RIFLE RANGE BOY

Marty (1955) Director: Dilbert Mann https://boredanddangerousblog.wordpress.com/ 2016/05/24/movie-review-marty-1955/ Ernest Borgnine was a regular fixture during my terrestrial TV days growing up. He often played the villain in numerous Western films and portrayed a tough soldier in combat movies. The last I recall watching him, he was a smiling, gap-toothed, confident character in ‘Airwolf’. The 1950s saw Borgnine thrive in Hollywood; however, his opportunities to appear as a leading man sadly diminished as he began to gain weight in the middle and lose it at the top. Then came the audition for ‘Marty’, and he was cast as the hero.  The 1950s also witnessed movie moguls amassing fortunes from their productions. Simultaneously, tax authorities were hot on their trail, occasionally imposing charges on megastars of up to 94% if they earned more than $  200,000. Consequently, many looked for loopholes to avoid taxes. Some worked less, while others established shell companies for ...

Anora (2024) Director: Sean Baker https://thefutureoftheforce.com/2024/10/31/review-anora-2024/ I was nearly knocked off my socks when I heard that 'Anora' won five Academy Awards, including Best Film, Best Actress, and Best Director. However, receiving the Best Film award is beyond any rational justification.   My first impression of it when I viewed it was that it seemed like rubbish. It reminded me of the numerous B-grade films that excited teenagers in the 1980s when they gathered around their friends' VHS players to watch Koo Stark in 'Emily'. The plot is thin and predictable, and the storytelling fails to present anything new. The storyline has been told and retold in numerous other films, though it serves more as a subplot. For context, this narrative follows a pole dancer who also works as a prostitute and finds herself infatuated with the debauched son of a Russian oligarch. According to her, the correct job title is exotic dancer. They dive into a whirlwin...

The Zone of Interest (2023) Director: Jonathan Glazer Even though this is about something that happened more than 80 years ago, put in a similar situation, I foresee we humans do the exact thing that we did during World War 2 Nazi rule of Germany. We justify our actions and inaction through the dog-whistle call of the majority without taking a step back and asking ourselves, "Am I doing the right thing?" Even during peacetime in Malaysia, a section of people is trying to steamroll their agenda to the rest of the country. Any sane person of reasonable intellectual capacity would understand this is not how democracy works. The majority chooses, and the rest would follow suit. Changes are made via constructive discourses at the appropriate forums. This renegade group is trying to change all these. The might of high decibels in the confines of an echo chamber cannot be underestimated. Like Grobbels, who thought that the propaganda machines of the State could steer the thinking of...

The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) Writer & Director:  Martin McDonagh Different people would interpret this movie differently. As all movies based in Ireland tend to be based on the Irish Rebellion, naturally, it could be construed as a veiled depiction of the clash between the Roman Catholics and the Protestants. It could be an allegorical reference to a futile feud between brothers which had lost all relevance and had no meaning in modern Ireland. The police, representing England, could be the ruling coalition and may benefit from continued chaos. Someone proposed that the storyteller is trying to imply that hope had died in the region, and another character is pushing for the other to get out of the place to start a new life. To put the plot straight, the story happens on an island, Inisherin, during the tail-end of the Irish Civil War, around the 1920s, just across the straits on the mainland. Nothing much is happening on the island. The protagonist, Pádraic, milks his cow a...

Women Talking (2022) (Based on a novel by Miriam Toews) Director: Sarah Polley "What's new?" said DA. "Women can talk; they sure do." He started talking about the male and female brain and how their connexions differ and such... One is action-orientated, whilst the other talks!" But that is not the point. It is about women's empowerment and talking back against a system that subjugated them to stereotypical roles. Every civilisation and religious path must have started with novel intentions of giving everyone a place in the sun and a right to pursue certain rights in life. Along the way, the leaders found it easier to rule by decree, and certain obscure divine ordains showed their presence. Even though they are built tough and resilient on the inside, women lost out on many physical day-to-day duties and worked in tandem with their male counterparts to complete their tasks. Manual labour in the good old days was intensive. Mechanisation and industrialis...

All that Breathes (Documentary; 2022) Director : Shaunak Sen In a man-eat-man world, two brothers find their purpose in life, rescuing injured birds. Against a background of opposing groups fighting against the abrogation of article 370, of brothers of the same nation, hurting each other, we see two brothers going all out to rescue various birds and nursing them back to health, all voluntarily on their own accord with no training whatsoever. Within the confines of a dinghy house which they have converted into a bird clinic in Wazirabad in South Delhi, they have been rehabilitating small animals since the 1990s.  The brothers, Nadeem Shehzad and Mohammad Saud, even had referrals from other veterinarian clinics to treat these feathered animals. One of the reasons these raptors were sent away is that these clinics could not feed them non-vegetarian meals.  The brothers' efforts, even though they received minimal local financial support, garnered international recognitio...

The Whale (2022) Director: Darren Aronofsky We all carry on our lives, deluding ourselves that we can save others. We are convinced we can cajole the divine forces into changing the universe's trajectory to accommodate our easy passage. We think we can indeed influence others to engineer their own future path. We naively believe our hard work certainly will make them fight their inner demons and move towards the right direction. As if we, ourselves, are so cocksure of the right road to happiness as if we have traversed them before. And our current journey is akin to a trip 'Back to the Future'! Using the allegory of the 1851 classic 'Moby Dick' by Hermann Melville or alternatively titled 'The Whale' in which the main character, Captain Abad, is fixated on hunting down an albino whale, the story tells us how we fill up our lives with so many unnecessary things that bring most minor benefits. The whaling ship's Captain is hellbent on avenging a whale that ...

THE ROOST T here was once, many years ago, there was a spate when many of my relatives had given up on their motherland, turned their back on Malaysia and started looking around for greener pastures. I wondered how Mother Malaysia would feel to see one by one, her children, after years of nurturing them, after growing so big and strong, feel compelled to fly away from their roost. Like a proud mother seeing her kids having a mind of their own, she must be immersed in a bitter-sweet feeling . Like a flight of swallows, you came stocks and barrels, from Swatow, Coimbatore, Minangkabau, Looking for peace of mind,piece of pie, for that, you scaled the high seas and brine. You were hungry; I fed your soul, you had shivers; I showed you warmth. you were homeless; I gave you home. you were stateless; I was your hope. Under the yellow umbrella, and a piece of cloth, you had dignity, camaraderie, a history, a legacy, an emblem, an anthem. The colours to spill your crimson. Now that you have win...