From a56918e33e9364350d6cb68997b87f9df172378c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Bryan Newbold Date: Sun, 19 May 2019 22:10:25 -0700 Subject: more films to watch --- film/to-watch.page | 9 ++++++++- 1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) (limited to 'film') diff --git a/film/to-watch.page b/film/to-watch.page index 1c7ffa2..16894eb 100644 --- a/film/to-watch.page +++ b/film/to-watch.page @@ -119,6 +119,13 @@ Films To Watch * Woman on Top (Penelope Cruz romcom, 2000) * Okja (2017) * All About Eve (1950) + * The Founder (McDonalds; 2017) + * Wax or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees (1991; net art) + * Song of the Exile (1990, HK, Maggie Cheung) + * Center Stage (1991, HK, Maggie Cheung) + * Clean (Assayas, Maggie Cheung) + * Mad Max: Fury Road (rewatch) + * The Big Chill (Jeff Goldblum) Documentaries: @@ -145,7 +152,7 @@ Documentaries: * The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness (2014; Gibli+Miyazaki) * Ex Libris (NYC Library) * Sinai Field Mission - * The Big Chill (Jeff Goldblum) + * The Art of the Steal (2009; art collection) Other Lists: -- cgit v1.2.3 From 7cda80443e057e914b152521b47a0490a002b9d7 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Bryan Newbold Date: Sun, 1 Sep 2019 19:42:00 +0200 Subject: 2019 films (so far) --- film/2018.page | 2 +- film/2019.page | 67 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 68 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) create mode 100644 film/2019.page (limited to 'film') diff --git a/film/2018.page b/film/2018.page index 1aae06f..af6694c 100644 --- a/film/2018.page +++ b/film/2018.page @@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ I would take 8 1/2 over this film in a heartbeat. Infernal Affairs II --------------------- -Saw it on the plane and don't remember much, which was a losss. +Saw it on the plane and don't remember much, which was a loss. Die Hard -------- diff --git a/film/2019.page b/film/2019.page new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f4f6438 --- /dev/null +++ b/film/2019.page @@ -0,0 +1,67 @@ + + +"Recent Godard Film" (can't remember title) +--------------------------------------------- + +This was a "hard" serious film, and to be honest I didn't follow a single +minute of it. I think rmo, who I saw it with, saw and connected much more, but +even his explanations didn't make any sense to me. Still not sure if +disapointed in myself (for not knowing more context?) or the film (for being +inscrutiable, and/or indulgent and vapid). Reminded me of the Orson Wells film +from last year. + + +John Wick 3 +-------------- + +Saw with mouse; I think most of my enjoyment came as spill over. The library +scene was fun, the desert shootout with doggies was gripping. The degree of of +style but total ridiculousness is new to me. I liked the type-writer +score-keeping room entirely run by punk (women?) in starched white shirts. + + +Southland Tales +----------------- + +Re-watched this at home in SF with Lucy and Will. They didn't love it, but +could stomach it, I think. Had recently visited LA and it was sort of fun to +remember real locations. Just after screening I felt disapointed and over it +(heavy-handed, long, slow, plot is a mess, gag-oriented, indulgent, whatever), +but now months later I still feel like I love the film for it's weirdness, the +musical scene, and Dwayne Johnson. + + +"Flamboyant Portugese Film" (can't remember title) +--------------------------------------------------- + +Mixed/weird feelings about this one. It wasn't very good overall, lots of slow +or "ugh" jokes and moments, but there were enough surreal visual gags to be +compeling. + +I liked the undercover character, and of course the pink puppy football +sequences. Having it be another culture (Portugal) and language made it easier +to laugh, though very close to the bone (Trump era). + + +Crappy MCU Films +----------------- + +Guess I watched a bunch of these this spring? Final Avengers film, Captain +America? Can't even remember now. I love a summer blockbuster; I fondly +remember escaping NYC heat and humidity for giant robot battles, and the +spectacle of Cinerama action films. But feel like the pattern of shutting off +higher brain function and letting the high-production-value slurry drain down +has become addictive and un-fun. + + +The Farewell (2019) +--------------------- + +Saw with Lucy at the Egyptian in Seattle. A good film, would recommend in +general, but it particularly touched both Lucy and me for being so close to her +personal family story and travel experiences in China (both her own trips and +us together to see her family). The theater was full of couples in tears. + +I liked this so much more than "Crazy Rich Asians", though it probably won't +reach as wide an audience. + -- cgit v1.2.3 From 98203494c951d755683635ca1e007e208ae251f9 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Bryan Newbold Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2019 12:52:59 -0700 Subject: film and books updates --- books/2019.page | 86 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ books/to-read.page | 6 ++-- film/2019.page | 5 ++++ 3 files changed, 93 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-) (limited to 'film') diff --git a/books/2019.page b/books/2019.page index 8b8b446..762e1bf 100644 --- a/books/2019.page +++ b/books/2019.page @@ -80,3 +80,89 @@ Overall well written and different. During and after I keep thinking of this as young-adult or genre entertainment reading; there's more to it than that, but also less than more traditional adult literature. + +Energy by Richard Rhodes (201?) +-------------------------------- + +After "Making of the Atomic Bomb", a bit of a narrative disapointment, though +it is just a different sort of book. Felt like a series of snapshots, none deep +enough to feel like I really understood the course and pressures that lead to +success of different energy technologies. + +An over-arching theme was that ideas were had well before acceptance; it was +often a combination of small technical polish *and* external economic or +political changes that led to a new source being adopted. + +Narrative of coal, steam engine, and trains being intertwined was interesting: +coal nominally being used as a heating source, but required engines for +economical mining and transport; the engines themselves requiring cheap coal to +be worth developing. And along the way land-use regulation being a blocker. + +Surprising to hear how much the negative health impacts of fossil fuels were +known from the begining, and how bad the (local) environmental impacts were. +The global impact gets so much more attention today. The period belief from the +start that oil and coal reserves would run out. How poor Saudi Arabia was, and +how narrowly the kingdom survived by oil exploration taking off at just the +right moment. + +Part of what makes Niagra such a great power location is that the lake it +drains is a huge buffer of stored water (thus energy), and the flow rate can be +controlled at will (no flooding). More than a year of reserve water at full +full (including the fact that water level would be decreasing). + +Didn't know that religious minorities on Nantucket partially moved back to +Europe at some point to continue to pursue whaling. + + +Roadside Picnic +------------------ + +Oh, I really loved this. Very Russian. Explains "Stalker" the same way "2001: A +Space Odessy" makes sense if you read the script/narration. + +The informal/intimate stalkers against the official/institutional scientists +were so spot-on. This pattern doesn't always hold in sci/tech world, but it is +pretty common. + + +Devil and the White City by Eric Larson +------------------------------------------- + +Decent, easy flight reading. Focus on the serial killer thread is of course +only on the principle actors, but in the case of the fair, the focus on a +handful of leaders and planners was less compelling. + +The scale of the Fair as a singular and super-human event really comes through. +Will this sort of economic activity and make-work become more popular during +late capitalism? Or post-scarcity? I continue to be perplexed why the scale of +architecture gets less ambitious as society becomes more technically powerful; +was it really dependent on economic inequality and exploitation of labor? Don't +we have that again today? + +The background of economic recession, homelessness, and desparation against the +robber barons funding and directing the World's Faire seemed like the real +story and didn't get much coverage in depth. + +Combined with "Cadillac Desert", paints a story of agricultural development of +the American mid-west as an economic and policy tragedy of the same +incompetence as Soviet/Mao-ist economic planning, though of course far less of +a tragedy in the end as most were able to survive and freely relocated. + + +The Overstory by Richard Powers +-------------------------------- + +Decent, not spectacular. Most of the individual story threads would not have +stood well on their own. The tree protectors were the most compelling to me: +the aimless artist with a family flipbook of great tree growth, and the +near-death college dropout. The various endings are pretty dramatic. + +Had echos of "The Wizard and the Prophet". + + +Gandhi +---------- + +Easy read; very basic introduction to the person and this period in history. +Read because even this much I did not know! + diff --git a/books/to-read.page b/books/to-read.page index c8b5f3c..51ceb05 100644 --- a/books/to-read.page +++ b/books/to-read.page @@ -10,9 +10,7 @@ Novels * The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen * The Magic Mountain, thomas mann * Grapes of Wrath -* The Illuminatus! Trilogy * The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen -* Red Plenty (historical fiction) Old Classics: @@ -44,6 +42,8 @@ Philosophy History and Politics ======================= +* Origins of Totalitarianism by Arendt +* Swaraj, Gandhi * Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke * The Art of Intelligence by Henry Crumpton (CIA history) * The Conscience of a Conservative "by" Barry Goldwater @@ -58,5 +58,3 @@ Other Non-Fiction ===================== * Looking for a Ship, John McPhee (merchant marine) -* Uncommon Carriers, John McPhee (shipping) -* The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes diff --git a/film/2019.page b/film/2019.page index f4f6438..a61b1a5 100644 --- a/film/2019.page +++ b/film/2019.page @@ -65,3 +65,8 @@ us together to see her family). The theater was full of couples in tears. I liked this so much more than "Crazy Rich Asians", though it probably won't reach as wide an audience. + +Only God Forgives +-------------------- + +Meh. -- cgit v1.2.3 From b60c6f3ea6c0a34a0764bc9dea5478ffc6436471 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Bryan Newbold Date: Sun, 24 May 2020 22:01:25 -0700 Subject: update to-watch list --- film/to-watch.page | 4 ++++ 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+) (limited to 'film') diff --git a/film/to-watch.page b/film/to-watch.page index 16894eb..dfa2b72 100644 --- a/film/to-watch.page +++ b/film/to-watch.page @@ -126,6 +126,10 @@ Films To Watch * Clean (Assayas, Maggie Cheung) * Mad Max: Fury Road (rewatch) * The Big Chill (Jeff Goldblum) + * Hunger (2008, McQueen) + * Adults in the Room (2019; Yanis Varofakis) + * Virtuosity (1995) + * The Net (1995) Documentaries: -- cgit v1.2.3 From 3466ec1b57c50f4167333fdf328069e4624990bd Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Bryan Newbold Date: Sun, 24 May 2020 22:12:02 -0700 Subject: more film updates --- film/2019.page | 19 ++++++++++++++++++ film/2020.page | 59 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ film/to-watch.page | 10 --------- 3 files changed, 78 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-) create mode 100644 film/2020.page (limited to 'film') diff --git a/film/2019.page b/film/2019.page index a61b1a5..cec3ab9 100644 --- a/film/2019.page +++ b/film/2019.page @@ -70,3 +70,22 @@ Only God Forgives -------------------- Meh. + + +Towering Inferno +-------------------- + +SF Hyatt Regency, OJ Simpson, etc! + + +I am Love +------------- + +Solid family drama. Always love Tilda Swinton in anything. + + +American Psycho +------------------- + +Alright I guess, only watched for the pop culture. + diff --git a/film/2020.page b/film/2020.page new file mode 100644 index 0000000..611a5ef --- /dev/null +++ b/film/2020.page @@ -0,0 +1,59 @@ + +The Net (1995) +---------------- + +Subway +----------- + +Fun, aesthetic, but didn't feel like there was much there there. Sort of +reminded me of Buckaroo Banzai. + + +Pain and Glory (Almadovar) +------------------------------------- + +This was great! Hard to put a finger on why exactly I liked it so much though. +Obviously much less tranditionally masculine than 8 1/2. + + +Bullitt +-------------- + +This has been on my list since J screened "Green Fog" for me at the archive, +for the San Francisco setting. McQueen is swaggery, though I expected even +more aggression from the reputation the film has. The chase scene is wild and +great. The cafe and SF culture establishing shots were unexpected. + +To be honest had to check some of the plot points online after... screen we +watched on didn't have good audio. + +I watched "Towering Inferno" before this, partially for the same "Green Fog" +motivation, and partially because it features the Embarcadero Hyatt atrium. +Also features McQueen and a couple other scenes were similar (everybody in +Pacific Heights is rich and horrible), but Bullitt is much better. + +Those blue McQueen eyes! + + +Pain and Glory +----------------- + +Good. + + +How to Get Ahead in Advertising +--------------------------------- + +I didn't like this as much as I expected I would? Manic, ranty, nice Cronberg-y +bits. + +The Lighthouse +------------------ + +Weird, intense. Good? Acting was great. Dialog was hard to understand at times. + + +Bombshell +------------- + +This was good. A juicy, buzzy story. diff --git a/film/to-watch.page b/film/to-watch.page index dfa2b72..82f9850 100644 --- a/film/to-watch.page +++ b/film/to-watch.page @@ -53,10 +53,8 @@ Films To Watch * 500 Days of Summer * God Bless America * The Game (Fincher) - * American Psycho * Network * The Tree of Life - * Glengarry Glen Ross * The Man Who Wasn't There (2001, Coen Brothers) * House of Games * We Children from Bahnhof Zoo (Christiane F) @@ -71,7 +69,6 @@ Films To Watch * Summer Wars (2009, anime) * Together (2000, Swedish) * A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (Woody Allen) - * I Am Love (Tilda Swinton) * Margin Call * The Listening (2006) * Pather Panchali (1955) @@ -93,15 +90,12 @@ Films To Watch * The Untouchables (1987) * City of Women (Felini, 1980) * Norma Rae - * Subway (Luc Besson) * The Tall Blond Man With One Black Shoe * Genesis II (Roddenberry; 1973; Futurama-like plot) (also "The Questor Tapes") - * Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013) * Hard to Be a God (2014) * Songs from the Second Floor (2000) * Downfall (2004) - * Inside Llewyn Davis * Cache (2005, Haneke) * Volver * Talk To Her @@ -113,8 +107,6 @@ Films To Watch * Arabian Nights (2015, Gomes, 3 parts) * Knight of Cups (2015) * Titus (1999; Shakespearean) - * Agora (Library of Alexandria, 2009) - * Only God Forgives (Bangkok Ryan Gosling, 2013) * Daisies (Czech new wave, 1966, Věra Chytilová) * Woman on Top (Penelope Cruz romcom, 2000) * Okja (2017) @@ -124,12 +116,10 @@ Films To Watch * Song of the Exile (1990, HK, Maggie Cheung) * Center Stage (1991, HK, Maggie Cheung) * Clean (Assayas, Maggie Cheung) - * Mad Max: Fury Road (rewatch) * The Big Chill (Jeff Goldblum) * Hunger (2008, McQueen) * Adults in the Room (2019; Yanis Varofakis) * Virtuosity (1995) - * The Net (1995) Documentaries: -- cgit v1.2.3