Talk 341

"Traffic"--- Dennis Su prompted me to do a movie talk on Traffic. It was sold out the first time I went to see it, not since "Titanic" that a movie was sold out. You see " Traffic" is about drug trafficking from Tijuana into San Diego, CA, and then to the entire US. It is too close to home here. No wonder it is this hot in San Diego. I did get in the second time. The movie was a pretty intense dramatic experience, from the hell-like Tijuana to the paradise-like La Jolla ( "J" is pronounced as "h", "Jolla" sounds like " hoi ya"). It makes you wonder if the war on drug can be won, ever. While it is depressing at times, it does appear to have a positive ending. The coolest guy in the movie is the Mexican cop ( played by Benicio Deo Toro). Del Toro has tremendous film presence. This movie is worth seeing and then some.

"13 days"--- A docu-drama focused on the 13 days of the Cuban missile crisis. This movie truly resonates with this movie goer's personal experience of that incident, it brought back memory of my undergraduate days in northern California. On one October day in 1962, I was not sure if I should do my homework and called my parents to say in the event of.... In the end I thought we had Kennedy there to take care of things, everything was going to be okay. I have no such confidence in any US presidents since that time.

The tension was so taut at times during the movie that I felt I could not breathe. For a movie the ending we all know, this appears to be quite impossible. I learned a great deal of interesting things about the crisis from this movie . I read somewhere that John scali had an interesting role in all these, now I know what it was.All Lighters who lived through this period must see this movie. You'll find out how close you didn't have to do homework in October 1962.

" All the pretty horses" --- forget that. A total waste of time.

" Miss Congeniality" --- quite enjoyable.

The top 2 forgettable movies of 2000;
" Meet the parents"
" Unbreakable"

Some of the most "enjoyable" movies;
"Croupier"
"Almost famous"
"Gladiator"