Sam’s Place

Following Sean (2006)

Sam: ****

• Ralph Arlyck lived in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco in 1969 & made a documentary short film about a four-your-old son of hippies, named Sean. In the ’90s he began a decade-long follow-up. Subtract 1 star if you’re not interested in San Francisco. (No-one in the film mentions it but the Haight’s hippie scene is commonly considered to have gone bad some time in 1967.)

Emma: ***

• It started off somewhat interesting but I didn’t feel like the ending offered any sort of conclusion. I also disliked the Arlyck’s morose, almost disinterested, narration.

I’m pulling a few books off of the Progress Daily Books list. They’re good books – check’em out — but I want to limit the list to the few most relevant titles.

Goodbye to:

1491

Happiness

Satisfaction

A Whole New Mind

Fooled By Randomness

The War of the World

The Future of Freedom

What’s Going on in There?

The Age of Spiritual Machines

The End of History and the Last Man

Wondrous Oblivion (2006)

Sam: ****

• Turns out that US actor Delroy Lindo was born in Britain to Jamaican parents. In this movie he plays a Jamaican living in England in the early ’60s. Too message-y & nonrealistic for me but other than that it’s good — & I’m giving it an extra star because the music’s great.

Emma: ****

• The young boy actor, Sam Smith, did an especially good job. This is a goodhearted, well-made film with a somewhat unusual plot.

Coming Home (1998)

Sam: **

• A British romance set before, during & after WW2.

Emma: ***

• The 1st disc was better than the 2nd disc. Nice views of the English countryside but some of the acting was not so good.

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P.D. James: A Taste for Death (1989)

Sam: ***

• I thought the idea with mysteries is that you’re supposed to be able to figure out who dunnit. Doesn’t seem to be possible in this case.

Emma: ***

My Father the Genius (2002)

Sam: ****

• Lucia Small’s documentary about her father Glen Howard Small, who was obsessed with changing the world through architecture & was a jackass in his personal life.

Emma: ****

• I’m glad that Lucia Small focused on GHS’s personal life & didn’t prettify it. I wish they’d shown the insides of Small’s buildings instead of just the outside, so we’d get a fuller picture of what he was creating. Also, environmentalism was an important aspect of Small’s philosophy, yet the specific environmental qualities of his buildings aren’t explored. And it’s not made clear how feasible his wilder ideas are from an engineering point of view. PS: I just watched the special feature “1970’s Mini-Movie” – GHS’s “Biomorphic Biosphere” scheme is seriously flawed.

Suburbia (1983)

Sam: ***

• Amazingly, I never got around to seeing this until now. Non-actor punks as actors — & other problems. But it moves from one scene to the next & keeps you interested. A must-see for anyone interested in early-’80s punk rock.

Emma: ***

• I’m too old to enjoy re-watching this. At the time it was fun.

The Prestige (2006)

Sam: ****

• A sort-of magical mystery set in the 19th Century. I thought it was pretty good.

Emma: ****

• I enjoyed watching Michael Caine, as usual. Scarlett Johansson had trouble holding her accent. David Bowie made a good Tesla. Good story but it might have been better if it been presented in a more realistic way. And I figured out about half of the plot “surprises.”

Gun Shy (2000)

Emma: ****

• Fairly amusing but a little corny at the end. I liked Liam Neeson’s character.

Sam: ****

• The Liam Neeson/Sandra Bullock relationship is kinda Hollywood crap but it’s still a pretty good movie — & it must be hard to make one, since so few movies are good.

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The Yards (2000)

Emma: **

• Way too long & stylized (but not in a good way). Mark Wahlberg can’t act.

Sam: ***

• This is an homage to bleak ’70s flicks. And it seems to be set in the ’70s, except for the occasional techno tune & cell phone. I liked some things about it, but it was too sluggish & morose to be really arresting.

The Bridesmaid (La Demoiselle D’honneur) (2004)

Sam: ****

• Good acting & directing. An unsatisfying ending but I expect that from a French movie.

Emma: ***

• A pretty run-of-the-mill French movie.

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The Holiday (2006)

Sam: ***

• Not a good movie; it’s predictable & cloying. So not 4 stars. On the other hand, it’s not unwatchably bad, like, say, National Lampoon’s Van Wilder: The Rise of the Taj. So not just 1 star. All of the lead actors — Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law (who plays a better clown, like in AI, than he does a nice guy, like in this movie) & Jack Black — have been good in other movies, but are pretty much wasted in this one. On the other hand, it’s harmless, & the previews were pretty honest about this being Hollywood crap. Oh, what the heck: 3 stars.

Emma: ***

• Barely OK. Very bad acting by everybody, especially Jude Law.

The Queen’s Sister (2000)

Sam: ***

• Well done. Good acting & direction (faster-moving than than the draggy Departed), & they did a good job aging Lucy Cohu, as Princess Margaret. But it’s just not that interesting a story to me, a partying princess.

Emma: ***

P.D. James: The Black Tower (1985)

Sam: ***

• We’ve been watching these in PD James mysteries in chronological order; they seem to be getting better.

Emma: ***