normanbatesman

[normanbatesman]

Interstellar non-spoiler review.

If in the future i ever doubt Nolan's ability as a director, i just need to rewatch Interstellar. Just amazing filmmaking in every way. Everything was with intent. From the names to the lines to the flawless melding of music and film and more. The visuals were gorgeous, to say the very least, as were the chosen color palettes. I do desire to see this film again, next time in imax. This movie was intense, beautiful, emotional, and awe inspiring. The message was loud and clear. Few directors have the fortitude to tackle a film like this and to pull it off in such a fashion. It is very much a 2010 for the 21st century.

[normanbatesman]

Interstellar 35mm

Tomorrow I will be seeing Christopher Nolan's Interstellar on 35mm film. Very excited because... I generally find Christopher Nolan to be one of the more overrated directors of our time. I am not saying he is bad. I have seen him compared to Kubrick, and i find that to be ridiculous. I find Nolan to produce solid work, that isn't as deep as people give it credit for. Inception will not stand the test of time as a great film of the era and will likely go down as one of his weaker films (apart from visuals and music). I desperately want to see him improve as a story teller, this may be his chance. I tend to dislike matthew mcconaughey. His face, his voice, his presence, i find it to be annoying. Will he still seem like a cocky douche in this movie? I hope not. Then again he was a cocky douche in Contact. I love sci-fi. More specifically, i love sci-fi that criticizes our very nature as humans. I love space exploration sci-fi, one of my favorite book series is Asimov's foundation. I hated Gravity from last year as i found it to be undeniably and even disgustingly preachy, and had a very anti-space exploration moral to the story. I feel like Interstellar is supposed to be a huge pro-science pro-space message, and doesn' t shy away from the dangers but also emphasizes the necessity and possibilities. A full review will be posted here afterwards.

[normanbatesman]

Depression

Have you ever realized that maybe for the last 8 years of your life youve been living with mild depression? And you just thought "this is how life is"?

[normanbatesman]

Synechdoche, New York

Such a powerful movie, if you can follow it. 

Few movies can make me sit on the verge of breaking down like this movie. 

Its pretty hard to put into words how great this movie is. Without a doubt one of the most underrated movies of the 2000s. Perhaps it is because I like movies that get considerably more meta. Maybe it is because after seeing this movie 5 times I still get new things from it. 

[normanbatesman]

Even more convinced that Meghan Draper will die in the Mad Men final season via the tate murders by the Manson Family.

[normanbatesman]

I miss lane pryce

[normanbatesman]

Writing

I couldn't imagine being a writer for a tv show, or a screenwriter for a movie. it is probably the most under-appreciated part of the tv show/movie. Average and even good writing, nobody notices. Generally speaking writing is only noticed when it is bad enough to notice. 

But when you are surrounded by great writing, it becomes easier to notice these things. Let's look at AMC's  major lineup the past few years of Breaking Bad, Mad Men, and The Walking Dead. 

Mad Men- great writing, pretty much all the time. 

Breaking Bad- great writing, almost all of the time. You notice the episodes where the writing is sort-of...trying too hard. I felt that was one of my issues with season 5 a-b, the series almost became a self parody trying to out-do itself and things became less organic. (I love the show, i am being this critical because of that fact)

The Walking Dead: Season 1- good writing. Season 2-present HORRIBLE almost all the time. I cannot count how many times I have laughed at it. every line feels forced, almost none of it feels natural. They have developed the story better over time, but its clear that the writing has taken a dive. 

Now, I feel like these shows are comparable. All of them are dramas. I am not trying to compare Mad Men to Method and Red for example. 

[normanbatesman]

I am unconvinced that it is a permanent solution.

I’m an American. When I say this I mean, I am a person without an idea of homeland. At least the concept of homeland in an ethnic sense, that somehow I ought to live in a land because for generations and generations people similar to me have lived in that region.

To be…

[normanbatesman]

How is a two state solution going to stop conflict? If both sides feel entitled to the land.

I’m an American. When I say this I mean, I am a person without an idea of homeland. At least the concept of homeland in an ethnic sense, that somehow I ought to live in a land because for generations and generations people similar to me have lived in that region.

To be…

[normanbatesman]

Where do you draw the lines?

I’m an American. When I say this I mean, I am a person without an idea of homeland. At least the concept of homeland in an ethnic sense, that somehow I ought to live in a land because for generations and generations people similar to me have lived in that region.

To be…

[normanbatesman]

Its Derby Day!!!!

[normanbatesman]

(Not suggesting that you advocate either)

I’m an American. When I say this I mean, I am a person without an idea of homeland. At least the concept of homeland in an ethnic sense, that somehow I ought to live in a land because for generations and generations people similar to me have lived in that region.

To be...

[normanbatesman]

Honest question, what is your ideal solution? I dont accept the elimination of israeli jews or palestinians as viable.

I’m an American. When I say this I mean, I am a person without an idea of homeland. At least the concept of homeland in an ethnic sense, that somehow I ought to live in a land because for generations and generations people similar to me have lived in that region.

To be...

[normanbatesman]

American

I'm an American. When I say this I mean, I am a person without an idea of homeland. At least the concept of homeland in an ethnic sense, that somehow I ought to live in a land because for generations and generations people similar to me have lived in that region. 

To be honest, I think it is a silly notion. My great grandparents were from austria-hungary.  I am part irish, part german. While I am happy at knowing where my ancestors came from, I do not feel entitled to any of these countries. Nor should I, as my parents and grandparents were both born in the US. While I do love Ohio, there is no "ethnic Ohioan" (beyond the Shawnee perhaps). 

I do not necessarily believe any group of people are entitled to a certain plot of land, but I do not accept that any  person should be homeless. 

This is the perspective I have when I discuss Israel-Palestine, and Ukraine-Russia, or any other ethnic conflict about entitlement to a plot of land due to ancestry. I think that most Americans share this view, somewhat, and they fail to recognize this when they argue that paletinians should just fuck off, or whatever. 

So I think that my solution to the israel-palestine conflict is reasonable, which is a one secular state solution, it is seen as unsatisfactory by some because of their perspective on ancestral property rights. 

[normanbatesman]

Wolf of Wall Street

Not bad, not great.  I saw it as Scorsese trying to be Paul Thomas Anderson, and not really succeeding at it.  

Leo's character seemed like a combination of Daniel Plainview and Eli Sunday put into one person and in a Wall St. setting.  But it just didn't work for me. way too over the top in Wolf, and i actually gained very little deeper knowledge of the characters as the movie progressed. 

In There Will Be Blood we see the decay of Daniel Plainview over time. We see Eli at his best and worst. In Wolf we see Leo's character taste Wall St success and further desire to imitate this "success",  and enforce this view on his followers. In the end all we see him become is more excessive. Not really a decay. Did he "become a drug addict?" i would say that he became a drug addict the minute Matthew Mconaughey's character told him to use drugs. Everything about Leo's  character is stated in that first act, we really do not learn anything more about him. 

Another PTA trait that Scorsese misses in this, is that the characters, in PTA films, are not always better off at the end (and usually worse off). In Wolf the only character with caring about, Leo's character, is undobtably better off at the end.  he sheds most of his vices, serves little prison time, and gets a new job where he can essentially brainwash other people and get paid heavily for it. 

In TWBB Daniel ends up living in this lonely mansion he built, destroys his relationships, even killing Eli. Left to live, and die, alone. 

Just my thoughts. Wolf of Wall Street was not that good. Wasn't bad, Leo did a great job. Had some laughs. 

[normanbatesman]

this is why we can't have nice things

There’s 6,300 tonnes of space junk orbiting Earth — Astonishing interactive visualizations

[normanbatesman]

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

at the end of Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, we should have learned that Indiana is an alien and this is why he didn't die in the nuclear blast....