Udderly daft

May 17, 2007 · Filed Under Films · Comment

I got the one of the latest digitally animated movies out on DVD from Blockbuster the other evening - Barnyard. It’s not too bad, not in the Shrek league by a long chalk, but I was a little surprised to see male and female cows, which both had udders! Maybe the cows in the US are different from European cows. The male cows had strong masculine jaws and spoke with strong masculine voices, but they had udders. I was waiting for some explanation for the transex cows, but none was forthcoming, or maybe I missed it. All the udder animals displayed no genitalia, as one would expect in a film aimed mainly at a young audience, so why did the male cows have udders? Why not just leave their nether regions nice and smooth, like the other animals? No idea. Hollywood’s mad idea of political correctness, I suppose.

My advice: See this film and make up your own mind, or go see an udder film.

Tags: Films

Syriana

July 24, 2006 · Filed Under Films · Comment

Syriana is a film. It stars George Clooney and Matt Damon and one or two other well know faces. It’s an intelligent film, a bit like ‘Lord of War’. Strangely enough it came out of the Hollywood stable. This is strange because it is not overtly entertaining, but it does do what a good film should, in my opinion, do, that is: it makes you think. One can also applaud people like Clooney and Damon for getting involved in this film because while it is not overtly anti-American, it does not show American big business in a wonderful light. Seeing as Hollywood could well be classified as ‘big business’, it is both odd and welcoming that at least some people from within this environment show they aware that these mega enterprises do not always have the World’s best interests at heart. Indeed, the film seems to illustrate that the World is not run by politicians, but by businesses and businessmen so powerful that they can command the CIA to, literally, eliminate the competition. Scary.

At least, it has to be said, America is free enough for such a film to actually get made, although I suspect that certain people may not have been too happy about it, but then again, it does not really rock any boats and I doubt those at whom this film jabs a finger will lose any sleep over the points it attempts to make. After all, they are far too powerful to worry about a little Hollywood film, aren’t they?

The film does proffer one or two interesting, if not original, little theories, such as implicating that big business moving and shaking created disgruntled employees; who also happen to be Muslim and thus become dragged into extremism and acts of terrorism. Then there is the faithful CIA agent who realises that his lords and masters do not necessarily have the country’s best interests at heart and upon revealing his opinion is dropped like a hot potato by bosses who realise that he has stopped blindly obeying orders. The theory here being that you are expected to be loyal to your country, but your country is not expected to be loyal to you, especially when you don’t fit in with their ‘business plan’.

Films of this genre attempt to explain why the world is such a topsy turvy place, but although they paint a certain picture, they do not really explain how or what should be done to restore the somewhat beleaguered portrait of the planet today.

Anyway, as you can see, Syriana provoked a few thoughts, and confirmed, yet again, that I’m not alone in thinking that the wonderful world is not all that wonderful. However, yours truly is not really doing much to change the order of things, aside from scribbling a few thoughts and observations down, that is.

As an aside, I wonder just where the good old USA manages to find all its funding for all these little wars it keeps getting involved in. Is the country so rich? Does it have a bottomless wallet? So it would seem.

Oh and just in case you think I’m anti-American, I’m not. I’ve known a few Americans and liked them very much. In fact, I would jump at the chance of going to live in the US of A.

Tags:

Lord of War - a film

January 23, 2006 · Filed Under Films · Comment

It's been a long time since a film has genuinely frightened me, but I have to tell you, dear reader, that 'Lord of War' not only scared the wits out of me but left me wondering just why the whole human race deserves to exist: perhaps it's all little hard on the humanity to question its existence, but you can certainly question exactly why certain people are the way they are; and it got me thinking whether we really know what the word 'civilized' really means. Or maybe it's just me who does not understand the concept of 'civilized'.

By now you are probably wondering what this film is all about, unless, that is, you have already seen it. Well, for those who have not, its the story of an international arms dealer. A person who would sell you the means to exterminate a race, but someone who does not care whether you go ahead and do such a thing, so long as it does not affect him. The concept of morality does not even enter this creature's head, or rather, it does, but in some weird and warped way; or so it would seem to someone like me, who would be happy if we all just tried to get with each other. Anyway as I was writing, this person seems to be able to gloss over and justify the evil that he is propagating by simply saying 'everyone is at it'. By 'everyone' he is referring to, not only others similar to himself, but heads of state and other democratically represented individuals all over the world. This is what is frightening, because what he says is true. OK, you may say that people are sold/given weapons to defend themselves with, which may be true, but what it all boils down to is that guns kill. Sell someone a gun and, especially in war torn areas, people will get killed. Good guys, bad guys, kids and parents. Bullets and bombs are becoming intelligent, but, so far they are unable to stop themselves at the last moment because they have understood that they are about to take the wrong life, as if the taking of any life should be necessary.
Stop.
I've gone on too much. You can see that this film got me to react. My other half cried herself to sleep, after having laid the blame firmly at the feet of us guys. Thing is though, she has a point. Many men cannot stop themselves from being violent, or so it would seem. We start young. My son is barely three and he is already demonstrating that he is capable of resorting to violence to get his own way. Add a few years, convince a few others to take part in order to get their own way and you have a war. And yet more sales for your local arms dealer.

We are animals. When will we evolve?

PS This is a good film.
PPS We should show our kids this film.
PPPS Nick Cage is very good at what he does.

Tags: