A random smattering of films:

The Woman in the Window (1944) - A college professor accidentally kills someone, then ineptly attempts to cover it up. Decent film noir let down by a cop-out ending. Arguably the ending tries to make a point about men going through a mid-life crisis, however a better director and script could have done the same without so badly compromising the film.

Darjeeling Limited - A lesser Wes Anderson effort. Genial but aimless. There wasn't much of a personality difference between the three brothers. Sometimes Anderson is too wry for his own good.

Little Foxes (1941) - Bette Davis and her nasty brothers are desperate for money, and won't let little things like law, ethics or family stand in the way. A stage adaption that manages not to be too stagey. Only Bette Davis film I've seen and it's clear why she was such a star. Impressive that she insisted on make-up that aged her despite everyone's objections, and while acting in a period where actresses were expected to always be glamorous.

I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore - Really good, unusual thriller. The humour stops it from ever being too edgy or upsetting despite some gory violence. Melanie Lynskey and Elijah Wood are an odd pairing that works.

Upgrade - Some films may have taken a more philosophical approach to this story of an AI that restores the use of a man's legs. This movie though is a revenge action flick which could have come from a sci-fi short story anthology. Good enough fun for relatively low-budget fare.

If the Searching for Bobby Fischer story interests you I recommend a book by the main character’s inspiration Josh Waitzkin. It’s called the Art of Learning. His Dad wrote a separate book that inspired the movie.

Josh was exceptional at chess but in his early 20s pivots to Tai Chi and wins the world championships. It’s half biography, half philosophy / self help. He’s an interesting cat.

I suspect this is an unpopular opinion but Boogie Nights seemed pretty overrated. Very loose plot that meanders for the first half. It picks up but it still felt kinda pointless. I don’t think I’ll ever like Wahlberg (except for I Heart Huckabees!). Burt Reynolds and Cheadle were the best parts.

Honey Boy was excellent and sad. Always had a soft spot for Shia: dude can act and he clearly was dealt a rough family. Shia plays his own abusive Dad and the kid who plays Shia is real good. Excellent exploration of how the limitations of a parent can become the shortcomings of a child. I’m happy he got to make this - it must’ve been cathartic. Troubling that Shias ex gf and co-star FKA Twigs is now accusing him of abuse. The cycle continues.

Very loose, meandering, pointless: the 1970s.

and 'truish'...

while it may seem like a far away land telling a far away fantasy, the main take away from those of us that were around in that time is... the movie doesn't even come close to reality.

Watched Fischer & Akeelah to build student ELA assignments.

Have read internet material on Waitzkin. A task option will be to research & share (writing, video, slides, etc.) regarding Waitzkin's backstory.

Did a bit of reading on the other chess players from the movie. Fascinating bunch, to say the least.

Thanks for mentioning the book.

Nice! That’s a cool rabbit hole to go down. Waitzkin is also on the Tim Ferris podcast several times if you can’t get enough.

Got around to watching Sound of Metal" on Amazon and thought it was great, Riz Ahmed is fantastic and deserves a ton of accolades for his performance, felt like the movie dealt with disability/ handicap in a non-condescending way and isn't hokey like most of these types of movies but still managed to be powerful/emotional which is tough to pull off.

I can remember seeing Fred Waitzkin and Josh at several chess tournaments during the early to mid 90s. I think the book was known but the movie hadn't been made yet, not 100% on that. Anyway they were both super-nice to everyone they interacted with, made a big impression on me how classy both were.

Thanks for the reply. That's an anecdote that students will benefit from; serves as reinforcement for character portrayal in the film.

Went down the Waitzkin rabbit hole, thanks for the lead. I’ll probably read his book about learning, seems like a good idea.

Incredibly impressive he got himself a bbj black belt on top of everything else, that alone takes a level of dedication that most people never reach in anything

Watched 1917 last night. It was well done but kinda meh and kinda boring. The scramble to the front lines to call off the attack reminded me a lot of the movie Galipoli. WWI are just depressing subject as that war was such a brutal meat grinder. Even as dark and depressing as this one was it seemed like a comedy compared to Galipoli. That movie was brutal! WWI is a tough subject for film. Paths of Glory is probably the best (Warhorse kinda sucked) but all of them are so bleak I don't really have any interest in the subject since is guaranteed to be depressing.

Bleak is good...

Yes and no. I just have no real interest in guys running through "no man's land" directly into machine gun fire.

indeed... and yet wars for generations were contested in this manner, and not because modern man happens to be smarter does this seem bizarre.

if the story was merely a never ending menagerie of gratuitous gore, that would be truly boring. but when a senseless death is supported by the history of character building and back story, then we have tragedy.

It is now 2021 and Jonah will be 46 this year. (If anyone gets that film reference, congratulations.)

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How old is the whale?

i liked maruders on netflix. action and crime and kept it going on line throughout without the usual boring parts as fillers.

I'm not sure this is true. I think WWI was an early indicator that mankind was learning to mechanize his ineptitude. The stupidity of it, from the diplomacy to the military strategies, was breathtaking.

Paths of Glory is bleak, and it's one of the great anti-war films. A few years ago I read an article in which the author claimed most so-called anti-war films glorify war. I tend to agree.

Another great anti-war film is The Burmese Harp. Unforgettable.

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It may also interest you to know that the main antagonist from the book/movie ended up in the poker world with two EPT final tables.

https://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/pla...p?a=r&n=116914

My wife and I were debating whether to rent out a local movie theater and go see it on NYE or just watch it at home on the small screen. We ultimately decided to stay home and watched it early last night. I should say started to watch it last night because neither one of us could make it through to the end even though we both thoroughly enjoyed the first one.

What a complete and utter disappointment. Given how much we enjoyed the first one, we kept giving it the benefit of the doubt and hoping that it would get better as it went along; but alas, that was not the case. We made it almost to the two-hour mark before finally giving up on it.

The beyond chess lives of Sarwer & Waitzkin are worthy research activities.

Sarwer was actually two years younger than Waitzkin &


It seems that both prodigies have become functioning adults - much to be said of such an accomplishment.

I agree... Burmese Harp is absolutely Magnificent. so much so, the director actually made the film more than once. the original in 1956 and again in 1985.

another point of interest is some of the score is taken from Godzilla... Ifukbes very tragic music.

Watched Harold and Maude last night. First saw it when I was Harold. Now that I'm closer to Maude, I liked it much more.

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