The Road...review

If "Jaws" when you break it down is really just an exaggerated fish tale that buddies would tell each other while drinking then I guess you could say that "The Road" is just a story about a father & son's camping trip that a kid would brag about to their friends. However like Jaws you simply cannot escape the tragedy that surrounds their stories. I did not read the book The Road before I saw the movie, even though I usually do because I am a voracious reader. When I heard that they were making a movie I decided for a change of pace to see it first. For a brief synopsis it is the story of a father & son trying to survive & make their way south after an Apocalypse. It is not stated in the book(to the best of my knowledge) or the movie what happened, or if it was natural or man-made. After seeing the movie, it could have been done by either or both.

This is a somewhat difficult movie to review for a couple of reasons. It is a very well acted, adapted, filmed, imagined, & directed movie. It is also very, very bleak (exposed and barren and often windswept, cold, raw, lacking in warmth, life, or kindliness : grim, not hopeful or encouraging, depressing outlook>, severely simple or austere) movie. I use the dictionaries definition because it really hits home on this one. This movie will be a particularly difficult movie to watch for the father's of sons. The story is of their attempt to survive in a world gone dead inhabited by few...& those few look for meat the only place they can find it (hint...there are not a whole lot of animals left). The lessons the father teaches his son can be brutal at times.

This brings us to the second reason it is tough to review. My father was an old school guy who liked to camp, hunt, & fish. He was an NRA instructor. While he did have his soft side, he had his tough hard side as well. This would have been a difficult movie for him to watch. And knowing the types of movies he liked, I wouldn't recommend it to him, yet I would have wanted to watch it with him (most likely at home via DVD...followed by a cigar & port to relax him). I do recommend seeing this movie to most, but if you only go to the movies purely to be entertained by comedy or special effects...this might not be for you. Otherwise, with all the problems we face in today's economy, unless you are dealing with some real life & death situations...this movie may just put in perspective that as difficult as you think you have it...you really don't. If it's grey & rainy tomorrow, the sun will shine the next day or day after that...& you will continue to make your way along your own road...

Serious Man/Broken Embraces Reviews

Serious Man- The Coen Bros. latest is more or less a somewhat modern (takes places in the Midwest in the 1960's...which would make it 1990's here in the tri-state area) take on the Old Testament story of Job. A married father of two who is a teacher finds everything falling apart from his wife leaving him, his tenure being questioned, his brother the math genius/social retard driving him nuts to the trials & tribulations of getting his antennae to work so his son can watch F Troop. All this goes on days before his son's bar mitzvah. It is pretty funny, not one of their best...but still good. Thing is...unless you're Jewish & have been bar-mitzvahed I just wonder how much you will get of a lot of the humour. So...if you're Jewish & were at least a kid in the 60's or are a big Coen Bros fan go out & see it...otherwise give it a try on Net-Flix or HBO

Broken Embraces - Pedro Almovars latest is awesome, especially if you really love cinema & Penelope Cruz. It is basically a story within a story with 2 movies going on within the stories. While this might sound confusing, especially since it's in Spanish with subtitles it was not whatsoever. A screenwriter is approached by a director to write his latest movie. He doesn't want to do it & it opens up a major chapter from his past. He was making a movie & fell in love with his lead actress...while this is going on the actresses "sugar daddy" boyfriend has his son film the making of the movie...primarily to spy on his lover. It's a great movie...& no it's not a chick flick. Again Penelope Cruz is great, I'm a huge fan of hers as an actress & think she's beautiful(not only does she look great..you see her done up as Audrey Hepburn & Marilyn Monroe). If only ever Director could be this talented & every muse so stunningly photogenic & equally talented you & your "significant other" would have a lot more to choose from then the next crap romantic comedy with she of the "Friends" or big blow up robot adventurer starring Hollywood latest leading - boy...

Fear not loyal readers...my next review will likely be for Ninja Assassin...so stay tuned...same bat-time...same bat-channel...

I'm Number 6!

I'm a huge fan of the 60's classic Secret Agent Man starring Patrick McGoohan. It clearly was riding Bond-mania but it was it's own show & great. Then came the Prisoner. In it a British Secret Service Agent(the protagonist from SAM) resigns from the service & then finds himself in "The Village" where no one has a name...only a number. It dealt heavily with the concepts of freedom, individuality, & communism. You didn't know if it was his cold war enemies who caught him & played mind games to get info out of him or if his own service did this to him. The ending was strange...but all in all a great show & a true cult classic. For years there has been talk of a remake & I was really looking forward to one. At one point Mel Gibson was going to remake it as a feature film (before we all found out he is psychotic anti-Semitic scum). When I heard that AMC was involved with a British channel ITV & starring James Caviezel (6) & Ian McKellen (2) I was psyched. It SUCKED!!! It was a discombobulated mess that made no sense whatsoever. I enjoy thought provoking TV instead of just being fed mush to ogle...but this...sucked! Absolutely totally disappointed. They just totally got it wrong.

They changed the lead to an American who works as an analyst at corporation in NYC & spies on the privates lives of numerous people via CCTV. Why...because American Corporations are evil, just paid well for it by an evil secret client/government/pan-global cabal???Did I mention it didn't work? Is it a dream..is it not a dream, is it drug induced? Why is he in the Village, how did he get there, is he there, what did he see that the Corporation wanted suppressed, did he see anything...who cares...I really can't believe how bad it was. I lost interest from the get go...kept trying to stick with...& it was a total waste. My advice rent or find on-line the Original & enjoy it. I guess after the amazing re-boots of Battlestar Galactica, Dr. Who,Star Trek, Batman, & James Bond I'm spoiled...but of all the ones to screw up why this one & why AMC...?!?

No Habla Espanol...

Mi Espanol is muy malo, no sprecken da Duetsche, no parlez vouis Franchaise...I've always found it amazing at just how well my fellow Americans are able to tell people that they cannot speak their language but little else...the exceptions being how to say beer & I love you in most languages... While on the other hand both here & all over the world I have met people who speak Spanish, German, Portuguese, Icelandic, Italian, Russian, etc...who have apologized to me that "they are sorry...my English is not too good" & then continued an entire conversation in English with me to varying degrees. For the record...I always tell them how good their English is & that it's me who cannot speak their language(with the exception of my broken high school level Spanish, which when I use it in places like Costa Rica, Mexico, Deli's/Restaurants in NY...no one ever makes fun of it...they always really appreciate that I'm trying!))

Recent studies have shown that more & more people worldwide are speaking English (eat it Panda-Huggers!) This is most likely due to the fact that even though our housing & derivatives markets almost caused a global depression English is the major business language & we continue to enlighten the world by exporting such cultural phenomenons as The Transformer Movies, Gossip Girl, & muzac from the likes of Brittney, Lady Gaga, Miley, etc... Regardless of the fact the most people that you interface with speak English I do believe that if you have kids...have them learn another language or two...try to learn some key phrases from a couple of languages yourself...if nothing else it will show you're trying & like I stated earlier people really do appreciate it. Plus with the technology we have at our fingertips it's not that tough...remember after all...there's an app for that...