Kill the Irishman (2011)

Kill the Irishman offers a nearly all-star cast paired with a horrible script. It’s not a horrible movie per se, but it has been awhile since I have turned off a film and never finished and so far I have yet to finish this. It wants to be a British crime thriller, an American-mob film, and a conventional action-drama all-in-one. Unfortunately Kill the Irishman muddles through the story and develops unconvincingly. Things start to get a bit goofy when Vincent D’Onofrio tries to take the helm of a Cleveland crime family. A terrible waste, this film really could have been something, and I don’t know if I’ll watch the remainder.

theHELL – Sauves Les Requins (2012)

Sauves Les Requins is A-OK. Matt Skiba’s latest is more akin to the early days of The Alkaline Trio than his more recent synthy-prominent works. theHELL offers punchy punk beats with some catchy chorus tunes. Unfortunately it only clocks in at 4 songs. At the moment the first two songs stand on top.

Eagle vs Shark (2007)

When you consider Miranda July films you’re given characters who are often hyper-aware of their own existence. They are quick to impress us with their quirks, well-delivered lines and responses, and unbelievable conscious abilities. No doubt her movies are truly farcical tales. Eagle vs Shark is the opposite (in those terms but not in terms of quality). EvS’s main characters are barely aware of the world around them and live in a bubble of inanity. They are worse than caricatures as they don’t even amuse. The story-line takes the audience on a journey to nowheres-ville, New Zealand where absolutely nothing enjoyable or thought-provoking happens. I’d call it a train wreck but that would have been better.  Eccentric personalities and stylish-directing does not make a movie, rather they attempt to cover-up the scars of non-existent character growth and story developments, a plotless plot, and the sad fact that this movie is in total a complete bore.

Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)

This movie managed to the do the unimaginable, besting the prequel in terms of awful direction, terrible plots, ridiculous cinema antics, horribly developed characters, and steely gazes. It’s no wonder that one of the writers, Michael Hirst, went on to write for TV melodrama and the director, Shekhar Kapur, is noted for absolutely nothing but inability. In short, the Elizabeth movie series starring Cate Blanchett are garbage.

The Hobbit, or There and Back Again (1937)

My re-read of Tolkien’s kick-ass classic was inspired in large part to the upcoming film and a new year. Even, and perhaps especially, if you aren’t a Dungeons & Dragons nerd The Hobbit (and its following titles) remain must read titles. While it has been awhile since I’ve given Beowulf  or Sir Gawain and the Green Knight a gander I am certain that Tolkien’s work trumps them for the simple fact of not being boring and obvious.

 

The New Atheism: Taking a Stand for Science and Reason (2009)

Victor Stenger is a professor of physics with quite the little bio. He’s written a number of titles on fine-tuning, a scientific search for god, the laws of physics, and so much more. As of late his stances have been anti-theist in nature. This 2009 work takes a look at the recent movement (founded largely after 9/11) of New Atheism. He synthesizes several notable works from Hitchens, Dawkins, Dennet, Harris, and more. He also gathers the arguments of religious communities and refutes them clearly. Unfortunately he is dealing with broad strokes, as Stenger covers an immense amount of ground: from the dawn of humanity, science, religion, Eastern philosophies, Christianity, Judaism, the apocalypse, to the enlightenment, neuroscience, and evolution, to the founding of Mormonism and Intelligent Design.

The New Atheism: Taking a Stand for Science and Reason is a nonstop tour of the intellectual and reasoned struggle taking place in our schools, courts, churches, homes, and daily lives. Stenger cites all his sources (including his own detailed past studies/works) so that topics can be thoroughly explored and challenged. I’d describe The New Atheism as an extremely detailed bibliography with quick facts and analysis. It’s a terrific place to start if you’re wondering about New Atheism, questioning religion, and/or looking behind the curtain.

Philip Larkin: His Life’s Work (1989)

If you’ve never read Philip Larkin’s poetry I’d highly recommend remedying the situation quickly. And to make things easier here are a few popular selections:

Aubade
This Be Verse
High Windows
Days
Sad Steps

I had hopes for Janice Rossen’s Philip Larkin: His Life’s Work. Unfortunately it didn’t deliver and often nitpicked his poetry, jumping around texts to make a point that wasn’t always entirely clear or agreeable. Her attempts to use Martin Amis’ Lucky Jim to explain Larkin himself and his works is more a stumbling block, serving to complicate and confuse more than enlighten.While some of her interpretations do open up Larkins work it pales in comparison to the best bits. The best bits being the factually biographic, Larkin’s own words/actions, and the non-dialectic.

Elizabeth (1998)

Here’s a film that could have been much more than an overly dramatized silly historical fiction. Shekhar Kapur’s directing is very shaky and his attempts to make things look interesting instead of presenting them as they are utterly detracts from the substance that could have been. Then we have Joe Fiennes steely-gazing at the camera for the first two-thirds of the film before the major plot-hole/line turn him into a simpering psychotic. Then enter Daniel Craig and his gangster walk, entering the Queen’s palace no-holds bar. The feigned brutality to wake up the audience and gain some sort of sympathy fails to accomplish just that. Cate Blanchette, Geoffrey Rush, Richard Attenborough, and a few others keep this moving from falling apart completely. In spite of this, my hopes for the sequel remain high.

Gangster walk available at the 3:50 mark:

Darwin and the Tree of Life (2009)

If you happen to be too busy (or rather too lazy) to read such classics as Dawkins’ The Greatest Show on Earth or Coyne’s Why Evolution is True, then dear reader you are in luck: for Sir David Attenborough’s engaging and thought provoking documentary will enlighten. It’s a quick and illustrious tour of earth’s life and evolution, offering additional insight into the science of evolution, Darwin, DNA, fossil records, etc. Its efforts reach millions if not billions of years back to support one of the most valuable scientific facts in the last 150 years or so.

A clip from the documentary on the eye’s evolution:

Official “2011, Best Of” Friends of P Edition

Admittedly I wasn’t blisteringly excited to make this year’s list as compared to years past. Despite a surely ridiculous amount of comics, books, movies, video games, etc. devoured, and proving most pleasant to my palate.  Guess I’m past 2011, as 2012 offers The Dark Knight Rises, The Hobbit, more science, more ideas, more pizza, more Skyrim, Mass Effect 3, etc.

Film: Drive

Film Runner-up: Hubble 3D (technically 2010 but whatever) / Midnight in Paris

Let down film: X-Men First Class

TV Show: Game of Thrones (duh)

Album: Flashlights I’m Not Alone (not a well vetted category)

Book read this year not necessarily published: Carl Sagan’s The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

Comic: Daredevil

Restaurant: Proletariat Pizza (same as last year)

Hardware: iPhone 4 and the Xbox 360 (not much change here)

Software: Kindle / Overdrive

Video Game: Mass Effect 2 (out in 2010 didn’t play till 2011)

Coffee: Monorail Espresso, Seattle, WA

Bar: Whistler, Chicago, IL

[2008 and 2009 Best of Lists & 2010 List]