Movies Watched -- Fury (1936)

92 minute running time … sort of a preachy (”socially minded”) movie about mob violence, injustice, and revenge from the 1930s … it wasn’t bad, it was well-written, but like I said, preachy.

“… the law doesn't know that a lot of things that were very important to me... ...silly things, maybe, like a belief in justice......and an idea that men were civilized......and a feeling of pride that this country of mine was different from all others. The law doesn't know those things were burned to death within me that night.”

Bug-eyed

Tune In Your Head to Stand Out

Flikka (a Swede) singing Favorite Kind of Girl, backed by Gotts Street Park (some lads from Leeds):

Pick a Color To Box Her In

Jasmine Cephas Jones singing Little Bird … great voice and I like the song. Looks a little bit like the elder Tiger Cub.

Movies Watched -- Wanda (1970)

102 minute running time … strange one, indie pic from the 70s, disc had poor audio quality and no subtitles, watched at 8x fast forward … about a poor white woman, a real simpleton, a down and outer and adrift, ends up with a criminal type who comes to a predictable end … written, directed, and starring Barbara Loden. Bizarre and depressing, I’m not sure why it was in my queue. Ah, I have John Farr to blame. You can give this one a miss unless you’re interested in gritty character studies from the early 1970s.

Do you want to look cheap?

Movies Watched -- Personal Shopper (2017)

105 minute running time … this was so bad I stopped watching it after 45 minutes and hated myself for watching that much … John Farr did me super dirty by recommending this one … I don’t know why Kristen Stewart gets so much work, her great acting talent lies in biting her lip or fingernail. Movie had to be sponsored by Apple given the severity of product placements. Complete crap, give it a miss. Same director as the awful “Clouds of Sils Maria,” I should have known better!

Farr; “[a] Hitchcockian thriller [NO!] progresses from an absorbing study in millennial detachment [STUDY IN MILLENNIAL TATTOO PLACEMENT] to a genuinely creepy exploration of the spiritual world [HELL NO!].“

Forbidden dress-up

Movies Watched -- The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

115 minute running time so at least 15 to 20 minutes too long. This movie was nearly impossible to watch, I got physically sick from the bouncy cam and quick cuts and zoom in zoom out … it’s unbearable. The story is kind of stupid too, Bourne never sleeps and has unlimited cash and perfectly clean clothes day after day and is clean shaven and it’s just … unrealistic. This was made in 2007, back in the War Porn era post-9/11, feels a bit dated now. There are some good action sequences, but the terrible bouncy cam reigns supreme so give it a miss.

Issue a standing kill order on chubby-cheeked CIA officers, effective immediately.

Movies Watched -- The Wedding Plan (2017)

In Hebrew. 110 minute running time. I really liked this one, the lead actress looks sort of like a Jewish Andie MacDowell … she has a lot of charm and spunk … it’s a cute story, funny and honest, well done. This is a green-go, recommended movie from the Chairman.

Here’s Matthew Lickona’s well-written, brief review.

The words aren’t working for you. המילים לא עובדותבשבילך

I Can Take You Deeper

Self-described baddie from Baghdad, alali … nice voice, I dig the song and love that album cover.

Movies Watched -- The Virgin Suicides (2000)

97 minute running time … I wasn’t thrilled with this … supposed to take place in Grosse Pointe, which they misspelled very early on, rankling me … the class angle wasn’t explored very well, nor was Catholicism given a fair shake … grim story in which no note rang true … late 70s / early 80s nostalgia piece, but it just didn’t work. I guess people were too kind to it since it was Sofia Coppola’s first movie, but it was no good, you can give it a miss.

You’re a stone fox.

Why Did You Take a Quarter Point Like That?

Funny story from the great Linda Raschke (start at 1:03:00 if it doesn’t skip there):

“Mike was like, why did you do that? Why did you just take a quarter point like that? And the specialist pulls out of his pocket this wad of hundred dollar bills and says, ‘Hold out your hand.’ And he puts the wad of hundred dollar bills in Mike’s hand and he says, ‘Now close your fingers around that, and see what that feels like.’”

Realized versus unrealized … the specialists worked closely with their monkey brains.