DVD Voice

Tonight’s movie went into corporate crime, with The Informant! starring Matt Damon in Steven Soderbergh’s film. I must say that I enjoyed it.

Basically it’s a story about America’s top executive to turn whistleblower. He beings working with the FBI about the price fixing going on at ADM. He works with them for over 2 1/2 years getting video and recordings of meetings, but in the end it begins to also appear that he’s embezzling and he gets prosecuted as well.

What’s not to enjoy about this film — the happy-go-lucky bouncy music set against a backdrop of big corporate deals, white collar crimes, FBI agents, and possible jail time, and the while Mark Whitacre goes merrily along seemingly uncaring about the lies he’s telling or when or if they’ll catch up with him. It’s neat to see him just invent (I think) something new when he realizes he’s being discovered and how most of it then checks out, at least for a while. I say “I think” here because he’s so full of stories that you have a hard time really realizing which one of them, if any, are factual. He suffers from bipolar disorder, even as the forged letter from his would-be psychologist states in very specific terms. He must be a brilliant guy to keep all this straight for as long as he did, and that 2 million, no 5 million, or is it 7.5 million? I think it was 9 million, that he embezzled. Maybe it was 11…

Entertaining film! You don’t really learn anything and the drama isn’t really there, its just downright entertaining. So, have an enjoyable evening.

For me, the most sobering thing (aside from the white collar crime, don’t do that) is that in 1992 people with desk jobs were making $100K. When do I get a raise? I’m way underpaid!

Also interesting is ADM’s statement about the movie you can see by clicking here.

Rated R. 108 minutes (1 hour 48 minutes). Why it’s rated R, I don’t know! There is some profanity. No blood, no nudity, no violence aside from the alleged hit in the head by a briefcase.

Tonight I took on Amelia, Mira Nair’s biographically based account of some of Amelia Earhart’s adventures. This film stars Hillary Swank as Amelia, Richard Gere, and Ewan McGregor.

I must say, this is a beautiful movie. It’s not 100% true to real life, as few movies — which are entertainment ever are — but as far as what it does do for you it does well. I’m sure we are all familiar with Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly across the Atlantic, the first one to fly it solo, and who disappears attempting to circumnavigate the globe.

What this movie does show is a woman who knew something she wanted in life, that is to fly. And how the people around her try to ride along on her coattails or use her to get ahead themselves. It’s about how she empowers herself and inspires other women as well as men and children, to dream big and to reach for those dreams. It’s about how her husband discovered that sometimes you can best love someone by letting them be who they are and as he discovered letting someone go to pursue their dreams doesn’t mean you lose them, love is a powerful thing and can bring people back.

And possibly best said by Amelia in this movie, when you have a dream and something you want to do “Don’t let anyone turn you around.”

In short, a beautiful film showing the wonder and spectacle of flight and a entertaining way to spend an evening.

Rated PG. 120 minutes (2 hours).