Right out of the gate, I could see a few things. This was going to be really interesting from a technical standpoint, and it looked awesome. Then, the story unfolded. This movie is a banger. It’s an easy 5/5, 10/10, whatever rating system you want. It’s a classic for some real obvious reasons, but the story is no slouch. It hits you emotionally, guiding you with the score, and leading to what holds up quite differently now, I suspect, than it did originally.

Read the rest...

I was pretty excited to see Edgar Wright taking this on. His mood is very fitting here. You can’t stay campy if you’re doing the book, but you can’t go fully dark, as the book does, with a retelling like this. He landed it right in the middle, with a cogent point that is formed alongside comedy and actual fun adventure.

Big love to this movie. It was a ton of fun and I loved the much bigger scale of the world set up here. The players all worked for me, and the story was a ride. This will earn occasional rewatches in my house.

Read the rest...

The story is bonkers. A shootout starts on a side street in Hong Kong. That shootout essentially extends into an apartment building in a different part of the city, resulting in a standoff. There are automatic weapons, a fucking bomb gets tossed, cars all over the place have bullet holes and broken windows, and like, one guy was hit in the leg.

Read the rest...

Let’s start with the basics. It was the bottom of the ninth, one out, nobody on. The Dodgers trail 6–0 to the Mets.Not a ton of people are still here – probably about half, but the front of the bleachers was still hopping. We were in Section BL311, Row A, seats 1 & 2. Andy Pages hit a ball into the left field bleachers. It hit a guy across the aisle, Section BL309, Row A, Seat 18 or something smack (and I mean that literally) in the hands, went through them, hit the seat back behind him (people were scattering), bounced forward off the concrete curb at the front of the section and rolled to my feet. I was trying to get it, and it just came to me. Kind of the best baseball game moment of my life. Moment, I said. I’ve had some baseball experiences that rule.

Read the rest...

Criterion Challenge selection for the topic, “Watch a film that would be your first choice in the Criterion Closet.”

Why. I think the cover just fascinated me. It looked like something in the same vein as other silent movies I’d seen from the era. A creepyish cover with a title like that made me think Haxan, or maybe some of the more overt horror movies. Heck yeah. It really isn’t that.

Read the rest...

This movie absolutely rules. It shows the brutal incompetence of a fascist regime. It does not pussyfoot around the issue. It shows the fascists beating people in the streets, rounding up people with the wrong thoughts, upturning people’s lives because they can. All of that. Then, the movie shows us how to deal with that. Read the rest...

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...

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...

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...