📷 Ian Alexander Martin 🥾 @IanAMartin@mastodon.online

There are days that I find it difficult to cope. Twitter seems full of the following, all simultaneously:
• PotUS is probably running again
• people won’t wear masks
• polio is back
• people are mean to each other
• US elected officials voted for legislation aimed at Climate Change BUT WITH AMENDMENTS TO ALLOW COAL AND GAS EXPLORATION, thereby negating its effectiveness
• people were attacked and killed in [peaceful town]
• inflation is up
• unions are being crushed

This is one of those days.

A film from a time when lapels were narrow, cars were wide, sleeping pills were plentiful, no one locked their doors, Los Angeles had a ‘hard g,’ go-go dancers were obligatory, and ‘The Organization’ was how you referred to the Mafia.

Very highly recommended.

★★★★★

#review #MuchLaterPandemic #film #AppleRental

A story about David Bouie (no, not that one), a pastor in Crossett, Arkansas, attempting to get the US Environmental Protection Agency to protect the environment in his area from the pollution of a GP plant owned by the Koch brothers.

Very highly recommended.

★★★★☆

#review #MuchLaterPandemic #documentary #AppleRental

A complicated story about the complicated investigation of a complicated situation in a very complicated region of the world, whose history is as complicated and as old as all of recorded time.

Recommended.

★★★★☆

#review #MuchLaterPandemic #film #NetflixCanada

I HAVE FIGURED IT OUT!!

The reason I found ‘Tenet’ so disappointing and pointlessly convoluted is that I HAVE ALREADY SEEN THIS DONE SO MUCH BETTER!

I found the #Netflix series #Dark to be, for me at least, the best TV that I have ever seen. You care about the characters and the outcome and you understand everything as it goes along as well as the plot twists having roots in the plot itself.

Skip ‘Tenet,’ watch all of ‘Dark’ and you’ll be far better off. Trust me.

Right.

Watched it again, it makes more sense and holds together far better once you’ve got enough of a grasp on things going into it.

YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE TO DO THAT!!!

Whilst I love ‘The Prestige,’ there’s a lovely •story• unfolding through the film, whereas here it’s more CRASH CRASH BANG BANG unfolding than anything else.

[:: heavy sigh ::]

Missable, unless you like 5 hours of heavy lifting or not thinking at all.

★★★★☆
#review #MuchLaterPandemic #film #NetflixCanada #WatchedTwice

A perfectly serviceable thriller / revenge / action film, with less of the usual witty Guy Ritchie dialogue. About as close to “Rashōmon” as this director will ever get, but closer than you might expect.

★★★☆☆

#review #MuchLaterPandemic #film #NetflixCanada

Films shouldn’t be far smarter than the audiences. Films certainly shouldn’t expect audiences to do homework, either. “Here’s something you’ll enjoy watching repeatedly” is far better than “here’s something you’ll shake your head at later until you finally give up trying to understand it.”

I’ll watch it again, but resent doing so, as I will have to spend 5 hours to understand a story that ought to take two hours to tell more simply and effectively.

I nearly turned around and bought another ticket to see “Brazil” right after seeing it the first time. That was a rewarding experience because the viewer is about ½ a step behind the story and expected to catch up. Here, it feels like the story is 1½ steps ahead of the viewer laying traps instead of clues as to where to go, yelling “gotcha!” whenever we head the wrong way. I feel the need to watch this again merely to understand what I saw.
★★★★☆
#review #MuchLaterPandemic #film #NetflixCanada

Some evenings you work until 22:00, and you want to watch something an hour long, and preferably laugh a bunch. This is one of those evenings.

Ms Alonzo is funny. I like her very much.

Now I will sleep.

★★★☆☆

#review #MuchLaterPandemic #standup #NetflixIsAJoke

To be clear, the techniques employed, to both discover and secure any artifacts, are best described as ‘a salvage mission.’ The area is entirely open to theft, as has historically been the case. Getting things safely house quickly here is paramount.

If you’ve ever looked at an exhibit in a museum and thought ‘how did they ever find this?’ then you need to watch this. It’s not as boring as a dig in Essex, nor as exciting as ‘Indiana Jones,’ but it’s pretty damned cool!

This site was an incredibly rich one, with items galore providing all sorts of information about the people who frequented the area.

Highly recommended.

★★★★☆

#review #MuchLaterPandemic #documentary #Netflix

Exciting thriller with lots of inedible fight choreography and delightful character notes throughout. Additional fun is @ChrisEvans’ work as a deliciously infantile villain who could also double as a stand-in for Freddie Mercury.

This makes me want to visit Croatia and Prague. When I do, I will keep away from the Czech public transit, however.

★★★★★

#review #MuchLaterPandemic #movie #Netflix #TheGrayMan

Do they think they’ve found who ‘D.B. Cooper’ was? Yes. Does that matter? No. What’s fascinating here is the people who are searching for the answer to the identity and why. That’s why this is worthwhile. If you want to.
★★★☆☆
#review #MuchLaterPandemic #Netflix #documentary

Initially so thought the length was insane; it’s not. It needs that time to stretch its legs fully. There is some phenomenal cinematography in this, and it’s a solid story. Selina and The Batman are great, but Bruce as a character just seems tired all the time. MORE ALFRED!! Also, Messers J and Cobblepot need their time in the sun. Speaking of sun, could Robert Pattinson book some tanning booth time, please?

Good, but not genius.

★★★★☆

#review #MuchLaterPandemic #Film #AppleRental

The first series introduced a solid story idea, the second series seemed a tad rudderless, the third introduced real issues discussed by real people.

Over all, it’s… okay. Let’s say a C+.

★★★☆☆

#review #MuchLaterPandemic #TV #Netflix

I’m currently reading this #book, all about Oleg Gordievsky, a Soviet KGB Officer who defected to the west during the Cold War. It’s fascinating, and I’m entirely pleased that #IOwnThis, but the heat today while riding on the bus is enough that I cannot follow it.

It deserves mentioning that author Marian Jago has clearly left no stone unturned to record the events and people involved in the creation and operation of The Cellar. It is an important piece of Jazz History which needed to be told, for both the musical idiom and Vancouver.

Here’s a rarity: something involving Vancouver history, and jazz, about which I knew nothing! A wonderful gift from a wonderful person, and a wonderful read about an influential jazz club located a short walk from where I now live.

Very highly recommended.
★★★★★
#review #MuchLaterPandemic #Book #IOwnThis #History #Vancouver #Jazz