Category Archives: Nader

Movie Review: Secretariat

October 13, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett

Movie – Secretariat

Director: Randall Wallace (We Were Soldiers, The Man in the Iron Mask)

Screenwriter: Mike Rich (The Nativity Story, Radio, The Rookie, Finding Forrester)

Starring: Diane Lane (The Perfect Storm, Unfaithful, Jumper); John Malkovich (Dangerous Liaisons, Being John Malkovich, Con Air) and Dylan Walsh (Congo, The Lake House, The Stepfather)

Theater – Cinemark Movies 12 – Ames, Iowa

Companion – Nader Parsaei

Food – King Buffet

Intellectual Honesty

I am an absolute sucker for a horse movie. I’m not sure Hollywood could make a horse movie I wouldn’t love. That includes you Hot to Trot!

Baggage

I don’t think that Randall Wallace can direct a movie that is above average. I don’t think Disney makes very good live action movies. Yes, Old Yeller is the first movie to make me cry and I still cry every time I see it, but in the last 20 years the only Disney live action movie that is watchable is The Rookie.

Synopsis

Housewife and mother Penny Chenery (Lane) takes over her ailing father’s Virginia bases Meadow Stables, despite her lack of horse-racing knowledge. Against all odds, Chenery – with the help of veteran trainer Lucien Laurin (Malkovich) – and while putting her marriage at risk – manages to navigate the male-dominated business, ultimately fostering the first Triple Crown winner in twenty-five years.

Review

I often heard the following indictment of the movie Titanic: “I don’t need to see the movie. I already know the ship sinks.” It is a statement of ignorance and is hardly a decent indictment of 2^nd highest grossing movie of all-time. It isn’t a legitimate criticism because the setting of Titanic sinking is just that, the setting. You know the ship sinks, but you don’t know what is going to happen to the fictional characters Jack and Rose. So while you watch the movie knowing that eventually the big ship is going to run into an iceberg and end up on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, you don’t know if Jack and Rose will end up on the sea floor with the mighty ship or if they will be part of the few hundreds of people that managed to survive that freezing April night.

If somebody was to say to me, “I don’t need to see Secretariat, I already know that he wins.” I actually would agree with them that knowing that Secretariat wins does take something out of seeing this movie. The way the screenplay is written, the entire payoff of the movie is the Belmont Stakes. A race that even people who know nothing about horse racing know Secretariat won by over 30 lengths. Perhaps the single most dominant performance in any sport in sporting history.

However, even knowing how the movie is going to end, I’m not sure that the story of Secretariat would make a great movie without considerable creative license taken by the filmmakers.

Let’s face it, Secretariat is the greatest racehorse to ever live. The only other horse that can ever be entered into the conversation is Man o’ War. A horse that was so dominant that the 1 and only time he lost a race, it popularized the term upset for a description of a surprising outcome in a sporting event. The horse that defeated Man o’ War was named Upset.

However, Secretariat was at least as dominating as Man o’ War. He won the Triple Crown while setting records in 2 of the 3 races. Winning the third jewel of the Triple Crown by an incredible 31 lengths. His time of 2:24 broke the stakes record by more than 2 seconds!

An absolutely amazing animal, but great sports movies aren’t about dominant athletes. They are about underdogs. Nobody would watch a movie following my training for a 1 on 1 basketball game against Jesse Howard with a climax of me beating him yet again. No! People would want to see a movie following his training to play me. Then he would have lots of unorthodox training methods and in the game he would make some improbable shots and upset me barely. On a last second shot.

So in Secretariat they make a game effort to make Penny Chenery (Lane) an underdog, but it falls short. She is a woman in a man’s world, sort of. She is never the victim of any discrimination. She isn’t supported by her husband and she borderline abandons her family, but the only thing that ever happens in that world are a couple of terse conversations with her husband and her eldest daughter almost becomes a hippie. That being said, her hippie daughter and her hippie friends are the cleanest hippies I’ve ever seen. They look more like the cast of the Partridge Family than real hippies, but I guess that is still a threat to conservative Southern family values. The only real conflict she faces in the entire movie is she has to raise 6 million dollars to pay her inheritance tax or risk having to sell Secretariat. As intriguing as that sounds on the surface, when was the last “underdog” you knew that had to struggle to pay 6 million in inheritance taxes? Boo-frigging-hoo!

There are aspects of the story that are undeniably interesting. Secretariat was won on a losing coin toss. The richest man in the world flipped a coin with Penny Chenery and won the coin toss. Then he picked the other horse. Chenery won Secretariat by default.

Secretariat lost his last race before the Kentucky Derby because he has an abscess and wasn’t able to train much before the Kentucky Derby.

But an abscess and 6 million dollars in inheritance taxes do not much of a story make.

In addition to not taking you on much of a roller coaster ride, the script is riddled with some pretty bad dialogue. I don’t think anybody could have given a great performance, considering the type of stuff they were forced to say. Malkovich’s character Lucien Laurin plays more like a caricature than a character. That being said, it is still awful fun watching him play the cheeseball to the hilt. Secretariat’s great rival’s (Sham) owner is way over the top.

I’d read a couple of reviews of this movie that claim that Secretariat is a form of Tea Party propaganda. Certainly some of the politics in the movie are right wing (who else would use inheritance taxes as a plot conflict? Even though it is true.) but it isn’t propaganda. At least it isn’t decently made propaganda.

The horse racing action sequence are well done, but boring when compared to what is still the greatest horse movie ever made Seabiscuit.

Secretariat might have been the better horse, but Seabiscuit is a way better movie.

Rating: 2.5/5 Caramels

Buy on DVD: Nope, but I’ll watch it again when it is on ABC Family.

2010 Ranking: Unranked at this time.

Bonus Information: There weren’t really any trailers that rang my bell. I saw a longer trailer for Tangled, the Rapunzel movie and it looks even dumber than the teaser trailer I had seen a few months ago. I remain intrigued by Megamind. I am bothered by the fact that the trailer for Unstoppable makes it look like a really good movie, but it is directed by Tony Scott, therefore it will suck.

Next Week:

Next week I will actually see 2 movies. Red on Tuesday and Hereafter on Sunday. I will also be on vacation, so I’m not sure when stuff will get published, but we’ll see how that cookie crumbles when I get my hands on it.

Movies, Nader

Movie Review: The Social Network

October 6, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

I might make an attempt to do add movie reviews to this website again. This has failed on several occasions, but no reason to give up now. What is that definition of insanity I love so much?

Movie

The Social Network

Director: David Fincher
Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake, Andrew Garfield

Theater

Movies 12 – Ames, Iowa

Companion

Nader Parsaei

Food?

Mongolian Buffet

Intellectual Honesty

I love David Fincher. He is one of my favorite living directors. He is certainly in the Top 2 or 3.

Baggage

Fincher has some amends to make for the terminally boring Zodiac.

Synopsis

The Social Network follows the testimony in two separate lawsuits surrounding the founding of Facebook.

The movie opens with a scene where Facebook inventor Mark Zuckerberg is dumped by his girlfriend. He goes home an gets drunk and blogs about his ex-girlfriend. Then he hacks into all of the the Facebooks of all of the Harvard residence hall and builds a website called Facesmash where people can log on and vote between 2 Harvard girls to determine which one is hotter.

There is so much activity on the website that it crashes Harvard’s network.

This event makes Zuckerberg a campus celebrity and he is approached by 3 other guys to help them make a Harvard dating website.

Instead of helping them with the website, Zuckerberg gets financial backing from his best friend and designs his own website “The Facebook”.

Zuckerberg and his best friend meet up with one of the founders of Napster. This eventually leads to the removal of Zuckerberg’s best friend from Facebook.

After Zuckerberg becomes the youngest billionaire in history he is sued by the 3 guys that wanted him to help them with their dating website for stealing their idea. He is also sued by his best friend who is railroaded out of the company.

Review

There was much hype about Justin Timberlake’s performance as Sean Parker, one of the creators of Napster. He is decent. I’d even say he is good, but the hype around this performance is quite a bit overblown. However, Eisenberg’s portrayal of Zuckerberg is phenomenal. As is Jesse Garfield’s portrayal of Zuckerberg’s best friend and initial CFO of Facebook Eduardo.

But what really keeps this movie humming is a great script by Aaron Sorkin. What could be a convoluted movie following two lawsuits and 3 sides of a story all at the same time is handled masterfully.

There is a certain amount of hype about how poorly the female characters are portrayed in this movie. With the obvious exception of the girlfriend that dumps Zuckerberg in the opening scene, most of the female characters are scene as little more than prizes to be won. However, I think this is actually the way these characters see women and since the movie is from their perspectives, I don’t really have a problem with it.

Easily the most likable character in the movie is the girlfriend that dumps Zuckerberg. She only appears in 1 other scene in the movie, but she is phenomenal and she is the only character that completely handles Zuckerberg.

I can’t point out enough how great the first scene in the movie is enough. The dialogue is crisp and clever. It sets up a perfect bookend with the last scene in the movie, which is also a favorite of mine.

The scene ends with the girlfriend telling Zuckerberg:

“You’re going to be successful, and rich. But you’re going to go through life thinking that girls don’t like you because you’re a geek. And I want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, that that won’t be true. It’ll be because you’re an asshole.”It is perhaps my favorite line in the movie besides when Zuckerberg tells the lawyer for the 3 men suing him for “stealing” the Facebook idea:

“I think if your clients want to sit on my shoulders and call themselves tall, they have the right to give it a try – but there’s no requirement that I enjoy sitting here listening to people lie. You have part of my attention – you have the minimum amount. The rest of my attention is back at the offices of Facebook, where my colleagues and I are doing things that no one in this room, including and especially your clients, are intellectually or creatively capable of doing.
(pause)
Did I adequately answer your condescending question?”

There is also a certain amount of hype about how negatively Zuckerberg is portrayed in the movie. So much so that he donated 100 million dollars to charity recently to help offset the bad publicity from this movie. In my mind I don’t think that he was portrayed that badly. He is a dick at times, but I think that there isn’t much in this movie that isn’t characteristic of anybody that isn’t driven at the same level as he clearly is. He suffers from the same social retardation most geniuses suffer from. At least the geniuses that they make movies about. I’m a Lone Wolf, but I’m not socially retarded. He is victimized by hero worship and unfortunately that leads to him betraying his best friend. But I don’t think it is portrayed without a certain amount of sympathy. I think alot of people might have done what he did if they were manipulated by their hero.

The score by Trent Reznor is also a bonus to the movie. When I heard that Trent Reznor was doing the score I thought that the music would end up being a distraction, but it isn’t. It fits in perfectly with David Fincher’s directing style.

As a bonus, I believe that there is a rowing race scene that owes quite a bit to the work of Stanley Kubrick. I think you know how that pushes my buttons.

Finally, I loved the way this movie ended. I think it was a perfect way to end the movie and was a perfect bookend with the opening scene of the movie.

Rating

4.5/5 Caramels

Buy on DVD

Definitely

2010 Ranking

I’m torn, but I’m going to go ahead and rank this as my new #1, sliding Inception down to #2.

Bonus information

I saw the trailer for the remake of True Grit for the 1st time. I’m big time pumped for this movie now and not just because they used a Johnny Cash song as the background music.

Also saw the preview again for Clint Eastwood’s Hereafter. This is the movie I want to see the most that is left this year. The Fighter is no. 2.

Next Week

Probably Secretariat – Directed by Randall Wallace – Starring Diane Lane

I have to confess to having a huge weakness for horse movies.

Small possibility that if we don’t see Secretariat it will be Life As We Know It.

Cousin Amy, Derrick, Event, Formal Portrait, Jeff Kewer, Jen, Jesse, Mom, Monica, Nader, Personal Photo Project, Sara, Shannon

Personal Photo Project of the Week #37

October 1, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 6 Comments

Cheaper than Therapy

I co-hosted a Baby Shower for Baby G. with Sara a couple months back. Sara wanted a photobooth for the shower, so I made a makeshift one in her garage. It worked well enough and we were able to use the pictures in a book of baby advice for them as a present when Baby G. came into this world officially.

Here are a few other pictures from the photo booth:

Even though these pictures are only a couple of months old, they just feel really dated!

I might have to tweak the photo booth idea again in the future, but it does need quite a bit of tweaking.

Black & White, Contests, Derrick, Nader, Nature

Nader Parsaei

September 29, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett

2010 - Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest Nominee

Ain’t Distributed Right

Nader made this selection over Mongolian one night before we saw The Expendables. This picture had my favorite judge’s comment on it.

“Nice try.”

Hilarious!

Nader also consider this picture over a bowl of noodles.

5 of 6 selectors have been selected for next year’s Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. Still room for 1 more, but it has to be a dude. If you are interested in trying you hand at it, let me know.

Andree, Art, Black & White, Contests, Jesse, Jill, Nader, Willy

Jesse Howard

September 14, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 4 Comments

I think most of you know that I have strange ways of picking pictures for photo contests. I think the most interesting way is how I “pick” the pictures for the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. In fact, I don’t pick the pictures at all. I have 6 individuals each pick 1 picture from a list of pictures I nominate.

Last year I had all Dolls pick the pictures. This year I had all Guys.

I considered this to be a small social experiment on my part. At least it did allow me to collect data that I find intriguing, even though I know it is mostly meaningless.

Last year I was excited when Jill picked a frog picture. I wrote at that time that I was impressed that a Doll would pick a picture of a frog. I also wrote that I hoped that next year a Guy would pick a flower picture this year.

No guy picked a flower picture.

This is the data that I collected. You can draw your own conclusion about the differences between Guys and Dolls.

Dolls sent me long explanations of the reasons they selected the picture that they selected. They also sent a list of the other pictures that they considered. Guys sent me back the number of the picture that they had selected. They didn’t elaborate. They didn’t send out a list of the other pictures that they considered. Only Andree sent an email that consisted of more than just a number. I only know what other pictures Nader and Willy considered besides their selection because they aren’t very computer savvy and I had to be there to hold their hand through the process. It is important to note that I gave the Guys and the Dolls identical instructions.
The breakdown of the subject matter of pictures selected by Dolls was as follows: 3 flower pictures, 1 frog picture, 1 people picture and 1 religious picture. The breakdown of the subject matter of pictures selected by Guys is as follows 0 flower pictures, 0 frog pictures, 0 religious pictures, 1 people picture, 1 animal picture, 1 sculpture picture and 3 landscape pictures. I’m not surprised that flower pictures got bageled by the Guys, but I thought a frog picture would get some love.
Dolls picked 4 black and white pictures and 2 color pictures. Guys picked 5 color pictures and 1 black and white picture. I did end up converting 1 color entry to black and white. I know that runs contrary to the spirit of this endeavor, but I did want at least a semblance of balance and I couldn’t stand to only have 1 black and white entry. Black and white is my first love, after all.
Most Dolls took a fair portion of the 24 hours. Only Jesse took nearly the full 24 hours to decide.

Without further adieu, here is the selection of Jesse Howard:

Mingled Souls

I don’t think that there is going to be a “gimmick” again next year. I think I’m going to ask 6 people who have never selected before. I already have 4 people in mind, but if you have never selected before, you should leave a comment on why you would make an excellent selector. I will take it under advisement.

Andree, Baier, Bill, Jesse, Jill, Movies, Nader, Russell, Willy

Catharsis

September 4, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 3 Comments

I witnessed something so shocking on Tuesday night that after I got over the initial numbness, I reached out to some close friends who helped guide me through the mental issues that I was having to overcome.

I should state to clear my good name and recriminate Nader, it was not my idea to go see Piranha 3-D. I wanted to go see Scott Pilgrim, but Nader refused to see that movie because he thinks that it has the guy in it from Adventureland even though I’ve told him 100 times that it isn’t the same guy that is in Adventureland.

Since Nader couldn’t be convinced that Micahel Cerra and Jesse Eisenberg are not the same person, we went to see Piranha 3-D. It was the first horror movie I’ve seen in the theater since The Devil’s Rejects in 2005. It might be another 5 years before I see another horror movie in the theater.

Because of the frankness of the situation, I am going to keep all the parties anonymous.

I texted Friends 2 and 3:

“I just saw a movie where a fish eats a penis in 3-D!”

I texted Friend 4:

“Is there a scene in Scott Pilgrim where a fish eats a penis in 3D, cause there sure as hell is one in Piranha?”

I texted Friends 5, 6 & 7:

“This can’t wait until the morrow. There is a scene in Piranha where a fish eats a penis in 3D.”

I texted Friend 1:

“I have to get this off my chest. In Piranha there is a scene where a fish eats a penis in 3D. I’m traumatized.”

Friend 4 texted back:

“No there isn’t.”

Friend 7 texted back:

“wtf”

Friend 2 texted back:

“”

Then Friend 2 texted back:

“That is WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! I don’t need to even ask how the movie was now.”

I texted Friend 7:

“Exactly.”

I texted Friend 4:

“I thought every movie would like to include such a scene.”

Friend 6 texted:

“Yeah, its worth sharing. First time in a while, I don’t know what to say.”

I texted Friend 2:

“There was no warning. All of a sudden it just happened.”

I texted Friend 6:

“I feel disoriented. I think I’m in shock. My body is cold, but that might be because I’m standing in the freezer section of Hy-Vee.”

Friend 2 texted:

“Obviously funded by those man haters at Lifetime Movie Network.”

Friend 6 texted:

“Maybe they figured no one would see the movie and just threw in something to make it unforgettable. Its a hell of a story, anyway.”

I texted Friend 2:

“They should put a warning label on movies that contain violence against penis. So we would know not to go see them.”

I texted Friend 6:

“It definitely worked. I will never be able to wash this image from my brain.”

Friend 2 texted:

“AGREED!”

Friend 6 texted:

“Sick thing is, I’m almost convinced I will rent it on dvd. Not sure what that says about myself.”

Friend 1 texted:

“EWWWWWW!!!!”

I texted Friend 6:

“You might not want to after I tell you the full story. I will tell you tomorrow at dinner.”

Friend 4 texted:

“Now that’s a groundbreaking movie! I’m thinking Oscar. I that that piranha is Lorena Bobbitt’s pet. BTW, what did Nader say to that?”

I texted Friend 1:

“I’m pretty sure I’m going to have nightmares.”

Friend 6 texted:

“Ok”

I texted Friend 4:

“I swear to God he said: ‘Look at that cocksucker!'”

Friend 1 texted:

“I hope U aren’t permanenty traumatized!”

I texted Friend 1:

“You will have to forgive me if I get distant and weird(er).”

Friend 1 texted:

“Indeed I will, and I will completely understand.”

Friend 2 texted:

“Did u have sympathy pain?”

Friend 4 texted:

“Spoken like a true critic! Awesome job channeling Gene Siskel’s spirit. Couldn’ have said it better myself.”

I texted Friend 2:

“Not yet, but I think I might when I come out of shock.”

Friend 4 texted:

“I agree, that now makes me wanna see the movie.”

I texted Friend 4:

“It was the goriest horror movie I’ve ever seen.”

Friend 4 texted:

“From you that’s saying something.”

I finished the long drive home knowing that my bed and the nightmares to come would be there to greet me.

Animals, Black & White, Christianity, Flowers, Music, Nader, State Fair

State Fair Trip 2 – Collection 2

August 25, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 8 Comments

Here are a few more pictures of my trip to the State Fair.

Last year I had only 1 goal and that was to see The Blue Band. Instead of getting to see The Blue Band I was nearly killed on a midway ride and spent the rest of the night trying not to vomit up my innards. This year I was able to see The Blue Band.

Nader’s First Turkey Leg

A Happy State Fair Memory

The DNR Building – One of my favorite buildings.

I would consider putting a pond in my yard, just so I could have water lilies.

Nader wanted his picture taken with the Story County flag.

Alexis, Baier, Carla, Mom, Nader, State Fair

State Fair Trip 2 – Collection 1

August 24, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 4 Comments

A few pictures from my trip to the State Fair with Nader. We met up with Mom, Carla and Alexis. Later we met up briefly with the Baiers. I won them some Upper Iowa University band aids. I’m guessing their “Thank You” is in the mail.

At the end of the day Nader thanked me for the best day he has had all year. Quite frankly I wonder why more people don’t thank me for such things.

Alexis’ cheerleading group ran through their routine, but didn’t do any of the actual dangerous stuff.

Star Boars

This sand sculpture is actually more interesting than the movies.

I love this painting! I want it hanging in my house. Just not for $300 smackers.

Alexis won a medal in a tumbling competition that didn’t look the safest to me.

Nader seemed to think this sculpture was of him.

In one of my favorite buildings Pioneer Hall.

A “Mark Twain” style storyteller.

A few more pictures coming on the morrow.

Baier, Basketball, Formal Portrait, Mark, Nader

Group Photos

July 31, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett

Last Wednesday I had my annual meal with Mark. He was back in the States for a few weeks and will be returning to Taiwan soon to begin his new post over there.

One of the peculiar imbecilities of this world is that for the last 3 years Mark has won the Roundball Prophets NCAA tournament pool. The first year he won I considered it to be more or less blind luck. How does a guy that doesn’t get to watch hardly any college basketball best some of the sport’s premiere experts. The fact he has managed to do it 3 years in a row, well it is just frustrating and as Mark put it “a little embarrassing”.

What wasn’t embarrassing is that I got to present Mark with his trophy for being the best college basketball prognosticator that I know.

Perhaps it is no coincidence that his blog is entitled “Live Like a Champion Today!”

Folloiwng the trophy ceremony, Mark and I had our annual picture.

2010

In case you are curious aobut how much we’ve changed since last year:

2009

We had our meal at Hickory Park this year. We discussed many of the most important issues of the year: The hiring of Fred Hoiberg. Conference realignment. Why Facebook is a necessary evil. Why he should take the word “tavern” back to Taiwan. What is more impressive in person: The Great Wall of China or the Taj Mahal. Mark’s new position in Taiwan. The presentation he has been giving at different churches from around the state.

It was great catching up with Mark and I am already looking forward to next year’s meal.

On Saturday Baier and I “helped” Nader movie to his new swanky pad. We really did next to nothing. Our job was to watch the professional movers move his stuff and make sure they treated it with the tenderest of care.

As we moved his stuff into his new swanky pad I realized two things.

1. Nader now has a sweet fireplace.
2. The best thing to put above a sweet fireplace is a picture of true American heroes.

Therefore I arranged a quick photo session and sometime in the near to not so distant future the picture below will be hanging over Nader’s fireplace:

We’ve all seen a Rambo movie in a movie theater!

Makes me kind of wish I had a fireplace now.

Animals, Baier, Flowers, FNSC, Nader

Dr. The Incidental Gardener

July 20, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 5 Comments

Since today is/was an extremely big day for the person that gave me the name “The Incidental Gardener”, I thought I would share a few more things from the files of The Incidental Gardener.

For FNSC last week Carrie, Jason and I helped Nader move some of the hundreds of boxes of movies and paraphernalia into storage. While I was waiting for the Baiers to arrive I took some photos of a lovely flowerbed that sits near Nader’s current apartment. The Incidental Gardener liked what he saw.

I am temporarily storing some of Nader’s movies at my place. While we were dropping off boxes filled with movies, Carrie admired many of my flowers. She asked for my advice on how to grow such a lovely collection of flowers. I offered her some of my wisdom. Here are a few pictures from The Incidental Gardener’s personal collection.

In closing, congratulations to Angie and Jon on their big day!