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About me
vertebrate biped 1.83m 200lb lean."How does the fool build his paradise? From the crumbling bricks of illusion and the watery cement of hope." -- Thus spake Zarathustra.
"There are two kinds of people in this world, those who divide the world into two kinds of people and those who don't." -- Robert Benchley
"Most of the problems in the world begin with three words: You are wrong. The serious ones begin with three further words: I am right."
Occupation: Free Man
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Recent reviews
The Wheezemeister General Rides Again.
Posted : 11 years, 12 months ago on 19 November 2012 12:06 (A review of Absolute Power)0 comments, Reply to this entry
Naked review
Posted : 12 years ago on 15 November 2012 02:22 (A review of Naked)0 comments, Reply to this entry
The Deer Hunter (1978) review
Posted : 12 years ago on 8 November 2012 10:39 (A review of The Deer Hunter (1978))If you approve of Michael's "one-shot" policy - and anyone who loves animals as much as he does could not do otherwise - you'll not fail to make the vital connection that this film projects.
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Black review
Posted : 12 years ago on 8 November 2012 09:46 (A review of Black)0 comments, Reply to this entry
The Dictator review
Posted : 12 years ago on 1 November 2012 12:24 (A review of The Dictator)The quality of cinematography is of a high order and the music, by Sacha's brother Erran, is fresh and apt. The elfin (and rather cute) Anna Faris was well chosen for the rom-com aspect of the piece but overall the thing lacked focus. It seems to be a part of Baron Cohen's ouvre that he can confuse, shock and tickle you in as few words as possible. Sometimes that appeals, sometimes it doesn't.
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The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion review
Posted : 12 years ago on 30 October 2012 10:44 (A review of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion)It's basically an adventure game with some scrapping, puzzle solving, charming others into your way of thinking, collecting herbs and mushrooms to concoct potions, buying, stealing, selling things that you find ... it goes on. And on. And on.
There is so much to this game that it's a joy to play and seems like it would never end - indeed for me it still hasn't. The realism of the visuals is so well crafted that when roaming around in the damp dungeons I could almost smell the muskiness. Romping around the meadows amongst the butterflies I could smell the fragrant blossoms. Scrapping with imperial soldiers I could smell the metal of clashing swords.
And the music. This is one of the few games that the music does not grate after the n-teenth repetition. Jeremy Soule composed the soundtrack and it is top-notch superb quality. If you're bedridden or housebound for some reason and it will be some time before you recover, this is a very pleasant way to while away the time. Don't forget to break for meals!
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This Island Earth review
Posted : 12 years ago on 29 October 2012 08:13 (A review of This Island Earth)It looks a little hokey now but for the time the science underpinning the story was surprisingly advanced and believable. Great for propeller-head kids. And Faith Domergue isn't unpleasing to look at.
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La Vita Nuova (Classics) review
Posted : 12 years, 1 month ago on 17 October 2012 02:35 (A review of La Vita Nuova (Classics))For me, at least, it taught the salutary lesson that although such a love can never be outwardly returned it will also never die. It's a commonly recurring conclusion in literature since but, as far as I can tell, Dante was the first person to write about it.
There's only one kind of love that lasts - unrequited love. It stays with you for ever.
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A shadow of what it should have been
Posted : 12 years, 1 month ago on 17 October 2012 01:25 (A review of American Psycho)Having read a fair amount of literature from respected criminologists and criminal psychiatrists (which confusingly holds that psychopathy might be linked to a disconnect/dysfunction in the amygdala as frequently as it cites environmental influences) the one thing they all agree on is that high-functioning psychopaths are often charming, engaging and highly intelligent.
Yet Bateman's character is as smug and charmless as can be imagined, to the point of cartoonishness. The film therefore misses out on the one element that would introduce a genuinely spine-tingling response; that the charming, friendly, talkative, interesting and apparently helpful man smiling at you across the table is mentally visualising how best to dismember you once he gets you home.
Given that Silence of the Lambs preceded this film by a wide margin and showed us how a real pure psychopath would behave there really is no excuse. To be fair, they got his profession right: alongside Politics, Law-enforcement and Special Forces, the density of psychopaths in the financial sector is much higher than anywhere else in society. (This is not a criticism, just a fact that positions of power/control/authority is naturally where psychopaths congregate).
It wouldn't have been rocket science to portray Bateman correctly and hint at his darkness in separate, less pleasant, vignettes. Unfortunately the Bateman we see is aggressively psychotic in broad daylight and to anyone who sits "below" him on the socio-economic scale. His lack of interaction with any kind of employer to whom he must show at least a modicum of manners skips the chance to demonstrate the truly self-serving and ruthless nature of this kind of creature. In the wild, such a man would not remain undetected and at liberty for long.
The film is entertaining enough I suppose on a frenzied-bout-of-violence level but to anyone who has done a bit of reading on the topic it's mostly two-dimensional and barely believable.
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Disturbing & worthwhile
Posted : 12 years, 1 month ago on 17 October 2012 01:04 (A review of The Machinist)Thankfully I watched the film without thinking too hard about it meaning that, unlike others in attendance, I was blindsided by the twist until the conclusion and so most probably enjoyed it more than my fellow viewers enjoyed their smugness at having worked it out "in the first twenty minutes".
Though the plot is somewhat skeletal and hopeless (rather like Reznik) the film has a message worth selling to anyone in posession of a conscience - psychopaths & sociopaths need not apply. Bale's performance is very good though his appearance is distressing and his apparent desire to drop to 100lb skirts frighteningly close to the mindset of an anorexic. Indeed his physical sacrifice for the role was, for me, the absolute limit an actor should push for his art.
Bale has constantly (and pleasantly) surprised me ever since American Psycho and as he ages I'm sure we can expect to see his range given more room to project his talent.
A disturbing but interesting work.
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"Goodun! I was always leery of Stephen King, particularly his wide-eyed duh! I'm on camera, isn't it great! cameo in The Stand but I liked it even so. Now I've got so many more minises to down^H^H^H^H"
"@Joseph Grey: D'Accord! @blankend/Bill Bailey: any faultline will be exploited in politics. The Thick of It had a fine recent example of a line-not-to-cross which, when the chips were down, was cross"
"Your explanation is confusing but your later comment seems clearer. My point, possibly yours too: surely we should be taught at a young age that ugliness has nothing to do with personality. I've met m"
"For some serious goggles: http://www.listal.com/viewimage/3952030h http://www.listal.com/viewimage/1735687"
"It might be quicker to compile a list of non-dumbed-down shows - it'd be considerably shorter. Some good initial choices here though."
"Hating freedom? A neo-con meme that should have been drowned at birth. Like the list Sereia, ignore the puffin."
"Great list! Ahh, the nostalgia. I'm loving The Thick of It but I agree with you that Yes Minister remains the true classic with its focus on slippery mandarins rather than knee-jerk fears of incompete"
"Agree with some of these but strongly disagree with your choice of Sharon Stone. True Vin Diesel seems to have only one character (he could watch my back in a bar-brawl any time) but in Pitch Black it"
"Horrific. Stanley Milgram's experiments are instructive. Also Zimbardo's effort which was questionable at best since nothing new was learned. I perhaps shouldn't point out that physically disfiguring "
"Interesting list, perhaps should include http://www.listal.com/viewimage/4128741"
"Dear Rene Magritte, this is not a letter. Good list. Love the one for Archimedes."
"Interesting list, appreciate the work that went into it."
"Classy & smart, mmmm mmmm! Holly Hunter & Jodie Foster side by side? Yum! Nice list."
"Excellent & thoughtful list. It's great to read the reasons the people were chosen."
"Excellent & thoughtful list. It's great to read the reasons the people were chosen."
"I ... am ... feeling ... sleepy ... May I humbly submit http://www.listal.com/viewimage/4116357 for possible inclusion?"
"Very interesting, many good laughs too!"
"There's a fine line between sensitivity and realism. Maybe we need a "rot13" mode on these lists for the items that some folks might find not to their taste."
"Have to disagree about Redux. I saw it in Pasadena in 2001 in a packed cinema and it went down a storm. The extra hour contained the glue that was missing from the original. The opium sequence was nec"
"As a sketcher myself I tip my hat to these. I wonder, though, if they were done in meatspace or virtually - e.g. on a tablet. Anybody know?"
"Excellent caricatures reflect something of the personality of the subject, and these do. Particularly Robert De Niro, Hugh Laurie, Tommy Lee Jones and Rowan Atkinson. Nice work."
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All my love!
great review! :)