Category: Reviews (DVD Only)

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Review (DVD): Serious Moonlight

Culture, DVD - Light, Reviews (DVD Only)
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4.0 out of 5 stars Killer Ending, Meg Ryan Carries It Off

February 15, 2010

Meg Ryan, Timothy Hutton
I had real reservations about this DVD based on the write-up, but Meg Ryan carried it over as I was picking out three DVDs to keep me company on an editing marathon.

BE PATIENT with the beginning. Despite Meg Ryan (doing very well playing a stressed out robot lawyer), I almost lost patience and moved on.

On balance the movie is fun, provokes thought, and it has an absolutely killer ending that makes the whole thing totally worth watching from beginning to end, and leaves me chuckling with appreciation for Meg Ryan the actress and Meg Ryan the character as played in the film.

Other DVDs that might be enjoyed:
Non-Muscials
The American President
Meet Joe Black
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
Something's Gotta Give
Maid in Manhattan
Spanglish

Musicals
Beyond the Sea : Widescreen Edition
Bride and Prejudice
De-Lovely: The Cole Porter Story
Walk the Line

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Review (DVD): Duplicity

3 Star, Intelligence (Commercial), Reviews (DVD Only)
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3.0 out of 5 stars Confused, Overly Complex, Badly Staged

February 15, 2010

Julia Roberts, Clive Own

As a former spy who has spent the last 21 years in commercial intelligence, i expected much more from this film with its great actors but I was very disappointed. Had it not been in front of me on background as I edit my new book I would have turned it off completely on more than one occasion.

The ending is sort of clever and I will not spoil it, but there are no clues at the beginning so the movie more or less ends with “fooled you, didn't I, but your going to have to take my word for it.” And about that pink elephant that I am keeping away from your front lawn….

Over-all, this is a cluttered mess.

There are still no really great commercial intelligence films, nor should they be, because those who spend heavily on commercial espionage lack both ethics and brains. 95% of what you need to be a successful ethical commercial intelligence practioner is openly available and your customers should be providing you with the rest, i.e. what they want that no one else has thought to give them.

Other spy-type DVDs that I have enjoyed include
Breach (Widescreen Edition)
Firewall (Widescreen Edition)
The Departed (Widescreen Edition)
Live Free or Die Hard [Blu-ray]
U-571 (Collector's Edition)
True Lies
Out of Sight (Collector's Edition)

And of course the Bourne series and the new James Bond series and before that, everything featuring George Smiley.

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Review DVD: The Good Soldier

5 Star, Consciousness & Social IQ, Culture, Research, Empire, Sorrows, Hubris, Blowback, Force Structure (Military), History, Military & Pentagon Power, Philosophy, Power (Pathologies & Utilization), Reviews (DVD Only), Truth & Reconciliation, War & Face of Battle
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World – The Good Soldier – 50/79 min [15 December 2009]

Four veterans from different generations of wars show us what it really means to be ‘a good soldie

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5.0 out of 5 stars Righteous and Clear-Cut Contribution

January 22, 2010

Michael Ulys and Lexy Lovell

I found this movie very compelling and am putting it into circulation as a shared good. It is built around four specific veterans (one each from WWII, Viet-Nam, and Gulf I) and does a superb job of weaving direct interviews, past photos of the three protagonists, and archival film clips.

The Marine from Gulf I is especially compelling as he tells of his deliberate refusal to accept a Conscientious Objective discharge after killing over 30 people in Iraq, and ultimately, with the aid of a high-powered lawyer, prevails in getting an Honorable Discharge.

The same Marine–and the others–discuss how one must train normal people to kill, and there is no thought of how to untrain them (war dogs get reintegration training, humans do not).

The clear message, in these words:  We are One, and War is no way to settle disagreements.  That is of course both correct and naive–it discounts the fact that Empire is about money for a few, and the troops are merely cannon fodder.  That's the first thing we have to change–take the money out of war and into peace.

In that light, I add General Smedley Butler's book, War is a Racket: The Antiwar Classic by America's Most Decorated Soldier and removing my earlier recommendations of DVDs in which war is glorified.

I add instead several references that probe who we are as a nation (America).
What Kind of Nation: Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, and the Epic Struggle to Create a United States
The Thirteen American Arguments: Enduring Debates That Define and Inspire Our Country
A Foreign Policy of Freedom: Peace, Commerce, and Honest Friendship

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