Both my wife and myself loved 21 Jump Street so it’s no surprise that we’re down with watching this sequel. In fact I’d originally put the first movie on our watch-list only when I heard that this sequel is better than the first one. I don’t think it’s quite that good but it is appreciably better than most sequels turn out to be and one way it achieves this is by being all meta and self-aware that it is a sequel.
This is one of those occasions on which I’ve first watched the remake, in this case Steven Soderbergh’s 2002 version, before watching this earlier version by Andrei Tarkovsky. This was way before I started watching films seriously and I remember being perplexed by it but I thought it still did a fairly good job of depicting the alienness of the planet Solaris. Tarkovsky’s version turned out to be much more personal and individual, focusing with laser-like intensity on the inner psychology of its protagonist Kris Kelvin.
I was a big fan of Blindsight and really enjoyed discussing it in various places so it’s no surprise that this sequel was one of my most anticipated books. Unfortunately even after I’d gotten my hands on it (I chose to buy it as an ebook from Google Books), I took my time reading it because I ended up being very annoyed by it. After finishing the book, I went around the Internet to read up on various discussions. The regulars at Broken Forum mostly liked it but on Reddit and other places, I find that mine is not an uncommon opinion.
After having watched so many films, I’d like to think that I’m starting to have a good grasp of what is out there even if I haven’t necessarily watched it yet, especially when it comes to American cinema. But every once in a while I’m reminded that there’s so much that I still don’t know. I’d never heard of Sidney Lumet before this but he is apparently one of the most respected American directors of all time with an impressively long filmography and a reputation of being a great craftsman of film.
This unusually named film is the anime adaptation of a seinen manga, meaning it’s aimed at young adults. Also unusual is that it was directed by an American, Michael Arias, who works primarily in Japan. It’s about a pair of young orphans who run rampant in the streets of Treasure Town, a district of a large metropolis. Due to their athletic abilities and martial prowess, they are said to be the masters of the town. Consequently when the Yakuza tries to move into their territory, the duo become priority targets for their assassins.
Two Days, One Night is the first film I’ve watched by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, a duo of brother-directors from Belgium of some renown. With Marion Cotillard in the leading role, it has serious acting power behind it as well. It duly went on to do well on the international awards circuit, which was why I added it to my ever growing watch-list.
When I wrote about Season One a couple of years ago, I ended by noting that it seems almost inevitable that Clementine would be the main character for Season Two and expressed disappointment that she must then either have plot armor or be killed like any other character in this franchise. So when this came out and it was revealed that Clementine really would be the protagonist after all, I managed to stay away from it for a long time, not wanting it to ruin the amazing experience I had with the first game.