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marastar_2002
Reviews
Iron Sky (2012)
Do not miss this
I recently saw Iron Sky at what I believe was the first official screening in the US. And. It. Was. Awesome.
To be fair I was expecting a pretty bad B-movie—bad acting... bad effects... bad script. That's not Iron Sky. Sure it's silly. Sure you can't take it too seriously. But it wasn't meant to be a serious film. And in the end it's a more successful and, more importantly, more fun (and even more intelligent) film than a LOT of the big mainstream Hollywood films I've seen recently. I think its success lies in the fact that it never tries to be more than what it is. It's a movie about space Nazis. Hello.
So should you see it? Well, it's got light (but on-point) political satire. It has a killer score. It has some really beautiful special effects. It's got pretty actors. It has a solid story. It has the moon. It has Nazis. It has Nazis on the moon.
And really if you're still not sold by that last point, it's just not your kind of movie.
Hackers (1995)
"I'm gonna triple the RAM"
When it comes to Hackers, you have to take it for what it is. Which is a completely ridiculous, over-the-top, happy-go-lucky techno-fantasy—and AMAZING.
Hackers presents every tech nerd's dream. Every geeky kid wants to be as good looking as Johnny Lee Miller, have Angelina Jolie fall for him, beat some skeezy bad guy at his own game, and live in a psychedelically manic underground world where you rollerblade everywhere with your best friends, secure in the knowledge that you're "elite".
For anyone who knows anything about computers, the "hacking" and technology parts of this movie are the best (funniest, most ludicrous) parts. But what the hell, it makes sense in context with the film's absolute lack of sense.
So don't watch the movie expecting any sort of reality other than the surreality contained within the film. Just watch it for the pretty people pretending they know something about hacking, and enjoy.
Save Me (2007)
a beautiful, honest movie
I love gay films, and this is one of the better ones I have seen. I grew up in the Midwest, and I know only too well the struggle to reconcile who you are with the religion you grew up with. It's easy for some to write off religion or to say that it is outdated, or shouldn't matter; the truth is that for many people faith and God are important in their lives. And this movie addresses that struggle. Some won't like the movie because there's not a clear-cut good and bad, and it is clear that although sometimes people acting "for the Lord" can be misguided, there is also a lot of good that can be done. The actors are amazing. I actually was not familiar with any of them before watching this film, but I was very very impressed. Watch it! It's beautiful and truthful all at once.
The Last Survivor (2010)
Heartbreaking, beautiful: see it
I was lucky enough recently to see a screening of The Last Survivor, a new documentary that shows a glimpse into the lives of survivors of several different genocides. The filmmakers start from the premise that only half the story of genocide is ever told. People speaking about genocide tend to speak about the horrific events as if they were isolated, ignoring the fact first of all the genocide came from somewhere: there was planning, and there were warning signs that were ignored. And afterward, there are survivors left, people who somehow must go on, and out of the pieces of whatever happens to remain, build a life. Hédi Fried is a woman who was 20 years old when she was sent to Auschwitz in 1944, where she lost much of her family. Jacqueline Murekatete is the only survivor of a large extended family killed in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, which occurred when she was 10 years old. Justin Semahoro Kimenyerwa is a member of the Banyamulenge tribe in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a tribe that has been persecuted, hunted, and killed over many years. And Adam Bashar survived atrocities in Darfur in 2003, escaping across Egypt to Israel, where he currently lives. All four show remarkable passion and courage, but what makes the film so fascinating is the variety of ways in which their passion and courage take shape and find voice: through political activism, social work, and even worship and thanks to God. I can only recommend highly that you see it when possible. It was everything a film like this should be: heartbreaking, and yet triumphant at the same time.