Sheryl Crow received (a couple of weeks ago) a Golden Globe nomination (Best Original Song) for her performance of Try Not to Remember from the film “Home of the Brave.”
The movie tells the story of returning Iraqi war veterans who have to adjust to life again. I had not heard the song but just watched/listened to a “behind the lyrics” video at TMZ.com. A pretty –and heavy– song.
“The iPod Revolution (Discovery Channel) goes behind the scenes to uncover how Steve Jobs brought Apple back from the grave to create one of the most popular electronics devices ever made: the iPod.”
This was a really interesting hour that did a nice job of explaining how the iPod came to be what someone called “The Perfect Thing.”
Tired of Miracle on 34th Street and Going My Way? One of the cable channels is showing Falling Down on Christmas Eve. If you haven’t seen this 1993 film starring Michael Douglas and Robert Duval, it is depressing and violent. My favorite line:
“Now you’re gonna die, wearing that stupid little hat. How does it feel?”
Computer usability expert Jakob Nielsen has compiled a top 10 list of the most egregious mistakes made by moviemakers. My favorites are:
The Hero Can Immediately Use Any UI
Break into a company — possibly in a foreign country or on an alien planet — and step up to the computer. How long does it take you to figure out the UI and use the new applications for the first time? Less than a minute if you’re a movie star.
Integration is Easy, Data Interoperates
In the show 24, Jack Bauer calls his office to get plans and schematics for various buildings. Once these files have been transferred from outside sources to the agency’s mainframe, Jack asks to have them downloaded to his PDA. And — miracle of miracles — the files are readable without any workarounds.
Remote Manipulators
In Tomorrow Never Dies, James Bond drives his BMW from the back seat with an Ericsson mobile phone that works as the car’s remote control. And 007 drives fast, while also evading bad guys.
You’ve Got Mail is Always Good News
In the movies, checking your mail is a matter of picking out the one or two messages that are important to the plot. No information pollution or swamp of spam.
“This is Unix, It’s Easy”
In the film Jurassic Park, a 12-year-old girl has to use the park’s security system to keep everyone from being eaten by dinosaurs. She walks up to the control terminal and utters the immortal words, “This is a Unix system. I know this.” And proceeds to (temporarily) save the day.
While channel surfing last night, I came across a documentary on HBO. “Thin” is the story of four women with eating disorders who are “dying to be thin.” Heartbreaking.
Tonight I watched “Hacking Democracy” which exposes gaping holes in the security of America’s electronic voting system. If you voted in 2004 –or ever plan to vote again– you should watch “Hacking Democracy.”
The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara is a documentary film directed by Errol Morris and released in December 2003.
The film depicts the life of Robert Strange McNamara, United States Secretary of Defense from 1961 to 1968, through the use of archival footage, White House recordings, and most prominently, an interview of McNamara at the age of 85. The subject matter spans from McNamara’s work as one of the “Whiz Kids” during World War II and at Ford to his involvement in the Vietnam War as the Secretary of Defense under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson
1. Empathize with your enemy.
2. Rationality will not save us.
3. There’s something beyond one’s self.
4. Maximize efficiency.
5. Proportionality should be a guideline in war.
6. Get the data.
7. Belief and seeing are both often wrong.
8. Be prepared to reexamine your reasoning.
9. In order to do good, you may have to engage in evil.
10. Never say never.
11. You can’t change human nature.
We have learned none of McNamara’s lessons. A powerful documentary. And, please, you can’t have an opinion about this movie unless you’ve seen it. Happy to discuss with anyone that has.
I posted/whined previously how annoying and silly I find it when cable channels air movies with “objectionable” words (I don’t object to ANY words) and substitute some non-sense word for the naughty one.
The folks at AMC have taken an interesting approach to this tactic. While showing Fargo, they broke for commercials by putting up a graphic with a bunch of non-sense words beginning with the letter F (announcer voice-over saying these words). The announcer then says something along the lines of “Steve Buscemi said the F-word ten times in that last scene…but that’s okay.”
Almost as though they’re embarrassed by the need to make the silly substitutions and poke a little fun at themselves. Interesting.
Keith and the Girl fans received an email today, touting a new movie coming out in a couple of weeks. Crank stars Jason Statham (Snatch, The Transporter, The Italian Job) and opens September 1st. The email pointed me to the trailer:
“It’s a cool ad, and it brings KATG a little scratch whenever it’s viewed. So take a look-see and pass it to your friends. And then get back to work! How are we gonna survive as a society if everyone’s watching movie promos all day?!”
I really like Statham so I was glad to know about the movie. And I’m even more inclined to watch the trailer (and tell others) because it helps KATG… and I’m a fan. Do you see how this is different than just running the ad on one of the TV networks? Would love to know how much KATG got for this. Hope it was a lot.
My nominee is L. A. Confidential (1997). Lots of longer, high-explosive endings, but I have to put LAC on the short-list. If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll remember a scene where Russell Crowe’s character is in a bar, talking to some tough guy, when he (Crowe) reaches down and grabs the guy by the family jewels. I couldn’t help but wonder if the scene wasn’t inspired by Mississippi Burning (1988). Gene Hackman got a similar grip on Michael Rooker. For 100 Bonus Points, can you name other movies where somebody grabs somebody (else) in this sensitive area?
Saw Thank You for Smoking and was disappointed. Spend the 90 minutes reading Christopher Buckley’s novel, if you haven’t. Giving Nick Naylor a son was lame-to-sappy. Deadwood fans will spot Kim Dickens (Joanie Stubbs) as Naylor’s wife.
And for the record, The Weather Man (Nicholas Cage) is not a comedy. Had I taken the time to check out the IMDB description (“A Chicago weather man, separated from his wife and children, debates whether professional and personal success are mutually exclusive.”) we could have skipped this wrist-slitter. But Hollywood loves Cage. He has half a dozen movies in post-production or on-deck.