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Tomorrow, When the War Began (2010)
Where were you when everything changed?
Filmmaker(s): Stuart Beattie

Ellie Linton, a teen from an Australian coastal town, leads her friends on an excursion to a camp deep in the woods, dubbed "Hell." Upon their return, the youths find that their town has been overrun by an enemy army, and their friends and family have been imprisoned. When the hostile invaders become alerted to their presence, Ellie and her friends band together to escape -- and strike back against -- this mysterious enemy.

Kids I suppose studios have genre classifications that would put this as ‘action,‘ with a (Australian) patriotic flavour. But my own personal genre classification system has this as a teen stereotype movie. Maybe 20-25% of all movies are of this type, even those featuring adults. I...


Published February 19, 2024
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The Book of Eli (2010)
Some will kill to have it. He will kill to protect it.

A post-apocalyptic tale, in which a lone man fights his way across America in order to protect a sacred book that holds the secrets to saving humankind.

Can't Tickle Shucks. I thought for the first 45 minutes that I had found a Denzel Washington film that was right for him and worth watching in ways he helps. Mixing Kung Fu and Jesus is alarmingly common, but this seemed more pure, more cinematic than...


Published February 19, 2024
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Sanctum (2011)
The only way out is down.
Filmmaker(s): Alister Grierson

Master diver Frank McGuire has explored the South Pacific's Esa-ala Caves for months. But when his exit is cut off in a flash flood, Frank's team—including 17-year-old son Josh and financier Carl Hurley are forced to radically alter plans. With dwindling supplies, the crew must navigate an underwater labyrinth to make it out.

Enclosed We still have things to discover about 3D movies. It is not at all clear that market forces and corporate interests will drive us toward more powerful art. A basic problem is whether the brain will allow itself to be fooled. I suppose it can...


Published February 17, 2024
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Inside Job (2010)
The film that cost $20,000,000,000,000 to make
Filmmaker(s): Charles Ferguson

A film that exposes the shocking truth behind the economic crisis of 2008. The global financial meltdown, at a cost of over $20 trillion, resulted in millions of people losing their homes and jobs. Through extensive research and interviews with major financial insiders, politicians and journalists, Inside Job traces the rise of a rogue industry and unveils the corrosive relationships which have corrupted politics, regulation and academia.

Frippery Okay, with everyone else on the planet, I suffer because the economy broke. And I was curious about a documentary supposedly Oscar-worthy. This is very good storytelling, and economical filmmaking. But it is pretty damning to say of anything that Oliver Stone‘s simplification was richer. The...


Published February 16, 2024
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Encounters at the End of the World (2007)
Off the map, things get strange.
Filmmaker(s): Werner Herzog

Herzog and cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger go to Antarctica to meet people who live and work there, and to capture footage of the continent's unique locations. Herzog's voiceover narration explains that his film will not be a typical Antarctica film about "fluffy penguins", but will explore the dreams of the people and the landscape.

Death in the Ice There is no denying the man. He has already changed me, and others. Interestingly, it seems that this is less by design than by accidents that occur because he chooses to put his camera in places where the cosmos is unstable. Sometimes it...


Published February 16, 2024
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The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)
This case is a dangerous game of life and death.
Filmmaker(s): Brad Furman

A lawyer conducts business from the back of his Lincoln town car while representing a high-profile client in Beverly Hills.

Reverse Indemnity What an amazingly lucky form the courtroom has presented filmmakers! It allows us to have one film where we sit in our seats with others making sense of a narrative, where we watch another ‘film‘ where a lawyer presents a narrative to a seated audience....


Published February 16, 2024
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Sucker Punch (2011)
You will be unprepared.
Filmmaker(s): Zack Snyder

A young girl, institutionalised by her abusive stepfather, retreats to an alternative reality as a coping strategy and envisions a plan to help her escape.

Intersection as the Razor to the Eye By now you will know that this is a box office flop, presumably because it caters to a demographic that gets easily confused, and the more engaged watchers can’t muddle through. I will say that I admire the overall structure....


Published February 16, 2024
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127 Hours (2010)
There is no force more powerful than the will to live.
Filmmaker(s): Danny Boyle

The true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston's remarkable adventure to save himself after a fallen boulder crashes on his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Utah.

The Hand Left in the Thing There are so many filmmakers out there that I am still approaching many films the way they were intended to be approached: as self-contained works of art (or craft). But there are some filmmakers I know well enough to trust...


Published February 16, 2024
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The Passenger (1975)
I used to be somebody else...but I traded him in.

David Locke is a world-weary American journalist who has been sent to cover a conflict in northern Africa, but he makes little progress with the story. When he discovers the body of a stranger who looks similar to him, Locke assumes the dead man's identity. However, he soon finds out that the man was an arms dealer, leading Locke into dangerous situations. Aided by a beautiful woman, Locke attempts to avoid both the police and criminals out to get him.

Dying Authentically, Inside Out I watched this again because of the recent loss of Maria Schneider. She was at times important to some influential film experiences by actively supporting passivity, and thus was a sort of transition archetype. And it reminded me once again of the...


Published February 16, 2024
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Central Park Joker (2011)

The Slipperiness of Beginnings I‘m pretty steeped in long form, why it works and how to increase effect. There is the assumption in long form, that you can contain some structure that by itself matters, and in doing so fits into the larger narratives that surround...


Published February 16, 2024
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