by Luke Goldstein

“How can tomorrow ever come when today never ends.”

Rating: 8 out of 10

There are experiences that can never be truly traded away or passed along, no matter how hard we try. The amazement and beauty of childbirth, the crushing sorrow of losing a parent, or even the serenity of knowing a job is well done. Try as we might, these things exist inside us and everyone else will only feel a sliver of what it is like through how we describe it. One of the most profound and life altering experiences is war and no one is affected by it more than those on the front lines. There is always training, there is always a new method to try to prepare, but no one comes back from war the way they went in. Our country is now in the midst of welcoming home thousands upon thousands of soldiers from the fighting in Middle East and those brave warriors face not only the struggles of reintegrating into society (and finding a job), but figuring out rote answers to that all too common question, “What was it like?” Those can be extremely hard conversations to have, but this film documents a program trying to help those soldier find a path to communication.

Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience is an essay/memoir writing program that teaches soldiers how to use creative and journal style writing to get their thoughts and experiences cohesively onto paper. These tales of horror, fright, bravery and solitude pull the curtains away from the glorified image of war and patriotism, humanizing the soldiers.

The film brings together not only some of the authors of the essays, but also fellow writers, professionals in telling stories, who happen to also have personal experiences with wartime and being soldiers themselves. Together they weave a painfully accurate and unflinching tapestry of what wartime is really like, not painted in the bright red, white and blue of the flag, but doused in the blackest of night and dripping with the deep red of dead enemies, comrades and innocents. Some of them show the confusion suffered at the other end of a motor attack, while others detail the adrenaline rush of being ambushed and making the split second decisions on whether the person your sights is a combatant or a bystander, and does it even matter.

One by one, you hear about the deconstruction of the basic human belief to protect life as it rages against the programmed need to defend your country, your fellow soldiers and yourself. The documentary does not play itself out as a case for pacifism by any means, but there lingers a certain belief when the screen finally goes black that philosophers have intoned for years: in war, there is no winner.

Politics and beliefs aside, the real effort and success of this is the program itself and how it helps those soldiers returning from a living hell on earth, find their way back into a society that will never be completely theirs. It allows them to find a method of communication, almost a new way of speaking to the uninitiated about the nightmares they have lived through and continue to struggle with. More and more soldiers are coming back with PTSD and a variety of psychological issues, leading to drinking, drugs and a silently suffering uptick in post-return suicides. This program is certainly not the only weapon needed in the fight for the mental health of our returning warriors, but every effort counts and they’re are worth it.

The End of the Page recommendation: Operation Homecoming is an incredibly clear picture of the true life and times of our soldiers, including the issues they face returning to civilian life.

You can also watch replays of this on the Documentary Channel on 2/25 (8pm & 11pm EST) or go ahead and stream it here.

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image from upcoming-movies.com

by Luke Goldstein

The choice she is referring to in the poster is her hair accessories. She might have overreacted a little bit.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Once a mold is created for a certain genre of film, it can be hard to make anything to rattle the cages again. Anything stepping past that invisible line is referred to as “not really a horror movie” (even though it is), “not quite a sci-fi film” (except that it was), or “a film that defies genre” (which likely means it is just a good film firing on all cylinders). The challenge here is how we as an audience react to a film that dares to peek outside our tiny genre box; every so often we need to just stretch our fingers over the lip of the box to feel for something more. In Haywire, we get our newest example of stretching those boundaries to see what happens when you try to film something “more than just an action movie.”

Haywire is the tension-filled tale of Mallory, a soldier for hire under a private contractor. She is sent on an assignment that goes south fast. Dodging enemies and former colleagues from all sides, she has to find out who burned her and why.

The first thing pulling Haywire out of the box is its director, Steven Soderbergh. Well known for his award-winning films, Traffic and Erin Brokovich, he also found huge success with his rat pack team of A-list actors in the Oceans series. With the dollars he made in the big budget world, he also found time to keep his imagination on its toes with experimental films like Bubble and The Girlfriend Experience. In that last film, Soderbergh tried out a formula, which he continued in Haywire, filling your lead role with someone outside the acting world, someone who actually lives much closer to the part in real life. In Girlfriend, he hired porn star Sasha Grey as the emotionally complicated high-priced escort. In Haywire, he filled the role of ex-marine Mallory with MMA fighter Gina Carano. Obviously this tactic does not always work (just look at 99% of the movies WWE Studios puts out), but when you have an eye for quality and depth like Soderbergh’s, your rate of success is bound to be higher.

Carano is straight street toughness all the way from the first moment we see her on screen to the final intense stare in her eyes. Her real life fighting abilities helped Soderbergh craft a much deeper sense of realism in the action movie violence. No double twisting backflip kicks, no catching swinging sword blade between the palms of your hands, just straight up hand-to-hand, gun-toting reality. He even pulled down the sound effects that we are used to with muted gunshots and thick sounding punches. All of those choices brought together helped you look at the action on screen and say, “Yep, she could totally do that (and likely kick my ass to boot).” He also surrounded her with talented help, like Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Bill Paxton and the recently unstoppable Michael Fassbender (seriously, how many movies has this guy had waiting to come out at the same time?). Even Channing Tatum comes in to give her a reasonable love interest for a moment, a guy who might be able to go toe-to-toe with her in a fight.

While the movie succeeds in the action and tension department, it also falls a little flat in an area not uncommon to Soderbergh films: it just stops. The story plays nicely with the subtlety of the situation Carano finds herself in, but takes so much time showing all the intricacies that it fails to feel completely wrapped up when it goes to black. Making it even worse is the movie clocks in around ninety minutes, meaning there really was plenty of time to give this a more well-rounded ending.

The End of the Page recommendation: Haywire is a fun, smart action film starring a hero not for us to believe in, but to believe actually exists.

by Luke Goldstein

Rating: 9 out of 10

Watching the daily news each day, you could easily believe we live in a time increasingly overwhelmed by fear and hatred. We could easily slip into depression over the current direction of our governments, our politics and our people and a downward spiral would only lead us into more fear and more hatred.

For as long as there has been good, there has been bad. One cannot exist without the other, but that doesn’t mean we cannot explore their definitions and what makes them tick. The more we understand about the two sides of the coin, the more we can help to influence which side is facing up when we look down upon our world.

The Anatomy of Hate: A Dialogue to Hope is an impressive and sometimes unforgiving documentary by Mike Ramsdell. He takes a balanced and unbiased look at where hate springs forth and what spurs it onward. Bravely walking into virtual lion’s nests of right-wing fanatics, religious zealots and culture warriors, Ramsdell allows the viewer into the living room of “the enemy” (who might only be labeled as such because they feel the same about everyone else).

What sets this film apart from the array of past hate group documentaries is it makes a gallant attempt to get underneath the heated rhetoric and display some of the reasoning behind it. In some cases, such as the white supremacy groups, the reasoning is as flawed as you might imagine, but The Anatomy of Hate gives us a glimpse on how those cycles of hatred spin out of control in the tightly knit echo chambers of small communities. In the section detailing the infamous Westboro Baptist Church, the same logic applies since the congregation mainly consists of one single family.

The movie truly finds it legs in the section regarding the Israel/Palestine conflict that has been raging for years. In interwoven interviews, Ramsdell talks to a woman who lost her son and husband to Palestinian attacks in a very short period and then to young boys on the other side of the wall who believe the Israelis only goal is to wipe them off the planet. It becomes an unending spiral of “who killed who first” with repetitive and deadly repercussions.

Ramsdell also grounds these stories with interviews with various sociology and psychology professionals, who try to unravel the underpinnings to why these rivalries began and what keeps them fueled. One of the more poignant theories is that each of these groups, and many others, share a common fear of the loss of culture. Once we doomed ourselves by understanding our own mortality, we quickly created social contracts to ensure what we created won’t disappear when we die. These groups live under a persistent panic that their culture will be wiped away into the annals of history if not immediately secured away from everyone else through secession or killing off those who challenge it.

This was a valid fear many years ago, but the world has moved on since then, yet these collected pockets hold themselves back like road bumps to evolution. They see the coming interconnected nature of the world population not as a bonus to understanding, but as a muddying of the waters from which they sprang.

The Anatomy of Hate ends on a positive note, focusing on stories of hope and change. Some of these include the very same culture warriors from earlier on, who once calmly spoke of destroying the enemy and the beauty of martyrdom, who now calmly preach dialogue as the true path forward to peace. These beautiful and necessary moments help end the film on a note of hope, a breath of clean air in polluted world of hate.

The End of the Page recommendation: The Anatomy of Hate – A Dialogue of Hope is a poignant and thoughtful portrait of what lies underneath the heated rhetoric of hate. Sad and painful to watch at moments, the last chapter brings it together and creates huge value from the whole.

This film recently played on the Documentary Channel. Check with your cable provider to see if you are a subscriber.

Here are scheduled future airdates (all times Eastern):

Sat, Jan 28, 2012 6:00 PM
Thu, Feb 16, 2012 4:00 AM
Thu, Mar 1, 2012 9:00 PM

Seriously, how hard is to not make a Scientology joke here.

Rating: 9 out of 10

There are moments when a new franchise trailer premieres in the theater and you can feel the audience sink in their seats, silently ashamed they are even being exposed to it. That is when you know the franchise has pitched into a nosedive, frantically attempting to make major and mostly useless changes to the equation in hopes of restarting it (and its profits). I remember feeling that way when Mission Impossible III rolled out. I went in predicting it would be bad, hoping only for some popcorn entertainment, but was denied even that small request. When Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol peeked around the bend,I had my doubts, but (as always) I gave it a shot. Dear readers, this is why I always take the chance, because it just might be everything it is cracked up to be.

I took a deep breath when I sat down for this one and rechristened my hope for some mindless action and big explosions. What I got was even better.

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol picks up our master spy leader, Ethan Hunt, in a Russian prison for an unknown crime. He is extracted by the IMF to once again lead a team of agents into near certain doom as a crazed Russian patriot is trying to get his hands on nuclear launch codes to bring about Armageddon and the next phase of evolution. The chase leads the team across the globe, from the desert paradise of Dubai to the colorful opulence of India. From one step to the next, the action never ceases as the seconds tick down on the fate of the world.

The top of the bill talent alone is a who’s who list of grand slam Hollywood talent. Directed by Brad Bird, this Pixar native is bringing nothing but gold with The Incredibles and Ratatouille already under his belt. Produced in partnership with J.J. Abrams, who actually directed the unfortunate third chapter of this franchise, has hit a major stride while directing Star Trek and Super 8 and acting as Executive Producer for a slew of hit TV shows dominating the airwaves right now (Fringe, Person of Interest, and the upcoming Alcatraz).

In front of the camera, we witness the resurgence of the living legend, Tom Cruise. After a score of years where his personal life completely overwhelmed his on-screen persona, Cruise erupts back on the screen with the fierce intensity the audience has missed for so long. Coming on the heels of some rather underwhelming performances (Knight and Day, Valkyrie), Cruise slides back into the comfortable spy shoes of Hunt like he had never left at all. From the high-kicking fight sequences to the awe-inspiring stunts, Cruise does it all with such enthusiasm you might come to believe the man is made out of pure adrenaline. For Ghost Protocol, Cruise’s intensity and commitment truly lead this cast in the direction of success.

Riding high on the wake Cruise leaves behind, the rest of the cast keeps the momentum going. Jeremy Renner, continuing a meteoric rise to fame after his Oscar nominated turn in The Hurt Locker, gives the crowd a little taste of what we will see in the new Bourne movie (which he took the reins over from Matt Damon). Renner holds onto a lot of that emotional depth we saw in Hurt Locker, but also kick ass in the fashion we have come to expect in the big budget blockbusters. Simon Pegg brings the hilarity, showing once again his subtle style and dry wit, perfectly fitting into the silent moments between explosions and catchphrases. Pegg also got a little extra training for this when he worked under the guidance of Abrams in the recent Star Trek reboot. Rounding out the super spy team is the one real newcomer, Paula Patton, who simmers in virtually every scene she inhabits. Her performance in incredibly layered, something we are not entirely used to in the normally flat eye-candy action roles for women.

From the opening moments to the final fade, Ghost Protocol brings back the action movie genre to what it once was and reinvigorates a sliding franchise. This chapter has the style and intelligence of the original Mission Impossible, while still giving us something bigger and more exciting. So a final kudos must be given to the writers, Josh Applebaum and Andre Nemec, who created a story that held together even under the pressure of stunt sequences which exceeded the ridiculous.

The End of the Page recommendation: Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol brings the franchise back to its former glory. An action movie worth the ticket price.

See that guy behind me? I can get a shot through the hat and part his hair to the left, without looking.

Rating: 6 out of 10

I couldn’t wait for the weekend to begin because I knew I was going to hit up a popcorn, blockbuster double-header in the theater, Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, a back-to-back pairing almost unmatched this year. Two incredibly big budget franchises with two incredibly charismatic leading men. These are the box office battles I just live for. Since the weekend numbers have already come in, we’ve seen Sherlock Holmes dominate the weekend ($40 million vs. $13 million for Mission Impossible), so the honor of first review goes to them.

Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows picks up fairly close to where the last one left off. Watson is getting married and Holmes is closing in on his arch-enemy, Professor Moriarty. The two masterminds face off against each other in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse which threatens not only the life of our quixotic hero, but his best friend and possibly the entire world beyond.

It’s likely been said before, and as much as I hate repetition I’ll forego it this one time, Robert Downey Jr. was born for this role. Obviously the historical version of Holmes was tweaked and crafted around Downey’s skills and persona, but the magical merge between the real person and the literary classic created something perfect which will be cherished by viewers for generations to come. All future attempts at playing Holmes, which I am sure there will be someday, will be weighed against Downey, a bar now set incredibly high. His charm, wit and energy flow through the scenes effortlessly, keeping the audience in tow no matter what is going on. He also lets his co-stars, like Jude Law (as Dr. Watson) and Jared Harris (as Prof. Moriarty) own the moment equally, not overshadowing their own crisp deliveries and subtle mannerisms. From back-to-front, the performances throughout were playful, charming and more than enough to please any afternoon crowd.

So if everyone was so great in it, why is the rating so low? That is a fantastic question.

The downfall here is the script. If you are going to create a story for the world’s most renowned investigator, you need to plunge the imagination of the audience into a world of multiple storylines, interconnecting webs of deceit and subterfuge, something only Holmes could solve. The first film had this, but Game of Shadows rolls out a plot all too plain for such a complicated enemy like Moriarty. There seemed to be an effort to cover that up by actually showing a room full of interconnecting threads built by Holmes, to demonstrate how complicated this all really was, but that felt a cheap way out for writing a more complex story. Moriarty is the epitome of villains, the mental match for Sherlock Holmes, and in the end he just turns out to be greedy, a motive far below the weight of his character.

Guy Ritchie, the returning director, held up his side of the bargain, but didn’t push anything forward in terms of the style and execution. We got more slam-to-slow-motion shots and a couple good moments of Holmes playing out the oncoming violence in his head in order to predict the exact counter maneuvers. I will give both Ritchie and the screenwriters credit through for the final scene between Holmes and Moriarty, which I won’t go into detail about, but it was a nice twist on a familiar theme in this franchise.

The End of the Page Recommendation: Sherlock Holmes – Game of Shadows brings the familiar fun of the first film, but fails to bring the complexity due such highly intelligent characters.

Admittedly, this is not my cat, but I have four at home and all of them would do this in a heartbeat.

Years ago a friend of mine told me about a productivity experiment. It is kind of like a “bucket list” except you don’t wait until you find out you’re going to die to write it up and you make one every year for the coming year starting on your birthday. The number of items on the list are equal to your new age. Yes, this means the list will get longer and longer each year, but the complexity and cost of each item on the list is totally up to you. You could decide to add one saying: “#5 – Walk more” or “#15 – Watch less TV” or “#34 – Dream about ponies” (how you control that last one is a mystery).

I’ve done this for a few years now with varying levels of success. My first year I made it through every item on my list, but this past year I fell a little bit off track. Numerous things along the way took charge of where my focus needed to be and it was all good things, but I ended with only 12 out of 35 from my list completed. I could start this year with a completely fresh list, but I decided to look over those unfinished items and decide which of those I wanted to keep shooting or as is or maybe adapt them a little to change them towards my current tastes.

Here’s what I was able to knock off the list last year:

• Write new TV spec script (will be submitting this next year)
• Catch one show at the Pantages (saw Avenue Q, fantastic show!)
• Book one writing assignment (landed one coverage gig, not quite what I was hoping for, but it technically counted since it was a paycheck)
• Go on two legit hikes (sore legs after each prove either they were legit or I am still really out of shape)
• Get iron/steamer (sounds silly but you’d be amazed how easy it is to forget how handy those are when you don’t have one)
• Consolidate wardrobe (it was just time to toss out all those button down shirts I no longer wore and various other pieces that haven’t come out of the darkness in years)
• Job front: Move up or move on (this was a strong desire of mine, but ended up being taken care of by my contract ending anyway)
• Don’t drink for one year (other than my wedding weekend, which I gave myself a personal furlough, I accomplished this task)
• Donate bone marrow (adapted this one slightly to “Register for Be The Match, bone marrow donation registry”, which is something everyone should do)
• Increase blog to 300 daily visits on average (a couple strong days helped this average and also counting from a very specific stat engine, but it was the same one I based the number off when I wrote the task, so it evens out)
• Finish reading 24 books (I’ll add the list of books at the end, for those voracious readers out there)
• Get dining room table (although this one was accomplished, we ended up not liking it as much and will be getting a new one in the new house. Still counts though.)

So that was the finished items off the old list. Here is the new list ready and set to go on 12/12 (that would be my birthday, for any exceedingly generous readers out there):

1) Exercise more (even as vague as this is, I still didn’t get it done last year, so laaaaazzzzzyyyyy)

2) Submit/self-publish first novel (I was hoping to get this done last year as well. I just need one more spit polish on it and I think we are ready to go.)

3) Bring more writers to The End of the Page (any budding, opinionated writers out there want to contribute? Leave a comment below or write me directly through the contact page.)

4) Get new tattoo (I just got the design in from my good buddy Brandon, so this will be happening in the near future)

5) Perfect one dish to cook (started this last year, my dish is Chicken Tikka Masala. I made it once so far, came out really well, but far from perfection, more attempts this year)

6) Go on cruise (happily this might coincide with long awaited honeymoon plans)

7) Establish better writing habit (all writers need one, I am in need even more so because I have so many damn projects)

8 ) Enroll in Yoga class (been wanting to do this for a long time. Going to wait until we are settled in the new house and see what classes are in the area.)

9) Send out more than 56 Thank You notes (I read an article about a guy who sent out one Thank You note to random people who affected his life each day for a full year. I tried to replicate this, but fell far short. So instead of jumping right back to the full 365, I just want to beat my total for last year)

10) Bring more books down from WA (I have a ton of books stored at my Uncle’s in WA and I really want my library to be fully together. Plus, he’s been wanting those gone for a long time too.)

11) Finish graphic novel issue #2 (yet another writing project in stasis that needs to be resurrected. It’s got alien ninjas y’all!!!)

12) Try surfing (for those who know me well, this will likely kill me, rendering the rest of the list sort of moot)

13) Go to Big Sur (everyone who’s ever been there swears it is one of the most beautiful places in the state, if not beyond. Gotta go.)

14) Donate blood (Actually, I will need to get this done before the tattoo is done, since they ban you for a year or two after getting one)

15) Take train trip to Santa Barbara Zoo (my wife has done this before and it just sounds neat)

16) Write one spoken word piece (I used to perform spoken word and there is a part of writer’s brain still clamoring for it)

17) Take another class (took a one-day cake baking class a few months ago, had tons of fun. I never want to stop learning new things.)

18) Get AT&T credit card under $3000 (could’ve done this in the past year, but all the money got pooled together to get home loan)

19) Reach 12 new states on my donation map (I have a world map and an United States map on my wall which I mark with small colored stickers for each place I donated to a local or focused charity. My goal is to reach the entire world someday. Just started this last year and I have 7 states and 5 countries so far. Tons to go.)

20) Try sculpting (no promises this will be anything more than a swirly mound of clay when it’s finished, but I’ve always wanted to try)

21) Begin learning to play my guitar (I’ve had an electric guitar for years, but never learned to play it. Need to look for a class this year to get me going on it.)

22) Go on one road trip (this is not counting the trip to Big Sur)

23) Put together book of paintings (I am also a painter and I want to collate a small book of what I have so far)

24) Try five new vegetables (if the surfing doesn’t kill me, this surely will)

25) Read 24 new books (had fun with this last year, kept me focused on always having a book going. Recommendations anyone?)

26) Conduct two interviews for the blog (done one so far, although I am still transcribing, which is a real time suck by yourself)

27) Find writer’s group – online or in person (should help with getting that writing habit nailed down as well, if you have any suggestions of good groups, please send along!)

28) Re-energize date night tradition (with all the other stuff I try to keep going in my creative life, I need to make sure I focus as well on my home life and married life)

29) Take part in 2012 Obama campaign (even though his first term has been far from perfect, I think he’s done better than most people think and is surely a better choice than the other options)

30) Retry 365 photo experiment (one photo a day for a year, it creates a really cool visual calendar of your past, I just didn’t keep up with it last year. I just got the iPhone 4S, so the improved camera on that will make this much easier.)

31) Get at least one paid writing opportunity (worked last year, hopefully that will work again. Wanna hire me?)

32) Open CafePress-type store for art/writing inspired items (anyone know of a better online store to use than CafePress?)

33) Go on three legit hikes (adding one to the total from last year)

34) Pick archery back up (use to go to the range twice a week, have my own Olympic bow and nice set of arrows, need to pick up the hobby again)

35) Reach bowling score of over 200 (my personal best is 187, not too far to go)

36) Spend more time with friends (like the one about date night, need to remember to focus on the social life as well, hopefully many of these can also be done with my friends, maybe they will want to work on their own lists!)

So there you have it. My next twelve months of goals. If this has inspired you to create your own list or you are already a practitioner of this nifty listing hobby, feel free to share yours here.

For those curious about the 24 books from this year, here they are:

Love is a Mixtape by Rob Sheffield

Everyone Loves You When You’re Dead by Neil Strauss

A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett

Full Dark – No Stars by Stephen King

The Forgery of Venus by Michael Gruber

Let Me In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy by Jeff Sharlet

Dispatches from the Edge by Anderson Cooper

You Can Heal Your Life by Louise L. Hay

Angel River Falls by Thomas A. Morgan

Bossypants by Tina Fey

Empire of Illusion by Chris Hedges

The Mark by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins

The Fear by Peter Godwin

Damned by Chuck Palahniuk

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Chasing Fire by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Nightwatch by Sergei Lukyanenko

Hunter: The Strange and Savage Life of Hunter S. Thompson by E. Jean Carroll

Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome

The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived by Allan Lazar, Dan Karlan & Jeremy Salter

Charlie Wilson’s War by George Crile

The key chain holding this thing must be massive.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Yes, this 3D trend has gotten a little more than annoying recently, but mainly my rage about it is focused at studios that purposefully add this gimmick only to jack up the ticket price and bring nothing additional to the movie experience when the film wasn’t shot in 3D. I avoid tempting my anger over this issue by mostly seeing everything in 2D when offered (unless I know for a fact it was shot in 3D) and this tip keeps me calm and content during my numerous cinema trips. Yet, when a legend in the industry, like Martin Scorsese, decides to shoot his new film in 3D, that can be enough to tempt me into dropping the few extra dollars. So I went, I watched, and I fell into his fantastical world.

Hugo is the story of a small orphan boy who lives in the train station. His sole obsession is to finish fixing a small robotic person that his father found. Hoping to build himself a new friend, Hugo slowly gains the support of a young girl and together they chase after the breadcrumbs of a mystery that very well may link them together in ways they never dreamed of.

Since I led this review with my feelings on 3D, let me first congratulate Scorcese on achieving a beauty and simplicity for this technology seemingly avoided by most other directors (James Cameron gets a pass on this too, since the 3D in Avatar was insanely well done). Right off the bat, the snow falling in the foreground was amazing and added a rich texture to the scene. That straightforward approach to the use of 3D held on through the rest of the film, not overdoing it with overtly sensationalized moments, but using the technology to enhance the depth and reality of the story on screen. Chalk this up as another point for those directors and studios who choose to use 3D from the outset to enrich the experience instead of after the fact in order to enrich their pockets.

** Spoilers ahead – Hard to avoid when talking about the story on this one. **

Now comes the story, or I should correctly say “stories”, both rich enough to be their own movie. You have the original story of Hugo and his mysterious machine boy, then later comes another adventure about legendary film auteur, George Melies, who was believed to have died in the war, but turns out to be living in an apartment in Paris trying to forget everything about those magical movie-making times. Screenwriter John Logan captured exactly the magic I feel when I sit in that darkened room and am transported away to an unlimited number of worlds. I relished those touching moments where Melies waxed poetically about where dreams came from and how we could all live better lives by helping bring those into reality. I loved both story lines, but found the connection between them a little forced and unfinished.

Another portion of Hugo’s personal story, the one about the machine, which strongly resonated with me was his desire to always fix things. There are few things in this world more pure than a desire just to see everyone and everything working at their utmost intended perfection. We all want to be the best versions of ourselves and most of us would also lend a hand if it meant bringing someone else to their pinnacle as well. It rang a touch similar to Pay It Forward, but not nearly as heavy-handed.

Scorcese and Logan did an amazing job in creating a rich and lavish landscape of characters inside the train station, but I ended up wanting Hugo to interact with them much more. Since he really doesn’t, it makes all those layers feel superfluous and unnecessary.

The End of the Page recommendation: Hugo is a 3D triumph visually and makes up for some less-than-stellar threads of the story.

I have to see myself on that boat AGAIN! In 3D this time?!

Rating: 6 out of 10

Every director certainly has a style and while some may try to shake things up every now and again, keep people on their toes, others stay the course and deliver time and time again what you have come to expect from them. That’s not always a bad thing, especially when you have serious accolades and awards already under your belt, but it can also set up a certain type of expectation about the quality and depth of each story you bring to the screen, which sometimes can be a lot to overcome. The truth is there is no end to the sophomore curse. Your last fantastic picture is always quickly overshadowed by your current less than stellar outing. Clint Eastwood is the man under the spotlight right now and what he brings to the table is another tale of power, passion and persecution, all inside one continuously conflicted person.

J. Edgar is one theory of the story behind the story, the man behind the machine that created the F.B.I. and reportedly had the skeletons of scores of American citizens, including the presidents he served under. The film follows his rise to power, his curious relationship with his number two man, and his own seemingly unquenchable need to be feared and revered, leaving a legacy that could never be tarnished.

J. Edgar offers a scenario of what might have went on behind closed doors between Hoover and Tolsen, his number two man, and what motivated Hoover to push himself as hard as he did. Much of it is based on circumstance and conjecture though, so it’d be best to view this film as an imaginative or (at best) a mildly educated guess about the truth behind the most feared man in decades.

Eastwood delivers yet again another deep, layered and complex narrative about a troubled protagonist, someone who you are never really sure whether you want to root for. The film is extremely slow paced and at times drags in its repetition, showing Hoover in one situation after another where his power is called into question. Jumping back and forth between his later life and his early years was a nice touch in the beginning, but by the end, it felt disjointed, like you were being dragged back into the past or thrust into the future just at the moment when things were getting good right where you were. I might have thought about just using the older version of Hoover as bookends to the story and play it out more along a traditional timeline, but who knows, that very well could have dragged as well.

The performances are always the most important part of these types of biopics. You need to be able to lose sight of the actor, usually someone incredibly well known, and truly see the person he is trying to represent. Look at Frank Langella as Nixon in Frost/Nixon, Will Smith as Muhammad Ali in Ali, even our man here, Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes in The Aviator, these are invested performances that elevate the movie beyond just a mere educational stroll in the cinematic park. Yet, DiCaprio falters this time in capturing his past fervor, not for lack of trying, just due to a lack of foundation underneath the moments. Naomi Watts also struggles to really find footing as the dutiful secretary, Helen Gandy. The true breakout here is Armie Hammer as Tolson, who brings a magical assured quality to his early life and a beautiful gentleness in his senior years. Hammer truly burst onto the scene last year in his dual performance as the Winklevoss twins in The Social Network, but in J. Edgar he shows he can handle much more than just overconfidence. Tolson is really the moral compass of the film and the only avenue for the audience to navigate their way in, but even with such a virtuoso performance from Hammer, it wasn’t enough to pull the whole film together in the end.

Eastwood’s decision to use younger actors in dramatically older roles also may not have worked to the film’s advantage. I understand it allows a connection, both physical and emotional, between the two versions of the character on screen, but sometimes it can also feel jarring. While we have come light years ahead in the technology of makeup, truly transforming these early birds into aged senior citizens, the one thing that remains is the sound and tenor of their voice. There is something so unique and distinct about a voice that has been speaking for seventy or eighty years, something that is nearly impossible for these youthful actors to capture. Once again, Hammer seemed to outshine DiCaprio in this arena as well, but I still feel it might have been more powerful to have actual older actors in those roles.

The End of the Page recommendation: J. Edgar has some punch to it, but fails to reach the heights of Eastwood’s past or the power of Hoover’s legacy.

Somebody outside this window has an idea what happened last night. Likely, they have my clothes as well.

Rating: 6 out of 10

When you come across someone like Hunter S. Thompson you do either one of two things: allow yourself to be drawn into his hyper-vivid world of words and violent expression or you can run screaming. When Johnny Depp took on the role of Thompson for the epic drug trip Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Depp not only went willingly inside that world, he became its new champion, vowing to carry on the legend after what everyone knew would be the inevitable death of its creator. While Depp hasn’t tried to transform himself into Thompson outside the silver screen (thank god, I don’t think another human being could ever contain that level of energy) he has attempted at length to let people know who the real man was, the forever beating heart behind the literary lion.

The Rum Diary reports the semi-true story of Paul Kemp (Thompson’s pseudonym for this tale), a struggling novelist looking for his true voice, mostly in the bottom of various bottles of alcohol. He finds himself in Puerto Rico working for the local paper, The San Juan Star, where the publication was already sounding the death knells, but he tries to make the best of it by making friends with locals and criminals alike. Finding himself embroiled in a land grab scheme and madly in love with another man’s fiancee, Kemp fights to keep himself on the right side of his own ethical boundaries. The pressure may have crushed some men, but instead it only crystallizes his purpose in life.

There is a message in the film, but before we get to that, let’s take a look at the package the message is wrapped in. Most people will remember Depp from his first foray into the mind of Thompson and likely come to the theater expecting more of the same drug-fueled insanity. That would be a dreadful mistake. With only one mildly hallucinogenic scene in the entire film, this is largely a straight forward story, with only a mild level of drunkenness in comparison to Fear and Loathing. While there is an inordinate amount of rum imbibed by nearly every person on screen, the core is really two love stories, one between Thompson and his femme fatale, the other between Thompson and his writing. Depp smoothly portrays the deeper and more thought-provoking side of Thompson, but I imagine many audience members left feeling disappointed by the absence of sheer lunacy which they have come to recognize as Thompson’s foremost personality trait. Aaron Eckhart is seamless in his white collar criminal role, pillaging the pristine land of South America for the richest of the rich businessmen, but what is missing is a catharsis or closure to his storyline. By the time he turns, back to the camera and walks away, it lacks any real sense of importance. The other main role goes to Amber Heard (recently seen heading the now defunct TV show, The Playboy Club). She steals Thompson’s heart (both on screen and in real life, she went on to become his wife, one of them) but her on-screen counterpart fails to really bring anything to the table except her looks. There was a wild impetuousness which helped frame the character, but it got old as the film ran on.

Now that we have firmly stomped some some of the reasons for this not being a wild success, let’s look into what is really done well here and where the true heart lies. This is less of a traditional story and more about the formation of a moment in time, the moment where Hunter S. Thompson became the raging, unafraid, unabashed lunatic of the literary world. What you witness on screen is a depiction of the moment when he finds his real purpose, his true voice, and for a fellow writer like myself, this is a awe-inspiring and beautiful thing to see. The character ponders halfway through the film about where he is in his life as a writer, lamenting that he has not learned to write like himself yet. For aspiring writers there are few things more painful and frustrating than that. It is the key to our literary lives and once Thompson found his, he didn’t just walk through the door, proud of his accomplishment, nay, he kicked the door off the hinges with a size thirteen and told everyone else in the room (past, present and future) to get the hell out of his way. There were few like him before and I imagine there will be even fewer after.

The End of the Page recommendation: The Rum Diaries is really there for the true fans of Thompson. Those unaffiliated with the ranks of the Gonzo overlord, please feel free to step out of the way.

by Luke Goldstein

Rating: 9 out of 10

Every day when we wake up, we quickly take stock of our surroundings. Is light pouring through cracks in the bedroom curtains? Where is the end of the bed, so I don’t bang my foot against it in the dark again? How long do I have to snooze before I absolutely must get ready for work? These are the types of questions that plague many people each morning. Yet for others, those unlucky enough to be living under the rule of a corrupted and violent government, the only question each morning is more like, “Will I live to see another day?” History has shown many times before how the oppressed can quickly become the oppressor once power sinks its claws in and Zimbabwe, under the rule of President Robert Mugabe, now stands at the pinnacle, waving a flag boasting leadership and unity on one side, but the other a desperate cry for help. Which one will the world respond to?

The Fear: Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe is a harrowing travelogue by Peter Godwin, detailing his trip back to his homeland after an election, which should have ousted their despotic leader, but instead unleashed a paranoid and chaotic fury unlike anything seen before. Peter moves in and out of danger, trying to document as clearly as he can the abuses and tragedies inflicted upon the people who dared to challenge the status quo and spoke their mind in this fledgling democracy.

The set up to this barbarism was a recent national election for Zimbabwe in 2008, where Robert Mugabe, the country’s longtime president, lost to Morgan Tsvangirai in bogus political theater gone wrong (or right, depending on which side you were on). Mugabe and all of his generals had the opportunity to walk away with plumped up golden parachutes and immunity from any number of crimes they committed during his reign. Instead, the madman showed his true colors, not the green, yellow, red and black stripes of their flag, but rather the green of greed and the red of rage towards those who voted against him. With the assistance of his generals, already hardened by previous extreme civil wars, and brutal war veterans who saw Mugabe as the savior and bringer of their true freedom, he set about intimidating, torturing and killing anyone who spoke out against his legitimacy as the one true ruler.  Untold numbers have already died in the struggle for true democracy there and even more are living with the physical and mental scarring left behind by roving gangs of power-hungry war vets and brainwashed youth who have been taught torture and death dealing as a civil trade.

Godwin does an amazing job detailing out these horrors, while posting them up against the background of the natural beauty and serenity Zimbabwe can hold underneath. The country, itself awash with the blood of wars between the tribes and now overflowing once again with the bodies of its people, still manages to capture a sense of timelessness and purity in their countryside and jungles. Godwin tries to show that side of his home and prove that keeping those people and their traditions alive, outside the despotism of Mugabe, is truly something worth fighting for, possibly dying for.

The examples and scenarios of intimidation and murder unleashed by Mugabe go far beyond the pale of human rights abuses, causing the international community to balk at recognizing him as the true leader. The opposing party (known as the MDC) has refused to give up and endured years of assassinations and trumped up prison stays in conditions rivaling those in medieval times. Today, you will find a GNU (Government of National Unity) set up in Zimbabwe consisting of members of Mugabe’s cabinet and those of the MDC, but Godwin pulls back the sheen of stability to show the fallacy of this tenuous brotherhood of man. Heads of the opposition only agreed to stop the continued bloodshed and in hopes of staving off outright civil war, but with a new election coming around the bend, people are once again worried they will be targeted for their votes. Towns loyal to the MDC fear they will once again be burned, looted, pillaged and their women raped by roving gangs of Mugabe conscripts.

The Fear was the nickname given by the people to the blanket of intimidation laid over the country by Mugabe and the book reads like something from hundreds of years ago when countries were conquered and re-settled by vicious landlords. Yet, when you let it sink in that these horrible actions are being carried out even to this very day, it chills even the most disconnected reader. It is an eye-opening look into a world many of us would never know, or care to know, exists, but once you see it, you will not be able to look away.  For those who do read the book and want to help the cause, there are various ways listed out on Godwin’s website.

The End of the Page recommendation: The Fear strikes deep with painfully detailed examples.