The Good Shepherd - part one.

As I am in the movie vain, here goes another post - this time on "The Good Shepherd." The post will be short for now as this movie is multi-layered and it hard to grasp all the nuances of the plot just after watching it once. I will wait till it is released on dvd and when I watch it the second time I might add something more.
The film itself is dark and complicated or rather I would say obscure; maybe intentionally so as it is about a secret organisation.
The protagonist figure of Edward Wilson is inspired by a real-life agent, James Jesus Angleton, whose charismatic personality and thorough knowledge of his colleagues' private lives made people uneasy in his presence. In turn, his willingness to sacrifice (almost) anything for his country made him a tragic figure; Willy Stark was also a tragic figure but in a totally different way (about that I will write later).
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I will try to get hold of the book by Tom Mangold on J.J.Angleton. The title is "Cold Warrior: James Jesus Angleton - The CIA's Master Spyhunter." Here is a review.
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For those curious or those who have not seen the movie, here is the short summary of the plot.

All the King's Men - part two.

First of all I wanted to say that Sean Penn's perfomance in this movie is brilliant, befitting the king. I could not find any weak points in his acting (maybe except for the last scene of the movie but once you see it, you'll understand). I was not looking at Sean Penn on the screen - it was Willie Stark, with all of his cold calculation, love of power, readiness to destroy opponents using blackmail and other "dark" means. Still, Willie Stark had the magnetic and powerful personality and was able to give great speaches which won him the people's hearts and votes. He was a brilliant if controversial and corrupted-by-power politician.

In particular I love one scene from this movie. During one of his numerous speaches, Willie Stark says: "Nobody ever helped a hick but a hick himself." Catchy but straight talking.
(more quotes here but this movie is a must)

source of the poster and the photo

All the King's Men - part one.

I just finished watching this movie and am going straight to sleep. I read the novel too - by Robert Penn Warren. I used to be fascinated by the Southern Literature.
Now only one more thing before I fall asleep. It took long time for Jack Burden to put all pieces together to find out what was going on. When am I going to put all the pieces together so that I can see the bigger picture if not the whole one? Is it at all possible?
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"What you don't know won't hurt you." Food for thought - not for now though.

"Notes on a Scandal"

Notes on a Scandal (2006) - Andrew Simpson, Cate Blanchett

The movie is based on a book by Zoe Heller.

I went to the cinema last night to see it. I must say that was not a brilliant movie. It would not recommend it wholeheartedly. To me it lacked conviction for most of the time. Especially performance by Judi Dench was lacking everything. No tour de force this time. The only thing I found easy to believe in was the passion between the teacher Sheba (Cate Blanchett) and her teenage student Steven Conolly (Andrew Simpson). Real sparks for me there...

What a sexy accent he has by the way (he was born in Londonderry, Northern Ireland).