The Automatik

I read Nathanael West’s The Day of the Locust a few years ago after finding J.G. Ballard’s description of it intriguing. In A User’s Guide to the Millennium, Ballard called the novel a “nightmare vision” of Hollywood, and after reading it myself, I found his analysis to be an accurate one.
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Everyone knows about Beverly Hills Cop, Top Gun, and Ghostbusters. But what of all the other great movies released during that decade? Here are eight movies that I consider mandatory viewing. (Besides, I never liked Top Gun anyway.)
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Although the main characters in Ken Loach’s The Wind That Shakes The Barley may be fictional, the story of the bloody conflict between British soldiers and the Irish Republican Army in the 1920s is not. Those who’ve seen Neil Jordan’s Michael Collins will find the theme of Loach’s film familiar: brothers pitted against each other as they find themselves on different sides of the Irish struggle for independence Read more

Having waited six months to see this film, I confess that I was a trifle concerned that it would not live up to the hype. However, Breakfast on Pluto has not only met and exceeded all of my expectations, it has transfixed me, rendering me helpless in a state of semi-hypnosis, counting the hours until I can once more be held in its thrall. Read more

I hated the first hour of this movie so much I had to fight the urge to leave the theatre at least five times.

I’m glad I didn’t.
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“Would you like to see my mask?”

We humans rely on the fact that our superheroes are just that: greater than mortal men. But Batman is a special kind of icon: not an alien who came to earth in a meteor shower, nor a man bitten by a radioactive arachnid. Relying heavily on Batman graphic novels and completely discarding the embarrassing Batman franchise of the 1990s, in Batman Begins, director Christopher Nolan and screenwriter David Goyer have gifted us with a spectacular vision of Batman as not only a hero, but as a flawed human being who inhabits a world where the good guys don’t always wear white and sometimes the criminals are clad in shades of grey.
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Sin City is an extraordinary film. It’s undeniably exciting, and so thoroughly engrossing, that while watching it, the film’s world becomes the real world. After leaving the theater, I felt discombobulated by reality, and could scarcely focus on remembering where I’d parked.

This is not a film for children. For this, I am grateful. Quite frankly, I grow weary of sharing my long-standing interests in things with the tweens of the world who often don’t even get it. Of course, they probably think I’m too old to appreciate The O.C., but that’s for another essay.
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Whenever I watch the show COPS (which is actually rather frequently), I’m amazed by the amount of time law enforcement spends on prostitution stings. These are executed in one of two formats: A) a female cop poses as a hooker in order to nab would-be johns or B) a male cop chats up a hooker in order to charge her with solicitation. My concern with this is not that I believe prostitution should be ignored or even legalized; what I object to is the way the police officers cheer as they tally up the day’s total, as if they’re somehow saving the world by throwing men and women in jail for participating in prostitution.
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From IMDB.com:

Ordinarily when a powerfully talented performer produces a minor, disposable product like this, the advice is, “For die-hard fans only.” In this case, however, die-hard fans are the ones who will least like this documentary, as it is quite insulting to them (Cross fans are depicted as a bunch of crass, idiotic stoners.) As for David, he’s shown in a not very flattering light, dressed up in tacky clothes that are twenty-five years too young for him and indulging in adolescent behavior (setting off illegal fireworks, bragging about vandalizing his old highschool, gossiping about girls he’s slept with.) Put it this way: I would rather watch “Run Ronnie Run” again than sit through this thing a second time. You have been warned.
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Danny Boyle’s career seemed unstoppable until Ewan McGregor backed out of The Beach and Leo DiCaprio starred instead. Although ambitious, the film lacked the sincerity of Boyle’s previous work when it allowed DiCaprio’s movie star persona to overshadow everything else. But forget about that misstep: with 28 Days Later, Boyle has now achieved the same level of marvelous eclecticism as Peter Jackson by adding good old-fashioned horror to his already diverse oeuvre, all without sacrificing character or depth. Of course, there’s also an incredible soundtrack, a Boyle specialty, which enhances the mood rather than creates it.
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