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A Room Full of Lion Tamers
To tame a lion, you need a good chair. That’s one of the lessons that Dave Hoover, a wild animal trainer, shares in Errol Morris’s documentary Fast, Cheap and Out of Control. Why a chair? Because, he explains, a cat has only one point of interest. If a lion’s charging at you, it’s best to shove four points of interest into his face. Presented with the four focal points of the chair legs, that lion becomes confused and forgets his primary thought—“Eat the man in the white pants!” This works, by the way. I’ve tried it with my housecats....
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Strongest Impressions of 2010, Part Two
Here’s the second part of my look back at favorite 2010 movies. Ladies and gentlemen, the top ten… 10. Babies: Read my review of this delightful, one-of-a-kind documentary at the website for SPU’s Response. 9. The King’s Speech: Tom Hooper’s movie is made of close-ups, and that makes sense. It’s about a speech impediment, one that almost prevented the Duke of York from fulfilling his duties when he became King George IV. Colin Firth, playing the reluctant ruler known to his family as “Bertie”, is a joy to watch....
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Strongest Impressions of 2010: Part One
2010 was a year full of unforgettable movies. And I still have many on my must-see list. For example, Carlos (by Olivier Assayas, who directed my favorite 2009 film), The Kids Are All Right, Animal Kingdom, Get Low, The Ghost Writer, 127 Hours, The Fighter, Exit Through the Gift Shop, Another Year, Mother, White Material, Somewhere, and Vincere, to name a few. In the meantime, here are my most memorable moviegoing experiences of 2010. First I’ll list six impressive movies that I wanted to love, but couldn’t....
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Dawn Treader: Off Course and Adrift
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader—Walden Media’s third Narnia movie—portrays one of the fiercest battles you’re ever likely to see at the movies. I’m not talking about blades and arrows (although even C. S. Lewis would be alarmed at how much violence occurs in big-screen Narnia). No, I’m talking about wars waged off-screen as this Voyage was translated for the screen. Dawn Treader is, let’s face it, a meandering tale. As Prince Caspian sails from island to island, his adventures are episodic and conversational—hardly compelling movie material. The screenwriters revised Dawn Treader into the series’ most entertaining and enjoyable movie so far...
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Trash Transformed
In Rio de Janiero, there’s a saying that even Jesus turns his back on the poor. In a way it’s true. Early in Lucy Walker’s documentary Waste Land, a helicopter carries us around Christ the Redeemer, a white statue towering over Rio, arms outstretched embracing the wealthy of Copacabana, Ipanema, and Leblon. Behind it, we descend into the world’s largest landfill—Jardim Gramacho. Thousands live on that refuse heap. They’re the catadores—Portuguese for “garbage pickers”—struggling to survive....
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Issue 72
Memoir by Lauren Winner, Poetry by James Harpur, Art by Guy Chase and Adrian Wiszniewski
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