tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57674952855716370982024-02-08T02:55:07.534-08:00brave.onedanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14299472648826429123noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5767495285571637098.post-34883352600391392172007-12-04T02:37:00.000-08:002007-12-04T02:38:20.683-08:00Blade Runner: The Final Cut<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">It has taken 25 years, three cinema edits and possibly a round trip to Mars for Ridley Scott to arrive in Venice with the definitive version of his sci-fi masterpiece Blade Runner. Yet after all this time travel and fine tuning there is still no definitive answer to the burning question: Does Harrison Ford dream of electric sheep?<br />The glum supercop with an uncanny talent for hunting down rogue replicants - crazed androids to you and me - gives even less of himself away in The Final Cut, which received its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival at the weekend, than he did in the 1982 original.</span>danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14299472648826429123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5767495285571637098.post-46868623964654299922007-12-04T02:32:00.000-08:002007-12-04T02:34:18.001-08:00The Fallout from the Iran Nukes Report<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">Bush's warning makes clear that the red line, for his Administration, is not an Iranian bomb program per se, but rather Iran attaining "the knowledge necessary to make" such a weapon — by which he means mastering the technology of uranium enrichment. Enriched uranium is a key component (although hardly sufficient, by itself) for a nuclear weapon. But enriching uranium, to a far lower degree, is also an integral part of any civilian nuclear energy program — and, it's entirely legal for any signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in good standing to enrich uranium under IAEA monitoring. Iran is a signatory of the NPT, although it has been ordered to suspend uranium enrichment because of its non-compliance with some transparency requirements in its previous nuclear activities. The suspension, therefore, is envisaged as a temporary requirement, until such time as Iran can satisfy concerns raised by the IAEA.<br />Washington, however, hopes that Iran can be prevented from enriching uranium at all, out of concern that once the technology is mastered, Tehran could simply withdraw from the NPT — as North Korea did — and proceed to build a nuclear weapon within a matter of months. The NIE notes that the civilian nuclear infrastructure Iran is building would put bomb-making capability within easy reach, should Tehran take a political decision to do so.</span>danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14299472648826429123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5767495285571637098.post-30723626492773859312007-12-04T02:24:00.000-08:002007-12-04T02:28:49.854-08:00The 100 best films of 2007<a href="http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/london_film_festival/article2695343.ece"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"> "Greeted with universal approval from the critics, an exceptional, masterful piece of film-making that combines social realism, political comment and nail-biting tension" - Wendy Ide<br /></span><a href="http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/film_reviews/article1184185.ece"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">Babel</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">"A stunning piece of cinema that hinges on one reckless moment of childish stupidity. The most exhilarating Oscar contender by a long stretch" - James Christopher<br /></span><a href="http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/film_reviews/article2373618.ece"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">Blade Runner: The Final Cut</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"> "It has taken 25 years, three cinema edits and possibly a round trip to Mars for Ridley Scott to arrive with the definitive version of his sci-fi masterpiece" - James Christopher<br /></span><a href="http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/film_reviews/article2098017.ece"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">The Seventh Seal</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"> "Ingmar Bergman’s black and white masterpiece has matured like a great wine over 50 years [and had a welcome re-release a month before the director's death]" - James Christopher</span><br /><a href="http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article1554257.ece"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">300</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">"A high-speed ride into the white heat of the battle of Thermopylae in 480BC. The result is something fantastic, voluptuous, bloody, ferocious and sublime" - Cosmo Landesman<br /></span><a href="http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/film_reviews/article2439896.ece"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">3:10 to Yuma</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"> "A thrill-filled ride across a flyblown dustbowl where the heroes are iconic, unwashed and deadly. They spit out killer lines like bullets" - Wendy Ide<br /></span><a href="http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/film_reviews/article2265319.ece"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">12:08 East Of Bucharest</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"> "Droll delight that questions the nature of historical record and the realities of postcommunist Romania with a slyly comic and disarmingly self-mocking tone" - Wendy Ide<br /></span><a href="http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/film_reviews/article1672326.ece"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">Alpha Dog</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"> "Cynics will doubtless fear the film for all the wrong reasons. They will fume about its credibility. They will wonder about the phenomenal number of tattoos on show" - James Christopher<br /></span><a href="http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/film_reviews/article2870748.ece"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">American Gangster</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"> "A gangster epic from Ridley Scott is no Goodfellas, but it has all the right ingredients for a fine crime flick" - Wendy Ide</span>danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14299472648826429123noreply@blogger.com0