 Reviews of all sorts of things: books, gadgets, software, etc.
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Sep
10
2005
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Saturday, 10 September 2005 |
An exercise in complicatedness. That's what it felt like, especially after coming home from work on a very long Friday.
The movie is clearly meant to be viewed a few times before you can piece together the whole scenario. DVD viewers (thanks to the commentary) have the upper hand, and if you think you are going to get into something funny or romantic, it's going to be a startling revelation.
Boy meets girl. They love each other. The relationship falls apart. Girl gets her memories removed. Boy finds out. Boy has his memories removed. Boy fights memory removal, in vain. Boy meets girl again. They love each other...
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Sep
06
2005
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Tuesday, 06 September 2005 |
Howard Hughes seems to have been quite the character. A multitalented virtuoso of money-making, he ended up being one of the richest men in the first part of the 20th century, rivaling in power other tycoons like W.R. Hearst. And maybe it's the analogy with the latter that moved Scorsese to create this movie. Once in a while, you are reminded of "Citizen Kane", and it's not only because of the decor.
The Aviator succeeds in pacing its plot convincingly, allowing the scenes to portray someone who is not "one of us" in a way that makes us feel sympathetic. Despite philandering, despite early symptoms of neurosis (today we'd call it OCD, obsessive compulsive disorder), Howard Hughes is a person we'd be interested to meet.
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Sep
05
2005
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Monday, 05 September 2005 |
Yet another humorous gay book.
David Sedaris is very well-known in this city (San Francisco), as one of the funniest of the bunch. This book, in turn, is quite well-known for being one of his masterpieces. So it goes.
Let me tell you: it is funny. More the grin-and-smile kind of funny, witty, articulate, smart in places, but nothing of the promised outright heartsplitting laughter I thought I would get out of it. Not even in Hawai'i, reading after dark with my camp light on.
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Sep
05
2005
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Monday, 05 September 2005 |
Ah, a Talented New Writer™! An autobiography of one such genius! What privilege! What happenstance!
I have rarely had such a mixed impression of a book as with this particular one. Dave Eggers is an excellent writer: he has a wonderful voice, attention to the humanity that is happening around him. Still, I found myself deeply dissatisfied, and I had a hard time accepting why at first.
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Aug
14
2005
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Sunday, 14 August 2005 |
Tag line: Tim Burton back at his best.
Subtitle: Why people who love a movie should never watch the remake.
Why do we all love Tim Burton? I don't know about you, but I have always loved his absurd humor, his digging deep into the human soul to find out there is levity in there, to an extent that other people can't seem to find. No matter which of his movies you go to, you'll see something magic happen, usually something pleasant and pleasing.
My first Tim Burton was Beetlejuice. I saw it, marveled at the accuracy of the shots, realized how grossly dramatic the whole thing was, and all of a sudden it reeked of what theater should have evolved into when it became movies. Then there were so many other movies, each of them a gem (more or less). And there was Johnny Depp, who starred Burton's Edward Scissorhands and Sleepy Hollow.
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