I’m sure I’ll grow tired of these eventually, but not yet. [Thanks, George N]
Category Archives: Film & TV
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (movie)
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You’re reading a novel with a particularly good character and you think, “They’ll never find an actor who can bring this fictional person to life.” That happens to me frequently and I’m usually right.
But the Swedish producers of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo did a wonderful job of casting Noomi Rapace in the role of Lisbeth Salander.
This is one of the better movies I’ve seen in a long time and watching with sub-titles didn’t detract in the least. After the first few minutes I forgot I was reading the actors words at the bottom of the screen. (I should mention, however, that Barb and I had read Stieg Larsson’s novel, so that probably made it easier to keep up.)
We’re fortunate to have a theater nearby that shows foreign language films. I supose it’s possible the U.S. remake of this film could be a winner but I encourage you to see the original.
The Rainmaker: “You must be stupid, stupid, stupid.”
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (movie)
I don’t watch a lot of subtitled, foreign films but I’m looking forward to the DVD of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It’s a Swedish film based on a novel by Stieg Larsson. Here’s a excerpt from Roger Ebert’s review:
“This is not a deep psychological study. But it’s a sober, grown-up film. It has action, but not the hyperkinetic activity that passes for action in too many American movies. It has sex, but not eroticism. Its male lead is brave and capable, but not macho. Its female lead is sexy in the abstract, perhaps, but not seductive or alluring. This is a movie about characters who have more important things to do than be characters in an action thriller.”
The main character is Lisbeth Salander (best hacker in Sweden). A U.S. remake is in the works but you can watch the trailer here. Makes me want to learn Swedish.
Green Zone
If you liked the Bourne series, you’ll enjoy Green Zone. [If you did not like the Bourne movies… why are you even reading this blog. There is nothing for you here. Hit the back button now.]
IMDB: “Discovering covert and faulty intelligence causes a U.S. Army officer to go rogue as he hunts for Weapons of Mass Destruction in an unstable region.”
I think we can scratch Green Zone from W’s Netflix queue. And if you lost a loved one in that war, you might want to skip this movie, too.
History might vindicate the Bush years but you’ll be damned hard pressed to find any movies that remember them kindly.
The movie is based on Rajiv Chandrasekaran’s Imperial Life in the Emerald City.
UPDATE: Got some push-back for closing comments on this post. Do I care about the opinions of the people that read this blog. I do. But this is my blog. This is where I express myself.
If you have something to say about one of my posts and the comments are closed, just say your piece on your blog (you know, take ownership for your views, with your name and everything) and send me a link (stevemays at gmail dot com) and I’ll add it to the post.
The Hurt Locker
The Hurt Locker more than lived up to its billing as an “intense” film. Black Hawk Down intense. Only the men and women who have served in Iraq (or who live there) can say how real the movie is. Real enough, I suspect.
I’m not sure the film makers had any sort of political statement to make about our presence in Iraq, but I came away thinking there is no way to win such a war. Unless the last suicide bomber blowing up the last Humvee with the last chunk of siMMtec counts as winning. Not sure what it would look like for our side.
The “can’t go home again” theme reminded me of Tommy Lee Jones’ character in Rolling Thunder. I still don’t know what to make of the brief appearances by David Morse, Ralph Fiennes and Guy Pearce.
The Book of Eli
They did it. The finally made a Denzel Washington movie that completely sucked. The story is Kwai Chang Caine goes to Deadwood with a good dose of Road Warrior.
I can only assume the studio hopes the reps of Denzel and Gary Oldman will pull enough people in the first week or two to make a little money. The film could not have been expensive to shoot.
As for why two fine actors like Washington and Oldman would sign on for this… no idea.
If you’re the type that makes a mental list of “reality errors” in the movie (where do they get gasoline 30 years after the end of the world?), don’t bother. The Book of Eli has too many.
Avatar
First movie of the new year. I’m pretty good about keeping track of what I read (thanks to Library Thing) but tend to overlook movies. Perhaps because we don’t go that often these days.
Avatar was my first 3-D movie since House of Wax with Vincent Price (1953, Ritz Theater in Kennett, MO). The glasses are more comfortable and the effect as pretty amazing. Rather than things zooming out into the audience, I found myself pulled into the movie.
I very much enjoyed the movie. The helicopter pilot brought back memories of Aliens. I never figured out why Sigourney Weaver’s character always had on hiking boots when she was in the alien avatar.
It will be the height of cool to not like this movie.
Ministry of Information (Brazil)
Red Dawn trailer
I never saw this movie but understand it’s something of a cult classic. Brought to mind by a clip from a recent news interview with the administration official who resigned over our presence in Afghanistan. He is of the opinion the insurgents are fighting because their country is being occupied. Made me wonder, would we ever stop fighting if a foreign army was on our soil, for whatever reason.