happylife

SiCKO

This American movie directed by Michael Moore is the best in my list this year and I think it is also the best movie in his works ever. It deals with the health care problem in the United States. As is often mentioned, the non-universal health care system in the country is really in a terrible situation. It is so terrible that a factory man who had cut his two fingers in his work had to choose which finger to save for the financial reason or a poor old lady was abandoned from an ambulance with her drip tube on. Meanwhile, the health care systems in the surrounding counties including Canada, England, France and Cuba are introduced as envious and idealistic systems. The tear of the U.S. firefighter woman who worked and injured her lung in the 9.11 debris was very impressive. Her case was not covered by the U.S. health insurance system and she was at last helped by the doctor in Cuba which had been called "the enemy country." I don't think Japan's system is worse than the U.S. but it still has a lot of problems. The most worried point in Japan is that the system seems to be getting worse year by year.

Bridge to Terabithia

"Bridge to Terabithia" is a story about a boy and a girl who are both outsiders in the elementary school. Girls are taller and stronger than boys in a limited range of age and it is the story at that age. They are both talented in drawing or writing and therefore they are bullied by their classmates, but they don't worry about that and gradually become good friends each other. They are neighbors adjacent to woods where they play together after school. There is a secret place only accessible by swinging on an old rope over a stream in the woods and they create their own kingdom out there existing only in their imagination. I was reminded of my childhood days when I played with my friends making a secret base and fighting with invisible enemies. Sure this film is one of Disney pictures targeting children and their parents, but it is worth watching for adults who have forgotten the childhood mood or want to take it back.

007

I went out into a thin rain in the afternoon and walked to the theater in Downtown to change the depressing mood. I chose "Casino Royale" and paid $12 in the theater entrance. To tell the conclusion first, It was a better movie than I had expected. I have watched many of the 007 series since I was a child and I can say this is the best one. Though it is Hollywood movie full of actions, it also has lots of European tastes. It's really a great combination, but what impressed me most was Daniel Craig starring James Bond. I think he is the most human Bond in the successive Bonds. He is as cool as other Bonds, but that's not all. He sometimes makes mistakes and is always full of fresh cuts, falls in love with a woman and kill his enemies in a cruel manner; he is like a boy and very human. Anyway, I couldn't bear to watch the torture scene because it was the most aching one for gentlemen.

The movie industry

It has long been said that the movie industry is one of the most typical declining industries such as shipbuilding, railroad and so on. There were only four audience including me in the theater which I visited yesterday. It means that the theater's total sales yesterday was only $16! Actually I have never stood to watch a film in a theater for more than ten years. The reason for the declining is very clear. New substitutes such as DVD have appeared. We can now enjoy movies in our living room or we can even carry our own theater in our pocket. We can stop, repeat, skip or change the movie whenever we like. We don't worry about being disturbed by another audience who sniffles. There seems to be more and more advantages in the new substitutes. Of course the old theaters have some good points, but they seem to be very difficult to rally. I don't want old theaters to vanish because of the financial reason. I think they should be protected by subsidy because they are good culture, or they would disappear in the near future. Plus, we have to reconsider how to distribute the money among all the related people such as actors, directors, productions, DVD companies and theaters. I think actors and actresses are taking too much.

Deja Vu

It was fine Tuesday. After coming back from a day sailing in English Bay, I went to a theater in Denman Place. We can enjoy three movies for only $4 as a metine on Tuesdays there. It's quite reasonable because the regular prices at other theaters are almost $12. Anyway, the movie I watched first was "Deja Vu" starring Denzel Washington. It was a sci-fi thriller though I had been expected to be a psychological detective story. I felt the story setting to be a little bit unreasonable, but I could enjoy it except for that. It was a combination of a action detective story and a time-machine story. I got to know what ATF (Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms) in the U.S. is like for the first time. Anyway, I was so tired and sleepy that I left the theater without watching the two other movies. It's still difficult for me to trace an English film and I would get exhausted if I watched more than two.

Borat

I was tired though I had just got up. It was 9:30 in the evening and I didn't like to work facing towards the PC. I decided to watch a movie which my friend had recommended. Borat is a journalist in Kazakhstan and travels across the U.S. to make a documentary film about the U.S. He meets a lot of typical American people on the way, and always annoys them because he can't read the atmosphere and he has strong bias to women and Jews. Sure it is a coarse comedy and it isn't highly ranked, I could hear laughters from every seat in every scene. When people come across an impossible situation, they show their true feeling from their open-mouse. Borat is the man who can make this situation well, and we can enjoy the face of annoyed people around him.

"an inconvenient truth"

I caught the afternoon matinee of "an inconvenient truth" which my friend strongly recommended. It's a warning movie about the global warming. There was no new information for me about the global warming because I used to be a kind of geoscience student, but it's not that this movie was worthless to see. On the contrary, I believe it is a kind of must see movie because this is the most serious and imminent problem facing all of us on the planet. Of course Bush is one of the most terrible person which is responsible for the problem, but he is never the only one person to be accused. Every one of us in the world without no exception has to think about this problem more seriously and do some action to avoid the danger. I regretted a bit I hadn't seen this movie for weeks with a bias because it was produced by Al Gore, the used-to-be next President. It's not such a small problem like politics or economics.

"V for Vendetta" on IMAX

After saving $10 by getting fuel at Pt.Roberts, I went to see movie to Silvercity in Riverport. It was almost one year ago when I watched movie at a theater last, and I found a change on theater devices. The film title I chose was "V for Vendetta," which was a kind of sci-fi thriller reminding me of George Orwell's "1984." The film itself was not bad. It was a story about a mask man who revenges against totalism in near future England. The way in which he revenges was artistic and beautiful, and the filming looked like "Matrix" which was influenced much by Japanese cartoon. Anyway, what impressed me most was not the film itself but the theater devices. It was so called "IMAX" with "the largest screen in the world." It was so huge that I couldn't see anything except for the film. The theater hall had steep steps on which every seat was set so that every audience can see movie without disturb by other audiences in front of him. All the wall in front of the audiences was IMAX screen and quite a few speakers were piled up behind it. With the help of these IMAX devices, I felt as if I were in the film.

Wallace & Groumit

"Wallace & Groumit" is one of my favorite English films. I bought this DVD at HMV in Downtown(used to be Virgin Record). It was priced 2 for $30 as a X'mas sale and I got it with another DVD which is about Ray Charles. "Wallace & Groumit" is a clay animation in which all the characters are made of clay dolls and the making staff takes the picture flame by flame, gradually moving the clay characters. We can easily expect that it requires a very long time and much patience to take just a few minute cuts of it. As the result of their effort, the art of work looks very good. It has a kind of taste which the latest CG films do not have. For example, the texture of Wallace's cardigan and the Groumit's skin have some burrs or finger prints. They are not defects but work for adding warm taste to the film. It is literally a handmade movie.

Like Mike 2

Vancouver is popular as a film taking place because it is a beautiful city with artistic structures, beaches, and forests. This week the film staffs of "Like Mike 2" are making movies in the park in front of my apartment. It is an American comedy in which a little boy gets around NBA. They have changed the hockey coat into a basketball coat which is set for a beach somewhere in California. Several palm trees are planted and an ice-cream shop is open. I can overlook the whole film site from my balcony. It's interesting. They seem to enjoy both making movies and playing basketball. Only one problem is that they are not good at playing basketball. It is taking plenty of time before taking a successful goal scene.