by Sam Juliano
An arctic vortex descended on the Metropolitan area over the last few days, sending temperatures that bottomed out at -1 F Sunday morning in what is being called the coldest Valentine’s Day in a hundred years. Yet tomorrow we are expecting 50 degrees F in an extreme swing that is mind boggling. Yet a bright sun was out in all its resplendent glory on Sunday. Today is President’s Day in the US and banks and post offices -not to mention schools for the entire week in some districts including our own- are closed. In my hometown of Fairview, New Jersey Lucille and I will again host our annual Oscar party on February 28th at the Tiger Hose Firehouse at 6:00. P.M. As always it is an Open House, and all our friends, online or in person are encouraged to attend. Dante’s will be catering for the third year in a row, and as everyone who is familiar with their food, they know it is phenomenal. Six hot items and their legendary six foot heroes along with a salad and beer and beverages will be offered. Usually around 40 people attend, though some years that number has gone higher.
I am still experiencing lower back pain -some days severely- but will be visiting a local chiropractor this week. I am planning to send out a group e mail to the previous participants of the site’s genre polls within the coming weeks to discuss the tentative launching of the “Science Fiction Films Countdown” in the late spring.
Lucille and I one film in theaters this week, a Valentine’s day screening of the Michael Moore documentary WHERE TO INVADE NEXT, and we also attended the Friday night staging of Peter Danish’s one act play THE FINAL DAYS OF WOLFE TONE in Suffern, New York. Wolf Tone, was the leader of the United Irishmen and is considered the Father of Irish Republicanism. While the son of a privledge Protestant family, he saw the scourge of government sponsored sectarianism and prejudice for the tool of oppression it was and formed the United Irishmen to establish an independant republic where all Irish men and women could live in peace and freedom. “The Final Days of Wolfe Tone” tells the tale of his last days in prison leading up to his execution – days spent writing the chronicle of his life, that gave birth to the Irish Revolution that would inevitably lead to the Rising of 1916. The three actors who compromised the full cast was exceptional.
Where To Invade Next *** (Sunday) Edgewater multiplex
Michael Moore’s new documentary is alternately riveting and lame, adding up to something distinctly mediocre. I share Moore’s ideology but have never appreciated him otherwise.
I needed to get this post up as it is late, but I will proceed now to offer some updates:
At Noirish John Grant has penned a superlative review on a 1992 TVM “Midnight’s Child.”: https://noirencyclopedia.wordpress.com/2016/02/13/midnights-child-1992-tvm/
John Greco has offered a fabulous look at his new E-Book Cover at Twenty Four Frames: https://twentyfourframes.wordpress.com/2016/02/08/advance-look-at-new-e-book-cover/
Aaron West offers up his twenty-eighth podcast at Criterion Blues on the 1991 “Slacker”: http://criterionblues.com/2016/02/14/ccu28-slacker-1991/
Laurie Buchanan’s lastest post at Tuesdays with Laurie is a splendid one titled “Bald is Beautiful”: http://tuesdayswithlaurie.com/2016/01/26/bald-is-beautiful/
At a newly-decked out “Patricia’s Wisdom” our erstwhile proprietor has written another lovely book review, this time on “The Rain Sparrow” by Linda Goodnight: http://patriciaswisdom.com/2016/02/the-rain-sparrow-a-honey-ridge-novel-linda-goodnight/
Pat Perry is back in the blogging business at Part Time Cinephile with a fabulous round-up of 2015 Films: http://parttimecinephile.blogspot.com/2016/01/at-last-these-are-not-20-best-movies-of.html
Filmmaker Jeffrey Goodman offers up his Top 12 films of 2015 in brilliantly written capsules at The Last Lullaby: http://cahierspositif.blogspot.com/2015/12/my-top-twelve-films-of-2015.html
At FilmsNoir.net Tony d’Ambra leads with a fabulous post on Manhattan Transfer 1925: http://filmsnoir.net/film_noir/the-noir-city-manhattan-transfer-1925.html/
At the Creativepotager’s painting blog the incomparable Terrell Welch offers up a sublime work-in-progress post titled “Intention, Composition and Underpaiting are tools of the trade used by the artist”: http://creativepotager.com/2016/01/14/intention-composition-and-underpainting-are-tools-of-the-trade-used-by-the-artist/
At Ferdy on Films Marilyn Ferdinand has offered up a terrific essay on Larissa Shepitko’s “Wings”: http://www.ferdyonfilms.com/2016/wings-%D0%BA%D1%80%D1%8B%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%8F-1966/27152/
David Schleicher has posted a terrific review of “The Revenant” at The Schleicher Spin: http://theschleicherspin.com/2016/01/11/reverence-for-the-revenant/
At Movie Classics Judy Geater has posted a fantastic review for the “Raoul Walsh and James Cagney’s 4 Films Together” blogathon: https://movieclassics.wordpress.com/2016/01/23/raoul-walsh-and-james-cagneys-4-films-together/
Joel Bocko has penned a terrific review of “Jaws” in his ‘favorite’ series at I Lost It at the Movies: http://thedancingimage.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-favorites-jaws-71.html
At Little Miss Litberry Charity has penned a fabulous review of the non-fiction work “Wonder Garden”: https://littlemisslitberry.wordpress.com/2016/01/20/wonder-garden-a-review/
At De Colores: The Raza Experience in Books for Children Beverly Sleppin has issued a strong recommendation of two Monica Brown-penned “Lora Levine” books in a beautifully written review: http://decoloresreviews.blogspot.com/2016/02/lola-levine-is-not-mean-2015-lola.html
At Read It Real Good Alia Jones has penned a wonderful piece on the superlative Caldecott Honor book “Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer” by Carole Boston Weatherford and Ikua Holmes: http://readitrealgood.com/2016/02/14/voice-of-freedom-fannie-lou-hamer-spirit-of-the-civil-rights-movement/
At American Indians in Children’s Literature Debbie Reese offers up a question about what is not included in Maira Kalman’s “Looking at Lincoln”: https://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2016/02/maira-kalmans-looking-at-lincoln.html
Robert Tower has written a lovely remembrance of Ritchie Valens on the occasion of the 57th year of his untimely passing at It Rains……You Get Wet: http://le0pard13.com/2016/02/05/friday-song-cover-la-bamba-by-ritchie-valens-los-lobos/
Weeping Sam waxes lyrical on Jacques Rivette’s passing at The Listening Ear: http://le0pard13.com/2016/01/29/edge-of-tomorrow-film-review/
Dean Treadway offers up a look at 1973 in his annual series at Filmacability: http://filmicability.blogspot.com/2016/01/1973-year-in-review.html
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Wonders in the Dark 
Got behind on my reading this week, due to back pain and knee pain – wow do I understand the pain of it all. Michael Moore’s film is 60 miles away and I have to prepare for a household of skiers when they have vacation next week ( not today) I will have to wait until it is streamed I guess. I am at that tough point in my reviews, where I just read a book that I totally HATED – I am told I should just say that on my review but for some reason since this book is getting awards and rave reviews, I am feeling the need for permission to say what I need to say. I am not able to follow through on any of your links this week – so sorry to your highlights, I will be back.
We got a new computer for my husband to do consulting architectural work at home in his retirement. It died suddenly after 2 months. Dell is honoring the warranty but we had to send it off to them for at least 10 days. I am frustrated with sharing my computer with him as he in working on it so many hours a day!!! I need to go back to kindergarten and learn how to share 🙂
May you have a good week off and warmer weather. Yikes that is cold and I think hard on one’s systems.
Ah Patricia, back pain, eh? You and I are both in the same predicament these past weeks it seems. I will be seeing a chiropractor tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 P.M., so hopefully some positive progress can be made. Yes, this can be incredible painful, sad to say. I’d be most curious to know what you concluded as far as the Michael Moore documentary goes. i have to investigate to see the title of the book you didn’t like at all. Wow. But yeah it happens with films as well as some books, and it is always a sticky situation as to how to express the reaction in print. hahahaha as to what you say there about going back to kindergarten to share! 🙂 I know all about the competition to use PCs in the home when several are interested at teh same time. Ugh. Sorry to hear you had a problem with Dell, of all companies. The weather here is fluctuating. Today isn’t real cold but still in the high 30s. Hope you can manage a fine weekend my friend. Many thanks as always!
Sam, don’t think I’ll be wasting time on the Michael Moore documentary. I’m already thinking about potential sci-fi choices for my ballot!
Frank, I am speculating the science-fiction countdown will be launched sometime in May/June. I am presently working on a novel that is set in my hometown decades ago, and my time will be compromised. I will definitely be writing less reviews than I have for past countdowns. Have a great upcoming weekend my friend.
Sam –
Interesting take on Michael Moore’s latest film. I will probably see it at some point, but like you, I have problems with Moore’s films. With the exception of BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE, he usually winds up weakening his own arguments with cheap shots or egregious naivete – or both.
It was a frigid weekend here, too, and I was bundled up inside fighting a 24-hour flu bug so I did a lot of home streaming, including:
CARTEL LAND, the Oscar-nominated documentary is riveting and plays like drama. The filmmaker embedded himself with Mexico’s Autodefensas, townspeople who rose up to fight the cartels and the results are startling. However, the parallel that is set up between the Autodefensas and an American vigilante group patrolling the Arizona border seems contrived.
TUMBLEDOWN – A melancholy romance with Rebecca Hall as a young widow who can’t quite let go of her late folk-singer husband and Jason Sudeikis as the writer helping her write his biography. Thanks mainly to Hall’s lovely performance, it skirts over the occasional cliche and proves to be genuinely moving.
Also, I watched the very campy, so-bad-it’s-great teenage take on Les Liasions Dangereuses: CRUEL INTENTIONS. Hey, it was on Netflix and I was in for the day – a trainwreck I couldn’t stop watching.
Pat—-
Yes Moore has more than once cut off his nose to spite his face, and he comes off much to often with an air of arrogance. Too bad when you consider we share his progressive sensibilities. He may not quite be the Trump of the Democratic party, but I wouldn’t say he is too far off. I am very sorry to hear you have been hit with that flu bug, but am very hopeful that by now it has moved on. This is not a good time of the year when it comes to such maladies I know. I saw CARTEL LAND at Tribeca back in April of last year and I had a more middling reaction. Again this is the kind of film that will greatly benefit from a re-viewing, and I will definitely get a second look. I do agree with what you say there about the contrivance absolutely. The film wasn’t all that cohesive, but I’ll go for the encore. I also saw TUMBLEDOWN at Tribeca, and I honestly found it cloying, and lacking any character chemistry. Ms. Hall is very fine though, and I can only think I may have reacted too harshly. Another to set up for a repeat viewing. Yes, CRUEL INTENTIONS is a trainwreck but most compulsively watchable. 🙂 Have a great upcoming weekend my friend. Thanks as always!
That Oscar party sounds terrific. Wish I could attend. We’ll be having a quiet Oscar night, but we’ve come to appreciate that. What we usually do is prepare dishes based on the BP nominations. That might be tricky this year.
I also have problems with Moore even though we share the same ideology. Often he uses trickery to skew his points when he doesn’t need to. Often the facts speak for themselves. He even did this with what I think are his two best films, Columbine and Roger, where he tweaked the timeline and made some false statements (like Canadians don’t lock their doors.) I recall an agenda-based documentary from during the Iraq war called No End in Sight that was straightforward and they used actual evidence to back up their points. Moore could learn from some documentarians that you don’t have to manipulate the audience into agreeing with you.
Yes, cold week here too. We were hoping for 50s today, but the best we got was the 30s. I’m ready for spring!
Aaron, I do wish you were up in these parts, what a great time it would be to have you and Andrea up for it! We once tried that with the corresponding foods, but found it quite difficult. This year looks like quite a challenge on that front. Thanks for enhancing the Moore discussion, and yet again on this thread we have one who also doesn’t find this oft-fabricator all that admirable despite his welcome leftist views. With him it comes down to his issues as a person. I completely agree that he doesn’t need to resort to manipulation. Aaron, you and me both are clamoring for the Spring! Have a fabulous weekend my friend! 🙂
-1 to +50 in a day! Wow. Sometimes we get those freakish temp swings on the left coast, but damn. Oh, what a wonderful Oscar party that no doubt will be this year, Sammy. Maybe I’ll get to crash it one day. 😉
Thanks once again for the shout-out, my friend. Much appreciated.
Yes it is crazy in these parts Robert that’s for sure! But yes I could imagine you have them as well. The Oscar party is a great time for friends to get together, and this year to look forward to seeing a few I haven’t since last year’s party. I’d love to meet you–that would be a dream–perhaps one day you will find yourself in the NYC area. But attending the party would be the ultimate! Have a great weekend my friend!
Hello Sam and everyone!
Hope you are all fine, after a long absence I’m back as I managed to come up with some time off the duties that bind me to say hello and give you an update on what have been my watchings in the past weeks:
– 11 Minutes (2015, Jerzy Skolimowski) ***1/2 As if Skolimowski took every style from Modern Cinema and splashed it together in a movie that tries to make all the points and none at the same time, due to the same randomness implied in the fact that this movie just tries to splooge all of these different aims at the same time onscreen. I can see Iñarritu, Ruiz, Dardennes and Kieslowski in this film, and it doesn’t make any sense, but I applaud the bravura of trying something completely ridiculous but at the same time making it thrilling enough to see till the end.
– The Audition (2015, Martin Scorsese) *** Fun for what it is, but completely superfluous and without any Scorsese identity besides the use of the actors and the banter between them, as well as the underlying love of cinema and talking about its making.
– Blackhat (2015, Michael Mann) **** None of the criticisms towards this movie make any sense. I don’t know what ‘mental’ image people have of hackers, but they are not the overweight nerds that everyone thinks they are, or maybe as there are many people like that in the United States, the ratio of people that you’ll find that are like that is more common than in the rest of the world, so that says a lot. There are a lot of sequences that are highly memorable, specially towards the end of the movie, but towards the middle of it I was thinking that maybe there were too many scenes of pure investigation and hacking that didn’t have an emotional counterpoint to make them interesting, it was pure investigation, and in a way this film is closer to something like Spotlight, at least in terms of plot and the ‘on hands’ nature of the investigation itself. For some reason, even if digital filmmaking is more the norm now than when Michael Mann started experimenting with it, he still makes it show up in some way or another. I said “wow” out loud when he turned the frame into black and white at the end, turning it into a screen, a flash of brilliance, that sadly didn’t have a pay off, which I guess will be my main criticism to this movie. A couple of edits, and maybe that’s what the new director’s cut does, and it could be one of the great ones.
– Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl (1919, D.W. Griffith) **** Deeply affecting, wonderfully acted, the scene in the closet has been mentioned many times in the history of cinema for a reason, and it’s clearly a seminal image for the horror cinema that would take over the decade of the 1930’s, with its wide eyes and shrieks of terror, something that permeates even today’s horror cinema. Besides that, and race relations aside, this is a positive film whose only fault is the fact that it doesn’t use Asian actors for the Asian roles, but here we have a bit of everything: some romance, some poverty drama, a boxing match, a chase, a gunfight, and a bunch of unexpected deaths. Impressive stuff from a director that I’ve had a hard time understanding and liking.
– Brooklyn (2015, Ryan Coogler) ***1/2 It’s pleasant, sad, emotional and well acted. For some reason I could see the forceful nature in which the Irish accent is put “on us”, even though Saoirse Ronan does make a great effort in doing her original accent (even though not really). The story is ambivalent towards its main character, as it seems to punish her for following her own dreams, and she is, at the same time, a weak character that is volatile, but I think that’s half of the charm of the personality that Ronan brings to the table. Her smiles and her tears make it for the movie that most probably my mom will want to see in time for the Oscars, but I just absolutely adore the fact that this time it will be a decent film.
– That Day (2003, Raul Ruiz) ****1/2 The closest that Raúl Ruiz could ever come to a slasher film, played at times straight but most time as an absurdist comedy, his main influence doesn’t seem to be the horror chillers of the 30’s, nor the killer thriller of the 80’s, and much less the meta killers of the 90’s, but Scooby Doo. Giraudeau here plays a psychopath that it’s both sensitive and incredibly insane, as if his mind was truly a storm behind his eyes, as Livia (played by Zylberstein) says when he meets him. The Ruizian play of how the camera shifts from one perspective to the next with one sweeping move is here, and it’s as if we’re crossing dimensions and consciousness, from character to character, from situation to situation, playing a game of chance, coincidence and death.
It’s both a slasher that plays with the perception of death and how everyone dies (either by accident or the hand of the killer) leaving us with a ‘final girl’ that was always alone in the first place; but also as a game of Clue, where we try to find out not who the killer is, that is apparent, but why do these deaths happen. It’s a complex yet extremely fun work that I couldn’t help but laugh at at times.
– Chappie (2015, Neill Blomkamp) ****1/2 I personally think that the reason behind why I like this so much, besides the fact that I see Die Antwoord fulfill every fantasy and fan fiction that they’ve ever starred while being completely aware of their own ridiculousness and how much cultural appropriation they’re doing of the zef culture, while at the same time being respectful to it (as much as one can be to a culture like the ‘zef’ culture can be), it’s how it proposes without much weight and even as if we’re taken for granted two enormously complex concepts: singularity and transcendence. I can see the future of humanity in Chappie, and don’t you fucking laugh when I say this out loud in the future.
– ‘Til Madness Do Us Part (2013, Wang Bing) ****1/2 It’s a movie that draws you in constantly when you think you should be drifting away due to its mundanity, and it achieves masterful moments that can only be described as catching lightning inside a little bottle, those small tidbits of reality that are entirely unusual to catch, those are the moments that make such a #problematic project as the one presented here worth the almost 4 hours that it lasts.
It’s also quite a taxing documentary, not because it’s rough or one could have a hard time seeing it (one could, but I didn’t have much problem with it), but because the way in which there seems to be an overbearing sensation that there’s an entire world behind every “crazy” that we’re not being told, because they can’t understand either what they’re going through, and that catches easily, and you could become confused, enraged and even… yes, a bit crazy.
But in the end, I think the (english) title of the film comes true and through in more than a couple of satisfying ways, as it seems that love is the only way that they have of communicating in a sane way between the characters that appear in this building.
– Foreign Parts (2010, Verena Paravel, J.P. Sniadecki) ***1/2 Equal parts ethnography and sociology. Interesting lookout to the situation lived by these 2,000 workers that only try to get a living and pull through, while at the same time not shying away from the obvious problems that the kind of ambient that lies in a junkyard produces, like the drug abuse. I’d say that I’d be pretty oblivious towards the meaning and point of this documentary if I didn’t know that it came from the SEL, but at the same time that also makes me wonder how much formally experimental this could’ve been if they would’ve appropriated that style fully like both directors did in their future work. Maybe we could’ve had some interesting interview shots in comparison to what we have this time.
– The Green Inferno (2013, Eli Roth) *** Eli Roth needs to go back to hang out with Quentin Tarantino and stop hanging out with Nicolás López.
– Air Hostess (1959, Wen Yi) **** Maybe a bit too sugary for my taste, but this was completely absorbing in the way that it follows its characters, how the plottings make the editing flow around, when characters say they’re going somewhere, we cut and then we’re already there, no need to see the travel, even if the movie itself is about travelling. It’s an almost army experience the one the characters go through and I can understand the comparisons to Full Metal Jacket, among other films that try to chronicle that kind of life. The colors are incredibly vibrant, live and even in the lackluster copy I watched, I could see the attention to the bright and basic colors as the most important element to the director and the cinematographer. I expected more songs and a bit more of a “risk” for the characters beyond the fact that they might or might not end up with those who like them. Still, good fun.
– Mad Max: Fury Road (2015, George Miller) ****1/2 I was stricken once again at how beautiful this movie is, but at the same time of how aware of its message is, and how many times, due to me being so much more aware about the intention behind it, Miller betrays and honors those intentions almost sometimes from shot to shot.
He should win the Oscar for Best Director.
– Metropolis (1927, Fritz Lang) ***** There’s no way that I’m going to stop thinking about anything visual that happened in this film, and I’m sure every filmmaker that ended up seeing it didn’t also, I could see the influence of thousands of films placed in this canvas.
– Reality (2014, Quentin Dupieux) ***1/2 This movie hates itself.
– The Revenant (2015, Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu) ****1/2 I wonder how much higher will I hold this movie whenever I end up rewatching it, may it be in the inevitable extended theatrical run or in its TV broadcast. It is visually impressive and the demonstration that Lubezki seemingly can do no wrong whenever he’s behind a camera, as he manages to adapt the movements and constant re-framing that he’s used to make into something much more dynamic and deeper, as if not only it followed the action but slightly anticipated it. While I really liked this movie, I can see what people see in it when they don’t like it, and to them I say: avoid reading about the movies before seeing them, and if the noise is deafening, shut it off, and you do know that we’re in the internet and you can block certain words from your feed. People who don’t like this movie, I must assume, pay too much attention to Iñárritu, and while I personally prefer Birdman, this movie is still a wonderful experiment in adventure filmmaking.
– Room (2015, Lenny Abrahamson) **** For the longest time I thought that I was being both artistically and emotionally distant to this film, but then towards the end, specially in the middle, once they’ve left the Room, I was feeling the emotional impact of everything that came before it and that wasn’t being represented in the screen. I must say that I had the usual claims against this film and against all that was portrayed, about how it seemed to both demean and underplay the abuse of Ma, as well as the psychological damage that was done, but I was pleasantly surprised when it was quite the contrary, that you could find all that wasn’t talked about in the silences and the eyes of Brie Larson, who I do think gives an amazing performance (but can’t live up to the livelihood and wide-eyed spectacle of Blanchett/Mara in ‘Carol’). I also felt that for some time it was doing nothing with its subject, that it was not doing so much, but when it achieved the emotional highs, they were felt, and specially in the relation between Jack and his grandmother, I could feel that it was all worth it.
But I do think that the director completely squandered the reveal of the world to Jack. A shame.
– Sin Filtro (2016, Nicolas Lopez) **1/2 Might be the best thing Nicolás López could ever make, but it’s still a really really bad movie. It’s salvaged by the acting of Paz Bascuñán that can dial easily between calm and being absolutely mental. It spends way too much time in the normal daily life, and easily more than fifteen minutes of this film could be entirely erased without any consequence whatsoever. The film makes bad decisions towards the end, and it tries for an easy way out that doesn’t solve much, and doesn’t address the more pressing matters, but whatever, I guess I’m asking too much out of a Nicolás López film.
– Soldier Boyz (1995, Louis Morneau) *1/2 It tries to make a statement about the union of races, much like The Hateful Eight tries, but in the end it tries to glorify a neonazi character by making sweeping statements through a mournful score and camera movements that make you think that the character died for the benefit of the others and thus was absolved from a life of actually killing people because of the skin of their faces. Besides that, it’s an awfully acted and boring looking film that is just the worst attempt at making something edgy out of the idea of a Dirty Dozen sort of remake that just turns into constant attempts at being more and more offensive.
– Sunset Song (2015, Terence Davies) ****1/2 There’s a particular stretch of this film, between the moment in which she is all alone in the house and the moment that they announce that the war starts that is just pure bliss: nothing bad happens, everything goes according to plan, everyone is happy, and everything that they want to happen, happens, and I can’t understand how Davies managed to put such a long stretch of this story without any conflict and manage it to be the most important, interesting, beautiful and appealing part of his movie. It is certainly a flawed film, specially in its start and its ending, mainly because it gets busier with the events that happen and thus doesn’t take its time to appreciate the moments between the nothingness that surrounds these characters. But it is a beautiful and incredible and sweet film.
– A Boyfriend for My Wife (2008, Juan Taratuto) ***1/2 In the place I’m working in, we’re remaking this movie.
It’s fun.
That’s all, have a great week everyone!
Well Jaimie, the length of your comment here is certainly a record breaker at Wonders in the Dark! We’ve had some marathon comments over the year, but none like this. Of course since you are combining from the past two weeks, it is understandable. In any event I am overwhelmed and thank you many times over! I still haven’t gotten to BLACKHAT, and will keep in mind what you say. As you know BROOKLYN is my favorite film of 2015, and I was looking forward to your reaction, which is fair enough. Need to see the Scorsese. I do consider Griffiths’ BROKEN BLOSSOMS a silent masterwork, with an unforgettable performance by Lillian Gish. I agree with you estimation on TILL MADNESS DO US PART. Need to see CHAPPIE and THAT DAY. I am no fan of MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, but i do know I am in a severe minority. I know some people who are hoping George Miller wins the Directing Oscar. METROPOLIS of course is one of the most celebrated cinematic masterpieces, and I am a big fan of ROOM and THE REVENANT myself. The film I really can’t wait to see is Davies SUNSET SONG. Thanks again for this spectacular wrap my friend! And have a great upcoming week!!
When I woke up this morning and turned on the faucet I accidentally went a little too far so a more intense stream of water spewed out of the faucet than I am used to. Thankfully my cup was properly positioned to catch the torrent and none was spilled. As the cool water rushed down the back of my throat, providing me with my first sustenance of the day, my pupils accidentally tilted upward where I noticed a newly formed spiderweb on the underside of the clock above my sink. My footstool is out of commission after the last time I changed the bulb in my bathroom and at this point in my life my high-blood pressure makes any attempt at climbing something less sturdy inadvisable. I spent the better part of the morning trying to reach the web with the knob of my yellow broom while listening to the news on the radio, where they updated the weather every twenty minutes. I was unable to satisfactorily dismantle the web and as I sit down to write this I’m dreading heading out into the cold to go to Target to use a coupon I found in last week’s circular for a new stool. The only positive of my potential journey will be if I reward myself by stopping by McDonald’s for an apple crumble afterward, a culinary indulgence I’ve been thinking about for the better part of a week.
Oh Geez. Jack you are a card, you have me in complete stitches. I do remember you often had a hankering for the hot apple pie at Micky D’s, and stood abreast of the coupon scene at Target’s. And you were better than any weatherman I ever listened to!m try and maintain a spider-free apartment! Have a great weekend my friend!
Sam — I’d read online that in your neck of the woods it was the coldest Valentine’s Day in a hundred years and shivered for you guys!
Have yourselves a complete and total blast at your annual Oscar Party. I hope that your back behaves itself so you can KICK UP YOUR HEELS, unhindered!
Laurie— That is a fact indeed. -2 was the low the night before! We’ve had the numbers go up and down, but no doubt some of the coldest days in many years. Thanks so much for the very kind words both about the Oscar party and my back, which be be attended to tomorrow when I visit a local chiropractor. Have a great upcoming week my friend!
Speaking of Michael Moore, he isn’t your run-of-the-mill progressive as evidenced when years ago Mother Jones hired him and problems ensued. I think he’s a brilliant man, but he seems to have a blind spot or something. I thought he treated Charlton Heston unfairly in Bowling for Columbine, for example.
This week I saw The Big Short and liked it very much — an imaginative and well-put-together telling of a difficult story to put on film. Even though I had problems with The Revanant, I can’t say The Big Short is better overall.
I hope your back is back to normal, Sam, by the time the Oscar Red Carpet is rolled out. 🙂
Pierre— His horrendous treatment of Charleton Heston in BOWLING FOR CONCUBINE was a prime reason I became disenchanted with him. Yes he is brilliant, but at times he is rather heartless. And he smiles rarely. It is unusual for me to express disappointment with someone so progressive, but it seems to be a personality thing. I am happy to hear you are so enamored with THE BIG SHORT. It is in a three way horse race with THE REVENANT and SPOTLIGHT evidently. I think I need to see the film a second time as the first viewing left me with a middling opinion. I have the wherewithal to engineering that encore in any case. Thanks so much for the very kind words. I am seeing a chiropractor tomorrow afternoon at 2:00. P.M., and hope to start on the road “back.” Ha! My father, who is now 85 has had these issues in the past, but like me is was heavy his whole life. This is certainly part of the problem. Thanks as always my friend! Have a great upcoming weekend!
Hey Sam,
Sorry to hear that your back is bothering you. I do hope you will find some relief soon and sending good vibes. Also sorry to hear it was so cold. Yikes we haven’t even had temps that low yet this season. We’ve had our fair share of snow over the last couple weeks though and winter has outworn its welcome for us. Kids are grumbling and wishing it was summer. Lol
Wanted to briefly recap some films:
The Martian: Not as good as I was hoping. I think I’d only go with 2.5/4. I found the film to be kind of hokey and lame and predictable. I far preferred Gravity and Interstellar compared to The Martian. It was mostly low-hanging fruit.
Joy: I give this one 2.5/4 as it was generally entertaining but nothing spectacular. I think I mostly just enjoyed Jennifer Lawrence carry the film, but wouldn’t really recommend it to anyone.
45 Years: Now this is a masterpiece! Truly a tremendous film and Courteney and Rampling are incredible and give perhaps their best performances of their careers. This one is right up there with the best films of 2015 and I give it 4/4. Can’t stop thinking about this one.
Chiraque: Up and down film that ultimately was too long for my taste. I enjoyed the elements, but it was too drawn out for me. 2.5/4.
Hope you have a great rest of your week Sam!
Jon, thanks for the words of concern over my lower back pain. It is no fun, but it seems to run in my family. My father -who will turn 86 later this year- had the same chronic problem back around the same age that I now have it. The chiropractor feels it is connected to not walking enough, which is no surprise considering how much time I spend on the PC. Ugh. Yes 45 YEARS is an absolute masterpiece, and I was thinking you’d come in with that kind of reaction to it. The performances are extraordinary indeed. Yes the Spike Lee film is middling, and JOY is forgettable, even with Jennifer Lawrence delivering a strong performance. THE MARTIAN is nothing near greatness, but I think I liked it a little more than you did. 4/5. Happy to hear you didn’t share our extreme temperatures my friend. Have a great upcoming week, and thank you as always.
Sam I hope this finds you doing great, and most important that your back is feeling better!
Still a little slow for me in terms of viewings but I did manage the first season of MR. ROBOT which I liked okay and saw Schlesinger’s FRENCH CONNECTION II which I had never seen before. I much prefer the Friedkin which just seems cinematically far more impressive and taut as a story.
Thanks so much Sam!