Movies:
“Birth of the Dragon” is a movie about the legendary version of Bruce Lee. That is, there is an historical Bruce Lee, and a legendary Bruce Lee, and this movie about the latter version. Once you step away from the history… the impression of Lee that is given by Philip Ng is pretty much perfect; the martial arts sequences are excellent, and the philosophy presented is satisfying. All told, we enjoyed this one a great deal. Continue reading
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Abdul, the new clerk at the local convenience store, is from Saudi Arabia. We have had enough conversation for him to know that I am a bit different from his usual customers…
Today, I was buying lottery tickets, and he asked me if I knew the mechanism for determining winners in the multi-state lotteries; he had never seen a drawing. I described the machines, and we fell to a discussion of probability. He is a programmer, and knew a few things, though he said he was trying to figure a loophole in the lotteries; I wished him luck. Continue reading
Three movies:
“The Dark Tower” is based on Stephen King’s odd and commercially successful foray into epic fantasy. It has some great moments, but it doesn’t quite fit into the length of a single movie, and has significant pacing problems. Still, we enjoyed it. And I got a kick out of the fact that “.45 Long Colt” is apparently a cosmic specification.
“Logan Lucky” is a moderately deranged caper movie with a great cast. It has some pacing problems, and sometimes the stoopid is just too far over the top, but we still enjoyed it a great deal.
“The Hit Man’s Bodyguard” is silly, violent, and a great deal of fun. It gives us two wonderful actors playing minor variations on their best characters in a nearly perfect blend of humor and bloodshed. And then it throws in the best three-minute love story in the history of cinema as a bonus. AND it uses one of my favorite songs as an end title. This movie is NOT for everyone, but if you like this kind of thing, you will LOVE this one. We did.
Uncle Hyena