Movies Watched -- Azor (2021)
100 minute running time so the perfect length … this is a story set in 1980 Argentina, post-Peron, when the Junta was firmly in control and there was martial law and widespread “disappearances” of enemies of the state … anyway, this Swiss private banker arrives in Buenos Aires to look for the bank’s partner stationed there who has also disappeared … arriving from Geneva, this guy and his wife are both super suave, speak perfect Spanish and French and English, are immaculately groomed and beautifully dressed … the banker is there to calm the waters in the wake of his partner’s disappearance … the super rich of Argentina are all on edge because the new government is arbitrarily seizing their property and stealing their goodies (like their racehorses) and disappearing their children… we discover that behind all their good looks and good manners, etc. this Swiss banker is working for both the murderous new regime and the rapidly vanishing old elite … he’s polished and urbane but he’s also washing blood money … he’s an amoral money-grubber, but this isn’t news to anyone who knows anything about the history of Swiss bankers. The movie was slickly made but few Murkans will be able to sit through it since it’s subtitled. I didn’t dislike it, but it also doesn’t rate a recommendation from me either.
Anthony Lane’s well-written review.
Abramos un contrato forex
50 Greatest American Independent Films By Year
I found this list of the 50 Greatest American Independent Movies and have re-ordered it chronologically:
Shadows (1959) ⬇️
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Easy Rider (1969)
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971)
THX-1138 (1971) ⬆️
Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)
Mean Streets (1973)
Dark Star (1974)
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Eraserhead (1977)
Killer of Sheep (1977) ⬇️
The Evil Dead (1981)
Blood Simple (1984) ⬆️
Stranger Than Paradise (1984)
The Terminator (1984) ⬆️
Runaway Train (1985)
Blue Velvet (1986)
She's Gotta Have It (1986)
Evil Dead II (1987)
Matewan (1987)
Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
sex, lies, and videotape (1989)
Poison (1991)
Slacker (1991)
Bad Lieutenant (1992)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Dazed And Confused (1993)
Short Cuts (1993)
Clerks (1994)
The Usual Suspects (1995)
Lone Star (1996)
Swingers (1996)
Cube (1997)
Grosse Point Blank (1997)
In The Company Of Men (1997)
Happiness (1998)
Pi (1998)
Being John Malkovich (1999) ⬆️
Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai (1999)
The Blair Witch Project (1999) ⬇️
Memento (2000)
Pitch Black (2000)
Donnie Darko (2001) ⬇️
Lost In Translation (2003)
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Juno (2007)
In Search Of A Midnight Kiss (2008)
The Wrestler (2009)
Winter's Bone (2010) ⬆️
Black Swan (2011)
Additional movies:
Nosferatu, A Symphony Of Terror (1922, Ger.)
Blood Feast (1963
Pink Flamingos (1972)
Mad Max (1979, Aus.)
Monty Python's Life Of Brian (1979, UK)
Bad Taste (1987, NZ)
Withnail And I (1987, UK)
Roger And Me (1989)
El Mariachi (1992)
Shallow Grave (1994, UK)
Buffalo '66 (1998)
Run Lola Run (1998, Ger.)
Amores Perros (2000, Mex.)
City of God (2002, Braz.)
Sideways (2004)
The Passion Of The Christ (2004, It./US)
The Descent (2005, UK)
Movies Watched -- Buffalo 66 (1998)
110 minute running time so 10 minutes could have been trimmed … this was a wonderfully weird movie made by a guy named Vincent Gallo who wrote, directed, and starred in it. This is independent movie making so it wasn’t bound by convention, which made it bizarre but also good and hilarious. I enjoyed it, and recommend it (green go). This must be a “cult classic,” but I’d never heard of it before someone mentioned it on Twitter.
Gallo plays a sort of lovable loser and Christina Ricci and her lovely chest plays his kidnapping victim … it’s set during a dreary winter in Buffalo, NY, which means it hits close to home. The movie had a David Lynchian vibe at times. I’m going to buy a copy for the permanent collection.
Spanning time
Who's Playing Whom Right Now?
Angela Muñoz with Can I Get Your Name, I dig it:
Movies Watched -- Animal Kingdom (2010)
113 minute running time so 20 to 30 minutes too long … star-studded Australian cast, a crime family movie … I didn’t buy any of it, wasn’t believable, it just didn’t ring true. Ben Mendelsohn plays a good bad guy, I loved him in Bloodline … the evil matriarch, Jacki Weaver, also good, I’ve seen her in a ton of things … I wasn’t thrilled with this cycle-of-violence movie, though John Farr liked it. .. I say you can give it a miss.
You’ve smoked yourself silly
Movies Watched -- Far From Men (2014)
101 minute running time … Aragorn son of Arathorn is a schoolteacher in Algeria in 1956, feels like 1856 … the story of the prisoner transfer was a little contrived, but I liked this movie … Viggo is multilingual, he can switch from French to Spanish to Arabic and it all sounds fine to my untrained ear … I think I may have been able to trim a bit, but the running time wasn’t terrible, right at the sacred 100 minute mark … this was a John Farr reco (Viggo “gives a performance of quiet intensity,” which is true) and I have to say I second it with a green-go rating. You’ll like it if you’re a sensitive, intelligent, educated, middle-aged white man living on the east coast of Murka who is very glad he doesn’t live in 1956 Algeria.
You’re alive!
Just Because You Hate Trading Doesn't Mean I Do
Mall Cop once again perfectly on point in today’s stream:
"I'm 34, what the heck am I supposed to do with the rest of my life? Of course I'll keep doing what I'm great at and what I enjoy. It's like asking some great musician, 'hey, why don't you retire?' when [they] just reach success. Most people who are not successful at trading, they hate trading, so all they are thinking about is to make enough money so they don't have to trade. That's the problem. Most traders are not where they want to be. Very few traders are where they want to be, so they kind of project their own situation on others.
For me at this point it's not even a job, it's a hobby. I feel I have total control, I have very low expectations, and I can afford to have low expectations because I have a lot of money, and I don't need to make money every day, every month. I feel no pressure, I just try to be the best trader I can be. I just go with the flow ... and I don't trade a lot of hours, I only trade a few hours a day ... it's not like I'm sitting here eight hours and trading.
No one would ever ask that question to an athlete or a musician or an artist, but somehow I, as a trader, get that question all the time. Just because you hate trading doesn't mean I do.”
Let the Angels Sing
Somi with “Holy Room” … wow:
Movies Watched -- Goodnight Mommy (2014)
In High German … 99 minute running time, so the perfect length … this was a deeply disturbing horror movie from Austria that I actually enjoyed and give a recommended (green-go) rating to, but if you are squeamish or easily upset you should NEVER see this movie … I can’t say too much about it since it’s such an easy movie to spoil, but it’s really well made and gives you a sense of unease from start to finish. Thanks to John Farr for the reco.
Wo ist unsere mutter?