Summer Pirates

Summer movies are a species of film all of their own. Heros running around, daredevil heroics, big explosions, love affairs, not too much to think about. The new Pirates movie fits the bill just fine by me, and then some. It seemed to be less silly than the last one, though Cap'n Sparrow's entrance wasn't even close to being as cool as the original. Johnny Depp gets very high marks for drunken pirate swaggering - "Why is there never any more rum?" He gets up, stumbles drunkenly, "Oh, that's why." Unfortunately, the silliest lines in the film go to Cap'n Sparrow along with the good ones. The whole island cannibals thing wasn't very good, and didn't advance the plot either. But it's forgivable, as the good parts of the film outweighed the bad.

This Pirates seemed a bit more adult-themed than the original, with a little kissing betwixt (hey, I'm writing about pirates, so a little 18th c. English is certainly allowed) Mr. D and hottie Kiera Knightly. And a few of the pirate deaths seemed much more violently graphic that the first film.

Pirates 2 leaves the door wide open for Pirates 3, which is the best news of the year for me. A whole new generation of pirate-loving children are being taught the proper moral values of piracy on the high seas, which bodes well for the future!! HAarrgh. A pirate's life for me!

Scanner Darkly

This film is amazing. The visuals are great, the performances are right on - sometimes hilarious and sometimes scary, and always weird. Perfect for this story. If you have any inclination for liking Phillip K. Dick's work, or you like these kind of visuals, or you like weird cyber-punk stuff, or you just like innovative cinema, you have to see this film!! I'm going to see it again.

Bollywood wrapup

Oops - I forgot to post this, and thought I already had. I guess that's old age for you.

The Bollywood series was a great success! We had an excellent discussion with over 60 people taking part, both before the Saturday evening film and several people stayed after for another half hour to talk about the film. Thanks to Amy Laly for being our discussion leader, and thanks to everyone who came to see the great films over the course of the week. I'd say this was our best series ever, with every screening of every film seeing a decent turnout, and with several screenings being a packed house. Our final screening, a Thursday night show of "Mistress of Spices," was actually sold out! Wow! Bravo to Tacoma for supporting this film series!

Also, special thanks to our new friends at Jhankar Productions and Totem Lake Cinema for supplying us with the films.

Local Documentary Rocks!

"Heart of the Game"

This film is great on several levels. First off, it's NOT a chick flick (not that there's anything wrong with that!!). It's a great documentary about perseverance and fighting to succeed. These girls are fantastic athletes, and their coach is inspirational and really cool.

It's about the Seattle Roosevelt High School girls basketball team, fighting off lots of adversity and going to the state finals. One of the girls drops out of school, has a baby, and has what looks to be a pretty bleak future. Then she rallies back the next year, comes back to school, and fights a legal battle to be allowed to play basketball again as a fifth year senior.

Any of you who know my taste in films, might think I wouldn't like this film, but you'd be wrong! I LOVED this film. If I had a teenage daughter, I'd probably be putting up a hoop outside the garage right now!! And I really don't even like basketball, but I loved this film. See it before it's gone!!