Stand By Me. Nothing beats exploring the woods with your friends. Especially when your parents are clueless as to your whereabouts. This one is not as good as I remembered. I couldn’t help but compare it with that other Oregon-based tween adventure from a year earlier, The Goonies, and it comes up short. Maybe it just works better for younger eyes and ears, where the foul language is more scandalous and thrilling, and the loving fisticuffs more relatable. I didn’t realize this is where the production company’s name came from.

A Christmas Story. It’s aged very, very well.

Taken 2. I like the flip-flop here, where Neeson has to rely on his daughter for a bit. Love the absurdly nonchalant use of grenades. Neeson is the most nightmarish backseat driver you could ever imagine. Like The Equalizer, he gives the final bad guy a chance to make the right decision, but… people never learn. Not sure what’s up with the images here, like how the colors were pushed and processed into these weird greenish-yellow skin tones. Tick of the Clock is one of the best things to happen to action movies (Cf.). More of the same ain’t bad, but Taken is better.

Dark City. Not going to complain about Lizabeth Scott (I only put this one my list because of Pitfall), but there’s not a lot of compelling stuff here. Good job easing into the pivotal scene though. Watch the other completely unrelated 1998 Dark City instead.

Meek’s Cutoff. The opening scene has the cast fording a waist-deep river – rushing water taking over the soundtrack – and you sense that’s about as good as it’s gonna get for a while. I love the contrast between the hot bright sunny bleached-out days, and the nights where you can see absolutely nothing but what fire’s light touches. And the square frame makes things feel a bit more fraught somehow. Over and over we see women hanging back while men deliberate their course. (Often with men in long shot, conversations barely audible, while the women get the close-ups and mediums.) And look where it gets them. By the end, it’s time to try something new. Fingers crossed. Kelly Reichardt’s movies Night Moves and Old Joy are also really good. Wendy & Lucy is still on my list.

I read John McPhee’s book A Sense of Where You Are. Short and sweet. Good line:

When he wastes time, he wastes it hurriedly rather than at leisure.

I wish McPhee would write about sports more often. Levels of the Game was also really good. Filed under: John McPhee.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Pretty to look at (reminded me of how I felt about Iron Man 2). Seemed like Tatum was a little bored?

The Fifth Element. Just delightful. Even when it’s not always working, it’s refreshing to see them go all-out.