Two new ones.

Heyo, I've got two new reviews up at Spectrum.

Here's one for The Windmill Movie: http://spectrumculture.com/2009/07/the-windmill-movie.html

Here's one for The Hurt Locker, which I mentioned in the previous post: http://spectrumculture.com/2009/07/the-hurt-locker.html

I'm happy to say that both are real positive, The Hurt Locker especially is worthy of just about all the hype it's got. Bonus content for the blog - I mention in the review that the film's a bit pointed at times, but there's one moment that I haven't noticed any comment on that seemed pretty aggressive to me: A bomb goes off in the middle of the night and the EOD squad goes to investigate it. They start trying to figure out if it was a suicide bomber or a timed explosion and so on, and eventually they decide the bomb must have been triggered from nearby, so they walk off to the edge of the blast zone to investigate the surrounding area. While they're standing there they discuss the merits of this new theory, and at one point, all three soldiers flash their lights directly into the camera and keep them there: "It'd be smart for them to do that. They can just sit there at the edge of the blast zone laughing to themselves while they watch us clean up their mess." To say that the movie is entirely free of on-the-nose moments is I think being a little charitable, it's just that the whole thing is so good that it's easily forgivable. There are a couple conversations the soldiers have about how screwed up war is that ring pretty true, I imagine that conversation is one soldiers have occasionally, but the accusatory tone of the blast zone comment struck me especially. Is it just a guilt trip or is it a positioning of moral superiority? Is making a movie about the war a big enough gesture that you can consider yourself a non-spectator? Is it a meta-commentary on the fact that everyone in the audience is watching an entertaining dramatization of the horrors that some people are experiencing at that exact moment? I dunno. Something about it came off a little hollow for me. Even so, the movie has very few missteps, it's really great.

I've got a few more articles in the pipeline right now, starting to build up a little head of steam here. I might try to write a brief thing about Public Enemies on here just to keep makin it happen, but in the meantime check that stuff out.

Starting today I'm a different number, 24, so if you've got any goats go ahead and sacrifice them, thanks.

Watch this video, it's unbelievable: