Sunday, February 7, 2010

We express in every gesture

more than our will accomplishes or recognizes.

The only audience of philosophy

is the one performing it.

Emilio

Estevez.

The answer must be in the attempt.

Before Sunrise - 7/10. Is dated and not intentionally. 'Dazed and Confused' sought to be about a certain moment in time, 'Before Sunrise' just ends up being that. Early-90's greasiness. I wanted to like it. I can't pay attention to long passages. I guess it comes down to whether or not you like the characters, right?, since it's just them talking. They're okay. I think the problem's more with Linklater. Does anyone feel involved in watching this? It's watching two people behave. It keeps us distant. Maybe it's the dated-ness. "We are not them." It turns them into "tiny fractions of people."

Oh, shit, son.

2LDK - 7.5/10. Ton of fun.

The dessert's for starting over.

25th Hour - 6/10. Surrounded by a great idea that only rarely makes it into its own movie. A movie about saying goodbye and whether or not to say goodbye gets side-stepped to look in on lives that aren't of particular interest.

Big daddy.

The Princess and the Frog - 8/10. Holy shit, are you delightful. Charming, disarming, a genuine evil, and at least two songs I liked. The girl has the least personality, which is a disservice. Needed to be something that need be worth wanting, etc.

Once again, I must ask too much of you.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - 7.5/10. Funny, exciting. It contained a story-arc and a character-arc, albeit ones that have nothing to do with its title.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

No. I'll tell you how he lived.

Avatar - 6/10. At one point in my life, I believed that Comic Sans, University Roman, and Papyrus were interesting fonts, seldom used. This movie was made by people who seemed to simply 'not know any better.' A combination of every movie I've ever seen. Some asshole's freshman dorm and high-school taste made into a movie.

A very particular set of skills.

Taken - 6.5/10. Intensity in ten cities. Not really. Great promise, technically proficient, people I didn't care about. Tell by the number which of these mattered the most.

Old reviews.

Found in searching, or sacrificed in favor of a joke. Presented here for posterity.

Chisholm '72 - 7/10. Interesting story, if lacking anything insightful. It's like, hey, man, I can take a nice picture but am I a good photographer or did I just pick my subject well? Shirley Chisholm is an interesting-enough character to warrant a documentary, but nothing is learned.

The Prestige - 6.5/10. I have problems with movies about magic that fail to have a magical quality about them.

Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay - 5.5/10. I still like these guys, in spite of their failed attempt.

Aguirre: The Wrath of God - 6/10. Yeah, whatever.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Though he lives among us,

he is not one of us.

It is not for us to question who or what

but how and why.

If Rosa Parks had a monster truck,

she wouldn't have needed to take the bus.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

A pack

of throats.