CinemaFunk

Loyalty and Bravery has never been so Inspiring

Last night on The Daily Show (August 4th, 2010), Jon Stewart interviewed Bruce B. Henderson author of the new non-fiction book Hero Found: The Greatest POW Escape of the Vietnam War, which is about Dieter Dengler, a Vietnam prisoner of war who escaped, twice.

I was not necessarily paying attention to the interview until the events discussed reminded me of a documentary. It was not until I heard the name 'Dieter' that I was instantly reminded of a favorite documentary of mine, Little Dieter Needs to Fly.

I'll never forget the story of Dieter, a man who grew up as a child in Germany during WWII, and eating boiled wallpaper for the minuscule amounts of nutrients. He grew up that poor.

Not only has Dieter's story been told in print form, in 1997 the Werner Herzog documentary Little Dieter Needs to Fly and the 2007 Herzog directed Rescue Dawn is also based on Dieter's inspiring journey.

Armond White believes he's the only capable film critic.
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Prior to Toy Story 3, I had no idea who Armond White was, I doubt you did too. Thanks to hardcore Pixar fans, his name is now a staple in film criticism two months later. For those unaware, White is one of the few film critics whose ratings are syndicated on Rotten Tomatoes that had a negative opinion of the animated film, knocking the film down from the coveted 100% rating that the previous Toy Story films have.

Within a day, White would be targeted by film goers and fans of the film from around the world on various websites. Typically, a negative review is not the end of the world. The argument is that White often provides negative reviews of films that are often enjoyed by the masses. While having a contrarian point of view can be beneficial, many of White's negative reviews often seem to be contrarian, just to be contrarian.

Anybody who comes to the cinema is bringing they're whole sexual history, their literary history, their movie literacy, their culture, their language, their religion, whatever they've got. I can't possibly manipulate all of that, nor do I want to.
- David Cronenberg

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Significant form is the opposite of pedestrian rendition; it is like seeing something familiar in a new and refreshingly important light. Because it has great density and energy, significant form conveys narrative information with weight. At the juncture of well-chosen shots with such forms, something mysterious happens which resembles a chemical reaction. Images fit together so magnificently that they ascend to a higher level of visual meaning.
- Stefan Sharff
Elements of Cinema
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