second X-men movie, so perhaps Nolan will improve for the sequel to Batman.

The film opens with what looks like a scene that looked so much like Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence that I was pining for David Bowie. Wayne (Christian Bale) is in a Tibetan prison beating the crap out of the inmates. He's thrown in solitary, and Liam Neeson appears out of the shadows offering him a chance to join an international brotherhood that fights crime, and just happens to be located on the mountain near the prison. Wayne gathers a blue flower, as instructed, and climbs the mountain, only to be beat up by Liam, who then trains him as a fighter and acts a shrink, getting Wayne to reveal the classic Batman backstory of being scared of bats from an incident in a well, then that fear cropping up in an opera performance that led to his parents leaving early, and getting mugged and killed in an alley. Then he returns from college and strikes up a romance with Katie Holmes, who he knew as a child. She's become a prosecutor. They go to the parole hearing of the man who shot Wayne's parents, and he's being cut loose on a deal so he can squeal on the local mob boss. Wayne is there with a .38 special to kill the man. Someone else does the job. It was a setup to get the guy out in the open so he could be killed. What ever happened to a good old fashioned prison shivving? Wayne confesses to Holmes that he was there to kill the crook, and she slaps him. Wayne disappears, and becomes associated with criminals around the world to learn from them, so that he can fight them later. He gets busted in Tibet and put into the prison, where Liam finds him. All of that is told in flashback, interspersed with scenes of him training in the monastary on the mountaintop. I liked the way the backstory was told compared to Burton's version. There was a lot more about what a great guy dad was, the parents weren't just in the one scene.

As the training comes to a close, That blue flower is crumbled and burned, and Wayne inhales it and comes to grip with his fears. Then the group tells him that he cannot fight crime in Gotham. That Gotham is too corrupt and must be left to die. They have shipped in a criminal and want Wayne to execute the criminal as his rite of passage. Wayne refuses and fights them, blows up the monastary, but saves Liam's life and leaves him in a village.

Wayne shows back up in Gotham, where he finds out that his company is going public, being run by a shifty Rutger Hauer. Wayne Enterprises has a defense contractor division, and the R&D is run by Morgan Freeman, who starts playing Q to Wayne's Bond. Alfred, played by Michael Caine, helps Wayne set up the bat cave. Wayne starts to fight crime, and soon realizes that the whole city structure is in league with the mafia boss. But the mafia boss is in league with someone more powerful. Batman does find one good cop, Lt. Gordon (gary oldman), and he helps stop a massive drug shipment, and ties the gangster to a spotlight.

The kingpin is visited by the head of an insane asylum, who it turns out is Scarecrow. He gives a massive dose of a hallucinogen to the kingpin, and drives him insane, so he can't flip on them. Around this time, Alfred convinces Wayne that he has to put some emphasis into his cover story, so he plays up the role of spoiled brat, and Katie Holmes calls him on it and says how disappointed she is.

Batman later confronts Scarecrow, and barely escapes before being rescued by Alfred. At this time, a military device from Wayne Industries is stolen from a cargo ship. It's a concentrated microwave emitter that's supposed to vaporize the water supplies of the enemy. Morgan Freeman creates an antidote to the powerful hallucinogen, but is fired by Rutger Hauer, who seems to be in league with the bad guys.

Batman saves Katie Holmes from a murder attempt, as she tries to dig into the mysterious circumstances surrounding the massive drug bust. He gives her more information, and when she looks into the gangster's insanity, the doctor in the asylum turns into scarecrow, gives her a massive dose, and batman comes to rescue her. After a big fight in the asylum basement, we learn that massive doses of the hallucinogen are being put in the water supply, but that it is inactive unless inhaled. If only the crooks had a device that vaporizes water!

The crooked police converge on the Asylum, and batman activates a device that calls all the bats in the city to attack the asylum, getting cover for him to leave in the Batmobile. There's a massive chase through the city that was pretty well done. Though the police are hot on his tail the whole time, and he just drives through a waterfall to get through to the batcave. A chase on that level, followed by helicopter, would not be abandoned so easily, and you can bet that they'd figure out that there was a cave behind the waterfall. Also, you'd think that they would be suspicious that the car disappeard right by Wayne's house. And if Hauer was in league with the bad guys, wouldn't he know that Wayne was working with Morgan Freeman, and driving their prototype tank?

Wayne gets home and is supposed to be hosting his birthday party. But when he gets there, he finds Liam Neeson and crew waiting for him. They are behind the plot to poison the city, and announce that they are around to check decadense, that they brought about the fall of rome, and were going to do the same to Gotham. There's a big fight that ends with Wayne Manor being burned down, and Wayne and Katie Holmes escaping to the bat cave.

The bad guys crack out the water vaporizer and poison the neighborhood around the asylum. Batman gives antidote to Lt. Gordon, who is helping him defeat the bad guys. There's another fight, and the vaporizer gets loaded on an elevated train. The train hub and the water main hub are both under the Wayne Building downtown, and the microwave machine is vaporizing as it goes along. If it gets to the hub, there will be a "chain reaction" that poisons the city. Liam is on the train, and him and batman have a final fight. Lt. Gordon drives the batmobile to the end of the line and blasts out supports. The train crashes killing Liam and saving the city.

At the end, it's a new era, but there still are problems, and a new criminal is leaving his calling card around town, the joker. The company went public, but Bruce Wayne bought the whole thing up through fronts (SEC, anyone) and he fires Rutger Hauer and re-hires Morgan Freeman.

There were some plot holes, but for the most part it was a pretty entertaining movie. I liked the set design, particularly of the rail system for Gotham, and the batmobile. The acting was for the most part superb. Katie Holmes was poor, and I didn't like Gary Oldman's take on Gordon. Otherwise there was great casting, including Ian McKellan as a board member and Mark Boone Jr. as a crooked cop (I love that guy) I liked how for the first movie, they didn't have Batman immediately going up against some of the odder villains. The only one with a gimmick was scarecrow, and his role was limited. Bale was excellent in the movie.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

Brick

~lorenzo! — Sun, 21 May 2006 09:14:28 GMT

I just saw this film tonight. It was fairly unusual, and often the dialogue was hard to figure out. There was a lot of slang, sort of like film noir tough guy talk. I really did like the strange and complex plot although at times it was just confusing.

Although sometimes I felt like laughing out loud at parts that weren't funny, it is certainly worth seeing. It's in limited release so it may only be playing at art houses.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

Everything Is Illuminated

fuzzynathan — Sun, 21 May 2006 03:17:41 GMT

This was another one of those movies that I only heard about in a preview for another movie on dvd, and at such a short time before surprisingly stumbling across it at the university library.

I was busting a rib increasingly laughing for the first 25 minutes or so, drawing upon just how exaggerated and distorted things can get from one culture into another, while the movie then sort of drifted off into some magical realism and dark history, in order to unveil some holocaust history in the Ukraine, and its impacts across separate cultures and generations.

There were one or two mistakes to the movie, and the movie became a little less appealing watching some of the deleted scenes contained on the dvd, scenes that happened to grossly exaggerate some of the characters personas, such that I would have deleted them also or greatly modified them, without taking away from the core of the story.

Quotational food for some further thought that I had: "Everything is illuminated in the light of the past."

Well worth seeing, imo.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

Under Suspicion

shamus — Thu, 04 May 2006 09:18:22 GMT

Dir. by Stephen Hopkins; Starring Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman.

It's puerto rico, and there's heat and bustle in the streets. In the middle of that, we have a basically one set talking piece, as a lawyer (Hackman) anwers questions about a young female body that he found, as increasingly skeptical policemen (Freeman and Thomas Jane) come to believe he may be responsible for not only that murder but several others.

This film almost seems like a play that has been made into the movie, the way it relies on dialogue and acting to carry the drama. Like many plays that are made into movies, it suffers in that it's fleshed out via stylized flashbacks showing what the characters are describing. Oddly enough, it's not a play made into a movie, it's a french movie (1980's Garde a vue) remade into an american one.

Hackman has supposedly found a body when out on his morning jog, but things that he told the police upon reporting the find weren't fitting together. So they bring him back in for a second interview. Instead of lawyering right up, Hackman declares that he is a lawyer, and that he can hold his own, and he plays the stereotype of the arrogant killer that believes that he can outwit the cops.

There is a fairly interesting cat and mouse, as they catch Hackman in lies, and dig into his home life, which has its closet skeletons. Aside from a field trip in which Hackman has to give a speech, and is humiliated by being roughed up by the police and losing his toupee, the whole thing takes place in the office, with interludes that illustrate the story that Hackman or whoever is telling.

After many clever traps and a night of interrogation, they have turned Hackman's wife against him and painted him as a pedophile, and he starts to confess to the crime. In the middle of the confession, the police learn that a person has just been caught in the act of disposing of another body, and has clearly done the other murders. Case closed. So they have bullied a man into false confession. And made him talk about all of his dark secrets.

The film was flawed but entertaining. Hackman and Freeman served as executive producers to get the project made, which I suppose means that they either dug into their pockets or otherwise secured the funding. And it is kind of a vanity acting project. To say yes, we're that good at the craft that we can carry a talking movie on our backs. Like the way that Glenngary Glenn Close raised the profile of everyone who acted in it. supporting acting is pretty good, from Thomas Jane to Monica Belluci.

The directing in this film is fine in the straight on, speaking parts. The set design really conveys colonial opulence, which is probably not realistic Puerto Rico, but sets a nice tone. My problem is the way they did the flashbacks, which often included the cop popping up and asking questions. It didn't work. The dialogue was okay, often snappy. But it was trying to be Mamet, and it wasn't Mamet. With Hackman working on Heist, you have to a) notice that Hackman looks very good reeling off a Mamet line and b) wonder why he couldn't get Mamet to punch up the script to this remake vanity project, to make him look better. I imagine Hackman got paid crap to work with Mamet, and that's a favor that should have been called in for this flick

I enjoyed the film. But it really could have been much better. The writing seemed to fall just short, and the directing was distracting.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 1 reply

Storytelling

shamus — Thu, 04 May 2006 08:32:04 GMT

Dir by Todd Solondz

Starring Selma Blair, Tom Goodman, Julie Haggerty, Paul Giamati

Okay, Happiness is my favorite movie, ever, on most days. Some days are just Miller's Crossing days, but on most days, I go for what has to be the blackest comedy ever made. I rather enjoyed Welcome to the Dollhouse, as well. So why did it take me so long to see Solondz's fourth movie, Storytelling? Well, for one, it got panned. And a couple of people I know who like Solondz thought that it was sub-par. And I have a TiVo that I can't keep up with. Basically, if it doesn't come on Sundance or IFC or HBO, I don't get to see it. Even though I love DVD extras.

Anyhow, IFC ran Storytelling last weekend. It's split into two secions, the short "Fiction" and the longer "non-fiction".

"Fiction" follows a week or so in the life of a creative writing student, Selma Blair. The movie opens with Blair having sex with the kid with AIDS from Kids. He's also the provider of the gun/ wanna be gangster in Bully. In Storytelling, he has Cerebal Palsy. Immediately after sex, he wants to read the latest rewrite of his story, and she refuses, and he gets angry, and tells her that she isn't excited, that the fetish of fucking a cripple is gone, and she's become "nice". It's a scene that's nearly as uncomfortable as the opening scene between Jon Lovitz and Lara Flynn Boyle in Happiness. The kid reads his story, a schmaltz thing that ends with the narrator shouting "I'm a cerebal person!" Kids around the table give lukewarm praise, and the teacher rips him apart. The kid turns on selma blair after the class, saying that she should have told him it sucked so he wouldn't embarass himself. They break up, and a sad and confused Blair wanders into a bar, where she runs into the teacher. He tears her apart and says that she has no promise as a writer, but she still throws herself at him. The teacher is a mean, large, black man, and he's into verbal dominance and racist, rough sex. Blair is not into that, and she retaliates by writing a story describing the encounter as pseudo-rape, and reads it in the class. Everyone shreds it, including a woman that blair knows is also fucking the teacher, and had a taste of it. At the end, she screams "But it's true!" and the teacher calmly tells her "once you write it, it's fiction".

Non-Fiction follows Paul Giamati, who is a washed out actor turned filmaker, who desperation dials a woman who was nice to him in high school, only to find that she's married with three kids. He decides to make a film about this suburban family. On the surface, it's fairly normal. Dad is John Goodman, mom is Julie Haggarty. They have three boys. The oldest is in typical teen angst mode, the middle child is a jock, and the young kid is a clueless brat. John Goodman is crackling as the dad, who is fueled by typical american values, and a bucket of rage. Giamati talks the family into the movie. At first, they're concerned that they're about to be exploited, but then they make demands to maximize their exposure and make Scooby, the burnout, the focus. Giamati promises that he won't exploit, that he loves the family. Scooby doesn't know what he wants to do, other than he doesn't want to go to college. That keeps John Goodman in a rage. Haggarty plays the deer in the headlights look to the hilt, as she watches the meltdown of her family. The brat of a kid has long coversations with the maid that are brutal, as he's clueless about class, and she's a broken old woman forced to clean up after him. Scooby experiments with gay sex and accidentally does well enough on his SATs to get in princeton. The middle child goes into a coma from a football injury. The grieving dad agrees to be hypnotized and the brat tells him to fire the maid "because she's lazy". Giamati and his editor sees the coma as good for the film. And when they start to put it together, they notice that they can look at it in a funny and exploitative way. And the film takes over. Scooby is upset, and wants to talk to Giamati, who he feels listens to him. He finds Giamati at a screening of the film, where everyone is laughing. Scooby flips out and spends a lost night. During that night, the maid comes back and kills the family. Scooby confronts giamati as they wheel his family out of the house.

I really loved this film. It stages scenes so uncomfortable, they make Larry David look like an amateur. The acting, cinematography, and, well, storytelling are extremely well done. I still haven't seen Solondz's first film, but the earlier two have lonliness and misery at the heart of their bitter satire. This one still has the lonliness and misery in it, but the heart is exploitation, as it relates to the two forms of storytelling presented. The themes are somewhat less blatant than the earlier films, but he's not a subtle director. I can't understand why folks didn't like the film. It seems to fit right into his other works, other than it's not as funny. I'm still thinking of the clever ways that the theme pops up throughout the movie, as each character faces choices about exploitation as it relates to the art that they chose to be involved with. Ebert has a pretty good review about how that relates to criticisms that are often levelled at Solondz himself. Like Ebert, I'm going to have to see it several more times.

As trivia: The movie is a cavalcade of cameos from other small, independent projects. Mike Shenk from American Movie is Giamati's camerman. That's a nice cameo, since American movie is about Mark Bordchart's desperate attempt to tell his story, and the documentarians who, in a way, exploit them and bring out their humor. Mike was the sidekick in that, and he's the silent sidekick in this. The commentary track to American Movie (which is as funny as the film) contains long passages in which the filmmakers take pains to talk about how they were trying hard not to exploit Mark and Mike, and the subjects are right there, saying they were willing. And it paid off for them. The little film they eventually made was on the DVD and got much wider exposure than you'd ever otherwise see. The bratty kid in "non-fiction" was the kid who gets raped in Happiness. Mary Lynn Rajktub is in the writing class in "fiction". She was on Mr. Show, and now is getting popular on "24". The actor who played Tammy Tinklebottom on Strangers with Candy was also in the writing class. Interestingly enough, Heather Matarazzo, who was Dawn Weiner, was on Strangers as one of Tammy's friends in the sleepover episode. Heather looked like she was on her way to being a beautiful woman.

Anyhow, you should watch this one with an open mind. It's not as brilliant as Happiness, but what is. It's a damn good film. I hope that IFC runs Palindromes soon.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

Thank You For Smoking

See — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 04:02:59 GMT

The whole theater laughed thru the entire movie...anyone else see it?
What did you think?

posted in I just saw or heard... - 3 replies

V for Vendetta

Cora — Sun, 30 Apr 2006 00:14:05 GMT

This rocked. Great date movie too, includes the intellectual and explosion sides. What did others think?

posted in I just saw or heard... - 1 reply

Brokeback Mountain

See — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 22:07:42 GMT

Okay...so I finally saw this movie and I'm very surprised that i can't find a prior thread discussing it!

Has anyone seen it?
What did you think?

posted in I just saw or heard... - 8 replies

She hate me

shamus — Sun, 30 Apr 2006 07:08:56 GMT

She hate me

Dir. By Spike Lee, starring Anthony Mackie, with big names in supporting roles, like Ellen Barkin, Jim Brown, Brian Denehey, Woody Harelson, and Ossie Davis.

I rather liked Spike's first film, She's gotta have it, but since then have found most of what I see out of Spike to be, at best, a beautiful mess, and at worst, just a mess. I have missed a lot of Spike's films along the way because I really haven't found one that I liked since the first one. Spike always has excellent cinematography and scene composition, but his storytelling is all over the place, and the dialogue that he writes is often bang-your-head-on-the-table bad. This film is probably not as bad as "Girl 6", which was unwatchable. I turned it off after 15 minutes. It's not nearly as good as such notable failures as Clockers and Crooklyn.

Mackie stars as Jack, who is an up and coming manager at a biotech company who is making an HIV vaccine. They are lying to the FDA about a vaccine that is not working, and the lead scientist ends up killing himself over it. Ellen Barkin is his boss, and she seems to have a taste of jungle fever, or she just can't contain how hot she is in the role of a stereotypical corporate shill. Her boss is Woody Harleson. Jack gets a CD that has the data that would blow the whistle on the company, and he does that, and they know he did it, and fire him and frame him for a lot of the improprieties. At this point, it looks like the film that we're getting is a heavy-handed Enron satire.

Then it pretty much becomes another movie. All of that was a setup to the main plot of the film, which is that Jack's ex-fiancee, Fatima, shows up. She's now a lesbian, and both Fatima and her partner want to get pregnant at the same time. And Jack is a buff mandingo specimin who's also harvard educated. So much better than off the shelf sperm. So they pay him to impregnate them "the old fashioned way". at $10K a pop. And that becomes a business where half a dozen lipstick lesbians show up at his apartment every night to get his smart black buff seed "the old fashioned way" every night. Jack needs the money to keep his lifestyle and defend against the trumped up charges with him as the fall guy. So he does it, and Fatima (Kerry Washington) acts as the pimp. Jack lives on viagra and red bull, and the women, oddly enough, don't have any worries about safe sex and the possibility of disease. Oddly enough, all of these lesbians seem to orgasm uncontrollably once they get a taste of the black dick.

So that's two movies we get so far, and then we get a short in a plot with a mafia daughter who gets knocked up, and her protective mafia father (John Tuturro, doing a bad marlon brando) comes to accept the baby. And a number of pointless asides describing the security guard who found the watergate burglars. And the Enron people at the company find out, and take him to trial on some charges I didn't understand, so there was a trial ending that made very little sense, but gave the setup that Jack decided to be an upstanding father to all the kids that he spawned in his brief career as a gigilo. Even though the women made him sign away his rights and responsibility, and why the hell would they want him there. And it ends up happily ever after.

The movie left a bad taste in my mouth, and the best reason I can think of for why I watched it to the end was that I was constantly thinking that it was about to be over, that the current plotline had run it's course, and then a new tangent would come up, like the mafia thing, or we'd move into the unnecessary court scene, and the epilogue.

The part with the lesbians all loving cock once they got it, and all getting pregnant off Jack's umpteenth nut of the night, was offensive, and when I was watching the flick, I was wondering if it was purposeful. After the flick, I read Ebert's review, and that was what he thought. That it was embracing misguided ideas about sexuality to mock them. . But then you have to compare that to the first, Enron part of the film, which was more of a traditional pundit flick, with good guys against exaggerated bad guys who are clearly mocked. If you cut spike some slack, and say that he wasn't just filming some misogynist fantasy, then you would say that the tone of the film would be to say that the exaggerated portrayal of corporate scoundrels was in fact defending them. Or if it's a more traditional satire, then it is kind of an attack on lesbians. If he was trying to split the tone of the film, then it's poorly done, and a bad idea that just leads to confusion. Particularly when he adds that "stand up and be a parent" thing to the end. That doesn't seem to be satire at all, it seems to be a typically heavy handed spike lee message.

I think that the film is just a mess. I can speculate on what Spike intended, and so can anyone, but the storytelling was so muddied and tangental as to obscure any intent. I wouldn't mind that so much if the film were entertaining. It just wasn't. The dialogue was clunky, the characters were not engaging, and while the scenes were technically well shot, they always ended in an unsatisfying way.

One should not watch this film. unless you're trying to learn how not to make a film.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

The Sentinel

Rise — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 21:10:59 GMT

This is a good movie...Micheal Douglas still is a great actor.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

Mondovino

fuzzynathan — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 05:18:14 GMT

Wow!

What a great documovie on the world wine business, good and long, the dvd had 50 minutes of additional footage to add to the 135 minutes already!

It was sort of surprising that out of the people interviewed throughout the documentary, there was very little focus upon the mere enjoyment of wine, but, well, that is pretty much taken for granted.

Yet, on the other hand, a great amount of the movie (and most of the additional footage) focused upon what in this day and age is a good wine in terms of tradition, marketing, technology, wine critics, trends, etc....

The documentary goes back and forth, constantly from Bordeaux to Napa, Burgundy to Brooklyn, Florence to Baltimore, London to Brazil and Argentina, talking with family or corporate wine growers, winery managers, international wine conglomerators, wine consultants and critics, importers and distributers, and auctioners and sundry locals exploring where wine was, is, and is going in the last several decades. It goes back and forth over some of the difficult questions which much of the business of mondovino has been grappling with....

....stuff like the influence of Robert Parker, wine critic, and the ratings of wine critics, and how wine has seemed to have developed according to their tastes? Or, what really happend with the Mondavi family's attempt to move in to Burgundy in the late 90's? What really happened next with the Mondavi family's partnership with the Antinori then Frescobaldi Syndicate? With the Rothschild's? Is "100% new oak" symptomatic of the democratization (aka Americanization) and freeing of wine, or it's death? What really is wine consultation all about, and what are its merits? Are many bordeauxs and burgundies overrated? Are many california and other new world wines over/underrated? What does "terroir" mean, and is it over/underappreciated?....

I have been in the wine (and spirits and beer) distribution business hereabouts for over a year, and after a first year of really learning some basic nuts and bolts of wine and distribution, in recent months my knowledge and appreciation of wine has been really taking off!!!

:-d

I was really excited to have come across this dvd, having heard about it before. My expectations were very different from what I am now left with.

This documentary helped to shed a good amount of light on the world of wine in this day and age, especially the influence of critical marketing and increasing consumption.

Someone said this is a good continuation of Sideways, and I would have to agree up to a point. Sideways helped to shed for me a little more appreciation of wine on a simple level (I was just beginning to learn, back then).

Anyone have any other movie recommendations re wine?

I consider this movie a must see for the wine lover!

http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&cf=info&id=1808614505

posted in I just saw or heard... - 1 reply

Do not see...Do see...

JulieEcho — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 13:26:01 GMT

Schultze Gets the Blues

German movie with a really slow plot and long scenes with no words or anything going on. Don't get me wrong, I don't need an action film to be entertained but come on.

Elling

A Swedish movie that was really a good time. Cute and entertaining.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

La Dolche Vita

JulieEcho — Mon, 10 Apr 2006 14:39:13 GMT

Wow, we do not know what to think. Any comments on the "masterpiece"?

posted in I just saw or heard... - 1 reply

Movie weekend last weekend...

JulieEcho — Mon, 10 Apr 2006 14:46:02 GMT

We watched:
La Dolche Vita-???
Billy Elliott-We BOTH liked it!
The Quick and the Dead-good flick
Be Cool-Great!
Baraka-WOW WOW WOW
Mr. Mom-Now that's funny, I don't care who you are.

We still have to watch:
Schultze Gets the Blues-German Film---anyone seen this before?
Hannah and Her Sisters-Woody Allen Flick

I love the Public Library for Movies to watch...you pick thinks that you never would have if you were paying for it.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 2 replies

Brazil 1985

evil_fish — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 21:04:16 GMT

I just watched Brazil again, I saw it in the theatre when it came out originally. At the time it seemed so far fetched, but now it seems so wow, that is really happening now. (more or less)

posted in I just saw or heard... - 2 replies

Pride and Prejudice (1995)

fuzzynathan — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 01:44:11 GMT

I've seen this 3 hour miniseries put out by bbc/a&e about 9 times now over the past 2 1/2 years, cause it so well done (and I have it on tape)!

I've seen about 4 other versions of P & P, and haven't yet found one nearly as rich, full, and well done.

Each and every character's actor, moreover, fuffills their role in such a way that, seeing one of the other versions, leaves much to be desired!

Highly recommended, and a must see if you like Pride and Prejudice.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112130/

posted in I just saw or heard... - 10 replies

Code 46 (spoilers)

shamus — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 09:09:39 GMT

directed by Michael Winterbottom; Starring Tim Robbins and Samantha Morton

Code 46 is a doomed love story set against a sci fi backdrop, and though the sci fi elements play a part in the plot, it's mainly about the love story. It reminds me a lot of Soderbergh's Solaris, both in the way that the story and sci fi elements play off each other and in the pacing and unique camerawork. Happy Accidents also comes to mind, and perhaps might be a more apt reference than Solaris.

At some unspecified time well in the future, most of the world is made up of desert, with shantytowns full of poverty, but also freeport cities. The rich live in enclaves that have tightly controlled access. Samantha Morton works for a company in a very westernized Shanghai that provides people with something like a visa, the rules of which are poorly explained. What we do know is that she is stealing them and selling them on the black market. Tim Robbins is a family man from Seattle who works for an investigative agency with a private name that has psuedo-cop powers. He's sent in to find the culprit, and he takes a virus that enhances his natural empathy, so that he is more than a human lie detector, he can pretty much read minds. He fingers Samantha Morton right off the bat, but also immediately falls for her, so he frames someone else. That person will be exiled.

It's samantha morton's birthday, and she has this eerie dream every year, which ends up taking her closer to her fate, and she's determined to stay up all night. She meets Tim Robbins on the subway, and they go out on a date which leads to a one night stand. Tim goes back to Seattle. One of Morton's last sales of fake visas ends up in death, and Tim is called back a week later. But Morton is gone to a clinic outside of the city. We find out that in the future, they use a lot of cloning techniques, and have invented Code 46 to make sure that anyone with greater than 25% genetic identity does not breed. Samantha and Robbins' mother are clones, so the lovers share 50% genetic identity, and they conceived during the one night stand. Robbins checks her out of the hospital using his pseudo-cop powers. Morton doesn't remember him, because they wipe the memories around the conception. But eventually does.

She goes back to work, but is assigned to a different division. Robbins gets to the aiport and realizes that his 24 hour visa is overdue, and they won't let him leave the city. So he call up Samantha Morton and gets her to get one last fake. But instead of leaving and leaving her, they run away to a freeport city. They have sex again, and Morton has been infected with a virus that causes her to call in the code 46 violation. They are caught. Morton is exiled to the desert, and Robbins gets his memory wiped and goes home.

There are a lot of interesting ideas in this film, and the pace, washed out tones, and unique camerawork make it rather mesmerizing. They sure got a lot from a small budget. Morton's performance is very damn good. My biggest problem was with Tim Robbins, who didn't hold up his end of the chemistry, and walked through the movie as if he were drugged. He was supposed to be overcome with the empathy virus, but there was nothing belivable about his performance. He just didn't hold up his end of the chemistry.

I like the way that the sci-fi parts of the story were presented. Aside from text exposition explaining code 46 at the beginning (which wasn't really necessary, since it was explained in the film), the life in the future wasn't laid out in clumsy exposition, which does lead to some temporary confusion, which I like in a film.

The film was full of plot holes. Why did Robbins only have a 24 hour visa if he's an investigator who may have to track down leads? Why couldn't a simple phone call to HQ have cleared up his visa trouble at the airport, if he had pseudo-cop powers? If they weren't going to let him out of the country, and he was shown to have a bad visa and not be a resident, why wasn't he immediately arrested? It seems like a very odd way for the system to work. If they had viruses that controlled empathy and language control, and could force people to report a code 46 violation, whey didn't they just have tailored birth control that would prevent an embryos of that similar DNA to form? Or better birth control in the first place? They never do explain why the society is on the one hand so reliant on cloning and in vitro fertilization births, and so inflexible about mixing DNA. The list of genetic anomalies that result from inbreeding isn't long, and those embryos can be screened for those diseases. If you've broken the cloning taboo, then why would the incest taboo still be so strong, if it's easily overcome? I don't understand the sense behind the punishment, which was to wipe Samantha Morton's memories, and set her up to call in reports if she did it again. Why not just tie her tubes, so that if her true love is related, she can't conceive in the future, and has to use a clone? How come they couldn't figure out that Tim Robbins was the father? They said that Samantha was one of 46 clones that were the stock for Robbins' mother, so it should have taken about 30 minutes to look at the offspring of that clone and notice that Robbins was interviewing Morton the days before. Why was most of the access in the city controlled by biometrics, but the most important screening, entering or leaving, left to a plastic card?

Too much of it didn't make sense, but the background was left in such fuzzy detail that a lot could be forgotten if it was a hot love story, and because Robbins was such a cold fish, I started to think about the plot. Happy Accidents, which was much lower budget, and in which the sci-fi elements were all off screen, and even crazier, worked, because the chemistry between Vincent D'Noffrio and Marisa Tomei worked. The chemistry in Solaris worked as well.

I'd avoid Code 46, unless you're dead set on seeing Samantha Morton's crotch. Which is thrown in where there kind of out of the blue, and which is likely a body double anyhow.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

1984

See — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 20:16:13 GMT

This Play, directed by Tim Robbins, is currently showing at the Ivy Substation in Culver City, CA.

Anyone else seen it?

In a word, all I can say is POWERFUL!

www.theactorsgang.com

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

ashes and snow

See — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 05:58:48 GMT

All I can say is WOW!
We're already planning on going back to see it again...
Has anyone else in NY, LA, Italy seen it?
I'd love to hear what you thought about the exhibit.

http://www.ashesandsnow.org/home.php

And if you haven't seen it yet (and you're in the LA area) I HIGHLY encourage you to spend the 10 bucks it costs to check it out....I'm sure you won't be dissapointed!

posted in I just saw or heard... - 2 replies

UtraViolet

Wed, 22 Mar 2006 05:39:40 GMT

ehhhh...this wasn't a movie i had in mind..but i saw it anyway,...it was okay....though milla's hair is awesome...and by the way, her lipstick..gotta find out what is that she is wearing...very shinny...\

it was based off a comic book, so i'm not familiar iwht her story..something about a fight between the humans and the hemophage=..where she had to save a boy who had something that kill her but could cure the world...or something like that
it's more of dvd than a 9 dollars at the movies :(

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

Michael Buble

Wed, 22 Mar 2006 05:39:08 GMT

I got both of 2 most recent cds, just too awesome...so mellow...I can actually listen to it without hitting the "next" button...
also it something i can listen to while studying without feeling distracted
his voice is too awesome and i love the way he redid all those old song...

My favorite was HOme= for some reason i thought it was by kenny loggins which made me hate it..but then i found out Buble was the one,...so i had to buy it!

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies

George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire

~lorenzo! — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 01:06:11 GMT

This incredible series of books would be tough to make into a trilogy of movies. Could Peter Jackson do it? What do you think about these books as movies.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 3 replies

Seven Swords

mrhoppy — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 10:38:36 GMT

I just saw this latest from Tsui Hark and it SUCKED big time. it looked really great to begin with...very stylized. I mistakenly thought it was a redux of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, but there really is no resemblance. The plot and character development veered off into oblivion quite quickly. Boy am I disappointed.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 1 reply

The Closet

Dragonsp — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 06:35:42 GMT

I got this at the library as part of my "movies & knitting" weekend (yeah, I have no life). It was on my Netflix recommendations list, so I thought I'd pick it up rather than wait for it to get through my queue.

Turns out I'd seen it before, but still hilarious.

Daniel Auteuil plays a man who is laid off. His friend convinces him to pretend that he's gay in order to save his job (turns out he's employed by a condom manufacturer, and they don't want to upset the local gay community). Gerard Depardieu is the local homophobic bully, who is told that he'll lose his own job if he doesn't play up to the newly-out-of-the-closet member of staff.

Truly hilarious. It's in French, with subtitles (plays havoc when you're looking at your stitching the whole time). One of the funniest movies I've seen in a long time, and this was after I remembered I'd seen it and knew (vaguely) what was coming. A 9 out of 10 for sure.

posted in I just saw or heard... - 0 replies