Recent viewing

With the World Cup starting this afternoon, my movie-watching is about to go on hold. Nevertheless, I smashed these since the previous roundup.

"Borderland - Mural Murders" (2021): Unless you've seen the three TV seasons...

"Employee Of The Month" (2022): Public servant's reluctant odyssey silly, sweet, substantial.

"The Forever Purge" (2021): Unlikely allies battle racist uprising. Scarily believable. AND: While heavy handed, an above average sequel.

"The Super Mario Bros Movie" (2023): First viewing <chef's kiss>, rewatch value negligible.

"Tightrope" (2020): Guilt abounds in Austrian police procedural. Dark.

"Top Gun - Maverick" (2022): Sky-punching, final-videogame-level jet porn.

[Seen on Netflix, Kanopy, Netflix, Apple rental store, Prime, Apple r/s.]

Tanks for the memories

I drew a lot as a kid. Mostly vehicles. Mostly trucks and spaceships. And an aspect to which I always paid copious attention was the fuel tanks. For whatever reason, I was fascinated by the concept, especially the fact you could choose to carry extra fuel, e.g. jerry cans on Land Rovers. Fuel tanks featured in a number of my formative videogames. "River Raid" [VCS], "Scramble" [arcade] and several driving titles [various] all had them as key elements. That probably added to their importance when it came to sketching an 18-wheeler or starfighter.

These days, I mainly think about human fuel, i.e. food. I lately experimented with two meals per day instead of three. I rarely eat snacks, so it wasn't a trivial change. Couldn't quite make it work, though. Note: I am fully aware that even two meals per day would be a luxury in parts of our planet. You will never ever see me leave food on my plate to be thrown away. On a lighter note, writing this has made me remember a T-shirt slogan sometimes sported by aging blokes (with a larrikin streak) at barbecues: "This isn't a beer gut. It's a fuel tank for a sex machine."

Shallow insights into the human condition

I was going to write about the different measures of global happiness and associated rankings for 2023. Then I decided that the "winners", "losers" and in-betweens were entirely predictable. Nordic countries at the top, Australia not too far down. Actually, it wasn't so much the lack of any surprises as how depressing it was thinking about the disadvantaged/strife-ridden nations at the bottom of the lists.

What's making YOU happy right now? I'm glad that the Women's Football World Cup commences on Thursday at 5pm, its 64 matches being played here and in NZ. Since we're talking predictability, I'll be cheering on the Matildas every kick of the way. My 2nd-4th teams* are Japan, Denmark and South Korea. Do I believe any of them will win the whole thing? Nah. The US or Sweden, with Spain a longshot.

*It's allowed - I checked the FIFA by-laws.

Recent viewing

Unintentional robot theme.

"French Riviera" (2014): Famous disappearance, famouser thesps, famed French style.

"Mr Car And The Knights Templar" (2023): Polish classic. "Da Vinci Code" meets "Goonies".

"Robots" (2023): Almost bailed. Woulda missed enjoyably wacky romcom.

"The Last Vermeer" (2019): Infiltration vs complicity, justice vs revenge, forgiveness?

"Unknown - Killer Robots" (2023): Starts basic-bitch, gits gud. Ethically troubling!!!

[Seen on Kanopy, Netflix, Prime, Netflix x2.]

Recent viewing

"65" (2023): Surprisingly unspectacular, standard survival fare; surprisingly touching.

"Jung_E" (2023): Cyberpunk melodrama boasts challenging concepts, convincing visuals.

"Flesh & Blood" (2020): 10 times better than bloody "Animal Kingdom".

"Last Seen Alive" (2022): Derivative abduction thriller escalates while remaing feasible.

"Scorpion King 5 - Book Of Souls" (2018): B-grade fantasy never stops trying. Eye candy.

"Vietnamese Horror Story" (2022): Urban-legends anthology unsettles but also confuses.

[Seen on Apple Store rental, Netflix, Kanopy, Prime, Netflix, SBS On Demand.]

Ancient job offer

When I worked in men's magazines, one of the top snappers asked me if I'd come and work for him instead, interviewing the models as he shot them. His idea was to sell the mags not just sexy pictorials but professionally conducted/written/presented Q&As to go with them - the total package. I politely declined. Maybe I wasn't the only hack to do so as he never ended up putting the plan into action. I wonder if it would have succeeded. Last I heard, he'd switched to shooting wildlife scenes.

Recent viewing

"Bullet Train" (2022): High-speed, hyper-violent, tremendous, preposterous fun!
"Reach For The SKY" (2015): All-encompassing madness of Korea's suneung exam.
"She Said" (2022): Gripping account of journos slaying Weinstein monster.
"Suspiria" (2018): Is embiggened horror remake masterpiece? Artwank? Both!
"The Card Counter" (2021): Powerhouse central performance. Razor-sharp script scars.

[Seen on Prime, Kanopy, Netflix, Prime, Netflix.]