'Dr. Zhivago'

I think it's a really cool story. Funny thing is that I read the book several months ago and just now got around to watching the movie.

I can handle the love junk wrapped up into some historical context, which makes it seem like the history that was taking place was so small and insignificant. I love that. The world was changing all around them and this shift would change the world on so many levels, but all ol' Yuri could think about was somehow dumping his wife and making babies with Julie Christie.

Christie, by the way, is quite a nice piece. If I were Yuri, I'd probably opt for her over my eye-browed wife.

'Gunga Din'

I wonder how Indian people feel about this film? It chronicles of the dark days of British imperialism in their home country. Furthermore, it celebrates Gunga Din, a native, who served as a water carrier for the British Army and just pined to join the ranks and fight for the Queen.

This film was released before India's independence in the 1940s, but you have to think it was a kick in the groin for the country as it just showed a subservient people that wanted nothing other than to serve the white conquerors and, no matter impossible it was, to become the white conqueror.

The worst part was ol' Gunga Din shown as some apparition in British Army uniform, saluting with a big shit-eating grin on his face.

'Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer'

Documentarian Nick Broomfield had to negotiate a slippery slope with this film.

On one hand, you had a women who murdered a series of men. Aileen Wuornos killed those men. She admitted it and she, eventually, died for it.

However, Broomfield had to tell the true story without exonerating Wuornos for the true crime.

Yes, she killed those men, but the defense that they were going to or did rape or beat her is repeated although it is incredibly flimsy. You can't just going around shooting and killing people due to your repeated behavior.

The true story here is that Wuornos was completely taken advantage of by a born-again Christian observer and a crackpot lawyer. Despite Wuornos crime, this aspect of the story is tragic and sickening. What is interesting is that Broomfield repeatedly mentions the Son of Sam law, which prohibits criminals from profiting from their transgressions. He's told the Son of Sam law didn't apply anymore. This was never explained.

Broomfield, however, does a good job in balancing Wuornos' antics and any sympathy she may get due to these circumstances.

'Seven Samurai'

Really, really good movie.

"Seven Samurai" does something in as little time as needed as a majority of films never get to do in two or three hours.

Somehow, the writers and director completely familarized the audence with the seven samurai without taking time out of the film to explain who these people were. Over the period of the movie, you know these guy and when some die or as the plot twists the audience grimaces and groans.

Character development and the ability to connect with the audience in a positive or negative fashion is incredibly hard to do and you can't always depend on the actor or actress to endear their character to the viewer. Seven no-name Japanese actors look like utter heroes whilst most other characters live or die without anyone caring.

'The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test'

Never in my life has there been a record, book or film that had a bigger gap from the minute I wanted to read it until I actually read it.

I had heard about Tom Wolfe's recollection of the Merry Pranksters when I was 16 and reading Jack Kerouac. It took about 13 years of looking for a copy of "Kool-Aid Test" (see: cheap) until I eventually found one.

I don't think much of Ken Kesey, Timothy Leary or the Merry Pranksters. I do, however, like the idea that LSD was like an evolution, so to speak, of the human mind. As if, the mind had come to a plateau and LSD was the next step to reach some other pantheon of thought and existence. However noble this sounds, when everything turned into an orgy and slackfest, it lost any real credence. Getting high wasn't about reaching some other plane of conciousness, but sitting around and partying.

'Top Hat'

Dancers are thoroughly entertaining. I also think they might be annoying.

I think about dancers like I do Paul McCartney. Now, I'm a gigantic fan of Sir Paul and his entire catalog from The Beatles through his more modern albums.
However, I get the feeling that he's too much of a ham in intimate, face-to-face meetings. I read a New Yorker profile on McCartney and it seemed every time the writer turned around, he was at a piano or cradling a guitar singing and playing.

I see Fred Astaire being like that, only with dance. Like instead of just walking down the street, he starts doing some soft shoe or a waltz.

But that's just my perception.

'Dance, Girl, Dance'

Lucille Ball.

For a majority of people my age and maybe a little older, she's the crazy, whiney redhead from "I Love Lucy."

Ironically, the main theme of the show is that she's married to a Cuban band leader and she undertakes numerous humorous schemes to somehow break in show business, to the chagrin of her husband.

Thinking back, and I may be wrong, Ricky Ricardo never gives his wife, Lucy, a reason as to why he doesn't want her to A) be in show business or B) be in his show.

We assume it's because she's not talented. But it's never specifically noted.

The truth is that Ball was incredibly talented and had quite a career before "I Love Lucy" in the early 1950s. In "Dance, Girl, Dance," all she does is dance, sing and put on a show. In "I Love Lucy," her husband never let her have that shot. Bubbles would've never put up with that.

Another interesting note is that this film came out in 1940, a full decade before she hit the upper echelon of show business in TV. She was 29 years old in 1940, which means she was 40 when "I Love Lucy" was made and even older when she had her first kid (1953, I think).

Ball was incredibly old. Born in 1911, she was six years older than Desi Arnaz. It also means that in the 1970s when she was doing all those "Lucy" shows she was into her 60s. Quite a lady.