Monday, January 31, 2011

The solution

presents itself politely.

I guess it was faith.

The kind you have when you're very young and don't know any better.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

I may

not always love you.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

And this, our life, exempt from public haunt,

finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Hence it comes that all armed prophets have been victorious,

and all unarmed prophets have been destroyed.

I wish that I could talk

in technicolor.

Friday, January 14, 2011

If we admit that human life can be ruled by reason,

then all possibility of life is destroyed.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Alas, a previous engagement.

The King's Speech - 7.5/10. Geoffrey Rush plays magical negro to the king's speech problems. Well-done, occasionally very funny, and it doesn't seem to let accuracy get in the way of telling a good story. Everything builds up well, leading to the final speech, and a man becomes a king. But weirdly, and unnecessarily, it brings up tangents that it never tops off. We learn that Geoffrey Rush is a failed actor. Nothing comes of it. People keep saying that Colin Firth is the bravest man they know, if he'd only get over his fear. Presumed fear of his family. Never arriving at a realization, or some understanding of why he is so brave. So it just ends up this movie about friendship. Which isn't bad. It just seems like it's trying not to be.

Thing I made.

Things Real People Don't Say About Advertising.

Jaf Slifly? You're not gonna get this one, bro.

Bricoleurs

are comfortable in unfamiliar realms of learning and experience because they learn best by using indirect connections to known information, even if the details of the skills are not exactly related. They try things out until they figure out how to do something.

Monday, January 10, 2011

ADD and carpal tunnel.

Greenberg - 6/10. I hate how Ben Stiller moves his face. Greta Gerwig! and Rhys Ifans are interesting and both people, with less screen-time, have more defined (and more interesting) story-arcs, while Greenberg himself seems to start and finish at the same place, despite what the last scene would lead you to believe. OH, SHIT, Y'ALL – MAYBE THAT'S THE POINT???

They come to snuff the rooster.

Reality Bites - 6/10. It tries very hard to be a movie that defines its period. I generally dislike 'the 90s' as a plot device.

Written in blood, by the hands of fate.

The Corsican Brothers - 4.5/10. 'The Count of Monte Cristo,' but instead of being locked in prison for twenty years, they live generally good-to-great, carefree lives not knowing of the tragedy that befell them. And when they find out, they have to get revenge. Because they have to. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. is a charmer in one of his two roles, and that's all that's really worth watching. One of the last scenes in 'The Princess Bride' is a little bit cribbed from one of the last scenes here.

Never ask for what ought to be offered.

Winter's Bone - 8.5/10. Oh, I thought it was great. Fighting for your little piece of nothing. Natalie Portman will probably win Best Actress, because her movie's *about* acting, but Jennifer Lawrence is my favorite performance of the year.

They are a part of our folklore.

The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie - 4/10. Yeah, I didn't really get this shit.

I'm a frog.

Muppets Take Manhattan - 5.5/10. Generally just disappointed with you muppet-folk.

Movie girlfriends.

Baghead - 6/10. Greta Gerwig should be a star. She's natural and flirty and kind of desperate. It's a great character. The movie's fun, but it doesn't match up to her.

Fool.

The A-Team - 6/10. This movie enjoys the presence of its own company. Bradley Cooper's personality distilled into a two-hour movie. In smaller portions, that's okay. Things go boom. Pet peeve with characters who have given up violence, only to decide that they have to be violent in order to succeed. Generally convoluted, and gradually becomes more so. Jessica Biel looks weird.

Trippin'.

Flipped - 5.5/10. Coming-of-age romance told from different angles. Cute-ish, never really gains momentum.

Hoot hoot.

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls Of Ga'Hoole - 5.5/10. Zach Snyder continues to be a hack. By no means is this a reason to see the movie, but: it is very pretty.

I should probably pee first.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice - 6.5/10. Fun, with no sense of drama. That's not a terrible thing. Jay Baruchel's a doll. The girl is attractive.

You are a stupid.

Red Heat - 2/10. My reluctance to watch good movies is more my reluctance to watch anything over 100 minutes long. This is bad. You needed me to tell you that.

Spot Conlon is Brooklyn.

Newsies - 6/10. They are ragged and dirty. Fun. A relic.

A suicide.

Sunshine Cleaning - 5/10. That year's 'Little Miss Sunshine.' Emily Blunt has bits of a decent emotional arc, but otherwise it's just sort of useless.

The king of swing.

Hostel - 5/10. People I don't care about. Takes a long fucking time to get where it's going, but at least when it gets there, it's more interesting than anything before it.

What happened to my sweet girl?

Black Swan - 8.5/10. I've got a boner for art about art. Being a great actor means becoming it. Leave nothing behind, bitches.

We lose.

AVP: Alien Vs. Predator - 3/10. Because I talked to a guy at work and he took that as an invitation of friendship. The more Predator movies they make, the more I feel like I'm watching 'Battlefield: Earth.' These characters are both archetypes who do not need an added mythos to make them seem more interesting. I also hate when popular culture takes popular villains and turns them into anti-heroes. Too many people. There's a lot not to like.

The lovers, the dreamers, etc.

The Muppets Movie - 6/10. I think I've worked up the myth that these movies only started to suck over time, but they sort of sucked from the beginning, didn't they? A few solid jokes during long stretches of nothing special. Steve Martin is great.

She should be killed.

Afghan Star - 7/10. Fascinating for the little bit of perspective it brings. Singing and dancing was banned in Afghanistan. With the Taliban no longer in control, people can sing and dance again. And it's fascinating that, for what a huge victory that is ideologically, the culture itself will only let themselves go that little bit. They don't see freedom and say 'fuck it, let's run for it,' they say 'no, that's it, that's all we can handle.' So it's greatest success, in showing how cultures hold themselves back, is undercut by its commitment to its narrative. Rather than following the tangent that Setara brings when she dances and removes her scarf on national television, she and her death threats and what she represents are relegated to the background as we try to find out who wins the damn thing.

What the fuck are you?

Predators - 5/10. Somewhere along the way, it becomes less about being hunted and becomes about 'working together to save our humanity. We're the real predators, man.' Fuck that shit. Get hunted. Get bitches.

You get to go find a new dream.

Tangled - 8/10. Aside from being generally great, one of its biggest successes is creating a Disney villain who isn't somehow evil to the core. By no means a good person, but she's one of the more true representations of what mothers can be. It's one failure that I can tell is dismantling her like she was a Disney villain, rather than giving her the nuance she deserved.

You're the best around.

The Karate Kid (2010) - 6.5/10. Not bad! Jaden Smith isn't annoying and Jackie Chan isn't trying to destroy everything he's built his career on.

People are fighting with knives and shooting at each other.

The Expendables - 4/10. An action beat every ten pages. A complete misunderstanding of catharsis.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

The only interesting answers

are those that destroy the questions.

Monday, January 3, 2011

What I do when not working.

Jesus

was a tan-skinned man.

You've got your rhythm

but you've lost your rhyme.