Category Archives: Uncategorized

Film Review of “Predestination” (2014)

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Poster for the 2014 film “Predestination.”

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Predestination (2014) starring Ethan Hawke as the Barkeep and Sarah Snook as the Unmarried Mother is a seriously messed up movie.

Wait! Let me explain.

I’m still trying to decide if I even like it.

The film really did hold my attention, was highly suspenseful, horrific in parts (the burning face and subsequent disfigurement), and was an able mystery to say the least.

But it was also a seriously messed up movie.

Last night, I was surfing online looking for a film I haven’t seen before and one that I might possibly like. Especially the further we get into the 21st century, those movies are becoming scarce.

“Predestination” had an interesting premise and had fairly good reviews (which don’t necessarily mean anything), so I gave it a shot. I like time travel stories.

It was nothing like I imagined.

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The Mad Priest of Melrose Abbey

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PHOTO PROMPT © Dale Rogerson

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That it was a converted church made the former Abbot queasy, but the vane on the steeple didn’t look too much like the Christian symbol. After his humiliating defeat at Stains Castle, he needed a place to lie low.

The war had been going poorly lately, what with the arrival of those cursed lawful dragons. The demons and chaos dragons had predicted an easy victory when they attacked the mortal world, but hadn’t counted on all of the students in a world full of magic schools.

The vampire laid himself in his coffin and dreamed of the blood of nuns.

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Film Review of “Oppenheimer” (2023)

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© James Pyles

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Over the weekend, at my local public library, I found a DVD of the 2023 movie Oppenheimer, so naturally, I scooped it up.

Spoiler Alert!!! If you haven’t seen the movie yet and want to be surprised, stop reading now.

The film is three hours long (Oy!) and somewhere in the first quarter, I thought about turning it off. The beginning of the movie is disorienting, not only hopping back and forward in time, but the visual depictions of how Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) conceptualized quantum mechanics. It was a pain in the ass until I figured out what was going on.

The first of the two main sequences is Oppenheimer being grilled by a small committee on whether or not his security clearance (and thus his career) should be renewed. The other was the Senate hearings on whether or not to appoint Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.) to a cabinet post. Both function like trials without having to follow the rules of a court of law but the outcomes of both will determine the futures of each of these men.

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Movie Review of “The Marvels” (2023)

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Blu-Ray case for the 2023 film “The Marvels”

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I went to my public library’s local branch yesterday (as I write this) to pick up a few books I had on hold. Lo and behold, in the new movies section, I found a Blu-Ray of The Marvels (2023). If you’re aware of this film at all, you probably know about the controversy surrounding it.

The movie didn’t do well at the box office. This was attributed either to the sexist, racist, white supremist, patriarchal attitudes of (male) audiences or to the overdose of “wokeness” in combination with bad writing of the Disney-made movie.

When the movie was released on Disney+, there was a power surge of positivity for it on social media combined with harsh criticism for anyone daring not to like the movie for any reason (reasons being listed again as sexism, racism, white supremacy, and the patriarchy).

I dithered when I saw the Blu-Ray case. Did I want to avoid wasting one hour and forty-five minutes watching a movie that was probably a turkey or did I want to give it a fair chance? In the end, I settled for “fair chance.” I’ve viewed films before that were generally panned in the reviews but turned out to be, if not great movies, more or less “okay.” That’s what I thought about Captain Marvel (2019). Maybe “The Marvels” was just a victim of bad press.

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“I Believe In Science” (Wait! Let me Explain)

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“Doc” Brown (Christopher Lloyd) in a scene from the 1985 movie “Back to the Future”

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For years, the concept of “science” as been politicized, as if it were possessed ONLY by one political party, as if the other political party and its members were still in the literal stone age.

Worse, this party says “I believe in science” as if science were a theology or philosophy. A Christian would say “I believe in Jesus” because the Bible says belief alone in Jesus is significant and leads to eternal life.

But how can you “believe” in science? What is science?

According to the Understanding Science page at the UC Museum of Paleontology at the University of California at Berkeley (just to assure my critics that I’m not citing from some far-right, dodgy, unintellectual source):

Science is both a body of knowledge and a process. In school, science may sometimes seem like a collection of isolated and static facts listed in a textbook, but that’s only a small part of the story. Just as importantly, science is also a process of discovery that allows us to link isolated facts into coherent and comprehensive understandings of the natural world.

I tend to reframe that definition to say that science is a standardized, methodical examination of anything in the observable universe. It’s a lot of asking questions. It’s also continuing to test information believed to be substantiated even decades ago. Nothing is static in science. We’re learning new things and upgrading our understanding of our world daily.

The Berkeley source also says:

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This is NOT a Review of “Poor Things” (2023), but…

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Photo: Yorgos Lanthimos. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures – Emma Stone as Bella. Yeah, that’s an infant brain transplanted into a woman’s body.

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I’m sure I’ve heard about the movie Poor Things (2023) before. I guess I just wasn’t paying attention to how vile the plot was. I hadn’t given it a thought at all until I read the Bounding Into Comics article OPINION: Hollywood’s War On Men Is A War On Their Audience.

Poor Things…

is a 2023 science fantasy black comedy film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and written by Tony McNamara. It is based on the 1992 novel by Alasdair Gray. The film stars Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Christopher Abbott, and Jerrod Carmichael.

According to Wikipedia (I know, I know), the plot goes…

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Kenneth Darlington, Race Riots, and the Justification for Violence

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Kenneth Darlington . PHOTO: BIENVENIDO VELASCO/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK

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By now, you’ve probably heard the news from Panama of the 77-year-old man who shot and killed two environmental activists apparently in cold blood. For perspective, I’m providing two other news sources, The Independent and People Magazine. I’m sure you can “Google” more.

The short synopsis from People says:

Kenneth Darlington, 77, is accused of approaching the group, who were blocking a highway in Chame, a district west of Panama City, before firing his gun on Tuesday afternoon, according to a report from Newsroom Panama. One protestor died at the scene, while the other died in the hospital, the outlet reported.

The question of whether or not Mr. Darlington’s actions were justified would seem fairly obvious, but it’s complicated.

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Review of “John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum” (2019)

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Poster for the 2019 film “John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum”

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As I mentioned in yesterday’s review of John Wick: Chapter 2, today I’m reviewing John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum (2019).

It picks right up where Chapter 2 left off with John and his no name dog on the run. At first, as the one hour grace period granted him by Winston (Ian McShane) is being counted down by the announcer at “the office,” John seems to be running aimlessly. Of course it’s raining again, because rain makes everything seem more tragic and desperate.

All of the assassins in New York (I swear, half the city is made up of assassins) are eyeing him, waiting for the hour to expire. He finally gets an idea and hops into a cab, telling the driver to go to the New York Public Library (I’m assuming the main branch based on the interiors). However traffic is a nightmare (it is Manhattan). He gives the driver his last special gold coin (so the driver is part of the criminal underworld, too?) and tells him to take the dog to the Continental, making sure the dog gets to Charon personally (he does this, so “dog” is handled).

Next, John runs into the library and requests a specific book on Russian fairy tales. Finding it, he unseals a hollowed out opening to find an ornate rosary, several more coins, a marker, and a photo of him and his wife (Bridget Moynahan). There, even though his time isn’t up, he’s attacked by a very large man named Ernest (Boban Marjanovic) who says no one will know he was early.

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Review of “John Wick: Chapter 2” (2017)

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Poster for the 2017 film “John Wick: Chapter 2”

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It’s been about two years since I watched and reviewed the first “John Wick” (2014) film. I hadn’t realized it had been that long until I looked it up.

Yesterday, I was at the public library and saw Blu-rays for John Wick Chapter 2 and John Wick Chapter 3. Naturally, I checked them out and watched Chapter 2 last night.

I decided not to read my review of the first film, letting this one stand on its own. The action begins pretty much where the original left off.

Having secured another dog in the first movie, John (Keanu Reeves) is out to retrieve his beloved 1969 Ford Mustang. The dog and the car are special reminders of his deceased wife Helen (Bridget Moynahan). The Russian mobster Abram Tarasov (Peter Stormare) sits at his desk as he hears John invading his lair. His plan to pack up his operation and get away wasn’t in time.

John does manage to wreak havoc on Tarasov’s operation, but in the process, the Mustang is trashed, barely drivable. Managing to get back home, he retrieves his dog (which doesn’t have a name throughout the film) and the mechanic Aurelio (John Leguizamo) is doubtful of his ability to repair the severely damaged car any time soon.

Wick settles down to life with his dog, still mourning Helen. However he has a visitor.

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Dinner for Two

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PHOTO PROMPT © Sandra Crook

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Larry sat at his usual table by the window, always dinner for one. His wife had died when their daughter Chrissie was four. He tried to be a good Dad, but that ended with the drunken car accident. Chrissie was ten when she died and it was his fault.

A few weeks ago, he found he could go back, but only to that one day. He relived it all, terror making him tremble as he got her into the car. He returned to the present not sure if he had changed enough.

“Hi, Daddy.” Now it was dinner for two.

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