Tag Archives: HBO OnDemand

Matinee

Posted on May 15, 2013 | Leave a comment

One of the many advantages of a) working from home and b) having HBO is being able to watch Oscar-nominated documentaries during lunch.

Today’s featured selection:  The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossoms.

tsumani and cherry blossom posterI’ll admit that I had not heard of this film before I saw it listed on HBO OnDemand.  If perchance you haven’t either, I strongly encourage you to invest the short 40 minutes required.

Director Lucy Walker chronicles the tsunami that devastated Japan on March 11, 2011.  Survivors share their stories of loss, and work together to rebuild their communities — already making progress a mere month after the storm hit.

And what are the ‘cherry blossoms’ in the title, you ask? I’ll let you watch the film and find out. 

It is a vital part of their history and culture, and one reason a tsunami could never break the Japanese people.

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Posted in Academy Awards, Commentary, Entertainment, History, Life, Love, Movies, Oscars, Travel, Weather

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Silent no more

Posted on February 12, 2013 | Leave a comment

Like everyone, I was surprised by the news of the Pope’s resignation.

But how did I miss the documentary Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God?

mea-maxima-culpa-silence-in-the-house-of-god-470-75It was released in November of last year. But yesterday’s headlines from Rome brought director Alex Gibney’s film back to the forefront. It’s available on HBO OnDemand, so I’ve already watched it.

What a revelation.

Gibney examines pedophilia in the Catholic Church, beginning with the first known clerical sexual abuse at a deaf school in Milwaukee in the late 1950′s, and traces it all the way to the Vatican.

Of particular interest, the documentary documents the role Benedict played in the sex-abuse scandals — both as a bishop in Germany and as Cardinal Ratzinger, where he headed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which handles such cases.

Under his leadership, the church shielded priests accused of child molestation and hid their behavior from the authorities, obstructing criminal prosecution.

It’s not an easy film to watch, but the bravery of these deaf students — now grown men — is inspiring.

Their voices have finally been heard.

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Posted in Commentary, Education, History, Life, Movies, News, Religion

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Fight club

Posted on June 8, 2011 | Leave a comment

In yesterday’s Egg, I mentioned I was looking for a fight.

Today, I found one.

I am going to defend — almost a year after it hit theatres — the critical and audience pounding of the action film Knight and Day, starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz.

It’s available on HBO OnDemand right now.  (I assume that means it’s available on Netflix as well.)

I saw it in the theatre last summer and really liked it.  I remember being surprised that the reviews were so lackluster.  A quick visit to RottenTomatoes.com confirmed the movie was 53 percent fresh — not awful, but not great.

What was even more surprising was that the audience felt the same, judging the movie 52 percent fresh.

I’ve already watched it twice OnDemand, and I respectfully disagree.

Tom Cruise is at his action star best in this film, but the action is purposefully over-the-top, making it one of his best comedic performances.  Snaps to Tom for being willing to make fun of a genre that has been his bread and butter.

Cameron Diaz is the perfect foil for Cruise, too.  She has the energy and the presence to match him shot for shot.  Even when she is in damsel in distress mode, she is his equal on-screen.

The movie uses a lot of CGI to make the impossible possible.  Again, I found that as funny as the rest of the comedy in this film.  Maybe 48 percent of the audience members didn’t get the joke.

But you will.  I know it.

And if you don’t…we can just fight about it some more.

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Posted in Celebrities, Comedy, Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Internet, Movies

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Bittersweet

Posted on May 14, 2011 | Leave a comment

I have watched a lot of Food Network shows in my day, especially the competition formats.

Iron Chef.  Food Network Star.  Last Cake Standing.

But they are all child’s play compared to the Meilleurs Ouvriers de France (Best Craftsman in France) competition featured in Kings of Pastry, which  I discovered quite by accident last night on HBO OnDemand.

The 2010 documentary was directed by D A Pennebacker and Chris Hegebus, who brought us the Oscar-nominated documentary The War Room, about the 1992 presidential campaign of President Bill Clinton.

Surprisingly, Kings of Pastry is just as griping, tense and dramatic as any political campaign — maybe more so.

Becoming a M.O.F. is the pinnacle of a French pastry chef’s career, and the three-day competition is a grueling test for even the finest artisan.  The film follows Jacquy Pfeiffer, an award-winning French chef and instructor at Chicago’s highly regarded French Pastry School, as he prepares for and completes the competition.

The directors also filmed two other finalists preparing for the M.O.F.:  French chefs Regis Lazard — there for the second time after dropping his sugar sculpture and being eliminated during his first attempt — and Philippe Rigollot, the pastry chef at the renowned restaurant, Maison Pic.

The stress that the M.O.F. puts on the chefs and their families is immense.  To say there were a few tears shed is an understatement, especially by the competition judges, who seemed to live each success and failure of the 16 chefs involved.

Their final work is exacting and beautiful to behold — but I would argue the process is the true art.



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Posted in Commentary, Cooking, Crafts, Education, Entertainment, Food, Foods, Humor, Life, Movies, Politics, Restaurants, Television, Travel, TV

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