Jason Watches EARLY MAN

Well that was some silly fun. Aardman claymation is always fun, going back to the days of Wallace and Gromit and even earlier (the Oscar winning CREATURE COMFORTS is still a delight.)

But it's also about the invention of soccer, and it features a bunny! It's like this movie was made for me. It turns out the remains of the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs made an excellent soccer ball, and the beautiful game was born on day 1. A few eons later, a bunny-hunting tribe sees their idyllic valley overtaken by bronze age invaders. Dug is an optimistic guy who believes they can hunt mammoths instead of rabbits. And he finds a strategy where he can challenge the invaders to a soccer game to win their valley back in a soccer match. Of course, the bronze champions are powerful, but they're all superstars, so Early Man has a chance, if they're united. Get it, early Man United? Yeah, that's a joke in there. Anyway, it gets kind of corny, and follows the sports movie formula in the end, while also making fun of both the formula and the cheating antics of soccer players (a scene of the bronze age star taking a dive is pretty on-the-nose.) Lots of fun.

Running Time: 89 minutes
My Total Minutes: 470,905

Jason watches BLACK PANTHER

Well that was kind of fantastic. There are many layers that many better writers have analyzed way better than I can. And there's no reason for me to be the thousandth person to tell you it's great. I'll just point out a few things I liked.

The MCU has followed it's funniest entry (THOR: RAGNAROK) with it's most serious, dramatic entry. So much for complaints that all MCU movies have to follow the "house style" and all end up being the same.

I love that it starts and ends in Ryan Coogler's hometown of Oakland. It grounds the film very well. It's like it doesn't just take place in the same world as the Avengers, it also takes place in the same world as FRUITVALE STATION.

Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan--the Michael Jordan of Ryan Coogler films) gives us a rare well-rounded, complex Marvel villain. You can root against his violent vision of a global black uprising while still understanding the pain and frustration that motivates him. It's important that the answer to his violent vision isn't just to oppose it, but to acknowledge that Wakandans--the black people in power--haven't provided a compelling alternate path to improving black lives.

In short, this is a movie based on ideas. It's dressed up in superhero antics, but those ideas are even more relevant in the real world. Because it takes place in a world that overlaps the Avengers and FRUITVALE STATION.

Running Time: 134 minutes
My Total Minutes: 470,816

Jason comes back from hiatus

I know I said I'd be back in 2018, and here it is nearly a month in. I don't think I explicitly said I'd be back at the beginning of 2018, but that was the intention. I didn't account for how busy the beginning of each quarter is for me.

Anyway, I've seen a small handful of movies since I went on hiatus. Of course, I finished of Another Hole in the Head and the Silicon Valley Jewish Film Festival (both fun festivals, and frustrating that they're at the same time. But I think the entire crossover audience of Jewish films and horror fans is...me.)

I caught THOR: RAGNAROK, which was hilarious is excellent the Taika Waititi way I hoped it would be.

COCO made me cry. OLAF'S FROZEN ADVENTURE made me wretch.

I spent a lot of time with silent films, mostly at my beloved Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum, but also at the glorious Castro for SF Silent Film Fest's Day of Silents.

THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI deserves all the praise it's getting, and none of the baffling backlash.

Of course I saw STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI--twice. It also deserves all the praise and...very little of the backlash. But then, I didn't feel that way until after the second screening. I didn't get all of what Rian Johnson was going for the first time. Also, I have to say that scene--you know the one I'm talking about--is just about the greatest thing ever put on cinema. I'll always call it the "Oh, SHIT!" scene, because the first time I saw it, on opening night (thanks to a good friend who scored some tickets) when that scene came up, the movie was silent and the audience was silent save for one guy who yelled out, "Oh, SHIT!"

And the night before taking off to see my family in Anchorage, AK, I celebrated a Noir City Xmas with Eddie Mueller, MANHANDLED, and ALIAS BOSTON BLACKIE.

And then earlier in 2018, I kicked it off with a little Midnites for Maniacs tribute to Gus Van Sant. TO DIE FOR is hilarious and provocative, a great satire on celebrity culture, with a faux-documentary format that it seems every sitcom is copying now (no, it didn't start with THE OFFICE, it at least goes back to 1995. And then Van Sant's controversial shot-for-shot remake of PSYCHO (1998.) I'll admit I was one of the snobs who didn't care to see it back then because, heck, the original is already perfect (I am a big fan of remaking shitty, forgotten movies, though.) But I do remember my sister and cousin seeing it, and saying they liked it better than "the black and white version." I chalked it up to them being young and stupid, but.... Okay, it might still be unnecessary, since the original is still perfect. But it's also a good movie, and good movies are totally necessary. I'm happy I finally saw it.

Oh, I saw THE SHAPE OF WATER. Yeah, that chick totally has sex with a fish-dude. And it's an exciting story about love, acceptance, and the Cold War. But what really excited me about it was...she lives upstairs from a theater! Oh my God! I wanna live upstairs from a theater! Especially a grand movie palace! Why aren't there apartments above the Castro?

THE POST is...pretty good. I can't say there's anything particularly wrong about it. But here's a sampling of what I was thinking when I watched it:
Man, Meryl Streep is a great actress. Yup, that's totally Meryl Streep being a great actress playing...what's her name, the owner of the paper. Yup, in this movie The Washington Post is owned by Meryl Streep.
Man, Tom Hanks is a great actor. Yup, that's totally Tom Hanks being a great actor playing...what's his name, the editor of the paper. Yup, in this movie The Washington Post is edited by Tome Hanks.
Hey, that's Bob Odenkirk and David Cross, from MR. SHOW WITH BOB AND DAVID. They're both playing serious roles. They've both played serious roles before. I don't know if I've seen them do that together, though. They probable have. But still, it's weird that Bob and David are doing scenes together but it's not a Mr. Show sketch.
Hey, remember when Tom Hanks was a comic actor, and then he made the leap into serious drama with PHILADELPHIA? Tom Hanks is in this movie, too. Maybe Bob and David are hoping some of that magic rubs off on them.
Boy, they're really, really hammering the point that it's bad for the President to attack the press. They seriously hope Trump will watch it...but even if he does there's no chance he changes his tune.
A whole lot of other thoughts....
...
And somewhere near the bottom...
...
The Pentagon Papers.

I had more fun at Niles, included the long-awaited DVD release of our brand new (a couple of years old) silent film, BRONCHO BILLY AND THE BANDIT'S SECRET. Stop by the museum and pick yourself up a copy.

And finally, I'm currently in Noir City. But that deserves it's own post.

My Total Minutes:466,047

Jason...takes a hiatus

Some might notice I basically already have. Anyway, it was just about a year ago today that I rebooted, because 2016 just...broke me. Turns out this year has been just as hard. So I'm not even rebooting. I apologize to the remainder of Docfest, to the day I spent at Frameline (especially Julie Sokolow's excellent WOMAN ON FIRE,) to the Niles Film Museum, both for Charlie Chaplin Days (featuring the excellent insights and entertainment of Dan Kamin, the guy who taught Robert Downey, Jr. to play Chaplin) and for the Broncho Billy Silent Film Festival.

I especially apologize to my friends who made the hilarious webseries Doucheaholics. I had a great time at the premiere and after party, and if I can find some time in my hectic life, I really want to be part of season 2.

I apologize to the Silicon Valley Jewish Film Festival and to Another Hole in the Head, both playing right now and for the next couple of weeks. In fact, I'm emceeing Another Hole in the Head, so please come out and watch some horror films with me. And I'll be back at SVJFF for the end, just as soon as Holehead is over.

And I apologize to my readers (I hesitate to imagine I actually have fans) because I'm sure you were just dying to hear my insights about all these festivals as well as some feature films like SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING (very good, but missing a scene where the people of New York come to the rescue, which were the best parts of previouse Spider-Man movies) or WONDER WOMAN (awesome!!!!) or MOTHER! (yikes! Darren Aronofsky hates God, and isn't afraid to say it!) or BLADE RUNNER 2049 (Gorgeous, liked it, still processing what it's "about"--much like the first BLADE RUNNER.)

Anyway, this time I'm not even up for a reboot. This is a hiatus. I'm officially giving myself permission to walk away from this blog...until the New Year. See you in 2018. If something strikes me as especially noteworthy, I'll write about it on my Facebook and/or Twitter.

Of course, I'm still counting the minutes I spend watching movies.

My Total Minutes: 434,109

Jason watches THE SENSE OF AN ENDING

As usual, even after Cinequest ends, it's never really over. This was playing at the theater near my work, and knowing it had the Cinequest stamp of approval, I had to see it.

It's a superbly acted movie, starting with Jim Broadbent as Tony Webster, an aging semi-retired proprietor of a camera shop, who learns that he has been bequeathed a diary written by his best friend from school. Tony has formed something of a life. An ex-wife, a daughter (and a grandchild on the way) but also a reputation as kind of a curmudgeon who doesn't care much at all about other people. The movie jumps back and forth between his current years and his school days, showing the audience his old friends, his first love Veronica (played in current years by Charlotte Rampling) and his best school friend Adrian (Joe Alwyn.) It crafts an excellent, character-driven story about regret, responsibility, memory, and the "story" part of your personal history.

Let me think...nope, I can't reveal more than that. Sorry. But go see this. It might be slow at first, but it'll pay off. Kind of like life.

Running Time: 108 minutes
My Total Minutes: 424,549

Jason watches GET OUT

Cool freakin' movie. Definitely lives up to all the praise it's getting.

A very modern horror film, which is smart enough to warrant several viewings, while also individual enough to know that I, as a white man, will never truly understand the full significance of the horror involved. A young black man Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) is dating a white woman Rose (Allison Williams) and is finally meeting her parents (Catherine Keener and Bradley Whitford.) They seem super nice, if in a sort of trying-too-hard-to-prove-they're-not-racist way (this would make an interesting double feature with LITTLE BOXES.) But there's something strange going on. Starting with Rose's mom hypnotizing Chris, ostensibly to cure his cravings to smoke, but totally without his consent. Then it gets...weird, in a way that I don't want to spoil. But I can say I loved the way it played with expectations and overturned common horror cliches--starting with the cliche that the black guy dies early.

You know what? Lots of people have written about how smart this movie is. They're right, it's great. Especially how well written it is. I'm not that good of a writer. You shouldn't be convinced by my stupid blog. Instead you should watch it yourself.

Oh, and of course director Jordan Peele, famous for the Comedy Central show KEY AND PEELE, makes an odd choice with horror for his directorial debut. I can attest that it's also a very funny movie, and his comedy chops are definitely used in his ability to challenge and subvert expectations. And while I'm sure he'll make comedies in the future (and I'm sure I'll enjoy them) here's hoping that he'll also continue playing in the horror genre.

Running Time: 104 minutes
My Total Minutes: 424,441

Jason catches a sneak preview of ALIVE INSIDE

Now this was quite a treat. I got an e-mail in the morning inviting me to this sneak preview in the evening at the Camera 7. I was interested because I knew a little bit about the subject--music therapy for senior citizens, a field my aunt has worked in for quite a long time. I had heard her stories about how these old folks with Alzheimer's or dementia would just light up when they hear a song they recognize from their youth. And now I've seen it live on film, and it's beautiful and amazing. And there are many ways this movie could have gone. They touch a bit on the science of what music does to our brains. They touch a lot more on the dismal state of our nation's nursing homes. But the vast majority is about the seniors, and the work of social worker Dan Cohen who brings music into their lives. It's amazing to see a non-communicative man suddenly come alive. Or someone who has used a walker for years suddenly toss it aside and start dancing. It's probably the closest I've ever seen to an actual miracle (note: I am not a religious man.) And for that, this movie is amazing and inspiring.

Find where you can see it here. For my Bay Area friends, it opens August 8th.

And if you want to get involved, even just to the point of donating an old iPod, you can learn more here.

Running Time: 73 minutes
My Total Minutes: 367,460

Jason watches BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD

Once, there was a Hushpuppy, and she lived with her daddy in the Bathtub.

Watch the movie, and that line makes sense.

The movie works best as a window into a seldom seen community. The Bathtub is a small bayou community that has more holidays than the whole rest of the world put together. They live kinda in squalor, with bad health and lots of drinking, but party all the time. They're truly a "live for the moment" community. But sometimes they just don't fit into the larger world. Storms threaten to submerge the bathtub at any moment. Global warming is causing the southern ice cap to melt and vicious metaphors called "aurochs" to go on the attack. Plus Hushpuppy's daddy has got a heart disease and isn't long for this world, so he's got to teach her everything she needs to survive once he's gone.

Hushpuppy is very much the soul of the movie, and little Quvenzhané Wallis does a fantastic job. And the whole Bathtub community is so vividly and lovingly portrayed that you can't help but like them. Even when rescue workers are trying to give them medical treatment and they'd rather go back to the Bathtub and live out their final days, I sympathized more with them than the people trying to save their lives.

Not that everything is perfect in this movie. The aurochs were kind of silly and a distraction (I understand they were there as a metaphor of outside forces--i.e., environmental change--threatening the existence of the bathtub. They were just kind of silly.) And the detour to the floating catfish shack full of prostitutes was just...weird (I know, it's about Hushpuppy's search for he mother. It was just...weird.) But as a window into a seldom seen community, it works beautifully.

Running Time: 93 minutes
My Total Minutes: 295,788

Jason watches DARK HORSE

Back in 1995, Todd Solondz made a brilliantly cynical movie that really spoke to me, seeing as how it was all about how much junior high sucks when your name is Wiener. Since then, his movies have earned a reputation of being cynical, depressing, and hilarious (okay, maybe I'm the only one who finds them funny. Although I do remember a pair of lesbians sitting behind me during HAPPINESS and laughing even more than me.) So it seems something of a departure for him to make a somewhat sweet love story. That is, if you find thirty-something losers with severe emotional problems sweet. Oh yeah, and (SPOILER ALERT) death. Yes, for Todd Solondz this is sweet and romantic. 'Nuff said.

Running Time: 86 minutes
My Total Minutes: 295,292

Jason watches SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED

Longtime readers know I'm kind of a sucker for time travel movies. And I can enjoy a good quirky-meets-quirky-and-falls-in-love flick, which is what this really is. It's based on an ad for a time-travel companion originally published in Backwoods Home Magazine (the writer of the ad, John Silveira, is credited as "time travel consultant" on the film.) Three magazine writers (actually, one writer and two interns) from Seattle travel to the small town where the ad was published, looking for the guy who wrote it so they can do a story about him. And the one female intern, Darius (Aubrey Plaza) meets the guy, Kenneth (Mark Duplass, who with his brother Jay served as executive producer.) While she's out "training for the mission" and learning about Kenneth (and getting to like him) her boss Jeff (Jake M. Johnson) is really there to hook up with his old high school girlfriend (oh yeah, he grew up in this town.) And the second intern, an Indian biology major and total nerd named Arnau (Karan Soni)...well he doesn't have much to do until Jeff decides to take him out, get him drunk, and get him laid.

Oh yeah, and there's a time travel plot...kinda. The title, SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED, is actually about the dangers of falling in love, not time travel. And, of course, it's kind of based on a true story and time travel isn't real. But that didn't keep me from rooting for it to work in the end. Even in its cheesy moments (especially the ending) I was on board (although I suspect that's when it would lose most people.)

Running Time: 86 minutes
My Total Minutes: 294,948

Jason watches THE TREE OF LIFE

And I feel like I've been pummeled into submission by beauty. The cinematography really is unrelentingly, oppressively beautiful for every frame of the film. And so I'll begin by possibly committing blasphemy or at the very least subjecting you to the ravings of a lunatic...I'm going to compare and contrast Terrence Malick and Zack Snyder.

See, Zack Snyder also tries to make his films oppressively beautiful (or at least impressively awe-inspiring) for every frame of the film. And it's just exhausting. When every seen is supposed to be the most awesomest thing ever, ultimately nothing is awesome...or even impressive. I've said it before, and I thought it was a truism, that beauty needs a little contrast. You must spend some time looking at non-beautiful things in order to better appreciate beauty when you see it.

It turns out, this is not a truism...it's not even necessarily true. I don't know how he did it--call it a minor artistic miracle--but Terrence Malick created over 2 hours of pure beauty, and it was still beautiful in the closing scenes. Now I'm an atheist, but if I were a believer I might say this is because Malick gets his sense of beauty from his God, while Snyder gets his sense of beauty from his balls.

And it's important to recognize this as a deeply Godly movie. And I choose the word "Godly" carefully. I wouldn't call it a "religious" movie. It's not about religion--the establishment of a church/system of worshiping God on Earth. Nor is it a "spiritual" movie--the nebulous cop-out of people who don't subscribe to a religion but believe in 'some higher power.' It's a Godly movie, in that it is a movie about God, and presumably deeply informed by Malick's personal relationship to God (which, as an atheist, I have to point out is his own hallucination).

And now I will attempt to explicate 'what the movie is about.' Out of courtesy, I will announce spoiler alert, but it's the sort of movie where even if I have this right you'll still have to see it to experience it (and decide I'm completely wrong).

The entire movie takes place inside the head of Sean Penn's character, Jack O'brien, as he's attempting to understand/come to terms with/change his place in the universe. See, when he was young his little brother died. We never see exactly how it happens, but there's ample evidence that it was his fault.

But first let me go back a bit. The movie actually opens with the dichotomous choice every human has to make--to live a life of nature, or a life of spirituality. In this worldview, nature is not spiritual (take that, hippies!). Nature is striving for superiority, survival of the fittest, etc. Spirituality is seeing beauty everywhere and feeling only love. If you choose nature, no matter how successful you are, you will still see pain and ugliness and failure and you will never let yourself be happy. Jack has chosen nature, and has become a towering giant of industry--even getting the CITIZEN KANE high angle make-me-look-like-a-giant shots. But he's miserable, still haunted by his brother's death, and so he tries to make sense of his place in the universe.

And to do that, he starts at the start of the universe. Cosmic light, the Earth forming, and dinosaurs. I know all the reviews have to question the dinosaurs. Maybe they're not necessary, but I will defend them as a) beautiful, and b) sort of make sense. At least, there's a scene in Jack's childhood when he's playing in a field, finds a bone, and declares it a dinosaur bone. So if it's all taking place in his head, and he remembers that scene, it makes sense that he thinks of dinosaurs (also, I think he might have been an oil tycoon, so possible dinosaurs are directly on his mind as his source of revenue). Oh, and they're beautiful enough that I would pay good money to see a 2 hour Terrence Malick dinosaur movie, screw everything else (DVD extra, please?)

So we jump from the dinosaurs directly to Jack's birth. And his parents, Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain--the living embodiments of Nature and Spirituality. Things are fine, until they have a second and third son, and Jack is no longer the center of attention and starts acting out. As he gets older, his father also starts pushing him more, trying to turn him into a classic 'survival of the fittest' success. And I have to praise Brad Pitt's performance, which avoids the cliche 'strict father' stereotype by putting in some very genuine moments that show he loves his sons, and that he dreamed of being a musician (a church organist, in fact), before he became a businessman (and ultimately, a failed businessman).

Well, Jack's playtime with his brothers gets more and more dangerous, but unless I dozed off for a moment we never actually see how his brother died. I assume (and assume I'm supposed to assume) that Jack was responsible. And then we go back to modern times, fully grown industry giant Sean Penn thinks back on all of this, and in his mind rejects the path of nature and embraces the path of spirituality. And then we somehow jump to the desert, where we see the crevice from 127 HOURS, and then to the beach where all the people from Jack's past (including his parents and his dead brother) are there to greet and embrace him. And they all lived happily and spiritually for ever and ever, the end.

So yeah, it's beautiful. And yeah, it's pretentious. But you know what, it was pretentious in a way that makes pretension seem like the most natural, obvious thing in the world. I mean, he made a movie, over 2 hours of moving pictures with synchronized sound. And somehow he thought not only should we see it, but we should pay good money to see it. And he's right. The very act of making a movie--of making any art, really--is pretentious. So if you're going to be pretentious, you might as well be pretentious about big ideas grandly illuminated.

Running Time: 139 minutes

My Total Minutes: 241,558

Jason watches THOR in IMAX 3D

And it's fun. Chris Hemsworth must've been a saint in his past life to get an iconic role as a god in a story with accents of King Arthur and Jesus Christ (spoiler). This'll either make him a star or be the only memorable thing he ever does. Meanwhile Kenneth Branagh takes a break from doing nothing that anyone really cares about for a decade to make a light, fun, and funny comic book movie. More than anything, what struck me is Thor's unrelenting positiveness. He has this Norse god cheerfulness that isn't diminished in the slightest when he's stripped of his power and becomes mortal. Nobody loves being Thor more than Thor.

And that's it. Fun, funny, probably not too consequential. And I have no interest in being the thousandth person to write about it. So I end here.

Running Time: 114 minutes

My Total Minutes: 235,643

Jason watches IT'S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY

The first intentional step in my Zach Galifianakis fan project.

Okay, first, as far as the movie. It's a little surprising to see a movie with so little ambition. A stressed out kid checks himself into a mental hospital. And four days later, he checks out, a little better. While in there, he learns to relax and enjoy art more than his ultra-competitive high achiever school. And he meets a girl there. And, most importantly, he meets Bobby (Zach Galifianakis), a fellow patient who teaches him about life.

Now, as for the Galifianakis himself. He plays a bit of a cliche, the mental patient with surprising wisdom. But he plays it with his trademark mix of self-assured zaniness and vulnerability. His antics of sneaking out of the mental ward dressed in scrubs and bribing a janitor with meds to let them into the gym is fun. But at the same time, the scenes with his ex-wife berating him in front of his daughter are a little heartbreaking, and shows some depth in his acting ability.

On the Galifianakis-meter (which measures, of course, Galifianomics), I'll give it a solid 5/10.

Running Time: 91 minutes

My Total Minutes: 210,549

Jason watches THE SOCIAL NETWORK

And yes, the critics are pretty much right, it's a great movie. Intriguing, well told, interesting characters. I think they go too far when they call it the modern CITIZEN KANE or the movie of the generation, but maybe that just means I'm old.

What really intrigues me is all the chatter about how it slams Mark Zuckerberg (excellently played by Jesse Eisenberg). Yeah, he's shown as flawed--arrogant, a little misogynistic (but hardly the biggest misogynist in the movie), obsessive--but ultimately he's very sympathetic (please tell me I'm not the only one who sympathized with him). In a movie where everyone has flaws, he's actually relatively grounded. He's smart, but is interested more in doing something cool that changes the world rather than making a ton of money (ironic, then, that he becomes the world's youngest billionaire). He has a few beers, but isn't the party animal (that would be Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker, the creator of Napster and ultimately the devil on Zuckerberg's shoulder). He starts off by making Facemash--a sexist site where people can rank the hotness of Harvard women (he makes it in one night, while drunk, while blogging, while hurt that his girlfriend dumped him for being an elitist). But in the end that comes off more as an impressive (though hurtful) college prank. Hell, in my college years rather than doing anything that cool I just burned shit. Ultimately, his tragic flaw (if you can even call his life a tragedy) is that he's smarter than everyone and not afraid to show his disdain for other's intelligence. In a telling scene, he's staring out the window during a deposition and mentions "it's raining." The opposing counsel is irate, and tries to call him out for not giving the proceedings the proper attention. He responds in an eviscerating monologue telling them exactly how little attention he feels the proceedings deserve. Sure, he comes off as a total jerk, but one who is also right. All the more impressive that he's right using only (by his estimate) the bare minimum of the required attention.

The narrative plays out against two separate lawsuits brought against Zuckerberg, and both are revealing about different aspects of his character and rise to power. In the first, the twin Winklevoss brothers--rich Harvard jocks who rule the social scene (they're in a house he wants to get into) and eventually represent the U.S.A. in Olympic rowing--accuse him of ripping off their idea for Harvard Connections to create Facebook. It seems pretty clear he didn't--Facebook (or TheFacebook.com, as it was first known) was much more, and he never re-used any of their code. At the same time, it's pretty clear he jerked them around by promising he'd do coding work for them while he was really beating them to the punch with TheFacebook. In this case, it's pretty clear that he's in the right. And it's kind of a sad ending when his lawyer convinces him to settle because no matter how right he is he'll come off as a jerk to a jury. And maybe that scene is what makes this the movie that describes this generation. He has created a world for himself (not just Facebook, but the entire world he lives in) where being right makes him king, and being likable means nothing. But back in the real world--which still at least sometimes plays by the rules of the previous generation--being likable is everything and even if you're right you lose if you're not popular.

In the second lawsuit, he's actually sued by his best friend and co-founder of Facebook, Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield). Eduardo was a business major, the CFO of TheFacebook, and provided the original seed money to get it off the ground. He started with a 30% share, but when more "angel" investors joined his shares were diluted to a fraction of a percent (and his name taken off the masthead as co-founder). This one feels like the real tragedy, that it's not about money but about Zuckerberg losing his one real friend because they had a disagreement over where to take the company (Eduardo was lining up advertisers early on, and the argument was that would've made Facebook "uncool" and killed it off before it really got rolling. Sean Parker is implied as instrumental in forcing Eduardo out). In the end, this lawsuit was settled for undisclosed terms, but Eduardo's name was returned to the masthead as co-founder. I like to think that the resolution left Mark and Eduardo patching up their differences and remaining friends. Zuckerberg is consistently portrayed as someone who doesn't care about money, and I was left convinced that this friendship--as battered as it was--really is still more important.

I should stress that I am critiquing the character of Mark Zuckerber in the movie, not the real Zuckerberg. That's simply all I have to work on. From what I've heard from people who've met him, the real Zuckerberg is not like that at all.

I will say that I also have sympathy for reviewers who have attacked the movie for its misogyny. I was likewise struck by how little there was for female characters (and yes, his counsel in the end is a female, but a small role). I didn't get a good sense if this was a reflection of the filmmakers (doubtful given Sorkin's previous work, possible for Fincher--I thought FIGHT CLUB was similarly male-centric to the point of misogyny) or if it was an intentional reflection on the attitudes of the characters. It's possibly even a commentary on the chauvinistic social...network that Zuckerberg was trying to get into in Harvard. And in that interpretation, the fact that he not only has a female lawyer but he actually thanks her in the end for all her work is perhaps telling of the arc of his character. That in the end, he has let go of the misogyny and contemplates how he has created something far greater than the elitist, sexist clubs he wanted to get into so long ago--something great, something so egalitarian that a billionaire can use it to check on the status of the girl who broke his heart years ago and started the whole story.

Running Time: 120 minutes

My Total Minutes: 209,869

Jason watches THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE

The follow up to the Swedish blockbuster and Cinequest hit THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO. Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist are back, some time after the events in DRAGON TATTOO. Millennium is back, too, and have hired a new reporter to write a story about sex trafficking. He's already done the research, just needs to follow up with a few things like contacting the alleged perps and offering them a chance to comment. But suddenly the new reporter (and his girlfriend, who also wrote a book on the subject). Not only that, but Lisbeth is framed for the murders (plus one other). Mikael knows she's innocent, but can't contact her. She goes on the run, Mikael starts investigating. Horrible secrets from her past are revealed, about which I won't say more. I will say that it's once again a smart, exciting thriller. It's good to see Mikael and Lisbeth back on screen (although they aren't on screen together until the very ending). And I'll say that the ending was pretty abrupt, leaving a heck of a lot unresolved. Apparently THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST picks up right where this ends, and completes the Millennium Trilogy (Oh yeah, and it's making its U.S. debut at the Mill Valley Film Festival October 13th, although there's little chance I can make it from my job in San Jose up to San Rafael by 6 pm to see it--and besides, it's already gone to rush tickets only. It opens in select theaters October 29th)

Total Running Time: 129 minutes

My Total Minutes: 209,749

Jason watches THE TOWN

Yeah, it's pretty much as good as you've heard. I suppose calling it a surprisingly gripping story directed by and starring Ben Affleck is kind of a backhanded compliment. So fuck it, that's exactly what I'll say (because I'm a jerk and I'm way behind in my reviews so I don't want to write more).

Total Running Time: 123 minutes

My Total Minutes: 209,523

Jason watches SPLICE

And it might be good...or it might be perfect fodder for Bad Movie Night. Certainly there's a lot of cheesy moments to make fun of (and dammit, single organisms don't evolve, species do over several generations! A biologist would fucking know that!)

Clive and Elsa (Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley) are husband-wife genetic splice-masters who've created these pulsating blob animals that are a great source of medicinal compounds. But they want to take it to the next level. For them, that means adding human DNA, for management that means productizing the drugs their critters create. So they do what all good scientists do--they create their monster in secret. And the little monster is frightening at first (if for nothing else, the fact that she outgrows her incubation tank in about a day), but Elsa starts to raise her as a daughter. Clive is against it, and is afraid they'll get caught. As the story goes on, the relationships change a lot, and the story is actually about the troubles of raising a child, especially a genetically manipulated freak that grows at an accelerated rate (for no discernible reason beyond the constraints of running time). Although [spoiler alert] it goes a bit overboard with the sex scenes.

If this movie is meant to be as deadly serious as the actors seem to think, it failed. But it'll be one of my guilty pleasures.

Running Time: 104 minutes
My Total Minutes: 187,417

Jason watches George Romero's SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD

I'm enough of a fanboy that I don't think it's possible for me to really not like a George Romero movie. I even (kinda) joke that I understand cultural zeitgeist through Romero's DEAD films. The 60's (NIGHT were about race relations. The 70's (DAWN) were about consumerism. The 80's (DAY) were about military buildup. The 00's were about class warfare (LAND) and new media (DIARY). And I don't understand the 90's because Romero didn't make a DEAD movie. And unlike other fanboys who were disappointed in pretty much everything since DAWN, I still liked LAND and DIARY.

And although I liked a lot about SURVIVAL--mostly Romero's sense of humor--this is the first time that I didn't immediately feel he had captured something in the current zeitgeist. Some survivors escape to an island off the eastern seaboard, where two families live and feud. The patriarch of the O'Flynn's leads a "kill 'em all" group to cleanse the island of zombies. The patriarch of the Muldoons can't kill his kin, and searches for a cure--first step, get them to eat something that isn't human. So of course, the O'Flynn's and Muldoons fight. O'Flynn is kicked off the island, but posts a video on Youtube inviting people to join him. And although it's a trap, a crew of ex-military and other randoms makes it to the island, with O'Flynn, and mayhem ensues. But the feel is very much Hatfield/McCoy, and seems like such a throwback to earlier times that it doesn't feel like a movie about the 00's or 10's (it actually premiered last year). And there are many moments where it seemed like the outsiders were looking at the feud and thinking "what's this all about?" Much like I was.

However, I loved the ending, and as I said I like Romero's sense of humor and I can never not like a ____ OF THE DEAD film. It's just that this one is the least consequential.

Running Time: 90 minutes
My Total Minutes: 186,950

Jason watches PRINCESS KA'IULANI

And it's a fairly straight-forward, by-the-numbers story that is buoyed by some excellent acting. That comes mostly from Q'orianka Kilcher (THE NEW WORLD) as the title character, the princess of Hawai'i during the annexation by the U.S. Her mother was Hawaiian royalty and her father was Scottish. Near the turn of the century, the haole (white ranchers, most notably Sanford Dole) were taking over Hawai'i, and pushing the royal family out of power. Ka'iulani is taken by her father back to the U.K. where she faces racism in school (leading to many a single crystalline tear streaming down her cheek) but also finds love. But by the time they let her know about the trouble back home, it's nearly too late. So this "barbarian princess" travels to the East coast of America, charms the press, meets President Cleveland (who is sympathetic, but unfortunately is a lame duck at this point, just weeks from being replaced by a less sympathetic McKinley). About her only victory was getting the natives the right to vote. Small consolation, given that she's lost her entire nation.

Running Time: 130 minutes
My Total Minutes: 185,843

Jason watches IRON MAN 2 in IMAX

And I won't compare it to TETSUO II: BODY HAMMER (although I'll point out Sam Rockwell's villain character is named Hammer, so maybe...)

Anyway, it's a fun, frantic action flick. If you're in the mood for summer action fun, Downey Jr. is still perfect as Tony Stark/Iron Man, and really hams it up well. Mickey Rourke equally so as the villain (and son of a Russian physicist who believes Stark's father stole the ARC idea from him, hence a really overdeveloped grudge). Sam Rockwell is excellent as always conniving business rival. Gwyneth Paltrow is still fine as Pepper Potts, and Don Cheadle is also great as Rhodey (and one of the few characters aside from Stark who's actually given an arc to follow). Gary Shandling makes a great turn as a Senator, Samuel L. Jackson is just keeping us warmed up for THE AVENGERS movie, and Scarlett Johansson isn't given enough to do. For that matter, neither is Samuel L. Jackson, and they sort of make the movie feel a little over-stuffed, but no matter. Oh yeah, and director Jon Favreau again gives himself the role of driver Happy Hogan and for some reason likes to show himself getting punched in the face many times. He's the comic relief.

Also, if you don't like big action movies but like pointing out plot holes, that's a second source of fun. Most egregious example is in Monaco, at the Grand Prix where Stark decides to drive his own car. Although all of his inner circle is surprised, and it appears to be a spur-of-the-moment decision, for some reason Ivan Vanko (Rourke) knows he was going to do it, had already snuck onto the track as part of a pit crew, and is waiting to attack Tony. Electricity whips are one thing, but his psychic powers are even greater. And that's just one example.

Running Time: 124 minutes
My Total Minutes: 185,273