Awix (3310 KP) rated Greed (2019) in Movies
Feb 24, 2020
A friend initially demurred from seeing Greed, suggesting that he didn't need to see a movie to know how screwed up capitalism is - but I dragged him along anyway and we both enjoyed it. Mainly this is because it has a strong cast and a good script, although Steve Coogan is doing one of his comic grotesques and David Mitchell is basically just playing his usual comic persona under a different name. The shift from comedy to darker and more serious material as the film goes on is well handled, although you could argue the film is pushing it by attempting to be anti-capitalist, pro-feminist and pro-refugee all at the same time. Manages to be crowd-pleasing entertainment while scoring some serious points about the nature of the world in which we live. It may not teach you anything new, but it will probably make you care more about things you already know.
Complexity and the Art of Public Policy: Solving Society's Problems from the Bottom Up
David Colander and Roland Kupers
Book
Complexity science--made possible by modern analytical and computational advances--is changing the...
Taxing the Rich: A History of Fiscal Fairness in the United States and Europe
David Stasavage and Kenneth Scheve
Book
In today's social climate of acknowledged and growing inequality, why are there not greater efforts...
Cheap and Clean: How Americans Think About Energy in the Age of Global Warming
Stephen Ansolabehere and David M. Konisky
Book
How do Americans think about energy? Is the debate over fossil fuels highly partisan and...
LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated Nightmare Alley (2021) in Movies
Feb 5, 2022
Firstly, there is no reason for NA to be 150 minutes long. One could argue that it gives us more time with the many characters introduced, but it feels gratuitous. The first hour and a half has its moments for sure, but it sometimes feels a little direction-less before the last hour hits, and things kick off a bit. It's an issue that certainly impacts proceedings, and I feel it could have lost 30 minutes and been a tighter final product.
Thankfully, the assembled cast is stacked with royalty. Willem Dafoe and Toni Collette are two of my favourite working actors, so having them both involved is a treat. Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, and Rooney Mara are great as the main leads, and the rest of the ensemble is rounded out by some fantastic character actors - Richard Jenkins, Ron Perlman, Mary Steenburgen, David Strathairn - good stuff all round.
The overall visual style is wonderfully Del Toro, from the gloomy and misty carnival sights pierced by neon lights, to the snowy city scape of Buffalo, New York. A lot of the cinematography is gorgeous as well, hats off to Dan Laustsen, and is truly bought to life by a beautifully haunting music score from Nathan Johnson.
All in all, Nightmare Alley ultimately suffers from its pacing, and feels like a slog here and there. However, there are enough positives to carry it over the finish line. I look forward to checking out the black and white version in the near future.
The Wire
Book
Frequently described by creator David Simon as a novel for television, The Wire redefined the police...
Gray's Anatomy: Selected Writings
Book
From the author of Straw Dogs, John Gray's Gray's Anatomy is a pugnacious and brilliantly readable...
The Art of Aphorism and Nietzsche's Blind Passion
Book
Aphorisms can be seen as an art: making the best connection between existing knowledge so as to...
The Origins of Fairness: How Evolution Explains Our Moral Nature
Book
In order to describe the logic of morality, "contractualist " philosophers have studied how...
LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated Scream 3 (2000) in Movies
Nov 7, 2020 (Updated Nov 7, 2020)
Scream is known for being a meta commentary on the general ins and outs of the horror genre, but I would argue that it goes a little overboard this time around. A big part of the plot revolves around a huge retcon, changing the established backstory set up in the first movie. Cue a somewhat forced cameo from fan favourite character Randy to explain the rules of a trilogy to the surviving leads (and poke fun at this plot development) but it fails to distract from the fact that this narrative is a complete mess.
The killers motives and patterns are unclear and constantly change, and the eventual twist and identify reveal of this movies Ghostface is hugely underwhelming, and is just re treading ground that has already been explored in the previous Scream films. Also, that voice changing plot device is just dumb.
In response to the public outcry of media violence following the Columbine shootings, there is a lot less gore this time around which also hurts the overall experience. It loses its shock factor that was particularly prevalent in the original, and gives the film a sort of blunt edge, and instead focuses on the hit and miss comedy aspect.
All this being said, Scream 3 is still enjoyable when it needs to be. The returning trio of Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, and David Arquette is essential to that particular element. These characters have been fleshed out well over these movies, and seeing them together on screen is always a treat. Everyone else is largely forgettable, but the film manages to shoehorn in cameos from Jay and Silent Bob, and Carrie Fisher, which just adds to surrealism of it all.
Not Wes Craven's finest hour by a long shot, but still an enjoyable enough slasher, and still a part of a hugely important horror series.