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The trick is not minding
I will have a write up for Adaptation eventually today, or tomorrow. I need to gather my thoughts on it because it was a pretty deep film.
I’ll finish the rest of the films throughout the weekend, starting tonight with Before Sunrise.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
I have been attempting to watch Parasite via Hulu since last weekend. Keep getting glitches. I swear I've seen the first 5 minutes over ten times at least.
I have gotten over a third of the way through and really enjoying it. So I'm determined to see it through just to finish, what seems like, a pretty enjoyable film.
Then I have the documentary to knock out and I'll be done.
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I have been attempting to watch Parasite via Hulu since last weekend. Keep getting glitches. I swear I've seen the first 5 minutes over ten times at least.
I have gotten over a third of the way through and really enjoying it. So I'm determined to see it through just to finish, what seems like, a pretty enjoyable film.
Then I have the documentary to knock out and I'll be done.
Hope you weren’t overhyped for Parasite this year haha, but I do legit think it’s one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the rest!



The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible
The Battle of Algiers (1966)

I had this movie on my watchlist since the 60s countdown, so I was happy to see it here.
I honestly don't know what to say about this... I am a true anti-war film lover so whoever picked it, made a very safe choice. If you add the fact that it's about such an unknown period it's even better. But this is something different from Apocalypse Now or Platoon. It looks frightening real. And it's hard to watch because you really have to invest on it and give it 110% of your atention and empathy.
And once I did that it just kept me on edge till the end, cause it's absolutely nerve wracking with its documentary style and chaotic story line. I say chaotic in a good sense, because although it's arranjed chronologically, so you know exactly what happens when to the minute, there are no main characters, but only different points of view. We see the point of view of various members from the FLN (the terrorist organization that was fighting for the country's indepence), from the french army, from random inocent people caught in the middle. The film doesn't take sizes, just shows how violent the whole thing was and how so many people were killed needlessly.
The cinematography is absolutely gorgeous and the acting surprisingly solid, considering many amateur actors were used. We also have some music by the great Morricone, one of them was even used in Inglorious Basterds.
Ultimately, it's an invaluable piece of history that shows the ugliest size of european colonialism and that I'm thankful for having watched.




The trick is not minding
Adaptation.

I had to really think about what to write about this, as ghost orchid is a maguffin, but even more then that, it’s a metaphor That represent something different for the various characters in this film.
For Charlie Kauffman (Nic Cage) it represents the loneliness that crushes him. There’s a scenes where he talks about a flower and seems to compare them to each woman that walks by. He’s lonely, and full of self doubt and self loathing. He’s neurotic. And he has writers block at the worst time.
For John Laroche (Chris Cooper)it represents his rebellion. A life after his marriage fell apart. A life after a car accident claimed his mother’s and uncles life, And put his wife into a coma, of which he had been the driver. A life where his green house that he owned was destroyed by a hurricane. He doesn’t come off as bitter, but sees himself as some savior now. He hunts ghost orchids, knowing their protected status, for his own purposes. It’s almost as if he is getting revenge against God for his past misfortunes, and corrupting something as rare and beautiful as the Ghost Orchid was the most petty thing could think of.
And Susan Orlean, (Meryl Streep) it represents a new life, an escape, one where one she can feel something again. She starts an affair with Laroche, and even gets involved in his activities.
All of the actors are great in here.
Cage isn’t an actor I usually enjoy, but very rarely he can turn in a really good performance. This is one of them. He even plays twins who couldn’t be more different.
Cooper plays Laroche with egocentricity, and thief who thinks too highly of himself. He would have people think that he is a conservationist, but the truth is more disappointing. It’s almost as if he had a breakdown after his life fell apart and he’s been lost since. There’s a scene where he leads Susan into the swamp and they get lost and he tries to make things up as he goes along to make himself believe they’re ok. And I’ll be damned if that itself isn’t a metaphor for his life.
Streep is, of course, the best of the three. She is lonely, and she doesn’t even realize it until she meets Laroche. Streep plays her with a underlying vulnerability that belies the sophisticated, successfull author she’s hailed as. And Streep looks lovely in this.
Jones goes a meta approach as the character is based on an actual screen writer friend of his. The two combined to do the amazing Being John Malcovich, Which the filming of makes an appearance in Adaptation. And we all can remember how trippy that film was. The film follows each character dealing with their own issues as it hops back and forth between 3 years earlier and now, Kaufman trying to adapt the book Orlean wrote about Laroche, Orlean Trying to write her book.
Meanwhile, Charlie’s lazy brother, Donald, is writing his own screenplay and Charlie looks down on him.
I could go and on, but space doesn’t allow it. This film is amazing. It is not without its flaws, as I felt the Orleans characters sudden change at the end was a little forced. I get she was desperate, but She went from A to B rather too quickly. It would have made more sense had it been Laroche making that decision. The subsequent chase suffered as a result. But overall the film was great.
Thanks for who ever picked this for me



I really need to rewatch Adaptation. I didn't like it much when I saw it previously, but I feel like it might appeal to me more now.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
I'm like you, Wylde when it comes to Cage and, like you, I thought he did a really great job in Adaptation. He was ideal for the role.
It's been quite a while since I saw this, but did really enjoy it.


And, neiba, I haven't heard anything about The Battle of Algiers and your review has got me intrigued.




In a world on the verge of the new millennium where the black market sells brain transmissions, a retired cop sees a transmission of a friend’s murder and goes to hunt down her killer. while watching the film I felt it might have been inspired by Watchmen: Both stories tell of a world that’s in such disarray that there’s a countdown to the accumulation of hate and violence suddenly ending humanity. This leads to a good sense of tension in the film as it’s almost like our main character has to find the killer before the time is up. The idea of humans being stuck in a rut as they simply experience other people’s experiences and just stay in bed is quite relevant today considering our new technology. The theme of police brutality in America is also explored very well, and is unfortunately as relevant this millennium as it was in the last.

On a technical level this film is very good. I was aware that Bigelow had directed the film, but I was not aware at all of this being written by James Cameron. Considering this contains many of his trademarks (An action sci-fi adventure where the female characters are way more fleshed out and interesting than the male characters) I should’ve suspected. I noticed that the action and fighting scenes are actually very well choreographed so that’s great. The characters are all very well developed; It's interesting to see how the main character gets out of his situation and soon makes something of his life.

Good stuff



The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible
Adaptation.

I had to really think about what to write about this, as ghost orchid is a maguffin, but even more then that, it’s a metaphor That represent something different for the various characters in this film.
For Charlie Kauffman (Nic Cage) it represents the loneliness that crushes him. There’s a scenes where he talks about a flower and seems to compare them to each woman that walks by. He’s lonely, and full of self doubt and self loathing. He’s neurotic. And he has writers block at the worst time.
For John Laroche (Chris Cooper)it represents his rebellion. A life after his marriage fell apart. A life after a car accident claimed his mother’s and uncles life, And put his wife into a coma, of which he had been the driver. A life where his green house that he owned was destroyed by a hurricane. He doesn’t come off as bitter, but sees himself as some savior now. He hunts ghost orchids, knowing their protected status, for his own purposes. It’s almost as if he is getting revenge against God for his past misfortunes, and corrupting something as rare and beautiful as the Ghost Orchid was the most petty thing could think of.
And Susan Orlean, (Meryl Streep) it represents a new life, an escape, one where one she can feel something again. She starts an affair with Laroche, and even gets involved in his activities.
All of the actors are great in here.
Cage isn’t an actor I usually enjoy, but very rarely he can turn in a really good performance. This is one of them. He even plays twins who couldn’t be more different.
Cooper plays Laroche with egocentricity, and thief who thinks too highly of himself. He would have people think that he is a conservationist, but the truth is more disappointing. It’s almost as if he had a breakdown after his life fell apart and he’s been lost since. There’s a scene where he leads Susan into the swamp and they get lost and he tries to make things up as he goes along to make himself believe they’re ok. And I’ll be damned if that itself isn’t a metaphor for his life.
Streep is, of course, the best of the three. She is lonely, and she doesn’t even realize it until she meets Laroche. Streep plays her with a underlying vulnerability that belies the sophisticated, successfull author she’s hailed as. And Streep looks lovely in this.
Jones goes a meta approach as the character is based on an actual screen writer friend of his. The two combined to do the amazing Being John Malcovich, Which the filming of makes an appearance in Adaptation. And we all can remember how trippy that film was. The film follows each character dealing with their own issues as it hops back and forth between 3 years earlier and now, Kaufman trying to adapt the book Orlean wrote about Laroche, Orlean Trying to write her book.
Meanwhile, Charlie’s lazy brother, Donald, is writing his own screenplay and Charlie looks down on him.
I could go and on, but space doesn’t allow it. This film is amazing. It is not without its flaws, as I felt the Orleans characters sudden change at the end was a little forced. I get she was desperate, but She went from A to B rather too quickly. It would have made more sense had it been Laroche making that decision. The subsequent chase suffered as a result. But overall the film was great.
Thanks for who ever picked this for me
Great review! That was my pick for you!



The trick is not minding
Great review! That was my pick for you!
It was a great pick! Thank you!
I had been meaning to watch this since it was first in theatres but it just never happened.
So glad to have finally done so



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
I will have this done by the end of the week.
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"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

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