The Cosby Curse One of the effects of a rich society is the luxury of spending time watching sports, engaging with the intricacies of statistical pockets, and the supposed drama of its celebrities. Only film and its media feeders can similarly create such icons, so it is natural that the two overlap, with TeeVee as… Continue reading King Richard (2021)
Category: Ones
Films rated one star out of three
Strange World (2022)
Ted’s Law Forget the story; despite the appealing message(s) this is not a decent way to spend time. But it does illustrate a principle I have noticed, which I believe applies universally in film projects and in most successful introspective AI projects. I modestly call this ‘Ted’s Law’. Here’s how it works in this case:… Continue reading Strange World (2022)
A Walk on the Moon (1999)
Nixon Wins This is a huge failure as a movie, but an interesting one in a way. At least for someone my age who lived through the period appropriated here. Here’s the basic challenge in showing a love story: how do you cinematically show the pulls on the heart? The usual solution is to fold… Continue reading A Walk on the Moon (1999)
A Separate Peace (2004)
Parallel Branches Some books seem natural for high school study. They need to be simple to read, but contain enough ambiguity and analogy to show students that real literature is more than a plot. If the book is set in high school, so much the better. I think the existence of this market niche is… Continue reading A Separate Peace (2004)
Perfect Day (1929)
Not Perfect I am in the midst of watching a lot of Laurel and Hardy shorts. I’m amazed at a few things. There are over a hundred. They all use the same gag philosophy, often the same gags. And they range from pretty darn funny to boring. This is one of the boring ones. You… Continue reading Perfect Day (1929)
A Jolly Good Furlough (1943)
Home not Attractive I’ve been watching propaganda movies recently. I don’t think we appreciate the government influence on the industry. It is easiest to see here. In this case, the message seems to be that GIs can be relatively happy away compared to home. The story is that Popeye comes home to his girlfriend and… Continue reading A Jolly Good Furlough (1943)
A Good Day to Die Hard (2013)
Vehicle Porn I’m pretty sure I understand how this got funded. The franchise is pretty worn out; since the first one, we have hundreds a year of tough boys and girls who manage to flamboyantly kill a lot of bad guys. (Set aside for a moment that most of these dead aren’t crooks, but soldiers… Continue reading A Good Day to Die Hard (2013)
A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
Remote Brits I watched this recently, and also saw it when it was new. At the time, I suppose it was funny. Now I do not, and I think perhaps it is because the center of gravity for humour has changed. Each of the Pythonista’s had a particular strength. Together, they were terrific, or at… Continue reading A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
Aunt Peg’s Fulfillment (1981)
Unfulfilling Classic porn, the kind celebrated in “Boogie Nights,” cannot be avoided if you are serious about studying film. An amazing number of these, mostly from the 70s, have pretty cleverly engineered contexts. It is completely different than the porn of today, where there is no attempt at story. Often, those old films stretched for… Continue reading Aunt Peg’s Fulfillment (1981)
Baby Geniuses (1999)
99 Dalmatians People hate this movie. I’m not sure I know why. Oh, it is bad, but other movies that are just as bad are not seen as so: — with the plot being the some sort of thin adventure. This is actually a bit more interesting than usual because the end is slightly untraditional.… Continue reading Baby Geniuses (1999)