No Country for Old Men: Film Review

"No Country for Old Men" is one of the reasons to go to the movies in 2007. The brothers Coen may be observed at their best in this filmic piece.

One thing about these brothers is that they truly know how to do their literary research. They come strong in this new film and the spectator is bound to follow the text most attentively. The fecundity of themes, characters, and notions is as rich as it could be.

This film delivers because it has a generous amount of elements that make a gripping story: suspense, drama, moral dilemmas, and of course, money- and human drama-fed actions.

It's a modern film that carefully marries biblical themes to modern social sensitivities.

And if I could give one reason alone why every cinephile needs to watch it, that would be the brilliant work of Javier Bardem. This Spanish actor is simply incomparable in it. May we see him more often on the silver screen.



graph per imdb

Christian Louboutin Looks for Steve Madden Prices?

While the Christian Louboutin "Miss Fred Tacco" retails at $695, these Steve Maddens run a 'measly' $145. And in the fashion industry, I am told, this is a true bargain.

I wonder how 'shoe plagiarism' actually works. The above-seen Steve Maddens look exactly like the Louboutin concoction. Hmm.



graphs per manolo shoe blog

When in Doubt, Digitize.

That we all need to be digital to be functional seems pretty clear to me.

Kevin Morris' article on the Huffington Post this morning was well penned, I thought.

He writes about the current WGA strike in Hollywood and how Hollywood's main problem is actually its inability to come to terms with the new digital age. That, and as Morris puts it, a 'highly untrained work force.'

Here are some stats he mentions to support the point that if the entertainment industry does not come to full terms with the new digital age, things will look progressively worse for it in the future.

'Music. This is the horror story, the nightmare. Global music sales have by some reports dropped by 49% since 1997. The music business as we knew it has evaporated. Sales of CDs in the U.S. have slipped from $13.2 billion in 2000 to $9.2 billion in 2006 (that's down 30%). As of June 2007, overall CD sales have plummeted 16% for the year so far--and that's after seven years of near-constant erosion.'

I don't buy CD's anymore. I don't even have the need to keep adding to my DVD's because I consider them too bulky and well, a tad passé.

I have digitized my entire music library and the films are to follow. Economy of space, simple.

At its core, this is truly a minimalist choice and the digitization of media is minimalism-informed and the way of the future.


graph per huffington post

V for Vendetta: Remember, Remember the 5th of November

Just re-viewed snippets from the 2005 film "V for Vendetta." What particularly stood out this time was the cornucopia of v's uttered by the character of V to the Natalie Portman character.

V: Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition.


graphs per wikipedia, imdb