Temple Grandin, Ph.D., is the most accomplished and well-known adult with autism in the world. Now her fascinating life, with all its challenges and successes is being brought to the screen. HBO has produced the full-length film Temple Grandin, which premieres on Saturday, February 6th on HBO. She has been featured on NPR (National Public Radio), major television programs, such as the BBC special "The Woman Who Thinks Like a Cow", ABC's Primetime Live, The Today Show, Larry King Live, 48 Hours and 20/20, and has been written about in many national publications, such as Time magazine, People magazine, Forbes, U.S. News and World Report, and New York Times. Among numerous other recognitions by media, Bravo Cable did a half-hour show on her life, and she was featured in the best-selling book, Anthropologist from Mars.

Dr. Grandin didn't talk until she was three and a half years old, communicating her frustration instead by screaming, peeping, and humming. In 1950, she was diagnosed with autism and her parents were told she should be institutionalized. She tells her story of "groping her way from the far side of darkness" in her book Emergence: Labeled Autistic, a book which stunned the world because, until its publication, most professionals and parents assumed that an autism diagnosis was virtually a death sentence to achievement or productivity in life.

Dr. Grandin has become a prominent author and speaker on the subject of autism because "I have read enough to know that there are still many parents, and yes, professionals too, who believe that 'once autistic, always autistic.' This dictum has meant sad and sorry lives for many children diagnosed, as I was in early life, as autistic. To these people, it is incomprehensible that the characteristics of autism can be modified and controlled. However, I feel strongly that I am living proof that they can" (from Emergence: Labeled Autistic).

Even though she was considered "weird" in her young school years, she eventually found a mentor, who recognized her interests and abilities. Dr. Grandin later developed her talents into a successful career as a livestock-handling equipment designer, one of very few in the world. She has now designed the facilities in which half the cattle are handled in the United States, consulting for firms such as Burger King, McDonald's, Swift, and others.

Dr. Grandin presently works as a Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University. She also speaks around the world on both autism and cattle handling. At every Future Horizons conference on autism, the audience rates her presentation as 10+.

I watched a bit of the film Temple Grandin, starring Claire Danes, tonight. Fascinating and moving stuff. I've never thought much of Danes as an actress, but that changed tonight.

I saw Star Trek (the new one) for the first time a couple of nights ago (spoilers to follow). As a serious "Trek" enthusiast -- well, at least as far as the original series goes -- I must say I thought the new film captured the magic of the original motion pictures quite splendidly, and, despite an implausible storyline (what sci-fi doesn't have an implausible storyline?) the film was a nice expansion to the Star Trek canon.

(On a side note, it's unfortunate that the new film had to succumb to the whims of an oversexed society by throwing in a "benign" sexual escapade between Kirk and some green alien chick. While Kirk was always known as a playboy of sorts in the original series, the forerunners of the series wisely chose to leave out screen-played sexual antics. I only wish J.J. Abrams and the new boys could have been so, well, logical.)

Speaking of logic, the part of the movie I enjoyed the most was seeing Leonard Nimoy back in action as Mr. Spock. I hadn't read any reviews or recaps before screening the film, therefore seeing the original Spock was a pleasant surprise. Spock has always been my favorite Star Trek character, and I was glad to see Nimoy pass the baton to the new Spock, Zachary Quinto. Certainly Quinto looks like he can develop a believable Spock character, and, perhaps 40 years from now he'll be passing the Spock legacy on to another newcomer.

While Star Trek is not a great film (like, perhaps, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country), it was entertaining, intriguing, and a good, logical resurrection of Gene Roddenberry's original Star Trek idea.

I found this really interesting. According to TechDirt, Napoleon Dynamite is algorithm proof. Wikipedia puts it this way:

It is surprisingly difficult to predict how viewers will react to Napoleon Dynamite as it tends to polarize audiences in a "love it or hate it" fashion. Researchers and algorithm workers at Netflix have found that they are unable to predict whether or not a particular viewer will like Napoleon Dynamite based on their ratings of previously viewed films, making it one of only a select few movies that pose this problem.

How about you? Answer two questions:

1. If you've seen Napoleon Dynamite, did you like it?
2. What's your favorite movie?

Maybe we can sort out Dynamite-liking tendencies based on common ground in favorite movies among the commenters. :-)

It's a cold and rainy one today. We stayed in. On a lark, I popped in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring extended cut this morning. I'm now 20 minutes into The Two Towers. Inspired me to go over to my old solo blog and re-read my thoughts on the three films and the comments under them. Good times.

The three movies as one epic are a masterpiece.

Michael Moore has made a movie that argues that capitalism is evil.

He is charging people to buy, distribute, and attend this movie.

The disconnect between Hollywood culture and normal people grows.

"It wasn't rape rape." -- Whoopi Goldberg

Define Artist. Not so easy to do. Now define pedophiliac child rapist. Pretty simple. If Polanski had been, say, a bus driver in Cleveland who had fed Quaaludes and Champagne to a thirteen-year-old girl and then raped and sodomized her, I doubt Jack Lang would be so quick to tell the rest of us about the privileges that come with driving a bus. Jack Lang doesn’t care about bus drivers. Jack Lang cares about Artists.

Let me tell you a few things about the rape of a child. It happened to me. I was raped by my drunken father at the age of four, before the drunken eyes of my mother, so I know what I’m talking about.

That is from a powerful commentary called Polanski's Victim and Me.

At a Salon article arguing the same thing, one of the more ridiculous commenters suggested those who are calling for Polanski's release must be a bunch of Republicans.

Um. Yeah. Woody Allen, Stephen Spielberg, Whoopi Goldberg, Martin Scorsese, the French minister of the Arts, et. al. All Republicans, I'm sure. ;-)

Kudos, btw, to French director Luc Besson -- the auteur behind stylized action films like the Transporter series, The Professional, The Fifth Element, and one of my favorite movies of the last year, Taken -- for refusing to sign the petition of artists calling for Polanski's release. "Nobody should be above the law," Besson said.

I admit it. I'm a Brad Pitt fan. (I feel like I'm special, because I became a fan listening to him read a Cormac McCarthy book before he was famous.) I like him so much that I enjoyed his other long epics. "Legends of the River", "Fall Runs Through It", and even "Meet Joe Black" where he plays the incarnation of death. (OK, I admit it, I liked Legends of the Fall and Meet Joe Black...)

And here he is again...playing a guy who dances with death.

The premise of a man who ages backwards intrigued me. I know that the Man-Child thing has been done before. (Big, Forrest Gump, and Robin Williams and Martin Short have done their versions.) But the execution on this one is creepy.

It's really a movie about death and death and life and death and death. (In that order.) In fact, a death seems to accompany every new stage in Benjamin's reverse life as he marches towards his own babyhood, which will be his death. It's weird knowing when he will die. Think about it. If you start your life at the end of your life, then you know where the end will be...at the beginning.

It's a love story...Benjamin is born as an old man. When he's just a few years old (7?) he meets a young girl. They become friends because mentally they are the same age.... As he grows younger physically and she grows older, they eventually "meet in the middle."

I don't know what's creepier: the fact that at the end and beginning of their lives, one is an old adult and the other is a young child, or the brothel scene.

It's been done before in movies. Some man decides that a young man needs to "become a man" and takes him to a brothel. But here the young man is mentally young, and physically old. I don't know what freaked me out more: that Benjamin was mentally a child when this was happening, or that he was physically an octogenarian. It managed to be yucky on at least two levels at the same time. Yipes.

Usually each scene skips a few years and you move with Benjamin as he grows up and grows young simultaneously. It's a pretty long slow process. On the upside, trying to figure Benjamin's chronological age versus his physical age can keep the viewer mentally occupied. At least it gives you something to do.

For me, watching people die, and progress towards death just wasn't any fun. Not that all movies have to be fun, but if it's going to be serious, it should at least be interesting. As an exploration of life and death, there really wasn't anything new here, unless you count the creepiness.

The Wizard of Oz turned 70 the other day. Something about that movie has always freaked me out. I seriously can't stand it. It's just plain creepy. As far as I'm concerned The Wizard of Oz and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory can both die a slow, painful death.

I'm actually happy that none of my kids will ever see The Wizard of Oz this side of their 18th birthday. If you feel the grace to watch that film, be blessed. I'll watch Star Wars Episode II again before I walk down the yellow brick road one more time.

Every time someone asks me how I want my hamburger, this scene plays in my head. (You only need to watch from 00:30 to 1:00)


That's Dirk Benedict (AKA Faceman and Starbuck)in 1981. This movie is about a Vietnam vet who comes to a small town, has trouble fitting into society, has run-ins with the locals and ends up having to use his army skills to fight and survive. (This movie came out 2 years before Stallone's "First Blood")

I saw it when I was in middle school on HBO and I've never forgotten the hamburger scene. Do you have a particular movie scene that replays itself at particular moments? For example, every time someone asks you your name you picture Mandy Patinkin saying, "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

Tell me under comments.

If this is intentionally awful, it is brilliant.

Fantastic movie. Seriously.
Some scenes of peril, so maybe not ideal for itty bitty ones.
But it's a sweet, exciting, funny, heartwarming movie. And smart as all get out. The writing and performances are fantastic.
Even if you don't have kids, go see it.

At this point, I'm not sure Pixar can do any wrong.

This one's for Bird and Shrode and all you other Trekkies out there.

Star Trek Fans Bash New Film as "Fun, Watchable"


Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'

I just heard of this - evidently there is an extremely low budget yet (by the looks of the trailer) good quality film coming out in May called The Hunt for Gollum. It's made by fans of the Lord of the Rings, for fans, and will be available online and for free. I think it's going to be about 45 minutes long.

For my fellow LOTR geeks: this film will recount Aragorn's hunt for Gollum that occurred between the Long Expected Party and the Shadow of the Past (events highly time-compressed in Peter Jackson's films).

Here's the trailer.



[H/T Challies]

I finally watched Fireproof last night. When watching this movie, it's easy to tell that it was made on a very low budget ($500,000), and that many of the actors are not professionals.

I absolutely loved it.

You can read further conversation on this movie in Bird's post. If you're distracted by less than top-notch acting, directing, or cinematography, this movie may not be for you. But if you can get past that, you might find something valuable in it. While many have criticized the quality of the work, the fact that it was produced by a church (who has used the profits to build a recreational center for their small Georgia town) impresses.

In the CNN article linked in the previous paragraph, Variety magazine says it is "as sincere, uncynical and subtlety-free as a Sunday school lecture". Perhaps. But I, for one, have had my fill of the insincere, cynical culture we live in. And I push back against the charge that it didn't have subtlety. Yes, I knew how the overall arc of the story would play out (I know that in most movies, and so do you), it still surprised me in its pacing and its moments of tension and uncertainty.

Though much of the acting was not at professional quality, I think Kirk Cameron and Erin Bethea turned in good, and at times great, performances.

I've heard Christians (who haven't seen the movie) complain about the "name it and claim it" aspects of the film. It's obvious to me that they don't know what they are talking about. Perhaps they are confused with Sherwood Baptist's sophomore effort Facing the Giants, which certainly had those elements. I see none of that in Fireproof. There is never a hint of "Do these things and God will restore your marriage." The lead character has to learn to love with no guarantees, persevering in the face of rejection and with his marriage all but doomed.

Finally, I've heard criticisms (in this space, by a commenter who admitted not having seen it) of the "paint by numbers redemption story" in Fireproof. This entire movie is about redemption, and, paint by numbers or no, it's a story I've seen played out in real life in the marriages of people I know. God can save a marriage, and that's one of the most beautiful things He does. I can understand, I guess, why pockets of our overly cool, cynical, relevant and worldly Christian culture are embarrassed by that.

I will take redemption any day of the week. Paint it by numbers, paint it free-form, heck, fingerpaint it, I don't care. I'll take redemption any way I can get it: small portions, big portions, box it up, serve it up hot or cold. I'm going back for seconds. I love redemption in all instances. Redemption always reminds me of the rescue-mission of Jesus, and His great redemption of those He has called as His own. I can't get tired of that!

I'll take redemption, served with sincerity, a lack of cynicism, and vast personal effort by a church-based production company. Especially when it results in a story as beautiful and inspiring as Fireproof.

I'm watching The Two Towers extended edition with Blake right now, with the commentary turned on.

It's always fun listening to the commentary, but let me just say that the portions with Elijah Wood, Sean Astin and Andy Serkis are absolutely insufferable. There's lots of faux-intelligence, bad interpretations of Tolkien's purposes and themes, whacky discussions of the religious elements of the work, and endless talk of "emotional resonance", "multiple levels of connection", and lots more actory argle-bargle. Ugh.

The commentary of Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan, on the other hand, is hilariously awesome.

Had to say it. That is all.

Survey time! Entertainment edition.

What are your five favorite movies?

Who are your five favorite actors?

Who are your five favorite actresses?

Who are your five favorite singers?

What are your five favorite songs?

Maybe the best movie I've seen this year. Or maybe that was Wall-E, not sure. But Benjamin Button is incredible.

The casting, the directing, the writing, the cinematography, the performances, the story -- all riveting.

Brad Pitt especially is amazing, and while I've always thought he was more than just a pretty face, this role confirms he's a really fine actor. These days when most moviegoers are trained to think Al Pacino "Hoo-ha!"'ing like a machete through the scenery or Samuel Jackson and Kevin Spacey out-yelling each other is "good acting," the understated, natural simplicity of Pitt in Button seems all the more wonderful.

This movie is a great meditation on time, and on permanence and impermanence.

I'm not a fan of old black-and-white movies. For one the acting is usually pretty lame. For two there's no color. Those two reasons alone are enough to deter me from watching any film, but the "classics," so to speak, have one other bad thing going for them: they're always depressing. I mean, we've all seen The Grapes of Wrath, right? Yikes. I don't need a movie to tell me how crappy real life is, I've got real life to tell me that.

Around this time of year most DVD-watching drones out there are spinning It's a Wonderful Life like it's a Michael W. Smith CD (that's to say, they're playing it all of the time, twenty-four-freaking-seven). I've managed to make it through my life without viewing the film, and hopefully, when I'm six feet under, I'll have a smirk on my face knowing that I escaped every snare designed to trap and torture me for two or three hours while James Stewart's fictitious life goes down the tubes. No, thank you. I'll pass.

In case you don't believe me, just see what The New York Times says about it:

“It’s a Wonderful Life” is a terrifying, asphyxiating story about growing up and relinquishing your dreams, of seeing your father driven to the grave before his time, of living among bitter, small-minded people. It is a story of being trapped, of compromising, of watching others move ahead and away, of becoming so filled with rage that you verbally abuse your children, their teacher and your oppressively perfect wife. It is also a nightmare account of an endless home renovation.

Who wants to watch "a nightmare account" of anything? No. Thank. You. I'll. Pass.

I know our very own Billboy here at Thinklings thinks It's a Wonderful Life is the best thing since Sarah Palin (or, should I say he thinks Sarah Palin is the best thing since It's a Wonderful Life?), and I know the aforementioned Billboy will now try to use his clout to ban me from our forthcoming convivial gathering, Entmoot. All of that brouhaha because I won't convert to the Dark Side.

Despite all of those negative consequences, I'll pass.