Fight Club interpreted through the lens of Calvin & Hobbes — The Return of Hobbes.

I just finished watching “The Devil’s Playground” a documentary about how Amish kids get the chance to experiment with living in the modern world before the are baptized as an adult. This period of time called “rumspringa” and is supposed to allow the teenager to come to their faith as an adult.

The movie was an interesting snapshot of Amish culture. The movie made me think a lot about the way I grew up. I was raised in a fairly conservative insular church; seeing these kids growing up in a culture that made my own upbringing seem libertine by comparision was eye opening. I was shocked that the film reported that some 90% of kids end up joining the amish church after they had spent gone through their wild period. I suppose that having your entire family shun you if you decide to walk away from church is a pretty strong incentive to stay amish.

I like the rumspringa concept a little. It might be wise to apply it sparingly to avoid lifelong consequences, but it is an interesting concept.

I liked the movie. It was thought provoking. I give it three and a half stars out of a possible five.

I’m becoming a independent film snob thanks to netflix, IFC, and the Sundance Channel.

I recently saw “Book of Love” on the Sundance channel. It is a pretty good example of the movies I seem to like now. It has great music, shows the complexity of relationships, relational sadness, connection & disconnection, longing and distance. The relationships displayed are so much more interesting and complicated than the ones often displayed in block-buster Hollywood films.

I finally got around to seeing Super Size Me. I loved this movie. It was funny; it made its point rather well and didn’t pretend to be anything too serious. Morgan Spurlock does a great job of being the writer, director and star of the show.

I haven’t eaten very much fast food this year. I rather suspect I won’t be eating much fast food for a good long while. I can’t get over the size of the ingredient list for the chicken nuggets.

Seeing this movie reminded me of “the ramen incident.” My employer used to provided free ramen noodles. I used to eat them for lunch a lot, sometime three or four times a week. One day as I was walking down the hallway a co-worker, W_____, looked at me and told me something like, “those things will kill you.” Once I started thinking of them as “death noodles” they lost a fair amount of their original appeal.

Hero, aka Ying Xiong, is on the of the most visually stunning movies I have ever seen. The colors, scenery and the movement in the film were mesmerizing. It made movies like The Matrix seems flat and derivative by comparision. Best of all the storyline was every bit as interesting as the swordplay — top notch.

I will queue up more movies directed by Ying Xiong.

I just wish I could fly like the characters in the movie.

I’ve become fond of small, character driven movies. A perfect example of this kind of small movie is “The Station Agent“.

This movie is missing expensive special effects and A-list stars but more than makes up for it with good screen writing that explores interesting themes and develops very human, very real characters. I liked it for the same reasons I like “Garden State”, “Lost in Translation” & “Pieces of April”; the film maker translated emotions I’ve felt, but find difficult to articulate, onto the big screen. If you’re big into plot or summer blockbusters you’ll probably want to skip this movie.

I just got around to seeing the movie “Pollock” starring Ed Harris.

I am predisposed to like stories of self-destruction. My high school English teacher must have made an indelible impression in my mind about the tragically flawed hero. I liked this story.

Last fall when I tried some drip painting myself, I came away realizing that is was much harder than it looked. The experience itself was much more visceral than I ever would have guessed.

The oddest thing happened when we displayed the paintings at the office. People, not knowing who completed which painting, would point to mine and say they sensed anger in the painting or the painter. No one could articulate why they felt that way, but it was not an uncommon response.

I really liked the movie a lot. It portrayed Pollock as a very complicated and difficult character who was still loved. How did Lee Krasner live with him given his inner demons?

I loved seeing the “aha” moment when he began experimenting with dripped paint, although I don’t know how accurate that scene was. It was sad to watch a movie showing his life as a long slow train wreck ending with his early and senseless death. Better to feel sad watching a movie than to feel almost nothing real at all, which is the case with a lot of movies I’ve seen (Revenge of the Sith, ahem). Psychological self-destructive dramas are my favorite kind of horror movie and this movie in particular is an excellent example of the genre.

If you ever get a chance to see a Pollock painting in person, you really should take a look. They are really worth seeing in person. The reproductions lose the texture and the movement that you can see and sense when viewing in person.

I finally saw the movie “Revenge of the Sith”.

Stop reading now, if you want to avoid spoilers or allowing my opinions to spoil your own viewing.

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It’s been way too long since I saw a movie in the theater. Work has been getting in the way of life lately. Next week, I’ll see “Revenge of the Sith“. I can’t say I thought much of “The Phantom Menace” or “Attack of the Clones” so my expectations are very low. George, you’ve fooled me once, you’re not fooling me again.

I’ve been trying to avoid reading plot spoilers and reviews. This spoof movie poster contest was too good to pass up. My favorites included the following: Attack of the Clowns, Migrant Queen and Me’sa is your father.

If the “Migrant Queen” photo isn’t recognizable to you, then you should check out the LOC’s page Dorothea Lange’s “Migrant Mother” Photographs in the Farm Security Administration Collection: An Overview. I was amazed when I first saw this web exhibit. The nursing photo is so compelling to me and speaks to me in a way the iconic “Migrant Mother” never has. I hope some day I can take a photo this good.

It’s 2:00 A.M. and I’m still in front of a computer instead of a pillow.

Reminds me of a quote from one of my favorite movies.