Bushinations: Openings for Democrats?

William Greider has long been one of my favorite muckraking writers and in his new article for The Nation, The New Colossus, he packs a wallop straight at the jaws of CEOs and investment bankers who think that changes forced on them in the wake of Enron and WorldCom are heading for the past. Instead, their new troubles are coming from an entirely new direction: state officials and union bosses who control massive retirement funds and aren’t afraid to use them.

From a different angle, Friedman’s latest (No Mullah Left Behind) offers a lever that meshes well with the action Greider discusses. Where does the money go when Americans fill up their cars, SUVs and pickup trucks? Among other places to the governments in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, which they tend to turn around and use against us. Decreasing our profligate consumption of petroleum would decrease their income and their ability to fund groups antithetical to our interests.

But are President Bush and his crew in DC working to strengthen our national security by developing meaningful alternative fuel source? No, because that would also take money out of the oil industry and that’s where Bush has his strongest backing and where many of his political appointees spent their careers. Can’t bite the hand that feeds him, can he?

Democrats can. If Howard Dean can use his new party chairmanship to push the policies developed by California State Treasurer Phil Angelides, New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and others (this is from Greider’s piece) as one pincer and a well-thought out New Manhattan Project to develop new energy resources as the other, the Democratic Party may just nip this Radical Right neotheocracy in the bud.

Dammit, the classic 1965 French docudrama The Battle of Algiers is on IFC right now but not again within the two weeks of listings TiVo has in memory. Makes me wonder, additionally, why the system has no Add to Wishlist choice on the program detail screen. I need to check OnDemand later and see if the movie’s available through the service.

Today’s movie: Win a Date with Tad Hamilton

I didn’t protest too much when TS1 brought this DVD home from the library. Looked harmlessly cute and offered two young actors that I think will be big stars in the near future in Topher Grace and Josh Duhamel. Kate Bosworth is an upcoming starlet–she’ll play Lois Lane in next year’s Superman Returns–though she has stiff age group competition from the likes of Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles, Scarlett Johannson and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Win a Date with Tad Hamilton is a worlds colliding triangular romantic comedy, a basic but robust framework. Duhamel plays Hamilton, a hunky Hollywood star in danger of ruining his career with fast living, Bosworth is small town fan Rosalee, and Grace her supermarket boss and good friend Pete. Tad’s agent and manager (both characters named Richard Levy, played by Nathan Lane and Sean Hayes) cook up the title contest, which Rosalee of course wins. During a sweet dinner date in Hollywood (fish out of water opportunity!), she opens his eyes to the emptiness of his life and so Tad flies to West Virginia to find out more. However, Pete is finally about to profess his love in the lunchroom when Hamilton arrives. Hijinks ensue!

Written by Victor Levin (Mad About You) and directed by Robert Luketic (both Legally Blonde movies and, opening in May, the J.Lo-Jane Fonda comedy Monster-in-Law), this movie works because of good writing, good pacing and editing plus a very strong performance by Topher Grace. Win a Date could easily have lost it’s way by leaning on cliches, a trap many younger target demo comedies fall to, or by wasting screen time on secondary plot lines. Instead Levin and Luketic use small portions of both as seasoning; for instance, Angelica, the hot bartender (Kathryn Hahn) who adores Pete the way Pete does Rosalee and Rosalee does Tad, might have tempted other filmmakers to add a scene or two but I saw nothing of the sort even in the deleted extras included on the DVD.

Props to Gary Cole for adding to his string of oddball supporting characters as Bosworth’s Dad; perhaps at 48 he passed his window of opportunity for big lead roles when Crusade crashed and burned but has done terrific work as Ron Livingston’s boss in cult fave Office Space, Mike Brady in the recent Brady Bunch flicks, and the sheriff in short-lived TV series American Gothic. Sean Hayes is hot and building off his crazy Jack from Will & Grace but a bit miscast here, trying too hard to be “straight.” Josh Duhamel is decent as Tad, showing he can play more than just the smartass pretty boy that’s his character on Las Vegas.

And yes girls, in case you were wondering, the fabulous Tad does have his own website!

recommended

Today’s movie: Kill Bill

True, this was released as Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 but even the chapter numbering shows that Kill Bill is really one film that Miramax for commercial reasons chopped in half. Starz was considerate enough to run them consecutively tonight with Vol. 2 as the Saturday night premiere but for the most part this writeup treats both parts as a single piece. I have to admit hearing the title, which is repeated many times over the course of the thing, had a disconcerting effect as some aspect of my inner self reacted as if it were directed at me.

Quentin Tarantino can really make a movie when he puts in the effort. But he works at his own pace, enjoying the luxury and variety afforded by his success. If he wants to act or produce or just take time to kibbitz on other peoples’ projects, he does, though this doesn’t endear him to the public or the movie studios; I still think, however, that his lead performace in Destiny Turns on the Radio is sorely underrated. So while his reputation isn’t what it could be, I get the impression Tarantino doesn’t care. More power to him.

What does matter is that in about a dozen years he’s written and directed four movies, three of them (including this one) classics and one (Jackie Brown) questionable to some viewers but which I thought was pretty good. Reservoir Dogs worked within the gangster/heist genre boundaries but was an incredible take on it and Pulp Fiction simply blew up American cinema.

Anyway… Kill Bill. A very basic plot, set up in the opening scene: The Bride (Uma Thurman) was once part of an elite team of assassins run by Bill (David Carradine, after Warren Beatty declined) but, visibly pregnant, has run away to marry Tommy and work in his used record store; Bill and the other assassins (Vivica Fox, Lucy Liu, Michael Madsen, Darryl Hannah) show up at the wedding rehearsal and, guns blazing, kill everybody. Except, of course, Thurman isn’t dead, just in a coma for four years, and when she wakes up goes after the others for revenge. The movie is more or less told in voiceover by Thurman so no spoiler in noting that she gets everyone in the end.

The key is how she gets them. The creativity in dialog and plot twists, the imagination in visuals and staging the fight sequences (for which Tarantino got help from the acclaimed Woo-ping Yuen and Sonny Chiba, who also plays a small but significant role as maker of the finest Katana swords). Particularly impressive is his ability to integrate elements and conventions of many different classic film genres into a coherent, holistic new style. Inglorious Bastards, apparently his next major effort due out in 2006, is about a gang of misfits on a mission in World War II (in the vein of The Dirty Dozen) and I’m truly eager to see what he does with it.

Thurman, Carradine and Hannah give outstanding performances; Madsen and Liu are good and Fox has too small a role too early in the film to judge. Thurman carries this movie on her back in what seems to me to be the most impressive job of her career. Lately we’ve hardly been lacking in female action hero and sueprhero flicks but very few of those stars have made such meat out of their part. Hannah’s role is so contrary to the soft, sweet women she’s always cast as but looking at her more recent and upcoming credits in IMDB shows that producers aren’t picking up on this but perhaps she’ll get lucky and be cast in a TV drama that runs for years.

definitely recommended

Loud neighbors suck, MV cops no help

Mountain View does not have a noise ordinance; therefore the only law controlling sound levels in my community is California’s Penal Code Section 415, which says: “Any person who maliciously and willfully disturbs another person by loud and unreasonable noise.” For the police to stop someone, I was told by one officer, they must determine the volume is purposely intended to interfere with another person’s quiet enjoyment. Additionally, the volume must be at this level when the policeman arrives on the scene.

Now I’m all in favor of everyone having as much fun as possible but only to the point where I can’t hear my TV or music clearly. The officer I spoke with sympathized though he wasn’t able to agree with my characterization of malicious. I wonder why, though, since Mirriam-Webster’s legal definition is simply “wanton disregard for the rights of others.” The willful and loud requirements are clear unless, as was the case this time, the volume is turned down between a call to the dispatcher and the officer’s arrival. Unreasonable has probably been defined through case law though one analysis suggests a loud home stereo system would be unreasonable.

The officer said this is far from the first time he’s had to deliver an unsatisfactory answer to a resident’s noise complaint and I hardly hold him personally responsible, of course. But that doesn’t mollify me, just makes for one more in a long line of unsatisfactory dealings with the Mountain View Police Department.

On the sad side of the ledger, my sister’s father-in-law passed away this past weekend. I only met Larry Sr. a few times, him living in Florida, but no one could miss his terrific friendliness and appetite for life. I know from talking with my sister that he was a wonderful guy who made her feel like a daughter and not just an in-law, that when he loved you he loved you with all he had. My brother-in-law is a great guy and clearly the apple was dropped only inches from the tree. Only 65, he will be missed.

Bay Area Unites Tsunami Benefit Feb. 20

Are you interested in a local, large scale Tsunami benefit to attend? Then the Bay Area Unites Tsunami Event, coming to HP Pavillion in San Jose on Sunday, Feb. 20,, might be worth checking out. Prominent author and philosopher Dr. Deepak Chopra, Grammy nominated singer Lisa Loeb, Grammy nominated musicians Shankar & Gingger, acclaimed dancer Danica Sena and philanthropist Dr. Malini Alles will be among the headliners, and former President Bill Clinton will particpate via video. Bay Area Unites is a coalition of local organizations with ties to the affected countries in South Asia including the India Community Center (ICC), American India Foundation (AIF), The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) and American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPIO). Check it out.

Bushinations: Where’s my darn script?!

Matt Drudge quoted President Bush’s brief conversation with Mary Mornin in Omaha today (PR Newswire transcript). Mornin, a woman in her late fifties who told the president she was a divorced mother of three, including a ‘mentally challenged’ son. Just in case it goes away here is what I read:

"Begin transcript:

MS. MORNIN: That's good, because I work three jobs and I feel like I contribute.

THE PRESIDENT: You work three jobs?

MS. MORNIN: Three jobs, yes.

THE PRESIDENT: Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that. (Applause.) Get any sleep? (Laughter.)

MS. MORNIN: Not much. Not much."

I don’t but perhaps you find this funny; all I see from this is an enormous lack of sensitivity on the part of a man who seems lost in the ether when he doesn’t have prepared remarks to lean on if an off-message question comes his way. This woman is struggling to make ends meet yet finds the time to attend a rally supporting his (full of crap) Social Security reform proposal and the BushMeister falls back on his fratboy mean humor to thank her. Wonderful!

Letter to the Editor: Design for Living

Nothing in human culture exists without a context. Michael Behe explains the four linked claims that argue for Intelligent Design and fails to provide the context. What, I wonder, is responsible for the intelligence of the designs we see around us? “[T]he theory of intelligent design is not a religiously based idea,” he writes but then finishes his essay without addressing this central question. Semantics aside, no one can doubt that in the world view of Behe and the Intelligent Design community, the designer is God. And then, so much for his proposition that ID is a scientific theory comparable to evolution.

Here’s a good photo of Vivian and me dancing last Saturday night at her firm’s holiday party at the Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay. A really great party, beautiful location, great food, really good band (Motown, ’70s soft rock and disco) and a chance for me to finally socialize with her co-workers.

Today’s movie: Matrix Revolutions

Not being at all interested in the unending blah blah blah of the Super Bowl pre-game whatever, I finally saw the last of the Wachowski Brothers’ Matrix Trilogy. The second film, Reloaded, was a terrible disappointment to me and this one was mainly interesting because of some recent conversations about the nature of consciousness. Revolutions was better than Reloaded but not even close to The Matrix.

I’m willing to chalk this up to bleed over from having seen Hellboy yesterday but I really felt like Andy and Larry Wachowski made this movie flailing around for an ending that would convey the weight of their concept while delivering the power and action enabled by innovative computer technology.

You may recall that as we left our heroes, Zion was facing imminent destruction while Neo and Agent Smith had just left the Matrix for flesh and blood; that’s where the action picks up. The two hours of screen time are filled with well done action, energy all over the place, masses of swarming machines charging into Zion and the humans fighting back with oversized machine guns. I certainly never got bored, wondering how long until the end.

But everything was the equivalent of a magician’s big hand wave, distracting the audience from the real movements that accomplish the mechanics of a trick. All the bullets fired from those machine guns, outrageously acrobatic hand to hand combat and the interpersonal emotions that are supposed to draw us into the characters fail. The man behind the curtain is exposed despite all the trickery.

Here’s the secret: everything we’ve seen, across all three movies, is unnecessary. The key to this revelation is Neo’s penultimate conversation with the Oracle, when he asks why she hasn’t given him the answer just supplied earlier; you weren’t ready, she said, and Neo is filled with understanding. Then he jumps in a ship with Trinity and runs off to Machine City so he can speak directly with the machines, who take him at his word and provide a connection to the Matrix where he and Smith stage their final, all or nothing martial arts bout.

Let me rant a bit now over egregious nonsense in Revolutions. The Zion army has very impresive technology, the ability to enter and leave the Matrix without notice of the Agents, vehicles with ultra-sophisticated power supplies and machine-killing weapons, and even those huge exoskeletons, but even though the machines that control the world can send nearly unlimited fighters to attack they’ve held off until just when the one human able to stand them off comes into the picture. And what is this Machine City?!?!?! Nothing less, apparently, then the controlling core of Earth’s masters, known to Neo and everyone in Zion, but not worthy of mention to us viewers until near the end. This is exactly the kind of hidden information that storytellers use when they’ve worked themselves into a corner and need a way out.

“Everything that has a beginning has an end.” This sentiment is expressed repeatedly and yet the Wachowski brothers evade facing it with their ending. The worst nonsense of all, suggesting volumes and saying nothing that any 12 year old doesn’t already understand. That’s perhaps the last piece of this puzzle allowing us to return to the trilogy’s origin: you got it, The Matrix started out as a comic book series.

not recommended

Last night’s movie: Hellboy

Part of the current wave of comic books taking advantage of modern computer effects and makeup, Hellboy is a visually exciting movie, with really good pacing and decent acting. But if you’re hoping for a complete story and a plot that hangs together with some intelligence, this 2004 release is not it.

Primary cast is Ron Perlman as the title character, John Hurt as scientist and bureau chief, Rupert Evans as an FBI agent and new minder, Jeffrey Tambor as an officious, obnoxious government higher up, Selma Blair and David Hyde Pierce as two more paranormals, all of whom face off against Karel Roden as a “reimagined” Rasputin, Brian Steele as Sammael, Ladislav Beran as an ageless ninja-ish fighter and Bridget Hodson as a Nazi and the obligatory bad girl groupie.

(Apparently, the film pulls a “Vader” on the Abe Sapien character, with Doug Jones inside the funny suit and Hyde Pierce providing the voice. Since almost all of the character’s value add was in the dialog, I’ll leave the above cast note stand.)

Basic story: Rasputin, who in this tale didn’t die in Russia early in the 20th century, has teamed up during World War II with some Nazis to open a gateway to Hell in a special place on the Scottish coast. Hurt’s Professor Bruttenholm is there with a squad of American soldiers to stop them and does, but not before a baby Hellboy comes through; Bruttenholm takes him back to New Jersey. Flash forward 60 years, to the present day, when Rasputin has returned from the dead, ready to finish the destruction of Earth.

Writer/director Guillermo del Toro film before this was Blade II, a very similar movie. Your eyes are kept glued to the screen, the action coming faster and faster and some very creative visual effects. But, as I mentioned at the start, the script makes no sense and that’s even after you accept the made up beings and technology. There are numerous others but the best example is at the very end: Hellboy faces off against a huge monster whose existence isn’t even hinted at prior to its appearance and having defeated it (of course, what do you think?) just walks off with no explanation. Yet we’re supposed to accept it and file out of the theater. All I can think is that readers of the source comic books would know the missing details.

not recommended

P.S. There’s already a sequel listed on IMDB.