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wonderjo
Reviews
Bubble (2005)
Great footage for torture
Many people that have wrote comments on this movie say they have theories about why Soderbergh did this, this sounds like pathetic way of rationalizing why 73 min of their lives were sucked from them by watching this film.
Well I have my own theory as well. I feel this film should have never been released to the public
why? Simple, it is dangerous.
To fully understand why I say this let me explain ...My theory goes something like this:
A secret meeting was held with Soderberg and high ranking pentagon and CIA officials. The reason for the meeting was to ask Soderbergh what kind of film would produce the most agonizing effects on the human mind. They relayed to him they have tried various other test films they thought would produce ill effects on the subjects such as a few Ed Wood films and really bad 1970's porno with stort lines etc. but the terrorist subjects found them entertaining. So Soderbergh being the patriot he is, thought long and hard how to make the worst film in Cinematic history.
Before going further one may ask why the government picked Steven Soderbergh? Simple. When he was filming K Street in D.C for HBO he and Clooney were eating sushi and met a guy a the bar that turned out to be a spook. (CIA operative). The man recognized Clooney and sat and had sake. Into the conversation the CIA guy mentioned that he really dug Erin Brocovich and the movie . The real one not Julia Roberts. He wanted her phone number. Steven declined to give it to him but then the operative started taking about "Operation Bad Film"(OBF). Now back to my theory.
Upon review of the film the Pentagon suggested the film be cut down to 73 mins from the original 4hrs 13 min version because they could not measure the preliminary effects, because the subjects that were force to watch the full 4 hr version had permanent brain damage or in some instances the subject simply died.
Soderbergh agreed to cut the film length and dub Bubble in Arabic, and sent the finished product to Washington for approval.
The Pentagon was amazed at the brilliance of the story because of quote the "depressive states and brutal boredom it produced in the test subjects" ...i.e. absolutely no passion at all in the film..which had a torturous effect on the impassioned rage of the terrorist. Just one showing produced begging pleas from the test subjects to stop the film only 13 mins into it. Those that were forced to watch the whole film had various symptoms such as vomiting dry heaves and numbness. Those that went on and had to endure the directors commentary, screamed out Al-Quada Intel secrets that the most hard core torture techniques the CIA employs never touched.
After further interrogation of the terrorist test subjects. The only thing they found that the subjects remotely like about the film was that an American was murdered.
They kept asking if the large lady with the red hair was a radical Muslim and why wasn't she wearing a berqa.
I have sources that say my theory is right on, Also there are reports that Amnesty International has obtained the Arabic dubbed version of Bubble as evidence to further their accusations that the U.S Army is using inhumane ways to extract information and state "that anyone forcing another to watch this film is a war crime."
If all this is true, I feel Soderbergh should get the Medal of Freedom (the highest honor that an American Citizen can receive). This film should have a warning label though, because the adverse mental depressive effects and even suicidal thoughts it produces. It was only released to the public because some jack ass used the freedom of information act to obtain it.
Because of my own experience with this film I still have panic attacks every time I start to watch a movie. It slowly fades once I see it isn't like Bubble.
The only good that has come from this film besides national security concerns is that a friend that is an Alumni the from NYU film school says he heard that the faculty has voted hands down that Bubble should be studied by the film students on how not to make a movie.
My theory must hold water because why else would a director that has great films under his belt like "Sex, lies and video tape" ever even conceive of doing a torturous film such as Bubble.
PS Some have said that bubble has gone past and achieved what Dogme 95 films try to do.
All I can say is these people that left comments even remotely comparing Bubble to a Dogme 95 film surely suffered brain damage by watching Bubble.
Broken Flowers (2005)
JARMISH+MURRAY=Brilliance
I can't say I'm a Jim Jarmish fan. However, this collaboration with Bill Murray brought the best out of both of them. Bill is just amazing anyway. His acting draws the viewer in to his world. The saying " less is more" Murray epitomizes. Jarmish plays with the same idea and allows silence to act in this film. The mood the stark film quality and story give all the actors room to breath. Every scene is an evolution into unfolding feeling.
Basically, this film seemed written for Murray's effortlessness acting style. Yet Murray's character is played at first with almost totally non-vulnerability
you want him to open up. But all the time you see glimmers of him doing just that and then you even appreciate his stuck-ness.
All the other actors are wonderful as well. I have seen Sharon Stone's acting as someone trying to hard, but people, she was just crazy and alive in her role in this film. She changed my mind. Jessica Lange's performance is just perfect. What a woman. All in all I must give this film 2 thumbs up and my big toes are saluting it as well. Funny, thoughtful and very entertaining. Bravo.
Searching for Angela Shelton (2004)
disturbing unanswered answers...
I liked the premise of this film but I feel that Angela Shelton the film maker was a bit too self redundant and self indulgent when it came to the underlying issues of why she made this movie in the first place. I felt that the other Angela Shelton's were most precious and very vulnerable.
One would have to ask some very hard questions about her mothers role in letting her daughter move to her fathers house because the child said she wanted too because "he lets me drink Kool-Aid". Bizarre if you ask me. Ms Shelton never addresses this problem. And if that is unanswered when in fact as she touts that this film is a film of healing, then victims need to know the truth about why a child could be placed in someone's care beyond the lame excuse such as her mother gives her about her role in allowing her child to live and drink Kool-Aid with daddy at the age of 5.
As far as I am concerned, Angela never resolves the most important part of her abuse...the secret role of her mother. Many things in this movie are disturbing and go unanswered. I think its way to painful for Angela to go there.
I can say that as an abuse victim myself, I learned again about what not to do in regards to my abuser as I watched this film. I do not like the concept of forgiveness and its religious overtones. There is a certain obligation that comes with forgiveness that smacks of a desire to please god
(You must forgive) and a willingness to sacrifice yourself once again to one of the belief systems that agitates the very problem of sexual exploitation in the first place namely repression. Specifically religious repression.
As Alice Miller says in her books, " You truly cannot forgive unless the one that abused you sincerely asks for it by admitting their abuse of power and your trust." But even then Ms Miller never advocates Forgiveness even though many would say the hate will eat you up. But I say you need to hate your perpetrator all the way thru and fully allow yourself to hate holding nothing back then something incredible happens. The facts act if one allows themselves to see things as they actually are. But if you have a belief intact that keeps the truth protected then the cycle continues just in other obscure forms.
The painful thing is that Angela really wants her reality verified so she seeks it from her obvious perpetrator
her father. But he is just the ugly end result of a deeper problem ...her mother. As long as Angela lets her mother keep the lie sacred (and enables her mother to do so) about abandoning her to a child rapist then she will never be satisfied about the truth of her father even if he did say he was a pedophile molested her and took pictures of her naked etc.(see the movie for explanation) I think its interesting that at least on an unconscious level Angela does implicate her mother as a source problem but most that have viewed this film get taken away by the scene with the father and the mothers role is the upstaged and obscured.
I cannot recommend this film on the merits it advertises itself to be. I can say it is good to watch if you wish to see the inner workings of someone that refuses to go all the way and face the deepest part of their abuse issue. From my perspective little Angela Shelton's case was flat out abandonment by her mother and that in fact left her and her sister with a perverted monster...their father. I mean why did her mother divorce the idiot in the first place? Her brother carries so much inner shame about being his father's unwilling accomplice
its heart wrenching. But he smiles thru an interview his sister has with him in which she and the brother seem to patch things up yet the pain hangs in the air just this time with forced smiles.
This is an amazing study of denial about the very subject in which one is seemingly trying to resolve. But in the end it seems Angela finally get the desired attention a middle child such as Angela craves. She finds only part of her voice the rest is still choked down by an false idea of her mother. Sadly it looks like it works at the expense of some very lovely women who just happen to be named Angela Shelton.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)
very smart half way thru....
I loved this movie....for the first half of it ....then some Hollywood idiots must have thought well its to smart and sexy lets kill it with ridiculous drivel and action sequences and very predictable ending.
And it worked... it sucked. But Brad And Angelina are a god and a goddess. Angelina is so beautiful her very presence can act. Amazing beauty.Yes they do have a lovely sexual chemistry together but somebody had to dumb down this film and that is the sad part about it. Why cant they leave their sticky little fingers off the creative direction of a film? You can always tell when this sort of thing happens..it goes from smart to really stupid in the blink of an eye. Order something sweet at the concession stand if you go see this at the theater. your best bet is to get it on DVD for a rainy day. To bad the film killers got a hold this one.
War of the Worlds (2005)
THe war of the wannabe's
What can I say but that Spielberg And Cruise Deserve each other. The film is a hidden commentary of an "Imperial power dominating the less powerful and that even a dead beat narcissistic dad (Cruise Character and from what I hear in real life..at least the narcissistic part) heeds the call and becomes hero and warrior. I thought the special effects were the best character in the movie.
Tim Robbins is awful in this and one wonders why he was cast. Dakota fanning screams a lot but she does well terrified.THe script goes south in different parts of this film. Meaning some things that seem to be pushed emotionally suffers from underdevelopment. Other wise if you like to see shoot um up action flick on crack you will like this one. I did ....its a nice movie with unbuttered popcorn.
Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005)
Miranda July needs to stay a performance artist
I was rather looking forward to this Film. I heard great reviews about it. I saw the trailer etc. The first 25 minutes into the film I was trying to piece together what the whole of these characters were doing together.
It seemed like Ms.July (she is the main character as well as writer and director) was trying to remake certain aspects of Rorbert Altmans films, where these seeming random events do have meaning in each of the characters lives but the they just lead you to wonder why in the world would she write this and what was her intent.
I started getting tired then sleepy then just exhausted by watching this crazy movie. I love independent film. I have done two myself and I have to say Ms July tried to use performance art concepts in this film as a performance film itself at the expense of the audience and it just did not work for me.