Internet writers live on Twitter and it greatly distorts their understanding of reality.
As someone who loves Twitter, this can be hard to admit, but ultimately Twitter is an ephemeral online forum that nobody really uses, and our tiny politics subpocket of Twitterdom almost certainly has no effect on anything.
I love these drawings by Delmer Daves for his adaptation of the 1957 3:10 to Yuma. It makes me so happy to see these things sketched out and then see how they really came to life, just like they had in mind.
3:10 to Yuma (2007)
3:10 to Yuma (2007). Well, Russell Crowe is no Glenn Ford, but who is. Loved the original movie, which fleshes out the very short story really well. This movie adds in a bit too much extra material for me, which dissipates the tension. Good, though. Themes of pride, circumstance, honor. Love this line on insurance/forced retirement, basically: “They weren’t paying me to walk away; they were paying me so they could walk away.” Filed under: westerns.
Out of Sight
I read Elmore Leonard’s Out of Sight and it was just what I needed. Fun crime/love caper with great dialogue, always moving to the next thing. Makes me want to watch the movie again.
The Salvation
The Salvation. I feel like Mads Mikkelsen’s face was just begging to be put in a Western. This one sometimes feels like it was assembled from a western-movie kit, but has some really good moments – I particularly like the conversation with the priest in the jail, the parallel funerals, and a silent escape on a train.
The Hunt
Friendship is not a pale imitation of sexual romance. It is a romance unto itself.
The Aviator
The Aviator. I often struggle with biopics, but I liked this one a lot. I like how the film stock and coloring shifts with the passage of time, the recurring hands imagery, and the sympathy we feel as we see this man changing. “Nothing’s clean, Howard. But we do our best.”
Close at Hand
I loved this dive through the history of pockets and gadgets and little daily conveniences we keep with us.
Shutter Island
Shutter Island. Better than I thought it would be. Scorsese takes some simple genre stuff to some good creepy heights.
The first draft is always perfect. perfect. Its only job is to exist.
The Story of Your Life
In telling the story of how you became who you are, and of who you’re on your way to becoming, the story itself becomes a part of who you are.
The best way to “educate yourself,” for most people at most stages in your life, is to make marginal adjustments in your peer group.
The Gift
The Gift. I loved this movie for 90 minutes and then I hated it so much. There are a couple late plot decisions that totally broke the spell. But, credit is for a spell-binding run up to that point. It’s amazing how much tension Edgerton wrings out of thin air. I liked it.
Mission: Impossible 3
Mission: Impossible 3. Better than I remembered. Hoffman is casually one of the most terrifying villains of the past couple decades. It’s a shame that Keri Russell didn’t have a larger role. Current Mission: Impossible rankings:
- Mission: Impossible
- Mission: Impossible 3
- Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
- Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
- Mission: Impossible 2
It seems the rule of thumb here is that the quality of the MI films is inversely proportional to the length of Tom Cruise’s hair.
My new attitude to travel is to skip the iconic – and I thank my father for that
As I grow older, I hope to become more like my father, who caused much amusement by firmly declining a ride by the White House when we went to Washington DC to visit my in-laws. “It’s the White House,” my mother-in-law said to me. “Anyone would want to go.”
Anyone except my father. Over the years of saying no to other people’s adventures, he has retained his triangularity in a world of round pegs with well-rounded to-do lists. He loved what he loved – the bridges of New York, the Halal street food vendors, the ferry to Staten Island – not because they were iconic but because they pierced his indifference.
My new attitude to travel is to skip the iconic – and I thank my father for that
Why patience really is a virtue
When you take a class with the Harvard University art historian Jennifer Roberts, your first task is always to choose a work of art, then go and look at it, wherever it’s displayed, for three full hours.
Diamonds – Kurt Pio. These paintings are awesome.
My creative process begins with: just thinking. I do a lot of thinking, a lot of pondering. I rarely watch films in airplanes; I just sort of sit there, looking at the ceiling. Day dreaming is the equivalent of doodling; it’s mental doodling.
Mark Larson 