Fausta’s Blog

Denzel, Gary Oldman, apocalyptic story, and action-adventure… what more can a woman want?

I haven’t been to the movies yet, but this review by John Nolte caught my attention, REVIEW: ‘Book of Eli’ Delivers God, Guns, and Guts. Oh yeah, that sounds good to me,

Like most of you, many years ago I decided that after the apocalypse it will be The Mighty Gary Oldman I’ll choose as arch-nemesis to my Road Warrior (or Tina Turner). Oldman has a high-old time here, and what a credit to this great actor that he can perfectly inhabit the buttoned-down Commissioner Gordon one day and leave no scenery left un-chewed as Carnegie the next. Every line of dialogue, facial expression and movement is delivered for maximum impact. Oldman understands this genre, what it takes to be its villain, and succeeds in finding a place of his own.

And oh how I loves me some Denzel.

Will have to see it.

Last year I was looking for YouTubes of Bryn Terfel, when I came across a beautiful, moving, short film, The Dinner Guest,

At that time, in the comments section, Erica said,

This is somewhat embarrassing to admit, but I found myself weeping, and I cannot quite for sure say why.

This wasn’t a sad film, but it had a sadness to it that drudged up some kind of abstract emotion inside me.

It was almost too beautiful for words.

The first time I saw The Dinner Guest I didn’t weep, but for some reason, while watching it today I did. It could be that the film’s wonderful combination of familiarity and yearning got me this time.

The film was made by Joe Gleason, who contacted the Anchoress (who is a big Bryn fan) and explained,

It’s an incredibly economic film; I borrowed many of the props, I manned the camera myself, the actors are friends of mine, and the mansion is right near where I live.

I’m a strong Christian, and I’m so glad to read your insights into the film. You’ve touched on many of the themes I hoped to communicate, and expanded on ideas I hadn’t even fully developed while making it. I hope to continue making films that provoke reflection and discussion, and ultimately, I’d like to impact the world and draw people closer to God through them.

Here are four more of his intensely lyrical, lovely films,

A Letter, where Mrs Sutton leaves the room…

A Birthday Party, on families and change,

The Hospital, on hope,

Today The Anchoress posts on another of Joe’s films, Almost Evening, in two parts,

The only other director that comes to mind who has such a deft touch on portraying characters and their relationships with each other is Ang Lee. I hope Joe’s career is as successful.

Wishing all of you a happy and prosperous 2010, and thank you for your support.

For those of us looking for an escape from dismal politics – American and Latin American alike – there’s a will and a way: Dude studies!

Dwight Gardner reviews in the NYTimes Dissertations on His Dudeness,

New in bookstores, and already in its second printing, is “The Year’s Work in Lebowski Studies,” an essay collection edited by Edward P. Comentale and Aaron Jaffe (Indiana University Press, $24.95). The book is, like the Dude himself, a little rough around the edges. But it’s worth an end-of-the-year holiday pop-in. Ideally you’d read it with a White Russian — the Dude’s cocktail of choice — in hand.

And don’t forget the 10th anniversary DVD edition of the film, too.

The book was put together by academics who had to make tough choices:

“When we first put out a call for papers, we received about 200 proposals,” said Mr. Comentale, an associate professor of English at Indiana University, Bloomington, whose previous books include “Modernism, Cultural Production and the British Avant-Garde” and “T. E. Hulme and the Question of Modernism.”

When putting the book together, Mr. Comentale said, he and his co-editor “immediately cut out all the papers celebrating the Dude as a hippie hero in a postmodern landscape.” That’s a sober choice. Admirers of the Dude are already dangerously close to becoming Internet-age versions of Parrotheads, the weekend-warrior Jimmy Buffett fans who tip back margaritas — and embarrass their children — while wearing flip-flops, board shorts, Hawaiian shirts and coconut bras.

One of them is a college professor:

As a new generation of “Lebowski” fans emerges, Dude Studies may linger for a while. In another of this book’s essays, “Professor Dude: An Inquiry Into the Appeal of His Dudeness for Contemporary College Students,” a bearded, longhaired and rather Dude-like associate professor of English at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., named Richard Gaughran asks this question about his students: “What is it that they see in the Dude that they find so desirable?”

Good question.

While you ponder that, you might want to watch the The Dude version of The Big Lebowski (not to be confused with the LANGUAGE WARNING other version):

The Dude abides.

Special thanks to the friend who sent me this article.

Opening on Christmas Day, Robert Downey Jr stars as Sherlock Holmes. When I was in grade school and my friends were reading Nancy Drew, I was reading the Arthur Connan Doyle stories. In this version of Sherlock Holmes,

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous super-sleuth, Sherlock Holmes, gets an update with this adaptation of Lionel Wigram’s comic book series by writer/director Guy Ritchie.

As you may remember, I loved Iron Man, and now can’t wait to see Sherlock Holmes (click on the link to the website for the full-screen HD trailer)

Haven’t read the books, haven’t seen the movies, but this is funny,

Top 20 Unfortunate Lessons Girls Learn From ‘Twilight’, with the stress on prepping up for abusive relationships:

1. If a boy is aloof, stand-offish, ignores you or is just plain rude, it is because he is secretly in love with you — and you are the point of his existence.
2. Secrets are good — especially life-threatening ones.
3. It’s OK for a potential romantic interest to be dimwitted, violent and vengeful — as long as he has great abs.
4. If a boy tells you to stay away from him because he is dangerous and may even kill you, he must be the love of your life. You should stay with him since he will keep you safe forever.

Go through enough of that and you’ll be ready for the Church of Oprah when you’re older and want to blame all that self-inflicted victimization on some guy.

Over at Big Hollywood Alicia Colon writes about Appreciating True Erotica in Cinema, as opposed to putting yourself through any sort of Twilight.

Actor Edward Woodward has died of pneumonia. Big Hollywood has a nice obituary.

He’s probably best remembered for playing the title character in The Equalizer, a deeply moral TV show about a middle-aged guy who packed heat and kicked butt in pre-Giuilani era New York City. The Washington Post calls Woodward,

an urbane and versatile British stage actor who specialized in playing introspective men of conscience

The photo shows him in full Equalizer gear: The impeccable suit (tie with matching pocket scarf, as it was the style back then), lapel pins and ring which established his background, and of course, firearm at the ready.

However, if you haven’t seen the Australian film Breaker Morant, you should. Woodward’s performance was absolutely breathtaking.

George Moneo posted the final scene from Breaker Morant,

Rob Bluey sent this video of the panel discussion at the premiere of Not Evil, Just Wrong. The Heritage Foundation posts,

Last night Heritage hosted the world premiere of “Not Evil Just Wrong,” a feature-length documentary that reveals the true cost of global warming hysteria. The film was broadcast live on Ustream.tv.

Following last night’s screening at Heritage, Andrew Breitbart moderated a panel featuring Richard Lindzen, a professor of meteorology at MIT; Donald Roberts, professor emeritus of tropical health in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences; and John Fund, an author and columnist at the Wall Street Journal.

As if there was any doubt that Danny Glover is a propagandist, Agence France-Presse reports that he’s heading to Honduras to support the students’ resistance (article in Spanish). He will be part of a delegation but didn’t specify other members of the party.

Glover made his statement from Havana, where he is visiting, along with Harry Belafonte, the UN-sponsored Caribbean film festival Muestra Intinerante de Cine Caribeño.

No word as to what’s happened to the $18 million Chavez gave Glover to make two movies a while ago.

In other Honduras news, Mel Zelaya is heading to next week’s UN General Assembly, where he counts on the support of Hugo Chávez and General Assembly president Miguel D’Escoto… and of the Obama administration, too.

Patrick Swayze, ‘Dirty Dancing’ Star, Dies at 57

Johnny and Baby dance on.

UPDATE
Check out Patrick Swayze