Movie Reviews: A Most Violent Year

A Most Violent Year
directed by J.C. Chandor

This is an older film that for some reason I had never watched. Thanks to our friends in Wuhan and our feckless President, between working from home and "sheltering in place", I have oodles more free time. So I checked out this film because it was on sale. I'm glad I did.

Although people who are sensitive to depictions of mayhem might worry that the film's title describes the theme and events I would disagree. There IS violence and threat of same but that's not the film's focus. 

This is a character drama that happens to be set in a time and place (1981 New York) when violence, both organized and street, occurred more frequently. But the film's question is not whether the protagonist can use violence more effectively than his enemies. This would of course be the sole point were this film to feature other action hero actors.

This film's protagonist is not going to swear upon all that is holy, righteous bloody vengeance over the body or bodies of his wife/brother/sister/children/mother/father/grandparents/teacher/girlfriend/dog, 
survive a rigorous sadistic training program, and finally show up at the Big Bad's Evil Mansion to deliver some much needed viewer catharsis by killing everyone in sight, before he delivers a prolonged painful death to the Big Bad. 

This last deed is usually accompanied by a pithy one liner like "See you in Hell!" or "Now you know who I am." or my favorite, "You should have killed ALL the (insert family name)!!". This is not that kind of movie.

Movie Reviews: Vivarium

Vivarium

directed by Lorcan Finnegan

If you know anything at all about the behavior of a certain bird species and/or beings from Celtic mythology then this movie's story was very heavily foreshadowed or possibly even spoiled in the first 30-60 second during opening credits.

I wasn't angered or disappointed by that. I thought it was pretty freaking awesome actually. It was like solving a puzzle and only looking once at the completed picture that was provided. 

Vivarium could be an extended metaphor about the pointlessness of modern suburban life but I thought it worked much better as a modern day Twilight Zone episode. It is something that, purely by chance, might resonate with people who are currently being forced to shelter in place. Vivarium definitely would have been more effective with a shorter running time. Because the lead actors dominate the screen time without much dialogue, a 100 minute run time didn't work for me.

Tom (Jesse Eisenberg) and Gemma (Imogen Poots) are a landscaper and school teacher couple who are looking to settle down and purchase a home. The couple visit a realtor named Martin (Jonathan Aris) who is eager to show them a home. Martin is the sort of fellow who walks around all day oblivious to the fact that he's put his shirt on backwards and isn't wearing pants. 

Martin laughs at the wrong moments and generally seems to be a few slices short of a full loaf. But with all of their friends finding homes and prices going up Gemma doesn't want to miss out again. 

Book Reviews: Dave vs. The Monsters: Emergence

Dave vs The Monsters: Emergence
by John Birmingham

The most important thing in the first book of a series is that the reader is intrigued enough to read the second book in the series. I suppose that's another way of saying that the book must be good. Those aren't always the same thing though. 

There are some series where although the first book is good, the reader may not like where the book ends or may have decided that as far as s/he is concerned, the story is complete. So the reader sees no need to read further installments in the story.

I think that this story by John Birmingham hit the spot. It was quality on its own, but also left me interested in reading the next story. This is not a book that has a lot of deep plotting or fascinating characterization. 

Both of those things are actually pretty scarce, at least in this book. What makes this book move is the action. This book is ALL about the action. The book is just under 500 pages but I think I completed it in less than a week or so.

Dave Hooper is an engineering supervisor/safety manager on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. He's smarter than he looks but is at heart a bit of an irresponsible jerk. He tries to be better but Dave usually does most of his thinking with his genitals.

A roughneck in every way, Dave is a man who, once he has a bonus of six months pay, will spend it all on high price prostitutes flown in from Nevada instead of his back child support. 

Animals React To Mirrors

I just was looking for something humorous and found this.

William Rufus: The Scarlet King

In the book series A Song of Ice and Fire and its televised adaptation HBO's "Game of Thrones" The King of the Seven Kingdoms, Robert Baratheon, has a fatal hunting accident which is rather ineptly arranged by his disloyal and adulterous wife Cersei Lannister.

Cersei grew tired of the marriage and wanted to pass on formal rule to her son (though not her husband's). Cersei also needed to get rid of the hopelessly honest Prime Minister who made the mistake of informing her he intended to tell the King of her adultery and incest.

Although in the long run things didn't work out for Cersei and her family, in the short run they do. No one is ever punished for the hunting accident; Cersei and company jack the throne and keep it for most of the story.

In real life, hunting accidents during the Middle Ages were one of the normal explanations used to cover up rather obvious assassinations. William Rufus, King of England from 1087-1100, was the third son of William the Conqueror. So he wasn't expected to inherit very much. But life has a funny way of unfolding. Richard, one of William's elder brothers, died in what was evidently a legitimate hunting accident. 

Shortly after that William Rufus and his younger brother Henry decided it would be amusing to play a joke on their oldest brother Robert, who was William the Conqueror's presumptive heir. The two young men emptied a full chamberpot on Robert's head. 

In For A Penny In For A Pound

The thing about most criminals is that they are cowards. They pick on people whom, in the criminal's estimation, can't or won't fight back. 

They attack people when they think they outnumber their would be prey. 

But of course law abiding people, who don't make their living kicking in people's doors and then raping, robbing or killing other people, get tired of being potential or actual victims. Some of them take steps to ensure that criminals will learn, the hard way, if need be, that criminal behavior is not a cost free activity.

Although I don't think this incident was funny per se, I did find it grimly appropriate that the Big Bad Wolf turned Little Bo Peep once confronted with equivalent or superior firepower. 

As I've mentioned before I do not doubt that some of this criminal behavior is driven by fatherless homes, self-hate and lack of respect for others caused by internalized racism, short time perspectives, greed, over investment in material acquisition, lack of economic opportunity and so on. I think that a civilized society must do its best to address those issues before they erupt in violence.

Coronavirus Becomes Real

I remember that when I first heard about the coronavirus, I was vaguely distressed and irritated that yet another disease had arisen in China and started to spread. But I believed and hoped it wouldn't impact my life all that much. 

Now, just a little over a month or two later I've seen my governor place the entire state under a lockdown that seems unlikely to end anytime soon. 

She also closed the schools. Coronavirus has grown to at least a million cases worldwide and over 50,000 deaths.

Two beloved relatives have tested positive for Coronavirus. I can't say what the future holds for either of them. I have good friends and very close relatives who are in the American pandemic epicenter, NYC. How much longer will they stay safe? My home town, Detroit, is looking as if it will catch up to NYC soon. Bus drivers are getting infected and dying.

People who attended my high school have died from coronavirus. I am reduced to hoping that either I already had coronavirus  (I had an extended nasty bout of what I thought was flu in February) or that as with some bugs that the spring's increasing heat and humidity will slow transmission. When I go out now I am always wearing gloves and/or a mask.