Movies and TV

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I have completed my rewatch of Breaking Bad and I will say this:

It's amazing.

It's flawed - but for every flaw there is a moment of tremendous inventiveness. Not just in terms of the gizmos and schemes that come up - but the way certain plot elements are brought about. Amazing

I get told fairly often I look like Walter White. Sometimes it is mentioned that our personalities are even similar. I generally enjoy the comparison - but I had forgotten how fucked up he got.

i.e. - very
 
In Season 3 of Sopranos.

Has been such a joy to watch again, after 15 years.

Especially after living in the NYC area, and being able to relate on another level.

Makes any recent shows drivel in comparison.
 
Slowly making my way through the Sopranos a second time. Tried to get wifey to follow along - she gets hooked during the calm family drama and therapy bits, but then someone gets shot in the head while snorting blow off a butcher knife and she acts all grossed out. :dunno: Wimminz.

It is aging incredibly well.
 
Has anyone watched Money Heist on Netflix?

I’m thinking of giving it a go.
 
I checked out the Coen Brothers' latest, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018).

I liked it, I'll say that. I would also have to say that, among Coen Bros.' stuff, it is probably towards the bottom. But given how high an opinion I have of the whole Coen Bros. catalog - with the exception of Hail Caesar - it can be toward the bottom and still be good. Which it is. It will definitely be rewatched in the not-too-distant future.

It feels like a bit of a place-holder though. It is a collection of 6 short stories, not a single feature. While they are enjoyable stories - often thoughtful - to me anyway - it is not the same. So given that the Coens' last two works are this and Hail Caesar, I would like to see them get back to more traditional Coen stuff. Just do a solid, regular thing.

But it's pretty good. 7.3 out of 10



iu

I enjoyed it quite a bit. Just woulda changed the order of the stories and put Buster Scruggs in the middle, cause having it go first made it seem like everything else was gonna be as fonny.

Cinematography is stunning. Woulda been a terrific experience on the big screen.

7.95 Mattys out of a possible 10
 
Here is a random post-Golden-Globes prediction: Bohemian Rhapsody will NOT win the Best Picture Oscar.
 
First Man (2018)

Well this is a long way from La la Land for director Damien Chazelle. And it's good. He's good. He's obviously not just a one-trick pony.

I'm kinda surprised this story - which is the Neil Armstrong story - has never been told before on this scale. I mean, there's The Right Stuff and Apollo 13 - but those are not this. Well it's fascinating to me. I got a thing for space.

My one main complaint - and it's not like me to say this - but it's just too low key. There are so many times that unimaginable shit was happening and there was all kinds of room for extreme emotion and justifiable sensationalism - but they kept it pretty muted.

But it's very solidly told and I'm saying 7.9 out of 10

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First Man (2018)

My one main complaint - and it's not like me to say this - but it's just too low key. There are so many times that unimaginable shit was happening and there was all kinds of room for extreme emotion and justifiable sensationalism - but they kept it pretty muted.

I loved it. I appreciated how low key it was, given the everything else we've been given on the subject. From what I understand, it's the right way to tell the story from Armsrong's perspective. We've seen this thing so much from the gung-ho test pilot perspective, which is really entertaining, but kind of hard to relate to. Seeing it from the perspective of a guy who felt the risk and the personal stakes and just the insanity of what he was doing....

Anyway, it was a slow buildup, but by the time of the landing scene, my heart was beating hard, and I was pretty sure I knew how it ended. Great flick.
 
I'll tell you the scene that had the biggest impact on me. The fire. And the way they portrayed it ending with that buckled door - man, if I chewed gum, I would have swallowed it right there.
 
I enjoyed it quite a bit. Just woulda changed the order of the stories and put Buster Scruggs in the middle, cause having it go first made it seem like everything else was gonna be as fonny.

Cinematography is stunning. Woulda been a terrific experience on the big screen.

7.95 Mattys out of a possible 10

I wasn't impressed with it. They should have ended the movie after the Buster Scruggs story. I'm a pretty big western fan though. This movie just didn't do it for me.
 
Continuing with the countdown to the Oscars - Green Book (2018)

I enjoyed this more than the critics led me to expect. It's good. It's not revolutionary - it does not shed any new light on the main theme of racism - it's fairly predictable - maybe a little too neat and tidy - but it's an easy enough watch. I tend to forget about Viggo Mortenson until he's right in front of me - which he is here - and he really is a great actor. Mahershala Ali is good too. Seems strange that this is directed by the guy who brought us Dumb & Dumber - but whatever. It's respectable-decent. 7 out of 10

iu
 
Seems strange that this is directed by the guy who brought us Dumb & Dumber - but whatever. It's respectable-decent.

Seems that if anyone can do even a decent job at comedy, they tend to be surprisingly good at anything else.

The reverse is decidedly not true.
 
Vice (2018)

I saw this on New Years Day. Perfect film to see after shoveling imported cheese and Prosecco into my stomach.

Christian Bale makes you completely forget you’re watching Christian Bale portray Dick Cheney. It had me shaking my head all day thinking about it afterwards.

Sam Rockwell is great as George W. Very convincing. The film was better than Rotten Tomatoes reviews would have me believe.

I wish they devoted a little bit more to the time Cheney shot a fellow hunter.

The only clear misstep was casting Steve Carrel as Donald Rumsfeld. C’mon, man. He butchered Rumsfelds voice.

8 Trons out of 10
 
Very true regarding the reverse. coughRobertDenirocough


On a completely unrelated note, I sometimes wonder if Ben Whishaw is an actual person or just an optical illusion caused by the light.