Holy cow! Three movies in three weeks! I haven't seen three movies in the entire last 9 months but it's summer and there are Blockbusters out there to support and see and toss $$$ at! This latest one is the most blockbusterish of all that I have seen in the past weeks because it is like a Jason Bourne movie (and how quickly did that become a brand?) but with a female kick-ass spy person who can do everything Jason Bourne did but has no computer chip planted on her back right shoulder.
First, I have to say that anyone who doesn't like Charlize Theron is either 1) blind or 2) an idiot or 3) both. I don't care what team you play for, she is so incredibly gorgeous that it is difficult to take one's eyes off of her, especially because John Goodman is also in this movie and we all know what a stonefox he is! It's difficult: should I look at Charlize of at JG? One is gorgeous and the other is hairy and big but one is compelled to look at them both! Well, kidding, if you prefer to look at JG, then I have no words for you. I really like him but compared to looking at Charlize, there is nothing. No comparison. And she has this ability to let absolutely no emotion register on her face. Her face becomes as if it was cut in stone.
But back to the movie. It takes place in 1989 when the Berlin Wall is coming down, an amazing year in history, and it's an amazing year in music as well, which is sampled in this movie. Who doesn't like all that late 80's music, the likes of David Bowie, Depeche Mode, Queen, New Order, Duran Duran, Cure, and more. The soundtrack is amazing and perfect. At one point I was actually almost waving my arms in the air, which hasn't happened in a little while in a dark theater. But what better place, right?
Berlin is dark and dank and the Cold War is in full force, so this is about spies, counter spies, counter-counter spies, treachery, betrayal and fighting. There is a lot of hand-to-hand combat of the most brutal kind, involving every sort of thing you could use, like a hot plate, pipes, hoses, corkscrew, guns with no bullets, stiletto heels and other day-to-day things you can find laying around the house. At one point I had to close my eyes for about ten seconds just because the fighting was getting a bit too much, but hey, it's only movie violence. But still, it went on too long.
If you don't mind the personal affliction of injury and pain, more than in the Bourne movies, or if you are willing to just cover your eyes for a few seconds, the movie is worth seeing. Theron is amazing, not just because she fights better than Bourne but she is marginally better looking than Matt Damon. There are spy twists and turns and double crossing stuff, and the end is cool...... I give it two bandaged thumbs up, black eyes included. A summer blockbuster!
Let's see what we can find to see next week!
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Tuesday, August 8, 2017
Sunday, August 6, 2017
No Country for Old Men, revisited
It's not that there aren't newer things to watch on streaming TV but it was a long week and this is my Friday and when I turned the streaming TV on, one of the first movies that hit my focus was the Coen Brothers "No Country For Old Men." I don't think I have seen it since it came out ten years ago and I held little hope for it. Lately I have had no patience for anything, and I figured I would watch this until my really good Chinese take-out was done.
I watched it straight through, beginning to end. It is really good, better than I remembered, no need to stop and start, just click PLAY and let it go. The cast is stellar: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson, Garrett Dillahunt, Tess Harper, Kelly MacDonald. The story is simple, blood money stolen = revenge. But the execution, and I use that word wisely, is perfect. Man, those Coen kids know how to make a movie.
My favorite actors in this are Tommy Lee Jones, of course, with his wrinkles and his old nature and his honesty. And Kelly MacDonald, whose Scottish accent is often so broad that I can't understand a thing she says, is perfect as the small, obedient wife who knows her fate and yet says "nope" in the face of it. But everyone is amazing in their roles.
Even if you saw it ten years ago and didn't like it or found it too violent, check it out again. The violence is nasty but it is mostly off camera and it is part of the tale. And the end scene, I had no idea it would end like that, it is brilliant.
Watch it again, tell me what you think. If you hate it, I will buy you a beer or a glass of wine or a glass of ice tea and we can discuss.
over and out.
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I watched it straight through, beginning to end. It is really good, better than I remembered, no need to stop and start, just click PLAY and let it go. The cast is stellar: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson, Garrett Dillahunt, Tess Harper, Kelly MacDonald. The story is simple, blood money stolen = revenge. But the execution, and I use that word wisely, is perfect. Man, those Coen kids know how to make a movie.
My favorite actors in this are Tommy Lee Jones, of course, with his wrinkles and his old nature and his honesty. And Kelly MacDonald, whose Scottish accent is often so broad that I can't understand a thing she says, is perfect as the small, obedient wife who knows her fate and yet says "nope" in the face of it. But everyone is amazing in their roles.
Even if you saw it ten years ago and didn't like it or found it too violent, check it out again. The violence is nasty but it is mostly off camera and it is part of the tale. And the end scene, I had no idea it would end like that, it is brilliant.
Watch it again, tell me what you think. If you hate it, I will buy you a beer or a glass of wine or a glass of ice tea and we can discuss.
over and out.
.
Saturday, August 5, 2017
Inhospitably hospitable in the Hospitality Industry
After more than 20 years in this industry, I am very good at my job. Smile and nod, laugh at inane comments, express delight at photos on a phone of really ugly dogs. Do concierge work for no tips, accept criticism of things for which I have never had responsibility, wave goodbye with a smile and the thought "I hope you never return, you useless prick of a person and while I don't wish you great bodily harm I do hope your head falls off in the next two days."
I have the kind of face that, set in a certain way, makes people shut up. That's not the kind of face the Hospitality Industry approves of and therefore that face does not show up too often while at the front desk. I also have, it seems, the kind of face that, set in a certain way, makes people happy and chatty and willing to tell me personal details of their lives that I never wanted to hear. That's the kind of face that I am suppose to wear at work but that face makes me cringe at its fakeness. We all wear masks at different times but I am tired of wearing one so often.
On the days I work, I wear that face and I talk to the strangers who are at my workplace. I talk about nothing important, about restaurants, about trails, wineries, the weather, about food, about tourist stuff. I can chat about all that and more and never care about one syllable of the words coming out of my mouth. But the guests don't know that. That's the job.
On my days off, I don't talk much. I avoid it as much as possible, actually, not minding if my only conversation of the day revolves around "....would you like your receipt?" The chatter that follows me around on the job is like cereal in my mind, flakes and popping and eventually mush. While working, one must attend to that chatter. While not working, I don't have to listen, respond, rinse or repeat.
Yes, I am very good at my job. No, I do not want to do this for the long distance future. Less chatter, less cereal in my brain, more vistas, more travel, more quiet on my terms, please. I want more conversations with people I love and like, not with people i am paid to smile at.
Thank you for listening.
.
I have the kind of face that, set in a certain way, makes people shut up. That's not the kind of face the Hospitality Industry approves of and therefore that face does not show up too often while at the front desk. I also have, it seems, the kind of face that, set in a certain way, makes people happy and chatty and willing to tell me personal details of their lives that I never wanted to hear. That's the kind of face that I am suppose to wear at work but that face makes me cringe at its fakeness. We all wear masks at different times but I am tired of wearing one so often.
On the days I work, I wear that face and I talk to the strangers who are at my workplace. I talk about nothing important, about restaurants, about trails, wineries, the weather, about food, about tourist stuff. I can chat about all that and more and never care about one syllable of the words coming out of my mouth. But the guests don't know that. That's the job.
On my days off, I don't talk much. I avoid it as much as possible, actually, not minding if my only conversation of the day revolves around "....would you like your receipt?" The chatter that follows me around on the job is like cereal in my mind, flakes and popping and eventually mush. While working, one must attend to that chatter. While not working, I don't have to listen, respond, rinse or repeat.
Yes, I am very good at my job. No, I do not want to do this for the long distance future. Less chatter, less cereal in my brain, more vistas, more travel, more quiet on my terms, please. I want more conversations with people I love and like, not with people i am paid to smile at.
Thank you for listening.
.
Friday, July 28, 2017
Pasta with parmesan and mint and Paul Newman
This is a case when peer pressure prevailed. I read this recipe and thought "meh" but read the comments and there was not one bad comment. So I made it. You know when you want comfort food, but most comfort food is winter food because it involves roasting or heating up the kitchen? This is like comfort food but with so little effort and other than boiling water for the pasta, no heat. It didn't sound like it would work but it totally does. It's filling and comforting (especially after a long day/week/month) and yet light and fresh. I made it just as it said with the exception of the amount of pasta, a pound for 3 people? That's just way too much. I used a handful and a half of penne, enough for one person, and cut the rest of the stuff in half and it was more than enough. I think for one person a short quarter cup of chopped mint and a half cup of FRESH parmesan grated (don't bother to make it if you are using pre-grated parm, it won't work) two tablespoons of butter and a dash of salt (parmesan has a fair amount of salt) but a good amount of pepper at the end. The addition of a bit of the cooking water makes it saucy, but make sure your bowl is preheated. I just tossed it in the pasta bowl I ate out of and it was lovely. Yes, I know two tablespoons of butter seems a lot but if that bothers you then just shut up and go eat some plain boiled kale.
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/11397-pasta-with-mint-and-parmesan
Gotta love Mark Bittman.....
If you watch movies through Netflix, one of the best Paul Newman movies is leaving Netflix on August 1, so watch it now. Even if you saw it years ago, watch "The Verdict" again. We all loved Paul Newman, and we love to remember him as sexy and cool and bulletproof. Here he is rundown and getting craggly and plays a drunk crappy lawyer who is handed a wrongful death case that he almost blows. Almost. His stellar acting is so clear in this movie. I could go on, but do yourself a favor and watch it. Yes, it seems to drag about half way through but only for about 20 minutes and we all owe Paul Newman those 20 minutes for what his screen career has given us in entertainment and pure amazement at his gorgeousness and his ability to be anyone, from the Hustler to Butch Cassidy to this guy.
That's it. A bowl of pasta and a movie. Life is good. Oh, and a nice Pinot to pair well with the parmesan and mint. Seriously, I can't think of a better match.
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Tuesday, July 25, 2017
"Dunkirk"
How amazing it is to watch a Christopher Nolan movie! No matter what the subject, be it memory loss ("Memento") or subconscious infiltration and theft of memories ("Inception") or time-travel through galaxies ("Interstellar") or super heroes ("The Dark Knight") Nolan knows how to hook you, suspend you and let you down not gently. He is a master at fucking with your mind in the guise of entertainment.
Not so entertaining is "Dunkirk," however. It's a straight-on war movie, so if you don't like that genre, you won't like this movie. But it is masterful, it is genuine and it is amazing. Did I like it? I liked all of it except the subject, war. But you can't go see a war movie without being immersed in that subject. I was knocked out and exhausted by its scope and its depth. It is so difficult to watch at times, not for the blood and guts (of which there is little, a lot of death but not a lot of blood) but for the human factor. The gut wrenching terror in a boy's eyes, the massive fear of being killed, the immediate realization that one has zero seconds to live. Difficult to recommend but it would be a shame to not experience this movie.
There is no preface, no narration, no big stars on the screen, no familiar faces (except Kenneth Branagh, who has short screen time) to distract you. The movie just begins and within a minute, you are deep in the pain of war.
Nolan likes to play with time, forward and backward, and there is a bit of that in this film. You see the same scene from a few different angles and perspectives, four or five or ten minutes apart. It sounds distracting, and it is a bit, but it also increases the tension and the suspension of reality. (It's odd to use that phrase "suspension of reality"
in a movie based on fact, but I imagine war suspends reality while imprinting reality at the same time.) For example, Steve and I disagreed on something that happened, I said one thing, he said something else, until we realized we were both wrong, it was something totally different seen from two different sets of eyes at two different interludes of time. Nolan is a master at that, making you question what you just saw.
Bottom line, it's an astonishing achievement in every way. Nolan has made one helluva movie here. His craft and technique are flawless. More than that, it is a tribute to men and women of war, of survival and of fear and bravery, of doing one right thing at one moment. It's a testament to the British soldiers, who came home from Dunkirk feeling like failures but who went on to fight the long fight of the war. And in the end, it's a look at war, a very short snapshot of the thing no one wants to see, to endure, to live. "Dunkirk" is, as all war movies should be, a plea for survival, for peace. Not that Nolan puts that on the screen, but if a viewer can't find that, then that viewer is blind.
Not so entertaining is "Dunkirk," however. It's a straight-on war movie, so if you don't like that genre, you won't like this movie. But it is masterful, it is genuine and it is amazing. Did I like it? I liked all of it except the subject, war. But you can't go see a war movie without being immersed in that subject. I was knocked out and exhausted by its scope and its depth. It is so difficult to watch at times, not for the blood and guts (of which there is little, a lot of death but not a lot of blood) but for the human factor. The gut wrenching terror in a boy's eyes, the massive fear of being killed, the immediate realization that one has zero seconds to live. Difficult to recommend but it would be a shame to not experience this movie.
There is no preface, no narration, no big stars on the screen, no familiar faces (except Kenneth Branagh, who has short screen time) to distract you. The movie just begins and within a minute, you are deep in the pain of war.
Nolan likes to play with time, forward and backward, and there is a bit of that in this film. You see the same scene from a few different angles and perspectives, four or five or ten minutes apart. It sounds distracting, and it is a bit, but it also increases the tension and the suspension of reality. (It's odd to use that phrase "suspension of reality"
in a movie based on fact, but I imagine war suspends reality while imprinting reality at the same time.) For example, Steve and I disagreed on something that happened, I said one thing, he said something else, until we realized we were both wrong, it was something totally different seen from two different sets of eyes at two different interludes of time. Nolan is a master at that, making you question what you just saw.
Bottom line, it's an astonishing achievement in every way. Nolan has made one helluva movie here. His craft and technique are flawless. More than that, it is a tribute to men and women of war, of survival and of fear and bravery, of doing one right thing at one moment. It's a testament to the British soldiers, who came home from Dunkirk feeling like failures but who went on to fight the long fight of the war. And in the end, it's a look at war, a very short snapshot of the thing no one wants to see, to endure, to live. "Dunkirk" is, as all war movies should be, a plea for survival, for peace. Not that Nolan puts that on the screen, but if a viewer can't find that, then that viewer is blind.
Wednesday, July 19, 2017
"Here I Am"
I am listening to "Here I Am" by Jonathan Safran Foer in my car as I go back and forth to work. It's an amazing story of Jewish families, Israel, divorce, generations of bickering and of love, growing up, growing old, staying the same. I am loving it because it's funny and it's sad at the same time, I laugh out loud and three minutes later there are tears in my eyes. Great one-liners, great commentary on life in general, not just Jewish life, although there's a lot of that as well. I sometimes avoid books with a Jewish slant, I don't know why, but this is so rich and vivid and real. The characters, Jacob and Julia and their three sons and a grandfather and great grandfather and some others, are in turmoil all the time, much like all of us. They have no idea how to navigate down the dark and dangerous rivers of real life, much like all of us. They fuck up, they try to do better, they sometimes believe in a god of sorts, sometimes they don't believe in anything. Often they know nothing, they believe nothing and they either admit it or they deny it. Much like all of us.
I am not sure I would like this book as much if I was reading it. Sometimes the voice that narrates (i.e. reads) the story makes it so much better. (And sometimes the voice makes you turn the car around and take that book on CDs right back to the library.) The voice is Jewish (and I mean that in the best possible way) and he knows how to phrase the phrases perfectly, when to give weight and when to make it light. It's a great book to listen to, but since many of you who read this blog (well, many is too hopeful) don't drive great distances, you probably will never listen to this book. Too bad. It's a joy.
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I am not sure I would like this book as much if I was reading it. Sometimes the voice that narrates (i.e. reads) the story makes it so much better. (And sometimes the voice makes you turn the car around and take that book on CDs right back to the library.) The voice is Jewish (and I mean that in the best possible way) and he knows how to phrase the phrases perfectly, when to give weight and when to make it light. It's a great book to listen to, but since many of you who read this blog (well, many is too hopeful) don't drive great distances, you probably will never listen to this book. Too bad. It's a joy.
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"Baby Driver"
Totally fun summer movie. Lots of action, amazing music, over-the-top characters and plot, an evil Kevin Spacey (is there any other kind) and just pure, mad, silly, bloody fun. If you are looking for something with authenticity, integrity, realism, altruism, thoughtfulness and inspiration, something with real people, real situations and honest dialogue, this will not be that. This is the opposite of that.
"Baby Driver" is basically a heist story, with guns and lots of swearing, with a corny love story and with a humorously psychotic and unkillable Jon Hamm character named Buddy. There are a couple of gory scenes, the kind that make you cringe and squirm in your seat and say "oh, yuck" but they aren't offensive because they aren't real! It's a movie! Plus it's a bit amusing as well so you get to chuckle now and then at the absurdity of it all.
I can totally, 100% recommend this movie but don't bother if you hate guns, swearing, blood and really loud and fast car chases. That's the entire point of the movie, that and the amazing music and the goofiness of the entire film. I loved it.
"Baby Driver" is basically a heist story, with guns and lots of swearing, with a corny love story and with a humorously psychotic and unkillable Jon Hamm character named Buddy. There are a couple of gory scenes, the kind that make you cringe and squirm in your seat and say "oh, yuck" but they aren't offensive because they aren't real! It's a movie! Plus it's a bit amusing as well so you get to chuckle now and then at the absurdity of it all.
I can totally, 100% recommend this movie but don't bother if you hate guns, swearing, blood and really loud and fast car chases. That's the entire point of the movie, that and the amazing music and the goofiness of the entire film. I loved it.
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