Mezmerizing.  Tragic.  Hopeful.   

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HBO: The Journalist and The Jihadi: The Murder of Daniel Pearl

I still need a couple more films to turn this into a full fledged film festival, but I'm off to a good start.  Here's what we've got:

Kick off with Buffalo Soldiers set in Germany in 1989 prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall.  Not only is Joaquin Phoenix a joy watch (personal favorites being To Die For and Clay Pigeons), but so is Scott Glenn, an often overlooked powerhouse of an actor (personal favorites being The Right Stuff and Silverado).

Fast forward a couple of years to the end of the Gulf War and the adventures of Three Kings; a group of regular US soldiers intent on getting back home with a stash of Saddam's loot in their pockets.  Fantastic soundtrack, amazing cinematography, and an endearing performance by Spike Jonze as Pfc.  Conrad Vig.

I'm feverishly searching for a couple more flicks to add to the list and while doing so found a fairly good compendium of war and anti-war films. 

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Sci-Fi fans rejoice!  Not only does the month of July bring us new episodes of the re-envisioned Battlestar Galactica, but Turner Classic Movies is running a month long homage to sci-fi films from the cold war era.  The month long film fest kicks off with a documentary on July 5th titled "Watch the Skies" by Richard Schickel. 

To whet your appetite check out the photo gallery; the picture of the 2001 flight attendants is classic.

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But you tell people you watch it over and over again because it's freaking funny.  Seriously, Shawn Barrett is my new favorite person, I want to travel back in time with him and go to this show , but I'll settle for buying him a cup of coffee and a donut.

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If you have Turner Classic Movies, be sure to tune in this week to a new documentary, Steve McQueen:  The Essence of Cool.

Afterwards choose any movie from Steve McQueen's filmography; and if it's your first time catching one of his flicks you can't go wrong with Bullitt.

Then have some fun by watching The Tao of Steve.

And on a tangent, by way of Ali MacGraw, watch The Kid Stays in the Picture.

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In today's Toy of the Day post I mentioned The Clash, which reminded me that I just saw a film with a scene of Mick Jones singing karaoke in a bar of the future.  For the life of me, I couldn't remember the name of the movie, so I cruised over to IMDB for a quick search, and sure enough found it.  Code 46 is a great sci-fi flick, very much in the tradition of Bladerunner and Gattaca.  In other words it is futuristic in a realistic sort of way.  I won't go into too much detail since I hate it when people recommend I see a movie and then proceed to share the entire plot.  What struck me about the film is I could easily see the events transpiring in the not so distant future; and that in itself kept me riveted.

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What do you do when it's 90 degrees outside and you don't have air conditioning?  Let's go to the Movies!  I've been wanting to see enron: the smartest guys in the room for quite sometime - and today was the perfect day to seek refuge in the AC comfort of the Landmark Metro for the 3:45 PM showing.

All I can say is I'm still in shock.  Granted both the book and the documentary are written by third parties who are interpreting the events and information as they see it, and not necessarily 100% completely accurate.  That said, if even half of what is portrayed in the movie really happened then I'm baffled that both the media and the government have let the situation fade into obscurity. 

At some point I also plan to read the book Power Failure co-written by Sherron Watkins who was the first employee to go public regarding Enron's "accounting irregularities (just a wee understatement)".

If you are at all interested in learning more about the Enron scandal and enjoy a good documentary then I highly recommend you see this.  Oh and if you live in Seattle, the Metro is a great place to hide from the heat.

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I apparently missed one of the greatest periods in television history.  Granted I was 3 years old when Z Channel launched so it was not for lack of interest or desire that I missed out, merely bad timing on my parents' part.

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If you're fresh from seeing Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, and you are lamenting a future with no new Star Wars films, pick up Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn.  If there is a benevolent god of Star Wars fans someone will figure out a way to bring The Thrawn Trilogy  to the big screen (and it won't be Lucas that does it).

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I rolled my own "Revolutionary Chaos and the Anglo Journalist" film festival this past weekend.  In chronological order no less!

Start with:

1.  The Year of Living Dangerously - Set in Indonesia in 1965, the film focuses on a group of Caucasian journalists and photographers who are in Jakarta to cover the political upheavals that are threatening to collapse the unstable government of President Sukarno.

Then move to:

2.  The Killing Fields - This harrowing but rewarding 1984 drama concerns the real-life relationship between New York Times reporter Sidney Schanberg and his Cambodian assistant Dith Pran (Haing S. Ngor) during the 1970s, the latter left at the mercy of the Khmer Rouge after Schanberg--who chose to stay after American evacuation but was booted out--failed to get him safe passage. 

And take a left turn:

3.  Salvador - Director Oliver Stone offers up this brilliant, engrossing true-life account of the violent civil war in El Salvador during the early 80s as told through the perspective of a has-been journalist trying for one last grasp at glory and finding the true horror of war.

Land at:

4.  Romero - Have yet to see this one, but it's in my Netfilx queue.  Romero is the true story of the catholic priest Archbishop Oscar Romero who lived in El Salvador during the political unrest in the 1980s.  One major difference, is you can subtract the Anglo Journalist and add the incredible Raul Julia in the leading role.

* props to Amazon for the concise descriptions I lifted from their site.

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