Movies: Last Movie You Watched and Rate It | Mid-Spring Edition. Happy Beltane!

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

Capricorn One. Ahhh the 1970s when government conspiracies were all the rage. It's a fun subgenre with some legit clever and thrilling movies. This is one of the more rotten fruits begat from that tree. The conspiracy itself is a perfectly fine one — a mission to Mars is faked in order to preserve lucrative government contracts — but boy is the execution of it both on film and in film is absurdly bad. From a viewing standpoint, the villain explains the entire conspiracy in the first 30 minutes so we're never operating as a mystery, which feels like a key component to these films.

In the film, the actual plan is so shoddy you can never take the thrills or threats seriously. A NASA engineer not only just disappears, but they install someone else in his apartment to insist the man never existed. Just say the dude moved! Don't act like he never walked the earth. That's ridiculous! That creates more problems than solutions. That's to say nothing of the amount of manpower that would've been needed to set up the fake Mars studio and secretly shuttle the astronauts around and to hunt them down after they escape.

James Brolin has always been a face (and it ain't even that great a face). OJ Simpson, well enough said. Sam Waterston is clearly the "funny one" who isn't remotely funny. Elliot Gould is practically asleep. The only moment of joy I got from this was the five minutes or so of interaction between Gould and Telly Savalas as a gruff crop duster pilot who seems transported in from a much more entertaining movie where he and Gould are mismatched partners on the run from something.

I hated this movie.

 

[Puck]

The Cannes Film Festival Selection of films has been announced. The festival itself has been moved back from May to July.

Here is a link to the official Festival website and another to Wikipedia (it seems to have more info on the films and will prolly be updated more quickly).

Festival de Cannes 2021

2021 Cannes Film Festival - Wikipedia

 

[kihei]

The Cannes Film Festival Selection of films has been announced. The festival itself has been moved back from May to July.

Here is a link to the official Festival website and another to Wikipedia (it seems to have more info on the films and will prolly be updated more quickly).

Festival de Cannes 2021

2021 Cannes Film Festival - Wikipedia

Thanks for this, Puck.

Cannes is back with a vengeance. The "in competition" line up is really stacked. Can't wait to see Weerasethakul's Memoria.

 

[Pink Mist]

The Cannes Film Festival Selection of films has been announced. The festival itself has been moved back from May to July.

Here is a link to the official Festival website and another to Wikipedia (it seems to have more info on the films and will prolly be updated more quickly).

Festival de Cannes 2021

2021 Cannes Film Festival - Wikipedia

Echoing what @kihei said, the in competition group looks really strong. Looks like a sign that we're in for a good year of film.

Looking forward to:

Annette (Leos Carax)
Bergman Island (Mia Hansen-Løve)
Compartment No. 6 (Juho Kuosmanen - Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki is an underrated gem, and I have a soft spot for Finnish film)
The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun (Wes Anderson)
A Hero (Asghar Farhadi)
Memoria (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Paris, 13th District (Jacques Audiard)
Red Rocket (Sean Baker)
The Story of My Wife (Ildikó Enyedi - loved her last film On Body and Soul)

 

[ProstheticConscience]

Capricorn One. Ahhh the 1970s when government conspiracies were all the rage. It's a fun subgenre with some legit clever and thrilling movies. This is one of the more rotten fruits begat from that tree. The conspiracy itself is a perfectly fine one — a mission to Mars is faked in order to preserve lucrative government contracts — but boy is the execution of it both on film and in film is absurdly bad. From a viewing standpoint, the villain explains the entire conspiracy in the first 30 minutes so we're never operating as a mystery, which feels like a key component to these films.

In the film, the actual plan is so shoddy you can never take the thrills or threats seriously. A NASA engineer not only just disappears, but they install someone else in his apartment to insist the man never existed. Just say the dude moved! Don't act like he never walked the earth. That's ridiculous! That creates more problems than solutions. That's to say nothing of the amount of manpower that would've been needed to set up the fake Mars studio and secretly shuttle the astronauts around and to hunt them down after they escape.

James Brolin has always been a face (and it ain't even that great a face). OJ Simpson, well enough said. Sam Waterston is clearly the "funny one" who isn't remotely funny. Elliot Gould is practically asleep. The only moment of joy I got from this was the five minutes or so of interaction between Gould and Telly Savalas as a gruff crop duster pilot who seems transported in from a much more entertaining movie where he and Gould are mismatched partners on the run from something.

I hated this movie.

Recently got off working the night shift where I was alone from about 6 to 12:30 every night and had so little work I was usually in front of a computer watching hockey or youtube videos from about 7 on. Capricorn One's on youtube. Tried to watch it about three times. Could never get past about a half hour.

 

[Osprey]

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021) - 6/10 (Liked it)

Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga) take the case of a young man to find out what possessed him to violently assault another man. No, it's not the story of Mark Scheifele's hearing with the DoPS. It's the sequel to 2016's The Conjuring 2 and based on a 1981 case that marked the first time in U.S. history that demonic possession was used as a defense (and you thought that insanity was the worst defense). Most of what you expect is here: the Warrens, priests, exorcisms, cursed objects, visions, demons lunging from the shadows and so on. It all feels pretty familiar, maybe a little too familiar. Then again, if you're a fan of The Conjuring films, that's not necessarily a bad thing. It does change things up slightly by being more of an investigation film, with the Warrens trying to solve a mystery and prove demonic possession, not simply remove it from a property, though it eventually feels more familiar once the mystery is solved and the confrontation arrives. It also explores a tiny bit of how the Warrens met and fell in love. The acting is solid, including from that girl from the Sodastream commercials. It's maybe not as "scary" as the two films before it, but I found it to be consistently tense and creepy, which is how I like my horror, so I was satisfied. Overall, it's well made and an above average horror film, but a step down from the first two Conjurings, mostly in the storyline. Basically, it won't appeal to anyone who didn't like the last two, but those who did and don't expect it to be of the same caliber will probably still find enough to like about it. It came out yesterday in theaters and on HBO Max.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Had nothing to watch and saw Wonder Woman (2017) on HBO, figured i would give it a shot because I heard it did really well.

Well, I thought it was pretty bland. After she left the Island it went downhill fast.

5/10

 

[Puck]

Echoing what @kihei said, the in competition group looks really strong. Looks like a sign that we're in for a good year of film.

Looking forward to:

Annette (Leos Carax)
Bergman Island (Mia Hansen-Løve)
Compartment No. 6 (Juho Kuosmanen - Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki is an underrated gem, and I have a soft spot for Finnish film)
The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun (Wes Anderson)
A Hero (Asghar Farhadi)
Memoria (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Paris, 13th District (Jacques Audiard)
Red Rocket (Sean Baker)
The Story of My Wife (Ildikó Enyedi - loved her last film On Body and Soul)

I have heard of Annette, The French Dispatch and Paris, 13th District but not the others. Sounds like kihei and yourself are up on the latest movies more than I am, hope you are right (better year coming up). I understand Annette is a musical, not into that genre, but Leos Caras is a weird guy and I like weird. And I like Adam Driver. So it might be OK. I have been waiting for Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch for a long time, seems like forever. Looking forward to a better 2021. Getting tired of all the revenge shooter flicks; I like 'em, but up to a point.

I remember watching Capricorn One at a Saturday matinee a long time ago, and being disappointed. I would not watch it again. If anyone wants to see Telly Savalas in a good 1970's flick, try out Kelley's Heroes, that one's a hoot.

 

[ItsFineImFine]

Crimson Tide (1995) - 7/10

1995, what a great year for film.....unfortunately this one probably would've turned out better had it been made 5 years earlier. It suffers from a far too bombastic soundtrack and that combined with the barage of drama and urgency with a level of predictability that prevents the drama from getting as juicy as it does in Hunt For Red October. Red October does a better job of having ups and downs during its drama. The other disadvantage this film has is pretty much the entire film is set on one sub itself whereas in Hunt For Red October, we're getting switches to other scenes and a level of politicking we don't see here not to mention the cat and mouse between two different subs. Eventually it becomes a fairly simple story turned from average to good thanks to Denzel. Gene Hackman I've grown fairly tired of in his more villainous roles.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Slogan (Grimblat, 1969) - The one thing I disliked about this one is that there's not enough Gainsbourg music in it, and the songs he wrote for the film are not actually included. The film itself is like a distant joker cousin to Contempt, without Godard's talent, and without much if not all seriousness - maybe its TV-add version. Like Grimblat himself, Gainsbourg's character is a TV-advertisement director. His absurd spots punctuate the film and are always received with the same acclaim by his clients and colleagues. It makes for some interesting distanciation (Gainsbourg can interfere with the reality of the film, cutting characters off when they bother him) and shows disdain for this lower type of filmmaking, the dream being to make a real film - at some point, it's unclear if Gainsbourg's film project is actually the film we're watching (the fact that it remains unsaid and unclear saves the film from a certain laziness). Often breaking away from realism, the film still entertains an interesting relation to it: Grimblat was in Venice to receive a prize for a TV-add he directed and sent Gainsbourg, in character, to impersonate him on stage and filmed the ceremony to include it in the film. The film is often technically flawed, its pace goes all wrong in the later parts, and it's really not the film you'd expect from Gainsbourg/Birkin in 1969 (they actually met during production), but it's still fun and interesting enough. 6.5/10

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

Reign of Fire, 2002

Spoilers

Dragons erupt from beneath the tunnels of London and burn down the world. Twenty years later Quinn (Christian Bale) is leading a small community of survivors in the area once known as Scotland with hopes of outlasting the dragons as both sides slowly starve to death.

The first half was surprisingly good for the somewhat hard to take seriously premise. I loved the aesthetic of the survivor community, it's clear the writers put thought into what a setting like this might look like. I liked that the film immediately sets up a major conflict: there's already unrest within the community as a faction wants to harvest their crops early because of fears of starvation (1) while Quinn wants to wait so they can harvest healthy seeds and plant a crop next year. "But we don't know if there'll be a next year!" they cry.

Logical nitpick #1: Despite being in a setting where everyone is supposedly starving no one looks like they're actually starving. In particular the ring leader of the above mutiny is a fairly hefty dude, complete with a frog like distended double chin

I liked how this was then immediately exacerbated with an action scene wherein the crop is destroyed. Oh no! Now they really will starve! Escalation. I liked how they then introduced a group of bloodthirsty Americans out to hunt some dragons, led by a hamtasatic Matthew McConaughey playing a possibly crazy, possibly determined, possibly a savoir Van Zant. The hammy performance worked well in contrast to Quinn's quiet desperation. Will Van Zant save the community and teach them to fight for themselves, and give them some hope? Or is he a crazy mofo and will lead to their doom, as Bale eventually decides is the case. Or is this all an act to get into the repurposed Scottish castle and take all their stuff? Whereas a more serious performance would have given it away here Van Zant is equal parts insane and a true believer: he is a fanatic, and has nothing but contempt for anyone who disagrees. Further escalation! Especially when Van Zant proves true to his word and kills one of the flying beasts. The conflict within the community grows, to the point that Quinn's chosen successor (who I did not know was his chosen successor until I read the wiki) decides to go off with the Americans, sick of waiting around for what he assumes to be their deaths.

Logical nitpick #2: So the military might of the West in the year of our Lord 2000 is not enough to defeat the dragons, up to and including nukes, which were used and did not work, but you can kill one with what amounts to a harpoon gun?

Unfortunately, none of this really has anything to do with the dragons, up to this point you could cut the dragons out and it wouldn't make much of a difference, it could be a nuclear apocalypse or a zombie apocalypse or a pandemic or unspecified and still have a story about a community on the brink then forced to deal with a man who is equal parts a savior and their doom. So from here it descends into action schlock. Van Zant takes some men and supplies and gets them all blown up by a dragon and then the dragon comes and kills more men and blows up more supplies at the repurposed Scottish castle in revenge, then Van Zant comes crawling back and admits Quinn was right, but now Quinn wants to fight the dragons even though everything about this shows he was right? Then three guys (Van Zant, Quinn and Quinn's forced love interest, which is a particularly bad one) infiltrate London because Quinn knows the tunnels and they have a standoff with the daddy dragon and kill him, which is good because that was the only male dragon. So it turns out the British reticence, even in the face of disaster in the film, was wrong as opposed to unrelenting American force to solve your problems and this will shock you but the film was conceived, written and shot mostly before 9/11, perhaps making it one of the worst timings of a film release ever.

Tl:dr: I wrote so much about this mediocre movie, for one to take my mind off the playoffs, but for two that this exemplifies a problem common in modern fantasy: the fantasy schtick has jack all to do with narrative. By which I mean the good bits I liked had nothing to do with the dragons, and for that it feels a waste. A lot of writers think up a good schtick and think this particular schtick is enough to carry the series when the core of storytelling is conflict: narrative growth and change. Reign of Fire has that in the first 40 minutes before losing it as they run around a set trying to throw grenades into a CGI dragon's mouth.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Catwoman (Pitof, 2004) - Pitof - that's his whole name, I guess he's an artist - mostly worked on visual effects, he was part of the teams of people responsible for the Jeunet & Caro unique aesthetics. Now his own 100M$ movie looks like total shit. I hadn't seen it before, and I knew it was a very bad film (didn't disappoint on that level), but I just can't understand how a film with that type of money cannot look better than a second grade video game - and not just on action sequences, lots of very simple effects (the wide shots of the lab location) are ridiculous too. As for the rest, well, Halle Berry deserved better than that. 2/10

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

The Assignment (Hill, 2016) - If like me you know nothing about this gem, it's on Tubi - don't read this comment, I'd spoil the fun. Now Frank here is a manly assassin, she's also obviously a woman with a fake beard and nose, the hilarity started right away and is still on full effect after having slept a few hours (I can't look at that screenshot without laughing to tears). It is so obvious that Frank has a woman's body (shoulders, hands) that Hill quickly goes to extremes to prove us wrong: full frontal with obviously fake chest hair, with the camera even going down for a close-up on her huge rubber penis which, on her tiny body only adds to the farce. Frank meets a woman named Johnnie and I can't stop laughing at this. But not everything is jolly and Frank, the manly assassin, made some powerful enemies, including a deranged plastic surgeon who abducts her in order to exact her revenge - and I hope you're sitting right now because this will come as a huge surprise: she operates on Frank and transforms her into Michelle Rodriguez! Oh no! Frank is now a woman! The unwrapping of the invisible-man-like bandages is just another amazingly absurd scene, where Frank discovers her new body with no scars or any traces of surgery. Rodriguez, already cringy and terrible as Franky-boy, just goes full-range and gives her all to express the terrible trauma of a man losing his rubber sausage. From the absolute punishment of being a woman to the nurse who doesn't mind sexual assault on her job, this film is misogynistic comedy at its best (I'm aware it was received as transphobic, but it's a lot more insulting to women than anybody else). It doesn't keep the pace for its whole 95 minutes, but it's well worth your time and absolutely deserving of its so bad it's good 1/10.

 

[Pink Mist]

Lawrence of Arabia (1962) directed by David Lean

A big blind spot in my life watching films is that I have never seen Lawrence of Arabia in its entirety. I’ve seen bits and pieces of it growing up when my dad would watch it on TV, but I have never sat and watched the whole thing through. The length of the film, close to 4 hours, and that I basically only knew it was a colonial epic was always just so daunting to me. So what better day to do it and watch a desert flick than on the warmest day of the year so far when it is oppressively hot to go outside? What can you say about this film that hasn’t been said a million times? Not much so I won’t really try. But they certainly don’t make films like this anymore. The dictionary definition of an Epic film – everything is epic in scale from its length, the sets, the amount of actors and extras etc – this would have been a CGI’d mess if made in 2021. And boy is it a gorgeous film, with beautiful cinematography of the desert landscape – it is quite breathtaking to take in. First chance I get to see it in theatres after this damned pandemic I’m jumping at that chance because this film is a film that deserves to be seen on the largest screen possible.

 

[Tkachuk4MVP]

Another Round - 9/10.

Wow, what a gem of a film. Mads is, not surprisingly, in top form but all four leads give great performances and the chemistry amongst the group is palpable. Also somehow manages to take a topic like alcoholism and build a hopeful, uplifting story around it in a way that doesn’t feel cheesy or false. Also has a great final scene. Can’t say enough good things about this one, highly recommended.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

Rewatched:

8/10

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

La Cérémonie (The Ceremony, Mannheimer, 2014) - I know Catherine Robbe-Grillet first as her husband's wife and muse, and second as an erotic writer (which I haven't read) and screenwriter to one of my favorite Radley Metzger films. I didn't know her as a famous dominatrix, and certainly didn't consider she could still be active in presiding BDSM sessions at 84 years old. Apart from a few images taken from these ceremonies, certainly staged for the occasion - always soft and overly polished (with sometimes pretty results) - this documentary is of pretty much no interest. The talking heads parts are kind of weird, all these old people's sex life being both fascinating and still a little boring. Some little snippets about Alain Robbe-Grillet's relation to his wife were interesting to me, but probably not to most people. 4/10

 

[ProstheticConscience]

Badass

with Danny Trejo, the guy who was the head of the law firm in the first season of Better Call Saul, and other people.

Danny Trejo is Frank Vega, decorated Vietnam vet who survived a POW camp and multiple tours only to return stateside to discover his girl moved on and had someone else's kid. The cops won't hire him, and he spends the next thirty years running a hot dog cart. Fun! Life kinda sucks for Frank until he beats up a couple of skinheads on a bus and videos quickly go viral, earning him local fame, respect, talk show appearances, police car ridealongs, and the nickname Badass. People even make t-shirts and merch...but I don't think they pay him or anything. His mother passes away, leaving him her house and dog. Soon after, his best friend is shot in an alley by thugs. The cops of course don't do anything, so Badass goes badass and vigilantes his way to the boss. Tonally inconsistency and revenge happens.

Would be a ordinary paint by numbers Death Wish clone if not for the wild tonal shifts. One scene Frank's having dinner with his comely next door neighbour and her snotty kid, the next he's shoving a guy's hand into a garbage disposal to give up his boss. Tries to reconcile ugly violence with Frank being a Nice Guy and fails. Tedious, predictable, and deservedly sunk like a stone upon release. Apparently there's a sequel. Won't be seeing it.

Viral fame in 3...2...1...

 

[OzzyFan]

Halloween (1978)
3.60 out of 4stars

"Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again."
Far and away the quintessential slasher movie for so many reasons. It just masters so much. From the non-stop tension and dread from start to finish, to the jump scares and rear scene terror, to the all encompassing directorial choices throughout, to the incredibly catchy menacing theme and soundtrack that matches perfectly, to the realism of the story and it's elements and it's "close to home-ness", to the background of the Michael Myers and his style of murdering, to the frightening mask breathing heard throughout. The only fault I would give it is that it's not an overly deep movie and imo is the big fish in one of the weaker and more limited horror subgenres.

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
2.30 out of 4stars

"The Warrens investigate a murder that may be linked to a demonic possession."
Pretty much everything Osprey said in the earlier post. If you're a fan of the Conjuring movies it will deliver, if not then it won't convert you. I enjoy them because they are actually story focused "horror" rather than thrown together and have fun elements involved in them(I won't ruin the additions from past Conjuring universe movies, but it felt like a smart evolution and turns to their story). It delivers on the atmosphere and scares without being truly surprising or scary, if that makes sense.

Spiral: From the Book of Saw
2.20 out of 4stars

"A criminal mastermind unleashes a twisted form of justice in Spiral, the terrifying new chapter from the book of Saw."
I'm not a fan of the Saw franchise and have honestly only seen 3 of the movies, but felt like giving this a try because I like Chris Rock. Rock was a fun addition to this universe bringing a decent amount of levity and playfulness in the first 1/4 of the film, one Forest Gump rant at the beginning was truly memorable. It's predictable but delivers what you want if you're a fan of the franchise with a relevantly themed spin on the story.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

View attachment 444149

La Cérémonie (The Ceremony, Mannheimer, 2014) - I know Catherine Robbe-Grillet first as her husband's wife and muse, and second as an erotic writer (which I haven't read) and screenwriter to one of my favorite Radley Metzger films. I didn't know her as a famous dominatrix, and certainly didn't consider she could still be active in presiding BDSM sessions at 84 years old. Apart from a few images taken from these ceremonies, certainly staged for the occasion - always soft and overly polished (with sometimes pretty results) - this documentary is of pretty much no interest. The talking heads parts are kind of weird, all these old people's sex life being both fascinating and still a little boring. Some little snippets about Alain Robbe-Grillet's relation to his wife were interesting to me, but probably not to most people. 4/10

Pretty sure that at best, Alain Robbe-Grillet was a total creep when it came to sex and an abuser at worst. Apparently he gave up on normal sex in his 50s for voyeurism/watching acts and defended pedophilia in the early aughts (although didn't veer into his own personal history, if there is. He also signed a petition against age of consent laws. Naturally so unlike that disgusting Matzneff)

 

[Osprey]

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
2.30 out of 4stars

"The Warrens investigate a murder that may be linked to a demonic possession."
Pretty much everything Osprey said in the earlier post. If you're a fan of the Conjuring movies it will deliver, if not then it won't convert you. I enjoy them because they are actually story focused "horror" rather than thrown together and have fun elements involved in them(I won't ruin the additions from past Conjuring universe movies, but it felt like a smart evolution and turns to their story). It delivers on the atmosphere and scares without being truly surprising or scary, if that makes sense.

That's a good way to describe The Conjuring films. I wish that I had thought of that for my review. I, too, appreciate that they're story focused, rather than, I dunno, premise or gimmick focused. Too many horror films feel like the writers started with an idea, hook or twist and worked backward to make a 90-minute movie out of it. Their characters also often end up being unlikable and dumb. The Warrens, on the other hand, are fairly likable and smart and have a good relationship (and Wilson and Farmiga have visible chemistry), which adds a solid human element. It's nice and rather unique that they're a husband-wife team. Almost without fail in horror films, a couple doesn't make it to the end without one or both of them dying. I guess that all of this is to say that even the weakest entry in this trilogy still possesses (pun intended) some things that you don't see too often in horror films.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Pretty sure that at best, Alain Robbe-Grillet was a total creep when it came to sex and an abuser at worst. Apparently he gave up on normal sex in his 50s for voyeurism/watching acts and defended pedophilia in the early aughts (although didn't veer into his own personal history, if there is. He also signed a petition against age of consent laws. Naturally so unlike that disgusting Matzneff)

Never heard of that (in fact, I know very little of the personal life of these intellectuals), but found the text you are talking about - that's an impressive list of intellectuals!

Françoise Dolto et la révision du code pénal sur la sexualité des grands mineurs

Barthes, Klossovski, Simone de Beauvoir, Deleuze, Derrida, Lyotard, Sartre, Sollers, pretty much the whole Tel-Quel gang is there, with psychiatrist and other professors... A lot of people I have enjoyed reading. I really wonder what came to this.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Never heard of that (in fact, I know very little of the personal life of these intellectuals), but found the text you are talking about - that's an impressive list of intellectuals!

Françoise Dolto et la révision du code pénal sur la sexualité des grands mineurs

Barthes, Klossovski, Simone de Beauvoir, Deleuze, Derrida, Lyotard, Sartre, Sollers, pretty much the whole Tel-Quel gang is there, with psychiatrist and other professors... A lot of people I have enjoyed reading. I really wonder what came to this.

I didn't know about it either until I watched a Catherine Robbe-Grillet interview on one of those evening cultural French shows and she talked about him liking to dress up girls as schoolgirls. It went a little beyond that and I can't remember the particulars but she sounded so oblivious and some of the table were raising eyebrows in a non-entertainment way. Apparently they met with Nabokov and his wife and she dressed up as Lolita for dinner...which is insanely cringy.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

I didn't know about it either until I watched a Catherine Robbe-Grillet interview on one of those evening cultural French shows and she talked about him liking to dress up girls as schoolgirls. It went a little beyond that and I can't remember the particulars but she sounded so oblivious and some of the table were raising eyebrows in a non-entertainment way. Apparently they met with Nabokov and his wife and she dressed up as Lolita for dinner...which is insanely cringy.

Well, in the documentary I just watched, she says he had a sadistic inclination and believed he'd end up never having a suitable partner until he met her, and that he was very faithful to her and very much in love (which wasn't her case).

 

[ProstheticConscience]

Bits and pieces of I Am Number Four.

Tim Olyphant was the only guy I recognized in it.

Teen melodrama with aliens. Or something.

Lately there's been construction all up and down the road out front of my building; major civic construction work. Replacing several miles of water/sewage mains or something. Slated to go on for months around the hood, and it's driven all the local little critters into the surrounding habitats. Had a bit of a pest control issue lately, and me and Mrs. PC did a serious deep clean of the place today. She likes to put the tv on "in the background" when she's puttering around the house.

I Am Dumber For seeing those bits and pieces.