Search results matching tags 'reviews' and 'movies'

"Moon" and the David Bowie connection

MediaPhile@evpl — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 21:48:00 GMT

Did you know that the director of the recently relased DVD "Moon" -- Duncan Jones (also known as Zowie or Joey) -- is the son of David Bowie?

Which is especially intriguing because "Moon" is the ethereal tale of a lonely man finishing up a three-year stint as the sole operator of a mining operation on the far side of the moon. Sound familiar?

All Sam (Sam Rockwell) wants is to go home to his loving wife and three-year-old daughter. But instantaneous two-way communication is down (mysteriously) so all he can do is leave messages and watch videos sent by her in reply.

When a mining machine malfunctions and he has to go out to fix it, things start getting really wierd. His faithful robot companion (voiced by Kevin Spacey) is no help as far as providing answers, although he assures him that a rescue crew is on the way.

One wonders if David Bowie's classic song "Ground Control to Major Tom" was reverberating in Jones' head as he made this really classy flick that got a whopping 89% on rottentomatoes.com. For those of you unfamiliar with it (or those who need a refresher), here are the lyrics:

Ground control to Major Tom Ground control to Major Tom:
Take your protein pills and put your helmet on
Ground control to Major Tom: Commencing countdown engine's on
Check ig-nition and may God's love be with you

This is ground control to Major Tom, you've really made the grade!
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear,
Now it's time to leave the capsule if you dare

This is Major Tom to ground con-trol, I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating in the most peculiar way 
And the stars look very difeerent today

For here am I sitting in a tin can, far above the world
Planet Earth is blue and there's nothing I can do

BRIDGE

Though I'm passed one hundred thousand miles, I'm feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go, 
tell my wife I love her very much she knows

Ground control to Major Tom: 
Your circuit's dead, there's something wong.
Can you hear me Major Tom? 
Can you hear me Major Tom? 
Can you hear me Major Tom? Can you ...

Here am I floating round my tin can, far above the moon
Planet Earth is blue and there's nothing I can do

(Please visit the site to view this media)

"John Dillinger : the life and death of America's first celebrity criminal" by Dary Matera

MediaPhile@evpl — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:16:00 GMT

Because of the Indiana connection, I've always been somewhat interested in John Dillinger. But it was only after watching Johnny Depp bring the notorious bankrobber to life in his latest flick, that I decided to check out the details. This book was just the ticket.

Here are some brief FAQs of his short but infamous life:

He was born in Indianapolis. His father was a grocer who believed in harsh discipline, and his mother died just before his fourth birthday. He attended school through 7th grade, then quit to work in a machine shop. He started getting into trouble and his father moved the family to rural Mooresville to avoid the urban temptations. It didn't help.
His first arrest -- and first real crime -- was at age 19, for auto theft. He enlisted in the Navy but was soon dishonorably discharged. He returned to Moorseville, got married and stayed somewhat settled until the marriage ended in divorce when he was 26.
Shortly thereafter, he robbed a grocery store clerk of $50 and was convicted of assault & battery, then sentenced to 10 to 20 years in the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. He was still a really inept criminal but he became friends with quite a few of his fellow prisoners, many of whom made a career of crime. After 8 years he got parolled, then was immediately re-arrested following a couple of bank heists -- in Ohio -- and sent back to prison. He escaped four days thereafter with the help of the first "Dillinger Gang." Two guards were killed in the process, which meant he had moved a step up the criminal justice chain.
Of course we all know what followed -- dozens of bank robberies during a legendary cross-country crime spree that captured the imagination of the nation, even though it only lasted about a year. The chase very much resembled the Keystone Kops, with much of the population rooting for Dillinger. The heist that sealed his fate was one in East Chicago, Indiana (that he may not have even been at) where a policeman was killed. Now he was a cop killer.
He was finally captured in Tuscon, Arizona, and shipped back to Indiana to be charged with murder. Media descended on the small northern Indiana town of Crown Point to interview the famous criminal. His gang within a matter of days "busted him out" -- embarrasing the state of Indiana even more than they already were -- and the gang headed to Chicago. That was basically their downfall since they crossed the state line in a stolen car, bringing down the official wrath of the DOI, the agency which soon became the FBI.
Dillinger's last few months were spent hiding and scrounging, and he was even forced into getting a real job as a clerk. The DOI eventually tracked him down to the Chicago area. Agents gunned him down at the Biograph Theatre in Chicago's Lincoln Park on July 22, 1934.

Having grown up in "da Region" (northwestern Indiana), I was happy to see the award-winning Indiana Welcome Center open there a few years ago. But I never bothered to plunk down a few dollars to visit the Dillinger Museum that is part of it. Next time I'm "home" I will.

Easy Virtue

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:55:00 GMT

I am a huge fan of Colin Firth. I might question his decision to make films such as What a Girl Wants, but he easily redeems himself with performances in Love Actually, Then She Found Me, and now Easy Virtue. In this movie, Firth plays the distant father and husband of an English family living in a crumbling estate. Firth’s character returned home after wandering around Europe following WWI as part of the Lost Generation. He now hides in his family’s shed repairing an old motorcycle and avoiding his family and their problems. He pops up throughout the movie with sardonic wit and repressed feelings.

Easy Virtue was adapted from a Noel Coward play set in the late 1920s. Jessica Biel plays American racecar driver, Larita, who steals the heart of English heir, John (played by Ben Barnes). The two marry and head to the family's English estate. Larita faces the scorn of her new mother-in-law who had plans for her son to marry the wealthy neighbor girl. Kristin Scott Thomas does an excellent job as the mother fighting against her daughter-in-law for her son's attention and affection. Larita's only allies come in the form of the family's servants and father-in-law (Firth). Once her past scandals come to surface, however, Larita must decide if she will stay with John or leave him and his family behind.

I loved the music, costumes, and actors in Easy Virtue. This movie slipped my attention before landing on the library shelves, so I guess many others may have missed it as well. Check it out- highly recommended.

Sunshine Cleaning

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:24:00 GMT

Rose and Norah were little girls when their little mother died. They both came in from playing in the yard to find their mom dead in the bathroom, an apparent suicide. As the two girls grow up, that day shapes their lives. Rose is a single mother working hard as a house cleaner to raise her son, while having an affair with her married high school sweetheart. Norah is a party girl. She doesn't have a boyfriend, drinks all the time, and can't hold a job. Their father is a quirky man always looking for a get-rich-quick scheme.

After Rose's son is expelled from school and a reunion with her high school friends approaching, Rose convinces Norah to start a crime scene cleaning business with her. Hilarity ensues as the two women struggle to learn the ropes of cleaning up grisly crime scenes, but there is an underlying seriousness as well. With their new business taking off, both Rose and Norah have to come to grips with what happen to their mother all those years ago and figure out what they want out of their own lives.

Fans of Little Miss Sunshine will like this movie with the quirky characters, humor, but a serious storyline as well. I laughed out loud and cried a few times as well. Highly recommended.

"Let the Right One In": a Swedish vampire flick

MediaPhile@evpl — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 21:58:00 GMT

A Swedish vampire flick, you say? Impossible -- there is no such genre!

But here it is in the flesh. And it turns out that it not only netted a whopping 97% rating on rottentomatoes.com but "Cloverfield" director Matt Reeves is making an American version to be released in 2010.

So is it worth all the hype? Well, yes and no.

I am of the opinion that American filmmaking is so good that it is hard to find a "foreign" flick that rivals our productions technologically -- in cinematography, editing, special effects, sound quality, etc. Our acting and directing techniques are also quite polished. And, of course, a ton of money is poured into most American productions, and money talks in alot of ways.

That said, this film -- in Swedish with English dubbing -- has a striking and inventive plot, an increasingly forbidding atmosphere, and two marvelous child actors -- the blonde (almost Albino) Oskar and the dark mysterious Eli who moves in next door. So what if some of the minor characters can't act and the set designs shout of production on a shoestring? It is still a really cool flick and I can't wait for Reeves' version due out next year!

By the way, the movie is based on a bestselling Swedish novel, Låt Den Rätte Komma In by John Alvide Lindqvist, who also wrote the screenplay for the movie.

The Spirit of the Beehive

wag.mado@evpl — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 01:07:00 GMT

Thanks to a recommendation by my friend, I watched a stunning film this weekend. Set in a Castilian village somewhere in early 1940's rural Spain, this movie has won international acclaim as a masterpiece - labeled one of the greatest Spanish films of the 1970's. On the surface, it is a coming of age story in which six-year-old Ana, played by Ana Torrent, tries to make sense of the world after seeing a young girl die in the classic 1931 film, Frankenstein. However, the movie is chock-full of symbolism and is also a commentary on life at the conclusion of the Spanish Civil War. The cinematic photography shot by Luis Cuadrado (who was going blind while the film was being made) is stark and breathtaking. Each scene seems to stay in your memory as a snapshot. As with many foreign films, the pace is hauntingly slow and the dialogue is sparse, adding to the intense feeling and emotion of the storyline. Isabel Telleria plays the innocent Ana's older sister Isabel, and has a menacing side to say the least. Together, these beautiful little girls bring this powerful story to life.

The Spirit of the Beehive (1973) was written and directed by Victor Erice and is one of only three movies he made over a 20 year period. The other two films, The South (1982) and The Quince Tree Sun (1992) are also highly regarded.

Treat yourself to The Spirit of the Beehive. It now ranks among my top ten favorite foreign films.

Doomsday, wrathful robots, other cheerfulness in "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles"

professor.knowsitall@evpl — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:38:00 GMT

Being a self-proclaimed sci-fi geek, I love the Terminator movies. With three theatrical movies, and a fourth coming in 2009 (Terminator Salvation, starring Christian Bale!), Fox decided to capitalize on the series' success with a spin-off television series. Season 1 of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles began airing in January of 2008, and was recently released on DVD & Blu-ray.

Explaining the TV show requires a bit of backstory from the movies, so here goes...

The Terminator (1984) - In 1997, a computer system called Skynet becomes self-aware, unleashes a nuclear apocalypse on humanity, and builds an army of robots to destroy the few surviving humans that have formed a resistance. The leader of this resistance is John Connor, and under his command they are able to keep humanity alive.

In 2029, Skynet decides to send an indestructible Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) back in time, to the year 1984, to kill John's mother, Sarah. If they kill Sarah, John will never be born, thus never organizing the resistance. Upon learning of Skynet's plan, the resistance sends one of their own to the year 1984, to protect Sarah from the Terminator. Fortunately, Sarah stays alive and the Terminator is destroyed.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) - It's now 1993. Sarah Connor is in a mental institution for "delusions". John Connor is a rebellious youth, living with foster parents. Skynet decides to send a more advanced Terminator to kill John. Future-John (in 2029) has reprogrammed a T-100 (Arnold) and sent him to 1993 to protect young-John. They bust Sarah out of the institution and destroy Cyberdyne, a company creating robotic endoskeletons (used in the future for the robot armies). This successfully delays the nuclear apocalypse.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) - Forget about this one. Has no correlation with this TV show.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles takes place in 1997. Sarah & John have been on the run for four years, pursued by the FBI for charges of terrorism. While at school one day, John discovers that his substitute teacher is a Terminator sent back in time to kill him. And guess what?

The resistance has sent a female Terminator named Cameron, played by Summer Glau (best-known for her role in Firefly & Serenity), to protect him. Cameron transports Sarah & John to the year 2007, as that is now the year that Skynet takes over. Agent Ellison of the FBI picks up the case, after it remained stagnant for the previous 10 years.

Sarah, John, & Cameron are on a mission to discover what Skynet is and to destroy it. Turns out that an advanced chess computer, that has garnered military interest, is the prime suspect. As Agent Ellison investigates Sarah's record, including visiting her former psychiatrist from the mental institution, he slowly begins to realize that she wasn't lying. The final episode features an epic battle, to Johnny Cash's "When the Man Comes Around" (one of his last songs, containing many references to the Book of Revelations), which literally gave me goosebumps.

While a bit cheesy at times, as most TV shows are, I found the acting and plot to be top-notch. It was also fascinating to see concepts, never fully explained in the movies, fleshed out. Fans of the Terminator films, good sci-fi, and thought-provoking storylines should definitely check it out!

More Information

EVPL Catalog: Check availability of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles at EVPL libraries.
Amazon.com: Buy Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on DVD or Blu-ray using this link, and the Public Library Friends will receive a portion of your purchase.
Internet Movie Database: Find out more about the show at IMDB.
Fox.com: View the official website of the TV show.

"Iron Man"

MediaPhile@evpl — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 22:28:00 GMT

Loved it!

My son had told me that this was the superhero action movie of the year -- NOT The Dark Knight -- and now I know what he means. The good guys weren't perfect, the bad guys weren't Satan personified, and the plot unpredictable and halfway intelligent.

Robert Downey Jr obviously had a lot of fun with his double role as wealthy industrialist Tony Stark and Iron Man. Jeff Bridges equally seemed to relish playing jovial but obviously sleazy businessman/villain Obadiah Stane. And Gwenyth Paltrow, as Stark's ever patient and hardworking secretary Pepper Potts, had just the right amount of chemistry with her boss.

Kudos to comic writer-editor Stan Lee! And to Marvel Studios, who reacquired the rights in 2006 after the film had been "in development" since 1990 at Universal Studios, 20th Century Fox, and New Line Cinema. This was Marvel's first self-financed film, and the $574,049,094 worldwide box office gross shows that they made a wise move.

I just wish I had seen Iron Man on the big screen! DVDs like this just make we want to run out to buy a wide screen High Def TV. Iron Man was the first in a trilogy, with Iron Man 2 due out in April 2010. I hope it defies the usual downward trend for sequels and lives up to the standards of the first film.

"John Adams": HBO miniseries

MediaPhile@evpl — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:56:00 GMT

If you didn't watch this absolutely wonderful series when it was on HBO, do so now!

I just spent 8 glorious hours in the bosom of the Adams family -- from the early 1770s until John's death on July 4, 1826. (In case you didn't remember, John Adams and his good friend/enemy and co-founding father, Thomas Jefferson, died on the same day -- July 4, 1826 -- the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence).

These are my impressions:

My knowledge of Adams is exponentially increased, since I knew little of the man before. Perhaps Adams' constant lament that history would give all the credit to Jefferson and Washington proved somewhat true.
Paul Giamatti as John and Laura Linney as Abigail were fabulous! And Tom Wilkinson WAS Benjamin Franklin! I never did get used to David Morse as George Washington, but then I still remember him as an intern on "Saint Elsewhere." (Also, is playing Washington almost like playing God -- impossible?)
Author David McCullough is now on my short list. I can't believe I haven't read all of his books!
23 Emmy Award nominations and 13 wins makes perfect sense. Awards included Best Miniseries, Best Actor in a Miniseries, Best Actress in a Miniseries, and Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries (Wilkinson).
Being important doesn't spare one hardship and tragedy -- or boredom, for that matter.
Service to one's country is not necessarily lucrative.
The Presidency in the early days of our country was a rather thankless job. One wonders how much better it is now...

"Pushing Daisies"

MediaPhile@evpl — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 02:26:00 GMT

The first season of this new ABC series just came out on DVD.

"Pushing Daisies" is a fast-paced, whimsical, and light-hearted comedy -- nothing like the dark humor of "Six Feet Under" that I expected. Bryan Fuller (Heroes, Wonderfalls) and Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black) are the driving force behind it, and their artistic talents are evident.

Nothing is quite normal in this series. The characters are all quirky and have odd names. The colors are unnaturally bright and saturated. The stage sets are wildly inventive and almost theatrically stagey. And the story lines have unexpected spins and twists.

The male lead, Ned (Lee Pace), has the amazing ability to bring dead things back to life. The only problem is that the dead can only stay alive for one minute, or someone else will die in his/her/its stead. Also, if Ned ever touches this reborn entity again, the result is immediate and irrevocable death. A detective who solves murder cases for the reward money uncovers Ned's secret and convinces him to be his partner. And a new TV series is born........

Other series regulars are childhood sweetheart Chuck (Anna Friel), gumshoe detective Emerson Cod (Chi McBride), Pie Hole waitress Olive Snook (Kristin Chenoweth), and Chuck's Aunt Lily (Swoosie Kurtz).

"Pushing Daisies" was nominated for 12 Emmy Awards for its first season, and the second season begins on October 1.