Susan Hated Literature

Writ & Dir: Chris Gorak

• Mary McCormack - Lexi
• Rory Cochrane - Brad
• Tony Perez - Alvaro
• Scotty Noyd Jr. - Timmy

I’m not quite sure what I was expecting from this film, but I didn’t get it. The plot should have been able to create tension and drama easily enough. After all you can’t really get more tension filled than a terrorist attack now can you? Well, maybe if you through in the fact that the bombs were “dirty bombs� and so anyone contaminated by the blast may be a threat to you. Your loved ones, the ones you are hoping come home to you, they might be the very people to kill you.

Sounds as though it could be interesting doesn’t it?

Well it isn’t. The most entertaining section of the entire film is watching the opening credits. And even they got a little wearisome after a few names had shown up.

I don’t really know why it didn’t work. The actors were fine. They were believable in their roles, although I suppose some of their actions were a little strange. The characters themselves were also fine. Although maybe the writer could have let us get to know them a bit better before launching in with the action.

Actually, I think that is where the problem lies. There is no real action. It is all a waiting game. We don’t see the bombs go off, we hear about them and then see the clouds of smoke and ash in the distance. We don’t even get tv shots, instead we hear the radio. Which for some reason always seems to be tuned to the same station. But that is irrelevant. The fact is that in order for this set-up to work tension has to be created by the fact that as viewers we do not know what is happening, not whom to trust. The police, army and so-called medical teams don’t really seem to be helping.

But I just didn’t care about these characters at all. They failed to engage me and I didn’t care whether they lived or died. Even the introduction of a young boy didn’t work, because he wasn’t used properly. And you’d hope that a film with one of the central protagonists is trapped inside his house by duct tape and the threat of what lurks in the air outside might be a little claustrophobic, but alas, no. Not a hint.

I suppose it could be seen as an achievement, of sorts. Managing to make a huge terrorist attack, complete with distrust, paranoia and toxic germs, seem boring. But not an achievement I want to celebrate.

Overall very disappointing, and boring film. Show Spoilers ▼

IMDb | Stuntgoats’ Pad | Pixelsurgeon | Alex Crawford on Film

TV has been a tad on the depressing side recently. And I don’t mean the boring-ness of Lost, but actual real life programmes. Not the “moan at the stupidity of reality-tv” but the real stories that have been floating about. First there was the BBC’s Execution of a teenage girl, about a 16 year old girl hanged in Iran because she committed adultery. Despite the fact that she wasn’t married, and it is against the secular law to execute anyone under 18 there. But it isn’t illegal to have sex with a 13 year old girl. The man got 90-odd lashes. She’d previously recieved 100 for “crimes against chastity”. Hearing that sort of thing is almost enough to make you side with George W Bush.

I have, however, been avoiding the news lately, but after Top Gear last night there was nothing on but Silent Witness, and then we weren’t bothered to change the station and the news came on. It is all just so pointless and tragic. So I’ve been ignoring it. Selfish maybe, but nothing I can do but feel that both sides are wrong. And that there isn’t any right side.

There was a march in Dublin against Israel’s action. I didn’t go. I wouldn’t feel right because both sides are equally as wrong, Israel just has better military technology. Which is why Hezbollah use guerilla tactics, which is why the Israeli’s accuse them of hiding among the civilians. If they come out into the open and fought more conventionally it’d still be asymmetrical warfare, just in a different way.

Dir & Writ: Peter Greengrass

• Christian Clemenson - Thomas E. Burnett, Jr.
• Trish Gates - Sandra Bradshaw
• Polly Adams - Deborah Welsh
• Cheyenne Jackson - Mark Bingham
• Opal Alladin - CeeCee Lyles

This is a film that is pretty impossible to review as just a film. We’ve all seen the news footage of those planes crashing into the World Trade Centre, we all know what happened that September.

And part of me wonders why I went to see this film. I can’t say it was entertainment in the usual sense of the word, although it was an entertaining film. But entertain seems to suggest fun, and this film is anything but fun. From the moment it starts you know what will happen these people in the end. You know they are all going to die, and more than that, you know that it isn’t just characters, but that this is what happened those people. Okay, so they had to guess at the details, but in essence this is what happened on board United 93 on 11th of September.

It is an unflinching look at what may have happened about the plane after the hijacking, and it told in a gripping, powerful way. But because of the nature of the plot, I’m not sure I could actually recommend this film. And I’m not sure why exactly it was made. It doesn’t try to offer any explanation. There is no grand over-arching statement about the “war on terror”. It is simply the story of the what happened on one plane, about the crew, passengers and hijackers. And I think in the end that is all it tries to be. To give a voice to those murdered in the attack. And it succeeds.

IMDb | Official Site | Confessions of a Movie Critic | Draven99’s Musings | Me Against The Keyboard

Dit: Miguel Courtois
Writ: Antonio Onetti

• Eduardo Noriega …. Txema
• José Coronado - Ricardo
• Mélanie Doutey - Amaia
• Silvia Abascal - Begoña
• Santiago Ramos - Pantxo
• Patrick Bruel - Nelson

In the 1970’s, as Franco’s dictatorship of Spain was slowly coming to an end, Txema finds himself getting involved with some Basque terrorists. In the middle of the night some ETA members show up at his door, and, friends with one, he allows them stay the night. As he chats with them he discovers that they are out to kill an informer. A man that Txema knows, a local taxi driver. Feeling guilty, Txema leaves a warning note on the Taxi, but it comes to late, and in the aftermath of the murder Txema is arrested.

And the Spanish secret service want to use him as an undercover agent. At first he refuses, but financial pressure, and the collapse of his business mean that he turns back to the police. It is suggested, but never said that it was police intervention that lead to his financial problems.

The rest of the film details Txema’s life with ETA as a mole, with the code name Lobo.

When I headed into the cinema, I had no idea what I wanted to watch, and this was on at just the right time, so despite not knowing anything about it, I decided to go see it. And I’m glad did. I know very little about Spain’s recent history, so it was interesting to see this film. The film opens with Txema running through the streets, carrying a gun, clearly fleeing the police. We have no idea who he is, or what is going on. but through flashbacks Txema’s backstory is revealed.

The acting is all great, you get a clear picture of Txema as uncertain and unsure through much of the film. He is doing what he thinks is right, but he doesn’t know if it is. And as he gets closer and closer to the leadership of ETA he can clearly sympathise with their positions, if not their methods. But although politics are clearly the driving force behind this film, they aren’t really investigated. Maybe I should say they are never overtly investigated, but the actions of both sides are shown. Both the terrorists and the police seem equally as violent as each other. This of course makes Noriega allt he more sympathetic, he is caught between both worlds.

Overall I enjoyed this film, it is well paced and keeps you entertained, and although over 2 hours doesn’t feel that long.

IMDb | Empire

• Eric Bana - Avner
• Daniel Craig - Steve
• Ciarán Hinds - Carl
• Mathieu Kassovitz - Robert
• Hanns Zischler - Hans

Based on the events that followed the terrorist attack on the Munich Olympic Games in 1972, this film has a lot of political baggage. There are those who see it as an example of anti-semitism. There are those who think it shows too much favour to the zionist cause. Whatever. Should it be examined based on topic, or on the quality of the film?

The film itself did keep my attention the whole way through. At just over 160 minutes it is a little long, but never overly so. Leaving aside the political discussions I thought the film did a good job of capturing Avner as a character. The rest of the team as less well-defined, but their roles re mosr of supporting and assisting Avner rather then as characters in their own right. That is not to say that they are uninteresting, or that they are 2D, just that their motivations and feelings are not given as much weight as Avners.

I thought that the story itself was well told; the tension surrounding the bombings/shhoting builds nicely. There is the mysterious French group to wonder about, and to help create a sense of paranoia and doubt.

As I said, their are those, on both sides, who will claim that this film is biased. But I don’t think it is. We are clearly shown the violence and random deaths portrayed by the Palestinian terrorists, we are shown the Israeli’s need to fight back and protect their home. It isn’t as though one side or the other is painted evil, though perhaps that is what some of the critics wanted?

The most telling scene in the film, for me, was the one between Avner and the PLO terrorist, where they discuss Israel. Avner, pretending to be a German socialist extremist of some description defends Israel, and its right to exist. And in the course of their discussion we see what it is that people really want. A home to call their own.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0408306/”>IMDb | Galactic Jack | Random Burblings | Screamer in the Matrix |

Isn’t this a scary looking banner?

I mean, first of all “Homeland Security” is so 1984 it really isn’t funny, and the whole thing looks like something out of Starship Troopers^[1] and I have no idea where it links to and don’t really care.

And, furthering the random nature of this post, I have a huge problem with the spelling of scary. Most times I get it right, but then think it looks wrong. You know, that it should be pronounced scar-y. So I try scarey and that is just wrong. Maybe I should just come up with my own way of spelling things, like that Shakespeare dude. He couldn’t even spell his own name correctly half the time.

You know, it is statements like this one, by Peter Robinson, that make me want to harbour terrorists.

“These three men were intricately involved in the global terrorist network,�? the East Belfast MP said.
“Bertie Ahern would do well to remember the words of President Bush when he said: ’those who harbour terrorists are terrorists’.�?

But then sense returns and I say extradite them. But I can still mumble and grumble about the tone of that statement, not to mention implicit threats. Why exactly would the Taoiseach do well to remember the words of El Presidento? Is he going to shock and awe us into sending these fellas back to Columbia?