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.

… says Oliver Stone,

“Stalin, Hitler, Mao, McCarthy — these people have been vilified pretty thoroughly by history,” Stone told reporters at the Television Critics Association’s semi-annual press tour in Pasadena.

Lovely touch of moral equivalence between two mass-murderer dictators who ruled with impunity and an alcoholic senator who was taken down by a journalist, isn’t it?

That’s exactly why we “need” Oliver Stoned to explain it all to us, do we?

“Stalin has a complete other story,” Stone said. “Not to paint him as a hero, but to tell a more factual representation. He fought the German war machine more than any single person. We can’t judge people as only ‘bad’ or ‘good.’ Hitler is an easy scapegoat throughout history and its been used cheaply. He’s the product of a series of actions. It’s cause and effect … People in America don’t know the connection between WWI and WWII … I’ve been able to walk in Stalin’s shoes and Hitler’s shoes to understand their point of view. We’re going to educate our minds and liberalize them and broaden them. We want to move beyond opinions … Go into the funding of the Nazi party. How many American corporations were involved, from GM through IBM. Hitler is just a man who could have easily been assassinated.”

Of course! It’s all the evil American corporations’ fault! That must be it!

But why should anyone or anything be faulted? If Ollie really believes ” We can’t judge people as only ‘bad’ or ‘good,’” why bother have any judgment at all? Why not instead whore oneself with thugs, exactly the way Olly does with Hugo Chavez and that oil money.

Adolf and Stalin were not available for photo-ops

Stoned has the stones to refer to history as “events that at the time went under-reported, but crucially shaped America’s unique and complex history of the last 60 years,” such as,

President Harry Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan and the origins of the Cold War with the Soviet Union.

since, of course, the media didn’t bother on either two “event”. But it’s all about empathy with Olly,

“You cannot approach history unless you have empathy for the person you may hate”

Well, if you believe that, you’ll probably sit and watch Olly’s history rewrite… with empathy, of course.

Let’s just hope Ollie wasn’t the talent behind that FARC propaganda video doing the rounds which shows the lovely pastoral agrarian FARC “fighting capitalism single-handedly” because no one else does.

Here’s the video, if you don’t remember it from the other day,

After all, the FARC would tell you they have been “vilified pretty thoroughly” too.

It’s all about the empathy.

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)

It’s a dreary Wednesday and to be truthful, I’m finding politics (American, Latin American, or any politics) exhausting. The Anchoress has an Advent pause for weary minds, but being much less spiritual than her, imagine my delight when I saw this from John Derbishire, whose book, We Are Doomed I just finished reading,
Why We Kiss?

Razib goes on to speculate that: “Perhaps then bad breath and poor oral hygiene are simply a fitness indicator, and kissing evolved as a method for humans to evaluate each other’s health as an ‘honest’ signal?”

Maybe that’s how it got started; but we kiss because it’s so good.

Here’s my favorite kissing scene on film, the final scene of Cinema Paradiso, a movie I loved when I first saw it years ago,

Warm kisses, all.

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.

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.

UPDATE
Photos, via Noticias 24

Hugo and Oliver both wore matching outfits. Sweet!

Oliver Stone, whose career is way beyond salvation at this point, has made a propaganda movie about Hugo Chavez titled South of the Border, which gives us a chance to see Hugo break and fall off a little kid’s bike.

Stone invited Chavez to go to the Venice Film Festival, where South of the Border will premiere outside of competition.

Well, what is a fashionable traveling tyrant to do?

Chavez has now taken time off his tour of Libya, Algeria, Syria, Iran, Belarus and Russia and headed to Venice

The leftist leader was expected to walk down the red carpet at around 5:00 pm (1500 GMT) to attend the official screening of “South of the Border”

As a worthy Communist, Hugo travels in style:

His entourage has taken over the entire third floor of the luxury Hotel des Bains on the Lido near the festival venue, a Venezuelan journalist told AFP, adding that Chavez was under the protection of 26 bodyguards.

That’s four bodyguards short of Hugo’s other buddy and fellow fashionable traveling tyrant Muammar al-Qaddafi, who pitches his tent (except for New Jersey) with thirty female virgin bodyguards. There is no information available on the gender or purity of Hugo’s bodyguards.

I can’t decide whether the late Thomas Mann (since Mann’s character Gustav von Aschenbach stayed at the Hotel des Bains on the Lido) or the surgically-altered Joan Rivers would be the most appropriate person to review Hugo’s stay, but will post photos of Hugo on the red carpet once I find them.

While in Venice, Hugo and Oliver may have a chance to get together with fellow traveler Michael Moore and deplore capitalism

Blending his trademark humor with tragic individual stories, archive footage and publicity stunts, the 55-year-old launches an all out attack on the capitalist system, arguing that it benefits the rich and condemns millions to poverty.

Because nothing spells sincerity as bemoaning riches in the style one has become accustomed to while at one of the word’s premiere luxury settings.

Update 2
Venice Film Festival: A Movie Star Reception For Hugo Chavez

Update, Tuesday, 8 September
What did I tell you? Hugo meets Michael

Drooling on the lens of his Sincerity-cam

SPOILER ALERT
Links also contain spoilers

1930s g-men and gangsters, great clothes and cars, Christian Bale, Johhny Depp, and Marion Cotilliard; what more can a moviegoer want?

Ace has the answer.

Betty Jo Tucker and Big Hollywood also reviewed it. Betty Jo was as puzzled about the mustache as I was, too.

Say “No” to the shaky cam!

And no, I don’t believe for a moment that Dillinger actually walked into the Chicago Police Deparment Dillinger unit undetected.