The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021): Girl leaves for film school, glad to be away from embarrassing dad. On the way the family is attacked by army of robots. Lots of noise and violence, but it's robots getting blasted so I guess it's OK. Zero dead family, so happy ending. C-

Reaction to Local Elections

The City of Richardson's City Council elections are over (except for the run-offs). The Richardson ISD school board elections are over (except for the run-offs). The RISD bond approval elections are over. Some of the elections were over early in the evening. Some dragged late into the night. Some went as expected. Some offered surprises. After the jump, my verbose reactions to all of them.

Random Thoughts: Close to the End of the Pandemic

Tweets from April, 2021:

• 2021-04-02: Using my metric, "we're getting close to the end of the pandemic." (link)
• 2021-04-02: The Father (2020): Woman deals with her aging father. Characters come and go, scenes repeat, each time slightly differently, until you aren't sure if you are seeing reality or the world through the father's dementia. Deserved Oscar noms for Olivia Coleman and Anthony Hopkins. B+
• 2021-04-02: It seems only right. Georgians are taking the state back to a time when baseball didn't yet exist.
• 2021-04-03: Now 65+, another step closer to the end of the pandemic, by my metric. (link)
• 2021-04-03: Great quote about Richardson Pearce's Drew Timme:

After the jump, more random thoughts.

Genius: Einstein (TV 2017)

Rotten Tomatoes

Genius: Einstein (TV 2017): Drama of life of Einstein, emphasizing his family, including his two wives and many affairs (for a genius, he was dumb in love). His science gets shorted. So too his political run-ins with both Nazis and the FBI. Too much material for one series. B-

#VeryTardyReview

TIL: "A Nation of Immigrants"

"A Nation of Immigrants." What country am I talking about? The United States, right? It's what I learned growing up in the 1950s. That, and the myth of the melting pot. I learned about how the English and the Irish and the Germans (like my grandfather in 1892) and the Italians all came to the United States in different waves of immigration, where they all learned English and intermarried and melted into one glorious people and nation. E Pluribus Unum and all that. But there was always a nagging problem for young me. The story didn't include the Chinese or the Negroes. Young me puzzled over such things, but I didn't find the answers in the patriotic school books. Now, decades later, I have to admit defeat on the melting pot myth. I have come to question the "nation of immigrants" myth altogether.

POTD: Saigon, Ahead of the World

From 2015 03 21 Saigon

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the streets of Saigon. There are motorbikes. Lots of motorbikes. Lots. Lots. Lots. Almost everyone on a motorbike wears a helmet. They also wear masks. But not for COVID-19, or at least not originally for that. Because this photo is a rerun of a POTD from 2015. Facemasks were everywhere even before the world had ever heard of COVID-19. When we visited in 2015, our assumption was that the motorcyclists were trying to keep from breathing exhaust fumes in the polluted air of the city. Maybe the habit of wearing facemasks had a beneficial side effect. Vietnam kept coronavirus deaths to just 35, and grew its economy in 2020.

POTD: Somewhere in Richardson

You tell me where.

Another Round (2020)

Rotten Tomatoes

Another Round (2020): Denmark. Four drinking buddies decide to test a theory that human performance is maximized with a constant blood alcohol content of 0.05%. The movie isn't about the test, or even alcohol, but the mid-life crisis that leads to it all. It's complicated. B+

United States vs. Billie Holiday (2020)

Rotten Tomatoes

United States vs. Billie Holiday (2020): A black singer is persecuted by the law. America has too many similar stories. She's also a victim of drug use, greedy friends, and her own personality. Andra Day deserves her Oscar nom as the mixed-up, messed up, electrifying Billie. B+

The Wheel Award for Excellence in Motion Pictures

The Academy Awards will be given out Sunday, April 25, 2021. I've seen all the nominees for Best Picture. That means my opinion means something. Right?

2020 was a strange year for movies. More movies were released by streaming services this year compared to past years. Some so-called major releases were postponed until 2021. All that resulted in, in my opinion, a decent selection of Oscar candidates, but inferior to the selections of previous years. If I expanded the field of nominees, I would include two or three movies that I considered snubs.

My ranking of the Oscar nominees is based on the grades I gave the movies immediately after seeing them. In case of ties, I ordered them by my considered judgment today. Note this is not my prediction of which movie will win, but which I would vote for, had I a vote.

The envelope please. The winner of "The Wheel Award for Excellence in Motion Pictures" goes to...