What makes Nightcrawler a Great Film?

As we know, in the US, a company can now be regarded as “a person”, in terms of being afforded the same essential rights as its citizens. To my mind, the main character in Nightcrawler is the anthropomorphic incarnation of this Company-as-Person.

Louis Bloom is single-minded in his quest to progress. He plays by the rules, but is not opposed to bending and even breaking them when the alternative is failure.

He speaks quickly and with purpose, always pitching. He lives, breathes, sleeps with the one-track purpose of building bigger/ better/ more-Efficiency/ more Power. He is a shark that never stops.

He treats people courteously (over-zealously, even) when he is trying to win them over, dispassionately explaining the advantages and disadvantages of coming on-board with him and expects the same dispassionate, logical consideration from others.

Continue reading What makes Nightcrawler a Great Film?

Is our new AI Genius or Cuckoo?

I decided to try Bard recently (Google’s answer to Chat GPT). Later I tried the same with Chat GPT.
These conversations below. Not only are they clearly wrong (a number of times) for this easily-verifiable question, they can’t even admit it in full later. (“S” is me, lest there be any confusion)


BARD

 I’m trying to think of an actor who was in Amadeus and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

There is no actor who appeared in both Amadeus and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

Amadeus is a 1984 historical drama film about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, directed by Miloš Forman. It stars Tom Hulce as Mozart and F. Murray Abraham as his rival Antonio Salieri.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a 1975 American psychological comedy-drama film directed by Miloš Forman. It tells the story of Randle Patrick McMurphy (Jack Nicholson), a new patient at a mental institution who rebels against the head nurse, Mildred Ratched (Louise Fletcher).

The two films were both nominated for multiple Academy Awards, with Amadeus winning eight and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest winning five. However, no actor appeared in both films.

You are wrong

I apologize for the mistake. You are correct, there is an actor who appeared in both Amadeus and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. That actor is Danny DeVito. He played Martini in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and the Emperor Joseph II in Amadeus.

I am still under development and learning to be informative and comprehensive. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Danny devito did not play the emporer

You are correct. Danny DeVito did not play the Emperor Joseph II in Amadeus. He played the role of Martini in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. I apologize for the mistake. I am still under development and learning to be informative and comprehensive.

The actor who played the Emperor Joseph II in Amadeus is Jeffrey Jones.

Continue reading Is our new AI Genius or Cuckoo?

Inception -what is it all about really?

(posted similar some time ago, but here’s the cut-down version)

Marion Cotillard’s character in Inception insists Leonardo is in a dream and seeks to prove it, constantly questioning his reality, calling on him to “wake up”.

Inception-movie-poster

When they enter dreams, the “kicker” that’s used to pull people from their dreams is Je Ne Regret Rien, by Edith Piaf -as played by Marion Cotillard in La Vie En Rose just before making Inception. Why else would this (of all songs) be the chosen song? It’s layers within layers, etc. and the last one is outside the movie, where Cotillard is singing to Leonardo/ the audience, calling for a wake up. The soundtrack itself, with the blaring trumpets is from Je Ne Regret Rien, slowed down “a lot” -because time slows the deeper you go in dreams.

Continue reading Inception -what is it all about really?

More Religion in Schools Now!

I believe there is not enough religion in National Schools.

In fact isn’t it ridiculous that primary schools in Ireland are for the most part limited to just one? Rather than abolishing all religions wouldn’t it be great if kids were taught about all religions -or at least the bigger ones: Catholic, Protestant, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Buddism -I’m sure there are other biggies slipping my mind at the moment.

Also included should be Atheism for an all-round healthy debate on which one (or none) a child might prefer. I would strongly argue also for the inclusion of ancient beliefs such as Greek, Norse, Egyptian deities.

There are many fine stories if nothing else in all of these religions and there is certainly something to be learnt by everyone from each.

Nobody could have a cause for complaint on this surely, since of course (given a choice) all kids would obviously gravitate towards “The One True Religion”.

So, whichever one that is for you, you can be happy you have nothing to fear by allowing your child learn what those false/ less-true ones are all about.

Kicking religion out of schools entirely only encourages sectarianism and fanatacism as various groups huddle together in each corner shouting for their voice to be heard.

By all means feel free to have Sunday schools, temple meet-ups, whatever-you’re-having-yourself too, but why should national schools exclude so many other belief systems?

Contact your local and national representatives TODAY and let them know you no longer wish your child to grow up ignorant of the world’s belief systems.

If nothing else it would give kids an insight into what the big boys and girls are fighting about all the time.

 

 

 

Foxcatcher -a review -no spoilers!

I went to see Foxcatcher earlier without knowing anything about it beforehand, other than it had Steve Carrell in a “serious role” and it was something to do with wrestling (the olympic kind, not like the WWF).

<Here’s an image of an open field for a couple of seconds>

I can’t say I was bored. I spent around two hours watching, thinking “if this ends well it could be an excellent film”, but really I hadn’t a clue what it was about even as I was watching -which kind of kept it interesting throughout.

<Here’s a closeup of the back of someone’s head. Study it for 10 seconds>

Steve Carrell is almost unrecognisable, under a prosthetic nose. The only way you would know it was him in fact is by the voice and also he looks almost exactly like the “Gru” character he plays in Despicable Me.

<now see this long-shot of some men quietly running and training in a gymnasium>

If you knew what this film was about beforehand you might well be driven mad because boy does it take a long time to get to the point.

<here’s a shot of passing cars in a rural-setting>

Most characters barely talk and there’s little clue as to what they are thinking.

<insert horses here>

There’s the odd piano-tinkle to emphasise the dramatic moments, but mostly it’s silent -or would have been if it wasn’t for the howling wind outside The Gate cinema, Midleton, Cork. In fact I wasn’t sure for 2 hours if the wind was a sound effect or an added bonus -better than 3D!

So what did I really think? …There’s a complicated set of relationships at play here. The film does a good job of “showing not telling”, which is always a sign of class in my opinion. The problem is, by the end <more shots of barely-anything-onscreen go here> I didn’t really feel like I had witnessed anything worthwhile -or at least anything that I felt warranted a whole film.

I saw Birdman last week. In that, people didn’t shut up talking and talking and shouting and talking and expressing aloud their inner souls. In Foxcatcher nobody says nuffin and then something almost inexpicable happens and then it’s over. Add some mundane shots and overlong scenes where everyone forgot the camera was still rolling and you have an almost-certain Oscar contender!

…Watching it like as if it’s a “Whodunnit”, but instead a “WhatsHappenin?” I found it did hold my interest throughout <here are some olympic athletes jogging through a woodland. Silently. In sunshine>, but overall it’s not a film I could recommend to anyone and I can’t see myself watching it again.

A little bit too “worthy” for my liking, although it’s certainly very competently made.

 

SPOILER ZONE BELOW

(highlight the text between the dots if you’d like to read further -it’s not really a spoiler as such, but some more info is given here on the Foxcatcher plot itself).

I guess the point of the film is it says something about loneliness and massive wealth -and how massive wealth and power can be its own corruption.

Ultimately though, if there wasn’t a murder in there somewhere there would be no movie. That in itself is not a good enough reason to make or see a movie in my opinion.