Recently I’ve been thinking that when you’re younger, you need to say yes to everything; then, when you’re older, you need to learn how to say no to everything. I don’t mean younger in age, but as a step in your profession.
Author: Mark
The Raid: Redemption
The Raid: Redemption. This is an implausibly heightened* excuse for great choreography and fightin’. (*a pregnant wife; an innocent bystander who needs to deliver medicine to his bedridden spouse; an unauthorized mission without backup; corrupt leadership; sibling rivalry; etc.) I loved early parts of the movie, where there was more play with music vs. silence, shadow vs. light, when things felt more precarious. Once the shit hit the fan, it was still fun, but more predictable, and less interesting. Transitions got a bit awkward as the stories splinter and rivalries come a head, and people start talking more. I think I would have appreciated something leaner, and something that took more advantage of the architectural aspect like Die Hard. Good relentless fun, though. Two more things: 1) I am getting a bit too old and squeamish for gore, and 2) that moment when the camera drops through the floor (!!). Another movie that’s “pure gold when it comes to the art of moving cameras around moving bodies doing cool things”: Ninja.
Point Break
Point Break. So damn good. Sensual west-coast crime cat-and-mouse rivalry a la Heat. I need to move to L.A.. I don’t know what it was, but that lawnmower scene had the most viscerally tense squirmy moments of anything I’ve seen since, maybe Compliance? I also liked Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker, and loved Zero Dark Thirty.
Michael Bay – What is Bayhem?. Looks like I’ll be combing through the archives at Every Frame a Painting soon.
(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)
Optimism is often dismissed as false hope. But there is also false hopelessness.
The Crying Game
The Crying Game. I think contemporary eyes will guess The Big Twist like I did, and it doesn’t matter because the story and characters are good enough to keep you hooked. Strange turns and odd narrative devices abound.
The Firm
The Firm. Better than I remember! I like that the early parts stay upbeat while maintaining the foreshadowing. You can be ominous without being dark. Good momentum through the whole thing. An even better Sydney Pollack film is Three Days of the Condor.
I particularly hate that phrase about women “wanting to have it all.” Because that’s not about women, it’s about humans. The humans want to have it all! Blame the fucking humans who situated themselves halfway between the beasts and the gods and then discovered it was an uneasy place to be.
“Forgive@h3r”
Write Flight: When White Hoops Writers Run Away from White Players
Most journalists have gotten over using the archaic terms of past generations. Every once in a while that coded language will flare up again (as it did during Jeremy Lin’s emergence a couple of years ago, and when Richard Sherman went off a couple of months ago) but for the most part we know better. We don’t connect ability to chromosomal sequences anymore. Well, except for white basketball players.
Not looking for pity for the white man here, but it’s something I’ve noticed, too. Thoughtful writing on race, sports journalism, and lazy thinking.
Write Flight: When White Hoops Writers Run Away from White Players
I Know Times Are Changing
If you don’t want to read Anil Dash geeking out about Prince for 3600+ words, then I just don’t know what I can do for you.
War of the Worlds (2005)
War of the Worlds (2005). I love the opening hour or so. I think the big weakness is that the aliens are kinda boring. I like their throwback design and effects, but something is missing there. The basement scene also drags on waaaaaayyy too long. Spielberg is still a genius, though.
Duplex
I read Kathryn Davis’ Duplex, but I didn’t finish. There’s some neat stuff in here – robots! sorcerers! – but the writing was a bit opaque for me this go-round. Readers with a bit more patience who are willing to re-read will probably be rewarded. (More recent reading.)
Martha Marcy May Marlene
Martha Marcy May Marlene. I loved it the first time I saw it. Now I’m even more convinced that it’s pretty special. We have the privilege of seeing all sides, and how hard it is for each to understand the other. Another awesome movie that explores the gap between what one person feels and what others experience is Take Shelter, which has been on my re-watch for way too long. Watch that one, and this one.
Watchmen
Watchmen. I don’t know why I do this to myself.
Hide Your Smiling Faces
Hide Your Smiling Faces. Two brothers wrestle with death in their midst. Not amazing, but not bad at all. They found some ridiculously great locations, and I appreciate the emotional modesty. If you’re looking for other movies starring two adolescent boys growing up before your eyes, I recommend The Return and highly recommend Mud.
Sound of My Voice
Sound of My Voice. Two idealistic journalists join a cult to expose it from the inside. Hijinks ensue. This one was alright, but it makes me curious to see The East, as this seems to be something of a first draft or starter’s kit for the ideas developed in that bigger feature. Brit Marling also does good work in Another Earth and the very excellent Arbitrage.
The Joy of Typing
When you can type quickly, there’s a joy to the iterative quality of writing. You start bashing out a sentence, then realize about half-way through that it’s not quite what you want — the phrasing or ideas are “off”, clichéd, flat, barbaric. So you instantly delete all but the first few words and rewrite, zipping back and forth and trying out various microexperiments in phrasing and conception. This is delightful and fun, and pretty much impossible if you can’t type fluidly.
Proponents of handwriting tend to romanticize the physicality of the pencil and paper, while failing to appreciate the rich physical and kinesthetic joys of the keyboard.
Good to see this argument for both/and rather than either/or.
The Obstacle Is the Way
I read Ryan Holiday’s The Obstacle Is the Way, at least to the point that I realized it’d be better to peck at it here and there, else the pile-on of stories and reminders would become tedious just chugging straight through. If you’ve been paying attention to Holiday’s must-subscribe reading newsletters, you’ll see many of those works and people and themes resurface here. I’ll keep it nearby to knock off a few more chapters as needed.
Mark Larson 