Thinking XXX

This is a making of a book movie. Let me explain.
XXX 30 Porn-Star Portraits is a large format photobook done by the balding guy(Timothy Greenfield-Sanders) in the picture above. This book is part photos as art, part cerebral ruminations on porn, and 50% porn --if the bible thumpers are to be catered to. 50% because the central conceit of this book is: here is a porn star naked, here is the same porn star, in the same pose, clothed. It celebrates/examines the power of images on each of us, and society, without being didactic.
It is salted with several cool written pieces by the likes of Lou Reed, Karen Finley, Salman Rushdie and John Malkovich. Oh yeah-the pictures are pretty neat too.
"Thinking XXX" is a making of this book documentary. A quick intro to the photographer and his equipment is followed by interviews with the stars and the writers. Everyone with an opinion for or against porn, or an interest in celebrity, film and society needs to see this film.
Recommended. The dvd has a truckload of extra interviews and the full length versions of the excerpted interviews.
Recommended

Curse of the Golden Flower

I want the king's robe. It is about time the mantle of my robe obsession --"the Comfort of Strangers" flowing white-- was replaced. The king is played by the king of "Anna and the King", Chow Yun Fat. He chews the screen and is as riveting as Gong Li, without the aid of cleavage. You are correct..he did have the robe!
This is a work of fiction, based on a book about another time and another place..apparently palace intrigue has less borders than the region coding system..and can be played in any country. Palace intrigue foments into a coup, and the movie goes grand scale, lush, and absolutely stunning.
The inevitable debate of which film is better, "Hero", "House of Flying Daggers" or "Curse of the Golden Flower" is as distracting as which day is worse..Monday or Friday for the Customer Service types out there.. All three of these films are terrific, and I can't wait for the next one.
We were treated to a weather related private show at a decent theatre that still managed to showcase the differences between projection medium: digital is better. It is not quite VHS to DVD better, but so far once the digital is set up right focus, tracking and sound problems can no longer be blamed on the projector.
Do see this movie on the big screen, it is absolutely that beautiful.
Recommended.

Harsh Times

Dark, gritty, bi-lingual treat for the darkness obsessed among us, of whom I number. It is another terrific film for Mr Bale, and he throws himself at the role, or more accurately, into the role. This film deserves more attention than "The Machinist" which will always be remembered by those who saw it as truly starving for your art.
Bale is hardly emaciated here, sporting the appropriate tats for a misogynist gulf war vet needing a risk fix. Risk and violence are no longer omnipresent as he is back in LA, and his corrupted psyche demands it.
Without the tension of combat he is out of his element, and his type A drive demands he get back in. He creates situations where the only outcome is violence, he comes to life during these, dragging his small circle down with him.
The theatre we saw this film in was second run, and the already dark film was underlit at the projection level, with stuttering sound and the occasional silent moments when the soundtrack dropped out completely.
This is probably not a date movie, and some time around or in the military will enhance your enjoyment. This is not an anti Iraq film, nor is it "Johnny Got His Gun", but it treads similar waters..though Bale has all his limbs..
Recommended

The Wages of Fear

It occurred to me that even the remake of this film is old! That remake is called "Sorcerer", and it starred Roy Scheider. The original came out in 1953, released two years later in America heavily censored.
While the idea that censorship existed(s) in the "land of the free" is not news to anyone paying attention, I was surprised at the delay before the American release. I was under the impression that that was something new, brought on by distribution rules and DVDs, not just the country of origin.
Regardless, this is a double-dip feature rereleased(again) by Criterion, and thankfully so. The censored scenes have been put back in, the transfer cleaned of debris and the English subtitles--when English is not being spoken--are apparently closer to what is being said.
This film is a "Treasure of Sierra Madre" for the discarded. The spoils are hardly worth the risk but appear to be the only escape. The set-up is simple...drive the truck loaded with volatile nitroglycerin across the country on a dirt road. Survive the trip and get enough cash to leave the forgotten land.
Tension and fear mount as psyches fray.
There is backhanded political stuff sprinkled throughout this character study, not too heavyhanded. The cast is universally superb, there are no special effects.
I believe the characters Mario and Luigi from Super Mario Brothers were modeled after characters from this movie. Video game fans...check it out and tell me I'm wrong!
Recommended.

Children of Men

Best Science Fiction film of the year. Proper review with sources and links after second viewing this evening.
Click here for background (spoilers) from Wikipedia. Very thorough, and accurate as far as I can tell. Took me awhile to get back to the review as I am still thinking about this movie, and, of course, doing my part to spread by word of mouth. Most reviews have been positive, here (spoilers) is a negative review with a lot more research behind it than the lip service usually given. I believe the reviewer is thoughtful but objects to the director using PD James as a springboard for his own agenda.
I am putting this film up there with Bladerunner.Here (spoilers) is a review that reads like a 25 year old Bladerunner review. The complaint that nothing is explained was a chorus when Bladerunner hit, and, as a guy that was initially disappointed in Bladerunner for similar reasons, I can understand. The book was richer, more textured and had a lot more thematic threads that were not touched on by Ridley Scott's masterpiece.
In retrospect, how could they have been? Both Scott and Cuaron work in an entirely different medium, and have enriched the source rather than try to recreate it. Both of these movies are timeless and immediate, both shake the whole body with emotion and adrenalin, excite the eye with stunning camera, and float you through on a sculpted soundscape.
"Children of Men" takes place next week, next year, 10 years hence or 20 years ago. It is immediately believable as "an outcome". It is as harsh a criticism of paranoia and response as "V for Vendetta" and thoughtful enough to set it overseas so it does not get branded unamerican and boycotted here.
I had wanted to do a post called the british invasion about Theo, the new Bond, and Dubstep, but how do I lump the Mexican director Cuaron into that without ruining the geographical accuracy of the post?
This is absolutely 100% recommended for your big screen big theme great movie viewing pleasure.
BTW, Franco Battiato did the "Ruby Tuesday" cover. Your welcome :)

A Scanner Darkly

FROM NYT, 1/3/7:
Arrests for drug offenses among those over 40 rose to 360,000 last year, up from 22,000 in 1980.
1980 was 3 years after the publication of Philip K Dick's novel "A Scanner Darkly". The book was a paranoid cautionary tale rooted firmly in PKD's life. The read is chilling, familiar, depressing and funny. Not as funny as Ubik, not as weird as Valis, but definately prescient.
This is a movie review though, so onward! The movie is rotoscoped like Linklater's "Waking Life" version 2.It opens with a junkie seeing bugs crawling all over him and for a moment I worried that the tone was to be too light..
My worries were soon assuaged.
The story digs right in and we follow the Keanu Reeves character through dissociation to disentegration and watch his friends not even notice. Mostly.
Apparently the production was troubled, the release moreso. Wide release was stymied by animation weary critics that would stop the distribution and put this on their top ten list (of course). I am a PKD fan from the early seventies so my judgement is clouded but you know I have to recommend this one..

Holiday 3 Pack

New Years Weekend brought good food and friends together in this Kansas town, and still left a little time for movie viewing. Only one film on the big screen though, our Multiplex is apparently dead last to get the holiday films. Oddly enough the major city Kansas City is not nearly as major as I once thought it was--I couldn't even drive for a good film! Let's see what this weekend opens..
Two films viewed and not reviewed this weekend: Alien and Aliens. Watched both of these Quadrilogy versions on New Years Eve--a good trick to keep the lightweights awake for the "ball drop". I cannot wait for Bladerunner 07, thank you Ridley Scott! On with the trio of unrelated films...
"Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" This movie was beamed in from a parrallel universe. Everything is recognizeable and nothing is from this world. Ebert penned the script back in the day. It watches like an Elvis Movie channelled through Edward Scissorhands land. Russ Meyer directed so the breasts are in full force. Groovy man, but dated..in a bad way. The Passenger is still fresh. Bad Timing is still fresh. This watches like a mockery of a period and it very well may have been intended as a satire. A parody of hip and cool if you will at a time when the country was truly in the throes of a cultural revolution. I'm not finished with this one, and will report back after doing more reading and research.
"Baba Yaga" Before Immortal, Sin City, Mirrormask, V for Vendetta and 300 there was Baba Yaga -- a graphic novel brought to the screen. This is a story of a gorgeous fashionable female photographer with a hip pad in Milan, a bevy of suitors and models and a lesbian priestess of the dark arts after her..I have not mentioned yet the leather clad voodoo doll..
Panels from the actual graphic novel are employed a tad sparingly, and the english dubbed italian version of this french novel suffers editing and plot issues. I watched it all the way through waiting for a larger story and some kind of payoff...like in "Venus in Furs", but none was forthcoming. Recommended for the graphic novel fans only I'm afraid.
"The Good Shepherd" for this Le Carre fan an absolute masterpiece, trading the saturation and emotion of the Constant Gardner for levels of nuance and shades of gray. Not to mention enough RL parallels to make me want to read more history!
We watch as the job first takes our hero's "life" and then hollows him out into a shell of a man. Watching his light recede and watching him watching the forces around him move and shape the world we live in is utterly heartbreaking in the quietest of senses.
Le Carre often paints the American Intelligence Agency people as gung ho clueless cowboys from across the pond, and we meet a few of them here. Our hero is not one of them. Deadly earnest, loyal and patriotic the things he questions are not the same that might, the things he observes impact on him like stones thrown in the water, barely rippling the surface.
Camera, editing, colors and acting are all top notch, and I cannot find fault Deniro's second outing as a director. It is daring to put a slow moving intellectually challenging movie that may or may not be critical of the United States at any time, but particularly during the Christmas holidays. Good to see William Hurt again after his cameo in History of Violence.
Recommended

Rocky Balboa

Rocky Balboa is exactly like a Meat Cravers pizza on Saturday: predictably delicious, you just never know how long you will have to wait for the delivery.
Stallone is solid, the movie is as solid as can be expected.
I am on the trailing edge of the baby boom and Rocky's dealing with age and rage and the pain of his existence is nearly palpable to me..
Most of the boomers I know won't see this film, as they have long since bundled their lives against this sort of thing. They still have the new Waits record and the George Martin's gift "Love" to drink themselves to sleep to.
Please ignore the critics connecting the GOP/America/Iraq to this film..like 49Up Stallone could not have made it any earlier..and not much later from the beating he takes for the team.
Darren says the reason I like the fighting in Ong Bak is because the guys are really hitting each other. Must be, because they are here too, and the boxing was top notch entertaining! (this from a guy that doesn't watch boxing of course)
Bottom line, you know what you are getting and you can't help but like it.
Enjoy!
Recommended

James Brown Dead.

I was reading an article about the Brits raiding a police station in Iraq. Various thoughts of right and wrong and anarchy and the now "better off Iraq" were cut short by the blurb on the left: Godfather of Soul dead.
This blog has not marked many deaths.
I am at that age when people I have admired are starting to go in larger numbers. I remember Lennon dying when I was 17 or so and not understanding Captain Kelloway being so broken up by it. 17 and blind of course. I'm 43 now, and I think I get it.
Mourning on Christmas morning.
The "Godfather of Soul" had a good run through turbulent times.
RIP

Renaissance

Wow this movie was good!
I managed to get a region 2 Pal version of this gorgeous animated science fiction film. The short line, think "Sin City" meets "Bladerunner" and "corporations still run the world" kinda sums this piece up while still selling it short.
Speaking of the short sell, there was a very short theatrical run that had the critics everywhere whining about eye strain. This is due to all of the ambient light in theatres! Normally I leave a low watt bulb on behind the hi-def to help the eyes, but this movie requires absolute black.
I pointed out the exits in case of fire, put the wine bottles within braille reach and wondered about the darn subtitles. OMG it has an english soundtrack! I normally prefer original language tracks, but animation, if done well, is the exception. Two "Brazil" alumni, "Ian Holm" <--also "Alien", "Sweet Hereafter" and "Naked Lunch", and Jonathan Pryce join the new Bond "Daniel Craig" voicing this animated tech noir.
Did I miss Mr Craig's ice blue eyes? Maybe a little.
There is a ton of visual information constantly assaulting you, from truly cool seques to night vision scattersuits coalescing in the rain..
The sound design -- even on my 2.0 system -- is top notch. I was just whining the other day about my speaker imaging problems and lo and behold good source material pays off in spades.
Please note I have mentioned the PAL and Region 2 without going on and on about the self proclaimed Planetary King of Media Exports tight control on what we can see and when we see it. I know you all know about the deliberate degradation of DVD reproduction, the real reason for "Region Coding", and, unlike me, have apparently embraced it in some vaguely droooling form of patriotism. iMovies foreva! But I digress.
So, bottom line: must see for animation fans, sci-fi people and mayhaps a Bondian completionist or two..
Recommended

Some New Music

4 new discs spinning here...
Tom Waits Orphans 3CD Megapackage
V/A Sensacional Soul 2CD Digipack
V/A Science Faction - Dubstep
Milanese Extend

..and the last shall be first...
Milanese Extend was one of a pair of CDs bought from Aquarius Records blind, based on a terrific review in their free newsletter. I can't beat their review, and if you know what "grime and dubstep" are, well, you probably already have this. What works for me is deep bass, great samples, glitch and chaos stuck to body bending beats. This one goes way off the map, particularly in the later tracks, but this is a record that brings to mind "Praxis" at their very best. The difference being, Praxis played the shit, Milanese constructs his..

Tom Waits Orphans provides the perfect collection for your hip boomer friends just in time for Christmas. How thoughtful! 3CDs, thematically labeled, and 1/2 of it reworked versions of some of his coolest songs guarantee a weekend of terrific listening. Their are a couple of name naming tracks that belie the esoteric nature and bring him directly to the here and the now. This is, regardless of the mediated nature, wartime. Act accordingly.

Science Faction Dubstep went something like this:
1. load in player
2. turn it up
3. no, louder
4. OMFG. Bring disc to Darren's. "Put this on now. Mark volume." His subwoofer woke up. His house shook.
This is the shit. Deep deep bass, reverb, Dub like you would not believe. Starts great, gets better. In a year of terrific releases this has my vote for best instrumental CD.

Sensacional Soul is a compilation that borders a Soul Jazz release...digipack, booklet, great music on multiple discs. This is apparently Soul music made in the USA for the Spanish Market circa 1967-1974. Smokin' tunes, sung in english and spanish. mostly.

The Fountain

It is a sad comment that an American director is tagged with "pretension" on his 3rd great film in a row. Did Kubrick deal with this scorn? Umm. Yep. Malick? That goes without saying...
Yet the stylish grind house romps of Tarentino--and not to denigrate his contribution-- are greeted with accolades of the highest order. The retread of Bond is somehow fresh and "Borat" a virtual cultural scholar.
God Forbid a director look beyond national borders and tackle the big stuff. Perhaps Aranofsky should have stopped during the last five years to read the reviews of "Solaris"---he could have thrown in the towel then and started on a made for TV Cop Show.
Ignore this film if you will, call it muddled if you have ADD, but don't pretend "Happy Feet" is all we have left. Aronfosky is an artist painting in film. When was the last time you went to a gallery? Put down the controller and read a book. Yes, I am angry as hell about the trashing this film is getting. I won't even talk about the trailer reveals, and you stay at home "connoisseurs", you deserve every inch of that plasma screen stuck where it hurts most.
This is a big screen film, and 60 don't cut it.
Clint Mansell, bravo! Mr Aronofsky, thank you.
A brilliant film.
Recommended

Bond is Brown

or, Leaving the Desert of the Real
Apparently "Bond Begins" is as good as the press says.
I wouldn't know, I left before the Title Credits "rolled" <--does a DLP projector roll film?"
I noticed the problem during the trailers: no red. The Coke bottle --because every theatre needs to show TV commercials--was brown.
This is opening night, 8pm show, packed house. I mention the color problem to the ever vigilant usher. "Wait until after the trailers" was the response. I said to my companion, I will walk if this is not fixed.
I walked.
Management offered me my money back.
A whole theatre of people watched brown blood cover the bullet iris and I was the only one who left.
Man this Big Mac tastes good.

DISGUSTED

Flushed Away

Terrific stuff here, "Flushed Away" by jaded critics. This is a complete shame. Outstanding clever animation, good soundtrack, and a Dreamworks distribution can't get America to bite. What a darn shame. It is, as the song says, "easy to be hard". Enjoy your "Click" and your "Bewitched" we are hardly worthy of the efforts of the Aardman Animation crew.
The "Wallace and Grommit" guys have switched to computer animation in a claymation style, and I can't help but wonder if the fire in their studio forced this move. They are none the worse for it however, in fact the computer seems to have freed them up to fill the screen to the very edges and beyond...
Recommended

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

The mockumentary bar has been raised. It is now safe to see a comedy in the theatre without fear of dropping 20 IQ points.
Borat is dead on, sophisticated satire painted in slapstick and cheap filmstock.
While America wages a pre-emptive strike against the enemy (you know, the ones against us) and builds a fence to keep our undocumented workers out the rest of the world stares agape at our xenophobic patriotism. Borat skewers the underlying inbred culture that got us here.

This movie provides nothing but a mirror, and it is shocking that he gets away with it..
See it now, and ponder the freedom we are willing to give away for security.
Recommended

Flags of Our Fathers

The country has not embraced this movie, and yet it was made from the heart, and given to all of us.
With deceptively simple technique this movie tells the story of an iconic picture from an iconic war about the apparently iconic "Great Generation."
Clint Eastwood, no stranger to the director's chair, has now shown us the first half of his WW2 diptych. The second part is due soon, taking the same event from the perspective of the enemy--now our ally.
Music is important to Mr Eastwood, which may account for his film "Bird", and the tasteful restraint applied here, in "Flags of Our Fathers". The score is Period, minimal, and spot on.
What is more important to Eastwood, apparently, is getting it right. He has wrapped the ideaS of many books and films into 2 movies. Sections of this first film can be examined, deconstructed and absorbed days after viewing.
I did not leave the theatre dazed like I did "Apocalypse Now." I was not sick to my stomach like after "Saving Private Ryan", nor was I doe eyed with amazement a la "Thin Red Line". Instead I was introspective, mind on fire, sorting through the lessons and experiences that flow from this film unfiltered, like the emotion from the business end of Charlie Parker's saxophone...
Recommended

Rothko in Nature

Some Rothko background...
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Prestige Reprise

Second viewing, same theatre, correct volume. WOW!!!!
I know, I know, caps and 3 exclamations...
This is a film about men and magic. One of the supposed truths, which rings true during the film, is actually false: once you know the secret it is no longer interesting, it is worthless, and by extension, you. I'm paraphrasing the Christian Bale character's warning to a child after he shows him the mechanics of a trick.
This movie, by Mr Memento Christopher Nolan, is an elaborate trick. Second viewing, after the reveal, allowed the truth mastery of the form and story to shine through. The emotional core of the movie is exposed on second viewing, the story richer, the clues strewn about evident. The difference is this knowledge enriches and changes the experience.
Go back, I dare you.

Dragon Tiger Gate

Donnie Yen!
Dragon Tiger Gate is an enjoyable kung fu
film, with some terrific fights and a decent plot. It is always a
pleasure to pop a disc in --that's right, not in theatres (imagine
that)--and find a good film that I have heard nothing about previously.

Sure, I could comb the Internet and the great support sites for
Asian Cinema, but you know what happens then: your mailbox is flooded
with cool discs but you have to sell your TV to make the rent!
This
is not a film for the uninitiated. While the story is not complex and
the action and editing fast paced, a good knowledge of the films that
have come before isdefinitely rewarded here. I try to catch as many Donnie Yen films as I can, ever since the "Iron Monkey" came to town.
There was not enough wire-fu or cgi to piss off my purist buddie, and enough to keep me smiling and air choppin' along with 'em.
Recommended.

The Prestige

Batman vs Wolverine in a world gone mad! Effects not by Magneto but indeed, Nikola Tesla himself!
This battle brought to you in a time blender by the formidable director Christopher Nolan of Memento and Batman Begins fame.
This is a costume drama set at the dawn of electricity about the rivalry between two magicians and two scientists. The scientist battle is only alluded to--Edison vs Tesla is apparently not nearly as photogenic as women being sawn in half!
Less convoluted then Memento--intentionally--there are some reveals to the audience that follow the same hammer the point in methodolgy of many American films. I try not to look ahead and unravel movies while I watch, and spent most of that energy reconstructing the timeline of events.
All viewers in my party loved the film, the rest of the audience was a touch restless on opening night in a packed house. Our new mostly all digital theater did let me down, I found myself begging the projectionist to turn the sound up! In spite of that technical problem I highly recommend this film.

The Departed

"Mr State Trooper...please don't stop me.." thanks Bruce.
What a terrific film! Great actors, great story, fine Scorsese camera.
The actors? Jack Nicholson, Matt Damian, Mark Wahlberg,
and Leonardo DiCaprio. It would have been a shame if this cast had
delivered a swing and a miss, but it has been done before! I am
remembering the Brando,Deniro, Bassett and Norton heist film that was
just awful. "The Departed" hits the ground running and keeps moving.
Fantastic performances throughout, and a couple of terrific supporting
roles taken by RayWinstone and Alec Baldwin.
The story? Well, "The Departed" is a re imagining of the fantastic Hong Kong film, "Infernal Affairs".

One of the nice things about these films is watching the two different takes on the same story. Both films stand up well, even viewed back to back. Not a dull moment in either,
and since the viewer knows allegiances the cops and robbers don't it is not like watching one reveals secrets about the other.
Both films highly recommended.

SPL

Where have all the HK Actioners gone? Well, thanks to the turnover of Hong Kong we fans have been forced out of the Kung Fu ghetto and into Japanese Gonzo and Korean CGI. Not necessarily a bad thing, but Fearless and now SPL bring back a nostalgia for the days of kick or be kicked, doves, handguns akimbo, and lightning fast chops.
SPL brings one of the masters out in the role of mafia boss Po, and Sammo does not disappoint. I actually got to know the "real" name of one of my favorite actors, Simon Yam. He was one of my favorites from "Bullet in the Head". The other treat was, of course, Donnie Yen, still buff
and fast and apparently behind the action sequences as well.
In this political climate sitting down to drink wine with friends and watch corrupt cops had its moments of tension in the room..that gave way to enjoyment of hard boiled action pretty quickly. This film takes place in the early '90's, but the camera and the message are up to the minute. Which means, like Fearless, a terrific fight film ends on a sobering series of notes.
Recommended.

Checking In

It has been pointed out in more than one place, and not necessarily in a glib tone, that "everyone has a blog", and they are as easy as "making your own urine", and about as interesting to outside viewers/listeners/tasters. It has also been pointed out that I'm not particularly rabid or foaming in print, just in person. And finally, those that are also procrastinators point out that it has been a week since I last posted.
This is not to say I have been idle..or even too busy to post.
There have been plenty of events..to include little things like the evisceration of the US Constitution by the executive branch, bombs in mosques, kidnappers and congressmen sexual dalliances, and the voluntary surrender of freedom by my surrogate daughter. On a personal
level, the banning of my Picasa Web Album features pretty highly.
That was a> unexpected, 2> unexplained, and C> frustrating! I have removed the link to that album from my sidebar. This is, of course, not the end of the saga. I have asked for an explanation of why and how to get privileges back, but, it is a bigGooglesphere!
The lack of movie reviews? Well--I saw "Fearless" in the theatre--wonderful--but already reviewed on this blog before release. I have also seen some movies on the big and the small screen, but, as many of you know, I don't write negative reviews.
That is based entirely on not liking things at one time and then liking later on. I am not saying this will happen every time, but on even the worst of movies some people have poured their lives (at least temporarily) into making it. It is wrong to spit a gob of opinion on something like that. Positive energy is at a premium these days.
So a list of movies not reviewed here:
"Bad Guy"
"Little Miss Sunshine"
"Black Dahlia"
To be reviewed after I finish the last installment, as I am loving it: "Smiley's People".
Keep the faith, I am here to stay.

Stratosphere Girl

Review the movie or rebut the reviews? Deconstruct and nullify the obvious "Lost in
Translation" comparisons, or highlight the essence of the differences between the two films? What if my loyal following hasn't seen either? Can a loyal follower not have seen "Lost in Translation"? Why can't I find a picture of the main character that captures her beauty on that mysterious series of tubes that Al Gore created without emitting any carbon we call the Internet? Is it appropriate to bury political slams in a movie review? When does the review start?
Point taken.
One line synopsis: Disenfranchised youth takes opportunity in foreign land without research and a confidence in strangers that belies her powers of observation.
Mayhem does not ensue.
The movie burbles along, enchanting us with beauty and camera and music. The stakes do ratchet
up, the passing of time jumbles, but our heroine remains at the center, beguiling the world and irritating her lesser companions with her unintended charm.
The soundtrack was put together by Nils Petter Molvaer, and is well suited to the film. Camera moves constantly, from macro focus through animated fades and cuts--appropriate for a movie centered around the journey of a artist who fancies herself a superhero in a comic book.
Perhaps my only criticism of the film is that a movie narrated by the female lead deserves a female sensibility to the camera. The camera tends to linger on the ladies, which is fine by me, but may alienate those inclined to cry misogyny without validating the power of the image.
Recommended.

Tabblo In Action

See my Tabblo>

Police State Embraced

This will take a bit to get right. Let me outline factors, then connect the dots, then argue my point. These are in no particular order.
1. Email monitoring at federal level without oversight
2. Phone tapping and monitoring without due cause. "terrorism" is not a blanket of due cause
3. Pouring bottled water out before getting on a plane
4. Lawsuits dismissed in the name of National Security
5. Reclassifying public records from 30 years ago to "secret"
6. Random car searches on a weekday on the only highway between Topeka and Manhattan
I work with people that defend these actions as necessary for a secure and functioning country.
These abuses will not stop until the citizens--you and me--leave work and take to the streets.
Have they stopped teaching history? I know the oath of office mentions the
Constitution, and there was even that movie "National Treasure" (yeah, I thought that was a horse too) that shows that we as a people had a backbone once. That our answer to job security wasn't the Great Wall of Mexico, but instead innovation. Our answer to spilled coffee used to be to clean it up, not sue. Planning for retirement used to mean more than buying a lottery ticket every week. Rewriting history, doublespeak, and newspeak were once the province of paranoid futurist authors, now they have their own departments, in every corporation(and the USA Inc). What was our budget for Iraq Propaganda? 20 Million this year? Propaganda used to be synonymous with Wartime Lies, now some of the best paying jobs in journalism are all about spinning, and retouching, and overdubbing footage...
I believe civilizations act like titration in chem class -- the green liquid stays green even as you add the clear drops until that one drop turns the entire beaker red. How will the green of our civilization turning red manifest?
Revolt?
Bio disaster?
Armed lock down?
I do not believe the USA will continue its slow downward slide into a gated community for the 1%...Rome's fall was slow because there was no tech.The "hyperpower" called the United States may be 6th or 7th on the tech ladder, but we still have the nukes--and the zealotry to use 'em.

Crank

Matador, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Wasabi, and now Crank. "Action Comedy" I suppose is the genre I am being dragged into, but that's ok, I love it. I don't want to split hairs here, but these are not as easy to pull off as it may seem.
Each of those movies above had the pace, charisma and smarts to leave me pumped rather than bloated when I left the theatre. Each of them had directors willing to push the camera, the actors, and the soundtrack to the roller coaster edge.
I am not talking groundbreaking stuff here, but a smart script leaned out and fed high octane images makes for a satisfying movie experience. Yes, it was too quiet on the Megaplex screen opening night--they need to stop setting volume during the louder trailers. Yes, the theatre was less than half full. Apparently not enough TV advertising.
No TV at my house, it was the trailer that dragged me in--the trailer that also set expectations so low no one thought it would be one of the magic B movies (see list above)and that is a shame. This will be on dvd in October no doubt, but catch it in the theatre, it has big camera.
recommended!

Zazzalicious

This is the picture of my daughter that I ran through the Photoshop mill to put on a postage stamp using Zazzle. You will note there is no link to Zazzle, but not because I am lazy. I originally wanted to post a picture of the stamp, but discovered that my photo in their template is their
intellectual property and I can't drum up business for them by showing you how cool it is.
So, consider this base shot a placeholder until the stamps arrive and I can take a picture of them. Hopefully the xenon-gamma watermarking virus won't erase my SD card in the camera..

Miami Vice

I try not to write negative reviews. The creative process, and the movie making process are both more impressive than what I do, criticizing from the armchair seems wrong. 2 viewings and a week later I can say for sure:
Michael Mann has upped the ante on the sound and visual of large caliber weaponfire into vehicles, no mean feat after "Heat".
The Mojito is a delicious drink, decidely not just for Cuba anymore.
Mark's Dirty Mojito Recipe, Pint Size
In a pint glass:
2tsp sugar
6 mint leaves, chopped
juice of one lime
4oz Dark Rum
Shake or stir until the sugar is dissolved.
Pour over ice into a second glass, qs with Club Soda
Float rum on top
Garnish with mint sprig
Miami Vice is no "Collateral".
A shame, as this premise was rich enough to get Tully into the theatre.
Is that mint caught between your teeth?

The Descent

6 Women, 1 Cave and....
That might have been enough for this film, but this is more than an exercise in lighting and gore. The cave doesn't enter the picture for nearly 30 minutes. This is to lay the groundwork for the psychological Descent.
Yes, as in most ensembles, there are characters you like and characters you like not so much. Since this is a bunch of women we can't tell which of them are wearing the Star Trek red shirts. How much snippy dialogue and intentionally awkward silence can we endure before the flashlights die?
This movie will not be the poster child for spelunking. It is a study in claustrophobia and fear and morality in a world gone dark and wet.
To say I enjoyed this film...Well...Remember "Das Boot?" Three hours in a submarine with deadly bolts and a stench you could smell in the theatre? Remember surfacing into the bright outdoors after and feeling the sun..Yes, it is like that..