Primer

Working down the list of movies to see, I can across “Primer“. Again, I don’t remember the reason I added it to the list, but I can think of a couple…

Directed by: Shane Carruth
Genres: Drama, Thriller, Sci-Fi
Cast: Shane Carruth, David Sullivan, Casey Gooden, Anand Upadhyaya, Carrie Crawford, Jay Butler, John Carruth, Juan Tapia, Ashley Warren, Samantha Thomson, Chip Carruth, Delaney Price, Jack Pyland, Keith Bradshaw, Ashok Upadhyaya
IMDB raintg: 6.6
My rating: 6.5 [rate 6.5]

There is something magical about $7,000 USD. I guess this is exactly how much money you need to have to make a good movie. Robert Rodriguez proved it some time ago with his “El Mariachi”. Shane Carruth proved it very recently with “Primer”. And although the films are completely different and very separated by the genre, there is something that unites them. The feeling of hard work and fun in the process.

“Primer” is another good take at time travelling. But instead of fancy and expensive visual effects it goes for the phylosophy of the issue. Everyone knows that time travelling is a very confusing, dramatic and plain dangerous activity. But movies usually avoid the confusing and dramatic parts to make more room for dangerous stuff that is easier shown with computer graphics. “Primer”, while being a very low budget film, concentrates more on the confusing part. And in does the job so good that the film itself becomes pretty confusing. It is very difficult to follow it sometimes.

And although it gets a bit too slow in several scenes, I really enjoyed the film. For once there is a movie that makes you think and figure out things instead of providing cheap popcorn entertainment. I’m glad I saw this one.

Standing upright

Standing upright

Once again I will allow myself the amazement about the speed with which Maxim is learning. It seemed that only about a week ago he was trying to make an attempt at standing and it was taking his complete concentration. All his muscles were working and he was breathing heavily after a mere twenty seconds of trying. Today though he looks like he was born standing. He can get himself up from a sitting position in under two seconds. He falls rarely. He turns around while standing. He uses only one hand to hold himself. He can stand on one foot while waving another in kicking things all around him. He can stand for 10-15 minutes at a time. Sometimes he even can sit down by himself. And than get up again. What can I say? I wish I could learn at least at one tenth of his speed.

Album location: /photos/2005/2005-09-29_POTD

The Man

The Man (2005)I’m not even sure I picked “The Man” up because of Samuel Jackson starring in it. Most probably it was just a random choice.

Directed by: Les Mayfield
Genres: Action, Comedy, Crime
Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Eugene Levy, Luke Goss, Miguel Ferrer, Susie Essman, Anthony Mackie, Gigi Rice, Rachael Crawford, Philip Akin, Christopher Murray, Joel S. Keller, John Hemphill, Kathryn Greenwood, Carrie Cain-Sparks, George Ghali
IMDB raintg: 4.9
My rating: 2.0 [rate 2.0]
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Stage Beauty

Stage Beauty (2004)Stage Beauty” was an item on my list of movies to see. But I can’t remember the reason it got there. Nor can I think of one.

Directed by: Richard Eyre
Genres: Drama
Cast: Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Rupert Everett, Tom Wilkinson, Zoe Tapper, Richard Griffiths, Ben Chaplin, Hugh Bonneville, Edward Fox, Derek Hutchinson, Mark Letheren, Jack Kempton, Alice Eve, Fenella Woolgar, David Westhead
IMDB raintg: 7.3
My rating: 6.0 [rate 6.0]

Continue reading Stage Beauty