Brain Wave

Lars von Trier's 'Antichrist'

Reuters is reporting, "Danish director Lars von Trier elicited derisive laughter, gasps of disbelief, a smattering of applause and loud boos on Sunday as the credits rolled on his drama 'Antichrist' at the Cannes film festival." Entertainment Weekly gives the set-up: "Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg play a nameless couple mourning the death of their young son. (Oh yes indeed, we see it happen.) She's particularly stricken; he, a psychotherapist (of a kind I wouldn't advise hiring) tries to help her through the stages of her grief. They go to their cabin in the woods in a spot called, heh heh, 'Eden.' It's hell. The woman turns into a sexually voracious, sado-masochistic monster -- a she-devil. Blood spurts, bones are broken, genitals are mutilated...hellooo? Are you still with me?" Oh boy....

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Disney opts out of 3rd 'Narnia' film

From an article in the Orlando Business Journal:

The Walt Disney Co. won’t help produce and finance the next “The Chronicles of Narnia” movie being made by Denver entrepreneur Phil Anschutz’s Walden Media LLC movie company, Disney said Dec. 24.

Disney blamed “budgetary and logistical reasons” for opting out of a third “Narnia” film, to be called “The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The loss of Disney as Walden’s partner puts talent attached to the project “in doubt,” according to the movie-industry trade publication.

“Dawn Trader” has been in preproduction, and was scheduled to start production in spring 2009 with a $200 million budget and English director Michael Apted (“Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “Gorillas in the Mist”) at the helm. Stars from the second “Narnia” movie, “Prince Caspian,” were signed to reprise their parts, including Ben Barnes, Georgie Henley and William Moseley.

The movie was slated for a 2010 release.

Family-friendly Walden reportedly is looking for a new backer, possibly 20th Century Fox. Walden and Fox already have worked together on movies such as “Because of Winn-Dixie” and “Bridge to Terabithia.”

Walden also has worked with Paramount Pictures, which co-produced its 2004 version of “Around the World in 80 Days” with martial arts star Jackie Chan.

Read the rest of the article here.

The Tale of Despereaux: a parent's short review

Today, I took my daughters, ages 8, 6, and 3, to see The Tale of Despereaux. It's rated G, and the run time, after plenty of previews, is an hour and 34 minutes.

QUICK SHOT: See it. The story is good, and it includes a wonderful, redemptive lesson. Plus, the animation is sharp and exciting. Good characters. Interesting subplot. One caution: my 6-year-old seemed frightened by some scenes, although the 3-year-old seemed to take the tension -- and menaces to main characters -- in stride. It is, after all, rated G.

SYNOPSIS (no spoilers!): A rather civilized rat goes to a kingdom of people and accidentally sets off an unfortunate chain of events in the human realm. As a result, the rather civilized rat winds up in a Ratworld, where the rats aren't so civilized. Meanwhile, we learn of the birth of a mouse (over in Mouseworld) who has a startling lack of fear and a strong sense of adventure. (I'm trying very hard to avoid spoilers in what follows.) The young mouse meets the princess of the people world, and they begin a friendship. However, the officials of Mouseworld do not appreciate the young mouse's courage and adventurous nature -- and their lack of appreciation for those things eventually results in the meeting of the rather civilized rat and the young mouse. The young mouse works to vindicate his courage while the rather civilized rat attempts to undo the damage of his earlier accident.

MEMORABLE LINE: Something like, "The most powerful feeling in the world is forgiveness."

--Colin Foote Burch, member, Society of Professional Journalists

Clint Eastwood on political correctness: 'Everybody is taking themselves and everything so seriously'

From CNN's interview with Clint Eastwood, regarding his new movie Gran Torino:

CNN: When you read the script, were you at all concerned about the nature of the language?

Clint Eastwood: No, I wasn't. If you're going to learn something and progress in the movie as a character, you have to start as something else in order to learn tolerance. And your character obviously is never too old to learn that, so he has to be a certain way.

But I -- being politically incorrect -- I find [it] fascinating because I hate the so-called PC thing. I think that's one of the things that's damaging our generation at the present time. Everybody is taking themselves and everything so seriously. If they just relax a little more and take themselves and everything else a little less seriously, they'd have a lot more fun.

Focused attention matters during movies: Watching movies during 'brain biofeedback'

Yesterday, and only one time before, I did what my two daughters have usually done during their neurofeedback sessions: Watched a movie.

Most of my neurofeedback, or brain biofeedback, experiences have been like this:

1. I sit in front of a television screen with a sensor on each ear lobe, and one on my scalp.

2. I have a view of the back of a red race car on a track (it looks like a video game).

3. As I relax and focus my attention on the car, it begins to move.

4. I usually do six rounds in about 50 minutes, with several seconds or maybe a brief chat with the doc about my performance between rounds.

But yesterday, the doc had me watch a film.

I would have been fine with the animated film Ratatouille, which my five-year-old had watched, but the doc hooked me up with the 2004 film version of Phantom of the Opera.

It wasn't too hard to give Emmy Rossum my undivided attention.

But I'm not explaining how it works. The screen size changes to show lapses in focused attention. When I'm watching the movie with relaxed, focused attention, the screen fills up its alotted space within an on-screen frame. When my attention or relaxation begins to subside -- for example, when Emmy Rossum is not in a scene -- the movie shrinks down to an unenjoyable size.

I have to recover my focus and relaxation to bring the screen back up to a size suitable for adoring Emmy Rossum.

Perhaps next time my wife would rather me watch Ratatouille.

But seriously, it is true that my thoughts in the past have wandered during movies, or when I was reading a book, or even when I was having a conversation with someone. During neurofeedback with a movie, I knew right away when my mind was wandering, because the screen began to shrink.

I only asked the doc to pause the movie once, so I could rub my eyes. Otherwise, I most likely would have watched the movie for a solid 40-50 minutes, unlike the race car approach that I usually do with breaks.

-Colin Foote Burch