Retreading

Conditions: Cold


Pitching A Strike

Mutadhar al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who so memorably threw his shoe at President Bush during a press conference, was recently released from jail. He's made a statement about it all here.

The opportunity came, and I took it.

I took it out of loyalty to every drop of innocent blood that has been shed through the occupation or because of it, every scream of a bereaved mother, every moan of an orphan, the sorrow of a rape victim, the teardrop of an orphan.

I say to those who reproach me: Do you know how many broken homes that shoe that I threw had entered because of the occupation? How many times it had trodden over the blood of innocent victims? And how many times it had entered homes in which free Iraqi women and their sanctity had been violated? Maybe that shoe was the appropriate response when all values were violated.
[...]

One last word. I say to the government: It is a trust that I carry from my fellow detainees. They said, 'Muntadhar, if you get out, tell of our plight to the omnipotent powers' -- I know that only God is omnipotent and I pray to Him -- 'remind them that there are dozens, hundreds, of victims rotting in prisons because of an informant's word.'

They have been there for years, they have not been charged or tried.

They've only been snatched up from the streets and put into these prisons. And now, in front of you, and in the presence of God, I hope they can hear me or see me. I have now made good on my promise of reminding the government and the officials and the politicians to look into what's happening inside the prisons. The injustice that's caused by the delay in the judicial system.

- alternet.org/

Film Review: The Taking of Pelham 123

And suddenly, it's the nineties again. Tony Scott directs Denzel Washington and John Travolta in a New York heist movie. Ok, let's be honest, this isn't really anything all that special. The film itself is a remake, and even if it wasn't, it still feels like one. It's a familiar turn down a well-traveled road, but despite it all, at the end of the day it is an entertaining film, even in spite of itself at times. Tony Scott actually reins himself in enough to tell the story without making the audience want to keep it's collective eyes shut. He's still doing his hyper-reality thing, but it's not as all-invasive as it has been. Denzel Washington is also reined in, playing a Train Dispatcher, albeit one who's been demoted from the front office, and is very downplayed and quiet for most of the film. In contrast, Travolta has been let loose, and his wildly unpredictable Ryder steals the show, basically by default.

You want to like the guy, because it's Travolta with a cool tattoo, a gun, a plan, and some sidekicks. But he zigs from "Mr Easy Going" to "Hulk Smash" in about half a second, and shoots people without a care in the world. Bad Guys still need to be reasonable, and Travolta's Ryder is just a little too far over the edge. Most of the movie is dialog between Travolta and Washington on the radio, which makes the dynamic between the two a little shallow. What's also difficult to accept is at the end where Denzel picks up a gun and goes after Travolta. This basically comes out of nowhere, and doesn't really fit the character, or be based in anything that was said between the two. You could argue Washintgon feared for his families future with Travolta on the loose, but why should we have to assume that? In fact, there's a number of things that are unnecessarily glossed over here, like the henchmen for instance, who get about two lines of dialog between them. Or why they even bother lugging the measly ransom around with them at all when you realize the point of the whole plot.

There's an overriding subtext about New York and the subway system, and how great it is, and how great the people who ride it are, and how great the city is, with the subway as it's lifeblood. I'm not sure if this is genuine, or payment for the city helping the film out with locations, but it does define a sort of class-thing, where the subway is more real that the above-ground world. But ultimately, it's just an old heist film that's been tarted up a bit. Fun, but a little more shallow than it should have been. Three Random Gandolfini Yawns out of Five.


- Peace out