Sam’s Place

The Legend of Rita (Germany, 2001)

Sam: ***

• A (weirdly) sympathetic depiction of Baader Meinhof-style political criminals.

Emma: ****

• Based on actual events, so historically interesting. Good acting & direction, too.

All The President’s Men (1976)

Emma: *****

• Holds up over time — great cinematography. Robert Redford & Dustin Hoffman have good chemistry. The Republicans are still doing the same things today, so it’s still pertinent. It’s also interesting to see all the legwork necessary to do research pre-computers.

Sam: ****

• This is one of those good “seventies” movies — from before Jaws & Star Wars tipped the industry toward blockbusters.

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Knocked Up (2007)

Emma: ****

• A surprisingly realistic depiction of pregnancy issues. Paul Rudd is funny — I particularly liked the scene with the different-sized chairs in the hotel room.

Sam: ****

• Paul Rudd is 13 years older than Seth Rogen, but you wouldn’t know it to look at them.

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Stranger than Fiction (2006)

Sam: ****

• Narration in movies almost never works but this one has an unusual twist. Subtract a star if you can’t stand Hollywood mysticism.

Emma: ***

• I had high hopes for this movie but it plodded along without generating much dramatic tension. Not much chemistry between Will Ferrell & Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Breach (2007) 

Sam: ***

• Robert Hanssen was a high-ranking FBI officer & spy for the Russians for over a decade. Apparently, Hanssen wasn’t caught until some Russian, or Russians (or “the Russians”?), outed him — just before his scheduled retirement. Would have been better as a comedy.

Emma: ****

• Good but a little slow.

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Made in Sheffield (2005)

Sam: ***

• A low-budget doc about the postpunk era in Seffield, UK. If you loved Rip It Up & Start Again you might like this.

Emma: ***

• An interesting topic but the presentation is a little flat.

I commented on Annalee Newitz’s “Stop Getting Things Done.” An example of an intelligent person (AN) using “folk economics,” as far as I can tell. If AN does understand comparative advantage & still doesn’t want to outsource/offshore her life she should explain why — that would make for a more interesting column.

I had a little debate w/ David Shenk about his interpretation of an experiment described here: “Beyond IQ,” by Christie Nicholson. IMO, this is an example of how biases color interpretation.

I removed DS’s Genius Blog from the Progress Daily Blogroll today, not because I don’t like it — I do — but because he hasn’t blogged in over a month.

Kitchen Confidential (2005)

Emma: ****

• Good cast, & surprisingly funnier — funnier than a lot of things I’ve seen on TV. A shame it was canceled after just one season.

Sam: ****

• No laugh track — yes! With BtVS’s Nicholas Brendon.

Venus (2006)

Sam: **

• Jodie Whittaker is kind-of funny at first but otherwise it’s slow & creepy.

Emma: **

• Peter O’Toole is creepy & this movie is slow. Who needs to watch a movie like that?

Anna: **

• Like the gay cowboy movie — Bareback Mountain? — this tried to be artsy by being different but if it had moved any slower it would have been going backwards.

Kinky Boots (2005)

Sam: ***

• An old conservative men’s shoes company tries to boost sales by switching to kinky boots. Based on a true story, but very loosely (as per usual), I’d guess. And that’s about the extent of the plot.

Emma: ****

• I had low expectations but was surprised. Chiwetel Ejiofor was very good, as he was in Dirty Pretty Things. Also, good choice of music.

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Paris, Je T’aime (2007)

Sam: ***

• A bunch of short films about love, each set in a different Paris neighborhood. It’s hard to get emotionally involved when the movie keeps changing. And a lot of these are just so-so.

Emma: **

• Boring. And very long. And the stories were a bit depressing.