Warning: Incoming Netflixing!

Good evening.
Gawrsh, there's so much Netflixing to get through. Some of the entries will have to be somewhat terse.
But first!

Theaterflixing

The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe
So, being French means not growing up reading these books and not having any warm-fuzzies over them.
My brother and I wanted to see this on the big screen because it looked neat, that's about it.
The movie itself was alright. The story was a bit nonsensical. Fully-armored centaurs are awesome.
Pascal was bored by the film. He much prefers the Harry Potter films.
The state of CGI has reached the point where just about any concept can make it on screen now, no matter
how impossible or weird. I can't wait to see what "Mirrormask" looks like on DVD.
And now of course, I crave turkish delight (aka "rahat lokum"). My contacts are currently combing the city
for Haci Bekir lokum, which is the best one in the world. They even have a website!!

Good Night And Good Luck
Which Pascal and I saw tonight, in the very same projection room where we saw Narnia on Tuesday.
We're suckers for hardcore American political historical movies like "Thirteen Days", so we were salivating
after seeing the trailer for this one. And George Clooney's a talented guy, not just as an actor.
This was even more nononsense and hardcore than 5 episodes of Dragnet! Just the facts, m'am.
It's in gorgeous black and white, with wall-to-wall smoking, and archival footage of Joe McCarthy.
Because, you know, why bother casting someone as him when you can just let the footage speak for itself.
So anyway, great performances, food for thought, Oscar material, we like it!


Netflixing

The Transporter 2 - more precision-driving fun from Team Besson, vroom!!
Jason Statham kicks ass. If he fought Jet Li, Jet would not escape unscathed. This is a fine, if slightly
cartoony sequel to the original high-speed, high-kicking original. Our transporter friend has left the
South of France for the equally sunny beaches of Miami, Florida. He's picked up a temporary job, driving
a VIP's child to and from school. But the transporter is forced to kidnap the kid! OH NOES!
I suddenly had "Man On Fire" flashbacks, but Jason's methods are different.
So, good fun action flick. Rent it if you like fast driving and non-asian butt-kicking.

Dark Water - oh nooooooooo, not the rinse cycle!?!??
Boring, slow, boring, creepy, boring, but that Jennifer Connely sure is one hot, smart babe!!
And Japanese ghosts are evil. And mean. I didn't like the ending. Pascal fell asleep and didn't care.

The Great Raid - whatever happened to the Bataan Death March survivors?
Torn from the schedule of the History Channel comes this full-screen format made-for-TV movie.
At least, it looks and feels like one. Not every soldier died in the Bataan Death March. The survivors were
incarcerated in various camps. As McArthur returned to the Phillipines, the Japanese started retreating
and eliminating the prisoners in those camps. The US Army Rangers launched a raid to rescue the remaining
prisoners before they got final-solutioned. This is the story of that raid. The film provides a good reminder
that Japanese soldiers in WWII were utter and absolute bastards capable of the worst acts imaginable to man.
This is what happens when you consider all non-Japanese to be essentially animals.
So this is definitely, once again, I find myself saying this a lot lately, not for the faint of heart.
An interesting rental.

Marathon Man - "Is it safe?"
I always confuse this one with "Three Days Of The Condor", and I'm not sure why. I mean, I had never seen this
movie until I rented it from Netflix. Whereas I've seen "Three Days" at least twice, once in each language.
Dustin Hoffman, Roy Scheider, and Laurence Olivier's last role. This is a classic, and for good reasons.
So that's what the dentist torture scene is all about. The whole beginning of the movie is hilarious.
Good stuff.

Dead Man - continuing the Weirdo Western kick...
Oh boy. You know, any western from Jim Jarmusch that stars Johnny Depp, Crispin Glover, Lance Henriksen,
John Hurt, Robert flippin' Mitchum!!!, Iggy Pop, Billy Bob Thornton, and Alfred Molina is gonna be 15
different flavors of bizarre. And it is! And it's shot in black and white. And you get to see Northwestern
Native Americans, which you don't get to see in a lot of movie. And there's this really zen and funny
Native American in it. I stole his favorite expression for my own use: "Stupid white man."
If you've seen "Deadwood", you'll feel right at home with the level of language and violence.
It's one of those movies that will make you say: "soooo, this is what it's like to be stoned..."

The Cave
Got this one mostly for the sibling. I got some work done on the computer while he was watched.
He seemed unimpressed. The movie was apparently about some cave-divers who found themselves in a really-really
DEEP underwater cave, and became snacks for what appeared to be giant amphibious bats, or something. Whatever.

Valiant - "I am Charles De Girl, because I am a girl..."
Short and sweet, this little CGI movie is. Very nice voice work by a bunch of our favorites Brits, including
Tim Curry, John Cleese, Rick Mayall, Ricky Gervais, Hugh Laurie, and John Hurt. Is Ewan McGregor a Brit?
British carrier pigeons in WWII, having to contend with a german hawk. Fun stuff.
Bonus points for sexy French mousie and insane French pyromaniac "Sabotage" mouse.
Hopefully will do well on DVD, 'cause I don't think it did all that good at the box office.

Dune - Extended Edition - "I did not say this. I am not here."
Oh crap, this is NOT the rumored recut by David Lynch version. This is the awful Allan Smithee/Judas Boothe
version of "Dune", with the incomplete extra footage, the nonsensical editing, and the paintings.
This is a 2-disc set that includes the original theatrical version on Disc 1, and the Extended Edition on Disc 2.
Blargh.
I would really just rather have a recut, cleaned-up extended mix by David Lynch.
But I guess that's never gonna happen. Oh well. I give up.

Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig - Volume 3
More Shirow goodness. More headache-inducing "Individual 11" plot progression.
And an unexpected little glimpse in Motoko Kusanagi's childhood.
And a look at the Japanese legal system.

Enterprise: Season 4 - Disc 1
I heard Season 4 had some good eps in it, so I started renting it. The first two episodes continue the Season 3
cliffhanger, with the Xindi (hey! Sounds a lot like "Kzinti" to me!!!) weapon destroyed (yea!) but the Boobyprize
hurled back in time to a 1944 Earth (wha?) with the Germans occupying New York City and Washington DC! (Hey!)
Various Nazi alien highjinks ensue. Yeah, it was kinda fun. The third episode is a debriefing of everything
that happened in Season 3, and Tupac, sorry T'Pol goes back to Vulcan for a bit to see Mom.
Episode 4 has Brent "Data" Spiner in it playing some crazy genetic engineer who made more "Khan" people.

Enterprise: Season 4 - Disc 2
Part 2 and 3 of the Khan People, pretty crappy overall. Then things pick up a little with a pair of episodes
dealing with the bombing of the Earth embassy on Vulcan and subsequent search for the responsible party,
a group of supposedly radical religious Vulcans. More on the next disc...

Enterprise: Season 4 - Disc 3
The Vulcan stuff concludes nicely. The 2nd episode deals with the inventor of the tranporter and is desire
to run some experiments in an completely empty area of space. But there's more to it than meets the eye.
The third episode uses the old shop-worn (time-worn? Something-worn) plot device of having god-like beings
mess with the crew. They learn something about us and something about themselves too. Awwwww. Group-hug!
The fourth episode opens another multi-part arc using an Original Series plot: a peace conference between
the Smurfs and the Piggies. I'm sorry, I meant Andorians and Tellurites. Unfortunately, spacships from
both sides are attacking each other. Or so it seems. Actually, turns out it's one ship with holographic
emitters all over it so it can look Andorian and Tellurite, and it can even simulate both sides' weapons!
How fiendish! How clever! Who would do such a thing. Could it be, ooooh I don't know... ROMULANS!?!??!
I'm looking forward to the next disc to see how this evolves!

Lord Of War - from the writer/director of "Gattaca"
I've had to really stop and think about how to talk about this movie.
The first trailer I saw made it look interesting. Nicolas Cage has a successful arms-dealer, supplying "every
army in the world, except the Salvation Army". A tongue-in-cheek look at a controversial subject. Not the large
defense corporations like Raytheon and Boeing, signing big contracts with governments for weapon systems.
No, this is about more conventional weapons sold to smaller nations. Rifles, bullets, grenades, rocket launchers,
the odd APC and gunship, sold to Sierra Leone, Liberia, and an awful lot of other African nations.
What we have here is an oddly unflinching and, yes, darkly humorous film about human nature at its worse: war.
Nicolas Cage, as Yuri Orlov, son of Ukrainian immigrants living in Brooklyn, is not a hero, nor is he a monster.
He's simply a man trying to make a living, who discovered twenty years ago that he's very good at selling arms.
And there are a lot of factions out there who need guns. They've been at it for hundred of years, and an AK-47
sure beats the hell out of whatever they were using in the old days, and the machetes they use currently.
The movie is matter-of-fact about the violence and brutality that takes place "out there", outside the comfy
borders of America. And it offers some thought-provoking commentary. When accosted by two beautiful black girls
in Liberia in 1989, and voicing his concerns about AIDS, Yuri is told by one of the girls "why worry about
something that will kill you in ten years when there are so many things that can kill you right now?".
The film is also filled with fun facts, like why the Kalashnikov is so popular, what happens if you park your
Antonov transport plane overnight in the wrong part of Africa, and what kind of joke makes a warlord laugh.
Nicolas Cage puts in a masterful performance. He's backed by a solid cast and some very innovative visuals.
Not for the faint of heart. Recommended viewing. Remember where we live. Remember others are not so lucky.