January 2010

January 28th

Paz says:

Hi guys!
I’m very surprised that nobody until now has written a review about Avatar, although I think most of you have seen the surprising and well-known film in the last few weeks. At last I could see it without queues or crews, which strongly annoy me. Although I had read the reviews and listened to people’s opinion, I mainly went to the cinema because of the 3D vision (I was looking forward to seeing a 3D film) and I really enjoyed it from the beginning to the end.
I got very impressed by James Cameron’s latest film. The plot is very simple, set in the year 2154 in a new planet called Pandora, which was discovered by human beings some years ago and is important for mankind because there is a priceless new mineral, so the biggest companies on earth send workers there to obtain this mineral, scientists to investigate the natives and something similar to an Army to protect all this stuff from the natives, who sometimes attack the miners. The scientists have built some bodies from the natives’ DNA, but they are not alive unless a mind is put inside them by a machine. One of these bodies is occupied by a doctor (Sigourney Weaver) and the other two by a scientist and an old handicapped soldier. They have to interact with the Navies, which is the name of the natives, and eventually they’ll help them defend their territory because they’ll fall in love with the natives’ lifestyle while forgetting the idea of making money at any price, even if they have to devastate the planet to get it and make the indigenous population abandon their homes.
Despite the simplicity of the plot and not having many well-known actors, James Cameron makes you enjoy the three hours the film lasts as you listen to some lovely music and watch beautiful scenes, all mixed with a soft love story hidden in it and a deep message about how our relationship with nature should be. The Canadian filmmaker develops the interconnection amongst living beings.
Thanks to all these ingredients, you’ll leave the cinema with a pleasant sensation and a smile on your face, so I strongly recommend Avatar to all of you that haven’t seen it yet. You’ll have a good time.

Thank you so much Paz. It's good to see that more of you are joining in.
Now, on a more serious note, let's deal with US politics briefly. As you may have heard, last night President Obama delivered his first State of the Union speech against a backdrop of an American public anxious about the economy and health care reform and lawmakers on edge about the midterm elections. It seems Barack's popularity is dropping little by little, as his administration has had had various political setbacks. But Mr President says it his his spirit of determination and optimism that keeps him fighting. In any case his famous campaign motto "Yes, we can" has turned into a more restrained message of hope and resiliance: "We don't quit, I don't quit!"
I've been watching bits and pieces of his address and I've selected for you precisely the end, where he utters the renewed slogan.

24th January

Roberto says:

Hi folks! We all know Hollywood is the main film industry and its films usually achieve a great box-office success. But many film directors think that cinema is not only big business. They try to say or teach something to the audience, no matter how much money the film grosses.

Lars Von Trier is a well-known Danish director, acclaimed around the world. In 1995 he and other colleagues created a new cinema concept, a movement called Dogma.

Dogma films must be shot according to ten rules (or “commandments”) called the “Vow of Chastity” (“Compromiso de Castidad”): filming must be done on location, the camera must be a hand-held camera, ...

Von Trier's filmography includes twelve films (Europa, The Idiots...), but I want to recommend you two of them:

- BREAKING THE WAVES (1996), starring Emily Watson, tells an unusual love story between a young woman and her paraplegic husband.

- DOGVILLE (2003), starring Nicole Kidman, tells the story of a gangster’s daughter hiding from her family who arrives in a small town. Her stay there changes the lives of the community in many ways.

They are probably the most moving films I have ever seen. Only some advice: if you want to have a good time, DON’T WATCH THEM!! Ha ha!

See you on Tuesday, have a nice Sunday!

Thanks a lot, Roberto. This is your debut on our blog, if my memory doesn't fail me, so welcome to the show! Anyway, Can I ask you something? I haven't seen Dogville, and after watching this Youtube trailer I'm embedding I was wondering if you happen to have the DVD ... I mean, the film looks terribly interesting and Nicole (Kidman, that is) is one my favourite actresses.

15th January

Morning folks! You know, I felt like blogging a little bit today, so here we go.

The last thing I posted was a Larry King send-up. Now the real LK talks to American actor Ben Stiller in the wake of the terrible human tragedy in Haiti after the devastating earthquake. Ben, who is a philanthropist himself and had recently launched a campaign to raise money for a school in the Caribbean country, talks about the contrast between the culture, the music and the art of Port-au-Prince and the level of poverty the people in Haiti lived in before the quake happened. He also expresses his concern for some of the people he met there, who may have died after the catastrophe:

Such a human plight, isn't it? Seems like Mother Nature delights in tormenting the poorest ...

Anyway, life goes on so let's talk about merrier things, shall we? Now, you must have seen plenty of British and, above all, American TV series in recent (and some of us not so recent) years, from classics like Twin Peaks and Hill Street Blues to modern hits such as The X-Files and House, MD. Well, The Guardian has asked its TV critics to shortlist the best TV dramas of all time. As the headline goes, the results might just surprise you (or might they?). Whatever, the top 2 spots are taken by two series of major commercial and critical success, but rather distant in time: On the one hand, the long-running The Sopranos, which deals with the life of New Jersey Mafia man Tony Soprano and the ups and downs he faces in order to balance his home life and the criminal organization he leads. And Britain's early 80's instant classic Brideshead Revisited, which only lasted 11 episodes, based on the namesake novel by Evelyn Waugh. It stars one of the finest (and too often underrated) English actors of his generation, a very young Jeremy Irons, whose deep bass voice (remember Scar in The Lion King?) has always fascinated me. BR brilliantly depicts English society from the 1920s well into the 40s through the story of two friends, Charles (Jeremy Irons) and Sebastian (another great British actor, Anthony Andrews). Briefly, the story is told in flashback as Charles, currently an officer in the British Army, is transferred with his company to a country house that he finds out to be Brideshead, Sebastian's family home, where Charles has a series of memories of his youth and young manhood.

So, I searched high and low on YouTube and found a clip of each series to give you a small glimpse of what they're like. As you can see, they're subtitled in English. You can easily appreciate the distinctive British and American accents but also the different language: The Sopranos' often crude jargon contrasts with the polished upper-middle-class style of the cast in BR (and, by the way, a few modal verbs here and there ...)

Do you agree with the critics' choice? Or do you miss any familiar names? Well, voice your opinions here! I nearly forgot: open your mail to read the full Guardian's article. Bye folks!

THE SOPRANOS

BRIDESHEAD REVISITED:

January 7th

Is English a language "de a bulto"? Well, judge by yourselves ...

Now, the real thing ...

5th January

Lourdes says:

Hi folks,

My opinion with regard to the new TV directive in Spain has two aspects: On the one hand, I must confess that I am somewhat skeptical about the financing sources mentioned in the article. So, I fear we are going to pay dearly for state TV in the worst moment of the economic crisis we are suffering. On the other hand, the experience of watching a program without being interrupted several times is fantastic. So much so that the first time I saw a whole movie I could hardly believe it because I used to fall asleep before the end but that time I didn´t miss anything. However, I think it is more important to improve the quality of programs on both private and state channels than to charge citizens with new taxes.

To conclude, from my point of view, it can be possible to enjoy a better TV even if we have to put up with advertising spots, as long as they are shown in a rational way in order to respect the audience.

A wish to share

In my letter to the Three Wise Men , I asked for a new pair of ears to understand English films without subtitles, because I find the task too daunting (a beautiful word!) on most occasions. I hope my wish will come true, because I have behaved very well and I try to every day.

January 2nd

Antonio says:

Yeah, I reckon a strange year 2009 was, will it be possible for us to get over 20th December 2012? (Are you superstitious?). Maybe within 30 years or less, mankind will be “history” but there will be no-one to write it. But stay cool, just take it as a profound endless sleep...

It’s Yuletide (the archaic term for Xmas). I don’t like it very much because it’s cold, years go by, daytime is shorter and the saddest thing, the acid test: when your family sits down at the table and you realize there’s someone who isn’t there, you miss them. Well, it’s my view...

More things: The other day I felt doleful because José Luis will undergo a robbery on his blog, so we should defend it!!! Sorry to tell you off, José Luis, but we’ll do nothing if we trust our destiny by “crossing our fingers”. I think we could defend ourselves regarding the blog. I don’t want to speak about politics but we anarchist trade unionists had a lawsuit against SGAE and WE BEAT THEM. What did we do? Just to fight against them by speaking out against them, sticking posters, painting graffitis on the walls, having demonstrations... etc., and this was done nationwide with the support of many people ...

Enough with this controversial affair. I’d like to attach a song (it’s Christmas and I’m feeling groovy, he, he): in connection with what I’ve just said, our resistance against these vultures (SGAE), I’m obliged to post this magnificent song by Sandra, whose title is very meaningful, “WE’LL BE TOGETHER”. It seems to me I don’t have to explain any further, do I?

- Sandra Lyrics