Once were warriors is a New Zealand movie, notable among other things for the number of Maori people involved in its production - the director, Lee Tamahori, the entire cast. the movie was very successful in New Zealand and got recognition around the world.
based on the 1980 novel of the same name, Once... narrates the struggles of a family living in Auckland. not quite living in poverty but getting there, the father, Jake Haka, has lost his job and spends most days and nights drinking at the pub. his wife, Beth, is the usual victim of Jake's rages. each of the children is getting lost in their own way. it takes a series of incidents, up to a tragic one, for Beth to finally decide to leave Jake and take the children back with her to the Maori village she's from.
the movie is remarkable for its representation of the violence in the Haka household, the alienation of the Maori from the majority white society, the efforts of some to use traditional Maori history and customs to instill pride and responsibility on the young men.
trailer
Jake, Jake the Muss
Olympia is Leni Reifenstahl documentary of the 1936 Berlin Olympics. it was released in two parts: Olympia Fest der Volker (Olympia Part One Festival of Nations) and Olympia Fest der Schonheist (Olympia Part Two Festival of Beauty)
Olympia was controversial from its release - and with reason. funded by the Nazi party Propaganda arm, and even with no overt Nazi content per se, the images of greater-than-life godlike athletes have been interpreted as supporting the 'superior race'. Frau Reifenstahl herself always denied any overt or covert Nazi alliances.
a very good documentary on Frau Reifenstahl's life and work is The wonderful horrible life of Leni Riefenstahl; in addition to exploring the Nazi question, The wonderful... also delves on the reasons why Riefenstahl is one of the great directors of the 20th century and the innovations she brought to film: the sudden cut, extreme close-ups, cameras on rails to pan over distances, an editing craftwomanship never seen before and rarely after her time.
clippens
the prologue to part one of Olympia, which takes place in Greece. the music is by Vangelis and added later
again from part one, the running of the Olympic torch to the stadium
btw: while the lighting of the Olympic flame at the stadium began for the modern games at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, the whole shebang of lighting the torch in Greece and running it to the stadium through different countries and all that was invented for the 1936 Berlin Olympics. this one. ....the more you know
towards the end of part two. the fantastic diving sequence. breathtaking
earlier today the talented and lovely val pointed us to the recent Pearl Jam concert at Austin City Limits. the show was pretty good ( I did get the throwaway bit, val. lovely)
once in the site one tends to peruse among the available shows. saw an enjoyable bit from me man Elvis C,
when I saw a double bill by Andrew Bird / St. Vincent, I had to click through: several VOXer friends like Mr. Bird, and at least one has mentioned St. Vincent favorably.
weels. no offense, but those of you who like Mr. Bird, I don't share the sentiment. at all. I mean wtf.
he is kinda cute, in a broken-baby-bird sorta way, but as music? no. and red pants. no, no, no
St. Vincent was a better experience. I've already replayed their segment a couple of times.
English title: City of God
many large cities in the developing world are surrounded by large slums . Rio de Janeiro is (in)famous for the sheer size of these slums, ( favelas ). the larger favelas often have limited access to electricity and water, and barely any sewers or paved streets. there is no police presence, and residents are accustomed to having to fend by themselves. the largest and worst favela in Rio is Cidade de Deus (City of God), where the movie takes place.
Cidade de Deus main characters are Busca Pé (Rocket) and Zé Pequeño - they are close in each, and while not exactly friends, they know each other and are interrelated in several ways. Busca Pé, who narrates the movie, is shy and ill at ease; from an early age he's trying to get out of the favela. Zé Pequeño is, we learn early on, very different
during ~ three decades we see the two young boys watch their older brothers and cousins engage in petty crime. one night Zé comes along as a lookout.
jump a few years - Busca Pé has acquired a camera and is documenting the world around him. Zé Pequeño is quickly becoming the top dealer and boss of the favela.
is not an uncommon story, here told via cinematography and editing. in several scenes the camera jerks and bobbles as it follows a character or another through the narrow passages of the favela. there is an open exploration of Zé's character, his fear of women, his inadequacies, how jealous he is of handsome, popular fellows.
posting about The Blues Brothers movie has had a bit of a consequence: the Definitive Collection has been in my car CD player since soon afterwards. sure the Bros. couldn't exactly sing, but goodness gracious what a band.
and in the words of brother Elwood -
"Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the Universal Amphitheatre. Well, here it is, the late seventies going on 1985. You know, so much of the music we hear today is all pre-programmed electronic disco, we never get a chance to hear master blues men practicing their craft anymore. By the year 2006, the music known today as the blues will exist only in the classical records department of your local library. So tonight ladies and gentlemen, while we still can, let us welcome, from Rock Island Illinois, the blues band of Joliet Jake and Elwood Blues, the Blues Brothers."
with the exception of"disco", Elwood was right on. sadly.
Between Heaven and Hell
There's Always Hollywood!
how do you talk about a movie like Barton Fink?
if you are familiar with the development of the studio system in Hollywood, 1930's American writers and playwrights, East Coast v. West Coast, 'Jewish intellectuals', the blacklist
you are likely to read it as a (barely) veiled recounting of those times with easily recognized characters
if you are really into Fight Club
you'll have a different read
could also be a tale of good v. evil, justice and punishment, a vision of Hell, a stay in Purgatory, a glimpse of Heaven.
all of the above can be argued for; none fit exactly. and there is enough leftover symbolism to fill a few boxes
it is, without a doubt, the finest movie the Coen Brothers have made. so far.
trailer
welcome to Hollywood, Barton Fink!
I'll show you the life of the mind!
confused yet? excellent. now go watch (or rewatch).
a nice little thing found out in the ether: teh script
this. is. awesome. missed it when first aired because I stopped watching CNN a while back.
Will Phillips: Well, I looked at the end [of the Pledge] and it said "with liberty and justice for all." And there really isn't liberty and justice for all. There's—um, uh, gays and lesbians can't marry.
Roberts: Mm-hmm.
Will Phillips: Um, uh, there's still a lot of racism and sexism in the world, um, yeah.
Roberts: All right. So you, so you think that the country isn't living up to the ideals of the pledge and you took it upon yourself to sit down and not recite the pledge of allegiance until the country comes in line with, to embody the ideals that are embodied in the pledge?
Will Phillips: Yes!
Roberts: All right. So, your teacher, who is a substitute teacher at the time, was giving you some grief about not standing up. And this went on for a few days. What did you eventually say to that teacher?
Will Phillips: I eventually very solemnly with a little bit of malice in my voice said, "Ma'am, with all due respect, you can go jump off a bridge."
Alaska, campaign, Todd, family, kids, right, governor, government, oil, work, energy.
as previously mentioned, this is me own damn fault
ahem. let's take a break in this little sojourn we may call 'some movies I like' and lets consider movies I don't like. there are a lot of movies I don't like, but if we were looking at categories, they'd include:
- movies about sports
- biopics
- 'inspirational' movies
let's pause and give a hand of applause to HotRod, for suggesting the one movie that brings all three of those categories together: The pride of the yankees
The pride... is a straight biopic, beginning with young Lou playing backlot baseball in the neighborhood. after he breaks a grocer's window (because he's such an powerful hitter, natch) we are introduced to Lou's German immigrant parents, right out of the stereotype book. meek father, check; domineering mother, check; we came to America for the opportunities speech, check; baseball? baseball is a game. you go to college and become famous engineer speech, check.
so Lou begins playing in college, on the downlow from dear Mamma, until dear Mamma takes ill and must go to hospital; there is no money, so Lou decides to sign up with the Yankees and conspires with dear Papa to keep it a secret from dear Mamma.
so... Lou goes to the minors, Mamma gets better, but when Lou is called by the Yankees (which of course, is front page news. what else ever happens in New York?) Mamma finds out, gets angry and eventually comes around. d'Oh.
Lou is straight-forward, naive, and a hard-worker. never parties with his fellow Yankees (including Babe Ruth, playing himself). Lou meets the future-Mrs.-Gehrig in Chicago, they court, marry, and he continues to play.
2,130 consecutive games.
until... he begins to stiffen and weaken. the homeruns become base hits. noone knows why. eventually a doctor dx
'a third strike' (ALS - amyotrophic
lateral sclerosis -
is never mentioned). after Lou decides to quit baseball for good, the Yankees arrange to have "Lou Gehrig's Day" at Yankee stadium in his honor. that is the setting for the famous
"Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth" speech, which ends the movie.
here's the speech from the movie
