My father was a very disciplined and punctual man; it was a prerequisite for his creativity…. No matter what time you get out of bed, go for a walk and then work, he’d say, because the demons hate it when you get out of bed, demons hate fresh air.
Kill Bill: Vol. 2. The lesser of the two Bills, I say, because there’s so much more talk-talk-talk. It’s thoughtfully done, but I just like the more action-y first one.
Kill Bill: Vol. 1. The better of the two Bills. Kind of exhausting at times, being submerged in a fanatic’s imagination and obsessions for two hours, but it’s good goofy fun.
La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast). So creepy and strange and fantastical. Props (so to speak) to the set and costume design and clever special effects.
Frozen. Sorry not sorry: that famous song isn’t very good – and especially not in comparison to “In Summer”. Good movie overall, though. The state of animation today just blows my mind.
“James Naismith in 1928, holding a peach basket for his wife, Maude, to make a shot.”
Blessed with 20/20 hindsight, we’re now able to look back on a given era’s “future” and glean some of what was percolating through the collective unconscious.
“Comedy thrives inside a fixed frame. It’s not an essential element, but as with dancing and magic tricks, it’s always more impressive if the viewer can see the performer’s hands and feet at all times. In Sherlock, Jr, Keaton moves the camera when he has to, during all of the movie’s crazy chases. But even then, the motion is limited: Keaton tracks alongside the actors, or he attaches the camera to the front of one of the moving vehicles so that he can keep all the action inside the rectangle.Sherlock, Jr. is at its funniest, though, when the camera stays still, and the characters move in and out, like figures in a side-scrolling platform videogame. Maybe that’s because the fixed frame emphasizes the characters as characters, arriving into the picture exactly when needed for the plot—and sometimes remaining stuck there, like the projectionist, never confident that he can find a way to break out of the box.”
Noel Murray kicks off our Movie Of The Week discussion of the 1924 classic Sherlock, Jr. with an examination of how Buster Keaton’s physical comedy thrived in a fixed environment of boxes and lines. [Read more…]
Buster Keaton insta-reblog rule in effect.
Plus, I wonder whether you’ve actually just talked about it in a non-charged setting and, if you have, why one or both of you isn’t accepting the outcome of that talk as your current reality. “Fighting” is really just a nickname for an attempt to renegotiate what you already know is the truth but don’t want to accept.
Oh, snap. Carolyn Hax bringin’ some real talk.
Carolyn Hax: Weddings bring out the worst in an unmarried couple – The Washington Post
There’s only one viable time management approach left (and even that’s only really an option for the better-off). Step one: identify what seem to be, right now, the most meaningful ways to spend your life. Step two: schedule time for those things. There is no step three.
When scientific experts criticize “Gravity” for failing to display an academic-level understanding of the laws of nature, they are missing the point. Nobody goes to “Gravity” for a physics lesson; they go to be entertained. But there are times when a fact-check of a film can provide necessary context and, especially if the film is based on true events, illuminate not just how a narrative deviates from the truth but why it does. At their best, expert reviews can even illuminate deeper truths, like how reality is an often unintended casualty of pop culture. Since mainstream movies only show us what we want to be true—almost by definition, a film that sells tens of millions of tickets does not challenge any widely-held perspectives—movie fact-checkers can show why a certain film felt the need to diverge from reality to tell a satisfying story.
In Defense of the Expert Review | Balder and Dash | Roger Ebert
The Avengers. The basic plot mechanics are a bit tired, but I am not ashamed to admit how satisfying it is to see the whole gang together after seeing others in the Marvel series. A couple neat camera moments (Cap in the rearview and a POV shot that flips along with the car it’s inside of). Nothing quite like the joy/terror of Hulk being Hulk. I really wish Renner had more to work with.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I had so much fun. Good action movies make you want to do the things you see on screen. Iron Man is fun to watch, but I don’t feel like I want to fly around and shoot beams out of my hands. But this? Yeah, I want to hold up a shield and run through locked doors. The First Avenger is still my favorite of the Marvel movies, but this is a nice elaboration and keeps the good drama/humor balance. Such a great character, becoming more suspicious, more wary of what he’s asked to do.
아저씨 (The Man from Nowhere). Another abduction/rescue movie in the spirit of Taken or Commando, but it plays with the pace quite a bit more. Surprised both by how dark/graphic it was, and by its melodrama (colorful, sunny flashbacks). I like the use of first-person POV in some of the action scenes. Oldboy has some similar driven/relentless/remorseless violence. I also liked Won Bin in Mother.
Michael Clayton. I love this movie. (Previously.) Clooney has the lead role, but Wilkinson (incredible) and Swinton bring in the color and the contrast – each of the three responding to the ongoing toll of their work. Other good slow-burning corporate conspiracy mood movies? Gotta check out Arbitrage and The Conversation.
Mark Larson 
