Dan Culberson
Dan Culberson is an author, TV performer, editor and publisher who has been writing about culture, politics and religion since 1994. He was graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in English literature in the Honors Program from the University of Colorado and was president of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. He was born in Carmel, CA, but grew up all over the U.S. and Europe, living in Monterey, CA: Medford, OR; Lawton, OK (twice); Pampa, TX; Minot, ND; El Paso, TX; Tacoma, WA; Kennewick, WA; Erlangen, Germany; Lebanon, MO; Colorado Springs, CO (where he attended high school); Boulder, CO (where he attended college and now lives); and Heidelberg while serving in the U.S. Army and Sindelfingen, Germany while on assignment for IBM. He served three years in the U.S. Army, retired from IBM after 25 years with a career in publications and is a writer, editor and publisher who came of age in the Sixties, which he remembers quite well. He was named a Boulder Pacesetter in 1985 by the BOULDER DAILY CAMERA in the first year of that program and was a film reviewer from 1972 to 2014 for newspapers, magazines, radio stations and TV programs.
Homepage: http://c1n.tv
Posts by Dan Culberson
“Disconnect” a Heavy-Handed Look at Serious Problems
Apr 27th
“Heavy-Handed Look at Serious Problems”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Disconnect has three separate, but connected stories about the serious problems that can be the result of today’s activities with the Internet, computers, and smart phones.
One of the stories ends in a tragedy.
The first story is about a lonely teenage boy who is tricked into thinking that he is communicating with a girl who is interested in him when in fact two other boys in his school are behind the deception.
The second story is about a television reporter who is researching a story about teenage runaways, but ends up interviewing a teenager who performs on an Internet porn site.
And the third story is about a couple who are having marital problems to begin with, and then they discover that they are the victims of identity theft, and all of their credit cards are maxed out.
Some of the characters are connected to only one story, some of the characters are connected to two stories, and at least one of the characters is connected to all three stories.
So, in essence, the three stories are disjointed, but interconnected.
And a key point in solving one of the mysteries in one of the stories is when a character texts, “We didn’t mean for this to happen.”
The only actors of note in the movie are Jason Bateman, wearing an uncharacteristic beard, and Hope Davis, who plays his wife.
Now, although an ad for the movie claims that one critic calls it “The Best Film of the Year,” you might think differently when you see how the serious subjects of the film are handled.
In other words, the filmmakers would have done well to have remembered “A little discretion goes a long way.”
Also, be aware that the movie contains nudity and violence, but neither one is exploited.
However, the movie does point out how extensive social media is being used in today’s society, how it can get out of hand, and how destructive some of those results can be to innocent, unsuspecting victims.
Although the movie does single out one person as being a villain in the circumstances making up one of the stories, most of the characters are victims of the situations, either because of intent or accident.
Disconnect is a heavy-handed look at serious problems that can lead to coincidental, interesting, and devastating results.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“The Sapphires” a Sweet Story Set During Vietnam War
Apr 20th
“Sweet Story Set During Vietnam War”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
THE SAPPHIRES is inspired by the unlikely, but true story of four girls from the aboriginal outback of Australia who form a singing group that entertains the American troops in Vietnam during the war.
The movie begins in 1958 in Australia, and we see four little girls who love to sing performing before an audience. Suddenly a group of government officials show up, and one of the little girls, Kay, is taken away from her family by the officials, because she has light skin, and forced to live in a city with a white family.
This was all part of a government program to integrate aborigines into Caucasian society.
Then the movie shifts to 1968, and we meet Dave Lovelace, played by Chris O’Dowd, who is sleeping in his car and arrives late to work in a bar where he is the emcee of a local talent show, and his boss puts him on his last warning.
Dave says to the audience, “I sort of start off slow, and then I slowly peter out.”
Two young aborigine girls, Gail and Cynthia, are singing in the talent show, they announce that they are from “black fella’ country,” and they sing a country song that the audience doesn’t pay much attention to.
But when their younger sister, Julie, suddenly joins them on stage, their singing becomes much better and so does the audience’s appreciation.
After the talent show, the girls approach Dave, show him a newspaper clipping about an audition in Melbourne for singers and dancers to perform for the troops in Vietnam, and ask him to help them go to the audition.
Dave agrees to help, but says they should sing soul music instead of country music and that Julie should sing lead instead of Gail, which doesn’t please Gail one bit.
Also, while they are in Melbourne, they track down their cousin, Kay, who had been abducted 10 years earlier, and she is able to join them for the audition.
Ironically, while Dave is coaching the girls and teaching them choreography, he says that they should sing their soul songs “blacker.”
So, the girls, accompanied by Dave as manager and chaperone, entertain the troops in Vietnam, where there is danger, conflict, and even romance.
The Sapphires is a sweet and mostly true story set during the Vietnam War.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“The Place Beyond the Pines” a Terrific, Wonderful Drama
Apr 13th
“Terrific, Wonderful Drama”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Place Beyond the Pines is a wonderful drama in three parts about the influence of one generation on the next, or as William Wordsworth put it in “My Heart Leaps Up,” “The child is father of the man.”
The action takes place in Schenectady, New York, and when the movie opens we meet Luke, played by Ryan Gosling, who performs in a traveling circus as a motorcycle stunt daredevil.
One night a young woman named Romina, played by Eva Mendes, approaches him, and Luke recognizes her as the woman he had a fling with the year before when he was in town.
They talk, and Luke gives Romina a ride home, where he tells her that he leaves town the next day and won’t be back for another year.
Well, the next day Luke goes back to Romina’s house to see her, but she is away at work.
The woman who answers the door is holding a baby in her arms, and she tells Luke, “He’s yours. You want to hold him?”
Luke is immediately smitten by this surprise addition to his life, and he makes some dramatic changes because of it.
He quits his job with the circus, stays in town, and determines that he is going to take care of Romina and the baby, who is named Jason.
Unfortunately, Romina, Jason, and her mother are living in the house of Romina’s boyfriend, Kofi, and Kofi doesn’t take kindly to Luke’s sudden appearance and desires.
Meanwhile, Luke meets a man named Robin, who has a small mechanic shop out in the woods, and he gets a job working for Robin, which also gives Luke a place to stay.
Robin also gives Luke the idea for how Luke can make some fast money to give to Romina and Jason, but it leads to disastrous results.
Then we meet Avery, played by Bradley Cooper, who is a rookie policeman in Schenectady, and his first encounter with Luke makes Avery a hero in the eyes of his fellow policemen, which leads to ill-fated consequences.
Avery has a wife, Jennifer, played by Rose Byrne, and a young baby named AJ.
Then the movie shifts 15 years later to the two teenage boys, Jason and AJ.
The Place Beyond the Pines is a terrific film, and I cannot praise it enough.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
