le sigh...

I remember reading it 15 years ago and being just blown away. I just saw the movie today and yeah, it was great. But the short story was just beautiful. The movie was great too but the fact that I remember the short story 15 years later after reading it once says a lot. I mean I used to read those Gardner Dozios best SF of whatever year anthologies from cover to cover back then but Story of Your Life is the only one I actually remember. Over the years I still think about it from time to time. The only other short story I really remember in the same way would be like Raymond Carver's one about the parents whose kid dies and the baker keeps calling them about the cake they didn't pick up. A Small Good Thing.

Anyway Ted Chiang is totally legit and more or less legendary in the short SF world. Dude has written like 12 or 15 short stories, novelettes and novellas, won all the SF awards like four times each, gotten them collected in not just SF anthologies but in prestigious legit literary collections. I don't know why he hasn't written more, he's obviously a great talent. He works as a technical writer now. Hopefully the success of Arrival will get him to write more.

Yes, I liked it less than you. Be shocked and appalled.

That's totally ok. It's not ok to say that it's over appreciated.

The Conversation - Great. My interpretation of a bunch of it changed on this second viewing.



Rumble Fish - also by Coppola. Couldn't get into it.

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? - a surprisingly decent psychological thriller given the era. Throwing more fuel onto the real-life feud that is part of the movie's appeal, I'll just say that Bette Davis is awesome in it.

Donnie Darko - Hadn't seen this in ~13 years. My impression of it in the subsequent years (expressed here by me and others) was that it's one of those films that throws a little bit of pseudo-science, time travel, plot confusion, some philosophy, some fun, and some tragic teen drama together in such a way to appeal especially to high school/college viewers and less experienced filmgoers, who think it's the second coming because they've never engaged with anything other than superhero films, Pixar, Harry Potter, and video games.

It was even worse than I expected. Strong influence it would seem from then-recent films like American Beauty and Magnolia, taking mostly surface-level elements and trying to fit them onto something new.

I was hoping it would at least be a little bit fun and interesting and that I would roll my eyes just a bit at its attempts at being heady. But nope, it wasn't even at that level. I was eye-rolling for it to be over.

Prisoners - Solid kidnapping thriller with unexpected and disturbing twists. It mostly lets you off the hook though.

Finally saw Suicide Squad, it was not what I was expecting. I liked it enough but I am glad I didn't spend the money in the theater. I thought the movie was going one direction but takes a left turn, not as crazy of a turn as A Place Beyond The Pines but nothing what I was expecting.

Cold in July 7.5/10


Good twists although Dexter's character personality seems like implausible.

Synecdoche, New York

All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players in Charlie Kaufman’s mind. This is the directorial debut of Kaufman, who if you know this thread well, know that I regard him above almost everyone else when it comes to penning a script. In his previous films, it’s like he was a kid in a candy store, but having his hand held by an adult (the adult in those cases are played by Spike Jones, Michael Gondry, etc…). This time around, he’s sitting in the director’s chair, so he isn’t holding anyone’s hand and is given free range in the candy store of his mind. What comes out is one of the most magical, unique, quirky, exasperating, confusing, and enlightening experiences one can have at the movies.

To discuss the plot is almost entirely unnecessary to talking about this movie. Yes, there is a plot, but in reality, the only plot that Kaufman has in mind is to explore what goes on in a human’s mind throughout their life. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays a director of plays, and decides that he is going to make a play about his life, casting everyone around him to play the parts of everyone around him. For example, he casts Tom Noonan as Hoffman, and therefore has to hire someone to play Tom Noonan playing Hoffman. This leads itself to some interesting situations, like when Tom Noonan has a relationship with Hoffman’s real assistant, while Hoffman has a relationship with the actress playing his assistant. Weird stuff to say the least!

Hoffman’s world is filled with colorful characters, all with their own trials and tribulations. He has a wife and a kid, who split for Europe so the wife can be with her lesbian lover. He has an assistant who lives in a house that’s perpetually on fire. He has an actor who knows Hoffman well because he’s been stalking him from the shadows for 20 years. All of it is strange and wonderful, and not needing any further explanation beyond what is given, because that’s all that Hoffman is given.

The story is really about how we view ourselves, and those around us. We all play an actor in this world. I make believe that I’m a surgeon, and dress the part, and talk people into allowing me to cut them open. I then go home and play a different part, the role of dad, pretending to be a responsible adult and raise my boys correctly. I play other parts as well, but if we’re going to make a play based off of my life, those two actors would get top billing. If you’ve ever heard the phrase ‘fake it til you make it,’ that’s pretty much what we all are doing our entire lives at every moment. This film explores that concept.

Life is chaotic, and never predictable. We all experience loneliness, futility, disappointment, and death. We do what we can to minimize those experiences, but we know that they are waiting for us around the corner. Synecdoche (I had to look it up), refers to using a part of something to represent the whole. For example, using the term “boots” to represent ‘soldiers’. In prior films, we get to know little glimpses of Kaufman. In Adaptation, we get to see Kaufman’s ‘brother,’ who can do things in life that Charlie cannot. In Being John Malkovich, we get to try and escape from our own heads by entering someone else’s. In Eternal Sunshine, we get to explore what it means to regret your own memories, and what it would mean to wipe the slate clean. In Synedcohe, we get a glimpse at the whole man Kaufman. His desires, his regrets, his fears, his depression, his everything, thru his character played by Hoffman. It’s an ambitious film at worst, and a brilliant masterpiece at best. I’m heavily leaning towards the latter.

Don’t Breathe

A solid home invasion movie, where the blind feeble inhabitant may not be so feeble after all. There is some brief backstory into the thieves to begin the movie. The girl is a single mother looking to better her situation and move from Detroit to California. Her boyfriend is a typical thug. The third person is her friend, trying to impress the girl. They break in to the blind man’s house to steal a bunch of cash, and the blind man fights back.

The tension is layered on thick, there are some genuinely frightening moments, and some great set pieces. There's one particular scene where the blind man turns the lights off in the basement to even the playing field that was done with spectacular results.

There are some issues with the movie, such as a not so scary vicious dog that has too big a role in the movie, but overall this is a solid thriller that will give you some nice jump scares.

Burnt

What a waste of a solid cast. Bradley Cooper tries his hardest to be unlikable, and succeeds marvelously in the process. He plays a top chef, who has burned a bunch of bridges along the way with drugs, women, and any other sins that he can get his hands on, and is now been out of the game for a couple of years. He decides that he's gonna make a comeback, and earn a 3 star michelin rating in the process. To do this, he somehow recruits people who absolutely despise him, and that's where the movie starts to make no sense.

I'm all about suspension of disbelief, but it has to make sense in the world that's presented. The fact is, there's no way any of these characters would act the way they did in this movie. The disgruntled sous chef being offered 6 times her current salary being insulted at the thought of having to switch jobs. The other chef who's willing to throw away his job, his reputation, etc..., to sabotage his Cooper for something that happened so many years ago. The rich French guy who gives up his excellent restaurant to be a host at Cooper's unknown restaurant, even though he hates the man. It all just made no sense.

There's some nice scenes of cooking, and some beautifully presented dishes, but the people presenting these dishes are so despicable, that we aren't even hungry while watching the movie. They try and make it so that he either is gonna get 3 stars or 0 stars, so that there could potentially be some tension when the food is getting rated, but in reality, by that point, I really couldn't care less about how many stupid stars this a-hole got.

Jason Bourne

James Bond has virtually the same plot every movie. There's some arch-villain that Bond must kill. He beds a few super hot women and gets to play with awesome toys along the way. We know what we are getting and yet we are entertained no matter how many iterations they make of the movie. The reason it works is we don't have to think too hard about it. Unfortunately, that formula doesn't work as well for the Bourne franchise, because what we like about the Bourne movies beyond the action sequences is uncovering who Jason Bourne truly is. This time, it sure seems like they ran out of ideas.

Minor spoilers ahead while discussing the plot

The story this time is about his father getting assassinated, and how Bourne joined Treadstone in the first place based off of that event. We get some flashbacks along the way where Bourne sees a blurry figure in a car who may be responisble for his father's death. When it's finally revealed who is sitting in that car, the shocked look on my face was the same as when I found out that Titanic was gonna sink during Titanic. It was just so obvious based off of economy of characters.

Ex Machina girl shows up looking not quite as hot, Julia Stiles is back in the mix, bad guy from Ocean's Twelve plays the other super soldier, and Matt Damon of course is Bourne, and not a single one of these characters changes the tone of their voice one single time throughout the movie. The only character who seems to be having any fun is Tommy Lee Jones as the head of Treadstone/IronHand. He camps it up a bit, and seems to thoroughly enjoy playing it bad.

There's a lot of walking and talking with a purpose, then a good action sequence in a Greek riot. Then some more walking and talking with a purpose, then a sweet action sequence in Vegas, and then we get the credits. I could've done without all the walking and talking, the other 20 minutes of the movie was a blast.

here's my review of JASON BOURNE:

aids aids aids aids aids aids aids aids

Holy ****. This is a real book!

and how did you find that out?

In America An Irish family talks their way into the United States (assuming via Canada) to start a new life. As they are literally starting over, they end up in a tenement primarily inhabited by junkies. As the father tries land an acting job the mother and two young daughters learn to adjust to their new surroundings.

As the story unfolds, we learn that the family still hasn't recovered from a devastating family tragedy. They befriend an angry artist who helps them (both directly and indirectly) confront their grief.

This is a second watch for me and I just love this movie. I would think that some might find this a little sappy and eye-rolly, but it felt really strong and heartfelt to me. Would recommend.

Chuck Tingle has something of a cult following on 2+2 -- and the interwebs in general. I don't know why. Started, I believe, as a hoax to play the Hugo Awards Deniers/Sad Puppies.

A Place Beyond The Pines twist was such a WTF moment. Once I realized where the movie was actually going I really enjoyed it though. Good example of a movie best seen knowing nothing about it.

Amazon. 😊

You should do yourself a favor and browse through some of Tingle's titles if you haven't already. Gaygent Brontosaurus: The Butt is Not Enough is actually kind of a middling effort for him. Some of them are hilarious. My favorite is

To live and die in LA was released on BD a couple days ago in a 4k scan.

While the story suffers from age, I still absolutely love west coast based crime stories... of which there are many.

Movie looks good, sound is decent but supplements and narrative alternative track are very thin.

Moonlight is really something, wowza.

It's a quiet, almost plotless movie with an introverted main character following him through three time periods in his life. The three actors do a phenomenal job of expressing themselves in key scenes without speaking. The first and third segments in particular were stellar. The final shot will stick with me.

Similar format to Boyhood, except more purposeful and less contrived. The final act of Moonlight is light years more mature and nuanced than Boyhood's finale. So much is said in the silent moments that a script simply couldn't do justice.

edit: Just watched the trailer (hadn't seen it) and I'd say it is probably better to go in without watching it, shows too much imho.

Who knew there is an apparent market for dinosaur/gay dudes porn books?

Love this movie...it's so bleak and neon and dirty. And the score by Wang Chung is amazing.

i know a guy who publishes weird, weird porn e-books on amazon

he makes a lot, a lot of money

I'm thinking about writing Snape/Hermione erotic fanfic, probably some $$$ in that