Arrival


“Arrival” is a science-fiction parable in a distinctly more idealistic hopeful key than most movies in this genre, one in which the best solutions don’t necessarily materialize in a gun sight. It has a little action, a bit of violence and clenched-jawed jittery men. Mostly, it has ideas and hope, as well as eerie extraterrestrials who face off with a soulful linguist-heroine, Louise Banks (Amy Adams), the story’s voice of reason and its translator. She’s thoughtful, serious, at ease with her own silence and fears. — New York Times; The Atlantic review; Time review

Good movie. Don’t think it will do well at the box office because there was no car chase and you have to entertain the idea that time is nonlinear. But my kind of alien flick.

Michael Moore in TrumpLand

michaelmooreI enjoyed this hour-long stand-up/one-man-show. I’ve seen several of Mr. Moore’s documentaries and liked some better than others. But none of them prepared me for this. If I had to pick one word to describe this… (I really don’t know what to call it. It didn’t feel like a documentary) I guess I go with “personal.” It felt like he was trying to speak “from the heart” as the expression goes to everyone in America. And to Hillary Clinton. Fuck it, there’s no way to describe this and I’d say just watch it but I’m guessing most folks have made up their mind about Michael Moore just as they have everything else (myself included).

I’m a little unclear on his objective. Can’t believe that many people will see this before election day. I watched it on iTunes. I’ll tell you what this reminded me of (a little), a Louis C. K. stand-up special. It was an hour of Moore standing in front of a theater full of people just talking to them. Some jokes, sure, but he really put himself out there. Left me feeling better and it only cost me five bucks.

Tiny House Hell! This fall on HGTV.

I have a hard time believing very many people continue living in these tiny houses for as long as a year (6 months?). The HGTV producers show the design, construction, a reveal and — maybe — a real short “now that they’ve been in for a month…” at the end of the segment.

Screen Shot 2016-08-13 at 5.17.50 PM

What I want to see is two people actually living in one of these shoe boxes. You want some reality TV? Set it up like this: We’ll build your tiny home and give it to you on the condition you let us put cameras in and record continuously for three months. If you live in the house for one year, it’s yours, free and clear. If you can’t make it for 12 months, you have to pay back the cost of the house (let’s $50,000). This would work even better if it was a live stream on the net. We could tune in 24/7, just like The Truman Show.

The Night Of


If the first episode is any indication, HBO has another hit with The Night Of. No shortage of good reviews out there but I’ll make a couple of personal observations.

Never has a innocent guy had such a mountain of incriminating evidence piled on him. And I think I might actually like John Turturro in this series. His usual bug-eyed, crazy guy intensity is a turn-off for me. A more laid back character, at least in this first episode. Richard Price (The Wire, Clockers, The Color of Money) is a producer and writer.