The reason why society hasn’t completely written off certain conspiracy theories is that decades after the introduction of certain theories, some of them have turned out to be true. Many people write off or dismiss conspiracies and the people that believe them, as quacks or nut jobs. Most times many people conclude that conspiracies and their believers are merely trying to find rationale in a senseless world, and feed off of their conclusions. But to them, someday they will be proven correct. It’s happened before with certain conspiracy theories once thought completely insane or moronic, and there is a fraction of society that are firm in their stance that we’ve yet to see the secrets unfold before our very eyes.
Author David Ray Carter doesn’t so much build a reference guide of movies that contain conspiracies, or movies about conspiracies, but offers up a very detailed guide of movies that are about some of the most unusual and popular conspiracies of all time. The author thankfully takes an objective tone for much of the book, allowing the reader to pretty much approach the material with an interest and an open mind. Much of this will be ridiculous upon first glance, and some of it may seem absolutely moronic, but the point of the book is to keep an open mind and consider that there are people that actually subscribe to these theories and will go to war for them. I can only imagine how mentally exhausted author David Ray Carter must have been combing through all of the titles for the book, but lo and behold, there are so many documentaries here for consumption that will appeal to the interested viewer.
Sadly, I’ve never been to the iconic musical of “Les Miserables,” nor have I ever seen any of the previous adaptations of the Victor Hugo novel. I’ve also never read the novel. In actuality the most I’ve ever seen or known about “Les Miserables” is through an episode of “Animaniacs” where a condensed version of the musical was adapted through animated cats and dogs. When you’re through laughing at me, I like to think that not being knowledgeable about the material gives me somewhat of a different perspective. I’ve seen fans of the musical bash the film for missing the point, and vice versa. As for my thoughts on Tom Hooper’s 2012 adaptation, director Tom Hooper’s adaptation of Victor Hugo’s novel is an often breathtaking and compelling bit of epic musical that kept me considerably compelled and entertained from the moment it began.
I don’t subscribe to the Hollywood notion that all you need to cure a crippling illness that affects the lives of your loved ones is a good girlfriend or boyfriend. In actuality, it takes almost a decade or two to cure a crippling mental illness. In that regard, “Silver Linings Playbook” fails. But as a film that seeks to be a unique and unusual romance comedy about two people that are anything but normal, director David O. Russell’s dramedy is pure excellence, and one that’s teeming with talent from minute one. “Silver Linings Playbook” doesn’t seem to rely on a strict formula per se, and that’s why it’s such an oddity in the realm of romance dramedies. Sure, in the end it’s about two people falling in love, but O. Russell spends time on focusing on their inadequacies and their malfunctions that make it impossible for the pair to function in reality, and then draw them closer and closer as the narrative unfolds.
When James Cameron came aboard the “Alien” series, he essentially took what was a dark science fiction horror film and transformed its sequel in to a action packed monster movie. When it came to Cameron’s love child “The Terminator,” Cameron seemed to work in reverse starting his series off as a tale about a robotic monster from the future, and then transformed his premise in to a darker science fiction parable about the imminent apocalypse and the sheer labyrinth that is time travel.