As I undertook this plan to familiarize myself with a wide range of movies, I knew I’d eventually have to grapple with silent films. Enter Charlie Chaplin.

Since listening to a review of this on We Hate Movies a couple of weeks ago, I have been itching to watch this. My problem was that I only had a DVD copy, which I thought was really difficult to follow. The picture quality made the movie really, really dreary, which made me drowsy every time I watched. So, after a week or so of thinking about this, I ordered a copy of The Final Cut in 4K. It’s a movie I should own, so I figured now is as good a time as any to grab it.

The most annoying UI to show up recently is the one where a search (with Siri, say) displays results that once you click disappear forever. I need the back button. The first result almost never works.

I’m a bit torn by this and not sure if I even know enough to form an opinion on Elia Kazan.

I watched this without having any idea of the context. I prefer that if I can do it. Then I like to read up and at least form a basic picture of the world in which the movie was made. The message here was a very strong one—anti-corruption, power to the workers over those who have power. Plus, the opportunity to do something both righteous and empowering because of its righteousness.

I was taken in by this movie. I think about 30 minutes in I stopped writing notes down because I didn’t want to stop the movie. A gangster noir with all the right characters, played exquisitely, with a pretty great wrap.

It’s a movie where not a lot happens, but you really understand some family dynamics that represent all of us. I came away from the movie feeling sad.

The Nevada Independent did a thing about how Sam Brown doesn’t talk about his position on abortion. It’s a bad article based on a really stupid premise. Is Sam Brown running as a Republican? If so, it is blindingly obvious that he is in favor of banning abortion from the moment of conception until he actually says otherwise. That’s the most bankable thing in politics that exists in 2023.

This fit right in with the rest of the four sequels. After Raiders of the Lost Ark, these movies were fun and ultimately fine. I wasn’t watching to see great stories told in important ways. I was watching to see cool action and hopefully have a fun time following Indy on his quests. The four sequels handled that just fine. This was a good addition to the franchise.

I’m sort of shocked we haven’t seen more red states puffing their chests up about these migration patterns.

I was struck by how disdainfully this movie treated Robert Mitchum’s preacher character and his Christianity, despite the occasional allusion to his being a man of the cloth and therefore worthy of respect. That respect never really came to the character except from the easily manipulated.