In the past (“the past” get it… oh, wait you haven’t read the next bit yet), I have tried reading history books (see, history, past, har har!) and they always seemed to disappoint. They’re always overly concerned with pinning down dates and details to the point of tediousness. 1917 is not like this. It’s an insightful look at two figures who managed to shape the course of the world. Wilson was no doubt one of the worst presidents ever to hold the office: an out-and-out racist and authoritarian who had visions of creating a perfect world. His bumbling allowed for the creation of the U.S.S.R. and laid the groundwork for Nazi Germany. Lenin, well we all know he was a monster, but at least he was honest about his motives. The book mixes Lenin’s rise with Wilson’s quest for establishing the USA as the arbiter of peace throughout the world. The two stories weave together nicely as the World War rages and pushes their destinies, and the fate of the modern world, forward.
Well, here I go down the Eurocrime rabbit hole. The plot in this one is odd. The film starts with Henry Silva and Woody Strobe playing American hit men assigned to take out a seemingly low-level pimp with the caveat that they should make it well-known beforehand that New York wants this guy dead. For the first twenty minutes you think the hit men are the heroes, terrible acting and all. But then we start to follow the pimp and that’s when the movie gets fun. There’s a great foot chase and the climax is a junkyard fight involving a kitten, lot’s of shooting, and a crane (the machine not the bird).
Another exciting Italian crime thriller directed by Fernando Di Leo, director of Caliber 9. All the characters are scum, even the supposedly innocent kidnapped daughter. The movie opens with a ridiculous mafia hit involving a movie theater and a grenade launcher shot at close range. These scenes of over-the-top violence are what make the film great. There’s another mob hit at a construction site that goes from one victim to the next in ever more silly death scenes. The movie end with a “to be continued” title but I don’t know if there is a sequel.
The concept of this movie is that all the action and camera work is scripted to go along with preexisting music tracks. That made it sound like a it was going to be a two hour long music video, but it’s not. Music choices are interwoven to become part of the plot and it all just works. This is helped by a simple, but solid story and interesting characters. The stunt driving is not as grounded as the awesome stuff you’d see in a Mission: Impossible movie, but it fits the film’s style and I enjoyed it up until the forced happy ending sequence.
Another gaping hole from my 80s cinema to-do list. The premise is extremely cheesy and the execution isn’t much better, but it manages to surprise and entertain just enough. For a movie that I have always thought was considered quintessential eighties action, there really is not much action in it. Just a bunch of running, a wrestling match, a tiny bit of gun play, and several dated looking SFX sequences.
I did not like this nearly as much as The Righteous Mind, but there are a handful of decent insights here about so-call “outrage” culture and where it comes from. The style is almost like a high school essay. Each chapter opens with them saying what they are about to say, then saying it, and finally recapping what was just said. You could easily just read the end-chapter bullet points and feel like you’ve read and understand the concepts of the book.
It’s been years since I read me some Poirot and it was refreshing to dive back in. I am a better mystery reader now, and I almost solved this one. A rich heiress is murdered on yet another trans-European train ride and Poirot goes to the French Riviera to seek out clues. Things happen and the case get solved!
The historical fiction version of A Feast for Crows with the church versus the crown. It’s a thick but quick-paced read with a lot of detailed accounts of building a cathedral and a lot of overly detailed rape scenes. Ken Follett is definitely a perv.
Korean fast-zombie movie that is largely bloodless but manages to remain entertaining to the end. Dad takes his daughter on a train ride to his ex-wife and, without explanation, zombies are everywhere. There’s no attempt to take advantage of the train setting with awesome stunts, but, whatever, it works.
Dueling clans seek to attain the highest level of kung-fu: silkworm style. The fighter literally shoots out webs of silk and creates a battle cocoon, but you don’t get to see this until the climax. The rest of the fights aren’t quite as crazy but they are overwhelmingly magical (as opposed to the grounded technique of a Gordon Liu). The flying, spinning wire-fu is the main appeal here but leaves the story and characters to be forgotten. They even drop the whole dueling clans plot-line for the last act of the picture.
