I decided that I wanted to watch this early on based on the strength of its trailer, something that pretty much never happens. Its take on the character of Miles Morales was pitch perfect and the quality of its animation is something rarely seen outside of Japanese productions. The fact that it also features a plethora of Spider-related characters never before seen on screen is just an extra bonus.
Continue reading Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
This is certainly a well-known novel, popular enough to merit its own television series adaptation. I still wouldn’t have read it if it weren’t for the recommendation in Jo Walton’s What Makes This Book So Great who is puzzled over why it hasn’t been more influential. I’d guess that most writers aren’t up to the task of emulating its unique writing style and are put off by the immense amount of research required to pull off something like this. The project seems to have taken a lot out of her as she has yet to produce its long awaited sequel.
So this looks like the last of the films by River Phoenix that I will cover. He did appear in a number of other films before he died but it looks like they are all mediocre ones at best. This was directed by Gus Van Sant, and I have to confess that I haven’t watched any of his films before this, not even the very well-known Good Will Hunting. That is certainly a film that needs to be added to the list immediately.
Continue reading My Own Private Idaho (1991)
As I mentioned last time, I only watched the first film because I had heard about how good this sequel and here we are. This one still has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes a year after its release which is quite an achievement. Like the first one, it is a children’s film but one that is so earnest and unwavering in aiming to be wholesome that it appeals to adults anyway.
I usually like to let a bit of time pass before I watch two films by the same director but this one was added to the list quite some time ago and I didn’t quite realize that it had the same director as One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. This was made before Miloš Forman moved from his native Czechoslovakia to Hollywood and is in fact his first film. It is apparently considered an important film of the so-called Czech New Wave.
Though I have a passing familiarity with the grand strategy games made by Paradox, I am not usually a big fan. They are way too big a time-sink and the complex systems they build don’t always hold together over the course of a long game. I find that trying to play to win these games in a conventional manner often ends up being a frustrating experience but treating them as a role-playing experience is often enjoyable. Plus their plethora of DLCs for every title is both annoying and confusing.
When my wife asked me what this film is about, I described it as a Coen brothers film that isn’t actually by the Coen brothers. This isn’t quite true as director Martin McDonagh is British and his visual style is different but between having Frances McDormand as the lead, it being set in a small American town that is named in the film’s title and its dark comedic drama tone, you have to agree that there is at least a superficial resemblance.
Continue reading Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)