Letters from Iwo Jima

The second part of Eastwood's Iwo Jima series is quite a downer. Shot from the Japanese point of view Letters from Iwo Jima creates dislike and admiration from soldiers on both sides. Stylistically, the movie is very diverse. For much of the movie the film is shot with very high contrast lighting. The color of the movie itself can be compared to the tint of Saving Private Ryan. There are select images that the color pops against the dull setting. Fire and the red on the Japanese flag keep their normal color and standout. Flashbacks, indicated by dissolves, are brighter than that of the scenes on Iwo Jima. This could be a stab at war in that it is darker than normal life.
The story itself is none to pleasing. It is clear from the beginning that all of the Japanese on the island will die. The most depressing scene is when a series of Japanese soldiers kill themselves by grenade. For much of the first half of the film, we do not see any American soldiers directly. They are talked about and in a very spooky way shown through extreme long shots of planes ships, and their landing on the beaches of Iwo Jima. There is no true protagonist on either side. As Peter Howell describes, "Eastwood shows vile behaviour and cruel acts on both sides."

Entourage Season Finale

So season 5 of Entourage ended over a week ago but I cannot get that episode out of my head. It was not the funniest, but it was probably the best episode yet. "Return to Queen's Boulevard" was fabulous. It was the best directed and acted episode of the entire series let alone season. It was the reason why we love this show. In honor of the season's end I have some of my top 4 highlights of the season in no particular order.

1. When Vince fires E in the middle of the Queen's street. By far the best acting Adrian Grenier has ever done. Simply outstanding. ("Return to Queen's Boulevard")

2. When Vince and Ari embrace before going on their separate planes. Radiohead's "Fake Plastic Trees" is playing in the background, and we don't know if this is the end of their relationship. ("Gotta Look Up to Get Down")

3. The entire "Tree Trippers" episdode. They all go to the Joshua Tree and take 'shrooms to see where Vince should take his career. It was the funniest episode ever. "AHH! I thought I ripped my dick off!" -Johnny Drama

4."That's called a BITCH SLAP, for a BITCH. Do you wanna take it outside and finish, Now apologize or I will knock you the FUCK OUT" -Ari Gold. Ari says this to Josh Weinstien the agent no one likes after he acquires nude photos of his wife. Josh has no answer. ( "The All Out Fall Out")

Goldfinger "The City on the Hill" for all Bond films.

In anticipation of the new Bond film "Quantum of Solace" (which looks excellent by the way), I feel that it would be a good time to reflect on what I consider the best 007 film ever, Goldfinger". I recently watched it again for probably the ten hundredth time. And I have concluded that it is THE classic Bond film. It has everything from the undoubtabley best villain (Auric Goldfinger, I mean c'mon how clever is Auric as a first name), to an ingenious plan, to a classic henchmen (Oddjob, only Jaws comes closer to being the most dominant), and of course Pussy Galore. It may not be the most flashy bond film (the overly dramatic and futurized "Die Another Day") and it may not have the best opening scene which has become a staple of these films ("The World is Not Enough"). But Sean Connery, being the bar for James Bond, has his best performance and one of the best performances by a Bond ever (Daniel Craig in "Casino Royale"). Goldfinger is the most spoofed of all the Bond films and hence deserves my vote for best Bond film ever.

The Western

The Western is the true American genre. It is the rugged aspect of American life that the rest of the world has fantasized about and read about. America was not aided by some fancy pansy European country. In fact we defeated them to get to the point where we are today. John Wayne is America in a nut shell. He is a badass who is never looking for a fight but doesnt shy away from one either. In the end America will always ride off into the sunset after we save everyone. The rest of the world will be cheering as we ride into the distance, only to return again once the rest of the world has done something stupid. There is nothing more American than Clint Eastwood smoking five guys in a matter of one and a half seconds. That's pretty much how long the Iraq War lasted. O wait...

Entourage

Ok so it isn't a movie, but it is about tv show about the movies. Ipso facto it is worthy of a post in what has been described as"Blog of the Century" by David Brooks of the New York Times (fallacy) . This season can only be described as the retro-season. That is to say that the first season got the ball rolling. Eventually, Entourage became a fad, and everyone was watching it during the second and third season. Season four was not very good let's be honest. But now the show is making its comeback. Superagent Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) has never been better than he has been this season ("A bitch slap for a bitch" is a classic line. It's a quote Mr. K. Don't report me). Piven has won something like three or four straight best supporting actor Emmys. Obviously something is going right about the show. Last week's episode was fairly ho-hum after three straight weeks of brilliance. I do get the feeling that Vincent Chase will not make it to the end of production of Smoke Jumpers. Entourage gives the audience an inside look at the Hollywood world we don't see on screen.

Annie Hall

Yeah, Woody Allen is one of the most polarizing figures in Hollywood, but love him or hate him, Woody Allen is one of the smartest men around. Sure the intellectuals are more likely to be enamored with Allen, I can except that. Annie Hall may be a film for the bourgouise but the way he approached the movie is something few could have accomplished. Originally Annie Hall was filmed as a murder mystery. Hmm, funny how a muder mystery became one of the greatest romantic comedies of all time. Allen uses subtitles, flashbacks, and cartoons. Allen takes his grab bag of film techniques and throws them all around this film. It is also interesting to know that Diane Keaton and Woody Allen were married at the time. Keaton's famous attire is even from her own closet. The film is fascinating in its own way, even if you aren't an intellectual.

How does Keanu Reeves still get acting roles?

Keanu Reeves is arguably the worst actor in the world. What could he possibly be doing that people keep giving him roles in movies. He is like Ben Affleck but irrelevant to tabloids, not a director, and sans an Oscar. In "Hardball", a fairly deep movie, even performance as a drunk gambler is laughable. He gets a pass because of movies like "The Matrix" and "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure". "Bill and Ted" is made for teenagers, which Reeves is not anymore, and any role that doesn't involve Reeves smoking marijuana is just downright unrealistic. "The Matrix", let's be honest, does not need good acting. It is about the effects, period. "Much Ado about Nothing" is a nice film, but Reeves cannot be taken seriously. Maybe he is suffering from a "Bill and Ted's" bias, but his actual acting performances do not help to deter the criticism.