penelope cruz cant be awful

Saw Waiting for Superman yesterday, which is a well made documentary about public education in the US. Many of the ideas explored in the film are hardly new although some of the statistics will surprise some. Also, the discussion of teacher unions is unbalanced, but it does highlight one problem with them: under or non-performing teachers are rarely fired (although, again, this is hardly new). It also shows one example of how local control of schools fails: a student tested as unproficient in Massachusetts can go a few miles south into Connecticut and be deemed proficient on a similar test.

What the film does well, though, is focus on the personalities: teachers, administrators, parents (or grandparents), and children of varying ages. The film culminates with each of the children who have been profiled in detail awaiting lottery results for admission into various sorts of charter schools. Here we see the hopes of the children and parents played out dramatically. Perhaps what the movie does best is dispell the rather tired notion that students fail to achieve because of uncaring parents.

BTW, some have objected that the film is biased in favor of charter schools, but the filmmaker points out early on that only one in five charter schools is effective.

Kioshk,

One of my favorite documentaries of the past couple years. I'm not sure, though, if most can see The Game as a battle between the Yale elites and the working-class Harvard boys.

Yes, I said football elite. Calvin Hill, and Brian Dowling as qb. They were a highly regarded football team at the time.

Calvin Hill was an star for the Cowboys after he left Yale. First round draft pick, I think.

The movie does portray Harvard as having more blue collar types than Yale, but that's secondary to me.

The film, though, plays up the "class struggle," which I did find entertaining.

Calvin Hill is the father of Grant Hill, and Grant's mother was a roomate of Hilary Clinton. I got to see Calvin play on TV quite a bit. I hated the Cowboys because they always beat the Giants in those days.

Also, in case someone doesn't know, the title is Harvard Beats Yale 29-29. One more note for those who don't know: Brain Dowling is BD of Doonesbury cartoon strip fame. Great cast of characters in this film besides those above.

And Tommy Lee Jones played for Harvard. Very cranky in his interview segments though.

Slapshot will never be topped imo.

American History X is on the level with an ABC After school Special. "Racism is baaaaaaaad, mmmmmkay?" Edward Norton was great in it, though.

According to the testimony in Solo's teaching thread, it's nothing so ephemeral as a notion.

Sounds like the movie may be issuing only a partial wisdom.

American History X is just awful. Even the director Tony Kaye wanted no part of it when it was done. By the time the hatchet editing was done, it was an abortion that should have been renamed "Racism Is Bad." Edward Furlong's soliloquy at the end (the Lincoln recitation) is particularly cringeworthy, both for the quality of the reading and the fact of it.

In before "But dude! He CURBED that guy! Awesome!"

Machete

I really, really dislike both the source material for this movie (rickety old genre movies) and also tiresome contemporary attempts to pay homage to them. I generally find neither charming, and don't buy the so-bad-it's-good suspension of disbelief so often required to enjoy either.

So it is a measure of Rodriquez skill that I loved Machete. The reason I liked it so much - and I presume this was Rodriquez aim - is because all the things I hate about those genre movies (and homages to same) are "fixed" here. The script, which should be crap, is good. The acting, which should be bad hammy, is great hammy. The action sequences, which should be lame, are awesome. The direction, which should be all over the place, with terrible continuity and awful editing compounding the chaos, is smooth as silk. And the production values, which should be nil, are very high in an effort to make the thing look like the production values were nil.

A couple of highlights. Don Johnson - genuinely creepy and as good as I've ever seen him. Jeff Fahey - a wonderful performance that for me steals the movie. The chicks - hot. The choreography in the fight sequences - elegant. The editing - flawless. de Niro and Seagal - lol.

Not my thing at all, but top marks all round for a very worthwhile and entertaining couple of hours entertainment.

Machete was gold

Show Me Love - Clovis was right this is excellent. There's one brief scene which seemed unnecessarily melodramatic and if you've seen it I think you know what. In a way it's a standard off-beat teen flick but with amazing performances. The two leads really draw you into their world, and the no budget look somehow seems to help. 9/10

i like that one

thank god someone finally backs me up. I ****ing hear that **** all the time about American History X. I point out the pretentious slow motion scenes, the unnecessary cuts to a sunset or water flowing from a faucet, and ppl are like..."i guess but its' such a powerful movie"....

The fact that ppl are praising Social Network as an AMAZING movie (it's fine, it's not ****** but it's not novel, it's actually cliche but well done), as my friend said, America cinema is at a low point.

It's definitely at a low point. Who are the great young directors? Allegedly, Fincher, PTA, Aronofsky? I fail to see greatness. Tarantino is the best we got. Or perhaps Wes Anderson. None of them hold a candle to the previous generation.

Despite American History X, I'm still on the fence about racism.

Yeah, it failed to sway me too.

Great imbecilic ideologies think alike!

In before "But there CAN'T be racism. We elected a black guy, like, PRESIDENT or something!"

My sister has dual citizenship with Switzerland, by the way.

Just sayin.

Imo Remember the titans does a better job than AHX

Whoa

Aronofsky is one of the sickest directors we have, not only is he innovative but he's able to actually tell a story while being creative w/his visual effects and/or editing, which is a fault a lot of indie directors have.

Tarantino - sorry, shotting middle, beginning, and then end doesn't make you gifted. He gets big points on dialogue

Fincher - I don't really have much to say except that he's just really solid, he shoots movies well

You forgot the coen brothers, as much as I love love love aronofsky, I think Coen brothers are the best american directors we have.

Christopher Nolan - If you were to ask me who'd be most likely of pulling off an epic like the Godfather, I'd say Nolan. I think he needs work on his dramatic timing but otherwise he does an incredible job of telling a complex story

Coen bros are from the previous generation. There are quite a few great American directors, it's just that all of them are older than 50.

Also I don't like anything Aronofsky has made.

Cat People

The original. The dialogue is very clunky, the acting is quite old fashioned, and I bet it was even when it was made, and the plotting is weird.

But hell Simone Signoret is hot. And the walk in the park, and the swimming pools scenes are terrific. The monochrome stock and framing is glorious. I really enjoying it, despire the shonky dialogue.


7.5/10

gah I meant simone simon! Curses, the French have put one over on me

Had no work today so I saw a lot of movies between last night and today.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Bowling for Columbine - Say what you will about Michael Moore, he raises an important issue and lots of great questions about the gun problem in America. Hard to believe this movie was like a decade ago and we're still sitting on 10K gun murders a year.

Minority Report - Another Spielberg classic, and Tom Cruise's last good movie before he lost his mind. I do find the sentimental ending flawed. What about the crooks that got released, all the lives Anderton may have cost as a result? What about Anderton killing that guy and instead of going back to jail he got to go home and live happily ever after? Spielberg is the best director ever, but his focus on sentimentality comes at the price of logic or coherence.

Alfie - The movie that made Michael Caine famous. This is great for some laughs and occassional drama. I highly recommend it for anyone looking for a sophisticated classic that doesn't rely on cheap laughs, corny dialogue, or explosions.

Also, come on, American History X was great! Preachy, sure, but it still hit a nice dramatic note.

LOL, no. If Mickey Rourke didn't carry The Wrestler almost entirely by himself, few of us would even know who Aronofsky is.