I watched a couple movies the other night, movies that had been sitting by the TV for a few weeks before I finally got around to them. I kept thinking I should return them to Netflix but I knew I wanted to see them so I held on to them until I finally gave them a go. First up was
Shutter Island. As far as Scorsese goes, it's no
Goodfellas, but maybe that's an unfair bar. It was definitely a strange one, like
Lost meets Dashiell Hammett. I sort of enjoyed it but was never really able to get into it enough to care about the outcome. That may be why I think I need to see it again before I say for sure that it doesn't completely work. There seem to be some pretty big holes in the plot, but I could definitely be wrong. I'll have to rewatch to be sure one way or the other.
The other film I watched the other night is
You Will Meet a tall, Dark Stranger. It's the newest Woody Allen movie, &, surprise surprise, it's pretty much like most of his other movies. It's no
Annie Hall though. I do like it, but then again, I'm pretty willing to accept almost everything he does. It had the magic of
Mighty Aphrodite mixed w/ the nihilism of
Husbands & Wives... but it was no
Husbands & Wives. i realized that Woody Allen is similar to George Lucas & Walt Whitman in that they all have this weird drive to remake the same thing over & over again. It's like they get these basic ideas but are never satisfied w/ the outcomes. I like that determination & drive.
The book I'm reading right now is
Kindred by Octavia Butler. One student said it seemed like a
Twilight Zone episode (the other students had never seen that show). I thought basically the same thing. It's fun weird & political w/o too much effort. Another student suggested it's sort of like
The Time Traveler's Wife. I think she's right too. Except in this case, rather than going back to previous events in the spouse's life, the narrator goes back to events in an ancestor's life on a plantation in 1819 Maryland. It's fun, it has a cool reworking of slavery from a late 20th Century perspective, & it deals nicely w/ the basic time-travel paradox. I think I'm gonna have to watch
Back to the Future soon.
The other film I watched the other night is You Will Meet a tall, Dark Stranger. It's the newest Woody Allen movie, &, surprise surprise, it's pretty much like most of his other movies. It's no Annie Hall though. I do like it, but then again, I'm pretty willing to accept almost everything he does. It had the magic of Mighty Aphrodite mixed w/ the nihilism of Husbands & Wives... but it was no Husbands & Wives. i realized that Woody Allen is similar to George Lucas & Walt Whitman in that they all have this weird drive to remake the same thing over & over again. It's like they get these basic ideas but are never satisfied w/ the outcomes. I like that determination & drive.
The book I'm reading right now is Kindred by Octavia Butler. One student said it seemed like a Twilight Zone episode (the other students had never seen that show). I thought basically the same thing. It's fun weird & political w/o too much effort. Another student suggested it's sort of like The Time Traveler's Wife. I think she's right too. Except in this case, rather than going back to previous events in the spouse's life, the narrator goes back to events in an ancestor's life on a plantation in 1819 Maryland. It's fun, it has a cool reworking of slavery from a late 20th Century perspective, & it deals nicely w/ the basic time-travel paradox. I think I'm gonna have to watch Back to the Future soon.
1 comment:
I thought shutter island was terrible.
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