Category: movies

Credit Card Bill of Rights passes

On By Rick McIn economics, moviesLeave a comment

Is there a credit card debt problem?

To find out, click PLAY or watch the trailer to Maxed Out on YouTube.

… The main premises of the documentary and book are that banks and other creditors deliberately market to people who are more likely to have problems paying predatory lending and that the creditors benefit from connections to government, the debt collection industry, and from lawmaker apathy. …

New legislation in the USA, the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights, just passed overwhelmingly.

From what I can see, it looks like rules in the States will be tightened. That’s a good thing.

People hopefully will be better protected from their own stupidity.

I can look down the stupid (at the moment) because I have no credit card debt. Certainly I have been stupid in the past. Once having over double the average credit card debt of Americans today.

credit_card_debt
graphic source

The banks have between 9-12 months to adjust to the new regulations.

A NY Times blog notes that the banks are ratcheting up fees and interest before the Fed’s rules kick in.

Best advice. Pay off your credit card debt.

Earth – the movie

On By Rick McIn movies, product endorsementsLeave a comment

The Walt Disney Studios will celebrate Earth Day 2009 (April 22nd) with the debut of “Earth,” the first feature-length nature documentary from its new production banner, Disneynature. …

Follows the epic migratory journeys of four animal families as well as the earth’s journey around the sun and the massive influence it has on all life on the planet, from the Arctic spring to the Antarctic winter.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I’m really looking forward to getting outdoors more this summer. … It’s SNOWING now in Calgary.

just finished the Twilight series

On By Rick McIn books, movies, product endorsements2 Comments

All 4 published books are good. It kept me going right to the end. (I’d like to know what happens next to the Cullen clan.)

The writing is not Nobel Prize worthy, but the plot is engaging.

I’m looking forward to the next movie. Rumour is Dakota Fanning will play super vampire Jane.

Book 1
Book 1

Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)

Twilight is a series of four vampire-based fantasy/romance novels by the American author Stephenie Meyer. It follows the adventures of Isabella “Bella” Swan, a teenager who moves to Forks, Washington, and finds her life turned upside-down when she falls in love with a vampire named Edward Cullen. …

Wikipedia

I immediately started the next Harry Potter book in audio. It’s titled Harry Potter and the Gob of Deathly Phoenix Blood … something like that.

The Wrestler (2008 film)

On By Rick McIn movies, product endorsementsLeave a comment

I downloaded The Wrestler, a Golden Globe Award-winning film directed by Darren Aronofsky.

Highly recommended.

Click PLAY or watch the trailer on YouTube.

Mickey Rourke is a strong candidate for Best Actor at the Oscars. He is deserving, perfect in this memorable role. (Thank God the original actor chosen — Nicolas Cage — stepped away from the project for Rourke.)

Marisa Tomei I’ve never liked. But she’s excellent in this film.

Both actors are completely believable in a study of the psychology of getting old. And coming to terms with the end of your career.

We’re all getting older.

Twilight – vampire craze

On By Rick McIn books, movies, music, product endorsements2 Comments

Buffy might have been a fad. But the new TV series True Blood seems to be a hit. (I saw episode #1. It was OK.)

And the staggering success of the Twilight novel series by Stephenie Meyer makes me believe this is a real “craze”. There’s almost a blood lust for these books.

Twilight is a series of four vampire-based fantasy/romance novels by the American author Stephenie Meyer. It follows the adventures of Isabella “Bella” Swan, a teenager who moves to Forks, Washington, and finds her life turned upside-down when she falls in love with a vampire named Edward Cullen. …

The Twilight series is popular among young adults, having sold 20 million copies in the United States and over 5 million further copies worldwide.

Wikipedia

Disclosure. Even I’ve read book 1. And quite enjoyed it. (These are the first and last Romance novels of my life.)

Book 1
Book 1

Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)

The author said she based book 1 Twilight on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. That’s a bit of stretch.

She posted a musical playlist to accompany book 1. Cool. It’s somewhat similar to the movie soundtrack which has already sold over a million copies.

Click PLAY or watch the Twilight Movie trailer on YouTube.

The film scores an overall approval rating of 50% on Rotten Tomatoes. Not good.

Actually, I thought it was quite good. Well cast. But some of the changes made to the book were unnecessary. Better would have been to stay more true to the details of the original.

I’m planning to read Book 2 in the series next. Leave a comment if you have an opinion on the vampire craze.

best picture – Slumdog Millionaire

On By Rick McIn movies, travel, travel IndiaLeave a comment

Of all movie recommendations for 2008, the first I downloaded was Slumdog Millionaire.

From Danny Boyle, director of Trainspotting …, comes the story of Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is about to experience the biggest day of his life. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India’s “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?”

Click PLAY or watch the trailer on YouTube.

Actually, I don’t think the trailer does the film justice.

The movie does remind me of Trainspotting, Boyle using “edgy, upfront” music.

The cinematography is mostly fantastic capturing the chaos, horror, laughter and vibrancy of modern Bombay effectively. In many ways it reminds me of my favourite book, Shantaram. (The film adaptation starring Johnny Depp has been delayed, by the way.)

Bottom line, you should rent Slumdog Millionaire.

It’s an entertaining and heartwarming love story on one level. And a complex film aficionado’s triumph on another.

Roger Ebert best films of 2008

On By Rick McIn movies1 Comment

He’s always been my favourite critic. Likely I will enjoy all of these though I’ve seen only two to date.

Ballast
The Band’s Visit
Che
Chop Shop
seen it … The Dark Knight
Doubt
The Fall
Frost/Nixon
Frozen River
Happy-Go-Lucky
seen it … Iron Man
Milk
Rachel Getting Married
The Reader
Revolutionary Road
Shotgun Stories
Slumdog Millionaire
Synecdoche, New York
W.
Wall-E

Every year I name a winner of my Special Jury Prize, so named in honor of the “alternative first prize” given by juries at many festivals. This year (roll of the drums) the honored film is:

“My Winnipeg” Guy Maddin’s latest dispatch from inside his imagination is a “history” of his home town, which becomes a mixture of the very slightly plausible, the convincing but unlikely, the fantastical, the fevered, the absurd, the preposterous, and the nostalgic.

Click PLAY or watch the My Winnipeg trailer on YouTube.

Five documentaries in equal first place:

“Encounters at the End of the World”
“I.O.U.S.A.”
“Man on Wire”
“Standard Operating Procedure”
“Trouble the Water”

The best films of 2008… and there were a lot of them

Thanks OJ

On By Rick McIn moviesLeave a comment

Most people thought OJ Simpson was guilty first time around.

Perhaps prison will be a safe haven from his regular idiotic life. Celebrity does tend to ruin a person.

stantis

I understood why many in the Afro-American community celebrated OJ’s first release. Black celebrities like Hurricane Rubin Carter had been unfairly treated in the past. Carter was released after being wrongfully imprisoned for almost 20 years, the judge saying his original trial was “based on racism rather than reason and concealment rather than disclosure.”

The Hurricane [HD DVD] – Denzel Washington

movies and TV on Hulu.com

On By Rick McIn movies, product endorsements, TV1 Comment

The best free and legal site for movies and TV shows is Hulu.com, a joint venture of NBC Universal and Fox (News Corp). Yes, the same companies hounding people for illegal file sharing.

They are trying Hulu as one way to move to the digital future.

In the USA, Hulu works very well. But outside the States, you need something on your computer that cloaks your actual location. I use Hotspot Shield.

It works perfectly.

Hulu.com has a small but growing play list. (Including the Daily Show.)

dead at 66 – Michael Crichton

On By Rick McIn books, movies, product endorsementsLeave a comment

Rest in peace.

Crichton died unexpectedly Tuesday “after a courageous and private battle against cancer,” the release said. …

Crichton, a medical doctor, was attracted to cautionary science tales.

“Jurassic Park” — perhaps his best-known work — concerned capturing the DNA of dinosaurs and bringing them to life on a modern island, where they soon run amok; “The Andromeda Strain,” his first major fiction success, involves an alien microorganism that’s studied in a special military compound after causing death in a nearby community.

Crichton also invited controversy with some of his scientific views. He was an avowed skeptic of global climate change, giving lectures warning against “consensus science.”

…

Though most of Crichton’s books were major best-sellers involving science, he could ruffle feathers when he took on social issues. “Rising Sun” (1992) came out during a time when Americans feared Japanese ascendance, particularly when it came to technology. “Disclosure” (1994) was about a sexual harassment case. ..

Crichton was married five times and had one child.

CNN

I read most of his books and admired his craft. He was a doom and gloom pessimist, though, always finding the global catastrophe in every new technology.

It’s hard to choose a favourite book or movie.

Perhaps Westworld had more effect on me than any other.

Westworld

Westworld

He did not live to see extinct animals brought back to life by cloning … as in Jurassic Park.