Tron The Original Jeff Bridges David Warner Film

The year was 1982 and I was a video game addict. Atari 2600 and quarter operated video games were my mantra. Ah, those were the days. When “Tron” came out the film really dazzled me. I was a pre-teen back then and wondered if I saw Tron again now, as a grown-up, would I still enjoy the film. 

Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) is a computer programmer that has created some of the world’s most popular video games only to have them stolen by Ed Dillinger (David Warner) in order to hasten Dillinger’s meteoric rise as an unscrupulous CEO.

Flynn continuously hacks into the corporate mainframe computer system that Dillinger controls in order find the proof that Dillinger stole his ideas. In this Sci-Fi world, Flynn does this by hacking programs into the mainframe where these programs take on a human form. The programs are much like soldiers in a video game. They search for clues on behalf of their programmers (or ‘users’) while fighting off similar anti-hacking programs (so to speak) in combat scenarios using various weapons and vehicles.

Melancholia Review – Lars Von Trier Kristen Durst

A family wedding is taking place and frail family bonds are exposed. Parent child resentment, personal issues, and depression all begin to weep out through a thin façade of a celebration of marriage.


During this time a giant planet is on a collision course with Earth. Scientists are skeptical it will hit Earth but some are not so sure.


Lars Von Tier directs “Melancholia” Lars Von Trier is no stranger to disturbing films. Anyone who has seen the film “AntiChrist” will know exactly what I mean. He mixes psychological torment with atmospheric visual bravado. Melancholia is no exception.

Fear and Trembling - Japanese Business Culture Movie Review

An easy to follow yet subtely complex film, a young, white woman Amelie (Sylvie Testud) lived in Japan as a toddler then moved to Belgium. Now a young woman, she moves back to live in Japan believing if she immerses her life in this country she will proudly become Japanese herself.


She already speaks fluent Japanese. She is hired as a translator by a presumably respected and successful Japanese corporation. She works there for one year. Over the course of the year she is only given simple, menial tasks and in the process of doing them breaks a series of Japanese cultural taboos. For example, in one scene she is asked to serve coffee to customers. She speaks in Japanese in front of the customers. Keep in mind she is white, red headed and does not look remotely Asian let alone Japanese. The customers are deeply offended by the fact a ‘westerner’ can understand their discrete conversations. Amelie is berated by her superiors for this.

Denzel Washington in Book of Eli

I’m a sucker for post apocalyptic films so I was pretty interested in watching the movie "Book of Eli"


There are some terrific ideas in this film that sometimes work and sometimes don’t.


Thirty one years ago the world was obliterated by war and there is nothing left but scotched desert. Eli (Denzel Washington) has heard voices, presumably by a Christian God, to deliver a bible to a location he knows nothing about other than it is in the direction of West. For thirty one years he has been walking west. He knows it is the right way to go but where it will deliver him, nobody, including himself knows. It is truly blind-faith, a cool theme that lingers throughout the movie.

MMA Documentary Movie Review – Jens Pulver: Driven

Jens Pulver is a former mixed matial arts (MMA) fighting champion trying to hang onto his career. He is a family man, has bills to pay, and wants to keep on fighting.

“Jens Pulver: Driven” is not a film about the violence in the ring. If you are looking for a blood and guts MMA documentary, you won’t find it here. This movie is more about Jens Pulver the human being, rather than Jens Pulver the fighter.

At first, I liked that this was not some head bashing romp. It is a very human documentary that even those who detest the MMA might have enjoyed. A man comes, tragically, from a broken home, an abusive father, a beaten mother and manages to find guidance and discipline through sports. The problem is it’s the same story we’ve heard before. I’m not taking anything away from Pulver when I say this. He endured a lot as a child and deserves to have his tale told. The story just isn’t fresh.
 
Victims of abuse might find inspiration in “Driven” though I say that with caution. Pulver’s rise from hardship, while heroic, isn’t the path for everyone. To suggest that the abused are somehow equipped for violent careers might not be the best message. The message to be taken here is that by all accounts, Pulver seems to be a kind and responsible man now (albeit one who breaks heads for a living) in spite of his difficult childhood.

Great 1935 Film The Informer John Ford Victor McLagen

The year is 1922 and there is conflict between the Irish that want their independence (Sinn Fein) and those loyal to Britain. Gypo Nolan (Victor McLagen) is a big, dopey, brute that used to operate with Sinn Fein’s Irish rebels but he was expelled when unable to kill an innocent man. Desperate for money, he dimes out a Sinn Fein member wanted for murder and is awarded the bounty. People are looking for him now.


You know the rest of the story. You’ve seen this plot before. Betrayal, action, romance, revenge, money, etc. What makes “The Informer” different is that this film is made in 1935 before such thematic cliches and in many ways, this John Ford movie still feels like it could hold its own today.

Shot in 1930’s black and white this film is thick with atmosphere. There is a foggy, ethereal darkness to this movie that gives each scene a somber, intimate thickness.
 

Tous les Matins du Monde (All the World's Mornings) Review

Tous les Matins du Monde is based on a true story. Monsieur De Sainte Colombe in the 1600’s was arguably the world’s greatest Viola De Gamba player. He certainly was considered so in France where the King repeatedly asked for his services as a musician, which often Columbe refused.

Colombe’s wife dies and he becomes a complete recluse. He practices and composes fifteen hours a day and has an emotionally distant relationship with his daughters who he also trains to become master Viola De Gamba players.

Along comes a young, eager, musician, Marin Marias who is played as a by Guillaume Depardieu, then as an older man by Guillaume’s real life father Gérard Depardieu. Marias asks Monsieur De Sainte Colombe to train him on the Viola De Gamba. He reluctantly agrees and this begins a long, awkward and tumultuous relationship between Columbe, Marias, and Columbe’s daughters.