bloxy-moron

Oscar Chase I: Sideways

On a little spree to watch movies up for Oscars.  First candidate: Sideways.  This is a great movie.  It's a slice of life (no plot) type of movie that I always enjoy.  You literally go on a little journey through wine country.  For me, it was reminiscent of a wedding trip in Napa valley this summer.  There were at least a half-a-dozen very memorable scenes that made me laugh out loud. In three words or less, this a "guys chick flick".  I.E. a guys romantic comedy.  I highly recommend this to anyone who doesn't need plot and action to keep their attention. 

Another Film another hero: Alone in the Wilderness

Alone in the Wilderness is an hour long film that is played frequently on PBS.  After watching five minutes of it, I went ahead and bought it (not from PBS shame on me).  This film was created by taking pieces of home movies taken by Richard Proenneke (my hero) while living alone in Alaska.

Richard decided at age 51 that he wanted to live in isolation in the beauty of nature.  So one summer he fell several trees with a hand saw near a lake in Alaska.  The next spring he went up and built a log cabin.  He filmed himself as he first built his hand tools and then built the cabin by himself.  He shows how he made boards by hand and a wooden lock by hand. He showed how he made the notches in the logs by hand and he had completed the cabin structure in 11 days!  I couldn't build a cabin with help and unlimited credit at Home Depot in that time.

Richard ended staying there for 30 years and would record these films and send them to his brother so he could see what he was up to.  The scenery in the movie is breath taking. 

For me, watching this movie would be like an artist getting to watch a self documentary of Leonardo da Vinci painting the Mona Lisa.

New Hero: Napoleon D

This is a review of what I would call a generational love/hate film.  I haven't talked to anyone who just thought it was OK you either hate it or love it.  Most that I have talked to younger then 35 love it and those older hate it. 

It is a low budget comedy about high school.  Unlike others of the genre (Fast Times at Ridgemont High, American Pie), there is no sex, alcohol, or swearing.  For me, this is a non-issue but it is shocking that the movie can so accurately bring back feelings of high school without these elements. 

The movie is about the day in the life of Napoleon.  Even though the movie is all about him, the other char actors make the movie great. Napoleon is the key to liking the movie.  I find him heroic.  People that don't like the movie find him, annoying and or feel sorry for him. 

I wish I had the guts to pull of the stunts he did.  He obviously didn't care what other people thought about him.  Wish I could have drawn a cartoon caricature of someone I wanted to bring to a dance as an invitation.  Wish I could have walked into a thrift store and fell in love with an ugly brown suit.  Wish I could have danced in front of the whole student body.  He was the cool that most of us only dream about being. 

Bottom line this movie made me laugh out loud many times.  Truly a keeper and favorite film this year so far.

Fahrenheit 9-11 review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this piece of propaganda.  Moore had a clear theme and only showed one side so I call it propaganda.  I have watched the film twice, once in a very crowed theater and once on DVD.  Even though I don't agree with all of his politics/economics, I have  enjoyed his movies, books, and even got to see him speak (for free before his large tours that cost money). 

F-911 was un-Moore in the way that he was quiet. He let Bush and friends do most of the talking.  What I enjoyed most is that Moore raised lots of questions, but didn't draw conclusions.  He briefly talked about the 2000 election (he should make a movie just on voting).  He also asked questions about why the president was not more prepared prior to 9-11.  Why did the bin Ladins get to leave the country?  Why were the Saudis preventing the US from doing investigation?  What is the purpose of homeland security? Tons on why the war in Iraq?  These are questions that were not asked by the mainstream media and so I think Moore did a service by asking them even though his style turns off lots of people.

For me, brilliant parts of the movie include, applying the "masks" by the cabinet in the beginning and then seeing them removed.  How we only heard 9-11 and he didn't show it.  Very powerful.  His tape of Bush during 9-11.  Then the star of the movie Lisa Lipscomb.  We have all met red white and blue Americans just like her and watching her transform on the screen from blindly supporting the war to dealing with her son's death to becoming very much against the war made the movie "real". 

Moore found very humiliating clips of Bush and friends that I found very entertaining.  Lots of them below the belt but I took them with a grain of salt since these types of clips could be found on any celebrity.

I have found the criticisms of this movie to be quite lame.  Here is an example http://www.davekopel.org/terror/59Deceits.pdf.  Most are just very nit picky things and none of the points distract from the main points of the movie. 

I would be most interested in hearing from people on the following two questions only if you have seen it: 1. If you didn't like it, why?  was it fair/truthful? 2. Do you think if the movie concentrated purely on the "facts" and was more academic would it be more or less effective/convincing?