Infernal Affairs trailer
Listen to Nirvana - Sliver
Music + Photos is the next big thing
U2 iPod
Digital Box Set, 400+ songs at US$115
iPod Photo!!
iTunes Music Store EU and Canada
Apple Store London
Steve Jobs is "fighting fit" (a Bono's phrase)
it's phenomenal!
Listen to U2 - Sunday Bloody Sunday
Yojimbo
I liked it, it's brilliantly-acted, extremely entertaining on the narrative/action level but also deeply profound in Kurosawa's usual heavy heroism theme, and it's funny.
Yojimbo is about a Ronin who hires himself out to both sides in a feuding town. Yojimbo demonstrably does bad things, kills people for money, he's constantly ridiculing others, and he sells out everyone who hires him. That makes him a bad guy, right? Take a careful note of the subsidiary characters, the townsman whose wife is being held captive by one of the bosses, after Mifune's killed the guards for helping them, they prostrate themselves at his feet for helping them, and he is furious. It's interesting to me that Yojimbo goes to such lengths to be disguised, which surely is an attempt to disguise his genuine feelings of sympathy and affection for the people he's helping.
Yojimbo is pretty awesome, I still find Seven Samurai is the best Kurosawa's film, imho.
Listen to Hideki Kaji - 15 Angry Men
Our little movie watching club
12 Angry Men
The film had so much drama. The interplay between Juror #3 and Henry Fonda was simply incredible. It is great to watch a movie where there are so few special effects. The actors themselves carried the movie and in such a small confined area. You could feel yourself getting sucked into each and every one of them.
Also interesting to see how someone's 'life on the line' meant so little to some of the jurors ...at first. When you see someone, in this case Juror #7, more worrried about missing a baseball game then possibly sending a man to his death you have to sit back and take notice. The judge stated that they needed to be aware that their verdict had the probable outcome of a death sentence for the kid.
Thankfully they were sequestered. The beliefs of one man who was willing to stand his ground and question the evidence helped all the rest to take a look within.. a good look. Otherwise the kid wouldn't have stood a chance.
It was a great movie that not only entertained, but educated people on the importance of proper jury duty. It spoke volumes. 100%.
The Bad Sleep Well
Often dubbed as a contemporary version of Hamlet with a touch of sardonic humor and noirish vision. It's my third viewings on this film. I loved it a lot, not only is it very classically noir, it is vicious noir! This film is filled with images that are oddly surreal. The wedding party presented as a stage show for the keystone cop press, crippled girl stumbling to the wedding march, Wada weeps at his own funeral, the shocking and depressing ending. The film starts out great and is strong throughout, it manages to go from social commentary to personal tragedy and it's solid and powerful. Most people compared it with High and Low, but there's no comparison.
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
I've heard this is the most friendly for non-Trekkies. I liked a lot of the comedy here. The two scenes that really stand out are Chekov asking for "Nuclwer Wessels" in a heavy Russian accent, and Spock giving the nerve pinch to the loud obnoxious punk on the bus. There are several other scenes that are quite funny without getting stupid. I like Spock swimming the the whales. Spock can talk to the whales. "He did too much LDS in the 60's", said Captain Kirk. Overall I enjoy it.
Listen to Sakamoto Ryuichi - Seven Samurai