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This was a great movie. I wonder how much better this must be in the book. It's not often that you get to see an engulfing movie experience. This was time well spent. The structure is built very well. I forgot what filmmakers or storytellers call it, that gradual release of information that heightens the next scene. The movie does that exquisitely. You are on your toes 'till the last. Having never read any of Tom Clancy's work, the association I have of him is more on spy novels. So I figured that this was something close to a James Bond or a Jason Bourne driven protagonist. Now having seen the movie, it seems much more closer to Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt series. The parallel may just be that it is set mostly at sea. Nevertheless, this is an excellent movie. My curiosity has been piqued. I may have just opened a Tom Clancy rabbit hole.

I did not understand this movie;  or that I don't want to.  Maybe it's not meant to be understood . For a  person into the kind of genre the movie tackles, this would probably be a classic. But I'm n ot really familiar with the genre, and this was ultra-violent .  The story structure is impressively woven with a fairly simple backbone. High school kids are set loose on a island. Everyone fight off each other until only one's left. The last student is declared to be the champion. I've never seen Hunger Games, but from trailers and whatever promotion was out back then, they seem similar. Except this one has way too much blood and gore. 

I've never really gone down a Bruce Lee movie rabbit hole. Growing up Jackie Chan was more noticeable to my adolescent eyes; and more recently Donnie Yen's Ip Man film series. I knew that Bruce Lee was a prominent figure in the spread of martial arts in film and in the world. Still  I had little to no expectations about "The Way of the Dragon". It has a fairly simple story, Bruce Lee's character is sent out by an "Uncle" to protect a business being bullied by local gangs in Italy. Things climax when Bruce Lee's character battle with Chuck Norris at the historic Colosseum in Rome. Seems as though this is where all those memes come from. Considering the technology in the 70's, it must have been a blast seeing Bruce Lee do the things he does in the movie. Had he been alive today, there probably would have been rapid cuts, an epic fight scene, maybe even a Jeet Kune Do film trilogy, or a Martial Arts cinematic universe. The significance may esc...

I have been resistant to this book after all the talk surrounding it. I like to think the values and beliefs I grew up with ran counter to the extremes of what this book portrays. Because really there's something grimy about the Pickup Culture, even the term spouts out negative connotations.  I am probably the exact age whose target market this book was built for. And with the rise of the information age, it is very easy for word to go around. Neil Strauss' name would get mentioned in blogs and random forums every once in a while. Plus during that period he was promoting his more recent book: "The Truth" through podcasts, I decided to get a copy of "The Game" from a local bookstore. It was an interesting read. The same way one says when you're not quite sure what to say but the polite way is you say "that's interesting". Strauss is a terrific writer. I t is easy to empathize with him in the story.  The frame must have been that we all fe...

The book is about introversion; for introverts in a world inclined for extroverts. It is about our misconceptions, about a better way to understand ourselves and/or the other quiet people at home or at work.

This was heavy. There's a philosophical weight to it.  A line in the movie goes: "War doesn't ennoble men, it eats away at the soul."   One soldier in shock; chills, almost like in a freezing state. A couple others lose it.  A few scenes after we see the same states; only this time in the opposing soldiers.  War does eat away at the soul.  Why engage in the first place? Hence the philosophical part. People can and have debated it for years and years. One story line flashbacks at different times to one soldier's memories with his wife. A lovely couple. Beautiful woman. After battle, the soldier receives a letter from her. She writes she's fallen in love with a different man. The soldier's heart breaks. Deeper than any bullet he could have been hit. The film portrays the dark sides of war, and of human capacities. Even a tiny part of the experience of being in that actual battle, it is a heavy view of the sacrifices people make and the damage that gets...

I came to this film thru a Christoper Nolan mention in one YouTube clip, that it is one of his favorite films. I was expecting this to be some kind of documentary about the environment after early searches. However it doesn't quite fit the documentaries of National Geographic or Discovery. It's also not a straightforward movie. There isn't any dialogue. Or any direct linear story. It leans more into being an art film or an experimental movie.  The landscapes are beautiful. Coupled with an epic film score, one can see and hear the influence this has had on Nolan. It reminds me of Interstellar. The sound also brings me back memories of when Muse released their album, Black Holes and Revelations. There is something incredibly recognizable in the patterns of the silent repetitions, crawling arpeggios, and massive soundscapes.  Though the film seems simple, it is hard to distill. Reading reviews after watching it, there doesn't seem to be one general consensus. Aside fro...