Computer Age

The China Syndrome (1979)

Director: James Bridges

Cast: Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon, Michael Douglas, Scott Brady, James Hampton, Peter Donat

Until just a few decades, the journalistic profession enjoyed a certain veneer of social respectability. True trash journalism has always existed, but journalists (or at least some of them) were considered by much of the citizenry as a sort of line of defense against the excesses of governments, businesses and people in general not recommended. Today, corporatism result of globalization has led to an increasing loss of credibility of the media, more palpable if it fits in the field of TV. In Spain, the case is particularly critical, as the various mass mackerel strategies implemented by the ruling class (regardless of political sign) have, among other things, that things like THIS , THIS and THIS OTHER are defined as " journalists "and that until they are given awards and all, when would normally fit them to kick in a cattle car and shipped to a labor camp as quickly as possible.

In the United States, a country which has always been regarded as a champion of freedom (also when practicing journalism) the situation is much different. Although it is true that twenty years of biblical plagues in the form of ultra-conservative governments have done a lot of pupa to the guild ( and what you rondaré brown ), it is still possible to find there examples of good journalism, contrary to the opinion of many our hintelektualez patriotic, who consider this place like a cave populated almost exclusively by evil arms bearers and right-wing redneck with a brain injury, last but not least also carry weapons. However, look at a film like The China Syndrome to realize how things have changed (for the worse, of course) in the course of a few decades.

Because the late 70s of last century, a journalist in the United States was cool: it meant to belong to a powerful and respected lobbying able to overthrow a government if given the chance. The outbreak of the Watergate became fashionable to the office and its officiating, and towed it arose, of course, films that would be completely unworkable in today's world, where he openly denounced the shady dealings of a corporation whose only interest is to gain money without any concern for the safety or welfare of society at large. The authors of The China Syndrome noted the growing strength of the antinuclear movement to build a powerful thriller, which served to bolster the career of Michael Douglas as an actor and producer. By the way, Michael took note of a brilliant idea father, Kirk Douglas, and if the shooting had taken advantage of Spartacus to rescue the ostracism (and bargain price) to the ousted Dalton Trumbo, his son would do the same with Jane Fonda, not very well considered in his country since he had the brilliant idea of making a visit to the heirs of Ho Chi Minh during the war in Vietnam. In any case, both are splendid, beautifully accompanied by Jack Lemmon and a brilliant set of side of those that "pop" to have seen in many other films and TV series, that are solvents in almost any circumstance.

We are therefore faced a brilliant film, entertaining and fully satisfying in the current social context in which political and media powers are increasingly subject to the will of some increasingly powerful corporations. In this regard it is noteworthy the magnificent final sequence, accompanied by a final appropriations lacking any soundtrack. A brainstorming exercise in certain areas now turns to talk of the need to resume nuclear fission as a viable energy source for the future. And is that before speaking, people like THIS should see the movie. Although I suppose that they would not change his mind, of course.

The War of the Roses (1989)

Director: Danny DeVito

Cast: Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Danny DeVito, Marianne Sägebrecht, Sean Astin, Heather Fairfield

The '80s were, arguably, the best in the career of the great Danny DeVito. This charming comedy a string of successes as an actor and director who managed to place his stocky figure among the elite and popular film scene at the time, emphasizing particularly its association with two other posh actors: Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner. With them had participated in the pitch of Romancing the Stone (1984) and below but entertaining, The Jewel of the Nile (1985). But it would be in the War of the Roses, near the end of the decade, where the trio achieved the best results of their peculiar alliance with DeVito run the show this time.

Based on the original text of the novelist Warren Adler, a fully fit DeVito made his mark feature of black humor and bad milk in what is undoubtedly his best film as director. Because if there are two things that stand out in this movie those are the black humor and bad milk, making an appearance from the very opening credits, backed for the occasion by a great soundtrack. After that what follows is a story of love and corrosive indifference and passivity of wear, full of misogyny (woman is pictured here as little more than a heartless bitch) and that pulls up against the topicazos of relationships , which are usually displayed outside doors idyllic but also usually hide more than a murky reality that is only shown behind closed doors.

The War of the Rose is a very funny film that at times reminds one of the best episodes of The Simpsons. Not in vain the producer James L. Brooks, the same as the famous cartoon series. Although the second half of the footage is the most entertaining for that of the "succession of putadas" which takes place between the two main characters, maybe the best thing in the first part is slower but builds some great sequences that illustrate beautifully how a couple distancing can go slowly and inexorably, without the two realize until it's too late to fix anything.

Avatar (2009)

Director: James Cameron

Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Joel Moore, Giovanni Ribisi

Pocahontas against the Marines. So Iván Reguera rebaptize to Avatar in his extraordinary blog . And it was not the only one: from the moment they could be the first scenes of the film in trailers and others, the Internet has become a hotbed where anyone who thought he had a minimum of knowledge about film placed to give birth to the tape. And the easiest way, obvious and clear was to change the name, for its resemblance to many previous films it is obvious from the point of view story.

I admit that I find it hard to write something that has not been said already about a movie that, today, is the talk of the world and around the world has seen. I was tempted to do nothing and wait a few more months, maybe a few years, to decrease the enormous interest generated about Avatar, the same that has prevented me from seeing the film in its native format (3D) twice Such is the rush of people who still go to theaters, which makes it impossible to attend the screening if not reserved tickets a week before, the same expectation, which has forced me to see her in "flat format" to generate an opinion on the film itself, apart from the comments of other people and everything I've read about it on the Web something that incidentally is almost impossible in some ways is like being a jury in a case of great impact media and try to render a fair decision, regardless of pressure from the media and society.

Because if there is one word that defines Avatar in its entirety that is "hype" English word whose use and popularity have spread through the Internet, and more since he had heard that James Cameron was launching his new project. When you say that something is "hype" is said that something unusual is generating excitement around him, usually well above the then shows merit. Generate Excitement about something then that something is sold like hotcakes regardless of its quality, is a resource as old as man. You know what they say: good seller is able to sell something that does not exist. Examples of this film having Hayles, curiously almost always associated with horror and science fiction. But Avatar has been the back street.

I admit that I greatly admire James Cameron. It will be a bastard and take back, or at least that is what he says most of those who know him in person and have had the misfortune, according to them, to work with him. There will be a great director, or indeed a good writer, but the guy has shown throughout his career which has too many arrests for raising projects that other directors, supposedly better than him, not even dare to ask. And not only that: the guy is capable of carrying on his back with all the work it takes to load, put it to work against all odds, and make the end result pop the box office wherever it is displayed. In contemporary cinema no longer exists and people. There is too much money at stake, too many commercial interests so that nobody dares to take on new challenges, always keeping in mind the limitations of a world, the film, in which all (or most) is already invented since the forties . In the past three decades, only George Lucas of the Star Wars and Jaws Spielberg could bring to the figure of James Cameron, an expert in making the finger to the soothsayers of failure in the cinema. Avatar would another example of this, while recognizing that its production process failed to be as risky and complex as other previous nightmares director, such that Abyss and Titanic. The computer makes things a lot, Titus James has no fool, and before the first take snaps of his latest film had it all tied up and well tied to the point that hard to believe that a film so expensive it could be a box-office failure, which of course has not happened.

What the movie? Light Well enough, really. Perhaps the weakest of the repertoire of Cameron, with the exception of Piranha 2. More than a full-fledged film, Avatar is a demo of new technologies applied to film, and the clear demonstration of the current trend of cinema to put the continent well above the content. Because Avatar is like giving you an empty box with a beautiful wrapper. We must recognize that from that point of view is acojonante even in its "flat version, although their aesthetic Ultracolor can be branded as" kitsch "in more than one occasion. But no more. If you disconnect your brain before her, Avatar can fulfill its goal to entertain. In fact entertaining, if only for the displays of technique that makes the gala. But a few days ago, without going any further, I came to see me Dancing with Wolves in the original and extended (nearly four hours of fleece, hear) and I dare say that much more cool, even without much computer made pijada .

However, to make broth Avatar accusing her of being "a rehash" no longer a bit simplistic in my opinion, since the current cinema (from the sixties to this part, more or less) is itself a constant rehash. It happens regularly, always: a smartass borrows elements from here and there, the "fried" with a bit of success and brand to a generation as marking the cattle. Without going any further, when The Star Wars began to be exhibited in cinemas was showered hollows of wafers through the same thing now it rains on Avatar. Curiously, many people now put Cameron and his film to fall from a donkey, while they masturbate imagining the Jawas naked. And now you should know that La Guera of Galaxies Avatar is only with models.

Anyway I'd be reasonably optimistic, because history has taught us that might be the next step. The cinema has fought various crisis technological explosions over the course of time. These explosions have ended the way out, leading to a renewed interest in reconciliation with the viewer based on good stories, which is what should be the essence of this business. It happened in the sixties, after the fashion of the wide format and other similar nonsense; occurred in the nineties, after exhausting the vein popping film during the previous decade. Now I'm waiting for what may happen today, when deflated the "hype" of 3D. Hopefully roost owners realize again that the movie business is somewhat different from an amusement park, auque probably be too late to remedy anything.