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There are many uses for lawyers, but some may come as a surprise.
Take, for example the war in Iraq and the burgeoning hacking scandal. what do they both have in common ? Well, powerful people who have money often havea 6th sense (or perhaps they know full well) that certain issues may come back to haunt them. They know that when this happens they need a "get out of jail" card (sometimes almost literally), and what is one of the best get out of jail cards…. confirmation from solicitors that they believe there has been no wrongdoing.
Most of us will be familiar with the numerous facile Iraq enquiries which seem to go nowhere, waste money and simply act to placate continuing protest. Anyone who watched or read about the latest enquiry will have heard ad nauseum, those criticised for going to war on false pretences stating that "we had advice it was legal from the Attorney General" or words to that effect. This is the ultimate in saying "it wasn't me it was him". Sounds like the school playground doesn't it …? (by the way many successful business people learn a lot of skills in the playground).
This game of pass the parcel can continue with solicitors insisting that a barrister's opinion be obtained and so on and so forth.
In the latest manifestation of this backside covering, those at the top of the News of the World/News International hierarchy are claiming that what looks like cogent evidence of widespread hacking some 4 years ago was not passed on to the police because they had top city lawyers advice that documents didn't show widespread hacking. Cynics among you might ask why they felt the need to seek lawyers to confirm this… were the lawyers truly independent or were they a firm used regularly by News International which would mean the firm was in an awkward position with clearly a big and important client…. ?
The questions continue… who knows what the answers are at the moment, but one thing seems clear, we are in for the "it's not me it's him, her, them, it" merry-go-round !


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This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," December 1, 2015. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: And welcome to "Hannity." And we are just two months away from the Iowa caucuses, and 2016 Republican presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz is now surging in the polls. Now, in the latest Quinnipiac Iowa poll, Donald Trump is in first place with 25 percent of the vote, Ted Cruz not far behind with 23 percent.
And in the very important state of New Hampshire, Cruz is now tied with Dr. Ben Carson for third at 10 percent, with Trump and Marco Rubio now taking the top two spots. And according to the latest FOX News national poll, Ted Cruz is now tied for third. He has 14 percent.
Now, the steady rise in the polls has made Senator Cruz a target for attacks from some of his Republican rivals. Take a look.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Doesn't Marco and Barack Obama share a similar biography?
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE, R-N.J., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As do Ted Cruz and others in this race who have no experience in governing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And Ted Cruz's position and Rand Paul's position on collecting metadata made America less safe?
CHRISTIE: Yes. And I said it at...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So Ted Cruz has made America less safe.
CHRISTIE: Sure, he has. He went for the easy political vote at a time when, you know, it looked like it was kind of a popular thing to do. With all those dead Parisians, it doesn't look so popular anymore.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO, R-FLA., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I stand strongly on behalf of the ability of this government to gather intelligence on our adversaries and our enemies, especially terrorists, but other nation- states. Those keep us safer. And there are Republicans, including Senator Cruz, that have voted to weaken those programs. It's just a part of the record. It's nothing personal.
DONALD TRUMP, R-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think Cruz is going to have to hit me because -- you know, he's a nice guy. He's been so -- everything I said, he supported, every single thing I said. And he's been so supportive. But at some point, he's going to have to hit me, right? It's going to be a sad day, but we will hit back, I promise.
HANNITY: All right, here with reaction, 2016 Republican presidential candidate Texas senator Ted Cruz. Are you planning on getting in a fight with Trump? Is that a preview of coming attractions, pay-per-view? What's going to happen?
SEN. TED CRUZ, R-TEXAS, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, we are focused on what we've been doing from day one of this campaign, which is building a conservative army on the grass roots. And what's so encouraging -- listen, the reason why people are throwing rocks and we're taking shots from all directions is because the energy momentum we've got, Sean, is incredible.
You know, I just got back from a three-day barnstorming tour through Iowa. We went to 16 counties in three days, had standing room only crowds everywhere we went. And so it's understandable that other candidates are getting nervous about that and are wanting to launch attacks.
We're going to keep focused on my positive, optimistic conservative message. And people are tired of campaign conservatives. They want someone who's got a proven record. I think that's why conservatives are uniting behind our campaign.
HANNITY: All right, let's talk a little bit -- you even are now ahead of Hillary Clinton in some head-to-head matchups. That's happening. The media seems very focused on the battle that has emerged between you and Senator Rubio. You have gone after Senator Rubio on the issue of immigration. You talked about his foreign policy as him being a proponent of military adventurism, that you said he has benefited from Islamic militant groups. What did you mean by that?
CRUZ: Well, you know, if you look at Senator Rubio's record -- he's someone who I like personally. He's a friend of mine. He is a very, very charming and effective communicator.
But if you look at his policy record, there's a big difference between his record and mine. You started out asking about amnesty. That may be the simplest and clearest record. As you know, back in 2013 when President Obama and Chuck Schumer joined with establishment Republicans in passing -- in pushing a massive amnesty plan, Senator Rubio led that fight. He stood right there alongside with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer. Indeed, it was the Rubio/Schumer amnesty plan.
And I made a very different decision. I stood alongside Jeff Sessions and Steve King and fought against amnesty and to secure the border. And we ended up defeating the Rubio/Schumer amnesty plan. Now, that's a real policy difference that I think Republican primary voters are quite interested in.
HANNITY: You know, one of the things that comes up -- especially when you get close to the caucuses, the primaries, things get more heated, naturally. I've watched too many of these cycles. Then Republicans talk about the 11th commandment. Tell us where that balance is.
CRUZ: Well, the balance -- as you know, throughout this campaign, I have declined to respond when other candidates have attacked me personally. They engage in the food fights. You know, first couple of debates, there were a lot of just nasty ad hominem insults. And I'm not interested in playing that game. If others insult me, I won't respond in kind.
Now, there's a difference between that and a substantive policy disagreement. I do think politics is and should be -- the bread and butter of it should be policy differences. And so it is perfectly appropriate to lay out, as I have over and over again, that on the issue of amnesty, a majority of the candidates on that debate stage have publicly supported amnesty, and that I am the only candidate on that debate stage who has never supported amnesty and who led the fight successfully to defeat amnesty when it was before the Congress.
HANNITY: The two big differences are -- that you're pointing out is on immigration. He's attacking you on the USA Freedom Act reforms. I want to give you a chance to respond.
CRUZ: Well, sure. You know, Marco -- a PAC that is supporting Marco has bought about $200,000 of attack ads in Iowa. And these attack ads are false, and Marco knows they're false. What -- he's trying to suggest somehow that I'm responsible for the terrorist attack in Paris. And it's silly. And it's the natural thing that a campaign does when they're nervous, when they see conservatives uniting behind our campaign.
Now, what I did is I joined with my good friend and strong conservative senator, Mike Lee. I joined with a ton of conservatives in the House in passing the USA Freedom Act. And what the USA Freedom Act did was two things. Number one, it ended the federal government's bulk collection of phone metadata. It ended the federal government having your cellphone information and my cellphone information.
And I think we've got to respect the Bill of Rights and the rights of law-abiding citizens. But number two, the USA Freedom Act strengthened the tools to go after actual terrorists, to target the bad guys, to get their cellphones, their e-mails. That's the way the Bill of Rights works.
And you know, Marco knows that, but at the end of the day, the position that he's advocating is he thinks we'd be safer if the federal government sees your phone records and mine. I don't think that's right.
And at the end of the day, the intelligence agencies told Congress the USA Freedom Act expanded their ability to target the bad guys. And yet, Marco's...
HANNITY: All right, let me ask you this...
CRUZ: The super-PAC supporting Marco doesn't want to acknowledge that.
HANNITY: You know, we see what happened in Paris, and the president actually said that those types of attacks only happen in America. Perhaps he forget what just happened and forgot Charlie Hebdo.
CRUZ: Yes.
HANNITY: But you know, during a joint press conference with President Hollande, he actually said, the president, that this climate change summit will be a rebuke to terrorists. He also said there's no tougher issue that he can think of than climate change. Let me play part of this.
CRUZ: Yes.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Next week, I will be joining President Hollande and world leaders in Paris for the global climate conference. What a powerful rebuke to the terrorists it will be when the world stands as one and shows that we will not be deterred from building a better future for our children.
HANNITY: Don't you think radical Islam and mullahs in Iran getting nuclear weapons and the economy and $20 trillion in debt is a bigger problem than climate change, which keeps changing from global cooling and the ice age coming to the planet blowing up with heat, to now just a neutral climate change for everything that they don't like?
CRUZ: Well, Sean, of course, it is. And you know, that statement -- it's gotten to the point now where President Obama -- "Saturday Night Live" can't even make fun of him anymore because he says the most ridiculous things. This is a president who thinks the SUV in your driveway is a greater threat to this country than radical Islamic terrorists. In fact, he's not even willing to utter the words "radical Islamic terrorism."
And we need a president who will stand up and defeat ISIS, utterly destroy ISIS. And you know, there was another exchange that just occurred recently, where President Obama was telling Erdogan in Turkey, You need to secure your border with Syria. And Erdogan responded, Well, why don't you secure your southern border first before you try to lecture me?
And I go to say, maybe for once in the history of all time, I agree with Erdogan on that, that President Obama is allowing an enormous security vulnerability of this country by not securing the southern border. And that's why I've been leading a fight to secure the southern border.
And I'll tell you, Sean, if I am elected president, we will secure our borders. We will keep this country safe from terrorists. We will not be allowing in tens of thousands of Syrian Muslim refugees. Our top priority...
HANNITY: Well, do you...
CRUZ: ... will be the safety and security of American citizens!
HANNITY: Did you hear Marine general Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, saying we have not contained ISIS? By the way, even Dianne Feinstein said it. The president said they were contained the day before -- hours before the Paris attacks.
Not only did he say they're not contained, but they're growing. So how could the president be so wrong and Dianne Feinstein and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs saying something totally different?
CRUZ: Because it's out-of-control political correctness. They don't acknowledge that the problem even exists. I mean, when the president stands up and says the Islamic state isn't Islamic -- look, that's just nutty. I mean, that's not even -- school children can figure that out.
They've declared their intention to create an Islamic caliphate and to forcibly convert or murder any infidels that don't adopt their radical Islamism.
HANNITY: Right.
CRUZ: And because the president won't acknowledge it -- as he put it, he doesn't believe in American leadership or America winning. He doesn't have time for that. I got to say, FDR and JFK and Ronald Reagan were spinning in their graves to hear a president say he doesn't believe in American leadership or America winning!
HANNITY: All right, we're going to take a break. We'll have more with Senator Ted Cruz right after the break.
Also tonight, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich -- he'll be here to weigh in on the latest shake-ups in the 2016 GOP field.
Also tonight, Jeb Bush compares Herman Cain's 2012 campaign to Donald Trump's current White House run. Well, Herman Cain will be here to respond. That and more on this busy news night tonight on "Hannity."
HILLARY CLINTON, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I agree with the president's point that we're not putting American combat troops back into Syria or Iraq. We are not going to do that. This...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Under no circumstances would you not (sic) do that?
CLINTON: Well -- at this point, I cannot conceive of any circumstances where I would agree to do that. We don't know yet how many special forces might be needed, how many trainers and surveillance and enablers might be needed.
But in terms of thousands of combat troops, like some on the Republican side are recommending, I think that should be a non-starter. And it should be a non-starter both because I don't think it's the smartest way to go after ISIS, I think it gives ISIS a new recruitment tool.
HANNITY: Welcome back to "Hannity." And we continue with 2016 Republican presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz. You just heard Hillary Clinton basically agree with Barack Obama, who said American leadership isn't just about U.S. ground troops fighting is. Can we defeat ISIS without ground troops, the way they're discussing?
CRUZ: Well, it is abundantly clear that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton can't defeat ISIS because they have no intention of even trying. They won't even acknowledge the enemy. I mean, Hillary Clinton at the last Democratic debate went out of her way to refuse to say the words "radical Islamic terrorism."
What we need, Sean -- yes, we can defeat ISIS with a strong commander- in-chief. If I am elected president, I will make unequivocally clear to the world we will destroy ISIS. Now, how can we do so? We should do so, number one, with overwhelming air power.
You know, in the first Persian Gulf war, we launched roughly 1,100 air attacks a day, for 37 days, pulverized the Iraqi army. It then took 36 hours for our troops to mop up what was left of it.
Right now today, Obama is launching between 15 and 30 air attacks a day. It's a pinprick. It's a photo op for political.
And the second thing we ought to be doing is arming the Kurds. The Kurds are fighting ISIS. They are our allies. They are effective fighters. The Kurds are, in a very real sense, our boots on the ground.
And yet the Obama administration -- and Hillary Clinton is sadly in this mix. They refuse to arm the Kurds for political reasons because it would upset Baghdad. That doesn't make any sense!
HANNITY: Well, let me ask you about the establishment. There's been a lot written and talked about in this campaign about insurgent candidacies. Yours obviously now is on the rise. You have great numbers in Iowa, New Hampshire, and your numbers have gone up pretty dramatically nationally, and Donald Trump says you guys are going to be fighting pretty soon.
But more importantly, I hear that establishment talk, and there was a big donor meeting at a big fancy hotel in California. that if an insurgent candidate wins the primary, that they may fund and help Hillary Clinton. What is your reaction to that?
CRUZ: Well, look, it indicates what is wrong with Washington. People are fed up with what I call the Washington cartel. As you know, this summer, I wrote a book called "A Time for Truth," where I talk a great deal about the Washington cartel, the career politicians in both parties who get in bed with the lobbyists and the special interests and grow and grow and grow government.
And those folks are very dismayed that a president might come in who is actually a conservative who will stop the corporate welfare. Listen, there's a reason, Sean, that the lobbyists are all supporting Hillary Clinton and Marco Rubio. There's a reason the lobbyists are not supporting my campaign...
HANNITY: You know...
CRUZ: ... because they understand in Washington -- yes, go ahead.
HANNITY: Well, listen, Ronald Reagan was viewed as an outsider. He wasn't particularly loved by the establishment, and nor was Newt Gingrich, who's going to join us in a minute.
Let me ask this question. We had this tragedy, Planned Parenthood, shooting -- you weighed in on it in a couple of ways.
CRUZ: Yes.
HANNITY: Negative and hateful speech allowed this to happen, was the headline in The New York Daily News. I want you to react to that.
CRUZ: Well, with regard to the shooting at Planned Parenthood, what happened there was a horrific crime. I mean, it was a deranged killer who murdered three people, murdered a police officer, murdered two innocent civilians, injured others. And our prayers should be with their families. And it is a terrible crime.
And I have to say, it was really sad to see the media falling all over themselves to try to politicize this, to try to use this as an avenue to attack conservatives. And it really shows the media bias of the mainstream media, where they're so excited to paint anyone who believes in the right to life as somehow being a murderer.
Listen, I am unapologetically pro-life. That means protecting the right of every human being from conception to natural death as a gift from God. That means I'm against murderers like this individual murderer, and that's something the media has a very hard time understanding.
HANNITY: All right, Senator, good to see you, as always. And we look forward to having you on often. Thank you. Appreciate it.
CRUZ: Thank you.
HANNITY: When we come back, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich -- he's here. He'll weigh in on the 2016 GOP field.
Then later, Jeb Bush taking heat for comparing Herman Cain's 2012 run to Donald Trump's White House bid. Herman Cain is here to respond.
All of that and much more tonight as "Hannity" continues.
HANNITY: And welcome back to "Hannity." So we're just two months away from the Iowa caucuses. Joining us now to weigh in on the GOP field, author of the brand-new book, "Duplicity." He's the former speaker of the House. He's a FOX news contributor. Always good to have him, Newt Gingrich. Sir, how are you?
NEWT GINGRICH, FOX CONTRIBUTOR: I'm doing great. And it's an amazing process.
HANNITY: It's an amazing -- you know, one of the things I try to remind people, it's an unpredictable one. Some people are going to trip and fall. Some will get back up. Some will stumble and never get back up, right? I mean, so we don't know...
HANNITY: ... what's going to happen. But it appears there are three front-runners now, and that would be Trump, Cruz and Rubio. You agree?
GINGRICH: I think that's right, although I'd like to wait a little longer to see how Dr. Carson shakes out. I thought his going to Jordan, I thought, was a very smart step in sort of reasserting that he's capable of learning and that he's capable of doing national security.
So I would say maybe there are four of them, with Carson having lost some ground in the last couple of week. And of course, Trump is just remaining the front-runner in a way that's amazing.
HANNITY: What do you...
GINGRICH: And I think everybody's got to recognize they've got get past Trump if they're going to become the nominee.
HANNITY: Yes. It's interesting -- and you're a great historian and I respect your knowledge of history. Look, 1994 was a revolutionary year, when you came into power, the first time Republicans had power in 40 years. Reagan, people forget, he was hated by establishment Republicans. They hated him. But yet he won the presidency and he won it by a landslide.
My question to you is, do you think that this is that type of year where an insurgent not only could do well in the polls but go all the way?
GINGRICH: Oh, I clearly think they could go all the way. I think the level of dissatisfaction in the country, the sense of corruption, things like you were just seeing today coming out more and more in Chicago, where under Rahm Emanuel, the police apparently hid all the photos of a young man being shot 16 times -- for a year, they had these movies.
People look around and they think the whole system's crazy. They look at the college campuses, where people run around making nutty arguments and engaging in a kind of language pattern that's crazy, and they think, What is happening to America?
And they want somebody, frankly, who can kick in the door. And that's Trump's greatest advantage and it's Cruz's greatest advantage. They're the two guys who are the most likely to have the force of will to kick in the door.
Marco's great advantage, Rubio, is that he's very likable. He's very smart. And Carson has this unique ability to communicate sincerity and is a total outsider. So what you're seeing voters say is, If you're a traditional normal insider, I know you won't fix things.
HANNITY: Yes.
GINGRICH: And therefore, even if you're a good guy, you're not on my list of possible candidates.
HANNITY: The president has said now two things at this global summit, the global warming, global cooling, whatever, climate change summit. And he said, one, he can't think of a tougher problem for the world to deal with than climate change. And then he actually said the climate change meeting was a rebuke against ISIS.
Now, from my perspective, radical Islamic mullahs in Iran getting nuclear weapons and threatening to wipe Israel off the map, radical Islamic terrorism, the economy as bad as it is, the debt as bad as it is, the number of people in poverty and on food stamps is bad as it is -- to me, those are far more severe problems.
How can he be so out of touch so often on so many important issues?
GINGRICH: Well, let me add the United Nations report this afternoon that some 400 civilians were killed in Iraq in the last month alone. So when the president looks around the planet, he doesn't see the human casualties. He doesn't see the executions and beheadings. He doesn't see the spread of ISIS.
But here's the challenge we have. And you sort of came the closest of anybody in 2008 to understanding this. This president's delusional. He's not ideological. It's not just that he's left wing. He lives in a fantasy world.
His description yesterday that, you know, global warming is going to submerge entire countries, force us to abandon cities, leave farm fields that are no longer usable -- and this list went on and on. It was like Al Gore at his most irrational. But this is the president of the United States, and the danger is he may believe all that stuff.
HANNITY: That's (INAUDIBLE) danger (INAUDIBLE)
GINGRICH: None of it, by the way -- none of it's the truth. And even if you really believe in global warming, none of what he asserted is true at any point in the next hundred years.
HANNITY: All right, and by the way, has he not studied the history of the Dutch and those that have been able to build and maybe the Chinese that are building entire islands now? We have advanced our technology, and they are capable of building dikes to prevent the water from accomplishing the very thing he's predicting.
GINGRICH: Look, they're not part of his religion. His religion is global warming is terrible, global warming is a disaster, global warming is horrible, and if you don't believe those things, you're not part of his religion. And it's literally a religious-like commitment to a fantasy world.
HANNITY: You know, if you look at Mike Morell's comments, he actually admitted something I think is actually chilling, that they didn't bomb the oil wells that's providing ISIS all the money -- they're now the richest terrorist group in history, with more land mass because he pulled out of Iraq too early. And we didn't hit the oil wells because they didn't want environmental damage.
Now, imagine if Harry Truman thought that way. Probably World War II would be continuing on at this moment.
GINGRICH: Well, look, I was told -- I don't know if -- I think this is true, although I find it hard to believe, that at one point, we leafleted a group of trucks that were oil tankers to tell the guys in the trucks to get out of the trucks before we destroyed the trucks.
HANNITY: That's ISIS.
GINGRICH: Now, the guys who were in the trucks -- yes, the guys who were in the trucks belong to ISIS. They're not non-combatants. They are people[ who are part of the ISIS military.
HANNITY: Yes.
GINGRICH: You have to look at that kind of stuff. And my point is, do not try to understand Barack Obama on any rational ground because, in fact, he lives in a world in his head which has no relationship to what you and I and the entire audience watching us thinks is reality.
HANNITY: All right, the Irish pessimistic side of me always says, Hillary can still win. Forty-even percent of the country's likely to vote for her. And it depends what states they're voting for her in, in terms of determining the next president.
Do you think -- in spite of her being a weakened candidate, do you think she's a formidable candidate?
GINGRICH: She's a very formidable candidate because most of her supporters have already decided that even if they think she's a liar, they're going to vote for her. Even if they think that the e-mails were a threat to national security, they're going to vote for her. Even if they think the Clinton Foundation is riddled with corruption, they're going to vote for her. And they're basically like people chanting, Don't tell us anything negative. We're going to vote for her anyway.
I think that's sobering, and it's as much sobering about America as it is about Hillary Clinton.
HANNITY: All right, Mr. Speaker, always good to see you. Thank you, sir.
GINGRICH: Good to see you.
HANNITY: And coming up next tonight right here on "Hannity"...
HERMAN CAIN (R), FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You have a lot of people in the media and the establishment that are trying to bring down Trump with lies and BS, and it's not going to work!
HANNITY: Herman Cain, the 999 candidate -- he's back on the campaign trail, but this time, he's stumping for Donald Trump, now, this after Jeb Bush criticizes the former presidential candidate. Herman is here.
And then later tonight...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's hard to keep up with all these predictions. Is it decades?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to cut the consumption of fossil fuels by over half in the next 20 years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The clock is ticking.
HANNITY: Al Gore and the left, they've been predicting a climate doomsday scenario for years, but a new documentary exposes this global warming hoax as we continue, straight ahead.
HANNITY: Welcome back to HANNITY. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush recently brought up Herman Cain's 2012 presidential bid. Bush predicted that Trump would follow in Cain's footsteps and not win the nomination. Here's what he said.
JEB BUSH, R-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Look at the past. Herman Cain was winning right now. Hillary Clinton was up 25 points this time eight years ago against an unknown guy whose name now is President Barack Obama.
HANNITY: On his website, Herman Cain fired back at Governor Bush saying, quote, "At least I was once winning." And last night the former presidential hopeful was back on the campaign trail, but this time it was for Republican frontrunner and fellow political outsider Donald Trump. Joining us now, the man himself, Mr. nine-nine-nine, former presidential candidate, fellow radio host, Herman Cain.
CAIN: Hello, Sean.
HANNITY: Nine-nine-nine, nobody will ever forget.
CAIN: It's still fine.
HANNITY: It's good to see you. Herman and I are good friends.
CAIN: Thank you. Yes.
HANNITY: Let's talk about this. You were an insurgent candidate. I felt that you were unfairly targeted by the media and I felt that contributed to your quick decline in the polls.
CAIN: Right.
HANNITY: Donald Trump seems to defy conventional political gravity. What's the difference now?
CAIN: I think the difference is people are realizing that there are some people in the media who will do these attacks and try to create a media frenzy. But two of the reasons that Donald Trump has been immune to this is, number one, he can't be influenced by other people's money. And, number two, he is a leader and a fighter. That's why people keep turning out in big numbers at these rallies. That's what's going on with Donald Trump.
HANNITY: The Republican establishment, though, has kind of telegraphed that if one of these outsiders gets the nomination, they may even send their money to Hillary Clinton. Do you think they'd actually do that? Do you think Trump, he is doing well in the polls, Cruz is now doing well in the polls, he was with us tonight.
CAIN: Right.
HANNITY: Do you think they can go all the way this time. Do you think the base is angry enough?
CAIN: I believe that the base is angry enough. If it's Donald Trump, if it's Marco Rubio, if it's Ted Cruz, even Ben Carson, even though his numbers are starting to fall a little bit, and I still include in there as an outside chance Mike Huckabee and Carly Fiorina. When the establishment says that they may go and contribute that money to Hillary if Trump gets the nomination, that's like a kid who says, if we can't play it my way, I'm going to play somewhere else.
HANNITY: I'm going to take my toys and go home.
CAIN: Exactly. It would mean death to the Republican Party if they're that selfish rather than back whoever gets the nomination. Because here's the thing, Sean, whoever gets the nomination, it will be because Main Street USA spoke and not the establishment. They don't run this country like they think they do. Main Street USA is rising up.
HANNITY: Why Trump for you?
CAIN: Trump is one of my pick six. Three months ago, I indicated publicly on my website, HermanCain.com, that Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, and Mike Huckabee were six of the people that I picked because of the strength of what I thought their leadership qualities would be as well as the strength of their ideas. Now, since then, four of my six are still in the running.
Some people want to say that I'm endorsing someone. I am not endorsing anyone. I know that a lot of unpredictable things can happen in a presidential campaign. I have been there. And so as a result, I looked at those six as the six that I could personally be happy with if they got the nomination to help them become president.
HANNITY: I had a pick five, and I'm kind of now down to a pick three at least for now. But you're right things can change. That's why you have got to leave options open.
CAIN: Right.
HANNITY: Herman, nobody will ever forget nine-nine-nine. Good to see you, my friend.
CAIN: Thanks a lot, Sean. Pleasure to be with you.
HANNITY: We appreciate it. And coming up next tonight here on HANNITY.
TRUMP: While the world is in turmoil and falling apart in so many different ways especially with ISIS, our president is worried about global warming. What a ridiculous situation.
HANNITY: Donald Trump, he calls out President Obama for being worried about the environment when he should be focusing on defeating radical Islamists. That's next.
Also tonight --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's hard to keep up with all these predictions. It is decades?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to cut the consumption of fossil fuels by over half in the next 20 years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Years?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The clock is ticking.
HANNITY: A new documentary is debunking global warming myths. The film's producer is here along with our own Geraldo Rivera. That's straight ahead.
TRUMP: While the world is in turmoil and falling apart in so many different ways, especially with ISIS, our president is worried about global warming. What a ridiculous situation.
HANNITY: All right, that was Donald Trump calling out President Obama. It seems our commander in chief is more worried about the weather than he is about defeating radical Islamists. And that's not all. Is the Paris climate conference just a big waste of time and money? A new documentary called "Climate Hustle" takes aim at many of the global warming alarmists and debunks much of their so-called science. Here's a clip from the film.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The message went from global warming causes less snow to global warming causes more snow.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Boston as of this point is in number two snowiest winter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is this all part of climate change?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More snow, less snow, forest fires increase, forest fires decrease, malaria increase, malaria decrease, more fog, less fog, winters warmer, winters colder. So no matter what the outcome, they can claim they predicted it.
HANNITY: The film even goes after Learjet liberal Al Gore. Watch this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's a wonderful teaching tool because it shows how we don't do science.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I voted for Gore in 2000, yes. I think that if he ran again, depending on who he ran against, I might vote for him. He's a smart man.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But after viewing Gore's film, he had this reaction.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was appalled. I was appalled because he either deliberately misrepresented the point he was making or didn't understand it.
HANNITY: Here with reaction, Fox News senior correspondent Geraldo Rivera, he is in Paris for the conference, and the publisher of "Climate Depot" and producer of "Climate Hustle" Marc Morano is with us. Good to see you wall. Marc, do you know the footprint, you have 50,000 people going for two weeks. The carbon footprint is 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide that they're going to churn out here, which, by the way, amounts to less than one percent of what New York City emits in a year. Is it worth the price?
MARC MORANO, PRODUCER, "CLIMATE HUSTLE": They do this every year. It's like a floating party the size of a country that uses more energy than many African nations combined. And they do this every year. This year's a particularly large one. And the goal of these conferences has nothing to do with science. They ceased talking about science decades ago. They actually say even if we're wrong on science, we're doing the right thing by policy.
HANNITY: First it was the coming ice age. Then it was the earth is going to burn up and global warming. And now they have climate change. As you pointed out, if it snows, if it doesn't snow, if it rains, if it doesn't rain, hurricane, no hurricane, tsunami, no tsunami, volcanic action or none, it's always climate change no matter what is it.
MORANO: In our film we go back to 1970s. We have Walter Cronkite, ABC News, Leonard Nimoy warning of the coming ice age. And we actually say before fossil fuels caused global warming, fossil fuels caused global cooling. And there was actually the theory that fossil fuel burning was going to block out the sun and cool the earth. But now they say that never happened just like they're trying to erase the global warming pause. The levers of control of the global warming movement are crafting a narrative and they're actually erasing the past on many important things.
HANNITY: Geraldo, the president actually said he can think of no tougher problem than the issue of climate change. Now, I think of radical Islamic mullahs in Iran building weapons of mass destruction, threatening to blow Israel off the map is a bigger problem. ISIS, Al Qaeda, radical Islam is a bigger problem. The economy is a bigger problem. But he thinks this is the biggest. What's going on from your perspective there?
GERALDO RIVERA, FOX NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: You know, Sean, I think that Donald Trump, the clip you played at the beginning of this segment, really nailed it. It is difficult to wrap your arms around a problem like climate change, and I'm certainly no expert and I don't want to get involved in a debate over whether it exists or not, if the earth is getting hotter or cooler.
I know that this was, in the president's words, the biggest gathering of world leaders in the planet's history. But what was wrong with it is that here in Paris, of all places, the blood has barely been cleaned off the sidewalks from 139 people who were killed, hundreds are injured, some still in hospital, families have been disrupted. And to talk about a long term problem, whatever the scientific merits, I don't get engaged in that. To talk about decades and generations and centuries from now when you have an urgent problem that the French president called an existential threat to civilization that is why the conference was if anything as lame as you can possibly get.
HANNITY: Marc, let me go to you. The president talked about fish swimming in the streets of Miami. Didn't that happen because of the new moons, the lunar cycle in September? I haven't seen that on a regular basis, predicting submerged countries, abandoned cities, fields that will no longer grow. Is any of that true?
MORANO: It was like an apocalyptic doom preacher. This was a religious, revival trying to scare people with no basis in science. And by the way, the idea that somehow ISIS was created by manmade global warming because --
HANNITY: I heard him on my radio show say that today, that ISIS was created by climate change.
MORANO: They say drought in Syria. In 1933 the government of Syria banned a yoyo because they thought yoyos caused drought. And now they want to ban coal plants and SUVs because -- by the way, droughts, extreme weather, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, we detail this in the film -- not only are they not increasing. On many metrics they're declining. So if when CO2 was lower in the atmosphere we had less storminess. So the idea that cutting CO2 is going to improve our climate or have anything to do with national security is laughable.
HANNITY: Geraldo, last question for you. When you watch the press conference today, I just see a president that has lost touch with what is important, with what his top priority should be, and that has bought into iffy science at best. And it's sort of like Al Gore. I've got Al Gore getting off his private jet. We'll show the video as you talk here. That's a gulf stream two or three, one of the biggest burning carbon polluters in the sky, and only him and his wife are on the plane. We've got exclusive video. So I think there's great hypocrisy here. What are your thoughts?
RIVERA: You know, Sean, I think that the president missed a real opportunity. He admitted -- the press rather, missed the opportunity, the media gathered at the press conference today, at the conference, missed the opportunity to ask the president who had just had spoken with the Turkish president Erdogan about the border with Turkey with Syria. The president of the United States says that there is a 90 kilo meter gap where Turkey is allowing ISIS fuel to be entered into the country and resold. Why didn't the president ask the Turkish president about that? Why is the president now bombing oil facilities and oil trucks? Why didn't he do it a year ago?
HANNITY: It won't take away ISIS' financial well, if you will, because they didn't want environmental damage. I was shocked at Morell saying that, our former CIA director.
RIVERA: That to me, I think that they did not bomb those facilities up until now because they did not want to make Turkey angry. Everybody in this part of the world knows that from northern Syria and northwest Iraq that oil is going into Turkey. We saw it 10 years ago when we filmed that documentary "1000 Miles of Bad Road." The president has to focus on the urgent crisis. It may be that there will be climate change and the world is always changing and all the rest of that, but this is an open wound that is bleeding that has to be a Band-Aid.
HANNITY: All right, I have got to run. Good luck with the film. Geraldo, safe home when you're coming home, my friend. Thanks for being with us.
When we come back, you get to ask the questions. Our "Ask Sean" segment is next, and our very important question of the day is straight ahead.
HANNITY: Time for our "Question of the Day." So as of now we're just two months away from the Iowa caucuses. If that was being held today, that election, who do you want to win? Just go to Facebook.com/SeanHannity, @SeanHannity, let us know what you think.
Now you've been sending in questions all day. Time for our "Ask Sean" segment. Here is the question.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, Sean. With so many candidates in the GOP field, isn't it time for the low pollers to start clearing out so we can all see what's really going on?
HANNITY: I would argue that's basically a good idea. Get some of the guys that are not going to win, may it's time for them to clear the field. The debates would be a little more interesting. Focus on those people that have a much better chance to win.
But here is another idea. What about if people like Bobby Jindal who dropped out or Scott Walker who dropped out, can you imagine if the person that wins the nomination were to bring all these people together, announce the cabinet before the election in November of 2016? That could be a very powerful force that could alter electoral politics for many years to come. Just an idea.
Anyway, thanks for sending in the question. That is all the time we have left. Thanks for being with us as always, and we will see you back here tomorrow night.
Content and Programming Copyright 2015 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2015 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Product Details
Endura FS260-Pro Nemo Glove Limited Edition
Thanks to its stretch neoprene outer and wicking terry liner, the Endura Nemo cycling glove is as slim and low profile as it is comfortable and wind resistant.
Limited Edition refers to its navy and orange colours. Otherwise it has all the attributes of the original black/red and green versions of the Nemo - our current staff favourite glove.
If you're looking for a glove that is thin and light so it doesn't compromise grip and 'feel', but it still isolates your hand from the worst of the weather, then consider the Endura FS260-Pro Nemo neoprene glove.
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- The low-density wicking terry liner contributes to the glove's smooth, comfortable feel
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- Any colder, you might require something more insulated such as SealSkinz Highland Claw Gloves
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The following two reviews emphasise the fact that Nemo gloves are equally suitable for road and mountain bike riding.
'These are the favourites of our northern test crew. The stretchy neoprene is thin enough to avoid hand ache and stay comfortable on longer rides or even through cyclo-cross races. There's plenty of all weather bar grip too... they insulate extremely well, even in damp... Well priced and well made too.'
Triathlon Plus magazine: 5/5.
'These superb Endura "wetsuit style" Neoprene gloves actually harness wetness as a weapon against cold... the Nemos will keep your digits genuinely roasting hot. Unlike other Neoprene gloves we've tried, a clever cut and just the right thickness of material means they don't crush your hands into arm pumping agony. They're durable with silicon patterns on the palm for control even on sodden, muddy grips.'
What Mountain Bike magazine: 5/5.


text:
Hey, remember 2015? Syrian refugees and the Iran nuclear deal, the Paris attacks and the Paris accords. Taylor Swift had bad blood and The Weeknd couldn't feel his face. Donald Trump was leading in all the polls, but, lolz, we all knew wiser GOP heads would prevail in the end. And, hey — while it wasn't a great film year by any means — some movies came out too!
One of the reasons I've been thinking about getting back on the horse around here is that I never did write up the 2015 movie list, which seems a shame after fifteen years running. (The 2014 list is still on the front page!) So, yeah, this is real late…but since I caught so many of these On Demand, I couldn't have written this list up at the end of 2015 regardless. And besides, no matter how tardy I am in posting this each year, there're always still a few more possible additions languishing unseen in the DVR and Amazon Prime queues — right now it's Slow West and Chi-Raq on the slow burners. (I've also tried to watch Jupiter Ascending twice now, but haven't made it past the first twenty minutes, right around the point Oscar Winner Eddie Redmayne starts doing his cut-rate Ming the Merciless bit.)
At any rate, of the films I did see, these below were my…
It Follows gets under your skin by making the most of a basic premise that's been a subtext of the horror genre for years (and one that can carry all kinds of allegorical weight as needed, from aging to adulthood to AIDS): have sex and you're a goner. And like the original Blob — or Death, for that matter — the creature may move slow here, but it is inexorable. Quentin Tarantino has a point about the problems with the goofy third act (tho' he doesn't really have a leg to stand on this year — see below), but man is this film creepy. Extra points for the very John Carpenter-y score by Disasterpeace.
Worth On Demand-ing::
Best of Enemies: A good documentary on the 1968 Vidal-Buckley feuds, though, to be honest, watching them debate feels like watching the NBA before Bill Russell. You can tell me Buckley is brilliant over and over again, but it doesn't make it true. Meritocracy killed the Firing Line star.
The Hunger James: Mockingjay, Part 2: Fine and admirably downbeat like the third book, this still seems like it should've been one movie with the first part, and that the franchise overstayed its welcome by a year.
Love and Mercy: Well-done, but see Compton, above.
Our Brand is Crisis: Rather preachy by the end, but I still enjoyed it.
Spy: Better than I expected, but, then again, Paul Feig has been admirably consistent.
Tomorrowland: Brad Bird sure does love Ayn Rand, doesn't he? Still, worth seeing just for Hugh Laurie's rant about contemporary pop culture.
Don't Bother:
Aloha: The kerfuffle over Emma Stone's casting aside, this film is inert from the first reel. What's happened to Cameron Crowe?
Black Mass: The world doesn't need any more gangster movies. This one adds nothing new to the mix. The best scene is the one from the trailers, with Depp's Bulger bullying a Fed at the dinner table.
Dope: Tries too hard, and I found it cloying in the manner of Diablo Cody. Tho' I did like the section where Bitcoin gets involved.
Fifty Shades of Gray: Terrible. Not even sexy. And yet still an improvement on the book! C'mon, America, get it together – France did this all better sixty years ago.
Jurassic World: Ho-hum. A by-the-numbers product of the reboot machine. But it's competently made, so Episode IX has that going for it.
The Last Five Years: A not-very-good adaptation of the recent divorce musical. I was bored by it.
Spectre: This is a pretty good Bond movie for awhile, but it completely skips the rails once 007 and his most recent muse end up at that bus station in Africa. Just as Skyfall Bruce Wayne-ified Bond, now we get Blofeld as The Joker. Doesn't work, doesn't make any sense, is egregiously dumb.
Steve Jobs: Typical Sorkin walk-and-talk-fest, all in the service of getting to know a guy whose main claim to fame was marketing gimmickry. Not my cup of tea.
Terminator: Genisys: Kind of a disaster, was ruined by the trailers, and feels made for TV. Also needs more Matt Smith and J.K. Simmons. But at least it's weird.
Trainwreck: LeBron James is a surprisingly good comic actor. This still wasn't particularly funny however.
Unseen: 99 Homes, The Age of Adaline, American Ultra, Amy, Beasts of No Nation, Blackhat, Chappie, Child 44, Chi-Raq, Clouds of Sils Maria, Concussion, Cop Car, Daddy's Home, The Danish Girl, The End of the Tour, Entourage, Far from the Madding Crowd, Furious 7, Get Hard, The Gift, The Good Dinosaur, Grandma, Hot Pursuit, Infinitely Polar Bear, Insidious Chapter 3, Insurgent, The Intern, In the Heart of the Sea, Irrational Man, Jem and the Holograms, Joy, Jupiter Ascending, Kill Me Three Times, Krampus, The Last Witch Hunter, The Lazarus Effect, The Look of Silence, Love the Coopers, Magic Mix XXL, The Man from U.N.C.L.E, Maps to the Stars, Max, The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Minions, Mortdecai, Mr. Holmes, No Escape, The Overnight, Paddington, Pan, Pawn Sacrifice, The Peanuts Movie, Pitch Perfect 2, Pixels, Point Break, Poltergeist, Rikki and the Flash, Rock the Kasbah, Run All Night, The Runner, San Andreas, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Secret in their Eyes, Self/Less, Sisters, Slow West, Southpaw, The Stanford Prison Experiment, Stonewall, Suffragette, Taken 3, Ted 2, Trumbo, Victor Frankenstein, The Visit, A Walk in the Woods, The Walk, War Room>, We Are Your Friends, Wild Tales, Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death, Woman In Gold
(The Rest of) 2016: The Accountant, Assassin's Creed, Bad Santa 2, Ben-Hur(?), Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, Collateral Beauty, The Cure for Wellness, Doctor Strange, Fantastic Beasts And Where to Find Them, Finding Dory, The Founder, Ghostbusters, The Girl on the Train, Inferno, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, Jason Bourne, The Legend of Tarzan, Lion, The Magnificent Seven(?), A Monster Calls, Neighbors 2, The Nice Guys, Passengers, Pete's Dragon, Snowden, Star Trek Beyond, Suicide Squad, Warcraft, War Dogs, X-Men: Apocalypse, and…
What will you do when they catch you? What will you do if they break you?"
And in very related news, DC and Marvel have released their respective movie calendars for the next six years. The wanna-be contenders at Warner Brothers/Detective Comics are going with Zack Snyder's Batman v. Superman and two Justice League movies, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman (set in the 20's? I like it), The Flash (Ezra Miller), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Shazam (with The Rock as Black Adam), Cyborg (Ray Fisher), and — sorry, Ryan Reynolds — a re-booted Green Lantern.
As for the current champs, Disney/Marvel, along with next year's Ant-Man, we have two more Avengers (Infinity War, 1 and 2, a.k.a. Thanos time), the next installments of Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain America (Civil War) and Thor (Ragnarok), and new additions Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch? I still like Luke Evans), Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), Captain Marvel, and The Inhumans. Yes, we live in a universe that is actually going to have an Inhumans movie. Invest in Lockjaw dog costumes now.
Got all that? If not, the good folks at ComicsAlliance have made a handy infographic, below. And this isn't even counting the gaggle of comic TV shows now on or forthcoming. Great Caesar's Ghost, fanboy/fangirl nation, what have we wrought?
Finally setting off on his long-rumored Lincoln biopic — with Daniel Day-Lewis and Sally Field as Abe and Mary Todd respectively — Steven Spielberg fleshes out his cast in impressive fashion. Joining Mr. Lincoln, among others, are Tommy Lee Jones (Thaddeus Stevens), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Robert Todd Lincoln), James Spader, John Hawkes, Bruce McGill, Joseph Cross, Hal Holbrook, and Tim Blake Nelson. A team of rivals, and no mistake.
Hello all. Before I head out to pick up a rental car and drive down to the family compound for the holiday, here's part 2 of the top 100 list for your enjoyment. In case you missed the beginning of the party, read this entry first. And if you're all caught up to speed, let's get back to it:
[The Rest of the List: 100-76 | 75-51 | 50-26 | 25-11 | 10-1]
|From the original review: "Less a paean to 'the people's princess' than a sharp-witted rumination on changing social values and the effect of global 'Oprahization' on contemporary politics, The Queen is an intelligent, discerning and enjoyable slice-of-life that's well worth catching."
From the year-end list: "A movie I shied away from when it first came out, The Queen is a canny look at contemporary politics anchored by Helen Mirren's sterling performance as the fastidious, reserved, and ever-so-slightly downcast monarch in question…[It's] the type of movie I wish we saw more often: a small, tightly focused film about a very specific moment in recent history."
Unfortunately, this movie came out in 2006, so we don't get to see Elizabeth II here with her Wii (and a gold-plated one at that.) That aside, Peter Morgan, Stephen Frears, Michael Sheen, and particularly Helen Mirren made The Queen a memorable and multi-faceted disquisition on changing social mores and their respective political impact on the residents of Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing St. Morgan and Sheen would continue to expose the real stories behind various famous television interviews throughout the rest of the decade, in 2008's Frost/Nixon and 2009's The Damned United. All three are worthwhile films, but The Queen is probably the best of the lot.
Boy, that escalated quickly…I didn't quote from the original review on this one, because, basically, I whiffed it. I originally saw Anchorman one afternoon in the summer of 2004, soon after a recent dumping, and I clearly wasn't in the mood for it — Funny is a fragile thing.
That being said, catching it on cable a few years later when not in Debbie Downer mode, Anchorman really came into its own for me. Basically, it's a movie that will try just about anything to make you laugh, and you have to sorta admire its ambition to leave no joke untried. While I know Talladega Nights has its defenders, this eventually ended up being my favorite Will Ferrell movie of the decade. What can I say? 60% of the time, it works every time.
|From the original review: "Anyone who's ever thrown in The Joshua Tree — that's millions of people, obviously — and listened to the thrilling opening strands of "Where the Streets Have No Name" can probably imagine the potential of U2 filtered through an IMAX sound system and projected in multiple dimensions. All I can say, it's pretty darned cool…U2 3D really feels like the future in concert films. As a music experience, it's better than having the best seats in the house (and the drunk girl on her boyfriend's shoulders in front of you — while in 3D — never actually obscures your vision."
From the year-end list: "U2 3D was both a decently rousing concert performance by Dublin's fab four, and — more importantly — an experimental film which played with an entirely new cinema syntax. Just as students look back on D.W. Griffith films of a century ago as the beginnings of 2D-movie expression, so too might future generations look at this lowly U2 concert and see, in its layering of unrelated images onto one field of vision, when the language of 3D really began to take off. At which point someone might also say, 'Man, I wish they'd played 'So Cruel' instead of some of these tired old dogs.'"
Of course, your enjoyment of this concert film will depend a great deal on how much you like U2 — For my part, they're not in my personal top tier, but I've always had a solid appreciation for them. Nonetheless, as I said above, U23D — even more than the beautiful but ultimately pretty conventional Avatar — still feels like a significant step forward for the art of movie-making. It's the only film I've ever seen that uses 3D-technology as a new visual language rather than just a gimmick. And, rather than another umpteen variations on "OMG that arrow is coming right at me!", I'd really like to see more filmmakers play with the 3D syntax tested out here in the decade to come.
|From the original review: "Nonsensical, self-indulgent, and occasionally even a tad smarmy, Steven Soderbergh's much-hyped Ocean's Twelve is also, I'm happy to report, just plain fun…Twelve turned out to be what Soderbergh tried and failed to do with Full Frontal…As much a riff on stars and stardom as the heist movie we were all expecting, it's probably the most sheerly pleasurable film experience you're going to find this side of The Incredibles."
From the year-end list: "Two swollen hours of Soderberghian glamour and inside baseball. Not everyone's cup of tea, I know, but I found it an agreeable improvement on Ocean's 11."
I'm betting this will be another contested choice, as I've even seen Ocean's Twelve on a few worst-of-decade lists. But while the other two Ocean films are basically just standard-issue heist flicks, I thought this one aimed a little more outside the box, instead trying to amplify the "hanging with the Rat Pack" aspect of the original 1960 film. In short, I just love the sprawling movie metaness of Ocean's 12: the characters talking about Miller's Crossing; Topher Grace "totally phoning in that Dennis Quaid movie"; Eddie Izzard's cliched hot secretary; the gymnast getting lost in the luggage. And, yes, the Julia Roberts-Bruce Willis bit.
Sorta like Grant Heslov's The Men Who Stare at Goats, Ocean's 12 just feels like a Hollywood lark, one in which the ultra-glamorous movie stars in tow have kindly allowed us to come along for the ride, maybe play a few hands. I guess a lot of people didn't vibe into Twelve like I did, but I found its jaunty, devil-may-care sense of fun contagious.
|From the original review: "I went in expecting not much more than an over-the-top 'message movie' schmaltzfest, or at best a harmless helping of mediocre, inert Oscar Bait like Cinderella Man or A Beautiful Mind. But [Elah] turned out to be quite a bit better than I expected…[It's] a melancholy rumination on the hidden casualties of (any) war and a somber inquiry into the heavy toll exacted on the wives, parents, and children of military men…And, biblical parallels aside, the film showcases the best work Tommy Lee Jones has done in years."
From the year-end list: "Paul Haggis' surprisingly unsentimentalized depiction of the hidden costs of war for the homefront, Elah benefits greatly from Tommy Lee Jones' slow burn as a military father who's lost his last son to a horrific murder…There was something quintessentially America-in-2007 about Jones this year. In every crease and furrow of this grizzled Texan's visage, we can see the wounds and weariness of recent times, the mask of dignity and good humor beginning to slip in the face of tragic events and colossal stupidity."
In the Valley of Elah wasn't the best TLJ movie of 2007 — that'll come later — but, surprisingly given Paul Haggis' involvement, it was a darned good one. Looking back, the key, I think, was that everyone here from Jones to Susan Sarandon, Charlize Theron, Jason Patric, and Josh Brolin in supporting roles underplayed the material, so that only a few in-your-face Haggisian elements rankle — that bizarre and plot-convenient van technician, for example, or the perhaps too-on-the-nose final shot of the movie. Otherwise, though, Elah cut deeper for staying free of the bombast that marked Paul Haggis' overwrought Crash, and it boasted arguably the best performance of 2007.
|From the year-end list: "Surprisingly good, not the least because of the charismatic Vin Diesel, Glengarry Glen Affleck, and the great Wall Street scene."
Wall Street for the DVD generation, Ben Younger's Boiler Room was another nice surprise. Ok, some of the father-son stuff with Giovanni Ribisi and Ron Rifkin is pretty well overcooked. But, as with Ocean's 12, I like the meta-ness involved here. The fact that all these chop shop Jersey Boys constantly and lovingly quote Wall Street and Glengarry Glen Ross throughout made the movie seem that much more realistic. And Boiler Room resonates tellingly in the details, like newly-minted millionaire Ben Affleck owning nothing but a McMansion, a giant TV, and a tanning bed. It's basically a B-movie, sure, but it's a much better one than you'd ever expect going in.
|From the original review: "If you've seen the ads, you probably already know whether or not this film will appeal to you: You're either going to find it hilarious or repellent (or probably both). I was sickened and disgusted, and there were times I was laughing so hard that Berkeley thought there was something wrong with me…Alligator Tightrope may just be the dumbest, most nightmarish and cringe-funny thing I've seen all year."
If you've been reading this list carefully, you may have noticed that I telegraphed this potentially contentious pick back with Borat at #97 (as well as with my caveat about Z-grade comedies in the original intro.) And all I can say is, s/he with the straight face cast the first stone. I know Jackass is barely a movie at all – it's television on a movie screen, and depraved, zero-budget television at that. It has little-to-no redeeming social value, it spawned a lot of worthless and sub-moronic imitations, and, in fact, it's mostly just ninety minutes of charismatic lunatics doing patently stupid things. But, lord help me, it is really, really funny at times.
I never saw the 2006 follow-up, so that one might've been even more hilarious or the well might've run dry by then. Nonetheless, the original Jackass had the uncanny ability to bypass all higher-order thought processes and send my reptile brain into giggling fits. It's like a shiny toy car, plunged straight into the comedy id.
|From the year-end list: "A heart-warming romantic comedy about a boy, a girl, and the spankings that brought them together…A lot of the people I've spoken with had trouble with the ending, but I thought that it ended the only way it really could…any other way would've given the audience the out they wanted to condemn these people as sideshow freaks. By treating this bizarre couple as just another relationship in a weird wide world, Secretary offers a portrait of two people 'just right' for each other that is much more touching than the average, vanilla romantic comedy."
So, while I'm getting the sick-and-twisted choices out of the way, can I get a word in for Steven Shainberg's Secretary? Based on the Mary Gaitskill short story and the film that made Maggie Gyllenhaal a star, Secretary was in essence an attempt to test the boundaries of the rom-com format by seeing if it could accommodate a little BDSM kink. In fact, however naughty-minded at times, Secretary is actually pretty standard fare: Get past the cuffs and such, and what we here is a meet-cute between two people who are surprisingly perfect for each other, some not-insurmountable romantic turmoil along the way, and eventually a marriage and a happy ending — It's like J. Lo's The Wedding Planner or Maid in Manhattan, if J. Lo was still wearing her S&M get-ups from The Cell. (Now that I think about it, Secretary may not even be all that outside-the-norm. Let's remember 1990's Pretty Woman, a movie oddly considered romantic by tons of aficionados of the genre, is basically the story of Richard Gere up and buying himself a hooker.)
True, James Spader had already played a bizarro-perv way too often to be taken seriously here. And, in fact, you can see him slowly, inexorably turning into the Brundlefly version of William Shatner he would eventually become as the movie grinds along. Still, as far as rom-coms go, I thought Secretary went down more easily than most. Say what you will about the bondage on display here — I'd argue there are dozens of rom-coms out each year — say How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days or The Ugly Truth, to name just two — that are the real cruel and unusual punishment.
|From the original review: "This won't be a film for everyone — It's often too cute or clever by half, and I'll concede that it probably reeks of forced Little Miss Sunshine or Juno-style indie cachet to people who don't roll with it…For me this definitely goes on the Garden State 'vaguely-guilty pleasure' pile…It'd be hard to sum up (500) Days better or more succinctly than the tagline: 'Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love. Girl doesn't.' If this has ever happened to you, and lordy has it happened to me, I suspect you'll enjoy [it] quite a bit as well."
From the year-end list: "Speaking of sad British pop music, here's a movie the early Elvis Costello would love. Sure, (500) Days is unabashedly for folks who've been on the wrong end of a break-up. But, even if it is ultimately Annie Hall-lite in a lot of ways, it had more truths to tell than most of the rom-coms out in any given year…combined."
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, and Summer's lease hath all too short a date…500 days, in fact. But, hey, at least we'll always have the memories. Despite the way it was sold, (500) Days of Summer is barely a love story at all, nor is it a dissection of how a particular romance — that of Tom (Joseph Gordon-Leavitt) and Summer (Zooey Deschanel) goes sour. It's more about how Tom is, despite himself, driven to romance in the first place (Hint: It's Morrissey's fault), and about how the desire to be in love can sometimes be mistakenly substituted for the real thing.
If that sounds a bit heavy, well, it's not — (500) Days also includes a musical number, a Han Solo cameo, lots of goofy shenanigans involving Geoffrey Arend (a.k.a. Mr. Christina Hendricks)…in short, there's a lot of sugar to help soothe all the break-up angst here. I doubt (500) Days makes for a very good date movie in the end, but it's a good one to cue up if and when that date goes south. (And since all early word seems to indicate that Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass will make a star of Chloe Moretz in 2010, let's remember she did the preternaturally mature pre-teen schtick here first.)
|From the original review: "At once a character study of an amoral arms dealer, a bitter tirade againt third world exploitation, and a dark comedy that may run too sour for some tastes, Lord of War is an above-average entrant in the satirical muckraking tradition. And its occasional preachiness is leavened by Nicolas Cage's consistently-amusing and deftly-written performance, most of which is voiceover, at the center of the film."
From the year-end list: "Anchored by Nicholas Cage's wry voiceover, Andrew Niccol's sardonic expose of the arms trade was the funniest of this year's global message films (That is, if you like 'em served up cold.)"
Lord of War is one of those movies that's moved up in my estimation over the years, partly because later attempts at political satire, such as Jason Reitman's Thank You for Smoking, couldn't ever seem to find the delicate balance of this mordant and spirited tirade against the arms industry. There are some excellent performances here from the likes of Ian Holm and Eamonn Walker, but in the end this is Nic Cage's show, and, as with this year's Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, this film shows how good he can be when he's not just working for a paycheck. And like The Wire, Andrew Niccol's Lord of War is both very angry and very funny: Its sensitivity to obvious injustices in the world — "Thank God there are still legal ways to exploit developing countries" — fuels its dark brand of humor, and vice versa.
Speaking of which, Spike Lee's overlooked and much-maligned Bamboozled works very similarly to Lord of War in its anger-to-humor quotient, and it is, possibly up until its last act, a very funny satire. (It also makes for a great double-feature with Kevin Wilmott's alternate history mockumentary CSA: The Confederate States of America, which Lee executive-produced.)
Most obviously, Bamboozled sheds a harsh light on aspects of America's pop-culture past that we still remain eerily silent about. But it's also a ruthless, equal-opportunity lampooner, calling out Michael Rappaport's white-boy sports fan ("I'm blacker than you, brother-man!") as mercilessly as Mos-Def's crew of would-be gangsta rappers, the Mau-Maus. (There's a devastating joke at the end of the movie involving the cops and "1/16th" (a.k.a. MC Serch of 3rd Bass), the "light-skinned" member of the Mau Maus: Everybody else gets shot, he — despite his best attempts — can only get arrested.)
Not even the main character, Damon Wayans' Pierre Delacroix, is safe from Lee's scouring here. A guy who for all intent and purposes lives his life in "whiteface," DeLa eventually gets his comeuppance from his dad, in a choice cameo by Paul Mooney. ("Boy, where the f**k did you get that accent?") More than just call out the old embarrassing traditions of blackface and minstrelsy, Bamboozled casts blame all around. It very plausibly suggests how blackface notions have remained alive in recent decades (Good Times, anyone?), while noting the artistry of the performers so often forced into such lowly affairs (in this case, Savion Glover, Tommy Davidson, and the Roots, who put on a good show despite the sordidness of it all.) Sure, Bamboozled gets a bit lost in the weeds in its final moments, but a lot of satires have a tendency to ride off the rails in the last act. Until then, Bamboozled will make you angry, it will make you laugh, and it will make you think.
|From the original review: "Like pretty much all of Weir's other films, Commander is an extremely competent piece of work, in some ways even masterful…[T]he historical details seemed right to my landlubber's eye, and I thought the languid, episodic pacing of the film…helped to convey the rhythm of life at sea in the Napoleonic era…kudos go out to Peter Weir & crew for making a picture as engrossing and transporting as this one."
From the year-end list: "It's a long title, it's a long movie. But a good kinda long…in fact, as I said in my initial review, it seemed to move to the langorous rhythms of a long sea voyage, one that I may not take again for awhile, but one that I still thoroughly enjoyed. And I'll say this for Russell Crowe…somewhere along the way in each of his films, I tend to forget that he's Russell Crowe. His Capt. Jack Aubrey was no exception."
I haven't watched Master and Commander since it first set sail in 2003, and I have a feeling I should probably give it another go. The movie seems to have floated to the higher echelons of a lot of other Best-of-Decade lists and, If nothing else, Weir's film made for the other quality Star Trek reboot we saw this decade. In fact, particularly given how sequel-crazed Hollywood tends to be these days, I'm sorta surprised we never saw any of the other Patrick O'Brien seafaring novels made into movies after this film, even if they had to recast Crowe and go with someone other than Weir to direct. (I assume Paul Bettany would still be game — the man did just make Legion, after all.) Who knows? Perhaps the studio suits got scared off by a Jonah somewhere along the line.
|From the original review: "[W]ith its crisp, no-nonsense direction and a glut of extraordinary performances…it pretty much has to be considered an Oscar contender…To paraphrase the son of an altogether different neighborhood, sometimes the world is a monster, bad to swallow you whole."
From the year-end list: "The waters of the Charles are disturbed, something is rotten in the outskirts of Boston, and it's safe to say the Fates are wicked pissed…Mystic River is inhabited and propelled by a spirit of lumbering, impending, inexorable doom…what Legolas might call a 'sleepless malice.' It is that existential malice, rooted so strongly in local color, that gives this River its considerable power."
What with Scorsese's The Departed and Affleck's Gone Baby Gone, several crime sagas of the Oughts went to the Hub for their local color. (I guess the trend might've started with 1994's Blown Away, although I've tried to willfully forget that movie.) In any case, Clint Eastwood's Mystic River (like Gone, originally a novel by Dennis Lehane) was the best of the lot. There are some elements of the story that don't really work on film — Kevin Bacon's silent phone-stalker of an ex-wife, for example, or Laura Linney's Lady Macbeth routine near the end of the film. Nonetheless, most of Mystic River is very worthwhile.
In retrospect, it would have been that much nicer to see Bill Murray win the Oscar that year for Lost in Translation, given that Sean Penn ended up winning again for Milk later on. But Penn, as with the rest of the cast, is very good here. (Consider the scene of him breaking down on his Dorchester porch, in front of Tim Robbins.) Hard times in Beantown, alright.
|From the original review: "Mike Newell's dark and delectable Goblet is brimming over with energy and suspense, and, to my surprise, it's probably the best Potter film so far. (And this is coming from someone who actually preferred Book III to Book IV on paper.)"
From the year-end list: "[G]ive Mike Newell credit: Harry's foray into Voldemortish gloom and teenage angst was easily the most compelling Potter film so far. Extra points to Gryffindor for Brendan Gleeson's more-than-slightly-bent Mad-Eye Moody, and to Slytherin for Ralph Fiennes' serpentine cameo as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."
Beginning with 2001's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Young Mr. Potter had many filmed adventures over the course of this decade — six in all. And, while I know Alfonse Cuaron's Prisoner of Azkhaban has its supporters, I thought this fourth installment by Mike Newell was the closest the movie series ever came to capturing the magic of the (first several) books.
We've moved pretty far afield here from the flat, colorful, and thoroughly boring Hogwarts of the Chris Columbus iterations — In Goblet, Dumbledore's academy of magic possesses the menace and grandeur it was missing earlier on. Meanwhile, a lot of the original cast, most notably the kids, have found their groove by Act IV (as has Richard Harris' replacement, Michael Gambon), and they pick up some key reinforcements in Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, Clemence Poesy, and even the Doctor himself, David Tennant. Throw in the ironic pre-Thatcher haircuts, an early sighting of Twilight's Robert Pattinson for the fangirls, and our first real interaction with He Who Must Not Be Named, and Goblet had a little something for everybody.
|From the original review: "[G]iven I have no real reservoir of nostalgia for its titular hero, Jon Favreau's crisp, surprisingly fun Iron Man seems that much more of an achievement…As far as origin stories go, I'd say Iron Man can hold its helmet proudly alongside Batman Begins and the Donner Superman, thanks mainly to its superb cast (and inspired casting)…[I]f you allow for the constraints of the genre, Iron Man is basically everything you'd want in a summer-y superhero blockbuster."
From the year-end list: "Much better than I ever anticipated, Jon Favreau's (and Robert Downey Jr.'s) Iron Man kicked a summer of superheroes off in grand fashion. In the end, I preferred the gloomy stylings of Gotham in 2008, but there's definitely something to be said for this rousing, upbeat entrant in the comic movie canon. It delivered on its own terms, and it was a much better tech-fetishizing, boys-and-their-toys type-film than, say, 2007's Transformers or (I suspect) 2009's GI Joe."
"Heavy boots of lead fills his victims full of dread. Running as fast as they can, Iron Man lives again!" As, for that matter, does Robert Downey, Jr., who began his recent career reinvention as a box office A-lister (see also: Sherlock Holmes) with his turn here as alcoholic Marvel billionaire Tony Stark. Throw in a very enjoyable Jeff Bridges as the Big Bad and Jon Favreau keeping an admirably light touch in a summer of darkest knight, and you end up with a surprisingly fun comic book outing, one that largely sidestepped the "origin story" doldrums that mar a lot of films in the genre. Now, let's hope Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell, and Scarlett Johansson can take Iron Club up a notch in this summer's sequel.
|From the original review: "I'm happy to report that, while Chris Nolan's Batman Begins has some minor problems — each character gets a few clunky lines and the final action sequence isn't all that memorable — this is the Batman movie that fans of the Dark Knight have been waiting for. There's no Schumacher statuary in this Gotham City, and nary a Burtonesque Batdance to be had. Nope, this is just straight-up Frank Miller-style Batman, scaring the bejeezus out of the underworld in his inimitable fashion."
From the year-end list: "The Dark Knight has returned. Yes, the samurai-filled first act ran a bit long and the third-act train derailing needed more oomph. Still, WB and DC's reboot of the latter's second biggest franchise was the Caped Crusader movie we've all been waiting for. With help from an A-list supporting cast…Chris Nolan and Christian Bale brought both Batman and Bruce Wayne to life as never before, and a Killing Joke-ish Batman 2 is now on the top of my want-to-see list."
"Without warning, it comes, crashing through the window of your study…and mine…I have seen it before somewhere…it frightened me as a boy…frightened me…Yes, Father. I shall become a bat." Speaking of the Dark Knight, 2005's Batman Begins was another very solid "origin-story" comic book film, one that long-suffering fans of the Caped Crusader had waited for for a good long while. Yes, Begins has some problems — there's probably too much "fear is the mindkiller"-type patter throughout, the elevated railcar climax is goofy, the villain's plan makes no sense (people, after all, are bags of mostly water — they'd be blowing up right along with the sewer mains), and Batman's farewell to Ras Al Ghul ("I won't kill you, but I don't have to save you") is totally and utterly out of character. (I blame co-screenwriter David Goyer, who should've known better.)
All that being said, you finally got the sense here that Batman was in the hands of a director who just wanted to figure out what makes a ridiculously rich guy want to dress up like a bat and fight crime. (Tim Burton is a good director, and I'm particularly fond of Batman Returns. But while Returns is a great Tim Burton movie, it's not a particularly good Batman flick, some of the Catwoman romance notwithstanding.) And if Nolan could get this close to capturing the spirit of Frank Miller's Batman: Year One, it just made you wonder what he could do once he got his hands on The Killing Joke…
|From the original review: "While perhaps a bit too black-and-white in terms of the history, George Clooney's Good Night, and Good Luck is nevertheless a somber and captivating paean to Edward R. Murrow, his televised expose of Joe McCarthy, and, by extension, the Pioneer Days of Television Journalism…[W]hat could have been an above-average History Channel documentary is instead a powerful and intelligent work of cinema that's easily one of the better films out this year."
From the year-end list: "A historical film that in other hands might have come off as dry, preachy edutainment, Good Night, and Good Luck instead seemed as fresh and relevant as the evening news…well, that is, if the news still functioned properly."
Enemy sighted, Enemy met — I'm addressing the realpolitik: In a decade that saw television journalism continue to devolve into a morass of apple-cheeked automatons doling out substance-less blather, George Clooney's Good Night, and Good Luck was both a refreshing tonic and a wistful remembrance of the days that were. Yes, folks, there was apparently a time when the Fourth Estate didn't necessarily act like court stenographers for the people in power. Although, as the black and white cinematography would suggest, that time seems like a million miles from now.
|From the original review: "The head of the film, its first forty minutes or so, feels like a Paul Greengrass movie such as Bloody Sunday: a grim, gripping tale of social and political injustice…told in naturalistic, faux-documentary style. But the thorax of District 9 delves deeper into old-school David Cronenberg territory, with all the gooey orifices, transformational anxiety, and throbbing gristle that usually portends…And, by the time we get to the abdomen, we're suddenly watching a George Miller or Jim Cameron-style actioner, with more than enough visceral excitement to keep the antennae twitching. All stitched together, District 9 is quite a remarkable feat of summer sensation."
From the year-end list: "Neil Blomkamp's little (ok, $30 million) [film was the] South African indie that could. Alien Nation meets Cry Freedom with healthy dollops of Cronenberg body horror and old-school Peter Jackson viscera-splatter, District 9 came out as more than the sum of its parts, and…was one of the most purely enjoyable films of the summer."
Now that we've reached a stage where CGI can create pretty much anything, and for relatively cheap, it's good to know we'll still sometimes get unique and original sci-fi movies like District 9, in between the extended toy commercials and sequels based on board games. Neil Blomkamp's film is more than just Invictus with space bugs instead of rugby. It was a certifiably kick-ass sci-fi action film that never let its timely political parable get in the way of the entertainment at hand.
District 9 also works better than most thanks to Sharlto Copley's turn as one of the more memorably conflicted government bureaucrats in sci-fi since Sam Lowry of Information Retrieval. Let's hope Hollywood finds more to do with him than just Mad Dog Murdoch of The A-Team.
|From the year-end list: "Perfectly captured the rhythms of campus life. The Dylan song didn't hurt either."
"I've been walking forty miles of bad road, if the bible is right, the world will explode. I've been trying to get as far away from myself as I can…" If nothing else, you could argue that Wonder Boys should be on this list just for helping Bob Dylan out of his two-decade rut, and delivering one of the best songs in his entire canon. But even "Things Have Changed" notwithstanding, Curtis Hanson's adaptation of Michael Chabon's novel has its merits. I haven't seen it since it first came out, but I remember thinking Wonder Boys got both the collegiate and the novelistic feel exactly right. At the same time, Hanson's movie felt like both wandering aimlessly around a campus (a diner, a kegger, a faculty party) and reading about someone doing as much. And I remember Michael Douglas and Frances McDormand both being particularly good here. I should probably see it again.
|From the year-end list: "The Coen brothers stay in form with this beautifully shot film noir. "
With the definite exception of 2004's The Ladykillers (and, depending on your point of view, 2008's Burn after Reading), Joel and Ethan Coen had another banner decade in the Oughts — we're just starting to sing their praises on this list.
Their 2001 outing, The Man Who Wasn't There was one of three attempts by the brothers these past ten years to explore the rules that govern their existential universe, and it's arguably their least successful of the bunch. Nonetheless, it looks absolutely stunning, and, like all Coen movies, there's a lot of great stuff in and around the margins of the film, from Richard Jenkins' alcoholic attorney to Tony Shalhoub's Perry Mason-ish Freddy Riedenschneider.
Like District 9, Neil Marshall's satisfying B-grade horror flick The Descent has the good sense to grift from a lot of great movies. The mote-in-God's-eye opening through the mountains is basically lifted directly from The Shining, and there's more than a little Ripley and Vasquez to Shauna Macdonald and Natalie Jackson Mendoza's characters respectively.
Nonetheless, Marshall's film about an all-female spelunking trip gone horribly wrong eventually works on its own terms. Ok, the subterranean homesick rednecks are never particularly scary, and one of the endings works better than the other. But if you're in any way claustrophobic, some of the underground business in the caves will definitely set your teeth on edge.
I never saw 2002's Dog Soldiers or 2008's Doomsday, but have heard they're not as good. (There's also a straight-to-video sequel to this movie, which I presume is terrible.) Still, for most of its run, The Descent operates at about the level of a quality, old-school John Carpenter movie like Prince of Darkness, The Thing, or They Live! It's a hard groove to pull off decently, but with this film, Marshall nailed it.
|From the original review: "It's a stunning film, one that I'd even recommend to people who have little-to-no interest in ballet. Like the best documentaries — and this is the best I've seen in some time — Ballets Russes transcends its immediate topic to capture larger and more ephemeral truths…Like a perfectly executed ensemble piece, Ballets Russes can take your breath away."
From the year-end list: "Penguins and comedians, to the wings — The lively survivors of the Ballets Russes are now on center stage. Like the best in dance itself, this captivating, transporting documentary was at once of the moment and timeless."
Documentaries are almost assuredly under-appreciated on this list, mainly because I tend to miss a lot of the very well-reviewed ones, like No End in Sight and Taxi to the Dark Side. Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller's Ballets Russes I did see, tho', and it's a definite keeper. As much about both the inexorable passage of time and the eternal joys of dance (note the Russian octogenarians reliving their old duets) as the story of how ballet became a widespread pastime in America, Ballets Russes feels like it manages to capture something elusive about the human condition during the course of its run. True, I have more of a connection to the ballet world than a lot of moviegoers, but I still think this film will strike a chord with almost anyone with an open mind and a tendency to tap their feet.
There can be only one. Those of you similarly disappointed with how Quentin Tarantino mishandled Go-Go-Yubari (a.k.a. a "homicidal Japanese schoolgirl with a tricked-up mace") in Kill Bill, Vol. I need only go back to the source: Battle Royale. If you've never heard of it, this 2000 film by Kinji Fukasaku involves dozens of schoolchildren forced into a death match by an evil government program and a ticked-off teacher, the villainous (and iconic) Takeshi "Beat" Kitano.
Ok, yes, the film may be in questionable taste here in the post-Columbine era, and it's spawned much concern about copycat behavior in Japan. (For those outraged by this film, I recommend Gus Van Sant's Elephant as a tonic.) Take it for what it is, tho', and Battle Royale is pretty solid entertainment, vaguely similar in a way to The Great Escape in wondering which characters are going to make it through the maelstrom. (The answer: Not many.)
Now, what does the Hong Kong "deep undercover" cops-and-robbers flick Infernal Affairs have to do with Battle Royale? Well, not much at all really, other than both being examples of quality Asian cinema (albeit from different nations.) But it occurred to me over the course of writing this second installment of the list that I'd forgotten about Infernal Affairs — I originally thought it came out in the 90's — and so I had to slot it in somewhere. (This isn't unprecedented. As you'll see, there are a couple of times in the final 50 where films share the same slot.)
In any event, Infernal Affairs in, in my opinion, a superior film to its much-vaunted 2006 American remake, The Departed. To put it crudely but effectively, Infernal Affairs is old-school Jack Nicholson. It's sharp and fast and lean and lethal. The Departed, on the other hand, was modern "Jack." It was bloated and hammy and self-mocking and probably should've been reined in a tad. IA also had the benefit of getting there first, of course. And, if nothing else, Infernal Affairs has one of the coolest men in the world in its favor in Tony Leung (in the eventual di Caprio role), which is no small thing.
|From the original review: "[A] somber and engaging character study of the cops, journalists, and suspects caught up in the hunt for San Francisco's most famous murderer, and a moody meditation on how, as months yield to years without a definitive answer, the long, tiring search for truth comes to haunt and drain their lives away…The film is kind enough to give the audience something of a sense of closure at the end, but Zodiac is most intriguing when it leaves all doors open, and lets its characters get thrown about in the bruising wind that ensues."
From the year-end list: "The best film of the spring. What at first looked to be another stylish David Fincher serial killer flick is instead a moody and haunting police procedural about the search for a seemingly unknowable truth…Reveling in the daily investigatory minutiae that also comprise much of The Wire and Law and Order, and arguably boasting the best ensemble cast of the year, Zodiac is a troubling and open-ended inquiry…Whatever Dirty Harry may suggest to the contrary, the Zodiac remains elusive."
(For what it's worth, this film and the next one were flicks I traded back-and-forth for awhile, and both moved in and out of the top fifty.) A movie that makes for a good double-feature with one of the forgotten gems of 1999, Spike Lee's Summer of Sam, David Fincher's Zodiac works best when it foregoes the Se7en-like machinations of the actual San Francisco murders and concentrates on the Grail-like quest for certainty in an uncertain world.
Over the course of a draining decade of looking for "The Truth," Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo, and the other cops and journalists on the trail all go slightly mad. The archives become a maze, the police records a bewildering thicket of potential clues and possible leads. In the real world, Zodiac suggests, Dirty Harry doesn't solve the case, and Sam Waterston and Jerry Orbach don't get to the bottom of it all in 48 minutes + commercials. In the real world, you never know…you just never know.
|From the original review: "One of the things I admired most about this very dark film is its sheer remorselessness. From its opening moments and throughout, it instills a visceral fight-or-flight dread in the audience and refuses to let us off the hook, inviting us less to tsk-tsk about the hubris of American military overreaching and more to ponder what measures — moral, immoral, amoral — we might take to ensure our own survival in this nightmarish universe. Time and time again in 28 Weeks Later, compassion is absolutely the wrong answer to the problem at hand, and…people surprise you with the decisions they choose to make with their backs to the wall."
From the year-end list: "Sir, we appear to have lost control of the Green Zone…Shall I send in the air support? Zombie flicks have been a choice staple for political allegory since the early days of Romero, but one of the strengths of Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's merciless 28 Weeks Later — perhaps the best horror sequel since James Cameron's Aliens — is that it foregoes the 1:1 sermonizing about failed reconstructions and American hubris whenever it gets in the way of the nightmare scenario at hand…There's little time for moralizing in the dark, wretched heart of 28 Weeks Later: In fact, the right thing to do is often suicide, or worse. You pretty much have only one viable option: run like hell.""
A considerable improvement over the uneven first installment by Danny Boyle and Alexa Garland, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's 28 Weeks Later is an absolutely ruthless film. Beginning with Robert Carlyle's Hobson's choice in the English countryside (Well, what would you do? Really? Are you sure?), Fresnadillo's film thrusts you into several ghastly and viscerally immediate situations where morality isn't much of a guide. Is General String (Idris Elba) right to order the immediate death of Alice the found survivor (Catherine McCormack)? Should Sniper Jeremy Renner be shooting civilians or not? Should doctor Rose Byrne really be helping these two children, also potential carriers of the virus?
There are no easy solutions in 28 Weeks Later — That's part of what makes it so horrible (and the film so good). As with District 9, Fresnadillo doesn't let the political parable (here, the American reconstruction of Iraq) interfere with the story he wants to tell. And that story is very dark indeed.
Halfway there, folks. Part III to follow sometime on the other side of Santa…In fact, it's here!
"All he wanted to do was go to the movies." In the most recent trailer bin, John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) has a little too much fun as Public Enemy #1 in the second trailer for Michael Mann's Public Enemies, also with Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard, and Billy Crudup. Siblings Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo ill-advisedly go for one last — complicated –heist in the trailer for Rian Johnson's The Brothers Bloom, also with Rachel Weisz, Rinko Kikuchi, and Robbie Coltane. There's more trouble at work (this time of the factory variety) for Michael Bluth and Office Space/King of the Hill creator Mike Judge in this first look at Extract, starring Jason Bateman, Mila Kunis, Ben Affleck, Kristen Wiig, Beth Grant, and Clifton Collins, Jr. And writer-director Robert Rodriguez continues in the Spy Kids vein in the cloying new preview for Shorts, with a gaggle of kids, Jon Cryer, James Spader, and William H. Macy.
Last but not least, seemingly content they've got a winner on their hands, J.J. Abrams and Paramount begin an early publicity rollout for their big summer tentpole with this collection of new clips from Star Trek. Still unsure about both SylarSpock and the general tone of this thing, but Chris Pine's Kirk and especially Karl Urban's Bones look like they'll be good fun here.


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Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about PATN and pattern analysis-
- What is pattern analysis?
- What is the philosophy behind of PATN?
- Installing and activating PATN
- Are there courses in pattern analysis and PATN?
- What publications underpin PATN?
- Analyzing larger datasets in PATN
- Data management using PATN
- PATN updates
- What is the difference between the DOS and Windows versions of PATN?
Please let Lee Belbin know if there are any more entries that you would like to see here.


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HM Revenue and Customs is doing its bit to get us all shopping.
It has opted to get rid of the custom duties on items bought online for less than £105 from outside the EU.
The new rules will come into action on 1 December and changes the original rule that saw free duty only on items bought for less than £18.
Online shoppers will still, however, has to pay VAT.
"Whether you are looking to get your hands on the latest computer game, designer clothes or DVDs, it is important to be aware of the law on customs charges, especially as this is about to change", said Doug Tweddle, of HMRC.
"If you are buying goods from countries outside the EU, it is in your interests to know what the rules are", added Tweddle.
"For example, some websites do not always make clear there is duty or VAT to pay, while others may misrepresent or undervalue your goods to try and avoid paying charges."


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I feel like I've been out of the loop. It took my older sister to get me into myspace.... then came facebook and xanga. I've gotten over the obsession of looking up old friends, boyfriends and such. And, just as I am finding how theraputic blogging can be, my problem, however, is deciding where to do my blogging. Again, my sister (Waiting for Cider) has introduced me to this place. And it seems like a nice place. So, here I am. Ready to blog. And ready to read blogs. It's a nice way to get away from reality for a while... or at least reflect on reality. Hm. So, welcome fellow bloggers and blog readers... however many or few there may be.
13 hours ago