Classic RAMZPAUL

The story could have been edited tighter. But I found the symbolism to be interesting. Not a Disney movie about nature.

Waiting For Superman is a documentary that explores why African-American and Hispanic students tend to perform so poorly in school. This is in stark contrast to Asian, White and Jewish students who tend to excel academically. The conclusion of the movie is that African-American students perform poorly because they lack good teachers. (The obvious other explanation is taboo to speak of in polite company). This film reminded me of an essay written by a teacher who had experience teaching African-American kids. The essay is well worth the read. What is it Like to Teach Black Students? by Christopher Jackson Until recently I taught at a predominantly black high school in a southeastern state. The mainstream press gives a hint of what conditions are like in black schools, but only a hint. Expressions journalists use like “chaotic” or “poor learning environment” or “lack of discipline” do not capture what really happens. There is nothing like the day-to-day experience of teaching black child...

Eat, Pray and Love is a book and a movie that celebrates some middle-age White woman as she runs off and travels the world for a year while engaging in pseudo spiritual bullshit. In reality she just stuffed her face, drank and fucked around for a year while pretending to be some sort of enlightened humanitarian. Feminists love this movie claiming that is “empowering.” (This begs the question - Is there ANYTHING women do that is not empowering?) An Empowered Woman  In interest in gender equality, I thought it might be fun to create a similar movie that would appeal to me. My guess is that the feminists who find Eat, Pray and Love empowering would be the first to scream like banshees at the wickedness of my movie. Just a wild guess. An Empowered Man

Avatar is a ground breaking movie in regards to technology. This was the first 3D movie I have seen that did not look cheesy. This 3D technology might be the salvation for movie theaters that are now in competition with DVDs and Internet movie streams. Avatar is definitely a movie that you need to see in the theater with the 3D effects. The story of Avatar is basically Dancing with Wolves set in space. The story is the typical morality tale of how evil Western Civilization exploits the happy natives who live in tune with nature. Despite the heavy handed politically correct eco propaganda, the movie is actually entertaining.

While I was traveling, I saw the movie Whiteout on the spur of the moment. The movie theater was near my hotel and Whiteout happened to be the movie that was showing at that time. The movie felt like a bad made for TV movie. The acting, direction and story-line were a horrible mess. The only redeeming feature of the movie was that the lead actress, Kate Beckinsale, was pretty cute. The movie opened with a gratuitous scene in which Kate stripped for a shower. The scene added nothing to the plot, but I believe even the director realized that the movie sucked so much that SOMETHING interesting had to be shown. Of course the movie had the usual Hollywood Politically Correct seal of approval. - Strong, independent female character that can physically kick the ass of a 250 pound man (check) - Evil villain is a straight white man (check) - Funny Black character that is smart and saves the day (check) The plot was woefully cliché and transparent. The acting was horrible bordering on comical. A...

500 Days of Summer is a new romantic comedy that was released this weekend. While I usually hate romantic comedies, I heard that this one was more in the off-beat style of Groundhog Day. While it was not as good as Groundhog Day, I must admit that it did not follow the same usually romantic comedy formula. As the narrator said at the opening on the movie, 500 Days of Summer is not really a love story. It is more of a story of a guy who puts a woman on a pedestal and has his dreams crushed. As such, it is actually somewhat a good cautionary tale for young men. The creator of the movie admitted the movie was about a relationship in his life. (He had a funny tag line at the beginning of the movie.)

I saw the John Dillinger movie, Public Enemies, this afternoon. The reviews looked great. And I usually love gangster movies. So my expectations were high. Unfortunately, I found the dialog and the acting to be rather stilted. I actually burst out laughing during scenes that were meant to tug at the heartstrings. Of course, it could just mean that I am a heartless bastard. As the movie was rather dull, I rememberd the old John Dillinger urban myth that he had a giant penis that was later sent to the Smithsonian Institute. That myth originated back in the 1930s with this newspaper photo of the corpse of Dillinger. The urban myth was actually more interesting than the movie.

I went to see the new Star Trek movie today. It was OK. It was the usual time travel and shoot them up plot. Maybe it is because I am getting older, but that plot line is starting to bore me. Oh, but there was the epic nerd fight in the theatre before the movie. It seems that this one guy took a seat that a really fat guy was saving. The fat guy looked just like the comic book guy in The Simpsons. They were shouting at each other and the usher had to come to settle them down. I suggested that they should settle their difference by using the traditional Klingon duel of honor. They didn’t seem to interested in my idea. Even in his young days Kirk was still having sex with the green skins girls. I can respect that.

The movie Into the Wild documents the real life adventures of Christopher McCandless. When McCandless graduated college he went on a couple year odyssey exploring American with nothing more than his backpack. His journey ended in the wilds of Alaska. I have mixed feelings concerning this movie. While I think McCandless was naïve and reckless, I do admire the spirit of taking changes in life. In life we always seem to walk a line between safety and adventure. It is nice to have security. But is the price worth it?

Philippe Petit captured the world's attention in 1974 when he successfully walked across a high wire between New York's Twin Towers. A documentary was created called Man On Wire that explored the planning of this feat. While the movie was nominally about wire walking, the story was really about daring to be adventurousness enough to chase your dreams. You can’t help but feel great after watching this documentary.