I bought this on DVD at the grocery store the other day for $4.99 and after seeing it again after a few years I was struck by how good this film is. It's one of those timeless films that does not get old or cloying or sappy stupid with each successive viewing. Thora Birch and Scar Jo are sublime in this film, many experienced actors could learn a thing or two from the restrained performances these two young ladies gave in this film. I had forgotten how funny this film was as well. I laughed out loud at many of the scenes and bits of humor that are laced throughout this tale of loneliness and alienation. If you have never seen this film, do yourself a favor and watch it. If you have not seen it in a few years, watch it again.
Thank goodness I did not pay to watch this movie. It's not very funny, although it does have some cute gags and jokes, it's preachy, it's not at all realistic in it's portrayal of how the US Congress works, and it was directed by the guy who gave us Patch Adams. I'm going to say that I watched it all the way through because I like Lauren Graham, but in reality I was just too lazy to turn the channel to look for anything better to watch. Avoid this one.
Lucky Number Slevin is a fine fun little modern ironic gangster/revenge movie. Yes, people get shot in it, yes, people get beat up in it, yes, there are many deaths, but all the violence is cartoonish and germane to the plot. It's a very good film and if you like gangster/revenge movies then you'll dig it. Josh Hartnett is very good in it and I'm sure he'll make the ladies swoon. Republican party boy Bruce Willis is oh so archly hip in this flick and he's bearable in it. And boy howdy is Lucy Liu cute as a button in this movie, if you don't have a thing for Asian females after seeing this one then something is wrong you with you.%252001.jpg)
We watched this movie last night on Sundance Channel. It's about the practice of strip mining coal out of the top of mountains, a practice called mountain top removal, and the environmental damage it does to the land and to the people who live around the land where the practice takes place. This film illustrates perfectly how the poor and powerless get trampled on by corporate interests when there is profit to be made.Instead of ruining the mountains around here, and yes I live relatively close to the area where this shit is being done, they could mine the coal in the mountains like they used to, by using deep mine technologies. But since it's cheaper to blow the tops of the mountains off to extract the coal the coal companies forgo the deep mining and are poisoning the people of southern West Virginia and it's surrounding environs in the process.
This film is an eye opening view into the world of corporate greed and avarice. I highly recommend you see this film as soon as possible.
(As a result of seeing this film I'll be writing about the dangers and idiocy of mountain top removal coal mining in the future. The fight to ban the practice of mountain top removal is now one of the pet causes of this blog.)
12 comments:
"Ghostworld" was great. Haven't seen the others and not very interested in "Evan Almighty."
i couldn't agree more with you about the first two movies. i might have to watch that third one; it sounds good!
I loved Ghost World. Will definitely have to see it again.
Mountaintop removal is greed and complete disregard for environment personified. I've been following this cause for a while, since I did a story on it for a local independent newspaper. It should be made illegal.
Ghost World! AH, I love it. i have that "Devil got my woman" song (or whatever it is called...poor memory) in my itunes so I can relive the film at random.
I watched Even while I did dishes and cleaned my bathroom...the TV was not visible but I think I still got as much out of it as I was going to. I could see myself loving it as a kid.
Whenever I go to a suburban music spot, especially in Chicago, I think of Blues Hammer.
Also, I can think of nothing funnier than Doug in the convenience store. Nothing.
Wish I had more time to watch movies. So I live vicariously through you. My ancestors were poor coal miners from Wales, then southern Iowa. Have you read How Green Was My Valley?
the coal companies forgo the deep mining and are poisoning the people of southern West Virginia and it's surrounding environs in the process.
A HA! Maybe THAT'S why they vote like idiots.
I have the book "Big Coal", would you like to borrow it?
Thanks for the reviews, MM and for the strip mining position! There are estimates that there's a 200 year supply of coal, so guess what's quietly being encouraged?
Yeppirs.
Jess-If you're willing to loan it to me I'd be delighted to read it.
As an exiled Pike Co. Kentucky native I always have this mental picture of my old home the way I left it when I went to college.
Imagine my reaction when I got back for a family funeral well over a decade later and half the place looked like a moonscape.
There were even one or two mountains along the drive TOTALLY MISSING. Imagine it; earthly structures that had existed for hundreds of millions of years, GONE.
You can even see the scars from quite high up on Google Earth.
It would be hard to imagine a worse thing to ever do to a living landscape and the people and creatures in it.
The locals pretty much all don't care. The mines represent money and jobs and they're totally dependent on them. It's a kind of slavery in my eyes.
I bought Ghost World when it came out and it holds up really well. Shame about poor Brad Renfro though.
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