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Recurring Columns

ON THE SILVER SCREEN: "BRAN NUE DAE" SINGS AND DANCES TO A GRATING BEAT

By Brian Lafferty

 

September 25, 2010 (San Diego)--Bran Nue Dae is a film so dreadful I felt embarrassed just watching it. Everything about it literally made me cringe. Only the completionist in me got me staying until the end. Once the end credits began to roll, I didn’t just walk out of the theater. I ran to the nearest exit. No, I’m not making this up.

 


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ON THE SILVER SCREEN: "WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS" ON THE MONEY WITH FRESH SCRIPT

By Brian Lafferty

 

September 25, 2010 (San Diego)--Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps opens with Gordon Gekko being released from a federal penitentiary in the year 2001. Among the personal items given back to him is his mobile phone, one of those ugly giant cell phones that are an eyesore today but were trendy in the late 1980s. Gekko exits the penitentiary and sees everybody else being picked up, including one ex-convict in a limousine. But nobody comes for him. His face exudes loneliness. Here was a man who was big and rich twenty-five years ago but now nobody cares about him.

 


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SYLVIA’S SOAPBOX: GET THE FACTS ON MEDICARE AND THE NEW HEALTH-REFORM LAW

DON'T BELIEVE DECEPTIVE POLITICAL ADS, FACTCHECK.ORG WARNS CONSUMERS
By Sylvia Hampton


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ON THE SILVER SCREEN: MOVIE MAY BE CALLED "HEARTBREAKER" BUT IT MAY LEAVE YOU FEELING GOOD

By Brian Lafferty

 

September 24, 2010 (San Diego)--My favorite scene in the French film Heartbreaker comes towards the end. Alex (Romain Duris), who is tasked with breaking up a heiress’s relationship with her fiance, puts on I’ve Had the Time of My Life from her favorite movie Dirty Dancing. He starts dancing, having memorized all the steps. I cracked a really wide smile when Bill Medley began singing. I wasn’t laughing a lot during Heartbreaker but I sure was smiling.

 


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ON THE SILVER SCREEN: GREAT ANIMATION BUT UNWISE APPROACH TO OWL STORY "LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS"

By Brian Lafferty

 

September 24, 2010 (San Diego)--I watched Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole in a packed theater. Much of the audience consisted of parents and kids, many of them ranging between three to seven years old. There was an air of excitement in the theater during the half hour before the screening. But within the first fifteen minutes all the fun was sucked out. By the end, the atmosphere was cold and joyless. I left the screening depressed, manipulated, angry and appalled. This movie is based on a series of children’s novels but it is definitely not for kids. I will feel sorry for parents who will be understandably misled and take their kids to see a movie that will leave their young ones with tears and nightmares.

 


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MARKETING MATTERS: IS GIVING HOLIDAY BUSINESS GIFTS A NECESSITY?

 

Tips and tricks for business success and growth

By Rama Beerfas

 


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ON THE SILVER SCREEN: CLICHES, UNORIGINALITY HOLD UP ROMANCE IN "THE TOWN"

By Brian Lafferty

 

September 17, 2010 (San Diego)--The Town opens with Ben Affleck and his crew robbing a bank. The action here is standard but one shot stands out. Rebecca Hall, playing a Bank Manager, is forced to open the safe. She shakes as she tries several times to get the correct combination. She’s under pressure because the cops are on their way and because she has a gun to her head. She finally manages to get it open. This looked promising; Affleck, who also directed and co-wrote, shows a knack for directing suspense despite the otherwise ordinary robbery.

 


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ON THE SILVER SCREEN: TOO MUCH PLOT OVERCOOKS "SOUL KITCHEN"

By Brian Lafferty

 

September 17, 2010 (San Diego)--A lot happens in Soul Kitchen. Too much, actually. Just as a film can rarely survive on the flimsiest of plots, a movie can have just as much a hard time sustaining itself trying to balance a smorgasbord of story lines. This newest film by German director Fatih Akin suffers from a major case of plot overload. In my notes I made a list and counted six distinct story threads. For this movie that was too many.

 


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WILL POWER REPORT: JOBS, JOBS, JOBS!

 

Nothing but the Truth!
 

By Will Power

September 13, 2010 (San Diego) -- Since it is clear banks and brokers would rather lay people off then hire them, it is time the U.S. Government provide entry-level jobs in public service to stimulate the economy. This worked before, when the CCC and WPA provided millions of unemployed US citizens with jobs and training that helped the U.S. out of the Great Depression.


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OFF THE SILVER SCREEN: CANCER IN THE FAMILY NO MATCH FOR CRITIC'S LOVE FOR FILM

By Brian Lafferty

 

September 13, 2010 (San Diego) -- Today I will venture out into the Realm of the Off Topic. What follows is not exactly movie-related but I feel compelled to talk about the last few weeks and how they have affected me. I’m sure some of you may feel the same way I do after reading this post.

 


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ON THE SILVER SCREEN: "I'M STILL HERE" GOES WAY OUT THERE IN JOLTING, COMPELLING PORTRAIT OF JOAQUIN PHOENIX

By Brian Lafferty

 

September 13, 2010 (San Diego)--“I don’t want to play the character of Joaquin Phoenix anymore,” says Phoenix, the subject of this documentary. “I want to be whatever I am.” That is his explanation for why he chose to give up acting in favor of a rap music career. I’m Still Here, helmed by Phoenix’s brother-in-law Casey Affleck, is a film that you simply cannot prepare for. There are many images you will never unthink. These are not criticisms; as hard as it was to watch, I liked it. I didn’t necessarily enjoy it as I normally would. The documentary sets out and accomplishes what it wants to do and conveys what it wants to communicate. It doesn’t work as entertainment but then maybe that wasn’t the point.

 


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ON THE SILVER SCREEN: SHADOW OF COENS' "BLOOD SIMPLE" LEAVES "A WOMAN, A GUN AND A NOODLE SHOP" IN THE SOUP

By Brian Lafferty

 

September 12, 2010 (San Diego)--A Woman, a Gun, and a Noodle Shop is not a bad movie per se but an unnecessary one. I could easily apply that label to a lot of bad movies but usually every movie, even the real stinkers, starts out conceptually with the best of intentions. This newest film by Yimou Zhang, a remake of the Coen Brothers’ film Blood Simple had no reason to be made.

 


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DOG BLOG: TRAVELING WITH YOUR DOG (JACK'S BLOG)

 

 

 

 

 

Jack guest blogs for his owner, Dawn Celapino this week

 


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ON THE SILVER SCREEN: "CENTURION" A BLOODY GOOD TIME AT THE MOVIES

By Brian Lafferty

 

September 6, 2010 (San Diego)--Neil Marshall is a British writer/director renowned for the amount of blood and gore he includes in his films. Sometimes he’s visceral as in Dog Soldiers. He can be gleeful and cartoonish about it like he was in Doomsday. In The Descent, the violence was unpleasant. In the case of Centurion, he is gritty and realistic. Even if it appeared gratuitous, I didn’t mind because I had a lot of fun watching it.

 


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ON THE SILVER SCREEN: "PUBLIC ENEMY NO. 1" A SATISFYING CONCLUSION TO THE MESRINE SAGA

ON THE SILVER SCREEN: PUBLIC ENEMY NO. 1 A SATISFYING CONCLUSION TO MESRINE SAGA

 

By Brian Lafferty

 

September 6, 2010 (San Diego)--Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1, released last Friday, is the second of a two-part series. Killer Instinct emphasized action while this one focuses more on character exploration. Vince Cassel showed us in the first movie how he could rob banks. The movie contains action but not as much as the first. Instead, Cassel is given the opportunity to flex his acting muscles this time around, giving us a glimpse of one of France’s most notorious outlaws when he’s not on his latest crime spree. It is here that we get a portrait of the criminal artist as an older man.

 


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ADVICE FROM THE PURPLE MOUNTAIN SAGE: RANDOM THOUGHTS TO IMPACT OUR PLANET

 


Increase your enjoyment of living

by Sharon Courmousis, Sacred Rocks Reserve
"Don't blow it - good planets are hard to find.” ~ Quoted in Time

“There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed.” ~Mohandas K. Gandhi

 

 

Recipe: Lime and Coriander Char-Grilled Chicken


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THE DOG BLOG: PACK A PICNIC FOR YOUR PET


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ON THE SILVER SCREEN: "GOING THE DISTANCE" GOES A LONG WAY

By Brian Lafferty

 

September 3, 2010 (San Diego)--I normally try to give every movie I see the benefit of the doubt but I will admit, based on such experiences as When in Rome and The Bounty Hunter, that it was hard for me to not be leery. Fortunately, whatever doubts I had immediately dissipated once Going the Distance began and the result was a very good time and lots of laughs. I urge you not to dismiss it.

 


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LEFT HOOK: ROSA HINSON DAVIS

 

 

By Walter Davis

 

Editor’s note: This memoir, submitted this week, provides eyewitness insights into turbulent times in our nation's history as well as the strength of a remarkable woman and her son.

 

July 1, 2010 (Birmingham, Alabama)--In 1915 when Mrs. Davis was a little girl, she could not go into the front door of most restaurants and public places like bus terminals. When traveling her family was not allowed to use the public restrooms in gas stations along the way because of the pigment in their skin. Finding a hotel was a challenge and crooked police could stop, search, rape, and kill as they pleased.


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ON THE SILVER SCREEN: "MESRINE: KILLER INSTINCT" BRINGS OUT THE BIG GUNS

By Brian Lafferty

 

August 27, 2010 (San Diego)--Jean-Luc Godard, that great French filmmaker, once said, “The best way to criticize a movie is to make another movie.” When I first saw Mesrine: Killer Instinct, which is the first in a two part series (Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1 will be released next week) I wasn’t very impressed. I felt like I had seen it all before and that the movie wasn’t anything special. That was until I saw Takers a while later.

 


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DOLLAR-WI$E DIVAS: HOW TO SAVE MONEY ON COLLEGE TEXTBOOKS

 

By Nancy Clement & Dawn Clement


Share creative ideas to assist people of all ages on tips to save mo
ney and improve their lifestyle!


August 28, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) —Want to save money on your college textbooks? Why buy when you can rent? Now you can rent textbooks from Bookrenter for a semester. Check their website to see if the book you are interested in is available--with 3 million titles, chances are good that it will be. They offer free shipping to your door and at the end of the semester, UPS comes and picks it up so you do not have the hassle of re-selling a textbook you no longer need.


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ON THE SILVER SCREEN: "TAKERS" TAKES THE AUDIENCE FOR A RIDE

By Brian Lafferty

 

August 27, 2010 (San Diego)--The movie may be called Takers but “Sharp Dressed Men” would be a more apt title. The Takers in this movie are a group of men who get their kicks robbing banks but there is very little of it. Instead, we see only a group of men dressed in expensive suits strutting around, acting cool, and emitting a subtext that says, “Look how much money we have to afford these coats and ties!” At some point I wished ZZ Top’s hit song, “Sharp Dressed Man” would blare to lighten things up a little.

 


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A CONVERSATION WITH LOCAL FILMMAKER VERNON MORTENSEN


The Kid: Chamaco, which he produced, opens Friday for a one-week engagement

 

By Brian Lafferty

 

August 26, 2010 (El Cajon)--“The quality of writing will get you through the door,” says East County film producer Vernon Mortensen. His newest film, The Kid: Chamaco, opens Friday for a one-week showing at the Reading Gaslamp.  “To get to the door, half the time you need to know somebody," he told me over lunch in El Cajon.


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ON THE SILVER SCREEN: "PATRIK, AGE 1.5" OVERCOMES FORMULAIC SCRIPT WITH ROMANCE, HUMOR, AND FINE ACTING

By Brian Lafferty

 

August 22, 2010 (San Diego)--Patrik, Age 1.5 is formulaic, super-sweet, and very sentimental but I liked it. The movie opened on Friday and is playing at the Ken Cinema until Thursday. I found the structure to be overly predictable and some of the song choices questionable and gag-inducing but it was to me a worthwhile cinematic experience.

 


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ON THE SILVER SCREEN: "CAIRO TIME" A ROMANTIC AND VISUAL WONDER

By Brian Lafferty

 

August 22, 2010 (San Diego)--Cairo Time is a film best appreciated as art. Forget the simplistic, nearly nonexistent plot involving a budding affair between an American woman and her husband’s Egyptian friend. I admired this film for it’s cinematography and it’s visual style which included such lyrical imagery as the Pyramids, the mosques, the streets, the desert, and the Nile. The script, not unlike the characters, wanders almost aimlessly but I liked where it took the characters and I enjoyed where it took me.

 


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POLITICAL WRANGLING: EAST COUNTY MAYOR & COUNCIL RACES: HERE'S THE LINEUP

 

By Buck Shott

August 19, 2010 (San Diego's East County) – The races are on for mayor and council positions in East Couny. Two local mayors’ seats are up for reelection in November. Both face challengers vying for the leadership spots in El Cajon and La Mesa. In addition, a pack of contenders is vying to run for council seats in East County’s cities of El Cajon, La Mesa, Lemon Grove, and Santee. Here's the lineup: 


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THE DOG BLOG: VACATION PET CARE OPTIONS


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WILL POWER REPORT: LONGEVITY AND INCOME


Nothing but the Truth!

 

By Will Power

 

August 13, 2010 (San Diego)--Gerontologists have come up with startling news. The length of your life is dependant not on genetics, but on income. The richer you are, the longer you live.

While this seems like a self-fulfilling prophesy, it is also an indictment of a US system of health care that rewards the rich at the expense of the poor.


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DOLLAR-WISE DIVAS: $AVE MONEY! KIDS EAT FREE

 

Share creative ideas to assist people of all ages with tips to save money and improve their lifestyle!

 

By Nancy and Dawn Clement

 

August 13, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) – Free is cool! For a short time Cali Comfort  Restaurant in Spring Valley is offering a special deal: Kids eat free every Friday for breakfast, lunch or dinner. This special will only be available until August 21, so mark your calendar to be sure you do not miss out. Some other restaurants that offer Kid’s Eat Free meals are in the list written below; many of them are located in East County.


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ON THE SILVER SCREEN: "AGORA" IS A SUCCESSFUL THINKING PERSON'S EPIC

By Brian Lafferty

 

August 8, 2010 (San Diego)—Don’t go into Agora, which was released to theaters on July 30, expecting something along the lines of 300. It is more intellectual and philosophical than that. I like to think of it as a smart person’s epic. There is bloodshed but not as soaked and certainly not as fake. There is love and lust but there is no sex. Alejandro Amenabar has shied away from the obligatory scenes associated with these movies and replaced them with scenes that contain intelligence, relying on the solid writing and great performances.

 


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