06/11/2009
Movies: Sam Rockwell's Moon and Brad Pitt's Secret Affair
Nathaniel Rogers would live inside a movie theater but for the poor internet reception. He blogs daily at the Film Experience.
This weekend's new releases feature plenty of big stars doing what we expect of them: Eddie Murphy works the family comedy for Imagine That and Denzel Washington and John Travolta go mano a mano in the remake of The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 but I must suggest a film that's a little further from the multiplex, and that's Duncan Jones's Moon. It also features a cameo from Sam Rockwell's moon but if you've seen Lawn Dogs or Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, you've seen plenty of Rockwell already. Most of the press surrounding Duncan Jones's directorial debut is that he is actually the son of rock legend David Bowie. This is an unfortunate distraction as the film has no relationship to Ziggy Stardust or any Spiders From Mars and it's actually quite good.
Your Feature Presentation: Moon
It's the story of a helium miner "Sam" (Sam Rockwell) working alone on the Moon. His only companion is a robot named "Gertie" (voiced by Kevin Spacey)...
More, AFTER THE JUMP...
...and with only weeks left on his three year contract he's starting to lose it from the isolation. Three years is a long time without direct human contact. Sam's discussions with his wife are time delayed and Gertie is pleasant but limited. Sam has started to let himself go and he might even be seeing things. One day on a trip to the helium mine things go awry and his rover crashes. He wakes up back in the base, with Gertie caring for him but things are no longer as they once were. He isn't alone and the new resident looks exactly like him. Pssst, I haven't given anything away that the trailer doesn't. But I won't go any further since Moon is best left to discover for yourself.
Sam Rockwell is an acquired taste, neither traditionally movie star handsome or always likeable onscreen, but this role fits like a glove dirty spacesuit. His everyman accessibility and lack of vanity are perfect fits for the challenging and yes, multiple role. Once Sam is acting with Sam as "Sam" (are you following?) the movie takes off into very interesting terrain. For those who like their science fiction with a little science, or their movies with plenty of conversation fodder for a dinner after the screening, Moon will be tough to beat this year.
Bonus Features: Best of the Year
If Moon hasn't opened in your city just yet, there's time to catch up on releases you may have missed. Movie love is a subjective affair but my personal favorite film experiences of 2009 (in no particular order) include Pixar's predictably stellar Up, the hair metal doc Anvil! The Story of Anvil, the underappreciated caper Duplicity, the magical Coraline, and Star Trek, rebooted. Finally, two 2008 festival holdovers were well worth the wait: Tilda Swinton's tour de force in Julia is unpredictable and electric and the British import Hunger with rising star Michael Fassbender (300) is a must for anyone who cares about cinema as an art form... but watching it with a tub of popcorn is ill advised.
I had the pleasure of taking in Sandra Bernhard's 20th/21st anniversary Without You I'm Nothing concert last night at Town Hall. The classics are always great but she mixed in more recent material as well, keeping the night away from mere nostalgia. Kathy Griffin may have stolen Bernhard's thunder this decade in the extremely specific 'being a celebrity whilst making fun of celebrities for the gays' niche but Bernhard's work has always had more of a cerebral side with a rock and roll edge. There's room for both of them. Included in the new material were shots at A-Rod, Mr and Mrs Ashton Kutcher on Twitter and, yes, Madonna (apparently Sandra's never going to let that grudge go), the highlight being a confessional about her secret torrid love affair with Brad Pitt culminating in a hilarious reworking of Dolly Parton's classic Jolene... "Jolie, Jolie, Jolie, Joooolllliiieeee... I'm begging of you please don't take my man. Please don't take him just because you can." [Another much more detailed take on last night's event over at Boy Culture if you're interested]
Today, after the show she was still on it, tweeting like so...
For those who take things too literally, we know that Sandra was not embroiled in a passionate affair with the golden god because she's never appeared in a Melissa Etheridge video. I've been a Pitt-ologist for years so I've researched the matter long ago. That's what Brad's girls do before the split: Juliette Lewis "Come to My Window", Gwyneth Paltrow "I Want to Come Over" and Jennifer Aniston "I Wanna Be In Love". Just this week there was another round of 'It's the End for Angelina and Brad' speculation. I think it's safe to ignore... only Melissa Etheridge can predict that future.
Posted 5:30 PM EST by Nathaniel_R in Film, Nathaniel Rogers, News | Permalink
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The real Pittologists who stayed loyal,good and strong despite the media trapping Pitt in their calculated web of deceit and gossip that clashed with his real life to make him and Jolie the targets of ongoing
misportrayal and negative spin which his ex so ruthlessly and shamelessly exploited to her enhance her popularity and power, still understand that Pitt is a nice, grounded guy with moral values who would never cross that line and never engage in devious behavior unlike most celebs. Pitt is constantly surrounded by lies, false rumors, accusations, distortions, contradictions, manipulations, and misportrayals and wrongly being hated when his personality, lifestyle, career, and family is respectable and extraordinary.
It is bizarre and insane how he became a target when other celebs entangeled in similar misportrayals because of rumors with bad timing received the benefit of the doubt from the public. The media and public are being more corrupt, despicable, and ignorant than ever but they are posing as righteous by operating on a false premise against a man who is authentically good who would never committ in that sin in the first place. There is a lot of evidence that is being rejected, ignored, or buried.
The media has even crossed the line further recently by adding false statements to their interviews. Pitt and Jolie would never say they fell in love during that movie because that is not true and that is NOT where their romance began. Then Putt was once again forced to clarify that he didn't cheat only to have the media throw their misquotations and lies in his face.
His ex even made misleading statements and once again recycled her profitable campaign from 2005 to make people think Jolie described an affair in a Vogue interview when Jolie clearly denied an affair and described a friendship on the set of that movie which naturally blossomed into a romance when he became single because of their natural bond and that their life philosophies were a perfect fit. That interview, like most of their interviews, was distorted, words were taken out of context, false statements were planted, and was unfavorably edited but it came clear that she maintained that they were platonic.
Not that any of their true words, behavior, and actions would make a difference because the world has become just too biased and brainwashed against them.
Their romance unexpectedly began about 3 months after his split with Jennifer despite the gossip and Jolie was not the cause. He underestimated the amount of sleazy effort the media would put forth in selling this false storyline and didn't expect his low-class opportunistic fraud of an ex to take advantage of the pseudo-scandal and to lie to his family, friends, peers, the public while throwing him over to the greedy media knowing he couldn't prove his innocence. He didn't quite grasp the nature of our twisted and immoral society and thought that after more than 10 years in the buisness, his wide fanbase would understand his personality and character but they turned on him when he needed their support the most. His word should have been good enough. It took an incredible amount of corruption and sleaze to bring a guy like Pitt who most of the world once rightly trusted, admired, respected, and adored down. The corruption,lying, manipuating, conniving behavior, and other devious tactics are still being used horribly to keep this cycle of deceit thriving. It is sick how most of the people who jumped on the bandwagon pretend to be so moralistic when the truth is that they were not so offended by that sin until the media convinced them that their golden girl ( who got that image,
title, status, and supreme popularity and respect through Pitt in the first place) was betrayed. There have been many real scandals regarding infidelity but they never got that moral reaction and the true victims never received that kind of pity or affection. There have also been many false scandals becaues of rumors and the absurd conflict they can create with life but the wrongfully accused was never officially tarnished because the ex was never diabolical enough to play the victim card using tabloid gossip. Then the minority who are actually deeply moralistic, retained their accurate understanding of Pitt, and are actually insightful & analytical get attacked as stupid or crazy for not jumping on that depraved and demented bandwagon.
The speculation of Pitt and Jolie's demise is unfounded. They will probably be the couple that lasts. They have the bond of truth that ties them together because they are both suffering through the same malignance and it is true love. The world finally got the golden couple they always wanted but they refused to accept a relationship that is goood and real who could have had such a positive impact for our soceity because they can't let false rumors go. They still resent losing their fantasy and illusion of a perfect couple.
They hate the real deal with so much foul passion while sinfully worshipping and loving an egotistical fraud who has done nothing but use and con them. It is a tragedy of epic proportions.
Posted by: Blake | Jun 13, 2009 12:29:17 PM