Haven (2004)

When a corrupt Miami businessman flees to the Cayman Islands with his daughter and a million dollars in dirty money, the resulting inferno threatens to consume father, daughter, and even a few unsuspecting innocents in a sun soaked crime drama starring Bill Paxton, Orlando Bloom, and Agnes Bruckner. Carl Ridley (Paxton) was desperate to escape the law when he boarded an airplane for the Cayman Islands, but as the heat starts to rise in paradise, he's about to realize that there are some fates far worse than prison time. As Carl attempts to cleanse his ill-gotten gains with a little help from crooked British investment banker Mr. Allen (Stephen Dillane), his resentful daughter Pippa (Bruckner) sets out to explore her exotic new surroundings on the arm of native bad boy Fritz (Victor Rasuk). A low-level thug whose connections to a powerful local crime lord threatens to spell doom for all involved, Fritz draws Pippa in to disastrous chain of events sparked by the forbidden desires of unsuspecting lovers Shy (Bloom and Andrea (Zoe Saldana). Now, as the West Indies threatens to explode into violence, Carl must choose between the safety of his daughter and fortune he's trying to hide. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Running Time: 99 mins
Haven (2004)

I had to include Haven in my collection of film reviews since it had some nice scenes of the Cayman Islands. It used flashbacks to explore the different angles of life for the various actors which worked well to the films benefit.

The Valet (2006)

French farce master Francis Veber (The Dinner Game) combines slapstick laughs with rapid-fire dialogue as he tells the tale of a Parisian valet unwittingly drawn into the affairs of a wealthy industrialist. François Pignon (Gad Elmaleh) is a simple valet employed by a posh Paris restaurant. Blissfully unaware of the paparazzi stalking powerful businessman Pierre Levasseur (Daniel Auteuil) and his stunning mistress, Elena (Alice Taglioni), the innocent passerby François wanders haphazardly into the frame. Realizing that the common man in the photograph may be Levasseur's only hope of avoiding a nasty divorce from his wife, Christine (Kristin Scott Thomas), Pierre's quick-thinking lawyer (Richard Berry) arranges for François to live with Elena in order to mislead the tabloids. Having just been dumped by childhood sweetheart Emilie (Virginie Ledoyen), François accepts the proposal, in the hopes he can win her back through jealousy. But Pierre's jealousy flares, Elena grows frustrated with her new digs, and Christine might know more than she's letting on. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Running Time: 85 mins
The Valet (2006)

But ultimately in the end everyone is paired up except one person and for the most part a happy little ending to the romantic comedy.

Triumph of the Will (1934)

Dr. Anthony R. Santoro (Professor of History) narrates the film Triumph of the Will as part of the special features aspect of the DVD. It was presented as "The Document of the Reich Party Day 1934" which was a documentation of the ongoing Nuremburg Rallies from 1923 through 1938.

The whole film is composed of people saluting Hitler with the Nazi salute. Close to the beginning there is even a small girl around 3 years old that presents Hitler with some flowers and then salutes him from her mother's arms.

Triumph of the Will (Triumph des Willens) is a filmed record of the 1934 Nazi Party Convention, in Nuremberg. No, it is more than just a record: it is an exultation of Adolf Hitler, who from the moment his plane descends from Valhalla-like clouds is visually characterized as a God on Earth. The "Jewish question" is disposed of with a few fleeting closeups; filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl prefers to concentrate on cheering crowds, precision marching, military bands, and Hitler's climactic speech, all orchestrated, choreographed and illuminated on a scale that makes Griffith and DeMille look like poverty-row directors. It has been alleged that the climactic rally, "spontaneous" Sieg-Heils and all, was pre-planned according to Riefenstahl's specifications, the better to take full advantage of its cinematic potential. Allegedly, propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels resented the presence and intrusion of a woman director, but finally had to admit that her images, achieved through the use of 30 cameras and 120 assistants, were worth a thousand speeches. Possibly the most powerful propaganda film ever made, Triumph of the Will is also, in retrospect, one of the most horrifying. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Running Time: 120 mins
Triumph of the Will (1934)

Parts of the convention speeches I quoted below. I hope they give a feeling of what the rest of the world could have read in 1934.
Julius Streicher, Gauleiter of Upper Fanconia and Editor of "Der Sturmer" (The worst of them all, "Jew Hater")
A people that does not protect the purity of its race goes to seed!

Adolf Wagner
No revolution that seems to be permanent can lead to anything other than complete anarchy. So the world will not live at war. So also the people do not live on revolution.
Nothing on this earth that has lasted for thousands of years was assembled in mere decades. The largest tree also has the longest period of growth. What braves the centuries will be strong through the centuries.

Dr. Otto Dietrich, Reichsleiter and Reich Press Chief in Ministry of People Enlightenment and Propaganda
Truth is the foundation on which the power of the press stands in the world. And that it reports the truth about Germany is the only demand that we place on the foreign press.


Dr. Robert Ley, Reichleiter and Head of the German Labor Front
All our work must be dictated by a single thought-that the German worker be made an upright, proud and equally entitled national comrade.

Dr. Hans Frank, Reichs Minister of Justice and later Governor General of occupied Poland
(On tip of his toes.) As the leader of the German legal service, I can say that, clearly, the basis of the National Socialist State is the Nationalist Socialist Law Code. And for us, our highest leader is also the highest judge! We know ho sacred the principles of these laws are to our Fuhrer. These Reich laws can assure you, national comrades that you life and existence is safe in this National Socialist State of order, freedom and law.

Dr. Josef Goebbels, Reich Minister of People Enlightenment and Propaganda
May the bright flame of our enthusiasm never be extinguished. It alone gives light and warmth to the creative art of modern political propaganda. This comes from the depths of the people and from these depths of the people it must always again find its roots and its strength. It may be good to possess power based on strength but it is better to win and hold the heart of a people.
Of course this film was the epitome of what Nazism was. A film that I think that everyone should watch. One thing to remember was that for only a small 4 minute segment of the Military, the rest of the movie was about the "Party" even when marching in military style with weapons in hand.

Offside (2006)

The King of Shit Mountain is supposedly written on one of the few characters introduced (besides the guards and ladies) on his head as he is transported to the Vice Squad in a van with the ladies. He complains about this but in the end they become friends.

A handful of girls struggle to make their way into the man's world of an Iranian soccer stadium in this comedy from writer and director Jafar Panahi. World Cup season is just around the corner, and Iran's team is playing a game against Bahrain that will determine who will be competing in soccer's greatest tournament. Nearly everyone in Tehran seems to be abuzz with excitement over the game, through officially soccer in Iran is quite literally for men only -- no women are allowed inside the stadium, and women's interest in the game is severely frowned upon. But that doesn't stop a number of girls from all over the city from trying to crash the game dressed up as boys; while some succeed, others are unable to fool security, and are sent to a holding bullpen in the stadium where they can hear the cheers of the crowd but can't see the game. One of the policemen watching over the girls (who range from rowdy tomboys to quiet and bookish types) is sympathetic and keeps them updated on the score and key plays, while another is a petty bureaucrat who suffers the mockery of his "prisoners." Offside received its North American premiere at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Running Time: 92 mins
Offside (2006)

I am bu the sea. If I can't eat fresh fish, at least give it to me canned.Yummy that is what the heroine says to the guard when asking for another guard to give a sports report on the game. And the guard responds back with: I don't get it. Do you want to eat fish or watch soccer? He was from the "country".

When you have a society that is so regimented with so many morality rules, then something simple like going to the bathroom for the stowaway gets blown out shape. Which makes for a funny scene including the wearing of a poster of a man to disguise the face with cut outs for eyes.

This film got me to thinking about nationalism and patriotism. These girls even though they are repressed by their country on so many levels have such strong feelings about their 'team' that they are even willing to break the laws. One even dressed up like a soldier to get in. Luckily they got away in the crowds of the celebration (I believe), but at a couple of times they were fearful of what might happen to them.

The interview with the director Jafar Panahi was also a nice added feature of the DVD. Thus I rated this high as 4 (/5)

Sir! No Sir! (2005)

The little-known protest of the Vietnam War staged from within the ranks of the military is explored in director David Zeiger's revealing documentary. Despite the well-documented media coverage of Vietnam War protests that took place on college campuses across the nation, few people but the most ardent history buffs remain aware of the massive protests that flourished in U.S. barracks and military bases at home and abroad. Staged by countless military men disillusioned with the ongoing war, these protests reached from the hallowed halls of West Point to the bullet-riddled rice fields of Vietnam. Though hundreds of soldiers were imprisoned for voicing their controversial views and thousands more sent into exile for their subversive activities, the tireless efforts of the government and media to suppress this remarkable tale would eventually falter as the dissenting voices became too numerous to silence. Thirty years after the last bombs were dropped on Vietnam, the remarkable tale of the soldiers unafraid to stand up for their beliefs comes to the screen in a film that will forever alter the manner in which contemporary audiences view one of the most controversial wars in modern history. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Running Time: 84 mins

The boycott on Tyrell Jewelers Inc. seems to be a wasted effort at least and secondly a misdirected outrage. According to the documentary, Tyrell would sell jewelry on credit to service men. And if they happened to die in combat then the debt was absolved. Sounds like a good thing. They were providing the service and risking their capital if someone died in the service to their country. They did not have to provide this service and instead went after next of kin or the 'estate' of the service member.

This is not to say the film provided a unique look at the anti-war movement that I was not aware of. Ultimately it was never as grand as they try to make it out to be.

No the subtlety of the Rabbit incident was not how to treat people but a simple lesson in survival in the jungles. The incident was described as someone showing how to skin and make a shoe out of the skin.

So another recommendation by ren that turned out to be a fascinating film to me. It definitely gave a perspective of how he acquired a view of the world and the USA. Often I see his views as very nihilistic and now I can get a glimpse as to why these views were formed.

Fragging

Sir! No Sir! (2005)

Film Review: Sir! No Sir! (on DVD)[ET]

Arguing the World (1997)

The lives and opinions of the 'Alcove One Cafeteria members from City College'...
But the only alcoves that mattered to me were No.1 and No.2, the alcoves of the anti-Stalinist Left and pro-Stalinist Left respectively It was between these two alcoves that the war of the worlds was fought, over the faceless bodies of the mass of students, whom we tried desperately to manipulate into "the right position" but about whom, to tell the truth, we knew little and cared less.

Joseph Dorman wrote and directed this biographical documentary tracing four Jewish intellectuals from NYC's City College during WW II to the present day -- political essayist Irving Kristol, sociologist Nathan Glazer, the late socialist literary critic Irving Howe (who died in 1993), and social theorist Daniel Bell. At CCNY, debates raged in the school's cafeteria, later continuing in the pages of influential academic journals. Alan Rosenberg narrates. Shown at the 1997 Boston Jewish Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Running Time: 109 mins
Arguing the World (1997)

Todd Gitlin(Formally President of Students for a Democratic Society):
It was a response to the impersonality, the bureaucratization,
the abstraction of life.
Participatory Democracy was an idea that talk was a good idea,
Freedom is an endless meeting.

Tom Hayden:
I was not raised in (ugh) thankfully, a household of people yelling at each other about the correct line.
And so I could not comprehend the decibel level that these people would reach.
And also they reminded you of in a sick way of your father, you know they were very paternalism. Is beyond Abraham. I mean paternalism to an extreme that I never heard.
People pointing at you and lecturing to you. They did not appear to be doing anything. And we were going to jail. So lest we knew, we were on the right track.

From Memoirs of a Trotskyist by Irving Kristol

Others who later found, to their pleasant surprise, that what they had took been doing in Alcove No. I was what the academic world would come to recognize and generously reward as "social science" were Nathan Glazer (Harvard), Philip Selznick (Berkeley), Peter Rossi (Johns Hopkins), Morroe Berger (Princeton), I. Milton Sacks (Brandeis), Lawrence Krader and Bernard Bellush (City University), Seymour Melman (Columbia), Melvin J. Lasky…

City College was a pretty dull educational place. The student who came seeking an intellectual community, in which the life of the mind was strenuously lived, had to create such a community and such a life for himself…

"Ever since I can remember, I've been a neo-something: a neo-Marxist, a neo-Trotskyist, a neo-Liberal, a neo-conservative; in religion a neo-orthodox even while I was a neo-Trotskyist and a neo-Marxist. I'm going to end up a neo dash nothing." Irving Kristol

Tom Hurwitz biography but no mention of membership in SDS.
Columbia had a way of containing within it, most of the problems of American Society. We were against the war and we were against the inequity of American society but we had in our administration an example of what was worst about our society. And we could confront it by confronting it right at home.

Other notables:
Michael Walzer
Where are we going? Where have we been?

Philip Selznick

Moscow Trials

Fellow traveler

Victor Navasky

Jackie Goldberg
Free Speech Movement

Merry Christmas (2005)

The year is 1914, and as World War I continues to rage across the European countryside, four individuals stuck on the front lines find themselves faced with the unthinkable in director Christian Carion's Academy Award-nominated account of the true-life wartime event that would offer hope for peace in mankind's darkest hour. When the war machines began rolling in the summer of 1914, the devastation that it waged upon German, British, and French troops was palpable. As the winter winds began to blow and the soldiers sat huddled in their trenches awaiting the generous Christmas care packages sent by the families, the sounds of warfare took a momentary backseat to the yearning for brotherhood among all of mankind. It is here that the fate of a French lieutenant, a Scottish priest, a German tenor, and a Danish soprano's lives were about to be changed forever. On Christmas Eve of that year, the lonely souls of the front lines abandoned their arms to reach out to their enemies on the battlefield and greet them with not anger or hostility, but with the simple, kindly gesture of a much needed cigarette or a treasured piece of chocolate, and to put their differences aside long enough to wish their brothers a sincere "Merry Christmas!" ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Running Time: 116 mins
Merry Christmas (2005)

A quite touching movie where men put aside their strife for the betterment of others. But ultimately the party had to end...
I know that it was meant to show that if men/women could just get to know each other then there would be less strife in the world. But we do forget that these men were forced to be in a condition that was not their choosing and as such they had a common shared misery that leaders of countries do not tend to share. Even the most destroyed country like North Korea or Zimbabwe their leaders are well fed and safe from the hazards that these men in WWI faced.

As far as the goals and the purposes of WWI, yes, that was a senseless and worthless war over some piece of ground that was no longer of any value after all the blood was shed on it and the massive destruction by the bombs and trenches and chemical weapons.

Big Fish (2003)

Tim Burton directs the fantasy drama Big Fish, based on the book Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions by Southern writer/illustrator Daniel Wallace. Billy Crudup plays William Bloom, a young man who never really knew his dying father, Edward (Albert Finney) outside of the tall tales he told about growing up, making his way, and meeting his mother (played as a young woman by Alison Lohman and in older age by Jessica Lange). During Edward's last days, William and his wife Josephine (Marion Cotillard) hold bedside vigil as the old man recollects elaborate memories of his youth (in which he is played by Ewan McGregor). Still doubting the the legends and folklore, William makes a journey to meet a mysterious woman (Helena Bonham Carter) from whom Edward had bought property. Steve Buscemi and Danny De Vito also star. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Running Time: 125 mins
Big Fish (2003)

A charming little story about a man and his father and how the younger man is trying to get to know his father. The only side the younger man knows of his father is through a variety of "Big Fish" stories. Even if the tales are hard to believe there is always a hint that some could be true and the end has the cast of characters we were introduced to earlier show up outside of the dream sequences. It reminded me a lot of the movie The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1989).

The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933)

Fritz Lang directed this sequel to his nearly four-hour Dr. Mabuse silent of 1922 (often shown in two parts, Dr. Mabuse: Der Spieler/The Gambler and Dr. Mabuse: King of Crime). The film opens with Detective Hofmeister (Karl Meixner) spying on the activities of a criminal syndicate. Not realizing he has been seen, Hofmeister is attacked by the thugs and later turns up out of his mind. He is placed in the institution of Professor Baum (Oscar Beregi), who becomes increasingly obsessed with another patient -- the master criminal and hypnotist Dr. Mabuse (Rudolf Klein-Rogge). Baum's assistant, Dr. Kramm (Theodor Loos), connects Mabuse's writings to a series of the syndicate's recent criminal activities, and is murdered for his knowledge by crime lord Hardy (Rudolf Schündler) who takes orders from a hidden Mabuse. Putting all these pieces together is chief investigator Lohmann (Otto Wernicke), whose story plays out simultaneously with that of ex-cop Thomas Kent (Gustav Diessl), a member of the gang who is torn between his need for money and his love for a young woman named Lilli (Wera Liessem). Various clues lead Lohmann to suspect Mabuse's involvement, but when he arrives at the asylum, Baum reveals that Mabuse has died. Meanwhile, Kent's decision to confess to the cops lands himself and Lilli in a room with a hidden bomb. Lohmann traps the gang in a moll's house, leading to a wild shootout. Kent and Lilli escape and race to Lohmann to tell him that Mabuse is behind the crimes. They all race back to the asylum where they discover that Mabuse has taken control of Baum, who sets a monstrous fire at a chemical factory. The mad doctor then leads Lohmann and Kent on a wild car chase back to the asylum where the mystery behind the Baum-Mabuse-Hofmeister connection takes a disturbing turn. ~ Patrick Legare, All Movie Guide

Running Time: 121 mins
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933)

A classic Fritz Lang movie where a driver is killed by another cars passenger and then when the light changes all the cars that could identify the killer drive off. This time he uses the honking of cars to drown out the noise of the gun while in another one it was a silent blow-dart gun or something like that. The other film where he uses or specifically reuses this plot twist is in The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse.

Lang uses the concept of rhymes to link scenes and acts together where one question leads to another scene that answers that question for the viewer but not necessarily the actors parts in the movie. He also used sound to merge or overlap scenes. While if the sound in the new scene blends into the action can be most appealing, movies like Tarzan Lord of the Jungle with Bo Derek was a complete waste of a movie plot with the sound overlapping with the next incongruent scene.

The Empire of Crime:

Humanity's soul must be shaken to its very depths, frightened by unfathomable and seemingly senseless crimes. Crimes that benefit no one, whose only objective is to inspire fear and terror. Because the ultimate purpose of crime is to establish the endless empire of crime. A state of complete insecurity an anarchy, founded upon the tainted ideals of a world doomed to annihilation. When humanity, subjected by the terror of crime, has been driven insane by fear and horror, and when chaos has become supreme law, then the time will have come for the empire of crime.

The narrator did make me laugh at his description of Lilli in the film. An observation I also made but not as humorously. Even though it was a bit part I liked the part of the gangsters girlfriend that at one time gives Lohen a snaring glance when the gang is taken past Lohen after he fools the gang into giving up.

Interesting that Bill Gates and George Soros were identified as Mabuse like, that is according to the narrator (David Kalat).


The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

Power and Terror: Noam Chomsky in Our Times (2002)

Noam Chomsky is arguably the most important and best-respected dissident political analyst in the United States. While his outspoken opinions on American foreign policy have hardly endeared him to the mainstream media (or the leading lights of either the Republican or Democratic parties), his sharp but well-considered opinions have made him a mainstay of leftist political journals and a tireless opponent of misdirected military violence and political bullying. Power and Terror: Noam Chomsky in Our Times is a documentary which explores Chomsky's lectures and writings on the Bush administration's responses to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Chomsky discusses foreign policy decisions which helped to create the climate in which the 9/11 attacks could happen, as well as military and political decisions against Afghanistan and Iraq which have taken their toll largely upon civilians -- which, by Chomsky's estimation, makes the United States as much a terrorist agency as our opponents. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Running Time: 72 mins
Power and Terror: Noam Chomsky in Our Times (2002)

I know that I am a masochist to watch through this two times, but I just hope that I learn something from this nihilistic leftist. The film was more of a "cult of the personality" than a real film that explored the issues. Like the opening scene spends a minute about how the microphone works and how his personality. As I was talking recently on Thom's forum, Noam acts like a 5 year old boy that is looking for approval from his father. The father being others as in crowds.

The editing is nothing more than a random collections of his random drunken like talks. Weasel words describes his way of speaking.

Everyone is worried about stopping terrorism, well there is a real easy way, stop participating in it.

Well as usual he has so many lies and untruths that it is hard to nail them all down. But he did say something about North Korea that it was totally defenseless, isolated and thus a perfect target by being cheap easy and no one will object. How can such an intelligent man say so many stupid ass statements. Let me see, does Chumsky know that the DMZ is filled with thousands of landmines. That they have the whole country barricaded is weird ways like bridges have these huge concrete structures that can be dropped on the road at a moments notice. The terrain is mountainous that makes digging in easier as well as harder moving equipment around in a hostile environment. The winters are miserable for an army. Let me also wonder if he even understands the Korean War. Who does he think we were fighting? We were first fighting the Russian supplied armies of the north and then when we nearly defeated them we fought the Chinese. Do you think China would also stand by again if we invaded NK? They may not like NK regime but that is an ally of the Chinese and as such they would not want a government favorable to the west on their doorstep. This might hem them in if they made moves for Taiwan. Even again the Russians would not like it also. Also does he even know about NKs vast arsenal of missiles that could destroy much of South Korea. That would escalate the costs in many ways and thus not be so easy as he seems to think. Again how can a educated man be so much of a dumb ass. Chumsky!!!

...because he was useful at that time. I mean it is true that he is a monster. He was much more of a monster then, probably true that he is developing weapons of mass destruction. Then he was certainly doing it with our support, and he was far more dangerous way more powerful and much more dangerous. He is a threat to anyone within his reach, but the reach is much smaller now. He is evil all right, but his crimes can not possibly be the reason for the planned attack.

The answer Saddam before the Second Gulf War.

International Economic Globalization: convergence toward a single price and wage single market??? Well that is declining. Globalization (Palo Alto, CA, March 22,2002)

Polyarchy (The American Political System: UC-Berkeley, March 19,2002)

I know I should not base movies on my own bias views but I rated this as 0.5 out of 5 because the lies just got too much to give it anymore.

You Only Live Once (1937)

Archetypal depression-era stars Henry Fonda and Sylvia Sidney are felicitously teamed in Fritz Lang's You Only Live Once. Fonda plays an ex-convict who can't get a break on the "outside". He marries Sidney, who like her husband is one of life's losers. Framed on a murder rap, Fonda is forced to take it on the lam, with his wife and baby in tow. In trying to avoid capture, Fonda becomes a murderer for real, condemning himself and Sidney to an early demise. Partly based on the legend of Bonnie and Clyde, the Gene Towne-Graham Baker screenplay stacks the deck against its protagonists to such an extent that the audience is virtually forced to hate their various antagonists. As superb as Henry Fonda is in portraying the foredoomed hero, Sylvia Sidney is even better as his wife; her reading of such lines as "We just call him...baby" are enough to shrivel the heart even after six decades. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Running Time: 86 mins
You Only Live Once (1937)

I may be reading too much into this. But it seems that I could see some of Lang's signature markings. Especially concerning the basic theme that individuals can be lost in the system and that system turns on them when it should not. Of course the police state was pretty heartless by even willingly letting innocents die.
Closing remarks...

Eddie. You're free Eddie, the gates are o-open.

Divine Intervention (2002)

I figure this is going to be a funny film when it starts out with a Santa Claus being chased by 4 young men with all his presents dropping all over the place and will not tell you how that ends. But then the second scene is of a Palestinian man driving down a narrow street and waving at his neighbors and he says to himself:

What a fucked morning.
What a pimp.
What an asshole.
Son of a bitch.
Bald prick.
Collaborator, husband of a whore.
Fuck the sister of your children's father.
Fuck your mother's sister.
Fuck your father's sister's cunt.
Go get fucked and get paid for it.

Director Elia Suleiman uses a mixture of romantic comedy and quirky humor to shed light on the problems of Palestinians in Yadon Ilaheyya (Divine Intervention). E.S. (Suleiman and his girlfriend Manal Khader), because they live in separate cities, must meet near an Israeli checkpoint. The film is little more than a series of usually comic but occasionally poignant scenes in which Suleiman and others must confront any number of Israeli nemeses. Suleiman's second film, Divine Interventions, was screened in competition at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Running Time: 90 mins
Divine Intervention (2002)

All I can say is "It’s so, so bizarre"...
There was even a small Sci-Fi/Mythical part where a Palestinian Woman kills a few well trained IDF marksmen and destroys a Helicopter.

I really liked the song "I Put a Spell on You".

The Woman in the Window (1944)

Since I liked the classics from Fritz Lang especially the Dr. Mabuse movies, I wanted to see how he also adapted to the commercial environnment of Hollywood and the US market.

Directed by Fritz Lang, The Woman in the Window, a sadly tragic film noir, is the story of the doomed love of married psychology-professor Wanley (Edward G. Robinson), who, with murderous results, meets and falls in love with another woman. Wanley first sees the portrait of a beautiful woman, Alice (Joan Bennett), and then meets the woman herself. After committing murder in self-defense, he finds himself blackmailed by Heidt (Dan Duryea). The script, written by Nunnally Johnson, is carefully structured with crisp dialogue and a convincing ending. Lang is at his best, getting excellent performances from Robinson, as the doomed, naive professor, and Bennett both. The Woman in the Window shows that good and evil are present in all, and that circumstances frequently dictate moral choices. Based on J.H. Wallis' novel Once Off Guard, the film gives viewers their money's worth with not one but two logical and satisfying surprise twists at the end. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide

Running Time: 99 mins
The Woman in the Window (1944)

Just like Lang's earlier films, time again was an obsession. Even the outside of Alice's apartment had a street clock. Lang also deals with guilt and redemption with the police basically acting dumb and thus making Wanley feel the pains of guilt. The 'chance meeting' of them also portends the same basic beguiling woman as in Body Heat.

And yes there was two surprises that could have been expected and then another that leads to "Not for a million dollars", when asked for a light from a young woman on the street.

I hope I am not giving anything away in the film but I ran across the idea of Reset button technique.

The reset button technique (based on the idea of status quo ante) is a plot device that interrupts continuity in works of fiction. Simply put, use of a reset button device returns all characters and situations to the status quo they held before a major change of some sort was introduced. Often used in science fiction television series, soap operas, and comic books, the device allows elaborate and dramatic changes to characters and the fictional universe that might otherwise invalidate the premise of the show with respect to future continuity. Writers may, for example, use the technique to allow the audience to experience the death of the lead character, which traditionally would not be possible without effectively ending the work.
...
The TV drama Dallas—An entire season of the show, including the death of a major character, was written off as a dream of another character.

When reading the top portion of the article, I of course thought back to the Dallas series whole year long dream...

Disk 1&2|Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler (1922)

David Kalat provides the excellent and informative dialogue for both disks.

Full Synopsis:
Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler is the eight-reel version of Fritz Lang's twenty reeler, two-part silent thriller, Dr. Mabuse. Mabuse (Rudolph Klein-Rogge) a sinister mesmerist/psychiatrist, toys with the weaknesses of the rich and influential. He worms his way into the confidence of wealthy men, plays cards with them, hypnotizes them into cheating at their businesses, then puts them in a position to be blackmailed so that he can corner the stock market. A devilishly ingenious plan-but Mabuse is up against the plodding, methodical police detective Wrenk, whose subconscious is not so easily swayed...at least, not at first. In 1932, Lang directed a talkie sequel to Dr. Mabuse the Gambler, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Running Time: 229 mins
Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler (1922)

Again the narrator of this film as some of the other Fritz Lang movies did an excellent job filling in details and explaining the story. Otherwise the story line and the characters were a jumbled mess that would have taken me a few times just to sort out. Maybe voices help to identify characters more than I thought.

"There is no love -- there is only desire!
There is no happiness - there is only the will for power!"

And where did we hear that before?

I liked the phone that moved when it 'rang'. Phernologist?
Weimar Republic

Mabuse: a Flemish Master Painter by the name of Jenni Gosart, or Jennyn van Hennegouwe that painted under the name Jan Mabuse. And Norbert Jacques liked the name.
I had noticed on other films to be either called Mabus and they used that so "He kills and kills without excuse, that is the terror of Dr. Mabus".

Others to look for/notes:
The Strange Case of Dr. Mabuseby David Kalat, published by McFarland Press
Everybody loves Dr. Mabuse
Club Extinction
Nosferatu
Dada or Dadaism
Itopomar???
Cytopomar
Obsessed with self destruction as in jimabuse???
Indian Fakirs
"Golden Putrefaction" was the Russian version of Dr. Mabuse.

I Love Miami (2006)

Cuban leader Fidel Castro is humbled when he arrives in Miami and experiences America from the unique perspective of a typical Cuban-American in producer-turned-director Alejandro Gonzalez Padilla's clever culture shock drama. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Running Time: 95 mins
I Love Miami (2006)

The movie gives Castro to present his positive points about his regime that do not get questioned. Also the anti-Castro side presents their points that do not get challenged. Thus it is almost a perplexing movie of cross talk but no direct dialogue. The presentation is basically one view give and another view but no contrasting points.

The most poignant scene is the end that has the dove that supposedly landed on his shoulder during the revolution. This time the dove shits on him.

I Love Miami (2006)
A story involving the famous Fidel Castro, who ironically arrives at Miami, like so many of his fellow Cubans, and at the same time living through a Cuban- American experience, creates the perfect scenario to watch him become a more humble person; the "Quixote of American Socialism". At the same time two sub- stories will strike the "emotional string" in our interior. The movie does not pretend to make any political statements on the Cuban Revolution or Fidel Castro's biography, however its purpose is to establish the story of the Miami of Today, in which all kinds of Cuban- American characters display their lives, their feelings and intentions relating to Fidel in his temporary and uncomfortable exile. The story shows "the other Cuba" and her two faces; one of the exiled Cubans, seeking the "American dream" and the other of the Cubans who capitalize this dream by camouflaging their political and economic interests, manipulating the dream of the others. Written by Alejandro Gonzalez Padilla

Diary of a Lost Girl (1929)

German filmmaker G.W. Pabst and Hollywood expatriate Louise Brooks re-team after the success of Pandora's Box for the silent film Diary of a Lost Girl. On the day of her confirmation, innocent young Thymiane Henning (Brooks) is given a lockable diary as a present. She's distraught because the housekeeper Elisabeth (Sibylle Schmitz) is leaving under curious circumstances and turns up presumably dead. Her duties are taken over by the conniving Meta (Franziska Kinz), who accepts the advances of Thymiane's pharmacist father (Josef Ravensky). Trying to understand Elisabeth's fate, Thymiane agrees to meet her father's assistant, Meinert (Fritz Rasp). She passes out, he carries her up to her room, and by the next scene she has borne a child by him. Meta snoops in Thymiane's diary and finds out it was Meinert's baby, so she suggests they get married. Thymiane refuses, so they throw her in a creepy reformatory for fallen women and leave her baby with a midwife. While in the reformatory, she meets Erika (Edith Meinhard), with whom she eventually escapes. To escape from poverty and homelessness, the girls then become nominal prostitutes in a brothel and are "sexually liberated." ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Running Time: 116 mins
Diary of a Lost Girl (1929)

And then all hell breaks loose when her child dies before coming back to see her and her true friend dies because he was a flop at everything including milking cows and Thymiane gave away all her inheritance. Well basically a tragic story that ends with Thumiane helping one of the wayward girls she had met earlier...
Interesting but again just a tad too long.

Spies (1928)

Spies (Spione) was the first independent production of German "thriller" director Fritz Lang. The years-ahead-of-its-time plotline involves Russian espionage activity in London. The mastermind is Haghi (Rudolph Klein-Rogge), a supposedly respectable carnival sideshow entertainer. Heading the good guys is Agent 326 (Willy Fritsch), with the help of defecting Russian spy Sonya (Gerda Maurus). The film moves swiftly to several potential climaxes, each one more exciting than its predecessor. Haghi's ultimate demise is a superbly staged Pirandellian vignette. Anticipating Citizen Kane by a dozen years, director Lang dispenses with all transitional dissolves and fade-outs, flat-cutting territory from one scene to another. The film was co-scripted by Lang and his then-wife Thea Von Harbou. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Running Time: 143 mins
Spies (1928)

Another that I would say is too long for my tastes. If there had been a narrative, I would have enjoyed it more. So not much to say on it. Rating 2.5

M (1931)

Fritz Lang's classic early talkie crime melodrama is set in 1931 Berlin. The police are anxious to capture an elusive child murderer (Peter Lorre), and they begin rounding up every criminal in town. The underworld leaders decide to take the heat off their activities by catching the child killer themselves. Once the killer is fingered, he is marked with the letter "M" chalked on his back. He is tracked down and captured by the combined forces of the Berlin criminal community, who put him on trial for his life in a kangaroo court. The killer pleads for mercy, whining that he can't control his homicidal instincts. The police close in and rescue the killer from the underworld so that he can stand trial again in "respectable" circumstances. Some prints of the film end with a caution to the audience to watch after their children more carefully. Filmed in Germany, M was the film that solidified Fritz Lang's reputation with American audiences, and it also made a star out of Peter Lorre (previously a specialist in comedy roles!). M was remade by Hollywood in 1951, with David Wayne giving a serviceable performance as the killer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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Running Time: 110 mins
M (1931)

The movie has a narrative dialogue that is well worth watching it. I kept thinking that there was a twist on the plot, but it all was pretty straight forward plot. Even the commentators note that the murderer is known to the viewer and we have the clues already. We in essence are looking at how the police and the criminal elements gather the clues in a slow meticulous way. With time slipping by every character seems to be obsessed with time and what time it is even to the second. It seems obvious some meaning to the constant clock watching but when watching it I so no correlation with the script per se.

Even for being an older film the story still has resonance and has much of the same issues as we still face now-child abduction and mass murderers with asymmetrically information. The one major twist was that the criminal elements (petty thieves, pickpockets, bookies etc) tied together with beggars were actually trying to do the work of the Police. That another element of society (mass murderer) was causing an escalated strife between police and the unsavory but petty elements of society.

In many ways this film has elements repeated in many other films, of course the basic psychology underlying these criminals seems to be the same no matter what time or culture they may have come from. This included the writing of letters by the killer to both the police and then to the press.

Joseph Goebbels had felt the film was pro-death penalty and stated that Lang was going to be a good German film director for the Nazis. This of course did not work out. From the commentators they seem to imply that Lang was not pro-death penalty, but I find it pro-death as it shows the depravity of man and that at least for one man-he can not control his own actions so society has to make those decisions for him.

The funniest part of the film for me was when Inspector Karl Lohmann learns from petty thief that the criminal gang was looking for the Child Murderer in the building. He has the back against the criminal and his expression is funny but he manages to recovery his astonishment.

The commentators felt the trial a kangaroo trial. While technically correct, after the mass murderer confessed, then all counter arguments for the defense are clearly weak and lacking any substance. The defense only point they try to make is that the group of criminals and elements of the lower society should not be allowed to judge the murderer. But when I watched it I was thinking that this was not a case of Anarchy/Vigilantes but more of a case of a government formed by "his peers" for the purpose of administering justice. While the other short trial scene was the state that may or not be as efficiently administered as the informal government. I do not say the informal was better but clearly it had the elements of producing a just verdict as easily as the Police State (IMHO).

Fay Grim (2006)

A single mother from Queens becomes unwittingly embroiled in international espionage indirector Hal Hartley's sequel to the critically acclaimed Henry Fool. Fay Grim (Parker Posey) is determined to raise her 14-year-old son Ned (Liam Aiken) so he won't be like his father Henry (Thomas Jay Ryan), who disappeared seven years ago after accidentally murdering a vicious neighbor. As Fay's brother Simon (James Urbaniak) serves time in a prison cell for aiding Henry in his daring escape, he gradually begins to suspect that the man who inspired him to take up writing in the first place is not the louse he appeared to be, but instead the keeper of some potentially explosive government secrets that, if made public, could prove quite dangerous. As Simon begins to explore the possibility that Henry's autobiography "Confessions" contains coded references to a wide variety of international atrocities committed by governments around the world, the CIA contacts Fay to inform her that her husband was killed in a hotel fire in Sweden shortly after fleeing America, and that the French government is currently in possession of two notebooks containing drafts of "Confessions." Convinced that the notebooks contain information that could endanger the security of the United States, CIA agent Fullbright (Jeff Goldblum) convinces Fay to travel to Paris and retrieve Henry's property before the information falls into the wrong hands. Now trapped in the middle of a cross-continental con and thrust deep into the world international espionage, Fay is about to find out that her ex-husband is not only still alive, but in more trouble than he could ever imagine. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Running Time: 118 mins
Fay Grim (2006)

Basically a comic book detective story with plenty of farces. I am looking forward to the first movie of this two part character development.

Sister My Sister (1994)

In this stark drama based on actual events in a small French town in the early '30s, a pair of repressed sisters slowly lose their grip on reality, leading to horrific consequences at the home where they're employed as maids. Christine (Joely Richardson), a domestic servant in the home of haughty widow Madame Danzard (Julie Walters), takes pride in her efficiency and deference. Raised by nuns, Christine bitterly resents her penniless mother, but remains devoted to her younger, similarly convent-reared sister, Lea (Jodhi May). When Lea, too, comes to work for Madame Danzard, Christine trains her dutifully while also driving a wedge between the girl and their mother. The sisters' emotional bond eventually becomes a sexual one, too, and as they turn inward their work suffers, leading to increasing disapproval from their employer. Meanwhile, Christine is driven mad with jealousy at what she perceives as a flirtation between Lea and Madame Danzard's sullen daughter, Isabelle (Sophie Thursfield). Tensions reach a boiling point when the widow and her daughter return home one evening to find burned garments, uncompleted housework, and the sisters holed up in their room together, smelling of sex. Adapted by Wendy Kesselman from her Pulitzer Prize-winning play, My Sister in This House, Sister My Sister was based on the true story of Christine and Lea Papin, whose grisly 1933 murders have also inspired several other works. In addition to Jean Genet's 1948 play The Maids, the incident was the basis for Jean-Pierre Denis' feature Les Blessures Assassines and the documentary En Quete Des Soeurs Papin, both released in 2000. The real-life Christine Papin died after four years in prison, but Lea was released after ten years of hard labor and lived for several more decades in another small French town. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Running Time: 85 mins
Sister My Sister (1994)

Other than being a true life story and having a dramatic ending, I could not get into it.