Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018) ***

Enjoyably ludicrous flick filled with great songs and beautiful people in a beautiful part of the world obviously having a great time.

Farewell, My Lovely (1975) **

Fairly faithful to the Chandler novel with some aspects that were not essential being kept (the overt racism of the times) and others that were pretty important to Chandler (corruption of the medical profession) being changed. I like Mitchum as Marlowe but in his prime. Here he's close to 60 and looks older.

A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III (2012) **

Design and cinematography carry the picture whose main character is not likable in the least and that's crucial to the story. Mr. Coppola has a cinematic eye and can write dialogue, and the flick has a breezy stylized feel to it.

To Remember, the Brain Must Actively Forget | Quanta Magazine

As Davis and Zhong argued in their jointly written 2017 review, all those findings suggested that cellular processes mediated by dopamine and Rac1 constantly erode newly formed memories. “From this perspective,” they wrote, “forgetting as mediated by intrinsic forgetting mechanisms may be the default state of the brain; intrinsic forgetting may operate chronically at a low level to slowly remove each newly acquired memory, although its strength may be regulated by internal or external factors.”

A Quiet Place (2018) ***

Nifty thriller that relies on cinematic techniques instead of overt exposition to clue you in. Plot contrivances are kept to a minimum and you barely notice the holes. Well done.

Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994) ***

Well made, faithful adaptation of the novel. Cruise is ok but not the Lestat I had in mind while reading it. Lushly photographed.

The Comedians (1967) **

Typical Greene story, way too long and with too many critical but uninspired performances.

Don’t Throw Away Your Cell Phone

Are companies engineering their products to break?

I spent four and a half years in mainland China and witnessed scientists paid by major corporations to make sure that the thing that you buy breaks within days or weeks of the warranty’s end. I watched as they intentionally inserted lower-quality capacitors rather than standard ones on the motherboard, because this one is going to last this exact amount of time and not a month more. My grandmother has her toaster that she got as a wedding gift. She’s 87 years old and still uses that toaster. Why at age 33, have I gone through seven toasters?

IASC: The Hedgehog Review - Volume 20, No. 2 (Summer 2018) - What Is It Like to Be a Man? -

And no wonder many of us have failed to see grabby men as a serious social problem for women, when an American boyhood consists of little else but unorganized combat drills, unwanted invasions of personal territory. It’s all grabs, punches, towel flicks, fake homoerotic aggression, threats of unspecified but grim—and, as one ages—increasingly sexualized violence. One night in my teenage years, as I was clocking out of my shift at McDonald’s, a guy flicked my balls, decisively and painfully. We weren’t on bad terms. It was a greeting.

Incredibles 2 (2018) **

Still tops with the animation, but it's now just another superhero flick, overlong and surprisingly talky.

Queen Christina (1933) **

Garbo looks and is great, but the flick is not well written nor cast. Some nice scenes.

The Blood on Satan's Claw (1971) *

Nicely shot "folk horror" flick about satanic cult in Merrie Olde Englande but it's not very horrific and kind of dull, except for the lovely Ms. Hayden.

The Nightcomers (1971) *

Hard to imagine what the film makers were going for here but what they end up with is just bad. Poorly cast, directed, written.

The Formula (1980) **

European locales and George C. are the only interesting aspects of this sorry flick featuring one of the worst and goofiest Brando bit parts.

The Big Sleep (1978) **

Philip Marlowe in London is an interesting premise but Mitchum turns in a lackluster performance and the supporting cast is uninteresting with the exception of Ms. Clark. The director seems too concerned that all the plot pieces fit and viewers are kept informed as to who killed who and why with the result being a lack of atmosphere.

Brooklyn (2015) **

Old fashioned weepie, completely unbelievable, yet almost moving at the end. The magic of movies!

While the City Sleeps (1956) *

Strange hybrid of psycho killer on the loose and office politics infighting never appears believable or even interesting.

David Lynch: ‘You gotta be selfish. It's a terrible thing’ | Film | The Guardian

I ask Lynch how he manages to inspire such loyalty, despite such strict rationing of human contact – from his collaborators, friends, even his exes. He drops his cigarette on the floor and stubs it out with a boot before answering. “I like to have some people around. If I was totally alone I think I’d get funny, and not in a humorous way.”

As a father and husband he has often been absent, he concedes. “You gotta be selfish. And it’s a terrible thing. I never really wanted to get married, never really wanted to have children. One thing leads to another and there it is.”

That sounds like regret, until he elaborates. “I did what I had to do. There could have been more work done. There are always so many interruptions.”

Macao (1952) **

Pretty nifty little noir, thanks to the stars, despite the fact that the making of the picture was a more interesting story.

Ugetsu (1953) **

Nicely produced morality tale from 16th century Japan. Too simplistic, but some lovely black and white images.