Godless (2017)
a limited 7-part series streaming on Netflix (November, 2017)
I am not a fan of Westerns, but stayed due to the well-written characters. This was intense, far more than I expected. Godless has the kind of violence seen in a hard R rated movie. The violence or the threat of violence was spread throughout this tightly packed limited 7 part streaming series. While the lead actors stood out [Jack O' Connell, Michelle Dockery, Scoot McNairy, Merritt Wever], all actors were believable in their roles. The cinematography was breathtaking even on my relatively small computer screen. The soundtrack was Western, but not the kind that makes one wish for a mute button. The director allowed the characters to breathe, seem real even though 1884 may seem almost interplanetary alien.Towards the conclusion of the final episode some of a main character's expositionary speech seemed a bit on the nose, but allowed the viewer some "down time" to process the episode's events. The ending was true Western in spirit and beautifully filmed.
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
Sunday, November 19, 2017
The Punisher (2017)
A Netflix series Season 1 - 13 episodes
This series has energy, violence paired with great dialogue and superior acting. This series is an extreme R. However with its title, I doubt any viewer would be taken by surprise by the gore. I had a few minor issues with some of the logic of the story; would trained military-level security really be that naive, along with a few computer details which furthered the story, but seemed a bit dumb. Suspend disbelief on a few plot points and the only thing to worry about is how to obscure the screen without missing plot details on the hyper violent portions (about 1/3 of this series). Jon Bernthal as Marine veteran Frank Castle (The Punisher) makes his character believable, likable and almost heroic. Jon Bernthal grips the viewer's attention in a scene. His performanceis almost a masterclass in acting. The supporting cast especially Amber Rose Revah (as Dinah Madani), Ebon Moss-Bachrach (as David Lieberman/Micro), Ben Barnes (as Billy Russo) and Jaime Ray Newman (as Sarah Lieberman) make their characters feel alive and fully-formed. While I did find the violent scenes overly long with lingering close-ups, but that may be more due to my sensibilities.
In a satisfying, well-written movie with decent direction, any violence whether gun or otherwise should be pertinent and necessary to the plot of the movie It was pointed out in this (SJ News published 11/07/2017 on YouTube) discussion that the upbeat music, especially in trailers, can transform the violence into something exhilarating and attractive. As long as the violence in a movie is not gratuitous, its perpetrators self-aware or super-villains who want to destroy our world ('cause you know, it's their thing) then being rated R is sufficient without resorting to censorship. Having just binged the 13 episode Punisher (2017) series, my next binge will include every Disney/Pixar movie still hanging in there on Netflix...at least until my heart rate and bp are normal.
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Punisher in the comics (only read a few myself) is basically a robotic killing machine.The Netflix Punisher series expanded the Punisher into a recognizable human (excluding his seemingly super self-healing skills). This series brought up issues that are not addressed with enough frequency. A trained soldier participating in a war returning home to live in peace needs in depth attention. This individual needs to be healed in order to re-adapt to society. Writers of a old Star Trek:TNG (S3-E11) episode did a very good overview of the morality and ethics of the State when faced with this situation. As for the length of Punisher series, I feel it earned its 13 episodes. However for my own sanity I had to balance my binge over a 2 day period. This series is intense.
A Netflix series Season 1 - 13 episodes
This series has energy, violence paired with great dialogue and superior acting. This series is an extreme R. However with its title, I doubt any viewer would be taken by surprise by the gore. I had a few minor issues with some of the logic of the story; would trained military-level security really be that naive, along with a few computer details which furthered the story, but seemed a bit dumb. Suspend disbelief on a few plot points and the only thing to worry about is how to obscure the screen without missing plot details on the hyper violent portions (about 1/3 of this series). Jon Bernthal as Marine veteran Frank Castle (The Punisher) makes his character believable, likable and almost heroic. Jon Bernthal grips the viewer's attention in a scene. His performanceis almost a masterclass in acting. The supporting cast especially Amber Rose Revah (as Dinah Madani), Ebon Moss-Bachrach (as David Lieberman/Micro), Ben Barnes (as Billy Russo) and Jaime Ray Newman (as Sarah Lieberman) make their characters feel alive and fully-formed. While I did find the violent scenes overly long with lingering close-ups, but that may be more due to my sensibilities.
In a satisfying, well-written movie with decent direction, any violence whether gun or otherwise should be pertinent and necessary to the plot of the movie It was pointed out in this (SJ News published 11/07/2017 on YouTube) discussion that the upbeat music, especially in trailers, can transform the violence into something exhilarating and attractive. As long as the violence in a movie is not gratuitous, its perpetrators self-aware or super-villains who want to destroy our world ('cause you know, it's their thing) then being rated R is sufficient without resorting to censorship. Having just binged the 13 episode Punisher (2017) series, my next binge will include every Disney/Pixar movie still hanging in there on Netflix...at least until my heart rate and bp are normal.
-----------
Punisher in the comics (only read a few myself) is basically a robotic killing machine.The Netflix Punisher series expanded the Punisher into a recognizable human (excluding his seemingly super self-healing skills). This series brought up issues that are not addressed with enough frequency. A trained soldier participating in a war returning home to live in peace needs in depth attention. This individual needs to be healed in order to re-adapt to society. Writers of a old Star Trek:TNG (S3-E11) episode did a very good overview of the morality and ethics of the State when faced with this situation. As for the length of Punisher series, I feel it earned its 13 episodes. However for my own sanity I had to balance my binge over a 2 day period. This series is intense.
Saturday, November 18, 2017
It's Not Yet Dark (2016)
seen on Netflix 11/18/2017
This film is not maudlin, sugar-coated or depressing. While this documentary concerns the effect of ALS (MND) on one man and his family, it is much more than just about disease. This is a documentary on the life and passion of director, writer, husband and father, Simon Fitzmaurice. It did not leave me in tears, but only impressed with his accomplishments and the skills of the director of this documentary, Frankie Fenton. Reading the synopsis and searching online about Simon Fitzmaurice gave me data that almost caused me to skip this film. Unlike many films about devastating illnesses, this one radiates hope not despair. Technically this film is scored, edited, filmed and directed flawlessly. Colin Farrell was more than just a narrator, his voice gave this film an energy and force which made the film flow. The term, "talking heads" for family friends and relatives giving exposition does not even fully apply. Everyone who spoke were clear, eloquent and interesting. No one lost precious time with family, friends and co-workers by angst or what-ifs. As said earlier, I was not left in tears, only hopeful for all of us.
seen on Netflix 11/18/2017
This film is not maudlin, sugar-coated or depressing. While this documentary concerns the effect of ALS (MND) on one man and his family, it is much more than just about disease. This is a documentary on the life and passion of director, writer, husband and father, Simon Fitzmaurice. It did not leave me in tears, but only impressed with his accomplishments and the skills of the director of this documentary, Frankie Fenton. Reading the synopsis and searching online about Simon Fitzmaurice gave me data that almost caused me to skip this film. Unlike many films about devastating illnesses, this one radiates hope not despair. Technically this film is scored, edited, filmed and directed flawlessly. Colin Farrell was more than just a narrator, his voice gave this film an energy and force which made the film flow. The term, "talking heads" for family friends and relatives giving exposition does not even fully apply. Everyone who spoke were clear, eloquent and interesting. No one lost precious time with family, friends and co-workers by angst or what-ifs. As said earlier, I was not left in tears, only hopeful for all of us.
Friday, November 17, 2017
Justice League (2017)
Live action DCEU (DC extended universe)
PG-13 one hour 59 minutes
I went in with low expectations. While I was entertained, the plot was perfunctory while the characters were great. I appreciated the addition of some humorous/ironic lines. The sound track was good. especially emphasizing action scenes. An astute fan of superhero audio will recognize several snippets of famous music. It was enjoyable seeing comic book images come alive with characters in costume as character was impressive I enjoyed the characters of Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), Flash (Ezra Miller) and Cyborg (Ray Fisher). Aquaman (Jason Momoa) was wasted, I think that some of his scenes were cut. However the worst written were Superman and Batman. Superman's re-appearance should have been rousing, epic, but it almost felt like he had been just out of town, not out of our reality. Again I suspect that scenes were cut due to Warner's edict that the move be no more than 2 hours. I was also disappointed in Steppenwolf (voiced by Ciaran Hinds). This villain's level of stupidity seemed to be right up there with his lack of a coherent plan. I kept expecting him to say , "Steppenwolf smash" (and yes I know that is a Marvel reference). Perhaps if his appearance had been in practical effects, not 100% CGI, might have resulted in a more emotionally powerful villain. For a menacing villain that uses good acting paired with practice effects see the 1985 movie Legend, with the character "Darkness". Steppenwolf not the brightest bulb in the room, was concerned making Earth a twin to his home planet (a place that sounds dark, dirty and dead), however he really had no coherent plan. I liked the heroic characters in Justice League, but never discovered its story or its soul.
There are two extra scenes. The first occurs in the first 2 minutes of the closing credits with an additional scene at the conclusion of the closing credits. While I initially thought the first scene was kind of random, I later discovered that this is a nod to a classic comic book cover page. The second scene may be giving some hints as to where the DCEU is headed.
This movie makes me wish that Ben Affleck was still directing, co-writing and appearing (??) in a future Batman standalone movie.
While I do enjoy more Marvel films than DC, I want both to live and prosper. I did like Justice League (because of the characters, excluding Steppenwolf, and their interactions). This genre may be slightly less "hot" now, but it is still a genre that will be kept on the table of contents listing types of movies. The more studios producing comic book films, the more opportunity for fan choice. Forbes is primarily a financial magazine (their site kicked me off due to Adblock) their "profit/loss projections" are not to be construed as to the quality level of this movie While I did not read the article, from what I hear from Roth and Dan, the future has not yet been written.
Can we use the Justice League movie in any monetary comparison without multiple asterisks? This was a super expensive movie in its birthing process. It went through a change of directors at a critical point. The studio came in with a change of tone (probably before Snyder left). This same studio issued a 2 hour movie length edit (again probably late in the filming process). Another studio while releasing a major actor needed for reshoots, would not allow "their" actor to shave. The result resembles a Bermuda Triangle phenomenon tripled!
Live action DCEU (DC extended universe)
PG-13 one hour 59 minutes
I went in with low expectations. While I was entertained, the plot was perfunctory while the characters were great. I appreciated the addition of some humorous/ironic lines. The sound track was good. especially emphasizing action scenes. An astute fan of superhero audio will recognize several snippets of famous music. It was enjoyable seeing comic book images come alive with characters in costume as character was impressive I enjoyed the characters of Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), Flash (Ezra Miller) and Cyborg (Ray Fisher). Aquaman (Jason Momoa) was wasted, I think that some of his scenes were cut. However the worst written were Superman and Batman. Superman's re-appearance should have been rousing, epic, but it almost felt like he had been just out of town, not out of our reality. Again I suspect that scenes were cut due to Warner's edict that the move be no more than 2 hours. I was also disappointed in Steppenwolf (voiced by Ciaran Hinds). This villain's level of stupidity seemed to be right up there with his lack of a coherent plan. I kept expecting him to say , "Steppenwolf smash" (and yes I know that is a Marvel reference). Perhaps if his appearance had been in practical effects, not 100% CGI, might have resulted in a more emotionally powerful villain. For a menacing villain that uses good acting paired with practice effects see the 1985 movie Legend, with the character "Darkness". Steppenwolf not the brightest bulb in the room, was concerned making Earth a twin to his home planet (a place that sounds dark, dirty and dead), however he really had no coherent plan. I liked the heroic characters in Justice League, but never discovered its story or its soul.
There are two extra scenes. The first occurs in the first 2 minutes of the closing credits with an additional scene at the conclusion of the closing credits. While I initially thought the first scene was kind of random, I later discovered that this is a nod to a classic comic book cover page. The second scene may be giving some hints as to where the DCEU is headed.
This movie makes me wish that Ben Affleck was still directing, co-writing and appearing (??) in a future Batman standalone movie.
While I do enjoy more Marvel films than DC, I want both to live and prosper. I did like Justice League (because of the characters, excluding Steppenwolf, and their interactions). This genre may be slightly less "hot" now, but it is still a genre that will be kept on the table of contents listing types of movies. The more studios producing comic book films, the more opportunity for fan choice. Forbes is primarily a financial magazine (their site kicked me off due to Adblock) their "profit/loss projections" are not to be construed as to the quality level of this movie While I did not read the article, from what I hear from Roth and Dan, the future has not yet been written.
Thursday, November 16, 2017
The Journey (2016)
PG-13 1 hour 34 minutes
watched on Netflix 11/17/2017
While this movie is primarily conversation concerning the background for the 2006 Northern Ireland peace talks, the director and actors have made this a film with no drag or unnecessary scenes. I was surprised with the excellent dialogue, beautiful cinematography, spot-on editing and flawless direction. More than 2/3 of this movie takes place inside a limousine or inside a government office. The high quality of the acting which included Timothy Spall as Ian Paisley, Colm Meaney as Martin McGuinness, John Hurt as Harry Patterson and Freddie Highmore as Jack (the "chauffeur"), was never in doubt. While this is not a documentary, the fact that Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness became close friends after the 2006 peace talks is verifiable. Their conversations are riveting. At the beginning of the closing credits are photographs of the actual men (Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness).
PG-13 1 hour 34 minutes
watched on Netflix 11/17/2017
While this movie is primarily conversation concerning the background for the 2006 Northern Ireland peace talks, the director and actors have made this a film with no drag or unnecessary scenes. I was surprised with the excellent dialogue, beautiful cinematography, spot-on editing and flawless direction. More than 2/3 of this movie takes place inside a limousine or inside a government office. The high quality of the acting which included Timothy Spall as Ian Paisley, Colm Meaney as Martin McGuinness, John Hurt as Harry Patterson and Freddie Highmore as Jack (the "chauffeur"), was never in doubt. While this is not a documentary, the fact that Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness became close friends after the 2006 peace talks is verifiable. Their conversations are riveting. At the beginning of the closing credits are photographs of the actual men (Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness).
Rampage (trailer 11/16/2017)
If they kill George, I am NOT watching this film. Yes, this film does look derivative (Godzilla, King Kong, San Andreas, Pacific Rim, Mighty Joe Young, Project X, The Grey, Deep Blue Sea) but looks like it might go well with an extra large popcorn and an afternoon with an extra large popcorn and an afternoon with approximately 2 free hours.
If they kill George, I am NOT watching this film. Yes, this film does look derivative (Godzilla, King Kong, San Andreas, Pacific Rim, Mighty Joe Young, Project X, The Grey, Deep Blue Sea) but looks like it might go well with an extra large popcorn and an afternoon with an extra large popcorn and an afternoon with approximately 2 free hours.
Wednesday, November 15, 2017
Tuesday, November 7, 2017
Megan Herning (a blogger) article which resulted in ACLU-North California threatening Taylor Swift
Were I Taylor Swift's legal team, I would hold back any legal action if the site that posted that "data" on Taylor Swift would publish this link:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/man-who-brought-swastika-germany-and-how-nazis-stole-it-180962812/
Evil can co-opt many things. One hopes that people are smart enough to see through it. On a less grandiose scale, (without reading the article in question) I would say that blaming Taylor Swift for the insanity I see every morning on my news app is elevating Taylor Swift's importance way beyond the world of entertainment. ACLU is probably afraid of a legal precedent which could affect ALL opinions. However any legalities should be limited to a civil suit. Taylor Swift can then collect damages to be donated to the charity of her choice.
Were I Taylor Swift's legal team, I would hold back any legal action if the site that posted that "data" on Taylor Swift would publish this link:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/man-who-brought-swastika-germany-and-how-nazis-stole-it-180962812/
Evil can co-opt many things. One hopes that people are smart enough to see through it. On a less grandiose scale, (without reading the article in question) I would say that blaming Taylor Swift for the insanity I see every morning on my news app is elevating Taylor Swift's importance way beyond the world of entertainment. ACLU is probably afraid of a legal precedent which could affect ALL opinions. However any legalities should be limited to a civil suit. Taylor Swift can then collect damages to be donated to the charity of her choice.
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