Movie Review: Iron Man 1

Posted on June 11, 2014 by Brian Wright

Best in breed of recent superhero movies __ 6.5/10

Virginia ‘Pepper’ Potts: Tony, you know that I would help you with anything, but I cannot help you if you’re going to start all this again.
Tony Stark: There is nothing except this. There’s no art opening, no charity, nothing to sign. There’s the next mission, and nothing else.
Virginia ‘Pepper’ Potts: Is that so? Well, then I quit.
Tony Stark: You stood by my side all these years while I reaped the benefits of destruction. Now that I’m trying to protect the people I’ve put in harm’s way, you’re going to walk out?
Virginia ‘Pepper’ Potts: You’re going to kill yourself, Tony. I’m not going to be a part of it.
Tony Stark: I shouldn’t be alive… unless it was for a reason. I’m not crazy, Pepper. I just finally know what I have to do. And I know in my heart that it’s right. Continue reading →

Movie Review: Geronimo: An American Legend (1993)

Posted on June 4, 2014 by Brian Wright

Best-in-breed Western, like Hombre __ 9/10

Geronimo: With all this land, why is there no room for the Apache? Why does the White-Eye want all land?

What a treat! Get out your fond memories of Dances with Wolves, then take in a quasi-documentary treatment of the handling of the great Apache leader, Geronimo, by the US Government White-Eye military hierarchy. With a coterie of some of the best actors working in Hollywood in 1993. Also, keep a box of Kleenex nearby for how it ends up… or be prepared to weather another seething storm of outrage against government cruelty. Continue reading →

Movie Review: The Answer Man (2009)

Posted on May 28, 2014 by Brian Wright

Small movie w/many nice features __ 8/10

Kris Lucas: Why can’t I do the things I want to do? There’s so much I know I’m capable of that I never actually do. Why is that?

Arlen Faber: The trick is to realize that you’re always doing what you want to do… always. Nobody’s making you do anything. Once you get that, you see that you’re free and that life is really just a series of choices. Nothing happens to you. You choose. Continue reading →

Book Review: Friday Night Lights (1990)

Posted on May 23, 2014 by Brian Wright

Book and movie provide Hoop-Dreams
insights for the high-school gridiron set

“There were many people in Odessa who, after the initial shock, had slowly fallen in love with the town. They found something endearing about it, something tender; it was the mutt that no one else wanted. The had come to grips with the numbing vacantness of the surroundings, broken only by the black horses’ heads of oil pumpjacks moving up and down with maniacal monotony through heat and wind and dust and economic ruin.” — page 34 Continue reading →

Movie Review: Bad Lieutenant, Port of Call New Orleans (2009)

Posted on May 21, 2014 by Brian Wright

Nicholas Cage excels in film noir w/ a twist __ 8/10

Aside from the fabulous featured performance by Nicolas Cage (Terence McDonagh: the ‘bad lieutenant’) this movie is an object lesson on how drug prohibition corrupts entire governments—from the sidewalks, to city hall, to the state capital. And the root corruptees are always the police, where the the day-to-day human contact comes into play, the laws must be enforced (or bought off), and the rubber meets the road. The buying-off is an essential part of the process… in reality, and in the movie. Continue reading →

Movie Review: Crude (2009)

Posted on May 14, 2014 by Brian Wright

The essence of global corporatism? __ 9/10

Chevron Spokesperson (paraphrasing): The sanitation in that region is poor and probably accounts for the contaminated water and other health problems reported by the plaintiffs.

Chevron Spokesperson (paraphrasing): We are not responsible for the environmental damage, because operations for the Lago Agrio oil field have been conducted by Petroecuador, the state oil company, since 1993.

Continue reading →

Movie Review: The Graduate (1967)

Posted on May 7, 2014 by Brian Wright

Coming of age film for the Baby Boomers __ 8/10

Mr. McGuire: I want to say one word to you. Just one word.
Benjamin: Yes, sir.
Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?
Benjamin: Yes, I am.
Mr. McGuire: Plastics.

Continue reading →