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Reviews
Djam (2017)
Refreshing!
Haven't seen anything quite like this before. Every plot description I have read focuses on one aspect to the neglect of the others. So here is my take.
First and foremost it is a travel adventure. Through sutile prodding and familiarity, the viewer quickly becomes Djam's travel companion, even more so than Avril, in her mini-Odyssey which takes her from the Greek Island of Lesbos, to Istanbul, over the land border back into Greece (with a wave to Bulgaria). Along the way, the ancient rugged beauty of it all is in full display.
Second, it is a madcap comedy, which draws its comedy not from slapstick, but from the ironic slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. At every bad turn, we are invited to take a path to negativity, but instead are dragged back onto our feet and onto lifetime's next adventure by the sheer joy exuded by Djam. She refuses to be beaten down, or let you be.
Third, this is a sort of Aegean musical. Djam has a for real serious music talent in her voice, play of instruments, and wild woman dancing. Anyone who has spent time with musicians or at folk festivals, will feel right at home. A modern liberated woman Zorba!
Fourth, it is also a cinematic dialectic focusing on where one draws the line, when balancing the thrills and fun in life against responsibility, respect, and lawfulness. Djam can't help but to be a good person, whatever traditional more's she may upset while living.
And finally, a word about Avril. We meet her early on, done dirty by her former boyfriend, and scowling at life as she tries to play through the bad hand fate has dealt her. Pulled into Djam's lifeboat, she isn't sure at first whether that's really a good thing. But she, like us, quickly becomes a fan, forgiving Djam's quirks and foibles. And her scowls give way to smiles.
Anyone who watches this and doesn't smile and chuckle most of the time hasn't suffered enough in life to know how the root for the underdog. I give it a 9, because the subtitles could have been done better.
The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)
So scary I couldn't finish it
Decided to watch this on an overcast afternoon. At home, with just my cats as company. About a half hour in, the movie was so intense, I actually had to take a break. When I resumed, it didn't take 5 minutes to start playing games with my head. I should mention that this overcast day had turned stormy. My cats seemed to be getting spooked themselves. And as the thunder rumbled outside both of my cats became transfixed on my fireplace with no fire. They both were wide eyed starring. As the scene had just shown a big crawling out of the corpse, it totally freaked me out to look over at the fireplace to see a big crawling out of my fireplace and slowly up the facing......
THAT'S ENOUGH! I put the movie on pause, killed the bug, and attempted to start it again. But when the flickering of lights in the movie began to occur, my home's lights did the same, and I called it quits.
Thank God I watched in the afternoon and have time to clear my head or I doubt I would sleep.
Bible's Buried Secrets (2011)
A sad day for 'Biblical Scholars'
The narrator of this series, Francesca Stavrakopoulou, apparently is a Biblical Scholar that heads a Biblical Studies department at some English University. She is pretty, well spoken, and traveled to many ancient sites mentioned in the Bible.
There are three episodes in this series, and a disturbing pattern emerges which leaves me deeply disappointed in the Series, as well as the BBC, and modern education-industrial complex.
In the first episode she sets out to challenge the existence of King David. Unfortunately, her whole argument comes down to the 'fact' that there is no archaeological evidence found dating to times when David ruled. Instead, she places her whole argument on the fact that evidence has been found in northern Israel for King Omri, who was several after David.
In the Second episode she asserts that God had a Wife, and that 'fact' has been suppressed by Hebrew and Christian scholars. She traces this to the fact that some artifacts have been found in Israel that show an apparent goddess along side a god that dates back to Canaanite cultures.
In the third episode she asserts that the Garden of Eden was in fact simply a garden belonging to a long dead king.
Throughout the series the same pattern emerges in every episode: her inability to distinguish facts from assertions (her own). It seems that she takes one or two ambiguous items, subject to her interpretation, and then believes they become facts because she so wills it. Her logic is deeply flawed, and her disgust for the Bible as a historical record of great events is fairly evident. in these episodes.
I will not dwell on the her faults, as they will be obvious to objective thinkers every where. However, there may be value in watching this series for those who want to stay atop the manner in which modern atheist attempt to discount mounting archaeological evidence that increasingly give veracity to Bible events. Instead of denying that they ever happened, she merely twists the interpretation of that evidence to meet her own notions.
The Man from Earth (2007)
Like an atheist version of 'My Diner with Andre'
I must say that this is an interesting premise with an engrossing story line for the first 2/3rd of the movie. The philosophical debates are interesting, relevant, and realistic. Unfortunately, with about 30 minutes to go, the plot goes dreadfully wrong, and turns into a 30 minute long assault (with many assumptions presented as facts) against anyone who might believe in a higher being or human spirit. Hardly no religion is spared, as the blow after body blow are delivered under the guise of an intellectual debate among a group of college professors. It honestly spoiled what was a very good movie up until that moment: Being a credible witness to the entire history of human civilization, into being central person of interest for nearly all tangible human achievement.
It shows a stunning lack of imagination by the writers.
Had the movie continued as it started, I would have given it probably 8 or 9 stars.
The X Files: The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat (2018)
One of the best of the X Files in ages.
A total Time-Out from the cast and director to the audience. In probable response to many veteran viewers disappointment with the new version not being quite as they remember it. A self-satire, reminiscent of their early tongue-in-cheek humor where they are skeptical of nearly everything they encounter. As a viewer we all loved the fresh cutting edge X files of yesteryear. But a lot has happened since then, and we can never quite go back, no matter how much we wish. The plot, the characters, and the lines are a hilarious chiding to us all to remember that.
Sort of like the X Files equivalent to Ricky Nelson's 'Garden Party', where he teases his audience with the knowledge that the past is long gone.
Full of Grace (2015)
An under the radar Existential Masterpiece
First, I have to say that based on so many one star reviews its almost like a 'Hit Job' is going on; they certainly could not have seen the same movie I did. Second, while I do believe in the existence of 'God' I would not say that I am very religious at all. BUT - I don't think that one's religious beliefs (or none) have anything to do with this movie.
This was THE BEST unheard of movie I have watched this year. I had never heard of it, and sitting around at Christmas time, I was surfing Netflix one night and came upon this movie. The description wasn't much, simply that an elderly Mary reflects upon her life, or something to that effect. Instead, it was an existential thought piece along the lines of 'My Dinner with Andre'. Although we know that the 'Virgin Mary' is the focus, it could have been anyone. An elderly woman reflecting on her life and the extradordinary events she has witnessed. She waxes philosophical with a hand maid, Sara, and then Peter, and finally others. Questions of LIfe ad Death, Fate, Redemption, and the Eternal Hereafter all come into play.
This is no 'religious' sales pitch, but instead a rational reflection of one's place i the cosmos when one has born witness to extraordinary things. Very well done, and has inspired me to look for other titles from the writers.
A Price Above Rubies (1998)
Excellent portrayal of a a woman's angst on three fronts
Zellweger does an excellent job in her portrayal of a woman seemingly going mad as her core being revolts against the life she has been captured by. She is at once a lonely young mother, a wife in a loveless marriage, someone without any hobbies, career or future, and one whose reasoning tells her to challenge the prevailing assumptions of god within the Hasidic Jewish community. Her blonde dirty blonde hair and faint smile seem to always contrast with the 'darker' characters within her in-laws family. So much so that the viewer doesn't really even need to listen to the dialogue to understand that this woman is out of place and wrong for this family. Powerful intellectual provocation for those who open their hearts.