I was able to sit down for a couple of years and pump out a book. It’s got little to do with movies. Download and read “Thank You, Goodnight†right HERE for free.
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TERRIBLY HAPPY – REVIEW
You have to look at a performance by Christoph Waltz in Inglorious Basterds in order to fully comprehend why Jakob Cedergren, who plays town cop Robert Hansen in Terribly Happy, deserves his own spot on the world stage.
Cedergren takes a character, an urban police offer who is exiled into a rural, remote village town after having a nervous breakdown, and twists it into a complex individual who has no predictability, no hints about what he’s going to do next. He’s thrilling to watch on screen as he is tasked with what ought to be a simple enough assignment: watch over a sleepy hollow where no one seems to even want official law enforcement. The town has its own rule of law, its own way of handling things, and Cedergren disturbs the natural order with his presence. He’s a cop who seems to engender not an ounce of intimidation or respect from the townsfolk but he does find a kindred spirit in a local woman who isn’t from around here, either, a woman with her own secrets.
The pastoral themes abound in a town that wants to keep its close knit community closed off from interlopers looking to change things and Cedergren is absolutely dynamic in a role that showcases his range, not only in ability, but in the way his character vacillates throughout the film. When we meet him he’s Superman, a hero who is absolute in his convictions and black and white-ness, but, by the end of the movie, as the town’s secrets slowly give up its dead, it’s Batman that takes over. By the third act moral ambiguity becomes the predominant theme, the line between what’s right and what’s wrong blurs in ways that haven’t been seen in modern cinema in some time.
Sure, to those who wonder whether director Henrik Ruben Genz’s film that deals with such ambiguity smacks of Cohen or Lynch-ian type of filmmaking would be right in postulating as such but that would be a disservice to a filmmaker who demonstrates his ability to craft a noir tale that does not relent. More importantly, Genz’s film is its own creation, living and breathing within this hermetically sealed world where oddity is subjective. For example, when we meet who is ostensibly the femme fatale of this thriller, Ingerlise (played by Lene Maria Christensen), she leans on Cedergren to help her escape her abusive husband Jørgen (Kim Bodnia). The outcome of what will be a face off between these two men will not only surprise you in its originality but will satisfy any filmgoer’s expectation to be entertained along with being jolted. The dark comedy that simmers below this film’s bleak palette is there but it exists only insofar in its subtlety. It won’t smack you or be ostentatious in order for you to recognize it but that’s the draw with filmmakers of this type. It makes you work for it but there is a payoff in the form of the movie’s themes.
Such a theme, like subjugation, looms large when you consider the movie deals a lot with the idea of drowning a town’s dark secrets in its bogs. Literally. Bogs play a symbolic role but, again, its use is done with intelligence, not obviousness.
The movie transcends its linguistic cadence that does take some getting used to but, once you give into how it is telling its story, the story is enveloping to the point of amazement. Amazement that this movie has flown underneath so many people’s radars because it offers so much sustenance to those hungry for a good story about a man who has to trade in some of his altruistic character in order to maintain some sense of normalcy in a town where absolutely nothing is normal.
$9.99 – DVD REVIEW
$9.99 is not your typical stop motion film.
There are no cutesy talking bears, no star-studded roster of actors who just happened to lend their voices to the main leads of the movie, and certainly it is not concerned with one singular tale. $9.99, a film from Tatia Rosenthal who based this film on a series of short stories by Etgar Keret, is a movie that deserves not only to be watched but deserves to be ruminated on.
The way this movie sets itself apart from any other animated film is that the subject matter it deals with packs enough wallop you wonder why little figures were used and not full sized actors. The meaning of life is something that is knocked around in other films but here it is dealt with head-on as all the vignettes that are told through its nearly 90 minute run time confront the notion of what is really the purpose of human beings. It’s heady to be sure but Rosenthal makes exquisite use of drama and the absurd in an ebb and flow fashion.
From grown adults who are trying to find love, one wants it from a gorgeous woman while the other is looking to get approval and love from his father, a lazy roustabout who needs some direction in his life, to a boy simply looking to save up for a shiny new toy, there are other stories in here which really try and push the boundaries for what you can put in a stop motion production. There are mature themes and elements, sex does manage to happen between two puppets, but it never feels like the medium is being used unnecessarily or in a way that seems exploitative. There is some genuine heart and soul put into these inanimate objects as they ruminate about what they are really after but what’s exceptional about this film is that Rosenthal manages to be emotionally affective with her presentation.
Real moments are shared between these voice talents that blend seamlessly with what we’re watching on the screen. While, yes, there are times that the animation takes away from what’s occurring on the screen there is nonetheless a world that’s created where you believe in the action happening before you.
Surely, if you are in need for a grown-up film that deals openly with what many think about every now and then in the quiet moments of our lives you could not do any better than $9.99. It’s a movie that provokes you to think, if only for a few moments, and in a movie landscape cluttered with treacle which leaves your system as quickly as it’s processed by your eyes this is movie is a wonder.
DEAD SNOW – DVD REVIEW
If you’re only able to see one movie that deals with Nazis and zombies this winter, you’ve got to check out Dead Snow.
Dividing audiences and critics alike, this movie, about resurrected zombies who terrorize a pack of individuals who find themselves holed up in a snowy cabin (isn’t that always the way) and a wily kook who tells these vacationers that evil abounds who is quickly dispatched in order to let the narrative take its eventual course, is a literal howl. Getting everything right about what makes a good splatterfest of gore and viscera, director Tommy Wirkola ought to be given some kind of Congressional Medal of Honor for having a clear vision of what he wanted to make and making it the way he did.
Yes, Nazis awake from their dead slumber and attack these youths in a way that is reminiscent of Night of the Living Dead tinged with an obvious nod to a movie like Evil Dead and Dawn of the Dead. The fast moving zombie debate is one that purists can go impale themselves on if they feel that animating dead tissue ought to be accompanied by slow movement. In Dead Snow I delighted with how Wirkola used his quick moving undead in order to keep the pace fast. The editing ought to be recognized as well for assisting in making this a movie that, once it starts, never lags.
The quality kills, however, are the real crowning achievement here. From brains, to guts, gnashing flesh, to torn limbs this movie achieves high marks for, even though it is low budget, managing to keep every penny up on the screen. Often times, in an age where there is a lot more modesty in horror films in the last decade, as an audience we have to fill in patches of action with our own idea of what’s happening. Here, however, nothing is left to the imagination and “Huzzah!†all around for the copious amounts of blood.
It’s obvious that the plot is not what you came here to see. However, writer Stig Frode Henriksen crafts a screenplay that doesn’t try too much nor tries to be anything more than what it is. What that is, however, is an absolute winner of a movie that not only gives you everything you expect out of a zombie film but, as the second disc of this DVD shows you, the production that went into this movie is just fascinating. To wit, a 45+ minute documentary that shows how these filmmakers brought Nazis back to life north of Norway is nothing if not educational.
BRAVE NEW FILMS 5TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION – REVIEW
In an interview I did with Henry Rollins a couple of years ago. While Henry was talking about the nature of information gathering and the level of news he consumed on a daily basis and the amount of reading he does that I started to feel inadequate as a citizen of this country in that I don’t feel like I’m plugged into what’s really happening out there. I kind of felt like a piece of plankton that’s at the mercy of the ocean’s current. I feel that way about a lot of things that happen in this country that I just feel resigned to because I work all day at a job and then come home and work at another job as a father. How am I supposed to know what is really brewing behind the twinkling lights of Washington D.C., how the slickly dressed and perfectly coifed talking heads on networks like Fox News are disseminating their information or what the Wal-Mart effect means to average people like myself? Robert Greenwald’s Brave New Films collection is an excellent and highly recommended place for you to start getting answers.
That said, this 10 DVD collection ought to be bought for its scholastic and academic merit than it does its filmmaking. And it’s not that Greenwald’s 10 films are somehow poorly made, certainly nothing more could be further from the truth, but these documentaries are done with minimal flash and sizzle. Compared to a movie like Super Size Me you can see how editing and effects are like snapping fingers, things that are meant to hold your attention. These movies, in contrast, are no frills. You’ve got to take each one of these movies in stride, trying to jam through all of them in one sitting will make you feel angry, despondent, and thinking the world outside your door is not worth fighting for. Greenwald should be taken in doses. Anger goes a long long way and where Greenwald excels is getting his facts straight and his interpretations fleshed out. You do walk away from each one of these films more educated than you were before you started and for that alone these deserve your time and attention.
It’s the production values that make me want to educate buyers that what you are getting with these are not just documentaries that are trying to pick apart social issues that need some light and air on them but this is, honestly, a collegiate level course in Modern Civics. This is the best way to view a collection of movies that range from examining the Iraq war, to uncovering the seedy goings on of Fox News, what Wal-Mart is doing to America, and scads of other topics that are culturally relevant this is a compendium of knowledge that should be required viewing for anyone wanting to know more about the country they live in.
While there is some narrative bias in some of the reporting in these films the points raised in the films are sobering if not frightening. Finding out a lot more about the very things that we take at face value doesn’t always end well but getting to the point of raising your consciousness ought to be good enough incentive to take a look at this hefty collection.
ABOUT THE DVD RELEASE
NEW YORK, NY – For the last five years, Robert Greenwald and his production company Brave New Films have been at the forefront of the fight to create a just America. Using new media and internet video campaigns, Brave New Films has created a quick-strike capability that informs the public, challenges corporate media with truth, and motivates people to take action on social issues worldwide. Now, the team at Brave New Films has compiled virtually everything they’ve produced to date into a colossal, 10-disc box set. This must-have full access tool kit for every documentary filmmaker, activist organization and person who wants to use film and video to achieve social and political change will be released on January 26 by The Disinformation Company and will be available for $59.98SRP.
The New York Times has cited Brave New Films as an example of the growing influence of the internet on American politics, and from Real McCain and Sick For Profit exposés to calling out FOX News for its overt media bias and hard-hitting videos on social and economic injustices, Brave New Films’ groundbreaking online campaigns have revolutionized traditional grassroots politics. Using online video, bloggers, social networking sites and strategic partnerships with both national networks and local activists, Brave New Films reaches millions of people and gets results – fast.
Included in this comprehensive box set are ten dual layer discs containing 40 hours of video and film:
•   RETHINK AFGHANISTAN
•   UNCOVERED: THE WHOLE TRUTH ABOUT THE IRAQ WAR + all related antiwar shorts
•   OUTFOXED: RUPERT MURDOCH’S WAR ON JOURNALISM + all the “Fox Attacks†shorts
•   WAL-MART: THE HIGH COST OF LOW PRICE + all related shorts and extras
•   IRAQ FOR SALE : THE WAR PROFITEERS + all the related shorts, Greenwald’s media appearances and more
•   The War on Greed: all the shorts including Henry Kravis, Fighting for Our Homes, Starbucks, Bank of America, Burger King and Sick For Profit
•   The Political Shorts including The Real McCain series, The Real Rudy, Lieberman Must Go and many others
•   This Brave Nation + many more activist shorts
•   Brave New Films focus with Arianna Huffington,
•   Larry Lessig, Sam Seder and more
Over 1,000,000 members strong and growing by the day, Greenwald has built the Brave New Films machine into an organization that can produce a hard-hitting three-minute video in less than 24 hours that exposes John McCain’s double talk and receives 8 million views around the world. However, they can’t create a nation of socially conscious activists alone. If you’ve ever been interested in fomenting change through the quickly evolving medium of film and the Internet, don’t miss THE BRAVE NEW FILMS 5TH ANNIVERSARY ACTIVIST COLLECTION.
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