The Lighthouse (2019)

 I didn't love 'The Lighthouse', I was surprised, thought I was going to to like it more. I was very impressed by director Robert Eggers previous film 'The Witch', I thought that was a very strong and creepy debut and it stayed with me. 'The Lighthouse' on the other hand didn't do much for me, though I liked the look of the thing and strong performances from Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe. However as a whole it just didn't resonate, though I don't think I was in the right mood for this kind of film when I watched it, so I may have to give it another go at some point. **1/2

Halloween II (1981)

 Recorded a whole episode about 'Halloween II' on the podcast (Rob and Nate Record a Podcast) so I'm not going to say much about it other then I liked the pacing, I liked the feeling of logical outgrowth from the original film, didn't love the Meyer's family twist at the end. Still ***

The Trail of the Chicago 7 (2020)

This film was made for Netflix but I actually saw it in the theater, where I was the lone person in my showing. Originally intended as a theatrical release to be directed by Steven Spielberg, he eventually dropped out and directorial duties were taken over by the films writer Aaron Sorkin, who does a capable job. 'The Trial of the Chicago 7' is the story about what was essential a show trail, the trail of what was going to be 10, then it was 8 and later 7 anti war activists accused of actively plotting and causing the riots in Chicago at the 1968 Democratic convention. 

I had been vaguely aware of this story for I don't know how long and then years ago I saw a documentary called 'Chicago 10', which included celebrity voiced computer animated depictions of actual court dialogue, it was practically a plea that a feature length film on the subject be made. It's hard to think of a more appropriate writer to take something like this on then Aaron Sorkin, our greatest dramatist when it comes to inspiring at liberal virtue. 

The film has a great cast including the newly re-relevant Sacha Baron Cohen, as well as Eddie Redmayne, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (as a redeemable prosecutor) and John Carroll Lynch (always happy to see him). The film also boasts at least two likely acting nominees come Oscar time, Mark Rylance as the lead defense lawyer, and Frank Langella as the judge (I really hope he gets the award). 

This is strong, old fashion Oscar bate stuff and I really enjoyed it, best picture I've seen so far this year, which admittingly hasn't been many. ****

 One of the chief criticisms of Donald Trump in this election is his handling of the Corona virus, with over 228,000 American's having died of it so far. The United States has by far the most deaths from this condition, the next highest is Brazil with almost 157,000 deaths. Now one of the most common counters I have heard of this criticism is that the United States numbers are so high because we have such a large population and our relative performance should be based on per capita death not total population. This is not an unreasonable position, so let's do a comparison. 

The nation of Japan has a population of 126.5 million people and 1,748 reported deaths from Corona virus (it should also be noted that Japan's population is older then ours). So with a population of around 38% that of the United States 328.2 million lets triple Japans number of deaths and we would come to a total of 5,244 if Japan was the size of the United States. So with 228,000 deaths the United States death rate is more then 43 times that of Japan. I think this nation could do better then 43 times worse then Japan. 

I do not think the President has done a good job on Corona virus and of course I know there are extenuating factors, he's not in control of everything, others have responsibilities on this ect.  However Harry Truman used to say of the presidency that the buck stops here, which is the exact opposite of Donald Trump's attitude to anything that is not overwhelmingly positive. Now this probably won't change anybody's mind but hopefully it adds some perspective.  

Digging For Fire (2015)

 A packed cast and seemingly little plot I expected that 'Digging for Fire' was going to be a high end whack at 'mumblecore' but it seems too highly thought out for that. The story is actually surprisingly complicated, though at the same time arguably not much happens. A couple with a young son (Jake Johnson and Rosemarie DeWitt, PE teacher and Yoga instructor respectively) are staying at a nice, presumably Topanga Canyon home of one of the latter's clients who is in Hungry filming a movie. This is with the home owners knowledge, it was arranged as a kind of treat, a mini-vacation. Anyway Jake Johnson is poking about on the land, finds a rusted pistol and what looks like a human bone. The police are seemingly uninterested but Jake becomes kind of obssesed, so when Rosemarie takes their three year old to her parents so she can have a girls night out, Jake invites some of his friends over for beer, barbeque and digging. 

Despite the set up of the mystery the couple stumbles upon this film isn't really about that, it's about their relationship, a mixture of the rocky and the strong. This movie goes in some unexpected directions, I liked it's looseness, I liked how unconventional this is, it's hard to think of something else that is really like this movie, and of course the cast is amazing. Brie Larson, Sam Rockwell, Anna Kendrick, Orlando Bloom, Sam Elliott, Judith Light, Ron Livingston, Melanie Lynskey, Jenny Slate, though some appear only for a scene or two. So if your good with something lose and in the mood for something different, I really enjoyed both how unusual and how oddly laid back this movie is. **1/2

Winter Passing (2005)

 A film in which Zooey Deschanel drowns a cat, granted there is context, but she still drowned a cat. Will Farrell is in this as well, about 2 years after 'Elf', he and Deschanel fail to recapture what chemistry they had in the earlier film though here they are not a romantic coupling. 'Winter Passing' is a kind of vaguely arty, indy type film about an estranged grown daughter reuniting with her eccentric writer father (Ed Harris), there are a smattering of other films this reminds me of, all of which seemed to do it better, including 'Pieces of April', 'Wonder Boys', even 'Eulogy'. Still 'Punching Pilot' is a great name for a Christian rock band, even if they did get too Ska. **

Big Hero 6 (2014)

 Synergy the movie. 'Big Hero 6' is a hybrid of Disney animated fair and a Marvel movie, loosely based on a Marvel property. It's a super hero team origin story set in an alternate, futuristic San Francisco with high Asiatic influences, almost like we are seeing the place a century after the Japanese won World War II, but quickly became multi-culturalists. I can see why kids would like this but it never really spoke to me, even nostalgically, I'm simply not it's audience. It would spawn a TV series, which is appropriate because this felt like a pilot movie. **