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Reviews
The Hunger Games (2012)
It left me hungering for something more...
I found the eagerly anticipated and much ballyhooed film The Hunger Games way too coolly detached to engage me or make me care about any of the characters. It's neither heartfelt, shocking, or emotionally visceral enough. Bereft of this kind of depth, it therefore lacked any strong resonance with me. I forgot about the film pretty much as soon as I left the theatre, and it provoked very little in the way of discussion with my film and literary savvy friends. There's just not enough there. And what is there is simplistic and writ large. It's no Lord of The Flies. And yes, I get all the Rome, NAZI Germany, and reality TV allusions. It also commits the cardinal sin of having no true, strong villain to despise. Society is the villain. ...Bad society, bad! All in all, something of a disappointment.
The Big Country (1958)
An American Allegory
The Big Country is a mythic American Allegory that still resonates today... Wyler somehow knew that THE BIG COUNTRY is America.
A Liberal western that a man like Charlton Heston could attach his name to. ...Do any of us realize that this will resonate throughout time as we (as humanity) are destined to repeat these Biblical myths, parables, life lessons; ...again, and again... ...and again. ....I'm now long dead; ....so please tell all your friends (not that I'm long dead, but that we're all destined to repeat this ...yada, yada, yada...) Unfortunately, I have just learned that brevity is not the soul of wit (acording to IMDb) and my rather pithy and oh so resonating comments will not be recorded unless I fill space... so blah ...and blah and god knows BLAH ...IM TRYING!
Talking to Americans (2001)
One-note joke
First off, I AM Canadian. And just recently, we've "finally" MANAGED to GET NOTICED BY THE TERRORISTS. So we are making some inroads at that whole "let's enrage people by feeling smugly superior to them thing" that you Americans are so good at doing. No offence (sorry offense) for generalizing. That being said, that's exactly what this whole "Gemini award-winning" comedy special smacks of. Childish jealousy at not being on anyone's radar.
"Let's Laugh at How Stupid The Americans Are" (aka "Talking To Americans") is a one-note joke stretched out into an hour.
Rick Mercer telling Gee-Dubya he was sending greetings from "Jean Poutine" is a bit too much like shooting fish in a barrel and would've made a great 5 or 7 minutes of shtick on "The Daily Show". (Leno has been doing these talking with "stupid people" streeters for years under the title "Jay Walking") I'm still waiting for the "Talking To Asians", "Talking To Africans" and the not to be missed, "Talking To Tin-Plated Dictators With Delusions of Grandeur" series.
Michael Moore got beneath the surface. Unfortunately Mercer's "Gemini award-winning" CBC special was all surface.
At least we don't have to be jealous anymore. We've finally become a target ourselves! They hate us... they really, really hate us!
Death of a Princess (1980)
25 Years Later & Nothing Has Changed
Apparently the first time this excellent British-American docudrama was scheduled to be shown on PBS (way back in 1980) it met with an outcry of protestation from the Saudi Royal Family. It also met with an equally vociferous outcry from many Senators Congressmen and senior level diplomats within the Regan administration. Then acting Secretary of State Warren Christopher wrote a letter to then PBS president Lawrence Grossman, a letter which Christopher also simultaneously had released to the press, urging PBS to "reevaluate" its decision to broadcast the program, given the subject's "potential damage to our relations with an important ally." Very real pressure was also brought to bear by Mobil Oil, PBS's chief underwriter for many of its programs, when they very publicly urged the public broadcaster to not broadcast the program because it would reflect badly on Saudi life. The seed of fear was also planted that perhaps the Saudis would shut off the nation's oil supply leading to severe economic ramifications. To PBS's credit, they didn't back down. PBS has now revisited this 1980's program some 25 years later and it has just as much impact today as it did back then. Perhaps even more so, given the US's gentle treatment of Saudi Arabia post 9/11 and the US's use of the oldest sleight of hand trick in the book, the art of misdirection. Our "liberation" of Iraq and our colonial aspirations there have now resulted in a more fractious and radical Islamic state then the secular nation that existed before it...But of course, one we can control. (And yes Saddam Hussein was an evil dictator and I'm glad that he's gone, but that doesn't change the facts). This is a thoughtful and engrossing film and shows how things really haven't changed much for woman living in The Kingdom (Saudi Arabia). Like those hijacked planes that slammed into the WTC towers, the 'true' Islam faith was hijacked by an odd assortment of repressive and paranoiac men many years ago... and their actions are still resonating today.
Connie and Carla (2004)
Disturbingly Feel Good
Yes this movie is clever and funny and will undoubtedly be a 'feel good' hit. But that doesn't mitigate the fact that the core premise of this film is relying on the 'Some Like It Hot' parallels to get it going. Hollywood is known for constantly 'revamping' tired old ideas, tarting them up and making them seem 'like new'. In a town cognizant of the legal ramifications of such a practice (creative recycling) studio lawyers have "usually" been very diligent about dotting all the "i's" and giving credit to the 'source material' where it's been due. (What with other high-powered entertainment lawyers issuing lawsuits for the sheer thrill of the hunt.) Well every fan of Billy Wilder and screwball comedies everywhere should be somewhat disturbed by this "original screenplay". In particular the estates of Robert Thoeren, M. Logan, I.A.L Diamond and Billy Wilder. Although the script does depart from the "Some Like It Hot" parallels in rather short order (it is an original idea after all) it is simply undeniable that it is using things at that screenplay's very core to springboard its protagonists into their fish out of water high jinks. Hollywood has over the years given credit to short stories, articles and individuals that have provided far less of the germ of an idea. The fact that "Some Like It Hot" is not even being officially acknowledged somehow taints this film's originality.