Category Archives: Film & TV

The Social Network

Posted on by
1

A movie is going to be made about an important part of your life. Your only imput is to choose from the following:

  • A great director and screenwriter tell a a really interesting story that has people glued to their seats for 90 minutes, but bends or breaks the the truth whenever necessary to make the story interesting. And millions go to see it.
  • A so-so writer and a second-rate director make an exactly-as-it-happened movie that puts the audience to sleep and it hits cable in week 4.

Maybe it’s just the film buff in me but I’d much rather the be subject of a compelling bit of fiction, even if I came off looking like an asshole.

I really enjoyed The Social Network. I never saw an episode of The West Wing so this was my first (?) exposure to the Mr. Sorkin’s snappy diaglogue and it was sharp as a mouse turd.

I read David Kirkpatrick’s The Facebook Effect this summer (not the boook upon which the movies was based) and it showed Mark Zuckerberg in a more flattering light.

As I watched the story unfold, I found myself hoping Zuckerberg did some of the sleazy things alleged in the movie. It would be pretty shitty to have this really well-made film floating around for the rest of my life portraying stuff I didn’t do.

If Zuckerberg did get the idea for FB from the Winklevoss twins, well, they should have had a lawyer. If he screwed over his friend Eduardo… that’s a weight he’ll have to carry. But all those people on Facebook will never know or care.

Winter’s Bone

Posted on by

I heard about this movie Saturday morning at the Coffee Zone and –as luck would have it– it was showing at the Rag Tag Cinema in Columbia. Be surprised if this makes it to the Cineplex.

Seventeen-year-old Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) sets out to track down her father, who put their house up for his bail bond and then disappeared. If she fails, Ree and her family will be turned out into the Ozark woods. Challenging her outlaw kin’s code of silence and risking her life, Ree hacks through the lies, evasions and threats offered up by her relatives and begins to piece together the truth.

This synopsis doesn’t begin to capture the subtle layers of this movie. And I don’t have the skill to describe them. The bad guys in this movie make the red necks in Deliverance look charming. They’d deep-fry Tony Soprano’s crew and eat ’em.

Winter’s Bone is based on the novel by Daniel Woodrell and took Best Picture and Best Screenplay at the Sundance Film Festival. Filmed in Missouri but I’m not sure where.

Movies: Jumping with no ‘chute

Posted on by
2

I assume there is already a list of movies in which someone jumps from a plane without a parachute, but I was unable to find one. If you do, please post a link in comments. Until then, perhaps you can help me compile.

  • Point Break – Keanu Reeves jumps out to arrest PatrickSwayze in free fall
  • Eraser – Arnold Schwarzenegger throws ‘chute out of the plane and jumps after it. (Not sure about this one)
  • Drop Zone – Wesley Snipes drops out of a trap door in an airplane with no parachute. (Ben Krech)

And it seems like one of the James Bond movies did this stunt but I can’t recall which one. And I’m pretty sure there are others. Go!

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (movie)

Posted on by
1

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 Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (movie)

Posted on by
Reply

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

Posted on by

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.