I just read the book “CLASS ACTION” that this is based off of and highly recommend it.

This film should serve as an introduction to the book as it is a quick summary of a long, complex issue.

The court room scenes in the movie were weak and did not even begin to show why the case took 10 years in the courts. The ending felt unrealistic & rushed as everyone just suddenly changed their minds and sided with Josey. Woody Harrelson’s ice pee speech was just pathetic
and I’m not sure how that public shaming would’ve swung someone’s testimony180 degrees.

While I was saddened to read about how rough these women’s lives were,
I felt that having Josie be a rape victim and an abused wife—almost detracted from the point of the film. Like that was needed to make her
sympathetic? Even if she was a “woman of loose morals” like they tried to imply that shouldn’t affect her believability as a witness or affect whether the harassment in the mines was acceptable or not. Yet it seemed like the ending made it seem like “oh she was raped” now we believe her.

Aside from those issues, the film was incredibly powerful. It was great to see the background to this landmark case. To see what kinds of things happened to these women. (ALL those scenes really happened to real women!) To see that it wasn’t so long ago that all these things happened. Unfortunately, most of us have had to put up with sexist
comments/behavior (even if it’s a kind of “benevolent” sexism) on the job – but (hopefully) few of us have had to deal with a constant barrage of attacks both verbally, physically and psychological from all sides. It’s hard to imagine, sometimes hard to watch – but so worth the viewing.

I think the film was good about showing that not all the men were bad, but the circumstances that would lead all the workers (men & women) to just put up with it and not say anything. I thought some of the most powerful scenes were from the women who had worked there a while and felt they had to put up with it. I wish they had dealt more w/ the bald guy who you could tell thought the behavior was wrong and made some weak attempts to stop it. I did like how they showed that even someone who loved the “victim” could stand by & be silent because of a culture of intimidation/fear, “comrade-ship”/ code of silence and just old fashioned sexism.

The scenes of retaliation and societal backlash were also immensely powerful making us understand what a struggle it can be to stand up for what is right. I liked how they reminded us by including clips of Anita Hill speaking of her story. In the book they talk about how some of the
women were inspired to join in after seeing that testimony and how Hill’s case affected the mine case.

Yes, there are some clichés and a painfully/sudden unrealistic ending and it compress a time line of 12 years of harassment + 10 years of trials & other legal matters – it is still well worth watching and overlooking a few minor flaws.

I recommend the movie & the book. Pat & Lois (the first two women in the suit) are heroes and I’m sorry the suit probably brought them more personal pain than anything else, but what they’ve done for other women is timeless.

I haven’t read the book “CLASS ACTION” that this is based off of, but even recognizing that they amalgamated people into some characters did not lessen my appreciation for this film.

Ok, the court room scenes were weak, the ending felt unrealistic & rushed as everyone just suddenly changed their minds & sided with Josey.

I wonder if the sexual history of the character was put in to make her seem more sympathetic/more put upon or was actually part of the real woman’s life? Either way it almost detracted from the point of the film. Even if she was a “woman of loose morals” that shouldn’t affect her believability as a witness or affect whether the harassment in the mines was acceptable or not. Yet it seemed like the ending made it seem like “oh she was raped” now we believe her.

Woody Harrelson’s ice pee speech was just pathetic and I’m not sure how that public shaming would’ve swung someone’s testimony180 degrees.

Aside from those issues, the film was incredibly powerful.
It was great to see the background to this landmark case. To see what kinds of things happened to these women. To see that it wasn’t so long ago that all these things happened.
Unfortunately, most of us have had to put up with sexist comments/behavior (even if it’s a kind of “benevolent” sexism) on the job – but (hopefully) few of us have had to deal with a constant barrage of attacks both verbally, physically and psychological from all sides. It’s hard to imagine, sometimes hard to watch – but so worth the viewing.

I think the film was good about showing that not all the men were bad, but the circumstances that would lead all the workers (men & women) to just put up with it and not say anything. I thought some of the most powerful scenes were from the women who had worked there a while and felt they had to put up with it. I wish they had dealt more w/ the bald guy who you could tell thought the behavior was wrong and made some weak attempts to stop it. I did like how they showed that even someone who loved the “victim” could stand by & be silent because of a culture of intimidation/fear, “comrade-ship”/ code of silence and just old fashioned sexism.

The scenes of retaliation and societal backlash were also immensely powerful making us understand what a struggle it can be to stand up for what is right. I liked how they reminded us by including clips of Anita Hill speaking of her story.

So even though there are some cliches and some troubles with the sudden unrealistic ending (apparently the real case took about 10 years to settle) – it is well worth watching and overlooking a few minor flaws.

I will also be checking out the book to read to learn even more.
I recommend it to all!

Casting issues:
I just couldn’t get over how Rachel and the Scarecrow/Dr. Crane both looked like they were twelve. I realize this is supposed to be Batman “the early years” but it was hard to take them seriously in their professions. (plus of course I’m not impressed by Katie’s “acting” so that didn’t help). And I love Michael Caine, but where’s the old Alfred?? Christian Bale was ok, better than Michael Keaton’s neurotic dweeb but not as good (IMO) as Val Kilmer.

It was an ok prequel, though certainly not deserving of being in IMDB’s top 250. It did a fairly good job of sticking to the storyline and not contradicting earlier versions. It tried to bring in the deeper philosophical underpinnings of Batman’s character (in a simplistic “Nepal=enlightenment” sort of stereotype). It also tried to make Batman more of a fighter than someone relying on toys/gadgets. There was the generic childhood friend/love.
The plot was basic destroy city stuff.

The mise-en-scene was pretty good, too much CG for my taste – but since when did Gotham resemble Chicago? I always thought it was a stand in for NYC? And why does Batman live in a mansion in the English countryside? These were kind of jarring moments that broke the spell of suspended disbelief for me.

Basically it was a crowd pleaser with nothing too original.
You can figure out the plot miles ahead, but doesn’t mean it’s not an enjoyable ride to the end.

MILD SPOILERS

Bigelow is the quintessential “everyman” (everyperson). Sure, he was a jerk to his “girlfriend/love” and a bit of a pig – the empathy comes from the fact that no one deserves to be anonymously poisoned for seemingly (at first) no reason. I think this makes it a stronger film. It’d be boring/unrealistic if he was an attractive perfect paragon of a person.

Several scenes stand out as perfect film noir/cinematic moments.
Of course the best one is the opening scene where he walks into the SFPD and makes his dramatic announcement.
Secondly, the deliciously ironic/poignant reminders of what he would never have in his life walk past him while he stands in front of a row of LIFE magazines (the child he would never have, the happy couple he would never be part of).

I enjoyed the shots of San Francisco’s Embarcadero and (I assume) Market St. That was fun simply from a historical/sociological perspective.

Sure it’s not perfect. The whiny clingy woman was incredibly sexist & annoying. The Chester character was over played. Yes, the stupid “wolf whistles” were jarring and out of place.

Overall though, this is a fantastic film. Should definitely be considered the top of the film noir genre.

Miles ahead of the merely average non-noir remake w/ Dennis Quaid that turns it into a thriller. I suggest avoiding that!

Actually you could read this in a variety of ways.

Emperor Palpatine’s consolidation of power and rule seems to dovetail with what Putin seems to be doing in Russia.

However being an American, I of course read most of the parallels as it relates to our current political situation. There are a lot of examples of this. Palpatine controlling the Senate and the Courts and thus all the power gave him the freedom to do what he wanted—a direct parallel to Republican’s stranglehold on our government. Pretending that he waged war for peace. Controlling the populace through fear, removing their rights – demonizing those who spoke out against him, etc. etc.

Dialogue from the movie- “You are either with me or any enemy” is just a little too close to Bush’s (Nov. 2001) speech – “You are either with us or against us”. Ewan McGregor’s response about Siths seeing things in a simplistic binary was an excellent retort. There are probably a dozen other examples, but I don’t remember off the top of my head.

After watching the film, I was mulling over these parallels and wondering how internationally they were intended to critique the current American political system. I read an article that said Lucas had made this parallel on purpose and he was concerned about the danger of losing our democratic ideals.

I doubt this will serve as a great wake up call for all Americans but it is another reminder that we are losing our democracy too, and are turning into the Empire!

Anyway, besides the political warning/satire, I thought the movie was pretty good. (Almost made up for the first one!)

**WARNING: SPOILER
One thing that really bugged me was why they revealed that there were two children. This would COMPLETELY ruin the surprise in Return of the Jedi. I assume Lucas wants to think that people will be watching these films in order 1-6 – and this one minute of film ruins the suspense of the other films. It should have ended with the birth & not knowing who was born.

I think they did a good job of taking some key themes from Isaac Asimov’s famous book of short vignettes and turning it into a suspenseful story.

I was even fine with the addition of Will Smith’s character and his backstory. However the dialogue was painfully bad. They really should’ve worked on that more. The effects were pretty good (I’m still not a huge CG fan), I especially liked how they handled Sonny’s “face”.

The most disappointing was the obvious product placement for the car and the shoes. I am a huge fan and (before they doubled the price) owned 4 different pairs of Converse, but I was still offended at how much they were pushed in the film. They served no purpose at all in furthering the plot and were merely there to sell the product. Overall, it was worth watching. Next time though, I wish they would concentrate on the dialogue as much as they obsess over trying to wow us with the “special effects”. I give it a 7 minus 1 for product placement.

SPOILER ALERT

I really wanted to like this film. I think both stars are highly talented. It was decent, it kept me wondering, it surprised me. I did feel sympathy/empathy for the Robin Williams character. I think Toni Collette is a great actor.

However… I felt it left me hanging. I understand after seeing the note at the end that this was based off a true story and there was no real resolution. However this still kind of annoyed me. I realize that’s unfair, but that’s still my feeling. I’m not saying I need a Hollywood wrapped up every loose end with a happy ending sort of thing – but I need to at least feel that things have moved ahead/changed/grown.

I just felt that i hadn’t really learned anything, that nothing had changed.

Robin Williams is still lonely & as unsure of his relationship as he was at the beginning. His relationship with his dad is sort of hinted at but not explored in depth – why is he even in the film? We still don’t know (though we assume he’s not) if the boy existed. We get a hint of why Toni Collete’s character does what she does (why pick him, why fake the kid, why fake blindness, what happened to her as a kid?) – but no real answer.

Also, the laughing off/ignoring/accepting offensive namecalling was rather jarring and kept annoying me. The “I am a cute Chink girl” was really offensive & unnecessary. I understood his initial comment explaining that his dad was racist – but the way she tried to accept that terminology just bothered me. (I’ve never really believed in that “reclaiming negative terms” and “it’s OK when I call myself a bad name”. And I know the homophobic jokes are supposed to imply a ignorant teenager who doesn’t know better but to see Robin Williams just laugh them off and let them continue is kind of annoying.

In summary, worth watching to see how it unfolds and to discover the secrets, or if you like the main starts, but other than that not too satisfying.

FYI, its title listed on IMDB.com as “Heisei tanuki gassen pompoko” (1994)

This is something I probably would have loved if I had seen it when a teenager. As an adult I found it a little creepy.

Are 13/14 year olds really supposed to find their soulmate for life and define their career paths/goals just as they hit puberty? This struck me as highly unrealistic and deceptive. I remember reading romance novels as a teen thinking that stuff like this would happen and then feeling disappointed that I hadn’t found my soulmate by 17. This kind of romanticized brainwashing can be pretty harmful to young people. It sets up unrealistic expectations and societal (and internal) pressures to find a mate before most people are even mature enough or know themselves well enough. I did like that they focused on finding oneself, but once again, it seemed awfully young to know what you want to do with your life.

Had they just been 4 years (or even better 8 years older) I would have probably really liked the film. It was cute and having seen “the cat returns (a favor)” last year, it was good to see the movie that inspired that prequel. This follows Studio Ghibli’s usual characters of little girls and anthromorphic animals. Farily entertaining (if you just change jr. high references to HS). I was happy to see the rest of family portrayed as real people with real situations, a working mother pursuing a master while trying to raise kids, a younger sister trying to figure out what to do with her life postcollege and seeking financial and personal independence from the family.

There was one thing that confused me in the film: I liked the “Concrete Roads” version of John Denver’s “Country Roads” and enjoyed hearing it translated to Japanese – but I didn’t quite get the reference and why the song was repeated throughout the film. To me the song evokes a nostalgia for a simpler countryside existence or a desire to return home/to a past life. These kids lived in Tokyo (not the country), had never left home and had no past experiences to long for/return to. It seemed like someone just really liked the song and stuck it in several times.

Hang in there during the slow start while Vera’s character is established (as a loving person who cares about and helps everyone she comes in contact with) – and you will be rewarded.

Not only was it a good “slice of life” period film that gave me an idea of what post-WW2 Europe might’ve been like, but it was also a moving reminder of what life could be like again (in England or the US) if the small but vocal “religous right” nutcases get their way.

I was expecting this film about a fiery woman standing up for women’s rights or a doctor crusading for women’s health. To show us such a kindhearted woman who just helped out women who couldn’t afford/couldn’t bear to have a child out of the kindness of her heart and not charging a nickel for it was incredible.

I thought the class issue was handled very well when you saw that the rich girl that got raped was able to get a safe, legal abortion—whereas the working women had to get illegal, unsafe ones.

This film moved me so much I went and gave a donation to Planned Parenthood. We will never go back to those days! It reminded me why we need to fight to force some pharmacists to do their job and fill birth control prescriptions; to remind the FDA that they’ve been sitting on approval for Emergency Contraception for years longer than most other drugs and we need to keep abortion safe and accessible for those few who need it!