Alan Greenspan moved to stop the only attempt to regulate derivatives. Congress then bans regulation. This is a very insane way to have a debate: one person brings up an valid point that makes the majority uncomfortable. The majority stifles that voice and then moves further to ban all dissenting voices ( Read more... )

I am sure I have spilled all kinds of digital ink gushing about Henri Langlois. So instead I will focus on a new curiosity that this film revealed through the words and passions of Langlois himself: the films of Jean Vigo ( Read more... )

In pondering 30,000 year old cave drawings Werner Herzog sees “an almost proto cinema.” A horse with six legs, suggesting movement, or the use of the uneven wall surface in the cave integrated into the image to give it depth all work to show movement, shape, and depth in an imagination that’s so many millennia away that it’s nearly impossible to ( Read more... )

This video is comprised of conversations with the Brazilian zinsters of yesteryear. Now in their 30 to 50s, these zinesters beam with enthusiasm and love for the art of the zine. I don't know if it was conscious or not, but there wasn't a lot of Brazilian specificity or regional history. Not even names of specific fanzines are included. Most of it ( Read more... )

Oh what a mistake it was to review these as separate movies! It's going to take me forever to get through them all let alone remember. And I still need to see the new Woody Allen film and Tree of Life. Well, lets do these:

What's interesting about Personal Space is that involves this sport (a cross between tag and hide-and-seek), played by 18-35 ( Read more... )

Vinyl is one of my favourite documentaries. I think it's original, honest, funny, and brilliant. I've probably watched it like 6 times.

Alan Zweig said off that top that Vinyl: the Alternate Take was basically "a glorified DVD extra" which is not the best thing to say to a bunch of people who just paid $14 to see your movie. I was glad I had a ( Read more... )

This has never happened before: I forgot a film ( Read more... )

We barely even got in. We waited in the rush line in the rain and were part of the last six sorry folks that they were able to wrangle extra seats for. I'm glad Zweig is so popular since he's got kind of a unique, unusual style. The first person confessional narration is almost zine like, I find. There were so many wonderful moments but there's one ( Read more... )

Years back I went through a phase where I wanted to watch a bunch of war movies. Pro-war movies (Saving Private Ryan) anti-war movies (Paths of Glory), and ambiguous war movies (Platoon) to sort of ponder how ideology comes through in screen war.

Some of the basic facts of Restrapo are staggering ( Read more... )

I don't know. I heard something about this movie on the CBC or something and it sounded quirky and fun. I mean wouldn't it be neat of Ms. Rivers was really strange and quirky underneath it all? Or just disturbed and troubled? But alas, she's just as vapid, self-obsessed, and fame-starved as you would ever imagine. And what's with documentaries ( Read more... )