How to Make a Book with Steidl

The Steidl in the title is actually the book company, but since they never really introduce the 'lead', he gets that name in my head. (He is Gerhard Steidl, so it still works.)

This is a documentary about book maker Steidl, and the exacting standards he puts in when creating each book. We visit with him to various artists and discuss their needs and he's certainly forthright about putting forward his own opinion (some times in 'earthy' words, as one might put it). And so he also gets to hobnob with the big names, and seems to fly first class a lot.

This is by the make director who did El Bulli, so once I was told that, I knew what sort of film to expect. And as with that one, this is people going about their business, not talking to camera, not introducing anything... and not really getting much of a sense of narrative either. At best, we see a few projects from mid-point to some form of completion, but most times it's just a slice. (And in one shot, he's talking to Alan Tudyk! - At least, I think it was him.) And speaking of people who look like other people, I spent most of my time wondering who Steidl reminded me of. Any help? [EDIT: Got it! John Billingsley!]

So, a decent documentary, and I'm glad I saw it.

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Dra cool la

Because of HPPodcraft, I dipped into Dracula... the audiobook, 'cos I'm lazy. (There are a lot of books on LibriVox, so I might be back there soon.)

This book is oddly balanced. The initial part is Jonathan Harker in the Dracula Castle, then we slip over to London where Lucy falls prey to him. This is most of the book, then Mina starts to do the same thing, but now the heroes are gathering for the strike. It's almost like Lucy is a Disposable Woman, and doesn't get to really serve a function in the plot but to give the guys a reason to fight and to practice fighting against. Not that women in general get a fair chance in this book, but hey, 19th century.

Overall, it's a decent monster story (although the structure did remind me a lot of New Century), and a good foundation for when I start watching the Hammer Horror movies (which I will at some point). Bram Stoker is fairly free wheeling with vampire mythology, and it feels like he makes up what he needs as he goes along. (Although I do have a possible plot continuity point I might have missed. If Dracula hasn't been in London/England before, where does Renfield come from to get crazy and put in an asylum before Dracula turns up?)

My breadth of classic novels grows, and I see (or rather, hear) they have Lair of the White Worm there...

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Mishop

I had a bit of a Mishap, but that's all right, it was intentional.

On of the many hidden object games I have, this one is set in a haunted house. Like, really haunted. Each segment of the house has a ghost, and is made of a main room and three secondary rooms. Each main room has two extra ghosts, and each secondary room has another ghost. That's a lot of ghosts! But the majority of them are easily defeated with a simple 'hot cold' minigame. The main ghosts need bigger mini-games to beat them... and only one of them was any fun.

The time based mini-games? Not fun. The card game mini-game was actually fun, although I couldn't 100% it. (I 100%'d few things, because I didn't care enough.) They were annoying, but I will give that you could completely skip them.

The hidden objects themselves weren't terrible... for the most part. Some of the objects I had no idea about. Fortunately, the game didn't penalise you for using the hint system like some others do.

The story was rather basic. Just enough context to give some meaning to the rooms and mini-games, but largely ignorable.

The worst part - not having a resolution option setting. Not even a 'here's a range of options from back in the day', but nothing at all. I have to go full screen (there are some very small objects), which means anything else I'm watching gets resized and moved in odd ways. Get gud, games!

Still, it only took me around 4 hours to complete the game. And there is a sequel I already have.

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Woserater

With Jason Jones leaving The Daily Show, let's celebrate(?) with a movie that he inadvertently inspired.

Mazier Bahari went to Iran to see in the 2009 elections, and stick around for the aftermath. As part of that, he did a goofy interview for The Daily Show in which he interacted with master spy Jason Jones. For that and other reasons, he was detained and interrogated and told to fess up that he was a Western media controlled pawn. But even that didn't help him.

This is the film famous for having Jon Stewart direct it, and it's a good movie. There are a few moments where it was 'let's be flashy because we can be', but the basic story was well told. I'm not sure how true it was to the book, but no doubt it was similar and took components of it to relate.

I enjoyed this, and yes, definitely worth watching.

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Don't Want No Selfie

Music time! I like mashups, and this one in the latest Bootie Mashup has stuck with me... and so I insert it into your ears!

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Bank Dick

I've heard of W C Fields more than I've seen his work, so yeah, I wanted to see this.

Egbert Souse (accent on the e) is a big of a hopeless case, wandering into lucky moments. He starts off accidentally becoming a movie director... but that scene stops for no reason what so ever (was this some amusing short reference thing?), and then is found with a bank robber and claims credit. So obviously they offer him a job, and from there he gets involved in a silly shares scheme and has to keep the bank inspector out of the way, until everything comes together at the end with a big chase that was clearly where the money (such as this had) went.

Yeah.... uh... I've seen a few comedies from that time, and generally liked them, but this... it just... it was a collection of moments more than a sustained story, and there were lots of moments that were intended to be funny... I think... but, nope. Didn't work for me.

Is this a typical movie of his? If so, I think I'm good...

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CHiPPiE

The trailer for this movie wasn't particularly inspiring me. But I like Neil Blomkamp's previous movies, so yeah, I gave this a go. And this movie is the RoboCop movie we should have had.

In JoBurg, the police force are largely replaced with just 100 robots (and human cops with them). One Scout gets a little too beaten up, so is consigned the scrap heap, but then his maker gets a little idea about trying out a consciousness program he wrote... In the meanwhile Ninja and Yo-landi(*) are trying to do a heist, and grab the maker to find out more about the robots. But what they end up with is Chappie.

[* Their actual names. They are in a rap group.]

This goes more into what it means to be human than the other movie I mentioned. It also goes into being raised with 'bad influences' and what it means to live and die in JoBurg. And they even have their own version of ED-209!

Good acting, and good production too. I have no idea if Chappie was an animatronic, or CGI, or puppet, or what... or when he was different things. Possibly a little off eyelines in some scenes, but good integration throughout the movie.

Yeah, another good movie from Mr Blomkamp.

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The Tarnished Angels

Another Sirk movie, set in the hilarious days of the Depression, the Tarnished Angels.

Circus folk come to town, including some plane flyers, in particular one Roger Shumann, who fought in the war. With him is his very lovely wife LeVerne, who does parachute jumps, and catches the eyes of the fellas. Including the reporter Burke Devlin, who puts them up for the night and comes to know their story well. Roger is dedicated to flying, and will do whatever it takes to stay in the air, even if it means LeVerne has to do what it takes. Fortunately, he eventually comes around to realising he loves her, and only one last flight stands between him and eternal happiness...

What is it with Sirk that he goes for the big disaster before somehow trying to pull out a happy ending? This feels more contrived than Against All Heaven. This indeed has some nice performances from Rock Hudson and Dorothy Malone, and I'm sure I've encountered Robert Stack elsewhere (apparently he was in Airplane). This was shot in black and white, as the studio didn't want to pay for colour, so some of the grandeur is lost, despite what critics say about his use of monochrome. A Mardi Gras party just doesn't work without colour.

I know there are other classic Sirk movies, but I'm good for now.

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Rebel Heart

You knew this was coming. I wanted to give the album several listens first.

It's not the dance album of the previous few entries. If anything, this could be considered a sequel to Erotica. There are songs about sex (including another one about oral sex), and songs about being powerful - usually after a break up. (Trading on life experiences there Maddy?)

I can't really pick a favourite, no track is leaping out at me. There are some I might be tempted to skip over, but nothing at the moment I want to stick on endless loop replay. There are some upbeat tracks I can kick along with, and I can sing along to most of them by now.

Unfortunately, there is a tendency to suddenly break out a dubstep beat in the middle of a song. Don't really need that. And what does the songtress decide to rhyme with her own name? "Na nana na na. Bitch, I'm Madonna."

Still, unless she brings out another album, I think we've got Album of the Year for 2015 sorted. ;)


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Frankenstein

Mary Shelley wrote a book a while ago, about a chap who created life. And now I've... not read it, but listened to it. It's a lot better than I was expecting.

This certainly isn't what I gathered from what I gathered happened in the movies. (The only decent Frankenstein movie I saw was from Mel Brooks.) This is in three volumes, and is the tale as related by Victor Frankenstein. In Vol 1, he grows up, has a family life, gets interested in science, creates a creature, goes off science, and finds one of his family murdered and another family friend sentences to death. (And yes, creating the life is really handled that casually, unlike the production in movies. We don't find out how it happens, and that's not even slightly the point of the story.)

Vol 2 is the creature's story, who has a rather unhappy life. Because he has a hideous visage, everyone, including Victor, is repulsed by him, and so he gets mad after being shunned by society. (Why he never thinks to wear a mask or hood, I have no idea.) But he demands Victor make him a companion.

And in Vol 3, Victor starts to do so, but comes to his wits. Victor is incredibly slow on the uptake, only belatedly asking questions I thought of immediately. And completely fails to see the creature's incredibly obvious plan. Leading to the final chase of man and beast.

This maintained my interest a lot more than I thought it would. There are some extremely long passages that are typical of the time (that's a way of telling Olde Englishe speak, everyone uses fifty words when two would do), but having them read at me helped me digest the text easily. Interestingly, I, Frankenstein does get some of the bits more correct than you'd think, although it still gets a lot wrong.

Definitely worth picking up.

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An Honest Liar

I've followed a lot of James Randi over the past decade. He's a great magician, keeps his humour, and challenges people with his Million Dollar challenge and such. So of course I'll Kickstarter a movie about him.

This covers a lot of Randi's life, from his early career to his more recent endeavours. We get tales and clips of earlier performances, including his dangling over the falls, and we hear about his various jail breaks. The movie also covers important people in Randi's life, giving a lot of time over to Carlos, and I was a little disappointed because I'm here for Randi! This isn't going to be the complete biography of his life (Randi intends to write that up), but it's good coverage.

I actually saw this back in December, but they asked us to keep it on the downlow until they did a full release in March. Which they now have. And now they want me to talk about it. About something I saw several months ago. Well, you get what you get.

One aspect I thought was negative was the focus on the recent Carlos bit, Randi's now husband. That was of the time, and as years go on, we're going to care about this less and less, so that will date the movie as about that particular point in time. If less was made of it, that would have been better, but now it's a slice of time.

So yeah, definitely catch this. But don't leave it too long if you want it to be current.

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Ana-can't-da

Once again, because Rifftrax, I ended watching that giant snake movie. It had been a while. I think I've seen one of the sequels?

JLo and co head down the Amazon to find the shimshi (or whatever) tribe, and on the way pick up a not-at-all-evil Jon Voight. To be fair to him, he does kill a lot less people than the snakes do, but he's the one that leads them to the snakes, so he still shares some of the blame. Anyhoo, there are snakes... well, there are some real snakes, and some very CGI snakes, and one very special large stuffed prop of a puma. There's also waterfalls that flow upwards, and magic blood that appear on people before it is thrown, so there's also that to look for!

Actor wise, not a bad haul. JLo, Ice Cube, Jon Voight, Danny Trejo, Eric Stoltz, Kari Wuhrer and Owen Wilson, to name most of the cast (and Frank Welker as the voice of the snake!). The effects... as hinted at, aren't brilliant, but the inside of the snake mouth is very well realised, however they did it.

This movie feels like it's far older than 1997 (ooh, 20 year special anniversary edition maybe? hopefully not), and is just as rubbish now as it was then.

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Subconscientious

Yes, this is another bad movie... not as nearly as bad as yesterday's things, but still this isn't great.

A guy is invested in what happened to his grandfather, who was a commander on a submarine that something mysterious happened to. Finally he gets his chance to get aboard the boat with some others, and weird things happen... and they find themselves crewing the ghost sub back in 1943, but that's all right because they all also happen to know entirely how to run a sub, so phew. And also fortunately, this was all preordained to happen, the navy knew all about it, and will deny it ever happened, and let's ignore the fact that some people died.

At least, that's what I think happened. One big problem this movie has isn't that the lead has a low gruff hard to hear voice... it's that the lead who has a low gruff hard to hear voice, and everyone else's voices, are all buried beneath the sound track so you can't hear anything at all except the music the director was clearly proud to have gotten and so wanted to make sure we all heard.

This made me think of The Philadelphia Experiment, which I think this was trying to be. Only it failed very hard.

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Lockked InnA Rom

Oh dear... what the serious fuck? I admit I watch all kinds of weird and crazy movies, especially bad ones, but this... I'm not even sure this even counts as a movie!

Three or four siblings killed their grandmother or their mother, and so their mother gets revenge on them by getting together some people to keep them and other random people locked in a room, and those people are psychotic, I think? And there's others looking for them, and an attorney is involved, and a guy named (I'm serious) Zod, and other people, and there's a guy who goes around with a chainsaw (that manages to produce a sound but is never actually on) who wanders around with a long extension cord and seems to stalk someone else, but nothing comes of it?

Does that sound like a mess? 'Cos that's the narrative highlights I'm giving there, organised from bits and pieces of the movie. And the movie is just bits and pieces. And lots and lots of extreme close ups. Which means we never get a decent sense of if two characters are in the same place or not, or where anything is, or what the significance of anything is (if everything is in close up, what do you do to emphasise anything?). And the sound feels like it was added in post production, the sound effects, the dialogue, everything.

And I'm squarely putting the responsibility here at the feet of writer and director Larry Simmons. This looks to be his first full length movie, and he needs to retake some classes in how to shoot and edit a film.

Do not watch unless you want a masterclass in what not to do. (The only decent part is the acronym the title makes...)

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Omar

I'm definitely seeing movies I might otherwise have not bothered with. Just as well, as Omar is quite good.

This is the story of a Palestinian freedom fighter, who, after one attack with others, is taken and held prisoner by the Israelis. However, because he's in love with a young woman, he agrees to help capture the real culprit, although tries to turn that to his and the others advantage. It does not go well, either the follow up attack, or the love life.

This movie assumes you know about the Palestine/Israeli situation, so I could have done with a little more hand holding (which is on me, not the movie). The characters are well acted, and feel real. The love angle helps drive the story forward without getting in the way, or feeling tacked on.

Many people won't see a foreign film because they have to read subtitles and the like. More poor them.

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House all over the place

American TV is weird. Short seasons (up to twelve episodes) get played one week after the other. However, full seasons usually get one a week in the first half, but the second is dispersed over a large number of weeks.

To show this off, I picked House MD and plotted the episode by the number of weeks since the last episode, sorted by season. (I reset the first episode to be seven days so it was in line with the rest of the episodes.)

Season 4 is odd, only 16 episodes, because of the writer's strike. Otherwise, we can see that there is a lot of variability from one episode to the next.

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Dale Tucker v. Evil

I think I saw this a while ago, or maybe just the beginning? Don't remember it too much, but I've definitely seen this now.

On one side, this is a typical slasher movie. College kids go out back for camping, meet some evil hillbillies, and end up dying one by one. Standard, huh? Only this time we also see the hillbillies side of things, which involves them just being bad socially, being in unfortunate places, and being surprised when kids start dying around them!

I'm not sure why this is "vs The Evil", when there isn't really an "The Evil" to be "vs". Unless it is The Evil that resides in all our souls... nah, not likely. This is a comedy, after all. And one that stars Alan Tyduk, so there is that! There's also... other people in this!

It's a different take on the usual killer fare, and that's nice, but the joke can only be sustained so long, and I think this movie just about does it.

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There is now less colour in magic

As far as I can remember, I've only been in the presence of Sir Terry Pratchett one day. He did a signing in Borders in Wellington (when we had a Borders), and then he did a talk out in Lower Hutt, and I attended both events. I remember that more than what I remember him talking about.

One of the things I got signed was my copy of Maskerade. It was my first hardcover Discworld book (I had paperbacks before then), and I got it slightly cheap because the spine was a little dented. It didn't matter to the contents, it was a great read, and is my favourite of the series.

My first book was Pyramids, a nice stand alone that contains essential Discworld without needing to know the rest of it. It introduced Anhk-Morpork to me, and I've read every Discworld book since. And while I personally don't like his sci-fi entries, there really isn't a bad answer to "what is your favourite Pratchett book?"

And one other item I got signed... it rather surprised him, I don't know how many others ever did this, but I definitely did. I got him to sign my orang-utan.

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Hig Bero 6

I've heard decent things about this movie, so yeah, I was willing to check it out.

In Tokfrisco, a young genius is into bot fighting, but then his brother shows him a world were he can create big things. Then brother dies, and the healing bot the brother made attaches itself to the kid to help heal him. And there are villains and other heroes and stuff, but really it's about the kid coming to terms with his brother's loss, and losing others. (It certainly isn't about the original plot as I picked the major 'revelations' way before they were revealed.)

The big gimmick of this movie is the obvious big gimmick, that of Baymax, the giant white robot. Most of the movie is about him and the goofy stuff he does, and how he deals with the kid Hiro. [This movie looks to be set in San Francisco, but has a heavy Japanese influence.] The rest of the movie feels tacked on to give that an excuse to be. Not that it's bad, just that it just is. The revelations felt obvious because the movie felt like it wasn't trying very hard. (That, and it was Disney, so you knew some kind of amazing 'heart uplifting' moment was coming along.)

Just, please, don't make this another franchise that gets unnecessarily driven into the ground...

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Pengwings of Madagascar

Hey, got a series of animated characters that people like? What do you do? You run them into the ground! Such as with this full length spin off.

Everyone loves the quirky penguins, and how they are all military like, and wanna be capable. Why not give them their own quirky adventure, and have them learn the meaning of competence, and what it means to be in a team. Oh, and face off against a villain that might have inspired Octodad?

While we are not talking heavy plot, it does feel like the creators had fun, and that shows through in the movie. Especially with John Malkovich, who provides the bad guy voice. He's not treating this even slightly seriously, which fits in perfectly with the rest of the tone of the movie. Even Benedict Cumberbatch can't seem to pull off being the serious one, it's just too much fun!

It's a light and enjoyable movie, but that seems to be enough for this.

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The Secret Service

I saw the movie, and decided to check out the comic book. Short version... movie was better.

The larger plot elements are still the same. Eggsy is a drop out, he's saved to become a Kingsman, and the bad guy wants to deal to the world. There are plenty of changes too, Jack is his uncle, what Jack goes through is different, the training is less MIB, and the big fight doesn't rely on just the hero.

And yet, as I said, the movie was better. There are some moments that Matthew Vaugh plays out better. Despite that comics are a visual medium, the movie is even more visual and plays some scenes (for example Jack/Harry and Eggsy in the bar) that the movie just does a lot better. But I will grant that the bad guy is more "realistic" in the comic. The movie's kidnappings are more relateable for the movie going pop culture in the moment know nothing audience, but the comic kidnappings are more apropos to being a comic by Mark Millar.

No doubt there will now a be a second comic set.

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All that Heaven Allows

Missed the AGM, but did see the movie.

Cory is a widow with kids, and with standing in the community, but she's lonely. Enter the gardener, and a relationship develops between them. However, how she's viewed by others as she is with a younger man means that she must break it off. For it's always important how others view you.

This stars Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson, and those two have good screen chemistry. And others have good screen presences, but the characters are rather one dimensional. The movie is also quite colourful, but that's what happens when you use Technicolor!

Decent movie, and I just wanted to slap the characters for how stupid they were... which just shows how invested I got!

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Amonger the Sleeper

My mother board decided to give up working, so I needed a new computer... which meant I could try a few games that didn't work on my old machine! Such as... Among the Sleep.

And yes, I finally got to the last level, where the game just crashed right before it. But not anymore! However, I had seen others play it, so I knew what to expect. I did get extra sounds now, so that was cool... but I knew it was more bark than bite.

Fortunately, there was also DLC.. and I could play that as well! You need to go around and collect your toys around the house... and it's a large house. I think I got lost, just moving on until I found something that worked. And not as many scares (although it is shorter). That said, there was one death, down in the basement, which was a neat wee creature. I did wonder if I had to do something else, but retried and got through. This, in some ways, was more lenient than the main game. More puzzle moments where there is no danger so I could sit and think. Nice, but the lack of danger did undercut the game.

On the whole... still good. I wonder if there will be a follow up, because I would like to see more. Maybe another Kickstarter to come?

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Lordy of the Rings

I went on an epic journey the other month... listening to an unabridged audiobook of LOTR. Around 50 hours, we're talking. Still, I found it far easier to get through than what I remember my experiences reading the book. And, no doubt, remembering the movie so I knew where I was helped too.

And speaking of the movie, this shows up just how much is cut out. Just Book 1 (of the six books) is compressed so much. Never mind missing Tom Bombadil, there are elves, and stopping in at various places and such that barely get a reference.

Speaking of the books, Newline Cinema missed a trick, didn't they? They wanted plenty of money movies, people complained the movies they got were too long, and there really are six books... (and The Hobbit showed that one book could become three movies, so...)

One amusing note, the title of the three books that are used "Fellowship of the Ring", "Two Towers", "Return of the King" refer to events Aragorn is involved in. Frodo and Sam don't get a look in! Who's the hero of this supposed to be?

Anyway, it was a good listen, and now I will ponder if there are any other of the remaining documents worth visiting...

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International Bank of Bob

I do Kiva... and so does he! Only he wrote a book about it and about visiting who he loaned to. (In as far as you can say actually given when loans are pre-disbursed.)

Bob Harris is a journalist, and while visiting the most expensive hotels ever (where coffee cost more than a car, and a car more than a house), he felt there should be some way to help those in poverty. And then he found Kiva. And finding them, then decided to do a piece on the clients and how his loans helped them. Then eventually he did that, visiting many desperate counties / towns / villages / people. And found that microfinancing was indeed helping them. Money used by those who know locally how to use it.

But that's not all. In fact, in many ways, that's only around half the book. We also get some potted history of Bob himself, and variously essays on historical events in various countries (that helped to create the situation microfinance can help against), and other asides. Interesting asides, but not what you'd think the book would be about.

I'm not sure that reading this would inspire someone to join Kiva (I'm baised, as I'm already in), still it is a good read about some parts of countries we wouldn't normally think about.. and about how they aren't that different to us.

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Grammar Revolution

There are so many documentaries I Kickstartered that I haven't watched... and, to be honest, there are plenty I'm still waiting for. But one that I did just watch is Grammar Revolution.

What is grammar? Is it the way we naturally form sentences? Is it a way we should form sentences? It's both! But this movie is more about the prescribed grammar, and how people suck at it. After describing grammar, they go on to talk about why people suck, and it's because of PCism (my words). Ooh, everyone is right, and free to express how they want, therefore saying 'you are wrong, learn this grammar' is bad and thus no-one really learnt the skills. But it is how we communicate, it is a common method, and people who use it do sound better to us and are treated as someone to pay attention to.

This movie shows lots of viewpoints, and I'm not entirely positive it does come to a conclusion (despite having the section at the end called 'Conclusion'). Grammar is useful, but only because we think it is. Will we reach a point where anything goes? Possibly, but then we won't be able to make sense of each other.

An interesting movie, and one to check out if you are interested in the area.

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Teenege Metant Nenja Tertles...

It's because of Rifftrax that I finally got around to seeing that controversial film. While I can't speak as to whether or not it's a bad Turtles movie (although it is), I can speak as to whether or not it's a bad film in general.

April O'Neil is a reporter who gets the bad jobs, but because she's out there trying (read: going into dangerous situations because of stupid reasons), she finds out the city has vigilantes. Which she immediately realise are turtles she set free many years ago... because... ummm... that's clearly what happens. But when the turtles get into trouble, fortunately she's there to save the day, so that the turtles can have a fight scene that reminds me of Amazing Spiderman 1.

What disturbed me about this movie wasn't the turtles themselves. I'd already seen images, so was expecting that. It was the fricking rat. Splinter? Is that you? You look hideous! Now, fine, he's a rat, but still... he looks hideous! Gah! Get away from me! Oh, and there's the stupid sub plot whereby he learnt ninjitsu from a book and only taught one style to each of the turtles when clearly they'd be better off learning all forms.

This is a dumb movie, rightly panned, so Rifftrax was the only way I saw it, and I'm glad I saw it that way.

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Evie Lyn

I wasn't sure about this Selma Hayek vehicle, but what the hell, I'll give it a go.

Everly is a kept woman (as in actually kept), but one time goes too far, and she fights back. But she doesn't get out of her apartment as the bad guys come to her, now that's convenient! However, she must fight because of her daughter, and will even trade her life to make sure her daughter is fine.

This could be considered one of those 'bottle' movies, where to keep costs down they stay in one set... but I'm not sure that would have saved much. There's a lot of action, and shootings and set pieces that this is a fast paced movie with lots going on. And Selma Hayek is right in the middle of it. And well she does. One could point out that she gets a little more battered than could be believed... but only if one also points that out of every action movie.

They've greenlit Everly 2, right?

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A History of Violence

The film society is back in action, and the first one we see is from David Cronenberg.

Tom Stall is a middle town America man, but when two bad guys come into his diner, he puts them down, and easily. Because he has a HISTORY OF VIOLENCE. Mob guys get interested in him, and his own son beats up a bully, perpetuating a HISTORY OF VIOLENCE. After dealing with the mob guys, he has more history to deal with, but will his family want to have anything to do with someone linked with a society that has a HISTORY OF VIOLENCE?

This is a very good movie, it unfolds well, and although I should have seen where it was going, I was surprised by it. I'm not entirely sure I buy Viggo Mortensen as the lead, but, hey, ladies, you get to see Viggo ass! There are good performances from Maria Bello and Ed Harris, although William Hurt is hardly in it.

The question is, can the film society keep this quality of selection up?

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Gurlhoose

I'm going to be very unfair. I think the first five minutes of this movie happened to scriptwriter Nick Gorman and then he wrote the rest of this movie as revenge fantasy.

Needing cash, a young woman agrees to join a dorm room with camera and live on the web. So, of course, the movie shows that only perverted people are interested in this. But one chap in particular gets a fetish on for the women that finally goes too far. And when he is mocked (and of course he is portrayed as ugly, because movies), he goes on an amazingly successful revenge spree that no-one but about two or three people notice, because this is one of the most popular cam sites ever...

There isn't anything redeeming about this. Showing off on camera = death sentence, that's about the size of it, and as far as any kind of morality goes. Other than maybe 'don't mock ugly guys who have surprising computer skills and are prone to going around killing people'. The whole movie feels exploitive, and not at all showing any sense of 'these women are doing this because they want to', but because they need the money/drugs/anything else. I'm sure to be wrong about the whys behind this movie's creation, but it's hard to tell differently.

Watch this if you want some titillation, but it's not anything to take seriously.

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Spock... vs Q

I thought I had talked about this before, but can't find it now. With certain events, let's everyone enjoy a time when Leonard Nimoy battled John D Lancie... as many of us wanted...

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