esrosedotblog

Today's film is a docudrama.

The docu-part was provided by the continuing saga of the border fight between the US and Mexico.

That is the fight to keep illegals on the other side of the fence. A failing proposition.

Who is Dayani Cristal?

Gael Garcia Bernal produced and appears in the film making it something of a docudrama.

He has taken a lot of critical flack for this along the lines of its being a vanity project.

Well, perhaps, but his portrayal of one man whose bones ended up in Arizona Sonoran Desert, brings the tragedy of the border stories home.

I found the fiim riveting and informative and will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.

This is a side of living in Southern California that most of us here do not want to look at.

I can look out our window and see guys doing the "gardening" for the condo complex and pretty well realize that they are undocumented immigrants. Doing the scut work. Flying under the radar.

I won't go on about the whole mess but it is interesting that this film appeared just as Obama is meeting with our Northern and Southern neighbors. Border issues must be part of the package.

As I do not want to notice who our gardeners are most people in the US are about the same. Out of sight out of mind. But these people are not really out of sight. We just do not see them.

Labels: films

I am looking at many Gael Garcia Bernal films as I can.

Today, the story of the campaign to take down the Pinochet regime in Chile.

No (2012)

Very exciting and informative. In a way Pinochet was an old fashioned dictator so he was naive about the power of television and, as it turns out, television advertising.

Bernal is a creative ad director and designs the campaign for NO, the vote to unseat the regime.

No one expects that the vote is any more than jerking the people off but the campaigners turn it around and it is the end of Pinochet.

Some real news clips are used and while I do not know for a fact that it is all factual, it does not deter from the drama and quality of this movie. A 5 out of Netflix5.

Labels: film

Today, a take on the classic menage a troix.

And, of course, a French film. Director Alain Resnais! I am watching most of his pictures again.

Wild Grass (2009)

A lot of familiar French stars and a beautiful airplane. No symbolism there, huh?

I have seen this before. It is a tour de force with Sabine Azema, Andre Dussollier, Anne Consigny, Emmanuelle Devos andMathieu Amalric.

Quite enjoyable. Nothing bad happens until it does. Beautifully rendered. A 5 out of Netflix5. It does not get old on the fifth or sixth viewing.

Labels: best films, films

Today's film is one of the all time greats.

And it is about "talking pictures" and the problems of voiceovers. Prescient.

Singin' in the Rain (1952)

with Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds and Jean Hagen.

Hasn't everyone seen this already? If not, what's wrong with you? Get to it.

I cannot tell you how many times I have seen this including the first time when it came around.

I was a sophomore in high school

The review at the link by Roger Ebert tells a lot of inside stories of the film and how it was made. And why. It was first developed as a way to recycle songs and sets that the film company owned hence the idea to make it a musical about making musicals. The transition from silent to sound.

Labels: best films, films

Today's film shows the Korean cinema as one of the most adept at unrestrained violence.

And we think we have an obsession with the rough and tough.

Today's film is textbook brutality.

Oldboy (2003)

in which a man is held in a brutal prison for fifteen years then released with no explanation.

The movie is basically about who put him into the clink and why.

When he does find out then, well, the climax of the film is quite worth all the difficult waiting.

I am not sure if this is a primer on violence and torture but it is pretty thorough going.

The larger question is, or might be, why does anyone want to watch a movie like this? Especially enlightened me.

Well, for one thing if it is a well produced story and this one is there is nothing like the value of identification. For example there is a lot of footage based on tooth torture. Who can't identify with that?

I am not sure how this works but I know that there is a strong attraction to this kind of film. I am not the only one.

Part of it is the assurance that the hero is going to get even and in the most graphic way. This because the beginning, the first quarter of the film, is about his suffering at the hands of an anonymous villain. The rest of the film is about his tracking this fucker down and giving him what for.

The thing here is that the violence is in small doses. Teeth. Fingers. There are some big ones but those tend to be death blows.

One other thing. No one in this film is pretty. There is no Bruce Lee. The women are probably beautiful but the men are not. At all. Even the shirtless scenes fail to arouse the homoerotic aspect. Which is such a big part of most martial arts films. Just shy of a boner most of the time.

Look. You either like this kind of shit or you do not and if you do this movie is one of the best.

It made my day!

Labels: films

Today's film was one of my all time favorites.

In Bruges (2008)

Martin McDonagh. Writer and director. Ralph Fiennes,Colin Farrell and Brendon Gleeson are on the run, in hiding, after accidentally killing an altar boy. They were aiming at the priest.

This is all character. And a beautiful city.

I have seen it many times.

A lot happens while they are supposedly in hiding. The chemistry between the stars is wonderful.

The movie is violent and bloody and still has a moral story to tell.

A 5 out of Netflix5. Always something different to see. Never boring.

Labels: films

Today's film is an ultra violent gore fest.

The Man From Nowhere (2010)

This is a great movie with lots of moves. Great fun to watch.

I would not mind seeing it again sometime but I will probably go and see some other movies with this handsome star Cha Tae-sik.

This is all Saturday matinee stuff. I can hear the kids hollering as the action unfolds which it does continually. Non stop.

A 4 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

The Fifties were tough time for gay and lesbian people.

Back then, there were no letters like LBGT and, actually, even "Lesbian" was not a different category for gay women.

So today's film is about the deep closet.

Carol (2015)

There are several levels here. Certainly gay/straight but also older/younger, richer/poorer and educational level.

Cate Blanchett is Carol and Rooney Mara is the shopgirl that she falls in, well, lust with.

Todd Haynes directed and produces a lush rendering of the early Fifties. The movie is great to look at. Dwight D. Eisenhower appears on an old television set.

A sea of autos of the time including the Packard that my father in law drove.

I am always impressed when there is enough money to go all the way with scenery and stage setting. Everything is from the time that I was 16 years old.

I did not know any lesbians, I thought. Turns out there was a couple down the street. I finally figured it out. Duh.

This is a pretty good movie. It lags from time to time and I want to get out and push it. I wouldn't want to see it again but I am happy that I could take it in this time. A 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

It is 2027 and things have not worked out.

England is a huge trash bin, people are in rags, the government is rounding up dissidents which appear to be anyone they can get their hands on.

A right shitty place for Clive Owen to be a good guy.

Children of Men (2006)

Not my usual cup of tea. I don't know why I got this actually. But I am glad I did.

The film by Alfonso Cuaron is beautifully grisly. Things are really bad. A visual overdose of things gone out of control.

But fascinating. It is hard to look away.

I would have liked to FF but I did not. I would not want to see it again. But once was OK as long as I do not have nightmares over it.

Labels: films

Trump has no staff.

A one man show.

As of yesterday, he doesn't even have a campaign manager.

And now, word is that he has no campaign money.

Donald Trump Starts Summer Push With Crippling Money Deficit

Clinton=41Mil, Trump=1.3 Mi

Unprecedented.

Of course, he has no committed donors because his campaign was self funded. So there is no history. No critical mass of money.

And, I suspect other factors. Other than the fact that Trump is an entitled, flaming asshole.

He has no friends and does nothing to make more. He is not seen as a friendly guy. A wise cracker and bully.

Even the evangelicals, with whom he is meeting secretly today, cannot much stand him.

Too bad about that. Now that they wrecked the GOP they are stuck with the lowest common denominator.

The problem with the "religious" test is that old holier than thou attitude. No one passes but the tester. Never mind that most of his supporters are non-religious knuckle draggers.

As for Trump as a religionist, he would have a hard time passing through that proverbial needle. For a lot of reasons. Money just one, the other is his big head.

The Donald is just short of a cartoon character, bigger than life.

They made him by killing all their good kids and now they have him. It couldn't happen to a nicer bunch.

Labels: Donald Trump

Well, it is a dry heat.

121 degrees: Palm Springs breaks record — and it could get hotter

Marcus and I just went out to pee, him not me, and it was hot hot.

The kind of searing hot that actually feels like an oven going down my gullet.

I actually like it. Not on a continuing basis but it is "cleansing" somehow.

Not in the sense of taking a shower. More the opposite.

The humidity is 7% which means that I would not sweat. The cooling is quite immediate.

But dehydration looms just around the corner.

Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.

And don't drive out into the desert at all without gallons of water for the car and the riders. Actually, just don't ride out there.

A breakdown could kill you. Me.

We have had a relatively cool spring and early summer. But if this is to be the norm, all that will fade into memory.

Labels: Palm Springs

Time for a shake up in the Trump camp.

Help Wanted: Trump’s Apprentice: Donald Trump has said he will reveal his choice for a running mate at next month’s Republican convention. “He needs some stability. He needs some class. He needs somebody that people trust,” said Stu Spencer, a longtime GOP campaign strategist. “Anybody of that caliber who attaches themselves to Trump is insane.” Are they? And who will it be? Take a closer look at the unusual hunt to fill a position that, even under usual circumstances, can be seen as a thankless task.

Maybe Trumpf is finding that there are some things money cannot buy. Integrity?

In any case he is a one man band and continued demonstration can only suggest that his "team" by which he probably means "minions" will be full bore surrogates and errand boys and girls for the presumptive nominee.

I have read the stories about the various prospects for the job of Trump-running mate.

I do not notice a stampede toward his attention. In fact, many have said that they are not available. Sometimes clouded with obvious fake excuses but many with a frank "you must be kidding". Professional politicians do not commit suicide. Trumpf of course, is not a professional politician. A blowhard and egoist he has the job of being his most ardent fan club member.

Labels: Donald Trump

There are still some days that I miss my Dad.

He was handsome and wise and loved me.

There were some years that I thought he was not up to par but that was me.

He is still alive in my heart today and that says it all.

Labels: Father

Ravi Patel meets a red headed American woman and falls in love.

All hell breaks loose.

Meet the Patels (2015)

A docudrama featuring the real family.

Written, directed and filmed by the Patel daughter.

this is an American original and the first film that I have seen about Indian assimilation in this country.

It is very well done. The people are fun to watch. They try hard to conform to the old ways but fail at most of the real tests. The Dad is a patriarch with a heart of gold.

I loved it. A mix of animation and live action. Everyone plays themselves but are also aware of the camera. What comes out is a hybrid along with a bunch of love and affection.

A 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

Today was the monthly condo association board meeting.

I am the Treasurer.

Someone writes my report for me but I have to be able to answer questions. If I miss the mark our professional manager(s) are there to help bail me out.

We are in the final phases of some very major overhauls of our "working" papers. The incorporation, the rules, the other stuff that keeps us legal under the acts of California. And also, of course, keeping the people with pitchforks and torches from storming our castle.

We have about 150 owner members. They pay a monthly fee to the Board out of which we disburse funds for common core work. Landscaping, pool maintenance, the professional managers and so on.

There is lot of little shit in the budget.

I sign all the checks for funds outgoing.

We passed our budget for the next fiscal year today. We voted some extra money to remove some trees that the original developers planted right over the sewer lines in some lots.

The biggest issue in front of us right now is that a portion of our land is leased from the local indian tribe. This is quite common in the Valley.

The Tribe has a new leader and has let us know that all the land leases will almost double in the next five years.

While this does not alter the day to day operations it does give some owners a feeling of fear and doubt about whether they will be able to pay the new fees.

We are OK but some people on fixed income may not be.

The new lease will last for 34 years so in one way it is a good thing as it will bolster the resale value of units. Removing the doubt about the land fees and lending stability. The lease cost will be higher hut there will be a limit set.

I am on the sub committee negotiating with the Tribal members who own our land. It is s slow tedious process. They have over 70 stake holders who have to come on board.

But I like the work. I spent my work life teaching negotiation skills as part of our company's offerings. The real world is not always as predictable as the models hope they will be especially when there are so many people on the other side.

In the end it is all done by lawyers but we have to tell them what to do.

This is my second term on the Board and it lasts until the end of 2017. I like the work and could run again. Last time I was unopposed.

In any case, I want to do a good job while I am at it.

I have always done stuff like this in my life. This is not political but it has its political aspects. I do need votes after all. So I play to the crowd that shows up for our meetings. 15-20 people, different each time.

No meetings for the summer, July or August. Everyone takes off. In fact they already have. Those of us who stay are enjoying the quiet.

Labels: condo

Sometimes I have an idea a film is good and then I am taken aback when I find that I am dead wrong.

Seven Psychopaths

is just that movie.

I saw it before. Then I wanted to see it again. What was I thinking?

I do not want to go on and on about it.

One thing, a lot of it is filmed at Joshua Tree National Park at well known locations there.

Otherwise, too violent, too much meta and finally poor use of its actors.

I think this was the last film Martin McDonagh made.

No surprise.

Labels: films

The struggle for gay rights is not over.

Hatred and bigotry still exist.

The Orlando gunman took his warped idea of the law into his own hands because he "saw two men kissing". He was with his son. Outrage ensued.

This is a kind of insanity of course but it is also the product of a homophobic culture.

Why We Should Politicize the Orlando Massacre

...it is only the most privileged among us who have the luxury of divorcing politics from everyday life. Those of us in the L.G.B.T. community know better. Politics is how we won the right to be free from discrimination in government jobs, to have sex without fear of criminal prosecution, to serve in the military, to get married and adopt children. In about 28 states, we are still fighting to outlaw discrimination in employment. And transgender Americans are still fighting for the right to pee in peace.

To think that a mass shooting at a gay nightclub filled with Latinos and committed by a Muslim-American sympathetic to religious extremists is beyond the scope of politics is absurd on its face — you couldn’t dream up a scenario more rife with political implications. But it is especially absurd to those of us in the L.G.B.T. community, whose very existence has been politicized for decades.

Religious extremists are all the same. Christers and Mohammedans alike. The deep conviction that they are right and others are not only wrong but worse, are sinners to be smitten down. Punished.

Beware of the church and its children.

For those who might wonder about the "gay bar", as an institution, read this.

Finding ‘My Most Authentic Self’: What L.G.B.T. Spaces Mean to You

Labels: gay rights

A dying cuisine is brought to life in today's documentary film.

Deli Man (2015)

The American jewish delicatessen is no longer with us except in some prime locations.

The big cities and, as it happens, in Palm Springs. Shermans, a local tradition. They have the photos of the "stars" ate there in the olden days.

There is a lot of culture packed into the menu and the story is told in this overly long film. And told again.

It needs editing but it is till pretty good and will probably make you hungry.

When we lived in Boston there were plenty of delis but the biggest and best was Ken's on Boylston Street.

I was a hillbilly kid from Pennsylvania who had no idea. But as a freshman at MIT I ended up in a dorm with almost all New York jews.

I learned about the food thing fast.

I have never tried to emulate the cookery and that is because the cuisine has to start from scratch. It can be done with out the Kosher designation but the traditions are critical.

Simple chicken soup is not simple in a Deli. Corned beef even more so.

The breads and baked goods even the salads are a world apart. Heaven.

The film is overly long but still worth the time for anyone who has eaten or whited they had eaten in a real deli.

No. The "deli" department in Ralph's doesn't cut it.

Labels: documentary, films, food

Terrorism doesn't seem to get its desired effect, at least not in America.

There’s a Disconnect in Americans’ Worry About Terrorism

The implication here might be that we are dumb fucks who are herded along and that we are totally in denial about life's dangers.

I do not think so.

I think it is more the American "in your face" rebel attitude.

Fuck you ISIL or whoever the hell you are.

The point of terrorism is to strike fear in people's hearts so that they cower and hide and give in to the evil elements that perpetrate these acts.

It does not seem to work here.

People still go to concerts, they still attend ball games, they march in parades. All that.

I remember sitting in London's Heathrow Airport thinking about the lines of fire if some assholes came in and did the bullet spray thing.

I thought about it but I didn't get up from what was an obviously vulnerable spot. I had bought a cup of coffee or something and I was damn well going to enjoy it.

I suppose that there is a disconnect but not of the kind implied. More like "bring it on motherfucker" I am not going to change my life because a few nut jobs pull this shit.

And so on.

A rant from here on left to the reader to fill in for themselves.

Labels: terrorism

Two things to like about today's film.

A lot of Boston and a new Johnny Depp.

Black Mass (2015)

Two things. I liked Depp's performance a lot and I am a long time, sometimes intense fan. I didn't like the Jack Sparrow stuff but that is more me then him.

Second thing, this is Boston. About several well known Boston figures. The Bulger brothers and the prosecutors who finally brought Bulger to justice. It also shows a highly tainted FBI.

I remember these times. I remember the brothers.

It is all pretty accurate.

The scenery is very familiar and well done. The pace is a little slow. I would be willing to see it again though.So a 4 out of Netflix5. For a non-Bostonian maybe a 3.

Labels: films

Today's film is a delightful romp through the life of a hundred year old man.

I fondly remember Mel Brooks portrayal in a famous comedy recording but this surpasses the easy laughs (as good as they were) of that excursion.

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared.

Through great acting skill and wonderful prosthetics, Robert Gustafsson romps through a series of adventures after leaving his boring senior living "home".

This is really a series of vignettes all wonderfully capable of standing on their own. There are a few people and one elephant who travel along with him and that is more than half the fun.

It is over the top. A touch of Marx Brothers and a good dose of our friend Mel Brooks although the story is totally serious and moves straight through to a satisfying end.

I would not mind seeing it again. At all. And that makes it a 4 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

Words fail.

But Frank Bruni, another gay man does pretty well. So I will let him do the work today.

The Scope of the Orlando Carnage

I don't much look over my shoulder anymore. Maybe I should.

There is no such thing as being careful.

When I came out, the gay bars were the safest place to come to.

I won't even get started on what religion does to people and how this is so connected.

Start with the Pope and work your way down to the evangelical underbelly.

Mourning today for people I did not know in life but now know in my heart.

Labels: gay rights, gay violence, muslims

In the old days there movies called "a woman's film".

Most of them were extended soap operas and were, well, weepy. I grew up in the care of an aunt who had these on the radio all day long.

So I know a soap opera when I see it and today's film is anything but.

Two friends, one contracts cancer which turns out to be, well, fatal.

So we know the end of the story in

Miss You Already (2015)

The review also has the story of the film and explains why this is so successful in missing the usual potholes of sentiment.

Toni Collete, Drew Barrymore, Dominic Cooper (so sexy still) and Paddy Considine. Two couples. Then there are kids.

I liked this a lot and would be willing to see it again. I knew how it was going to turn out when I started. As usual with a good film the it is the journey not the destination. The story arc.

A 4 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

They sure kick The Donald's ass.

I was hoping for an aggressive in-his-face campaign.

It looks like she is going to bring it on.

And then this from Elizabeth Warren. Double barreled.

Labels: Hillary Clinton, Trumpf

I didn't watch a movie today.

I just couldn't.

Partly, I was in the middle of a great book. Gay teen romance. So shoot me. I am sunk into these. An entire genré that I only recently discovered.

The teen and young adult ones fill some inner need. Late coming out. Impoverished gay teen fantasies.

I think that I have written about this before.

When I started this blog I used to write about my reading list but I quit as I realized that it was entirely boring to most of my readers.

First of all, and I say this kindly, I sorta have the idea that no one reads anymore. No one I know.

Certainly not fiction.

And that is my meat and potatoes. Non-fiction puts me to sleep fast.

I am a fan of the "good read".

Gay romance fiction is written, I understand, largely for straight women to read. In fact most of the authors, the good ones too, are women.

What is going on here I wonder?

Possibly that women more than men like romance of any kind. And perhaps gay romance is "safer" somehow.

Could anyone explain this for me?

Is this similar to straight men enjoying lesbian porn? I wonder.

Anyway, on films, my life has been filled with movies.

When I was 14 and had working papers I began to usher at a resort movie house that had a new film every day. Maybe three days a week off season.

Features. First quality.

We even got paid to do this. A pittance but still.

I was an usher. Imagine. Ushers in a movie house.

We had a flashlight and would seat people as they arrived after the starting hour. In those days (listen to me--in those days) there were shorts. Always a newsreel (no teevee so this was it), a travelogue, perhaps a cartoon. Then the feature.

The shorts are gone now. Lost to the theaters and gone to television content.

Here we have a short film festival but this is Palm Springs. Highly specialized audience. Not too close to Hollywood but close enough. We are very fortunate although I do not go any more. I cannot stand the people who go. The chatters and the one-uppers. Standing in line for seats.

Introvert. That's me. Do I have to stand up or put up my hand?

So, the internet is my salvation. Netflix my manna in the desert.

Labels: ilms, life

Sometimes the simplest of stories is all that we need.

And today's movie is a very simple story.

Love ended, love begun, love thwarted, best intentions askew.

People Places Things (2015) is a gentle comedy about life after the first marriage. And the kids too.

A cartoonist finds that putting his inner thoughts into his work can help and hurt the life he is trying to lead off the page.

Sometimes this film seems a little unsure of itself. There is an ex wife who is a little too annoying but maybe that is the point.

Perhaps there are too many issues in the air at one time.

But once I sat back and quit asking for more than I was seeing unroll before me, I had a very good time. Light laughs, some sighs and a satisfying ending.

No blockbuster but then they are not based on real life of any kind.

A 3 out of Netflix5

Labels: films

We are earthquake enthusiasts.

Even after all our time out here, it is still a novelty.

You would think that this is a good thing, no big bang.

And, of course it is. But it is not very edgy. I like edgy.

Last night we got a shake and it was a pretty good one.

5.2 quake near Borrego Springs gives the Southland a jolt

I was asleep, John and Marcus were not. I felt the jolt and the after jitters. Of course, so did they.

An event!

Earthquakes happen here all the time. There are earthquake watchers just like the guys who watch for tornadoes and chase them. With earthquakes, there is no chasing. They come right to you.

I am a fan of the USGS website. I would show you today's but it changes all the time. You can go see it if you want. Just show 92262 zip or Palm Springs to see ours. You might be surprised to see that you have some in your own zip.

The very first earthquake I ever felt was when I was out here for a business trip. (I have told this before so humor me. I am old enough to be a story repeater).

I was in my motel room and there was a sudden quake. What I know now to be a moderate bump. I ran outside to see. I don't know what.

There was only one other person out there and he was from the Midwest. Everyone else were in their rooms relaxing. Californians. Just another quake. Yawn.

He and I laughed and went back in our rooms. End of story.

The thing about a quake is that if you are OK there is an after-story. It is when you find yourself on the floor under some wreckage that it is not OK.

In either case, you know you had one. And it is still exciting for an eastern boy.

Labels: earthquake

There is a good movie to be made from the story of the Rudolph Abel/Gary Powers exchange but this isn't it.

Bridge of Spies (2015)

Stephen Spielberg and Tom Hanks conspire subtly to make this an overblown account of real events. But of course, they embellished and embroidered their own shit into it and so we have this too long movie which invites the FF.

I lived through these events and remember some of it.

There were strong feelings.

Now, let me give some positive comments. This is an old fashioned movie. Lighting, scenery, costumes; the whole works are first class. I suppose there is CGI in here somewhere but it would be very hard to find. There is craft in every scene. Some of it breathtaking.

The star of this film is Mark Rylance who plays Abel. He outlines and outclasses Tom Hanks in every scene where they are together.

Most of the others in the film though are too self aware. "I am in a Spielberg film".

Poses held too long, phrasing a bit too swoopy. It is not Shakespeare!

Look I just plain was annoyed by it and would not want to see it again. The fact that I used the FF pushes it down from a 3 to a 2 out of Netflix5.

I hope that someday I might see the film that ought to be made about this history in the Cold War.

Labels: films

I would like to meet this guy.

Martin Creed Unleashes His Demons in ‘Back Door’ at the Park Avenue Armory

The first thing I like is his awareness that "everything" can be turned into art with the proper intention and intuition. That second one is a brute though. To know what will work and what will not.

First, how he numbers the works. And that there is not Number 1 or Number 2.

I also like that he recognizes the place of humor and pranks in good art.

I know it is not hilarious to have someone flicker the lights off while you are in the can but it has happened in ever relationship that I have had and continues to this day. An annoying but somehow satisfying signal that I matter. Or that the other person is here too. "Hello".

I like the idea that "happenings" do not just happen. This is unsaid but look at the examples.

The piano lid that opens and closes is a totally recognizable sound. A mistake when the top stop is not properly engaged. Victor Borge recognized this and it was part of his standard bits in the Comedy in Music series of concerts.

But it is all in the timing. Like turning out the lights and flashing them on again during a critical moment.

I LOLed all through this review.

I suggest that you take a look as well. Fun is essential. So few people have it. My superiority talking because I think that I do. Sometimes I am the only one who thinks so.

Labels: art

Very few book adaptations survive on the screen whether film or video.

I should not have expected much from the CBC production with Lothaire Bluto.

Other Voices Other Rooms (1995).

Truman Capote's first successful short novel. Or novella.

The film is a travesty.

Told in a simulation of Capote's voice the story, slim and thin, is rolled out in one lousy farm after another.

I could not watch it all.

A 1 out of Netflix5. A long time since I have seen this much bad in only 20 minutes before I ended my misery.

Labels: films, gay films

In the old, old distant past, there was a prophet whose name was Marshall McLuhan.

He was a little ahead of his time in a way. Or rather the time was not ripe for his theories to show their full flower.

Now, we can see how right he was with the downright McLuhanesque approach of the Trump campaign.

Can Trump Productions’ Content Be a Kingmaker?

The blanket bombing methods that Trump is using suggests this might be the case.

There is so much of it that parsing it or pulling it apart is very hard work.

Of course, it also fits with the Trump personality. He is a bloviator, a promoter, a bullshitter.

Whether it works or not is hard to tell.

So far it seems that it has. Constant Twitter and sound bites to the always hungry news channels is the key.

The locked up traditional campaigns, careful in where they step, are confounded so far.

Of course, McCluhan is not the only one who saw this kind of bombardment. Think George Orwell. The other thinkers who saw how the Nazis and other regimes could promote the Big Lie.

Trump is also a master of doing the oppo finger pointing at his opponent. For example, wary of being found a liar himself he coins the phrase "Lyin' Hillary".

He is smart. He is focused. He is on his own incidentally. No big bureaucratic infighting campaign staff to stop his unfiltered message.

He is intuitive and his intuition is right on the mark so far.

He knows that you can fool some of the people all the time. The question is whether there are enough of those people and then we have to consider whether we/they would be getting the leader they deserve.

Another possibility is that if he keeps it up long enough he will end up sticking his dick in the wringer. Step wrong, say the wrong thing. Right now his method is to bury his missteps but he can only do that so long.

I hope.

Labels: Donald Trump

Today's film is a brave attempt to sidestep oppressive rules.

Jafar Panahi's (2015)

This is a documentary made by a banned movie maker which uses the arbitrary government rules to make a film.

Panahi is featured, driving a cab. Many people get in and dialogs ensue. I actually think most of these people were ringers if not all. They give us the wink and nod while Jafar acts all innocent.

One effect of watching this film is to make us feel like co conspirators. Very nice. I found myself looking over my shoulder. The rules are read and explored. Nothing is violated but it still comes out being a film which the government would not and, indeed, did not approve.

It is funny and sad. It is very informative in the ways, both subtle and not, that power is used to distort or banish opposite opinion.

Take all that shit away from the actual film and we still have an entertaining and, at times, hilarious movie. Panahi is quite lovable with his wicked smile and tongue in cheek. An old fox watching the hens.

Vendors flout the rules by selling Jafar pirated tapes. Women step aside from the religious requirements, headscarf in place, and make comments which are rather brave in context.

Sacred places are visited while someone, agents or otherwise, ransacks his cab and camera (he has the memory stick).

And, he apparently completes this quite subversive film anyway.

I would not mind seeing this again, hence, a 4 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

This NYTimes tribute to Muhammed Ali is beautifully done.

Labels: obituary