Finished Sling Blade, one of the best I’ve seen this year. Stellar script, great acting, all around an remarkable movie with a deceptively simple protagonist. Karl as a character, both where he starts out and how people react to him, pose innumerable questions for the audience to think on. Simple ways aren’t a sin, and it seems like half the time he has more common sense than the “normal” folk he’s surrounded by. In a way, his “freedom” is more like living through the reverberations and echoes of his past life. Time flows like a river, and history repeats. While the end may not surprise everyone, the way they execute it is precisely what was needed to finish the story right.



Billy Bob Thorton is *also* the Director. Kenneth Branaugh much? It’s astonishing how he manages to transform himself through acting to such a point that him, and the man who was riding the red tide many years after are worlds apart. It’s a testament to the man’s acting, and the cast besides him hold up very well in believability. The way he frames the film reminds me a bit of citizen kane where he can have an angular focus on the main characters - particularly with him and frank. They also do stuff that reminds me a teensy bit of pulp fiction; They’ll have a fairly long cut with both characters in frame, then switch to alternating shots when complications arise. Overall, it was a pleasant surprise and I came away impressed.

I Saw Birdman. At least in terms of Cinematography, it’s unique for creating a true sense of immersion through the illusion of “the one take”. Many modern films involve a myriad of cursory takes pieced together; As Birdman takes place in a smaller setting and sticks with a single protagonist, the director chose a path Orson Welles would’ve been proud of. The camera moves through hallways, around actors, and everything else in between without a true cut - they seem to use camera swivels or dark hallways to transition from one Uber-Take to the next. The tone of the movie is dark and realistic, and the actors‘ performances sell it very well. Of the modern films to be released, I’d recommend it if you’re curious to see something a bit more eccentric and bold.

O Brother, Where Art Thou…. would be more aptly named as Three Stooges Unchained. I can’t help but scratch my head at the Coen Brothers’ film. Free from the shackles of fate, they…go wandering, and stuff, and weird stuff happens. The script is certainly verbose to a degree, but the performances tend to veer between the cartoony and just-plain-ludicrous. Visually it’s a well-shot movie and there’s a strong level of entertainment value…maybe it’s a case like Tree of Life where my perception wasn’t in line with those who created it. If you wanted Django Unchained with an extra level of gonzo, I guess this is your movie? Maybe if you’re feeling lucky.




Rewatched Bambi. While Snow White And The Seven Dwarves had managed to prove animated films were possible in the first place, Bambi was the first to pull off animated films as a form of art. Part of this was on a visual basis. Using techniques like the multi-plane shots, disney could create a sense of depth by filming several background pieces and moving them one frame at a time to create the illusion of depth. This technique would go on for literal decades after Bambi was released. It has a naturalism in terms of its animal characters that hardly exists in an era where countless African species look at the camera to tell you how much they like to move it move it. Anyways, the storyline is fairly simplistic but manages well through its impeccable music and extreme visual detail, especially for its time. it’s a coming of age story brought into a form that’s both timeless and universal.

Saw Pocahontas too. One of the best-looking 2D disney movies to date. It’s also one of the few animated disney movies that held a more serious tone and diverged from a forced happy ending. There’s also a level of spirituality in Pocahontas that’s unique to the disney library, in both special effects and thematically. S’good, go see it.

I checked out Planes: Fire&Rescue. Nope.

Last, but definitely not least, I saw The Princess And The Frog. What I expected from the film and what it was were nearly at opposites. Unlike most disney princesses, the main character isn’t a la-di-da girl yearning to get a sense of adventure by either investing in experimental lower-torso surgery or testing the limits of Stockholm syndrome. She’s an overworked woman aiming for an american dream…but is it her own? I can’t get too deep into the story, as a fairly major twist rests heavily on it. I can say though that they do an apt job of playing with the theme of misplaced desire. For some, Money and Happiness are the same thing - perhaps it can buy opportunity to happiness outside of the bare necessities, but the two main elements are hardly interchangeable. The Right Path, and the Easy Path are not always the same.



Visually it reminds me of some of the older films like Lady and the Tramp mixed with some newer treats that border on mindfuck. Overly-Attached Musical Crocodile…Lol don bluth? At the very least, it’s worth seeing what may be the last Two-Dimensional Disney film. I, for one, welcome our computer-generated overlords. not

Age of Ultron…not really much to say on this one. Take Avengers and toss in a rampant AI with an awkward sense of humor and a Lawnmower-Man complex. It seems Joss aimed to humanize him, but it came off ungainly to me. I liked the characterization for Scarlet Witch/Quicksilver, though. They definitely kept it fresh with the action sequences which seem a lot more memorable than those in the original avengers film. It’s worth a look, but I wouldn’t put expectations up to 11.

Enjoyed Total Recall. Inspired by a short story from Phillip K. Dick and acted out by Arnold Schwarzenegger, it sounds like the ultimate Thinking Man’s Action Movie. And at least to an extent, it kinda is. While something like Blade Runner is a bit heavier on the drama side, Total Recall(at least after the first 15 minutes) becomes very heavy on action, all the while juggling the tension through Philosophical Mind Games and general crazy 80’s-Sci-Fi-Shtick. They say Memory makes the man(or at least Bourne would), and they do a great job of playing off that in character interactions and a very clever twist roughly halfway in the movie. In terms of Acting, Ahhhhnold is Ahnold. He gets some pretty clever lines, but I’m not exactly taking it that seriously. The same could be said for a large portion of the movie, which can be as clichéd as the premise that could *potentially* exist. Do I recommend it? Yeah, it’ll make you think, make you laugh, and make you wonder how they pulled off some of those visual treats. As long as you don’t mind a bit of cheeseball, you’ll have a ball.

I was wondering about and I suppose this really comes down to "the plot demands it" but in Jurassic World howcome the giant dino croc didn't break that barrier and munch on the people watching, yet the Indominous Rex could smash it with little problem, yet the dino croc is 10x heavier and such...

That kind of bugged me the whole film.

Lucky Numbers.

A fun little film with John Travolta and Lisa Kudro..

It's way overlooked by many people as it's a "dark comedy" and there are a lot of really fast one liners that if you blink you miss.

Was quite fun

7/10

Gyllenhaal is a good actor usually. And based on your describing it's a deep movie.

Very mediocre, without Murray it would've been unwatchable. Story is cliche & predictable, severely lacking in comedic moments. Bruce Willis' dry delivery and Kate Hudson's beautiful ass were the few high points.

5/10

Do killer whales break through the tanks at SeaWorld?
No, they really don't. And Orcas are pretty brutal mother fuckers too no matter what Free Willy taught you.

You should really be asking how they got the DNA for a Mosasaur in the first place.

You need to remember Jurassic Park/World gets it's DNA from mosquitoes in Amber.

Mosasaur while speculated to be like a Sea Turtle, in that it breathes air and may have left its eggs on the shore, there's no real proof of that.
And I doubt a mosquito could've gotten one when it was breaching for air.

I would've preferred they used a Kronosaurus. Because while it was a tad smaller, it was more of an water based analogue to a shark or an Orca.

Give 3 some credit for trying to give them feathers.

Well said Jorji.