Space Chimps

I didn't finish watching this movie. As a matter of fact I didn't watch very much of it. I got too disgusted and angry. The idea that chimpanzees just love doing dangerous circus stunts. That chimpanzees dream of being put in a capsule and shot into space. That to them, another chimpanzee who was shot into space is a hero.

I'll tell you what chimpanzees dream about. They dream about being with their families. They dream about being safe and well fed and free to move about. They don't dream about being dressed up in little outfits. They don't dream about doing tricks for our entertainment. They don't dream about living out their lives in cages.

And they most certainly don't dream about being shut up in a space capsule and shot out into space. From a chimpanzees point of view he is being shut up in a little prison and left alone. A prison he can't escape from. He has no idea what is happening to him, he just knows that he is alone and unable to move and it is very frightening.

Hey Delia lighten up! It's true where animal abuse is concerned I'm not very light. I have no idea who directed or wrote this movie. Usually I like movies that anthropomorphize animals because it makes humans feel closer to them and therefore more sympathetic. Oh look the cute little rat wants to be a chef. The pig wants to be a sheep herder. If it wakes anyone up to the fact that animals have feelings and needs then I'm all for it. But animals do not love to be put in dangerous situations they don't understand and can't control. They don't love to be shot out of cannons or strapped into a tiny cell and sent out into space. And any movie that says they do is lying. 

The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight is indeed dark. Its world is filled with predators who lust after absolute power and kill for sport and with a depressing viciousness. You can count on one hand the number of characters who have a pint of human decency in them. The city threatens to dissolve into complete chaos more than once when Batman (Christian Bale) goes up against the Joker (Heath Ledger) and you get the feeling that in the battle between good and evil, good is at a distinct disadvantage.

Is Heath Ledger as good as everone says? He's very good and not just because he wears creepy makeup, darts his tongue in and out, and talks in his gravelly voice. The Joker's a scarey guy. He creates havoc just for the fun of watching it. Would this movie be doing so phenomenally well if Ledger hadn't recently died? Probably not. His death is a tragedy and we are facinated by death. Real life death that is. There is so much death in this movie that it becomes what I call cartoon death. It's not real. After awhile it's numbing. Oh look that one died. And that one. And that one.

Believe me the plot is too convaluted to go into. There's a little bit of hero in every villain and villain in every hero and blah blah blah. Could they have made their point without littering the screen with corpses? Is there a point to going into a movie theater to watch humans being slaughtered in ever more inventive ways for two hours? It's not entertainment as far as I'm concerned. Is it enlightenment?

Look I can tell the director, Christopher Nolan and the writers, Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan were trying to take on some weighty issues. What makes people evil? Well the Joker's just a psychopath. No mystery there. Another character, Aaron Eckart becomes evil when they kill his girfriend and burn half his face off. You've seen this before too, in movies starring guys with names like Arnold, Sylvester and Jean Claude. They killed my family. They killed my wife, my girlfriend, my kids. I just have to become a ruthless killer. No you don't.

And I never want to go to another movie where a character carries around a quarter and it's heads I kill you, tails I don't. I thought No Country for Old Men had driven that one into the ground. It's supposed to show how arbitrary is life and death. But there's nothing arbitrary about murder. When someone murders you, they make a choice.

People are flocking to this movie and I don't think it's just because it stars a young handsome actor who died a tragic death. This movie is nihilistic at it's core. Its characters are killed off in a continuous stream, some for a reason, some for no reason at all. Most of them are no damn good. It takes a bleak view of human nature and that's putting it mildly. There's something about that that resonates with people. 

Transsiberian

It's so nice to see a movie about human beings. Not super heroes, not monsters, not cyborgs or machines. People. My species. A young American couple on a train from Beijing to Moscow meet another couple who turn out to be not so nice. The plot is suspenseful and well put together, You get pulled in because they seem so ordinary. So vulnerable.

The acting is very good. Woody Harrelson and Emily Mortimer are the nice couple and Kate Mara and Eduardo Noriega are the couple up to no good (he's smuggling heroin). And Ben Kingsley. Boy this guy really knows what he's doing in front of a camera. He's a Russian policeman who turns out to be a corrupt Russian policeman and you know that is the worst kind. When he has the American couple in his clutches the movie gets really scarey. In a good way.

This is really just a well made movie that is elevated considerably by the level of the acting. Credit the director Brad Anderson and the writers Mr Anderson and Will Conroy.

It's believable and involving. Unfortunately that's kind of rare these days. So you have to acknowledge it when it comes along

Ode to My Kitten

Oh my little one

You like to run much faster

Than any other kitty

But that could disaster

Oh small and restless one

The chairs are not for scratching

Inside your furry head

Ideas are quickly hatching

I have to do my thing! you cry

With cat exasperation

Fine, do your thing but have you ever

Heard of moderation?

Well no I guess you haven't

You want it fast you want it now

You're just a kid and everything

Seems new and fresh somehow

And how do I explain it

To such a little boy

Who wakes up every morning

And thinks the world's his toy

Everything facinates you

You rush at life, you want to see

And you will find your world as safe

As I can make it be

And though I know it's foolish

I like to dream that maybe

Through some strange freak of nature

You'll always stay a baby.