Here is some excellent food photography (found via Goblin). Click on the image above for more photos.
Year: 2008
Syriana
I rented “Syriana” when I saw George Clooney and Matt Damon on the cover. Not that they are a guarantee of a good film, but they are a pretty good sign of one. And indeed they both did a nice job in this film, however it wasn’t enough for me.
This time though, my criticism (critinism?) is not of the film itself, but of that particular DVD that I rented. It didn’t have English sub-titles (although I don’t know if it didn’t have them originally, or if this DVD was a pirated copy). Half of the movie takes place in Middle East and there is a lot of non-English talk happening.  I couldn’t make much sense out of it, except for the general dramatic mood and some people over there not being very happy with some people over here and vice versa.
Other than that, the film looked to be very nice – it has a certain mood, there is some good photography, and there is also a lot of human appreciation, which is something I like seeing in the movies. That is when people appreciate other people for just being people. There aren’t enough films out there promoting appreciation. It was nice to see this one did.
I’d rate it as a 6 out of 10, with reserving a lot of space on either end of this rating due to not understanding half of what was said.
Used Cars
There are a few sure receipts to make a nice movie. One of them is mix lots of cars with some boobs and a cool guy. Of course, there are some film makers who will still be able to screw it up, but Robert Zemeckis is definitely one of them. I just watched “Used Cars“, the movie he directed back in 1980, with Kurt Russel playing the main role, and this movie is still as good as it was back then. That’s a sign of good entertainment!
6 out of 10.
Planet Terror
Today I watched an excellent movie “Planet Terror“.  It’s packed with action, zombies, quotes, comedy, and romance. It has lots of special effects, great photography, and music. If you ever watched more than three zombie movies which were released in late 1980s or early 1990s, you’ll love this film.
It is Robert Rodriguez’ re-incarnation of “Army of Darkness” in the perspective of bio-chemical accident with military personell involvement and a taste of Desperado. That’s the best description I can come up with. But really, you should better see this one.
7 out of 10.
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
I think that Sacha Baron Cohen is one of the most talented people in today’s comedy. I’ve seen and appreciated much of his work. If you aren’t too familiar with it, among other things, he is mostly famous for creating three characters which appear on a number of shows and television programs – Borat, Ali G, and Bruno. Each one of those characters is very different from the others, and all three are very different from Sacha Baron Cohen himself.  My favorite one is Ali G, which I mentioned a few times on this blog. Other ones are funny too, but they don’t get me laughing as hard as Ali G.
One of these characters was taken as far as a full featured movie – “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan“. I was trying a bit to avoid watching this film, because, although as funny as the character is, I thought it would be a bit too much. After listening to a few friends of mine, who strongly recommended the movie (and referred and quoted it way too often), I decided to finally rent and watch it.
I’m glad I did. It was indeed much more than I expected out of it. Borat is a character who does a lot of exploration in cultural differences and stereotypes. In this movie there was as much space for those explorations as one could get. And he utilized it all. It was unbelievable at times. Sometimes Borat goes so far that it is impossible to believe that scenes weren’t done in the studio with hired actors. After reading a bit about the movie after watching it, and after seeing a few interviews at YouTube, it seems that those scenes indeed took place as part of Borat’s life and not as staged movie scenes. All I can say for that is – WOW!
I strongly recommend this film, if you aren’t easily upset by all sorts of humor (including toilet jokes, discrimination, sexual themes, slavery and human rights, etc).
Strong 7 out of 10 with extra points for bravery and hard work and sensitive areas.