Movies Watched -- The American Friend (1977)

Added on June 26, 2021 by C. Maoxian.

125 minute running time so at least a half hour too long … this was terrible, Dennis Hopper is a damn good-looking man, but he can’t act; it’s painful to watch him on screen … Bruno Ganz is also a damn good-looking man and he can act a little bit, but the story is no good … it’s a bad adaptation of a Patricia Highsmith story, it’s just crap … why they would restore this and Criterion carry it is beyond me. No idea why it was in queue but it was a waste of a borrow!

What's wrong with a cowboy in Hamburg? [Everything!]

Movies Watched -- Neighboring Sounds (2012)

Added on June 25, 2021 by C. Maoxian.

131 minute running time so at least 30 minutes too long, but I really liked this one, and it would be possible for me to do a fan edit to perfect it since it’s just dozens of vignettes strung together and I could cut quite a few. Life in Brazil, really interesting, the class differences and skin color differences, the poverty and corruption (reminded of China) … it’s fascinating … and the women are beautiful. As Farr wrote (and thanks for the reco, John!): “… the master/servant/slave dynamic is still very much alive in modern Brazil.”

I can’t give this a green-go even though I liked it, but if I ever release a 100-minute fan edit, that will be the one to watch!

Can You Stand What's Standing In Front Of You?

Added on June 23, 2021 by C. Maoxian.

Love the song and the band and May Erlewine, who is very beautiful.

Letters Burning By My Bed

Added on June 22, 2021 by C. Maoxian.

London Grammar … love her voice … I can hear some Tanita Tikaram in there? Hey Now … the host doesn’t mean she was “taken aback” … “stunned” maybe.

Legs of One Belt, One Road Initiative

Added on June 21, 2021 by C. Maoxian.

After reading about truck convoys delivering goods to Europe from China, I wondered about the overland route they are using. These are apparently the overland legs of the One Belt, One Road Initiative. Looks like a long trip. Click on the images to enlarge them.

Khorgas to Almaty (no suggested route but looks like a straight shot)

Movies Watched -- Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)

Added on June 20, 2021 by C. Maoxian.

126 minute running time so a half hour too long … story about an FBI informant who infiltrated the Black Panther organization in Chicago … asserts that the FBI under Hoover arranged for the assassination of a Black Panther leader named Fred Hampton … I don’t know any of this history or how accurate it is … looked like a fairly big budget picture … the evil psychopath cracker kid from Breaking Bad is cast as an evil psychopath FBI agent here … he’s always terrifying. I wasn’t interested, but this was a Farr recommendation.

What will you do when your daughter brings home a Negro?

Movies Watched -- The Rapture (1991)

Added on June 20, 2021 by C. Maoxian.

100 minute running time but I didn’t make it far in before going to 8x fast forward … Mimi Rogers is a handsome woman with a great pair of jugs, but this was just terrible … a W.D. By movie, I can’t believe Michael Tolkin got funding for this, it’s just mind-boggling that anyone gave him money … I pray he was never able to make another movie. Whom do I have to blame for this? John Farr. Farr usually gets things right, but when he gets it wrong, it’s very wrong. Agent Fox Mulder, with a mullet, couldn’t act his way out of a paper bag. Great abs though … might explain the Farr reco. Geez.

Dick Brody got it all wrong: “It’s one of the most terrifying of religious films; an astounding synthesis of style and subject, it merges the meticulously practical and the terrifyingly visionary with a breathtaking audacity.” No, Dick, it’s just crap.

(I didn’t realize until perusing Mimi’s IMDb that she played “Money” Chandler in “Bosch” (an Amazon TV show I enjoyed.))

Movies Watched -- The Boss Of It All (2006)

Added on June 17, 2021 by C. Maoxian.

99 minute running time … a TWTR buddy suggested this Lars Von Trier comedy (?!?) since I loved Breaking the Waves … maybe this was funny if you knew Danish, sort of a “The Office” vibe, workplace humor, and pretentious theater humor, I guess. I didn’t make it very far in before throwing in the towel. A waste of a borrow really, but I’m used to that. Skip it.

There will be no f*cking until you get a proper bl*w job….

You Left Me BRKN

Added on June 15, 2021 by C. Maoxian.

Spotify algo suggested … strong voice, talented singer … and she’s beautiful. Interesting article about Madison Ryann Ward in the University of Oklahoma magazine.

Movies Watched -- Minari (2020)

Added on June 14, 2021 by C. Maoxian.

115 minute running time so at least 20 minutes too long … immigrant story, Korean couple with two kids who go to Arkansas (?!?) in the 1980s … Dad wants to be a farmer, not just a chicken sexer, and his more practical wife isn’t thrilled … lots of heart-warming piano music … trials and tribulations, but they don’t face any real racism or nastiness, it was all pretty sunny stuff … I wasn’t thrilled. John Farr reco’d this, but I sure wouldn’t.