Candy Hearts - Music

Here's a band that is new to me.  Catchy and fun.

Their Myspace: Candy Hearts. And apparently you can get a free copy of their album.

Enjoy,
Les

Movie Review: The Battleship Potemkin Re-Release

The Battleship Potemkin 

1925

Starring: Grigori Aleksandrov, Aleksandr Pavlovich Antonov, Vladimir Barsky, Ivan Bobrov, Mikhail Gomorov and Beatrice Vitoldi

Written by:  Nina Agadzhanova, Nikolai Aseyev, Sergei Eisenstein and Sergei Tretyakov

Directed by: Sergei Eisenstein

I hadn't seen this since college and back then, with my limited exposure to silent films, I liked it but wasn't blown away. Silent films take a bit of work at first. I have watched many more at this point and there are ones out there that I think are great.  I loved Modern Times, Metropolis, The Strong Man, Shoulder Arms and after seeing it again, The Battleship Potemkin. Of course there are many great silent films that I haven't seen.  If I didn't have Skinimax maybe my world would be very different and that would change.  

The film tells the story about the 1905 showdown between the Potemkin and the Tsarist regime, a moment that sets the stage for the revolution of 1917.  It is also a landmark film in the use of montage or the Kuleshov Effect, the most famous being the Odessa Steps sequence.  The film is told in five parts and we start on a ship where the sailors are forced by the officers to eat rotten, maggot infested meat.  It's quite gleefully disgusting and Eisenstein really captures the divide between the soldiers and the officers, who represent Tsarist Russia.  The next sequence is the mutiny, which features the fantastic sequence where the officers order that some of the men have a tarp put over them before they are shot. During this part of the film one of the sailor's leader Vakulinchuk is killed.  This leads to the final parts of the film and so as not to ruin this for you, I will stop right here.  

The film is very powerful and since there's no dialogue the images carry more weight than and deserve more attention than what we're used to providing.  And after you get in the rhythm of the editing the images become more and more powerful as the film unfolds.  The famous Odessa Steps sequence is intense and Eisenstein doesn't shy away from graphic violence, especially the woman whose son is shot and then trampled by the crowd as he tries to get to safety.  Then there is the mom who is shot and the famous baby carriage as it travels wildly down the steps.  Even if it wasn't used in The Untouchables the image of the carriage is burned into the brain of any self-respecting cinefile.  I'd seen it a million times and watching it again on the big screen I was still moved.  

The film looks great on its 35mm transfer.  The marks and scratches were few and the tinting of the red flag towards the end was nice. If you get a chance, you should see this on the big screen.  Every movie should be seen, if possible, in the format for which it was originally intended; and that means the big screen.  Granted my 46" flatscreen is better than any old tube tv and it's good in a bind, but seeing The Battleship Potemkin on a thirty foot screen is an experience everyone should have.  

I give The Battleship Potempkin a solid A+.  Rush out and see if it comes to your city. 

Here is the trailer:

Movie Review: Limitless

Limitless

2011

Starring: Bradley Cooper, Abbie Cornish and Robert DeNiro

Screenplay by: Leslie Dixon Based on the Novel The Dark Fields by Alan Glynn

Directed by: Neil Burger

A couple of years back I read an article on HuffPo about Provigil.  Provigil is a drug for narcoleptic people to keep them from passing out at random moments.  Supposedly, it also cranks up the focus of the non-narcoleptics in the world and, according to this article, was used by pilots in the U.S. Air Force.  I became interested, because much like the Bradley Cooper writer character, I have been occasionally blocked and I thought that if I could get my hands on some of this Provigil I would solve my problems.  The writer of the HuffPo article had the same problem and did notice an improved ability to focus.  He could read for longer stretches as well as being less distracted while writing.  

I thought about asking one of my doctor friends to hook me up but in the end I decided that I needed to figure out a way to outwit my writer's block instead of drugging it.  Hence, the reason I write this blog.  

Limitless takes the real Provigil and turns it to eleven ... thousand.  Bradley Cooper plays Eddie Mora, a struggling writer who, after a chance encounter with his ex-brother in-law, gets access to a drug called NZT.  NZT is supposed to unlock the remaining 80% of your brain three minutes after you take it.  At first Eddie just uses it for writing.  He finishes his novel in four days.  He's also able to recall anything he's ever seen, read or heard.  Half-read articles, the spine of a book he'd seen in college brings back everything he's forgotten about each subject.  He learns how to play the piano in three days and after listening to a language for a little bit he is suddenly fluent.  The biggest part of his new-found powers relates to the stock market.  In a short period of time he is able to take a small amount of money and turn it into two million dollars.  After he does this it attracts the attention of Robert DeNiro's character, a Wall Street big shot, and Eddie becomes the whiz-kid who can see every angle of a deal.  

A lot more happens but I hate reviews that give you too much of the plot so I'm going to stop there.  

The movie is slickly directed by Neil Berger.  It cleverly follows Eddie's rise from the dump of his apartment to the big time and has enough visual panache to make even writing look interesting, always a challenge in movies.  The script is strong and I didn't notice any major plot holes, which is shocking because it gets a little crazy.  

I'm a fan of Bradley Cooper from his days playing Will Tippon on Alias, a show that was for a time, brilliant.  He does a good job as Eddie Mora and he is on his way to being a action movie leading man, along with the female heartthrob.  I think Abbie Cornish is Australian.  I could be wrong but it seems that American Cinema is being taken over by the Aussies.  Before Limitless I saw a trailer for Hanna and I think everyone in that fucking movie was Australian.  And it's not like they're in there as shrimp-on-the-barbie caricatures, which I whole-heartedly endorse, but they're using their "learned" American accents to steal jobs from America.  By the way, I love Australia and have been there a number of times.  Robert DeNiro was fine.  He's one of our greatest actors but I usually take a breath before seeing one of his films.  Can anyone say Analyze That or Meet the Fockers? Here he is good in a part that, while important, is a bit one-dimensional, but that says more about the story than Mr. DeNiro.  He actually takes it up a notch.   

On the whole I was entertained by the film.  While not blown away, I found it to be an entertaining night at the movies.  

I give Limitless a solid B.

Les

Here is the trailer: 

AMC Killed the Moviewatcher Program

I loved the Moviewatcher Program at AMC.  And this is why I was really kind of pissed last night when I went to see Limitless and my Moviewatcher card didn't work and they were instead asking for something called the Movie Stub card.  I went up to customer service and the nice girl told me that for a dollar a month Movie Stub was actually a better deal.  I was too pissed to process this.  I told her that the main reason I came to AMC was the Moviewatcher Program, like my protests would suddenly bring it back to life.  Like some pre-programed corporate automaton she just kept repeating that Movie Stub was replacing Moviewatcher and it was better because at some point I got 10 bucks.  I can't remember when that would have been and I didn't care.

As you can see from the above picture, I've had my card since the beginning of time.  Actually, it was more like 2001.  The Moviewatcher Program was great because for every movie you went to you received 2 points. Then for every ten points you would receive a small popcorn or a soda or a movie and then at 100 points you would get a free night at the movies with a popcorn, soda and free movie ticket.

If you were a Moviewatcher member you got a free small popcorn on Wednesdays, which you could then upgrade to a medium or large.  And if you couldn't make it on Wednesday, they would send out emails where you could print up a coupon for a free small, upgradeable popcorn.  I loved it.  It was even better when I donated blood because I would get two free AMC Movie Passes that I would use on Wednesday and get my free popcorn and buy a soda and spend like 4.25 for the whole night out.

I know.  You think I'm cheaper than those bastard Republicans.

Over the course of the almost ten years I was a member I received 442 points, or 221 movies.  I go to a lot of movies and not all of them at AMC but I still was seeing at least 20 movies a year at AMC, mostly because of the Moviewatcher Program.  The first Moviewatcher Movie I saw was Bandits with Billy Bob Thorton and Bruce Willis.  I saw it on October 14th, 2001 and can only remember a joke about juice boxes.  I don't remember the joke, but I remember there was a joke and because I remember it the joke must have been funny.  The rest of the film, not so much.

It turns out the last Moviewatcher film I saw was Battle: Los Angeles, which I reviewed here.

I was going to add more movies from my Moviewatcher history but as I type this the site suddenly went down.  I am sad.  Fuck you AMC.

Les

P.S. I've been outlining a novel so I haven't been keeping up with my posts.  I will have a review of Limitless either today or tomorrow.  Thanks for your patients, all 3 of you. ;)

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

I would love to go out and drink a few with the amateurs tonight but I think I'm going to grab a bottle of Jameson and sip on a couple of pours while I outline one of my numerous writing projects. I was married to an Irish woman once, more Chicago-Irish than Irish-Irish -- although, her parents hailed from County Mayo. The best thing I got from her was a love of The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. Enjoy.

Les

Christ I HATE This F*cker Known as Rush Limbaugh!

If you've seen any of the devastation from Japan, and you'd have to be living under a tree stump not to, it's hard not to feel bad for all those people and what they've lost.  It's absolutely horrific.  A sane person can't imagine that there could be someone so heartless that they would make fun of the tragedy.  Please welcome the fat cunt Rush Limbaugh:



When I was working my way through college in a warehouse outside of Chicago, my coworker was the old guy who really loved the fuck out of Jesus and Rush Limbaugh.  I was in hell.  We had one radio and everyday he wanted to listen to (fake Dr.) James Dobson and Rush Limbaugh.  The only saving grace was that (fake Dr.) Dobson's Focus on the Family, which I would snarkily refer to as Focus on Fornication, didn't seem to last that long.  It was more of a Paul Harvey type monologue, but I could be wrong and have just blocked it from my atheist mind.  The other saving grace (no pun intended) was that because I agreed to this I would be able to listen to Howard Stern in the morning.  I give him credit, the old Jesus lover gave Howard a good listen and thought that he was smart and thoughtful. I'm sure he was annoyed by the lesbians but what are you going to do.  He used to tell me he was praying for me at his bible group and I would try not to be too rude to him as he was deep down a kind man.  We would debate and the thing I remember most is when we were discussing gay marriage he admitted that he was unhappily married but that God was helping him though that.  I asked him that if gay marriage was legal would he then become gay?  He thought about it and said that he didn't know and that it might happen.

That is neither here nor there.

Anyway, I'd listen to Limbaugh and it seemed, then as it is now, that he couldn't exhale without telling a lie.  A lie or a lie of omission is his forte and I used to get so pissed, not just because of the lies but that so many people fell for them.

Aside from being a lying asshole.  I think Limbaugh is a racist.  And anyone who can't see that must themselves be a racist.  So I'm not surprised by the above clip.

I love Hawaii but I'm still kind of mad at the state for bringing that evil pig back to life.

Les

Rebecca Black - Friday

I can't get enough of this. :)

Les