A break from the travel posts: Update

I won't be doing a top ten list this year.  I just haven't seen enough films to warrant it.  Also, I find lists to be absurd.  Anyway here's some movies I've seen recently:

"War Horse":  ***** just loved this film, is it a bit sentimental?  Sure, but in the hands of Spielberg it's magical.

"The Descendants":*** Maybe it was the hype, but I liked this movie didn't love it.  I'd prefer to pop in Sideways for the umpteenth time.

"The Muppets":  ***** Just made me smile from ear to ear the whole time.  I really hope there's going to be more in the future.  Segel and company really brought this into the 21st century while holding onto what makes The Muppets special in the first place.

"Martha Marcy May Marlene":***** Wow, wow, wow, such a powerful/disturbing film. 

"Hugo":**** Really the best use of 3D yet.  A must see in the theatre

"Young Adult":  *** Again a liked it, but not loved it.  It is a good little film.

"Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol":  **** Best action movie of the year!  Saw it on a real IMAX screen, and was totally worth it.  No matter what you think of Tom Cruise, this is a great film.  Lots and lots of fun.

"Bellflower":  I'm not giving this any stars, not because it was horrible but because I'm still thinking about it.  It's either one of the best films I've ever seen, or one of the worst.

"Cowboys & Aliens": *** Not sure why everyone hated this.  It's not great but it IS fun.  Go into this thinking you're watching a western.  Don't think about the sci-fi aspect. 

"Our Idiot Brother":*** Funny film, Paul Rudd makes this movie pop.  Rent it, you'll laugh.

"Warrior": **** The 21st century Rocky.  It was great, kind of snuck up on me.

"Fright Night":*** Good little remake, that didn't need be remade.

"Larry Crowne":  *** I'm gonna catch some flack for this, but I didn't hate it.  Was it believable in any way?  Absolutely not.  Check your brain at the door and you'll have a cute time.

"The Tree of Life": ***** So so so so amazing!  Stick with it, think about it, and then watch it again.  Just powerful in so many ways, and the cinematography will blow your mind.

"North by Northwest":**** I liked this a whole bunch.  I know I should have seen this ages ago.

"Your Highness":** Um, I wanted to love this, but wound up kind of hating it.

"Crazy, Stupid, Love": **** I don't know if I can fall any more in love with Emma Stone.  I was a little put off by the ending, but not enough to make me love it less.

"Paul": *** Only the second Kristen Wiig performance I've liked.  Fun film for hardcore fans of sci-fi.

"Conan the Barbarian"(2011): ** Skip it folks, or just watch the original with Ah-nuld.  So much better.

"Attack the Block":***** See this now!  Great film, really one of the best of the year.  See it, you wont' be disappointed.  It's been a great year for first time filmmakers.  Joe Cornish, remember the name.

"Trollhunter": *** Fun, inventive, and of course there's an American version coming soon.  See this first.

"The Myth of the American Sleepover": **** Another first time director, another fabulous film.  Quiet, small, realistic.

"Mouth to Mouth":  *** I give this three stars, but that changes day to day, it never went where I thought it was going to go.  Just not sure what to think of it.

"Nightmaster": * Australian film from the 80's with a teenage Nicole Kidman.  If you like to laugh at bad movies, this is for you.

"The African Queen": ****  Classic film of course, completely appreciate it.  I did laugh a couple of times when I don't think I was supposed to.

"The 39 Steps": **** British Hitchcock, great film.

"Certified Copy": ***** Beautiful beautiful film.  Frustrating, thoughtful, and the performances are some of the best I've ever seen.

"King of the Hill": *** Cute film.  Slight.

"I Saw the Devil":***** Hard to watch, but totally worth it.  One of the best serial killer films in quite a long time.  Original.

"Black Lightning":  *** Preposterous, but good times, all the same.

"Pearl Jam: Twenty":  **** Great doc.  Even if you're not a fan of Pearl Jam.

"Marwencol": **** Strange documentary.  Good watch though.

"Life in a Day": **** Another great doc.

"Hoop Dreams":  **** Took me a long time to see this doc, described in some places as the best documentary you have to see. 

"The Unloved": **** Samantha Morton's directorial debut stayed with me for a long time.

"Season of the Witch": *  Why did I watch this again?

"Avalon High": * Bad, but in a funny way.

"Insidious": *** Wound up liking this a lot more than I thought I would.


So that's it folks.  Keep reading.  I'll have a travel post up as soon as I can.  Until then.

My friends travel blog

Check it out y'all, my friend has a new travel blog.  I'll be posting my own travel writings from my last trip at some point, but until then, check this out:


http://travelwithabackpack.blogspot.com/

Update

Hey all back from Europe, movies I've watched most recently:

Red Cliff (International Version)--****
Two For the Road--****
Red State--***
The Last Exorcism--***(ending was a bit much)
Paranormal Activity 2--***(not as good as the first)
Cherry--***(never heard of this before, fairly good)
Man With the Movie Camera--*****(Absolutely brilliant, anyone who loves film owes it to themselves to see this)

If It's Tuesday It Must Be Belgium--****
Mugabe and the White African-****(great doc)
Harvey--*****
Imitation of Life(1959)--***(not as good as the one from 1934)
Last Night--**
Double Indemnity--*****
Hunger--****
Charade--****
13 Assassins--****
Forget Me Not--**(The ending ruined it for me, would have gotten 3 to 4 stars without the contrivance)
Good Dick--***
Heartburn--***
The Killing--*****(Wow)
Poetry--****
Stone of Destiny--**
Lost In America--****

Train to Budapest from Munich(2007)

Blue shirt against black train seat
-reading paper in German
  helped figure out the mechanism
to no avail.

Without speaking, mute,
  point and turn,
          dipping a foot in
   the water,
Testing, feeling spongy,
                     soaking.

Still maneuvering the black seat,
  & blue, green, and white
         sit idly by.

Wah-cha-cha
  Wah-cha-cha, moves out
again.

Blonde, Brunette, Balding
--types standing by.
Cigarettes smoking,
   coffee steaming,
work has never looked
            so blessed.

Sunflowers cover the magazine's
   being held by hangers.

Earphones in, patiently
     aside an ashtray,
Bag over right shoulder
  opened to pass the
               time.

Lake or river passing by.
Green/Gray at the bottom
   of the valley, in the distance,
climbing up the hills
          with my eyes--
Coming to a speckle
           of white houses
                 orange roof.

Stone, and pastel,
           matte--
Clouds covering the countryside,
Overcasting the villages
    of so many,
minutiae, ants along
              the dirt mountain.

Cemeteries skirting the
        edges and chasing the
               pink to the walls--

The next house
     and so forth.
Lines of living dwellings
  separated
by the vastness that can be.....farms?
    or maybe just grazing land?

Snow in the distance
  spotting the ground--
with trees poking through
  like hair on the neck.

Crooked, cut-down, leaning
                  towards
                    the sun, and lack
                                  there-of.

Cabin surrounded by the shade,
  hidden to the passer-by.

Queer to see such history painted,
  with satellite dishes.
Modern amenities to make
  you feel more at home--
distance me from actual belonging.

Crawling by glass roof, must be
  greenhouses, tennis courts, and
        futbol field.

Red clay matching the pigment of the stones
       sheltering the majority--
          with chimney's one and all.

White rooms, closets,
  floors wet, dungy.

First stop, Salzburg station, trains across
   3 tracks look as tho they're red double
buses, with a green, army green car,
   right next to the window, flashes
of drafts, and worse times.  War times.

Times are now, with oil filling our gullets.
Oil makes the world go round', the world go round'
  the world go round'.

Cleaner air reserved
  for pure of heart, or soul,
     who cares?
                          Actually.



                

Update

Recent viewings:

Stolen Kisses-Good times
Source Code-Love Duncan Jones, good sci-fi
The Lincoln Lawyer-not as good as the book
Sucker Punch-that's how I felt
The Eagle-Surprised I liked it
Faster-Quick and easy viewing
Limitless-Who da' thunk it, not too shabby
Take Me Home Tonight-or don't
You Again-Ugh
Wild Target-check it out
Fish Out of Water-highly recommended
Tangled-Wow, unexpected goodness
A Summer in Genoa-nice, melancholy film, beautiful film
I Love you Phillip Morris-see it
Jack Goes Boating-Uncomfortable, the point?
The House of the Devil-Good 21st century 80's horror
Skyline-Blech
Paris-good not great
Harry Brown-very good
Secretariat-hmmm I wonder what happens
Gigantic-odd
In the city of Sylvia-Brilliant
Resident Evil: Afterlife-can I get this hour and a half back?
Killers-one funny scene
Howl-Pretty good
Valhalla Rising-I liked it, you may not
Bronson-Tour de force
Takers-I don't remember this
Amarcord-of course, brilliant

Looking back

We are shackled by our technologies.
An addiction most unbecoming.

At what point does experience outweigh
   our feelings?

Folded, softly upon itself, now
   It's time to be, here.

Fully aware of this moment,
   and the moments to come.

Rain beats down, 100% chance
   that I'll later need a respite.

Nothing scripted, yet, what?
   Hopes?  of something different?
But enabled to embrace the largest
   difference, It's better,
     and as it should be.

Buzzing, and creeping by,
   at 60 miles an hour.
Slowing to an ending of
  foot on pavement long been
   trampled by
    countless others.

Still new to this moment,
    this experience, it
WILL exist as just it is when
    you first meet a feeling.

Bridges crossed, and paths
  travailed.
Intersecting the lives of others,
   flipped upside down to show my world,
on its end, and theirs immediately upstanding.

Random pints of luxurious lager,
   soaking my
    throat one moment,
     to be in an empty
        alleyway the next.

Early morning rise to
  be left wandering/wondering
   yet again.

Thinking of these things that
   aren't here, shouldn't be,
    couldn't, can't.

Endless streets filled with strangers
  that feel like friends.

Waiting becomes the way of the day.
Without apprehension,
   that's reserved
  for the repetition of
    continuous daily routines.

Tom Jones is telling me I'm crazy.
I'm killing Tom Jones with my mind.
While simultaneously lip-syncing to Tom Jones.

From "Vagabonding" by Rolf Potts

Was reading today, and found this excerpt, speaks for itself.



..."For some reason, we(Americans) see long-term travel to faraway lands as a recurring dream or an exotic temptation, but not something that applies to the here and now.  Instead--out of our insane duty to fear, fashion, and monthly payments on things we don't really need--we quarantine our travels to short, frenzied bursts.  In this way, as we throw our wealth at an abstract notion called 'lifestyle,' travel becomes just another accessory--a smooth-edged, encapsulated experience that we purchase the same way we buy clothing and furniture...--no combination of one-week or ten-day vacations will truly take you away from the life you lead at home.
   "Ultimately, this shotgun wedding of time and money has a way of keeping us in a holding pattern.  The more we associate experience with cash value, the more we think that money is what we need to live.  And the more we associate money with life, the more we convince ourselves that we're too poor to buy our freedom.  With this kind of mind-set, it's no wonder so many Americans think extended overseas travel is the exclusive realm of students, counterculture dropouts, and the idle rich.
   "In reality, long-term travel has nothing to do with demographics--age, ideology, income--and everything to do with personal outlook.  Long-term travel isn't about being a college student; it's an act of common sense within society.  Long-term travel doesn't require a massive "bundle of cash"; it requires only that we walk through the world in a more deliberate way."

Recent films

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hollows: part 2

Well made, great ending to a decade long journey.  I'd really like to watch part 1 and part 2 back to back, but until then, Azkaban is still my favorite film in the series, but the last two together could take its place. 

Grade: A-

Captain America: The First Avenger

Good old-fashioned fun, Joe Johnston has crafted a well-made, rip-roaring time at the movies.  Loved it, third favorite film of the year so far.  See it, really got me excited for The Avengers next year.

Grade-A

Jon Favreau Interviews Spielberg, Howard, and Grazer

Cowboys and Aliens Interviews

more

and more

and even more

and the last

Transformers 3 Dark of the Moon

I wasn't going to see it, but I'd read some pretty good things about it.  That the 3D was the best since Avatar, that Michael Bay may have made his best movie yet.  Well, the latter is true, but that's really not saying much.  The movie is waaaaaaay too long, and the plot lacks any type of coherence.  This movie will make gobs of money, especially in middle America(don't mean to offend).  The action is pretty good, and for once you could kind of tell what was going on with ample amounts of slow-mo.  I say skip it, but if you do see it, you might have fun anyway.  Unintentionally funny sometimes, will help you pass the 2 and half hour running time.

D+