acoolsha
Bruce Springsteen, street performance 1988 5 January 2010
Section: article
Categories: Mention / Concert
I came across this link via www.greasylake.org on twitter. Here is a quote from that entry, and the video:
Thanks to a resolute guy with a camera (legend has it he bought the camera on the spot), this performance has been immortalized to Bruce fans everywhere. This is what happened: Bruce was in Copenhagen for another stop of his Tunnel of Love Express Tour. Two nights before the show, street musician John Magnusson and his partner were playing on Copenhagen’s main pedestrian street when he saw Springsteen walk by. He called out to him and asked if he would join. Bruce obliged, borrowed a guitar from Magnusson’s partner and did three songs: “I’m on Fire”, “The River”, and “Dancing in the Dark”. The whole thing of course attracted a major crowd. Perhaps realizing it would end up in chaos, Bruce slipped through the crowd after about 15 minutes and disappeared into the Copenhagen summer night.
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Inglourious Basterds 22 December 2009
Section: article
Categories: Film / dvd
What a rare film. Brilliant dialogue.
Like rummaging about in a pirate’s treasure chest full of precious stones. One example: Mike Myers playing a British officer. Another: the wine glasses.
More on the film when I watch it again sometime.
- Title: Inglourious Basterds
- Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
- Writing credits: Quentin Tarantino
- Starring: Bradd Pitt, Mélanie Laurent, Chritoph Waltz, Eli Roth, Michael Fassbender, Diane Kruger, Daniel Brühl, Til Schweiger...
- Year: 2009
- Further details: Length: 153 minutes
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Avatar 20 December 2009
Section: article
Categories: Film / in-a-cinema
Technically this film was beautifully done, of course. The story was not unusual, but was resolved differently from films of its kind in that — well this gives it away a bit, so stop reading if you haven’t seen it yet — the relative “powerlessness” of the victims of the invading force was held in check, wasn’t hammered into us (indigenous peoples historically have more than once beaten back more powerful systems, thinking of Viet Nam of course). And resistance in the story did lead to liberation and did not end demoralizingly in tragedy. I wish the sort of “great white hope” cliche of the former “marine” taking the lead in that liberation had been done differently.
- Title: Avatar
- Directed by: James Cameron
- Writing credits: James Cameron
- Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel Moore...
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Nanook of the North 6 December 2009
Section: article
Categories: Film / dvd
What a remarkable film this is.
I was reading about crtiticisms of the filmmaker, Robert Flaherty, for having staged scenes in the film. The film, in its total impact, plausibly and respectfully provides a powerful sense of the life of the Inuit at that time (early 1920s), which I am certain was a central intention of Flaherty. It laid the groundwork for the idea of documentary filmmaking. A more important inquiry (than criticizing this film) would be into how all documentary filmmaking reflects the subjectivity and outlooks of the filmmakers. The presence of the filmmakers already alters the scenes — whereas consciously staging some situations could serve to strengthen their authenticity, certainly in physical environments such as the arctic where the technical constraints were extreme.
- Title: Nanook of the North
- Directed by: Robert Flaherty
- Writing credits: Robert Flaherty
- Year: 11 June 1922
- Further details: 79 minutes
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Hunger 29 November 2009
Section: article
Categories: Film / dvd
This film was a very pleasant surprise. It was intelligently made and a powerful portrayal of the incarceration and death of the IRA martyr Bobby Gerald Sands, who died of a hunger strike in 1981 while a political prisoner at the British prison, Long Kesh (the Maze).
This adds to the list of films I’ve watched recently on the history of Ireland, for example the remarkable film The Wind that Shakes the Barley, and Fifty Dead Men Walking
The actor who brilliantly played Bobby Sands was Michael Fassbender, who is German-Irish. He was born in Heidelberg to an Irish mother and German father, then raised from the age of two in Ireland. He is related to Michael Collins.
Links
Bobby Sands
Steve McQueen (artist)
Michael Fassbender
Michael Collins (Irish Leader)
- Title: Hunger
- Directed by: Steve McQueen
- Writing credits: Steve McQueen, Enda Walsh
- Starring: Michael Fassbender, Stuart Graham, Rory Mullen
- Year: 2008
- Further details: 96 minutes
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Fifty Dead Men Walking 22 November 2009
Section: article
Categories: Film / dvd
Despite its awkward title, taken from the book, it is a remarkable film on one aspect of the history of (Northern) Ireland. It is a true story about an informer working for the British. The title refers to the 50 people he ostensibly saved from the IRA. Yet one interesting and telling fact that comes to light in the film is that one of the IRA’s most active interrogators and assassins was in fact also working for the British. The lends the concept of agent provocateur a new level of iniquity.
Most of the performers speak a fast and rich Norther Irish, mainly Belfast, dialect.
- Title: Fifty Dead Men Walking
- Directed by: Kari Skogland
- Writing credits: Nicholas Davies, Marin McGartland (book)
- Starring: Ben Kingsley, Jim Sturgess, Kevin Zegers, Natalie Press, Rose McGowan
- Year: 2009 (August)
- Further details: 117 Minutes
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