Movies Watched -- Shattered Glass (2003)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

99 minute running time … I enjoyed this one, it’s a green-go. I vaguely remember the story of Stephen Glass fabricating whole stories out of thin air … one thing that’s interesting and not explored in the movie is the fact that Glass is Jewish and Marty Peretz is Jewish, but the editors and most fellow writers were all Gentiles … not a whisper about this dynamic in the movie … anyway, it’s well made, not overly long, not boring. It’s a winner. It’s sort of quaint now … back in 1998, the cusp of the internet age, magazines like The New Republic mattered, but of course it doesn’t anymore. The entire newspaper/magazine industry has been decimated by the internet (with democracy failing alongside it). No need to shed a tear?

This was a John Farr reco and I thank him for it.

Movies Watched -- The Return (2003)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

In Russian. 106 minute running time. I saw this movie 20 years ago and forgot that I had seen it. Andrei Svyagintsev made my favorite Russian movie of the last 25 years, Elena, so I remember seeing this one afterward and not being thrilled with it. The symbolism was a little too much for me… I guess the father represented the Russian state maybe and his kids were the Russian people? In any event, it was too abstruse for me (but I’m dumb). I can see how some would really love this movie, but for now I say just consider seeing it, a yellow rating. This was a John Farr reco.

Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh

Movies Watched -- Troubled Water (2008)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

In Norwegian. 116 minute running time, yes, a little overly long (maybe cut the scene with the drug addict’s mother?) but I REALLY liked this movie, this a green-go recommended movie from me (RARE). It’s true that I like church organ music (and not just because I’m an expert at playing with my own organ), but this movie was good beyond the organ music (I actually wasn’t that thrilled with the other music, heavy on heartstring guitar) … this is a movie that Christians will enjoy, I think … forgiveness and mercy major themes here, crime and punishment. This was a John Farr reco and it’s 15 years old now and I had never heard of it, which makes me wonder how many other good movies I’ve missed.

The actress in the screencap below took my breath away with that scene … I was gobsmacked. That kind of talent in just amazing to see… she’s Danish.

Recognition then all the emotions that followed, my God what an actress!

Movies Watched -- Winter Sleepers (1997)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

In German. 124 minute running time so 25 minutes too long … this wasn’t terrible, another John Farr recommendation, but once again it isn’t good enough for ME to recommend. I could have cut a lot out and restructured the story to make it a green-go. I was glad to see that there was a full frontal nudity scene with a guy who had a normal penis.

Bis spater … pre-Barbie Doll Millennial era when women had intact bushes

Movies Watched -- True Romance (1993)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

121 minute running time so at least 30 minutes too long … I went to fast forward after 20 minutes but slowed it back down for Walker/Hopper scene which was funny. This was the first thing Quentin Tarantino wrote that actually got made into a movie, I think. It has all the Tarantino hallmarks: non-stop swearing, snappy dialogue, extreme violence, humor, and general absurdity. You get the sense that Tarantino is a man-child, a goofy guy who miraculously caught a break and broke into the industry instead of being a movie rental clerk, where he possibly should have remained for the good of mankind. John Farr recommended it, but I certainly don’t … unless you want to see James Gandolfini before he got fat.

Patricia Arquette has great knockers

Movies Watched -- Mr. Jones (2020)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

119 minute running time … the story of Gareth Jones, a Welshman who exposed Stalin’s famine … it was pretty good, I didn’t know the story at all, it’s a good history lesson … only trouble is it ran about 20 minutes too long. Somehow if it could have been tightened up 20 minutes or so, I could recommend it, but as it is I can’t give it a green-go. It was a John Farr reco and I thank him for it.

(Maybe cutting out the bits about how Jones’s reporting inspired Animal Farm?)

He was going to go to … Ukraine.