Casual Conversation

Just watched Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. It’s 140% more Nick Cage per Nick Cage than any other film.

Im about to go watch Galaxy Quest with the movies community

Last night I watched an old DVD copy of Old School I found on a "free stuff" shelf. Some dated humor but also some really good moments.

Big lebowski for the first time. Monkey man yesterday.

My last few movies were:

• Furiosa: it was alright, but the music was really lacking for me which was a big part of why I like the first one. It was also slower which I think is a mistake for something so heavily focused on cars/speed 2.5/5
• Mad Max Fury Road: Now this shit rocks. Action packed, great music, immediately to the point. Much better than the Mel Gibson films, including Thunderdome 4/5
• Cloverfield: I was looking for some horror and heard good things about the other ones. This had cool parts, but even by horror movie standards these protagonists were so insanely stupid I couldn't focus on the movie. Every decision made was the wrong one 2/5
• Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog: I was drunk and needed to kill an hour. I sang the whole thing and had a great time 4/5
• I saw the TV Glow: This was a rollercoaster. I liked it, then was irritated, then it explained what was happening and I really liked what was happening, then it got to the end and lost me again. I think different editing could have made this better. Still very cool 3.5/5
• Blackberry: I have no idea how close to reality this was but the story was compelling and people felt like a lot of the people I work with in tech. 4/5

Godzilla Minus One. What an amazing treat! I went in expecting the big guy to stomp around Tokyo, but old timey, and instead got the best human story in a Godzilla film ever!

Also, Furiosa, which I liked too.

Dune part 2 because I couldn't sleep and happened to check out Max like 30 minutes after it went up.

This is supposed to be a trilogy? What's the 3rd movie gonna cover? The first 2 parts were just the first book. Are the rest of the books just gonna be condensed into a single 2-3 hour movie?

Hundreds of Beavers (2024)

Basically a "silent" film in the vein of slapstick Loney Tunes-esque nonsense. Except it has a coherent, albeit quite silly, plot.

In independent film and the most madcap and creative I have seen in a long time.

I've seen the style compared to lofi music, a very simple aesthetic. It sets your expectations accordingly. Its well done in its own unique style.

Come for the story of Jean Kayak and his wilderness adventures.

Furiosa

I recently watched LA Confidential for the first time. It's like a noir film except in color. Russell Crowe looks super young, and the setting of LA/Hollywood in the 50s is exquisitely realized. The plot is pretty intricate, it often expects the viewer to be able to connect the dots. Great film.

Watched Greyhound not too long ago, very engaging the whole way through. If you’re in a mood for a war movie I can’t think of a better one in recent times. May have to sail the seas in another sense though because it’s an apple plus exclusive last I saw.

Just watched new kids turbo with my friend at 3 am. Going to bed now :D

I think the latest movie I watched was the second installment of Dune, most times these days my attention span isn't long enough to manage a feature-length film. Series of 45-60 min per episode are ideal (and ironically then I can watch 4 in a row, no problem).

The latest series I watched is called Unforgotten (UK crime series about bodies of long since deceased people recovered recently). Really well done with excellent character development throughout which almost requires starting from S01.

I moved my projector and screen into the back garden and watched Gladiator once it had got dark enough. It's really not quite good enough weather for it, but it was a neat experience nevertheless. I accidentally clicked the extended edition and the Blu-ray was too much of a ball-ache to go back: Ridley Scott introduces it with "this is not the Director's Cut ... you've probably already seen that at the theatre, this is just the film with some scenes we cut out that *maybe* you'll like". Way to sell it Riddles.

Superstar, Being John Malkovich, Pride and Prejudice (with Keira Knightley), Lisa Frankenstein.

Buena Vista Social Club. It's about the making of the album and the rich Cuban history is the backdrop. I bought it in 1997, and it's still such a great album. A nice encapsulation of a type of music that would have died quietly without Ry Cooder.

Boy Kills World. I laughed the whole time. Such a great action comedy.

Recently went on a sci-fi bender starting with both new Dune movies, then Rememory, High Life, Archive, and Tenet. Finished Tenet last night. Still don't know what it was about!

In theaters: Furiosa. Very meh and disappointing compared to Fury Road (which is IMO the best action movie ever).

Decided to watch American Fiction today, because it was advertised on Amazon Prime and the trailer seemed interesting enough. Also, apparently it won an Oscar this year for best screenplay adaption. Basically, the protagonist is a black author (and professor of literature) who is frustrated because his ambitious and highbrow novels aren't selling too well, because literary critics seem to prefer more "ghetto" style stories that lean heavily on black stereotypes and ebonics as being a more authentic representation of the black experience. After getting hit with some unexpected bills, he breaks down and decides to write his own ghetto novel, with plenty of violence, crime, and gratuitous expletives, and releases it under an alias. The critics end up loving it and pretty soon he is getting inundated with interview requests and movie deals while having to lead a double life as a gangster turned novelist so as to not break his cover.

Long story short, while I definitely enjoyed the premise, the movie turned out to be rather long-winded and boring, with lots of semi-relevant side stories that ultimately didn't go anywhere, while teetering erratically between the same two extremes the author finds himself caught up in, and it doesn't really have much of a satisfying ending either. Best I can say is there was an attempt to make a black American Beauty, but it ultimately lacked conviction and panache.

I saw the recent documentary Civil War just this weekend. It confused me a bit though.¹

1. When did Kirsten Dunst stop being an actress and become a photojournalist?
2. When did Texas and California become allies?
3. If the president was shot dead, how come I still see Joe Biden talking?

¹ This post may be a bit of a joke. Maybe.

• Godzilla Minus One - absolutely fantastic (now on Netflix)
• Civil War - really great and a lot less political than I expected
• Fall Guy - meh
• Bullet Train - meh
• Monkey Man - alright
• Latenight With The Devil - pretty good
• Argylle - No...just, no
• The Beekeeper - not sure if it was meant as a joke
• Dune (Parts One and Two) - instant classics

The Meg 1 & 2. First one was okay, nothing exceptional but I could enjoy it. Second one was not that great, it felt like a money grab.

I'm really trying to get through my absurdly backlogged watch list, so the last three days have been pretty cramped, but I'm glad I watched all of them.

Vivarium 2019, The Beach House 2019, The Belko Experiment 2016, nomad: in the footsteps of Bruce chatwin 2019, successful alcoholics 2010, kung Fu panda 2008, come out and play 2012, await further instructions 2018, my own private Idaho 1991

Watches civil war, it was interesting I didn't realized it was following war photographers through a Civil War so that was pretty cool since I've always thought about that line of work.

Then I put on 1934 the man that knew too much. I didn't actively watch the whole thing but the parts I saw with Peter Lorre were great.

Then rules of engagement, this also I didn't actively watch because it's hard with a new baby but I did have to rewind it a few times to get what was happening when I saw a good scene and I wanted the context

Before this me and the wife got through the xmen movies and the wolverine movies but haven't done the dead pools yet to get ready for the new pool movie

Made in Abyss: Dawn of the Deep Soul I strongly recommend it to those who are fans of the manga and/or anime of Made in Abyss. The movies pertaining to MiA offer a lot more lore that the anime didn't really touch upon much