Provoking Opportunity

I saw Michael Moore's new movie, Capitalism: A Love Story," and it got me thinking. This movie, like all of his movies, is one that definitely has a perspective, and some may not agree with it, but I like when a movie gets me to think, whether I agree with the movie's perspective or not.

The issues in the movie were those of the economic system in the USA, the disparity between the wealthy and the poor, and the escalation of political unrest. All big issues, and they're issues that impact us daily. When I think about them, I feel a sense of urgency coupled with frustration. It's difficult know what to do about them, that's where the frustration comes in, and so I usually leave those issues in the "thought for later" drawer of my mind. Until talking with the few friends who actually think about these things, or reading a book on the subject, or when I notice that it's getting tougher every day to make a living in this land of opportunity.
These thoughts were brought to my mind again watching Moore's movie. In some form or other, he questions the big issues of our economic system. Perhaps not fully, and perhaps in an exaggerated fashion at times, (it is after all a movie), but Moore puts forth a strong argument against capitalism in a thought provoking work. He says that what we need, what was the original intention of this country, is democracy. I vote for that.
I give it four out of five garlics.

Trek It Out

I'm not a trekkie. I remember watching the original "Star Trek" series (in reruns), and enjoying the show, but at that age I liked to watch almost anything on television. Yet "Star Trek" remained in my memory as a unique show of television. I did not like the slew of spin-off series that followed the original in later years. No Captain Kirk? No Spock? No point. And here we are with a movie that has a whole new gang, same as the old gang. But guess what? They pulled it off.

Chris Pine plays William Shatner's Captain Kirk, and he achieves the near impossible by channeling Shatner's pitched braggadocio without going over the top. Zachary Quinto's Spock was perfect. Various actors portraying Spock's Vulcan race, have been boring examples of what is presented as an almost emotionless race. Quinto is brilliant in that he hints at the highly controlled emotion just underneath the surface, especially in that his is a young Spock, having all the more difficulty in dealing with his half human self. Hats off to the director J.J. Abrams also, for keying in on that aspect of Spock. Abrams directing is superb, dynamic, but very little of the "shaky cam" effect that directors have taken to recently to try and impart the feeling of intense action. Instead he moves the storyline along quickly capturing action, but letting the details of both character and spectacular cinematography have their moments.

Directing aside, as good as it was, it was the characters that made the movie work. The casting director not only did an amazing job filling the iconic roles with young actors who could pull them off, but somehow found actors that could generate a similar chemistry to that of which I believed was impossible to recreate. That is the chemistry between the characters Kirk, Spock, and Bones (played brilliantly by Karl Urban). The core three, as I call them, are what made the old Star Trek special, and now the new one. Probably not quite the same, but eerily similar. Plot wise, there were some holes, but nothing that took away from a great movie experience. I'm looking forward to the next trek. Four out of five garlics.

Who's the Iron Man?

Iron Man. The man of iron, not steel. Superman was never my favorite superhero when I was a kid, I was a Spiderman fan. Ironman was a hero that I knew existed, but besides his cool look, I didn't follow his story.

The movie however, was better than good. The reason? Robert Downey Jr. Yeah. What was Iron Man's real name? Tony Stark? Just a name that now means, Robert Downey Jr. His performance was what, heroic? He made the movie. He was the man, or, in this case, the Iron Man. It gets four out of five garlics

So It's Not About Wrestling!

It is time for the Garlic City Review's first review. Can you smell it? By sheer luck of timing, lack of money, and the alignment of my couch to the television, our first review will be of a movie. The film "Half Nelson," starring Ryan Gosling to be exact. Though Chuy saw the movie first, I get to post the first review as his computer is in the land of glitch and crashies. So when he has salvaged what he can from his laptop, after he has grown technologically wiser, and financially poorer, he will write his reveiw. For now, only I can share my cinematic experience with the world. Only I can...okay, to the review.

I saw the movie "Half Nelson" after Chuy recommended it. I was originally hesitant to watch it because:
a. I didn't know anyone who was in it,
b. I thought it was a movie that involved high school wrestling, and
c. Chuy said it was "just wrong," which usually is very bad.
That all goes back to his recommendation for another movie whose name I won't mention here, but let's just say that "just wrong" usually refers to historical visual trauma. Still, he kept recommending the movie, and told me that it did not involve any wrestling, so I risked the ghosts of the past.

I thought the movie was slightly odd in its resolution or non-resolution at the end, but not "just wrong," in whatever way Chuy was seeing it. Instead I thought it was a great independent film, with strong acting, and admirable for the way it avoided easy answers. I actually tend to like ambiguous endings ( a la Clint Eastwood), if done well and intelligently, and I thought this movie made a nice attempt. I always like the non-Hollywood polish of independent films, which give them a unique character lacking in most of today's movies. However, it was the strength of the acting by Ryan Gosling and the supporting actors that worked for me most of all. Gosling's portrayal of a crack? meth? smoking high school teacher was a study in the way an addict slowly loses his grip on his basic moral principles. Great job all around, I highly recommend this movie and give it four out of five garlics.