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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Film
- Hits: 2424
I refer to the original, BBC series starring Ricky Gervais.
I've been showing it to the boy, preparing him for life in the real world. He hasn't yet had a job, and so for a moment or two I was worried he wouldn't catch it, but he's catching it just fine.
It's fucking brilliant. I mean, literally, it's genius. Savage, uncomfortable, and dead on. The American version, with Steve Carell, I can't comment on that, I've never seen it but I suspect that like a lot of things the Americans do it's been substantially dumbed down. Hugely dumbed down.
But this, the original BBC version, it's genius. The timing, the expressions on the characters faces, there are moments - too many - where it almost feels like doing a couple of hours of overtime at work. But the boy, he's laughing out loud, getting every joke and I tell him - "It's really like this...." and he's hesitant to believe me but even in school he's had experiences that are bringing him to understanding. On the off chance you haven't seen it, download or rent it at Bird Dog Video.
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Film
- Hits: 2362
A charming documentary about Vic Muniz and his time in Brazil creating portraits of the "pickers" out of trash. On for a limited engagement at the Plaza Theatre in Kensington. Delightful.
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Film
- Hits: 2004
IFN and the boy chooses to see the 2011 OSCAR NOMINATED SHORT FILMS - ANIMATED - at the Uptown Stage and Screen in Calgary.
OK. "Oscar Nominated", however, should be a big clue as to the independence of thought - not particularly great, and there's far better stuff coming up all the time on YouTube. But in the game of the Oscars real quality can count against you.....
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Film
- Hits: 2149
IFN with the boy at the Plaza. Again, the movie was an HD DVD disc played upon the big screen, trifles like this really annoy me. Otherwise, while some of the commercials are good, some are great, almost all are available online and most were viewed shortly after they were released, such is the internet. So I'll probably give a miss to future screenings of Cannes Best Commercials as I've seen most of them. That said, the one embedded below was new to us both and was remarkable not only for it's clever animation but as well for it's frank depiction of graffiti sex scenes....
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Film
- Hits: 2609
IFN and tonight's pick is "Inside Job", a documentary about how the banks orchestrated and profited from the economic collapse of 2008. Now to be fair, a movie about the corruption and greed within the banking industry and Wall Street probably isn't a 14 year old's cup of tea, but he sat through it and had some good questions afterwards. And the film itself was good in a nothing-I-didn't-know already but appreciated the bar charts and infographics sort of way. It was good. Well narrated, with a good soundtrack, some nice awkward moments interviewing the key people, and a proper sense of outrage as you see them all rewarded - in the hundreds of millions of dollars - and with key government positions - for a job truly terribly done. And worth it to see how corruption is spreading itself throughout the US Universities and educational systems. Not a happy film, but a necessary one. And sadly it probably won't change a thing. But we can't say we weren't warned.