Emma Greenleaf This weekend I'm still swamped with final papers, but the summer is just so close it is hard to find any real motivation. And what characterizes summer for me is almost always hanging out and watching movies and TV. I've ashamedly been binge watching the Netflix show 13 Reasons Why for the past few days. I heard it was dumb, and yep, it is. But it is that kind of mind numbing show that you get addicted to. I can't recommend it, but if you're looking for something to binge on, it’s there. I plan to finish it and move on to better things. Hulu finally released the first three episodes of The Handmaid's Tale this past Wednesday. When I first heard about it, I was only semi-intere
Whenever I have occasion to fly, I look for routes involving layovers. The ostensible rationale is that these are often cheaper than direct flights. But really, I want to maximize my airport time. I enjoy drawing comparisons between different airports and noting airport trends, like the advent of pet relief areas, or the existence of chains like iStore (a Canada-based retailer selling “trendy and practical digital lifestyle solutions”) whose outlets are exclusively in airport terminals. Most of all though, I like airports because I find kind of paradoxical sense of liberation in being suspended in between places, with not much to do but wait for the next departure. In the 99.9% of my life th
Title: The Terminal (2004) Genre: Comedy-drama Director: Steven Spielberg Stars: Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Stanley Tucci, Chi McBride, Diego Luna, Kumar Pallana Bias: Having seen this film in middle school, I remembered it as being both entertaining and distinctly weird. I went into re-watching it looking for a level of “problematic weirdness” (e.g., rampant product placement) and was not disappointed. Grade: B- In a Nutshell: Tom Hanks plays Viktor Navorski, a tourist from the fictional Eastern European nation of Krakozhia on his way to visit New York City. But upon his arrival at JFK International (a massive set and occasional location footage stand in for the airport), his passport
Matt Linton For nerds of a certain generation (in which I include myself) there are touchstone films. Some are legitimate classics – Star Wars, Back to the Future, Blade Runner, etc. Others fall under the messy label of “cult classic,” which carry with them a certain cultural currency of being known but not too known. This weekend I plan to dive into a few of these movies which I’ve somehow managed to miss. I plan to begin with one I think I’ve seen, but don’t remember very well – John Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China (1986) starring Kurt Russell and Kim Cattrall. Trailer: Described as a “fantasy martial arts comedy” the film is about a loud-mouthed truck driver who gets into, I assum
Emma Greenleaf I’m currently in the process of moving so this weekend will be packed with well, packing. But I am still planning to see a film I’ve been hearing about and looking forward to for a while. The new film about the Austin music scene by acclaimed director Terrence Malik, Song to Song (2017), was met with mixed reviews. I’ve heard the visual style and lack of script are what make it so divisive so I’m looking forward to seeing it and making up my own mind about it. I also received my newest DVD from Netflix (yeah, some people still do that), Noah Baumbach’s film Greenberg (2012). As a once ardent hater of Greta Gerwig and all mumblecore, I have slowly but surely been reacquainting
Title: Beauty and the Beast (2017) Genre: Fantasy/Fairy Tale Director: Bill Condon Stars (primary actors): Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Josh Gad Bias: My relationship with Disney is complicated. Like my relationship with Emma Watson. Don’t even get me started on the problems with a feminist campaign’s figurehead getting cozy with Disney and accepting a role in a decidedly faux-feminist fairy tale revision. Grade: C- In a Nutshell: I feel like we should all know this given that it’s a “tale as old as time,” but, just in case: Girl requests rose, father steals rose from beast, beast imprisons father, girl takes father’s place, girl and beast slowly fall in love—wooing and overcoming c
