Most people will never get to eat in a Michelin 3-star restaurant so watching this four hour long documentary may be the next best option. Made by Frederick Wiseman, it conforms to his usual style of not including any narration at all and covers the Troisgros family who have been chefs in the Loire département of France for generations. It focuses on their Michelin-starred Le Bois sans feuilles restaurant, offering an astonishingly complete view of their day-to-day operations. But we also get to see glimpses of their other businesses and follow along as they visit some of their suppliers, all set amidst the beautiful greenery of the region.
This is a sequel to a game that I played a long, long time ago. I really liked it back then but never completed it because it was very difficult and if I remember correctly rather buggy. This time rather than the Ultramarines, you’re put in charge of the mysterious Grey Knights and must contend with the forces of Nurgle. Gameplay-wise it’s pretty much identical to the new version of XCOM, except it’s significantly more difficult, sometimes in ways that don’t feel fair to the player. I had a blast with it but did at times grow very frustrated.
The MCU has been on a downward spiral for a while now but there’s some hope that things might be looking up with a new plan building up to the next big Avengers mega crossover. To be honest I don’t really care that much but I still wanted to catch this one in the cinema because of the Malaysia setting and because I knew that the theme here is mental illness. I’m pleased to report that this is one of the better MCU films with decent action scenes and actually does have a story to tell. It could have been better in many ways, such as being more specific about the mental ailments the characters suffer from and it tiptoes around wrongdoing on the part of the US government. But it’s not bad at all and so makes for a worthy entry into the MCU.
I too thought that I’ve had my fill of Clint Eastwood’s Westerns yet here’s a last one. Not only was this the very first time he both acted and directed in a Western himself but it is probably his morally ambiguous role. Indeed the film is notorious for having his character rape a woman soon after he arrives in town. The rest of the film isn’t quite that shocking unfortunately and in the end I liked the concept of it more than the execution. This has a rough and ready gritty feel but I think it would better achieve what it is trying to do with a more polished look.
I was leery about the premise behind this novel when I first heard about but hey if people like a genderbent version of the Chinese classic Water Margin, why not? Then it was a finalist for the Nebula Award and was recommended by a bunch of critics, so I thought I should give it a shot. Specifically I was curious about web fiction not being widely recognized and wondered how a properly published book lauded by mainstream critics would match up. My verdict is not well at all. It’s an entertaining action-adventure that can be sometimes quite amusing but I wouldn’t consider it a deep book or even good writing.
I’m pretty sure this is the very first film from Bhutan I’ve seen and it’s a good one too that has wowed audiences in international film festivals. It uses the country’s natural beauty to great effect as anyone would expect but more than that, it offers a salient commentary on its politics. It could be argued that this constitutes propaganda and I don’t like how negatively it characterizes democracy. Still it’s a very funny film that keeps you on the edge of your seat wondering how it will end and perhaps it’s not an unfair portrayal of the country so I’d rate it very highly.
We’ve watched Akira Kurosawa’s adaptation of King Lear a couple of years back, and now here is his version of Macbeth. Not only was this made nearly 30 years earlier, it’s a much shorter and simpler film. It makes significant changes from the original and eschews the Shakespearean language in favor of Japanese themes. Yet it is arguably faithful to the intent of the play and is widely considered one of the best film adaptations. For us, even though we already know exactly what will happen at every step, Kurosawa’s lavish production and the excellence of the acting ensure that the emotional impact remains potent.
