Locke. I really liked this movie. Two things it reminded me of: Arbitrage, because he’s in a really crappy position and he’s trying to make do. And Bronson, because it’s Tom Hardy putting on a one-man show and just nailing it. About 99% of it is watching him on phone calls while he’s driving. I love it when movies play with constraints like this. So good.
Imaginary Book #2
A spread from my forthcoming imaginary book, Steering into the Skid, which examines automobility and interiority in filmic (anti)heroism. Delon in Le Samourai. Bacon in Footloose. Gosling in Drive. De Niro in Taxi Driver.
The Strange Tale of the North Pond Hermit
“With no audience, no one to perform for, I was just there. There was no need to define myself; I became irrelevant.”
Note to self: awesome photos that I find online can be printed
Note to self: awesome photos that I find online can be printed. I think I’m going to print and frame up my #trainstagram collection, too, now that I’m up to a dozen or so.
Don’t focus too much on this idea about your influences
Don’t focus too much on this idea that your influences will be similar to people whose films you admire. In fact, it’s really the opposite: You like people who are doing something completely different, and it’s very relaxing to you because they’re dealing with all kinds of problems you don’t have to deal with.
Whit Stillman. Filed under: Whit Stillman, influence.
A Most Wanted Man
A Most Wanted Man. No one I saw it with agreed with me, but I thought it was really good. Has a similar feel to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: cold, deliberate. This isn’t the sexy/sneaky side of spying. This is conversation, paperwork, negotiation, management. Every now and then you get to use a hidden camera. The only other Anton Corbijn film I’ve seen is The American, and it’s great.
Guardians of the Galaxy
Guardians of the Galaxy. It’s good. Nice to see superhero movies trying to be a bit more lighthearted and funny. Too bad the villains and the climax are so lame. I’d still put the Captain America movies at the top of my Marvel rankings, but this is close behind.
A Decade Later, Whither the Metrosexual
The men’s care industry killed metrosexuality by co-opting metrosexuals’ grooming habits and repackaging them as masculine and paternal. Same goes for the renaissance of old-school men’s shops, where conditioning skin and softening hair is neither “metro” nor “narcissistic,” but “classic,” and “quality.”
Against “Against [X]” - The New Yorker
“Against [X]” is often not just an effective rhetorical form but also a canny career move: against X as an implicit argument for the polemicist.
The Urban Oil Fields of Los Angeles
The Urban Oil Fields of Los Angeles. Oh my God I love that city.