Who has time for movies?

Thanks, Don, for your reviews. 'Red Eye' is on my netflix queue.

But I have seen three movies this year... including DVDs... so am at an all-time low for film commentary.

In brief:

Notes on a Scandal: Pleasant but unpersuasive diversion. Two noted actresses, though I noticed nothing about their acting, really, or the writing.

Children of Men: I rate this along with BLADERUNNER as an effective set design and evocation of a dystopian near-future. I followed the story of this fairy tale with close attention in the theater, but little stuck with me after I'd left beyond the images and the swift and striking changes in mood. I needed a little less fairy-tale-thin premise to get me into the time and place of the drama, so I never got into the characters who lived in it. But scenes taken in isolation were very visually and sensually persuasive... though not emotionally persuasive.

The Banff Mountain Film Festival: Every year Pat and I go to see this road show in Washington at the National Geographic auditorium. It's usually the highlight of my film year. But this year it ranged from pleasant to indifferent.

Asiemut: One film followed a man and woman who biked from Mongolia across China to India. For those of you who can read French [sigh], here's a link to their site. [http://www.asiemut.mine.nu/] It's a simple but eloquent story of two people who, in their own words, wish to go beyond their own limits. They succeed... and the story is enriching and moving.

Patagonia, a travel to the end of the world: The Patagonia icecap lies between the Andes mountains, and is frequently exposed to strong winds and whiteout. Norwegian Børge Ousland and Thomas Ulrich from Switzerland started from a small village in Chile to cross the world’s third largest icecap from the west to reach the eastern shores of Argentina. They had to carry all their equipment und food supplies for the 54-day-long expedition with skis and special kayaks, because they had no outside help. They used their kayaks as sled, and did some admirably manly and ill-advised lashing-together of kayaks to make rafts. Very Huck Finn. And cold and crazy and a tribute to Y chromosones and their epic adumbrations of common sense.

The most accessible films... not very interesting as films, but for their content... are the 'Kids Who Rip' films. These are very young kids doing extreme sports. These films are cute in the irrefutably compelling sense of talking dogs and cats playing pianos. They are fun to watch. Go here to watch a few. [http://www.kidswhorip.com/portal] - download a short teaser in several formats. I am, of course, far cooler and sick-awesome than any of these kids. I am extreme typing now, yeow, in the tube!

I have also been watching 'The Wire' on video. Yeaah! Sweeet! Maybe not as much fun as 'Homicide'. But it's been a slow year for me.