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Jodorowsy’s Dune (2013)
The greatest science fiction movie never made.
Filmmaker(s): Frank Pavich

Shot in France, England, Switzerland and the United States, this documentary covers director Alejandro Jodorowsky (El Topo, Holy Mountain, Santa Sangre) and his 1974 Quixotic attempt to adapt the seminal sci-fi novel Dune into a feature film. After spending 2 years and millions of dollars, the massive undertaking eventually fell apart, but the artists Jodorowsky assembled for the legendary project continued to work together. This group of artists, or his “warriors” as Jodorowsky named them, went on to define modern sci-fi cinema with such films as Alien, Blade Runner, Star Wars and Total Recall.

The Exuberant Eye I am glad the man is alive and still making films, though they don’t drive my soul the way some work does. I like that he is aware of parallel narratives, is visual and fearless. His notions of sex and oppression are decoupled...


Published May 13, 2022
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Haywire (2011)
They left her no choice
Filmmaker(s): Steven Soderbergh

A black ops soldier seeks payback after she is betrayed and left for dead.

Needles I saw this years ago and could not find anything useful to say about it. I saw it again because I am trying to understand what Soderbergh is doing with his life. He worries me because I have invested part of my life to films...


Published May 13, 2022
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Looper (2012)
Hunted by your future, haunted by your past.
Filmmaker(s): Rian Johnson

In the year 2044, time travel has not yet been invented but in 30 years it will have been. When the mob wants to get rid of someone, they will send their target into the past where a looper, a hired gun, like Joe is waiting to mop up. Joe is getting rich and life is good until the day the mob decides to close the loop, sending back Joe's future self for assassination.

Annoyingly Trustworthy Monkey Time is all we must encounter; all else is urges. Narrative is built on this simple principle, usually with time forcing the cadence and agents with fate embodying the urges. So when time enters the story as a citizen, we have the opportunity...


Published May 13, 2022
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Inception (2010)
Your mind is the scene of the crime.
Filmmaker(s): Christopher Nolan

Cobb, a skilled thief who commits corporate espionage by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets is offered a chance to regain his old life as payment for a task considered to be impossible: "inception", the implantation of another person's idea into a target's subconscious.

Insides of Emma (The Fall of Angels) When I watch a movie, all sorts of machinery kicks in. I am aware of only some of that, and can massage and train only a bit of it — of what I see of myself. This machinery is...


Published May 13, 2022
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Ice Age 5: Collision Course (2016)
One small step. One giant mess.
Filmmaker(s): Mike Thurmeier

Set after the events of Continental Drift, Scrat's epic pursuit of his elusive acorn catapults him outside of Earth, where he accidentally sets off a series of cosmic events that transform and threaten the planet. To save themselves from peril, Manny, Sid, Diego, and the rest of the herd leave their home and embark on a quest full of thrills and spills, highs and lows, laughter and adventure while traveling to exotic new lands and locations.

Acorny I cannot recall which of the previous I liked and why. It may have been the story that included the telling of a story. But that depends on coherence, and what have here are several sties or skits smeared into each other. There are the...


Published May 13, 2022
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Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018)
Rise up.
Filmmaker(s): Steven S. DeKnight

It has been ten years since The Battle of the Breach and the oceans are still, but restless. Vindicated by the victory at the Breach, the Jaeger program has evolved into the most powerful global defense force in human history. The PPDC now calls upon the best and brightest to rise up and become the next generation of heroes when the Kaiju threat returns.

Head Space I really disliked the first one. The world building, in retrospect, was very impressive, building on a number of strong cinematic conventions that were ripe for evolution. But all the backstory and parallel plots, all the character development was within a single testosterone paradigm....


Published May 13, 2022
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Pacific Rim (2013)
To fight monsters, we created monsters.
Filmmaker(s): Guillermo del Toro

Using massive piloted robots to combat the alien threat, earth's survivors take the fight to the invading alien force lurking in the depths of the Pacific Ocean. Nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless enemy, the forces of mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes who now stand as earth's final hope against the mounting apocalypse.

Water, Ink Yes, I do find this man more disappointing than your average action director. It isn't that his movies are any dumber than others. They aren't. It is a reverse prejudice based on two qualities. He has a powerful visual ability, in beings, environments and...


Published May 13, 2022
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The Hunger Games (2012)
May the odds be ever in your favor.
Filmmaker(s): Gary Ross

Every year in the ruins of what was once North America, the nation of Panem forces each of its twelve districts to send a teenage boy and girl to compete in the Hunger Games. Part twisted entertainment, part government intimidation tactic, the Hunger Games are a nationally televised event in which “Tributes” must fight with one another until one survivor remains. Pitted against highly-trained Tributes who have prepared for these Games their entire lives, Katniss is forced to rely upon her sharp instincts as well as the mentorship of drunken former victor Haymitch Abernathy. If she’s ever to return home to District 12, Katniss must make impossible choices in the arena that weigh survival against humanity and life against love. The world will be watching.

More Games, Less Hunger I am seeing this a second time with pre teenagers, close to the target market for the books I assume. I think for them, the film is serviceable and as they see the series the plot complications will be engaging. But it...


Published May 13, 2022
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Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)
The quest begins
Filmmaker(s): Travis Knight

Kubo mesmerizes the people in his village with his magical gift for spinning wild tales with origami. When he accidentally summons an evil spirit seeking vengeance, Kubo is forced to go on a quest to solve the mystery of his fallen samurai father and his mystical weaponry, as well as discover his own magical powers.

Gently Weeps This film hit a sweet spot for me. It merges essential Shintoism, magic and origami in a story about storytelling, four subjects of deep interest for me. This is orgasmic level engagement, this mix. I need to see it again in 3D to see...


Published May 13, 2022
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Vantage Point (2008)
8 strangers. 8 points of view. 1 truth.
Filmmaker(s): Pete Travis

The attempted assassination of the American president is told and re-told from several different perspectives.

Unbraided Gosh what a seductive idea. Gosh what a spasm of waste. The problem is that clever ideas were borrowed and spliced together with no annealing. So we have this business of recorded movies and the movie we watch overlap. The movies within are by Forrest Whitaker...


Published May 13, 2022
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