Archive for the 'films' Category

Film review: ‘The Men Who Stare At Goats’

Published on 9 November 2009 in films. 1 Comment

An unexpectedly funny film about whacko military special-op types engaged in paranormal techniques to fight the Enemies of Freedom™

The blurb from the Odeon website says:

Inspired by a real life story and featuring an all-star cast, ‘The Men Who Stare at Goats’ is a dark comedy about a top-secret wing of the U.S. military.

Reporter Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) meets Lyn Cassady (George Clooney), part of an experimental unit of psychic ‘Warrior Monks’ — who claim to read minds, walk through walls and kill goats simply by staring at them!

When the unit’s leader, Bill Django (Jeff Bridges), goes missing Bob tracks him down to a secret training camp run by clandestine psychic Larry Hooper (Kevin Spacey).

The alarming thing is that elements of the film are anchored in 1960’s reality: the US Army really did shoot dogs to train medics how to deal with gunshot wounds, though whether they changed to goats because squaddies found shooting dogs unacceptable can’t be verified. Were it a decision made today one presumes they’d have used women and kids from Falujah. Again. Equally the reality dodging wacky wing of the CIA really did have a lavishly financed remote viewing program: inspired perhaps by liberal the use of liberated CIA LSD.

There were finely judged touches of hilarity. Clooney refers to his unit as ‘Jedi’ warriors and to the Ewan McGregor character as an unrecognised Jedi. Rather amusing, and one wonders whether McGregor was only cast because of his Star Wars role just so that they could crack this joke.

I’d like to hate Clooney: he is one of those handsome types seemingly all women love and while he cannot match Geeklawyer’s rugged good looks charm and turbo-charged totty pulling ability he comes close. This is threatening. Despite that his performance has to be recognised as excellent: he delivers funny lies with a granite like straight face. Oh George, you annoying fucker.

Bridges portrayal of the unit’s founding special forces soldier turning into a hippy who persuades khaki clad granite faced men-mountain into holding flowers and doing tai-chi was bizarre and delightful.

Spacey McGregor and Bridges all performed well together and there was a definite chemistry. It was also a little odd in a film such as this not to have that infuriating Hollywood cliché, the token female love interest: Kate Beckinsale was nowhere in sight.

The Men Who Stare at Goats is very much to be recommended as a genre & cliché defying great watch.

War of the Worlds

Published on 3 August 2009 in films. 2 Comments Tags: , .

Geeklawyer did review the Tom Cruise version of War of the Worlds some while back. That review has mysteriously vanished from his blog. He did, however, recently watch a DVD version that he bought whilst in Toronto, the David Micheal Latt version.

It is hard to imagine anyone making a Tom Cruise film look good; hard indeed, but this one makes him look good. Very good. Actually, it makes him look like Sir John Gielgud celebrating Very Good Acting Day with a bravura performance.

The acting from the entire ensemble struggled to rise above the risible and failed. The fault was, in part, let us be fair, that the plot bore as much resemblance to the HG Wells original as did the butchered carcasses of the human victims in the film to their living
predecessors: both were bloodied and violated remnants of a more attractive predecessor. But to describe a plot such as this to be a bit holey is to say of the Colander “My Lord, but this kitchen utensil has a remarkable lot of holes,” unless, that is, holes are your bag; in which case this film will commend itself to you.

The fault in the other part was that these were demotivated, jobbing, DVD actors who knew full well, one assumes, that their exhibition would wind up on the $5 DVD shelf. And overpriced at that.

So should you watch it? Why yes, of course, you should: you are a miserable sinner and deserve punishment.

Geeklawyer film reviews

Published on 19 February 2008 in films. 20 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Yes, what the flying fuck does this have to do with law? Nothing. Report me to the Bar Council.

Sweeney Todd.

One of Geeklawyer’s punters (one of only two who knows he writes this blog) described him as “a bit brutal”; there was the question about whether a note he had drafted to be handed up to the High Court judge was going to upset him a bit by it’s aggressive tone. Genuinely perplexed Geeklawyer thought it a masterpiece of subtle understatement doing no more than hinting that his Lordship may ultimately incur the displeasure of the Court of Appeal. Such an assessment has been made before of Geeklawyer and equally unfairly.

So, you may not be entirely surprised that Geeklawyer thought Sweeney Todd was blindingly terrific. Exquisitely acted, beautifully filmed and composed and musically great: Depp does a magnificent duet with Judge Turpin in the Barber’s chair. Johnny Depp apparently say’s that he can’t sing. Bollocks.

Based, it seems, on a Sondheim musical it takes a different tack from other versions of the play. Johnny Depp is a barber who is whisked away to Australia for a crime he didn’t commit so that the evil Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) may have his wicked way with the pretty wife. Todd makes his way back after 15 years in the hell that is Australia and the fun begins.

Geeklawyer recalls seeing other versions of this play. The BBC did an astonishingly good version early last year with Ray Winston equally good and deeply but differently textured.

The theme of the play is irony and the cancerous malevolence of revenge. Nonsense of course. Revenge is the emotion that distinguishes us from the apes — not the ability to use a fucking knife and fork. But revenge should not, contrary to the old saying, be cold, but rather as hot fresh and salty as gushing arterial blood.

The film is all about profound tragic love and the ultimate doom of fate crossed lovers. So, somewhat like Romeo and Juliet, it’s a chick flick.

But a chick flick with throat slitting. How cool is that? This is one film you can take some totty to see at the cinema and pretend to cry at the sad ending, while secretly reveling in the sanguinary tide of crimson love juice.

Oh yes, there will be razors.

Bittorrent throttling

Published on 17 August 2007 in filesharing, films and p2p. 10 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Geeklawyer spotted this news story about Comcast throttling bittorrent traffic. Geeklawyer does, on occasion, ‘steal’ films using bittorrent. Really, it’s not like anyone suffers (please, spare me the crap about ‘he would have bought it if it hadn’t been available on p2p’) and he certainly isn’t the only IP/IT lawyer to do so.While many would like to ascribe this to the MPAA-RIAA acting behind the scenes Geeklawyer thinks that this story has the flavour of truth. It is certainly the case that ISPs are flattened by the demands of p2p traffic; some say 80% of Internet traffic is torrent.

It may be that the shortage is ISPs capacity problems and probably it is. So then, just widen the pipes? But like road building where the more motorways one builds the more people use them until capacity usage is 101% would this solve the problem? Geeklawyer suspect the answer is no, but also that the motorway analogy is flawed. Like motorways, network backbones cost real big bucks to build & particularly over the last mile. The scalability of the problem is not equally comparable however. Even copper, let alone fibre, is capable of vast capability once exchanges are updated. And if one looks at wireless technologies such as wiMax then the capability of 100Mbytes+ over the last mile look easily plausible.

All of this requires huge funding. And if the Internet age is to realise its potential then consumers such as you and Geeklawyer should expect to have to dig into their pockets. Geeklawyer is willing to do so so long as it goes to infrastructure improvement. He imagines most consumers feel likewise. Furthermore like Victorian water mains there is a good argument that National Government should stump up some massive investment to aid this. Yes of course government providing services for the public good is a quaint concept: everything is about profit rather than the public good, but here the two are not incompatible.

Update: Comcast deny throttling Bittorrent. Though some say that they are lying.

“Taking Liberties”

Published on 17 June 2007 in Civil liberties & human rights, films and geeklawyer. 2 Comments Tags: , , .

You’ve had the laws now go and see the film.

Geeklawyer went to see it with Evil Dave at the Curzon. If like Geeklawyer you are a bit of a civil liberties loony this won’t tell you much that you didn’t already know. Geeklawyer spent most of the film pointing at people on the screen and saying “I know him” “I know him, he’s a twat” etc. etc. Continue reading ‘“Taking Liberties”’