Review: The Omnivore’s Dilemma

The omnivore’s dilemma is that…for those who can eat just about anything, the problem lies in selecting what to eat, especially since some of it can sicken or even kill you.

– Paul Rozin in The Selection of Foods by Rats, Humans, and Other Animals.

Reviews: various films

Now about some films I saw on my last few plane trips.

Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth really is something I feel that more people would watch. Not that I can say anything, I know that I have changed very little about the way I live.

I also caught the Pride and Prejudice movie, the one with Keira Knightley as Lizzy Bennett, and well, I regretted it. They cut out way too much from the story, removing most of the dialogue that made the book and the BBC series so enjoyable. Darcy may look dreamy in that proposal scene, but to me, he was reduced to someone whose developement seemed contrived and unbelievable. And let’s not talk about the costumes…when I go back to Perth for a break, I’ll gladly make myself a cup of hot chocolate, put my feet up, and go back to watching the BBC production… (There was a note of interest for me though…throughout the film, I wondered where I’d seen Caroline Bingley before…and well, I finally realised that she’s Wendy from L’ Auberge Espagnole‘ and Les Poupées Russes…)

I saw Flags of Our Fathers because I wanted to watch Letters from Iwo Jima before it left the cinemas here. I failed in the latter…but FoOF was interesting enough. Some people criticise it for its sentimentality…but I felt that they had a point. I haven’t seen that many war movies…but I don’t know of a war movie with the same message – that many of the heroes of our wars don’t wish to be remembered as such. Rather, they were people who did what they had to do under the circumstances. Maybe it seems rather contrived since most people with sufficient education understand the point, but it is nice once in a while to have a film that doesn’t glorify what happens in war.

But on that note, guess what other movie I’m going to be talking about soon…

Book Reviews – Schindler’s List and Freakonomics

Schindler’s List (Thomas Keneally)

Since 2004, I’ve had lists of ‘books…’ and ‘movies I intend to see’. Schindler’s List has always been on the latter list, and thus by default, on the former as well. Haven’t seen the film yet, but NK had the book, so…