Vice (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes

Vice (2018): Part dark satire, part Dick Cheney biopic. Half the country will hate it. Cheney is portrayed as evil, Bush a dupe. Nailed it? Squeezes a career of undermining American democracy and Constitutional government into 132 minutes. Most important movie of the year. A-

Mary Poppins Returns (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes

Mary Poppins Returns (2018): Don't compare to original. That's not fair. Sequel is fun, infectious, and true to the original story. Emily Blunt succeeds in the iconic role. Movie has songs, dance, an all-star cast and special appearances, some humor and villainry and fantasy. B+

POTD: Palomino Motel

From 2018 06 12 New Mexico

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Tucumcari, New Mexico, along historic Route 66, "The Main Street of America" and John Steinbeck's "Mother Road."

Bird Box (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes

Bird Box (2019): The rule in "A Quiet Place" was "don't talk." Here, it's "don't look." Not quite a zombie movie, but a close cousin. Movie cuts between the present and five years before, which robs the earlier scenes of all suspense. Large wasted cast, picked off one by one. C+

Random Thoughts: State TV Network

Random Thoughts from December, 2018:

• Dec 1 2018: Headline: "President Trump is floating the idea of a state TV network for the US that would compete with CNN."
  We already have a state TV network. It's called Fox News.
• Dec 1 2018: The National Flood Insurance Program, which provides subsidized coverage for homes in flood-prone areas, is scheduled to expire December 8. I'm for flood insurance but premiums ought to be priced to risk. If risk is too expensive, so be it.
• Dec 2 2018: For some reason today, I'm thinking of the 1980s AIDS epidemic, Willie Horton race-tinged campaign ads, and pardons for Iran-Contra administration figures. Amazing how Trump's swamp can make one forget the bad from the past.
• Dec 3 2018: The NC election fraud is *not* in-person voter impersonation, which is what Abbott and the GOP is passing all the laws to restrict (which just also suppresses legal voting by the poor, minorities, etc.)

After the jump, more random thoughts.

A Very English Scandal (TV 2018)

Rotten Tomatoes

A Very English Scandal (TV 2018): BBC historical drama. Part farce, part biopic. Jeremy Thorpe, rakish Liberal Party leader, is brought down by homosexual affair. He's a cad but impossible to dislike. His accuser is a campy loser and equally likable. Very English, indeed. B+

Bandersnatch (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes

Bandersnatch (2018): Interactive movie about a game designer going mad with belief his decisions are controlled by unseen forces (they are: by us). Clever gimmick but watching feels like following a flow chart for a script idea that needs a director to make choices. C-