If you’ve got 20 minutes to kill, check out this Kevin Smith clip as he shares his interesting and very funny experiences rewriting the new Superman movie. Previous Superman story post, but Kevin tells it best. (Oh and by way of warning, if you’re not familiar with Kevin Smith you might want to know he’s infamous for his colourful language).
Hit play or go to Link [YouTube]
This clip is from a double DVD entitled “An Evening with Kevin Smith.”
(via The Sneeze)
Last night, just as something fill the evening, we decided to take in a movie. There didn’t seem to be anything that jumped out at me, but then Drew started tossing the idea around about going to see Munich.
At first I was slightly sceptical, just because I didn’t want to go through the gory details of the 1972 terrorist massacre of 11 Israeli Olympic athletes. But what I didn’t know is that while the terrorist attack is a key part of the film, the story is really about the people that go after those involved and bring them to justice one-by-one, and really it’s about so much more than that, but I won’t go into too many details.
It’s such a powerful and memorable movie—in my opinion (for what it’s worth) Munich is Stephen Spielberg’s most gripping film (aside from, of course, Schindler’s List). I’m not usually much for action films, but when it comes to political thrillers like this one, I can’t put a strong enough recommendation on it. In my opinion, this is a must see for everyone old enough to understand the mature content.
$50,000,000 before they really even started, the man of steel is back (movie teaser).
I’ve watched Michael Moore’s movies and read his books. I think he’s not really all he’s cracked up to be – in fact I’m actually very critical of a lot of the ways in which he operates. However after watching the This Divided State movie trailer and the other clips available at iFilm I was so disgusted with some of the people at UVSC, it just made my blood boil!
This Divided State follows the explosion of community protest surrounding Michael Moore’s visit to Utah Valley State College (UVSC) in October 2004. Though UVSC is located in one of the strongest Republican strongholds in the United States, vehement opposition to liberal filmmaker Michael Moore’s visit was much greater than anticipated. Death threats, hate mail, bribes, and lawsuits were all candidly captured on film. Equally surprising, however, was the overwhelming “uprising” of students in support of Michael Moore. Additionally, since the controversy took place in Utah, a heated religious debate broke out as to whether Mormons can profess to be liberal without betraying their religion.
When it comes down to it, it’s not about whether you agree or disagree with Moore’s viewpoint. It is about whether you believe the students have the right to bring him to their school to share that viewpoint.
Also check out the This Divided State official site.
Last night I watched “Million Dollar Baby”. In case you haven’t seen the show, let me just give you a spoiler alert! The theme of this post pretty much gives away the ending.
It was a gripping show and it left me feeling sad but I’m glad I saw it.
After watching the movie, I started to think about my own opinion on euthanasia. I wish I knew more about the laws in Canada so I would know what is the exact nature of the law here, but as far as I know euthanasia is pretty much completely illegal.
I read an article about a month ago in Macleans Magazine that illuminated the fact that in the Netherlands and Belgium euthanasia and assisted suicide are legal. (I was reading it while getting my oil changed and there was more than one article that I never had a chance to finish.)
When my grandmother became sick and was no longer able to remember us, it was a hard fact to face that her life had lost its purpose. She no longer appeared to find joy in anything, but just existed. When she finally came to the end of her life, my family decided not to go to “extreme measures” to save her. I never felt good about it, but there comes a time when continued attempts to postpone death are not compassionate. My family’s decision was to neither end her life early nor extend it beyond reason. Instead we waited for my grandmother’s “natural” death. Her suffering was probably terrible but less in a physical sense than a mental one.
But what about situations where death’s release does not come for someone’s extreme physical suffering? What if, hypothetically speaking, you were put in a situation where a loved one was not only terminally ill but also in tremendous pain?
Or, hypothetically if you were not directly involved, what would you do if someone told you how a member of their immediate family had been suffering from an extreme case of cancer and that in order to stop the suffering, they took matters into their own hands and secretly ended that person’s life?
I agree in principle that Canadian law should be changed to allow assisted suicides and euthanasia under very strict guidelines. It should be doctors or the actual patients themselves fulfilling this task and only when a combination of long-term pain with no hope of recovery are in sight. It’s a slippery slope – I agree, but nevertheless there are situations that call for it. Our current laws sometimes leave people feeling forced into the extreme measures of my hypothetical situations above.
Would you take matters into your own hands? Or in the second situation would you report the person to the authorities? Would you feel guilty about knowing what they did was technically a crime but just think to yourself that the means justify the ends? Would you worry that by not reporting this incident you are (in a way) becoming an accomplice to what the law equates with pre-meditated murder? What if the person ending the other person’s life were a family member, would it make you change your decision?
Million Dollar Baby’s plot is setup in such a way that once Maggie is paralysed, as a human being she may have a range of options, but as a character in the Rocky-style movie portrayed up to this point, she can only wind up two ways. Either there will be a miraculous recovery, or she must die. No other resolution will satisfy the dramatic tension created by her paralysis. In real life there are a myriad of possible solutions including the right to refuse medical care. But in cases where living goes on dispite pain, suffering, and no medical options, and no hope for recovery, what is the best thing to do?
Watching actors take rubber balls, wrenches, and other miscellaneous objects in the face can make for a very entertaining evening. Dodgeball (Apple Trailer | Rotten Tomatoes) opened last Friday and Anna-Maria, her brother Josh, and I took in the comedy at the newly remodeled Galaxy Theatres here in Lethbridge.
Dodgeball does aim low, but it certainly hit the mark with me. There is something about its unapologetically rooting for the über-nerds that make Dodgeball the feel-good, if lowbrow, movie of the year. I should mention that I found Ben Stiller’s performance a little much – ok a lot much at times. His sexual obsession with food crosses the line. Nevertheless the writers are aware that it’s not that great of a movie, but periodically they take advantage of that fact. If you found the advertisement amusing, and like seeing grown-ups repeatedly take real shots to the head from big red rubber balls then I’m thinking you’re probably going to like Dodgeball. I loved it.
The Hobbit
Starring: Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, Liv Tyler
Director: Peter Jackson
Release Date: 2006 Who knows when?
Studio: New Line Cinemas
This is really cool.
CNN’s report on Tim Burton and his new movie, “Big Fish“.
Last night instead of driving home to Canada in a blizzard, Anna, her siblings, and I went to see Peter Pan at the Jordan Commons Megaplex Theater. This Peter Pan movie closely follows the book version of the Peter Pan story. This was the best Peter Pan movie I’ve ever seen – (only Peter Pan movie I’ve ever seen, if you don’t count the Disney Cartoon or Disney’s Hook). I was quite looking forward to seeing it, however I felt a little disappointed when I actually got into the theater to watch it. Perhaps it’s because I’m too old (or to stubborn) to appreciate the idea of a flying boy talking to mermaids and fighting pirates but it seems to me that had I seen this movie at the age of 10 or even 14 I would have appreciated it a lot more. The Action / Adventure aspects of this movie were great but there was more to it than that. There was a subtle Romance / Coming of age story. Being that it was a PG movie there was a surprising amount of sexual tension between Peter and Wendy. The thing is though, that it was all done so discreetly that it’s hard to pin down what it is about the movie that makes one think there even is any sexual tension. Anyway not to go off on a tangent but it seems like a story that someone going through adolescence could really appreciate. I think the reason I haven’t given this movie a better review is that I just saw the Lord of the Rings Return of the King before this movie and frankly the two just can’t be compared and perhaps that is clouding my judgement.
Peter Pan will make a lot of money at the box office, it was sold out for many of the shows here in Utah and we were lucky to find seats once in the theater. If you are looking for a good flick and have already seen some of the other must see movies at the theatre then go see Peter Pan, otherwise just wait for it on video.
The Italian Job is one of those movies that I see the preview and I think no way Jose. But it was at the Movie Mill and hence not the regular gouge you get at the other theatre so Anna-Maria and I went.
The movie, while not by any means plausible, at least didn’t ooze fake-ness, which in my opinion is a common downfall for action movies. I really liked the settings that they chose for this film and with the all-star cast, I couldn’t help but like this film. The computer hacker that can take over the world from his laptop and explosive that seem to cut through buildings with laser like accuracy aside, I enjoyed the action in this film and it’s “Ocean’s 11” style theme of bad guys outwitting badder guys. The settings were great with a boat chase in Venice, some beautiful Italian mountain shots and of course my favourite, the Hollywood and Highland finale.
If you were just on location two weeks before then of course that is going to make any movie more interesting. So I recommend if you can find The Italian Job playing in the cheap theatres, go see it, and if not – then it’s worth the rental price.