Movies, Comedy, Drama
Recently, I saw a clip from Forrest Gump, and this inspired me to watch the film again. I had these memories of Forrest Gump: he’s not very smart, and he’s best friends with a Black man who he later goes into a fishing business with in the South of the United States. The film holds up even after 30 years. I found it interesting that I had no memory of the love story that is at the center of the entire film.Forrest Gump after 30 years
Movies, Comedy
The best thing about this rather uninspired romantic comedy is the destination: I wanted to buy a ticket to Bali as I was watching “Ticket to Paradise.” The second best thing is the chemistry between Julia Roberts and George Clooney. You can sense that the two genuinely like each other. As they tell the story, Clooney would only do the film if Roberts was playing the female part they are having fun. Instead of watching the film, travel to Bali. It just moved on my bucket list.Ticket to Paradise
Movies, Phantasy
In the past couple of weeks, I’ve been reading more and more alarmed voices calling for a moratorium on the development of advanced AI models. Even researchers who were previously enthusiastic about the positive potential of AI are growing concerned that we may be stumbling into building systems that could turn against humanity—like in one of those sci-fi movies where robots either enslave humanity or wipe us out entirely. Indeed, I just ready a study that expert on AI are more concerned that AI can harm humanity than the general public. Companion
Movies, Drama
Early on in watching Anora, I had the idea that this was a remake of Pretty Woman with a lot more skin than my grandmother would’ve appreciated. But the film then moved far away from a romantic comedy when the friends of the Russian billionaire’s son, Ivan, who plays the Richard Gere character in this film, learn about rumors that Ivan has tied the knot with a hooker. What a shame on the family! Apparently, the billionaire’s parents have given an associate in New York the task of keeping the spoiled son out of trouble.Anora
The film has three parts. The first one takes an attractive, American hooker and a charming young Russian billionaire and seemingly makes them fall in love with each other, although that is not what both of them had planned. In the second part, the adult supervision of Ivan is trying to make this love undone, and the third part I’m not revealing here because I don’t want to spoil your movie-watching experience.
Movies, Documentary
In all the videos I’ve seen about Chris Martin, the lead singer and creative force behind Coldplay, I always get the sense that he is a very nice chap. Some months ago, I discovered that a documentary about the band’s 20th anniversary in 2018 had been released. Watching it, you get the sense that the other three members are also very nice human beings. What makes them nice, in my book, is that none of them are particularly confrontational, so arguing about which songs should go on an album is hard for them, and I can relate to this. Watching a documentary about a successful band gives us the wrong impression that somehow the band’s success was preordained because they had superior skills. But as I found out in college, any band that plays on a college campus on a Saturday sounds amazingly good, and becoming a world-famous band involves a considerable degree of luck. When Chris Martin formed the band with the other members, he already had big plans for becoming very successful, and they are clearly among the few bands that can fill stadiums.Coldplay Documentary “Head Full of Dreams”
Movies, Documentary
I recently came across the documentary Love Has Won, which tells the story of a young American woman who formed a cult around herself, convincing her followers that she was “Mother God.” The rise of smartphone technology after 2008, with the introduction of the iPhone and Android devices, has made documentary filmmaking significantly more accessible. Today, the challenge is not the lack of material but rather the task of selecting and shaping the most compelling footage.Love has Won
Movies, Drama
For many years, I have recorded films that I want to see in a to-do list software called OmniFocus. There are 128 items on the films list. One of them is Okuribito (a foreign language film). It is in position No. 5, which means it was recorded many years ago. I searched for the film and found that it is called Departures in English. To my surprise, it won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2009. This was probably how it ended up on my list of films to watch 15 years ago.Departures