movie reviews defying the time space continuum

my movie watching is about as weirdly ecclectic as the rest of my life. I get there with a little help from my friends, of course.

Petr and Lucie keep me in old school czech movies, with Kdyby tisíc klarinetů (If a Thousand Clarinets) being one of my new favorites.   (clip here)
Its a black and white Czech film from the 1950s. The basic premise is that all the weapons in Czechoslovakia suddenly turn into musical instruments and an army musical extravaganza ensues.

On the Korean Blockbusters of 2010 front, we have The Man From Nowhere (Korean Title: 아저씨)
(trailer here.)
This movie is sort of a Korean action movie riff on Leon (the professional), but its different enough to be interesting. Some of the villans are truly bizzare characters, and other expected action movie conventions are used in new and inventive ways. I was particularly impressed by the battle scenes becuase the DP uses some really interesting camerawork to amplify the violence of the scenes, which were pretty violent to begin with. Add in some surprisingly solid child acting and explosions with emotional as well as visual impact, and you've got yourselves some worthwhile viewing.


seen anything good lately?

art lessons with Kim Jong Il

Although I forget this fact from time to time, I really do love my job. I enjoy the amount of weirdness it adds to my life.

Today, for example, I taught two lessons on the environment and two on Martin Luther King. During my fourth period free I started in on the box of Korean stuff one of my coworkers nabbed me from the geography office. Today's selection was "Korea Today", an english language publication put out by North Korea in 1990 and truly everything one could hope for in light propaganda.  (yeah, my Czech high school has a secret stash of Korea books. I was surprised too. I believe my exact response was: "omo!") My life is a string of productive absurdities. But to be fair I tend to encourage the weirdness.

Anyway thats how I got to spend part of the day learning the Supreme Leader's thoughts on art.  Apparently, "No matter how importaint a topic writers choose, they will not suceed in their creative work if they do not depict it skillfully in conformity with the Party's policy". There goes my NK art career...

Where do we go from here?

An early Martin Luther King Day present for you folks back in America:

... And I must confess, my friends, that the road ahead will not always be smooth. There will still be rocky places of frustration and meandering points of bewilderment. There will be inevitable setbacks here and there. And there will be those moments when the buoyancy of hope will be transformed into the fatigue of despair. Our dreams will sometimes be shattered and our ethereal hopes blasted. We may again, with tear-drenched eyes, have to stand before the bier of some courageous civil rights worker whose life will be snuffed out by the dastardly acts of bloodthirsty mobs. But difficult and painful as it is, we must walk on in the days ahead with an audacious faith in the future. ...

   -Martin Luther King Jr. "Where Do We Go From Here?" (1967)

And in spite of recent political events and all the campaign promises as yet unfulfilled, I say again; "Yes, we can."

(and, moreover, we must. the alternative is unacceptable. Jut imagining such an impoverished, selfish America breaks my heart.)