James' World 2

Risen is about a Roman soldier’s search for Jesus’ body following the Resurrection.  I’ve seen many stories of the resurrection and beyond, somehow Risen is different.  I liked it because there were no special effects or gimmicks to grab your attention or keep you interested beyond the facts.  I also thought the actors were closer to the way the people probably looked in that part of the world at that time and I was actually surprised throughout the movie even though I knew the story well.  Back in December 2002, CNN released a computer generated picture of what Jesus most likely looked like according to the time, place and history of the region where He lived, as illustrated in Popular Mechanics.  (See picture with partial story below.)  The actor (Cliff Curtis) who played the role of Yeshua (one of many names of Jesus and the name which was used…

Cartel Land is a documentary produced and directed by Matthew Heineman.  It tells about what the Mexican people who joined together under two modern day vigilante groups are doing in, their desperation, to clean up the drug situation in their respective regions.  Dr. Jose Mireles aka “El Doctor” is a small-town physician in Michoacán, Mexico who heads up the “Autodefensas” against the very violent “Knights Templar” drug cartel that has wreaked havoc on the region for years. With unprecedented access, Cartel Land is a riveting, on-the-ground look at the journeys of two modern-day vigilante groups and their shared enemy.  Meanwhile, in Arizona’s Altar Valley, a narrow, 52-mile-long desert corridor known as Cocaine Alley, Tim “Nailer” Foley, an American veteran, heads a small paramilitary group called Arizona Border Recon, whose goal is to stop Mexico’s drug wars from seeping across the US border.

It’s too bad when citizens have to…

It is probably an indisputable fact that Brazilians like to celebrate carnival. At least the majority of them. And the rest of the world looks on with amazement, joy and also some indignation. Because the scantily clad ladies are quite hard to take for rather prudish minds. Due to the wild samba rhythms, the even more intense moving hips and the excruciating heat that chases the carnival on the whole festival week, those costumes are no surprise. They are called “fantasia” which means fantasy. But seeing half-naked bodies all the time, there isn’t much left for the fantasy. However, there are also real fantasias. Those are preferably worn by children and adolescents. One see a mice peacefully frolicing around with a cat as well as witches fraternizing with princesses. On carnival everything is possible. That’s the reason why Brazilians like this festivity so much. Finally, not just hostile animal species…

“— Lobo… Creo que debes quedarte y luchar.
El perro que se consideraba su hijo se le quedó mirando con una mezcla de estupefacción e incredulidad, algo que no tardó en convertirse en vehemencia.
— ¿Qué cojones has bebido esta mañana para desayunar, Gill? ¿Tú también quieres matarme? ¡Te has vuelto loco, es una epidemia y os estáis volviendo todos locos! ¿Qué cojones estás diciendo, Gill?
«Ojalá estuviera loco de verdad», pensó su padre adoptivo. Se tomó un momento para seguir con lo que tenía que decir, esperando a que Lobo se calmara un poco.
— Lobo, escúchame. Quizá sea culpa mía en el fondo, porque a fin de cuentas fui yo el que llevó a casa aquel arco cuando no eras más que un cachorro. Pero desde la primera vez que lo tuviste entre las zarpas te convertiste en arquero —sopesó qué decir a continuación, y tras un momento…

Animated movies are really not my thing.  I didn’t like Inside Out mostly because the characters talked much to much. Most of the voices were too high pitched and fast paced.  That combination really got on my last nerve.  The dialogue seemed redundant because the subject was repeated over and over again.  The concept is five characters: Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phylis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black) and Disgust (Mindy Kaling) all reside in the mind of Riley Anderson (Kaitlyn Dias) and their function is to keep Riley mostly happy from her childhood up through her teens and beyond.  Their task becomes particularly more challenging when Riley’s parents (Diane Lane and Kyle MacLachlan) move the family from Minnesota to San Francisco where Riley must now adjust to a new life.  The personified team don’t seem to be too stable themselves.  They are always bickering about the best way…

Well done Stephen Hopkins, Stephan James and Jason Sudeikis.  A horrible situation exquisitely acted and well told.  Race issues certainly fits right in to today’s on going battles of racism, hatred and bigotry.  Makes me think we’ve learned nothing in the last 80 years.  It was quite interesting watching the bigotry of the Nazi regime vs the bigotry of the USA.  In the end, money and power prevailed.  The same as today.  There are many, many lessons to be learned from a movie like Race but I fear we’ll learn what we always learn and so the beat goes on the same as it always has.  There in the 1930’s we have a man, deemed as the fastest human alive, who could escalate the US to new heights in the Olympic games and we have people on both sides hating the fact that “the man” is Black.  It doesn’t…