Movies (recently seen)

[Vesnic]

wtf, where do you live

Well let's just say it's the kind of place where happening upon a little of the green stuff would be as easy as tripping on the crumbling sidewalks. You're probably right, in the spirit of Tolkien I really should have partaken ahead of time, seeing as he was such a fan himself. But, eh, old age, immigration papers, watching weight, etc., etc.

No new movies for now. Except I saw Shadlowlands lately. That's relevant because it's about C.S. Lewis and he and the Tolkienator were friends apparently. Both were religious, but Lewis wasn't cool enough to be Catholic. Deadly dull movie though. Critics seem to think that Anthony Hopkins poops brilliance, but I've never quite shared this opinion. He was a combination of Hannibal after one too many Sunday School lectures and...and...and a paperweight.

It had its moments though, which I don't remember. Give me a break. It was like a WEEK ago.

[End Master]

Well since Ves is sick here's another art movie suggestion for her to watch while she dies of the plague. (Or not watch and just die of the plague)

Escape From Tomorrow

Basically this was a movie that was filmed in black and white at Disneyland guerrilla style meaning they didn't get permission to film there at all. Given that this is the Disney corporation were talking about everyone thought this movie was going to get seized as soon as it was shown at the Sundance Festival, but Disney seems to have gone the opposite direction and more or less ignored it. Probably a smarter move on their part since it would just call more attention to it and the movie itself more or less tries to avoid specific names like "Disney"' "Mickey Mouse"' and the like.

The film is about a family that is on vacation at Disneyland and the whole time there is some surreal stuff going on like the small world puppet faces suddenly turning evil looking for example.

For the most part the only one that suffers from these delusions the most is the dad who seems to be going through a midlife crisis. His wife is distant, he's keeping a secret that he lost his job and he keeps seeing shit at the park.

To top it off he's stalking these two French jailbait girls throughout a lot of the movie and he runs into some weirder stuff from there like an underground lab, mysterious older woman, warnings about cat flu, etc.

I guess the underlining message was this happy fun place is harboring nasty secrets and at its core it's rotting or something. I dunno, it was going for that David lynch vibe and I never cared for him that much.

Ultimately it's sort of cool to watch once, but I didn't feel the need to see it again.

Still, it was sort of brave to film an entire movie at Disneyland and run the risk of being sued and charged by a million Disney lawyers.

[donteatpoop]

Amelie is currently available on Netflix instant. If you haven't seen this, it's a brilliant french flick that actually makes you feel good... but not in a cheesy feel-good sort of way; more like a genuine spirit-lifting sort of way.

[Locke]

2008 - just saying

I don't know if I mentioned Ink before. One of my favorites. It has a history, since I showed it to a bunch of people I cared about, who subsequently disowned me... I'm sure that has nothing to do with the nostalgia.

One of two or three movies that have moved me in my adult life.

[Vesnic]

2008 - just saying

Yeah seriously! and it was old then too. The poor girl who played Amelie has since moved into a convalescent home and won't be long for this world now, poor dear, not with the advanced gout and arthritic decline.

I recently saw a movie that was pretty bad and not to be recommended and it will not move you, in your adult life or any time of life.

The Lunchbox

This guy works in a dull job, but won't be for much longer since he's been made redundant and has to spend his last days on the job training up his unctuous, obnoxious replacement. Meanwhile, the lunchboxes (which in this part of India seem to be prepared by random women in windows, then wrapped in a cloth and given to a guy with a donkey) are sent to his company, but he receives the wrong one. He eats the amazingly good food prepared by one especially winsome and wistful lady in the window, beginning with her a correspondence through a series of lunchbox letters. He relies on these letters to hold up his shrinking sense of life-i-ness. She relies on them to have someplace to store her tears while she tries not to notice her husband is having an affair.

This seems like a very promising premise, but as it turns out, the letters are deadly dull. The two would-be lovers, or friends, or even casual elevator acquaintances, never seem to develop any feeling or even much sympathy for each other, choosing instead to mildly chastise and reprimand one another, with no small helping of nodding patrimonial smugness for extra flavor. In the midst of so much sweet promise and stairways to nowhere, a side-plot developed and then promptly aborted itself like a sad conjoined fetus. I might be too culturally cloddish, but I think this part of the film had something to do with the main guy assisting his hapless friend to gain approval for his inter-caste marriage. No idea how he pulled that off. Maybe he shared some of the lunchbox with the bride's family.

Then the movie ended. I might have been asleep by that point. Irrfan Khan is a well-known Indian actor, and a good one as far as I can tell, but this story just refused to congeal. I might be turning into a silly white bigot, but I really felt that what the whole thing needed was just a good helping of old-fashioned plot. And, as the working drone guy tsk-tsks in his first letter to his star-crossed correspondent, less salt.

2 of 5 Stars. It would have been one and a half, but the theatre seats were extremely comfy and I was spared two hours in the driving rain.

[End Master]

Wow, that was a really anti-climatic ending to this season's American Horror Story.

Granted the plot lines and character writing started going all over the damn place midway through the season, but the whole X-men for witches feel good ending really sucked. (And that's just one thing that sucked)

Also could've done without the Stevie Nicks music video which doubled as the episode's intro.

[End Master]

Just finished Season 3 of Game of Thrones.

New favorite house, House Bolton. Right up there with Lannister and Tagaryren.

While I know it doesn't happen, at this point I'm ready for ALL the Starks to be dead and done with. Even Arya is getting sort of "meh."

[Vesnic]

Have you read the books? Arya's storyline is about to get decidedly weird. As for the rest of the Starks, I have to say I wasn't overly sad to see most of them go either. Their virtuous humorlessness makes for okay reading but dreadfully dull viewing. That's not to say reading the Red Wedding didn't fuck me up, because it did, but by the time it rolled around in the series, I was more than ready for it. You're in for a lot more Ramsay-and-Theon kinky good times. Neither of them is going anywhere, so...rejoice?

I'm one of those few weirdos who actually prefer Sansa to Arya. I always have. I found this article to be insightful and well-argued. It asks the question: why should Sansa be so hated when there are legitimately evil/psychopathic/murderous characters to contend with? Yes, she's a girl, a teenage girl, a teenage girl who embraces her femininity and gains a certain kind of strength from it. Where is the unpardonable sin in all that? Why should she have to resort to more masculine tactics in order to survive or, better yet, to be liked? She's filling out exactly the kind of role her society has determined for her, in substance not all that different from a man who becomes a knight or a soldier. Why should Sansa, who alone amongst all these killers is "allowed" to use her compassion in support of others, be so vilified? She's not perfect, and yes, at the beginning she was selfish and spoiled, but her character has actually grown and developed where Arya has just become a more extreme version of herself. And when you come right down to it, Sansa is a far better "game of thrones" player than her sister could ever be.

I'm looking forward to Season 4 and I'm still kind of amused how, just a few months after Poop recommended the series to me and I thought to myself, "Wow, wouldn't that be a great movie/show and wouldn't Peter Dinklage be just the right guy for Tyrion?" it actually all came about just as I'd hoped it would. If only real life worked that way...

[End Master]

That's just it though Sansa has not shown any signs of playing the game of thrones very well at all. I mean unless she gets increasingly better later on (which I've heard she doesn't), I'm not impressed by how she's doing so far.

Worse, because by this time she's had tons of time to observe the Lannisters, Little Fingers, Varyrs, the Tyrell women, random spy whores and every other back stabbing double dealing gossiping miscreant that inhabits King's Landing and she hasn't exactly improved her position one inch, if anything it constantly gets worse. She doesn't seem to do anything except wait around in the vain hope for someone to "rescue" her. Be it wanting to sneak on Little Fingers ship or hoping to get married to Sir Loris.

Now to me someone who better embraces her femininity while being on top of things is Margery Tyrell. She's got Joffrey so manipulated he actually manages to act like a half way decent person around her. Not even Cersi managed to do that.

The only good thing about Sansa is its at least more entertaining to see her go through humiliation after humiliation than sit through Bran and his boring beast master power. (Yes, I know its important to the overall story, but he's just really dull)

[Vesnic]

Bah! Margaery is a terrible two-faced snake. Her complete lack of integrity doesn't impress me much. It's also no great achievement to waltz in as the pretty new princess in town, supported by all her family and money, and to use this already privileged position to win herself some more privilege. Sansa is the only surviving Stark in King's Landing, no mean feat considering everyone else managed to get themselves either killed or permanently exiled. Also, don't get too accustomed to Sansa being humiliated because that's all going to change soon. Oh, and you'll have to deal with a lot more of Bran's bullshit too. Haha! Season 4 is going to be such a MISERY for you!

[End Master]

Lol, okay well if Sansa really does start showing some growth as a character and ceases being punching bag and starts DOING something for once then good, but if you're over exaggerating then I'll pointlessly rage over the internet same time next year.

(Which I'll probably be doing anyway due to Bran)

[Vesnic]

Philomena
3 3/4 out of 5 stars

I should mention that I didn't actually hear a word spoken by Dame Judi Dench or anyone else in this film because I was obliged to watch it dubbed in another language. Yet not being able to appreciate what I'm sure was a brilliant Irish accent wasn't as much of a deterrent as it might have been, as Philomena dealt with truly universal themes, such as loss, hope, faith and forgiveness. The movie assiduously avoids any easy answers or maudlin cop-outs as it explores one aging Irishwoman's attempts to find the son who was taken from her and given up for adoption in America. Dench gives a deft performance as the titular Philomena, a woman of simple yet profound faith, while Steve Coogan's interpretation of the jaded middle-aged journalist who assists her on her journey serves as the perfect complement in both temperament and worldview. As two damaged spirits, the two unlikely friends are more similar than they seem, and their combined efforts to uncover the truth lead to a conclusion which is haunting, surprising and extremely affecting. Highly recommended.

[Vesnic]

Jim Jarmusch is a punkass bitch. This happens occasionally. A thought that has been brewing quietly and privately in my own mind, for months, sometimes for years, will suddenly find itself coming to fruition...without me. I feel like I've been mentally mugged or maybe...just...why didn't I get there first? Life is frustrating, n'est-ce pas? This movie, called Only Lovers Left Alive, will be released tomorrow, though I don't know when I'll be able to see it in my part of the world. I'm really curious to see how close Jarmusch's ideas about the inner life of the undead are to my own. I've always felt a sort of sympathetic chord with his take on things, but this time around I really am unaccountably jealous. It looks promising at any rate, and when I finally tire of my garden, I can continue to avoid the people in my world, hopefully, by seeing this movie in the cinema...hopefully.

[End Master]

I hadn't heard of this movie and it does seem interesting. Despite getting a little burned out on vampire stuff in media I think I'd pretty much still have to watch this if only because it's set in home sweet home.

Thanks for mentioning it.

[donteatpoop]

I recently watched one of the most entertaining documentaries ever. The King of Kong.

Hilarious. The director obviously paints one dude a hero and the other a villain; but the moments where the men themselves back up these perceptions are what sticks with me. So funny. So wonderful.