Device Notes

  Spoilers ahead. The end credits of this film include a claim that it is inspired by Andreas Malm's book of the same title.  The book's full title is How to Blow Up a Pipeline: Learning to Fight in a World on Fire .  Some people started calling Malm a "terrorist" for writing this book, as if he's ever done anything terroristic other than gently suggest it to others.  His book argues that some illegal acts of property destruction can and should be used, in a strategically targeted way, by political activists in the movement seeking climate justice and mitigation of climate change. This is to say that this is a self-consciously political movie.  I've seen at least one person who said "agree with the group or not, the movie doesn't care and isn't about that," which is absurd.  It's true the filmmakers claimed influence from Ocean's Eleven and the film follows many conventions of the heist thriller genre; but in interviews, they say...

I had never seen Totoro on the big screen until recently.  I love all his movies, though it took me longer to come around to some of them than others.  Seeing Nausicaä , Kiki's Delivery Service , and Howl's Moving Castle in cinemas made a bigger difference than I expected in making me realize what's great about those films.   Maybe it's because the theater setting makes it easier for me to take in everything the film is doing holistically, and not just the logical connection of the narrative.  The famous scene in Totoro with Satsuki and Mei waiting for their father's bus at night, in the rain, struck me differently when there was no potential for distraction and there was nothing but the film in my field of view.  Mei starts nodding off and Satsuki lifts her onto her back.  At the same time, Satsuki struggles to hold the umbrella over them both.  For a few seconds, Satsuki just stands there in this awkward position, and we realize that...

As someone who was less than impressed by John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum , I was happy but not surprised that John Wick: Chapter 4 turned out to be good.  The film absolutely will not please those who have always had a problem with the series's aesthetic of excess and lack of "meaning."  But if you want to see it just because you like Scott Adkins and Donnie Yen, you should. The first film discussed below, Radu Jude's Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn , is one I've found myself thinking of fairly regularly since I saw it.  It's been a while since I saw a movie from the last 5 years or so that I can say that about.  That said, the best film I watched in the last three months—the best film I've watched since Letter from an Unknown Woman in 2021, and one of the best films I've seen period—was definitely Compensation .  Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (2021) This film is funny, but it's a little too easy to share the main character's extreme frustra...