After a marathon week, I have now seen all 5 of this year's Best Picture nominees before the Oscars! I saw four films this week (three of them nominees):
Last Tuesday: saw "Munich." Found it disturbing but loved it nonetheless. It doesn't have a very positive message ("There's no peace at the end of this," Eric Bana's Avner says), but sometimes there isn't anything positive to say. Well filmed (yay, Steven Spielberg and Janusz Kaminski!), well written (yay, Tony Kushner!), great music (yay, John Williams!), great acting (yay, Eric Bana, Geoffrey Rush, Daniel Craig, Mathieu Kassovitz, and Ayelet Zorer!). There has been a lot of discussion of the ending in the media. I won't give it away, but a lot of people don't like it and question whether Spielberg has lost his touch since his last 6 movies or so have had terrible endings. I have to say that while I agree that a number of his recent films have ended with a whimper instead of a bang, I "got" the ending of "Munich" and I liked it. It made perfect sense to me, and was very appropriate.
Saturday: saw "Tristram Shandy." Was disappointed. It was funny, but not the groundbreaking comedy that the critics have proclaimed it. In my seen-it-all-before vein, I'm awfully tired of self-reflexive entertainment. It's just not that funny to see movies about making movies, or read books about writing books, or see plays about people putting on a play, etc. ad infinitum. Now, every once in awhile along comes a "State and Main" or something, which takes the tired idea to a new level (mainly just by being written by a great writer and played by a great cast obviously having fun). "Tristram Shandy" is no "State and Main." It feels tired and sullen most of the time, which I think is supposed to be funny because these people have such great lives that they turn into misery through their own cluelessness. There were some funny moments, mainly at the very beginning and very end, but overall I wasn't thrilled.
Sunday: a double feature of "Good Night and Good Luck" and "Capote." Loved them both! "Good Night and Good Luck" was pretty straighforward, but really well acted and very poignant. I know I'm in the choir it was preaching to, but that doesn't mean I don't like being preached to, you know? Especially not when it's so well done. "Capote" on the other hand was not very straightforward at all. So much was oblique and left the viewer to their own devices (in fact I noticed that even in the wide shots there was always a little movement happening off to the side to distract you). It was smart and hard to watch and really good. And check this out: I didn't feel like I'd seen it before! Now that's a ringing endorsement : )
Monday, February 20, 2006
Friday, February 10, 2006
If not now, when?
I'm a fantastic procrastinator. Some of you are in on the joke about me being an "enabler" -- not in the psychological co-dependent sense, but in a practical sense of making things happen -- but it applies to bad things as well as good, and the hidden downside of that is when one starts to enable oneself.
I know I'm being a little cryptic here, but it's a blog. That's my perogative. ; )
The short version of what I'm talking about is that I'm wanderlusting again. I'm feeling stifled. Despite all I've learned about when 2 good-enoughs is better than 1 perfect, I have a lot of trouble settling. Part of the problem is depreciation. My two good-enoughs are down to just-okays. Partly I'm just tired and grumpy. And yes, I know that no one else is ever going to fix this for me. I just have to stop procrastinating and do it! But damn, I'm a fantastic procrastinator.
Feh. Thanks -- I just needed to vent about that for a minute. In the meantime, call me and we'll drown our sorrows together (in beer or coffee, your choice!).
I know I'm being a little cryptic here, but it's a blog. That's my perogative. ; )
The short version of what I'm talking about is that I'm wanderlusting again. I'm feeling stifled. Despite all I've learned about when 2 good-enoughs is better than 1 perfect, I have a lot of trouble settling. Part of the problem is depreciation. My two good-enoughs are down to just-okays. Partly I'm just tired and grumpy. And yes, I know that no one else is ever going to fix this for me. I just have to stop procrastinating and do it! But damn, I'm a fantastic procrastinator.
Feh. Thanks -- I just needed to vent about that for a minute. In the meantime, call me and we'll drown our sorrows together (in beer or coffee, your choice!).
Monday, February 06, 2006
Shtuff and nonshenshe.
Stuff:
- Here's a must-read article on Intelligent Design. It's quite long and I can't summarize it all here, but I'll say that it does a GREAT job of presenting all sides of the debate clearly and fairly.
- I don't know how I feel about the idea of charging money for e-mail. The basic idea is to cut down on spam, and only businesses will be charged; but once you open this door, it's only a small step to charging the regular consumer. Less spam is a great goal, but is this the way to do it? I can already think of a few easy steps that spammers can take that will get them right around this. On the other hand, as the AOL spokesman says in the article, is it fair for the ISP's to bear the financial brunt of developing ways to fight spam? My initial response to the idea was so negative that I jumped immediately online and opened a gmail account, but then I remembered what jerks the Google boys have been lately, so I haven't started using it yet.....
- Comic book science: I'm so sorry, Captain America, but people frozen during World War II just end up dead, not in suspended animation.
- Remember what I said about Iran being our next target? Somewhat buried in the text of this article from the IHT is a casual mention of "a two-and-a-half year campaign by the Bush administration to convince the world that suspicions about Iran's nuclear program are so serious that the issue must come before the [UN] Security Council for judgment."
- I know there's not much point in asking this question, but does it really surprise anyone that Robert Stein, one of the Defense Department contract officials in Iraq, who was recently convicted of giving contracts to favored companies in exchange for kickbacks, was already a convicted felon (convicted of fraud in 1996)? Why on earth would you hire a convicted felon to work at the Defense Department in the first place, let alone put him in charge of contracts?!?! IT'S JUST COMMON SENSE, PEOPLE!
- Why didn't I know that Mussolini's son was a famous jazz pianist? That's very cool. I wish it hadn't taken his death to bring that info to my attention.
Nonsense:
- So... we're having a holy war over some cartoons? Sigh. (You gotta look this one up for yourselves.) I was reading recently about new info on the JFK assassination that suggests that the government cover up of the investigation into his death was more about covering up the fact that he was working on a plan to invade Cuba. Basically, the new theory goes, the government censored itself to avoid the possibility of war with Russia, who would have been pretty upset at us for messing with their little protege so soon after the Cuban Missle Crisis. Interesting how this ties in to current events. Should you censor yourself to avoid conflict? Is it different for an artist than for a government? How far can we/will we take this fight? Is there a limit on free expression? Or on freedom of the press? Is it common sense to not invite trouble? Or should artists function, as Robert Anton Wilson says, as canaries in the political coalmine? Is all of this fuss a good thing -- a sign showing us just how bad things have gotten in Muslim-Christian relations? And where do we go from here?
- Here's a must-read article on Intelligent Design. It's quite long and I can't summarize it all here, but I'll say that it does a GREAT job of presenting all sides of the debate clearly and fairly.
- I don't know how I feel about the idea of charging money for e-mail. The basic idea is to cut down on spam, and only businesses will be charged; but once you open this door, it's only a small step to charging the regular consumer. Less spam is a great goal, but is this the way to do it? I can already think of a few easy steps that spammers can take that will get them right around this. On the other hand, as the AOL spokesman says in the article, is it fair for the ISP's to bear the financial brunt of developing ways to fight spam? My initial response to the idea was so negative that I jumped immediately online and opened a gmail account, but then I remembered what jerks the Google boys have been lately, so I haven't started using it yet.....
- Comic book science: I'm so sorry, Captain America, but people frozen during World War II just end up dead, not in suspended animation.
- Remember what I said about Iran being our next target? Somewhat buried in the text of this article from the IHT is a casual mention of "a two-and-a-half year campaign by the Bush administration to convince the world that suspicions about Iran's nuclear program are so serious that the issue must come before the [UN] Security Council for judgment."
- I know there's not much point in asking this question, but does it really surprise anyone that Robert Stein, one of the Defense Department contract officials in Iraq, who was recently convicted of giving contracts to favored companies in exchange for kickbacks, was already a convicted felon (convicted of fraud in 1996)? Why on earth would you hire a convicted felon to work at the Defense Department in the first place, let alone put him in charge of contracts?!?! IT'S JUST COMMON SENSE, PEOPLE!
- Why didn't I know that Mussolini's son was a famous jazz pianist? That's very cool. I wish it hadn't taken his death to bring that info to my attention.
Nonsense:
- So... we're having a holy war over some cartoons? Sigh. (You gotta look this one up for yourselves.) I was reading recently about new info on the JFK assassination that suggests that the government cover up of the investigation into his death was more about covering up the fact that he was working on a plan to invade Cuba. Basically, the new theory goes, the government censored itself to avoid the possibility of war with Russia, who would have been pretty upset at us for messing with their little protege so soon after the Cuban Missle Crisis. Interesting how this ties in to current events. Should you censor yourself to avoid conflict? Is it different for an artist than for a government? How far can we/will we take this fight? Is there a limit on free expression? Or on freedom of the press? Is it common sense to not invite trouble? Or should artists function, as Robert Anton Wilson says, as canaries in the political coalmine? Is all of this fuss a good thing -- a sign showing us just how bad things have gotten in Muslim-Christian relations? And where do we go from here?
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