Category Archives: movies

movies, philosophy, politics

>The Earth shall inherit the meek

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There are tons of propaganda movies telling us how bad we are and how good the Earth is. I like them all! They are proof of mankind’s stupidity, and pretty much proof that it’s way too late (this is probaly where I disagree with all those movies…).
Anyway, HOME by Yann Arthus-Bertrand is one of the better ones when it comes to pure and straight information. It’s available for free on YouTube and the website home-2009.com. It’s a scary movie – for real.

Since 1950, the world’s population has almost tripled, and since 1950, we have more fundamentally altered our island – the Earth – than in all of our 200,000 year history. Nigeria is the biggest oil exporter in Africa, and yet 70% of the population lives under the poverty line. The wealth is there, but the country’s inhabitants don’t have access to it. The same is true all over the globe. Half the world’s poor live in resource-rich countries. In 50 years the gap between rich and poor has grown wider than ever. Today half the world’s wealth is in the hands of the richest two (2!) percent of the population. This is the cause of population movements whose scale we have yet to fully realize.
The city of Lagos had a population of 700,000 in 1960.
That will rise to 16 million by 2025.
Deep down we all know this shit.
And you still have hope?
…I am the misanthrope.

movies

>35 movies

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The best movie of all time.

At present time I’ve rated 1417 movies at filmtipset.se [username: indygrinder]. So far only 35 films have been worthy of the highest possible grade. In the 21st Century I’ve only watched five truly superb flicks.
Is it me or is it the movies?
Truthfully, I believe people are too keen on giving high grades…

Here are my top 35 movies of all time in chronological order. Few surprises, I guess, and I probably forgot a bunch. And of course there are still endless of movies that I haven’t seen yet… Still, when I’m in need of a damned good film I’ll just watch one of these and I’m good.

Triumph des Willens [Triumph of the Will] (1935)

Leni Reifenstahl‘s absolute masterpiece. No matter how much you despise the message you cannot deny the superb filmic quality and craftmanship. It is a reminder of a time almost too surreal to be true.
The whole movie is watchable at YouTube here, but I strongly recommend a high quality DVD release.

Olympia 1. Teil – Fest der Völker [Festival of the Nations] (1938)

Another Riefenstahler. The beauty!

I told myself not to include documentaries on this list, but these films must be mentioned.

Olympia 2. Teil – Fest der Schönheit [Festival of Beauty] (1938)

Not much to add.
Reifenstahl was crowned The Mother of Modern Film.
Righteously so.

Citizen Kane (1941)

I often tend to dismiss classics as overrated, but Citizen Kane really did it for me when I first watched it at film school on the big screen. Having read so much about Orson Welles and the movie it was pure bliss watching all the details, getting hooked by the storytelling and being blessed by the magic of Mr. Welles.
Read a lenghty review here.

Shichinin no samurai [Seven Samurai] (1954)

I liked this one a lot for many years, but when I got a hold of the Criterion edition with the magnificent audio commentary by Michael Jeck I became an Akira Kurosawa worshipper. If you haven’t seen the movie with Michael Jeck as your guide, you simply have not seen the movie.
Strangeness: There are only six samurai on the cover…

Il buono, il brutto, il cativo [The Good, the Bad and the Ugly] (1966)

The definition of absolute coolness and true cinemagick.
Check the finale here.
Listen to Enrico Morricone’s genius theme here.
I love spaghetti.

Vargtimmen [Hour of the Wolf] (1968)

I’m no superultrafreakfan of Ingmar Bergman, but Vargtimmen is one helluvan evil flick. I watched this one too on the big screen when studying film at the university and I truly love the cinematography.

(I must point out that even though Det Sjunde Inseglet [The Seventh Seal] is not on this list, it is definitely an awesome movie. But it’s not worthy of the Indy 500 top rating…)

The Godfather (1972)

No words necessary. Everything is perfect.
If I had a gun to my head and was forced to choose just one movie that I had to watch forever in Hell I could easily go for The Godfather.

“Forgive me, Godfather…”

The Godfather: Part II (1974)

Just as good as the first one. In fact, I think this sequel is better. Thus: Everything is perfect. But for the full experience I think you need to see all the Godfather movies in a row. And then once more with the audio commentary tracks. It’s pure magic.

Godfather: Part III (1990) is so underrated. It’s such a good film, but it doesn’t qualify on this list (the list of my four star rated films is endless…).

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

“Good morning, Miss Ratched.”

Taxi Driver (1976)

I’m obsessed with this masterpiece.
Read my thoughts about the film here.

Alien (1979)

It’s all about the atmosphere.
And by far the most grim looking monster in any movie to date.

Apocalypse Now (1979)

If all the movies on this list are rated 5/5, then Apocalypse Now in my mind is a definite 6. It’s better than everything else.
As for the Redux version, I’m not sure. I’ve only watched it once, and I immediately dismissed it for ruining the ultimate doom movie.
I think I’ll watch it again and give it a second opinion.

Life of Brian (1979)

One of the funniest movies ever. So many memorable scenes and quotes it’s almost surreal. I hate the ending, though. That fucking song… I hate it.

Stalker (1979)

The best sci-fi movie ever, and it doesn’t even contain any sci-fi!
Master Tarkovsky kills the competition.

Read a fine review here.

Modet att döda (1980)

This is a TV production, but what the hell…
Lars Norén. Enough said.

Sällskapsresan (1980)

Lasse Åberg is a dork, but this film is a true Swedish classic. No doubt.
After the success of this one he made another four films of which only the sequel, Snowroller, is worthy. The rest suck big time.

Scarface (1980)

Tony Montana!

Natten är dagens mor (1984)

Another Lars Norén TV drama that will kill your soul and rape your mind.
Elite!

Dekalog, piec (1989)

Another television drama, this is part five of ten in Kieslowski’s powerful series dealing with the ten commandments (this one being “Thou shalt not kill”).
I wrote about it in July 2007 here.

Sökarna (1993)

Wow! This is such an underrated movie.
It’s the work of mad men, and thus it’s so bad it’s beyond bad and turns out truly superb. Genius!
I love this movie so much and I watch it at least two times every year.
The sequel pretty much sucks… For real.

Pulp Fiction (1994)

I guess we all got a bit fed up with this movie for a while since everybody was talking about it everywhere. However, it’s a genuine classic and deserves no less than the highest possible rating. I recommend seeing it with the audio commentary track if you haven’t done so already.

Xich lo [Cyclo] (1995)

A Vietnamese masterpiece which is both beautiful and shocking.
Genius and brutality by the director of The Scent of Green Papaya, Anh Hung Tran.

Se7en (1995)

Even though Se7en is at its very best the first time you watch it, it’s a movie made with such elegance and instinctive feel I can watch it over and over again. Splendid cinematography by the Iranian master Darius Khondji as always.
Read an article about him here.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)

I worship Hunter S. Thompson.
I worship Terry Gilliam.
I worship Benicio Del Toro.
I worship Johnny Depp.
I worship the Sixth Reich.

Festen (1998)

The first Dogma movie was a really good one. Not so much because the use of the Dogma regulations, but because of the nervous tension that builds and builds throughout the film.
An amazing drama.

Happiness (1998)

Finally a film featuring my favourite actor, Philip Seymour Hoffman! In my opinion he’s always on point. And so is this film. 5/5 all the way.
If I had to recommend only one independent film, this would be it.

Fight Club (1999)

To me, this movie pretty much says “I must change before I am forever stuck being the person that I am not”, as somebody so eloquently put it.
It’s a wake up call making some very bold statements against this sick consumerism-driven society that we live in.
I’ve written some texts about situationism here.

Magnolia (1999)

A must see. So many great performances.

Torsk på Tallin (1999)

Yet another TV production.
Of all the stuff that Killinggänget created, this one is my favourite.
It’s balancing perfectly on this thin line between comedy and tragedy.

Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain (2001)

I’m no fan of uplifting movies, but Amélie is simply too good to resist.
This is a Film with a capital F.

Cidade de Deus [City of God] (2002)

Another Film with a capital F. Totally brilliant!
As for the TV series and the City of Men stuff, I wasn’t that impressed.

Farväl Falkenberg (2006)

99 times out of 100, Swedish films suck so bad it’s unbelievable.
This is one of very few exceptions. This is poetry in motion. It brought me to tears, which hardly ever happens with movies.
The soundtrack is one of the best ever. All hail Erik Enocksson for that one.

Into the Wild (2007)

How strange! Another movie that brought me to tears. Another movie with a perfect soundtrack.
I wrote a little something about that here.

There Will Be Blood (2007)

First time I saw it I rated it 4/5. I’ve seen it a couple of times now and there’s no doubt in my mind that it deserves the full score.

“There are times when I look at people and I see nothing worth liking.”

Ok. That’s it. These are the 35 movies out of 1417 that I’ve given the highest score so far. Too many Hollywood flicks? Missed out on something? Let me know. I need some inspiration as well.
The list of 4/5-films is deep and long, but on the list of 5/5-films there is only room for the true elite.

movies, philosophy, quotes, religion

>Repetition III

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LEVITICUS 15

1 And the LORD spake unto Moses and to Aaron, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When any man hath a running issue out of his flesh, because of his issue he is unclean.
3 And this shall be his uncleanness in his issue: whether his flesh run with his issue, or his flesh be stopped from his issue, it is his uncleanness.
4 Every bed, whereon he lieth that hath the issue, is unclean: and every thing, whereon he sitteth, shall be unclean.
5 And whosoever toucheth his bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
6 And he that sitteth on any thing whereon he sat that hath the issue shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
7 And he that toucheth the flesh of him that hath the issue shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
8 And if he that hath the issue spit upon him that is clean; then he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
9 And what saddle soever he rideth upon that hath the issue shall be unclean.
10 And whosoever toucheth any thing that was under him shall be unclean until the even: and he that beareth any of those things shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
11 And whomsoever he toucheth that hath the issue, and hath not rinsed his hands in water, he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
12 And the vessel of earth, that he toucheth which hath the issue, shall be broken: and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water.
13 And when he that hath an issue is cleansed of his issue; then he shall number to himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in running water, and shall be clean.
14 And on the eighth day he shall take to him two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, and come before the LORD unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and give them unto the priest:
15 And the priest shall offer them, the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering; and the priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD for his issue.
16 And if any man’s seed of copulation go out from him, then he shall wash all his flesh in water, and be unclean until the even.
17 And every garment, and every skin, whereon is the seed of copulation, shall be washed with water, and be unclean until the even.
18 The woman also with whom man shall lie with seed of copulation, they shall both bathe themselves in water, and be unclean until the even.
19 And if a woman have an issue, and her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put apart seven days: and whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even.
20 And every thing that she lieth upon in her separation shall be unclean: every thing also that she sitteth upon shall be unclean.
21 And whosoever toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
22 And whosoever toucheth any thing that she sat upon shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
23 And if it be on her bed, or on any thing whereon she sitteth, when he toucheth it, he shall be unclean until the even.
24 And if any man lie with her at all, and her flowers be upon him, he shall be unclean seven days; and all the bed whereon he lieth shall be unclean.
25 And if a woman have an issue of her blood many days out of the time of her separation, or if it run beyond the time of her separation; all the days of the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation: she shall be unclean.
26 Every bed whereon she lieth all the days of her issue shall be unto her as the bed of her separation: and whatsoever she sitteth upon shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her separation.
27 And whosoever toucheth those things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
28 But if she be cleansed of her issue, then she shall number to herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean.
29 And on the eighth day she shall take unto her two turtles, or two young pigeons, and bring them unto the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
30 And the priest shall offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering; and the priest shall make an atonement for her before the LORD for the issue of her uncleanness.
31 Thus shall ye separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness; that they die not in their uncleanness, when they defile my tabernacle that is among them.
32 This is the law of him that hath an issue, and of him whose seed goeth from him, and is defiled therewith;
33 And of her that is sick of her flowers, and of him that hath an issue, of the man, and of the woman, and of him that lieth with her that is unclean.


literature, movies

>F.X. Toole – Pound For Pound

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>I was recommended this book by work colleague Ronnie Haag the other day and I was totally blown away. My fellow worker is into boxing, Bukowski, writing and real life – amongst many other things, of course (check out his books, one about Charles Bukowski and one about Muhammad Ali) – and since real life is a bitch, and this book is all about that, it’s a book that touched my soul. It made me cry, just like when I read The Road by Cormac McCarthy (I wrote some words about that masterpiece in 2006, read the article here).
At first, it may seem like it’s a book about boxing. Nothing wrong with that, since F.X. Toole (pen name for Jerry Boyd), a boxing trainer himself, is a magician when it comes to describing the art. However, to me this ain’t that much about boxing. When you get past the first fifty pages or so, you’ll see that this is about life and its setbacks and tragedies, the grieving of lost friends and family, sorrow and tears, shattered dreams. It’s about friendship and trust. Loneliness and sadness. But as darkness descends there’s still light at the end of the tunnel. Or is there?
It’s a truly heartwrenching story that really made me think deeply about life. You know, the usual crap one thinks about everyday, but sometimes some things make you think harder. Pound For Pound is such a thing. Mind you, it’s not a Rocky story. Life has very few happy endings…

Toole’s way of handling characters is magnificent. The characters are real. The story is real. You can feel the pain and the intensity. You can taste the blood and defeat. Like it says on the back cover: ”Pound For Pound is the story of men down but not out: old men whose lives have been tough and young men searching for glory”.
But don’t get caught up by this ”men” thing, though. It’s about people, not about gender.
In fact, I first noticed F.X. Toole when Clint Eastwood adapted Toole’s collection of short stories Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner into the worthy film Million Dollar Baby in 2004. The movie tells the story of Maggie Fitzgerald, a 31 year old white trash waitress who decides to make a difference through boxing. I think the movie kind of captures the sadness and melancholy, how life is about finding your passion and giving it your all, even though you still won’t make it (whatever that means). It’s about being able to look back and say ”I did alright” instead of ”I did nothing”. When reading Pound For Pound this feeling is so much stronger.
As real as it gets, to quote an old UFC slogan.

F.X. Toole
Born 1930
Published Rope Burns, his first book, in 2000 at the age of 70
He died in 2002
Pound For Pound was released in 2006
literature, movies, reviews

>Some thoughts about Watchmen the movie

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>Who watches the watchmen? Well, I did yesterday, alongside two men in their early 30’s who hadn’t read the book and didn’t know shit and thus kept asking themselves what the hell was going on. I don’t think they enjoyed the movie, and I don’t think they will read the book.

99 times out of 100 the book is better than the movie. The book gives you the insight and depth, whereas the movie brings the visuals, the surface. The Watchmen comic book is the creation of Alan Moore (author) and Dave Gibbons (artist). The Watchmen movie is directed by Zack Snyder. Claudio Marino comments on my earlier Watchmen post: ”A friend of mine said that Snyder has made an adaptation of Gibbon’s part, not Moore’s”. I totally agree with that. Still, I enjoyed watching Watchmen. A lot.
Having read the book at least three times in a short period of time just before seeing the movie was a good thing to do. I knew every part. And my jaw dropped to the floor when faced with what Snyder has created. It was awesome seeing the comic book come to life in a frame-by-frame way. So many details! I guess I missed 90% of all the stuff going on in the background, but when it’s released on Blu-ray I’ll catch up.


However, everything CGI is pretty much crap, especially when they’re on Mars. And the sex scenes and some of the fight scenes are very dull and could’ve been made a whole lot better (Speaking of sex, I noticed that Dr. Manhattans cock is way larger in the movie. You digest that for a second… *insert smiley here* )
As for the fight scenes I had expected more ”normal” stuff, not The Matrix fighting. I mean, only Dr. Manhattan is supposed to have real superpowers, right? The whole thing with the superhero story is that it’s ordinary people doing what superheroes do, but in a realistic way. Saying that, I think the movie focuses on the superhero thing too much. In my opinion the book is not at all about superheroes…

The casting is good, but again – only on the visual side. The actors look like they do in the comic book, but that’s pretty much it. I cannot feel the characters as much as I do in the book, with one exception: Rorschach! Hail Jackie Earle Haley! He’s definitely spot on. The rest of the actors are pretty much meaningless, soulless (so I guess Billy Crudup playing Dr. Manhattan does a good job after all…).

The music is quite different than expected (I chose not to read reviews before watching this one, so I didn’t know anything about the music); Jimi Hendrix, Leonard Cohen, Simon and Garfunkel, Bob Dylan… Sure, there are references to Dylan’s lyrics and such in the book, but I’m not sure if the actual music fits. I like the songs, but nah… It felt strange. I laughed at the Apocalypse Now reference in Vietnam, though.


So, the visual take on Snyder’s Watchmen deserve applause. But Alan Moore, who has always hated his stories turned into movies (check the end of this article), will definitely hate what Snyder has done. There’s no depth to be found. Whereas the comic book takes on so many different aspects of story telling (the news vendor, the kid reading the comic book about pirates, the gay cab driver and her activist girlfriend, The New Frontiersman, the imaginary books and articles, the in-depth dialogue about politics and philosophy…), the movie mostly focuses on the visuals and the superheroes. In the comic book characters working in the background take on leading roles (for example, the pirate story becomes part of the narrative), and the level of details and depth is simply amazing. That’s what makes the book so fascinating. The importance of all these techniques and characters is pretty much left out in the movie.
Also, changing the ending was not a good move.

All in all, I still rate Watchmen 4 out of 5. It’s the best adaptation of a comic book so far and it is very well put together. 2 hours and 45 minutes went in a rush. I’m really looking forward to the Blu-ray release which hopefully will bring extended scenes, audio commentaries, documentaries, behind the scenes…
I’ll be checking out Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic and Watchmen: Tales of The Black Freighter as well. Read about those releases here.

Below, a Watchmen viral.

literature, movies

>Watchmen – The end is nigh

4 Comments

>I wrote an article about Watchmen in September last year (read it here!), and now the movie has finally arrived. It’ll be damn exciting to watch the Watchmen, I tell you! I hope they’ve kept the darkness and seriousness which is always present in the brilliant comic novel, or else I’ll be disappointed. I mean, it’s tough enough to make a comic book about superheroes seem mature, but that’s where the comic succeeds 110%. It’s extremely good and I deeply urge each and everyone of you reading this blog to give the book a try. It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read.
From what I’ve seen so far the movie looks really good. Director Zack Snyder made a great visual impact with 300 (I wrote a bit about that here), so I have no doubts there… The big question is how it feels.

Dog carcass in alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach.
This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face.
The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown. The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout “Save us!”… and I’ll look down and whisper “No.”
They had a choice, all of them.
They could have followed in the footsteps of good men like my father or President Truman. Decent men who believed in a day’s work for a day’s pay. Instead they followed the droppings of lechers and communists and didn’t realize that the trail led over a precipice until it was too late.
Don’t tell me they didn’t have a choice.
Now the whole world stands on the brink, staring down into bloody Hell, all those liberals and intellectuals and smooth-talkers…
and all of a sudden nobody can think of anything to say.
Rorschach‘s journal, October 12th, 1985