Movie Junction

Consider the following two scenarios: What would be Tony Soprano’s reaction if he learned that he was born to a Black mother? Or how would Adolf Hitler have responded upon discovering that his mother was Jewish? I pick on these two personalities because their prejudice and scornful attitude toward Blacks and Jews are well known. While the main protagonist in “The Infidel” (2010) is not a celebrated fictional character nor a major military figure, nonetheless his ethnicity reversal does represent a plausible situation that can befall any ordinary human being. Rather than create an emotional drama surrounding the ethnic identity dilemma, director Josh Appignanesi concocts an effective, raunch-less comedy that is thoroughly enjoyable, yet devoid of conventional stereotypes evident in recent comedies coming out of Hollywood . Enter Mahmud (Omid Djalili), who is a devout Muslim, a loving husband to Saamiya (Archie Panjabi), and a devoted father, with a buddy-type relationship with his son...

“Most people are afraid to die, but you are afraid to live.”  --Brenda Over the years, “Highlander” (1986) has been elevated to cult status, which I could never fully understand. The influence of the original “Highlander” movie has been so remarkable that there are now six “Highlander” movies. In between the “Highlander” sequels, a TV series chronicling the life of “Highlander” also premiered that spawned six more full seasons. Of course, the “Highlander” saga does not end here. We also have animation artists adding their own flavor to the “Highlander” saga in the form of an animated series called “Highlander: The Complete Animated Series,” and an anime movie, “Highlander: The Search for Vengeance.” After all, how many times do you want to narrate the same tale of “Highlander”? “Highlander” is the story of an immortal soul, Connor MacLeod / Russell Nash (Christopher Lambert), who has lived through the medieval period and is now living in present time, set in 1985. Through fl...

Even before Facebook and MySpace developed into social and cultural phenomenons--Microsoft’s MSN, mIRC, YahooChat, and Hotmail back in the late 90’s and the early 2000’s, through various tools and services, offered an outlet for social communication and networking. That was the Web 1.0 era. What we have now is the buildup of the chat room revolution with more complex and integrated Web sites that are harnessing Web users scattered around the world. The revolutionized Web world has been upgraded to Web 2.0, with blogs, free content, chat rooms, social sites, and personalization forming the foundation of the new-generation Web. But whether the platform of interaction is Web 1.0 or Web 2.0, the Web has made it possible for anyone to reach out to a wider community in the social domain, even if it means interacting with strangers. What’s more, it is very easy to remain anonymous in the Web world--just create an ID and you are set to interact. Many chat rooms around the world act as hub...

Wes Anderson was only twenty-seven years old when he wrote and directed “Bottle Rocket” (1996). What followed was a stream of movies created by a mature thinker and filmmaker, who attained critical success early on in his filmmaking career. Even though “Bottle Rocket” and his sophomore effort “Rushmore” (1998) failed at the box office, studios still persisted with him. Teaming up with Owen Wilson writing the screenplay (as he as done in the last two movies), Anderson’s third movie, “The Royal Tenenbaums” (2001), was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Screenplay category while also tasting a moderate box-office success. However, in terms of the budget and the revenue generated at the box office, “The Darjeeling Limited” is Anderson’s most successful film. Some have called Anderson an auteur; he is closely involved in all the facets of filmmaking:  writing, directing, cinematography, aesthetics, and he carries his trademark personal vision in his films, which some critics have d...

Hollywood over the years has found a niche for creating movies around young film stars (of an age less than eighteen years). Judy Garland’s performance in “The Wizard of Oz” (1939), Haly Joel Osment in “The Sixth Sense” (1999), Natalie Portman’s character in “Leon: The Professional” (1994), Linda Blair’s depiction of a possessed child in “The Exorcist” (1973) to more recently, Gabourey Sidibe’s performance as an emotionally tormented child in “Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire” (2009).  These performances by young stars rank as some of the best in a generation. More so, these performances also have one common element: entire movies are focused on its young stars and they carry the movies really well, which in itself is a real challenge. Debra Granik’s “Winter’s Bone” (2010) rightly belongs in this category, with Jennifer Lawrence’s riveting performance.  Based on a book by Daniel Woodrell, “Winter’s Bone” became a darling at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, wh...

On a recent trip to Ireland , I visited a gallery in the famous Trinity College in Dublin that houses a collection of spectacular manuscripts created in Ireland and North Britain during the seventh and tenth centuries called “The Book of Kells.” Inside the gallery, the book is displayed as a four-part volume, with copies of important pages exhibited behind glass decor. Little did I know that there exists an animated movie, “The Secret of Kells” (2009), created and directed by an emerging director, Tomm Moore, with the joint collaboration of the French, Belgium, and Irish film industries. The film is based on Kell’s mythology, its legendary characters, and the origin of manuscripts in a region around Kells. This is Moore ’s debut film, and apart from Moore being a film director, he is also a very talented drawing artist, running his own animation studio, “Cartoon Saloon.” The film is famous for getting a 2010 Oscar nomination in the Best Animation Film category, sprinting ahead ...

In terms of sheer magnitude, which one will have a more lasting effect on mankind: an apocalyptic world seen in Emmerich’s “2012” and “The Day After Tomorrow” or a financial crisis meltdown wiping out almost $ 8 trillion in wealth from the market?   One can speculate what would have happened if the Federal Reserve didn’t bail out the too-big-to-fail banks. Nonetheless, even with the bailout, the recent financial crisis has brought the economy to its knees, caused the worst economic downturn in decades, and left consumers and companies struggling. Even now, both consumers and companies are not back to their old spending ways. Furthermore, the real estate market plummeted to the lowest level seen in generations. The aftermath of the current crisis is nothing but apocalyptic in nature, in which everyone in some way is surrounded by the shambles left by the irreparable crisis. So, what could have caused this? Are humans responsible for this? Is it greed at play? Or is it uncontrol...