2025年7月5日 星期六

Movies and Memories


Jaws hit theaters in 1975, the year I was born.  I didn't see it in a theater because I was, of course, not even a year old.  Jaws is a fantastic movie though.  It was on TV all the time when I was a kid.  

Cable or network TV?  For the life of me I can't remember.


The last letter of Jaws is "S."  What's another movie from around the same time period that starts with "S?"  Suspiria, I think.  Yes, Suspiria came out two years later, in 1977.

Suspiria is one of those weird, great movies that you just know the director's never going to top.  I can't remember which one came first, Deep Red or Suspiria, but they're both unquestionably great movies from Dario Argento.  

Both movies represent an Italian film industry that's now a shadow of its former self.  One thing that people often overlook about the 70s is that for every American movie there was an Italian copy, or if not an outright copy then a movie that took elements of an American film and combined them with elements of other films that the Italians thought might work together.  At their best Italian movies of the 70s had their own well developed sense of style, but there were also Italian films that were shots in the dark, combinations of different genres that didn't always stand on their own merits.

Many of the women in 1970s Italian movies were extremely beautiful.  The Italians had a great eye for stunningly attractive women.  Many of these women weren't even Italian, but rather imports from other countries.  Laura Gemser and Barbara Bach come to mind.


The last letter of Suspiria is "A."  What's another movie from that time period that starts with "A?"  American Graffiti, which Wikipedia tells me came out in 1973.

I was never a big fan of American Graffiti.  It's... OK I guess, but to me it always seemed more like a TV pilot than an actual movie.  It's cool to see latter-day stars like Richard Dreyfuss or Harrison Ford before they were famous, but beyond that I never got much out of that film.

Have you seen the sequel?  More American Graffiti brings us to 1979, the year in which the disco scene imploded.  As little as I enjoyed American Graffiti, I have to say that it feels like Jaws compared to its nearly unwatchable sequel.  A lot of More American Graffiti features a series of split screens,  all of them contributing to the movie's unintelligibility.  Who's talking now?  Which one of them should I be listening to?  Are we sure we don't want all of them to die in Vietnam?  More American Graffiti truly is a trainwreck of cinematic proportions.


The last letter of American Graffiti is "I."  What's another movie from the same time period that starts with "I?"  I actually drew a blank on this one, but Wikipedia tells me that a Brazilian film titled I Love You came out in 1981.  Sonia Braga starred in this one, who you might remember from a few American films like Moon Over Parador.

Moon Over Parador, like Jaws, was another film featuring Richard Dreyfuss.  Apparently he's a difficult person to work with.  He's a great actor though.  Mr. Holland's Opus is one of my favorite movies.


The last letter of I Love You is "U."  What's another movie from the same time period that starts with "U?"  Under the Cherry Moon, released in 1986, comes to mind.  Have I seen Under the Cherry Moon?  I'm not sure.  Looking at the poster and focusing in on the name, I want to say that yes, I've seen it, but if I have it was a long time ago.

Prince was ubiquitous in the 80s.  They played his songs on MTV and the radio constantly.  I started to hate Prince and everything to do with Purple Rain for this reason.  Is he a good guitar player?  Undoubtedly!  Do I enjoy his earlier and later music?  Sure!  But MTV and FM radio shoved Prince very far down our throats in the 80s, to the point where I can't be objective about his most famous album.

Apollonia sure was sexy though.  Anyone else remember Apollonia?  As a kid that scene in Purple Rain where Prince gets with Apollonia gave me shameful, furtive thoughts that I dared not speak aloud.


The last letter of Under the Cherry Moon is "N."  What's another movie from the same time period that starts with "N?"  Ah yes, Near Dark came out a year later, in 1987.

Near Dark is yet another vampire movie from the second half of the 1980s.  Fright Night, The Lost Boys, the oft-overlooked Lifeforce... there were a lot of vampire movies released during the late 80s.

I can understand Near Dark's cult status, and I can also remember enjoying it at the time.  Thing is that during those years a lot of us were suffering from a "vampire fatigue" not unlike the present day's superhero fatigue, and Near Dark, for all its redeeming features, was ignored by many for this very reason.  

In its way this film is also "Aliens-adjacent," in that Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen and Jenette Goldstein are all to be found in both movies.


The last letter of Near Dark is "K."  What's another movie from the same time period that starts with "K?"  Thanks again, Wikipedia: K2 brings us into the 90s.

Michael Biehn!  Yep, another Aliens connection.  In this film he plays a guy who - you guessed it - tries to climb the famously elevated mountain.  Does he succeed?  I suppose you'll have to watch the movie and find out.

If you ever find yourself wondering what happened to Michael Biehn, there are a ton of interviews with him on YouTube to that effect.  Short answer: ego and alcohol.  He could have been a lot bigger star than he was, but personal and professional problems intervened.

1993's Tombstone, released around a year after K2, was Biehn's last big movie, though in both Tombstone (and 1996's The Rock) he's largely overshadowed by other cast members.


The last letter of K2 is not a letter but rather a number, this being the number 2.  What other movie from the same time period started with 2 or "Two?"  Two Women, an Iranian film (!) brings us all the way to 1999, the year I left Seattle and moved to Taiwan, where I am now writing this.

I haven't seen Two Women, but there are good Iranian movies out there if you can find them.  I liked Taste of Cherry (which yes, sounds like porn but isn't), and A Separation, which tackles the subject of marital estrangement in a very repressive environment.


The last letter of Two Women is "N."  What's another movie from the same time period that starts with "N?"  Or, I might as well ask, how many movies have "night" as the first word of their title?  Too many, I think.  Let me settle on 2006's Night at the Museum. which is a movie I've seen many, many times.

The Night at the Museum movies are a bit sad in retrospect.  Robin Williams as Teddy Roosevelt, Robin Williams with the clock ticking over his head.  He wouldn't live much longer, Robin Williams.  He'd take his own life in 2014, and thereafter we'd all be wondering what might have been.

He was a great actor.  I'm a big fan of One Hour Photo, but even aside from that Insomnia is an excellent movie from the same time period.  Check him out in The World According to Garp, when he decides to reconcile with his wife.  That scene is completely unrealistic given the circumstances, but even so he sells it like nobody's business.


The last letter of Night at the Museum is "M."  What other movie from the same time period starts with "M?"  "M" is an easy one, so I'll pick 2010's Machete, which is a movie that most of us have forgotten about.

It's a fever dream of casting: Danny Trejo, Jessica Alba, Robert De Niro, Jeff Fahey (!), Don Johnson, Cheech Marin and even Tom Savini, best remembered both as the dude who gets his head blown off in Maniac and the biker disemboweled in Dawn of the Dead.

I'm thankful to director Robert Rodriguez for both Sin City and Desperado, though I think that he often punches below his weight class.  The guy has talent, but he wastes it on ephemeral things like the Spy Kids franchise or Alita: Battle Angel.  I've always felt that he could be doing a lot more with his gifts, and I'm waiting for the day when he'll surprise us all again.


The last letter of Machete is "E."  What other movie from the same time period starts with "E?"  The Equalizer 3 I suppose, which is a surprisingly good movie set in Italy.

Where else would Denzel Washington hide after the second installment?  Uh... lots of other places I guess, but they picked Italy so I'll roll with it.

Italy, that birthplace of Giallo and opportunistic employer of impossibly beautiful women.  Again Laura Gemser and Barbara Bach come to mind.  Barbara Bach, who is still married to one of the Beatles.

The Equalizer 3?  I dunno, it's OK I suppose.  It's been a while since I've seen it.



The last letter of The Equalizer 3 is not a letter but rather a number, this number being 3 or "three."  And what movie from the same time period starts with "three?"  In the 2020s I am only able to find The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan, which is a French movie that I meant to watch but later forgot about entirely.

Vincent Cassel is awesome however.  I'll watch anything with that guy in it.  Did you know he voiced one of the characters in Shrek?

And Shrek featured Mike Myers, who was also in Wayne's World alongside Rob Lowe...

...who was in The Hotel New Hampshire alongside Jodie Foster...

...who was in Taxi Driver alongside Robert De Niro...

...who was in The Deer Hunter alongside Meryl Streep...

...who was in Postcards from the Edge alongside Richard Dreyfuss...

...who was in Jaws, which was released the year that I was born.

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2025年6月29日 星期日

"The Algorithm" by Hilke Schellmann (2024)


"'These problems are hard because we can't predict the future,' Arvind Narayanan said, 'That should be common sense.  But we seem to have decided to suspend common sense when AI is involved.'"

Hilke Schellmann is an investigative reporter and professor of journalism.  Her work on AI has been published in The New York Times, The Guardian and The Wall Street Journal.

In this book, subtitled "how AI decides who gets hired, monitored, promoted and fired and why we need to fight back now," the author explores the types of algorithms used by vendors and corporations to ensure productivity through AI- (or algorithm-) enhanced hiring practices.  Throughout her exploration of this topic the author decries a lack of transparency on the part of companies advancing such an agenda, and also the inadequacy of many algorithms with regard to hiring better workers.

The Algorithm probably won't tell you anything you don't know (or haven't suspected) about the corporate uses of AI already, but it does do a nice job of tying different aspects of the current AI trend together, resulting in a conclusion which is equal parts worrying and reassuring.  This conclusion is, moreover, a call to action, in that the author hopes that public policy can be used as a safeguard against unfair hiring practices and the illegal monitoring of citizens.

I'd recommend this book for those wondering how big companies and local governments hire people in 2025.  You might even find that some of the tactics discussed in this book have already been used against you.

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2025年6月27日 星期五

A Big Month for Superhero Movies


July's around the corner, and I assume that both Superman and Fantastic Four: First Steps will be arriving in your local multiplex soon.  In my neck of the woods Superman arrives July 9, and Fantastic Four: First Steps hits theaters on July 23.

With all the superhero movies already on record, you wouldn't think that either Superman or Fantastic Four: First Steps would be such a big deal, but both films represent something of a pivot for their respective studios, and both DC and Marvel have hinged a lot of their future plans on the success of either movie.

2025's Superman will be the seventh film to feature Superman as its main character, not counting the serial features and shorts of the 1940s, animated features and movies in which Superman was (arguably) a secondary character.  This newest attempt at the Man of Steel follows Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, a film which was the last entry in the DC Extended Universe, or DCEU.  In the wake (if you'll excuse the slight pun) of the DCEU's implosion, 2025's Superman will serve as the first movie in the new DC Universe, or DCU.

Superman's director, James Gunn, has claimed that the new DCU will retain some elements of the DCEU moving forward, but I highly doubt that any of these elements will be especially obvious given the rather ignominious end suffered by that earlier cinematic universe.  I could see them holding on to cast members or plot elements that Gunn was previously involved with, but I doubt we'll see any of the major players or events from the DCEU in the DCU.

Looking forward, Superman will lead into Supergirl, which will hit theaters around a year from now.  That film is already in post-production.  On the heels of that movie will be Clayface, The Authority and The Brave and the Bold, all of which are in various stages of development.

And I've got to say here, Clayface sounds a whole helluva lot like a CBM version of The Substance, a movie which was a surprise hit last year.  Those involved in the production are comparing it to The Fly, but allowing for Hollywood logic I'm thinking The Substance.  It might not even fall within the DCU proper.

The Authority and The Brave and the Bold, however, will definitely be connected to Superman in various ways.  The Engineer, a prominent member of the The Authority, is already set to appear in Superman, and The Brave and the Bold, focusing as it does on the Bat-Family, seems like an ideal match for what Gunn is attempting in Superman.  James Mangold's Swamp Thing, assuming he's still attached as director once that movie finally enters production, should also be part of the DCU.

There are also various television series in development, all of them following Creature Commandos' lead.  There will be another season of Peacemaker, followed by Lanterns and maybe even Booster Gold if that series ever gets off the ground.  I'm not that enthusiastic about any of these efforts, partly because I've lost a lot of my patience with the tie-in TV shows (thanks, Marvel), and partly because I don't subscribe to HBO Max.  If a friend raves over one or more of them I'll give them a look, but otherwise I plan of having them pass me by.

Also, and I have to be honest here, I've always found the Green Lantern mythos boring.  I get that some people love it, but for me the idea of a guy with a ring that can basically do anything is less than interesting.  I've tried with some of those comics, but no, the concept just isn't working for me.


So much for Superman.  What about Fantastic Four: First Steps?  Well, to begin with it will be the fourth movie to feature the Fantastic Four, or the fifth movie if you count the Roger Corman version from the 90s.  Fantastic Four: First Steps will be the 37th (!) film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the first within its Phase Six.  This phase will include Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.

And let us not forget the two MCU films which rounded out the MCU's Phase Five this year, these being the disastrously bad Captain America: Brave New World and the far superior Thunderbolts.  Even Thunderbolts, however, was something of a financial disappointment for the studio, despite the fact that audiences and critics got firmly behind it.

The MCU may not have gone down in flames like the DCEU, but Marvel Studios has definitely been put on notice that expectations are higher now.  Gone are the days when something like Captain Marvel can skate by on its connectedness to other, bigger films.  Audiences aren't willing to sit through that kind of thing any longer, not with movies like Ant Man: Quantumania, Eternals and Brave New World in our collective memory.  The pressure is on Marvel to actually make this one good, and if it somehow fails (which, at this point in time, seems unlikely), it will have to return to the 'ol drawing board and revise its future plans.

TV shows aside, at the time of writing future MCU films seem to be either Doctor Strange 3 or Black Panther 3, followed by X-Men, which is a strong possibility for 2028 or thereabouts.  The director of Thunderbolts has already been hired for X-Men, and this MCU adaptation of the world's most popular mutant soap opera is probably the MCU's most anticipated movie to date.

In my opinion any Marvel X-Men film that veers closer to Jonathan Hickman's work on the characters should do well.  I know there are a lot of Chris Claremont fans out there, but no, that kind of angst wouldn't translate well into a movie.  TV?  Sure, some people loved it in the CW Flash, but it wouldn't work in a movie.

Of the two films, Superman and Fantastic Four: First Steps, I'm definitely looking forward to Fantastic Four WAY more.  I admire James Gunn, and I think what he did with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was amazing, but I've been waiting for a good Fantastic Four movie forever.  I think John Byrne's work on that title in the 80s was classic, and I'd love to see some of that science fiction weirdness up on a screen.

Not that I'm not open to Superman being as good as, or even better than Fantastic Four: First Steps  I'm very open to the possibility.  If both movies are genuinely good we all win, and who knows what doors the success of both might open in the future?  Maybe another shot at The Flash?  Another Ghost Rider?  I'd love either of those things to happen, and there is still a wealth of stories and characters to draw from in the comics.  Dare I hope for a Captain Atom movie?  A Punisher kills the MCU adaptation?  Some of the weirder Epic and Vertigo comics from back in the day?

Anyway, see you at the local theater.  Here's hoping July is a good month for comic book movie fans.

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2025年6月22日 星期日

"Mecca" by Susan Straight (2022)


"Sergeant Michael Miller Sr. hated us all.  'Inland Empire assholes - don't you guys have brain damage from birth?  Wait, Frias is from the OC.  How the hell is he the best shot at the range?'"

Susan Straight is an American novelist who also teaches Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside.  To date she's had nine novels published, of which Mecca is her most recent.

Mecca opens with Johnny Frias, a California highway patrolman with a dark secret.  From Johnny the novel moves on to a cast of largely Mexican-American (or Hispanic American) characters trying to survive in southern California, some of them there legally, and some of them on the lookout for ICE.  Towards the end of the novel COVID intervenes, and on the heels of COVID there's an uptick in immigration raids leading to a standoff on a reservation in the California desert.

It's a good book, even if it doesn't quite come together in the end.  The characters are for the most part convincing, although some of the male characters seem unnecessarily macho at times.  It's no easy thing to (literally) break someone's face, and that part of the book could have used both more buildup and more explanation beforehand.

As you might imagine, this novel also checks off a lot of diversity boxes.  Character who's a single mother?  Check.  Character who's a black single mother?  Check.  Character who's a black Hispanic Native American single mother?  Also check.  Mecca doesn't go out of its way to include gay, trans or handicapped characters, but in all other respects it's guaranteed to infuriate your average Trump supporter.

I'm hoping that the author only happened to check off all those diversity boxes, and that the presence of so many ethnicities isn't just pandering.  I don't think that it is.  At least I hope it's not.

I do have one serious complaint about Mecca, however, and this complaint is that some of the antagonists are very one dimensional.  I think that delving into the personalities and motivations of the police sergeant, the rich benefactress and at least one of those evil ICE agents would have made this book much stronger. 

This said, the first 3/4 of this book is excellent.  The remaining 1/4?  It wasn't the heart-rending climax I was hoping for.

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2025年6月12日 星期四

"Human Acts" by Han Kang (2014)


"When she finally came down from the loft the next evening, her mother informed her that the corpses had been loaded into the city garbage trucks and driven off to a mass grave."

The Gwangju Uprising was a series of anti-government protests which occurred in 1980.  Back then military dictator Chun Doo-hwan, acting as President, implemented martial law across South Korea.  Many took issue with both Chun Doo-hwan's usurpation of executive authority and the harsh regime he represented, and in response many workers and students in Gwangju took to the streets to voice their opposition.  Both their uprising and the government's violent response to it form a dark chapter in South Korean history, and it is this harsh episode which is the subject of Han Kang's novel.

Human Acts tells the story of the Gwangju Uprising from several different perspectives.  We see this momentous event through the eyes of one of the students who lived through it, through the memories of a former factory girl involved in the labor movement, and even through the eyes of a corpse left to rot in an out of the way location.  The multiple perspectives on this same event cross over one another in surprising ways, and often converge around the figure of Dong-ho, a middle school student killed by the army very early on in the novel.

It's a fully realized account of an event which few outside of South Korea are familiar with.  The author was clearly consumed by the event upon which she was writing, and even though the extremely dark subject matter was hard to get through at times, I'm still glad that I came upon this book, and saw it through to the end.

Author Han Kang was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature last year.  I've seen copies of The Vegetarian in local bookstores, and I might read that one once I've finished a few other books first.

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2025年6月2日 星期一

"Intermezzo" by Sally Rooney (2024)


"At the kitchen table, she sits and eats alone, knowing that after she's finished eating she will have to wash up individually each utensil she has used to prepare and eat this meal, and to wipe down also each surface involved: the sink-side countertop, the fridge-side countertop, the cooking surface, and the kitchen table itself."

Sally Rooney is an Irish novelist.  At the time of writing she's penned four novels, Intermezzo being the most recent.

In the novel two brothers, Peter and Ivan, grieve over their father's death from cancer.  Peter is a barrister living in Dublin, while Ivan is a former chess prodigy living in Peter's shadow.  As the story unfolds the two brothers come to terms with their father's absence, with Ivan's quest to become the first Irish Grandmaster being an oft-revisited thread throughout the narrative.

Sally Rooney's prose will remind you a lot of James Joyce, though unlike Joyce her stream-of-consciousness approach often wears out its welcome.  I found it a bit unfortunate that she chose to quote Joyce in the novel, given that she's no James Joyce and Intermezzo is a far cry from UlyssesIntermezzo isn't terrible, but in reminding the reader of a far better novel this one can only suffer by comparison.

In dramatic terms I was also disappointed by this book.  The events it presents seem to be out of order, and they certainly don't add up to the big, life-changing moment that the author was aiming for.  Giving us a clearer picture of the two brothers and their relationship in the beginning of the novel would have made for smoother sailing later on, and even now, having just finished it, I'm not sure that I completely understand who Peter is or what he's about.  The (Catholic) guilt over a polyamorous affair I get, but I never got a sense of why he was so angry and troubled all the time, or why he was so dissatisfied with his life after the funeral.

There are critics who fawned over this book, and Sally Rooney has been hailed as both "one of the foremost millennial writers" and "one of the most influential people in the world."  If you ask me Intermezzo is only a passable effort, leaning as it does on the work of a much better writer.

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