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Reviews
The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear (2010)
First to review this concert production
This was a large concert/event on the Mall in Washington DC. Nearly 250,000 people attended this massive show. It was scheduled as a response to several polarizing events that had taken place in Washington as a response to the Obama presidency. This was much more a call to unity with many people looking for common ground in a time of ever increasing division.
Jon Stewart started the show with Stephen Colbert still in his "Truthiness" Colbert Report persona acting as the counterpoint to Stewart's plea to "Restore Sanity". His plea was to 'Restore Fear". There were several highlights to the show - One was the "Train" medley. You had Ozzy Osbourne do "Crazy Train", Yusuf doing "Peace Train", and finally the Ojays doing "Love Train." Kareem Abdul Jabbar gave a speech about tolerance. In all, it was a very entertaining 2+hour concert and one that should have had more lasting influence as this was a huge deal that likely was larger that Obama's second inauguration two years later along with the one that followed.
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2020)
Hilarious
Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm is easily the funniest movie of 2020 and perhaps one of the funniest of all time. A product of its' time, the film takes what are now familiar themes of Sasha Baron Cohen and incorporates them into Borat's familiar idiom. He takes you on long journey that ends in the present day with stops along the way to embarrass people left and right. He shows how strange our country has become and yet, it's a familiar kind of strange. The plot is very clever. How he pulled such an amazing series of events together is baffling. They must have had to constantly adapt to new circumstances until they got the results that made the most sense. Oh, and it's easily the funniest movie I've seen in many years. Maybe since the first Borat. I recommend it for the laughs even if you don't agree with the sentiments. It's that funny ...
Sita Sings the Blues (2008)
Timeless classic
It's 9 years later and seeing this film is like it was made yesterday. It does not fail to enchant or get old. The story, the animation, the music, and everything else combines so beautifully to represent the different, yet strikingly similar messages being conveyed. The pain being conveyed by author, Nina Paley, is a living thing that permeates the piece at every level. The fact that she did it so much better than many large corporate productions is a testament to how one person is sometimes all it takes to move mountains or, in this case, gods, to do their bidding. In many cases it's a case of "too many cooks spoiling the pot." Here it's a driven and single minded focus on showing many aspects of a timeless story that has been true throughout human history. To quote Mr. Spock in Star Trek, "After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting. It is not logical, but is often true." The fact that it's done so well and in such an original format has been an inspiration to a new crop of creative geniuses who are pushing the boundaries of animation at all levels. Luckily, the source for their inspiration remains a testament to both the perils of relationships and the rich cultural mythologies of mankind.