Big Hero 6. It’s good, at times genius, but it’s a mixed experience. I am most disappointed (ugh, so deeply disappointed) that the most fun gimmick in the movie – that there’s this lovable squooshy vinyl robot – is soon wrapped up in armor that disguises what makes him interesting. There are a few great gags that come out of his body and presence. Shame to waste opportunities for more. (I still don’t know anything about the comic books that this movie is working from, by the way. Not sure how it compares.) I also like the parts where the movie was self-consciously “filmed” in big-budget action movie sort of style. I suppose I should also admit that I fell asleep for a few minutes.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. Eeehhhhhhhh. Too many of these people have too many skills, so it all feels overstuffed and much less tense than how I remember the Baldwin/Ford movies. I did enjoy seeing the covert meetings in barren movie theaters, emptied office buildings at night, and lonely forest roads. Some pretty solid Nokia product placement. If I see one more movie where a (heavy finger quotes) “trained assassin” doesn’t know his bullet count… One of my notes while watching this movie:

intense typing

When it comes to rebooted properties featuring Chris Pine, this one ranks behind the first and second Star Trek movies.

austinkleon:

“READ A FUCKING BOOK” hacked LED street sign in downtown LA

According to the Paris Review, “Indie booksellers are reporting a noticeable uptick in sales.”

I obviously approve this message.

In a World…. Loved it (again). It’s so nice to see a movie with such… complete characters. Driven, charming, obnoxious, lovable, self-defeating. All of it. And such a good momentum through the whole thing ‘til it smashes right through the glass ceiling. Very much recommended.

Hard Eight. Philip Baker Hall is awesome, and so is John C. Reilly. Love how Reilly becomes a poor imitation of the expert. I love the moments of still life, coffee and pie and cigarettes and such. I felt a bit let down by the reveal. I guess you’d have to steer the climax a bit differently without it, but I didn’t really need a reason for how the story opened. I was totally on board with this strange characters. I think The Master is my favorite of Paul Thomas Anderson’s, then probably this one and then There Will Be Blood and then Magnolia? Hard to say. They’re all pretty solid.

slaughterhouse90210:

“Nothing has topped the way men shake her hand and look her in the eye, what it’s like to be able to call a man a chickenshit to his face and get away with it, to mean it, to feel free and dominant and in control of your life.”
—Megan Mayhew Bergman, Almost Famous Women