Review: The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker is like no movie I’ve ever seen, which is exactly why it’s such a moving and powerful film.  It’s a movie about the current war in Iraq, but it’s not a heavy-handed political documentary.  The Hurt Locker is a war movie, but not in the sense that it relies on shock and awe to entertain.  The film illustrates the emotional toll of war on three very real characters.

Directed by Kathryn Bigelow and starring three relative newcomers (Jeremy Renner, Brian Geraghty, and Anthony Mackie) the film follows an elite bomb squad during the final 40 days of their Iraqi tour.  Sergeant James is the newest member of the squad.  He is wild, reckless, perhaps a little sadistic, but damn good at what he does: dismantling roadside bombs.  Rounding out the team is Sergeant Sanborn, confident, orderly, and slightly dismayed by his unruly new recruit.  The third squad member, Specialist Eldridge, is a foil to James and Sanborn.  Eldridge is young and scared, petrified by his surroundings and haunted by the realization that his life, and the life of his fellow soldiers, hangs by a very thin thread.

The movie follows the squad as they risk their lives traveling around Iraq to dismantle various bombs, all the while being stalked by clandestine Iraqi fighters, snipers, and suicide bombers.

The movie is so weighty because of the non-partisan manner with which is examines the war.  There is no political showboating here.  This is a story about three men and the very real dangers they must disarm.  The movie elucidates the turbulent plight of servicemen who live and die in a world that is beyond most of our nightmares.  The film captures this with stunning realism because it was penned by Mark Boal, a journalist who spent time embedded with an actual bomb squad in Iraq.

Brilliant cinematography gives the movie its suspenseful knockout punch.  Barry Ackroyd, a documentary filmmaker by trade, deserves much of the credit.  His style gives the movie a palpable tension.  The action sequences are filmed with an intense and frantic ferocity.  My knuckles turned white every time Sergeant James donned his armored suit and I flinched with every snip of his wire cutters.

The Hurt Locker is not to be missed.  This is easily the best movie yet about the Iraq War, and quite possibly the best war movie in a decade.  Look for a Best Picture nomination or Best Director nod to Kathryn Bigelow.  9 out of 10.

SEPTA Men

I wrote the following while riding on the Broad Street line.  I was practicing description, and both of these men caught my eye.  Enjoy.

Northbound:
His shoes resembled the footwear of a third-world bazaar merchant.  Primitive flip-flops, two black faux leather straps crossing his foot to form an “X”.  This left his toes exposed to the world.  His toenails were haggard: jagged, jutting and crooked, with a sickly opaque yellow hue.  They looked like the teeth of an Appalachian bumpkin.

Southbound:
He wore black orthopedic walking shoes.  His pants were black as well.  He sat with his arms crossed across his chest and a tense expression on his face.  Lacking teeth, his cheeks looked hollow as he glanced out the window, ruminating the world.

Review: Moon

Moon is a dark, psychological sci-fi film starring Sam Rockwell, brilliantly written and directed by newcomer Duncan Jones.

The story, a tale of isolation and exile and their impact on the human psyche, is set in the not-too-distant future (my favorite time period).  We follow Sam Bell, an astronaut/engineer for Lunar Industries who has signed on to a three-year contract as the sole human inhabitant of a remote lunar power plant.  Sam is aided in his mission by the smart-aleck android GERTY (superbly voiced by Kevin Spacey).

Without divulging too much of the  plot, the story takes an twisted and surreal turn when during the penultimate week of his mission, Sam stumbles upon a wrecked space rover during  a routine patrol.  His discovery alters the scope of his mission and his understanding of his own identity and reality.

Moon uses starkly beautiful sets (reminiscent of 2001) and a haunting score to transport the audience into this lonely, bizarre, and truly twisted world.  Rockwell puts in a powerhouse performance, as he essentially carries the movie on his shoulders.  As a debut film, Moon is a remarkably impressive effort, considering the weighty issues into which it endeavors.

Unlike many recent sci-fi flicks which rely on flashy CGI and/or gun-toting aliens to awe the audience — and often fall short, Moon delivers strong characters, clever writing and expertly crafted story to transcend the genre.  This one is not to be missed, and definitely worth shelling over the cash to catch on the big screen.  8 out of 10.

Review: Brüno

If you don’t know who Brüno is, you really have no place reading my blog.  Scratch that – if you don’t know who Brüno is you could be Paula Abdul (and Paula, if you’re reading this, I’d love a signed copy of “Hey Paula” season one on DVD – e-mail me).

For those of you unfamiliar, Brüno is one-third of British shock-comedy king Sacha Baron Cohen’s comedic triptych.  The world met Borat on the silver screen in 2006, and fans of Cohen are familiar with the character Ali-G from his cult HBO series.  Brüno, arguably the least-developed character of the bunch, is a flamboyant Austrian fashion journalist who dresses in ridiculous get-ups (think Velcro suit or a saran-wrap rain coat) and makes near-constant innuendos to gay sex acts.

Cohen’s latest mockumentary, a successor to the surprise box-office smash Borat (which has made nearly $250 million to date) follows Brüno as he travels from Vienna to L.A. in hopes of becoming “the biggest Austrian superstar since Hitler.”

Brüno and his adopted "gayby"

You can only guess what happens next.  In a series of increasingly outlandish, crude and offensive vignettes, Brüno interviews and interacts with Americans, from d-list celebrities (Ron Paul) to Arkansas country bumpkins.  The results, as expected, are hilarious.

Cohen established in Borat he is the master of the ambush and a brilliant improvisational comic, and Brüno proves no exception. His caustic wit shines through in every scene – at least every scene not involving dildos, bestiality and bondage.  The segment where Brüno interviews the parent’s of child models under the guise of a mock photo shoot are as screamingly funny as they are startling (Yes, my child is comfortable working with lit phosphorous and operating antiquated heavy machinery).  And Brüno’s trip to the middle east (or as he calls it “middle earth”) to attempt to broker a peace deal between Israeli and Palestinian politicians displays Cohen at his blithe best.  Here’s a clip: hummus vs. Hamas

Despite all this, Brüno is lacking some of the pellucid charm which made Borat such a joy.  The theme of Cohen’s facetious brand of comedy has always been to expose the latent prejudices that exist within us all.  In Borat, the theme, xenophobia, was clear.  In Brüno, the theme is much more ambiguous.  It seems Cohen wants to expose the superficial and vacuous traits that permeate the film and fashion industry.  He does a fine job of it, but it doesn’t come across as poignantly as it did throughout Borat.

We get the sense, at times, that many of the seemingly unsuspecting Hollywood rubes are in on the joke. This is not to say the movie is “staged”, as many people are suggesting.  Yes, there were some scenes (e.g. the musical number at the end of Elton John, Bono, Snoop Dogg and Sting) where the victims must have been clued in to what was going on, but this is the catch-22 of Brüno.  Cohen attempts to exhibit how obsessed we are with fame by putting a bunch of wannabe celebrities in front of a camera.  And, as expected, most of these aspiring celebrities seem enthused to go along with whatever this bizarre man wants to do, as long as it will help them get their 15 minutes.  This doesn’t detract from the comedic value of Brüno’s stunts as a whole, but they do come across as less raw than what we witnessed in Borat.  To counteract this, Cohen ups his own shock value by diving headlong into the still-taboo realm of overt homosexuality.  He still knows how to push buttons, and does it well.

The question lingering in my mind is this: what’s next for Cohen?  For one, he’s running out of characters.  With Borat and Brüno checked off, only Ali-G remains unrealized (and yes, I know there was already an Ali-G movie, but is was a straight-to-DVD dud that can’t hold a candle to Cohen’s other gems).  But with the success of Borat coupled with the likely success of Brüno, it may prove difficult for Cohen to operate incognito once again.  Moreover, Cohen is toeing the thin line of overexposure.  He may need a new act lest he be branded a one-trick pony.  I’m not too worried though, as I’m sure Cohen has a few more tricks up his sleeve.

From a technical aspect, director Larry Charles (who also did Borat) does a fine job.

I found myself laughing, from a chuckle to a full-hearted guffaw, for most of the movies scant 86 minute run time.  Brüno proved a worthy successor to Borat, and fans of Cohen should not miss it.  7 out of 10

No caption needed

But please feel free to add your own…

Web nugget: Netflix queue randomizer

I know you’ve run into this problem before: your Netflix queue is full of movies, but they’re clustered together (by genre, director, etc) becuase you added them sequentially.

Real life example — I had three Kurosawa films in my queue, all back-to-back.  Not to knock the director, but I don’t want to watch three of his movies in a row.  I like a little variety.   I had a similar thing happen with blu-ray nature documentaries.  Yes, I want to watch them all, but not in a row.

So you’re faced with this dilema — what do you do?  You could manually re-order them, but the Netflix queue interface isn’t conducive to that, especially if you have 100 or so movies in your queue.  I was about to give up when I found this nifty Netflix Queue Shuffler script.

Don’t be daunted by the fact that it’s a script.  It’s very easy to use.  Here’s how (for Firefox):

1. Follow the link and right-click the “Netflix Shuffler” bookmarklet link (about 3/4 down the page).
2. Save the link to your bookmarks toolbar.
3. Go to your Netflix queue.
4. Click on the “Netflix Shuffler” bookmark now in your bookmarks toolbar.  This will randomize the numbers associated with each film.
5. You will see a Firefox prompt that you need to update your queue for the randomization to take effect.  If the “Update your queue” button in Netflix is grayed out, just click on any of the numbers and it will become functional.
6. Update your queue and voila — random movies.  See below.

Before

And after

Enjoy.

Don’t stop ’til you get enough

A weekend of late-night fun kept me up late Sunday night, which meant I got to catch a one-hour special on the Michael Jackson death investigation.  My favorite part of the in-depth expose: an exclusive interview with Jackson’s onscreen girlfriend from the Thriller video, Ola Ray.  Did she sleep with Michael? No.  Did Michael use drugs on set? Never.  But, she is writing a book and working on an album.

The most intriguing thing I saw during the special was footage from a 2005 documentary filmed inside Neverland Ranch.  In Michael’s bedroom, hanging above his bed, was a recreation of Michelangelo’s “Last Supper”; Jackson replaced Jesus, flanked by Abe Lincoln, JFK, Walt Disney and Albert Einstein (among other) as his disciples.  This is very symbolic, not to say the Michael was more popular than Jesus (we know what happens when you say things like that) but rather as a testament (pun intended) to Jackson’s personality.

Say what you will, but the man had a brilliantly mordant sense of humor, which was, no doubt, shaped by his fame and life in the spotlight.  Jackson had a unique relationship with the press, often feeding tabloids exclusive scoops, complete with photos (e.g. him sleeping in a hypoxic tent) just for laughs.  This seemed to serve a purpose more than keeping him in the headlines between blockbuster albums – Jackson really seemed to get a kick out of the media circus that surrounded him.  Of course much of this came back to bite him, but he never seemed too bothered about the media portraying him as an eccentric.  Perhaps because he was, or perhaps because that is how he wanted to be portrayed.

The most interesting aspect of the whole Jackson saga, in my mind, is how the news of his death spread virally.  I, along with most other people my age, found out about Jackson’s death via Facebook status updates.  In fact, when he died, Jackson nearly took the web with him.  News of his death brought many of the web’s most venerable sites to their knees.  Hordes of users and bursts of activity temporarily broke Twitter, Google, TMZ, Perez Hilton, AIM and the LA Times.  It’s interesting to note Facebook stayed afloat during the flutter of activity.  This phenomena is unprecedented (when was the last time you got an error message from Google?) and adds credence to the social media model.  As the tide of the web changes, people are turning less to traditional hubs like Google and Yahoo, and more to their friends for news.

Russia expels casinos in high-stakes wager

Photo by James Hill for The New York Times

Today the Kremlin shuttered the doors of thousands of gambling parlors around Russia.  As of now, there aren’t any legal casinos in Russia.

Russia is not forbidding gambling forever, the move is part of an effort to rid cities of casinos and regulate gambling to isolated areas.  The Kremlin will allow casinos to reopen, but only in four pre-designated gambling zones.  The problem is these zones aren’t located anywhere near Russia’s major cities — one is in Siberia, over 4,000 miles from Moscow.  Moreover, these zones aren’t ready to open, and won’t be for at least a few years.

Russia doesn’t have the infrastructure in place to connect cities to gambling meccas in the hinterlands, which worries many casino operators.  They fear the segregation of casino’s from cities will severely damage their business and many are already looking to neighboring countries as new havens for business. Historically, isolating gambling hasn’t always had a negative impact on business.  Just look at Las Vegas –100 years ago it was an unheard of town in the middle of the desert.  But whether Siberia can become the next sin city remains to be seen.

So why is Russia closing casinos? The idea to shutter casinos was originally proposed by Vladimir Putin when he was President, but at the time no one took the idea very seriously.  He framed the casino closure are a moral imperative; Putin condemned the one-arm-bandit and the difficulties faced by compulsive gamblers.  But the reason behind today’s decision, analysts speculate, is largely political.  Many casinos in Russia are owned by “entrepreneurs” from Georgia and the Caucus region (I use the quotes becuase the Kremlin claims many casino bosses are linked the Georgian mob). Relations between Russia and its neighbors, particularly Georgia, have soured as of late (to put it lightly) which could explain why the casino measure passed.

In the short term, its hard to see an upside for Russia and Russians.  Halting casinos scraps a lucrative revenue stream: gambling is a $7 billion a year industry in Russia, contributing $1 billion per year in taxes.  Potentially even more damaging is the estimated 400,000 jobs that will be lost.  Russia is already plagued by high unemployment, and Russians won’t appreciate large-scale layoffs created by the Kremlin.  Russia is downplaying the job loss impact, hoping to create many more jobs within the new gambling districts.  But the urban casino expulsion, coupled with the increasingly popularity of Internet gambling, could spell trouble for Russia’s casino industry.  Is it worth the gamble?

Gosh darn it, people like me

Al Franken became the 60th Democrat in the Senate today, securing them a crucial majority in the chamber and virtual immunity to a GOP filibuster…if only things were that simple.  The Dems still have to align their troops, including Arlen Specter (D-R-D, Pa.).

This came after a closely watched ruling from Minnesota’s Supreme Court.  The last major decision to come out of the Minnesota Supreme Court?  The Body v. The State of Minnesota — Jesse Ventura’s controversial Boa Ban.

Al Sharpton, another Democrat and part-time comedian was uplifted by the news.

You learn something new every day

Did you know “The Electric Slide” was originally a reggae single produced by Bunny Wailer?  Check out the absolutely funky 1983 track:

The singer is Marcia Griffiths, and the song is the best-selling by any female reggae artist, ever.  Even better, here’s her cover of the 1982 Three Degrees hit “When Will I See You Again” — written and produced by the legendary Philly soul duo Gamble & Huff :

Had that tune stuck in my head all day.  Hopefully this will exorcise it.