I like Johnny Depp. That said, this was a highly missable exploration of one of Hunter S Thompson's more forgettable works.
Now I know that Johnny Depp was buddies with Hunter S, and even went so far as to fire his cremated remains from a cannon, but there's something about a 47 year old Depp (in fine condition, to be sure) portraying a 23 year old Hunter S that doesn't wash.
The film, long, less a film as a whole than a series of somewhat (more or less) amusing incidents from his stint as a journalist in Puerto Rico.
The cinematography is good, the landscape beautiful, lush, the boy enjoyed it, I could have done entirely without.
That said, I like Johnny Depp, and this was probably by far his most normal role in a very long time. Still, give it a miss.
- Details
- Category: Film
Now the film is interesting, the artwork and the cave fantastic - but what makes this film unique, better than, say, the same sort of polished documentary that might be done by the National Geographic Channel, are the idiosyncratic experts, the intrusion into the documentary by the questions and comments of Herzog himself, the bringing of a Master Perfumer to sniff the rocks around Chauvet in the quest for other undiscovered caves, the failed efforts of an archeologist to persuade viewers that the throwing of the Atlatl could bring down a deer or a bison ("they must have been better at it..." chastises Herzog as the dart lands not far from the camera...).
Amusing, and - if you're into that sort of thing - very, very good.
Other related links of interest: Wiki on Venus Figurines, Wiki on Cave Painting, Wiki on Paleolithic Art, Paleolithic Flutes.
- Details
- Category: Film
Not only a play this weekend, but a film too.
It's the Calgary International Film Festival, which offered quite a few films that I'd like to see, but unfortunately work and more work suck up nearly all of my time.
But today there's Resurrect Dead The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles.
Which is quite interesting. Now I've linked to the Toynbee mystery before, and it's fascinating, and fair to say that the documentary does it justice. More than that, but to explain might destroy the pleasure of watching it. I've taken the liberty of lifting this quote from the Globe and Mail:
...Some of the “dots” they connect include a South Philadelphia street address, a 1980 late-night Larry King radio phone-in show, a one-act David Mamet play, information from local shortwave radio buffs and messages that appeared on bus-stop handbills.
I'd give it a very worthwhile.
- Details
- Category: Film
Inspired by "Midnight In Paris" I've tracked down a masterpiece from the 20's - Fritz Lang's Metropolis.
Now I know that - to modern tastes- it's overacted, a little extreme, but look at the effects - the theme, the facial expressions -all this for the 1920's!
It is amazing. And if you can't read the German subtitles, well, it doesn't matter, the film explains (for this 10 minutes at least) itself. Marvelous.
- Details
- Category: Film