Great song, the better vocal version is Robert Wyatt’s but I included Elvis’s below as well because of the brilliant trumpet solos (yes, Chet Baker). Both are worth a close listen from time to time.
Movies Watched -- Sunset (2019)
144 minute running time so at least 45 minutes too long … I loved Son of Saul, it was the best movie I saw from 2015, so I had high expectations for this one (same director), but this was a disappointment. He used the same camera technique of following the main actor around at close distance with the background people largely blurred, which was super effective in Son of Saul, but just didn’t work here.
I don’t know anything about the Austro-Hungarian Empire or the beginning of World War I, but even if I did, I don’t think I’d have been kept interested by this movie. The women were beautiful (Evelin Dobos, yowza!), it’s true, but other than that you just don’t know what the hell is going on 90% of the time, nor do you care. Give it a miss unless you have a beautiful Hungarian girlfriend.
Have you seen my brother?
Movies Watched -- Zama (2018)
115 minute running time but felt much longer and easily could have had 20 minutes cut out of it … I wasn’t thrilled with this, too long and pointless in the end (“the futility of colonialism”). A Spanish official stuck in Paraguay (landlocked, thus the inaccuracy of the opening image of him standing on the seashore) in the 18th century, the idea is sort of interesting, and I did like the scenes where he was surrounded by jabbering natives who just ignored him (I felt like that in China sometimes, “cosmic loneliness”), but this is a movie that critics will like and audiences will hate. You can give it a miss for sure.
Su Zhuoning is the only critic who dared write the truth: “Zama feels more like artfully shot lorem ipsum. You might stumble upon brilliant insights amidst the confusion. The big picture, however, proves elusive.”
The two-l llama, He's a beast.
Movies Watched -- Ratcatcher (1999)
93 minute running time so the right length … I loved “You Were Never Really Here” so much that I had to see Lynne Ramsay’s earlier work, and there are a lot of things in Ratcatcher that re-appear in YWNRH including the interesting sound design … and certain images that she thinks are powerful — shrouds and drowning, etc. (she started off doing still photography). Another story about down and outers in Scotland … reminded me of “Kes” (one of the greatest movies ever made), but I can’t recommend this one … it isn’t bad, far from bad, but it’s just grim, and redundant given all the other bleak movies northern England and Scotland. Didn’t realize John Farr recommended it … see it if you can handle some serious misery.
A big house with a bath, a toilet, and a field
More Wisdom from Gluzman
As I like to joke, just join the trend on the backside at a random time and ride it down risking Grittani’s $5,000 to high of day.
Movies Watched -- Outside In (2018)
109 minute running time so 10 minutes too long … might be easy to tighten up by cutting down on the dialogue-less mood shots, of which there were many. Written and directed by a woman so it’s not at all violent or flat-out dumb … it’s a character study and a love story of sorts … it’s not bad but it’s also not good enough to recommend. Edie Falco is good. Harry Bosch’s moody teen daughter is in it playing a moody teen daughter. The guy wasn’t properly traumatized after 20 years in prison … if you want to see a good “re-enter society after a long time in prison” drama, watch the TV series Rectify.
I probably know enough now to have a college degree in English
Movies Watched -- Motherless Brooklyn (2019)
144 minute running time so at least 45 minutes too long … Edward Norton vanity project (producer, director, lead actor) … the story wasn’t terrible, but it was just too long and convoluted, and something of a showcase for his actor buddies (“screen-chewing vanity” one critic wrote). If Norton had somehow made a 100-minute movie, it might have been good, but don’t waste your time with this.
Rex hated it: “so messy, confusing and pointless that you don’t know what’s going on half the time, and couldn’t care less.“
I have something wrong with my head.
The End of the Authoritative Source
From Peter Jennings’s interview on Booknotes in 1998:
“I don't think we know what the impact of the Internet is. I think we've come to the end of the century generally nervous — some of us generally nervous about the impact of technology, generally wondering where it will lead us in the next century. And I keep running into intellectuals who are afraid that what the Internet does is it puts so much information out into the society without any particular value on it. And so you never quite know what you're reading and you never know what source you're using.“
A newsreader at one of the broadcast oligopolies had reason to be nervous….
Alphabetically Speaking You're OK
The great Pierino with the Fontane Sisters singing ‘A’ You're Adorable in 1949:
Movies Watched -- You Were Never Really Here (2018)
95 minute running time … I loved this one! Really well made, violent, disturbing, weird. I’m not sure if the story made any sense, but it was so stylishly made that I could cut it some slack. Joaquin Rafael (born in Puerto Rico) Phoenix is a little younger than me … he’s a little guy but a talented actor (Best Actor award at Cannes for this? I had no idea). I guess this movie was previously titled “A Beautiful Day,” don’t know why they changed the name? The sound design is really good too.
Tony Lane is right to say “some strains of this fearsome film, to be honest, feel overworked and arch,“ but it’s still good enough to get a coveted green-go rating.
‘A’ you’re adorable, ‘B’ you’re so beautiful, ‘C’ you’re a cutie full of charms….