Reviews (DVD Only) – Page 19 – Public Intelligence Blog

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Deep Vulcan MindMeld for Intelligent Adults,

August 7, 2006

Johnny Depp

Wow! Johnny Depp, whom I first got to know when I took my kids to Pirates of the Caribbean, is a SHAKESPEARE level actor.

This is a supremely intelligent movie for very smart people that appreciate nuances. It is NOT an X-rated movie in disguise. A few (very few) exposed breasts, but some of the human choreography is reminiscent of Leonardi da Vinci, extremely tasteful and NOT pornography in any way.

This movie held my attention. It aroused a passionate empathetic appreciation of loyalty to life, liberty, wife, love, king, and country. Johnny Depp plays a very complex man, and the nuances of this movie have to be seen to be appreciated.

A keeper. I plan to buy it now that I have rented it.

2006/02/102009/12/04

Review DVD: Lord of War (Widescreen) (2005)

5 Star, Asymmetric, Cyber, Hacking, Odd War, Atrocities & Genocide, Capitalism (Good & Bad), Reviews (DVD Only)

Helpful in National Soul Searching and Confronting Reality,

February 10, 2006

Nicolas Cage

Many of the reviews of this movie are unusually naive and stupid.

My review of this movie is based on a lifetime overseas as the son of an oilman, as a Marine Corps infantry officer, as a clandestine case officer for the Central Intelligence Agency, and as the foremost trainer of governments interested in getting a grip on reality by focusing on open source of information in all languages.

This is a first rate movie with some truly extraordinary visuals and some truly extraordinary lines. It is an intelligence movie for intelligent people, and it should certainly give anyone both a couple of hours of enjoyment, and a couple of hours of reflection.

Among the highlights:

1) AK-47 as the real weapon of mass destruction

2) Africans stripping a plane overnight, literally pulling every piece of it off and making it “disappear”

3) There is one gun for every 12 people, the arms dealers goal is to arm the other 11 as quickly as possible

4) The top arms dealers (“merchants of death”) are the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

I read more than I watch movies, and will end with two comments: a) all of my reading bears out the importance and relevance of this movie; and b) it is easily one of the more serious and appreciable movies I have seen in some time. The intellect in the devising and presentation of this movie is absolutely first rate.

2005/11/062009/12/04

Review DVD War of the Worlds

3 Star, Intelligence (Extra-Terrestrial), Reviews (DVD Only), War & Face of Battle

Gripping for Children, Annoying for Adults,

November 6, 2005

Tom Cruise

My ten-year old loved this movie and found it gripping. I found it annoying. A pale green overcast to the film, a general sense of staleness. The plot was so poorly developed that what really stood out in the first half of the movie was how stupid kids can be, not listening to adults when danger is present, and blowing it with childish screams at exactly the wrong moment. Perhaps this is Hollywood “fast food” and intended to be dramatic.

This comment may strike many as off-topic, but if you glance over my other 600 reviews (almost all of non-fiction about global issues), you might see the logic. Toward the end of the movie, with a bow toward Huntingon's “Clash of Civilization,” I saw the “aliens” as the U.S. and the humans as “everyone else.” The aliens crashed through, sucked blood (oil), destroyed everything in their path. In the end, they were undone by a suicidal terrorist (Tom Cruise) who was willing to go into the bowels of the beast to explode grenades, but was saved by a uniformed pal so we could have a happy ending.

I do not know if H.G. Well intended this (his book, “The World Brain” is one of the most important books anyone could ready right now as we prepare to create that World Brain and empower people), but all the reading I am doing is putting forward multiple world wars: between humans and bacteria; between individuals and corporations; between reality-based policy and zealot faith-based policy; between radicalized Islam and radicalized Judiaism that has merged with extremist evangelical Christianity.

At the end, I gave the movie four stars instead of three because it did cause me to think and reflect on the modern implications of man versus machine.

2005/11/062009/12/04

Review DVD Mad Hot Ballroom (2005)

5 Star, Culture, DVD - Light, Reviews (DVD Only)

Why Dancing is Part of Growing Up,

November 6, 2005

Heather Berman

I got this on a whim, intending to help my 6th grader, and ended up loving it. There are some unusually good reviews by others, so I will not repeat them. The bottom line is that this movie is for grade school what E.O. Wilson's book “Consilience” is for adults. In that book he answers the questions, “why are the humanities vital to the sciences” and concluded that science out of context is not helpful to humanity.

Watching this movie, I found myself really admiring New York City for understanding how dancing could contribute to social IQ and to human interactions. As my own teen-ager (145+ IQ) rejects rote learning in high school, I am compelled to believe that we need to drastically change education, and do more of this social interaction, learning to learn, learning to find people who know, learning to exchange ideas rather than memorize old ideas, etcetera.

As a suburban New Yorker from the 1960's, I also found that this movie considerably enhanced my appreciation for New York, and the school system, in the aftermath of 9-11. Over-all this movie is a credit to kids at their best, to the idea that dancing matters, to the NYC school systems and its teachers, and to the “Big Apple” itself.

Super, worthy of any adults time, and a definite pick for family nights in over pizza.

2005/07/232009/12/04

Review DVD: The Snow Walker

5 Star, Reviews (DVD Only), Survival & Sustainment

Restores Man-Nature Values When Technology Fails,

July 23, 2005

This is not your run of the mill boy meets girl from other side of the tracks, they live happily ever after (or not). This is an extraordinarily deep and pleasing look at what happens when technology fails, and man's only salvation is another person who is still in touch with nature.

I was moved by this movie, and found it to be nuanced and elegant. Not only does the pilot survive, but in doing so, he returns to the land, he returns to “the people of the land” (the Eskimos), and he overcomes the falsely-rooted prejudices of those who fall prey to the fools' gold that is found in technology, and scorn those who remain close to the land.

At all levels, this is an extraordinary movie.

Books that support this theme include Lionel Tiger's “The Manufacture of Evil,” Jean Ralston Saul, “The Dictatorship of Reason in the West,” Clifford Stoll, “Silocon Valley Snake Oil,” and Norman Cousins, “The Pathology of Power.”

2005/07/192009/12/04

Review DVD: Bride and Prejudice

5 Star, Culture, DVD - Light, Reviews (DVD Only)

Brilliantly Clever at All Levels–Remakes US View of India,

July 19, 2005

Naveen Andrews

This movie is so extraordinarily clever, at all levels, that I have watched it twice with undivided attention, and have it playing on background now. It does nothing less than remake US views of India. As I read the full page advertisements in the Washington Post saluting the visit of the Indian Prime Minister, and reading about the White House agreeing to sponsor nuclear information exchanges while India sponsors a second green revolution, I cannot help but think that this movie, in a unique way, captures both the beauty of India, and its arrival as a world power equal to the US.

I spend a lot of time thinking about both reality and perception. The US has blown it when it comes to the billions of poor–not just the Arab fundamentalists, but the non-violent individuals who see us occupying their countries and looting their natural resources. If America could produce a movie like this, one that reflected the best of America, the ideals of the original Republic, it would have more of an impact than the billions of dollars we are spending on a heavy-metal military.

This movie is extraordinary. It is brilliant. It is worth buying, viewing multiple times, and as a gift idea.

2005/07/012009/12/04

Review DVD: Cracking the Code to the Extraordinary

3 Star, Consciousness & Social IQ, Intelligence (Collective & Quantum), Reviews (DVD Only)

Forget this one, get “What in the Bleep”,

July 1, 2005

Ramtha

In comparison with “What the Bleep Do We Know” which I rate at five stars, this is a relatively light-weight and somewhat flakey sideshow. Don't waste your time. I will note that the same blond is in both DVD's–in this one she is a quasi-cult feel good about yourself old hippie, in the better DVD she comes across as a serious person with an important message.

Highlight (this DVD generated one note card, the other one 9):

God is us channeling up and out.

Each of us is an “observer.”

There are multiple worlds, we can transfer between past and future.

Time & space are NOT a continuum.

If you pay attention, you ARE “God.”

*You* create your life, you decide what external “opinions” to act on.

On balance, not worth the time–but I really want to stress this, this woman's contributions in the better DVD that I do recommend, clearly mark her as a serious person worth listening to. This tape is fluff compared to the other one.

What the Bleep Do We Know!?
The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success

Category: Reviews (DVD Only)

Review DVD: The Libertine (2006)