Exasperated Calculator

Category: Movies

  • Bond Villain Business Plan Reviews: From Russia With Love

    Business Plan Summary: Create conflict between the United States and Soviet Union, allowing SPECTRE to take over the world. Founder/Leader: No background information available. Key Personnel: Rosa Klebb (Number 3): Chief Operations Officer. Ex-KGB, with a strong track record for delivering covert operations effectively. Tov Kronsteen (Number 5): Chief Planning Officer. A chess grandmaster, and…

  • Bond Villain Business Plan Reviews: Dr. No

    Business plan summary: ‘Topple’ rockets launched from Cape Canaveral. Early stage funding through bauxite mining. Founder/Leader: Dr. Julius No has extensive experience with organised crime, acting as Chief Financial Officer for the Chinese Tongs. Since then he has worked on research into electromagnetic radiation. Currently a member of the SPECTRE syndicate, he has a strong…

  • Comedy as myth

    Part of the recent hagiography that has grown up around George Lucas is the idea that he [deliberately crafted *Star Wars* to reflect Joseph Campbells’ *Hero with a Thousand Fces*](http://www.moongadget.com/origins/myth.html). My suggestion, in counter to this, is that Campbell’s work describes something that is so generic to story telling that you could find a comedy…

  • The problem of hope

    So, there’s a movie of [Watchmen](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmen) coming out. Probably the greatest graphic novel of all time. Now, it’s a film based on Alan Moore comics, [so it’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_Hell) [going to](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Extraordinary_Gentlemen) [suck](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_for_Vendetta). But… Every time I see something from [the director’s](http://rss.warnerbros.com/watchmen/) blog I start to get a little hope that it might be OK. [Like these story…

  • Movie Review: Cloverfield

    This weekend I went to see the new movie from JJ Abrams, [*Cloverfield*](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt1060277/). I went in with fairly low expectations – I enjoy monster movies, but don’t really enjoy Abrams’ work very much. I’m happy to say that I was completely blown away. This is a superb film, which anyone who can stomach it should…

  • Movie Review: No Country For Old Men

    [*No Country For Old Men*](http://www.us.imdb.com/title/tt0477348/). Directed by Ethan & Joel Coen. Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin. In West Texas, June 1980, a drug deal has just gone very badly wrong. A case containing two million dollars ends up in the hands of Llewlyn Moss (Brolin) when he comes across the aftermath.…

  • Move Review: National Treasure: Book of Secrets

    [*National Treasure: Book of Secrets*](http://www.us.imdb.com/title/tt0465234/). Directed by Jon Turteltaub. Starring Nicolas Cage, Justin Bartha, Diane Kruger, Jon Voight, Helen Mirren and Ed Harris. Treasure hunter Ben Gates (Cage) sets off on a new hunt, this time looking for proof that his ancestor was not involved in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. With only a page…

  • Movie Review: Hitman

    [*Hitman*](http://www.us.imdb.com/title/tt0465494/) Directed by Xavier Gans. Starring Timothy Olyphant, Dougray Scott, Olga Kurylenko, Robert Knepper and Ulrich Thomsen. A mysterious, powerful organisation (known only as “The Organisation”) has created a series of genetically engineered super-assasins. Trained from birth, they are killing machines who complete the contracts the organisation takes from outside. The best agent, known only…

  • Films: October to November 2007

    Movies coming up in the next couple of months, and my thoughts ([as according to IMDB](http://us.imdb.com/Recent/Australia)). * *[A Mighty Heart](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0829459/)*: Interesting, has a few good reviews it seems. Does also look pretty depressing… Probably. * October 18: *[Saw IV](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0890870/)*. I have a fond hope to never, ever see any of the movies in the *Saw*…

  • Top 20 movies

    The top 20 movies according to the [IMDB](http://www.imdb.com), with the ones I’ve never seen in bold: * The Godfather * The Shawshank Redemption * The Godfather Part II * **The Good, The Bad and The Ugly** * Pulp Fiction * Schindler’s List * The Empire Strikes Back * Casablanca * **One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s…