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forkus
Reviews
Dual Survival (2010)
this is a great survival show
These two guys are good together. You start off laughing at Cody, but then you come to respect what a bad ass he is in his own right. There are elements of humor throughout most episodes that are genuinely funny due to the unusual pairing. I've watched lots of survival shows and this one seems to have something the others are missing- an entertainment factor that doesn't require fake scenarios put in only for TV purposes. The guys provide entertainment and they really teach you how to survive along the way.
The locations are standard survival fare, but each of the guys has a different background which means one of them will usually be taking the lead and the other will be learning new tricks.
All in all, I would say this is my favorite survival show. Even my kids find it entertaining.
A Serious Man (2009)
embrace the mystery
i love this film. if you had asked me if i loved it after the first viewing, i would have replied that i don't know. i didn't understand it for a few viewings, and even after 10+ viewings, i still don't understand it totally, but i embrace the mystery...
there are so many levels to this film. many of the previous reviewers focused on the book of Job retelling, but i feel that is just one of many levels of this film. there are societal levels, generational levels, emotional levels, and mathematical levels, just to name a few that I've uncovered. every little scene of this movie appeals to one of the interpretations of the same story. Larry represents at once, his own mid-life self and his future son. the son, while appearing flat and devoid of substantive character, is Larry also. the first two rabbis represent Larry and son, middle age rationality and youthful wonder, and Marshak represents the wisdom of old age. even the confiscation of the radio by the teacher is a metaphor for middle age stealing the freedom of youth. the bar mitzbah scene (sorry for any misspellings, as i am not Jewish) is quite telling. the rabbi literally forces the boy to pull the cup from his hands, symbolizing how we must take from society (the generation before us) what we deserve. the boy learned the Torah and had difficulty speaking his verses, and some of the older men around him provided assistance. previously, when the boy offered assistance to the old teacher in using his radio earphones, it was dismissed, but later in the movie, Marshak recites verses of Jefferson Airplane for the boy and accepts his assistance. this signifies something about how the wise realize that youth have more to offer the world than just their stupid and repetitive nonsense. the boy went to the trouble of learning Torah, so Marshak reciprocates because he is wise enough to see the beautiful contributions of youth to society (ie. the song which in essence tells more about what is happening in the movie than the rabbis do). the middle aged rabbi is nearly worthless, as he speaks only in rational things. the youngest rabbi speaks truth, but his truth cannot appeal to the middle aged Larry, except when he is high and sees things with a new perspective.
as for the beginning sequence, we must accept that evil is real and irrational. the middle aged man (who is rational) cannot accept the idea that the man who helped him is in fact evil. its irrational to think this could be possible. the scene was left open ended because we must decide for ourselves which is reality. did the wife kill a dybbuk or not? she believes that she did because she is irrational and religious. to believe in God, is essentially a leap of faith. you must forgo the rational and do what you are told is correct. Dora acts, regardless of the outcome, because she believes in the irrational. i believe she killed a dybbuk. later in the movie, Sy Ableman is the dybbuk in Larry's life and he doesn't act because he is rational. he is rational because he is middle aged and beset by tribulations, unable to deal with them as his son does (avoiding them). he must be irrational and yet he cannot.
the final sequence with the tornado ties all the levels of the movie together. the son is both himself and a future Larry at once. i don't believe the tornado represents an actual impending death for him, but rather the storm of middle age that he will inherit from his father. we are left to decide if Larry will live or die, be terminally ill or just suffer further tribulations, but either way, his son will no longer be able to run away from his own tribulations. he will become his father, thus he better find somebody to love. that was what Larry needed to help him through his own perils.
all in all, this movie is pure brilliance. i would suggest watching it at least 3 times and trying to see it from a different angle with each viewing. pay attention to the small story details and see the puzzle in its pieces. you can assemble A Serious Man in many different ways and find a unique commentary in each viewing. all of the meanings and symbols exist together simultaneously. its an abstract cinematic masterpiece that should not be viewed as a realist painting, but taken in for the beauty of each of its various and seemingly unrelated parts.
2012 (2009)
ridiculous... moronic... yet you cant turn away
2012 is cynical, evil, and ironically hilarious. from the first moment that you see the destruction happening, you realize that its an unintentional punchline. i was rolling around laughing in my seat. people are dying and yet the director makes their deaths into some sort of joke. certain people die over dramatically. others die horribly cynically. it really just depends on what color they are! its kind of like the director is saying, "your screen time is OVER, whitey!" and then killing them off in some sadistically playful manner.
the plot is mediocre. the acting is mediocre. the premise of the film would work if it wasn't presented in such an absolutely unrealistic manner. how many times can a plane take off from an airfield with the tarmac dissolving beneath it? how many times can a vehicle full of the main cast of characters dodge falling buildings or chunks of flying lava? finally, the treatment of religion in this film was just atrocious. people who chose to pray were viewed as foolish and then crushed by debris mercilessly... oh, i mean only the white Christians. the director wouldn't show the Muslim relics crumbling to bits and crushing those kneeling in prayer around them. the director seemed to take particular joy in destroying the statue of Christ in Rio- it was all slow motion and over the top (which is saying something in this film).
if you can get past the racism, anti-religious imagery, and just plain ridiculousness of it all, there is some comedy in this film. its worth seeing if only to laugh at the stupidity. there are some really hilarious one liners which i wont spoil for you.