The Breadwinner (2017)

I have seen two other films by Cartoon Saloon, a studio that is far from the mainstream, in both the topics of it's stories and it's style of animation.  This ain't Disney.

Angelina Jolie is listed as one of the executive producers on the film, as she seems to have developed an interest in foreign cultures since working on Tomb Raider in Cambodia.  While I appreciate that Angelina Jolie has some clout which may have helped to get this film made, I am unsure why Angelina Jolie is considered a box office draw, as I don't know of any film that she has made that was outstanding.

This gives a good look into the life of living under the taliban regime, and it's is not pretty.

This is definitely an important film, but doesn't have the replyability or the enjoyment of Disney films

Atlas Shrugged (2011)

This is less about the film, and more about Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism.

First, I am glad that they were able to make this into a movie, as the book is infamous and daunting, both in it's length and it's philosophy, so having it in a more accessible format helps with those aspects of the material.

Still, the production appears to have been plagued with problem, as the entire cast of the film was recast with each subsequent film.  While the actresses who played Dagny Taggart do resemble each other somewhat closely, the actors of the other three (or four) main actors varied rather wildly in looks and age.

Also, when the book was written, the rail lines played more of prominent role in transportation.  While the film adaption is set in the modern age, they altered the present age to give railroads a prominent place, making air transportation and other land vehicles no longer efficient transportation methods.

I became interested / aware of Ayn Rand's philosophy of objectivism from playing the original Bioshock.  While the philosophy does play a role in the story of game, it is not an overwhelming one.

The problem with Ayn Rand's philosophy, is it is an extreme counterpoint to communism (as Ayn Rand was born and raised in Russia), but to an extreme that ignores reality and practicality. With the exception of Dagny, all of the other prime movers of came out with a revolutionary invention.  The concept says basically that these people should be able to take all the rewards of their inventions for themselves, but this completely overlooks that the inventors are rarely the same people as the businessmen who set up a system to make those inventions profitable.

Furthermore, in the community John Gault has set up, it is apparently made up of only these geniuses, which leads to the question of who does the manual labor of things such as laying down the roads or clearing the backed up toilets?  A genius's intellect is not put to best use doing such tasks.

If these prime movers were to disappear, as the did in Atlas Shrugged, they would be quickly replaced, as the business aspect of the world is not a scarce talent.

One other thing about this, is that the prime movers were able to completely remove their inventions from society, but once the cat is out the bag, there is not getting it back in again.  Patents were meant to protect the inventors for a limited period of time, and even if the patent were eternal, others would be able to examine those inventions and eventually create their own copies.

Pow Wow Highway (1989)

This is another native American made film, featuring a full cast of native Americans.  As if nearly required of any native American film, Graham Greene and Wes Studi both have roles.  These are two of the actor who appeared in Dance with Wolves, as well as numerous other native American films.

It is an interesting "adventure" film, but doesn't go deeply into any issues of the condition of native Americans today.

The character of Farmer has great faith in the old spiritual ways, and in this film, his faith pays off.  Unfortunately, I don't see that as a positive thing, attempting to rely on what is essentially superstition to solve your problems.

Buddy, on the other hand has abandoned the old ways, and is much more practical. While he seems to be more in control of his life and the issues that affect him, as I said it is Farmer and his spiritual ways, that save the day repeatedly.

The Brave (1997)

I was really interested in watching this movie, when I first heard about it, back in the late 90's but I was unable to track down a copy until just recently.  I found out that Johnny Depp, for whom this was his directorial debut, and also in large part financed the picture, didn't care for the early negative reviews of it in the American press, after the premiere screening, so he never released the film to theaters in the US nor has it ever been released on DVD or home video in the US.  Strangely, I was in Japan at the time of the initial release of this film, but I never saw that it was in theaters over there, nor have I seen it available on home video or in the video stores there.

I had planned on watching every film that Johnny Depp made, in the 1990s (that is when I had my plan), and I believe I have seen all but two of his films made in the 1990's, but since then I have not kept up with Johnny Depp's films.

I was primarily interested in this film because of the Native American aspect, in that it is supposedly set in a reservation type place and that the characters are themselves supposed to be native Americans, but this film captures nothing of native American life style, or culture.  While there was a single actor of native American decent in this film, and Johnny Depp who plays Raphael, does look vaguely native American, (or, he looks less like a stereotypical caucasian) no other actors are of native American decent, and a large number of them are Latinos, and even some of the music sounds Latino.  The area they are living in, on the side of, and surviving from scavenging from a trash pile, sounds nothing like a reservation or where native Americans would be living, and more like that you would find in the third world.  I didn't see any sign of native American culture in this film, from the way the people acted.  The only attempt at showing native American culture, was a odd extremely short ceremony Raphael participated in after his fight with Luis.

I felt it was very odd that Raphael and his family set up a lot of their furniture outside their house, as it made not sense, because if it were to rain, obviously everything would get ruined, such as the TV.  Also, it seemed really odd that he would waste a large portion of his money on those things, as it would have been better spent on necessities.

While my interest in this film stemmed from the native American aspect, this was clear not something the makers of this film were concerned with.  The reason the characters were created as native Americans was to the term "Brave" which could be used to describe a native American warrior, could as be used to describe how Raphael was brave to sacrifice himself for his family.

One to the things that made me hesitant to watch this film, and even stop half way through and wait a couple of weeks before finally finishing watching the film, was the "snuff" film aspect, which Raphael was supposed to participate in.  This really upsets me, as a concept, first because of the concept of killing for entertainment abhors me, and the concept of torture, equally so, but also the fact that snuff films do not actually exist.  I was perturbed that the film was going to depict the torture and killing of Raphael, as this wasn't something I wanted to see.  I spent the whole film, thinking that Raphael, had to change his mind about going through with it, that staying with his family was by far more important that that money.  I also was expecting some one in the film was going to save Raphael from this horrible deal with the devil he made.  I thought the police of FBI or some one would find out about, and close down the snuff film "studio" or perhaps the priest might stop it, or come up with the money in another way.  But, I guess the point of the film was that at the beginning, Raphael was "dead" and he only came alive again when he could finally provide for his children.  The question the film was posing was, would some really die for their family.  While I can see saving your family is a worthy reason to give up your life, I don't agree this would be a help way to do it.  I would think staying with them and providing for them through all the years of their life would be much more worth while.  I think the real question about giving up your life for your family is more like taking a bullet for them, than the method covered in this film.

At the end of the film, they showed the construction equipment coming and demolishing the housing that the people had set up, showing that Raphael's sacrifice was completely in vain.

It was amazing to see Marlon Brando appear in such a minor film, but his role was quite small (and perhaps even unnecessary), but was a big addition for marketing the film.

Island of the Blue Dolphins (1964)

This is less about the actual movie, and more about the actual events that inspired the story.

I was amazed to find out that Island of the Blue Dolphin was made in to a movie, even more so, that the movie was made in 1964, so I have gone 50 years without hearing about this movie.

I read this book as a child, and I am pretty sure I was assigned to read it in school.  At the time, I didn't have a great interest in native Americans and I kind of wondered why I was reading that story.  It seemed odd, as she was trapped on the island all alone, and I expected little would happen over the course of the story, so I was waiting for her to be rescued the whole time.

The movie is a faithful adaption of the novel, as far as I remember.  I read that the actress who played Karana, Celia Kaye,  was awarded for being an upcoming actress, but it seems that her career never took off.

One thing that bothers me about this story, is that after reading up on it, while it is based on a real story, it is much like the story The Perfect Storm (the movie, not the book) where no one knew what took place at all, so the story was just a made up account of events that could have taken place.

Sadly, I read that the woman who was stranded on that island for 18 years, died of dysentery 7 weeks after being rescued.  At the time she was rescued there was no one left who could speak her language, so on one was even able to find out what her real name was.  I am kind of appalled that she died of dysentery, as it seems like the cure to that affliction is just to drink more fluids.  While other factors come into play with dysentery, it merely exists in severely impoverished counties these days.

One other thing is that after checking the location of the island she was trapped on, it is merely 72 miles from Los Angeles.  When I read the book, I though she was trapped on an island hundreds of miles from shore, it turns out, she was close enough the she could have potentially paddled in her canoe to the mainland (though I don't think she was aware of the location, or perhaps the existence of the mainland.

I was also a bit surprised to hear that the hunters were hunting otters, as I didn't recall that from the book.  I know there was a huge otter massacre around the time of these events, which nearly drove the otters into extinction, but I didn't know that at the time I read the book.

Stranger still, not a single otter appears in this film.

Also, I read that some one had gone back to the island and found some artifacts that were mostly likely used by the woman, though a number of those items were lost in the great San Francisco earthquake in 1906.  And her cormorant cape, which was sent to the vatican, appears to have been lost.

Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond – Featuring a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton (2017)

I like the TV show Taxi, though I rarely saw it as a kid.  I went and bought the DVD set and watched every episode of it.  I had an interest in Andy Kaufman before watching Taxi, but after doing so I wanted to see more.  I had watched the movie Man in the Moon, and was amazed at the things Andy Kaufman did.  I felt like I understood Andy Kaufman and what he was doing.  He wasn't trying to be a comedian or entertain the audience, he was entertaining himself, playing with the audience, trying to see how far he could pull his charade. I once read that Matt Groening had made the Simpsons yellow, to screw with the audience to make them think the color on their TV was off, and try to adjust it to the correct color.  It's the same thing, he wanted to do that piratical joke on the whole TV audience, because it amused him.

I spent a lot of time watching the various videos of Andy Kaufman's performances that were released on DVD and other that have appeared on the internet.  He certainly did things that no one else has done, nor probably every should do.  It's hard to say if he is even entertaining, but he never set out to be an entertainer.  I think he mostly set out to evoke a reaction from the audience, though often that reaction was negative.  And often the joke was also being pulled on the other cast members, talk show hosts and producers, who it appears were rarely in on the gag.

At the beginning of this film, Jim Carey said that the really story was what was going on behind the camera, and he was right (Even though Man on the Moon is an excellent film in it's own right).  Jim seems to have channeled Andy (and Tony) during the making of this film, and is off camera antics mimicked those of Andy, and nearly repeated them in several respects, often going so far as to make his co-workers uncomfortable with him.  He even repeated the "injury" Andy suffered at the hands of Jerry Lawler and was taking away in an ambulance.  And he repeated the stunt of having Tony Clifton show up at an event, with everyone assuming it was Jim Carey, only to have Jim Carey show up several hours later while Tony was still at the same event.

When I originally watched Man on the Moon, I felt that Jim Carey played Andy so well, that I forgot it was Jim Carey, and felt like I was watching Andy Kaufman.  Johnny Depp usually does his character equally as well, so that you don't feel like you are watching Johnny Deep.  These are some of the few actors in Hollywood that can really act.  In fact, while watching Jim Carey portray Andy, he even looked so much like Andy, I would forget I wasn't actually watching Andy.

In the end,  Andy's death tragic was especially tragic, as I feel like he was about to take a new direction, making a children's show.  I read that he gave his blessing to Pee Wee Herman, who was able to make a kids TV show, which I hope is in the spirit of what Andy wanted to do. (No disrespect intended to Paul Reuben, who is a excellent energetic and creative entertainer, who needs no help from anyone.)

American Hot Wax (1978)

I had never heard of Alan Freed before watching this film, so I didn't know of his vital role in introducing Rock & Roll to America (and his coning of the term.

I guess I had heard about this film, because it was a box office bomb, and I am always interested in seeing if these bombs had something spectacular to offer, which was overlooked (as if often the case).

I was amazed at the cast, as I had never seen Jay Leno or Laraine Newman in a film before. though they each had there place on TV. Fran Drescher, know for The Nanny, nearly a decade later, also had a big role in this film, but she did appear in a few significant films before hitting it big on TV.

While this is certainly a story that needed to be told, without knowing the significance of Alan Freed, or knowing that he introduced the world to Rock & Roll, his seems like just a routine story of a DJ putting on a show.  No big surprises, or tense moments or twists.  Watching the film, without knowing any background, it seems odd that anyone was concered that the show might not go on.

Even odder, the police and the IRS have a heavy hand fighting against the show, and seem to have taken some actions which were illegal.  Again, prior to watching this film, I had no idea of the significance of the show Alan Freed had put on in Boston, and all the trouble that stirred up, though that doesn't justify the police's actions during his show in New York.

The soundtrack to this film is spectacular, crammed with classic golden oldies.  Even more amazing is the appearance of some of the actual Rock & Roll legends in this film that Alan Freed introduced to the world.

After reading up on Alan Freed, I realize that he has some problems, as he was playing songs that he often had a license to, which appearntly was a highly questionable and perhaps illegal at the time of his DJ days.  Consdiering his vital role in introducing the world to Rock & Roll, it is disappointing to say the least that the notation of his contributions were removed from the Rock & Roll hall of fame.  Another case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

I wonder if this film was given the green light to to George Lucas success with American Graffiti and the follow up success of Happy Days.

A Man Called Horse (1970)

As a kid, I had seen the commercials for this movie on channel 56, and it sounded like it was an impressive film that you must see.  Added to that, my interest in native American culture, it's kind of amazing that I hadn't seen this film yet.

But this film, like many films, has one short scene that made a big impression on the audience, and caused people to talk about that this film, but other than those 2 or 3 minutes, the film has very little to offer.

The film stars Richard Harris, who I know from playing King Arthur in Camelot, both the musical and the film.  While in the original story, which was a book, Horse was a Spaniard, being that Harris seems to play nothing other than Englishmen, the character of Horse is an Englishman, whose name is given in the film.

It's a good film in that it shows native Americans in a good light and they are more or less the center of the story, but I feel the accuracy of the representation of the culture is dubious at best.

Even more so, the accuracy of the Vow to the Sun ceremony, which attracted so much attention to this film, is also dubious.  As far as I know, there has been no confirmed record of the activities that take place during this ceremony, and I could find no record of the chest piercing and hanging has ever been a part of this ceremony.  Real or not, I  have heard that back in the times before disinfectant, any wound could become infected and lethal, so that piercing the skin would be something that I would think would be never considered to be done on purpose.


Return of a Man Called Horse (1976)
This film adds nothing to the story (the story does not continue nor develop) and just rehashes the Vow to the Sun scene, which made such a big impression in the first film.

Triumphs of a Man Called Horse (1983)
This film the story does progress, and the character of the son of Horse appears that takes up the cause of justice for his tribe.  It was interesting to see Michael Beck, whom I recognized from The Warriors, and made quite a films in the 80s, but he career never took of they way he probably hoped it would.  He does look slightly native, though through this film, there doesn't appear to be a single genuine native American actor, nor in a native American language spoken.

And as the tradition with movie posters of the time, the woman portrayed in this poster wearing a bikini, never wears a bikini in this film.

Wagon Train: A Man Called Horse (1958)
This story which proceeded the movie, seemed much better put together, and the REAL name of a man called Horse is never revealed.  Even more so, the character of Horse says he named himself, where as in the films, he was called that name by the members of the tribe, which doesn't make very much sense.

Also, in this version, the Man Called Horse is an American, which makes more sense, as it would be exceptionally rare for an Englishman to be out on the Frontier.

Starflight: The Plane That Couldn't Land (1983)

I cannot recall what got me on a kick looking up the history of Barney Miller, and it looking to the cast a bit, but I found out that Hal Linden (Barney Miller) stared in a TV movie called Starflight: The Plane that Couldn't Land.  Because of my interest in science fiction, I though I had to check it out.

I was pretty surprised that this film and been pretty much forgotten, as it has a pretty impressive cast, including Lee Majors, who is know for the Six Million Dollar Man and Fallguy and Lauren Hutton, who I belive to be a note worthy actress, but I couldn't recall any film that she had been in.

After watching the film, I can see why it is nearly forgotten.  It is a disaster type movie, much like the Airport movies (None of which I have ever seen, but I have seen the Airport parody film Airplane! many, many times) but set in space.

While the film is anticlimactic and every one of the dangers Starflight One faces, it is even more odd that they were able to get one of the people off StarFlight One and back to earth, the same odd problem that Star Wars: The Last Jedi had, saying the crew was stranded, but people were some how able go leave the ship, so in fact they weren't stranded.

One other very odd thing about this film is that it had a space shuttle launch in hours of Starflight One getting stranded, at least twice.  While, going from months of planning to being able to launch in a few hours is utterly ridiculous, the fact the the shuttle has a LARGE CARGO BAY, which could accommodate all the passengers, means a single shuttle trip would be enough to rescue all the stranded passengers, except for the very contrived accidents which occurred in the film which prevent the passengers from boarding the shuttle, and even more strangely having the shuttle return to earth with only a single recused passenger, merely to return again a few hours latter to make another rescue attempt.

With any film, I appreciate that the look the time to make it, and see what they were attempting and I am glad to see such a wonderful cast, but unfortunately, lacking a well thought out and well written plot makes this film hardly worth tracking down.