MOVIES

Posted on January 17, 2012 by markinaustin

Rosanne and I try to see one movie a month without our twin granddaughters, who will be 3 on January 23rd. Further, we each agree to let the other go see movies one of us would not see on a bet.  Here, in order, are the movies we have seen together as a couple since January, 2011, with my brief notes.

I hope it is useful for y’all and would like similar feedback on the movies we missed, for the purpose of Netflicking them at home.

We both would recommend all but one.

“The Social Network” B+.  Of current interest.

“Winter’s Bone”  A.  Suspenseful and spare with a great lead.

“Nora’s Will”  A.  How a funeral movie should be.  From MX.

“The Ghost Writer”  B.  Very suspenseful and well acted.

“The Kings Speech” A- or B+.  Well acted. Dramatic tension in a small place.  An Aussie accented Edward was a stretch, however.

“Inside Job”  A-.  Much more compelling than any Michael Moore documentary because it is not ham handed.

“Kids Are All Right” B.  Good chick flick, but tries too hard.

“Incendies”  A.  Suspenseful and terrifying.  Canadian.

“Page One: Inside the New York Times”  Documentary.  Skip it.

“Bridesmaids”  B or B+.  Funny chick flick.

“The Debt”  B.  Good suspense, good acting.  I was granted this as a date movie in trade for “Bridesmaids”.  Aside from the NYT documentary, “BM” was my least favorite and this is Rosanne’s least favorite, but we agree that both are worth a look.

“Midnight in Paris”  B.  Fantasy romance comedy chick flick.

“The Descendants”  A.  Works on three levels.

“We Bought A Zoo”  B.  Not in the class of “Descendants”.  But by no means a waste.  Bit of a chick flick, I think.

“The Artist”  B+.  Brilliantly executed gimmick.  Won’t survive as a TV rental.  See it in the theater.

Filed under: movies | 31 Comments »

Bits & Pieces (Tuesday Night Open Mic)

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Kevin S. Willis

I a guy who wrote a blog novel got the novel published, there’s going to be a sequel soon, and now the first one has been made into a movie. It’s a weird book, but a great read. Reminded me of Stephen King filtered through tosh.0, in terms of writing style. Fun and imminently readable. It’s called John Dies At the End, and here’s the trailer:

Lionsgate tests simultaneous Facebook rental and DVD release. Is there anyone here who has ever or would ever rent a movie on Facebook? Amazon.com, Netflix, Flixter, sure. But Facebook? Well, maybe.

Dennis Hoff plans to open a sci-fi theme brothel in Nevada. That sounds fun.

I just watched Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory. It was strange to watch Gary Gitchell, the lead West Memphis investigator on the case, talking about the case at the time, and then to come in to work the next day and have him walk by my cubicle (he’s head of security for the district). Didn’t really realize until watching the movie that that’s who he was.

All I could think during most of the movie, with the Johnny Depps and Peter Jacksons coming out to hire the best forensic folks to review the case, is that—while these 3 men were not lucky, given their circumstances–they sure are lucky they’re white. Given the prison population in this country, demographically, they couldn’t find someone non-caucasian who had been railroaded to produce 3 HBO documentaries about, and then an independent film?

Filed under: Bits and Pieces | Tagged: , , | 52 Comments »

Andrew Sullivan & President Obama

Posted on January 17, 2012 by jnc4p

Courtesy Ezra Klein:

Andrew Sullivan’s 2007 profile of candidate Obama in the Atlantic is worth a reread in light of his most recent piece on the case for his reelection.

“Goodbye to All That: Why Obama Matters

Is Iraq Vietnam? Who really won in 2000? Which side are you on in the culture wars? These questions have divided the Baby Boomers and distorted our politics. One candidate could transcend them.
By Andrew Sullivan”

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2007/12/goodbye-to-all-that-why-obama-matters/6445/

“Andrew Sullivan: How Obama’s Long Game Will Outsmart His Critics
Jan 16, 2012 12:00 AM EST
The right calls him a socialist, the left says he sucks up to Wall Street, and independents think he’s a wimp. Andrew Sullivan on how the president may just end up outsmarting them all.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/01/15/andrew-sullivan-how-obama-s-long-game-will-outsmart-his-critics.html

Ezra’s take:

“The case for Obama comes by way of Andrew Sullivan. It’s worth reading, if for no other reason than if you run in circles that talk politics, you’ll probably be asked to discuss it sometime this week. It’s an agenda-setting article like that. And, in a sense, it’s one Sullivan has written twice. In 2007, he profiled Obama for The Atlantic, in a piece that did a better job articulating Obama’s postpartisan appeal than even the candidate himself. This year, he has written a defense of Obama’s record that is better than anything the campaign has produced itself. Much as the ideas in Sullivan’s original Atlantic article felt novel early in the 2007 campaign but became the standard case for Obama by the time Americans went to vote, the arguments in Sullivan’s Newsweek article feel unusual now but will soon become standard among, at the least, Obama’s supporters. ”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/wonkbook-the-case-for-obama-and-the-continent-that-stands-in-his-way/2012/01/17/gIQAB0UG5P_blog.html

This is mostly a test to see how top posting works here, including cutting and pasting hypertext links.

Filed under: Obama | Tagged: | 13 Comments »

Morning Report

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Brent Nyitray

Vital Statistics:

Last Change Percent
S&P Futures 1300.9 12 0.93%
Eurostoxx Index 2397 35.460 1.50%
Oil (WTI) 100.77 2.070 2.10%
LIBOR 0.5623 -0.003 -0.46%
US Dollar Index (DXY) 80.821 -0.658 -0.81%
10 Year Govt Bond Yield 1.90% 0.04%
S&P futures are up after a 3 day weekend that started with S&P downgrades in Europe. Markets seem to be taking comfort in the Chinese GDP report last night that came in stronger than expected. Meanwhile Greece continues talks with bondholders regarding its upcoming 3/20 interest payment.
Earnings season gets into full swing this week, with Citigroup and Wells Fargo reporting this morning. Citi missed earnings on a drop in trading revenue, while Wells beat on stronger mortgage lending operations. Citi is down about 3 percent pre-open, while Wells is up about a percent.
In economic data, Empire State Manufacturing came in strong at 13.48 vs 11 expected.

Filed under: Morning Report | Tagged: , , | 49 Comments »