Random Movie Assessment

[AMERICONORMAN]

So I finally saw Cold Mountain. I love Jude Law and have always like Kidman and always have an interest for Zellweger. The Plot was lovely and it reminded me of Sebastian D'Anconia's wait to be with his wife again. All stories of this type I have an interest in. I must say I enjoyed the film very much...until it ended...now I hate it. What a disappointment! And he dies in such a haphazard way as a simple gun draw; it was almost as bad as the ending of Reservoir Dogs. And then I remembered that the director Was Minghella, who did The English Patient. And a common thread became apparent: A platonic-byronic view on love--impossible to reach but worth fighting for anyways.

But the first movie I watched was Quills starring Geoffrey Rush, Kate Winslet and Joaquim Pheonix. Rush was a rush. Although the subject was an effort to deal with, and the theme was malevolent, it was a superbly done film. And it had a dramatic plot. As a writer, I was taken by The Marquis' struggle to keep on writing. From paper to drama to wine and sheets to blood and cloth to shit to a disciple: oh how inspiring. Towards the end, though, Rush says that in order to truly understand the depths of human nature one as to study depravity. An Objectivist cannot fail to remember Ayn Rand in the position of the complete opposite. I suppose Rush's view is similar to the interest in Dostoevsky. The symbolism was superb. The director was fantastic.

The I saw The Emperor's Club starring Kevin Kline about a history teacher in a private boys school. It is about a teacher's struggle to turn around a troubled but brilliant student. It is a story about integrity and the value of classical edcuation. The teacher during a contest is tempted to play favorites. He makes the wrong choice and must live with the consequences. There is fraud that he is in a position to expose but never publicly exposes. At the end there is a sense of moral relativism. The teacher should have been more brave. He let chance sanction his past choice. But overall I enjoyed and was inspired by the film.

I saw Road To Perdition with Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, and Jude Law. This was an interesting movie because it opens with an impossible situation. There are Mobster trying to engage in civilized family life but they're Mobsters so that it is impossible. The stakes get high quick. An eye witness must be taken out. Quickly it is the story about Vendetta. It shows the obstacles of loneliness, loss of family, trying to be good in the face of corruption, how quickly crime-life makes some grow up. Now this movie ended quite nicely: All the principle gangster die which is just. A boy who admires his Orphan yet criminal father becomes a complete Orphan yet finds a GOOD family to live with. His future is promising.

And then a saw an old favorite. Les Miserables with Liam Niesen and Rush again. I have few complaints with this film except that because of it and other versions, it is hard for me to read the entire novel. The events that the screenwriter chose had a proper dramatic effect. Liam Niesen was a good Valjean and Rush was once more superb. I love the ending. I love why Javert falls into the Seine: because there is no mercy in justice.

There are three movies that I want to just mention that come to mind that I recommend: Far and Away with Cruise and Kidman; Sneakers with Redford and Kingsley; Spy Games with Redford and Pitt.

Americo.

[unskinned]

Americo-

Did you notice some interesting things about Jude Law's character in Road to Perdition? Specifically, did you notice a parallel between his character and the role of the director?

There is a scene where he alters the outcome of a failed murder and then photographs it. Meanwhile the El moving behind the windows looks like film sliding over a projector or movie screen. In the esthetics chapter of OPAR Peikoff mentions a director who films "nothing by accident." In this case itwould make the story about the Michael Sr's struggle and interaction with a godlike director. (also he shoots him in the eye through a "looking glass" I think)

I don't know if you care that much, but I'd be interested if you noticed these scenes.