Staring Forest Whitaker & John Tormey, Directed by Jim Jarmusch 1:56 (R).
With no job, I have lots of time for watching movies, but this has been the first one worth writing about in a few weeks. I caught this 1999 picture last week and find I keep thinking about it. The film wasn't remarkable, but it was good and thought provoking--note, not profound or anything like that. There were a lot of clever plot devices and subplots. There were some scenes that were truly beautiful.
Ghost Dog is a present day contract assassin in a parody of NYC who lives by the strict code of the Samurai. Needless to say, this makes him--do I have the causation right?--a bit of a recluse. He lives in a shack on the roof of a building, communicates with his contractors via pigeon, and his best friend is a Haitian immigrant who doesn't speak English.
Ghost Dog doesn't speak French either. Not that this doesn't stop them from having full-on conversations; they don't even bother trying to get one another to understand, and just operate as if whatever comes through is close enough. Mostly they play chess, but do go one one outing during the movie that makes up one of the aforementioned beautiful scenes.
There's not much more to say without spoiling the adventure. If you're so inclined, I think you'll enjoy this film.
Rating: ***
Monday, November 2, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
On the Beach
By Nevil Shute [Norway], 250 pages (1957).
This is the second book I've read my Shute, and they all seem to revolve around Australia. The last book was quite a pick-me-up about a girl who inherits a fortune from a distant relative. I particularly liked it because the narrator was an attorney. This book is quite the opposite, no narrator, no attorneys, and no pleasantness.
The setting is post-Apocalyptic Australia as the inhabitants and the crew of one U.S. submarine await the radiation fallout that is slowly descending upon them from the northern hemisphere. It was very interesting and enjoyable, but very sad. The characters are all nice, perhaps creating a bit of surrealism because things function reasonably well and everyone is well behaved. I also found the narrative compelling because of constantly renewed hope and the desire to know how one envisions the end of the world. The author quotes T.S. Eliot on the title page,
What I really enjoy about Shute is how he creates a scene and a feel with his writing. The reader is really drawn into the narrative, the characters, the setting, in a way that he is not with any other author. The best comparisons I can draw are Garcia Marquez in One Hundred Years of Solitude or Conrad in Lord Jim. However, Shute is better at this, though I don't necessarily like his work better. I'd recommend A Town Like Alice first, but this one might be better for the cynic.
Rating: ****
This is the second book I've read my Shute, and they all seem to revolve around Australia. The last book was quite a pick-me-up about a girl who inherits a fortune from a distant relative. I particularly liked it because the narrator was an attorney. This book is quite the opposite, no narrator, no attorneys, and no pleasantness.
The setting is post-Apocalyptic Australia as the inhabitants and the crew of one U.S. submarine await the radiation fallout that is slowly descending upon them from the northern hemisphere. It was very interesting and enjoyable, but very sad. The characters are all nice, perhaps creating a bit of surrealism because things function reasonably well and everyone is well behaved. I also found the narrative compelling because of constantly renewed hope and the desire to know how one envisions the end of the world. The author quotes T.S. Eliot on the title page,
This is the way the world endsand I've never experienced more appropriate poetry associated with another author's book.
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
What I really enjoy about Shute is how he creates a scene and a feel with his writing. The reader is really drawn into the narrative, the characters, the setting, in a way that he is not with any other author. The best comparisons I can draw are Garcia Marquez in One Hundred Years of Solitude or Conrad in Lord Jim. However, Shute is better at this, though I don't necessarily like his work better. I'd recommend A Town Like Alice first, but this one might be better for the cynic.
Rating: ****
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Papillon
Staring Steve McQueen & Dustin Hoffman, Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, 2:30 (R).
Another in the string of HD Net Movies & Steve McQueen collaborations, this 1973 offering is based on the autobiography of Henri Charriere, a prisoner in the French penal colony of French Guiana. The movie itself was spectacular; a prison escape movie in the same vein as The Shawshank Redemption, only on a much more grand scale. The film is considered one of Mr. McQueen's better films and was nominated for two Academy Awards.
I was first intrigued by the casting of McQueen and Dustin Hoffman, which struck me as unusual. McQueen is, after all, still cool and I don't think Hoffman ever was... They have much different styles, and only one of them is still around, that made them a sort of Odd Couple--I suppose that was the point. The contrast in characters who become friends is pleasant.
The film also led me on a Wikipedia Odyssey that explored French Guiana, overseas department, metropolitan France, Adelie Land, & the Antarctic Treaty System. I learned, among other things, that French Guiana is a part of France equal with Burgundy, Champagne, or any other wine-making area (or other area, for that matter), that it's official currency is the Euro, and that it is part of the European Union--despite being on the South American mainland! How interesting. I already knew about Algeria being formerly part of France--it's an interesting solution to Empire--but I though it was unique. I also learned about the Antarctic Treaty System, which does not actually abolish claims of sovereignty in the only unpopulated continent, but instead binds the countries not to recognize or dispute each-other's claims. It's all very interesting.
Rating: ****
Another in the string of HD Net Movies & Steve McQueen collaborations, this 1973 offering is based on the autobiography of Henri Charriere, a prisoner in the French penal colony of French Guiana. The movie itself was spectacular; a prison escape movie in the same vein as The Shawshank Redemption, only on a much more grand scale. The film is considered one of Mr. McQueen's better films and was nominated for two Academy Awards.
I was first intrigued by the casting of McQueen and Dustin Hoffman, which struck me as unusual. McQueen is, after all, still cool and I don't think Hoffman ever was... They have much different styles, and only one of them is still around, that made them a sort of Odd Couple--I suppose that was the point. The contrast in characters who become friends is pleasant.
The film also led me on a Wikipedia Odyssey that explored French Guiana, overseas department, metropolitan France, Adelie Land, & the Antarctic Treaty System. I learned, among other things, that French Guiana is a part of France equal with Burgundy, Champagne, or any other wine-making area (or other area, for that matter), that it's official currency is the Euro, and that it is part of the European Union--despite being on the South American mainland! How interesting. I already knew about Algeria being formerly part of France--it's an interesting solution to Empire--but I though it was unique. I also learned about the Antarctic Treaty System, which does not actually abolish claims of sovereignty in the only unpopulated continent, but instead binds the countries not to recognize or dispute each-other's claims. It's all very interesting.
Rating: ****
Monday, October 19, 2009
Passing the Bar Exam
As for destroying, I suppose it was the former. How exciting. I'd like to share my excitement with my fellow test-passers. See also Wikipedia.
[Image via WSBA.org]
UPDATE: Results are now publicly available.
Rating: ****
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Ben Franklin and the World of the Enlightenment
By Prof. Bruce Thompson, Stanford University,iTunes U.My first iTunes U experience was so positive, I decided to continue it, this time as I walk to and from my volunteer position with Catholic Community Services. I started by sifting through the Stanford offerings because my first iTunes U came from there, though I don't remember why I settled on this one in particular.
It was disappointing compared to Prof. Hunt's lecture, though that's not surprising given its exceptional nature. I think this one was also part of the continuing education department, but Prof. Thompson did not make any comments about the experience of his students as Prof. Hunt did.
His interpretation of Franklin was not exactly ground-breaking, I've read the Autobiography simply because it's regarded as a great work of penmanship, when compared with biographies I've read. What was interesting was the comparison of Franklin to other founders and the ongoing question for the course of why his was an endearing and not just enduring figure--my words not his. The answer seemed to be that he was more like us because he was anti-slavery in later life, a hard working member of the middle class, a city-dweller rather than southern farmer, and America's first humorist. Other than that it was very pedestrian and most of the insight probably came in the class discussions, which were not recorded for iTunes.
Rating: **1/2
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