I haven't seen it yet, but I had to share this. The Dark Knight opened in theaters today, or I should say last night at midnight. So last night at about 10:00 PM California time I go on to IMDB.com just to look at Dark Knight's page, at this point the movie had been out for about an hour, and only on the East Coast. I notice that this movie has made the IMDB top 250, that is the the top 250 rated movies, rated by regular users of the site. After being out for one hour in one time zone in the country, The Dark Knight was number 4 on that list. Higher than Pulp Fiction (my favorite movie), Schindler's List, and The Empire Strikes Back. I'm already impressed by this movie and I haven't even seen it.
By the way, I checked again today, its moved to number 3.
]]>Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of Mass Media
by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky
"....Chomsky and Herman demonstrate that while we pride ourselves on a "free press," in truth we have a press that is actually quite self-censoring, and thus hardly free at all.
Most of the media, they explain, are big corporations subject to the same pressures of competition as other corporations, a hard economic fact that fatally undermines their ability either to report the news honestly or to comment on it fairly. Instead of aiming to tell the truth to the American people -- so that responsible democratic decisions can be made -- the big media are in business to sell audiences to advertisers and are far more concerned with pleasing their shareholders than with letting anything be said that may disrupt that process.
Although the First Amendment is on the books (and sadly, today it functions chiefly to be exploited by tabloid media), Chomsky, Herman, and many of the voices with dissenting views are never invited to appear on our TV screens, unless they can dance -- or swap wives. As a result, despite the sanctimonious and self-satisfied chest-thumping of pundits and politicians about the "free press," our press remains narrowly restricted.
You will not agree with either of them all the time (I don't), but even when you disagree, you will find both men challenging your preconceptions, making you think, and generally leaving you smarter and more compassionate than when you found them."
The classic Canadian documentary film based on the Noam Chomsky/Edward Herman's Manufacturing Consent. Explores the the propaganda model of the media.
URL: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5631882395226827730
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I DVR'd this ages ago because I couldn't remember if I had seen it before. As soon as I started watching it I realized I had, and quite frankly it would have been a freak occurrence had a Harrison Ford movie slipped by my radar (the notable exception is of course the one on a submarine with Ford doing a Russian accent because even I have limits). I am such a scared cat that even Michelle Pfeiffer in varies stages of anxiety puts me on edge, and I have been fast forwarding through the creepy bits.
This film reinforces why I wont live in a large house on the edge of a lake (even if Harrison Ford comes included in the real estate). Poor old Pfeiffer has just packed her daughter off to college and is left rattling around a large house with her second husband (Ford). Her over active imagination kicks in and she goes all Rear Window with her new neighbours. This is of course a decoy and it is actually her husband's dead mistress who is driving her slowly mad. That's what I like sisters doing it for themselves. No need for Hamlet to send Ophelia doolally when one of the sisterhood of the traveling pants could do it for him. If I had a ghost who was trying to get a message to me I would prefer a more direct route. Reach out from beyond the astral plane and friend me on FB. Don't blow doors open and closed, turn the stereo on at random moments or keep knocking over a photo until I realized that there was an article printed on the back that would explain all - the missing girl, the accident a year ago, why her husband kept bringing her flowers.
You can be somewhat sympathetic of Ford's character (even if he is a philander) because sharing a creepy house with such a highly strung wife would be a challenge (especially when she gets that far away look in her eye - is she short sighted and squinting or is a repressed memory floating to the surface) but then he commits the cardinal sin, and starts looking into having her committed. At that point I am all for Pfeiffer's character being possessed by the ghost and going after her errant husband.
]]>The Jammed is an Australian movie that ventures deep into the world of people trafficking. Based partly in Melbourne but mostly in Sydney's notorious 'Kings Cross' district, the film follows the fortunes of three prostitutes - two Chinese and one Russian - who have each been trafficked into the sex trade. Without being gratuitous or voyeuristic, The Jammed takes a close and detailed look at the lives of these girls, and traces the path by which family poverty and debt lead to exploitation and violence. The film is very Australian, but hits the bullseye in its portrayal of people trafficking and as such travels well into the European scene. Trafficking is a global industry and like MacDonalds and Starbucks, it tends to follow pretty much the same rules wherever it shows up.
The Jammed is not a comfortable film to watch. I remember a year ago watching Dennis Quaid in 'Savior' - a story of the Bosnian and Croatian wars inpired by eye-witness accounts - and feeling the same as I felt last week about The Jammed. These movies are graphic, disturbing and difficult to watch, but they are also very truthful, and as such an important part of our lives. There is a climactic scene in 'Savior' that still disturbs my memories - not because it is a 'Nightmare on Elm Street' fearfest, but because it records an event that probably happened, and if it didn't is so close to events that did that it might as well have: and it happened to people not a thousands miles from my front doorstep; people I am privileged to spend time with every now and then. Film-making is not just about escapism. Sometimes it is about showing us precisely the things we are trying to escape from. I recommend both movies very highly.
Last weekend, when I was in Pittsburgh, Vrabel and I got to talking about movies. That's no surprise; we always do. One of the films that came up was Rescue Dawn, the Werner Herzog picture about Dieter Dengler - a German-born Navy pilot who escaped from a Laotian POW camp. The story obviously resonates with Herzog, as this was the second movie he has directed about Dieter. Little Dieter Needs to Fly was a documentary; Rescue Dawn was the dramatization of the same story. Christian Bale was cast as little Dieter in the not-quite remake.
Now, Rescue Dawn had been on my rental short-list for a while. I remember hearing about the movie when it was filming (one of the scenes in which the stars eat bowls of worms was apparently not faked) and it was fairly well reviewed. The Video Vault tagged it as one of their best of 2007. So I was a little surprised when Vrabel remarked that he could barely finish watching - that he figured it must be a spoof. (These opinions were later verified and echoed by Vanna.) Without going into too much irrelevant detail, it was determined that I must watch the movie as soon as possible, because public opinion was both divided and emphatic, to the point that we wondered semi-seriously if there were two different versions of the movie out there. My email to Vrabel after last Monday's screening said simply: "Why did Christian Bale choose to play the part as if Dieter was retarded?"
So Bale's appearance this morning on the Today Show might shed some light on the subject. To wit: maybe it isn't Dieter who is retarded. If anybody can offer an explanation as to what the fuck is going on with this accent, I'd like to hear it.
This
film came highly recommended by a friend, and although animation
doesn’t usually attract me I went along. And by God, I’m glad I did.
Persepolis is the autobiographical account of the Iranian born Marjane
Satrapi; a tale of ordinary growing pains and young adulthood set
against a politically charged climate in Iran.
Read the rest of my review and others at the Auckland Film Festival blog: http://watchmorefilms.blogspot.com
Ahhhhh ohmygosh! This film was sooo good! The atmosphere where it was either mucho happy, with the cute sweets, or the contrasting atmosphere to that - the scary mucho intense moments ... Ahhh it was made really truly well. The actor who played L was just soooo adorable!! He was soooooo cute when he had interacted with the 2 children!! It was just sooo awww and when he offered the children sweets, when the girl rested her head on his shoulder, when he asked the F.B.I Agent to be a decoy in the pink 'Angel Crepes' van! Ahhhh, and, as he wrote his name in the Death Note before he burnt it, he knew that he was gonna die anyway, and he tried his best to protect the children!! And when the girl ran away he was soooo angry!! Awwwww, the film was just sooo soo cute and made me cry lol
I recommend this film to everyone .. especially those of you who loved Death Notes 1 and 2. Its subbed on crunchyroll. If you want the link, all you havta do is ask me ..
Well, Ja Ne~ Minna
xx
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]]>Kten and I were chatting about their group coming up with a new product for their thesis (she’s taking up entrepreneurial management). Someone suggested them to have “kamote pandesal” as their product since it’s pretty cheap. Suddenly I felt my stomach growling and since I was too lazy to get myself some tinapay, I found myself searching for this video…
Currently listening: Blur - Jets
Currently feeling: fxg hungry
What Mr. Hooks asks you to believe is that no proof is needed against a man who bombed Pearl Harbor. “Look at his face,” the prosecutor said, presuming that you will see an enemy there. He’s counting on you to remember this war and to see Kazuo Miyamoto as somehow connected with it. Indeed he is! Let us recall that First Lieutenant Kazuo Miyamoto is a much-decorated hero of the United States Army.
Kazuo Miyamoto did one thing wrong. He wasn’t certain he could trust us. He was afraid that he would be made the victim of prejudice as Mr. Hooks, indeed is urging you to do. There’s reason in his uncertainty. Why? Well, we sent him and his wife and thousands of Americans to concentration camps. They lost their homes, their belongings everything. Should we now be unforgiving of his mistrust?
Our learned prosecutor will have you do your duty as Americans. Proud Americans. Of course, you must! And if you do Kazuo Miyamoto has nothing to fear. Because this great country is supposed to be founded on a set of principles of fairness of equality and justice. And if you are true to these principles you’ll only convict a man for what he’s done, and not for who he is.
I’m an old man. I don’t walk so well anymore. One of my eyes is close to useless. My life is drawing to a close. Why do I say this? I say this because it means that I ponder matters in the light of death in a way that most of you do not. I feel like a traveler descended from Mars, astounded by what I see here. The same human frailty passed on from generation to generation. We hate one another. We are the victims of irrational fears, of prejudice. You might think that this is a small trial in a small place. It isn’t. Every once in a while, somewhere in the world humanity goes on trial and integrity and decency. Every once in a while ordinary people just like you, ladies and gentlemen get called on to give the report card for the human race. In the name of humanity do your duty as jurors. Return this man to his wife and children. Set him free as you must.
- Nels Gudmundsson, Snow Falling On Cedars (1999)
A true story about the drive-thru fast food cheese that would just NOT go away.
]]>On Sunday my mother had offered to look after my son to allow us to go out on a belated anniversary lunch.We took advantage to later go to the pictures and watch an adult picture for once.
The Visitor was written and directed by Tom McCarthy and stars Richard Jenkins as Walter Vale,an American professor, whose wife died a few years ago. He is coasting along, teaching one class a week and pretending to research a book, when he is forced to travel to a conference in New York to present a paper which he "co-authored".
On arriving at his flat, which he has not used for some time, he is surprised to find two immigrants Tarek & Zainab ( Haaz Sleiman & Danai Gurira) living there, believing that they are renting it.legally.
As Walter slowly gets to know them, he is taught the djembe by Tarek and even joins in a mass drum session in Central Park.
On their way home Tarek is arrested in the subway as there appears to be a problem with his ticket. Although this is a minor offence, the repercussions are severe as Tarek is an illegal immigrant.
The remainder of the film shows the powerlessness of people in the face of bureaucracy, and Tarek is deported.
While the above may suggest otherwise, this is not a doom and gloom film, but does have its fair share of humour.
I recommend this to anyone who believes that film does not necessarily have to consist of action set-pieces and happy endings.
For anyone who is not convinced by my not very articulate musings, this is the review that convinced us to watch:
www.newstatesman.com/film/2008/07/walter-tarek-visitor-mccarthy
Hello again Vox, it's me.
I got out of school very recently and have been on the internet far too much, which could very well explain why I am online right now writing this.
But on to my actual point of this post, I finally saw CONTROL.
My cousin Mac mentioned it and I finally got to see it after 6 months. I have listened to Joy Division for a couple years now and thought that It'd be cool to see more of them.
For those of you who have never listened to Joy Division, go familiarize yourself with a good Wikipedia read here.
I'm going to assume you didn't go to the link because you are lethargic like myself and will give you the short story. Joy Division is an English rock group from mid 1970's. Led by vocalist Ian Curtis they captured London and America with their distinctive style of music. Ian Curtis had epilepsy and was frequently depressed. He had seizures, a few of which happened to occur on stage, embarrassing Curtis and provoking his depression. He committed suicide in 1980, devastating fans in both England and the US.
This independent film traces his rise to stardom and subsequent slip into depression. I loved the film, it was right up my alley, lots of good music, awesome accents and it's all in black and white, just what I like.