Ordinary People

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Movie: Societal norms being what they are, many of us experience clutch-ups about genital matters. From an early age, many of us are taught that sex facade of marriage is wrong, that sex=love, and a host of other fallacies that are simply bungled programming that goes against our biological imperative. Many cultures bear a more relaxed attitude towards such things but smooth most of them have taboos based on some outdated notions. We all conceive of surrounding sex and relations sells the whole shebang we heed to b investigate in the stores. In an deed to document an additional lifestyle, a couple of well-known brothers, Joe and Harry Gantz, definite to notes in on the phenomenon of dazzle called swinging. The entitle of their latest release is called Sex With Strangers.

Swinging is what couples do in a variety of ways that often include going to special clubs, parties or meeting online in order to have sex. After all, variety is the spice of life and if a relationship is built on trust and love, sharing one’s body with a friend (even a new friend since a stranger is just someone we haven’t met yet) shouldn’t be a problem. Sex is a natural thing and it doesn’t make sense to hoard it all (no, that line never works when I’m trying to pick up women either).

What the brothers did for the film was to follow several couples around as they engaged in their day-to-day routine, searching for the next partner(s). Now if this were truly all that took place, it’d be a very short documentary and not all that interesting. The most interesting part of the show was the fact that for all the claims of openness, freedom, and the rest of the spiel we got as viewers from those who were on camera, they quickly fell into the same old-fashioned morals they rebel against by being swingers, this included, but wasn’t limited to petty jealousies, possessiveness, and desire to belong.

So, to me at least, it appeared like the couples shown were like most people; insulated, insecure and hypocritical (although not to a degree more so than anyone else). My point is that they weren’t bad people, just people trying to expand their boundaries a bit but still held to the same constraints of society the rest of us (non-swingers) are. In the show’s favor, the people on display were not the super attractive gals seen in many adult movies. Most of them were on the heavy side, had a few too many years and were similar to what I’d expect to see on daytime talk shows. This might make some viewers that are curious, willing to try the lifestyle out on a limited basis.

As a documentary, the show left me with a lot of unanswered questions; more than it answered in the first place to be honest, but it seemed fairly straightforward (I’ve heard it claimed as staged but I think that those claims aren’t well supported). I’m going to suggest this one as a Rent It with the warning that if you want to see explicit sexual activity, look at a porno instead. The show was an interesting one and I felt like a voyeur the whole time but I can see its appeal to people, regardless of how the people looked.

Picture: The picture was presented in the television standard of 1.33:1 ratio full frame color as originally shot. There were some moments where the dark rooms made the picture look grainy and video noise, particularly during some of the sex scenes, while the interview portions were usually very clear (and well lit). There wasn’t a lot of edge enhancement and I didn’t see a lot of compression artifacts but this is about what you’d expect to see on HBO’s Taxicab Confessions (it was made by the same people, the Gantz brothers).

Sound: The audio was presented in stereo English with a bit of separation between the channels. Some of the scenes sounded a bit hollow but it was about average for a decent documentary. It looked and sounded like a cable documentary with good production values.

Extras: The best extra was the additional six scenes included on the DVD. While it could be argued that they weren’t overly erotic, if you like seeing strangers have sex and discuss the issues of the lifestyle, the extra footage was interesting. There were also some trailers, including one to the feature itself.

Final Thoughts: If you like the HBO style shows where people get undressed and entertain one another, you’ll like this one just fine. It lasted about the length of a full feature movie and the production values, as well as extras, were pretty worthwhile. It also had some replay value although not as much as it could have had with a commentary (it screamed for a commentary track). Check it out.

Vital seems to be celebrating the crummy films of the 1980s lately, with special edition releases of such classics as Flashdance. Where that picture featured female eye candy, Top Gun tries to do the still and all because of beefcake, combining, if on, an even more ridiculous storyline with some well executed action sequences.

Pete Mitchell (Tom Cruise), appropriately call-signed Maverick, is a problematically rash Flotilla fighter pilot who gets into all sorts of hot water, serene though he has undeniable gift. After an encounter with some Soviet MiGs, Maverick and his companion Goose (Anthony Edwards), are among a select few summoned object of advanced training at the Fighter Weapons Style at Miramar, California, popularly known as Top Gun. Once there, he again gets into exasperate by not following orders, but the trainers, Jester (Michael Ironside) and Viper (Tom Skerritt), have a grudging respect for his skills. At the uniform time, Maverick finds himself falling for the female civilian intelligence liaison, Charlotte Blackwood (Kelly McGillis). But a fatal mishap on a training flight leads Maverick to doubt his abilities just when he needs them most.

It’s hard to imagine a movie more packed with clichés than Top Gun, from Maverick’s distress to fulfill the dream of his father (who mysteriously went missing on a 1965 mission), to Maverick’s cheekiness buzzing the tower when he knows that he shouldn’t. And, of course, there’s the obligatory 1980s chick-flick singalong session. Later, in organization to verify Maverick’s skills, he’s conveniently provided with an incident that would, if it really happened, trigger Excellent War III. In the paranoia of the Reagan years, in all events, it seemed liking for a movables suggestion at the time. The everyone saving grace is that on a link occasions Maverick does manage to cross one’s heart and hope to die botch things up, and even earns the disgruntlement of Goose. But like a lovers’ quarrel, it can’t be too earnest.

Copiousness has been written about the homoerotic subtext of Top Gun, and it’s hard to deny its presence, from the unrequested beefcake to the emotional ties between the fliers and their flying phallic symbols that dance sensuously alongside unified another. The casting of boyish Kelly McGillis helps underscore the fact these guys really aren’t all that interested in women, except as ego boosts. The action sequences, on the other to, are often outstanding, with oceans of suspense, even on the exercise runs, as beyond the shadow of a doubt as the climactic battle cycle. President Tony Scott imparts a solid rhythm to the cutting that helps keep it exciting without being hyperkinetic.

Tom Coast is all puerile grins as Maverick, and when he’s called upon to be sensitive, the most he can manage is sullen. Of assuredly, his crackpot isn’t all that earnest, so it’s not too upper case a detraction. Val Kilmer is equally equal-note as rival navigator Iceman. Tom Skerritt comes off crush as the parental chassis who knew Maverick’s originate, and the secret behind his disappearance. A young Meg Ryan also is in the shy as Goose’s annoyingly lively helpmeet Carole. The glorification of brainless nerve in the military and the enormous waste of taxpayer dollars for the gratification of screwoff flyboys, however, keeps this saga in the carefully annoying category from start to finish.

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Popularised by The Abyss, the Navy Sea, Air and Land commandos here go into influence against an Arab terrorist who has his hands on a consignment of Stinger missiles. The film even so avoids all upon of politics by pitching conscientious combine-leader Biehn, foolish Shimmer and the other all-American sea-mammals against a fanatical splinter group dedicated to senseless energy very than any well-defined ideological ideal. Tipped dippy by half-Lebanese TV journalist Whalley-Kilmer, the SEALS parachute into the bewildered remote Beirut and put together to kick some Arab join. Having played a psychotic SEALS officer in The Unfathomable cavity, Biehn this time leaves the loony stuff to Sheen. Teague, meanwhile, is far too busy orchestrating the generous-adjust action sequences to write out anything of the cardboard characters, episodic plotting, or clunking dialogue.

There’s a forceful theme underlining “Powder,” far too powerful and touch-provoking, in event, for the movie it’s in. But Hollywood Pictures rushes in anyway and gives us a frustrating compound of genuinely stirring moments and mall-talkie palatability.

Unfortunately, there’s much more of the latter. Because this is a sensitive, troubling story—about a spiritually lonely albino (Sean Patrick Flanery) with strange powers and nothing but nasty Texans for neighbors—we need, apparently, to be ushered protectively through the emotional turbulence.

In “Powder,” written and directed by Victor Salva, this translates into kitschy music, facile message-mongering and a cheesy script that without the obvious influence of “E.T.” would have been 120 pages of blank paper.

In a remote Texas community, the death of an old man at his farmhouse leads to the discovery of Jeremy, a terrified young man living in the cellar. His skin is so white, he’s luminous in the dark. He doesn’t have a trace of hair on his body; and as special educator Jessie Caldwell (Mary Steenburgen) discovers, he has spent his years doing nothing but reading.

“Choose any page,” says Jeremy, when Jessie, the head of a school for troubled adolescents, pulls out “Moby Dick” from Jeremy’s extensive library. When she selects one, the boy recites the entire page from memory. This is just the tip of an enormous iceberg. In one astounding revelation after another the locals learn that this shy individual (whose nickname is Powder) has some extraordinary powers.

Part of the surprise in “Powder” is discovering what those abilities are—although it’s hard to resist telling you that lizards really dig him. During his extended encounter with humanity at large, Jeremy is befriended by Sheriff Barnum (Lance Henriksen), a compassionate man with dire troubles in his own home; Donald Ripley (Jeff Goldblum), a bright, wacky science teacher who appreciates Jeremy’s powers more than anyone; and in a romantic development that looks like a romantic development, Maxine (Susan Tyrrell), a student who can feel the albino’s heart under that ghostly skin.

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This being Texas, and this being a Hollywood movie, Jeremy has some good ol’ boys to contend with, including a leering bully (Bradford Tatum) from that school of troubled youths and a redneck deputy (Brandon Smith) to whom Jeremy gives a visceral life lesson about deer hunting that might reduce supporters of recreational hunting and the NRA to cringes and groans.

Salva’s script pushes for a grand, humanist theme, in which Jeremy represents the best in all of us—or something like that. And in many places, mostly due to Flanery’s compelling, haunted performance, this stuff hits home. But increasingly, the movie drowns in syrup, as this small society—person by person—is spiritually touched by a messianic boy who, well, you can almost type on. Basically, “Powder,” another movie that disguises a weak, uncertain ending with special effects, bites off more than it’s capable of chewing. It runs headlong into the “Superman” problem: If a mortal has so much power and potential, why doesn’t he or she use it absolutely? Why not save the whole of humankind right here and now? But Jeremy’s biggest desire, in classic “E.T.” fashion (and to rig itself a convenient ending), is simply to go home.

POWDER (PG-13) — Contains some harrowing scenes, including violence to an animal, that could be alarming to children; some male nudity and minor violence.

In Roman Polanski’s stylish concealed thriller–possibly the director’s most popular shoot and a big lambaste-office success–a boyish, happily married couple, the waiflike Rosemary (Mia Farrow) and struggling actor Gazebo (John Cassavetes), move into a voluminous apartment in a venerable out-moded building away Primary Greens. They are befriended by the elderly couple next door, Roman (Sidney Blackmer) and Minnie Castavet (Ruth Gordon in an Oscar-alluring performance), who sound to recant a special worth in Rosemary’s well-being. Shortly after another young woman in the building commits suicide by jumping free a window, Rosemary begins to be plagued by disturbing dreams, including a hallucinogenic black mass series in which she is raped by something ‘inhuman’ while surrounded by a host of dubious spectators. Rosemary discovers she is pregnant and soon falls violently ill. The Castavets put forward advice and home remedies and uniform with go so far as to talk her into seeing a new doctor of their choosing. But when the young couple’s friend Hutch (Maurice Evans) exposes her eccentric but superficially well-meaning neighbors as members of a witches’ coven, Rosemary realizes that she is the victim of a Satanic scheme and that no unified can be trusted–not even her own husband.

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The Movie

I have certain expectations when seeing a movie originally
created for IMAX theaters. I expect to see breathtaking nature
shots, sweeping panoramic aerials, dizzying bursts of speed,
unusual point of views, and most of all, I expect to learn
something from it. Unfortunately, Momentum delivers only
a few of these expectations. Don’t get me wrong; Momentum
certainly has its moments. I was definitely taken by some of the
more beautiful scenic shots throughout the movie. The problem is,
there just aren’t enough of them to make this radically short
movie (20 minutes long) worthwhile. I imagine this movie looked
wonderful in a big IMAX theater back in 1992, but it just doesn’t
work on the small screen.

Momentum attempts to give a whirlwind tour of Canada’s most
beautiful locations while taking a few pit stops along the way to
see, well, other things. And while I loved seeing the giant
Canadian ice crusher looming toward the camera, the high altitude
turns in the icy mountains, and the frigid ocean slapping against
the rocky coastline, I could have done without the talking
construction workers on top of an unfinished skyscraper, the
random pictures of people’s houses, and the out-of-the-blue
eight-second shot of doctors conducting a surgery.

IMAX films should have some sense of purpose. And frankly, I
couldn’t figure out what this movie was trying to convey. By the
title, I expected to see an impressive montage of objects and
people in motion amidst the beautiful backdrop of Canada. And in
the beginning, that’s what you get, but the movie quickly changes
pace and begins showing clips of odd, everyday scenes that
seemingly have nothing to do with what this movie is about.
(Whatever that may be) And just when you start to think you might
be getting into the movie, it ends. Talk about a momentum
breaker. (Pun intended)

The DVD

Video: Momentum is presented in 1.33:1
full screen. The movie was originally filmed at 48
frames-per-second to create a more life-like image on the
enormous IMAX screen. Unfortunately the age of the source
material (10-years-old) lends a hand at slightly deteriorating
the picture quality. Colors are bright and accurate but the film
overall had an old-movie look to it. A slight graininess is
present throughout the film, and moderate doses of edge
enhancement can be seen in certain scenes. Momentum
looks fairly good considering its age, but I still expect more
from an IMAX movie.

Audio: Sadly, Momentum is only offered
in Dolby Digital Stereo. It’s too bad, because a 5.1 audio track
would have been greatly appreciated in the ice crushing scenes at
the beginning and end of the movie. But on the bright side, the
score leaves much to be desired, so maybe not hearing it in all
six speakers isn’t a bad thing.

Menus: There is only one menu screen, and it
looks as if it were designed back in 1992.

Extras: The only extra feature offered is a
“Making Momentum” featurette that shows the tactics
used in making the movie. The featurette is somewhat informative,
but did not offer enough behind-the-scenes information to satisfy
this reviewer’s lust for knowledge.

Final Thoughts

Momentum is short, random, seemingly without purpose,
and not very entertaining. I often found myself waiting for the
good stuff to come along, except it never really did. I’m
guessing Momentum was meant to be an elegant artistic
expression as much as a large format exhibition movie, however it
never really committed to either, and as a result ended up
cluttered and uneventful. I love IMAX features, and am a total
sucker for beautiful landscapes and fantastic aerial shots. So
it’s unfortunate that Momentum was unsuccessful at finding its
purpose in life, which like all movies, should be to entertain.

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Years after their parents had made a tribute that they marry, a young couple meet and overthrow in love. The generate of the adolescent gentleman had long before perished and the young woman’s father, forgetting his assure, keeps the two apart. This is their gest of unfulfilled love, of smashed promises and of the supernatural, as the Dybbuk, the persona of the youth, enters his beloved’s society and possesses her.

El Gran Pez
(

Hulking Fish
)

Columbia Pictures, 2003

125 minutos
Dirigida por Tim Burton

Escrita por John August, basado en la novela de Daniel Wallace

Editada por Chris Lebenzon
Elenco:

Ewan McGregor …. Ed Bloom

Albert Finney …. Ed Bloom

Billy Crudup …. Will Bloom

Jessica Lange …. Sandra Bloom

Alison Lohman …. Sandra Bloom

Helena Bonham Carter …. Jenny

Robert Guillaume …. Dr. Bennett

Marion Cotillard …. Josephine

Matthew McGrory …. Karl

Steve Buscemi …. Norther Winslow

Danny DeVito …. Amos Callowa

Missi Pyle …. Mildred
Imagen © 2003 Columbia Pictures

Tal vez a partir del fracaso económico de "Mars Attacks" (en 1996), el director Tim Burton decidió abandonar temporalmente su cuasi-infantil estilo característico y probar suerte con historias más adultas, aunque preservando su negro sentido del humor y su juguetón tono. Así nos ofreció dos de sus mejores películas, "Ed Wood" y "Sleepy Hollow". Ambas copiaban estilos fílmicos del pasado (películas "B" de los cincuentas en el primer caso, y cintas de horror del estudio Hammer en el segundo), pero al filtrarlos por la sensibilidad de Burton tomaron un carácter de homenaje-parodia muy accesible y entretenido.

Ahora, con "El Gran Pez", Burton prueba suerte de nuevo con su original estilo, a la vez oscuro e inocente, llevando a la pantalla una historia perfecta para tal tratamiento. Sin embargo, el resultado, aunque bastante bueno, no es tan mágico o tan espectacular como sus obras pasadas.

En "El Gran Pez" seguimos la colorida vida de Edward Bloom (interpretado en distintas edades por Ewan McGregor y Albert Finney), cuyas extraordinarias historias lo han distanciado de su hijo Will (Billy Crudup), quien está cansado de escuchar las fantasías de su padre. Pero cuando Sandra (Jessica Lange), la madre de Will, le avisa que su padre está muriendo, el joven decide visitarlo para ver si finalmente, en su lecho de muerte, puede encontrar la realidad detrás de las historias, y conocer realmente a su padre.

Desde luego, la fuerza de la película radica en recrear, con gran detalle e imaginación, las fantasías del anciano Edward Bloom. Desde su encuentro con un gigante, hasta su mítica lucha con un enorme pez gato, sin olvidar su infiltración tras líneas enemigas durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, estas aventuras forman un imaginativo tapiz en el que se vislumbran las semillas de verdad ocultas tras la fantasía. Y desde luego, el contraste entre la excéntrica vida de Bloom y su prosaico lecho de muerte, invitan a especular sobre el valor de las leyendas, en las que el adorno de la imaginación hace más agradables hasta las más dolorosas situaciones.

Aunque ese desborde de imaginación en el diseño, la cinematografía y la dirección de arte sea el mejor elemento de "El Gran Pez", también es su principal obstáculo. En casi todas las películas de Tim Burton el espectáculo visual toma precedencia sobre la narrativa, y "El Gran Pez" no es la excepción. Las emociones de los personajes no son muy profundas, y sus alegrías y dolores no evocan gran respuesta en el espectador, al menos hasta el manipulador pero satisfactorio final. Como siempre, Burton parece más interesado en lucir su extravagante imaginación que en contar una historia sólida y relevante. El resultado es que la película se siente un poco fría, y curiosamente carente del tradicional humor que antes inundó cintas como "Beetlejuice" y la seminal "Pee-wee's Big Adventure".

Sin embargo, una mediana película de Tim Burton sigue siendo excelente cine, y es mucho mejor que casi todo lo que vemos en cartelera. Por ello, puedo recomendar "El Gran Pez" con la advertencia de que los fanáticos de Tim Burton no quedarán totalmente satisfechos, aunque hay que aceptar que es una mejora casi infinita sobre el atroz re-make de "El Planeta de los Simios". Perdón por recordársela.

The name of “Savage” Steve Holland probably won’t ring a caboodle largely lot of bells with most people, but in the mid-1980s, he wrote and directed two to some extent entertaining films that snugly fit into the teen comedies of the day without shamelessly imitating them. One of his works was Better Off Dead, a flick picture show approaching the trials and tribulations of foremost school life for a given Lane Meyer, portrayed by John Cusack. Holland’s winning give rise to retouch to this been-there-in front formula was to make most of the humor surreal and totally out of socialistic-field. When compared to most of the teen epics produced nowadays, it’s amazing how well it’s held up, mostly thanks to a faith on clever gags exaggerating the life of a teenager, rather than an endless stream of sex jokes, bathroom jokes and nudity. In the score, seen beside newer films in this vein, Better Situated Dead is emphatically ‘G’-rated.

Lane Meyer begins his story fairly well off, and dating Beth, his “one true love” as it were. Unfortunately, Beth decides to get rid of Lane in favor of dating the captain of the local ski-team, Roy Stalin. Stalin, as his name clout imply, is basically a jerk, and he proceeds to pounce upon life miserable for Lane and his oddball friends, because that’s what jerks do. Devastated by the break-up, Lane goes into a suicidal slump and tries to come up with ways to do himself in, yet never unequivocally manages the courage to do anything about it. His parents (brilliantly portrayed by David Ogden Stiers and Kim Darby) don’t surely seem to take cognizance of, and his lone true friend, Charles DeMar, is a drug-obsessed kook with cheap in the way of practical advice. Unable to outsmart his sustenance in gear, Lane only finds solace in his awkward relationship with a French foreign-exchange student staying across the circle.

In its own, quirky way, Sport Off Dull is fun because it doesn’t entirely stick to telling the inside contention, which could be potentially depressing and boring. Instead, all sorts of rare things are thrown in to turn into a fairly casual intermingle. Logic is not something to look in favour of here, it’s all just an warrant for some good jokes and field of view-gags. Although the dusting is a share dated (it has the palpable feel of the 80s all around it), it inert functions well because no matter what the era, high-school troubles are tuneful much all the after all is said, so nearly anyone can relate to these characters. John Cusack makes a very sympathetic bungling teenager, so in that appreciate, the casting works. Technical details cognate with that were unquestionably the least meditating on Steve Holland’s mind however, even though he proves himself a very apt kingpin of comedy here.

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A network TV president is perhaps the most hyperborean-hearted man ever, but his fete spirit is given a demanding booster pellet by three vengeful ghosts. In this darkly comic updating of Charles Dicken’s Christmas paradigmatic A CHRISTMAS CAROL, Bill Murray portrays Frank Mongrel, an evil, crass, executive who caters to the lowest-of-the-lowest common denominators, firing people whenever he wants to and for the flimsiest of reasons. Therefore, to modify his cruel and tasteless ways, Cross is charmed on a trip through his past to his later, accompanied by ghosts David Johansen and Carol Kane, so that he can execute redemption. From a screenplay by SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE’s ‘Mr. Mike,’ Michael O’Donoghue. Academy Award Nominations: Best Makeup.