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drhugh
Reviews
Impact (2009)
Science vs magic
Arthur C. Clark did the film world a great disservice when he made the memorable comment that "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
Arthur C. Clarke, "Profiles of The Future", 1961 (Clarke's third law)
Film producers NOW think that SCIENCE = MAGIC. Really, folks, if any illiterate can make a science-fiction movie, why do universities BOTHER giving film degrees? There was a highly-readable article in the April 2009 Scientific American describing what is a "brown dwarf". A white dwarf, a superdense left-over from the life-cycle of a star like our sun, cools down to a BLACK dwarf, and certainly that would screw up the orbit of the moon and make a nasty hole. Perhaps the censor board wouldn't let them use the term "black dwarf" with the word "penetrate"...
Fiction or no, it is simply wrong to mislead the public, poor ignorant sods that they are, about something any fool could learn on Wikipedia. Not that anyone would look it up, since the movies tell us everything we need to know. And if anything doesn't make sense, or if Spartacus is wearing a Rolex, then "Wizards did it"!
Palais Royale (1988)
Ambition to enter the advertising business lands a Canadian in a film noir labyrinth
I was IN this movie, and it still took me by surprise. You might see thirty seconds of me at the drum set in the dance hall. Ric Georgi of The Rainbow Gardens Jazz Orchestra (now dormant) gives a very convincing turn as a gunshot victim (Tall Man). My thanks to Ric for a chance to try my chops as a "special extra".
Matt Craven plays a VERY low-level employee, at an advertising agency in Toronto, who is looking for the Big Idea to launch him into the Big Time. He become obsessed with cigarette-ad model Odessa Malone (Kim Cattrall) and attempts to infiltrate her world to gain her confidence. In the process he becomes enmeshed in some very dubious dealings, indeed. Craven and Catrall get excellent support from Dean Stockwell, Kichjael Hogan, a very frightening Kim Coates and Helen Hughes.
This is a well-crafted film with unexpected quality of direction, editing and sound-track. My high-school class-mate, the late Earl Seymour, created a lush lounge-music score for this film, which makes "the band" look and sound very good, even though it ain't us playing the music! There are plenty of hidden pleasures for historians, as the attention to detail and continuity are amazing. And, if you are looking for a concise definition of the Canadian personality, here it is, except most Canadians don't have QUITE that much kinky sex!