Bella Review

My apologies to everyone who has been waiting for an update, its not that i haven't seen any movies lately...its that I have learned about myself something very important, that is: my fingers (in subconscious conjunction with my mind) refuse to write reviews on shitty ass films. Therefore, I have to wait until an inspiring, cohesive, and what I feel and consider to be a COMPLETE work of art so happens to string its reel across my pupils. Believe me, I really can't deal with critiquing bad art...it just turns into a nasty biker-style bashing. Theres cursing involved, brass knuckles, and nobody wants to see that, right? Right. Honestly though, you wouldn't want me to write a review of...i don't know... Triple X anyway, right? Reading about crappy movies like that will only ruin you're afternoon, give me a light headache, but worst of all, give people like Vin Diesel unnecessary attention. Trust me, the last thing America needs is a sequel to 'The Pacifier'.

Great, moving along now, everyone should know that Best Buy has these 'Summer Sizzler' DVD sales where every once in awhile you can pick up a great movie for 3.99! (I hate that I'm technically plugging corporate assholes like Best Buy but) It's cheap, it's great, and if you get lucky like me, you could end up with a movie like 'Bella' for 4 bucks!! Not that this movie is worth for bucks, granted, it's worth much much more, and if we're speaking in terms of substance and moral standing, I would go as far as saying priceless.

Every once in awhile you'll get this one asshole who says 'watch where you step buddy, these shoes are priceless' Or that douche bag who insists his 1978 FireBird is priceless (Don't get me wrong, nice car, but fuck off) Truthfully, for each person there are only a very select number of items few, far and in between with enough personal emotional connection to honestly rever as being so significantly important and dear to us- so much so- we could actually honor it with the title priceless. I can respect some of these items, maybe a wedding ring past down from generation to generation, or a photograph...but in reality these are all still material objects, air loom or not. The actual value of the object I would think is rooted deep within the fibers of the emotion attached to it, usually a promise, or simply a memory enveloping the latter and/or usually much much more. Priceless is then defined as invaluable, because it cannot be bought or sold, and although we eventually come to distinguish this ourselves, by our own perceptions and beliefs, there are still, fundamentally certain things that will always be priceless. Life. For instance, is priceless.

That is Bella in its abridged form. It is you and I, it is the gift of being born. We didn't ask for this, but here we are. Born into this time and space, like everybody else. It is my opinion man should never have the right to deny life, as well as take. We are born into nature as nature intended, and by nature we should leave- at our time, and in our space.

So that's the general moral of the story in Bella, however, life obviously is never as simple as we expect it to be. The greatest quote of the movie comes early in the film, and reverberates a profound message throughout the rest of the movie: "If you want to make God smile, tell him your plans". In life, as I'm sure any grandfather would be happy to sit down and tell you, there are too many curve balls. The road winds in directions and patterns we could have never possibly anticipated or imagined traveling or reaching, and in these highs and lows there is so much beauty to be captured, so much to learn about oneself and ones surroundings- how to care for one another, how to contribute to one another- but Bella assures us only through honesty and discernment can ones form develop and spread to create positive influences on one another.

This film received excellent recognition and won many awards including the People's Choice award at the Toronto Film Festival, two awards at the Heartland Film Festival, best picture from MovieGuide, and other awards around the country. I remember the big movie opening being here in Miami Beach, and I think it had something to do with either director Alejandro Monteverde or main character/actor Eduardo Verstegui living here. Both, who by the way did incredible jobs living up to the story told. I was especially impressed with the cinematography, and enjoyed the colors among camera angles used to express and invoke the emotions necessary to get Bella's message across to audience members. Excellent character progression aloud the viewer to develop side by side with actress Tammy Blanchard, as she struggles with a very human and identifiable concern. But I digress; I also remember a lot of catholic community supporters showing up for the event opening and advocating the watching of the film while it was in theatres. The movie actually doesn't play like a christian film, but you can't deny the underlying message and the values expressed.

This film was beautiful, and I implore you to speed over to Best Buy in hopes that they are still offering Bella as one of the sick little 'Sizzlin Summer Movies for Sale' marketing tools used to get people like you and I to eventually buy a bigger t.v. or synthetic cordless keyboard...cause you know, I totally needed one. Hey, at least they don't have Triple X as one of the DVD's for sale. (Believe me, it's not even worth 3.99)

Mongol Review

After watching this movie I wanted to be Mongolian. Why you ask? Because apparently, not only is a Mongolian's blood thicker than molasses, but they are also the world's most manliest men. Even the women are stronger than most men. Mongolian children run around large fields and are capable of bringing down full grown elk with their bare hands. BAD. ASS.

Really though, this was a beautiful movie, with an incredible love story we often don't see or here a lot of now a days. If you are a feminist, your self centered overly opinionated vagina will not appreciate the beauty within the complicated relationship between Temudjin and Borte. This is a love story of pure, un-compromiseable, un-conditional love, so much so, it is almost perceived as a farce when compared to the modern day ways of viewing love and marriage.

Borte was portrayed as an incredible woman of character, whose actions, which at times were completely out of self sacrifice, portrayed someone who understood the bigger picture within a situation, who knew that if means met ends, than by all means do what needs to be done. Incredible Ideology from a people who lived in the 12th century. To think men lived by such a code can again be interpreted as a joke, given that today many men stand for nothing and fall for anything.

One of my favorite parts of the movie was when Temudjin chose his wife at the ripe age of 9, only to marry her in another 5 or 6 years. 9 years old people. 9. I was playing with pogs and watching "Are you afraid of the Dark?" at 9, not deciding who my life partner was gonna be for the rest of my existence. Still, there was an essence and understanding of 'certainty' between the un-concenting girl and her chooser. There was an unquestionable seed of 'security' in that the man was going to not only protect his woman, but provide to full capacity. And it was understood between the two they're own roles and mission- that this seed was inevitably destined to grow and flourish into a well nourished family. Instinctual. I mean, hey, it was gonna happen either way so you might as well just get it straight early, right? For me this was one of the most insightful and intriguing aspects of Mongolian culture/ tradition- no questions. No going back. No "pre-nups". No bullshit. You did what you did because it needed to be done. In this case, Its just you, me, and that dowry. Done. Where did we go wrong?

Throughout the film I kept thinking about how today's children are a bunch of (I'm gonna keep it g-rated here in case father McMorality is reading this and use the word) softies. In all my years I have never in my life heard of such a HARDcore childhood as this one. Temudjin puts Drew Barrymore and every other E-true Hollywood child-hood story ever documented to shame. Really, if it all went down as writer/ historian Arif Aliyev portrays it, then I think we need to stop being such (again, for father McMorals) softies and stop putting these kids on so many meds. Mongol taught me that a child can not only survive the occasional ass-whooping and heart wrench, but makes him a stronger man for the future.

This movie also deals heavily with a favorite theme of mine, that is, exile. Exile is an unnatural state of being, and as an audience member i felt sympathy for the main character as he wandered what seemed at times to be aimlessly through what was once his land but what had now become foreign to him. Genghis Khan's true purpose later becomes clear, when he decides to unite all Mongols and make what had become diluted and separate, united and thick once more.

Closing up, just wanted to mention that aesthetically the film is very well balanced and scenery wise, my god- breathe taking- Mongolia really is a magnificent country where one can appreciate and breathe in the full beauty of creation in every frame. Director Sergei Bodrov deserves recognition and more money to continue the cultivation of such works, especially for Mongol- a soon to be film classic- and an all around man movie.

p.s. this is a trilogy so try and stay alive until the next two come out. I now I'll be trying.

Dark Knight Review

The Dark Knight has officially surpassed Spiderman in the super hero genre and now holds the title for most money racked in within the first week- at an astonishing 155.34 million dollars- and is expected to exceed a gross of over 200 million next week...a well deserved lump of cash if you ask me- Dark Knight has proven to be the best super hero movie of this summer, beating out competitors like the Incredible guy and the Iron guy (I'm just kidding I can't downplay Iron Man... every morning I wake up, stare into the mirror, and am disappointed i didn't wake up as Tony Stark) with the help of one very memorable and incredibly bad ass role, of course, I speak of the genius that is the late Heath Ledger's Joker.

His part will undoubtedly bring forth a posthumous Academy Award nomination for best supporting role this year, but whether or not he should win is more up to personal opinion. Just because the guy died doesn't mean we are obligated to hand him the award, although the pressure in nominating him and than giving it to someone else is enough to just mail the Oscar to his daughter. In trying to preserve what is "p.c." and what is "seriously bro..." we might just be better off hoping that the role he played was a good one, but a forgettable one...right?

wrong.

It was superb. Jack Nicholson is in Heath Ledger's eternal shadow - this Joker goes down in history as the most psychotic, provocative, yet intelligent one- allowing the audience member insight and depth into the dark twisted nature of his actions, at the same time indicting and questioning our own character and ethics- not only individually but as a society. An example of how we are questioned as individuals would be when Batman refused to run over and kill the Joker, despite both the capability and justice within fulfilling such an action- and socially our ethics are put into question when neither boat explodes (if you haven't seen the movie you won't know what referencing). Not to mention, I felt like the Joker's actions and character were constantly asking me to compromise on my convictions, to "laugh with him or at him", to, not take things "so seriously". So many times I caught audience members around me laughing or cheering for the bad guy, maybe they had forgotten which side they were supposed to be on, or maybe it was a conscious decision. In any case, Christopher Nolan created such a beautiful experience for the viewer, a very transient and at times vicarious stream of actions- at times it was good to be bad, and vice versa.

I heard a friend say she thought there was a strong republican under tone behind the entire movie. I can't blame her for thinking so, after all, the traditional American Super Hero is a good old fashioned conservative good guy. He wholesomely wins in the end and everyone cheers after eating their vegetables. He's not a bad guy. And bad guys don't win. Antiheroes need not apply. 

I watched Dark Knight opening night, along with 2,000 other people at Sunset Place Miami Florida. I was moved by how many batman lovers there actually were in the South Miami area- it was impressive. You had your normal batch of batman/ Joker t-shirt wearing kids who were just out to have a good time and watch a good action movie. No harm in that. Slowly but surely things got weirder, and from the shadows and caves of Miami came forth the dungeons and dragons crowd... sporting mother's smeared lipstick ear to ear. Grown men wearing home made capes. Flapping them around the theatre lobby. I was afraid. Not that I'd be injured, but that I might have to injure one of them if they tried to role play with me. I never understood how a grown man could be allowed to dress up on any day of the year that wasn't Halloween. The best was this one kid sitting 4 rows back in my theatre, who was decked out in what must have been a 3,000 dollar batman getty up, complete with leather jockstrap from only the finest of fine cow hides. Impressive. I'm not sure of the precise moment when this kid's nuts must have fused with his hot leathery pants. It must have been somewhere between the car ride over to the theatre, within the proceeding 6 hours of waiting for the previews and movie to begin, during the 2.5 hour film, or maybe during the traffic jam from hell in the parking garage after the movie... where 2,500 people were planning on leaving at the exact same time. Either way, good movie. Worth it.

First Blog Entry!

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