Movies Now Playing

Comment

Comment by myles murphy on June 1, 2009 at 3:41pm

Comment by myles murphy on June 1, 2009 at 3:38pm

Erick is a fantastic writer and thinker. you should all check him out. here's a snack:

By Erick C. Bengel
Tidings reviewer
The premise behind “Examined Life” is simple and inspired: famous philosophers thinking out loud, candidly and eloquently. Here is the badly needed antidote to the vacuous, pat-on-the-back quasi-philosophy of “Fierce Light” and other anorexic documentaries cleaning up on the metaphysical market lately.
For my money, Taylor’s film is everything philosophy should be: challenging, invigorating, elevating, as abstract as a disembodied thought, and as grubby and personal as an open wound. Prepare to be inundated by the most fascinating opinions you’ve ever heard on an array of relevant topics. At 88 minutes, “Examined Life” is a superlative sampling of conversation-starters for an introductory philosophy course. It’s also a reward for philosophical-newbs, like me, who pompously profess to have some rudimentary idea of what these folks are talking about. (Thanks, SOU.)
Really, “Examined Life” is almost too substantive. Director Astra Taylor assumes an intelligent, curious, introspective, and (perhaps to her credit, perhaps not) college-educated audience. If you enjoy watching the life of the mind in real time — philosophy in the raw — this film is for you. If not, “Terminator 4” is showing down the street.
The list of talking-heads reads like a Who’s Who of contemporary footnotes to Plato: K. Anthony Appiah, Judith Butler, Michael Hardt, Martha Nussbaum, Avital Ronell, Peter Singer, Sunaura Taylor, Cornel West, and Slavoj Zizek. Their discussions cover death, desire, animal rights, cosmopolitanism, social revolutions, the ethics of consumption, the problems of ecology, and the anxiety of the human conscience in a Godless universe.
These women and men turn dialectic into art — a definite boon since the film has no visual splendor to speak of. “Examined Life” is simply an invitation to hear one awesome discourse after another, and a stimulus to think critically and independently. Take it or leave it.
In fact, let’s dispense with a conventional review of this unconventional film. I’d rather not put myself in danger of misrepresenting the opinions of such oracles anyway. Instead, let me throw out some admittedly unoriginal thoughts that occurred to me while watching “Examined Life.” (These thoughts also occurred to me under the influence of psilocybin mushrooms once, which should recommend the film all by itself.)
Human beings are neither innately good nor innately evil. Yet apart from the occasional sociopath — that is, anyone born without a conscience — most of us have the capacity for self-transcending empathy. While there’s no guarantee that the conditions of a person’s life will enable her to express this capacity, there’s always the chance that they will.
The M.O. of a humane society, and the foundation of a normative ethical theory, must consider the untold importance of this chance, that the majority can be taught to imagine the discomfort and pain it inflicts daily on others. We can be taught that every time we eat a burger, fill our gas-tank, purchase an expensive brand-name t-shirt, or flush our toilets with freshwater, there’s the distinct and disturbing possibility that we’ve unthinkingly contributed to the world’s surfeit of needless misery and death.
The point of this teaching wouldn’t be to create an endemic guilt-complex but to educate ourselves in the ways of self-awareness, personal responsibility, and compassion. How else are we to proceed cautiously through life’s moral entanglements?
As Ronell suggests, anyone who claims a clean conscience is not to be trusted. The believer who leaves his church on Sunday with a sense of having wiped his slate spotless after a token gesture of piety is not to be trusted. The patriot who sooner feels shame for failing to raise his flag on Memorial Day than for failing to envision the massive civilian sacrifice his flag represents is not to be trusted.
It’s a wonder that the Golden Rule — as articulated by the likes of Confucius, Christ, and Kant — hasn’t given our species more disquiet. It should. For in practice, ethics, like philosophy at large, is a fulltime job, and a demanding one at that.

Comment by Carolyn Burns on April 7, 2009 at 4:57am

"KNOWING", starring Nicolas Cage. WARNING! CONTAINS SPOILERS!! I have a different opinion than John in regards to the "aliens". The 4 beings are not aliens at all--they are the 4 living creatures/angels referred to in the Book of Ezekial. The woman who wrote the page of numbers for the time capsule as a little girl had a picture of Ezekial gazing at a bright light/sun pinned to her bedroom wall as an adult. Her daughter said she would stare at that picture all the time. At the end of the movie, the 4 beings shed their human skin and displayed wings as they rose heavenward with their round 'ship'. In the film credits, it mentions "Ezekial Films". The film definitely has biblical undertones, including an 'end of the world' message, prophecies that come true, choosing innocent children to start a 'new earth' (like Adam & Eve) and running towards a large, beautiful tree (like the Tree of Life in Genesis) in the final scene. All biblical references aside, I thought it was a great movie and would recommend it for science fiction fans and action movie buffs. It's suspense-filled and keeps your interest all the way through to the momentous conclusion. I give it 3-1/2 stars.

Comment by John Darling on March 31, 2009 at 1:16pm

May contain spoilers. "Knowing" -- fun scifi end-of-world drama with multiple cataclysmic events: wife burns up in hotel, single man trying desperately to raise adolescent son. A few wise kids are tuned into the coming major events, but not adults, who are rushing around trying to save them, going way too fast in traffic, with major fender benders, shouting hysterically, watching vital signs of significant others go flatline, trying to get loved ones interested in possible end of world or at least things getting uncomfortably hot. Nicholas Cage is good at hysterical but the female counterpart outdoes him. HERE COMES SPOILER! STOP READING IF U DON'T WANT IT! At the end, it ups the ante with aliens. Message, children are wise and good and deserve new planet without the adults who messed up this one. A good *** three star (out of 5) fun action evening, mostly a guy movie. PS-the logo for group is from Pan of the Labyrinth (great movie).