Remnants

Great Films You Might Have Missed on Netflix Instant: The List

Here is my list of great films on Netflix that often get overlooked.  Most of them are recent films that probably only played in indie theaters or had a limited release. I will be adding to this list and adding more reviews as time goes on. (Note: film availability on Netflix streaming is always subject to change.)

Exit Through the Gift Shop
Kick Ass
Man on Wire
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Fall
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
The Killing
The Secret in their Eyes (El Secreto de sus ojos)
Precious

Here's a quick list of great films you've probably seen (and if you haven't you should), but might want to watch again on instant:
Being John Malkovich
Big
Gangs of New York
Raging Bull
The Big Lebowski
The Graduate
This is Spinal Tap

"The Lottery" vs. "Waiting for Superman"

This weekend I finally watched Davis Guggenheim's "Waiting for Superman" and can now compare it to Madeleine Sackler's "The Lottery" another recent documentary bemoaning the wretched state of public education. While both films come to essentially the same conclusion, I felt that "The Lottery" was an appalling piece of journalism and might as well have been a feature film length paid advertisement for a specific charter school (Harlem Success Academy). It was completely one-sided and was irritating to watch as a result.  "Waiting for Superman" probably could have been a little more balanced in it's approach, but it is a much better film, with a more of an attempt at discussing the issues at the root of the problem.  

From a film perspective, both had their strong suits.  Both visually engaging, "Waiting for Superman" had creative use of graphics and animation that was cool to see and "The Lottery" had some beautiful footage in the beginning of the film.  Some of the characters were engaging in "The Lottery," but I thought that the last scene of "Waiting for Superman" is emotional and quiet and resonated better for me.  If you are going to pick one, hands down it's "Waiting for Superman."

Improving Your Score on the Facebook BBC Book List Challenge

Okay, so if you are competitive about nerdy stuff like me, then the Facebook BBC Book List Challenge thing is really bugging you right now and you probably hate those smug assholes who have read all 100.  Then you pause for a minute and think, but I can live with myself if I never read Bridget Jones Diary (yeah, I can) and what normal person reads the entire Bible cover to cover? (Yeah, yeah literature references, blah, blah Western culture).  

However, after browsing the list once again most of the rest of the books look pretty good.  Obviously you could head to the library and start checking out stacks of classics, but if you are busy, and endowed with multiple digital devices that can act as readers (i.e. iPhone, iPad, Kindle) it's very easy and FREE to download many of the classic books on this list using the free apps and downloading from numerous free libraries, particularly Project Gutenberg.  It has a number of different ebook formats available for many classic works including: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; most of Charles Dickens work, which is always entertaining, such as Bleak House or A Christmas Carol; Bram Stoker's Dracula; Pride and Prejudice and most of Jane Austen's work; the Bible; The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, a childhood favorite of mine; Shakespeare, Zola, Fitzgerald, Hardy, Tolstoy, Twain, Melville, Flaubert, Joyce, all the Brontës, etc.  

I find that the free iPhone/iPad app Stanza works well for me and even includes a "night" profile with dark background and light text for reading in bed next to someone who is sleeping.  Downloading books with Stanza is the work of a moment, and it saves your place for you in the book, so when you come back the next time you don't have to thumb through it.

If you don't have a digital reading device and don't like reading on your computer, there's really only on thing you can do: go through your parents' attic and look for the boxes of books you were assigned in your high school English class but that you didn't read.  That should cover at least 10 of the books right away.  After that, just hit the library.

P.S. If you are looking for a less arduous and more entertaining way of consuming Genesis from the Bible, read The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb.  It is so entertaining.  Check it out: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Genesis-Illustrated-R-Crumb/dp/0393061027.

"Restrepo" Co-Director Tim Hetherington Killed in Libya

Tim Hetherington, co-director of the documentary film Restrepo, was killed today in Libya during an explosion that killed another photo-journalist and injured several others.  Hetherington's photos have a fine art quality to them, bringing an aestheticism to chaos.  I have heard people critique the notion of making decay and despair look beautiful, but I think in many cases he brought a humanity to his subjects by photographing them in this way.  He also used his style to create contrast that is poignant and sometimes achingly sad.

It is not surprising that he was killed in the field, considering that he frequented the world's battle grounds, documenting the human suffering he encountered there.  However, it is even more tragic to lose a principled journalist whose stated purpose was to document the reality on the ground, without being tainted by politics.  This is the spirit of journalism that media needs.

Stay tuned for a review of Hetherington and Sebastian Junger's film Restrepo about American soldiers defending an observation post in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley.
Below is more of Hetherington's work that can be found on his site.

LA Times: "Libya blast kills photojournalists Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros"
Vanity Fair: "Tim Hetherington, 40, Killed in Libya"
The Atlantic: "Tim Hetherington in Sierra Leone"
Tim Hetherington's Website

Old School Bandito, Moving Day '08

Rambling 1/Watch "Adaptation"

I should just start writing.  Then stuff will happen.  I always write just like the movie or book I just consumed.  It’s like diarrhea, or logorrhea really, spitting back out what I just digested.  Or didn’t even digest really, because I have barely even let it sit in my mind long enough to figure out what I think about it.  I was always good at imitation, but I can’t think of my own thing.  That’s what I want to do, think of something wholly new and profound.  I want to be a genius and shock the world.  I want everyone to like me and respect me and admire me.  Most of all admire.  Why do I like that?  Am I addicted to it?  Is it something I was given as a child and never weaned of? 

I just named the document “Rambling 1.”  Make sure you put quotation marks, grammar is important.  The sad thing about imitation is that it never really reaches the mark.  It can never do what was so great about the original, inspire people to imitation.  Or if it does, it becomes like this sad repetition of imitation after imitation, until the quality is so degraded it doesn’t even come close the original any more.  And then you could say you have something new.  It’s like what Kaufman does with his movies, it’s like looking in a mirror at another mirror, or looking at a picture of girl reading a book and its cover has a picture of a girl reading a book and its cover has a picture of a girl reading a book… It’s like that story I listened to on the New Yorker podcast, where the man made the miniatures that were “below the crust of the visible.”  Maybe that’s where genius lies.  Below the crust of the visible.  It’s there, but we can’t see it.  All we see is the flower that sprouted from the seed of genius.  We never know what the seed looks like.  Maybe the creator doesn’t either.  All anyone sees is the results.  But I didn’t explain it quite right, I don’t mean the inspiration, I mean the actual act of the creator, is below the crust of the visible, it’s not something any of us perceive but the result is something beautiful and amazing.  I think we all crave the opportunity to create.  It’s human nature.  Some of us create by taking things away from people.  It’s leaving our mark on the world.  Some people like to leave things behind.  It’s kind of like dogs peeing on fire hydrants.  Either way, we are remembered.  Since we are so ephemeral, it gives us comfort to know that.  I am already trying to figure out what I can do with this.  Can I turn it into a film review for Adaptation?  Or would I just look like an idiot?  Worse, a self-indulgent, conceited idiot.  Probably, but that wouldn’t stop me.  The whole concept of blogging is really self-indulgent anyway.  It’s the perfect example of the “leaving a mark” syndrome.  I think it’s kind of funny though.  Because of the whole archiving of data situation, no one really knows how long digital stuff will last.  Will it just float for eternity in the blogosphere?  Obviously it will disappear one day.  Every link becoming a 404 not found page, until no one remembers your poetic musings on politics, art, and culture; your clever title; or your false modesty. 

Now I’m going to ruin the movie, just because I feel like it.  At the end, when Meryl Streep is crying over her dead lover she says, “It's over. Everything, I did everything wrong. I want my life back. I want it back before everything got fucked up. I want to be a baby again. I want to be new. I want to be new.”  I love that quote.  That’s all.  I think it’s perfect.  Charlie Kaufman is a great writer.  I don’t love everything he’s done, but I liked this film.  If you haven't seen it and want to know what it's about go here: Adaptation.