Movie Review: Vice (2018)

Well-done multimedia distractoid from what’s daily eating out our substance
By Brian R. Wright

A number of deep ironies this afternoon on the penultimate day of 2018. For one thing, the person inviting me to join him and his son at the Waterford MJR Metroplex is none other than  Peter Eric Hendrickson, author of Cracking the Code, THE people’s liberator from misunderstanding and mispayment of the federal income tax—so long as we have the individual courage to stand up for the knowledge.

It’s probably been five years since I’ve taken in an actual film at a modern public cinema. The previous time was still LOUD. Today they’ve toned it down some, and added the plush, wide-butt recliner seats with at least a meter of aisle space at your feet for others to pass in front of you. These gentle envelopes remind me of the do-everything-for-you hover chairs for the uselessly fat passengers on the giant space-escape-cruiser in the movie WALL-E. [Escaping from the waste-world Earth in its death throes that the single, stranded WALL-E (Waste Allocation Lift Loader—Earth Class) robot still tried to clean up.]

Load up on the excitotoxin-dripping snacks and beverages—my small popcorn and carbonated beverage a steal at $8.25—then head back to your cocoon, fix your eyes and ears on the big screen, and assume the receive-program position. Despite its slyly powerful political content Vice is still a modern American movie—disconnect your critical faculties to absorb the full perceptual-emotional impact of the audio-visuals laden with unquestioned premises brushed in with the subtlety of a Mack Truck.

El Supremo False Premise: The Official Story of 9/11[1]

When Pete offered to meet me there with tickets, I gathered from cursory reviews that the Vice of Vice referred to none other than VP Dick Cheney during the Dubya years… and, silly me, I actually expected that Hollywood would be spilling some of the major beans behind Cheney’s planning and operational role in the Crime of the Century and the multitrillion-dollar, multimillion-killing-spree War of (Western Cabal) Terror that it launched.

NOT. I’m 69 years old, how could I have been so naïve? Continue reading

Movie Review: Sunshine Cleaning Company (2008)

Inspirational movie transcends quirkiness __ 8/10

Sunshine CleaningRose Lorkowski: (paraphrasing) Yes, I do clean up special sites, often after a tragedy such as a death or a suicide of a loved one. I’m extremely proud of what we do, especially how we touch people’s lives and help in a small way to lift their sadness and loneliness.

Written by Megan Holley
Directed by Christine Jeffs

Amy Adams … Rose Lorkowski
Emily Blunt … Norah Lorkowski
Alan Arkin … Joe Lorkowski
Jason Spevack … Oscar Lorkowski
Steve Zahn … Mac
Mary Lynn Rajskub … Lynn
Clifton Collins Jr. … Winston

On the surface , Sunshine Cleaning seems to be among the movies about quirky people, that is movies about individuals who are pleasantly offbeat or don’t fit the mold. But scratch the surface and there’s a firm reality to everyone on the set, from: Continue reading

Movie Review: Julie and Julia (2009)

Enchanting parallel-universe concoction __ 10/10 Julie and Julia

Paul Child: [to Julia] You are the butter to my bread, you are the breath to my life.
[later echoed by Julie Powell to Eric Powell]

Unfortunately, the quotes section on IMDb for this movie is nowhere near adequate to some of the marvelous lines coming from nearly every actor, on nearly all the significant occasions in the lives of the principal characters. And for that, whoever is responsible for such things, the person should be unproud. In any event, what a lovely and outstanding movie, that draws you in and causes you to fall in love with not only the celebrated Ms. Child, but the “servantless American cook” Julie Powell… even their respective husbands, a friend here and there, and one or two family members. Continue reading