These are movies that I can and do watch over and over, most are not blockbuster movies and special effects but they all have either good actors or a good story.I my opinion these few have both, yes most are old movies and maybe I just like a story.
There To kill a mockingbird
Atticus Finch (Peck), a lawyer in the Depression-era South, defends a black man against an undeserved rape charge, and his kids against prejudice.
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Arsenic and old lace 1944
Mortimer Bruster is a newspaperman and author known for his diatribes against marriage. We watch him being married at city hall in the opening scene. Now all that is required is a quick trip home to tell Mortimer's two maiden aunts. While trying to break the news, he finds out his aunts' hobby; killing lonely old men and burying them in the cellar
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12 Angry Men" focuses on a jury's deliberations in a capital murder case. A 12-man jury is sent to begin deliberations in the first-degree murder trial of an 18-year-old Latino accused in the stabbing death of his father, where a guilty verdict means an automatic death sentence. The case appears to be open-and-shut: The defendant has a weak alibi; a knife he claimed to have lost is found at the murder scene; and several witnesses either heard screaming, saw the killing or the boy fleeing the scene. Eleven of the jurors immediately vote guilty; only Juror No. 8 (Mr. Davis) casts a not guilty vote.
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Tucker.The man and his dream.1988
When they tried to buy him, he refused. When they tried to bully him, he resisted. When they tried to break him, he became an American legend. The true story of Preston Tucker.
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Arlington road 1999
When Michael Faraday, single father, accidentally stumbles across a little lie from his new neigbour, he gets suspicious. As a university professor who gives classes on terrorism history and whose wife got killed in the line of FBI-duty, his fatherly protection instincts arise much faster than in normal people. Grant, his son, became the best friend of Brady Lang. Only that Brady's father did not always carry the name Lang. Digging deeper and deeper, Michael Faraday excavates a very interesting and frightening history. But what we didn't think of: From whose point of view is that history frightening? Written by Julian Reischl {julianreischl@mac.com
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
Heath Ledger
Would the raves about the late Heath Ledger be the same if he had not died?
You won't have any trouble believing that aphorism when you see Heath Ledger's mesmerizing performance as the Joker in "The Dark Knight," Christopher Nolan's hotly anticipated and often brilliantly executed follow-up to "Batman Begins."
His face caked in cracked white greasepaint, his smile a grotesque red lipstick scar, kohl rimming his eyes, the Joker is a cruel kind of clown, the kind that is only interested in the last laugh.
Slouched in his purple suit, Ledger gives him a lopsided shuffle, a permanently craning neck and an insinuating, deceptively neighborly voice. But there's something reptilian about the way his tongue flicks through his pursed lips like a pickpocket. He's hungry for trouble, a maniac for mayhem -- and in Gotham City, where crime is still running wild, he can make himself right at home.
Ledger dominates this movie as a living presence, a live wire, dangerous and unpredictable. It's an astonishing performance, as extravagant and free ("deranged" might be a better word) as his Ennis Del Mar in "Brokeback Mountain" was inhibited and tongue-tied.
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Take the test
An exclusive insight into the likely content of a new 'Aussie values' test for potential Australian citizens which will come into effect later this year.
Sample questions devised by the Federal Government:
1. Which colours are represented on the Australian flag?
a. Green and yellow
b. Red, black and yellow
c. Blue, red and white
d. Orange and purple
2. Indigenous people have lived in Australia for ...
a. At least 40,000 years
b. About 8000 years
c. About 800 years
d. Less that 400 years
3. Australia's national flower is the ...
a. Rose
b. Wattle
c. Kangaroo paw
d. Banksia
4. Which is a popular sport in Australia?
a. Ice hockey
b. Water polo
c. Cricket
d. Table tennis
5. Australia's political system is a ...
a. Parliamentary democracy
b. Monarchy
c. Dictatorship
d. Socialist state
6. The Capital of Australia is...
a. Sydney
b. Melbourne
c. Hobart
d. Canberra
7. Which animals are on the Australian Coat of Arms?
a. Wombat and echidna
b. Kangaroo and emu
c. Kangaroo and dingo
d. Lion and unicorn
8. Where did the first European settlers to Australia come from?
a. Spain
b. France
c. England
d. Ireland
9. Who is Australia's head of state?
a. Prime Minister John Howard
b. Queen Elizabeth II
c. Governor General Michael Jeffery
d. Premier Steve Bracks
10. Who was the first Prime Minister of Australia?
a. Sir Edmund Barton
b. Sir Henry Parkes
c. John Curtin
d. Sir Robert Menzies
11. What song is Australia's national anthem?
a. God Save the Queen
b. Star Spangled Banner
c. Advance Australia Fair
d. Waltzing Matilda
12. What do you call the elected head of a state government?
a. Governor
b. Premier
c. Mayor
d. Prime Minister
13. Which federal political party or parties are in power?
a. Australian Labor Party
b. Australian Democrats and the Australian Greens
c. National Party
d. Liberal Party and National Party
14. Which of the following are Australian values?
a. Men and women are equal
b. `A fair go'
c. Mateship
d. All of the above
15. Australia's values are based on the ...
a. Teachings of the Koran
b. The Judaeo-Christian tradition
c. Catholicism
d. Secularism
16. What does Anzac Day commemorate?
a. The Gallipoli landing
b. Armistice Day
c. The Battle of the Somme
d. Victory in the Pacific
17. In what year did the first European settlers arrive?
a. 1801
b. 1770
c. 1788
d. 1505
18. How many states are there in Australia?
a. 5
b. 6
c. 7
d. 8
19. Australian soldiers fought in ...
a. World War I and World War II
b. Korean War
c. Vietnam War
d. All of the above
20. What is Australia's biggest river system?
a. The Murray Darling
b. The Murrumbidgee
c The Yarra
d. The Mississippi
Answers:
1) C, 2) A, 3) B, 4) C, 5) A, 6) D, 7) B, 8) C, 9) B, 10) A, 11) C, 12) B, 13) D, 14) D, 15) B, 16) A, 17) C, 18) B, 19) D, 20) A
Sample questions devised by the Federal Government:
1. Which colours are represented on the Australian flag?
a. Green and yellow
b. Red, black and yellow
c. Blue, red and white
d. Orange and purple
2. Indigenous people have lived in Australia for ...
a. At least 40,000 years
b. About 8000 years
c. About 800 years
d. Less that 400 years
3. Australia's national flower is the ...
a. Rose
b. Wattle
c. Kangaroo paw
d. Banksia
4. Which is a popular sport in Australia?
a. Ice hockey
b. Water polo
c. Cricket
d. Table tennis
5. Australia's political system is a ...
a. Parliamentary democracy
b. Monarchy
c. Dictatorship
d. Socialist state
6. The Capital of Australia is...
a. Sydney
b. Melbourne
c. Hobart
d. Canberra
7. Which animals are on the Australian Coat of Arms?
a. Wombat and echidna
b. Kangaroo and emu
c. Kangaroo and dingo
d. Lion and unicorn
8. Where did the first European settlers to Australia come from?
a. Spain
b. France
c. England
d. Ireland
9. Who is Australia's head of state?
a. Prime Minister John Howard
b. Queen Elizabeth II
c. Governor General Michael Jeffery
d. Premier Steve Bracks
10. Who was the first Prime Minister of Australia?
a. Sir Edmund Barton
b. Sir Henry Parkes
c. John Curtin
d. Sir Robert Menzies
11. What song is Australia's national anthem?
a. God Save the Queen
b. Star Spangled Banner
c. Advance Australia Fair
d. Waltzing Matilda
12. What do you call the elected head of a state government?
a. Governor
b. Premier
c. Mayor
d. Prime Minister
13. Which federal political party or parties are in power?
a. Australian Labor Party
b. Australian Democrats and the Australian Greens
c. National Party
d. Liberal Party and National Party
14. Which of the following are Australian values?
a. Men and women are equal
b. `A fair go'
c. Mateship
d. All of the above
15. Australia's values are based on the ...
a. Teachings of the Koran
b. The Judaeo-Christian tradition
c. Catholicism
d. Secularism
16. What does Anzac Day commemorate?
a. The Gallipoli landing
b. Armistice Day
c. The Battle of the Somme
d. Victory in the Pacific
17. In what year did the first European settlers arrive?
a. 1801
b. 1770
c. 1788
d. 1505
18. How many states are there in Australia?
a. 5
b. 6
c. 7
d. 8
19. Australian soldiers fought in ...
a. World War I and World War II
b. Korean War
c. Vietnam War
d. All of the above
20. What is Australia's biggest river system?
a. The Murray Darling
b. The Murrumbidgee
c The Yarra
d. The Mississippi
Answers:
1) C, 2) A, 3) B, 4) C, 5) A, 6) D, 7) B, 8) C, 9) B, 10) A, 11) C, 12) B, 13) D, 14) D, 15) B, 16) A, 17) C, 18) B, 19) D, 20) A
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