The Rants of Dog Breath

Come on CNN

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 18:02:00 GMT

Yeah, that was an expensive and nifty trick ... but don't call it a goddamned hologram. Wolf Blitzer was just looking at a red spot on the floor. Only we could see the super-imposed reporter in the field. Neither is a hologram. So don't call it one.

And Nate Silver, of FiveThirtyEight, was pretty much dead on in every single state. I don't think anybody predicted the election as closely as he did.

Five Thirty Eight

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 03:24:06 GMT

Not One, Not Two, But Three ...

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:50:43 GMT

When America is at war on terror, can it afford to elect a President with not one, not two, but three Islamic names?

Do you like stats? Lots and lots and lots of them? A renowned baseball statistician has taken to statistically representing the upcoming election. Lots of in-depth articles on how he gathers and weights all his data.

Five Thirty Eight (I assume this is the number of electoral districts in the US, or something similar).

Listener Email of the Day

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 18:28:45 GMT

One of the podcasts I listen to every week is the Discovery News Friday Feedbag (iTunes link). A combination of current event science and humour.

Well, I made Listener Email of the Day on their Feedblog. I'm Vancouver Michael. Later today I'll find out if I actually made the podcast.

Will, James and Jorge,

First to James. How to get your vote up, buddy. One simple word: Pandering. Will J. made mention that there seems to be a large number of Canadian listeners. True story. There are. I am among them. So to get your vote up, pander to them, man. Do a week of stories with a Canadian connection, get those Canadian votes directed your way. Jorge is getting a little too big for his britches already, with his one point lead. Bring him down to earth, man.

Will Johnson. The Missing Sock question. You mentioned jokingly about starting a podcast devoted to the subject. Whereas an entire podcast to missing socks might be overkill (okay, it would be), using Missing Socks as the title of an ongoing segment concerning quantum phenomenon might be interesting. You probably didn't realize the connection when you made the suggestion (okay, you didn't), so let us devoted listeners tell you what you were subconsciously thinking.

By the way ... the missing socks? Underneath the dryer. The soft natural fibres, combined with the static electricity build up causes them to pass straight through the walls of the dryer drum. Quantum physics, man. The answers are all there.

Jorge. Unfortunately I've got no tips for you this week. I'll do better next time I email.

If any of you listen to podcasts, I highly recommend the Discovery News: Friday News Feedbag.

Iron Man vs. The Hulk

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 05:51:55 GMT

Pretty much the exact same script for both these films. Were they written by the same people (I'm too lazy to check)? Basically, hero fights a larger version of himself. Bad guys steal the good guy's leftover technology and create a larger clumsier version of the good guy.

Iron Man was the better flick, simply because Robert Downie Jr. is the more interesting actor. Edward Norton was snooze worthy in his portrayal of Bruce Banner.

Standard super hero fare.

***1/2 Iron Man
**1/2 The Hulk

Clever Scam

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 07:24:01 GMT

Just thought I'd let you all know about a little known scam at The Home Depot. Think of it as kind of a heads up for those men who may be regular Home Depot customers. This one caught me by surprise.

Over the last month I became victim to a clever scam while out shopping. Simply going out to get supplies has turned out to be quite traumatic. Don't be naive enough to think it couldn't happen to you or your friends. Here's how the scam works: two seriously good-looking girls in their mid-twenties come over to your car as you are packing your shopping into the trunk. They both start wiping your windshield with a rag and Windex.

When you thank them and offer them a tip, they say 'No' and instead ask you for a ride to a nearby McDonalds. You agree and they get in the backseat. On the way, they start undressing. Then one of them climbs over into the front seat and starts crawling all over you, while the other one steals your wallet.

I had my wallet stolen August 9th, 15th, 17th, 20th, 24th, 29th. Also September 1st, 4th, and twice on the 8th (I bought the wrong light bulbs).

So tell your friends to be careful.

As heard in Alterac Valley Yesterday

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 04:30:53 GMT

Player X

"OMG. The United States is under attack."

Players A, B, C

"What are you talking about?"
"Huh?"
"No it isn't."

Player X

"It is. It's on the internet. Russia invaded Georgia."

"Dude. Georgia is a country in Eastern Europe. It used to be part of the Soviet Union."

Player X

*silence*

... and real expression is a pain.

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 06:44:46 GMT

It's not my fault

Thu, 29 May 2008 16:44:32 GMT

It's not my fault. Really. At least that's what I've now decided. I was blaming my own inability to predict proper attire, but now I'm thinking it's Vancouver's recent unpredictability with our summer weather. It's like guessing which part of the lawn my dog will decide to crap on each morning, will he go west lawn or east lawn, or somewhere betwixt. (I wonder what sort of decision making goes into that? Maybe the scent of a racoon on a particular blade of grass that morning?)

Yesterday I'm wearing jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt. I should have been in shorts and short-sleeve. Today, shorts and short-sleeve when I should be wearing jeans and something heavier on the upper body.

It's still early in the day, maybe the afternoon will bear this attire out.

And how about those cherry tomatoes (on the vine). I've been popping them like cashews. Perfect single guy vegetable. No need to worry about always using an entire tomato, lest the half you didn't use goes bad. You can't not use an entire cherry tomato. I dare anyone to not use an entire cherry tomato. It can't be done.

This week I'm being a workaholic. Up at 7AM, at work at 8:30AM. Leave work at 7PM, home an hour later. Maybe that's not hardcore workaholicism, but for me, it's pretty damned intense. Sort of getting used to it ... and perhaps cherishing the couple hours downtime before sleep even moreso. Been downloading and watching old WEC events in the late evening, checking out the fighters in anticipation of this Saturday's Uriah Faber - Jens Pulver Featherweight title fight. Familiar with Pulver (his stint as a coach on TUF 5), not so much with Faber, since the UFC doesn't have a featherweight division (although the UFC does now own the WEC, sort of their minor league system for the weight classes that are available in both organizations). Even though they're one step away from dwarfism, the fights at the lighter weight classes are amazing and technical (in an exciting sense). They move like lightning and their flexibility allows them to work themselves out of all sorts of danger that a heavyweight couldn't dream of. (WEC 31, Faber's fight with Jeff Curran is an excellent example of the skill of these fighters, especially Faber, how he doesn't panic when he's caught in a dangerous position, and technically extricates himself out of it.)

Been awhile since I posted. Maybe will try to be more regimented about it. Over the last couple of months had a number of things I thought to blog about, but never worked up the energy to actually do it.

A Walk Down Google Maps Lane

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 21:34:30 GMT

Curiosity. I began wondering about a couple place I used to live, specifically Malaysia and Norway. Wondering what the neighbourhoods were like now, many many years later. Strangely, they are still recognizable, features I remember are still there. Especially surprised about the house and neighbourhood in Malaysia, everything I vividly remember about the area is still there.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Damn. The empty (cobra-ridden) lot next to the house is still there. The pond to the west is still there. The boys school across the street. The girls school, kitty-corner. The tin-roofed kampung to the east. I wonder if our neighbour is still the Romanian Embassy? (Edit: apparently it still is.)

Oslo, Norway

The high school across the street is still there. No surprise really. I really didn't expect this to change as much as I would have Malaysia. This was the more difficult find though, and I had to trace my old walking route from the Osteras rail station (the station that would bring me to downtown Oslo).

2008 US Presidential Election spoiler alert

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 23:31:04 GMT

I can has can cheezburger

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 19:35:54 GMT

Yes, cheeseburger in a can. Giant life-on-Earth-ending asteroid, take us now.

Fat Nation

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 21:52:49 GMT

Holy smokes ... as if Americans weren't fat enough ... fast food restaurants are now marketing something called The Fourth Meal, the meal between dinner and breakfast.

http://www.fourthmeal.com/

I squinted ...

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 11:47:43 GMT

What did I do over the holidays? I squinted a lot. Something that's been foreign to me since around late-October. Passing over the continental divide, I was reminded that there is still a yellow star around which we orbit. Something that becomes a memory to most of us on the west coast of Canada from late-October to late-February.

Other than some new wrinkles that botoxing should eliminate, it was good visiting the family. My dog and my Mum's dog got along well, except when my Mum's dog had a hankering to go after my dog's throat. When she could reach it. Macbeth has 35 kilos on Sarah, and a foot and a half in height.

Also came away with 7000 photos of the family. My Dad finally got around to digitally scanning all his slides, which pretty much document the first 20 years of my life. Now I just have to go through them, and decide which to keep and which not to keep ... there are photos in there which have nothing to do with me (parents friends and what-not). Maybe I'll post some nostalgia here and there over time.

And for those that play WoW, here are recent images of my two 70s.

Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 04:34:36 GMT

When a woman does a :(

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 07:37:14 GMT

I'd like to see your own additions to this list. Add a comment.

And they came out all the same ...

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 22:22:51 GMT

One of my favourite parts of Weeds is the musical prelude, where a 1962 Malvina Reynolds song is given a new musical interpretation each week. I don't quite know what it is about the song, but lyrically it says everything I've always hated about surburbia, and this is coming from someone who has lived a good part of his life in surburbia.

That and it's probably one of the few songs I can sing and do fairly well holding the tune.

The versions above are, in order:

The Submarines
The Polyphonic Spree
Regina Spektor
Jenny Lewis & Jonathon Rice
Randy Newman
Angelique Kidjo
Kinky
Donovan
Billy Bob Thornton

Malvina Reynolds (the original version)
Elvis Costello
Death Cab for Cutie
Engelbert Humperdinck
Kate and Anna McGarrigle
Charlie Barnett
Aidan Hawken
Ozomatli

The Shins
The Individuals
Man Man
Joan Baez
The Decemberists
Michael Franti
Persephone's Bees
The Laurie Berkner Band
Linkin Park

DVD and Film Mini-Reviews #93

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 09:27:10 GMT

Alphaville (Alphaville, une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution) (Jean-Luc Godard, 1965)
****1/2
There's an eerie, unsettling disjointedness to how Godard tells a tale. And it's to Godard's supreme credit that he's able to tell his stories in this manner, yet still able to make them compelling, intriguing, riveting. Even when you're wondering what the hell is going on, you're interested enough not to shut down, you simply try harder to figure out what Godard is doing. I can't think of any other director who is (or was) able to do this with the consistency that Godard did, especially during his heyday in the 60s. You have Breathless, Alphaville, Pierrot le fou, Contempt, Band of Outsiders, and Masculin feminin. All films highly regarded from that great Nouvelle Vague period of French cinema, yet all very different from any of the other greats from the same period. Alphaville might be the strangest of them all (though Pierrot le fou might argue the point). This is a science fiction film with very few visual science fiction trappings. It's about ideas. Dystopia. Lemmy Caution, an investigator, of the Raymond Chandler school of investigation, travels to the Alphaville with three specific missions, locate a missing agent who precursed Lemmy to Alphaville, kills Professor Von Braun, the creator of Alphaville, and disable the computer that controls Alphaville, the Alpha 60. Very film noirish in cinematics and dialog. All of Godard's usual messages are here undisguised, the fight against complacency in a population, anti-consumerism, love.

Pierrot le fou (Jean-Luc Godard, 1965)
****
I'm still trying to figure out this film, baffling to be sure, yet I still loved it. A lot of the reviews I've been reading try to focus on the plot, yet as I watched Pierrot le fou the plot seemed entirely secondary to the film as a whole. I'm beginning to think the film is really about experiences, experiences wrapped around whims. The biggest whim is the plot, mostly because Godard only wrote the day's shooting script the morning before the actual shoot. Coupled with the screenplay unfolding backwards through time, the shooting began in Nice and finished in Paris, so in essence Godard was writing his story from finish to start, and then edited it start to finish. Obviously it was the idea that was most important to Godard, as the state of the plot will attest. The plot mostly strings together, but it's more a series of vignettes tied to an overall road movie theme than an arc from start to finish (or finish to start, as the case may be). So the film is about experiences, creating experiences, for the characters and the audience. As Godard once said about Pierrot, "it is not really a film, it's an attempt at cinema." It encompasses everything ever put to film, thematically, it's a musical, it has dance numbers, it has comedy of the more intellectual variety and comedy of the Laurel and Hardy variety, it has action, car chases and gunplay, murder and intrigue and mystery, and romance. The film makes small statements on our consumer culture, on the state of cinema, on love. Pierrot le fou is everything at once, and yet it can feel like it was nothing. It's strange wonderful conundrum.

The Darjeeling Limited (Wes Anderson, 2007)
****
The opening shot is of Bill Murray racing to catch his train, somewhere in India, running along the platform, reaching for a railing that is ultimately moving a little faster than he can. Adrian Brody runs by, hops on the train. Bill is left on the platform. Since Rushmore, Bill Murray has been a mainstay of Wes Anderson films. This opening is perfect, for a film that does not feature Bill Murray at all. Hell, perhaps Bill has decided to move in a different direction artistically, and this is his Wes Anderson swan song, his farewell (only time will tell, but it would make for a perfect send off). But this is only the movie's opening (it matters nothing to the rest of the film), and it was perfect. The remainder of the film? Well, it's Wes Anderson, though at a much smaller scale. You'd think a road movie through India would be large and grand, but no. This is intimate, smaller than Rushmore even (a film that opened up its limited environs through the stage productions of its main character). Even though Darjeeling traverses some grand environs, and has shots worthy of any Merchant Ivory film, Anderson negates largess through cramped train sets and screen-filling closeups. Though he doesn't let us forget we're in India, like any Wes Anderson film, this is a film about characters who have lost their way, trying to rediscover the path they've strayed from. In this case, three brothers reconnecting for the first time, a year after their father's accidental death, trying to locate their mother, who has vanished to a remote catholic monastery in northern India. Wes isn't reaching for new ground here, if you enjoyed Rushmore or The Royal Tenenbaums or The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, you'll enjoy The Darjeeling Limited.

DVD and Film Mini-Reviews #92

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 23:18:06 GMT

The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks)
The Big Sleep finished filming in February 1945. It wasn't released theatrically until August 1946. There were two reasons for this delay. The first was that WW2 was coming to a close, and the studio decided to fast track all their current war-related projects while they still had relevance (a hard-boiled detective thriller would still be relevant a year later). The second reason was that Lauren Bacall's career was on a downslide after her film debut in To Have and Have Not. To get her career back on track the studio decided that The Big Sleep needed more elements from To Have and Have Not that made it so popular. So reshoots were ordered in February and March of 1946. In the end, fifteen minutes of changes were made, through complete cuts, reshoots of existing scenes, and the addition of completely new material, basically all in an effort to heighten the interplay and chemistry between Bogart and Bacall. The Big Sleep is often referred to as a seminal noir film, yet it contains few elements of classic noir (but for the hardboiled detective thriller.) The most strikine aspect of both films is Bogart's dialogue, razor-sharp and fast and furious at all times.

The Big Sleep (Pre-Release Version) (1945)
****
The convoluted plot actually makes more sense in this version. The dialogue is still spot on, but Bacall is not quite as insolent with Bogart, more demur, not quite as challenging to him verbally or emotionally.

The Big Sleep (Theatrical Version) (1946)
****
A couple of key expository scenes were shuffled aside to add more flavour to the Bogart/Bacall relationship. Would probably take an extra viewing to really figure out what is going on here. The alteration in dialogue between Bacall and Bogart creates a more consistent verbal flow throughout the film. It's really hard to rate one version above the other. What might be missing from one version is made up for in other areas.

Grindhouse (2007)
A double-feature release (in North America) by Tarantino and Rodriguez, with the express purpose of capturing the tone and feeling of the exploitation films of the 1970s, those films that had limited distribution and limited film prints and limited budget, that circulated through small film grungy theatres across the United States. Both these films, in my opinion, are high-octane feminist films. Each deals with a female protagonist (or protagonists in the case of Death Proof) kicking ass in what is normally a male dominated medium. Each film is filled with tiny touches that distinguish it as a grindhouse experience (I assume, since I never had a real 1970s grindhouse experience): damaged negatives, missing reels, over-the-top action, nudity. As well, as a number of fake grindhouse movie trailers are included, the best of which are Don't and Hobo with a Shotgun. Even given all that, it is still a lot of glossier than any grindhouse film ever was. Fifty million was spent on these two films after all, not twenty thousand per.

Death Proof (Quentin Tarantino)
****
Stuntman Mike is a serial killer. His preferred method of murder is his death proof car (outfitted with the latest stunt tech in roll cages, five point harnesses, and that ilk.) He picks up a passenger, scares the bejeezus out of them by driving like a maniac, then crashes. He meets his match when he decides to terrorize four stunt girls, unbeknownst to him that they are stunt women. Comeuppance? And then some. Some of the best, most edge-of-your-seat stunt driving I've seen put to film. The only downside is that the film is unbalanced ... far too talky at the beginning, far too action ladened at the end. (Which is the same problem that Kill Bill experiences when parts one and two are watched back to back, though in reverse.) If it wasn't for the spectacular action that this film closes with, it would have likely earned three and a half or even three stars even.

The DVD version is not the theatrical version, but an extended cut. Which is likely a shame (I've not seen it yet.) Usually what ends up on the cutting room floor is dialogue, what makes it theatrically is the expensive action. Since the theatrical version is already long in the tooth on dialogue, I'm going to guess that this isn't an improvement.

Planet Terror (Robert Rodriguez)
****
Basically a zombie film of the Resident Evil variety. Military bio-weapon is accidentally released. Small town residents become enraged mindless killing machines. A small group of diehards defend themselves at the local greasy diner. Trailers were a bit misleading (and might have attributed to the general population avoiding these films in the theatre), Rose McGowan doesn't get her machine gun leg until the final 15 minutes. And it's really not as ridiculous as it looked in the trailer, Rodriguez definitely makes it work. Much more balanced than Death Proof, but doesn't finish in quite the same sliding-out-of-your-seat manner as Tarantino's entry.

Koko, a Talking Gorilla (Koko, le gorille qui parle) (Barbet Schroeder, 1978)
***1/2
Who hasn't heard of Koko by now? Heck, she was in the news three or four years ago on sexual harassment charges. No, really. But that's a different story (and one you can Google). This film was made when the world was just becoming aware of this "talking" gorilla. Yes, I put "talking" in quotes, because the documentary makes no claims one way or the other. It's not edited in such a way that it's pushing the view that Koko can speak via signs, not is it edited in such a way that it tries to reveal Koko as doing nothing more than performing "tricks". It's a balanced view, showing us Koko's on days, when we actually double-take at some of the communication she is doing. And it shows her off days, where we pause to wonder exactly how much of what she is doing she actually understands, what is simply the result of repetition repetition repetition. There's no denying that some level of communication is occurring between Koko and her handler (Penny Patterson), but the documentary leaves it to you, the viewer to try to determine how much. Is an exchange of communication occurring as Penny explains? Or is Ms. Patterson simply deluding herself to some degree, making much more out of the communication than what is actually taking place? Perhaps the documentary could have used a tad more third party analysis, instead of relying on the viewer to make decisions alone. I'm certainly no expert in American Sign Language or the intricacies of communication itself, so I'm still on the fence about Koko.

DVD and Film Mini-Reviews #91

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 07:30:13 GMT

The final installment of my VIFF (Vancouver International Film Festival) and VLAFF (Vancouver Latin American Film Festival) viewing.

Chronicle of an Escape (Chronica de una fuga) (Adrian Caetano, 2006)
****1/2
A new repressive regime change in Argentina and anyone who opposes the government is rounded up and sent to detention centres, even if their opposition is based solely on hearsay, rumour or spite. Such is the case when the government kidnaps the goaltender from a local football (soccer) team. Torture ensues as they try to extract names from him, even though he has none to give them. His name was given by another inmate, forced by the government spill anything, even if complete fabrication. A treatise on the value of the write habeas corpus. Eventually, after months of lockup, four of them plan their escape. Based on a true story. The film really gets at the feelings of paranoia and of a caged existence.

Bliss (Mutluluk) (Abdullah Oguz, 2007)
****
Meryam is raped, and as such has brought shame upon her family for her lost chastity. One of the village heads decrees that old customs must be adhered too and orders his son, Cemal, to obstensibly take Meryam to Istanbul (she believes she's to enter into an arranged marriage), but to dispose of her along the way instead. He can't bring himself to kill her though, and the two eventually find refuge in a fishing village along the Sea of Marmara, on the run from others in the village who have learned of Cemal's "betrayal". In the fishing village, they eventually cross paths with a professor, and they embark with him on his yacht. A bit of a love triangle forms as the two men's affections grow toward Meryam. It's a really simple story overall, but entirely engaging. The performance by Meryam is scintillating, and is perhaps the one thing that truly makes this film work.

The Champagne Spy (Meragel Ha-Shampaniya) (Nadav Schirman, 2007)
****
A documentary about Wolfgang Lotz (half German, half Jewish), the Israeli spy that infiltrated the highest levels of Egyptian society as an ex-Nazi. Examines the psychological impacts of long-term undercover work, on the spy and on their family. Most of the intimacy of portrait is gleaned through interviews with the son (who was around the age of twelve during his father's missions in Egypt). Follows the story from the onset of the mission, through to his capture, incarceration, and eventual release (in a prisoner exchange after the Yom Kippur War). Through Super 8 video of the son's, we actually witness the father's estrangement from his own family during his infrequent visits from Egypt back to Paris, it's palpable. The film also covers the difficulty of deep cover spies integrating back into normal society after the close of their mission. This is a tragedy of a Shakespearean sort, the downfall of a Israeli hero, a hero from the Israeli perspective at any rate, but a failure to everyone else around him.

After the viewing we were treated to a Q&A by the director. I was a little disheartened by this, as he revealed some omissions in the story told, most notably that of Lotz's trial in Egypt. Wolfgang was tried as a German, and great effort was spent trying to maintain this ruse, for if the Egyptians were to discover that their captured spy was Israeli, he would have been sentenced to death quite swiftly. The film is unapologetic in it's portrayal that Egypt was complete hoodwinked in this regard. Yet, in the Q&A, the director revealed that Egypt did in fact know that Lotz was Israeli, but for reasons of honor and saving face, decided to keep that fact to themselves, not wanting to go through the embarassment of having had an Israeli spy who had infiltrated some of their highest levels of goverment and society out in the open. (Syria had just gone through a similar debacle a year earlier, having lost a lot of face among other Arab nations). I felt a little betrayed by the film finding that out, feeling as though this Israeli director was trying to embarrass Egypt 30 years gone past, even though Egypt knew full well their prisoner's heritage and loyalties from the outset.

Hotel Very Welcome (Sonja Heiss, 2007)
***1/2
Have you travelled the world? Been to foreign countries? If so, then you'll get a real kick out of this effort, which details the travails of four separate groups of travellers. Two groups in Thailand. Two groups in India. Language issues. Cultural issues. They all come into play in amusing vignettes on the travel experience. But the film goes beyond that, as each group has selected to travel to escape some problem back home, with the view that the travelling experience will answer and solve those problems. The ultimate message being that a vacation can't solve personal problems, it's only a momentary escape from them. Further, upon reflection, the film is about relationships, each character (or group) experiencing or escaping from or searching for a relationship. I use the word group loosely, since the "groups" in question are generally single people, they are: in India a fellow escaping the impending birth of a son via a one-night stand, in India a girl trying to find herself at a Bagwan institute and dealing with a possessive boyfriend back in Germany, in Thailand two English blokes who discover the breakdown of their friendship of money and control, and in Thailand a girl who seems perpetually stuck in her hotel room, trying to catch a flight to anywhere who somehow develops a relationship with the travel agent she speaks to daily.)

Faro: Goddess of the Waters (Faro, la reine des eaux) (Salif Traoré, 2007)
***1/2
Science and faith underpins this African offering. A young man, now a civil engineer, returns to his village with the hope of bringing increased prosperity via plans for a small dam and canal system. The young man, Zanga, is treated with distrust, and since he does not know who his father is (his mother refuses to tell him), and as such is a bastard, as a bad omen. Then when a near drowning occurs on the river, the villagers take it as a final sign that Faro, the goddess of the river, is angry. Thus the clash between new and old begins. The film never takes a heavy-handed approach in its themes and the director treats both faith and science in equal measures. Light comedy and light drama. The performances, even though mostly by non-professional actors, are generally strong. The cinematography is, as one would expect, gorgeous. Good use of the colour palette in most every frame. The film itself can be a little slow at times, a tad meandering, but overall an interesting and enjoyable viewing experience.

The Girl Cut in Two (La fille coupée en deux) (Claude Chabrol, 2007)
**1/2
An uncohesive romantic comedy that takes a very unexpected (and unwelcome) dark twist at the end. Early during the viewing, a friend commented that the film had a 60s feel to it. And viewing the remainder the film I started to look at it in that perspective. And she was quite right in a number of ways, the staging of scenes, a couple of the characters were of that 60s sort of caricature, the music during some of the comedic moments, the soft desaturation of colours. But it was never very consistent. It sometimes felt like a 2007 film, sometimes like something from the late 1960s. I'm not even sure I should be banging the film on this idea, since I'm entirely unsure if a 60s verve was his intention at all. But on reflection, it certainly would have been a better film if it had paid a more consistent homage to seminal 60s films such as Breakfast at Tiffany's, or The Party, or even Stolen Kisses (by Francois Truffaut). The film, this subject matter, needed to be taken less seriously than it often was, a lighter more airy approach would have benefited it greatly. And that dark twist, even in hindsight, there was a bit of foreshadowing, but I don't think anyone in the audience took it for the gravity with which the director and writer intended. It was out of place here in this film. The story: a local weather girl gets involved with two men, one of whom she obsesses over, while the other obsesses over her. Hijinks ensue? Not really, which is a shame.

DVD and Film Mini-Reviews #90

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 08:08:15 GMT

Some films that I've seen recently at VLAFF (Vancouver Latin American Film Festival) and VIFF (Vancouver International Film Festival). There'll be another installment next week.

In the Pit (En El Hoya) (Juan Carlos Rulfo, 2006)
****
A documentary about a handful from the thousands of workers building the second deck of Mexico City's Periferico Freeway. There's nothing at all political about this film, which is a refreshing change of pace. Nothing about pay or benefits or health or injury statistics. It's documentary about working class personalities, those people willing to do the jobs that most of us don't want to do. Often amusing, but sometimes tragic in its personalities. The film is not apologetic though, and simply lets the voices of these workers speak to the camera. There's a touching honesty here that you don't often find in these sorts of documentaries, the documentarians all too often attempting to make grand, bold political statements. The latter can often be fine and helpful and necessary, but sometimes you already know their situations without it being shoved down your throat, and instead of the political message, getting to actually know the people involved is more important. A film about humanity.

The Counterfeiters (Die Fälscher) (Stefan Ruzowitzky, 2007)
****
It's probably the height of disrespect to describe it this way, but simply put this is Schindler's Bank Notes. A Jewish counterfeiter, Salomon Sorowitsch, is transferred to a special unit of his concentration camp, where he oversees the counterfeiting of British pounds and American dollars, in a Nazi attempt to destabilise their economies with an influx of fake currency. Based on Operation Bernhard (information which can be found at Wikipedia). Salomon is both torn between trying to survive, along with the guilt of actually helping his enemy. The film is perhaps a little misleading at the end, as only a pittance of the $132 million pounds was ever successfully inserted into the British economy.

Paper Dove (Paloma de Papel) (Fabrizio Aguilar, 2003)
***
The story of a young Peruvian boy kidnapped by Marxist rebels and conscripted forcibly into their cause. The film started off fine until it became obvious that the director was trying to make a political statement. The rebels are characterized as nothing more than cartoony buffoons, and nothing at all about them can be taken the least bit seriously. Not that I'm defending any cause that kidnaps (and attempts to brainwash) children to its way of thinking, but a little more intelligence could have been inserted here. It's a hamhanded and all-too-obvious approach to making a statement against such rebels. Given the amateurishness of the characters, I'm apt to wonder how much of this is even reality in Peru (i.e. the kidnappings), perhaps it's just a plot device to further vilify their ideologies. Some wonderful cinematography though, and very good performances by the children.

Redacted (Brian De Palma, 2007)
**1/2
A quasi-documentary about a military squad in Samarra, Iraq. Based on a story of a similar squad who raped a 15 year old girl and then killed her family. Not particularly graphic, but certainly disturbing in the mindsets and rationalizations of the soldiers. This would have made a better three or four act play, than a film. The dialogue was too overwrought, projected, thoughtful and lengthy for these men. That's the sort of thing you expect from a play, versus a film of this variety, where it's the visuals and actions of the characters, rather than their language and soliloqueys, that effects the emotional response from the audience. Some interesting ideas and experiments here though, if not always effective within the film, such as the story playing out through a variety of mediums, such as a French film crew, the personal diary of one of the soldiers, or the video web pages of the insurgents.

DVD and Film Mini-Reviews #89

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 20:32:04 GMT

Bourne Ultimatum (Paul Greengrass, 2007)
***1/2
If it wasn't for the horrendous editing, which amounts to sheer laziness on the filmmakers behalf, this would have ranked higher. This fast staccato editing style really takes away from the action, you never quite know what the hell is going on. And you wonder if they even filmed a complex action scene at all, instead relying on this editing style to hide the fact that they didn't know what the hell they were doing. The story itself is reasonably strong, and harkens back to the previous films in meaningful ways. Heck, the closing shot of the second film (which always kind of bugged me and seemed out of character for Bourne) is actually a scene from the middle of this film, giving it some actual credence. A couple of plot failings here and there, such as how Bourne gets into the CIA cover office undiscovered. A fine finale to the trilogy.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (David Yates, 2007)
***1/2
This is how Goblet of Fire should have been adapted, filmed and edited. Instead of trying to mash together as many storylines as possible, never quite giving any of them the attention they deserve, Order of the Phoenix instead focuses on just a few of the story threads from the lengthy novel, excising anything they can't adequately cover. This makes for a much stronger film. And is certainly a lesson in how to adapt a novel whose length precludes it from being fully covered in the two hour timespan of a film. Completely does the novel justice, whereas the previous entry in the series did not. Along with Prisoner of Azkaban, the strongest entries in the series thus far.

Transformers (Michael Bay, 2007)
***
Definitely the highest rating I've ever given a Michael Bay film, by a long shot. I used to watch the afternoon cartoon all the time, so was a little leery of how Bay was going to approach this. He's not exactly known for sticking to source material. Granted, there were quite a few changes here from the original, but they're mostly superficial. What works in a cartoon, does not necessarily work on film. For the most part the film is true to the cartoon, retaining the mood and comedy of the original. The FX are also really well done. My only complaint is that it's overly long in a couple of places (outside the parent's house, for instance) and could have benefitted from some tighter editing.

300 (Zack Snyder, 2006)
**
I still don't understand what the hype is about this film. It's an empty shell. Nothing more than a 2 hour battle scene, with the misplaced shards of a romance thrown in because someone noticed that it lacked any amount of story. Some nice visuals, some nice action, but overall nothing at all memorable about this flick at all.

Live Free or Die Hard (Len Wiseman, 2007)
*1/2
It's become far too over the top. McClane used to be the everyman. And the situations and damage he took were somewhat believable, it wasn't a stretch to think that he could have survived the messes he got himself into. At least in the first film. Each succeeding film took it a little bit further each time, but not to the extent that this one does. From start to finish there wasn't an action setpiece where you thought McClane could have survived, he should have died in each and every one of them. It's taken it too far to the extreme, and McClane has become more of a superhero than just a regular cop getting himself into dangerous situations. As well, when Willis attempts to reprise certain amusing McClane character traits, his heart doesn't seem to be in it all.

Latin American Film Festival

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 16:23:07 GMT

I'm going to three films at Vancouver's Latin American Film Festival. I'll try to find the time to blog about the three films. I haven't done the pretentious foreign film blog thing in awhile.

Oh Oh Oh!!

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 21:01:16 GMT

My favourite Hitchcock film is finally getting the full-on Criterion treatment.

The Lady Vanishes

Double disc, which includes another film (not by Hitchcock), revolving around the Charters and Caldicott characters. Too bloody awesome.

November!

This happens a lot in the UK

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 11:56:16 GMT

Apparently this happens a lot in the UK. They have specific stretches of road where it is allowed to occur. Could someone take a photo, or better yet, a video?

The Rants of Dog Breath

Come on CNN

Five Thirty Eight

Not One, Not Two, But Three ...

Listener Email of the Day

Iron Man vs. The Hulk

Clever Scam

As heard in Alterac Valley Yesterday

... and real expression is a pain.

It's not my fault

A Walk Down Google Maps Lane

2008 US Presidential Election *spoiler alert*

I can has can cheezburger

Fat Nation

I squinted ...

Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays

When a woman does a :(

And they came out all the same ...

DVD and Film Mini-Reviews #93

DVD and Film Mini-Reviews #92

DVD and Film Mini-Reviews #91

DVD and Film Mini-Reviews #90

DVD and Film Mini-Reviews #89

Latin American Film Festival

Oh Oh Oh!!

This happens a lot in the UK

2008 US Presidential Election spoiler alert