Failed2Fire

Member since 9/20/2007, last signed in awhile ago.

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The King of California

Coming-of-age fantasy
By Failed2Fire in Failed2Fire Blog
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"“King of California” is a coming-of-age fantasy set in the hinterlands of Los Angeles County. I apply here the term “fantasy” advisedly. Any one scene could, in reality, occur. There are no faeries or miracles, no alchemy to defy the laws of physics. Yet the chain of events is so wildly improbable that if we are to suspend our disbelief – and I do so happily and willingly – then we come away feeling to have crossed into a fantastic realm. Which is a rather pleasant place to be. There’s an undercurrent of humor here as workmanlike as it is playful. Michael Douglas acts the nut-case-of-a-father with a sparkle in his eye. We understand immediately why his independent-minded child, played by Evan Rachel Wood, should not only countenance his abuse but go on to develop her hypnotic fascination with electric dishwashers. (Never has Michael Douglas so eerily resembled father Kirk. One suspects an homage.) ... " [More]

Silk

Romance in Victorian France
By Failed2Fire in Failed2Fire Blog
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"Period romance, something less than an epic, about a nineteenth-century French silkworm merchant who travels to Japan on business several times over the span of a few years. Japan is a place shrouded in mystery, and the young man’s journeys are perilous, though he does it blindfolded and guided much by his penis, which seems to be pointing ever eastward. The Frenchman, played by Michael Pitt, has a gorgeous bride, who’s anxious to bear his child, but is having trouble conceiving. She’s played by Keira Knightley as one of the most preposterously angelic characters in dramatic history. And yes, nevertheless, as though she were a shrew, our young man seeks an iffy stranger at an extreme distance to quell his curiosity. C’est la vie. Were his wife anything of a bitch, the ending would not work, and there would be no movie to enjoy. And I did enjoy this film. In keeping with the genre, its makers have mislocated in France a Victori ... " [More]

The Brave One

"Death Wish" meets "Crime and P ...
By Failed2Fire in Failed2Fire Blog
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"Jodie Foster is a great actress. So effortlessly can she communicate a given emotion that we learn much of this story in headshots prior to her uttering a line of dialogue. What a wonderful gift for detail! The problem here is that she uses it to relate an inherently racist story. Bad Jodie Foster! What were you thinking? Here’s the premise: Put upon white chick goes around wasting some nasty colored folk. “Wait!” say she and her fellow producers. “We cannot do that! Let’s instead have her character be deeply in love with and on the verge of marrying one of these off-white fellows!” “Great idea! But will that be enough? I mean, the guy gets killed in the middle of Act I! “AND we’ll have her play the Charles Bronson role in this vigilante movie as the Raskolnikov to a BLACK policeman!” “I think we’ve got it ... " [More]