China Mieville is an author that I have heard mentioned and recommended in comparison to many writers I like — Borges, Calvino, Jemisin — and yet had never really considered reading, perhaps because I didn't quite understand his ouevre.

Well, I loved this book. What I think Mieville does so well is take a a relatively interesting but low-rent premise (that easily could be fashioned as a Borges short story) and, rather than beat it to death with the size and heft of a novel, use it as the background for an otherwise well-executed and satisfying crime novel.

I will start with a proviso that I did not realize that this was a distinct film from The Other Guys, which in many ways feels like a spiritual predecessor to this film — elevated buddy cop comedy with some feints towards a more serious plot. This was certainly a better film (which is not to say that I didn't enjoy The Other Guys); the trappings of noir, an absolutely hilarious performance from Gosling, and a script that felt less all-caps and more winking. A tremendously fun time that does not leave much of an impression.

(Also, what's the deal with all seventies-based films involving the catalytic converter conspiracy?)

The music was fantastic and there were some real moments of beauty (the first big jam sesh; the school talent competition; the final scene in the church). But the story's melodrama (even if true to life — I imagine a lot of the love triangle aspects would have felt more 'real' if I was watching this back in high school or college) dragged for me, especially given the time-jumps which meant the crux of every episode was less "slice of life" and more "how did protag fuck it up this time?" I'm grateful for finally having watched it, even if it left me cold more than it warmed me up.

Another banger.

Very early Soderbergh, and you can see a couple blueprints here: his penchant for crime/heist stories with jump-cutting timelines, his love for Clooney (who I think does a terrific proto-Clooney performance, with all the charisma in the world but not quite the "I am playing myself, George Clooney" swagger that makes it hard to take his later work seriously), a over-willingness to play with color grading and cross-fades. It's a fun movie that I had a good time with even if it doesn't quite commit to being pure style + pomp (see: Ocean's Eleven) or pure grit (see: No Sudden Move).

It does nail a couple things, though: the chemistry between Clooney and Lopez is both well-lampshaded in the trunk scene and delightful in their little hotel bar montage (it's hard to make the romantic elements of these things work, and that was my least favorite part of Three Days of the Condor, but it absolutely worked in that scene), the ending, the surgical deployment of Ving Rhames.

Is Robert Redford the most attractive actor of all time?

What's not to, if not love, at least deeply enjoy? A legitimate political thriller with a strong cast who act competently, sincere and interesting direction, and a twist that is both surprising and satisfying. It is not anyone's favorite film, but I think it is a film that everyone can enjoy.

I was very surprised to neither like nor love this movie, given the amount of affection I have for all of its constituent parts: Soderbergh, Zazie Beetz, sports business, and the NBA. But there was a thinness to the entire thing that made me wishing (so rarely!) for a longer run-time; characters felt like avatars than actual people (with the exception of Beetz, who seemed to play a prototype of her Full Circle character), and the final third resolved with the aplomb of an air leak.

I am starting to get a sense of PKD's entire thing being "what if you fell asleep, and had a dream, and then woke up — how do you know you're not still in a dream?" (First in Ubik, now here.)

Snark aside, I really did love this — not quite as much as Ubik, but it was an entirely fun and interesting time that leaves you with much to chew on, and is more explicitly religious (and much more menacing, albeit with some very sweet codas from our ostensible protagonist) than Ubik. An easy recommendation, even if I don't think it breaks into my personal canon.

Okay, I'm all in on Gene Hackman (now after The Conversation), I'm all in on that closing shot of the boat circling aimlessly, an ending grimmer and more poetic than Chinatown.

Best collection of 2023 bops.

I think there are two good things about this book:

1. The delineation and description of the seven powers
2. The distinction between "statics" and "dynamics"

Unfortunately, those two things can be condensed into around two pages of content, and yet there is much of the book that is not those two things, and is bad.

A terrific, terrific film, with a great performance by Jane Fonda (insert quip of "the film should be called Bree!" here.) I think some of the noir aspects felt a little more obvious than in The Conversation, but the pair of performances and the deep sense of sonic dread that permeated the film made this one of the greatest films I've seen in a while.

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