Welcome back! We’re t-minus 26
days until Christmas. I had a break from
work last week, so I decided to be a little productive with my
movie-watching. The only downside: I ended up only reading one book—a graphic
novel that took at most 30 minutes of my time to finish.
Books
Adulthood is a Myth by Sarah
Andersen: B. If you’re a fan of the
Sarah’s Scribbles comics (they appear on my Facebook feed all the time), you’ll
like this bind-up of some of the better comic strips.
Movies
O.J.: Made in America: A-.
I decided to use up one of my many unused vacation days watching that
mammoth documentary everybody loves. And it is an excellent film that covers
O.J. as a celebrity and a defendant in the biggest murder trial of our time. At
nearly eight hours in length, the documentary covers plenty of ground without
coming off as boring.
Allied: C. The visual effects are shoddy (every time someone gets shot in
the head the effects look as effective as a video game from the late 90s), the
typical Alan Silvestri score feels too inappropriate for the subject matter,
and Brad Pitt's sleepwalking in the movie is so obvious that you can
practically see his morning wood. It's your typical Robert Zumeckis movie; if
you feel like turning off your brain for two hours to see an overly sentimental
film where Marion Cotillard gives birth outside a hospital during an air raid,
you could do worse.
Nocturnal Animals: C. I hated Amy Adams so much that at
one point I made the comment to myself that her makeup was dumb. Tom Ford still
hasn't impressed me as a director: he knows how to stage a scene to be
aesthetically pleasing, but he hasn't figured out how to provide symbolism
without hammering us over the head. Good God, that title sequence was painful!
There's probably a good hour (the titular novel) that kept me riveted. If we
could have gotten a straight telling of that story without all of the Amy Adams
bullshit, I would have enjoyed it more. Thank God for Michael Shannon, whose
sometimes hammy performance saves the film.
The Eagle Huntress: C+. There's not much to say about this
one. It's beautiful to look at, has an obvious but effective message about
female empowerment, and not only does the film depict the town's blatant
misogyny towards women wanting to become an eagle hunter but the movie
challenges the notion and rubs it in after the inevitable triumph.
Moana: B-. Infectious soundtrack; script thankfully breaks away from
conventions. Still, it's not the most memorable film in the Disney canon.
"How Far I'll Go" is a highlight all four times it's used; Lin-Manuel
Miranda should go ahead and start rehearsing his Oscar acceptance speech.
Doctor Strange: C. I was given the opportunity to see
this movie on a Saturday night. The alternative was tossing and turning in bed for
a couple hours, so I thought I had little to lose. In hindsight, I should have
opted for the restless night. There's
nothing offensively bad about the film: the visual effects are appealing; the
acting isn't terrible (my girl Tilda showed everyone else up, but that was to
be expected); it's just under two hours, so it's not needlessly long. That
said, I feel like we missed the middle act of the film—it goes from character
introductions and exposition to the showdown with the big bad without fully
explaining why we should care about the stakes. At this point, the Marvel brand
is so saturated and derivative as hell. I refuse to think that someone actually
wrote a script for this movie; rather, there must have been a template on
Microsoft Word.
Captain Fantastic: B+. I'm having a lazy Sunday so I
picked up some titles on Redbox that I missed out on in theaters. The film is quite
good. Viggo Mortensen breathes life in the complicated character, the script
handles sensitive topics with tact, and it concludes with such warmth that I
wanted to hug somebody…but I was home alone. The cover of "Sweet Child O'
Mine" is the musical moment of the year (sorry, Moana and La La Land).
Hell or High Water: A-. Holy hell, what a tense thriller. All
three men—Jeff Bridges, Ben Foster, and Chris Pine—are exceptional at this
cat-and-mouse film that would have been a straight No Country for Old Men rip-off if given to a less capable director
or cast. I might upgrade it to an A
after I think about it some more, but that last scene felt completely
unnecessary and slightly undercut how effective the script was at that point.
Here’s what I’m planning to read and watch this week. After last week, I’m going to be a little
more practical. I’m already at 87 books
on Goodreads this year, so I’m comfortable with scaling down the reading.
Books
One More Thing (Stories and Other
Stories) by B.J. Novak: Usually when
I’m having trouble listening to audiobooks, I’ll pick a humorous book and it
will do it for me. I’m a fan of Novak’s
comedy, so I thought I’d give this a thought.
Oh, hey—didn’t B.J. Novak write another book? Well…
The Book with No Pictures by
B.J. Novak: This is a typical children’s
book. I’m wondering how well Novak will
do with the format.
The Sun is Also a Star by
Nicola Yoon: For real this time.
Movies
Bad Moms: I missed this in theaters, expecting it to
disappear from our collective consciousness after opening weekend; the joke was
on me, however, as the film unexpectedly grossed $100 million in the United
States. Apparently it’s also really
funny—so I figure it’s worth a shot.
Captain America: Civil War: I feel like I need to watch this movie at
some point…
I plan on seeing other movies, but it depends on what is readily
available this weekend.
But.... Moana!!! IT'S SO GOOD!
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