Movie review: Mocking jay

The film set-up is more sober, this time, the glamour of Capitol is missing.
Katniss Evergreen is forced to join a militaristic society of rebels, who try to use her as a symbol, to rally the troops.
The more elder rebel president Alma Coin, and Plutarh old Capitol game master, are trying to steer Katniss for their interest using her emotions as reins.
Katniss as any young female, is untameable, their can't force her to act in front of camera. In Capitol she acted to save innocents, now she is free to negotiate the terms.
On the other side president Putin, I meant Snow, sorry, is trying to pull her emotional reins by  keeping Peeta captive, and use him as a propaganda tool. Katniss is torn apart between her love for Peeta, the disgust for his words and the love for her old lover Gale, who stand by her.
Gale will be noble enough to volunteer to rescue Peeta from Snow's hand, leaving Katniss anxious about the fact that bothe her lovers are in Snow's grasp.
If in previous 3 film, action and glamour predominated, this film is more sober and more psychological.
Some scenes are very realistic, sometimes you think you see images from Ukraine war zone.
I won't spoil the end, but I will say that the screen writer have left an opening for the next film.
What is strange how some things don't change:
 In Romania in presidential 2014 elections, and before that in 1989, the elders politicians have steered the discontent and energy of the young people, to reach the power.
Now I just expect next Mocking Jay film and the next year to see how they will use it.

Movie review: Kill the messenger

Dupa acest film ii inteleg mai bine pe jurnalistii care se vand, sau care scriu la ordin.De ce sa strigi lupul si sa arati ca CIA-ul a finantat Contras din afacerile cu droguri pe care le tolera. cand poti sa publici la ordin documente secrete scurse de la serviciile secrete sa pari mare jurnalist de investigatii sa incasezi un salariu gras la un mare ziar sau de la o mare televiziune (vezi cazul lui Turcescu)
Daca fluieri in biserica si spui adevarul s-a putea sa te trezesti cu viata distrusa,sa-ti pierzi serviciul, sa vezi cum prietenii dau inapoi in loc sa te ajute cand esti atacat de toata mass media. Si sa sfarsesti ca Gary Webb personajul principal al filmului sinucis cu 2 gloante in cap.
Oricine a contestat autoritatea stie ca asa zisii prieteni si colegi nu te mai sustin, ca se incepe o campanie de ponegrire de catre asa zisi lideri de opinie si tot felul de lingai care asteapta o functie mai calduta, sar sa te atace in speranta ca vor fi remarcati de sefi.
Doina Cornea se plangea ca dupa ce au devenit publice conflictele cu Securitatea si partidul ca multi prieteni se faceau ca nu o vad si treceau pe partea cealalta a strazii. Riscand mult mai putin, colegii americani ai lui Gary Webb au facut la fel, s-au dezis de el si l-au lasat la mana ziaristilor controlati de CIA.
Macelul din decembrie '89 a avut loc din cauza minciunii. Minciuna si tacerea au deschis calea unor incompetenti spre putere. Raportarile fanteziste de productie la hectar, au impins o tara bogata din punct de vedere agricol spre foamete.
Faptul ca CIA a impiedicat DEA sa-si faca treaba a dus la moartea a mii de oameni in SUA datorita consumului de droguri.
Minciuna ucide. Sa va amintiti de asta cand va duceti sa votati.
Inainte de a fi jurnalist un om este cetatean, si in calitatea de cetatean trebuie sa aperi adevarul.
Ideal ar fi ca toti cetatenii sa fie preocupati sa afle si sa sustina adevarul.
Dar unii au si slujbe, si nu pot dupa 8h de munca sa faca investigatii.
Pentru asta sunt platiti jurnalistii. Dar ei sunt platiti de patroni
Pentru ca jurnalistii sa lucreze pentru cetateni ar trebui sa fie platiti direct de catre cetateni.
Blogurile platite ar fi un inceput.

PS. Un articol interesant despre musamalizarea afacerii Contras gasiti aici:
http://consortiumnews.com/2014/10/09/the-sordid-contra-cocaine-saga/
Daca in America, tara celor liberi, se fac mizerii de astea ce pretentii sa avem de la tarisoara noastra de abia iesit din comunism.

Barbarians wearing suits

I saw "The Wolf of Wall Street" and I can say that it is a continuation of  "Gangs of New York". If the "Gangs of New York" is about the birth of America, and the building of it by some poor European emigrants, "The Wolf ..." is about today's America, and the pursuit of the American dream inside America.
It is like the Wall Street has replaced the Statue of Liberty and has adresed  the following call to the scum of American society:
 "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
And they cram to the golden door: losers who didn't finish the high school,too ugly and too dumb to get laid.Guys smart enough to read  the lines written by their sociopathic boss Jordan Belfort.
Jordan Belfort gathers this bunch of barbarians, he dress them in nice suits, he learns them to speak, an then unleashes them to plunder people's savings.
Except the FBI agents, in the movie everybody wants to be rich, the victims of the con and the con artist themselves. Some are guilty of laziness some of greed.
The script is like it would have been written by Sigmund Freud: men are motivated by sex, fuck, and cock sucker are the most used word and women by greed.

The main character has only one skill that helps him achieving the American dream: lack of moral restraint.

He sells over evaluated stocks, he inflates the stock price that he owns and then he sells them, he is cheating and lying his first and second wife, he is eating drugs like candy's. He betrays his friends to escape prosecution.He is doing what others wouldn't do, and because of that he piles a ton of money.But  the fall is deeper: because his lack of restraint, he doesn't quit the schemes while he still can, and he cannot abstain from taking drugs.
Alone without wife and child, he is facing 20 years of prison, he should incriminate all the colleagues who supported him.

The movie questions the morality of the capital market. Despite Wall Street's PR effort to separate the real person Jordan Belfort from the Wall Street, the damage made by Jordan is lower than Bernie Madoff's ex Wall Street tychoon, and money attracts cocaine and women.
I am glad that Martin Scorsese didn't became a priest, now he can preach against against human sins in cinema theaters.
Overall it was a good movie with a lot of funny moments.

The hobbit 2 and my desolation

I just watched Hobbit 2 the Desolation of Smaug and I was impressed by special effects, but disappointed by the story.
The dragon Smaug chases 9 gnomes and a hobbit on the castle corridors, throws napalm at them. the lure him to the forge, they fool him to light the forge for them, they cast from gold in record time a 100m tall statue, which melts on the dragon. And at the end the dragon shakes away the gold and flies toward the lake city to destroy it. And the film ends.
It ends just in time to allow the screen players to write another story for another block buster. I saw the same trick on "Hunger games"
So I watched almost 1h of chasing, flame and stone throwing, wall smashing for nothing? Not even a gnome is killed?
Even the gnome with the thigh pierced by an arrow survives, saved by an tall elf woman who's got crush for him.Why? He is short, he is a practically a beggar, a servant of his king without a throne.
And all they have is a brief conversation.
And he is not a good warrior, she must save him all the time.
Maybe she is got some maternal feeling, and in Hobbit 3 she will cast a child with the elf Legolas.

You expect that Gandalf should be an old wise man. But it seems that his magic worthless in face of senility, because he goes to confront an army of orcs alone.
Even the orcs are more retarded. You expect that the savage orcs will kill anyone who stands in their way, but no, they prefer to close their powerful enemy Gandalf in an oubliette.
Just in case we have Hobbit 3 to have someone to fight to, usually the orcs pay their bills by let themselves killed in movies.
Only the elf king seems to have some brain, and tries to outsmart the gnome king.
As a story written by some writers it is worse than a popular fairy tale told by some illiterate peasants.
In Romanian fairy tales when the main character (usually a prince or a peasant) had to face a more powerful opponent (like a dragon) he has to resort to his cleverness. Here you don't have enough brain power to fight Smaug and Sauron.
In this movie some dummy positive characters face some dummy negative characters. The only clever character  is the boater Bard, who in Hobbit 3 will shoot the dragon killer arrow  exactly in place where a scale was damaged by his grand father, when the dragon attacked for the first time the city.

I suggest to the script writers to read more original popular tales, and copy them because they are better than what they have till now.

Movie review: Hunger games-Catching fire

I saw the sequel from Hunger games Catching fire.
I wasn't disappointed: good actors, good script, imaginative decor and costumes.
It was more thrilling that the old version.
If we compare Hunger Games with Star Wars trilogy, the first movie was like Star wars 1, and this one "Catching Fire" as "The empire strikes back", but the good guys are winning.
Woody Harrelson as usual creates and interesting and funny character as Haymitch.
The Hunger Games movies made the original books look dull and boring, a rare thing for a movie. 

Dupa dealuri. Cronica de film

Filmul "Dupa dealuri" de Cristian Mungiu, este foarte complex, deoarece se intretes mai multe idei:
dragostea,religia,alienarea omului modern,destinul omului,presiunea conformista a societatii,nebunia.

Cred ca filmul prezinta decadera unei lumi inchise, reprezentata de manastirea Tanacu.
Chiar la inceputul filmului se prezinta scrisa pe gard, crezul acesteia:
"Aceasta este casa Domnului, cei de alte religii nu au voie sa intre. Crede si nu cerceta"
Ideea de excludere a celorlalti si a lumii exterioare este intarita si de preot care incearca sa o alunge pe Alina, pentru a nu-i tulbura pe ceilalti.


Toti cei din manastire par ca s-au refugiat fata de lumea din afara, in propria lor lume cu ingeri,draci si semne prevestitoare.Manastirea pare o fortareata sub asediu spiritual.

Lipsita de ajutorul lumii de afara, lumea manastirii aplica metodele specifice aceste lumi supranaturale.
Ei sunt prinsi in propria lor nebunie asa cu Alina este prinsa in propria ei nebunie.
Dar lumea aceasta inchisa si rigida nu poate rezista lumii exterioare si a conflictelor ce le aduce, si sub presiunea integrarii celorlati se destrama.

Mi-a placut faptul Mungiu lasa sa se inteleaga anumite lucruri, folosind jocul de exceptie al actorilor.
(de ex. pierderea credintei de catre Voichita este sugerata de puloverul alb pe care il poarta in locul ilicului negru de la manastire).
Cristian Mungiu putea fi mai economic cu lungimea filmului, putea sa economiseasca cel putin 30min din durata filmului.Oricum i-a pierdut pe adolescentii care se harjoneau in sala de cinematograf dupa 20 min.

Dar totusi unii timpi morti din film, sugereaza ideea de spatiu in afara timpului, de infinit si te apropie cumva de atmosfera din manastire.Nu stiu daca asta a fost intentia.
Mai sunt si secvente de umor: desi manastirea functioneaza ca o secta ce isi exploateaza adeptii,si incearca sa le franga vointa, ei cred ca Alina a cazut sub influenta unei secte si de aceea are aceste probleme.

Ce nu mi-a placut a fost finalul:
Preotul, calugarii si politistii stau in duba, pe parbrizul masinii este aruncat noroi, care este sters de stergatorul de parbriz. Ce a vrut sa spuna cu asta? Nu putea sa puna o concluzie ceva?

Si in 432 si in "Dupa dealuri" sunt prezentatea relatiile umane dintr-o societate inchisa, rigida si rupta de realitate.