With few special effects, the film relies on the actors and plot to produce an eerie otherness, similar to Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind. Shannon seems initially miscast as the desperate father, usually playing the villain, but is quite effective in the role and he is supported by an excellent cast, including Kirsten Dunst as Alton's mother. In an age of over-the-top sci-fi, it's refreshing to watch a film that prize's story over spectacle. Recommended.
Sunday, 22 January 2017
Midnight Special
This is an odd science-fiction film from my Amazon subscription. Roy Tomlin (Michael Shannon) and his young son Alton (Jaeden Lieberher), accompanied by Roy's friend Lucas (Joel Edgerton), flee across the American South pursued by both the Government and the agents of a religious cult.
With few special effects, the film relies on the actors and plot to produce an eerie otherness, similar to Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind. Shannon seems initially miscast as the desperate father, usually playing the villain, but is quite effective in the role and he is supported by an excellent cast, including Kirsten Dunst as Alton's mother. In an age of over-the-top sci-fi, it's refreshing to watch a film that prize's story over spectacle. Recommended.
With few special effects, the film relies on the actors and plot to produce an eerie otherness, similar to Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind. Shannon seems initially miscast as the desperate father, usually playing the villain, but is quite effective in the role and he is supported by an excellent cast, including Kirsten Dunst as Alton's mother. In an age of over-the-top sci-fi, it's refreshing to watch a film that prize's story over spectacle. Recommended.
Sunday, 15 January 2017
Cut The Rope 2
It's not often that I blog about games, but one I've been introduced to by my sister's grandson is the mildly addictive and infinitely charming Cut The Rope 2 by ZeptoLab, available online or for various mobile platforms. It centers around Om Nom, the tubby little green character and his attempt to find (and eat) swirly little sweets. You have to solve little physics puzzles to get him the sweets:
You can even get stickers and plush toys based on the game. Sweet!
You can even get stickers and plush toys based on the game. Sweet!
Thursday, 12 January 2017
Look Back in Angora - Ed Wood and Hitchcock/Truffaut
(Sorry, but it was too good to resist). Two films about three directors from my Amazon subscription.
First up, Hitchcock/Truffaut. In 1962, the French new wave film director, François Truffaut, went to Hollywood to interview Alfred Hitchcock, who had just finished filming The Birds.
What appears at first to be a complete mismatch turns out to be something of an homage as Hitchcock films and techniques had been feted for some time by Truffaut and his collegues. The film details their initial conversation, and subsequent friendship until Hitchcock's death in 1980. Truffaut produced a book based on the interview and his analysis of the films and this influenced many later directors, including Wes Anderson and Martin Scorsese. The film, however, doesn't reveal much other than some basic details, understandable given the subject matter and that the opinions of other directors had to be included to give it a broader appeal. It's an interesting piece of cinema history, nontheless, and the book might be worth a read.
Next a film about a director driven to make movies despite a clear handicap (No, not the cross-dressing: the lack of talent). Ed Wood Jr. (Johnny Depp) inspired by Orson Welles to realise his own vision of the movie business, whatever it takes, struggles to find backers and encounters failed horror actor Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau)
Made with genuine warmth and sympathy about the subject matter, Tim Burton makes a classic Hollywood-on-Hollywood movie and in such a way that makes the weird and strange look normal, which may well be Hollywood. It compares well with Bowfinger, which has a similar subject matter.
First up, Hitchcock/Truffaut. In 1962, the French new wave film director, François Truffaut, went to Hollywood to interview Alfred Hitchcock, who had just finished filming The Birds.
What appears at first to be a complete mismatch turns out to be something of an homage as Hitchcock films and techniques had been feted for some time by Truffaut and his collegues. The film details their initial conversation, and subsequent friendship until Hitchcock's death in 1980. Truffaut produced a book based on the interview and his analysis of the films and this influenced many later directors, including Wes Anderson and Martin Scorsese. The film, however, doesn't reveal much other than some basic details, understandable given the subject matter and that the opinions of other directors had to be included to give it a broader appeal. It's an interesting piece of cinema history, nontheless, and the book might be worth a read.
Next a film about a director driven to make movies despite a clear handicap (No, not the cross-dressing: the lack of talent). Ed Wood Jr. (Johnny Depp) inspired by Orson Welles to realise his own vision of the movie business, whatever it takes, struggles to find backers and encounters failed horror actor Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau)
Made with genuine warmth and sympathy about the subject matter, Tim Burton makes a classic Hollywood-on-Hollywood movie and in such a way that makes the weird and strange look normal, which may well be Hollywood. It compares well with Bowfinger, which has a similar subject matter.
Saturday, 24 December 2016
99 Homes
A topical drama from my Amazon subscription, Dennis Nash (Andrew Garfield) and his family are evicted from their home after losing his job and the court case against the bank. Through a twist of fate, he ends up working for Rick Carver (Michael Shannon), the man who evicted him, who then teaches him the ins and outs of the business.
Very much a Faustian tale of our times, Garfield and Shannon do well to show how misfortune can shape men into monsters that prey, in turn, on the misfortune of others. Garfield is good, but, as you would expect in such a role, it's Shannon who gives the star turn (he won a couple of Best Supporting Actor awards). Recommended, but not easy viewing.
Very much a Faustian tale of our times, Garfield and Shannon do well to show how misfortune can shape men into monsters that prey, in turn, on the misfortune of others. Garfield is good, but, as you would expect in such a role, it's Shannon who gives the star turn (he won a couple of Best Supporting Actor awards). Recommended, but not easy viewing.
Sunday, 18 December 2016
Miller's Crossing
One of my favourite films, and one of the best and clever gangster films, is Miller's Crossing from the Cohen brothers starring Gabriel Byrne and Albert Finney.
In debt due to a bad gambling habit, Tom Reagan (Byrne) tries to play his boss Leo O'Bannon (Finney) against upstart Johnny Caspar (Jon Polito) when the two won't compromise over bad bookie Bernie Bernbaum (John Turturro).
Although it's a complex film, and takes a few viewings to sort out who kills who and why, it's a good plot and well acted by Finney and Byrne, with a good supporting cast. It's even got a half-decent sound track. However, if you take one thing away from the film it's the sight of Finney in his dressing gown and slippers, firing a Thomson sub-machine gun with his house on fire behind him while "Danny Boy" thunders out. I cannot hear that song without smiling. Highly recommended.
In debt due to a bad gambling habit, Tom Reagan (Byrne) tries to play his boss Leo O'Bannon (Finney) against upstart Johnny Caspar (Jon Polito) when the two won't compromise over bad bookie Bernie Bernbaum (John Turturro).
Although it's a complex film, and takes a few viewings to sort out who kills who and why, it's a good plot and well acted by Finney and Byrne, with a good supporting cast. It's even got a half-decent sound track. However, if you take one thing away from the film it's the sight of Finney in his dressing gown and slippers, firing a Thomson sub-machine gun with his house on fire behind him while "Danny Boy" thunders out. I cannot hear that song without smiling. Highly recommended.
Tuesday, 22 November 2016
Trumbo
It's not often that Hollywood explores the darker side of it's past. There's films like The Player and Bowfinger, but they're comedies satirising, rather than narrating. This is a biopic of Dalton Trumbo, played by Bryan Cranston, a screen writer who was blacklisted in the late forties for being a communist, but who continued to work under pseudonoms for B-Movie studios, eventually earning two Oscars for Roman Holiday and The Brave One. He finally recieved credit for Spartacus, breaking the blacklist and allowing him to work again under his own name.
A brilliant film, well acted by Cranston and an excellent supporting cast including Helen Mirren as Hedda Hopper, the gossip columnist and anti-communist, and Diane Lane as his wife Cleo. Recommended.
A brilliant film, well acted by Cranston and an excellent supporting cast including Helen Mirren as Hedda Hopper, the gossip columnist and anti-communist, and Diane Lane as his wife Cleo. Recommended.
Monday, 21 November 2016
Captain America: Civil War
The latest in the Avengers series out on DVD (Dr Strange is out at the Pictures) sees a plot to implicate the Winter Soldier, a.k.a. Captain America's (Chris Evans) friend and former comrade Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), in a series of terrorist attacks, forcing th' Cap into a confrontation with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), a.k.a. Iron Man.
This is a real step up from Avengers: Age of Ultron, with a complex (for Marvel) plot and the usual characters having to deal with personal conflicts, giving the actors something to bite on for a change outside of the action. The action scenes are well catered for, although I thought the airport scene was a bit drawn out, as if to fill out the perceived lack elsewhere. All-in-all, a superior pizza movie and recommended.
This is a real step up from Avengers: Age of Ultron, with a complex (for Marvel) plot and the usual characters having to deal with personal conflicts, giving the actors something to bite on for a change outside of the action. The action scenes are well catered for, although I thought the airport scene was a bit drawn out, as if to fill out the perceived lack elsewhere. All-in-all, a superior pizza movie and recommended.
Monday, 14 November 2016
The Big Short
There aren't many films about the 2008 crash and what caused it, apart from the odd documentary (notably Inside Job, a 2010 film by Charles Ferguson), but there have been many books and one, written by Michael Lewis, who wrote Moneyball and Liars Poker, has been turned into a movie starring Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt.
Analysing the existing mortgage bond market, eccentric hedge fund manager Michael Burry (Bale) decides to "short" i.e. bet against the market, which he thinks will shortly collapse. He is followed by other hedge fund managers Mark Baum (Carell), Charlie Geller (John Magaro) and Jamie Shipley (Finn Wittrock).
It must have been very difficult to portray the intricacies of what happened to an audience munching on their popcorn, but the use of celebrity asides, although corny, does work quite well and the moral outrage is expressed by Baum on the one hand and Ben Rickert (Pitt) on the other rings true. That it was allowed to happen at all and that others didn't spot the problems sooner is the truly amazing part.
Analysing the existing mortgage bond market, eccentric hedge fund manager Michael Burry (Bale) decides to "short" i.e. bet against the market, which he thinks will shortly collapse. He is followed by other hedge fund managers Mark Baum (Carell), Charlie Geller (John Magaro) and Jamie Shipley (Finn Wittrock).
It must have been very difficult to portray the intricacies of what happened to an audience munching on their popcorn, but the use of celebrity asides, although corny, does work quite well and the moral outrage is expressed by Baum on the one hand and Ben Rickert (Pitt) on the other rings true. That it was allowed to happen at all and that others didn't spot the problems sooner is the truly amazing part.
Saturday, 12 November 2016
Comfort and Joy
From my Amazon subscription, this is a light comedy og the 1980's by Bill Forsyth (who directed Local Hero and Gregory's Girl). Radio presenter, Alan "Dickie" Bird (Bill Paterson) is having difficulty adjusting when his girlfriend suddenly leaves him and gets involved in a conflict between two rival ice cream van families.
Perhaps a little too light for my taste (as where the other films from Forsyth), it is a bit of a relic of a previous age. It's acted well enough by Paterson and the rest of the cast (Clare Grogan, from Altered Images, plays the femme fatale, so it's worth watching for that alone), but the ending does seem to be a bit false, given the violence and the reality of the so-called Ice Cream wars in Glasgow at the time.
Perhaps a little too light for my taste (as where the other films from Forsyth), it is a bit of a relic of a previous age. It's acted well enough by Paterson and the rest of the cast (Clare Grogan, from Altered Images, plays the femme fatale, so it's worth watching for that alone), but the ending does seem to be a bit false, given the violence and the reality of the so-called Ice Cream wars in Glasgow at the time.
Friday, 4 November 2016
Nebraska
No, not the Bruce Springsteen album, but a light comedy starring Bruce Dern, who played the Cop in The Driver all those years ago. A confused Woody Grant (Dern) keeps trying to get to Lincoln, Nebraska to claim a $1 Million prize, much to the consternation of his wife (June Squibb) and his sons David (Will Forte) and Ross (Bob Odenkirk, better known as Saul Goodman from Better Call Saul). David eventually relents and takes his father on a road trip via the town where he grew up.
Although a slight film, it does have it's moments, such as when the boys steal a compressor to get back at old rival of their fathers', and the criminally inept cousins, and it does have a genuine warmth. Dern acts a great role effortlessly and ably supported by June Squibb and the rest of the cast. Recommended.
Although a slight film, it does have it's moments, such as when the boys steal a compressor to get back at old rival of their fathers', and the criminally inept cousins, and it does have a genuine warmth. Dern acts a great role effortlessly and ably supported by June Squibb and the rest of the cast. Recommended.
Monday, 31 October 2016
Love and Mercy
Another film from the Amazon subscription, this charts both the decline into mental illness and eventual recovery of Brian Wilson, the songwriter behind the Beachboys' many hits.
Told in two parts side-by-side, with Paul Dano playing the younger Brian and John Cusack playing the older, the film shows how drugs and the pressure to create lead to his mental breakdown, but also his eventual recovery thanks to his then girlfriend (Elizabeth Banks) rescuing him from the clutches of a dubious and controlling psychiatrist (Paul Giamatti). Like most bio-pics, it must be taken with a pinch of salt and I would imagine that the reality was a lot more complicated. However, Brian's eventual completion of his master work, Smile, gives testament to his recovery and innate genius. Recommended.
Told in two parts side-by-side, with Paul Dano playing the younger Brian and John Cusack playing the older, the film shows how drugs and the pressure to create lead to his mental breakdown, but also his eventual recovery thanks to his then girlfriend (Elizabeth Banks) rescuing him from the clutches of a dubious and controlling psychiatrist (Paul Giamatti). Like most bio-pics, it must be taken with a pinch of salt and I would imagine that the reality was a lot more complicated. However, Brian's eventual completion of his master work, Smile, gives testament to his recovery and innate genius. Recommended.
Sunday, 23 October 2016
Citizenfour
This is a documentary describing the meeting between Glenn Greenwald and Edward Snowden regarding the latter's whistle-blowing on the NSA (and other agencies) collection and use of personal data from the internet and other sources.
The initial impression I get about Snowden is that his actions were motivated by utopian ideals. That the internet should be a free and open society of equals. That the spy agencies are hoovering up vast quantities of data by subverting the ISP's and other involved companies would hardly be surprising even to the most naive. That's what spy agencies do: spy. Whether it's on each other, us, companies, a man preparing to blow himself up to further his cause, it doesn't matter, except after the fact. In other words, it's what the spying is for that matters and the main accusation of the film against the US government is that this is being done for profit, rather than protection, to screw over other countries rather than to protect itself and others. The argument against this is that security can mean economic as well as physical, but the best economic security is good government and administration, effective diplomacy, not spying.
The film ends on rather a romantic note, with Snowden's girlfriend joining him in Russia despite all the problems she must have gone through to do so.
The initial impression I get about Snowden is that his actions were motivated by utopian ideals. That the internet should be a free and open society of equals. That the spy agencies are hoovering up vast quantities of data by subverting the ISP's and other involved companies would hardly be surprising even to the most naive. That's what spy agencies do: spy. Whether it's on each other, us, companies, a man preparing to blow himself up to further his cause, it doesn't matter, except after the fact. In other words, it's what the spying is for that matters and the main accusation of the film against the US government is that this is being done for profit, rather than protection, to screw over other countries rather than to protect itself and others. The argument against this is that security can mean economic as well as physical, but the best economic security is good government and administration, effective diplomacy, not spying.
The film ends on rather a romantic note, with Snowden's girlfriend joining him in Russia despite all the problems she must have gone through to do so.
Thursday, 20 October 2016
BBC Micro:bit at Home
Yes, folks,I decides to raid the piggy bank a little and get a BBC Micro:bit from those rather lovely people at "Technology Will Save Us!":
As well as the basic package, they give you a few bits to play around with. However, they don't give you a prototyping board, which would have been handy, but you can get those from Maplin. It looks pretty and when you plug it in to the battery pack it does a little start up routine that's pretty awesome for such a small device. Cute!
As well as the basic package, they give you a few bits to play around with. However, they don't give you a prototyping board, which would have been handy, but you can get those from Maplin. It looks pretty and when you plug it in to the battery pack it does a little start up routine that's pretty awesome for such a small device. Cute!
Wednesday, 19 October 2016
Badoo Londroid
Just for giggle, and potentially free food, I went to a meeting of that alternative Java (i.e. Android) development group Londroid, sponsored by Badoo, a social networking tool, and hosted at Skill Matter/CodeNode. William Gibson once refered to Britain as Mirror World, like America but oddly different, and the same is true of Android to Java. It's where the Java desktop world went when the internet turned up and everything went all server-side, so the meeting had a certain surreal quality for me.
It also gave me the excuse to meetup with my erstwhile colleague Matt, who has finally had enough of working for airline companies and has gone contacting at a fitness firm. Very fitting.
Building a framework with Clean Architecture with Rich King
First up was Rich from the sponsor Badoo. Rich discussed how the Clean Architecure principals, as described in "Uncle" Bob Martin's blog post, impacted on the development of the Badoo Android application. Here's a description of Clean from the man himself:
What Rich described in his presentation is separating the parts of the system into domains (shades of DDD here), usually done in the Java world when designing for a Microservice architecture. Because of the limited nature of the Android platform, all this is in what might be described as a micro-monolith (think there's a niche for nano-services on Android?). All-in-all a nice presentation, only spoilt by ghost transmissions from the presentation upstairs.
Presentation Patterns Using Rx with Yoel Gluschnaider and Flavio Zanda
Although there are no Spring-like frameworks in Android, again due to the limitations of platform, RxJava has taken off somewhat, mostly as a more sophisticated option or supplement to data-binding.
However, there's still a need for what frameworks usually implement, in this case the Model-View-Controller (MVC) design pattern for managing the interactions between the screen and what goes on the the back. Alternatives to this pattern are the Model-View-Presentor (MVP) and the Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM) patterns. The former, and the one they recommended, is a variation on MVC pattern and, like this, the view makes a request to the controller and the controller consults the model about how to respond. MVC assumes the controller is pretty dumb, just acting as a junction box separating the View from the Model. MVP moves most of the decision making to the controller, to the point that View does almost nothing (a Passive View pattern, as it's been called). MVVM is more complicated, by the sounds of it, and I haven't had time to do any research on it at the moment, but that looks interesting.
Yoel and Flavio's talk was very engaging and only marred by the fact that everyone was hungry by the end and expecting the promised food. This was at a place over towards Old Street and well out of my way, so I made my excuses and left the group hungry (for knowledge as well).
It also gave me the excuse to meetup with my erstwhile colleague Matt, who has finally had enough of working for airline companies and has gone contacting at a fitness firm. Very fitting.
Building a framework with Clean Architecture with Rich King
First up was Rich from the sponsor Badoo. Rich discussed how the Clean Architecure principals, as described in "Uncle" Bob Martin's blog post, impacted on the development of the Badoo Android application. Here's a description of Clean from the man himself:
What Rich described in his presentation is separating the parts of the system into domains (shades of DDD here), usually done in the Java world when designing for a Microservice architecture. Because of the limited nature of the Android platform, all this is in what might be described as a micro-monolith (think there's a niche for nano-services on Android?). All-in-all a nice presentation, only spoilt by ghost transmissions from the presentation upstairs.
Presentation Patterns Using Rx with Yoel Gluschnaider and Flavio Zanda
Although there are no Spring-like frameworks in Android, again due to the limitations of platform, RxJava has taken off somewhat, mostly as a more sophisticated option or supplement to data-binding.
However, there's still a need for what frameworks usually implement, in this case the Model-View-Controller (MVC) design pattern for managing the interactions between the screen and what goes on the the back. Alternatives to this pattern are the Model-View-Presentor (MVP) and the Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM) patterns. The former, and the one they recommended, is a variation on MVC pattern and, like this, the view makes a request to the controller and the controller consults the model about how to respond. MVC assumes the controller is pretty dumb, just acting as a junction box separating the View from the Model. MVP moves most of the decision making to the controller, to the point that View does almost nothing (a Passive View pattern, as it's been called). MVVM is more complicated, by the sounds of it, and I haven't had time to do any research on it at the moment, but that looks interesting.
Yoel and Flavio's talk was very engaging and only marred by the fact that everyone was hungry by the end and expecting the promised food. This was at a place over towards Old Street and well out of my way, so I made my excuses and left the group hungry (for knowledge as well).
Tuesday, 11 October 2016
Domain Driven Design London - The Three Real Problems in Software Development
Yes, I thought there would have been a few more. This was a presentation I attended at Skills Matter/CodeNode, just off Broadgate, by Pete Smith.
The three problems, as Pete sees it, are:
The three problems, as Pete sees it, are:
- grouping and separating the work into domains, both in terms of software and teams;
- using the tools and technology wisely;
- communication.
Sunday, 9 October 2016
The Economic Singularity with Calum Chace
Have a little time on my hands these days, I went to see a presentation hosted by the London Futurists concerning the impact of artificial intelligence on the world economy. Chace is the author of two books concerning AI:
The first concerns what he terms the technical singularity. This is where AI becomes smarter than humans, attains consciousness, etc. The second book, the main subject of the presentation, concerns the impact of current AI developments on work and society. Jobs that we currently consider safe today, lawyers, truck drivers, doctors, etc. will be replaced by neural network-based AI's. This will lead to social instability and calls for economic reform, leading to a basic universal income state, with AI, or AI supported elites, making the decisions. Sounds awful. The banality of the future.
Back in the real world, the Oxfam shop has been flourishing due to the new precinct opening nearby, what Mark called The John Lewis Effect. "We're a Destination shop now", he proclaimed, to mutual joviality.
The first concerns what he terms the technical singularity. This is where AI becomes smarter than humans, attains consciousness, etc. The second book, the main subject of the presentation, concerns the impact of current AI developments on work and society. Jobs that we currently consider safe today, lawyers, truck drivers, doctors, etc. will be replaced by neural network-based AI's. This will lead to social instability and calls for economic reform, leading to a basic universal income state, with AI, or AI supported elites, making the decisions. Sounds awful. The banality of the future.
Back in the real world, the Oxfam shop has been flourishing due to the new precinct opening nearby, what Mark called The John Lewis Effect. "We're a Destination shop now", he proclaimed, to mutual joviality.
Monday, 26 September 2016
Taxi Tehran
Iranian film director Jafar Panahi travels around his home city of Tehran in a taxi, recording conversations with his fares.
A surprisingly engaging movie, somewhat staged. Panahi's fares include a midget bootleg video dealer; two old dears trying to get to a sacred spring to release some goldfish; Panahi's precocious niece and a woman taking roses to a political prisoner on hunger strike.
Panahi is not allowed to make movies by order of the Iranian censor, so the film is also a bootleg, of sorts. Recommended.
A surprisingly engaging movie, somewhat staged. Panahi's fares include a midget bootleg video dealer; two old dears trying to get to a sacred spring to release some goldfish; Panahi's precocious niece and a woman taking roses to a political prisoner on hunger strike.
Panahi is not allowed to make movies by order of the Iranian censor, so the film is also a bootleg, of sorts. Recommended.
Sunday, 11 September 2016
Bad Cop, Worse Cop - Precinct Seven Five
Among the latest films from my Amazon DVD subscription was this documentary about corruption in the NYPD's 75th Precinct (Brooklyn) in the late 1980's, centred on Officers Michael Dowd and Kenny Eurell.
This is an excellent documentary, both harrowing and comical, as Dowd and Eurell relate their gradual slide into criminality from robbing drug dealers to protecting them and their business (shades of the "New York's Finest Taxi Service" in The Usual Suspects), to eventually dealing themselves, all the while being documented by a Federal operation into corruption at the precinct. Highly recommended.
This is an excellent documentary, both harrowing and comical, as Dowd and Eurell relate their gradual slide into criminality from robbing drug dealers to protecting them and their business (shades of the "New York's Finest Taxi Service" in The Usual Suspects), to eventually dealing themselves, all the while being documented by a Federal operation into corruption at the precinct. Highly recommended.
Sunday, 4 September 2016
Marxists Behaving Badly - The Baader Meinhof Complex, Lone Star and Hitman: Agent 47
An update on my latest movie viewing, first up is a German language film given to me a few years ago by my mate John.
The Baader Meinhof Complex
Interpreting a death of a protester at a rally and an assassination attempt on a left-wing leader as government crypto-fascism, Andreas Baader (Moritz Bleibtreu), Gudrun Ensslin (Johanna Wokalek) and Ulrike Meinhof (Martina Gedeck) form the Red Army Faction (RAF) to hit back.
The movie tries to be as even-handed to the protagonists as it can while not disguising the horror perpetrated by them (and, to some extent, to them), but can't help but paint Baader and Ensslin as a kind of left-wing Bonnie and Clyde, with Meinhof providing the ideology. The RAF dissolved in the late 90's, but a recent attempted bank robbery has been linked to some former members.
Hitman: Agent 47
A sequel to Hitman, which I blogged about a couple of years back, this has Rupert Friend in the title role, taking over from Timothy Oliphant, who obviously got a better gig elsewhere. Trying to find her father, Katia van Dees (Hannah Ware) becomes a target of two mysterious organisations.
Although an inferior remake of the original, it's also not a half-bad pizza movie, mostly due to Zachary Quinto as the antagonist. And it could have been worse. It could have been Pixels.
Lone Star
Made in the 1990's and written and directed by John Sayles, this is one of my all-time favourite films. Sheriff Sam Deeds (Chris Cooper) investigates the death of one of his corrupt predecessors, Charlie Wade (Kris Kristofferson), while rekindling a romance with a former flame (Elizabeth Peña).
Told mostly in flashback as Sam tries to establish how much his father, played by Matthew McConaughey, was involved in the death of Wade, the film is only a whodunnit on the surface and at it's heart centres around the unfinished romance between Sam and Pilar. A rare and beautiful film and highly recommended.
The Baader Meinhof Complex
Interpreting a death of a protester at a rally and an assassination attempt on a left-wing leader as government crypto-fascism, Andreas Baader (Moritz Bleibtreu), Gudrun Ensslin (Johanna Wokalek) and Ulrike Meinhof (Martina Gedeck) form the Red Army Faction (RAF) to hit back.
The movie tries to be as even-handed to the protagonists as it can while not disguising the horror perpetrated by them (and, to some extent, to them), but can't help but paint Baader and Ensslin as a kind of left-wing Bonnie and Clyde, with Meinhof providing the ideology. The RAF dissolved in the late 90's, but a recent attempted bank robbery has been linked to some former members.
Hitman: Agent 47
A sequel to Hitman, which I blogged about a couple of years back, this has Rupert Friend in the title role, taking over from Timothy Oliphant, who obviously got a better gig elsewhere. Trying to find her father, Katia van Dees (Hannah Ware) becomes a target of two mysterious organisations.
Although an inferior remake of the original, it's also not a half-bad pizza movie, mostly due to Zachary Quinto as the antagonist. And it could have been worse. It could have been Pixels.
Lone Star
Made in the 1990's and written and directed by John Sayles, this is one of my all-time favourite films. Sheriff Sam Deeds (Chris Cooper) investigates the death of one of his corrupt predecessors, Charlie Wade (Kris Kristofferson), while rekindling a romance with a former flame (Elizabeth Peña).
Told mostly in flashback as Sam tries to establish how much his father, played by Matthew McConaughey, was involved in the death of Wade, the film is only a whodunnit on the surface and at it's heart centres around the unfinished romance between Sam and Pilar. A rare and beautiful film and highly recommended.
Monday, 29 August 2016
The Voynich Manuscript
It's not very often I write anything about the shop these days. I volunteer on Sundays and it's mostly uneventful. However, a few weeks back I spotted a book on the mysterious Voynich Manuscript.
The manuscript purports to be an illustrated book written in medieval times in an encrypted or invented language that no one can decipher. The book details the history of the Manuscipt to date and describes how codes and cyphers work, as they apply to the Manuscript. It looks a good book and it had been priced at £15, which I thought was a little steep.
Last week, the i newspaper (the cut-down version of the Independent) had an article on the Manuscript saying that a Spanish publisher had been given access to the original document with a view to making folio copies for sale at £6K a pop. Nice work if you can get it. I showed it to Mark and had a quick look at the book, which was still on the shelf. Someone had reduced the price to £10, which I think was reasonable, so I snapped it up.
Mark commented that he'd discussed it with Howard, who I've had odd dealings with in the past, but no conversations as such. Mark said that the conversation descended to the point where Howard claimed that he'd been abducted by aliens "near Norwich". Obviously, that's because it's a lot flatter country around there for them to land.
The manuscript purports to be an illustrated book written in medieval times in an encrypted or invented language that no one can decipher. The book details the history of the Manuscipt to date and describes how codes and cyphers work, as they apply to the Manuscript. It looks a good book and it had been priced at £15, which I thought was a little steep.
Last week, the i newspaper (the cut-down version of the Independent) had an article on the Manuscript saying that a Spanish publisher had been given access to the original document with a view to making folio copies for sale at £6K a pop. Nice work if you can get it. I showed it to Mark and had a quick look at the book, which was still on the shelf. Someone had reduced the price to £10, which I think was reasonable, so I snapped it up.
Mark commented that he'd discussed it with Howard, who I've had odd dealings with in the past, but no conversations as such. Mark said that the conversation descended to the point where Howard claimed that he'd been abducted by aliens "near Norwich". Obviously, that's because it's a lot flatter country around there for them to land.
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