December 26, 2006: Christmas Week is for Movies-The Reviewing Fool continues

I have comments up on Babel and The Pursuit of Happyness at Pajamas.

Comments

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Thanks, I enjoy your reviews and comments on film. I'll see Happyness. Sounds like "Trading Places?"

I suggest you see "The Good Shepherd." An overly long film owing a lot to "Munich" including lefty ethnic angst within Cold War intellectual conformities, but doesn't leave one with a reflexive anti-American lesson at the end (or any at all).

The plot is a mish mash of Cold War lesser hits, inspired by Golitsyn, Angleton, Philby, gay English spy stereotypes, Arbenz, Biowar with bugs, Berlin, LSD, and most of all Bay of Pigs. Interesting "mole" crisis beyond politics, which makes the film ultimately incoherent in message - it would have made more sense if it ended with an "America is inauthentic" message like Munich said about Israel.

Posted by: exmaple at December 26, 2006 12:23 PM

Well.. why not?

I watched "El Aura" on PPV. Very, very good. The dialog/clues is as meager as a house of cards, any less and you would not be able to follow. I like it when film allow me to be an adult.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0420509/

Posted by: Lem at December 27, 2006 11:48 AM

Lem:

I liked "El Aura" very much for those reasons too, plus the "dog."

One matter I didn't get, the prominence of the military dog tags worn by the taxidermist. In American 70's & 80's film that would signal "Vietnam" and maybe "bad guy." For the taxidermist...maybe the Falklands War, or participation in the "Dirty War"? Any Argentinians here that can help me?

Posted by: exmaple at December 27, 2006 4:02 PM

I'll add two things about Shepherd if anyone wants to discuss

1. The "Family first" substory is from Munich too, and

2. I have ideas, but still struggle with the meaning with the dollar bill at the end. Paying off a bigger debt???

Posted by: exmaple at December 27, 2006 4:13 PM

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