Cinequest 20: The Real Revolutionaries

I had been sick most of the week. Feeling weak from the illness, I decided to invite A to a movie instead of going hiking.

Cinequest 20 was happening and as I was browsing through the movies, deciding on what to watch, I saw a picture of the "Traitorous eight". It was the poster for a movie called "The Real Revolutionaries".

The movie was about the history of the development of the silicon transistor, from the time William Shockley established Shockley's Lab in Palo Alto to Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore establishing Intel.

It is a story I knew well, having read Crystal Fire and hearing stories from the late Prof Henry Guckel when I hung around his lab.

The movie started with describing William Shockley, whom the movie described as a brilliant but arrogant scientist. He hired some of the smartest engineers in the US to work for him, but never quite trusted his employees. He micromanaged, was paranoid about the loyalty of his employees and egoistic. Shockley labs was going to build a new transistor device different from the device that won the 1956 Nobel prize. That effort went no where, and eight of the employees, left to form Fairchild Semiconductor, a division of Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation.

Fairchild semiconductor division did very well and was very profitable, but when Robert Noyce found out he was passed over for the CEO position, he and Gordon Moore left to form Intel.

The movie spent some time on Shockley's life after semiconductor and his views on race and intelligence. Robert Noyce's womanizing ways were not mentioned:) There was also lots of cartoons to try explain semiconductor physics. The film mentioned some of the social events happening around the same time, such as the Kent State shootings and Woodstock, but insisted real revolutions were happening in the labs of Silicon Valley.

I felt it was too much material for one movie to tackle, and after watching the movie, I felt unsatisfied. I would recommend people read Crystal Fire instead for more detail history of the silicon transistors.

After the movie, A and I went to House of Siam for dinner. Read my review of the restaurant on Yelp!

Given my nagging cough, we called it a night after dinner.

Trip to Singapore 0- 5 movies en route!

Somehow, I ended up not watching many movies. On this trans-pacific flight to Tokyo, I ended up catching up on several movies I had wanted to watch in 2009, instead of catching up on sleep:(

The movies were: Funny People, Up, Julie and Julia, Public Enemy and Hancock.

I saw the trailer for Funny People and had wanted to like the movie. But, at the end of the movie, I had mixed feelings. Putting a human face on a celebrity and showing how lonely he felt is not a new concept. But the Adam Sandler character was self-centered and not likable. There was no one I could root for in the movie.

I had seen many positive review for Up and I loved the movie. The story was well told, with plot twist and turns to keep things interesting. Some exaggeration and plots were unreal, but acceptable for an animation movie. Another Pixar classic!

As a foodie, the story of Julie and Julia appeals to me. I thought Meryl Streep's Julia was full of energy, but not to the point of being annoying as Julia Child sometimes was on TV. Amy Adam's Julie was insecure and vulnerable. While I like Julia more, Julie felt more real. The story itself was interestingly told.

After 3 movies, Public enemy felt like a blur. It used documentary style filming, which always made me a little confused. I thought the acting was great, but the story itself and the narrative was a little weak.

The last movie was Hancock. The concept of profiling a fallen hero was much discussed in the critic's review and I looked forward to see how it was being handled. But I was a little disappointed in the ending. Introducing a second super hero was an interesting plot twist, but, IMHO, spoiled the movie. The ending was predictable and not convincing.

I think I am all movied out for a while...

Cinequest 18: High Ambition in the Himalaya

I played tennis with A in the morning and invited him to watch a Cinequest movie with me. A and I "discovered" Cinequest together in 2004 and since then, we had watched many indie film together.

The movie we watched was "High Ambition in the Himalaya". It won Vuze.com Audience Favorite Award, received good reviews in Metro and the Mercury News ran a story about the film maker, so I was very much looking forward to the show.

The movie is about climbers attempting to summit Mount Cho Oyu. According to the movie, it is the 6th highest peak in the world. Of the 14 mountains with >8000m peak, Mount Cho Oyu is considered to be the easiest to climb.

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The climbers all have good credentials. One had survived the "Into Thin Air" episode atop Everest, one is an Ironman, one had complete 7 summit. But even before attempting to summit, a few had to drop out due to physical problem! During the actual summit push, all the climbers were pushed back due to weather. The climbers were philosophical about it, saying the mountain will be there next year, but I can imagine after spending so much time, money and effort training for the climb, it was very disappointing.
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The movie was simply made...consisting mainly of interviews with the climbers and shepas to tell the story. There were several deaths and injuries told through the interviews which sent chills down my spine. The only eye candies were shots of the wonderful high mountain scenery.

Despite its simplicity, the movie touches me deeply. H is very much into mountaineering and through the film, I was able to appreciate a little of the difficulty and danger of her endeavors.

A liked the film, though was not as moved as I was:( However, both of us were glad we kept the tradition of going to Cinequest.

Cinequest 18: Dot.com

Cinequest is an independent film festival held in San Jose, typically with movies showing in Camera Cinemas, among other downtown locations. Since 2004, when I first found out about Cinequest, I always tried to attend at least one movie at Cinequest.

In general, movies at film festival can be hit or miss. Indie movies are not well reviewed and Cinequest tends to choose rather "unique films". Based on our schedule, H and I decided to watch "Dot.com", which had received decent review in Metro.

The movie is a fictional tale about a small village in Portugal which had registered its village name as an website. A multinational Spanish beverage company wanted the same website to promote its new mineral water product. There were some conflicts but, in the end, a happy ending was achieved.

The movies is quite funny, and enjoyable that way. Some details were not clearly handled, but, unlike some indie film, the overall story were coherent. I felt that the movie could have explored globalization and its impact/conflict on local culture more. But given globalization and its impact is such a serious topic, I doubt any movie could do the discussion justice while keeping the movie light and enjoyable.

It was H's first time at Cinequest and she liked the movie. I was relieved since I enjoy going to Film Festivals.

After the movie, we checked out A Perfect Finish wine bar in downtown San Jose. Unlike some other wine bar, A Perfect Finish serves tapas and dessert. I like the concept, since it is nice to be able to get a little food and drink after watching a performance/movie, in the downtown San Jose area.

On the night we visited, the bar were full, but most of the table were opened. I hoped this place does well, so I can come back for future visits.