Vidiot
Week of January 18, 2013
Are ransom demands tax deductable? First up…
Taken 2
The best thing about being abducted for a second time is that your pre-existing Stockholm syndrome will allow you to immediately bond with your captor(s).
However, the subsequent kidnapping in this action movie involves the parents of the previous victim instead.
Former CIA agent Bryan (Liam Neeson) meets up with his ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) and their daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) in Turkey to sightsee.
But when the family of the men whom Bryan killed during Kim’s kidnapping months earlier find him and Lenore on a date, they take them hostage.
Now it’s Kim’s turn - under her dad’s directive - to wage a one-woman war against the armed abductors holding her parents captive.
Even though the violence remains rapid-fire, this initial continuation of the original lacks the same urgency, while the dialogue verges on sitcom-y.
Incidentally, what kind of idiot would ever want to hold a divorced couple hostage? 0
The Possession
The only upside to being possessed by a demon is you can finally drive to work in the carpool lane.
Unfortunately, the vessel for evil in this horror movie isn’t old enough to drive.
While at a garage sale with his daughters, Em (Natasha Calis) and Hannah (Madison Davenport), weekend dad Clyde (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) buys Em a wooden box carved with Judaic writing.
Enamored with the sinister box, Em soon hears a hushed voice emitting from within.
Concerned with her behaviour, Clyde takes the box to an expert on Jewish demonology (Matisyahu) who informs him of the items evil inhabitant.
Meanwhile, the entity has Em under its spell, and is advising her to assault her mother (Kyra Sedgwick).
With an unorthodox item at the core of an unstable family environment, The Possession injects fresh subtext into a sluggish sub-genre.
Plus, with Jewish demonic possession you get the Sabbath off. 0
Won’t Back Down
The hardest part about taking on a corrupt educational system is you having to raise your hand to ask permission to go to the washroom during talks.
However, the angry mothers in this drama are sans hall pass.
After noticing a lack of teaching at her daughter’s (Emily Alyn Lind) school, concerned parent Jamie (Maggie Gyllenhaal) confronts her daughter’s teacher.
Disturbed by the educator’s apathy, Jamie takes her issues to the principal (Bill Nunn), but to no avail.
While attending a progressive education seminar, Jamie spots a teacher, Nona (Viola Davis), from Malia’s school there.
Assuming an affinity for change, Jamie convinces Nona to help her take over the school.
A contrived concoction of real-life situations and Hollywood melodrama, Won’t Back Down is plagued by easy answers and self-righteousness indignation.
Besides, how are teachers supposed to teach kids math when they’re already busy potty-training and disciplining them for the parents? 0
***Class-size Warfare***
The Lottery
The only problem with a teacher-run school is that it is only open 10 months of the year.
Fortunately, the charter school depicted in this documentary is open all-year round.
Every year New York's Success Academy holds an admission sweepstakes for entrance into its prestigious halls.
Following hopefuls from Harlem and the Bronx as they vie for desks in the class-size controlled classrooms, viewers are edified on the grassroots movement away from teachers' unions, and the bureaucratic red tape of the public system.
With interviews with the movements most important members, like, Geoffrey Canada, founder of a school for underprivileged children in Harlem, The Lottery is as disheartening as it is enlightening.
While it is prejudiced against public schools, The Lottery's bias does expose the system's undeniable decay.
Incidentally, children should only be entered into school lotteries to see who gets to wear the classroom body armour this week.
The only problem with a teacher-run school is that it is only open 10 months of the year.
Fortunately, the charter school depicted in this documentary is open all-year round.
Every year New York's Success Academy holds an admission sweepstakes for entrance into its prestigious halls.
Following hopefuls from Harlem and the Bronx as they vie for desks in the class-size controlled classrooms, viewers are edified on the grassroots movement away from teachers' unions, and the bureaucratic red tape of the public system.
With interviews with the movements most important members, like, Geoffrey Canada, founder of a school for underprivileged children in Harlem, The Lottery is as disheartening as it is enlightening.
While it is prejudiced against public schools, The Lottery's bias does expose the system's undeniable decay.
Incidentally, children should only be entered into school lotteries to see who gets to wear the classroom body armour this week.
He’s a Super-Attendant. He’s the…
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