Robs takes on Media and Entertainment

 "A Haunting in Venice" (2023) - this is the 3rd of Kenneth Branaugh's Agatha Christie's novels he has brought to screen. I have seen them all. I don't think I have ever read one of her stories, but I have watched several movie & TV versions.  Just to sum up this particular film, these are the content warnings for KB's version: [Flashing lights, some thematic elements, some strong violence, disturbing images].  Yup - that sums the film. Plot, character & dialog ... whatever. This movie is a symphony of thematic elements and disturbing imagery along with enough flashing lights that you think your TV might be broken. There are also some people performing unbelievable feats of strength that are indeed violent. I enjoyed myself. As a form of motion picture entertainment that set out to 'psychologically thrill' me, it works. As an exercise in cinematic story telling based on the writing of arguably the best, most prolific, and popular mystery author...

 You know when you watch a movie and for "reasons" you can't remember watching it - so you jump on it again as a new discovery. Then about 15 minutes into this 88-minute gem, you realize you have been here before. And it is so glorious you cannot believe you forgot about it. "Shark Side of the Moon" (2022) was so funny this time. Just the right mix of practical and CGI effects. A cast that knows exactly what movie they are in. Implausible physics & wonderful expositive dialog rationalizing it. The only thing they don't really explain is what these homicidal Russian-shark-human-hybrids have been eating on the moon for the last couple of decades. If they did, I missed it.  It is almost as good as "Velocipastor" (2018)

 I am reading Faulkner again. I think the last time I read his work was while I was getting my undergraduate. Texas A&M curriculum for engineers at that time included a fair amount of liberal arts elective requirements (including language studies). I took several anthropology and literature courses. They were relatively easy ways to hold my GPA up against my mediocre calculus grades. I think I read "The Bear" (yes kids, a story by that name was around for a long time before Hulu existed). I don't think I read any of his novels. This time I am reading a collection short stories.  As a young man, I did not appreciate how beautiful and compelling his writing is. I could not appreciate the feelings of emotional intensity. Even though I really like(d) my own 50-cent words and subjective parenthetical language, I think I struggled with his prose. Today I am mesmerized by his story telling. These stories are sad, and lovely, and moving - in ways 20 year old Robert could not ...

As we work our way through Merry Cage-mas, an argument could be made that "Con Air" is a fever dream Nick Cage's character has just before dying during that opening bar fight. 1) Monica Potter has abs of steel and is supposedly pregnant with their daughter. She is so not pregnant looking. So much so that, I do not know how they would have been far enough along to ultrasound the embryo. Additionally, he has just walked off a fishing boat into the bar she works at after getting home from deployment - when was the child conceived? 2) Nick Cage is immediately arrested and  sentenced to seven years in prison. During the film he writes & received fully formed letters from this child. In them, he talks about all the things they used to do with each other. When did these things happen?  3) Upon making his way into the titular 'Con Air' plane, Nick Cage has a shrink wrapped bunny rabbit doll he bought for this little girl as a present. Where did that come from? The pri...

 Last 2 movies of 2024. I took a long plane flight and got to watch two movies I had not seen in the mobile format the cinematographer intended. Here are my alternate title suggestions -  * "Deadpool & Wolverine" could have been titled "Lampshade: the movie" * "Borderlands" was "The A-team in space" or perhaps to be fair to the actual A-team, "An assemblage of characters across various aesthetics who think they are in different movies". D&W spent a little over 2 hours telling me it was funny because it was trying to be funny on purpose. Don't let it be forgotten that this is funny. When it wasn't doing that, it was informing me that it was a multiverse movie and that I shouldn't care for those. It was enjoyable, but I would have liked it 50% more if it had dropped 30 minutes of educating me regarding what it was.  As for the B-team, it was fetch quest city. You could tell you were on different a quest because of the ...

 Say what you will about Jeff Bezos - he has brought me "Strange Brew" (1983) to stream in the privacy of my own home. I own a copy on VHS that Adam Young gave me 1000 years ago when I still had a VCR connected. (For the younger audience, VHS are those rectangular blurays people used to watch ... You take a flashlight and magnet and shine it on the wall while you spin the tape with a pencil). The original song on that movie is fantastic. Max Von Sydow gained at least 10 lbs chewing scenery. Rick & Dave give their usual muted, naturalistic performances. There are a bunch of supporting characters who really make a great set of scenes. It is 90 minutes of fun you won't regret. I assume if you are Canadian, it was part of your school curriculum.

 Whenever "The Goonies" comes on again I always wonder - what if Thanos had snapped his fingers in 1985 instead of in the 2010s. He was right there in Astoria. Tony Stark was still at MIT. Boy genius or not he was clearly not yet ready to put everything together to fight the Mad Titan. Thanos wasted his chance on the Fratellis.