Film Review: Ricardo, Miriam y Fidel (1997) by Christian Frei, ****

Synopsis

Like so many thousands of other Cubans, Miriam Martínez means to emigrate to the United States with her family. The daughter of a man who played a crucial part in the victory of the revolution, she finds that this is far from easy, for her as well as for her father Ricardo.

Almost forty years ago Ricardo quit his job as a journalist and left for the Sierra Maestra to join Fidel Castro's rebels. Under the guidance of Ché Guevara he founded Radio Rebelde. Their nighttime broadcasts became the most efficient means of spreading their revolutionary ideas.

Recensione film: Operazione Valchiria (2008) di Bryan Singer, ****

Sinossi

Tratto da una stupefacente storia vera, Operazione Valchiria, è la cronaca del coraggioso e ingegnoso piano per eliminare uno dei più perversi tiranni che il mondo abbia mai conosciuto. Orgoglioso della divisa che indossa, il colonnello Stauffenberg è un ufficiale leale che ama il suo paese, ma che è stato costretto ad assistere con orrore all'ascesa di Hitler e alla Seconda guerra mondiale. Ha continuato a servire nell'esercito, sempre con la speranza che qualcuno trovasse il modo per fermare Hitler prima che l'Europa e la Germania fossero distrutte. Quando si rende conto che il tempo stringe, Stauffenberg decide di entrare in azione e nel 1942 cerca di persuadere i comandanti del fronte orientale a rovesciare Hitler.

Poi, nel 1943, mentre si sta riprendendo dalle ferite subite in combattimento, si unisce a un gruppo di uomini inseriti nei ranghi del potere che cospirano contro il tiranno. La loro strategia prevede di usare lo stesso piano di emergenza di Hitler per consolidare il paese nell'eventualità della sua morte - l'Operazione Valchiria - per assassinare il dittatore e rovesciare il governo nazista. Con il futuro del mondo e il destino di milioni di persone, oltre alla vita della moglie e dei figli, appesi a un filo, Stauffenberg da oppositore di Hitler diventa l'uomo che deve uccidere Hitler.

Film Review: Valkyrie (2008), by Brian Singer, ****

Synopsis
On the front lines in North Africa, German Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise) grows increasingly opposed to Adolf Hitler's policies. Following the Allied invasion of Normandy, von Stauffenberg spearheads an elaborate plan with confederates to smuggle a bomb into the Fuhrer's tightly guarded military headquarters. Based on a true story, this crackling war thriller directed by Bryan Singer ("The Usual Suspects") co-stars Kenneth Branagh, Carice von Houten, and Tom Wilkinson.

Film review: Forrest Gump (1994), by Robert Zemekis, *****

Synopsis

"Stupid is as stupid does," says Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) as he discusses his relative level of intelligence with a stranger while waiting for a bus. Despite his sub-normal IQ, Gump leads a truly charmed life, with a ringside seat for many of the most memorable events of the second half of the 20th century. Entirely without trying, Forrest teaches Elvis Presley to dance, becomes a football star, meets John F. Kennedy, serves with honor in Vietnam, meets Lyndon Johnson, speaks at an anti-war rally at the Washington Monument, hangs out with the Yippies, defeats the Chinese national team in table tennis, meets Richard Nixon, discovers the break-in at the Watergate, opens a profitable shrimping business, becomes an original investor in Apple Computers, and decides to run back and forth across the country for several years. Meanwhile, as the remarkable parade of his life goes by, Forrest never forgets Jenny (Robin Wright Penn), the girl he loved as a boy, who makes her own journey through the turbulence of the 1960s and 1970s that is far more troubled than the path Forrest happens upon. Featured alongside Tom Hanks are Sally Field, Gary Sinise and Mykelti Williamson.


Review

Forrest Gump is a landmark film, touching on many delicate aspects of human life, love and values. "Life is like a box of chocolate: you never know what you are going to get." Oh so true! Fatalistic? Not really, as a strong implication of the movie is that you have to work hard at your life, no matter what you find in your box of chocolates.

It is just a "feel good" movie as many have written? I don't think so, it goes deeper than that. And in fact it did not make me feel good at all. In the end I could not help but feeling angry at Jenny for what she did to Gump. Of course, most of us men have had our "Jenny" in our lives. Mine (now history, thanks God!) even looks like Jenny in the film!

I could not help but smile at discovering that Bubba, the black shrimp fisherman in the movie, inspired a real company that is now very successful!

The Blu-ray disc is very good, containing interesting interviews with Hanks and the director, as well as other "behind the scenes" material, including the making of special effects which were painstaking to produce and quite advanced for the time. The European version on sale on Amazon.co.uk is in English, French, Italian, German and Spanish, with subtitles in these languages plus all the Scandinavian languages.

Film Review: You've Got Mail (1999), by Nora Ephron, ****

Synopsis

The stars (Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan) and director (Nora Ephron) of Sleepless in Seattle reteamed for this charming audience favorite. Greg Kinnear, Parker Posey, Jean Stapleton and more great co-stars add note-perfect support to this cinematic love letter in which superstore book chain magnate Hanks and cozy children’s bookshop owner Ryan are anonymous e-mail cyberpals who fall head-over-laptops in love, unaware they are combative business rivals. You’ve got rare Hollywood magic when You’ve Got Mail.

Sad to hear of Ephron death in June 2012.  



Review

Hanks and Ryan are a perfect match for a deliberately  paced, if somewhat incredible, love story in New York. I found myself smiling thinking back to the dawn of internet chatrooms in the 1990s... I used them myself though of course I grew out of them and have since moved to dedicated forums for my various interests (travel, photography, music...) and dating websites for meeting potential partners. Listening again to the whirring and hissing of narrow-band dial-up connection had a nostalgic effect on me!

A wonderful feel-good story but much more. It is also the story of modern cities, where traditional family businesses are jeopardized by megastores which offer larger selections and lower prices. It is happening all over the world. Megastores in turn are threatened by e-commerce. I don't share the romantic view that it was better in the good old days of small stores, where one was forced to choose from a smaller selection of goods on offer (be it books or anything else) and had to pay higher prices. Old stores, like everybody else,  must adapt to the new world or they will inevitably disappear. Long live Amazon!


European DVD


European Blue-ray



Buy Amazon's instant video of this film:


Blue-Ray

Filw review: The Pacific (2012), by Carl Franklin and David Nutter. ***

recensione in italiano di seguito in questo post

Synopsis

This limited collector's Blu-ray edition includes a bonus 7th disc entitled "Inside the Battle: Peleliu."

The Pacific is an epic 10-part miniseries that delivers a portrait of WWII's Pacific Theatre as seen through the intertwined odysseys of three U.S. Marines - Robert Leckie, John Basilone and Eugene Sledge. The extraordinary experiences of these men and their fellow Marines take them from the first clash with the Japanese in the haunted jungles of Guadalcanal, through the impenetrable rain firests of Cape Gloucester, across the blasted coral strongholds of Peleliu, up the black sand terraces of Iwo Jima, through the killing fields of Okinawa, to the triumphant, yet uneasy, return home after V-J Day. The viewer will be immersed in combat through the intimate perspective of this diverse, relatable group of men pushed to the limit in battle both physically and psychologically against a relentless enemy unlike any encountered before

Inside the Battle: Peleliu: An exclusive look into the battle of Peleliu. Combining exclusive historian and veteran interviews with real footage from the battle of Peleliu, this featurette illustrates the massive undertaking of the battle for Peleliu in the Pacific theater of World War II.

John Basilone

Film review: Taxi Driver (1976) by Martin Scorsese, *****

Synopsis

Paul Schrader's gritty screenplay depicts the ever-deepening alienation of Vietnam Veteran Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro in a tour-de-force performance), a psychotic cab driver who obsessively cruises the mean streets of Manhattan.

This edition has the following extras:
Introduction to DVD - Martin Scorsese - this was recorded in 2006 and lasts about 15 minutes during which Scorsese talks about the influences that created Taxi Driver (Jean Luc Goddard etc).

Introduction to DVD - Paul Schrader
Commentary - Paul Schrader
Commentary Robert Kolker (Author)
Loneliness and Inspiration - Documentary
Cabbie Confessional - Documentary
Producing a Cult Classic
Taxi Driver Locations - Then and Now
Animated Photo Gallery
Storyboard to Film Comparisons
Behind the Scenes Documentary
Theatrical Trailer
Filmographies


Review

A monumental film about human nature, about the aftermath of the Vietnam war, about New York in the seventies. These are the several layers of reading this film lends itself to and they are all worth the viewer's time. For this reason this is a film that must be seen several times to get all it has to offer. It can not be metabolized in one viewing. One of the best films of the seventies.

The BD version is very good, and quite a few extras complete an excellent deal.

Bodyworlds exhibition

Carrying your own skin is possible

Today I have finally visited Bodyworlds, in Rome. An idea of Gunther von Hagen to display plastinated human bodies.

It took me some time. The first couple of attempts I made when the exhibition was in Belgium failed miserably when I was too impatient to stand in line for hours as long lines of waiting viewer snaked around the building where the plastinated bodies were on display.

This time it was easy. Few people and almost empy halls. A perfect afternoon to look at how we are made inside.

Many exhibits, and they change all the time in different cities. Plastinated men and women displayed in many everyday poses and performing normal activities that look altogether different in this context.

Couple mating

Playing cards

Football

Fascinating to find out that the total length of our blood vessels is some 96,000 km, more than twice the earth's circumference at the equator, and almost all of that is capillary veins and arteries which are much thinner than our hair.

As I walk out I am thinking it might me interesting to be plastinated, though I felt a bit queasy at the end, when a plastinated man was encouraging volunteers for his job from a wall board:

"I was like you are now: alive. You will be like I am now: dead."

Strongly recommended, the visit if not necessarily the volunteering. The exhibition tours the world, you will find its calendar here.

Book Review: Triumph of the City, by Edward Glaser, ****

Singapore, 2012

Synopsis

America is an urban nation. More than two thirds of us live on the 3 percent of land that contains our cities. Yet cities get a bad rap: they're dirty, poor, unhealthy, crime ridden, expensive, environmentally unfriendly... Or are they?

As Edward Glaeser proves in this myth-shattering book, cities are actually the healthiest, greenest, and richest (in cultural and economic terms) places to live. New Yorkers, for instance, live longer than other Americans; heart disease and cancer rates are lower in Gotham than in the nation as a whole. More than half of America's income is earned in twenty-two metropolitan areas. And city dwellers use, on average, 40 percent less energy than suburbanites.

Recensione: Sale Nero, di Marco Aime, Stefano Pensotti e Andrea Semplici, ****

Sinossi

Taudenni e Ahmed Ela: due "non luoghi" africani, il primo in Mali il secondo nella Dancalia etiope, sono un chiaro esempio di quelle società "diversamente sviluppate" dove il modello è ancora quello della cultura materiale. Per entrambi è grande l'importanza che continua ad avere il commercio del sale, l'uso dello stesso per gli scambi commerciali è ancora ampiamente diffuso. 

Il libro racconta con testi e fotografie l'ambiente "umano e geografico" che le carovane attraversano: comunità, culture, ambienti naturali. Mette in rilievo le comunità che vivono di questa economia, i rapporti che si intrecciano, le strutture sociali e parentali delle popolazioni, l'esperienza umana. Chi sono questi uomini, quale la loro esperienza?


Recensione

Un libro insolito, il cui il protagonista è una materia prima alimentare, la sola roccia che faccia parte della nostra alimentazione da sempre. Ed è anche merce di scambio in tutte le culture del mondo. L'aspetto economico cruciale del sale è che di solito deve essere trasportato per centinaia o anche migliaia di kilometri dal punto di produzione al consumatore. Il sale, ovviamente, è bianco, ma qui siamo in Africa...

Book Review: Buddhism Without Beliefs, by Stephen Batchelor, ****

Synopsis
The author points out that Buddha was not a mystic and his awakening was not a shattering revelation that revealed the mysteries of God or the universe. What the Buddha taught was not something to believe in, but something to do. Buddha challenged people to understand the nature of anguish, let go of its origins, realize its cessation and create a certain way of life and awakening. This awakening is available to all of us, and Batchelor examines how to work realistically towards it, and how to practise and live it every day.

Review
This book immediately rang a bell with me. I have long felt close to Buddhism, among other reasons, because it does not require believing in any dogma. As someone who has been educated in science, I always felt uneasy with beliefs. I prefer to know, or to accept I don't know. I am an agnostic. This book spells out very clearly how Buddhism traces the path to inner peace without requiring anyone to "believe" in anything.

For example, we have no real answers to metaphysical questions (the origins of the universe and such unanswerable eternal open issues) so Buddha stopped asking them. On the ethical plane, the dharma is the logical conclusions one reaches by reasoning on what is good, not some kind of given commandment. The closest thing I can find in Western philosophy is the categorical imperative of Immanuel Kant, whom I regard as the greatest thinker of Western civilization.


You can find more books by the same author by clicking on this link.

Film Review: The Swimming Pool (1968), by Jacques Deray, ***

Synopsis

Contains the French version and the original English spoken version in FULL HD resolution !!! Classic 60's French drama, the Blu-ray features the full HD version of the originally in English spoken and recorded movie. Starring screen legends Alain Delon (Lost Command, Borsalino, Mr Klein, Swann In Love), Romy Schneider (What's New Pussycat, Ludwig, Deathwatch), Jane Birkin (Blow Up, Death On The Nile, Dust) it's the story of two lovers, Marianne and Jean-Paul who are spending their vacation in a sumptous villa near St.-Tropez. After a visit Marianne invites former lover Harry and his teenage daughter Penelope to stay. With the swimming pool the main centre of action, tensions soon rise and passion turns to deadly violence.


Review

It must have been pretty shocking in the late sixties to see Schneider's naked breasts, but somehow it's not the same 45 years later :) A classic story of possessive love and obsessive lust. The movie makes me sort of detest Alain Delon, a spoiled brat in the story and perhaps in real life? In the disc there is an alternative end to the story, with policemen coming up to ... well I won't spoil it here, but somehow my disc was defective and the alternative end is cut off. There is also a short extra with an interview to the two protagonists just before the shooting of the movie.

What I found most interesting here is the lifestyle of the sixties, the clothing, hairstyle, smoking habits...

Film Review: Midnight in Paris (2010), by Woody Allen, ***

Synopsis

This is a romantic comedy set in Paris about a family that goes there because of business, and two young people who are engaged to be married in the fall have experiences there that change their lives. It's about a young man's great love for a city, Paris, and the illusion people have that a life different from theirs would be much better.

Film Review: Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), by Michael Anderson, ****

Sinopsys
Phileas Fogg bet his fellow club members that he can circle the globe in eighty days. That may not be impressive today, but in 1872, it was nearly impossible. Accompanied by his valet, Passepartout, and the wandering Princess Aouda, Fogg crosses Europe, India, Japan, the Pacific and the United States.

Winner of several Academy Awards, this was written by John Farrow (Mia's dad) and S.J. Perelman, based on Jules Verne's 1873 classic. The fun part is the razzle-dazzle. Todd knew what he was doing with all those exotic locales and over 40 cameo appearances, including Charles Boyer, Ronald Colman, Marlene Dietrich, José Greco, Peter Lorre, Buster Keaton, Frank Sinatra, and Red Skelton. A very young Shirley MacLaine was painted and dyed to play a lively Indian Princess. --Rochelle O'Gorman

Review
Five Oscar winner film from 1956, the only one ever produced by Michael Todd, third husband of Elizabeth Taylor, who died soon afterwrds at 48. Nice box with two DVDs in English and French, with subtitles in Spanish as well. A pleasant panoramic view of the world's cultures, where the real protagonist is Passpartout, while Phileas Fogg embodies English pleghm in front of every and all adversity and unforseen circumstances. Surely some scenes appear rather improbable (in the book and in the film) but we should keep in mind that Verne was writing in the XVIII century and the film was made in the 1950s technology, no CGI here! But the movie flows well and leads the viewer by the hand around the world for a lively and at times even sparkling journey.

Of course, it is highly advisable to read the book as well, Naturalmente è consigliatissimo leggere il libro di Jules Verne. There are several editions available on Amazon if you click here.

Recensione Film: Il Giro del Mondo in 80 Giorni, di Michael Anderson, ****

Sinossi
Dal romanzo di Jules Verne, l'epopea di Phileas Fogg che con il suo maggiordomo per scommessa tenta di fare il giro del mondo in un tempo record. Cast d'eccezione con una cinquantina di grandi star dell'epoca coinvolte con ruoli cameo (Frank Sinatra, Marlene Dietrich, Ava Gardner, Fernandel, Buster Keaton, John Gielgud, Peter Lorre, Gorge Raft, Victor Mclaglen, Ronald Colman).

Recensione
Film del 1956 e ben 5 volte premio Oscar. Curioso che fu l'unico film del produttore Michael Todd, terzo marito di Elizabeth Taylor, che morì poco dopo a solii 48 anni! Bel cofanetto con due DVD in italiano ed inglese originale, con sottotitoli a scelta in entrambe le lingue (ma non in altre lingue come riportato su Amazon). Una carrellata della culture del mondo, dove il vero protagonista è il fedele assistente Passpartout, mentre Phileas Fogg incarna la flemmaticità inglese davanti ad ogni avversità ed imprevisto. Certo alcune messe in scena appaiono oggi come alquanto improbabili (nel libro e qui riportate pari pari) ma ricordiamo che Verne scriveva a metà ottocento! Comunque il film scorre bene, e fa vivere, con la fantasia, un bel viaggio!

Naturalmente è consigliatissimo leggere il libro di Jules Verne. Ce ne sono varie edizioni disponibili su Amazon cliccando qui.

Il cofanetto contiene anche numerosi extra sulla realizzazione del film.