DVD | Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Shane Black knows big-budget action movies, he wrote the screenplays for movies such as Lethal Weapon and The Last Boy Scout. In Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, Black not only writes, but directs also. He manages to mock and undercut every action movie cliché he once helped to invent.

The story goes a little like this; Fleeing from the cops, Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey Jr) gate crashes an acting audition - and nails it - he gets taken to Hollywood, where he discovers his high school love (Michelle Monaghan) and gets caught up in plot twisting murder mystery.

Not only is this movie a riot of action and laughs, it manages to be original whilst serving up the clichés.

Of course it’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, and there’s no profound message, but it’s refreshing to see some very black humour in a genre that is often taken way to seriously.

If Dreamworks had done Narnia...

[click for bigger image]

Lost #30 [Abandoned]

Yaaaaawn. Oh wait, something DID happen in this episode, that annoying Shannon got killed.

Next week might be interesting though, at least it had better be, ‘cause this second season desperately needs something to keep it going.

DVD | Crash

"Moving at the speed of life, we are bound to collide with each other."

Crash is one of those amazing movies that you’re either gonna love or hate. Me, I loved it. I loved it on so many ways.

I love movies where the key characters paths are always crossing, and I love movies where the end of the movie is shown at the beginning, but you don’t grasp it’s relevance until the end.

So what is Crash all about? It’s a dark and gritty movie about racism. And not just your stereotypical white man racism. It makes a bold generalisation that we are all racist. Every race featured in this movie has some for of racism towards someone out side of their racial group. Weather it be intentional or not, obvious or subtle, it’s still there.

But rather than just show us how bad we are, Crash attempts to show us that we can change. That life gives us opportunities to redeem ourselves, to take back what was taken, to reach out and help someone.

It’s also a funny movie in places – yes I laughed at some scenes. But the funny thing is, you start to think after you laugh, just what was so funny and should you actually be laughing. It catches you off guard.

It’s rarely predictable. Even the most heart-stopping scene doesn’t turn out how you expected it too.

But it is quite a lot to take in. It’s a visual, audio, thinking assault on your brain. If you’re after a popcorn thrill try The Island or Flight of the Pheonix. Crash is a thinking movie. Crash is a sombre movie.

Crash also takes a group of actors you never wanted to see together (some of them you never wanted to see period) and makes them work, makes them believable. I mean, Brendan Fraser in a movie with Don Cheadle? That was never going to work, but it does, in this case anyway.

Personal Thoughts
Crash starts off focussing on how distorted we see people of other races and creeds. How we pre-judge them and consequently treat them. How we elevate ourselves above them.

But by the end of the movie, some of these people are starting to change, to see people for who they really are. To accept them and even embrace them. To discover what true love really is.

I love how Rhett talks about it:
“Another thing that's great about Crash is that characters you originally find repulsive, you end up feeling sympathy for. It shows that no one is beyond redemption.”

DVD | The Island

You have been chosen. It’s these four words that the last remaining inhabitants on earth can’t wait to hear. It means they’ve won the lottery and will be going to the Island, the last inhabitable place on Earth, paradise found.

You see, there was a huge biological l disaster that contaminated most of the world and killed off most of it’s inhabitants. But survivors are found and treated at a facility, and when chosen get to go to the Island.

But if the the world really was contaminated, and unihabitable, they why do they keep finding new survivors , and why does the lottery always seem fixed. And what of there meaningless work, what does it achieve? These are dangerous questions, but ones that residen Lincoln Six-Echo can’t help but wonder.

And his wondering and investigating leades him to the horrific truth that leads him and his best friend Jordan Two-Delta on a race for their lives.

In this fast paced action spectacular, Michael Bay not only wows us with intense action and special effects, but makes us laugh with well placed humour, and causes us to think about the value of human life, and more importantly; what is human life.

Spoiler Warning
You see, Lincoln Six-Echo is just one of hundreds of specially grown humans, grown from their sponsors DNA, specifically as a life insurance premium. If they need replacement parts, they’ve got exact replicate parts just waiting to be harvested.

Personal Thoughts
The Island not only gets you thinking about the value of human life and what makes a human, human, it also poses so other worthy dilemmas. If you have to answer the question of where a cloned object becomes human, and there for worth the chance at life, it’s not a huge leap to the whole abortion debate, though I’m sure that wasn’t on Michael Bay’s agenda.

It also brings up the question of how far do we go to help others, as the subject of cloning, stem cell research and all these new fields of medical research promise us with more and more solutions to our fragile state, but bring with them even bigger moral questions.

I’m not sure where I stand on this one, but the question basically comes down to is it ok to TAKE one life to save another?

DVD | Cinderella Man

Cinderella Man is Ron Howard’s take on the inspirational true story of boxing legend James J. Braddock.

Braddock was an up and coming boxer, with an impressive record until injury and lost confidence brought him a string of bad luck, this combined with the on-set of the depression, set him sliding into obscurity and poverty.

Desperate for work, and on the verge of loosing his kids, Braddock is offered one last fight against an opponent that is expected to knock him out in the first round. But in the stuff of fairytales, Braddock finds that he has something to fight for and wins the fight by a knockout.

But it was only a one-fight deal and it’s back to the poverty line.

But Joe Gould (played by the always spectacular Paul Giamatti), Braddock’s manager manages to swing him another fight, which could, as slim a chance as it would be, secure him a journey to the heavy weight title.

Knowing nothing of the history behind this movie probably helped with the excitement and edge of your seats thrills, as even though you think you know how it’s going to finish, you’re never really sure.

Whilst it’s based on a true story, Ron Howard has used artistic license to provide the viewer with an easy villain in Max Baer, which helps increase the tension. Howard however portrays the depression era hardships with some gritty realism.

Personal Thoughts
One of the most interesting scenes is at the press conference before the big fight, where one journalist asks Braddock why he keeps on fighting. The journalist was probably expecting some egotistical comment, but Braddock keeps it simple and to the point; “For milk.”

In an era where work was hard to find, and poverty was a reality and a widespread danger in American society, James J Braddock was fighting just so his family could survive.

DVD | Zelary

It’s 1943 in the Nazi occupied Prague. Eliska is a nurse who was unable to finish medical school because the Nazi’s closed the universities. She’s in a relationship with one of the hospitals surgeons, and she’s a courier for the resistance.

All is going well for young Eliska, until the Gestapo captures one of the local resistance members. Eliska is sent away to the moutain hamlet of Zelary with Joza, a local resident who’s life was recently saved by Eliska. They marry out of convenience, so as to give city girl Eliska a valid reason to move to Zelary and to be accepted by the locals.

But all is not well, as the city girl has to come to terms with life in a little mountain shack with no electricity and only one bed.

But predictable as it is, Eliska falls in love with Joza, and she even finds acceptance in the local community.

Zelary is a spellbinding romantic tale, that avoids all the glitz and glamour of Hollywood.

Personal Thoughts
It’s not clear why Eliska joined the resistance, but it seems it’s more of a game to her, that is until she has to be bundled away for her own safety. She has to leave everything behind and start life afresh as a poor country girl with none of the luxuries she was accustomed to. While it’s a struggle at first, she soon accepts what she has and in due course finds life to the fullest. A life that is much more rewarding that when she was surrounded by luxury.

It gets you thinking about what we might be missing out on in our nice consumer driven society. How much more rewarding a simple, no frills community focused life could be.

DVD | Mean Creek

Mean Creek is a movie that moves along at a similar pace and style to that of Gus Van Sant’s Gerry. For the most part nothing happens, but armed with the knowledge that something IS going to happen you gladly sit for the meandering ride.

You’re willing to wait because you want to know what happens, and if it does happen, what will they do.

They, being a group of teens, who want to teach the school bully a lesson. Somewhere along the journey though, one by one they decide that it’s not a good idea. All except the oldest kid, who decides that what was planned, has to be bought to fulfilment.

Without ruining the plot, something does happen, but it’s far worse than anyone could have planned for, and the lose group of teens have to make some big decisions.

Thoughts
There’s a couple of things that stand out for me in this movie, one is the server absence of adults/parents in this movie. In fact for most of the kids we don’t meet their parents until the end of the movie. This speaks volumes as to how these kids got into the situation they did – no real parental guidance.

The other thing is we find out something at the end of the movie – though it is obvious throughout – about one of the key characters. And when you think about it, it’s not just the parent at fault but also a school system that doesn’t pick up on the obvious needs of it’s students.

It would seem (imho) that the director is making a social commentary on the roles of both parents and schools in the lives of children and how severely lacking both are in our modern society. A generalisation I know, but it makes for interesting thinking – our kids are what they learn from us.

Spiritual Connections
This may be seen as a spoiler, so read on with caution!

No matter how dark this movie gets, and it gets pretty dark, there’s one character who for the most part shines the light of a moral compass. But in the end when the decisions are forced on the rest by the much older and (physically) stronger character, everyone concedes and tows the line.

But later, when out of his sphere of influence, the rest of this motley crew realise what they’ve done, and decide to try and make things right.

It’s all about having a second chance (to a degree) and about all of our actions having consequences.

It’s also funny that it’s the youngest, weakest kid who figures it out and convinces the others to do what’s right. His grasp on the concept of guilt and forgiveness proves to be very mature.

Lost #29 [...And Found]

Is it just me or was this another lame episode where nothing actually happens. Just a whole lot of flashbacks showing you nothing you really wanted, or needed to know.

The action that was hinted at for this week never came; maybe it’s coming next week. Other than that the only thing to keep me interested in watching next week would have to be the promise of the phantom Walt making another appearance.

Maybe it’s time to give up on TV again?

Trailer | X-Men 3

Oh yes, I’m excited, but them some people say I’m easily excitable.

Why am I excited? Did you not read title of this post? The trailer for X-Men 3 is now online, and it’s a beauty!

Go and have a look, you know you want to. Or at least you know I want you to!

My only concerns with this movie, is the number of new characters in it. I’m loving that they are there, but with so many, will they each have enough screen time to satisfy the viewer? Or will it be like Flight of the Pheonix where Hugh Laurie didn’t get enough time to be his good old self?

Band of Brothers | Currahee

July 1942 - 5th June 1944

We homeschool two of our three daughters, and our oldest has taken a keen interest in war games. I don’t know if it’s just that she has an aggressive, world domination type personality, or that she just wants to do something with her old man. And I don’t care, it’s right up my street, so let the games begin!

We started out with RISK, but wanted more of a challenge, so my daughter decided on D-Day. Rather than let it just be a games night, I decided I would educate her on the back ground of D-Day and what happened afterwards, and me being me, decided that my Band of Brothers DVD, along with downloaded discussion guides would be the best way. So hopefully for the next 10 Monday nights, oldest daughter and I will be watching Band of Brothers, and I’ll be filling you in on the Tuesday!

Overview
The first episode, Currahee is where we get to meet Easy Company. We find out just what they are made of, through there intense training. We also get to meet Captain Herbert Sobel.

As with most everyone who meet the real Sobel, we end up hating his character. He’s mean a petty. He’s on a power trip and for some unknown reason isn’t enjoying life, so makes life un-enjoyable for everyone around him.

But as bad as he is, most of the men of Easy Company will tell you that with out the intense training that Sobel dished out, they wouldn’t have made it through the war.

Having said that, the men of Easy would rather be shot for treason than go into battle with Sobel, and it’s this along with Soble trying to get one over Lt Winters, leads to his being re-assigned and missing out on the D-Day drop.

On 6th June 1944, Easy Company and the rest of the 82nd Airborne and the 101st Airborne board their C-47s and head for Normandy joining the largest naval fleet in history.

Thoughts
When I first watched Band of Brothers I decided that episode one was necessary, but really one of the most boring episodes of the series. Now that I’ve watched the series a number of times, I’ve come to appreciate more, and it has become one of my favourites.

I think it’s because it gives you a chance to ‘bond’ with the men of Easy, you get to, to the small extent that TV allows, experience what they had to over come to become Airborne Infantry. With out this experience, you’d struggle to empathise with them for the rest of the journey.

Spiritual Connections
No matter how well trained they were, the men of Easy were sent off with the encouragement and prayers of General Eisenhower:
I have full confidence in your courage and devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory! Good luck! And let us beseech the blessings of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.

Lost #28 [Everybody Hates Hugo]

Ok, fairly run of the mill episode, as I predicted, not as exciting as last week. Also as I predicted, the ‘others’ were not the others, but scared (and friendly) survivors of the tail section of the plane.

They’ve found a less glamorous bunker complex with a slightly different Dharma logo – it looks like either the bunker complex was never completed, or its succumbed to decay a lot quicker, either way, the number of survivors is a lot less than Sawyer et al were told HAD survived the crash – this leads to some excitement next we as we discover what happened to them, and as they try and get back to the other side of the island.

DVD | Flight Of The Phoenix

As I mentioned in my last post, Hollywood has to cater for an increased appetite for movie watching, and so a lot of thought isn’t always put into what films to make. And easy out for Hollywood of course is the re-make. Take a classic movie and remake it with all the glitz and special effects that are available today and hope that nobody notices that you ripped it off.

Flight is a re-make, but as I never saw the original I can’t say how good or bad this version is. It’s gonna have to stand on it’s own merits.

And it does.

Sure, it’s a popcorn movie that will have you groaning at the implausibility of it all, but that’s what makes some movie fun! The thing with Flight is that it’s an exciting boys adventure/survival movie, and whilst it’s no Lost, it does have similar hallmarks.

Special effects and eye candy aside, there’s a lot going for Flight in the acting – Hugh Laurie was his brilliant self, although never really given enough time to really shine. Dennis Quaid was perfect in the lead role.

But the standout performance was Giovanni Ribisi as Elliot, the guy who comes up with the idea to cannibalise the plain and build a smaller one, his performance as an anal retentive nerd struggling with feelings of inadequacy and finding new power in his ideas makes the movie worth watching on its own.

So check your brain at the door, grab some popcorn, a cold bottle of Vanilla Coke (if only), sit back and enjoy the ride.

Spiritual Connections
Elliot is pretty much branded a wacko when he comes up with his idea for salvation, but when you think about it, so was Jesus. Yet if we all pull finger and listen to what he says, we might just find that there’s hope after all.

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.

100 Films You Should See In 2006!

The latest issue of Empire Magazine has a feature on what they think are the 100 films you should see in 2006. Where as I don’t go to the movies very often I do watch more than 100 DVDs in a year, so I figured it would be worth a look.
Reading through the article was rather depressing though, with only 17 of the movies looking any good (imho).
Standouts included A Scanner Darkly, Munich, Jarhead, Casino Royale (gotta love Bond no matter what, well, with the exception of Timothy Dalton), X-Men 3, Lady In The Water, Miami Vice and V For Vendetta.
Empire also had the 50 films you should have seen in 2005. Of these 50, I’ve seen only 15, but want to see a further 11 when they come out on DVD, which gets me close to 50%.
Maybe I should watch more DVDs….

Coke Zero

Is it just me, or does Coke Zero taste like flat coke, only fizzy?

DVD | Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

I’ve never read the book, so all I know of the story is from the 1971 original, which apparently met with extreme disapproval from Roald Dahl.
Right from the start, when the collaboration of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp was announced, I was happy. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was a quirky, bizarre movie, and seemed very suited to the Burton/Depp touch.

I’m happy to announce, imho, they’ve managed to pull it off. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is an amazing treat. Not only visually stunning, but Burton has changed the storyline considerably, and has made for a much more complete, and satisfying movie.

If you don’t know the story, shame on you, I’m not going into it here. Depp again pulls off a convincing, quirky and completely oddball character with ease, and it totally suits Burton’s rendition of the story. It seems more serious in some parts, but doesn’t miss out on the whimsical.

Let your imagination run wild, forget any love you had for the original and enjoy this modern rendition.

Spiritual Connections
It’s not hard to notice that this movie has something to say. Primarily about the hazards of indulgent excess, Burton's Chocolate Factory also puts family unity front and centre. When Charlie is offered control of the Chocolate Factory it comes with a price tag – he must leave his family behind. Charlie chooses to stay with his family and turn down Wonka’s amazing offer. It’s a trait that Charlie has shown throughout the movie, for a boy he has an amazing grasp on self sacrifice and looking out for others, and he gets rewarded plenty for his sacrifice in the end. Not only that but through his actions Charlie helps Willy come to terms with a past he has been suppressing all his adult life.

It's all about me...

I’ve seen these lists on various blogs so I copied one and filled it out myself, so y’all can know a little bit about me. Sorry, but I forgot to take a note of the blog I borrowed this from.

4 jobs you've had:
Kiwi Fruit Picker
Graphic Designer @ Health Waikato
Graphic Designer @ BUNZ
Marketing Manager

4 Movies you could watch over and over:
Band of Brothers (mini series)
The Princess Bride
Starship Troopers
Saving Private Ryan

4 Places you've lived:
Dorchester, Dorset, England
Whakatane, Bay Of Plenty, New Zealand
Hamilton, New Zealand
Penrose, Auckland, New Zealand

4 TV shows you love to watch:
Top Gear
Aussie V8s
Lost
Um, don’t really watch TV….

4 places you've been on holiday to:
Rhodes
Yougoslavia
Greece
Malta

4 blogs you visit daily:
Short and Sweet
A Servants Thoughts
Oh, that’s only two, the rest of my bloglines aren’t blogs, oh dear…

4 of your favourite foods:
Home made Pizza
Pavalova
Wendy’s Bacon Cheese Burger
Vanilla Coke

4 places you'd rather be:
Christchurch, New Zealand
Melbourne, Australia
On a beach
At home (I’m at work whilst I write this ;-)

4 albums you can't live without:
A Collision: David Crowder*Band
Thousand Foot Krutch: Phenomenon
A Kind Of magic Live: Queen
Anything by Eric Clapton

Hhhmmm, that was a fun 5 minutes…..

DVD | Luther

The tag line for this movie is “One man had a vision that changed the world”. It’s fair statement about the man who turned his back on organised religion and brought the truth of the Gospel to the people.

It’s been said that this movie is anti-Catholic. Sure, you could look at this movie and come to that conclusion, but only if you wanted to come to that conclusion. Sure it portrays some in the Catholic Church in a very poor light, but that’s not the point of the movie.

It’s about one mans convictions, primarily that we are saved by faith, not works. It shows that we can’t buy our way out of hell, as the Catholics at the time were promising.

Fortunately it doesn’t make Luther out to be some super hero. It shows a man struggling with his own faith and how to live his convictions. Indeed it shows some of the dark side of the revolution as some of Luther’s supporters whip up angry mobs against the organised church leading to brutal massacres.

All in all a well acted a produced movie about a man that Christians and non-Christians alike should be thankful for. Thankful that he helped make the Gospel accessible, and thankful (if you’re agnostic or atheist) that he helped bring about the separation of Church and State.

TV | Supernova

I'm not really that big on TV, and especially dislike mini-series. But being home alone on a Sunday night I decided to give Supernova a go.

It's been on for an hour, and it's as cheesey as expected, but nothing has really happened.

It's supposed to be a special effects end of the world action packed show, and NOTHING has happened in the first hour!!??!!

I'm turning on my X-Box.

DVD | Mr & Mrs Smith

OK, time for some serious Hollywood action. Check your brains at the door, and be prepared for two hours of fun! Mr & Mrs Smith is an action/comedy feast that stars two of Hollywoods most popular actors; Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

The story centres around a bored married couple. Their lives have become mundane. They have dinner ay 7pm sharp every single day, and they talk as little as possible. Their lives are so individually compartmentalised that they have little time for each other.

So they go and see a marriage counsellor. But he’s never going to be able to fix what is wrong with their marriage; it’s a marriage built on lies from day one. It’s a marriage were neither can share their most intimate thoughts or issues.

You see, they’re both cold-blooded killers. Paid assassins at the top of their game, and it’s a game where you don’t let on what you do for a living.

So what happens when you both get sent to do the same job? You discover that the love of your life is also your biggest competition, and is now out to kill you!

After a little while of trying to kill each other, they realise that they can’t; they actually love each other. And on top of that their respective bosses are now trying to kill both of them.

Fast paced and visually spectacular with plenty of humour to keep the movie light, this is a popcorn extravaganza.

Spiritual Content
Bet you didn’t think there’d be any spiritual content in this movie did ya? But consider this, even though they have huge problems, when the rubber hits the road, they come together and put their lives on the line to protect each other. They found a love that far exceeds friendship or brotherly love.

In the Greek language there are several different words for Love; Philla or Phileo is love between friends, Eros is sexual love and then there is Agape.

Agape is sacrificial love. The kind of love that a person has when they are prepared to lay down their lives for someone else. It’s the type of love that took Jesus to the cross.

Tim Robbins to do 1984?

Oh man, how much do I love Tim Robbins? He’s awesome. I’ve loved him ever since seeing Bob Roberts.

Being one to take interesting projects means that he’s been in some of the best movies (Shawshank) as well as a few stinkers (Code 46).

Now he’s about to direct a stage play based on George Orwell’s 1984. But wait, there’s more, he’s also got a screenplay of it and is working towards doing a movie.

Of course this will be a long way off, but I’m sure it’ll be worth waiting for, and in the meantime there’s always V for Vendetta, a very Orwellian looking movie.

X-Box | Spartan: Total Warrior

Before I start my review proper, I’m gonna give a big shout out to Lauren Kozak and the team at m80 who somehow discovered my Blog and decided to send me this game to review. You guys rock.

Ok, on with the review. Spartan is made by the creators of the PC based Total War series, so to start off I though this was going to be a cool strategic war game. What an idiot I am. Read the title; Total Warrior, not Total War. This was to be a 3rd Person action fest.

You get to play a dude named Spartan (no middle names or surnames, no, you just go by the very cool name Spartan), a young untrained warrior based in the last town in your country that has yet to be sacked by the mighty Roman Empire.

That’s the good news, the bad news is that the entire forces of the Roman Empire have surrounded your city and want to get in and kill you, your girl friend, her mother and your great Aunty (you get the picture) and it’s up to you to stop them.

Well, not you alone, ‘cause you’ve got the Spartan army and a few close buddies on your side.

Thus starts your hack and slash adventure. What hits you first, besides the beautiful visuals, is the sheer volume of characters on the screen, the Spartans rush forward to meet the Roman army and you run to join the fray. There’s so much going on its amazing that there’s no screen jitters, its all smooth in this battle scene as you spray Roman blood all over the battle field.

Oh yes, there is blood, this is an R-16 game designed for mature players, and if you're not careful, it’ll be your blood on the ground. Button mashing will only get you so far, master the combinations, and mix offensive with defensive attacks if you want to get any where in this game.

And trust me, you will want to, ‘cause the game is huge with many varied and interesting maps, with different missions to complete.

Upgrades, new weapons and unlockable treasures to find keep the game from getting too repetitive, whist adding extra challenge.

Epic in scale and atmosphere, this is a great game for action and adventure fans who are looking for a new twist on an old genre. On the down side the cut scenes are bland and the music choice is odd at times.

DVD | Three Colours RED

The final in the Three Colours Trilogy focuses on an unlikely relationship, and how a positive influence on a life can be very beneficial.
Warm and (platonic) love abound in this red themed movie, which again sets a different tone from the other parts of this trilogy.
None the less it is a fitting final to the trilogy and ends it on an upbeat, positive note.
The only thing I didn’t like about this movie is how they placed the main characters from all three movies in it at the end. I knew they were all supposed to appear, but I was expecting more subtlety and cleverness than what happens in the awkward final
All in all a fine trilogy.

DVD | Three Colours WHITE

Whilst Blue was a tragic drama that evolved into a bright conclusion, White is a very black comedy. It’s refreshingly funny, but weird to be so different from it’s predecessor, whilst being part of a trilogy – I’d have thought that all 3 movies would run along similar veins.

White concerns an impotent Polish hairdresser, who is dumped by his heartless French wife, who throws him out with no money, no passport and very little French language skills.

Fortunately he decides to busk for a living and meets a fellow Pole who helps him out. He gets back to Poland in a suitcase and finds work on the black market. He cunningly works many deals and sets up the ultimate revenge movie.

Darkly funny and very rewarding.

DVD | Three Colours BLUE

Blue is the first film in Krzysztof Kieslowski's Three Colours Triolgy. The three movies, Blue, White and Red represent the colours of the French flag, and their themes; Liberty, Equality and Fraternity mirror the French national motto.

In Blue the theme of Liberty comes from cruel beginnings, but fortunately finishes on a hight note.

It’s probably worth mentioning here that these movies are more the art house type rather than your Hollywood blockbuster; so if you’re easily bored, stay away. How ever if you want to see some truly imaginative camera work and original stories that stay tuned.

It’s more than just camera angles though as Kieslowski seem to infuse the screen with the colour blue, sometimes in-your-face, others quite subtle. It becomes fun on a minor level to watch for those minor blue moments.

But back to the story – it starts off with a familiar scene, a family driving home after a night out. But something is amiss, Kieslowski shows us that the break fluid is leaking; you know something bad is going to happen. And it does. Both the husband and daughter are killed – the wife is given her liberty.

Initially the grieving widow, played superbly by Juliette Binoche turns inward, she’s cold and without remorse. She want’s to destroy everything associated with her late family.

But through the course of the movie, through the interactions with others and discoveries made, she finds a new passion for living, and truly finds liberty.

This is an amazing film, but as I mentioned earlier, it’s not your usual Hollywood action spectacular. If a Hollywood blockbuster is McDonalds, then blue is a quiet coffee and muffin in the middle of the Hunua Ranges.

Spielberg denies Mary Poppins film

A story recently posted at ananova says that Steven Spielberg has denied he is planning to remake Mary Poppins.

Hello? Why anyone would even contemplate the absurd notion that Spieldberg would do any such thing is beyond me!

Fortunately Spielberg's spokesman Marvin Levy has publicly stated: "I never heard of this and couldn't imagine Steven ever doing a remake of a classic - and a Disney classic at that."

Top 10 DVDs of 2005

I got the Idea to do a top ten from joblo. I figured it would be easy to pick 10 DVDs, but turned out harder that I expected. Constantine in my mind seemed like a no brainer, but in the end missed the cut. Go figure.

10. In My Fathers Den
No I’m not being patriotic, this was a damn fine movie, and being a kiwi made and funded movie is just the icing on the cake.

9. Carnivale
Thanks to HBO there’s a lot more imaginative programmes coming on TV, and then getting released onto DVD. Carnival, whilst being one of the weirder TV shows was also compelling and original.

8. The Notebook
I’m not a big fan of romantic movies, but this one hit the spot.

7. Million Dollar Baby
What could have turned out to be a very boring movie, kept everyone hooked with an unpredictable punch below the belt that turned an average boxing movie on its head.

6. Hotel Rwanda
An amazing performance by Don Cheadle that documents a moment in time when the might of the West dropped the ball, and ignored humanities pleas.

5. The Village
M. Night Shyamalan is the king of modern suspense movies, and whilst many thought he may have lost his touch, he proved his worth once again with The Village.

4. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
How much more original, lovable and funny can you get?

3. A Very Long Engagement
Who knew a French movie would make it onto the list? But I’ve never seen a movie that blended realistic war scenes with romance, numerous plot lines and some twisted revenge, and an ending that whilst was predictable wasn’t to ‘Hollywood’.

2. Collateral
Micheal Mann is the man! And he even manages to give Tom Cruse a character that is almost believable! Lets hope he doesn’t stuff up Miami Vice this year!

1. The Woodsman
A movie about child molestation makes it to the number one spot? Before y’all rush out to lynch me, Kevin Bacon delivers an un-missable performance of a broken man trying to discover how to be normal.

DVD | Hell On Wheels

In 2003 Le Tour de France celebrated it’s 100th birthday. The Tour, the toughest bicycle race of all, is watched by millions of people worldwide.

Whilst most people see the race on TV, watching from a distance as the suspense and scenery stimulate their visual senses, Director Pepe Danquart takes us on a different journey.

Focussing on the Deutsche Telekom team, and more specifically riders Eric Zabel and Rolf Aldag, Pepe shows us the less seen side of the race; it’s a story of torture and pain, of fear and weakness, of determination and focus, on overcoming the odds. It’s a story of the human condition, and how far you can push yourself.

But more than that it also looks into the history of the event. It shows how it began, how it’s grown, what it takes to put together the event, and how fanatical the fans are.

It’s a fascinating look into the lives, joys and pain of one team, in the scope of the entire event.

DVD | Born Into Brothels

I was fortunate enough to be sent an advance copy of the DVD Born Into Brothels. I say fortunate, as it’s a real eye opener rather than a fun filled night in front of the TV.

What started out as a New York photographer’s desire to photograph the prostitutes who live and work in Calcutta’s red light district. She found the task impossible as neither the prostitutes nor their clients wanted to be photographed. They were too scared.

Instead of giving up, she decided to live in the red light district so that she would be accepted. It’s here that she discovered the children.

If you think prostitutes in one of the world’s poorest cities have it bad, you haven’t met the children of prostitutes. From birth they are written off, not by their parents but by society.

The documentary starts off with an interview with a 10-year-old girl, who tells of the men who visit ‘not being very nice’ and ‘normally drunk.’ Then she hits you with an unexpected blow; ‘all the women want to know when I’m going to join the line.’

At age ten, this girl is of the age where she’s expected to earn money. And because of the stigma attached to being a child of a prostitute, there is only one way for her to earn money.

But what can one New York photographer do? She takes a group of children from her street and starts to teach them how to look at the world differently, through the camera lenes. It doesn’t take long for her to see that these are normal children with some exceptional talents.

Along the way, as well as creating talented photographers, she works tirelessly through the bureaucracy to try and find a School that will take these kids. One child she even manages to get invited to an international photographers conference, and their photos appear in Amnesty International’s calendar.

So is there a happy ending? I’m not telling. What I will say is that if watching this documentary doesn’t affect you in some way, you must be made of stone.

One point of warning, even though it’s subtitled, there is one prostitute with anger issues who uses all manner of swear words, so if you’re easily offended, you have been warned, but try not to let this keep you from watching an amazing story of the power of one.

Retail release date: 26 Jan 2006

West Wing Actor John Spencer Dies

Sad news for West Wing fans as John Spencer (Leo McGarry) dies of a heart attack.

Somebody Gets Killed? Quick, Figure Out What Video Game It's Like!

Ok, so I stole this from Game|Life, but I thought it had some merit so I decided to post it here as well:

So a prostitute was run over by a car, deliberately, in New Zealand. That's sad. What's ridiculous is that everyone is now falling all over themselves trying to find a link to video games.

Another said: "Isn't this scenario the kind of thing that the PlayStation game, Grand Theft Auto, requires of players? Perhaps there is a connection."

"Another" who, you ask? A witness to the crime? The investigating officers? No: some random person who wrote in to the newspaper.

Read the actual piece and you'll find that the "link" in the headline is that a prostitute got run over by a car, and you can run over a prostitute with a car in Grand Theft Auto, according to random people with absolutely no connection to the case whatsoever.

Meanwhile, only after ten paragraphs of this absolute twaddle, are the actual details of the actual crime discussed.

I'm going to go bash my head against the wall now.

X-Box | Fahrenheit

David Cage claims in a recent interview that most games are constructed the same way that porn movies are. His game of course is very different.

Well, at least in game play, but some of the content is the most sexually risqué of any game that I’ve ever played and would rival that of GTA’s hacked scenes. A shower scene and several sex scenes would put this game in the porn category for many people.

Fortunately this 3D, highly interactive adventure game brings a fresh new breath into an almost stagnant games industry, by re-hashing the tradition text-based adventures of old and giving it the full graphic makeover.

You get to play various characters that interact with a host of others. Imaginative and intuitive game controls mean that skill as well and creative thinking are required to beat this game.

Relatively short (it’s the quickest game I’ve ever managed to complete), its lack of stamina is compensated with the (apparently) almost endless routes through the story you can take. It is possible to make it through the game without being assaulted with sex scenes, though some opponents (of video games) would argue that these scenes were put there to make (young impressionable players) you want to go back and play again to see if you can find them.

Graphically it’s great, not mid blowing, but pretty damn amazing. Control wise the camera can be a right pain in the arse at first, but once you get used to it’s habits, it’s a breeze.

One interesting thing is the emotional state of the characters – this is how you live or die in the game. Get too depressed and you commit suicide. So you have to keep your characters mental heath in check (sex makes the main character very happy!).

But there are also some ethical dilemmas. I’m at the park and see this boy drowning, I can help him, but I’m wanted by the Police. I try to help him but every time I try to save him, two Policemen patrolling the park see me and arrest me. So after 4 – 5 tries, I just walk away and ignore the boy. My in game mental health takes a hit, but so does my real mental health. I know this is only a game, but should I have spent more time trying to work out how to save the boy, rather than skipping to the next scene to see what else the game has in store?

Are games getting so complex that they are at the level where that can prick social conscience? Who knows, maybe I just need more sleep.

DVD | Code 46

Code 46, a futuristic thriller starring one of my favourite actors, Tim Robbins turned out to be a bit of a dud.

Whilst it’s premise and basic theme was an interesting one, similar to that of Gattaca, huge plot holes and a pace that barely rivals paint drying let the entire movie down.

This is sadly one to be avoided.

DVD | Lost S1

I only watched 3 episodes of Lost when it came on TV. I couldn’t really get into it that much, and I’d discovered that it was going to be a whopping 25 episodes long. I just couldn’t see my self committing to watching that many weeks of TV.
But when the Season 1 DVD came out I figured it would be worth a go. What I didn’t know is that it would take me less than a week to watch all 25 episodes! I don’t know why, but the story just grabbed me and I had to find out what was going to happen next.
For the most part Lost was perfectly paced, with enough mystery and intrigued to keep me hooked. And that’s the beauty of TV on DVD. If I’d had to wade through the advert breaks and wait a whole week for the next episode, I’d have given up, but watching it at my (some what maniacal) own pace, with no interruptions from global corporations trying to take my money made for a riveting and enjoyable series.
So what makes a group of people, survivors from a plane crash, stranded on an island that doesn’t exist, so damn interesting? Well, putting aside the twisting storyline and mysterious properties of that Island there were two factors that really grabbed me.
Firstly there was the way the Lost kept giving you flash backs into the survivors previous life. It was more the way these flashbacks were orchestrated. You’d be given just a taste of what they were like, and it was designed to make you think of them in a certain light. But as you got to know them, more flash backs showed that they were actually quite different. It gave strength to the old adage: Never judge a book by it’s cover. It’s quite interesting to see how quickly we jump to conclusions rather than waiting to see if there’s more than meets the eye.
Secondly, it was like these survivors were being given a second chance. No matter what they had done in there previous life, now they were on an island with 40 other strangers, their slate was wiped clean. They were given the opportunity top become something better, to tackle and overcome any issues that may have been dogging them before. It was almost as if God had granted them clemency, albeit trapped on an island they may never get off.
So if you’ve never seen Lost, or like me, just couldn’t be bothered with it on TV, give the DVD a go. Trust me, you’ll love it as much as I did!

DVD | Kingdom of Heaven

The crusades are an interesting subject matter for a filmmaker, very risqué some may say. What it does offer up is plenty of opportunities for Ridley Scott to do some huge battle pieces and plenty of gory blood letting. But if you watch this movie for the action you’d be missing the point and probably come away disappointed.

As a historical movie, what Kingdom achieves is quite good. It shows the situation for what it most probably was – a melting pot of peoples, creeds and purposes. People went on the crusades for many reasons. Some wanted to spread the love of God, some wanted to be judge and jury on a people they didn’t understand, some went for fortune, and some for control.

Most powerfully it shows what can be done with understanding and acceptance and pure motives. And it shows that even the most unlikely and un-ready man can find peace if he learns from his journey.

DVD | Empire of the Sun

There’s been a few good movies from my childhood being released onto DVD of recent years and it’s funny how the movies seem so different to how you remember them. Empire of the Sun is one such movie.
I liked it as a kid, though I wouldn’t have raved about it, but now as an adult I think it’s an amazing film.
Unlike most war movies, Empire of the Sun isn’t about the fighting so much, it’s more about the civilian population and how war effects them. More specifically it’s about a little boy and the loss of his innocence. Stranded after loosing his parents in the mad rush as Japan attacks the Western sector of China, this well-to-do English boy has to fend for him self, he soon hooks up with a couple of maverick American merchant sailors who help him out for a while and then he finds himself in and interment camp.
It’s in no way a feel good movie, though it does have the predictable happy ending, but it is based of the experiences of a English boy lost in Japanese controlled China. It’s an important movie because rather than taking sides, it shows a side of warfare that is often overlooked: The devastating effect it has on the civilian population.

DVD | The Woodsman

It’s hard to review a movie like The Woodsman. It’s difficult to find the right words to use. Somehow saying that it was a fantastic, brilliant movie, doesn’t seem right when you find out what the subject matter is.

But it is a fantastic movie. It’s compelling but disturbing viewing. You’re not sure which side you want to take, because all your pre-conceived judgements have had to been thrown out the window.

There are many characters in this movie for people to relate to, but it’s Kevin Bacon’s character, Walter, that we should be rooting for. Even though we would never in real life.

You see Walter has just spent 12 years in prison for a crime he did commit: Molesting little girls.

So why, you may be asking, would anyone want to see a movie about a child abuser? For one it’s got Kevin Bacon in it. Lets face it, Kevin takes these unique roles and nails them. And it’s a movie not so much about abuse, but hope.

So OK, there might be some spoilers coming now.

In the movie Walter finds love and acceptance in the form of a hard-edged formally abused female workmate. They both fins acceptance in each other and are able to share past hurts. But Walter also finds prejudice through the cop (played by the ever capable Mos Def) and some of his other work mates.

He also finds redemption, through two sources. One is by stopping another serial child abuser who he witnesses through his apartment window. Walter recognisees the guys actions because of how he used to act. But left with no way to alert anyone, Walter struggles with what to do until one day he snaps and beats the guy up. The scene and concept works better in the movie. Of course this isn’t the best way to go about dealing with criminals, but what else could Walter do? Tell the police? A convicted child molester goes to the police to convince them he knows something? No.

His second act of redemption comes in the form of a would be victim. Struggling with his inner demons and trying to become normal is a sure to fail task with out the support of everyone around you. Walter has the support of only a few people and the ever-present judgement of everyone else. It’s a battle that the demons are bound to win. Except for one thing. His would be victim has a surprise for him. When Walter sits down in a deserted park with this little girl he ahs chosen, through talking to her he accidentally discovers that her daddy is already abusing her in the same way that Walter used to abuse little girls. Walter had always believed that what he did never hurt anyone, but now with the tears and pain on this little girls face, he realises who he was, and he gets the strength he needs to let the girl go.

It’s not a happy-joy-joy ending. Walter may be on the road to recovery, but the film leaves us with no doubt that it’s going to be a rocky road.

But a review can’t do this movie justice. The movie has many layers, and should be viewed far more widely than it will. The Mall scene in particular will change the way you see today’s fashion trends, and what it’s doing to our children.

But be warned, it’s not an easy movie to watch, it’s not popcorn entertainment in anyway. It’s disturbing and has a lot of sexual/nude scenes. But in the end, is a powerful, worthwhile movie.

Movie Quote #3

What movie does this quote come from?

There's wrong, and then there's wrong, and then there's this.

Most Games Are Like Porn!

In an interview with Jumpbutton Magazine (issue 2 coming soon) David Cage dropped this stunning revelation on the state of gaming:

Most games offer a disruptive narrative, similar to what you’d find in porn movies. You get a couple of minutes of story to set the context, the set and the characters, then an action sequence; then another bit of story to set the context for the next scene, to prepare the next action sequence, and so on.
No one cares about the story because it is not perceived as a key component of the experience. In games, like in porn movies, the user is there for the ‘action’, not the story. But most of all, the story and the action do not progress together but turn by turn (Story/Action/Story/Action).

And I have to say, that after playing Cage’s Fahrenheit, and thinking about most other games that I’ve played, he’s right!

DVD | Wicker Park

This movie took it’s time coming to retail DVD (I only get to review retail releases, and sometimes the period between rental and retail can be strangely long) and it wasn’t quite what I expected.

What the trailer showed was a totally different movie to what was actually delivered. The trailer promised a fast paced intriguing thriller, the movie on the other hand was more a look at love and the lengths some people will go to get it, and what happens when you loose it.

And in that it’s a pretty good movie. Nothing to rave about, but an interesting tangled story that shows the highs and lows and desperations of love, and it does it with out showing any real ‘flesh’ witch is pretty dam amazing for a Hollywood movie these days.

DVD | War Of The Worlds

I reviewed WOTW after seeing it at the cinema, so I’m not going to re-hash what I thought of it, you can go read it here. What I am going to say is that yes, it does survive the small screen experience and is still a damn good popcorn movie.
So what about the extras? Well they were pretty much run-of-the-mill. But what you do get is some insights on why the movie ended up being the way it was. For one, they (Tom, Steven and the dude who wrote the screenplay) got together and made up a list of what they DIDN’T want to see in the movie, such as famous landmarks being destroyed and other such cliché’s which I though was a damn good way to approach the writing of a movie.

Best line: Can you think of a plan that doesn’t involve your ten year old sister joining the army?