Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 6173 Location: A monistic vulgarity in which nobility and wisdom have been exchanged for a pale belief in progress
Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2012 8:45 pm Post subject:
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Remember that film The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover? I always figured the Thief was supposed to represent the kinda person that flourished under Thatcher's drive for private wealth above everything else.
I agree completely.
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al-Qa'bong: Don't forget Elvis Costello's "Tramp the Dirt Down."
I can't forget what I never knew. Despite being easily led, I stopped following Declan McManus after the atrocious "Get Happy" record and his racist comments about Ray Charles. _________________ "The purpose of government is to protect the weak from the powerful" Hammurabi
"We can't all be Sam the Sham; some of us have to be Pharoahs" Larry, brother of Darrel, and his other brother Daryl
I stopped following Declan McManus after the atrocious "Get Happy" record and his racist comments about Ray Charles.
Drunken racist comment, yeah. He's expressed his regret over that remark several times over the years, and I never know what to think.
Get Happy on the other hand bothers me less than stuff like the Rolling Stones version of "Time Is On My Side", which, when compared to the Irma Thomas version, comes across like Al Jolson to me. At least Costello has enough self-loathing to make the cultural appropriation interestingly fraught with tension.
I can't forget what I never knew. Despite being easily led, I stopped following Declan McManus after the atrocious "Get Happy" record and his racist comments about Ray Charles.
I hear you, and of course you have to do what feels right for you, and I can think of instances where an artist's personal live has had a similar effect on me.
On the other hand, if I tried to follow that rule in all things it would make me crazy.
Not excusing Elvis, of course, or saying that you are wrong and should change your mind, but I remember getting caught up in the "no respect" punk ethos myself and making a similarly offensive comment (not racist or sexist, but uncalled for and shameful).
As for good flicks though, we saw "Arthur Christmas" with the kids. It was hilarious, and I recommend it for anyone.
As well, the latest Sherlock Holmes movie gave me a good opportunity to explain war profiteering to my eldest. The movie was a fun romp, though the kind that made me wish they didn't have the sound turned up so high in theatres.
Yeah. Prince appears to have turned into a bible-thumping, raving lunatic. I don't care. I like his music. I once met Chuck Berry at an airport. He was an abrasive asshole. I don't care. Those Chess records are amazing. Etc.
That said, I do think Elvis did somehow lose his melodic sense entirely after Punch the Clock, so I'm not sure you're missing much musically. Lyrically, there were moments, but Veronica was as close as he ever came again, and it took Macca to get that out of him. Even reforming the Attractions didn't really help much. After that I stopped bothering too. I never quite believed that story, even though it appears to have been true. Was it Bonnie Raitt who slugged him? Bonnie Bramlett?
Took the girl to see The Artist on the weekend. It was a very enjoyable piece of fluff. A lot more like Mel Brooks' Silent Movie than I was expecting somehow. She loved it. I wasn't sure she'd be into a silent movie, even though I have inflicted hours of Buster Keaton on her from an early age. There is a great dog in the film - stroke of genius - so she was thoroughly entertained.
Interesting, no-holds-barred review of the Thatcher film over at The Quietus:
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For this is the thing: the '80s, and Thatcherism, were far larger than the rather small, psychologically uninteresting and obdurately pathetic figure of Thatcher herself. Any day, week or month now she will die and there will be ding-dong celebrations from some, nauseatingly enforced grieving from others. But what hasn't died is the legacy of the era over which she presided, whose greatest trick may have been rhetorical: "there is no alternative." The schisms and open wounds left in those ravaging years we are supposed now to accept as the natural running rivers and gorges of New Britain. There were, are and always will be alternatives. And one of them is to give this desperately confected treatment of a figure whose very repugnance served as comic distraction from what was really being done in the 1980s, a wide berth.
Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 3142 Location: tahsis, british columbia
Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 1:38 am Post subject:
For Solstice the blonde daughter gave me the trilogy of the "Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" series, done in Scandinavia. Incredible. I have watched all three films several times, I'm almost ready to start talking Swedish. I understand North Americans don't like reading sub titles but I had no problem, didn't find them distracting.
There's a North American version being released and I truly do doubt they can do as good a job , and certainly can't do a better job. It was SO different from the more usual North American "crime" type films...no guns, bullets, explosions, or wild car chases, not even a real punch-up! But gripping, all three of them.
I've seen the first of the three, and quite enjoyed it. Interestingly (for the book and the movie) there was quite a bit of editing done to title in the translation of the first book. The original Swedish title, "Män som hatar kvinnor", is (much like it looks in English): "Men who hate women". The other two are rather closer translations.
Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 3142 Location: tahsis, british columbia
Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 5:38 pm Post subject:
The books blew me away. My brother sent me the first one and we made jokes about it being so big and so heavy it could serve as a doorstop. Then I started reading it and knew it would be in the book case, not in the doorway at all. I have convinced myself that the author, who had his own magazine, had huge files on neo-Nazi activity, on human trafficking, on government duplicity, but couldn't get proof to take anyone to court so sat down and started typing "fiction". There is an air of authenticity to much of the content and, you know me, I'm up for a good conspiracy theory any old time of day.
The final film of the three had me going in circles the first time I watched it and only started to "make sense" the second time...so many people!
I saw it in Toronto at the Bell Light Box on Saturday, so it's in more than just Ottawa for sure. I saw a poster for it at my local cineplex too, with a coming soon sticker, so hopefully it's about to get a wider release. See it in 3D if you can.
Joined: 25 May 2006 Posts: 1140 Location: Vancouver
Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 3:02 am Post subject:
Saw Kevin Smith's Red State last week. Not bad, not a great film but one that's stuck in my mind. Incredible acting by John Goodman as the ATF agent and Michael Parks as the Westboro Baptist style minister are what saved it. Worth checking out if you like his stuff.
Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 6173 Location: A monistic vulgarity in which nobility and wisdom have been exchanged for a pale belief in progress
Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 5:27 pm Post subject:
About Schmidt was on TV the other day. I remember thinking after seeing it years ago that it was purt'near a perfect movie.
We have two camps at work: those like me who think the film is brilliant, and the Philistines who hate it. _________________ "The purpose of government is to protect the weak from the powerful" Hammurabi
"We can't all be Sam the Sham; some of us have to be Pharoahs" Larry, brother of Darrel, and his other brother Daryl
I saw "Hugo" and "Paris at Midnight" yesterday. I didn't think I would like the former (3D) but it was brilliant. Scorcese did a fabulous job and the story is so touching. "Paris at Midnight" was clever and fun. _________________ “If my grandmother had wheels, she'd be a tractor.”
Lighter-toned political saga by Frank Capra, about plutocratic attempts to co-opt a populist social movement. Hard to categorize ideologically, since the John Doe movement has overtones of what we would now call libertarianism, but its enemies are definitely meant to be understood as wealthy and authoritarian(tycoon with his own private army busting up rallies etc).
Insofar as it was meant as a portrayal of potential American fascism, fairly daring for its time, given that it draws connections between fascism and capitalists(or at least some capitalists), rather than just the usual caricature of fascists as crazed madmen who came out of nowhere.
Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 6173 Location: A monistic vulgarity in which nobility and wisdom have been exchanged for a pale belief in progress
Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2012 3:49 pm Post subject:
Helots!
We went to the movies last week, and saw a swell picture called "The Artist."
There wasn't a lot of complicated dialogue, but then the actors didn't need any, they had faces. _________________ "The purpose of government is to protect the weak from the powerful" Hammurabi
"We can't all be Sam the Sham; some of us have to be Pharoahs" Larry, brother of Darrel, and his other brother Daryl
I had been wanting to see this since I read a review of it when I was a kid. Australian supernatural thriller, directed by Peter Weir(of Dead Poets and Truman Show renown). A white Sydney lawyer takes a job defending some indigenous people charged with murder, and begins having strange, apocalyptic dreams.
Classic set-up of rationalist moderns vs. spiritual "primitives", with the latter wordview vindicated by subsequent events. In that sense, I suppose, open to charges of romantic orientalism.
All in all, though, interesting look at some cultural and legal issues in Australia, from a late 70s vantage point. I watched it on YouTube(definite last resort for the cinephile), but if you can get a good DVD of it, worth a look. Nice to recall a time when the horror and supernatural genre wasn't over-run with bombastic CGI. _________________ I hear words I never heard in the Bible.
I watched it on YouTube(definite last resort for the cinephile), but if you can get a good DVD of it, worth a look. Nice to recall a time when the horror and supernatural genre wasn't over-run with bombastic CGI.
I see there is a torrent dvd-rip of it on isohunt.com. 1.3 Gb MP4 It'll be that and Rush Hour III for me next weekend. Thanks VoD. _________________ Democracy should more appropriately be referred to as Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power. - George Washington
Reading "apocalyptic dreams" made me remember how much I enjoyed Take Shelter.
You're the second person to recommend that to me in the last week or so. I'm gonna try to get ahold of it.
From the trailer, looks somewhat similar to The Last Wave, in that the predicted apocalypse involves meterological onslaught. _________________ I hear words I never heard in the Bible.
Orlando is playing at the Broadway on Sunday night for free - part of pride week.
I may be giving myself away as a peon for saying so, but I liked the movie better than the book. Something about the overly-florid writing just bugged me (and yes, I know it was satire).
Obviously with a title like Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, one doesn't expect high culture, but if anyone wants a good laugh, I recommend it. Totally over the top and silly, but all in good fun.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1611224/ _________________ I can't support bike lanes. Roads are built for buses, cars, and trucks. My heart bleeds when someone gets killed, but it's their own fault at the end of the day. - Assclown Rob Ford
I watched The Machinist over the weekend, and was pleasantly surprised. I'm not usually a fan of those films were everything turns out to hinge on epistomological or metaphysical plot twists(eg. Memento), but The Machinist manages to keep it fairly subdued on that score, instead focussing more on creating eerie atmospherics.
Which it does quite well. I was so enjoying the horror-but-not-quite ambience, that I didn't get bogged down in trying to figure out what was real and what was not(which I always find to be the Achilles Heel of that genre). Even the cheezy Route 666 scene worked well, given that it was supposed to be taking place in the protagonist's mind. _________________ I hear words I never heard in the Bible.
Brave. It was entertaining on many of the same levels as How To Train Your Dragon. Definitely a better class of princess than we have come to expect from Disney. But I won't be talking about this years later, it was certainly not on the same level as Up.
Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 6173 Location: A monistic vulgarity in which nobility and wisdom have been exchanged for a pale belief in progress
Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2013 6:11 pm Post subject:
I haven't seen Zero Dark Thirty and I doubt that I will, unless it's on TV some time.
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Instead of being indicted, these torturers are presented as heroes, as brave and dedicated “detectives.” No one gives Maya or Dan the kind of scolding, which you envision Obama giving, off-screen.
Chastain’s Maya, is presented as especially admirable, a feminist action hero. She not only gets her man; she also muscles CIA male chauvinists out of the way, as she pushes ahead on “The Greatest Manhunt in History.” And we’re supposed to empathize and cheer her on.
Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 6173 Location: A monistic vulgarity in which nobility and wisdom have been exchanged for a pale belief in progress
Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2013 3:27 pm Post subject:
I watched "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" and "You Were Never Lovelier" on TCM last night.
What a couple of swell pictures.
I fell asleep during the one right after them, though. It was one I'd seen before, "All the King's Men,"about "The Kingfish." CCO can tell yas all about it. _________________ "The purpose of government is to protect the weak from the powerful" Hammurabi
"We can't all be Sam the Sham; some of us have to be Pharoahs" Larry, brother of Darrel, and his other brother Daryl
Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 6173 Location: A monistic vulgarity in which nobility and wisdom have been exchanged for a pale belief in progress
Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 4:09 am Post subject:
I haven't seen Zero Dark Thirty, and reviews like this are making it less likely that I shall.
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America’s pursuit of the Great White Camel told us much more about ourselves than it did about him [Osama bin Laden]: we killed over one million Iraqis and wrecked their country which is still going on to this day, every day. We’ve now killed more Afghan civilians than Americans were killed on 9/11, and our drone strikes in Pakistan are making it a close second.
The pursuit of the Great White Camel let the world see through a mirage: America isn’t a model to be emulated, it’s not a soaring eagle but a Chicken Little who scares easily and rushed to throw away every civil liberty and legal protection it had via the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act and the National Defense Authorization Act. A deluded cowardly and bullying country that will mainly fight you from 10,000 miles away and 20,000 feet above. A country whose dumb ass personality-cult liberals believe it’s a big improvement going from Bush capturing and torturing alleged “terrorists” to Barackus Obombus Caesar who captures no one and simply kills whoever he wants wherever he wants whenever he wants. It’s no coincidence that the CIA works with an Oscar-winning director on a film depicting torture now that its preferred modus operandi is extrajudicial assassination.
What I've read in this guy's blog is pretty interesting. _________________ "The purpose of government is to protect the weak from the powerful" Hammurabi
"We can't all be Sam the Sham; some of us have to be Pharoahs" Larry, brother of Darrel, and his other brother Daryl
Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 6173 Location: A monistic vulgarity in which nobility and wisdom have been exchanged for a pale belief in progress
Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 4:01 pm Post subject:
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There was a time when the entertainment industry promoted an anti-establishment counter culture, consciously creating a space for nonconformity. Movies and music were means of escaping the dictates of the status quo. Now they are part and parcel of the establishment and leave no outlet for true creativity or independent thought. Movies have become a happy arm of the United States government as they advocate for violence and war crimes to be carried out around the world.
Hollywood is after all an important part of corporate media. Like other media, it is now shaped by fewer and fewer players, with large conglomerates replacing the creative people who once made films interesting. The endless sequels and big budget action movies now comprise most of what we can expect to see at the multiplex. In a country becoming more and more imperialistic every day, it isn’t surprising to see the Pentagon’s world view on screen.
On Friday night I stumbled across a copy of the 1984 film Streets Of Fire at the dvd rental place. It's a gang-themed action flick, set in a New Yorkish city in an alternative time-line 1980s, where the 1950s don't seem to have ended. To quote Roger Ebert's comments about another film, it "takes place in our memory of movies".
The plot is basically a maguffin for a lot of action sequences, retro imagery, and rockabilly music. Rick Moranis has a major role that seems a bit out of step with the other characters, not to mention the general milieu, or perhaps not. If you're a fan of The Wild One(and similar films), Happy Days or Grease, you might enjoy this. _________________ I hear words I never heard in the Bible.
Joined: 25 May 2006 Posts: 1140 Location: Vancouver
Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2013 8:26 pm Post subject:
I remember "Streets of Fire"! On my first trip to California as a kid they were filming it at Universal Studios when I took the tour, so I got to see all the sets. Not a great movie but cheesy fun. I read Rick Moranis getting the part caused some tension in the SCTV gang.
Just saw "Zero Dark Thirty", more like "One Shitty Movie" if you ask me.
I remember "Streets of Fire"! On my first trip to California as a kid they were filming it at Universal Studios when I took the tour, so I got to see all the sets. Not a great movie but cheesy fun. I read Rick Moranis getting the part caused some tension in the SCTV gang.
Cool memory. All I remember seeing at Universal was the fake shark-head that had been used in Jaws. Plus, some ultra-lightweight trucks that Steve Austin or Wonderwoman had tossed around.
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I read Rick Moranis getting the part caused some tension in the SCTV gang.
If the issue was professional jealousy, they didn't have much to worry about. By all accounts, the film really bombed. It does have certain artistic pretensions, though, so I guess they might have been fretting that Moranis was hopping aboard for the next Blade Runner. _________________ I hear words I never heard in the Bible.
Reading "apocalyptic dreams" made me remember how much I enjoyed Take Shelter.
You're the second person to recommend that to me in the last week or so. I'm gonna try to get ahold of it.
From the trailer, looks somewhat similar to The Last Wave, in that the predicted apocalypse involves meterological onslaught.
Finally saw it, at the Gwangju art theatre.
While I should probably see it again before delivering a final verdict, I'm gonna pronounce myself slightly disappointed. Two main reasons...
I was hoping for the dream sequences to be a bit trippier, whereas they pretty much just seem like real life situations, albeit horrifying ones. I guess it could be said in the film's defense that that IS pretty much how we perceive dreams when we're having them, ie. the actions seem normal, not surreal. But still, I was hoping for something more along the lines of the religious hallucinations in Altered States.
[spoliers]
Also, the dilemna of deciding whether the guy was mentally ill or a genuine prophet wasn't really fleshed out in much detail. There's no strong evidence presented for either conclusion, until the end, when they simply indicate in the climax that he's ill, but then reverse that verdict in the denoument, without presenting any other significant clues either way. It was a little like watching a murder-mystery where they don't give you reasons for thinking that any particular suspect is the killer, and then just have the detective produce some conclusive evidence and announce the killer at the very end.
But like I say, I wanna watch it again. The acting was pretty pretty good, and the script wasn't half bad. Maybe I'll pick more up on a second screening. _________________ I hear words I never heard in the Bible.
I saw three feature docs at Hot Docs in Toronto last week - two I'd recommend (the third was awful).
If you're of an atheist bent, The Unbelievers, featuring Lawrence Krauss and Richard Dawkins, will be enjoyable, if not earth-shattering. Kind of a fanboy homage, but well made.
Blackfish, on the other hand, was really, really good. About the killer whale who killed the trainer at Sea World (and had killed twice before) and what captivity does to whales. See it if you get the chance.
Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 6173 Location: A monistic vulgarity in which nobility and wisdom have been exchanged for a pale belief in progress
Posted: Thu May 09, 2013 4:33 pm Post subject:
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The CIA entered into detailed negotiations over the screenplay of "Zero Dark Thirty", the Oscar-winning film portraying the tracking down and killing of Osama Bin Laden, a newly-released classified memo has shown.
The three-page memo documented the back-and-forth negotiations between the film's screenwriter, Mark Boal, and a group of CIA public affairs officers who pointed out a number of what they claimed were errors which the producers agreed to "fix" in the finished version of the film.
Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 6173 Location: A monistic vulgarity in which nobility and wisdom have been exchanged for a pale belief in progress
Posted: Sat May 11, 2013 5:39 am Post subject:
Three vacuous bright young things review the latest The Great Gatsby abomination.
From everything I've read and heard about this picture, it isn't something I'd want to endure. _________________ "The purpose of government is to protect the weak from the powerful" Hammurabi
"We can't all be Sam the Sham; some of us have to be Pharoahs" Larry, brother of Darrel, and his other brother Daryl
Finally saw Lincoln. I guess Spielberg's stature in Hollywood is now at the point where he can negotiate with the studios as follows...
STEVE: Hey guys, I wanna do an historical epic. Something about Lincoln, the Civil War and slavery.
STUDIO: Great! Lots of action-packed battle scenes and CGI pyrotechnics?
STEVE: Nah, I was thinking of focusing more on the political aspects of it.
STUDIO: Oh, okay. Thundering speeches and nail-biting votes?
STEVE: Bit of that. Mostly though, I just wanna show the back-room horse-trading that goes on in politics. I'm envisioning a plot strand about someone being offered Postmaster General Of Pennsylvania if he votes the right way.
STUDIO: Umm, sure. But we'll finish it all off with a big bloody gun-show at Ford Theater, right?
STEVE: Eh, I think I'll just have someone talk about that after the fact.
STUDIO: Sounds good, Steve. You're the boss!
That said, DDL's performance was certainly Oscar material. And the film itself is actually pretty good, if you like wonkish stuff. _________________ I hear words I never heard in the Bible.
Joined: 04 May 2006 Posts: 810 Location: love of one's country is a terrible thing
Posted: Mon May 20, 2013 5:15 am Post subject:
My father is kind of obsessed with Lincoln and the Civil War era, so I grew up drowning in Lincoln-related books. And you know what? I actually don't want to see the movie now. Weird as this sounds, it feels like I've gotten to know Abe well enough on paper that seeing an actor portray him would be some kind of a betrayal.
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