Before I Go (2021) *

The first 20 minutes are terrific but the script can't sustain it and descends into drivel. What's worse is it wastes a fearless Ms. Sciorra and a criminally underused Robert Klein. Major sins.

Donkey Skin (1970) **

Stunning cinematography and production design but the songs are mediocre at best and it's dragged out for too long.

La Cérémonie (1995) ***

Isabelle, Sandrine, Jacqueline and Virginie shine in a bizarre chracter study turned thriller, a la Highsmith.

Welcome to Collinwood (2002) **

Top cast and a brisk pace help a lot but not enough. This reboot of an Italian neo-realist dramedy just doesn't translate well.

Mighty Aphrodite (1995) **

Well deserved accolades for Ms. Sorvino in this intermittently hilarious send up of Greek tragedies.

Sour Grapes (1998) **

Just a tad too far-fetched, but a pretty good little comedy with a terrific performance by Mr. Bierko.

Orpheus (1950) ****

Imagination and creativity on abundant display. So many audacious scenes that work. A masterpiece of cinema.

Everyone Says I Love You (1996) **

The musical numbers are worth the price of admission which is fortunate because the script isn't.

Runaway Train (1985) **

Brutal actioner with mythical aspirations doesn't quite make it. The effort and enthusiasm are laudable for the most part, laughable in other parts.

Seduced and Abandoned (2013) ***

Top-notch doc in the manner of Welles about movies and how to get the money to make them. Entertaining and surprisingly poignant.

Anything Else (2003) *

Woody and the leads are badly miscast and the script has not much to say. Disappointing.

Stephen Wolfram - Computational Foundations for the Second Law of Thermodynamics

So how does this relate to the Second Law? It’s what makes it possible for a system like rule 30 to operate according to a simple underlying rule, yet to intrinsically generate what seems like random behavior. If we could do all the necessary computationally irreducible work then we could in principle “see through” to the simple rules underneath. But the key point (emphasized by our Physics Project) is that observers like us are computationally bounded in our capabilities. And this means that we’re not able to “see through the computational irreducibility”—with the result that the behavior we see “looks random to us”.

And in thermodynamics that “random-looking” behavior is what we associate with heat. And the Second Law assertion that energy associated with systematic mechanical work tends to “degrade into heat” then corresponds to the fact that when there’s computational irreducibility the behavior that’s generated is something we can’t readily “computationally see through”—so that it appears random to us.

Play Misty for Me (1971) **

Nice to see the Carmel-Big Sur area in all its early '70's glory, when a DJ at a tiny jazz station could afford a cliff house right on the ocean. The script has a few gaping holes and Clint's direction meanders quite a bit but it's a charming stalker flick, if there is such a thing.