Alpha Dog

This movie is split down the middle in terms of critical reviews but I really liked it.  Firstly, the story is true and dramatised a bit, but it shows the mindset of "kids" today.  I say this because of the current culture of instant gratification and getting things NOW and getting a lot of it.  What I kept needing to remind myself during the movie was that these guys were acting all big and mob-like, but they were just kids.



The movie does tend to get a tense toward the end, and I mean really tense if you get involved in it.  But the point is made clearly as to where the mindset and the lifestyle may lead, and people can screw up the rest of their lives even if this movie portrays only one example and consequence of it.  If you see the movie at the ned you can think of a million other things that could go wrong just from the lifestyle these kids lead.



It is definitely not for kids, but the message is important especially for the 16-30 year old crowd.  It is one of the important stories to tell of how modern culture can poison a society.



Peace,

M.





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Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

A Wonderful Fairytale intertwined with harsh reality.  This is not the light-hearted Tinkerbell fairytale you might hink it is... It's dark, Tim Burtonish type stuff, and it's beautiful.  It isa bit scary at times, defitniely not for children, might scare the hell out of them, but it has really interesting characters and a really interesting story, like a much darker "Chronicles of Narnia".



The fairytale is intertwined with a story of the Spanish Resistance in Red Spain during WWII.  The themes in the story cover resistance, rebellion, Trust, Ethics of warfare, Parent-Child Relationships, Imagination.



I highly recommend it, it is VERY Cool. A sort of Alice in Wonderland for grown-ups.  It is very captivating and I was enthralled for the entire time I watched it.  A Search for something greater amongst the obstacles of Darkness and Evil... and standing for something greater than yourself.  I loved the juxtaposition of the evils of torture and war set against the imagination of a child.



The movie is Spanish with English Subtitles and it got a 96% rating at Rotten Tomatoes.

I highly recommend it. :)



Peace,

M.