SCEPCOP Forum

Well, I've always liked supernatural-themed shows. But its the writing in Buffy that's top notch. Joss Whedon is the writer and his shows are always cleverer than the norm. There's a lot of wit in Buffy, subtle lines that you almost miss then smile as you catch them. I recall the show getting stale by the end of the 7th season, but there's a lot of fun to be had until then. The show has a great sense of humour too. Don't compare it to the original movie that it's based on - that was horrible!

Check this out. I sent my movie recommendation for "Born on the Fourth of July" to a friend of mine who is a patriotic pro-war type of American. Here is his response:

"Bro - you are a nice guy but when you say "there would be no support for US wars any longer" it worries me. In Vietnam the Communist North (supported by Russia and China) was attacking the South and we were trying to help our friends (although the South was far from perfect).

Sort of like if you were attacked, I would help you. Almost all the Communist countries of that era have collapsed/changed to a capitalist model - since communism does not work and leads to mass murder. The USA won the Cold War, and instead of Russian and China being largely threatening, they are now much easier to work with.

If Taiwan is attacked, should we help them?

These movies, like advertisements, attempt to appeal to people's emotions, instead of cold hard facts.

Best - D."

Gee does that sound like a typical brainwashed American, or what? I responded with this:

"The flaw in what you say is that you assume that everything the government tells you is the total truth and it would never keep anything hidden from you or keep any secrets. That is totally false. There is abundant evidence that the government lies all the time.

Why do you think the JFK files are classified for 50 years? Because after so many decades, they know that people will forget the whole thing, and they could easily destroy their own files too. Same with the Pentagon Crash on 9/11 and the 86 videos around the Pentagon showing no plane. There is no logical reason to make those videos and file classified. None at all. "National security' usually means that they are covering up their own crimes and clandestine operations.

The US does not defend every country that is attacked. Don't you know that? Why do you think it gets involved in some wars, but not others? Think about it.

Also, why would the US elite care about communism? Freedom and true democracy is the last thing they want, cause it doesn't serve their interests. The US has a long history of exploiting other countries for their resources. Tons of intellectual scholars have documented this. An economic hit man named John Perkins wrote a book about this. You can see an hour long interview with him here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqIHKWd9rSc

You really got to see that film "Born on the Fourth of July". It is very realistic and factual. It does not just prey on your emotions. Stone shows you ugly truths that are real but which Americans are in denial about. It's a masterpiece, and Tom Cruise's best performance too. Trust me, you won't see a better film. It's a total must see.

You also need to do more research from freethinking scholars and insiders. There is a shitload of info that proves that wars are scams. Your assumption that the US government is an angel that never lies and tells you the full truth is totally wrong and false. How can you not realize that?

Regards,
Winston"

I later added:

"The film does deal with cold hard facts. The events in the film did happen in real life. Watch the film and you will see. It tells it like it is. Many Vietnam vets suffered the way Cruise's character, based on the true story of Ron Kovic, did. Just watch the film and you will see.

War film buffs say that the only scene in that film that didn't happen was when Cruise went to the family of the US soldier he accidentally killed, to apologize and confess what he did, to try to ease his guilt. In real life, Ron Kovic never did that, and other vets who accidentally killed their comrades never did that either. Would you?

That was the only fictitious scene. Other than that, everything in the film was SUPER DUPER realistic. Just watch it and see. There's no denying it.

Bro, you gotta be more objective and not dismiss things. If you do that, you'll never learn anything or find out the truth. All you will know is whatever you are told by official sources, which often lies, and which has been proven and documented."

I showed his letter to my former mental health counselor friend. Here is his response:

"Winston,

I think your rejoinder to him basically summed it up--it sounds like he has very little knowledge of world history or even recent history and a very dim understanding about US politics and military affairs. His explanation regarding the Vietnam War shows this, as this was actually a very complicated conflict in which, as you probably know, the US most likely staged the "Gulf of Tonkin" incident as an excuse to formally enter the war--they had already been in Saigon after the French defeat there and maybe before, since at least 1954. He makes this all sound very simple and facile and that we were the good guys and the commies were the bad guys. I own copies of all of President Johnson's White House tapes, for example, and even he knew this was a futile war which could not be won but he was afraid he would be seen as "soft" on communism and so continued it, a party line which Nixon and Kissinger, among others, also followed in a way that killed millions of innocent civilians while Laos and Cambodia were bombed flat as Pancakes. I've read that we dropped more bombs on Cambodia during that war than the total amount of bombs dropped by ALL the contesting armies of World War II, a war that took the lives of sixty million people. I do not know this man, of course, so do not know enough to say if he is brainwashed or not. If he has a through knowledge of the events leading up to the war and the way it was fought, and still can produce this simplistic "us versus them" explanation, then, yes, I would agree he is very brainwashed. If he lacks a knowledge about the war's history and the colonization of Vietnam and the French role in these matters, among many other things, some of which admittedly are speculative (such as the assassination of the Viet. President and who was responsible), then he is probably speaking more out of ignorance.

Good morning, Vietnam"

No, I'm not a fan of twillight series. I tried to read the first book but had to stop half-way through. I watched the first movie with my wife - it was terrible. Buffy kicks twillights ass any day of the week!

The writing in Buffy is top notch. I remember reading that some universities had devoted courses to studying it!. Joss Whedon stuff is always better than average. he did Firefly - a show that got cancelled too soon but had a loyal if small fan following. It's also available on Netflix. He's also doing the upcoming avengers movie.

The Mission



IMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091530/

Jeremy Irons plays a Spanish Jesuit who goes into the South American wilderness to build a mission in the hope of converting the Indians of the region. Robert DeNiro plays a slave hunter who is converted and joins Irons in his mission. When Spain sells the colony to Portugal, they are forced to defend all they have built against the Portugese aggressors.

Review

I have read the other comments and am stunned by people who view The Mission in a negative light. It feels as though you are attacking a loved one - perhaps because this movie IS a loved one to me. Never, ever have I felt so deeply about a film. I don't have any idea where to begin checking off the pro's: cinematography? stupendous acting? heart-breaking subject matter? moving soundtrack? I don't think it's possible to do that with The Mission - one needs to absorb it as a whole. An entire masterpiece.

I was one of the fortunate ones to see this movie in a theatre back in the 80's - we were visiting friends in another city and, for lack of anything better to do that evening, decided to see this film. To say I was moved would be such an understatement as to be ridiculous. It is the saddest commentary on what horrors have been perpetrated in the name of God....

I have seen this movie several times since then and own it now but I am always very careful whom I see it with and when I see it. You need to have a block of time set aside when you can completely immerse yourself in this film. Unplug the phone, put the kids to bed, make sure the dog doesn't have to go out. If you don't pay attention - from the very beginning to right after the credits - you will miss something important. Prepare yourself emotionally for The Mission. Step into it, live it, let it speak to you. Feel the struggle of all involved.

I love this movie. infinity out of 10

Black Robe



IMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101465/

In the 17th century a Jesuit priest and a young companion are escorted through the wilderness of Quebec by Algonquin Indians to find a distant mission in the dead of winter. The Jesuit experiences a spiritual journey while his young companion falls in love with the Algonquin chief's beautiful daughter underneath the imposing and magnificent mountains. Dread and death follows them upriver.

A Passage to India



IMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087892/

Cultural mistrust and false accusations doom a friendship in British colonial India between an Indian doctor, an Englishwoman engaged to marry a city magistrate, and an English educator.

Trailer



Full movie, part 1



Rabbit Proof Fence



IMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0252444/

Rabbit-Proof Fence is a 2002 Australian drama film based on the book Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington Garimara. It is based on a true story concerning the author's mother, as well as two other mixed-race Aboriginal girls, who ran away from the Moore River Native Settlement, north of Perth, to return to their Aboriginal families, after having been placed there in 1931. The film follows the girls as they trek/walk for nine weeks along 1,500 miles (2,400 km) of the Australian rabbit-proof fence to return to their community at Jigalong, while being pursued by a white authority figure and an Aboriginal tracker.

Review

This is a very powerful film from the wonderful Phillip Noyce (The Quiet American) and its based on the shameful history in Australia where aborigine children were taken by force from their families and tribes to camps and taught to be servants. In the film 3 sisters escape and venture to walk 1,500 miles back to their tribe. The title refers to a fenceline that stretches for thousands of miles and the girls follow it. The wonderful aborigine actor David Gulpilil (Walkabout) plays a scout that is tracking the girls and Kenneth Branaugh plays an officer that is in charge of the whole operation. I guess the main flaw in the film would be the middle where most of the walking takes place and the film really slows down but its not a major complaint. The 1,500 mile trek is expertly paced and the film is by no means dull. Rather, its fascinating! The real footage that we see at the end of the film is so powerful that the whole essence of what you have just watched becomes even more devastating. This is more than just an important film, its a documentation of an ugly and shameful part of Australian history. A must see!

Trailer



Full movie, part 1



Gallipoli



IMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082432/

The story of a group of young Australian men who leave their various backgrounds behind and sign up to join the ANZACs in World War I. They are sent to Gallipoli, where they encounter the might of the Turkish army.

Trailer

Super Size Me



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390521/

While examining the influence of the fast food industry, Morgan Spurlock personally explores the consequences on his health of a diet of solely McDonald's food for one month.

Trailer



Full movie



Fast Food Nation



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460792/

Don Anderson is the Mickey's food restaurant chain's Marketing Director. He is the inventor of the "Big One" the hamburger best seller of Mickey's. An independent research reports the presence of cow's feces in the Big One. So Don is sent to Cody, Colorado, to verify if the slaughterhouse, main supplier of Mickey's, is efficient as it appears and the production process is regular. During his investigations he discovers the horrible truth behind a simple hamburger; the reality is not like we think it is. Don discovers what the mass production system involves, from the temp workers like Amber, to the exploitation of Mexican irregular immigrants. It is not only the meat that is crushed in the mincing machine, but all our society.

Trailer



Bowling for Columbine



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0310793/

The United States of America is notorious for its astronomical number of people killed by firearms for a developed nation without a civil war. With his signature sense of angry humor, activist filmmaker Michael Moore sets out to explore the roots of this bloodshed. In doing so, he learns that the conventional answers of easy availability of guns, violent national history, violent entertainment and even poverty are inadequate to explain this violence when other cultures share those same factors without the equivalent carnage. In order to arrive at a possible explanation, Michael Moore takes on a deeper examination of America's culture of fear, bigotry and violence in a nation with widespread gun ownership. Furthermore, he seeks to investigate and confront the powerful elite political and corporate interests fanning this culture for their own unscrupulous gain.

Full movie



Capitalism: A Love Story



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1232207/

Capitalism: A Love Story examines the impact of corporate dominance on the everyday lives of Americans (and by default, the rest of the world). The film moves from Middle America, to the halls of power in Washington, to the global financial epicenter in Manhattan. With both humor and outrage, the film explores the question: What is the price that America pays for its love of capitalism? Families pay the price with their jobs, their homes and their savings. Moore goes into the homes of ordinary people whose lives have been turned upside down; and he goes looking for explanations in Washington, DC and elsewhere. What he finds are the all-too-familiar symptoms of a love affair gone astray: lies, abuse, betrayal...and 14,000 jobs being lost every day. Capitalism: A Love Story also presents what a more hopeful future could look like. Who are we and why do we behave the way that we do?

Trailer

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0123755/



Cube (1997)

7 complete strangers of widely varying personality characteristics are involuntarily placed in an endless kafkaesque maze containing deadly traps.

Part 1 of 9:



This is a great horror movie, and runs like a long Twilight Zone episode.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462482/



Population 436 (2006)

A census-taker (Sisto) is sent to investigate why a certain small town has had the same population -- 436 residents -- for the last 100 years.

Trailer:



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120184/



Sphere (1998)

A spaceship is discovered under three hundred years' worth of coral growth at the bottom of the ocean.

Trailer:



Full Movie, Part 1 of 9: