In 2008, Iran launched its first rocket into space; Kosovo declared independence from Serbia; The Summer Olympics took place in Beijing; A global financial crisis dominated headlines; Spotify launched; Satoshi Nakamoto published a paper announcing Bitcoin; Barack Obama was elected as the 45th President of the United States of America; The Marvel Cinematic Universe debuted… Continue reading Reflections on 3174, Year of Our Lady of Discord: A look back at 2008
Tag: Christian Bale
The Lucky Lady took a machine with her to the sun
My Fair Lady (1964) To test his theory that speech patterns are one of the primary drivers of success, phonetics professor Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison) trains flower seller Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn). His experiment is ultimately successful: Eliza passes as a genuine member of upper crust society. However, her new position leads to unhappiness and… Continue reading The Lucky Lady took a machine with her to the sun
Be kind to the women
Be Kind Rewind (2008) For some inexplicable reason, Mr. Fletcher (Danny Glover) refuses to upgrade his video rental store to DVDs and continues to rent exclusively VHS tapes. When Mr. Fletcher goes out-of-town, he leaves Mike (Mos Def) in charge, and local weirdo Jerry (Jack Back) magnetizes himself erasing every tape in the store. Mr.… Continue reading Be kind to the women
Out of the south pacific, into the fifth estate
Out of the Furnace (2013) Russell Blaze (Christian Bale) goes to prison after he kills a little boy in a drunken accident. When he’s released, his dad has died, and his girlfriend, Lena Taylor (Zoe Saldana) is now in a relationship with the city police chief Wesley Barnes (Forest Whittaker). Russell’s brother, Rodney Blaze (Casey… Continue reading Out of the south pacific, into the fifth estate
In prison; escaping from prison; going to prison
Caesar Must Die (2012) This film about prisoners in an Italian suburb staging a production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar won the Golden Bear at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival. The director used actual prisoners in the cast, which makes the film interesting, but it didn’t do anything for me. The Last Stand (2013) Ray… Continue reading In prison; escaping from prison; going to prison