Morlock

I just saw Michael Bay's Transformers for the first time.

Good God.

Now there's a tailormade redneck movie. What a fucking trainwreck.

Shiny trainwreck, though.

  Boring trainwreck, I'd say. I was falling asleep in the last hour.

  Saw The Hong Kong movie The Stool Pigeon, by someone names Dante Lam. Atrocious. Also saw Errol Morris' Tabloid. Terrific.

Once Upon a Time in The West. No matter how many times I see it, I'm always surprised by the way the story unfolds. It was also smaller than I remembered. I don't think it's Leone's best, one loses sight of the relationships and motives, and the idea of Henry Fonda in the role is slightely better than Fonda actually is in the role- he isn't half as compelling as his employer, the crippled Morton. Still one hell of a magnificent movie, with a an amazing collection of brilliant cinematic moments, most of which I'd forgotten about, or at least forgotten the details of.
  It seems apropos in light of the recent conversation here to part with the best exchange from the film:
  Harmonica: "The reward for this man is 5000 dollars, is that right?"
  Cheyenne: "Judas was content for 4970 dollars less."
  Harmonica: "They were no dollars in them days"
  Cheyenne: "Mmm. But sons-of-bitches, yeah."

Most films are manipulative. It's not that the good ones are necessaily better at hiding it, I think it's that we allow ourselves to trust the artists at work enough to be manipulated by them.

No? Symbols, ultimate sacrifice through death, violence, temptation?

Karol

  Symbols, maybe. The rest? I don't see them as themes in del-Toro's movie.

Saw the finale again. Probably one of my favorite episodes of television, like, ever. The whole experience of watching a beloved work adapted is new to me...I finally get the feeling of something one loved in a book feeling so utterly right when on screen. I loved how the last scene totally got across the weight of the last word of the book.