Aaron Russo’s documentary, America: Freedom to Fascism is now available on DVD at his website: FreedomToFascism.com. You can also watch it for free on Google video.
While the first half, having to do with the income tax law, is debateable, the second half has very important info about the national ID card and RFID tags.
If you see only one period drama involving magicians, see The Prestige. This is one of those films you need to see early before someone spoils it for you by revealing the secret.
1. Brick
2. Inside Man
3. Day Watch
4. Night Watch
5. Howl’s Moving Castle
6. The Departed
7. Crash
8. Uzumaki
9. The Prestige
10. The Chronicles of Riddick
I had to think about this one for a few days, whether or not it made the list. But I think the fact that it has gripped my mind for so long tells me something. I ordinarily do not like straight out horror films, but there is something about Japanese horror films which lure me. They never try to pretty them up. Sometimes, as in Ju-On (The Grudge), they are a straightforward account of inevitable doom. There is no mystery to be solved, no way to fight the darkness, no way to win. *That* is horror.
That’s what Uzumaki is. But it also manages to throw in humor, imagination, and a puzzling entity that engages the mind like a David Lynch creation. If I had to pick a favorite horror movie, it would be Uzumaki.
1. Brick
2. Inside Man
3. Day Watch
4. Night Watch
5. Howl’s Moving Castle
6. The Departed
7. Crash
8. Uzumaki
9. The Chronicles of Riddick
10. The Illusionist
1. Brick
2. Inside Man
3. Day Watch
4. Night Watch
5. Howl’s Moving Castle
6. The Departed
7. Crash
8. The Chronicles of Riddick
9. The Illusionist
10. Lady in the Water
I finally got around to watching my copy of Done the Impossible. I guess I had put it off because I knew it would just make me sad, and it did. But it also evoked such wonderful feelings and thoughts. I’ve never been as affected by a TV show as I was with Firefly. I think it is due to the way it resonates with people and connects on this deep level. It’s not just a show. It’s important. It’s art. I can’t fully account for this passion for fictional characters. I feel like I somehow know the actors and Joss, like we could sit down and have a beer. I have these fantasies of winning the lottery and giving the money to Joss so he can keep telling the story.
Too sleepy to say anything other than The Illusionist was beautiful and clever.
1. Brick
2. Inside Man
3. Day Watch
4. Night Watch
5. Howl’s Moving Castle
6. The Chronicles of Riddick
7. The Illusionist
8. Lady in the Water
9. Superman Returns
10. A Scanner Darkly
Last night I went to see “An Inconvenient Truth” with some friends. We were about 10 minutes into it when the movie stopped, alarms went off and lights started to flash. We scurried outside, back into the rain. It had been raining for quite some time. I’ve lived here for around 8 years and I have never seen it rain so much. We huddled under the awning with the other theater goers, wondering what was happening. Some fire trucks had blocked off Central and 1st. TV news crews buzzed around.
John went to investigate. “Guys, you have *got* to come check this out!” We followed him out to the intersection. At first I didn’t know what I was looking for. My eyes tracked down from the train on the bridge down to Central, which seemed oddly level. Then I realized that there used to be a dip in the road where Central went under the bridge. That part of the street was completely under water. The tip of a truck’s roof could be seen poking above the water line. The firemen broke out a raft to paddle down Central River to investigate. Albuquerque isn’t set up to handle this much rainfall and the storm drains were erupting.
We got a refund and went to grab something to eat. The streets were flooded everywhere I drove and emergency vehicles splashed red and white light across the drowned landscape. It continued to rain most of the night.
My back yard is overgrown with plants. The entire city is becoming greener and the sky is often saturated with clouds. Eventually I’ll get to finish watching “An Inconvenient Truth,” but Al Gore is already preaching to the converted.
I’m fairly unobjective when it comes to M. Night’s films. I love the layers of his films, the meta elements, the unconventional approach and often disregard of movie-making conventions.
I have only seen negative reviews of this movie. I wonder what has happened in those reviewers’ lives to prevent them from feeling joy from this film. Or was it his blatant on-screen chastisement of movie critics for missing the point of stories as a primal part of being human which our society has forgotten?
M. Night is a genius. If you’ve never tried to write a story, there’s parts of this film you just won’t get. If you are quick to critique the final act, you didn’t listen to the narrator at the beginning.
I don’t care what anyone else says. This film was beautiful and my heart exploded with joy.
Drey’s Top 10 Movies seen in 2006
1. Brick
2. Inside Man
3. Day Watch
4. Night Watch
5. Howl’s Moving Castle
6. The Chronicles of Riddick
7. Lady in the Water
8. Superman Returns
9. A Scanner Darkly
10. Cars
Scanner Darkly is my favorite Philip K. Dick book and consequently I had very high hopes for this movie. It is the best adaptation of a PKD book thusfar, sticking very close to the source material, unlike Blade Runner and Total Recall. But the majority of my favorite scenes were absent from the film. Strangely, many of the scenes in the book which are mentioned in passing are explored in greater detail while the more fleshed out scenes were completely ignored. The scene with Freck and the being from between dimensions is the only scene in the film that is exactly like the book, word for word.
The most important part of Bob Arctor’s character development was rushed and requires you to have read the book to really understand what happened. The ending comes too quickly so it lacks dramatic punch.
Overall, it captures the ideas and the essence of the book: layers of drug-induced paranoia and psychosis, drug addled conversations, and inevitable despair. I was happy to see they retained Dick’s cautionary epilogue and the list of his friends lost to drugs. Robert Downey Jr. shines as Barris and Keanu Reeves is the old school Keanu, darker, free of the demands of having to be a blockbuster movie star.
Drey’s Top 10 Movies seen in 2006
1. Brick
2. Inside Man
3. Day Watch
4. Night Watch
5. Howl’s Moving Castle
6. The Chronicles of Riddick
7. Superman Returns
8. Scanner Darkly
9. Cars
10. Mission Impossible 3
The more times I see The Chronicles of Riddick, the more I appreciate it. The story is imaginative and quickly establishes its unique mythology. The visual design is incredible, sort of what Star Wars might have looked like had Weta done the sets. Ordinarily, Vin Diesel is decent, but here he completely embodies Riddick in the way that Jackman embodies Wolverine. I don;t know if there are plans to continue the series, but that last scene just kills me and I demand to know what happens after.
Drey’s Top 10 Movies seen in 2006
1. Brick
2. Inside Man
3. Day Watch
4. Night Watch
5. Howl’s Moving Castle
6. The Chronicles of Riddick
7. Superman Returns
8. Cars
9. Mission Impossible 3
10. V for Vendetta