Short Takes: Movies and Corpses

Catching up on some thoughts I meant to blog the last couple days. Got to do some movie watching over the weekend.

Saw "House of Flying Daggers" on cable. Awesome color, sound and movement in what was a very operatic style story. The "echo game" scene was memorable as was the fight in the bamboo forest, but this was no mere chop sockey flick, rising to include elements of dance and ballet, as Roger Ebert and A.O. Scott both noted when the movie was released. Writes Scott,

"Two [scenes] in particular - the "echo game" set piece that takes place in a brothel and a later battle in a grove of whispering bamboo - are likely to become classic reference points, cherished like favorite numbers from "Singin' in the Rain" or "An
American in Paris."

Personally, I liked "Hero" better as to me the story had more heft and didn't putter out at the end as Daggers seemed to.

Also finally got to see "Fahrenheit 9/11." Provocative and gripping for sure - especially if you have some doubts about how this administration has reacted to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. While certainly slanted to Moore's opinions, he does deal with actual footage of the president and others and reports facts that have been reported elsewhere (such as how some Saudi Arabian citizens, including members of the bin Laden family were allowed flights out of the U.S. even while all other flights were grounded after the attacks). This certainly has to be viewed separately as a piece of political expression and a movie. It is pretty engaging as a movie, though a bit slow and ridiculous at times (when Moore takes to an ice cream truck loudspeaker to read the Patriot Act). Writes the NY Times' Scott (a favorite reviewer of mine),

"After you leave the theater, some questions are likely to linger about Mr. Moore's views on the war in Afghanistan, about whether he thinks the homeland security program has been too intrusive or not intrusive enough, and about how he thinks the government should have responded to the murderous jihadists who attacked the United States on Sept. 11."

And finally, I must add a recent blog post from friend and former bandmate Scott. Entitled "Phillip and the Corpse" this nicely done fiction fragment reminds me that I recently loaned him my (UPDATE: OK, so I was busted, it was Susan "Official Wife of JP"'s copy) copy of "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers," a fun and fascinating book. Now Scott, "Phillip" is a movie I cannot wait to see. :)