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Good Night And Good Luck (2005) PG 93min
2007-10-13 06:22:00
Great film directed by George Clooney and starring himself and David Strathairn as CBS reporter Edward R. Morrow, who stood up to senator McCarthy, who was using fear to erode civil liberties, which makes it a very important movie of our time, when people who criticize the administration are accused of being unpatriotic and terrorist-huggers.
More About: News , Politics , Movies , Television , Government

The Proposition (2005) R 104min
2007-10-07 08:55:00
This Western set and made in Australia won multiple international rewards. The plot: following rape and murder of a colonial family, the lawman, Captain Stanley (Ray Winstone), has apprehended two brothers, Charlie and Mike Burns (Guy Pearce and Richard Wilson) after a bloody shootout. Captain Stanley made a deal with Charlie Burns - he must kill his older brother, Arthur (Danny Huston), who’s still in hiding, or his younger brother Mike will be executed. The plot doesn’t get simpler then that - a typical Western. What makes this movie special is the historical backdrop and apocalyptic feeling to the story. This movie shows how life in Australia was in 18th century when the country was “civilized”. Like in “Rabbit Proof Fence”, there’s a lot of “by the way” condescending (or worse) treatment of aborigenes by dominant white population. Not a perfect, but definitely memorable film. Photography of Australian outback with it&rsquo...
More About: Prop , Position

I had a bad dream tonight
2007-09-29 23:31:00
I think I should watch fewer movies. Toni ght I got a clear indication of that. I don’t remember the entire dream, but the most vivid part of was the ending. In that dream, myself and my spiritual/martial arts mentor played by Sean Connery had to fight two Hell-hounds in the basement of a church using nothing but our martial arts skills and kitchen utensils. The scene begins in the basement where we had an argument about his over-controlling and tough mentoring style and my desire to go in a different direction both spiritually and physically, when we heard some sort of “hell-hound alert” and had to run through the corridor in the basement with a lot of rusty pipes sticking around and lit by an only light bulb, to the church’s hall. Then lights go out entirely and all I could see were silhouettes of Hell-hounds in the church’s windows, with the only source of light being the full Moon outside low in the sky. I heard sounds of the fight between one of t...
More About: Dream

Wordplay (2006) PG 94min
2007-09-29 06:52:00
An OK documentary about Will Shortz, a famous “puzzle-master” from The New York Times, and his fans. If you listen to NPR on the weekends or solve puzzles, this movie may work well for you. It’s not particularly gripping, but it’s fine as a background noise while writing a post for your blog. It’s a lot like “Trekkies”, which was a horrible documentary, a real pain to watch. “Wordplay” is somewhat better, mostly thanks to appearance of Bill Clinton, Bob Dole and Jon Stewart. I especially enjoyed the interviews related to crossword published in New York Times the day after elections (William Jefferson Clinton vs Bob Dole) - very inventive puzzle. It was also funny somewhat that Shortz majored in puzzles. They are interesting characters and really lit up this film. There’s a lot of footage from Crossword competitions and interviews with contestants, and it’s pretty amazing that there are people who can solve those cr...

Eastern Promises (2007) R 100 min
2007-09-24 09:12:00
Finally someone had made an honest movie about modern mafia and human trafficking, Ukrainian mafia in London in this case. David Cronenberg, famous for directing “The History Of Violence”, directed this film and starred his favorite actor Viggo Mortensen once again in the main role. Technically, Viggo’s character is a supporting role, but his performance is ...
More About: Drama , Crime , Gangster , Thrillers , Promises

Fracture (2007) R 1:40
2007-09-23 02:04:00
One of my most favorite actors, and maybe the best actor of the 20th century, Sir Antony Hopkins is starring in this thriller - the primary reason why I wanted to see it. Hopkins plays an NTSB consultant, quite wealthy judging by his ride and his LA house with huge pool and garden, who finds out ...
More About: Thrillers

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005)
2007-09-13 06:56:00
I have not seen a descent movie come out of Romania in decades. The best movies I’ve seen was 1976 “Toate pînzele sus”, 1988 “Morometii” (Moromete Family”) and a very nice 1981 fairytale “Maria, Mirabella”, with most of the credit for latter belonging to USSR. I had crossed over the Romanian cinematography long time ago. But ...
More About: Drama , Death , Foreign , The D