Monday, 31 December 2012

Moon
(2009)

RATING:	60%
FORMAT:	DVD

(Image: http://sassyraconteur.wordpress.com/)

A badly plotted, absurdly contrived, formalistic and derivative science-fiction movie that owes much to Silent Running but is nowhere near as good - despite the thematic absurdity of that film.

It is well acted but to little avail as its attack on capitalist business morality excludes genuine sci-fi concepts and so it could just as easily have been set on Earth. Because there no true insights into the nature of humans isolated from others nor cabin fever, this movie undercuts its own ethicist message by treating its own characters as means-to-ends rather than ends-in-themselves.

A characterless film about characterlessness - albeit technically impressive for its low budget.

Copyright © 2012 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com/) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.

Sunday, 30 December 2012

It’s All Gone Pete Tong
(2004)

RATING:	60%
FORMAT:	DVD

(Image: http://cine-critique-stacey.blogspot.co.uk/)

Narcissistic, depressing and self-indulgent White movie about narcissistic, depressing and self-indulgent White people for narcissistic, depressing and self-indulgent White people.

Whites are unwilling to satirise their own culture in any profound way, for fear of being cut adrift from it and not being accepted by others, so offer only gruel in place of explanation as to why White culture is as empty as it is.

The movie should have spent more time with the problem and its acceptance and far less time with the problem. Something of a wasted dramatic opportunity - despite the very good cast - since the change from child to man is weakly dramatized in a movie with a great idea but mediocre execution. Nowhere near as good as David Essex’s Stardust.

This movie is not terribly funny nor very moving because there is no real insight into the people depicted - not even into deafness - so there is nothing for an audience to become emotionally-involved with. And like a joke with a predictable punchline, one longs for it to end.

Saturday, 29 December 2012

Criminal Justice
(2008)

RATING:	60%
FORMAT:	DVD

(Image: http://www.guardian.co.uk/)

This drama does not explore:

Lies feeding upon lies - making things worse;
prison life being the same as life outside in White culture;
the White need for others to believe in one before they can ever believe in themselves.

Instead, it pretends to be a realistic analysis of the British Justice system; while offering little more than tiresome stylistic clichés in place of characterization - despite the excellence of the performances on offer. The battle between contrivance and realism is lost in favor of contrivance as plot twists pile up and reality becomes a distant memory.

The only reality here is that of the needs of contemporary White-British tv drama; presenting its audience with an alternate, entertainment-based reality, instead of any genuine attempt to inform or educate. Do the writers live in the real world? Does the audience; craving this themeless rip-off in the style of Midnight Express?

Are broadcasters unable or unwilling to commission material that tells us something about ourselves? And are we unwilling to face that truth? One wonders if White writers live in a real world or one worth living in given their unwillingness to explore institutional issues. This is the dishonesty that masks an attempt at insightless political propaganda.

At least people are not running around shooting at each other - such a refreshing change from the US tv model.

Saturday, 22 December 2012

Pranzo di Ferragosto
[Mid-August Lunch]
(2008)

RATING:	80%
FORMAT:	DVD

(Image: http://www.taliesinartscentre.co.uk/)

A beguiling movie about the relationship between mother and son and of the fragile strength of the aged. Despite the trivial annoyances and initial dislike these old people have for one another they discover a solidarity that comes from loneliness, fear of being abandoned by their children and of approaching death. They become fast friends while their kids are generally and comically desperate to be shot of their burdensome elderly mothers - at least for the day.

The slightness of the plot is more than made-up for by the theme of old age and the subtly distinct characterization. However, the film lacks thematic depth and its Cocoon-like milieu would soon peter-out in a longer movie.

There is genuine affection underneath the bitchiness; leading, ultimately, to a good time being had by all. This is a movie that you can literally take your mother to see.

Friday, 21 December 2012

Expendables 2
(2012)

RATING:	40%
FORMAT:	DVD

(Image: http://www.film.com/)

The usual White empowerment fantasy unrelieved by any real wit or humor - certainly less amusing than the original.

Whites exist to save the day and protect the world for benefit of Whites and ensure non-Whites are never allowed to become an effective economic, political and cultural competition. Yet the White culture revealed here is one based solely on violence as a means of achieving all ends with semi-automatic weapons as a sublimation of the desire for happiness and bloodily-repetitious gunfire as a substitute for drama.

Absurdly, revenge is the underlying motive here regarding the death of one of the team whom no-one is ever really shown caring for. This is an implicit admission that revenge is not the cause of the violence on show here but that revenge is simply an excuse for it - in the absence of any other deeply-felt emotion. This failing is exacerbated by a complete lack of characterization and any believable thematic content.

Given the age of many of the performers, one would have though that more comedy would be in evidence to allow us a greater scope for suspension of disbelief. But we are actually expected to take all this nonsense seriously, as if we were expected to unconditionally-accept Whites like Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian.

Thursday, 20 December 2012

Metropolis
(1927)

RATING:	100%
FORMAT:	DVD

(www.cyberpunkreview.com)

Despite being something of an allegory, the technically-nonsensical nature of this film can still grate on one’s nerves.

Given that most science-fiction is political commentary on the time in which it is made rather than a meaningful extrapolation of present-day events, the visual idea of hordes of soulless workers operating machinery that could be much better operated by machines in the year 2000 is a little perplexing, albeit extremely-impressive visually.

Wednesday, 19 December 2012

Message
(1976)

RATING:	100%
FORMAT:	DVD

(Image: http://www.lheuredelasortie.com)

Excellent detailing of the later life of the Prophet Muhammad and the creation of the religion of Islam.

Unlike Mel Gibson's White supremacist movie, The Passion, this indicates the many similarities between the three main Levantine religions (Judaism, Christianity & Islam).

Moving, stirring and thrilling this is a great entertainment and an intellectually-disciplined stroll through the politics, economics and spiritual yearnings of the near east in the 620s.

Copyright © 2012 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.

Tuesday, 18 December 2012

Me & Orson Welles
(2010)

RATING:	80%
FORMAT:	DVD

(Image: http://alemdafichatecnica.wordpress.com/)

Impressive look at genius and its inability to live with others because there are so few other geniuses to share ones genius with. Deep down, despite their talent and success, they are alone and afraid and often quite thin-skinned. Criticism of their greatness – genuine as their greatness is – always comes from those less talented than themselves and can seem like a claim that they are not so great (&/or that the critic is greater); while confirming the loneliness of being the best when surrounded by those who do not understand one.

Here Orson WELLES is presented as someone who can only be charming with lesser mortals, because he can never have a true soul mate on his intellectual level. The minimal plot states simply that the talented make their own way in life while the less talented must make do as best they can in the subservient shadows of their betters.

The insular style of the movie conveys well the separated-from-reality nature of the acting profession and its endemic inability to distinguish temperament from talent. This partly becomes the movie's problem since we, too, become partly submerged in the first-person mire of those who think speaking the words of the talented makes them just as talented.

Zac EFRON proves he can act in the part of the young actor learning the ropes from the more experienced guys – as he surely was, himself, when making this film. All of the actors acquit themselves well by making their characters flesh and blood – especially Christian McKAY as Orson Welles.

A Matter of Loaf and Death
(2008)

RATING:	80%
FORMAT:	DVD

(Image: http://witneyman.wordpress.com/)

Another slice-of-loaf drama from Wallace & Gromit about a cereal killer intent on killing all thirteen bakers in wallaby.

The usual awful yet irresistible puns are in evidence and visually this short film is a comic and inventive delight. The references to other movies are never intrusive and dramatically dead on target. The romantic passion on display also delights.

The key to these stories is the dog (Gromit) that effortlessly communicates how stupid his master is and how much in need he is of Gromit's ability to save his life in the nick of time.

The only real problem with this movie is its brevity - one longs for the themes of loneliness, trust and loyalty to be more fully developed and explored.

MASTER & COMMANDER:
The Far Side of the World
(2003)

RATING:	80%
FORMAT:	DVD

(Image: http://www.empireonline.com/)

Clever action/adventure movie that never insults the audience’s intelligence because of its literate screenplay.

A retread of Melville’s Moby Dick with a dash of Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Darwin’s Beagle voyages to the Galápagos Islands. In addition, a well-researched history lesson; encompassing the use of camouflage and the general military technology and tactics of the period.

Rather than “rum, sodomy & the lash”, there is an emphasis on humor and of men working together to attain a common purpose despite their obvious class differences. Moreover, here we have an analysis of the fact that to be a true officer, one must first earn the respect of those led.

A swashbuckler to stir the blood of anyone with brains enough to partly overcome its only failing: Too much plot outweighing too little characterization. This is not so much the problem of the script, but of the lack of chemistry in the central male relationship between that fine actor Paul BETTANY and the inconsistently-good Russell CROWE.

Manon des Sources
[Manon of the Spring;
Jean de Florette II]
(1986)

RATING:	80%
FORMAT:	Cinema

(Image: http://www.critique-film.fr/)

A sequel that's better than the original because it ties up all the loose ends and because the acting is more intuitive and instinctive: A superior soap opera in every way. Yves MONTAND is particularly great as he and the others convey emotion by gesture and expression rather than by dialog; helping make this a truly visual, rather than wordy, treat.

A tale of sexual jealousy and revenge that only a woman could concoct since it requires little effort on her behalf and exploits the weaknesses of those who would wish her family harm. Moreover, the strikingly-beautiful Emmanuelle BEART makes it all seem so reasonable, somehow. The underlying theme concerns the difference between those who choose to love gold and find that this renders them lonely in their self-destructive insularity - and those who do not. In this regard, Daniel AUTEUIL is particularly fine as a man torn up by loving emotions that he never felt from his own family for the girl he so cruelly-wronged.

Monday, 17 December 2012

Mahler
(1974)

RATING:	100%
FORMAT:	Cinema

(Image: http://worldscinema.org)

Looking more like John Lennon than Gustav Mahler, Robert POWELL dominates this film as he should as its eponymous Jewish hero.

Carefully composing and structuring the film to maximum effect to bring out the creative process of its central character, the film's director (Ken Russell) also reveals his own as well as a much needed playfulness to avoid the usual over-seriousness of movies about classical composers. Shot like a silent movie there is a clever and rather beautiful marriage of image and sound and symbolism that gets beyond words as the best music does. The sort of thing that a movie like Fantasia abjectly failed to do.

The anti-Semitism of White culture against which he is always pitted to achieve success in that culture is well presented by being ridiculed. While also being used to explain the strength of Jewish culture as against Christian and the desire of the latter to be agreed with in exchange for social acceptance.

The solitude of the artist is played-up to explain that he must partly escape worldly concerns to paradoxically achieve a fuller connection to himself and the world. As well as to explain why he could never treat his wife as his creative equal or, indeed, as creative at all. Played by Georgina HALE she is both sexy and funny while ultimately sad.

Copyright © 2012 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.

Sunday, 16 December 2012

Lourdes
(2009)

RATING:	100%
FORMAT:	Cinema

(Image: http://www.bonjourtristesse.net)

Sly look at the idea of religious miracles through the lens of the grotto at Lourdes. The deadpan style of the humor and the humanistic manner of showing people proves the director actually likes them and does not view them as fools or gulls. People are shown as they are - warts and all - and the meaning and significance of any healings that do occur are left to the viewer. Despite the airing of agnostic skepticism from the actors, this movie's unobtrusive style reveals a warmth and a spirituality that most films explicitly about religious belief can only dream of attaining.

Sylvie TESTUD is a revelation as the young girl with multiple sclerosis and fully commands our attention throughout as she must bear the pain of never knowing if her cure is permanent or not - much like the able-bodied must with regard to their able-bodiedness. The only difference being that the latter are in the worse position of taking their freedom for granted and, therefore, never truly savoring nor fully enjoying it. A slow starter but an eventual profound joy.

(Image: http://www.nytimes.com)

Copyright © 2012 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.

Saturday, 15 December 2012

Lil’ Pimp
(2003)

RATING:	80%
FORMAT:	DVD

(Image: http://www.allstarpics.net/)

Interesting look at the many ethical and political problems of White culture seen from the point-of-view of a pre-pubescent, nine-year-old White schoolboy. Blacks are presented as emotionally spontaneous and culturally cool. His character allows us to take a journey through the stereotypical Black culture that used to appear in Blaxploitation movies that Whites still take to be representative of that culture. Here lies the political satire of Whites that makes this movie as funny as it is.

The worst aspects of White (‘snowflake’) culture are foregrounded: Non-nurturing parenting, political corruption and power madness, poor schooling from a sub-standard education system, sexual repression and resulting hypocrisy and sex obsession, violent toys, alcohol dependency, child molestation, suburban boredom & the general emptiness of the culture. That Whites regularly appropriate aspects of Black culture for themselves perpetuates the usual envy and antipathy between the two cultures and the attempt by Whites to fill the void of a culture without much ethical common sense.

A clever parody of Lil’ Abner with the kind of political content absent from the traditional White view of race relations.

Thursday, 13 December 2012

League of their Own
(1992)

RATING:	60%
FORMAT:	Cinema

(Image: http://www.sports.com/)

An unfocused picture that really cannot settle down towards achieving a coherent emotional narrative: The story of the rivalry of two warring siblings.

The movie also refuses to get involved beyond mere White tokenism with the issue that no Blacks nor Mexicans - no matter how good nor how American - were ever invited to join the North American baseball league shown here. Instead, the movie meanders for over two hours in the highly-amusing antics of the brilliantly-funny Tom HANKS and the especially-beautiful and talented Geena DAVIS: A White-supremacist pact-with-the-devil that affords many belly laughs.

Ultimately, this movie has no real soul other than that of the White Europeanized feminism that condemns the very discrimination it practices. We are presented with historical data in a dramatic context but - like most school history lessons - this rarely rises above the relating of dry facts. The screenwriters simply could not find a dramatic core to their story upon which to hang his history lesson because they are more concerned to not offend a White audience.

Wednesday, 12 December 2012

Ted
(2012)

RATING:	80%
FORMAT:	DVD

(http://www.movietime.com.mx)

Do White Men Ever Grow Up?

In many ways a brilliant satire on the inherent lovelessness of White culture: Sexists, racists and Social snobs abound; explaining a good deal of the sheer bizarreness of the Western world.

One wonders if the revelations of an unhappy childhood revealed in the likes of Mommie Dearest are more generally true among Caucasians, especially since the movie offers no viable alternative to the rampant, neurotic need shown.

Copyright © 2012 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.

Tuesday, 11 December 2012

Stargate
[Director’s Cut]
(1994)

RATING:	60%
FORMAT:	DVD

(Image: http://www.dbcovers.com/)

Odd mixture of White supremacy (Africans were not technologically-advanced enough to build the pyramids since they were not White) and historical accuracy (Ancient Egyptians are shown as non-Whites) that entertains but does not interestingly-explore its theme of communication between different cultures.

The Man Who Fell to Earth here wishes to control the planet since his own is dying; leading to the sub-Time Machine plotting that leaves little characterization to make us care what happens one way or the other despite the good acting on show.

Thursday, 6 December 2012

Killers
(1946)

RATING:	80%
FORMAT:	DVD

(Image: http://bluesun2600.posterous.com/)

Cleverly-plotted, well-written and brilliantly-directed character-driven exercise in film noir that features flashbacks-within-flashbacks without confusing the audience.

The femme fatale here is the delicious Ava GARDNER, who looks as edible in casual clothes as she does in more formal evening wear. Inevitably, two men fight over her undeniable charms and find there is no honor among the gang of thieves with which she has become mixed - they double-cross each other.

As always, money and friendship are oil and water. Moreover, it is the details that you cannot plan for or possibly foresee that can so easily bring you down. Yet, there is a twist in this tale with a surprise ending that the double-cross may have been faked.

Bourne Legacy
(2012)

RATING:	40%
FORMAT:	DVD

(Image: http://www.ifc.com/)

A would-be critique of a White culture whose lack of empathy is designed to enable world-domination without guilt that turns into an obsessive attempt to blind us with scientific mumbo-jumbo about DNA and behavioral modification. The film’s lack of empathy for its central characters and the lack of human warmth evident in the direction make us wonder why White anhedonia is being criticized - especially when its critics are just as anhedonic.

The movie’s theme (White foreign policy is morally-indefensible but absolutely necessary) is never meaningfully-explored - even as superficially as it was in the previous Bourne movies.

One feels the lack of Matt Damon’s boyish charm in this charmless and characterless exercise that wastes the considerable talents of some of the world’s best actors. Exciting car chase notwithstanding, this is the worst Bourne film so far.

Wednesday, 5 December 2012

Jurassic Park
(1993)

RATING:	60%
FORMAT:	DVD

(http://collider.com)

Visually impressive, but ultimately empty exercise in luna park film making. In love with its own special effects, it forgets to tell a story despite the first-rate cast and excellent acting.

The science behind genetic engineering is well-reasoned, but the ethics of it is most definitely not. Without the latter one has little to do other than watch increasingly desperate and repetitious attempts to manufacture as much suspense as possible by trying to make a horror film for all the family.

Good fun, but basically a profoundly purposeless missed opportunity of a movie lacking both a heart and a soul.

Copyright © 2012 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.

Tuesday, 4 December 2012

Jean De Florette
(1986)

RATING:	80%
FORMAT:	Cinema

(Image: http://www.picturenose.com/)

A fascinating look at the extreme loneliness and bitterness lurking behind the practice of xenophobia. Along with the resultant unhappiness that wishes to metastasise itself in order to stamp out its obverse - in vengeful resentment.

A remote farm is bought by a city type who wants to get back to nature, only to find some of the locals trying to thwart his plans and buy his land cheaply for themselves; all the while concealing the location of an all-important water source.

A numinous film whose weather obsession speaks of the Machiavellian plans of Man being as nothing when compared to God’s designs. No farmer can outwit the climate and the inexorable and attendant forces of Nature - he can only harness its power by obeying it.

Yves MONTAND is brilliant as a man eaten up with never having married and having no kin as heir. His is the character that so well reflects the landscape and its climate: Tough and unyielding.

Jason and the Argonauts
(1963)

RATING:	60%
FORMAT:	DVD

(Image: http://fleapit-movieexpress.blogspot.co.uk/)

Very good SFX but flat characterization enlivened by solid British character actors.

There is a delicate balance sought here between fate and freewill which is never resolved as the Greek gods play with human destiny while giving humans the sense that they can do as they please and that it is humans who must, therefore, learn to take the consequences of the gods actions.

The film also imagines a time when there is no need for the gods and, therefore, no need to use them as scapegoats for human folly. But, apart from these thinly-sketched moral issues, the impressively-animated obstacles to the goal here make up for the lackluster love story and the computer game-like quest for the golden fleece.

Monday, 3 December 2012

Ostrov
[Island]
(2006)

RATING:	100%
FORMAT:	DVD

(Image: http://www.prezone.pl)

Seriocomic look at sin and redemption that both amazes and frustrates with its take on Christian faith and forgiveness. Repentance is depicted as being as icy cold as the climate in northern Russia. The central character's genuine faith is contrasted with that of those who merely wish to be seen as holy yet still yearn for the comfort luxurious material possessions. Many pilgrims visit for help with their problems yet when offered strange yet good advice baulk at the necessary effort needed to achieve their goals - as if god were a more serious version of Santa Claus.

Like all the best religious films this achieves its emotional impact without artfulness but with simplicity of style and grace of form. A hair-shirt and sackcloth and ashes movie that will haunt you for a long time after.

Copyright © 2012 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.

Ip Man
(2010)

RATING:	80%
FORMAT:	DVD

(Image: http://cinedork.com/)

Despite the simplistic storyline and plotting this is a fine film about honor, dignity and self-respect. These elements are combined in a drama that speaks of the resurgent national pride necessary to defeat an invading army of would-be oppressors.

Violence here is used to make an important point about the difference between violence and aggression, the inappropriate versus the appropriate and the need to defend oneself against those who would steal from you but not to use such training against those who have done you no harm. To this end the action scenes are first-rate and clearly-delineate the self-disciplined from the emotionally self-indulgent who cannot win by fair means whose only hope is a foul that the best among us will not notice.

There are also touching and tender love scenes that render the characters empathetic and a vein of subtle humor that can easily be missed if you blink too hard.

Invictus
(2009)

RATING:	60%
FORMAT:	DVD

(Image: http://entretenimento.uol.com.br/)

A film defeated by its inability to square up to its own themes. Rather than explain the purpose of truth and reconciliation in South Africa after apartheid, this film spends more time trying to appease the fears of the Whites watching the movies whose fears are matched by the White South Africans portrayed in it. The fear is a simple, not to say primeval one. That Blacks who take power over Whites are going to demand revenge: A paradoxical racist view that vainly justifies racism while undermining it - since only a human being can claim the right to revenge yet White racists claim Blacks are not human.

The implicit message of this film is that Whites are inferior to Blacks culturally and spiritually in that the latter have attained true civilization while Whites wallow in a racist past that is now lost to them. Yet this is merely a means of buttering up Blacks in trying to convince them that revenge would not be a good idea in the long run. Yet no matter how civilized one is, can one forgive someone who killed your grandmother or tortured your father or beat your children to death when this was being practiced for two generations? This film is as naive as nelson Mandela's communist politics and as fearful of Blacks as so many Whites. A film that worries about Whites being demoralized by the end of apartheid is like worrying whether the enemy in the tank you have just destroyed experienced any suffering.

This film would have been improved by a Black director who understands the issues better. someone who understands that leopards do not change their spots, that color-blind politics are White supremacy by another name and that Whites are not to appeased when their wrongs need righting. Is there any country in the world where Black and White can say of their one country "We"? There is not. A film about political symbols not real-world politics - especially since the sport purists claim sport should be kept out of politics. If sport brings people together, why has the Olympics not resulted in world peace? Because the feelings- like those produced by an orgasm - do not last.

Inspector Calls
(1954)

RATING:	80%
FORMAT:	DVD

(Image: http://www.thevervoid.com/)

A contrived but rather clever exposition of a consequentialist morality that equates the evasion of political responsibility (for ones actions) with social snobbery. The latter is seen as a means of protecting people from truly growing up, since hurting those deemed less than ourselves is viewed as being of no ethical importance. Moreover, social snobs require that their so-called inferiors approve of being looked down upon by creating the fear of being labeled either impertinent or insolent - or both. However, when someone with self-respect confronts someone without it, the desire to destroy the self-respecting person becomes paramount for the phoney self-respect of the snob.

Adapted from J B Priestley's stage play of the same name, this chamber piece is an excellent representative of the well-made play school of stagecraft. Not learning the objective lessons of experience is also focused upon in a tight script that is all lean and no fat. Sophistical arguments are employed to evade moral responsibility as though one had the right to do as one pleases - like a child. To never accept that adults cannot do this without accepting the inevitable results when mistakes are made, as a result of an immature acting-on-impulse rather than forethought.

Where this movie fails lies in its not presenting the economic case for ending snobbery - improved efficiency and productivity by hiring the best people, not just those of a certain social class. And paying higher than the market rate to get the best people to provide for the so-called living wages claimed by the poor; leading to the ability to hire less staff, reduce costs and - thus - increase profits. Without this as an argument, mere exhortations to businessmen's better nature will largely fall on deaf ears.

Alastair SIM is excellent as the eponymous inspector; especially given the fact that he is not a character in his own right but simply the conscience of the group of people whose life he temporarily invades. The play is opened out well and we are not left feeling that this is merely a filmed play, but a movie in its own right. The other actors individualize their archetypal roles well - especially Eileen MOORE, who eloquently expresses with her eyes the act-in-haste; repent-at-leisure nature of her character - mixed-in with her yearning for true maturity.

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
(2012)

RATING:	40%
FORMAT:	DVD

(Image: http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/)

Depressing movie about what Whites really think about themselves and their culture.

This would-be comedy pretends Whites are so inherently-depraved and emotionally-repressed that their real natures would surface given the loss of a viable future. This means Whites believe their cultural experience is no more than deferred gratification wherein individual character is less important (& even unimportant altogether) than doing something, anything - no matter what. To suggest that one’s culture and civilization could completely collapse is to tacitly admit that one’s culture is essentially uncivilized.

Leopards do not change their spots so it is unlikely people would change their behavior or personality. Like being drunk, either your real personality emerges or you remain the same. This fundamental issue is not explored here in a welter of self-indulgent self-pity. People here realize their lives are meaningless and that without a future there is no chance that that situation would ever change. But this is no different from a real world without Armageddon where people live without meaning; hoping for a fleeting moment of happiness to make their lives at least appear purposeful.

Like Von Trier’s Melancholia, this film refuses to admit its essential emptiness; while pretending to analyze the situation it sets up - especially the choice to survive at all costs by renouncing one’s humanity that is implied here.

Keira KNIGHTLEY is as wooden as always - not helped by writing that fails to bring her character alive. Steve CARELL offers a performance indicating a desire for better, more serious acting work in the future, but without much evidence of the necessary wherewithal of acting talent. The plot takes us nowhere since it lacks the imagination to explore its own premiss effectively.

A fulfillment fantasy that is as idiotic as most of the characters here who wish to escape reality by pretending people are something they are not. Despite the fact of the end of the world, the characters here remain firmly locked in their self-delusions from which they lack the courage to escape. The philosophy of this film is essentially negative: You do not know what you have not got until you no longer have an opportunity to get it. The strong sense of regret here could have been better explored without the unnecessary end-of-days background.

Worse than anything else, the movie does not define love because of the writer’s lack of experience of it. The ending cops out by pretending that love is an asylum from the often unpleasant facts of reality rather than a defense against bad people - as well as a means of knowing who the good are. The central characters simply evade the issue of their loneliness by sharing their loneliness.

Sunday, 2 December 2012

Inglourious Basterds
(2009)

RATING:	60%
FORMAT:	DVD

(Image: http://www.yourprops.com/)

As usual with director Quentin Tarantino, he has created great single scenes, but they do not all come together to form a coherent whole.

The performances are all excellent - especially Christoph WALTZ who outdoes himself as the leading Nazi - but they are not connected to any real drama, that is really little more than a racial revenge saga that has nothing to say about the true nature of White supremacy.

Self-indulgent in the extreme and little more than a lot of fun for cinephiles who can spot the many references to other films that this movie contains. That the central characters are film stars or cinema owners or cineastes only exacerbates the increasingly-redundant self-reflexivity on show here.

This director really needs to get out of the cinema, discover the world outside and find something both interesting and intelligent to say about it.

Informant!
(2009)

RATING:	60%
FORMAT:	DVD

(http://www.aceshowbiz.com)

Schizophrenic

Mediocre movie about a schizophrenic who blew the whistle on his work colleagues yet was unable to see that, while this was doing a public good, was also going to allow others to label him a traitor.

Copyright © 2012 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.

Führerprinzip:

One leader, one people, signifies one master and millions of slaves… There is no organ of conciliation or mediation interposed between the leader and the people, nothing in fact but the apparatus - in other words, the party - which is the emanation of the leader and the tool of his will to oppress. In this way the first and sole principle of this degraded form of mysticism is born, the Führerprinzip, which restores idolatry and a debased deity to the world of nihilism.

(1913-60), French-Algerian writer & philosopher. The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt: New York: Vintage Books, (1984; page 182.)

Pages:

Monday, 31 December 2012

Sunday, 30 December 2012

Saturday, 29 December 2012

Saturday, 22 December 2012

Friday, 21 December 2012

Thursday, 20 December 2012

Wednesday, 19 December 2012

Tuesday, 18 December 2012

Monday, 17 December 2012

Sunday, 16 December 2012

Saturday, 15 December 2012

Thursday, 13 December 2012

Wednesday, 12 December 2012

Do White Men Ever Grow Up?

Tuesday, 11 December 2012

Thursday, 6 December 2012

Wednesday, 5 December 2012

Tuesday, 4 December 2012

Monday, 3 December 2012

Sunday, 2 December 2012

Schizophrenic

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