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It seems like Indy has done it all, from retrieving the Arc of the Covenant, to saving an Indian village, and even saving his own father. So when it came time for a fourth movie, what was left for him to do? Not much – which is just what this highly-anticipated film is worth.
 Set in the 1950's, Indiana Jones' (Harrison Ford) newest adventure begins in a Southwest desert where he narrowly escapes from Soviet agents and also a nuclear testing site. Indy returns to the college he teaches at, only to find he has been fired due to his recent activities. On his way out of town, Indy meets Mutt (Shia LaBeouf). Mutt propositions Indy to help him on a mission to find his mother and, in the process, potentially make one of the most spectacular archaeological finds in history -- the Crystal Skull of Akator.
As Indy and Mutt set out for the Peru, they soon realize they are not alone in their search. Soviet agents are also hot on the trail of the Crystal Skull. Chief among them is Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett), whose elite military unit is searching the every corner of the earth for the skull, which they believe can help the Soviets dominate the world.
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An emotive Spanish documentary that questions human nature, consciousness, and the will to live, Stranded (shown at BAM) was brewing in the mind of Uruguayan/French director Gonzalo Arijón for 35 years.  It took this long for him to appropriately delve into the effects of the catastrophic and life-altering plane crash on the young men who were forced to perform otherwise unimaginable acts in order to survive.
On October 12, 1972, a small plane took off from Uruguay for Chile with 40 passengers and 5 crewmembers. Many of the passengers were members of the Old Christians rugby team, well-to-do college students flying for the first time, while others were family members and friends. When traveling over the Andes Mountains through the border of Argentina and Chile, heavy snowstorms racked the plane, destroying the jovial mood inside. As the pilot flew blindly, the plane hit the jagged peak of a mountain and crashed into a snow-filled valley. Some passengers died on impact or shortly after (such as survivor Nando’s mother, and nine days later his sister), while others lived (or at least initially), surrounded by the bodies of friends or relatives.
Many of the survivors talk about not knowing why they were spared while others died, and they openly wonder who decides such fates and why this had to happen. One man remarks that it seemed like a test from God or nature to see what would happen to a group of privileged, healthy and athletic men if they were forced to combat the elements at their most severe without any of the luxuries they had become accustomed to in society. Search parties were unsuccessful due to the harsh weather and the fact that the white plane was like “a worm in the snow” and therefore undetectable. For 72 days until rescue, the men (and one woman who eventually died) formed a separate society inside and outside of the mutilated plane, sharing every source of food, material, and clothing they could find or create, and living together as one “organism” whose survival depended upon the overall cooperation of the group.
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Shown at the Sundance Institute at BAM, director Clark Gregg has perfectly captured the black humor and twisted scenarios in one of Chuck Palahniuk’s most evocative novels. By remaining both absolutely true to the plotlines and also adapting bits and pieces, such as the ending, this actor-turned-director has achieved a fluid narrative that touches the viewer without veering off into kitschy territory. Choke can potentially offend, hopefully disturb, emotionally affect, and outlandishly amuse, true to Palahniuk form, with scenes like an anal bead getting lost inside Victor’s body (don’t worry, it eventually comes out!).
Victor Mancini (Sam Rockwell) is a “recovering” sex addict who never makes it through a whole meeting without sneaking off to get some action from one of the female addicts. By day, he works as a reenactor at a colonial park with his best friend Denny, who constantly gets in trouble for not sticking to historical limitations. By night, Victor and Denny (a chronic masturbator who takes the Steps more seriously than Victor) attend the sex meetings, go to strip clubs, and eat dinner in upscale restaurants so that Victor can choke. A flashback reveals that, in Victor’s childhood, he pretended to choke on a piece of food in order to receive affection from his fraudulent mother (Anjelica Huston), and also to alert the restaurant staff to his “missing child” face on the milk carton. In adulthood, Victor chokes to give other people a sense of having saved someone, or as having done something worthy, but he’s also in it for the free dinners and the cash his “saviors” provide in cards and letters after the ordeal. |
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Mobile, Alabama has held some form of a Mardi Gras celebration since 1703. Times haven’t changed much, except for inventions like the movie theater, and documentary. Documentary film maker Margaret Brown embraced her southern roots and filmed The Order of Myths as a funny, thought-provoking vision of  Mobile today. A truly objective film, she showed the segregated world from as many sides as possible, from the littlest girl to the oldest mystic, from the house kitchen to the dance hall. Watching The Order of Myths (shown at BAM) is a learning experience on many levels, because it sucks you in to a world with its own set of unique customs.
The film is outrageous. Blacks are almost completely excluded from the white ceremonies, and the “traditions” of Mobile are as ugly as they are luxe. The film speaks for itself with varying voices, each with slight nuances of opinion that create the big picture. The celebratory nature of the Mobile rituals has a dark side, some of which is gleamed over with carefully chosen words and smiles, some of which is publicly decried. Yet for all the candy-coated images of contentment, the darkness is thinly veiled. With every club and formal organization, the secrets of Mobile are pieced together over the course of 137 minutes. Prepare and see for yourself. |
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Sleep Dealer (shown at BAM) deals with much larger issues than sleep. In fact, sleep is only mentioned in passing amidst the futuristic setting of a globalized, high-tech world economy. As director Alex Rivera’s first feature film, his history with documentaries and short non-fiction enhanced the movie’s tone  as a socioeconomic commentary rather than a heart-wrenching tale of character plight. In an attempt to reach ‘science-geeks’ with Star Wars-esque themes of Americana, Rivera fused the themes of an old Western, a sci-fi movie, and a politicized documentary for an overall message of a frightening future. After working on the film for ten years (raising money for two, thinking and filming for eight), the brainstorming of a decade still shows a great deal of forward thinking. How could Rivera and his team predict that their visions would remain current? As Rivera explained in a Q and A session, it was “Magical Marxism.” Like magical realism, magical Marxism as defined by Rivera is the root of the story, because “the guts of the ideas are true.” Truth and oppression are timeless themes throughout the film. Sleep Dealer contains an overwhelming menagerie of themes. Rivera infused his film with a meager character plot to make his allusions stand out more. Memo Cruz is a migrant from Santa Ana, Mexico, who goes to Tijuana to find a female friend named Luz. There are a few other often-depicted characters, yet the plotline feels like an insert rather than a fluid tie-in. Memo is stereotypical, and Luz is clearly a device to illuminate the world Tijuana rather than vice versa. People are filmed with close-ups and uncomfortably physical needle and wire shots, showcasing their bodies more than their humanity. The ideas are meaningful, but the people are not. However, the cinematography and the grand-scale ideology still manage to speak through the film, if not each character’s individuality. The setting was artistically done: the image of water was continuously calming, the Santa Ana countryside was charmingly rugged, and the world of Tijuana was vibrant. Character development paled in comparison - the world itself was the film’s real protagonist, not Memo Cruz. I think Rivera should stick to documentaries, because Magical Marxism needs no face but reality. - Alexandra Bregman
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Two words: hot sauce. War, Inc. is a political satire interweaving subtle comedy, blatant attacks, nihilistic wit, and a firework display of dizzying action, featuring Brand Hauser (John Cusack) as a seemingly cold-hard assassin and Yunnica Babbyeah (Hilary Duff) as an oversexed, Westernized Eastern celebrity.  Both are pawns caught in the elaborate scheme of a former U.S. vice-president and CEO's plots to take over the world, one war-torn country at a time.
The location is the imaginary Emerald City, Turaqistan. Hauser is hired is to assassinate Turaqi oil minister, Omar Sharif, whose evil plots consist of instituting a pipe-line through his own country, so that the American corporation could return to business as usual of profiting off of its stronghold on monopolizing the entrepreneurial opportunities presented after a country is ruthlessly raped by war. Sound familiar?
During Brand Hauser's undercover position as a trade show producer, he meets Natalie Hegalhuzen (Marisa Tomei), a passionate left-wing journalist searching for the truth behind the propaganda fed to the masses. Their individual politics fuse to produce a growing flame of humorous chemistry throughout the movie. Hilary Duff's participation in this left-wing movie is surprising due to her past roles as Hollywood's princess but her role as the culmination of Western influence on the East proves to be a profound observation. A small but important performance by Ben Kingsley, who plays Hauser's CIA boss, tops off the all-star crew that went into making this movie.
The movie itself is an interesting conglomeration of many thoughts and ideas, focusing on satirizing modern-day American imperialism, corporate corruption and the activities of the Bush regime in relation to the war. However, sometimes it veers off into too many different directions, leaving the central theme scattered. Trifles. The moving is a daring and quirky depiction of politics today and worthy of watching. For those that carry on blissfully without the acknowledgment of present-day government and corporate corruption, this movie ticket may be your best investment yet. For the rest, this is simply a reaffirmation of what should be conventional wisdom. -Shirline Chowdhury |
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an irreversible effect. How Do I Look, the new film directed by Wolfgang Busch, has its task cut out for it. The film has to not only introduce and capture the excesses and inscrutably close-knit family ties of the balls and various "houses" who give them their breath of life, but also chronicle the various run-ins and growing pains the community has had to deal with since its early days.
