Movies

"How many people had I already killed? There were those six that I knew about for sure. Close enough to blow their last breath in my face...." - Captain Willard, Apocalypse Now

Yeah, you are probably already thinking that this is gonna being an Apocalypse Now-themed entry. Not really (hint: it's actually gonna be a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3-themed entry!). It's just that I spent the weekend watching that classic war movie and realized I'd forgotten ...

When this movie was first announced early last year, I was excited. In a world overrun with movies about ninjas, samurai and kung fu fighting, there are just far too few movies about the iconic knights of medieval Europe. It really is a shocking turn of events. I mean, as a kid I grew up with lots of books, movies (John Boorman’s classic Excalibur was my favorite…even though I had no business watching it at that age) and even cartoons that dealt with medieval themes – not to mention the ‘80s phenomenon of Dungeons & Dragons. How things change

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So I watched that remake of Conan the Barbarian the other day. You know, the one starring the guy with the funny last name? I was preparing to write a review but I found the story to be so thoroughly wearisome that it didn’t even merit the effort to ridicule it in public. That is saying something as I was never a fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s muscle-headed original and figured they could only go up…but I guess I underestimated the extravagant incompetence of modern Hollywood. What a waste of time that movie turned out to be.

So, in

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(…but not the internet kind)


I’ve been watching more and more foreign films lately. Strangely, I’ve enjoyed them quite a bit, sub-titles and all. Most of these films have been thoughtful dramas of the sort that Hollywood once made, back when every flick didn’t have to revolve around some juvenile cause célèbre, but could deal with real world issues that the average Joe could relate to. However, of late I’ve been noticing that even when it comes to a modern Hollywood’s mainstay – FX-laden sci-fi / fantasy stories – foreign studios

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“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church." - Tertullian

Lately, I've seen lots of awful moves. And I have seen a handful of fun movies. But I think it has been quite a long time since I have seen a beautiful movie. I attribute this sad state of affairs to the pervasive meanness of the modern entertainment industry, particularly Hollywood. By this I mean that most movies these days lack any sort of nobility of soul, for lack of a better phrase. Instead, we find almost every film to possess a hollow core - one that no amount

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