Happy Birthday, Old Man.

Today is my birthday; I’m 35 years old. 15 years ago some of my friends were about to turn 25, I couldn’t conceive turning 25, it was so old sounding. Now I’m 35 and I’m thinking is half my life over? Maybe not quite, but 70 is a good innings.

But enough of the depressing stuff, it got me thinking about movies, and how the industry has changed. When I was a kid going to the movies was a treat. The same movie would play in the cinema for weeks, so you really only went to the movie occasionally. Renting Videos was rare, as the technology was so darn expensive.

Then, when I was at tech (15 years ago) the multiplex arrived, and you could choose from 10 different movies, withy new ones arriving weekly. You could watch as many movies as your wallet could handle.

Then came the DVD, but the technology was so expensive, people didn’t think it was going to last. But it did, and now I watch about 15 movies a month – that’s more that I watched in an entire year when I was a kid!

Which is probably why we get so many bad movies these days – demand for movies is so intense that movie companies have gotton lazy and know that anything will sale – if not at the movies, then the DVD will make the money.

Fortunately people are starting to get wise and foreign movies are becoming popular, as the realisation sets in; if you want to watch quality movies and an ever increasing pace, you’ll have to look out side of Hollywood occasionally.

And this is a good thing, as you probably have noticed, foreign movies tend to pop up quite often on this blog.

So what does the future hold for movies? If well scripted, story driven movies become more and more popular, people might change how they see movies, and start to slow down, wanting to digest what they have seen rather than gorging them selves silly on Hollywood blockbusters. The multiplexes might close down and comfortable art house cinemas may emerge, with comfort and service being back on the menu.

Who really knows – It’ll take a lot for Hollywood to loose it’s grip on the industry.

But more importantly, it’s my birthday. If you’re feeling generous, I’d love an X-Box 360. Email me if you’re willing to make a donation to the cause!

Google - One Step Closer

Google took another step towards taking over the world with the launch of Google Pages, a free, online web page creator - much like blogger, only for web pages!

Easy to use and customisable, Google Pages is sure to become another hit for the Google boys, but will it mean that the web will start looking very similar with people using essentially the same page templates and designs?

Trouble in Toontown

Director Richard Linklater has a mind-blowing vision for his new Keanu Reeves movie, A Scanner Darkly. Making it a reality - that's another story.

Originality comes at a price, but with Keanu only asking $72,000 to play the lead role, it’s the cutting edge animation that’s causing the headaches and the delays…

Read the full story over at wired.com

News | Vote Lara!

News just in from Atari – Lara Croft (Tomb Raider) is in the Top 10 of The Great British Design Quest for BBC’s The Culture Show and the Design Museum as voted for by the public. The Great British Design Quest will discover the nation’s favourite example of British design since 1900.

The eclectic shortlist of icons includes the Mini, Concorde, the Telephone Box, the Routemaster Bus and of course our very own Lara Croft, this list of 10 will be narrowed to 3 on March 2nd.

So go on, vote for Lara!

Trailer | A Scanner Darkly

You have to go check the new trailer for A Scanner Darkly right now.

Why? Because I said so, that’s why.

And because, as I’ve said before, it’s going to be one of the best movies of 2006. Ok, so maybe It’ll only be the most trippiest movie, but it’s gonna be in my top ten movies of 2006 no matter what. Trust me.

And also, because you can download one for your iPod....

Lost #27 [Orientation]

Once again we go back in time and this time see the journey Kate makes through the hatch. But it goes a lot further this time, with Kate overpowering the new player Desmond, and destroying the computer in the process.

Desmond starts freaking out ‘cause he’s gotta input the code every 108 minutes or it’s the end of the world…. Jack demands answers and Locke discovers an orientation film, that answers some questions but creates others.

Elsewhere on the island, Sawyer, Jin and Michael are thrown in a pit by the others. Shortly afterwards another person, a girl is thrown in with them. They talk about who they are, and how they got to the island, then Sawyer pulls out a gun and explains his escape plan.

The girl then over powers him, takes the gun and calls to the others that’s she’s finished, and get pulled out. On the surface this looks like bad news, but it may not be. It’s obvious that this group of people aren’t the same that took Micheal’s boy – else they wouldn’t bother trying to find out who they were.

So we now have ANOTHER group of people on the island, who may turn out to be helpful, friendly even!

Back to the hatch, and Kate has gone to find Sayid to help fix the computer, and Hugo comes along too.

Sayid fixes the computer but Locke refuses to input the code and insists that Jack take a leap of faith and do it him self.

Meanwhile Hugo finds the room of food...

Probably the best episode of the season so far, but next weeks doesn’t look quite as compelling.

Meanwhile, ever wondered what happened to Oceanic Airlines after they lost a plane... or if Dharma Industries does actually exist?

Or did you know what Dharma actually means, or that the Island that Jack, Kate and the rest are stranded on is quite easy to find… just type in the numbers as longitude and latitude (4.815 162.342) at Google Maps and you’ll see an island close by...

DVD | A Lot Like Love

Maybe I’ve been watching to many ‘good’ movies recently, but A Lot Like Love seemed to be lacking somewhat.

As a romantic comedy, the laughs were a little too few, but the chemistry was there – and the plot got you hooked into wanting to find out if these two were ever gonna hook up.

These two being Oliver (Ashton Kutcher) and Emily (Amanda Peet), who meet while waiting from a plane. They seem to hit it off with obvious chemistry, but can’t seem to keep it going, so go there separate ways.

Over the years, they keep hooking up, and the chemistry is still there, but they have other things in there lives that keep them apart. It seems that these made-for-each-other lovers are destined to be apart.

Oliver already has his life planned out, and he has to become a success before he can settle down, and Emily is too much of a free spirit to settle down, so something is going to have to happen to get them together.

Spoiler Warning!
And something does happen, Oliver’s long hours and determination don’t pay off as his business hits the wall and he has to move back home.

Now he sees the error of his ways, and wants to try and hook up and make things work with Emily (oh the predictability of it).

If nothing else, A Lot Like Love does make for a romantic, easy on the brain evening with your significant other.

Spiritual Connections
It’s interesting how Oliver and Emily keep meeting and essentially being in love, but they continue to search fro something more elsewhere. That could be a parable about people ignoring Gods love in it’s self.

Another interesting point was how Oliver only really found happiness when he gave up his dream of being rich, and accepted life as it was.

DVD | Rosenstrasse

Agonisingly slow at times, Rosenstrasse is a compelling, emotional true story and love and human courage.

In the cold winter of 1943, hundreds of women stood in defiance of the Nazis, outside a factory on Rosenstrasse Street. They would not be moved, they would not back down, they were prepared to die.

You see, these outstanding Aryan women were all married to Jews, and because of this, the Nazi’s weren’t sure what to do with them, so instead of sending them direct to the camps, there were taken to this factory on Rosenstrasse, and kept prisoner, without being able to say goodbye to their wives.

The Story is told through flash backs as a young Jewish New Yorker decides to trace her family history, and discovers a miracle.

This is an amazing story, not only because it shows the plight of the Jews, but also because it shows that not all Germans were evil.

We’ve been pre-conditioned by Hollywood and history to think that all of Germany in the 1940s was corrupt, but Rosenstrasse demonstrates that there were still good people in Germany, despite Hitler’s best efforts.

Spiritual Connections
Religion plays a huge part in this movie – on one level it’s about a Jewish girl discovering the importance of her faith, on another is about true love, the kind that you’d die for. It’s about standing up for the oppressed, the weak and the homeless.

DVD | The Edukators

The Edukators is a fast paced and funny German movie with a message. Based around the exploits of two friends who call them selves The Edukators, whose aim in life is to protest against global trade, they decide to take their protests to the next level.

A rather subversive form of protest is designed where they break in to rich peoples houses and re-arrange the furniture and leave a note that says ‘Your days of plenty are numbered’.

But things start to unravel when one of the friends has to go away for a while and asks his mate to look after his girlfriend. It’s here that the only predictable part of the movie occurs – they fall for each other.

They also get into a spot of bother and together the three of them find themselves in a very difficult and dangerous situation (I won’t spoil it for you). It’s here where the movie really takes off and has you on the edge of your seats.

The storyline is original, the characters are convincing, the message isn’t preachy and the tension never really dies.

All in all, it’s a damn fine movie, that will not only entertain, but also make you think.

Spiritual Connections
The Edukators brings up an interesting dilemma for Western Christians. We live in a world controlled by money, by big corporations, by the West. The Global (Western) economy only works at the expense of people living in the third world. Without sweatshops most of us wouldn’t have any clothing or shoes, without the factories in Afghanistan I wouldn’t be writing this blog, as the computer chips are cheaper to manufacture there. The world as we know it only exists because we exploit the poor and keep them poor.

But it was Jesus who told us; what you do to the least of you, you do to me.

Australia Bans Another Video Game!

The Classification Review Board in Australia has refused to give Atari’s latest game, Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure, classification and therefore banning it from being sold in Australia.

Their reason? It’s a game that “promotes the crime of Graffiti”.

Interesting. They’re ok with Grand Theft Auto, so long as the sex is kept under wraps. They’re ok with Need For Speed Underground 2, even though it promotes illegal street racing, resisting arrest, and dangerous driving. It’s also ok to kill German’s in a blood thirsty rampage, so long as it has a historical background (Brothers In Arms, Call of Duty) but a game that might promote graffiti, oh hell no.

I’ve played the game. It’s an interesting mix of adventure, fighting and thinking. That’s right, it’s a game that makes you use your grey matter.

But promoting graffiti? That’s a bit of a stretch. Sure the game centers around the underworld of graffiti artists, but it’s not gonna be a call to arms to get everyone going out and tagging.

It’s time for Australian politics to wake up and see gaming for what it is; entertainment, escapism, fantasy. It’s what some of us do instead of watching the evening news (rape, murder, child molestation, war, famine, riots are all covered in detail between 6-7pm every night) or nightly sit-coms or graphic crime dramas.

TV | Winter Olympics

Ok, I’ll be honest and say that I find the Olympics and Winter Olympics a bore. It’s all a little to perfect and planned.

But this morning, whilst I was having a long overdue lie-in, I turned on the TV and the Winter Olympics was on. I was about to turn over when I noticed it was going to be snowboarding, and instead of going against the clock, they were pitting 4 boarders against each other. This could be interesting.

And it was.

In fact it was edge of your seats stuff as on most runs there were several close calls, and a couple of spills.

The only complaint I’d have is that the commentators and camera men hadn’t done there home work and consequently weren’t ready for the action, and consequently a lot of the action wasn’t caught on camera.

But the real treat was in the final, Lindsey Jacobs was the favourite, and expected to bag America it’s 4th Gold, but with an unassailable lead, she tried to pull a trick off the last jump, and stuffed it up, falling and whilst she got back up and recovered was over taken by Tanja Frieden.

The Power of Words and Images.

Would anyone take me seriously if I said Mohammad was a homosexual terrorist intent on destroying all Buffy fans?

Well, I hope not. But a fellow blogger commented on how the hits to his blog soared when homosexuality was mentioned, and this combined with the whole Danish anti Muslim cartoon fiasco (which has spawned a Jewish Anti-Semitic Cartoon Contest) got me thinking about how much power we willingly give to the media.

The Danish cartoons would have gone relatively unnoticed if Muslims hadn’t kicked up a stink about them, but now they’re being republished around the world, and talked about on prime time tv and radio.

I personally haven’t seen them, but I doubt it would take too much work to find them online. But my point is why do we give the media so much power. If we let insults to our beliefs go by quietly, then they would disappear. This applies to everyone, not just Muslims.

Years ago, Christians protested against the movie The Life Of Brian. I haven’t seen it, but knowing Monty Python, it would be a hoot. But why protest? You only give the movie more power. Why not either just ignore it, or appreciate it for what it is: humour.

If we all laughed a little more and protested less, the world would be a better (and safer) place.

Violence in the Media

[click on the image for a larger view]

Reality TV vs Game Shows

The radio on the way home from work was talking about the worst and best reality TV, and it got me thinking. Not about what I thought was the worst or best, but what in fact was reality TV.

TV stations are in love with reality TV, but in reality what they are producing is game shows.

If you want to watch reality TV watch Police 10/7 or Motorway Patrol, because Survivor, Treasure Island, America’s Next Top Model, all of what most people now consider to be reality TV isn’t.

Lets just pick on one of them: Survivor. It’s a game show. Contestants are put in a situation and forced to play off against each other by competing in activities. The winner wins immunity or something else, and in the end, the season champion wins $1 Million.

It’s a game show people.

Even Police 10/7 or Motorway Patrol isn’t really reality TV, but it’s the closest we’ll going to get. Motorway Patrol follows the police as they patrol the Auckland motorway system, chasing drunk drivers and sorting out motor accidents. But it’s all cleverly edited. Nicely packaged. Produced to entertain.

If you want reality TV, get a job as a night security guard who sits in front of a bank of monitors keeping a watch. That’s reality TV.

Lost #26 [Adrift]

To be honest I was a little concerned for the first part of episode 26. Nothing new was happening. We started off with flash backs to the season finale from last year, and last weeks episode. And then we had to go through the missing parts to the hatch exploration of last week – the storyline was stagnant, and if possible moving backwards.

Even when we got to the raft, things didn’t really move along – there were plenty of flash backs where we see how Michael lost custody of Walt. But two men fighting on a small raft doesn’t make for great television.

But somewhere in the hour we do get to the edge of our seats, weather its just all the ‘what the?’ questions in our head or the ending that sets up fro a great looking episode 27, I don’t know, but it was worth it in the end, and now I’ve got a whole week to wait.

What Movie Am I?

Paul Giamatti's management and agents advised him not to take the part in this award winning war movie since they felt the part wasn't big enough. But Giamatti insisted on taking the role.

What movie was it?

DVD | Something The Lord Made

Made for TV movies have a bad name for themselves. They are often badly written, poorly acted, and very, very cheesy. But that was before HBO.

HBO continues to raise the bar for what can be done on TV. Sometimes they offend, sometimes they appease, and sometimes they make little gems that never get the attention they disserve.

Something The Lord Has Made is one such gem.

Based on the true story of Dr Alfred Blalock and Dr Vivien Thomas, it follows two routes. For one, it covers the impressive medical breakthrough that the doctors pioneered. On the other hand it shows a 1940’s America still coming to grips with equality.

Dr Alfred Blalock is a rich, white Doctor who has a passion to make something of his life through medicine. Vivien is a poor black worker who comes on as Blalock’s janitor. But as Blalock has an eye for medicine, he also has an eye for talent, and sees in Vivien the same passion for medicine.

An unlikely partnership forms, and the two of them become an effective team, breaking many medical and cultural boundaries along the way. Without Vivien, Blalock would have achieved nothing, without Blalock, Vivian would just be a janitor. But their road is rocky.

Blalock keeps forgetting Vivian when put in the spotlight, and takes all the credit. Vivien feels resentment and everything comes to a head.

An interesting, well-acted drama, that educates as well as entertains.

Spiritual Connections
The movie not only shows medical breakthrough, but also pours light on racism. It shows that we should never judge a person by outward appearances or by what society tells us. It also shows that pride will destroy us and the only way back is through humility.

TV | Commander In Chief

Not sure what to make of this very PC American political drama. I only really watched it for two reasons. First, for some unknown reason I love the West Wing, but more importantly, I love Donald Sutherland.

Not realising that the first episode was a two hour job, I was getting a little restless thinking that it was dragging on, but was relieved when I realised that in reality it wasn’t.

I’m not totally sold on it though, if Donald’s rather devious and decidedly despicable character is given more screen time, I’ll probably be in with a grin. But the likelihood is that Geena Davis, being that her character is the first ever woman President, will have the kings share of the script.

This and the fact that she’s gonna try and manage her time between running the world and running her family mnakes me shudder and think that Commander In Chief could be more sickly sweet 7th Heaven style than the addictive West Wing style.

Only time will tell.

TV | Lost vs Invasion

LOST
I became a fan of Lost after watching the entire first season on DVD in under a week. Lucky for me, season 2 has now started on New Zealand television.

Oh, this will contain spoilers.

Episode 1 (or 25 depending on how you look at it) is based mainly around the hatch that was blown open in last year’s finale. Jack and Locke have an argument over going down into the hatch. Jack not keen as it’s not going to immediately help the rest of the survivors, so they all go back to the caves, where Jack reassures everyone that everything is going to be alright.

Then Locke announces that he’s going on his own to explore the hatch.

Meanwhile Shannon has lost the dog, and is frantically searching for it (yes, at night) when she stumbles on Walter, dripping wet and scared. But in true Lost style, Shannon is distracted and when she looks back, the boy is gone. Strange things are afoot, of course!

Back at the hatch, Locke is ready to climb down the shaft when Kate turns up and agrees to go down first. She discovers that someone else is down there and promptly disappears. Lock goes down after her. A while later Jack turns up to see what’s going on, and when he can’t find anyone, ventures into the shaft also.

During some flashbacks we’re introduced to a new character that has ‘he’s about to turn up on the island’ written all over him, and sure enough, he’s the lone, ever so slightly paranoid, occupant of the hatch/shaft complex. At least it appears for now that he’s the only one down there, who really knows.

So no real answers this week, just a new plot direction and a whole lot of fun. Next week we should find out what happens to the people on the raft, but poor Kate is unlikely to surface again, at least for a week or two.

INVASION
I sat through the whole of the first episode of this ‘perfect companion to Lost’ and at the end was left wondering why I’d just wasted an hour of my life.

To put it simply, Invasion is the perfect programme for bored insomniacs with no real life, or desire to have one.

DVD | Herbie Fully Loaded

The tag line claims that Herbie is ‘Fully loaded with laughs and adventure’.
Fully loaded with predictability, unbelievably and so cheesy and sickly sweet as to make you want to vomit.
But then it’s not a movie that’s aimed at a mature audience. It’s aimed squarely at the lucrative tween market, but even then misses its mark. My oldest daughter was slightly amused by this movie, but it was a slightly autistic 7 year old who really LOVED the movie. She was so in awe of the car that could drive it’s self, and in fact had human attributes. She was smitten with Herbie.
Forget the acting, forget the story line, it was all about a car with character that ticked her fancy.
Herbie Fully Loaded, good for kids, bad for adults!

DVD | Fantastic 4

The Fantastic 4 (F4) movie was universally damned by movie critics the world over, so I approached the DVD without much hope. Surely a movie this bad would have no redeeming features what so ever.
I was wrong, and so were all those critics. Sure it’s no X2 or Batman Begins, it’s more your cheesy lets for get acting and storyline and hope the special effects will wow them type movie. You know, the type of movie you hire when you want to just blob out and have a good, easy on the brains laugh. And a huge bowl of butter popcorn.
So, if you’re not expecting much, this movie might just surprise you.

Spiritual Connections
F4 is your classic Good vs Evil movie, with the arrogant Dr Doom representing the dark side, and the (mostly) humble F4 representing the light. It’s also got a bit of the prodigal son thrown in for good measure.
It’s also a good study in how power reveals our true character. Victor Von Doom was always and arrogant, self centred individual, but given his new powers he takes self centred and arrogant to whole new levels and becomes a homicidal maniac, bent on revenge. Reed Richards on the other hand is a dreamer who wants to save the world, and puts his life on the line to help he friends when he gets his new powers.
Indeed all of the F4 have to find out who they really are, in order to beat Dr Doom

DVD | Sin City

It’s a rare treat when a movie like Sin City gets made. It’s a faithful adaptation of a graphic novel (the less educated would call it a comic book), created by maverick and highly original filmmaker Robert Rodriguez. So faithful is its adaptation that flicking through the Graphic Novel feels like you’re looking at the movies storyboards.
And the talent, oh the acting talent. How many stars can you get in a movie before you blow the budget? With the list of known names in this movie, you just know they didn’t come on board for a fat pay check, this is a movie born of love.
Utilising state of the art digital technology, Rodriguez creates a black and white movie, with sparing use of colour (mimicking the graphic novel) to tell a story that’s as crazy and out there as they get. Using a graphic novel as a basis for a movie means you don’t have to be realistic.
So what is Sin City about? It’s the story of three main characters interweaved through the back streets of Sin City. It’s about Marv, a so-tough-you-almost-can’t-kill-him street fighter who seeks revenge for the killing of the only person who ever loved him. It’s about Dwight, a PI who goes all out to protect a group of prostitutes and it’s about John Hartigan, one of the only decent Cops left in Sin City.
It’s a dark and seedy tale that is punctuated by extreme violence, yet it’s as compelling as they come. Characters you’ll fall in love with, and characters whose death you’ll cheer at.
The violence and nudity will put many people off this movie, as will the black and white stylised nature, but it’s well worth a watch if you’re after something to get the brain thinking, or if you’re just into a bit of off the wall action.

Spiritual Connections
Sin is a funny thing, Churches can be scared to talk about it, after all, they wouldn’t want to offend anyone, or presuppose someone’s guilt, would they? But Sin City is different. There’s no judgement in Sin City, everyone knows that they’re a sinner, so there’s no point playing the sin game. In a crazy sort of way, on this one level, everyone is equal.
Amongst all this sin, the three central characters all share similar Christ like attributes.
Marv, Dwight and Hardigan – all Christ like. All were losers, they hung out with prostitutes, they weren’t much to look at, and they had no fear and did what they had to do. They saved (or avenged) the innocent, and were all prepared to lay down their lives for someone else.
Even in the darkness of Sin City, light, love, can be found.