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Posts tagged ‘movies’

May 18

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The Marketing of Madness

In case you needed anymore reason to loathe the prevalence of human corruption I encourage you to watch the trailer for The Marketing of Madness. It’s a Scientologist’s dream come true.

The Marketing Of Madness details how the “psychiatric drug industry was born and its powerful and profitable partnership with the drug industry, which has turned psychiatry into an $80 billion drug profit center.”

I refuse to take drugs even for my migraines, and won’t touch antibiotics unless I have no other choice but death. Anyway, I remember many of my friends who were easily prescribed psychiatric drugs for mild depression back in university, and thinking to myself, “It’s okay to be depressed sometimes, you’ll get over it.”

As more and more research is being put into how it operates, I believe that one day psychiatry will be completely debunked as a made up science, which it is.

Go ahead, watch the trailer. You can also stream the movie online.

May 13

2 Comments

Movie of the week: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf

Made in 1966, the film version of the play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf is so visceral, so raw that it leaves an emotional wallop that stays with viewers for days after.

I watched this movie for the first time a couple of years ago while at the cottage. It marks Mike Nichols first foray in film, and examines the breakdown of the marriage of a middle-aged couple. Elizabeth Taylor stars as Martha, the domineering, emasculating wife to George, played by real life husband Richard Burton. After a university faculty party, they receive an unwitting younger couple, Nick and Honey, as guests. It’s late, and it will only get later as the evening suddenly degrades to reveal the bitter, frustrated relationship of the two leads.

The performances are unlike anything I have ever seen, and will likely see again. The choice to cast Elizabeth Taylor to play the frumpy, 50ish Martha surprised many people, but the actress gained 30 pounds for the role and her performance was universally praised. At the time, Taylor was regarded as one of the most beautiful women in the world, so it was a brave career move of hers to play below this standard.

I couldn’t recommend this film more, but I warn you, it takes a lot out of you, and near the end, tissues are necessary.

Cheers.

May 11

4 Comments

A great scene from the movie Young Adult

If you haven’t seen the movie Young Adult you’re missing out. It’s a great story, and one of Charlize Theron’s best performances. Here’s one of its memorable scenes.

May 10

3 Comments

Still Mine trailer

Still Mine is a Canadian drama film, that is based on a true story. It stars James Cromwell as Craig Morrison, a farmer in rural St. Martins, New Brunswick who battles a government bureaucrat for the right to build a new house for his ailing wife Irene, played by French-Canadian actress Geneviève Bujold, when their existing home no longer suits her health needs.

The film’s cast also includes Campbell Scott, Julie Stewart, Zachary Bennett, Hawksley Workman and Rick Roberts.

May 10

2 Comments

Gravity trailer

I’m not a huge Sandra Bullock or George Clooney fan, to be honest, I don’t get the appeal. However, this film, directed by Alfonso Cuarón looks promising. I especially like the song — Spiegel im Spiegel, written by Arvo Pärt — that appears in the beginning of this trailer, which can also be heard in the movies Wit starring Emma Thompson and Heaven starring Cate Blanchett.

Dr. Ryan Stone (Bullock) is a medical engineer on her first Space Shuttle mission, accompanied by veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (Clooney), who is in command of the shuttle flight. During a routine spacewalk, the space shuttle is destroyed, and Stone and Kowalsky are stranded in space with no communications with Earth.

I’m not sure if this is true, but the movie is scheduled to open on October 4 with an uninterrupted 17 minute shot, which is almost unheard of in cinema. Anyway, enjoy the trailer!

May 10

August: Osage County trailer

Many are predicting that this screen adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning stage play will bring Meryl Streep her fourth Oscar. It certainly looks like compelling evidence. Apparently rumours persist that Julia wasn’t very nice to Streep during filming, and the two have vowed never to work together again. The tension between the two leading ladies may bring credibility to their ailing mother-daughter relationship in the movie.

The film also stars Chris Cooper, Abigail Breslin, Juliette Lewis, Benedict Cumberbatch and Ewan McGregor and opens November 18. I like the soundtrack.

May 9

How I Became An Elephant

The documentary, How I Became an Elephant, about a young girl on a mission to save endangered elephants is now available online and DVD. The film was directed by 16-time award-winning filmmakers Tim Gorski and Synthian Sharp, produced by television actor/producer Jorja Fox, David Reuben and Alec Pedersen and starring Juliette West, and a musical score by Cody Westheimer supported by internationally acclaimed musicians Xavier Rudd, and Tori Amos. The film has been released worldwide, and is available on iTunes, Google Play, Distrify, and Amazon.

At the age of 14, Juliette is on a mission to save elephants. After single-handedly raising funds, she embarks on a life-altering journey to Southeast Asia to meet and work with her hero, Lek Chailert, known as “The Elephant Lady,” who has risked her life and freedom for more than three decades to protect elephants from illegal trade and abuse. This is the story of two women, one from the East, one from the West, coming together on common ground to save elephants. It’s also the coming-of-age story of a passionate young woman joining forces with a wise and experienced animal advocate on an enlightening journey of compassion, action and hope. The message: no matter what your age, your ethnicity, or disposition, no matter what the cause, you can make a difference. The film is one girl’s story that led to a movement that became a comprehensive plane to save a species.

I hope you watch it and learn something new.

May 6

5 Comments

Forks Over Knives trailer

Those who read this blog will know that I consume a primarily plant-based diet. I love baking, but have moved to choosing vegan ingredients when I do. I never eat meat and haven’t digested an animal in over eight years. I’m leaning more to a vegan lifestyle, but I’m trying to inform myself as much about it as possible, before diving head first.

My friend Alex is probably the most knowledgeable person when it comes to food. Over the past couple of years she has developed a dairy allergy and is now completely dairy free. Just yesterday she came down with a nasty case of food poisoning after eating a piece of fish, and the experience is strongly influencing her to adopt a vegan diet full-time.

She recently emailed me about the documentary Forks Over Knives which I watched when living in Argentina last year. The film makes the bold claim that all of the degenerative diseases that afflict human beings across the world can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting animal-based and processed foods.

This is not a new claim, people like Kathy Freston have been talking about this kind of stuff for years, and scientific research has overwhelmingly shown that eating animals is not only bad for the environment, but is responsible for increases in cancer rates and other complex chronic diseases.

Anyway, I thought that I would share the trailer and put the film into your consciousness, as it makes a compelling case. Personally I can’t imagine living without fruits and vegetables, and not a day goes by that I don’t consume them with a vengeance. I could never eat meat, for a plethora of reasons, as many of you are aware. But it’s astonishing how the majority of people never think about how delicious plant food can be, and are grossed out by eating things like bananas!

Thanks for reading.

May 6

Julia Sweeney

Movies of the week: God Said Ha! and Letting Go of God

Julia Sweeney

I forgot about my new movie of the week series so to make up for it I’m recommending two for you today.

Julia Sweeney is best remembered as the androgynous Pat from Saturday Night Live but she is also memorable for her one-woman shows that detail her battle with cancer and her journey from Catholicism to atheism.

After leaving the cast of SNL, Sweeney returned to Los Angeles where her marriage ended amicably and her brother was diagnosed with terminal cancer. During this time her parents move in to help care for her dying brother, but Sweeney’s own mortality is tested when she is diagnosed with cervical cancer. These events inspired her to write God Said Ha!, a life affirming film of subtle wit and grace. Sweeney’s delivery and razor-sharp intelligence is on full display throughout the 90 minute movie, which was produced by Quentin Tarantino.

After her brother dies, and she’s left with her own cancer, and her grieving parents, Sweeney does what she can to rebuild her life. But trust me, this is not a sad, gloomy one-woman show, in fact, the humour that Sweeney enlists to cope with these extraordinary circumstances brings much-needed relief to such heavy subject matter.

The second film is Letting Go of God. In it she discusses her Catholic upbringing, her own internal struggle with scripture and her eventual shift to atheism. Richard Dawkins references this movie many times in his book The God Delusion and for good reason: Sweeney is able to explain the reasons for her spiritual crisis in a manner that is never insulting to Catholics, though she does have reason, as she studied and read the Bible from front to back, when most Catholics can only recite certain versus. Her horror upon discovering how mean-spirited Jesus was, and how violent the stories in the Bible are, led to her knowledge quest.

So there you go. I recommend that you spend some cash and a little time and watch these two movies. I’m not exaggerating when I say they will open your mind to a world you probably never knew existed.

Thanks.

Apr 28

How to Survive a Plague

If you haven’t seen this documentary, you must do it now.

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