Michael Moore's Sicko and Fred Thompson's Response

Here is the official trailer for Micheal Moore's Sicko which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Also included is Fred Thompson's response.

Movie Quiz

Test your movie knowledge with this quiz:

http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/quiz/quiz.aspx?QuizID=259

I must admit that I got half of them wrong.

Terminator II

(1991)

Directed by: James Cameron

Cast:

Terminator: Arnold Schwarzenegger
T-1000: Robert Patrick
John Conner: Edward Furlong
Sarah Conner: Linda Hamilton

This is arguably the best terminator in the series. Terminator one established the story and characters while the third was in many respects a re-make of the second. For those of you unfamiliar with the terminator series the story pretty much goes like this: sometime in the future mankind will develop an advanced defense system, however they make it too good and it becomes self aware, eventually turning on its creator - humans. Thus a war between mana nd machine ensues. The machines in the first movie send a machine back in Time to Kill the leader of the human resistance: John Conner. The humans send a soldier of their own back in Time to protect the mother of the Human savior. The strange paradox is that he ends up becoming the father of John Conner. If you’re not the type of person that gets hung up on paradoxes such as these and can stand a bit of science fiction than you may just enjoy these movies.

Terminator II takes place a few years later. John Conner is now a street savvy boy. His mom Sarah, is in mental ward because of her beliefs about he upcoming apocalypse. The action starts when a new Terminator, a more advanced model, is sent back in time to kill John. The humans have captured a cyborg themselves and reprogram him to protect John. He is sent back in time also and the chase begins.

Terminator two is full of action and some funny moments. Thanks to Industrial light and magic the effects are amazing, considering this was 1991. The action itself is not all nonstop but it has a good pace none-the-less. Mr. Schwarzenegger plays his part very well as does his evil opposite: The only thing that gets me (besides the obvious paradoxes) is Sarah Conner’s incessant narration - at least it seems incessant and totally unnecessary to me.

In the end thought the thing that stuck out most is the almost fatherly relationship between John and the Terminator. In our day and age machines aren’t that intelligent as for us to get so attached as to develop a relationship (even though we may spend more time among them than other humans on occasion) but it is possible in the future that it could happen. Though it is anyone’s guess if they’ll have Austrian accents or not.
3 Stars

Children of Men

Directed by Alfonso Cuaron

Cast:
Clive Owen - Theo Faron



The year is 2027 and mankind is at the brink of collapse. Britain is the last outpost of “civilization”. But by the look of this so called civilization I would hate to see the rest of the world. Britain itself is a pretty unimaginable place - everyone is paranoid so outsiders are locked in cages. I would suspect that, though it is not elaborated upon, that these people are trying to flee their even-worse-off homes and so seek Britain as a refuge. There is also widespread crime and the country side is so dangerous you’d think that you were back in the days of the Germanic barbarians.

So what has caused all this. Well nothing short of a lack of children. The human race it seems has become infertile for reasons no one knows. The movie stars with the youngest human being - a eighteen year old dying. Our main man - Theo Faron (Clive Owen) is approached by his ex wife in order to get a young woman out of the country because she is black - and seen as a refugee by the British government. However she is no ordinary refugee. She is pregnant when nobody should be able to be pregnant.

In order to be transported across the country she needs bodyguards. But these bodyguards secretly want to use her and her child to rally their rebel causes which will of course put her and her child in more danger. Theo knows this and doesn’t want to lose this last bit of hope. In fact he will risk his own life to make sure this hope doesn’t die. Perhaps after losing his child and then his ex-wife it is all the hope he has left.

This movie is the darkest and most brutal I have seen since Apocalypse Now. There is ceaseless killing and violence through most of the movie as well as many scenes of refugees that are treated no better than those who resided in German concentration camps. In fact they are treated as sub-human by the British. I must give those who built the sets and the choreographer credit for creating such a doomsday atmosphere.

Despite its depictions of violence and inhumanity does it really seem all that impossible that such a thing would happen if the human race could no longer reproduce? It is many people’s hope in a better tomorrow that keeps them going. What is the point in living, in working if there is nothing to work for?

So maybe after you see this movie you will think twice about that screaming brat seated next to you in an airplane. Because of millions of brats like him or her we can have hope in the future - hard as that can be to believe.

2 ½ stars

Lost in Translation

Lost in Translation
(2003)
Directed by Sofia Coppola

Cast:
Bill Murray - Bob Harris
Scarlett Johansson - Charlotte

Bob and Charlotte are two different people in Tokyo. Bob was a movie star in the states, now he is doing commercials for a Japanese whiskey maker. Charlotte is a recently graduated, recently married young woman who lays around mostly while her photographer husband goes on assignment. They come from different backgrounds but they share one important thing - they are very much alone.

Another important thing they share is the same hotel. After repeated encounters they agree to make a break for it and explore Tokyo. They encounter a place very much like America yet very different. Charlotte breathes a little youth into Bob’s midlife crisis and for Charlotte Bob is just there when she needs someone - something her husband isn’t. Naturally a friendship develops between these kindred spirits and even something more.

Lost in Translation is not about non-stop action or clever comedic sequences but more about introspection as we see and feel the characters isolation. In a place like Tokyo you can be surrounded by throngs of people and yet still be very much alone. Lost in Translation teaches you that you never know who you will meet and how it might impact your life forever. Also, that finding yourself is really something that never stops whether you are a twenty something year old fresh out of college or a married man who receives packages across the seas asking what carpet color he likes the best.

Bill Murray is believable in his role and appropriately comedic when he needs to be. Scarlett Johansson proves that she is not just another pretty Hollywood girl and that she can act well. Some people may say their “relationship” is questionable since Bill is old enough to be her father. However at the end of the film we are glad that they have found each other - and shared a memorable time in their search for themselves.

4 stars

Spiderman 3

Directed by: Sam Raimi

Cast:

Toby MaGuire - Peter Parker/Spiderman
Kirsten Dunst - Mary Jane Watson
James Franco - Harry/New Goblin
Thomas Hayden Church - Flint Marko/Sandman
Topher Grace - Eddie Brock/Venom
Rosemary Harris - May Parker

Spidey may have gotten himself tangled in a web he can’t escape in his latest sequal. The movie starts out slowly and just when it picks up enough momentum it seems to peter out only to pick up again. This roller-coaster effect goes on unending for the next three hours.

The Spiderman we have known for the past two movies has been living the high life lately. He becomes nothing less than the mascot of New York City; beloved by young and old alike. At college is in the top of his class. If that weren’t enough he is planning on marrying his high-school sweetheart Mary Jane. As was expected his old best friend Harry (James Franco) comes back to avenge his father’s death. Another character is haphazardly brought into the mix. His name is Sandman (Tomas Hayden Church) is a warning to us all not to go poking our noses around particle accelerator (or eliminator?) facilities.

Be prepared for all the usual special effects of which the series applies well. Spiderman 3 is certainly the best in that respect. Now, if only the characters were developed as well as the CGI. We never stay long enough on a particular character of plot before being propelled to the next. Just when you think it wasn’t tough enough to battle two supervillans a third is introduced right near the end played by an aspiring photographer (Eddie Brock).

Overall Spiderman three has enough in it for another sequel. Toward the end of the movie no matter how much action is thrown at you, you tend to get restless. The acting was good but not spectacular. Toby McGuire plays his part especially well, giving us a glimpse into a dark side we have never seen before in his character. And of course from the crisis he endures we learn valuable moral lessons. The character of the Sandman I thought wasn’t elaborated on enough - neither was the illness his child had. Ultimately Spiderman continues to show us that even superheroes are human and weak in certain respects and most of are it is we who create our own destinies - something we all should be reminded of occasionally.

2 ½ stars

United 93

Directed by Paul Greengrass

It is hard to think about 9/11 and be objective. Thoughts of needless death, fear and dismay pervade the mind. Indeed we have many accounts of events that day from the perspective of witnesses on the ground but we will never know what actually happened on the doomed flights. It is flight United Airlines 93 that interests most people since it didn’t reach its target and instead crashed in rural Pennsylvania. Did the crew attempt to take over the plane and lose control? Did the hijackers lose control accidentally?

Paul Greengrass’ United 93 gives one rendition of the story. The Picture is edited so the picture length is in sync with the actual events and shot with a handheld camera to heighten the uneasiness. There are a lot of close-ups and the cast does an excellent job of playing their parts as people who know they are almost certainly going to their deaths. We are painfully reminded that real flesh and blood people died - this event actually happened. There is definitely a difference between watching these people and most other films where innocent bystanders are killed because we know in those instances the events are completely contrived.

We know what the outcome will be but we root for the characters anyway - right up to the very end. The people on the plane don’t know this for certain and instead of being resigned to their situation they try to change it. It is truly the hallmark of a good movie when it can convey the human condition, granted in extremes, with such believability. United 93 does just that.

4 stars