White Dog

I checked out this classic by Sam Fuller after listening to the Criterion Cast. I am glad I checked this out. It is quite good. Think a cross between Lassie and To shoot a mocking bird.

A girl knocks down a white dog ends up adopting the dog without realizing the dog carries with it a terrifying conditioning. Strewn in the simple packaging is an effective message of racism plus mental conditioning. Certain scenes might be a bit dated, glaringly so are the scenes where cotton buds were stuffed into the dogs jaws to give it a joker-ish maniacal snarl. The story is simple yet effective and when was the last time you saw a movie with almost no CGI? This was so refreshing for me. Paul WinField is the trainer that is committed sometimes to questionable lengths to cure the dog of it's 'ailment'.

It's the first time I have heard of the term 'White Dog' too and no the 'White' here is not referring to the color of the dog. The 'White' here refers to the fact that the dog was trained to attack Negros or 'blacks'. The fact that a movie like this might have it's roots in reality stirred up a mixture of anger and a chill in me being a dog owner myself. The thought that someone could do something like this sends a chill right to the core of my soul.

The scenes of the dog attacks is realistically done and being a victim of a vicious dog attack once that nearly tore my finger off while I was jogging, the attack scenes brought back waves of uncomfortable memories too close to home. I shifted around uncomfortably and pulled the volume down anticipating the attack scenes.

Well a friend today made a good comment about something else that I think applies to these kinds of classic, he said "Signs of imperfection are usually an indication that it's original ..". I feel the same thing about this movie. While the outdated scenes might illicit a smile or two but then the final message of the film is just as effective and does not distract from the enjoyment of this movie. I started with the film they said would be the misunderstood gem of Sam Fuller .. and I find myself raring to check out what other gems this great director put forth. Check the criterion cast out for another source of passionate movie discussions.

This is a solid 4 in my books and makes me want to check out Fuller's other work.

Source Code (2011)

First up review without spoilers .. this was really really good. I liked it. All I can say is going in I was very nervous as I really liked Duncan Jones's earlier effort Moon.

I really was not disappointed. This is sci fi with a heart and it's written quite well. Think GroundHog day plus 12 monkeys. As with the first the signature of Jones is all over this movie fro the loneliness feel of the protagonist, the question on what it really means to be us and that Chesney Hawkes song! The song is used very effectively here.

Right from the beginning we are in the shoes of Captain Colter Stevens waking up in this strange training and frame by frame we are made aware of his mission on this train reminisce of 12 monkeys here. There is a bit of romance thrown in with Michelle Monaghan but not too much to detract the story. It's always in the back ground.

You should just go in with a mind to enjoy this one and you really will, trying too much to think about the viability of the technological bits of this film and you might just end up missing the point that Duncan is so glaringly trying to put forth. The wife and me really enjoyed this one!

4.5 out of 5

The Devil and Daniel Johnston

First time introduced to Mr. Daniel Johnston. Have not heard of him prior to this and I only heard about him listening to the podcast from documentary blog. After hearing him mentioned about the 10 th time the podcast I had to see this man that reputatedly defied the whole world and made this world changing music from the basement of his parents. Was this the missed Dylan? The thing that struck me though, is how much Sam Rockwell is the splitting image of Dan. That in a strange way took away for me a bit when watching this documentary as I had to constantly remind myself that I was not watching a movie with Rockwell in it. Put up on my twitter that if his movie ever got made no one else had the right to play him but Rockwell. Even both their mannerisms and facial ticks are identical.

I kept on thinking about the people who have had to put up with the artistic genius of our time: brother of Picasso, husband of Virginia Woolf and the parents of Dan. How do they really feel when watching a documentary like this? I wonder if they feel the anguish and hardship of putting up with these misunderstood geniuses is worth it?

I am not really the biggest fan of the sex, drugs and rock and roll stories and in a way this is exactly that, detailing Daniel's rise from obscurity (working in Mac D) to his eventual fall and it's when the story falls into it's trappings of a normal rock and roll documentary I felt the most bored. I liked the personal stories of Daniel plus the superimposition of Daniel's voice recordings over his movie videos of him playing his mom in drags. That was a wonderful touch by the director. It really helped to bridge the two mediums and create in my opinion a new life and view of Daniel's raw material.

Another point worthy of mention here is which I actually gleaned off the documentary blog podcast is the director's appreciation of the 'alternate appreciation' of art and it is due to this that this tribute to Daniel is here today. I actually like the rawness of his music the most and feel that the composition and lyrics of his music to be absolutely genius. At this point too the thought occured to me of how personal art really is and the folly of allowing a bunch of people critique about your art. I guess now I understand better that I am not weird or crazy wheneven I feel the bile regurtitate up my throat when I have to sit through an episode of American Idol. I am sure a person singing like Daniel would have probably would not even have survived the perlims and a genius like this would have flowed right through the Idol filter, so I think about the necessity for this on going reality series that is in it's 10th season?

The scene about Daniel's 'bad boy' stuff related to his acid consumption and weird acts following that was a bit ordinary. I have seen that before. Which one of these artsy genius was not strange?

Conclusion: 4 stars for this one, it was good and it introduced me to one of the best artist I would have missed because of no coverage, just one star taken away for the times I felt a bit bored.

Pray the Devil Back to Hell

I am a believer in the teachings of Abraham Hicks and practice it daily. I am getting there but then there are parts of me that think how effective this kinds of teachings would be against the more “practical” powers, like guns and such. Would an idea of peace stand up to a gun?

“Pray the devil back to hell” is one of those rare documentaries that extolls and answers that question of how usable the practice of ABE's teachings is in the real world with a resounding yes! It show cases the huge role that women of Liberia played in getting the peace process on the way. What is truly magnificient to me is the way that these women were able to gather their forces and create a powerful unified idea in the collective consciusness. Love might be a beautiful idea but walking the path of love is not always easiest thing to do. Everyone of Abraham's teachings is put into action in this 1 hour 11 minutes documentary. Truly and eye opener to me about the power of an idea.

I love the opening montage of art that gives the viewer a summary of the what the documentary is going to be about. I really like this. It was very effective in framing the story around the whole documentary. The only movie that comes to my mind that does a similar style which is actually not a documentary is the puppet sequence in the beginning of “Hell Boy 2”. This kind of style really appeals to me for setting the stage and whetting the appetite of the audience of the unfolding story.

Yes these women faced fear. Yes they felt anger consuming their souls but never once did they give in to the desire to dish out the same violence and atrocities that was forced on them. This ensured the success of their campaign. Any point if they gave in, it would have spelt disaster or failure for their campaign for peace. This documentary has convinced me that truly a gun is never more powerful than love.

At many points of this documentary, the women seems to be the only voice of reason against a backdrop of violence and unrest. There was one amusing scene where during the disarmament, even UN lost control over the people and the narrator says "UN is lucky that the women are there". Funny stuff.

It's no wonder that this documentary has won many accodales. 5 stars from me!

talhotblond (2009)

This documentary sent chills up my spine. A little bit due to the ending, largely more on the reflection how the events that happened in it could have easily happened to me. I have been there before, start up this really wonderful almost anonymous chat with this stranger online, leading to really great everyday conversation which could be mistaken for stronger feelings such as love.

I just remember increasingly afraid as this documentary played. Afraid for how near I got to turning into a killer like marinesniper. As he described about why he liked the online chats that he had, it shocked me how much I agreed to him. My experiences with online chats is online relationships is relationships as well so strong feelings can surface as a result. The ease for to relate what Montgomery said really scared me, so much that it stayed with me for a while.

Boy, I am glad I am over those days now. I used to be a pretty hardcore irc dude spending most of my days (sometimes fucking my exams next day because the night before I had a more important online presence to maintain !)

Back to the documentary, this piece about real incidents directed by Barbara Schroeder is really well done! I sat glued to my seat the whole time and the narration told by the person murder served grabbed hold of my interest right till the end. The story by itself has enough twist and turn to keep anyone attention but kudos must be given here to the direction and restraint of Schroeder to keep us guessing and holding on for dear life every death defying turn the story takes. This plays initially like a romantic comedy twisting and turning finally into a murder mystery and when the final and most depraved reveal is unveiled I guarantee it will floor you. You would have thought that in a times where viewers are getting more and more desensitized to twist and turns and shocks in plots that something like this would seem tame but just think a minute about the consequences of the actions of the people involved here and see if it hits home. The fact that these are real events that took place help to cement that even more.

A good solid 5 stars for this one!

Machete (2010)

This one reminds me a lot of Crank. It's loud, it's brainless and it's fun. Maybe if you can swallow the first two in a movie, then you stand the chance to be entertained as we get to the third attribute of the movie.

When I saw this I saw it back to back with Predators, Tomb Raider and Transformers, Revenge of the fallen. Talk about a whole lot of Loud Nothings! Almost had 30% of the neurons in the brain die off! This movie however is better in my books compared to the pretentious Predators and Transformers as it knew what it was and did not for one second take itself seriously.

Some notable parts include the scene where a 'smart' henchman comes into contact with our protagonist. The dialog is hilarious! It sagged and slowed down a bit in the middle as it lost focus a bit and this part dragged on for me. Until the end though it picked back up steam and raged on to a blast of a finish.

6.5/10 for this one!

Joint Security Area (2000)

Another effort by one of my favorite directors Mr. Chan-Woon Park. This tale that starts out which seemingly going to be a male testosterone induced shoot out fair twists into a tale of friendship, honor and war. I was watching this expecting an action flick but I was not disappointed. I liked how this movie with it's Rashomon-esque story telling is able to bring us from scene to scene glued to the edge of our seat.

Probably the only thing that would stop me from giving this one it's usual gold star rating is the ending that seems to be a tad too convenient (no spoilers here just watch it) and the final act that devolves somewhat into over the top acting and melodrama. Minus a few points there, but then as that takes points off from this movie the talented Mr Kang-Ho Song who plays Sergeant Oh. It's a nuanced performance who can only be pulled off by a an actor in his league good stuff +1 point there. I just loved all his screen time (as with all his movies).

Some other colleagues of mine says that this movie is unfocused, unbelievable with a humanist message. Is it all of that ? Yes. Does it make it any less better for me ? No.

In summary I give this a 7.0/10.0. It's a good watch and would trump most of the usual hollywood bs coming out these days. A word of thanks to the Korean movie industry for keeping this reviewer interested in movies :).