Austin Barnes
Paper Moon (1973)
This was a Letterboxd Roulette recommendation as well as one of my Criterion Challenge movies for the year. It was a good pick n both accounts.
Normally, I try to have something interesting to say about these, but all that happened when I finished this was me saying, “That was wonderful” to Christy and smiling. I loved this movie.
Read the rest...Saving Money on NV Energy's Electric Vehicle Rate
May 1 marked a year of us being on NV Energy’s EV Rate plan, and they sent us a summary of what happened with our power use over the course of that year.
Read the rest...Down By Law (1986)
A Letterboxd Roulette recommendation, this time from Ty McGowen, who also hosts a podcast I will have to check out.
I’m not very versed in Jim Jarmusch, but everyone I’ve ever heard talk about him makes a point to say that he’s a bit of an acquired taste or might put people off somehow (paraphrasing, all of it). The one I’d seen from him was Night on Earth, which is an anthology and stars Winona Ryder (put her in a movie, I’ll check it out) so it may not be entirely indicative of what to expect from him.
Read the rest...Godland (2022)
Godland’s cover on both the Criterion website and Criterion Channel listings has been staring at me for a long time. That image has been seared in for a while and I have wanted to watch since I first saw it. This movie, as many do, scared me. It looked like I needed a lot of time and energy to make sure I watched it correctly. I think that was both the right read, and a bit incorrect. This did take energy, and it was a bit long. However, it was impossible not to be completely drawn in by the beauty. It’s indescribable, really. Iceland is magnificent.
I watched over two days, and that might have been a mistake. I think I missed some key interactions that would explain Lucas’s relationship with Ragnar, and the ultimate demise of Ragnar for a seemingly mild transgression — or at least a transgression that escalated very, very quickly.
Read the rest...Japan
Japan is great. You should visit if you can. We just did and this is a little bit about what we experienced there.
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A-Bomb Dome, Hiroshima
Waterworld (1995)
I have been on a mini run of “you gotta hand it to him” with regard to Kevin Costner. That run led me to dive with reckless abandon into Waterworld, a movie that I was ready to believe was treated unfairly over the years. It has not been treated unfairly. This wasn’t good.
The movie has a decent enough idea and a not-awful plot line. The premise is not subtle (the intro voiceover describes the melting of the polar icecaps, creating a world without land), but that unsubtlety to start the movie can be seen as world-building. It’s quickly just part of the movies, with a minor line here or there to remind you that the people alive today at least abstractly understand that their ancestors had really fucked up.
Read the rest...Mikey and Nicky (1976)
I had a tough time with this one. I feel like the evidence is mounting that I just am not a huge fan of the visual style of this type of movie. What I mean is the movie that shows you gritty, 70s New York or some other American city. I don’t really appreciate the camera work of the intimate close ups, I dislike the amount of contrasty darkness that obscures what I can see. And I think I dislike the “real people” genre when it’s a couple of mugs who are just shitty in their existence.
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