Movies Watched -- Joe (2014)

117 minute running time so they could have trimmed 17 minutes off, but I liked this one … really good. A lot of people think Nic Coppola is a terrible actor, but it isn’t true, in the right role he can be near perfect. Rural Texas white trash tale, but well done … I don’t know why I didn’t hear about this one before now. Green rating, recommended.

Made by the same guy who did “George Washington,” which I wasn’t thrilled with. The misery and poverty and hopelessness works in “Joe” because it’s ultimately a story about redemption (and a boy’s courage), which wasn’t the case with “George Washington.”

Resigned to his fate…. “Your family's all you got.“

Movies Watched -- Young Adult (2011)

93 minute running time so the perfect length. Charlize Theron not only has great bones, but she’s also really funny — definitely looked great at age 37. This was an unconventional and rarely honest movie … I really enjoyed it. Script written by a woman (no man could have this level of insight). What happens to that pretty, mean girl from high school? Right, she eventually goes nuts (divorced, childless, no career). Gets a rare green rating, recommended!

Rex mostly liked it too … “spinster cycle,” ha!

“You don’t know shit about being an adult.”

Movies Watched -- The Handmaiden (2016)

145 minute running time so at least 45 minutes too long … in Korean and Japanese … dumb story, sort of soft-core lesbian porn from Korea … also has the usual twisted East Asian sicko vibe going on throughout … one scene was pretty hot, but it’s just highfalutin porn among the double and triple crosses … “classy trash” as one critic put it. Way way too long and just … crap. Not recommended.

Moistening the jade gates

Movies Watched -- All The Money In The World (2017)

132 minute running time so at least 30 to 40 minutes too long. Story “inspired” (i.e., they fictionalized the ending) by 1973 kidnapping of JP Getty III, “Paolo,” in Rome … short underwear model Marky Mark inexplicably in another major movie role, this time as former CIA man now Getty fixer, 88-year-old Chris Plummer as JPGetty (plays a good villain), Michelle Williams as Paolo’s mom — haven’t seen her since Shame (which I loved). Italian kidnappers and cops both come across as nincompoops. Not terrible, but also not very good, and just way too long. Yellow rating.

Rex liked it. Dick Brody did not.

I have no money to spare.

The Call of the Countertrend

William Eckhardt in The New Market Wizards … I have to re-read his chapter from time to time when things start to go awry in my own trading:

“Are there any other natural human tendencies that you think tend to sabotage success in trading?”

“There is what I refer to as ‘the call of the countertrend.’ There's a constellation of cognitive and emotional factors that makes people automatically countertrend in their approach. People want to buy cheap and sell dear; this by itself makes them countertrend. But the notion of cheapness or deamess must be anchored to something. People tend to view the prices they're used to as normal and prices removed from these levels as aberrant. This perspective leads people to trade counter to an emerging trend on the assumption that prices will eventually return to ‘normal.’ Therein lies the path to disaster.”

Movies Watched -- La La Land (2016)

128 minute running time so at least 30 to 40 minutes too long. Mainly watched on ffwd. Stars bug-eyed Emma Stone and Ryan “Mouseketeer” Gosling. A modern-day musical. They’re both attractive people and it looked charming in parts, but it was way way way too long, and for that reason it’s an avoid. Is Damien Chazelle gay? Probably a popular movie with homosexuals despite the hetero romance.

Amy Nicholson wrote a good review: “… the movie is an overpriced mason jar that poaches its artificial authenticity from the past.” … “When they kiss, it’s like an apple colliding with a banana.“

Always a green screen

Movies Watched -- Hereditary (2018)

127 minute running time so at least 30 to 40 minutes too long … horror movie, but looked lame when watched on ffwd. Didn’t grab me, didn’t interest me, I’m not really into horror. Most critics loved it, but you can always count on Rex to tell the truth: “Hereditary, the long, pretentious occult thriller … boasts the four-word label in film-festival jargon that often reliably guarantee a torturous disaster: ‘Big Hit at Sundance!’ … Toni Collette has never appeared more deranged and out of control.” Full red, avoid it.

Allergic to nuts

Movies Watched -- Loving (2016)

123 minute running time so at least 20 to 30 minutes too long. I watched most of it on ffwd. About the Loving vs. Virginia verdict … the woman who played Mildred Jeter was absolutely stunning, no doubt of mixed race herself … wasn’t interested in the story, plus it was too long. Give it a miss.

We ain’t hurtin’ anybody

Movies Watched -- Prisoners (2013)

153 minute running time so at least an HOUR too long … I watched most of it on ffwd. Pair of young girls kidnapped, which means no parents of young girls will voluntarily watch it. Wolverine’s daughter and her token black friend and neighbor disappear. Wolverine then abducts and really graphically tortures the suspected kidnapper, but of course he’s off track … Jake Gyllenhaal plays a detective with a squinting problem and inexplicable neck tattoo. Anyway, I wasn’t thrilled, and a running time of 153 minutes is just inexcusable. Skip it. (Edelstein called it a long sentence.)

Creepy eyeglasses means he’s guilty

Movies Watched -- Lone Survivor (2014)

120 minute running time so 20 to 30 minutes too long. Short underwear model, Marky Mark, has cast himself as the lone survivor of a tragic special ops mission in Afghanistan (which really happened, it’s based on a true story).

It’s War Porn, but sort of reverse War Porn since it shows the Americans getting beaten for once … turns the SEAL team into superheroes as they are shot and bounce down mountainsides, yet heroically fight till the bitter end. All the soldiers are handsome white boys. A Chinook helicopter was shot down during a rescue mission for the trapped four (another 16 dead).

I wasn’t thrilled with this, you can give it a miss.

Marky Mark chewing Backy and strictly following those Rules of Engagement