movies

Heads of State - generic but fun popcorn flick. To me it has some identity issues though.

Like at times it feels like it's trying to be a more serious movie than it is and then other times goes extreme in the other direction to almost slapstick.

Brokeback Mountain (2006)
A lifelong forbidden love ignites when Ennis' stoic repression and Jack's yearning defiance collide in one fateful Wyoming summer. Despite the vast wandering vistas, they soon find society's suffocating edifice still shackles, which shapes their lives through decades of concealed ache. This transcends far beyond just "gay cowboys", it's a catholic howl against social conformity's cage, where love festers in shadows and self-denial becomes survival. Two decades since release, its tremors still fracture the soul. A paradise lost, "old Brokeback got us good" Jack whispers.

Hair (1979)
A verdant time capsule of hippie idealism, its kaleidoscopic costumes and vibrant choreography elevates the anti-war anthems filling us with Electric Blues euphoria. We're all debutantes seduced by the Aquarius dream, Ain't Got No care but freedom, mocking societal rigidity and hypocrisy which villainizes Hashish yet metes out death. Though late to Vietnam, its spirit remains evergreen showing there's no difference between Black Boys and White Boys all asking Where Do I Go? Hare Krishna indeed, we're all Going Down but feverously reminded that I Got Life and needless war is the perennial foe.

Falling Down (1993)
We witness Douglas' character the day he descends into societal anomie, his villainy masquerading as righteous fury. An autopsy of the American psyche; prejudices laid bare, he's lucid rage erupting between banal bigotries and it chills as he coherently rationalizes each outburst. His hope for martyrdom and his final plea reveals the true underlying universal issue. No catharsis, only collapse.
@memfree@piefed.social as promised!

Hanu-Man (2024)
This anachronistic parody flip-flops between Bollywood buffoonery and earnest heroics. Subpar CGI is the least of its worries as the villain's sidekick gratingly proclaims "shazam" in nearly every sentence while the villain is a ludicrous relic of 80's B-movies. Not saved by the monkey god's might, but by the power of familial bonds and its song and dance numbers. However, I'd sooner re-watch this over Shazam!

Gladiator II (2024)
Stultifying spectacle of sequel decay, a thunderous CGI colossus with lightning absent from its veins. Mistaking magnificence for majesty, its marquee celebrities and grand visual opulence siphons essential vitality to leaden choreography and a moribund script. A two and a half hour threnodic parade to inter the deceased Muses.

Hammarskjöld: Fight for Peace (2023). Portrait of UN general secretary in the 1960's context of decolonization and cold war. Absolutely recommend.

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt26676104/

The Crazies, 28 Weeks Later, Nuts in May, The Castle (Aussie comedy).

Looks like this was Danny Boyle week for me:

Brokeback Mountain 4.5/5: what a beautiful tragedy. It's one of those movies where you don't really fault anyone for their behavior despite the fact that it keeps making everyone's lives a little more miserable

M3GAN 2.0 4/5: I know everyone is comparing this to T2 but honestly it felt like more like the Scary Movie: Mission Impossible (Movie: Impossible?) which is a compliment. Still very funny and I like them mostly ditching the horror elements

Yesterday 2.5/5: I think this had opportunity but by bailing on The Beatles music and making it a goofy love story I think it kinda loses the plot

28 Days Later 3.5/5: I got the whole "people are the real monsters" message but I still didn't think this really nailed it

28 Weeks Later 3/5: Once again, I understand what political point it's making, it's just not as smart as it thinks it is

USS Callister: Into Infinity 4/5: Look, if TV shows are going to be movie length I'm going to count them as movies. Good Star Trek spin off with interesting sci-fi stuff and bullshit capitalist nonsense throughout

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. 3.5/5: I understand how you built a whole TV show around Napoleon Solo's charisma. I imagine this would have had a future if Armie Hamer wasn't a fucking cannibal

From best to worst:

Tiger Bay (1959)
Gillie, an orphaned eleven year old tomboy who lives with her Aunt, witnesses a young Polish sailor, Bronislav "Bronek" Korchinsky murder his ex-girlfriend after she spurns him. Initially, the sailor does not know Gillie saw the murder, but abducts her once he finds out. Meanwhile, the police investigate everything.

The Brutalist (2024)
Hungarian-Jewish Holocaust survivor and Bauhaus-trained architect László Tóth flees to the United States after being forcibly separated from his wife, Erzsébet, and orphaned niece, Zsófia. He strives to make a go of it, reunite his family, and deal with the demands of a wealthy client.

Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars (2018) Documentary film covers Clapton's early childhood, including the trauma of his mother leaving him to be raised by his grandparents, and his career, consisting of "a single-minded mission to raise the profile of the blues in popular culture". Clapton's tragedies, include his infatuation with George Harrison's wife, Patti Boyd, struggles with drugs and alcoholism, and the death of his 4-year-old son Conor are highlighted, but his racist tendencies and other misdeeds are glossed over with only brief mention if at all.

Guns Don't Argue (1957) Low-budget docudrama about the early achievements of the FBI in defeating the most notorious criminals of the 1930s. Inaccurate and dull.

A Minecraft Movie (2025)
Five people transport to the minecraft world. I couldn't be bothered to pay much attention to this stupidity.