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Favorite Flicks Discussion Group
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This is a group for folks to discuss their favorite movies, what they've seen lately, and movies that have changed their lives! Jump in and start talking about whatever movie you'd like!
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Latest Activity: Jun 12, 2017
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Comment by Maggie Friend on December 14, 2010 at 10:23pm
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At last I am reporting on the two most recent films that I've seen. Warning: these were not intended to entertain but rather to inform. Both reveal the history of our presence in Iraq and our current economic crisis. They are related by a common immorality in the highest spheres of finance and governance.
First is Fair Game. The title is a quote from officials in the Bush White House in reference to whether it was legal (not to mention treasonous) to publicly identify an undercover operative for the CIA. The film is the story of the outing of Valerie Plame who was attempting to ascertain the status of Iraq with regard to its capability to produce weapons of mass destruction. You may recall that her husband, who was at one time the ambassador to Niger, reported on whether Iraq had indeed acquired enriched uranium for its nuclear program. His finding? It had not. Yet it was reported by the administration that he found otherwise and this misrepresentation was our justification for invading Iraq.
Fair Game tells this story but, unlike a pure documentary, enables the viewer to feel the human impact of this story. Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson are real people with children and aspirations and a devotion to their country. This, plus some deliberately disjointed camera work, make the film both difficult to watch and important to have seen. Stars Naomi Watts and Sean Penn. The acting is excellent.
http://www.fairgame-movie.com/
Second is Inside Job. This film is a documentary detailing the thousand miscarriages of judgment and justice that led to our current financial crisis. The film is not at all heavy-handed and contains informative interviews with a handful of key players (many of the most important players declined to be interviewed) as well as footage from senate hearings on the collapse of the banks.
Ever wonder who the top 2% are and why we need to give them a tax break? You'll learn a lot about some of these folks and what drives them: sex, cocaine, power, and greed. It is a disturbing tale of morality gone awry and of the checks and balances that normally protect us from our worst human qualities being systematically undermined by administration after administration since Reagan. And you know all of those complicated financial instruments that none of us can understand? They are explained quite nicely here. A clear, concise history of the current crisis that Wall Street would prefer that you not see. Rated Best Documentary by the New Film Critics Circle.
http://www.sonyclassics.com/insidejob/
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Comment by wiffledust on December 11, 2010 at 10:31pm
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ooo you gave me some good ideas, jodie! thanks!!! and thanks for the synopsis , barry!!! i'm watching "it's a wonderful life" for the several'th time, but i get something new out of it each time!
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Comment by Jodie Ann Christiansen on December 11, 2010 at 9:38pm
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"Marley and Me" 2010,I think. I am dog owner/lover/shelter volunteer ;; therefore, I am too biased. I identified with most all the "dog -teaches- human "
life lessons, of which were laugh out loud funny, while still meaningful. I wish I had taken more kleenex to this movie....really.
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"The Wrestler" 2010 " Inside "look at wrestling circuit people and the huge emotional and physical impact that wrestling doles out.... O'Rourke acts so perfectly for this lead role and I just wanted to take him home and "heal" him on all 4 levels of Maslow's hierarchy !
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"The Wrestler" 2010 " Inside "look at wrestling circuit people and the huge emotional and physical impact that wrestling doles out.... O'Rourke acts so perfectly for this lead role and I just wanted to take him home and "heal" him on all 4 levels of Maslow's hierarchy !
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"The Last Station" 2009 Helen Merian; Chris. Plumber other notables.
If you wonder what Russian writer/philospher ,Leo Tolstoy, was all about, then this is NOT for you. However, it is not listed as documentary, so it isn't !
Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed this glimpse of Tolstoy and his life/love contradictions. Actors superb. Briefly covered L.Tolstoy's final years of introspection and his idealist values, such as, love conquers all and some of his actual quotes like, " Greed is evil". Ha...how apropos to issues today too !
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Comment by Barry Parsons on December 3, 2010 at 11:41pm
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There's a lot to it, so I'll cheat and post a description I didn't write.
In London, the sideshow troupe of Doctor Parnassus promises the audience a journey to the "Imaginarium", an imaginary world commanded by the mind of Doctor Parnassus, where dreams come true. In the stories that Doctor Parnassus tells to his daughter Valentina, the midget Percy, and his assistant Anton, he claims to have lived for more than one thousand years; However, when he fell in love with a mortal woman, he made a deal with the devil (Mr. Nick), trading his immortality for youth. As part of the bargain, he promised his son or daughter to Mr. Nick on their sixteenth birthday. Valentina is now almost to the doomed age and Doctor Parnassus makes a new bet with Mr. Nick, whoever seduces five souls in the Imaginarium will have Valentina as a prize. Meanwhile the troupe rescues Tony, a young man that was hanged on a bridge by the Russians. Tony was chased until he finds and joins the group. Tony and Valentina fall in love with each other and the jealous Anton discovers that his competition may be a liar.
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oh thanks, barry. can you remind me what that's about???
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I just watched The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, Heath Ledger's last film. It's very good and they did a great job of filling in the parts he was unable to do before his death.
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Comment by Lillian Gaffney on November 29, 2010 at 8:08am
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Great idea Susie, wish I was closer. A belly dancer joined my women's group... I wanna take lessons. I think the burlesque and belly dance calls our wild woman to move in ways our more practical self doesn't.
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