Hollywood

The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) has formed its very own Department of Pre-Crime, except without a hot-tub full of psychics and Tom Cruise. The program is quite simple. Undercover TABC operatives infiltrate drinking establishments and spy on the clientele. The undercover officers watch the patrons for signs of intoxication. People identified as drunk are turned over to uniformed agents waiting outside and arrested for public intoxication. The program, which began in 2001, is called Sales to Intoxicated Persons, or SIP (I am not kidding). In addition to drunken patrons getting hauled before the Man (in Texas, public intoxication is a class C misdemeanor, punishable by a $500 fine), the program is designed to identify and punish bar employees who over-serve drunk customers.

Hey, now. I bet you think Jake Gyllenhaal (yes, that is how you spell his name) might be out of line for saying that all the US troops did during the first Gulk War was jerk off….but you’re forgetting that he’s an actor, and this is his art

So apparently Brad PItt and Angelina Jolie are in talks to star in an Atlas Shrugged movie. Personally, I think this is great news, since it means a whole new generation of people will be not taking Ayn Rand seriously.

Hollywood stars, including Edward James Olmos and Salma Hayek, have joined ranks with a boycott planned for May 1 to protest the proposed tightening of US immigration laws.

Many believe the movie warrants a second viewing because it’s too complex to understand the first time around, they’re probably right. And while this movie does have it’s good points- excellent performances by Jake Gyllenhaal as the brooding Donnie, Patrick Swayze as motivational speaker Jim Cunningham, and a great soundtrack that includes INXS, Echo and the Bunnymen, and Joy Division- the story was just not interesting enough for me to warrant sitting through it again.

great news, sportsfans! i just read that it is very likely that the book Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand may soon be made into a movie. it is one of my favorite books of all time. it is due, in no small part, to it being one of the hardest books to "get in to" that i have ever read. i have espoused this books virtues to anyone i could find who might be interested in it. so far, few have accepted the challenge to read the whole tome. my friend joel got the book on tape and still couldn't manage to get through it. so, i am very excited that this important philosophical work will be transferred into a medium more accesible to the masses. it is fitting that the message should come out in movie form in this day and age. it has seemed to me as i have grown older that the very things the book warns against have become more and more prevalent. while i don't agree 100% with Ayn Rands philosophy, it doesn't take away from this particular story. it is rumore that both angelina jolie and brad pitt may be in it, which almost assures it's success. i just hope the people who adapt the novel to the screen don't blow it. it is a very complex, circuitous story involving many different characters and situations so it will be hard to sum everyhthing up in a few hours. but, i am excited to see it. i will definitely be pimping this movie to anyone who will listen. i loved the book that much.

If you avoid seeing one movie in 2006, make it Derailed. Whatever it takes, don't see this film. Don't succumb to the alluring cast, which includes Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston. Don't be drawn in by the plot, which is really as hard to swallow as barbed wire coated in cough syrup. If you see it in a video store or on netflix, slam your hand in a drawer to ease the temptation to rent it. If you want to see violence for its own sake, at least have some fun doing so, and see Kung Fu Hustle instead. At least it won't leave you feeling the need for a cold shower to snap you back into reality.

I had an opportunity to watch “Inside Man”, the new Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster and Clive Owen movie. As I have always enjoyed caper movies and given the actors involved and that it is directed by Spike Lee, it was a given that this would be something that I would really enjoy. And I did! Recommended!

The fine script by Russell Gerwitz provides an excellent puzzler about a bank heist that isn’t quite what it seems. The performances by Clive Owen and Jodie Foster are an absolute pleasure. And though Denzel Washington is not the best actor we have, he’s the best actor who is also a movie star. As so often, he’s unbelievably good in this.

Even someone who paid only a marginal amount of attention to the movie (like the two teenagers behind me who were making out and chattering the whole fucking time) will notice that Spike references the rampant racism among the police and the ways in which they rationalize their beliefs with reference to their personal experience (which, in places like New York City, is mostly with people from ethnic minorities). Someone paying a bit more attention might notice that two black men are the heroes/good guys (to use the terms losely) of the movie while the white people in the movie tend to have either little regard for morals or a pretty fucked up way of going about being moral. However, what I think is particularly clever about Inside Man is that it isn’t operating in a cultural vacuum.

As if "TomKat" weren't crazy enough, the couple has decided, for the impending birth of their child, to go the traditional Scientological route and have a "silent birth." This means that there are no sounds, no talking and no directions from the medical staff to the woman in labor, with the exception of sign language. (I'm sure this also means no drugs, also.) Forgive me, but this HAS to be EXTREMELY unhealthy for all involved.

The problems with this movie, in my mind, start with the horrible casting decisions. Edward Furlong as the Crow? I mean come on you saw the picture, it’s laughable. David Boreanaz or Angel as losers call him for the main bad dude? I just don’t see it. Tara Reid as the bad dude’s broad? She’s just a terrible actress.

I haven't seen the film yet, though I was moved by Ang Lee's Best Director acceptance speech at the Oscars. And Annie Proulx's The Shipping News is one of my favourite books, so I have no comment on Brokeback Mountain's appropriateness as a teaching tool.

Loren Carpenter, Senior Scientist at Pixar Studios, will talk about his Academy Award winning work in creating new technology that has enabled Pixar productions to be so fantastical, yet believable. Loren will also be talking about his work on the jaw-dropping 21st Century Zoetrope, one of the main features of the Pixar: 20 Years of Animation exhibition.

So, what’s all the fuss about? Well, this is a story about love as friendship and longing… love that goes beyond physical intimacy, beyond distances, love that is timeless. The chemistry between Ennis Del Mar the Ranch hand, (played by Heath Andrew Ledger) and Jack Twist, the cowboy (Jake Gyllenhaal) is almost tangible. The movie exemplifies the saying “Actions speak louder than words”… and in this case, a look does the trick.

Riya even recognizes faces in pictures on the wall behind your subjects. One of the funniest things happened when I uploaded our Christmas pictures. I was labeling my son’s picture in front of his new Millennium Falcon and his Star Wars action figures. Suddenly a little box appeared that said, “Who’s this?” — It was a picture of Harrison Ford as Han Solo that was part of the packaging on the Star Wars toys. Should I have added Han Solo or Harrison Ford to my contact list?

The celebrity era is finally coming to a sad, liposucked end, according to Anderson, who notes that fewer Americans watched the Oscars and Grammys this year, and that the major fan mags are hurting.

Syriana is the worst of three in term of enjoyment. I mean, the plot is slow, the storytelling is half-hearted, and the climax is questionable. Still, it has guts to tell about oil-related conspiracy and it has Matt Damon and George Clooney in it (together with a bunch of old, conspiracy type actors. It even has one negro actress that resembles Condoleeza "Moslemicide Mistress" Rice).