Wild Waves

My first visit to Wild Waves (link) was a hoot. Every town should have a couple of giant water slides and a wave pool. Sun burn was minimal. A good time was had by all.

Blog anniversary

Missed the anniversary of this blog as is usual. Five years!

Bush: Hungarian revolt should inspire Iraq

The Pretender should be more circumspect in what he wishes for. What is he trying to say? That in 30 years, the Iraquis will be rid of the foreign invader? Or, that the revolution will be ruthlessly crushed?

Re: Resuscitating Book Club

Apologies for the lacuna in book selection. I submit now these, you gentles.

Kurlansky, Mark. Salt: A World History.
Penguin Group. 2003.
and / or
Kurlansky, Mark.
Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World. Penguin Group. 1998.
Vince has been going on about Salt ... ever since he read it when it was new. Someone told me that Salt... is an offshoot of the Cod ... book.

Gardner, John. Grendel. Vintage Books. 1971.
I've been meaning to re-read this for well, decades now. Will it be as good now as I thought it was then? The current movie is not based on this book. Although there is an animated movie from Australia written by John Gardner called
Grendel Grendel Grendel. Also from iMDB: "In 1982, his novel, 'Grendel', was adapted as a stage play by Indianapolis actor Bart Simpson, who is now the artistic director of
The Blue Monkey Sideshow."

Eliot, George.
Silas Marner. Dover. 1861.
The Fishing News! Pfft! Let's get it right from the melodramatic source. Lisa Simpson's favoritebook. Wait, no. Lisa Simpson's favorite book is Ethan Frome. Never mind about Lisa. Or the Fishing News. Silas Marner is another one of those Queen Anne waists, threshing in the background, tea and tatting in the parlor, muddy boots, talkity-talk books. I'm sure there's a deacon or two to spare and any number of bloodless parsons.

Flaubert, Gustave.
Madame Bovary. Dover. 1886.
Translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling, daughter of Karl Marx.

Atwood, Margaret. The Blind Assassin. 2001.
I looked at this on a remainder table once and it has been in the back of my mind ever since. Won a prize. Did we do a different book by Atwood?

The Madness of King George

Moral: don''t go crazy in the 18th century even if you are the king. Beautiful production but performances are hopelessly broad and unaffecting. Yet another pantomime-worthy Prince of Wales. Why don't they just cast Prince and have done with it?

Tokyo Godfathers

One-note script tells us far too many times that the homeless have feelings too. That they are all homeless more or less by choice undercuts some of the message. The finale is ludicrous. Lovingly animated.

Samurai Spy

Even though there is a thorough exposition, I could not keep track of the players. A drawwn out Mexican stand-off. Appropriately claustrophobic.

The Day of the Jackal

Hypnotic semi-documentary. A tour-de-force to the last frame. A good follow up to The Killing.

Bad day at Black Rock

Spencer Tracy is over the top but he manages to make his transformation from all around great guy to sociopathic madman (no, it's not Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) almost believable. Fritz Lang never directed a more plausible mob than these bored crackers.

Fury

Spencer Tracy is over the top but he manages to make his transformation from all around great guy to sociopathic madman (no, it's not Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) almost believable. Fritz Lang never directed a more plausible mob than these bored crackers.

Lego for less than half price

 
 
The set is hokey, however. The "mutant" T-Rex is perhaps only a bit more posable than the old AMC model from the '70's. 

Marathon Man

Here's a fun drinking game: Take a drink every time there is a double cross. You will pass out before the end of the second act. Someone should render it into Shakespearean prose so that Olivier can get more screen time. Dustin Hoffman has never been more believable than as a naive horndog.

Requiem for a Heavyweight

I only knew this as part of Rod Serling's resume, so it seemed high time to watch it. I found it interesting to watch Robert Wise make the most out of not very much. More of a mood piece (well, it is Rod Serling, after all) than great cinema.

The Seventh Seal

Man, you just want to punch Death right in the gut! What a right bastard Death is. Prick!
Surprisingly, not the moodiest Bergman movie. Far from it!

Henry V

This is a hard sell for those more accustomed to the Kenneth Branagh takes on Shakespeare. The conceit of progressively more naturalistic performance and simultaneously more stylized milieu as the play progresses may be more information than some may want. Repeated viewings are warranted but I found myself distracted by a sense that Olivier is thinking about something else in every scene. Maybe it's just me.

Aguirre: Wrath of God

All one needs to know about this movie is that one must watch it through to the very end. That is not to say that the matter preceding the end is not worth watching on its own for it is, but the finale is in a class of its own.

Big Fish

Another Tim Burton movie about leafless trees, minds of doubtful sanity but unquestioned clarity and a whopping great dollop of sentimentality. This could have been several more interesting, but unmarketable, smaller movies, or even a miniseries. I love Albert Finney but i wanted to punch him in the gut the whole time.

On the Beach

Optimistic fantasy portrays humans as dignified and noble as they face nuclear annihilation. As if. Only slightly less improbable as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and then only because of the presence of oompa-loompas. Gregory Peck has his stoic schtick on full display while Fred Astaire does his level best to steal the show. Maybe it's all a radiation sickness-induced hallucination. This notion is supported by the interminable repetitions of Waltzing Matilda.

Fail-Safe

Poor cousin to Dr. Strangelove has all the makings of a great movie, but doesn't quite make it. The best moments belong to Henry Fonda. Compare and contrast his portrayal of a world-weary president with Frederic march in Seven Days in May.

I, Robot Is a Bad Movie

Wild Wild West meets A.I.

RoboFlop - The mechanical heart of I, Robot. By David Edelstein

RoboFlop - The mechanical heart of I, Robot. By David Edelstein: "There are people who regard Proyas' Dark City as a masterpiece for the ages—I believe Roger Ebert holds seminars in which he goes through the movie frame by frame for something like two years with breaks only for Yom Kippur and Lent."

I, Robot | The A.V. Club

I, Robot | The A.V. Club: "Only in Hollywood could Asimov's robot theory somehow get processed into a sassy grandmother with sweet-potato pie at the ready."

I, Robot (Roger Ebert)

:: rogerebert.com :: Reviews :: I, Robot (xhtml): "You can't even be mad at them, since they're only programs. Although, come to think of it, you can be mad at programs; Microsoft Word has inspired me to rage far beyond anything these robots engender."

loaded thoughts

loaded thoughts

Vikings!

  

Seven Days in May

The final scene is one of my all-time favorite performances from Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster. The premise of the movie (an American putsch) is all too likely now.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

I thought this was going to be a new production based on the book, but it seems to owe a lot more to the earlier movie. Very handsom and imaginative. The expansion into Glass Elevator is a good idea. And of course, Christopher Lee in a surgeon's smock is always welcome.

Beagle on the ferry

 

I looked up from reading the Stranger to find this squat hound staring at me. 

Miscellaneous Spring Pictures

Warren Buffett and the Fruit of the Loom Guys

"For investors as a whole, returns decrease as motion increases." Isn't this part of what John Nash was on about?