Atonement (2007)

Not a bad little film about what happens when a jilted and jealous girl decides to get revenge.

I am Legend (2007) / Death at a Funeral (2007)

Two bad movies.

Legend: What is it about vampire-like behavior that interests people? This is yet another vampire movie, but built on Will Smith's super stardom. Unfortunately, the story is flimsy, worthless, and beyond believable.

Death: A family of crazies has a funeral for a father. Desperately unfunny with jokes which can be foreseen from miles away.

Frontline: Sick around the world

An interesting review of national universal health care plans outside of the US, including in England, Germany, Japan, Taiwan and Switzerland. All these plans spend much less than the 15% of GDP spent by the US. Japan only spends 6% (!) of GDP. Of course, in Japan the hospitals are failing and doctors make much less than those in the US, but still the result is health care far better than we have it here.

How to do it?

1. Volume negotiation for drug prices.
2. Force everyone to participate, including the rich
3. Dramatically reduce the amount spent on administrative costs (20% of health care $ in the US) -- essentially eliminate the insurers, or make them non-profit.
4. Encourage prevention and stricter chronic care to avoid costlier life saving measures later.

Vampire Weekend

Liked three songs on their recent album including Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa. A little exotic tropical island music-ish and casual, but catchy.

3:10 to Yuma (2007)

I haven't seen the original, but this version is definitely worth seeing for the action, bravado, and drama.

# # Spoilers # #

While this version is a fun ride, a key element of the story, which is the internal struggle of a charming and ruthless criminal with a conscience seriously considering a turn for the good, seems to run too far ahead of the viewer, and without real compelling externalities to mark the change, it seems to come from nowhere. The ending was completely compromised for me as being false and unrealistic.

Obviously any internal struggle like this is extremely difficult to convey on film, but the movie doesn't even seem to give it an honest try. Of course, something like a Shakespearean soliloquy was out of question, but there must be other ways.

Nevertheless one interesting aspect of the movie is how Wade seems to win over the group -- despite their efforts to get him to shut-up -- by his charming talk and even his actions. It's perhaps instinctual that his captors seem to trust him. And in an ironic turn, later he is convinced by the words of the rancher. So the respect is mutual.

Is it just that the rancher wasn't convincing to me as a person that Wade would admire to the extent of switching sides? I am too cynical perhaps. Sure the rancher was mostly honest, hard-working and pitiable, but there should be plenty of such persons around even in the old West.

Alright, so the rancher is the only obviously married person with children in the movie. Perhaps, Wade is longing after the life he never had. This seems to be an artificial and contrived situation.

The blond lieutenant to Wade is insanely loyal to his 'boss', but then does he go too far and thus into the region of a (heavily veiled) gay subtext? He's got a light-footed and jaunty dismount and flashy dress. And of course, he dies -- at the hand, of the boss, no less! Was it by design that this fellow was not deserving of any sympathy because of his ruthless killing throughout the film? Perhaps, I'm too sensitive, but damn it, if this kind of unsympathetic and fatal role seems too often to happen to gays.

Continuing along this line of thought, is there a sort of homophobic message of the movie that you should get married and commit hate crimes? Okay, maybe it's just my overactive imagination.

American Gangster (2007)

A bad guy with morals? A good cop with personal problems. Sounds like a true to life story. It's well played by Washington and Crowe, and despite its length was engaging mostly as a drama rather than an action flick.

The girl who played Frank Lucas's wife, Lymari Nadal, seems pretty -- and I'm talking strictly above the neck here -- but I wonder if most straight guys would not agree, because it's pretty almost in a boyish sort of way, with the long face and angular features.

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

Getting Brian Cox and Albert Finney confused seems difficult, but I had to look it up on IMDB to really be sure that they didn't somehow recycle the same actor which was killed in the previous movie. Is the series making a statement about old fat white guys being ruthless and corrupt?

Matt Damon seems to have gotten more comfortable in his role, and I suppose his acting was a bit better in this last one. I liked Julia Stiles hair in this one, no real reason, but I just did.

Overall a neat action flick.