25.03.11 Reviews

Movies: "The King's Speech", "The Fighter", "The Social Network", and "Garbage Warrior"

Music: John Coltrane's "Love Supreme", Akron/Family's "Meek Warrior" and "P/T II: The Cosmic Birth & Journey of Shinju TNT"

I am not going to talk too in depth about any of the movies except "Garbage Warrior" because you can find and read better reviews of the other movies. I just want to give some thoughts of my own to each.

"The King's Speech" - By all means I do think that this movie deserved all the awards it won, especially Best Picture even though I really really enjoyed Aronofsky's "Black Swan". Right off the bat, Colin Firth did an amazing job bringing stuttering emotion into this film. The relationship between the king and the speech therapist displays many of the class issues that were prevalent during that time period which gave an outsider like myself (an American) more knowledge of the history of Great Britain. My favorite part of this movie is the wall in the speech therapist's office; not only is it just beautiful but there is so much texture and meaning in it. This is a gorgeous movie and the final speech brings goosebumps to me. It is such a powerful and much needed speech for the people of Great Britain and the insider's view of how Geoffrey Rush, the speech therapist, is right there practicing and mouthing the words is just wonderful.

"The Fighter" - All I really want to say about this film is how great Christian Bale is, as usual. He plays Dicky, a once famous boxer who knocked down Sugar Ray Leonard and became a hometown hero but now his brother, Mark Wahlberg, is attempting to move up the rankings of the boxing world and Bale is his trainer but he is strung out on crack and there are other family issues with their mother who is their manager. I don't know how Bale does it but he continues to impress me with his various roles in movies: "American Psycho", "Batman" series (a bit of a stretch with that ultra deep voice), "I'm Not There", and "The Machinist". He is a talented actor and I enjoy how realistic he is in most of his roles. This is an entertaining movie but nothing great like the above mentioned movie.

"The Social Network" - Two things impressed me with this movie and that is how great the editing is and how sad the story is. The way Fincher and Sorkin portrayed this story was amazing, just hopping back and forth from the college days of Zuckerberg while he creates Facebook and to the depositions is seamless and done very very well. Props to them as well as the editor. I say that the story is sad is because you see how much of the moral problems in today's society come out in each of the characters. Granted we all have our faults but it pains me to see good friends split because of conflict and how the pursuit of power and money consumes people. As much as we use Facebook (myself included), I don't want to help aid those issues and conflicts but I will have to admit that Zuckerberg is a very intelligent guy for creating this even if it wasn't his full idea but that is how things work sometimes.

"Garbage Warrior" - This is the movie I want to talk the most about because it is more meaningful to myself and others, in my opinion. "Garbage Warrior" is the story of architect Michael Reynolds, creating sustainable houses in New Mexico. It is truly amazing how these unique structures can produce all the electricity you need (so no power line hookups or power company bills), catch all the rainwater and store it underneath your house so you don't need to drill a well or hook up to a cities water system, and rid your house of conventional air conditioner and heater with it's own heating and cooling system. You are completely off the grid of utility companies. These houses are constructed out of common goods we dispose of on a daily basis, glass bottles, cans, tires, and other materials. It is a creative and helpful way to own a home and have yourself be less dependent on utility companies as well as produce clean energy. Inside the houses they create greenhouse areas so you essentially don't have to leave your house because you have shelter, water, and food right there. So Reynolds has been creating these houses since the 70's and he was creating subdivisions where he would buy a plot of land and have a random drawing to see what plot of land people got and they just put down money for these houses and they all work on building each other's house creating a tight-knit community as well as showing each person what goes into their home. After some time, the government of New Mexico wasn't happy about these houses and decided to cause some trouble so Reynolds spend many years trying to pass a bill in New Mexico that would allow himself to build and sell sustainable houses to people under an experimental clause and after 2 failed attempts and countless hours of lobbying and revising the bill, it was passed! Between that time period, Reynolds and his crew went to some islands in India where the terrible earthquake and tsunami destroyed everything; all the wells were contaminated and people wanted something more safe, cheaper, and more sustainable so they built earth-ships there out of the above mentioned materials. They also went down to Mexico to build some of these houses too. There is a global problem with oil consumption, deforestation, too much waste, and just not using our resources wisely, so these sustainable houses are very helpful to help minimize these problems and if more people joined in we would put more money in our own pockets and be less dependent on utility companies and natural resources. I am going to look more into sustainable houses because I think this is a very smart and realistic option for homeowners. The whole documentary is available to watch on YouTube so please watch it.



As for music, I just want to highlight how wonderful John Coltrane's "Love Supreme" album is. He is a gifted musician and the rhythm and flow is superb as well as its meaning behind the album. This is considered one of the best Jazz albums of all time and him and his band recorded this album all in one session. This album is in 4 parts - Acknowledgement, Resolution, Pursuance, and Psalm; it is a spiritual album representing the struggle with personal purity and how all the talents and gifts that one has is from our Creator. Take a listen to this album because it is very soothing.

Also if you haven't listened to Akron/Family, you need to; their "Love is Simple" albums is my favorite but I just got a couple of their other albums and EVERY ONE is different, not kidding. They are very talented and are producing some really interesting and unique sounds.