The Polar Express

Nicole picked this movie for Family Night and I’m glad she did because I always wanted to see it.  The Polar Express has now become a Christmas staple in the US, the same way the Grinch has been for decades and it’s even shown in theaters year after year at Christmastime.

The story is very simple: a kid who’s starting to doubt the existence of Santa Claus is given a ride on the Polar Express on Christmas Eve.  The train rides to the North Pole where Santa is getting ready to leave to start delivering his gifts to the children of the world.  On the train there are other doubtful kids and our hero gets to live out more adventures than he could imagine.

The movie, directed by Robert Zemeckis, is famous primarily for vastly improving on the motion capture technique that was available at that time.  After this movie premiered, wowing audiences with its realistic animation – and earning a wallop at the box office, others followed, until James Cameron raised the bar exponentially last year with Avatar.

The movie is just the average family fare, with a mildly original plot but the Christmas cheer is doled out in full force.  The visual effects are impressive though, and watched in 3D it must be quite spectacular.

Grade: 7

Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire

Precious is one of those movies that keep you glued to the screen.  Maybe you’re horrified by what’s happening.  Maybe you’re hoping that things will improve for our heroine.  Maybe you can’t believe what you’re seeing, even though deep inside you know perfectly well that this type of things happen everyday.  Maybe it’s like watching a train wreck from which you cannot avert your gaze.

Regardless of the why, a movie like Precious is meant to shock you, to expose the ugly, to show the nasty, and Precious does it all masterfully well.

Precious tells the simple story of a teenage girl named Precious who still lives with her mom and is pregnant.  While that per se isn’t indicative of a hellish life, the conditions in which Precious has to live because of her mother’s constant belittling and beatings make it so.  The reason why Precious is pregnant in the first place also adds to her dire existence.  And her heavyset frame doesn’t help her confidence nor her place in the outside world.

Precious is headlined by two actresses who pretty much own every frame.  Gabourey Sidibe, as Precious, is a revelation.  She plays this enslaved girl with dignity, submission, and inner strength.  Sometimes a simple gaze is enough to make us care and root for Precious.  Although she didn’t win the Oscar for it, a nomination for her first role ever is a triumph in itself.

A comedienne and TV personality, Mo’Nique’s film career was slim and irrelevant up to this role, for which she very deservedly won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar.  Rarely have I seen such rage, such genuine selfishness, self-centeredness, and carelessness in a character portrayed with such raw talent.  All one can say is, BRAVO!!

Two very famous singers also appear in cameo-like roles.  Lenny Kravitz as a nurse and Mariah Carey as the social worker who tries to help Precious live a better life.  While Kravitz simply holds is own, Carey, barely recognizable without her usual glitz, actually gives a performance worth noticing.

Precious isn’t an easy movie to watch, but it’s a must see that will stay with you long after the last harrowing scene in which Mo’Nique looks like a caged wild beast at the end of her run is over.

Grade: 9

Shrek the Third

I can still remember the elation I felt leaving the theater after watching the first Shrek movie back in 2001.  The screenplay felt fresh, the jokes and gags were hysterical, and the animation was groundbreaking.

The 2004 follow up, Shrek 2, was still pretty good, even though some of the surprise had understandably dissipated by then.

Given the amount of money the first two chapters generated, a Shrek the Third was inevitable, but alas, third time wasn’t the charm.

The movie sees Shrek and his sidekick Donkey going on a quest to find someone who wants to be King, while Fiona stays behind.  The adventure feels less enthralling than it used to, probably because we’ve sort of seen it all before, but it’s the characters themselves who feel tired, even though they’re “not real.”

On top of that, the baddie (Prince Charming) feels weak, and the new addition (Merlin) is nothing more than a petulant adolescent.

The animation is still great and overall the movie is certainly watchable, but I’m glad I didn’t waste my money to watch this in a theater.

The fourth, and supposedly final, chapter of the Shrek saga is in theaters now, and the reviews are less than tepid.  Looks like the brand gets worse with every outing, so I guess I’ll wait for the DVD again, and watch it with the kids on Family Night.

Grade: 5

The Summons by John Grisham

The Summons is an enjoyable albeit just average offering by Grisham.

It tells the story of a guy who finds his old father dead in his studio, where he subsequently discovers a large amount of money that he has no idea where it could be coming from.

Although not memorable, the story is well developed (especially the well-rounded characters) and it offers plenty of adventure and even a few twists.

I particularly enjoyed the reading of the book by Michael Beck (whom I remember from the 1979 movie The Warriors), who succeeds in giving each characters his or her own distinct personality.  The various southern accents he does are great to listen to.

Grade: 7

A preventable catastrophe

It looks more and more like the environmental catastrophe brought about by the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and subsequent collapse could (and should) have been avoided if the people in charge weren’t greedy bastards and heeded the warning signs.
From the NYTimes.com:

Internal documents from BP show that there were serious problems and safety concerns with the Deepwater Horizon rig far earlier than those the company described to Congress last week.
The problems involved the well casing and the blowout preventer, which are considered critical pieces in the chain of events that led to the disaster on the rig.
The documents show that in March, after several weeks of problems on the rig, BP was struggling with a loss of “well control.” And as far back as 11 months ago, it was concerned about the well casing and the blowout preventer.
On June 22, for example, BP engineers expressed concerns that the metal casing the company wanted to use might collapse under high pressure.
BP documents released last week to The Times revealed that company officials knew the casing was the riskier of two options.
In April of this year, BP engineers concluded that the casing was “unlikely to be a successful cement job,” according to a document, referring to how the casing would be sealed to prevent gases from escaping up the well.
The document also says that the plan for casing the well is “unable to fulfill M.M.S. regulations,” referring to the Minerals Management Service.
On Tuesday Congress released a memorandum with preliminary findings from BP’s internal investigation, which indicated that there were warning signs immediately before the explosion on April 20, including equipment readings suggesting that gas was bubbling into the well, a potential sign of an impending blowout.
A parade of witnesses at hearings last week told about bad decisions and cut corners in the days and hours before the explosion of the rig, but BP’s internal documents provide a clearer picture of when company and federal officials saw problems emerging.
The documents show that in March, after problems on the rig that included drilling mud falling into the formation, sudden gas releases known as “kicks” and a pipe falling into the well, BP officials informed federal regulators that they were struggling with a loss of “well control.”
On at least three occasions, BP records indicate, the blowout preventer was leaking fluid, which the manufacturer of the device has said limits its ability to operate properly.
Bob Sherrill, an expert on blowout preventers and the owner of Blackwater Subsea, an engineering consulting firm, said the conditions on the rig in February and March and the language used by the operator referring to a loss of well control “sounds like they were facing a blowout scenario.”

So, the government agency that should supervise the oil companies didn’t do its job, sweeping warning signs under the rug and allowing BP to continue drilling even though this could lead to a “blowout scenario.”
And BP cut corners to save money, made risky decisions even though it knew they were the riskier of the choices it had, and shrugged at the warning signs that seem to have been numerous.
When are some heads going to start rolling?  Are we ever going to see some of these people behind bars?  Wouldn’t that, coupled with gigantic fines, be the only way to discourage oil executives from making the same careless decisions again?

In Memoriam

Dennis Hopper

1936 – 2010

One of the most recognizable names of the old Hollywood generation, Dennis Hopper succumbed to cancer this past weekend at the age of 74.

Famous primarily for his turn in Easy Rider, which he also co-wrote and directed (and which I never saw), he gave us memorable roles in later movies, like Blue Velvet, Apocalypse Now, and Speed.

His career, however, had started long ago, when he worked with a great star who unfortunately left us too early, James Dean.  Hopper starred in two of the only three movies that Dean ever made, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant.

Hopper, who had a reputation for being tough to work with, fought many demons throughout his life, including alcohol and drug addictions, but was ultimately able to clean himself up and put his career back on track.  He recently top-billed the TV series Crash, based on the Oscar winning movie with the same title.

His talent will be missed.

R.I.P.

Have we reached the bottom of the list yet?

I’m referring to the list of possible solutions for the devastating Gulf of Mexico oil spill that’s endangering countless species of animals in the water and outside and is wreaking the environment along the fragile coast.
The question is, Should we nuke the well in order to close it?
The Russians have used this method successfully several times in the past and more and more scientists and experts seem to start warming up to the idea too:

As the latest effort to plug the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico meets with failure, the idea of nuking the immediate area to seal the oil underground is gaining steam among some energy experts and researchers.
One prominent energy expert known for predicting the oil price spike of 2008 says sending a small nuclear bomb down the leaking well is "probably the only thing we can do" to stop the leak.
Matt Simmons, founder of energy investment bank Simmons & Company, also says that there is evidence of a second oil leak about five to seven miles from the initial leak that BP has focused on fixing. That second leak, he says, is so large that the initial one is "minor" in comparison.
"Probably the only thing we can do is create a weapons system and send it down 18,000 feet and detonate it, hopefully encasing the oil," he said.
His idea echoes that of a Russian newspaper that earlier this month suggested the US detonate a small nuclear bomb to seal the oil beneath the sea. Komsomoloskaya Pravda argued in an editorial that Russia had successfully used nuclear weapons to seal oil spills on five occasions in the past.
Asked by a Bloomberg reporter about the risks involved in setting off a nuclear bomb off the coast of Louisiana, Simmons argued that a nuclear explosion deep inside a well bore would have little effect on surrounding areas.
"If you're 18,000 feet under the sea bed, it basically wont do anything [on the surface]," he said.

My answer would be yes, let’s nuke the damn thing and close it shut once and for all.  Especially since there wouldn’t be any real risk of radiation leaking out from such a depth, I don’t see why that solution has not already been put into play.
I can only guess that BP doesn’t want to risk making the well unusable by detonating a nuclear device right next to it, but if the solution could work I believe that Obama should order it.
And what’s that tidbit about a second leak a few miles off that the we never heard of before?  Is that true?  Is it really much bigger than the one BP is trying to plug?  If the answers are yes and yes, then is anything being done to plug that one too?  What’s going on here?  Obama?  Hello?

“Too bad your class is all boys…”

I’m not a fan of McDonald’s food (although I do occasionally crave their fries and sundaes…) but I have to give them props for this wonderful ad.  It’s well executed, very professional and has a great message:

Too bad we likely will never see it on US TV stations.

Gulf spill update

BP’s latest attempt to stop the flow of oil into the ocean via the so called ‘top kill’ failed.  Now they’re trying to slash the top of the well to then fit a new cap on it, which seems to me even less likely to succeed.
Meanwhile, the oil that had already reached the Louisiana shores, has now spread to Mississippi and Alabama, and Florida is only a few miles away:

BP early Wednesday used robot submarines and a complex maneuver in an attempt to stop the massive flow of crude oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico.
The company appeared to be making its second cut into the undersea well's riser pipe, the initial steps toward placing a cap over the well that has spewed hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico every day since late April.
Meanwhile, rust-colored oil washed ashore Tuesday on barrier islands off Alabama and Mississippi as a beleaguered BP tried to stop the continued flow of the largest spill in U.S. history.

And forget about the 5,000 barrels a day figure.  That number now stands at 19,000, with a 20% projected increase after the cut is performed, and with the caveat that the figure is likely higher still given that we’re quite likely fed lies by BP and probably the government:

But the operation carries the risk that the flow of crude from the ruptured well could increase by up to 20 percent once the damaged riser is cut away.
And the gusher may not be shut down until August when BP expects to complete relief wells that will take the pressure off the one now spewing into the Gulf.
The 5,000-foot-deep well erupted after an explosion and fire aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on April 20. Eleven people were killed. The rig sank two days later, leaving up to 19,000 barrels (798,000 gallons) of oil pouring into the Gulf, according to federal estimates.
After fouling sections of Louisiana's marshes over the past two weeks, the oil was spreading toward the northeast on Tuesday. Tar balls and patches of reddish-brown "weathered" oil came ashore on Dauphin Island, Alabama, south of Mobile, Alabama, and on Mississippi's Petit Bois Island, off Pascagoula, Mississippi, authorities reported.

And the last bit of terrifying news is that the hurricane season started yesterday and if one hits, it’s going to multiply the disaster:

In Louisiana, Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser warned a hurricane in the area could drive more oil ashore.
"We don't want to scare anybody, but we need to be realistic about it," Nungesser said. "If a storm does top out levees, it will probably bring oil with it."
He said residents who evacuate ahead of a hurricane might return "not to a flooded home, but to a home that is completely contaminated with this oil."

Charming.  Thanks oil companies!

Fun graphs

Ray pointed Graphjam.com out to me.  Some of the graphs are hysterical: