Jonathan Graehl

Science and fun.

good films

good: Headhunters, Melancholia (extremely slow and dark, like all his films), Adventures of Tintin, A Separation, A Prophet, The Guard (underrated), The Others, Pursuit of Happyness, 50/50, The Ides of March, Tropa de Elite 2 (Elite Squad), Our Idiot Brother (underrated)

boring: (only watched 10 minutes) The Help

Cloud Atlas

Cloud Atlas is a moving and clever book. The blurbs on the back say "postmodern" but the only thing too-clever about it is the narrative structure, which I fully enjoyed. There's some Huck-Finn-annoying dialect, but it didn't bother me as much as usual.

I was surprised to read there's a film adaptation coming out next year. There's no way all of the plot will fit in a single film, but I look forward to watching it.

beautiful film

A Better Life - I expected to be annoyed by another preachy plight-of-illegal-immigrant-families film. Instead, I got to enjoy fantastic acting from the father, and a good story. I'd have cut the closing shot.

The shot of setting his keys down was a little too obvious, and being stopped by the police was also a little too convenient, but otherwise it felt completely true.

Also, Boss is a good TV drama.