romanorum1

The beginning of this movie about bird migration states, "This film is the result of four years following their amazing odysseys, in the northern hemisphere and then in the southern hemisphere, species by species, flying over each continent."

Filmed all over the world, the film hones in on birds anxious to survive. No barrier can stop them as the birds head to their destinations. When food runs out, flying to the new destination is a matter of life or death. Dangers include bad weather, hunters, and waste products of mankind, like plastic. The birds squawk, trill, and honk along the way. Below the birds we see various monuments like the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, and the Great Wall of China. There are nice shots of Monument Valley in the western United States.

We learn much about the migratory distances. For instance, "The White Stork flies 3,100 miles from Central Africa to Western Europe." Then there's, "The Whooper Swan flies 1,800 miles from the Far East to the Siberian tundra." Also, "The Bald Eagle flies 1,800 miles from the American West to Alaska." And also, "The Canada Goose flies 2,000 miles from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Circle."

Visually stunning, the cinematography is superb: various birds are filmed above, below, and sideways in flight. Most shots are aerial, generally from smaller aircraft or balloons. Shots were also taken from moving vehicles below and from one ship on the high seas. Along the way we do see a parrot escaping from a cage (staged?) and a hapless, stranded bird with a severely broken left wing that is surrounded by hungry crabs: he is doomed. Another bird is stuck in industrial sludge. The soundtrack by Nick Cave works well enough while the narration (with a French accent) is sparse and rather incoherent sometimes. While the film claims that no special effects are used in filming, there are several CGI shots above continents, but they do not detract from the tale. It is worthwhile to see and enjoy the picture.

NOTE: The movie is manipulated by the filmmakers as they or their associates raised various birds from their eggs and domesticated them so that they would not be spooked by flying next to the photographers' balloons and loud aircraft. Then they took their birds the world over to fly above notable landmarks as mentioned in the second paragraph above.

This documentary by Earl Morris focuses on four men who are wired to their respective occupations/interests: Dave Hoover, Ray Mendez, Rodney Brooks, and George Mendonca. Each of these men have a passion for what they do. Neither are they famous nor do they have anything in common except their interest in their uniquely respective subjects.

Dave Hooper, who idolized Clyde Beatty, is a retired circus wild animal trainer of large jungle cats. I learned that if a big cat becomes unruly and leaves his place inside of the large circus cage with the idea of eating the lion tamer, then an aimed four-legged chair or stool against the lion is effective in controlling the situation. The reason is that the lion or tiger will be distracted by each individual chair leg because it is single-minded. Before long the animal forgets why he is acting the way he is so he goes back to his place in the large cage.

Ray Mendez is obsessed in his study of the instincts of African naked (hairless) mole rats. Maintaining a small colony in his office laboratory, he creates museum environments for them.

Rodney Brooks, a robot scientist at MIT, studies artificial intelligence in his lab. He says it's easier and cheaper to send robots into outer space (like Mars) because they are like the movie title says. This system is far less expensive than manned space missions. And they should be able to repair themselves.

George Mendonca, is the designer of the oldest northern topiary garden in the Unites States ("Green Animals" in Portsmouth, Rhode Island) for a rich woman, the now deceased Alice Brayton. Miss Brayton used to entertain Eisenhower and Kennedy families until she died at an advanced age in 1972. After the woman died, George continued to work there until his own time on earth was up. Using hand shears, George trims hedges to look like animals (giraffes, elephants, bears, etc.). I still have a picture of him back when I visited the place in 1977. Green Animals remains a popular tourist attraction in the Newport area and is run by The Preservation Society of Newport County.

Errol Morris directed "Gates of Heaven" (1978), "The Thin Blue Line" (1988), and "The Fog of War" (2003), the last of which he won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. In "Fast, Cheap and out of Control" he meshes the stories together and intertwines them with cuts from old time movies and serials. The film was nicely filmed by Robert Richardson. Somehow it all works.

Katya Yano (Diane Lane) arrives at Horne's department store in Pittsburgh and convinces the owner to give her a job as a window display designer. "Your window displays are so boring," she says. She succeeds when she sets up the store mannequins in sexually provocative and kinky poses. Some folks are outraged like the fellow who screams "You can see her crotch." Of course it's just a mannequin. Anyway, the stores' sales dramatically increase. Meanwhile, there is an erotic dream sequence by which Katya has sex with a male mannequin who comes to life. Later in real life she exposes her ample breasts to her lover, Mac Odell (Cotter Smith). Along the way Mac Odell somehow disappears from the movie and never reappears for the denouement.

The attention arouses the passions of Jack Price (Michael Woods), a lab technician who becomes obsessed with the vulnerable single woman who lives downtown in a loft apartment in an older, spacious brick building. Price continually harasses the young woman by making obscene telephone calls. He also breaks into her apartment and sniffs things. Somehow the police are powerless. Despite the constant stalking, Price has not been a murderer, and there are no killings as 1980s movies like "Dressed to Kill" (1980), "Dead Aim" (1987)," and "Night Game" (1989).

Eventually Katya decides to fight back on her own. No spoilers are provided here, but there are two strange scenes along the way. One shows the stalker somehow getting on top of Katya's building and using just a single rope manages to squeeze through an open window to enter Katya's place. No one notices anything. The other scene shows Katya, alone and unarmed, purposely confronting Price at night in the city. No backup? What was she thinking? It is true that the constant stalking has distressed her, but her action is off the wall. All in all, though, the movie never loses interest.