Jonathan's Webstream

Ebert's Top 10

Tue, 15 May 2012 01:35:34 GMT

Roger Ebert's Top 10 movies of all time, revised in 2012, for SIght & Sound magazine:

blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2012/04/the_greatest_films_of_all_time.html

Anatomy of a Murder, 1959 - ★★★★

Tue, 15 May 2012 01:29:56 GMT

Anatomy Of A Murder was a pretty darned good movie. Starring Jimmy Stewart as a down on his luck country lawyer, freshly turned out from the District Attorney's office, it tells the rather risque for the time story of a woman who was raped and then her husband kills the accused rapist. Stewart decides to take on the case, although we are never really sure why.

Lee Remick is the wife and she is a doozy. Very sexy, and something of a dumb blonde, so we're never really sure what to make of her story. Ben Gazzara is the jealous husband, an Army captain who has been known to lose his cool a few times and smack his wife around as well. George C Scott is the lead prosecutor and Eve Arden is the much suffering maid / secretary for Stewart, so it makes for an excellent cast.

Directed by the authoritarian Otto Preminger, it somehow, I guess, managed to offend the Hayes Code but I'll be damned if I can see why. There was a big point made of Ms. Remick's panties during the trial - what color were they and what happened to them. And there was some sort of frank discussion of rape, but that's really about it. Kind of funny really. Just shows you how lame most of those, and our current, censorship rules are. Just jokes, really.

But Stewart really shines as the backwoods lawyer who takes on this seemingly dead end case. And a real life judge plays the judge in a very folksy manner. Stewart is, by equal turns, humble, outraged, cagy and subtle, really a great effort by him. And Ms. Remick is equal to the task as the much suffering wife. According to the opening discussion from Robert Osborn, Lana Turner was originally supposed to play the wife, but she decided that "life was too short to work under an autocrat like Preminger", so Remick, originally slated for a smaller role (perhaps the murder man's daughter), took over and did extremely well.

It also had a very good soundtrack by Duke Ellington, which won a Grammy. And the ending courtroom scene, where you can see Scott careening towards a wreck while he cross-examines the murder man's daughter, is brilliant. So I give it 4 out of 5 stars, with the only drawbacks being it is a little dated and some of the courtroom scenes went on a bit too long.

True Grit, 2010 - ★★★★½

Tue, 15 May 2012 01:26:33 GMT

"True Grit" is the adaptation of a book and the remake of an iconic John Wayne movie (which I should probably watch) and tells the story of Maddie who is out to avenge the shooting death of her father. This 14 year old is very self assured and will do anything to track down the killer of her father.

Of course, no one believes her and that starts with the merchant who has to deal with her vis a vis the return of a stable of ponies her father bought just before his death. And the merchant soon regrets tangling with Mattie and gives into nearly her entire set of demands.

She then hires Rooster (Rueben) Coogburn, played with boozy panache by Jeff Bridges, eye patch and all. Mattie (an amazing job by Hallee Steinfeld) tried twice and finally convinces Rooster (with the application of enough money) to head off to Indian territory to track down her father's killer, who no one else has bothered with. She also runs into LaBoeuf (played by a barely recognizable Matt Damon), a Texas Ranger also the the trail of the man who killed Maddie's father.

Together, the three sort of make off for Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin) and sort of splinter off and come back together as they track him down. Sometimes the dialog sounded a bit stilted but in general, despite the hifalutin' words, it sounded organic and fun. I particularly loved the almost stilted way Mattie talked, as she tried to make everyone believe, despite their doubts, that she was going to be able to handle whatever got sent her way.

The ending, set 25+ years after the events, were really poignant and, I have to admit, brought a tear to me eye. It actually ended exactly right and I enjoyed every minute of it. There were many laughs along the way, but it all remained real. I think, despite its occasional violence, it would make a great movie for my girls to watch, as it features a very strong, younger, female character who, by the Jesus, was going to get her way. Like I said, the transaction with the merchant is priceless. I'll let you know what they think of it.

Midnight in Paris, 2011 - ★★½

Tue, 15 May 2012 01:24:45 GMT

Just finish watching "Midnight In Paris". Interesting movie, with a very romanticized view of both Paris and life. Owen Wilson plays Gil Benton, who is on some kind of romantic vacation with his fiance, whose parents are also in town. They also come across some friends from back in California, who she likes and he doesn't. Things get a bit too much for Gil and he decides to walk back to his hotel room, while their friends and his fiance go out dancing. Through some kind of magic, or perhaps imagination, he gets a taxi cab back to his "perfect" Paris, the gay Paris of the 20s. There he meets the Fitzgeralds, Hemingway, Pablo Picasso, Gertrude Stein, and Pablo's mistress, who completely beguiles him.

So he goes back a few times, meeting more names, including Luis Bunel, Dali, and Man Ray. And continues to get entranced with the Adriana, who turns cold when he finds out she has a fiance.

But strangely enough, they go for a long walk and get transported back to the Paris of the 1890s, the Belle Epoque, which just so happens to be the time Adriana wants to live. There, they meet Lautrec, Degas and Gaugin and she decides to stay. He goes back, breaks up with his fiance, determined to stay in Paris and write his book. He goes for a walk and meets the entrancing Gabrielle, who he had met earlier at a curio shop, talking about Cole Porter. And they walk off into the rain.

Yikes, where to start? A bit of a trifle really, with plenty of archetypes, like the right wing potential father in law, the somewhat shallow fiance who only sees getting wet when walking in Paris in the rain, the "pedantic" know-it-all friend from California (who is actually pretty funny). And the ending - oy vey! Strolling the city at night, he comes across the one (naturally gorgeous) woman who sees into his soul and loves to walk Paris in the rain. Jeez.

Not sure what the time travel was. The fevered imaginations of a stuck writer? Paris magic? Who knows, but he sure runs into a veritable who's who of artists while there. The guy who plays Hemingway is brilliant - intense and very much like I would imagine him to be (thus perhaps another indicator of the writer's imagination).

But the whole thing was just way too neat. Life is never that neat. I realize that any relationship takes some luck for it to blossom. A certain random chance encounter, lightning that strikes, but there were just too many for a rather short movie, especially the ending. It would have been better if he just walked over the bridge in the rain, alone.

Inglourious Basterds, 2009 - ★★½

Tue, 15 May 2012 01:16:01 GMT

"Inglorious Basterds" is a story of a guerrilla operation, run by Brad Pitt and a motley collection of Jewish fighters in World War 2. They wreak havoc upon the Nazis, showing no mercy, and, in a typically Tarantino fashion, graphically in some cases, including the brutal baseball bat beating (too many b's?) of a Nazi officer who refuses to divulge the location of another patrol. It also follows the story of a Jewish girl who escaped a brutal murdering of her family at a French farm house. She escapes to Paris and runs a movie theater(!). There she accidentally befriends a Nazi officer who is sort of a German Audie Murphy, who supposedly single-handedly cuts down over 100 Allied soldiers from a church steeple. He then stars in a movie based upon his exploits and the Nazi high command wants to debut the movie in her movie theater. All the German high brass, from Hitler on down, attend, drawing the attention of the Allied high command, who promptly begin plotting an attack on the theater. Can they pull it off and end World War 2 in one blow?

As you can see from the synopsis, it has a big problem it shares with other historical retellings, like "Day Of The Jackal" (about an assassination attempt on DeGaulle) and Philip Kerr's "The Shot" (a reimagining of the Kennedy assassination) - you know what really happened, so you know the ending. Well, this was true in the case of Jackal. In "The Shot", Kerr does manage to escape the historical ending straight jacket, but only just barely. In the case of "Basterds", Tarantino shows amazing chutzpah and just totally ignores real history and proclaims a successful attack that kills them all! How totally bizarre and unexplainable.

Another problem with "Basterds" is that really, not much happens, at least for the first 90 minutes or more of a 250 minute film. There is no real story building, just a few episodes that paint in the background of the two major stores, but in such broad strokes to make it kind of boring and uninteresting, despite the graphic violence.

But Christoph Waltz is absolutely mesmerizing as Col. Hans Landa, the Nazi agent in charge of ferreting out Jews, and then the Basterds. The opening scene, where he interviews a French farmer who is harboring his Jewish neighbors is nearly unbearable in its suspense and its graphic, explosive finale. And he continues to amaze in the rest of the movie.

Brad Pitt is just fine as the scene chewing leader of the Basterds. Mélanie Laurent was enchanting as the bitter Jewish survivor who plots the destruction of the German high command. Her ending was just so over the top Tarantino-esque as to be amazing.

But all in all, a 2.5 or maybe 3 out of 5 star movie. I just wasn't invested in the characters or the story, and I still don't understand the ending.

The Adjustment Bureau, 2011 - ★★½

Tue, 15 May 2012 01:06:57 GMT

Stars are likable but the movie is kinda boring.

CFCF - Monolith

Fri, 11 May 2012 03:35:47 GMT

http://www.last.fm/music/CFCF/_/Monolith

The Cars - It's All I Can Do (LP Version)

Fri, 11 May 2012 03:26:56 GMT

http://www.last.fm/music/The+Cars/_/It%27s+All+I+Can+Do+(LP+Version)

The Beatles - Let It Be

Fri, 11 May 2012 03:03:24 GMT

http://www.last.fm/music/The+Beatles/_/Let+It+Be

LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends

Fri, 11 May 2012 02:14:33 GMT

http://www.last.fm/music/LCD+Soundsystem/_/All+My+Friends

hieronymus managed to fit in a quick game of Sacred 2 (PC).

Thu, 10 May 2012 12:56:05 GMT

hieronymus managed to fit in a quick game of Sacred 2 (PC).

Time played: 5 mins

12 hours total

hieronymus managed to fit in a quick game of Sacred 2 (PC).

Thu, 10 May 2012 04:04:11 GMT

hieronymus managed to fit in a quick game of Sacred 2 (PC).

Time played: 2 mins

12 hours total

hieronymus spent a chunk of time playing Serious Sam 3: BFE (PC).

Thu, 10 May 2012 03:50:22 GMT

hieronymus spent a chunk of time playing Serious Sam 3: BFE (PC).

Time played: 3 hrs

40 hours total

hieronymus played Serious Sam 3: BFE (PC) and earned 2 achievements.

Thu, 10 May 2012 01:48:23 GMT

hieronymus played Serious Sam 3: BFE (PC) and earned 2 achievements.

We Are Knights - Tears

Wed, 09 May 2012 20:59:56 GMT

http://www.last.fm/music/We+Are+Knights/_/Tears

hieronymus spent a chunk of time playing Icewind Dale II (PC).

Wed, 09 May 2012 02:05:21 GMT

hieronymus spent a chunk of time playing Icewind Dale II (PC).

Time played: 1 hr

6 hours total

Jonathan marked as to-read: The Redemption of Althalus (Paperback)

Mon, 07 May 2012 21:00:19 GMT

Jonathan marked as to-read: The Redemption of Althalus (Paperback) by David Eddings
bookshelves: to-read

Tears - Kitsuné Parisien ii ( Compilation )

Mon, 07 May 2012 18:54:31 GMT

Tears - Kitsuné Parisien ii ( Compilation )

Jonathan

Mon, 07 May 2012 18:16:37 GMT

Jonathan is 25% done with <a href="/book/show/8343823-snow-angels">Snow Angels</a>.
Jonathan wrote: Solid and somewhat gruesome detective story set in Finland. I'll bet the murder isn't already solved like he thinks though...

Top 5 artists this week

Sun, 06 May 2012 12:00:00 GMT

Jonathan marked as to-read: Magician (The Riftwar Saga, #1-2)

Fri, 04 May 2012 11:31:27 GMT

Jonathan marked as to-read: Magician (The Riftwar Saga, #1-2) by Raymond E. Feist
bookshelves: to-read, fiction, fantasy

hieronymus managed to fit in a quick game of Disciples II: Rise of the Elves (PC).

Thu, 03 May 2012 19:15:26 GMT

hieronymus managed to fit in a quick game of Disciples II: Rise of the Elves (PC).

Time played: 2 mins

0 hours total

hieronymus played 2 hours of Serious Sam 3: BFE (PC) and earned The doorman should wear a suit.

Thu, 03 May 2012 03:10:45 GMT

hieronymus played 2 hours of Serious Sam 3: BFE (PC) and earned The doorman should wear a suit.

The doorman should wear a suit

Awake the Guardian of Time.

14.99 of users earned this

hieronymus managed to fit in a quick game of Serious Sam 3: BFE (PC).

Wed, 02 May 2012 23:49:29 GMT

hieronymus managed to fit in a quick game of Serious Sam 3: BFE (PC).

Time played: 3 mins

35 hours total

Rhett Miller - Singular Girl

Wed, 02 May 2012 23:18:29 GMT

http://www.last.fm/music/Rhett+Miller/_/Singular+Girl

The Dresden Dolls - The Perfect Fit

Wed, 02 May 2012 23:18:27 GMT

http://www.last.fm/music/The+Dresden+Dolls/_/The+Perfect+Fit

Scrubs - John Cale / Hallelujah

Wed, 02 May 2012 23:18:18 GMT

http://www.last.fm/music/Scrubs/_/John%2BCale%2B%252F%2BHallelujah

Rodrigo y Gabriela - Tamacun

Wed, 02 May 2012 23:18:16 GMT

http://www.last.fm/music/Rodrigo+y+Gabriela/_/Tamacun

Halflight - Worship

Wed, 02 May 2012 23:18:14 GMT

http://www.last.fm/music/Halflight/_/Worship

The Go-Betweens - Clouds

Wed, 02 May 2012 23:18:11 GMT

http://www.last.fm/music/The+Go-Betweens/_/Clouds

Imperial Teen - Out From Inside

Wed, 02 May 2012 23:05:17 GMT

http://www.last.fm/music/Imperial+Teen/_/Out+From+Inside

James Thompson: Snow Angels ★★★★

Wed, 02 May 2012 15:22:35 GMT

bookshelves: fiction, mystery
Longer review coming, but solid police detective novel set in the exotic location of Finland.

Rating: 4/5

Jonathan made a comment in the The Sword and Laser group:

Wed, 02 May 2012 12:22:54 GMT

Jonathan made a comment in the The Sword and Laser group:

Looking at my depressing long list of Fantasy books on my To Read shelf, I see a couple more standalone books that haven't been mentioned yet:

Magebane
The Night Circus
Mortality Bridge
Summerland
On Stranger Tides

Jonathan

Wed, 02 May 2012 11:46:56 GMT

Jonathan is on page 250 of 473 of Heaven's Needle.
Jonathan wrote: Lots of talk, history, fables and dreams. Hope the action picks up.

hieronymus spent some time playing Icewind Dale II (PC).

Wed, 02 May 2012 02:48:01 GMT

hieronymus spent some time playing Icewind Dale II (PC).

Time played: 2 hrs

5 hours total

hieronymus reached the rank of Experienced among Icewind Dale II (PC) players.

Wed, 02 May 2012 02:48:01 GMT

Jonathan made a comment in the The Sword and Laser group:

Tue, 01 May 2012 19:29:03 GMT

Jonathan made a comment in the The Sword and Laser group:

Um, Old Man's War isn't Sword. Not by a long shot.

David D. Busch: David Busch's Canon EOS 60D Guide to Digital SLR Photography ★★★★

Tue, 01 May 2012 02:57:45 GMT

bookshelves: non-fiction, photography
Solid companion book to the skimpy user manual. Goes into some depth with the amazing number of features available with the 60D. Has the odd detour, like several pages on storyboarding a movie(?), but more than a rote feature by feature discussion.

Rating: 4/5

Jonathan marked as to-read: Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was (Mass Market Paperback)

Tue, 01 May 2012 02:54:16 GMT

Jonathan marked as to-read: Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was (Mass Market Paperback) by Barry Hughart
bookshelves: to-read, fiction, fantasy

Liane Merciel: Heaven's Needle ★★

Tue, 01 May 2012 02:52:01 GMT

bookshelves: fantasy, fiction
Heaven's Needle is the second book in Liane Merciel's "Ithelas" series, following her very good debut, The River Kings' Road. This book continues the adventures of the Burnt Knight and his star struck lover, Bitharn, as they approach a blighted land. A very confusing novel, full of annoying fantasy tropes, it was a huge disappointment, especially after the fine beginning of the series.

The book basically follows 2 groups of adventurers. Kelland, Bitharn, and a much distrusted Thorn, or evil mage, approach Carden Vale with eyes wide open, knowing a vast evil has been unleashed on the world, although not sure to what extent. On the other hand, 3 young apprentice clerics, as well as their bitter expert swordswoman, approach, unaware of the evil that lurks. Their paths eventually cross as they attempt to snuff out the evil lurking there.

I can't even describe how disappointed I was in this novel. Although I wasn't too sure why, I really enjoyed the first novel. The characters were interesting, but flawed. The story was an intriguing mix of politics and bravery, with a sprinkling of mystery and evil.

But this book concentrated on the sorcery and I found it very annoying. The confusion rife in the book is indicated by the title, Heaven's Needle, which isn't even where the quest was going, but rather where one of the characters was rescued from early in the book and from then on, Heaven's Needle had nothing to do with the story.

It had to unholy triumvirate of dreams, mysterious magic, and meddling "gods". The dream sequences even went so far as to have a character killed earlier in the book mysteriously show up in another character's dream to tell him how to defeat one of the opponents with some weird rite. How convenient. Ugh.

Oh, and the magic! In general, I feel magic tends to be a deus ex machina for most books, where it can solve things until it, magically, can't. And this book had the worst case of it since the first book in the Dresden Files series, Storm Front. Basically, the devout could pray for some kind of spell, but they would always seemed to tire just when it was convenient. And one character got a magic sword that she didn't know how or when it would cast magic but wouldn't you know, the sword just happened to cast the right magic at the right time to sort of cure some ills but not entirely. Double ugh.

And there was some babble about an evil god possessing people and good gods granting spells (more like wishes). I never could keep all the factions straight, despite (or maybe because of) the author's constant chatter with background details. And for some reason the evil mage that was helping out needed the magic sword and that was enough to have him back off.

And the apprentice party? Well, they had some adventures but in the end contributed nothing to the plot line. If they hadn't been written in at all, the book would just have been half as long, but the main story arc wouldn't have been affected at all.

Like I said, sorely disappointed in the whole thing. I did actually finish it, but the last half was more of a sprint, as I tried to get through it. Be warned also - there were lots and lots of gruesome scenes, from maimed children to strange "undead" people and animals, twisted into grotesque shapes.

I'm not sure if I'll read any more in the series. It seemed like the author ran out of ideas and kind of went scattershot for the rest of the book. I don't get the 5 star ratings here, which to me would indicate one of the best books ever written. It is hardly that. To say the least.

Rating: 2/5