Reviews

This episode includes a scene where Friday and Gannon discuss whether some kids are born sour or not. Then they discuss how parents are giving their kids too much - too soon.

All true - all too true.

Once again Dragnet predicts the future of what was to become of the spoiled "Baby Boomers" - and now we understand why today's teenagers are lost to the world.

Why - we as a society paid attention to Sociologists instead of the Police who had to deal with all the day to day problems in real time - not in some long terms study where you never actually meet the people who have taken the wrong turns in life - is beyond me.

Joe Friday gives one of his best speeches in the history of Dragnet ! Laying out to suburban druggies that no one becomes a drug addict without first starting out on Mary-Jane - seems all innocent at first but then you wake up one morning and all you can think of is how to get your next fix - not a pretty life.

Kudos to the writer for predicting the gradual legalization of Marijuana.

Once again Dragnet predicts the sad future that America has descended

into and sadly seems determined

to descend even deeper into the abyss.

I saw "Margaret" on IFC last night so I don't know which version/edit of the film I saw but it was a longish movie.

I think Lisa, the main Character, should have been slapped by someone at sometime during the film - she is the cause of the tragedy in the film and by her refusing to accept it - until the bitter end - she just creates more sorrow for everyone involved - and told if there is any fault is is your's - your selfish/self-importuned actions led to all this misery. In many ways this film is not that different from the movie based on Prozac Nation.

Adolescents can be Intolerable Moralists - they think they are wiser than everyone else and purer in their morality. Why no one stops treating Lisa like a young adult and rather as the child she is - proved a stumbling block for me.

Perhaps that is the point of the film - we are not honest with our children and we encourage them to grow up too fast so that we can be less and less responsible for what they do and think, and they, thinking they are wiser than the adults around them, do whatever their impulses bring them to do, and then they blame anyone but themselves when the world does not turn out to be the way they think it must be and must treat them...

The Teaching of "Lear" and the Reading of the poem "Margaret" plus the teachers being 'Friends" with their students is highly indicative that many "Upper West Side Liberals" think/believe that you can treat teenagers like adults - but wisdom only comes, if ever, with age and humbleness and finally humility - usually after great suffering in life -not something you are likely to find much of in an "Upper West Side High School."

Personally the best scene in the movie was when the male student - during the discussion of "Lear" and the lines: As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods... offers the view that perhaps God, having a Universal View has more wisdom than we mere mortals and as such we should not be so sure that what we humans call evil is as purely evil as we insist in our attempts to avoid accepting our own selfish faults.

So it makes you think - this movie "Margaret" but less of "Lisa" screaming and bursting into tears again and again and again would have helped.

This is a difficult film to watch.

Hats off to Ms. Ricci for her performance and to Jessica Lange.

Perhaps because the film concentrates on her first year of College at Harvard the viewer has a difficult time sympathizing with main character - as we are only given a character far too full of herself and far too sure that the entire world is composed only of supporting actors to her Oscar, Emmy and Tony award winning life and desperate to only say brilliant lines all the time.

It would have helped if the film had made us feel how manic/depression can be relentless in driving the person to do or not do what any sane person would do without question - before Ms. Ricci character savages those around her and her life.

I could not decide if Ms. Ricci's character was in need of immediate good therapy or good therapeutic drugs or a Good Slap or a positive combination of all three. I have to admit a Good Slap and a Summer spent doing good hard farm work - which exhausts the body and thus rests the mind - might have done her the best good.

Unless a Billionaire offers to spend $ 1,000,000,000 to let Paul Thomas Anderson to make an epic - you will never see another film like this again.

Elegantly filmed, an excellent Drama and with Cinematography next to none - this is the Epic of Epics.

I saw L of A when it first came out at one of those theaters that had the curved screens and I was seated in the middle of the front row. I thought I was going to die of thirst from being trapped in the middle of the desert for over 3 hours.

A story of the scope of an Idealist and Courageous young man who paid a terrible price to free the Arabs from the Ottoman Turks only to see France and Britain put their interests ahead of all others at the end of World War I.

Dear Reader, Answer the following Question - no hedging: Do you believe that our existence is due solely to random events or the mysterious hand of our Creator.

How you answer that question may well preview what you think of Terence Malick's latest film: The Tree of Life.

Does anyone remember how strange life is after we are born ? Two large beings seems to fuss over you and perhaps smaller beings or older larger beings take an enormous amount of interest in you. And no one places any expectations upon you.

Slowly you begin to develop the ability to walk and talk and then you can choose to go where you will and say what you will.

But as this happens you are less and less fussed over and more and more expectations are placed upon you. Suddenly there are "Consequences" for what you choose to do and say - either nature warns you or parents and teachers correct you.

At some point in life you go from just being here to wondering if there is a why behind your being here and purpose to why you are here. Meanwhile you keep having to make choices for which you are increasingly held responsible.

The near Eden of Childhood disappears far quicker than any child could have imagined and we are left in a world where sorrow and joy are interwoven in ways we cannot neither unwind nor avoid.

If we look through a telescope we see what once was and if we look into a mirror we see what is and if we look at our aged parents we see what may well be.

So those who believe in nothing but atoms are surrounded by at best temporal meaningfulness of the most airy kind.

Those who believe that there is a kind and loving but stern hand guiding all that is are left knowing that to forgive and accept forgiveness so that one might love and be loved are the only lessons of childhood that we all needed to learn and the only lessons to be applied if there is an afterlife which all the characters in this magnificent film truly and solely hope for.

In this election year, where so much idealism is attached to one of the candidates, it is poignant to watch a film that warns us not to make an idol out of anyone running for public office.

Luke Eberl is the writer and director of "Choose Connor". There are significant parts of the film that reveal that he is a 'genius' when it comes to telling stories via the cinema.

Go see this movie before the election and then ponder why and for whom you will cast your vote.

Let you eyes be opened like those of the young protagonist.

A mix of "Citizen Kane", "Advise and Consent" and "Paths of Glory" by a young director as talented as those who made the films listed above.

When I first went to school, I had to cross several streets to get there. We were warned by our First Grade Teacher to: Stop, Look and Listen before we crossed the streets. We were also warned to never run with scissors.

Likewise, in "Running with Scissors" you really have to stop what you are doing - no reading the newspaper, magazine or book - put those all down, no arguing with anyone in the family - just pay attention and Look at the lives of the characters for what they choose to do and for what is chosen to happen to them. Then Listen to how they sing their part in the chorale that is humanity while all the characters not only run but dance with the sharpest scissors in the drawer.

Marvelous acting by Brian Cox and Annette Bening as usual. Joseph Cross is the part he plays.

Excellent directing/writing by Ryan Murphy. Wonderful cinematography by Christopher Baffa and superb editing by Byron Smith. The choice of songs used to express what is beyond expression is as good as I have ever heard/seen in a movie.

I saw the last 20 minutes of this film and was deeply moved and when I watched the whole movie I was even more deeply moved.

Sean Penn is beyond excellent in the film and the directing/cinematography/acting/music are all superb.

What do you do with what remains of your life when one part after another begins to unravel and every time you attempt to tie a knot to prevent any further unraveling you find that you have only unraveled more of the few remaining threads you had left to make that new knot ?

If you have never felt defeated by life and if you have never been unemployed and helpless and hopeless with more time on your hands than anyone could know what to do with - this movie may not appeal to you - but if you have been to the depths and driven by thoughts that you don't fully control - this movie captures that drowning darkness.

We may all have Richard Nixon's in our lives - even Richard Nixon had Richard Nixon in his life - some of us seek to assassinate the Nixons in our lives and some of us seek to assassinate our own selves and some us seek to do assassinate both - however, few of us ever succeed and that may well be a profound blessing that few of us ever recognise.

I saw the last three minutes of this film at 6:00 in the morning getting ready to go to work.

Keenu Reaves was actually acting and has his best lines since My Own Private Idaho and Parenthood.

The film draws you in and before you know it you care about deeply about a teenager who, on medicine, takes himself more seriously than anyone has a right or ought to.

Maybe we are all a little lost in life and maybe we all need someone to lean on and maybe a little more humbleness would go a lot farther than anything than I or anyone else can think of.

The world is a scary place if you sit down and think about it and if a little thumb sucking helps you get through the night well - why not.

I saw this movie for the first time at 12:30 in the morning.

I did not go to bed until it was over and then watched again the next time it was on.

Excellent acting, interesting plot, great cinematography and wonderful pacing.

Too close to the truth about suburban teen life.

Are some parents really that disconnected from their children's lives ?

Are some teens really that close to socio-pathology ?

Are drugs that prevalent ?

Does anyone ever do their homework ?

Great script.

Check it out before you check out.

Are there people who are more evil than the rest of us ? Are there people who are more good than the rest of us ?

Lord Longford, upon whom this movie is based, spent a good deal of his time trying to help prisoners in England. He eventually takes up the cause of Myra Hindley, who along with Ian Brady was convicted of torturing and murdering children children in the Manchester area of England and burying their bodies on the nearby Moors in the early 1960's.

Longford, himself a convert to Catholicism, believes that Myra, having returned to her childhood Catholicism, has the right to be considered to being paroled and petitions/protests upon her behalf.

Longford seems somewhat naive in his dealing with those who are more inclined to evil than he is, but he is not naive about how egotistical humans can be.

The acting and writing are superb - only wished the film had been longer so that we could understand Myra and Ian more, if that is possible.

Write what you know, or if you don't, write what your next door neighbor knows. For those artistic types out there who might believe in Purgatory or are at least curious about it - this is the movie for you - in this movie none of our past sins are forgotten or forgiven until we accept them as ours and ours alone.

Mental Note to all writers - make sure you have at least one other work finished to the polish you like before you head out to sell your first work, otherwise the pressure might lead to writer's block.

Alas, this is what happens to Barton Fink when he heads to Hollywood to see if he can make some quick money. There he meets a most famous writer, the head of the studio, one of the producers, the love interest and co-writer of the famous writer, and a very honest next door neighbor who sells insurance among other things, not to mention two L.A. detectives straight out of noir.

Brilliant Script, Brilliant Acting, wonderful cinematography.

If you like Hollywood in the 1940's and believe that all forms of pride will and must be thoroughly cleansed for any soul to even begin to be happy and have aspirations of being a screenwriter... buy, don't rent, this DVD and watch it before you go looking for an agent plus riches and fame.

So why do people do the things they do ?

Why after making up our minds to do something is it so difficult for us to change it ?

"Mean Creek" explores the world of teenagers much as Hardy explored the world of Victorian England. Nature is not friendly in either case and humans expect all too much out of life and are rather reluctant to recognise their own selfish desires.

Yet, some deaths are accidental even when intended.

What would you have done had you been the Judge who had to try the teenagers ?

The writing and cinematography are superb - especially for a small film. The acting is extraordinary. One scene where the older brother talks on the phone for what seems to be one continuous shot is remarkable. The other scene is where the antagonist confronts the rest of the teenagers and tells them what he really thinks is exceptional.

As always - the Pacific Northwest is pretty as could be.

Chinatown has only one flaw and that is the ending.

Even with the ending being flawed, this is one of the best movies made since World War II.

The Cinematography, writing, editing, pacing and acting are beyond compare.

Somehow the actual film-stock is not that awful 70's film-stock that marred so many films made in the 70's.

So whomever gave this movie anything less than a 9 - re-think your critique.

I won't say anymore.

'Capote' is an excellent film, in some ways as excellent as 'To Kill a Mockingbird', in that it makes you think about how we, personally and as a society, attempt to brush under the rug the disturbing events that force, if not indeed blast, their way into our lives.

Truman Capote becomes captivated by the senseless murder of four members of the Clutter family in November of 1959. He travels to Holcomb in Western Kansas with his good friend Harper Lee (Truman Capote was the inspiration for the character Charles 'Dill' Harris - the overly precocious and fey - Summer friend who lives next door to Jem and Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird) It is Harper who is able to allow Truman to enter into the world of Holcomb and after a time - Truman is questioning any and everyone he can about whom the murderers might be and why they would kill the Clutters. After the murderers are arrested - Truman befriends them and begins to write the book that will become 'In Cold Blood'. 'Capote' captures the strange relationship between Truman and Perry Smith - one of the two convicted murderers whose life resembles Capote's except - as Capote states: He walked out the front door of their mutually dismal upbringing and Perry walked out the back.

The book 'In Cold Blood' brought Capote the recognition he long sought but at what price.

Beautifully filmed and written. The acting is superb and Philip Seymour Hoffman is the incarnation of Capote - which should win him an Oscar - but since Capote is a small film it may not garner the support it so deserves.

One suggestion the film's final shot might have been a long shot of the broad Kansas horizon - (imitated by Manitoba's vast skyline) slowly closing in on the Clutter common grave where Kansas Bureau of Investigation detective Alvin Dewey coincidentally meets Laura Kinney. Dewey is there to visit a family member's grave and Laura was there to visit Nancy Clutter's grave - they were best friends and had planned on going to the University of Kansas together. Then a slow pull back capturing the wind as it blows over the high plains and events that can never be taken back. (This is how the book 'In Cold Blood' ends.)

If you have ever worked in Hollywood (alright Burbank)then this movie captures the insanity that sometimes leads to great movies or watered down movies or even movies that never should have been made - which, unfortunately, are most of the movies made.

It is all there, the Agent who promises everything and delivers nothing, the Producer who just can't leave a movie alone, the forgetting of friendships in order to rise higher on the ladder of stars and the endless number of meetings and promises (broken and kept)that lead to only further frustrations.

The Cast is right on the target, the writing is superb and the actors deliver.

Before you go to Film School, before you move to Hollywood, before you sign that first deal - see this movie so that the tears that you will shed over Hollywood will at least be lighter.

Emily Longstreth is simply lovely as Susan, Nick's girlfriend

Zero Day leads you to think, even re-think why two boys/young men would do what they did - commit mutual suicide via slaughtering their classmates. It captures what must be beyond a bizarre mode of being for two humans who have decided to withdraw from common civility in order to define their own/mutual world via coupled destruction.

It is not a perfect movie but given what money/time the filmmaker and actors had - it is a remarkable product. In terms of explaining the motives and actions of the two young suicide/murderers it is better than 'Elephant' - in terms of being a film that gets under our 'rationalistic' skin it is a far, far better film than almost anything you are likely to see.

Flawed but honest with a terrible honesty.

The technical aspects of the film are fantastic, however the acting and the writing, or at least the delivery of the lines, leaves much to be desired.

Perhaps time was short or money was short or both were short or perhaps the actors and filmmakers are all friends and so a critical eye was not cast on the acting/timing.

However, in order to make such a technically fine movie there must be talent in abundance, just a question of letting it flow freely.

You are left wondering, at certain times, alright more times than not, why someone does not just grab the gun from someone else, or at least run a bit faster when they are fleeing for their lives, instead of strolling away while the would be killer is after them.

It seems as if rich NYU film school kids were down in Costa Rica and said: "Hey! Let's make a movie about money laundering and over-development of our tropical paradise !" But the technical aspects were of such a high standard that you know there is true talent there but something essential was missed, perhaps, by accident.