Where the Money Is (2000) **

Under-produced and under-written heist flick proves that even at 75 Paul Newman could carry a picture.

Realism Is False | Edge.org

I'm not denying that there is an objective reality. There is some objective reality that exists independent of whether or not I perceive it, but that objective reality is not space and time or anything inside space and time. Those are just human forms of perception. That's what quantum theory is telling us. It's telling us local realism is false, non-contextual realism is false, and realism is false, at least what we call realism of objects in space and time. They don't exist, except when they're perceived. They don't have their properties, except when they're perceived because spacetime is not fundamental. That's what the physicists are now telling us, like Nima Arkani-Hamed. Spacetime is doomed. There is an objective reality, but it's not space and time. It's a deeper reality outside of space and time. Spacetime is emergent and is not fundamental.

In This Our Life (1942) ***

Entertaining melodrama, paced like the Indy 500, with Ms. Davis in a risky wild performance. A little heavy with the music but well composed scenes, few single closeups.

Blue Chips (1994) **

Well made look at college sports exploitation of athletes. Good use of actual athletes as actors.

The Cabin in the Cotton (1932) **

Pre-code Hollywood melodrama "picturizing" Great Depression era inequality and potential remedies. Nice to see Bette in the vamp role.

Beyond Fracking: Oil-and-Gas Industry's Toxic Waste Is Radioactive - Rolling Stone

The levels of radium in Louisiana oil pipes had registered as much as 20,000 times the limits set by the EPA for topsoil at uranium-mill waste sites. Templet found that workers who were cleaning oil-field piping were being coated in radioactive dust and breathing it in. One man they tested had radioactivity all over his clothes, his car, his front steps, and even on his newborn baby. The industry was also spewing waste into coastal waterways, and radioactivity was shown to accumulate in oysters. Pipes still laden with radioactivity were donated by the industry and reused to build community playgrounds. Templet sent inspectors with Geiger counters across southern Louisiana. One witnessed a kid sitting on a fence made from piping so radioactive they were set to receive a full year’s radiation dose in an hour. “People thought getting these pipes for free from the oil industry was such a great deal,” says Templet, “but essentially the oil companies were just getting rid of their waste.”

Parasite (2019) ***

Satire is tough to do and this flick almost hits its ambitions, keeps it real while making its points.

Now, Voyager (1942) ***

Archetypical Hollywood melodrama is done so well you ignore the preposterous story, sit back and enjoy the ride.

Loophole (1981) **

A fine cast and an intriguing heist plot, but directed so earnestly the life gets sucked out of it.

Bad Genius (2017) **

Seldom seen Thai culture adds freshness to an otherwise formulaic but well done heist flick.

Berlin, I Love You (2019) *

Berlin just doesn't hold a cinematic candle to Paris.

Of Human Bondage (1934) *

The idea of having the actors speak directly to the camera instead of each other nearly all the time does NOT work. Only saving grace is Bette's big scene near the end where she nails it and you forget all about her terrible Cockney accent.

Westworld (1973) **

Like many of Crichton's flicks it's an interesting, provocative 1 hr sci-fi TV episode padded out to feature film length. Yul Brynner is perfect.

The Donald’s Assassination Of General Soleimani—As Stupid As It Gets, by David Stockman - The Unz Review

But that’s just colossal nonsense and imperialistic arrogance. The Assad government in Syria, the largest political party in Lebanon (Hezbollah), the dominant population of northern Yemen (Houthis) and a significant portion of the Iraqi armed forces represented by the Shiite militias (the PMF or Popular Mobilization Forces) are no less civilized and no more prone to sectarian violence than anybody else in this woebegone region. And the real head-choppers of ISIS and its imitators and rivals have all been Sunni jihadist insurrectionists, not Shiite-based governments and political parties.

The truth is, America has no dog in the Shiite versus Sunni hunt, which has been going on for 1300 years in the region. And when it comes to spillover of those benighted forces into Europe or America, recent history is absolutely clear: 100% of all Islamic terrorist incidents in the US since they began in the 1990s were perpetrated or inspired by Sunni jihadists, not Iran or its Shiite allies and proxies in the region.

The Terminal Man (1974) **

Thoughtful, earnest sci-fi flick would have been much better as a 1 hour episode of Twilight Zone. Still it has a number of stylishly shot scenes and that great '70's vibe.

2019 In Review: Movies

**** Apollo 11
**** The Irishman

*** Joker
*** Little Women
*** Marriage Story
*** Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story By Martin Scorsese
*** The Lighthouse

** The Aeronauts
** Dolemite Is My Name
** High Flying Bird
** Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood
** The Good Liar
** The Laundromat
** The Lion King
** Toy Story 4
** Velvet Buzzsaw
** Where'd You Go, Bernadette
** Wine Country

* Annabelle Comes Home
* Cats
* Late Night
* Ready Or Not

Little Women (2019) ***

Greta confirms that Lady Bird was no fluke in this personal and topical adaptation of well-worn material.