Miscellaneous Movie Moments XCVI (September & October 2023)

August is traditionally the "we don't know where else to open these movies" dumping ground of studios, and November is the "last chance to get in the big awards nomination window" timeslot, so September and October are generally pretty chill. (Except for horror movies, but I do not watch horror movies, so.) I found myself a good batch to watch, though!

Showing Up | Bottoms | The In-Laws | A Haunting in Venice | The Creator | Dumb Money | Killers of the Flower Moon

Miscellaneous Movie Moments XCV (August 2023)

That's right, it's BARBENHEIMER time. Here are my quick reactions to the…*counts*...twelve films I watched in August.

Haunted Mansion (2023) | Spy Kids | Oppenheimer | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem | How to Blow Up a Pipeline | Blue Beetle | The Last Voyage of the Demeter | Meg 2: The Trench | Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story | Golda

Miscellaneous Movie Moments XCIII (May & June 2023)

I love summer movie season. I love living ten minutes away from a movie theatre. What a time to be alive!

The Hating Game | Big George Foreman | Love Again | The Green Knight | Five Easy Pieces | Fast X | Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse | You Hurt My Feelings | The Flash | Transformers: Rise of the Beasts | The Little Mermaid (2023) | Elemental | Asteroid City | No Hard Feelings | Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Miscellaneous Movie Moments XC (March 2023, Part Two)

Now that Oscar season is over, I felt it was time to go on an action movie spree! Also, my Spring break started. We've got five delightful (to me) films that are nonstop violence, LET'S GO.

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves | Creed III | 65 | Shazam! Fury of the Gods | John Wick: Chapter 4

Could You Repeat That? CXCIV

The Grace of Kings, Ken Liu
"I refuse to believe in the futility of change, because I have seen how the lowly dandelion, with time and patience, can crack the strongest paving stone."

The Chosen and the Beautiful, Nghi Vo
Nick laughed, and I wondered if that was what love was, making someone forget the pain that gnawed at them and would not stop.



The Silvered Serpent, Roshani Chokshi
Before Enrique could start talking about the mythological significance of eggs, Tristan had loudly asked: "What came first, the chicken or the egg?"
Zofia was the first to answer: "Scientifically speaking, the rooster."

The Bronzed Beasts, Roshani Chokshi
"What do you think you're doing?" hissed Eva, under her breath.
Severin raised an eyebrow. "I assume 'watching and waiting with bated breath for my apotheosis' is not the answer you're looking for."

A Rogue of One's Own, Evie Dunmore
"Society is dumber but stronger than you," he murmured. "Be devious. Be subtle. If you can."

Movie Moments LXXVII: Wes Anderson Edition

Happy Christmas, Jeff and Stacey! I hope you enjoy my enduring resentment reluctant admiration! Or whatever.

Previously, from the Oeuvre
Seen:
The Royal Tenenbaums, The Grand Budapest Hotel

Not Seen:
Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr Fox, Moonrise Kingdom, Isle of Dogs, The French Dispatch

What's the Deal
Look, I recognize Anderson's a wizard at framing a tableau, but there's only so much twee that I can take, ESPECIALLY if it's all White people, all the time. There's enough out there for me to watch, obvs, that it's easy enough to rule out a whole pool of films that I know are Not For Me.

That said, knowing this antipathy, Jeff gave me all of Anderson's films on DVD for my birthday once. I trust he enjoyed the entirety of the Fast and Furious movies I gave him in response. So yeah, I have all these movies already, so I GUESS I will watch. (Though I confess I have streamed them here, for ease of use--I pause more readily when I stream, and I don't when I watch on discs. Go fig.)

Miscellaneous Movie Moments LXXIII (November 2021)

Free Guy, 02 November 2021, Blu-ray via Redbox
I wonder what it would have been like to watch this movie without knowing its central conceit: That is, Ryan Reynolds plays an NPC in an FPS named Free City and, one day, he becomes aware.

Movie Moments LXVIII : Harley Quinn Edition (August 2021)

There's a new DCEU movie, so it seems like an homage to Harley is in order. (I originally reviewed the first Suicide Squad and Birds of Prey in my DCEU marathon.) But I have loved Harley ever since she emerged in Batman: The Animated Series. How much? I legit used "Harlequinade" for analysis in my classes a few years later.

Movie Moments XXXII: June 2020 (Ocean’s edition)

After many, many franchises all about SAVING THE WORLD, this was an excellent palate cleanser. (Weirdly, I have an intense aversion to casinos, but swanky rich people casinos in movies still fascinate. They carved all the sadness out.)

Anyway, I love heist movies so much. It’s like an urban fantasy about hyper-competent people when they get a little too bored. Or a spy movie, but without any oboes or regret.

Movie Moments II

Twenty movies for this month! Plus the Oscar-nominated Live Action and Animated Short Films, which I’ve treated as two movie-length things. This was...a lot. More than the number of movies I watched in 2016, in fact. I’m really glad I did it, but it was pretty time-consuming. Depending on how things are going next year, I might once again try watching all the Oscar nominees--while there were a couple of clunkers (to my taste), I mostly enjoyed all the movies I saw, even though most of them were outside my viewing wheelhouse.

Hail Caesar! 03 February 2017, DVD via RedBox
I'm fairly certain this movie was written at an after-hours party, post-SAG Awards, when someone passed a hat around and asked everyone to toss in who they’d be in a silent murder mystery set on the Titanic. Also, why doesn't every movie have a dance interlude with Channing Tatum? Also, as a former theatre tech, every little glimpse of crafting was a shot of pure magic into my heart. Also, “would that it were so simple” is a masterpiece.

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, 04 February 2017, DVD via RedBox
I will just always enjoy a Tom Cruise action movie. I rented this without even knowing Cobie Smulders and Aldis Hodge were co-stars! Had I paid more attention, I totally would have seen this in the theatre. Also, one sequence shows five other actors trying to keep pace with Tom Cruise as he runs, which was both hilarious and delightful. ALSO, they went back, like, four times, so that title was clearly some false advertising.

Kubo and the Two Strings, 05 February 2017, streamed via Amazon
I was wide-eyed with wonder at the first twenty minutes of Kubo, and I cried through the last twenty minutes. It's a gorgeous movie, and a lovely meditation about the power of memory and storytelling. Also, I would watch an entire series about the adventures of Monkey and Beetle.

Suicide Squad, 05 February 2017, Blu-ray via RedBox
“Stay evil, dollface.”
So as far as I can tell, 50% of the budget was music licensing, and the other half was actors' salaries. No money left for script doctoring, I guess? Because, just as I thought with Dawn of Justice, they’ve got a killer cast (Will Smith and Margot Robbie and Viola Davis, y’all, come on), the heft of DC’s story-making history, and a spectacular tech crew. Between those three things, this movie should have been a complete cakewalk with extra cake--good actors and good tech crew mostly can't stop themselves from digging in--but instead we got...this. What the hell is this? Also, they’re sort of ridic to combat metahuman aggression: only Diablo and (arguably) Croc have actual powers, and the rest of them just have a lot of experience in mayhem. Come on, Waller. You can do better.

The Lobster, 06 February 2017, Blu-ray via RedBox
This feels very much like a Wes Anderson version of Animal Farm crossed with a BBC production of Children of Men. It’s quirky, but (intentionally) incredibly disturbing. By the time the third act rolled around, I was ready to declare I was being held hostage by the friggin’ DVD. I ended up cleaning the kitchen and paying my bills during the last forty minutes, and I still want to take a sledgehammer to the cello that WOULD NOT STOP ARGH.

Florence Foster Jenkins, 07 February 2017, Blu-ray via RedBox
So, on one hand, I’m like, hey! A mostly whimsical movie starring three way-beyond-competent actors that can make a meal out of the slightest hint of inner conflict! And in a script that juggles about the tensions of patronage and sycophantry, and the tug between honest critique and not being a dick to folks who are trying their best. On the other hand, seriously, we don’t need to nominate Meryl Streep EVERY year; she could have done this role in her sleep, and for all I can tell, she did.

Sully, 09 February 2017, DVD via RedBox
I mean, it's difficult to dislike a Tom Hanks movie, so this was fine. And the movie does well to harness the heft of the unshakeable goodwill Hanks has garnered over the years. I also really dig the way the movie slingshots around to different viewpoints and times and what-ifs. It's about 23% too showy and 96% too predictable, but I enjoyed the narrative web.

Captain Fantastic, 11 February 2017, DVD via RedBox
NGL, Captain Fantastic is pretty much how I imagine Viggo Mortensen parenting IRL. Early-ish in the movie, one of the teenagers muses on how she feels reading Lolita: sympathetic, appalled, confused. That's sort of how I feel about this really frickin’ weird movie.

The Jungle Book (2016), 12 February 2017, Blu-ray

1. I know nothing about the ecology of South Asia.
2. Opposable thumbs are AWESOME.
3. I was going to say the kid in this is just an okay actor, and then I remembered he’s acting entirely with CGI characters, so I’m upgrading him to very good.
4. They folded in bits from The Lion King, which I think worked out relatively well.
5. “Do you have a language?” And that's possibly the most provocative part of the movie, if we want to be real about things.

20th Century Women, 13 February 2017, Fleur Cinema
This is yet another movie about somewhat affluent white Californians learning how to cope with dissatisfaction, but it actually feels like they’re saying something different, and interesting. The titular triad played by Annette Bening, Greta Gerwig, and Elle Fanning are prickly, luminous, frustrating, and complex. The two male characters (played by Billy Crudup and...a talented young man whose name I don’t remember) are more perplexed than complex at times, but their relationships with the three women beautifully illustrate how gender roles are often constructed in reaction. I struggled with the movie for the first twenty minutes, and then realized halfway through that I loved it. Plus, one conversation around a crowded dining room table is possibly the most transcendent bit of comedy I’ve watched so far this year.

Life, Animated, 14 February 2017, streamed via Amazon Prime
I'm not much of a documentary watcher, really, so I can't comment on this in relation to the genre. That said, the Disney bit is a nice hook--some feel-good marketing made the liberal sprinkling of clips and music possible, despite one guy sheepishly considering “Disney porn” as a way to broach The Talk. And there are a couple of beautiful sequences that illustrate the subject’s own inner world where he’s joined by and protects a number of sidekicks from Disney movies. The examination of a family with a member on the autism spectrum is as touching and verklempting as I imagine it's designed to be.

13th, 15 February 2017, streamed via Netflix
I read The New Jim Crow three years ago, and heard the author, Michelle Alexander, speak a few months after that. So I wasn't shocked by the subject of this documentary, but my anger level was about the same. I hope, this being easily accessible and relatively easy to work through, that more folks will talk about this. Slavery didn't end.

A Man Called Ove, 16 February 2017, streamed via Amazon
For the first bit of this, I thought we were in for a dark comedy of an angry old man learning to let joy into his life again through the insistence of a spikily optimistic young neighbor, and it is, yeah, that (and how wonderful is Parvaneh?), but also about a dude so beholden to lawful good that he can't manage to die. Also, I kind of want to just stare at Ida Engvoll's face forever.

I Am Not Your Negro, 18 February 2017, Fleur Cinema
I Am Not Your Negro is amazingly and painfully good. And heartbreakingly necessary. I’ve read only a small bit of James Baldwin’s work, but I need to make it a priority. The authorial voice is taken from an unfinished book Baldwin began on the assassinations of three of his friends, civil rights icons Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr., but the director folds in some of Baldwin’s speeches and media appearances, and cleverly laces in clips from movies and news media that either demonstrate or highlight the absurdities and incivilities that Baldwin faced, and with which we continue to grapple.

Deepwater Horizon, 19 February 2017, DVD via Netflix
I am embarrassed to admit I didn’t remember how, exactly, this event unfolded. I realized this about twenty minutes in, when the protagonist’s daughter MacGyvered a demonstration of how the ship worked using a shaken can of soda, a metal straw, and globs of honey to hold back what she adorably labeled “the angry dinosaurs. I quickly looked up “Deepwater Horizon blowout” on Wikipedia page, but as I found with Sully, knowing what happened didn’t in any way alleviate the tension of watching the movie. I flinched every time we got an SFX shot of the rumbling beneath the ocean, and winced at every metal clang and ping. For a short time, I felt that having a clear villain in the BP execs was a bit too narratively convenient, but then realized that, yes, there would have been at least one guy who made that final call to proceed without appropriate safety checks. (Two of them, in fact, were indicted for manslaughter, but it seems like that case sort of went away.) This is a solid movie, and well-sold by the slew of solid character actors (and Mark Wahlberg and Gina Rodriguez) who made up the cast.

Moonlight, 20 February 2017, Century 20 at Jordan Creek
Holy crap, this movie is beautiful. Moonlight is just as good as everyone says it is. I constantly marveled at its use of silence and light, and the actors are thrilling with silence, too. I can also see why it's treated like the antithesis of La La Land. Both movies are crafted perfectly, but La La Land highlights its artifice, while Moonlight emphasizes verisimilitude. (Or, if I can be a theatre geek: La La Land is for the proscenium, and Moonlight is in the round.) But I’d give the edge to “Moonlight.”

Manchester by the Sea, 25 February 2017, Century 20 at Jordan Creek
Yet another movie where I cried through the last twenty minutes. I thought this was extraordinary. (And surprisingly funny.) What happens to us after tragedy hits? How are we changed? Because, as one character puts it, our heart will always remain broken. And yeah, maybe sometimes we learn to take moments of small joy, but the pain will still live beside us.

Also, if anyone's interested in seeing pretty humane deconstructions of modern American masculinity, I highly recommend watching Moonlight and Manchester by the Sea back to back.

The Red Turtle, 25 February 2017, Fleur Cinema
This is such a weird and beautiful movie. I have no idea what to say about it. There was no spoken dialogue at all--a couple of times, a character shouted, “Hey,” but most of the vocalizations weren’t verbal. It’s magic realism.

Oscar Short Film Nominees: Live Action, 25 February 2016, Century 20 at Jordan Creek

• Sing: This one is slight and adorable, until it gets really terrifying in an existential way. It’s a beautiful demonstration of young friendship and solidarity.
• Silent Nights: This felt like a full-length movie smushed into 30-odd minutes. I like the way it addresses issues of immigration and racism on multiple levels, all while charming us with a complex love (?) story.
• Timecode: If this isn’t what parking garage attendants don’t do during their quiet time, I will be vastly disappointed.
• Enemies Within: I’m torn on this one. It’s super-topical (a Muslim man of Algerian descent being grilled as he applies for French citizenship), and certainly tense, but it also felt the most like a student project. I can’t decide if it’s the static location, or the simplicity of its message. It’s certain worth watching, though.
• The Woman and the TGV: SO WHIMSICAL. Almost too whimsical, but the focal character was lovely, and I have a soft spot for small Swiss towns, I suppose.

After the live-action films were done (most were about 30 minutes, though Timecode was only about fifteen), a screen for intermission popped up, which is when, I kid you not, every person in the theatre asked aloud, “How long is this supposed to be?”

Oscar Short Film Nominees: Animation, 25 February 2017, Century 20 at Jordan Creek
To bulk up this half of the showing--most of these films were less than ten minutes--they included a handful of not-nominees-but-almost, which was kind of fun.

• Borrowed Time: This was simple, and only seven minutes--an older man, revisiting the spot where his father (?) died, during a breakneck chase. I sort of quibble with the details (would that object still be lying there, unburied by dirt, after decades), but it packed a wallop.
• Pearl: An adorable movie, and fairly short, but the style of animation made me feel like we were just watching an overlong commercial for the latest Apple product.
• Piper: Pixar gonna Pixar.
• Blind Vaysha: I loved the style of this, as it took its cue from the originating folktale and looked like a bunch of woodcuts brought to Van Gogh-style life.
• Asteria: A super-silly showdown between humans and aliens trying to claim a planet for their own. It felt like CGI-enhanced scene from Futurama, honestly.
• The Head Vanishes: I’m kind of surprised this one didn’t earn an Oscar nom--it’s imaginatively framed, and it feels really nonsense, until the last fifteen seconds whiplash you into the role of the "villain": this is what it’s like to have a parent experiencing dementia.
• Once Upon a Line: I dig the Harold-and-the-Purple-Crayoness of this, though I do sort of side-eye the choice to introduce a romantic subplot with the color pink. Basically, the gendered stereotypes used to depict the formation and dissolution of the relationship were kind of annoying, but the film overall was cute and clever.
• Pear Cider and Cigarettes: This was the final film, thirty minutes long, and preceded by TWO warnings that content wasn’t appropriate for children. And nope, it was not at all. Telling the story of a man’s friendship with a reckless buddy whose addictions got the better of him, the film played like noir and leaned into the aesthetic, as well. It was morbidly funny and gloomy, and yeah, women were not people so much as objects, because noir.

Fences, 26 February 2017, Century 20 at Jordan Creek
Fences is the least showy of the Oscar nominees this year, but the audience gasped more during this showing than all the rest combined. Theatre geek that I am, I’ll always have a soft spot for stage written into screen, and I was absolutely impressed with how well it translated. Denzel Washington and Viola Davis won Tonys for their performances in these roles, and they were just as mesmerizing on the screen. (Stage acting requires a very, very different skillset than acting for the camera. Not everybody is able to do both.) I loved the complexity of the ending, where nobody could really articulate the feelings they were experiencing. And oof, that last shot, after the trumpet blared. Killer.

Lion, 26 February 2017, Century 20 at Jordan Creek
I can’t imagine being a parent and watching this movie. I’d go into full-on panic, I think. It starts out so adorably, with Saroo and Guddu--certainly they’re poor and scrambling, but there’s so much joy in their interactions, too. Saroo showing his brother that he can TOTALLY lift stuff? Ugh, my heart. So then, of course, we descend into the first half of the movie in which Saroo escapes multiple horrifying situations because he is surprisingly canny for his age. UGH, MY HEART. The second half, with Dev Patel and Rooney Mara, was less compelling, mostly because “dude uses Google” is not really a riveting tale. Overall, though, this was lovely.

Fall TV Preview: Thursdays

We're reaching the end of the week, now. Thank goodness season premieres stretch over a month and a half--if all this was happening tonight, I'd keel over with joy and/or exhaustion.

Real-Time Devotion

• Reign (10/02), 9 PM on The CW
  
  This. Show. Is bananas. It is a gorgeous mix of Dawson's Creek and The Borgias, with a smattering of Supernatural, all wrapped up in the Claire's version of Ren Faire attire. The plotting is based more on what feels right rather than historical accuracy, but they commit to it so thoroughly that I almost don't care.
  
  Additionally, the best scenes are of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Catherine de Medici, Queen of France, having a steely Queen-off about how much more each is able to connive and sacrifice in the name of one's country. Also, one of Mary's handmaidens, Grier, is so far more committed to practicality than epic romance, and I love it. Also, NOSTRADAMUS.
  
  
• Elementary (10/30), 10 PM on CBS
  While I am a sucker for any version of Sherlock, because I like competency, I think this one is the best. Leaning heavily on Sherlock-as-addict, this show has blossomed by making him aware of how much he needs Joan's help, and Joan's friendship, in order to be a better human being. He's aware of how his flaws can detract from his humanness. And Joan is a being separate from Sherlock, even as she's aware of how she's learning from him. It's a wonderful, wonderful partnership, and slowly, the edges of that bleed out into the other characters.

Soon After Airing (thanks, internet)

• Scandal (9/25), 9 PM on ABC
  The last season got a little too gory and gonzo at times, but there were a lot of things I liked about the trials of Olivia Pope and company. First, that Olivia's father spoke truth to Awful, Awful Fitz. (While I would have liked it if he wasn't speaking on behalf of his daughter, his utter scorn of Fitz in "A Door Marked Exit" was so epic that I must include it below.) Second, the revelation that Melly is, in her desperation and heartache and hope. Third, the clothes. Always, the clothes.
  
  
  
• NEW: How to Get Away With Murder (9/25), 10 PM on ABC
  This runs along the same lines as Scandal, though it's not Shonda-run. I like Viola Davis, and this will be an intense, fun ride, as far as the previews hint.

I'll Get Around to It

• Bones (9/25), 8 PM on FOX
  It's kind of astonishing, but not, that this show is still running after so many years. As with all quirky procedurals, I love it for the character depth so many years allow. I like the squints. I like that they generate drama not from will-they-won't-they, but from genuine conflicts between loving and long-term committed partners. And I love it because David Boreanaz, against all reason, is growing more attractive as he ages.
  
  
• NEW: Gracepoint (10/02), 9 PM on FOX
  Honestly, this isn't really the kind of show that draws me in, what with the MOODY TONE and the small town with DISTURBING SECRETS. But I like David Tennant, and I get the impression this is a short-season sort of deal. So I might check it out--at least for a couple of episodes.
  
  
• NEW: A to Z (10/02), 9:30 PM on NBC
  The pilot for this, too, has been up on Hulu. It's...way too twee, a lot of the time, but I like all the actors involved. I'm a bit gunshy after the spectacular flameout of How I Met Your Mother, but who knows? This could be okay.

Bookmarking for Future Downtime

• Grey's Anatomy (9/25), 8 PM on ABC
  I stopped watching this...in the third season? Maybe? When Seattle Grace merged with that other hospital, but before that episode where they killed off half the characters. I've heard, however, that Grey's has taken a turn towards awesome again, so I'll have to catch up at some point.
  
  
• The Vampire Diaries (10/02), 8 PM on The CW
  I honestly don't remember why I stopped watching TVD. I really liked all the actors, and I was consistently impressed with how quickly and decisively the plot would move from episode to episode. I ran out of free time, I guess, and didn't love the show so much that I had to keep up. I'm watching the spin-off, though, so I may return to TVD again in the future.

And that's Thursday! It'll keep me busy.

Patriarchy, man.

So this morning I started watching Orange is the New Black and fell immediately in love. It's amazing, y'all. Tom + Lorenzo did a great, gushing recommendation of it (You Need to be Watching "Orange is the New Black"), and I'd especially note this:

But digging down even further, it’s clear to us that the strength of the tale isn’t that it’s universal and isn’t even that it’s women-specific, but that it tells the stories of the types of women who don’t get their stories told in our culture: black women, Hispanic women, fat women, butch women, bi women, old women, immigrant women, uneducated women – and even a trans woman’s story. When the season is done, you will be astonished at the vast range of women you’ve been exposed to and if you reflect on it, will probably be a little depressed that such stories are so rare in our culture.

It is SO GREAT. In any case, at one point, two of the characters mention Mad Men, which catalyzed the following discussion between fellow rhetorician Patrick and myself.

Handsomeness. It's such a burden.
WARNING: Capslock.

ME: DON DRAPER HAVEN'T YOU BROKEN ENOUGH HEARTS

PATRICK: HE IS THE ULTIMATE ANTI HERO OF OUR AGE! EVEN ON OTHER SHOWS!

ME: HE IS THE SIGNIFIER FOR EVERY RELUCTANT CHOICE MADE FOR SELFISH REASONS

PATRICK: SO NOW! SO SIXTIES!

ME: WE ARE ALL ONLY CONSTRAINED BY WHAT WE THINK ARE SOCIETAL BOUNDARIES
WHEN IN FACT WE HAVE VICTIMIZED OURSELVES BY WHOLEHEARTEDLY BUYING INTO THE IMMEDIACY OF ASPIRATIONAL CONSUMERISM

PATRICK: WHAT REDEMPTION DO WE HAVE EXCEPT TO SLOWLY BURN THE WORLD WE'VE CREATED TO THE GROUND WITH THE SAME PRACTICES THAT HAVE BUILT IT? IS IT STRANGELY ETHICAL OR PURE LAZINESS?

ME: OUR RESISTANCE IS EVIDENCE OF OUR COURAGE
EVEN AS WE BENEFIT FROM THE PRIVILEGES THE SYSTEM HAS GRANTED US
WE DOWNPLAY OUR MISERY TO HIGHLIGHT OUR REBELLION

PATRICK: SUCH IS OUR CYCLE OF PUNISHMENT
WE HATE OURSELVES FOR OUR SUCCESS
JUST LIKE DON DRAPER

ME: OUR SUCCESS, WE PRETEND, IS CHEATING THE SYSTEM
BUT IN FACT WE ARE ESSENTIALLY COMPLICIT

PATRICK: AND NECESSARY
IT IS THE SYSTEM

ME: OUR RESENTMENT IS BUILT INTO IT
DON DRAPER WAS ALWAYS ALREADY THE PATRIARCHY

PATRICK: AND THUS THE TROUBLING FASCINATION WITH HIM

ME: WHY DO WE LOVE HIM SO MUCH? BECAUSE HE IS EVERYTHING WE HATE ABOUT OURSELVES

Oh, Don Draper. You are why I stopped watching Mad Men.

MOVIE: The Social Network

The Social Network is an amazing movie about a lot of horrible, horrible people. The screenplay was written by Aaron Sorkin, it was directed by David Fincher, and the music was by Trent Reznor. Perhaps that is all you really need to know about the movie, actually. I, personally, have similar feelings to this movie as I had about Closer: I enjoy it on every level it was made, while still not enjoying it. I think...maybe on my third rewatch I'll be able to laugh through it, but the first rewatch will be all about the writing, and the second rewatch will be all about the juxtapositions. None of these rewatches will be in the theatre, unless I'm pressed by others to see it with them. The cinematography was nice enough that the big screen is worth it, but there's nothing so spectacular that you must see on the big screen. See it in the theatre anyway, because it's really, really good, and honestly, this is the movie everybody's going to talk about until Potterdämmerung strikes once again. Finally: O, Justin Timberlake. Well done.

MOVIE: Inception

HOLY CRAP, Y'ALL. That was awesome. Even Leonardo DiCaprio, who I respect and admire but towards whom I harbor much apathy, did not detract from the awesomeness! Or the creepiness, which I fully expected from Christopher Nolan and all, because that man likes to creep me out a lot? Anyway, great cast, well done! SPOILERS AHOY!

• So when the credits rolled, a woman behind us gasped, "Assholes!" I feel that was an appropriate response, though honestly, you had to see it coming, right? Right?
• I don't think this is a movie that necessarily needs rewatching in order to be more understandable (or explaining EVERYTHING to each other AS THE MOVIE RUNS, jackass couple behind us, UGH), but the detail is insanely impressive.
• Every corner I turn, every doorway I pass by, for the rest of my life Marion Cotillard will be there, waiting. With a gigantic sharp thing in hand.
• I think the movie got two laughs from our audience: "It seemed neater" and "Worth a shot." LOL. Oh, and the "dream a little bigger" bit. Obviously.
• I'm not the only one with post-movie thoughts about Arthur/Ariadne, am I? Am I?
• HOW DID YOU DO THAT, JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT? With the monotone, and the suits? Impressive!
• Seriously, that fight in the hotel in which they just, like, scrambled up the wall and hopped onto the ceiling? I could watch hours of that, for serious.
• Ariadne? Like, I get the reference, but really, Nolan? (Also, my friend and I were trying to figure out how she was supposed to be even better than Cobb with the dream architecture, but was still totally shocked by the shared dreaming.)
• I think the world-building is done well, but I would have liked to see a lot more of it. What is the status of this dream-jumping stuff? Is it totally illegal? Shiftily-legal? Legal but totally abused in France?
• I'll admit, I got a little teary-eyed when Fischer opened the safe and found the pinwheel. AWWWW. Positive emotion for the win! Even when we use it for dubious moral reasons! Which, ha, Saito, you should have led with the "break up energy monopoly" instead of "they are in the way of my profits," probably.
• I liked the tokens. I loved the shared-chants-as-tokens.

Even though I don't feel the need to re-watch it, I kind of want to own the DVD and just revel in the details once in a while.