23
Jul
ANNAPOLIS
(Or Anchors a weigh? No way!)
An opportunity to make a movie about one of the most awe inspiring places in the U.S.: SCUTTLED. Instead, what we have here is a less than inspiring recruiting film.
I love Annapolis: I love the campus, I love the history, I love the buildings, I love the museums, I love the location, I love the tradition, but most of all I love the people, the officers, the commanders of the most powerful fearsome Navy in the history of the world.
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25
Jun
When I contemplate the review of a movie, the first thing I have to get straight in my mind is: How can I let the reader know something of the film so that they can form an opinion without telling the story and giving away too much?
The movie begins and ends with Rachel Stein (Carice van Houten) living in a kibbutz in Israel, mid-1950s. By accident, she encounters Ronnie (Halina Reijn) who is on a tour of the Holy Land and they recognize one another from their acquaintanceship during World War Two.
As Ronnie departs on her tour bus, the two old friends wave goodbye and the scene cuts to Holland, 1944. Rachel is in hiding. The Nazis occupy the Netherlands and she’s a Jew. She was a cabaret singer in Berlin before the war, but managed to find sanctuary with a Christian family in Holland.
Read the rest of the review after the jump!
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19
Jun
These books have enormous potential to be very influential in the indoctrination and brainwashing of your youth. The imagery is about as subtle as a kick to the crotch. If you want your children to get a real head start on becoming even huger losers than you are — full of class envy, judgemental, and gullible to boot, these books are just the ticket.
Notice the nasty rich couple walking past and ignoring the beggar — errr, I mean homeless person.
Notice the big ole’ mean elephant barging down the road. Wonder why they chose an elephant instead of..say, maybe like a stubborn jackass. Oh wait…
In this one, look at the upper class people in front of their elite school. But…but, shouldn’t there be affirmative action students in the picture, who got in because of their skin color?
And finally, they should have put Al Gore’s face on the happy earth, not Michael Moore-on’s. Oh, but Gore uses enough electricity at home to run 20 households. Well then, they should have put his face on the poor little sick feeling earth.
And why does that beggar…er, homeless person keep showing up? Where is his “Will work for food” sign?
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18
Jun
(2002, Miramax Studios)
Dirty Pretty Things <=====> Code 46
I had intended to juxtapose these movies because of the ethical emotions both films evoke. Essentially they’re creepy movies. But I’m just reviewing Dirty Pretty Things because it is an excellent movie and clearly the better of the two, but I enjoyed them both.
Okwe (Chiwetel Ejiofor (Gesundheit!)) is a Nigerian immigrant living in London just trying to eke out a living. He does this by working two jobs – cab driver by day, and night clerk at a swank hotel. One evening, as Juliette (Sophie Okonedo) a high class prostitute, is leaving the premises she tells Okwe about a problem with the toilet in one of the rooms. Okwe goes upstairs and manages to unplug the toilet by extracting a human heart from the damn thing.
Well shit, this freaks him out, so he goes to his boss, Senor Juan (Sergi Lopez), who doesn’t seem all that concerned about it, but instead suggests that Okwe call the police himself. Turns out Okwe can’t do this because he is an illegal immigrant, having fled his country. (Sorry, forgot to mention that.)
Read the rest after the jump!
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