Sea of Hate

Hot is the Sea of Hate,

All who swim, drown.

Deep do they sink

Into the currents of fate

Pulling them forever down.

Burning coldly in jealousy,

They sink to the rocky bottom.

Believing in their own pomposity

Like those of Gomorrah and Sodom.

They rise from time to time.

Spitting accusations of fire,

Only to be dragged back down,

Into the muck and the mire.

In the Sea of Hate.

They will always burn.

It is there only fate.

No more lesson to learn.

Their only lesson is to burn.

Turn your backs on them

Anger is their motivation.

Go ahead and let them be.

Let them simmer in their own aggravation.

Fear is their only reason,

That makes them do the things

They do.

They would enjoy a season,

Of torturing the Hell out of you.

Do not join their game.

You know what the end will be.

For you will never be the same,

You too will drown in the

boiling sea.

In the Sea of Hate,

You will always burn.

The time is getting late,

And the innocent must have their turn.

For they will never burn.

© By R. A. Barbere

Read More

(We are the) Masters of the World

Flying high

In the sky,

We are the Masters of the World.

Flying Low

Flying slow,

With banners waving and flags unfurled

We are the Masters of the World.

In our terrible machines,

Built so pristine,

We fly beneath the sun.

No sounds are heard

As the fields are burned,

When all was said and done.

In the night

Looking bright

We are the Masters of the World.

We heard the call,

We saw the heavens fall,

We are the Masters of the World.

Over the land

Over the sea

With outstretched hands

We set you free.

To choose a life,

Under the sword and knife,

It doesn’t matter to us at all,

For we have heard the call,

We are the Masters of the World.

Take a look some night,

When all is silent,

And you will see a sight

That will give you a fright.

Fires blazing on the horizon,

A shadow hanging in the sky.

The time is drawing near,

As the world turns and cries.

Fires bringing death,

Between each and every breath,

We are the Masters of the World.

As quiet as mice,

As cold as ice,

You lay there curled

We are the Masters of the World.

No more disease,

No more war,

Praying on your knees,

On the edge of the shore.

To all who hear,

Those far and near,

To the Masters of the World.

You ask why?

What have you done?

To deserve to die

Under the lightning gun.

Was it too much violence?

Not enough silence?

Does it matter anyway?

Does it do any good to stay?

When all is said and done?

Too many victims,

And no one has won.

Was it the sins of the ancients,

Inflicted upon the young?

Time cannot tell

For the hour glass fell

Spilling out all the sand.

No music is heard

Not even a word

All across the land.

Our ship flies straight

Without malice or hate

We are the Masters of the World.

Over the barren ground

Under the sea,

No life was found

By the Masters of the World.

All is quiet.

All is right.

We are the Masters of the World.

© R. A. Barbere

Read More

Reign of Fear

Time is running out

For those who live here.

The stars are coming about,

Beware the rein of fear.

When the stars are in place,

On some peaceful night,

A change will happen in space,

The heavens will be void of light.

It’s nothing more than destiny,

An ancient conspiracy,

Acted with total consistency,

Done with complete apathy,

And now without a tear

Comes now the rein of fear

Beware the rein of fear.

No stars will shine,

The sun will not rise.

And at a quarter past nine,

We will all begin to realize…

That this will be the end,

The beginning of the final moment.

Time will have been caused to bend,

And many of us will be content.

Many will run with panic,

Others will try to hide.

A cry will ring out from the aged and sick,

There will be those who shall abide…

The end will not be merciful,

The end will not come fast.

There will be nothing anyone can do at all,

From no one shall this sword be passed.

A time of darkness will be at hand,

For those who still live.

We will try to make one last stand,

No one shall remain to forgive…

  

Fighting will break out all around,

Death will live in the streets.

Blood will flow across the ground,

And the end will be complete.

It’s nothing more than destiny,

An ancient conspiracy,

Acted with total consistency,

Done with complete apathy,

And now without a tear

Comes now the rein of fear

Beware the rein of fear.

R. A. Barbere

Read More

Baktun number 14

When the middle of the night

Turns as bright as day.

The day is without light,

No more music will play.

All the glass will windows dissolve

As your village burns down.

All your problems are solved…

Now buried below the ground.

Oceans and lakes evaporate,

Old hates are forgotten

No more city or states,

All your friendships turn rotten.

No more animals or birds.

No time for grass and trees.

No more time for wasted words

Only death blows on the breeze.

Well laid plans now spoiled,

Those of countries and of men.

Everything sacred is now soiled,

Despite the laying on of hands.

The ice is now broken,

With never ending snow

The last rights are spoken

For all life here below.

Shadows and substance

Of the dead and brave.

Wanting to refinance

A world now a grave.

Look into the mirror;

No more fears;

No more tears;

No more oracles;

No more seers.

Look into their eyes,

No more lies;

Everyone dies;

No more aged;

No more wise

When the sun falls from the sky,

The moon turns blood red.

The stars will scream out –

‘It is done!’

Your heart is filled with dread.

Day after day after day

After the last day was done

Day after day after day

A new age has begun.

© By R. A. Barbere

.

Read More

The Heretic

Under the hill of Blasphemy

Doth shine a lite always.

Leading thee into Conspiracy

In whose grasp ye heart forever stays.

Walk softly upon this path

Keep ye forever straight.

Hold onto what you hath

And ye shall know ye fate

Faithe shall not linger

Or ye soul may go astray

Ye may be caught

Betwixt the nite and the day.

Walk swiftly heretic

Time be running out

Hear the clock tic

It be tyme to reason with ye doubts

Walking always in twilight

Keeping pace with the dusk

Running an endless flite

With no one you can trust

Spend some time with ye thoughts

For the cock crew once times three

Now ye hear the shots

And ye fear be set free

Now engulfed with panic

Alle logik be now lost

Remain true Heretic

No matter what the cost.

© 2012 Robert Barbere 

Read More

Sinister: A Serial Tale of Murder, Mayhem, and Myth

“I'm gonna write the best book that anyone's ever read.” ~ Ellison Oswalt

The trend nowadays is to pick an obscure deity from an ancient civilization and create a mythos around it.  That is exactly what Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill did when they imagined a world where a crime novelist finds a box of Super-8 films Eventually the home movies will lead him to realize something more is going on rather than the serial murder of several families and the disappearance of one of their children.  The concept is interesting and compelling and Ethan Hawke (“Gattica,” “The Daybreakers”) brings the character of Ellison Oswalt to life as a novelist desperately trying to make a comeback.  Juliet Rylance (“Animal”) is Ellison’s wife Tracy, Michael Hall D'Addario plays their 12-year-old son Trevor and Clare Foley (“Win Win”) is their daughter Ashley.  Although Derrickson, Cargill, and producer Jason Blum of Blumhouse productions were hoping for a PG-13 rating, the film, however, deserves the R rating it has.  “Sinister” is about 10 minutes shy of 2 hours. 

The horror begins immediately with a scratchy Super-8 film showing a tall tree with a family who has their hands tied behind their backs, bags over their heads, and a noose around their necks standing underneath it.  The limb raises and the family’s legs start their death dance.  “Sinister” is a dark film, both cinematically and spiritually.  There are only a few daylight scenes, but for the most part, the film takes place in single-story ranch style house. The setting is atypical in the horror film genre, in that it isn’t some old two story house with a dark, dank, basement. Instead, this house has an attic.  The setting is in rural Pennsylvania, and the Oswalt family is moving in.  Ellison and his wife discuss his latest novel and questions if they are living, “a few doors down from a crime scene.”  Ellison stammers and says no.  What he doesn’t tell her is that they are moving into the house of the family that was hung.  

After meeting the gruff local Sheriff, Ellison realizes immediately that he is not welcomed in the town and the sheriff believes that Ellison’s work diminishes theirs.  The deputy, on the other hand is somewhat star struck.  The family has gone through some tough times.  Ellison’s last two books were financial and commercial failures.  His last best seller, "Kentucky Blood," was over 10 year prior and their finances are dwindling. His two kids, Trevor and Ashley are typical kids who must adjust to their dad’s constant moving from one crime scene to another in the hopes of regaining his past glory.  Uprooted from their friends, the Oswalt children have to deal with kids who eventually tell them the story of the horrors that took place in their house.  Ellison, however, only cares about his career. 

Wearing a nerdy green sweater, while unpacking stuff in the attic, Ellison comes across a box forgotten by previous owners filled with apparently family films and conveniently a Super-8 projector to play them on.  It actually looked like the one I owned when I was a teenager.  At dinner, filmed in the dark, with only a single light, the family discusses the move, the need to sell their old house, and the two most important rules of the Oswalt household.  First, no kids allowed in daddy’s office, and daddy must lock his office when he isn't in there.  Ellison gets to work immediately, his office is set up, looking like an FBI command center with maps on the wall,  pictures of victims and unsubs (unknown subject) with colored yarn stretched from one picture to another. 

Throughout the film, Ellison watches each of the movies, usually at night, when things usually like to go bump.  “Sinister” is reminiscent of Stephan King’s “The Shinning” in that the story involves a writer who moves into a unfamiliar place to write his next novel, and throughout the film Ellison, like Jack drinks more and writes less. Jack and Ellison make poor choices throughout their perspective story arcs, which lead to their undoing.  Ellison sets up the projector, drapes a cloth on the wall, and looks through the selection of films.  Should Ellison watch the film with the innocuous title “Family Hanging Around '11,” or should he watch “Pool Party '66,” or “BBQ '79,” how about “Lawn Work '86,” or even “Sleepy Time '98.”  He picks the first one.  What he sees is so ghastly, he gets out his glass, some ice and a bottle of whiskey.  

In these types of horror films, the main characters isn’t the only ones that are affected, the children are too.  In the “Amityville Horror,” Missy, the kid in that film had an imaginary friend named “Jodie,” and “Captain Howdy” was Regan’s friend in “The Exorcist,” and Danny Torrance from “The Shining” had "Tony."  In ‘Sinister,” Trevor has extreme night terrors, and Ashley, who likes to color on her wall (with parental permission, of course), starts drawing pictures of Stephanie (Victoria Leigh), the murdered family’s missing girl-child.  While each of the kid’s “imaginary” friends could be explained psychologically, rather than supernaturally, however, as we all know the former explanation eventually is ruled out.  One can say the same for the each of the main character as they drink and slowly devolve.  

Ethan Hawke plays Ellison who starts out hopeful about regaining his fame as an author, but slowly withdraws into himself as he contemplates what kind of horror he got himself and his family into.  Not the typical crime story he usually investigates, Ellison begins to realize quickly that he messed up by moving into that particular house.  A pivotal point in the film comes when Ellison, after watching the second Super-8 film, succumbs to his own hubris, and decides not to call the police but to continue researching the grisly murders himself. 

Each of the Super-8 films that Ellison watches with his glass of whiskey depicts a family’s gruesome murder.  The titles are far creepier than we first thought.  Within each of the films, there are images that are more disturbing than the murders themselves.  Ellison digitally films the Super-8 movies so he can research them on his computer.  He discovers children’s drawings of the murders before they happen.  Also drawn on the walls is a character called “Mr. Boogie.” And depicted in the home movies is a drawing that looks almost like a Pentagram.  Deputy So-and-So played by James Ransone ("Inside Man, “The Next Three Days"), the star struck deputy from the beginning comes into help Ellison and the audience lighten up as the story descends deeper into the darkness.  As an investigative source (he researches certain crimes for Ellison), the deputy also becomes a friend to Ellison.  After one particularly rough night, Ellison confides in him that he doesn't believe in ghosts but he has the feeling that the house is haunted.  Ellison asks the deputy if he believes in any of that otherworldly stuff. Deputy So-and-So’s, reply is not only insightful, but comical as well,   “Are you kidding me, I believe in all of that stuff, I wouldn't sleep one night in this place. Are you nuts?.”  The deputy also recommends Professor Jonas (Vincent D'Onofrio) from the university as an occult crime expert who the state police in for some of the weirder stuff, to examine the pentagram looking symbol.  

D'Onofrio’s part is small, but important in that he provides the Bughuul mythos.  Bughuul, a minor Babylonian deity, needs souls of human children to survive.  The deity lures or tricks the kids into the netherworld.  Worship of deity includes blood sacrifice or the eating of children.  Drawing on the theme that once you watch a particular satanic or occult image, you have opened a door that allows evil to pass through.  Similar in theme to “The Ring,” when one views the images on the video that was conjured up from below by Samara – your fate is sealed.  The same goes for the Oswalt family.  As Dr. Jonas explains, the early Christians believed that Bagul actually lived in the images themselves and that they were gateways into his realm.  That he would take possession of those who saw the images and cause them to do terrible things.  Or, in some cases, he can even abduct the viewer into the images themselves.  Children exposed to the images were especially vulnerable to Bughuul's possession and abduction.  

"I like that you made the movies longer, they are better this way.”  - Ashley Oswalt

Juliet Rylance plays the loyal wife, who is coming to her wits end as her husband begins to unwind, and her son’s night terrors jump up a notch.  Michael Hall D'Addario as Trevor does well as the preteen son; however, the standout is Clare Foley as Ashley.  Foley’s performance throughout the film, imbues a certain sense of innocence that in the last scenes of the film, turn creepy and unsettling.  Similar in function of providing the viewer with information and sets the tone of the film is Fred Thompson as the Sheriff.  Thompson bookends the Oswalt’s stay in his cozy little stay in his town.

Christopher Young provides a score intermixed with selections ranging from the experimental musical collective from Norway, “Ulver,” to the dark ambient style of “Aghast,” and electronic music of the two brothers from Scotland, “Boards of Canada.”  While Chris Norr follows in the cinematic footsteps of Gordon Willis, who brought his dark singularly lit photography style to films such as “The Godfather” and “Klute,” Norr rarely films Ellison in full light as if a spiritual shadow hangs over the man.  

Derrickson pulls together all the tropes of a horror film and presents them in his distinctive minimalist style.  Starting with the element of missing children, he ventures into the darkness, loud bumps in the night, disturbing music, inanimate objects moving on their own, simple but effective visual effects, a few jump scares thrown in for effect, demonic symbols (a scorpion and a snake) a compelling story, and a demon that the pulls the whole film together.  “Sinister” is flawed in some areas, but not by much.  Ellison’s refusal to turn on the light but rather just use the flashlight on his phone, or going into the attic at night, are some of the poor choices that Derrickson and Cargill have Ellison make. But then again without these “flaws,” there wouldn't be much of a film.  Overall, “Sinister” is worth renting and munching on a bowl of popcorn on a dark rainy night.

Movie Data

Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller 

Year:  2012

Staring: Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, Fred Thompson, James Ransone, Vincent D'Onofrio, Michael Hall D'Addario, Clare Foley

Director: Scott Derrickson

Producer(s): Jason Blum, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones

Writer: Scott Derrickson, C. Robert Cargill

Rating: R

Running Time: 110 minutes

Release Date:  10/12/2012

Read More

Amy, the year after.

One year ago today, July 23rd, I awoke on a beautiful Sunday morning to the news that singer, Amy Winehouse, was found dead.  I was shocked and disturbed by the initial reports of her death.  I started listening to Amy after her second album,  'Back to Black' came out. I was captivated with her smoky voice and interesting lyrics, I would typically listen to one of her songs on an almost daily basis. 

Over this past year, as I listen to her songs I think about her life (what I know of it) and am thankful for the sound of her voice, her energy, and her music.

Read More

Final Prayer

Dear Lord, Thank you for giving me the strength and the conviction to complete the task you entrusted to me. 

Thank you for guiding me straight and true through the many obstacles in my path. And for keeping me resolute when all around seemed lost. 

Thank you for your protection and your many signs along the way. 

Thank you for any good that I may have done, I'm so sorry about the bad. 

Thank you for the friend I made. Please watch over her as you watched over me. 

Thank you for finally allowing me to rest. I'm so very tired, but I go now to my rest at peace. 

I fought the good fight, I finished the race, I kept the faith

- Eli's Final Prayer

Read More

π

π is director Darren Aronofsky's first feature film.  Along with co-writer and star of the film, Sean Gullette, Aronofsky begins a path of obsession and compulsion.  The search is for perfection.  As in "Black Swan," Aronofsky's characters are driven mad by the pursuit to be more than the sum of their parts.  Unlike "Requiem for A Dream," his next film after π, where the characters are fighting forces within themselves, Pi's main character Max, is fighting against the forces of the corporate world and the forces of the religious world.  Max (Sean Gullette), is obsessed with finding a pattern to the stock market. His goal is neither wealth or fame, but an understanding of the universe through numbers. Obsessive compulsive, and on the verge of a psychotic breakdown, Max's search perfection takes him places not only in his mind, but also in his life where he never wanted to go. This gift of his, to see the world as numerical sets of data, is also a curse. Max's curse hounds him all through the film as he eventually realizes that his hunt for perfection has brought him to the very source of perfection -- the name of God.

94143243431512659321054872390486828512913474876027
67195923460238582958304725016523252592969257276553
64363462727184012012643147546329450127847264841075
62234789626728592858295347502772262646456217613984
829519475412398501 

Like π (Pi) is irrational number, meaning it never ends, and will never repeat.  Like the nature of God, who is never ending and never beginning, it is always there.

Read More

The Adjustment Bureau

I had the opportunity this weekend to sit with my kids and watch the "Adjustment Bureau."  When the Hollywood Science Fiction idea well runs dry, they have a tendency to fall back on a story by Phillip K. Dick.  You know, "Minority Report," "Paycheck," "Total Recall," "Impostor," and the daddy of them all, "Blade Runner." This year "King of Elves" was supposed to come out but that was pushed back, perhaps forever.  

When "The Adjustment Bureau" came out last year on March 4th, 2011, I was excited, not that it was a Phillip K. Dick story, but because I was hoping to see Matt Damon doing something other than Jason Bourne.  The film's opening weekend only saw $21,157,730 in domestic ticket sales, and only went on to make $62,495,645 in domestic sales in 12 weeks.  Foreign audiences, however gave "The Adjustment Bureau" another $65,373,734 in sales bring the grand total up to $127,869,379.  With a production budget of $50.2 million, the film made some money, however it wasn't a blockbuster. I liked that the film's attempted to tackle the concept of free will, or at least the appearance of free will.  The film also has a tendency to make one wonder "what if?."  

Make no mistake, The Adjustment Bureau, starring Matt Damon, and Emily Blunt, is a love story. That being said, the Science Fiction element adds an interesting layer of fantasy to this tragic romance between two lovers, who, while fated to be together, destiny interferes to keep them apart. "Mad Men's" John Slattery and Terrence Stamp also star in this twisted tale of love, humor, fate, destiny, and freewill. A pleasant surprise is the portrayal of Adjustment Bureau Team member 'Harry' as portrayed by Anthony Mackie ("Notorious"). Mackie gives a human feeling to the film and acts not only as a guide for David Norris in navigating this world, but also acts as a conscience for this familiar but altered world. "The Adjustment Bureau" is a fast paced, but thoughtful film, and full of plot holes if you think about them too hard, so don't. Read more of the Adjustment Bureau review...

Read More

On The Road

I read Jack Kerouac's "On The Road" several times in my life. The first time was in High School, when I needed to write an essay on a book of my choice.  The first time I read it, I can't say I was "amazed." I was too young with no real experience behind me to evaluate such a phenomenal novel against.  A few years later I saw  "Heart Beat," a film released in 1980 before I graduated. Once again my interest peaked and I pulled my copy out and read it again.  This time with some life experience I could read it in a new light. This time I could "see" more of what Dean and Sal a bit more from their perspective.  


Later in the early 90's after settling down and having time to reflect after the last 10 years of insanity that I called my life, and the amount of miles I put on myself and my poor 86 Charger (200,000 miles in just over 4 years) I could see what Jack Kerouac envisioned.  This year (2012) sometime, MK2 Productions is releasing "On The Road." No date is scheduled, however, I just saw the trailer, which stars Sam Riley as Sal Paradise whom in the book is told from his point of view.Dean Moriarty, the main character, is played by Garrett Hedlund ("TRON: Legacy"). Kirsten Stewart ("Twilight" series, "The Runaways") plays the ditzy Marylou, Dean's first wife. 

Also listed in the cast are Kirsten Dunst,Viggo Mortensen, Amy Adams, Alice Braga, and 
Steve Buscemi.  Also coming out this December is F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby."  So if 2012 isn't remembered for the apocalypse, then perhaps the audience will rember 2012 as  the year that the great literary giants Fitzgerald, and Kerouac, had their novels come again to the big screen and a new generation will take inspiration from Jay and Dean.

Read More

The Lone Ranger

Due out at the end of May 2013 (if the world as we know still exists) is "The Lone Ranger."  A remake of a remake of a famous TV series and before that it was a radio show back in the 1930s,  When I was a kid, the Lone Ranger was played by Clayton Moore. In 1981 Klinton Spilsbury played the title character in the movie "The Legend of the Lone Ranger."  Armie Hammer ("The Social Network") plays the Texas Ranger who along with six other Rangers were ambushed by the Butch Cavendish gang.  Not sure if this is going to happen in this version. Oh yes, that pirate looking Native American is none other than Johnny Depp ("Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise, "The Rum Diary").  Looking forward to hear Armie shout "Hi-yo, Silver! Away!"

Related

The Lone Ranger ~ Wrong Brother? Or Right Movie
The Lone Ranger ~ Infographic
The Lone Ranger - Official Trailer #4
The Lone Ranger - Foreign Posters

The Lone Ranger - Russian Trailer

The Lone Ranger - Back For Justice

The Lone Ranger - Trailer (previous)

Read More

Top 3 Books You'd like to See Turned into a Movie

I cringe every time filmmakers decide to take my favorite books and turn them into Hollywood blockbusters, as I know that in some way the movie will never be as good as the book. Filmmakers made several attempts in the last 20 years to bring some of my favorite book to the big screen with marginal success. Nevertheless, I look at my bookshelf and see three books that would make for some good movie material and with any luck considered as major cinematic works of art. I offer the following books for film adaptation, along with a few casting recommendations of my own: Frank Herbert's Destination Void, Robert Heinlein's Job: A comedy of Justice, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. I now believe that any film is an entity unto itself, and that more people are encouraged, after seeing a movie, to read the novel. Read More ...

Canon EOS 7D 18.0MP Digital SLR Camera with EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM (Google Affiliate Ad)

Read More

2012 is the time to Take Shelter

Are the end of days near, and it is time to "Take Shelter?"  This is a little known movie that came out in 2011 and didn't really gain much notice.  Only in 91 theaters in 144 days the film only brought in just over 3 million dollars worldwide. The film cost about 5 million to make so technically this film lost money.  In spite of these figures "Take Shelter" is actually worth the two hours of your time.  That being said, I have to warn you, that filmmaker Nichols takes a lot of care with his story in presenting it and allows the tension to grow within his characters and in his audience slowly.


Today, when someone has dreams of impending doom we tend to think the person is, if not insane, then not quite right in the head. However, long ago, if you had strange dreams about an upcoming storm or the end of the world, you may be crazy or you may be a saint. When John wrote about his revelations, early Christian church fathers took his writings and made them the last book of the New Testament. When Noah told friends and family about an upcoming flood, his neighbors thought he was crazy, but they were wrong. Early civilizations had a term for those who saw visions; they called them Shamans, today we call these people delusional. "Take Shelter" is writer and director Jeff Nichols' second film since his critically acclaimed 2007 offering titled "Shotgun Stories." "Take Shelter" is about a man who in the prime of his life is questioning not only his purpose in life as a husband and father, but also his sanity.  Read more of "Take Shelter" movie review...

Read More

Anonymous

The term "Anonymous" is typically related to the hackers that go up against the corporations and the government.  However, Roland Emmerich. uses the term as the title of his film about who really wrote the plays we attribute to William Shakespeare.  This film challenges the conventional history that the Bard of Avon was no more than an actor who played a part in this grand conspiracy.  If you saw the trailers in theaters, but blinked and the film was in and out of theaters in two months, don't feel bad.  For whatever reason, Sony/Columbia studios only released this film in only 533 theaters and only made about 10 million dollars with 70% of that revenue coming from foreign ticket sales.  I don't know if it is the subject that perhaps the studio thought was too daunting for the audience, however, it doesn't seem like they gave it the support that I think the film deserved.  Is the film controversial,  yes it is if you believe everything you were taught in school. Are the Oxfordian's right? Who knows/

Since the mid-1800s, a controversy about the authorship of Shakespeare's plays has been debated back and forth. "Anonymous" is the culmination of that debate that tries to reconcile those theories by offering what, by some, is the most plausible, and the most probable author. Disaster director Roland Emmerich ("The Day After Tomorrow," "2012"), along with writer John Orloff ("Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole") put together a film, not so much about William Shakespeare himself, but about the political intrigue within the court of Queen Elizabeth I played by mother and daughter team of Joley Richards and Vanessa Redgrave. As a period piece, Emmerich does a great job of bringing us this story in such a way that not only is easy to understand, but in many ways captivating. Although not a true story in a historical context, Orloff's script does provides a reasonable doubt about who wrote Shakespeare's plays. Read more about the film "Anonymous"

Read More

Iron Sky

Not since the Norwegian film  "Død Snø" have we seen the return of classic Nazi's in modern day settings. I use the term "classic" meaning that I am not referring to neo nazis nor white supremacy.  No, in fact "Iron Sky" is about how in 1945 during their defeat, escaped to the moon and have been waiting for the last 75 years been plotting their revenge.  Ludicrous, huh?

Taking conspiracy theories, Science-Fiction themes along with a touch of parody, Finnish director Timo Vuorensola and writers Johanna Sinisalo and  Jarmo Puskala bring us "Iron Sky."  Stating that V2 rocket scientist Hans Kammler (he was real) developed anti gravity technology and along with loyal supporters escaped to the moon 24 years prior to Apollo 11's landing. Hiding out on the dark side of the moon, the Nazis have been planning to retake the Earth and build an new glorious Fourth Reich.  This is director Timo Vuorensola's third film. His first film was a short called  "Norjalainen huora" (The Norwegian whore) that runs about 24 minutes.  In 2005 he directed "Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning" a parody of "Star Trek."  What is unique about "Iron Sky," is how it was made.  Collaborating with viewers through the website "Wreck a Movie," they focused not on the end product, but the process.  On February 11^th 2012 "Iron Sky"  premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and is due out in the United States on March 10th 2012.  Vuorensola's Finland won't see the film until three days later on March 13^th 2012. 

It has been well over half a century -- can we look back and laugh at the atrocity that was Hitler's Third Reich -- or are we so full of anger and hate that this film will just offend the hell out of us. You decide.

Take a peek at the trailers and let me know what you think...

Teaser trailer 

 Official Trailer Testimonials

Theatrical Poster

Read More