Zander’s Weblog

A teen James Bond thriller without any of the sex. Yes, I know, it’s pretty lame–not nearly as lame as Cody Banks, but still. On the other hand it does feature Alex Pettyfer as protagonist who, at 16, is arguably at the peak of his not insubstantial perfection as a human manifestation and which, if you’re a fan of such, makes up for large quantities of tedium. Call it the teen Bond swim-suit issue.

Great performance by Emile Hirsch, who more recently appeared in Into the Wild. He perfectly captures the impossible isolation, confusion, and tumult of an adolescent wrestling with his mother’s sudden death, his father’s stoic ineptitude, and his sexuality, all in a rural middle-of-nowhere populated by an older group of (unfortunately stereotypical) redneck teens. However, like the pet chicken, the movie seemed to die a premature death–another 20 minutes or so to add some denouement would have helped. And what was up with the rape scene? As in Brokeback Mountain, the activities depicted were the Hollywood equivalent of Bruce Willis surviving a fall from a 20 story building–a normal person would have needed surgery afterwards. That being the case, the perp would have been arrested etc. Ditto for the fag-bashing hate crimes content. So I’m not giving any props for the script or directing.

I’m doing a Paul Dano filmography walk. This one was pure tripe. I strongly advise you to avoid it.

A rather loosely structured assemblage of clips showing coverage of the Iraq war from the other side of the fence. Interesting to watch knowing what we do now. When Rumsfeld hammers Al Jazeera for bias is it the pot calling the kettle black?

Just saw this for the second time. Holds up very well at two viewings–a very impressive film. It gets my vote for best film of 2007.

A film that won a number of awards at various LGBT film festivals (although I don’t know why, considering the trafficking in stereotypes), and featuring a young Paul Dano (he graduated from HS in 2002) and a not so young Brian Cox. Nonetheless, a well made film.

A Francis Ford Coppola film that gives you the opportunity to see such celebrities as Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, C. Thomas Howell (‘Ponyboy Curtis’), Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Tom Cruise, Leif Garrett, Tom Waits, and Sofia Coppola before they knew how to act. Well, I guess some of them never did learn, did they?

See this movie, then read Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road”. Then march in the streets for solar power! A very convincing documentary. In the world just before oil there were maybe 300 million inhabitants. With oil we now approach 7 billion, with India and China just arriving at the oil party as the glass is half full and dropping. The only reason we have been able to support a population this size is by using massive amounts of fertilizer (the green revolution). Fertilizer is made from oil (as are insecticides, pharmaceuticals, plastics, clothing, the computer you are reading this on, etc.) You do the math. In this light, a global recession could be seen as a good thing. It will leave more oil for your ancestors. Just maybe your grandchildren will be able to experience an airline flight before such things become an insane extravagance. I think this film also makes it perfectly clear why we are in Iraq.

Excellent documentary about the birth of modern skateboarding in the surf-slums of LA.

A sweeping British romantic tragedy, perfectly executed. No wonder it’s been nominated for so many Academy Awards, including Best Picture (personally I think it’s a toss-up between this film and No Country for Old Men–all depends on what mood the judges are in.)