Ken Hurley

MOVIE REVIEW. Waking Life (2001) Submitted by Ken Hurley "Hey, are you a dreamer?" Asks the man on the train. If the answer was "Nope" we could have ended the movie there. Unfortunately, the response is, "Yeah." So we stumble on as if we are in someone's disjointed dream. Oh, we are? If I could just float away. But, who isn't a dreamer? Better question, how do you turn dreams into reality? And, should you? As the Pinball Playing Man says, "Life is the story of moving from the 'no' to the 'yes'." This dreamy 21st century rotoscope is filled with sophomoric, philosophical, quizzical, platitudes, painted as a stylized cartoon in an effort to hide the lack of plot, nameless character development, back story, emotional attachment, action, and intellectual inquiry. The rotoscopic stylization works well for the first few moments but quickly becomes annoying too. This is an ambitious and admirable effort by Richard Linklater as writer, director, and cartoon actor (Pinball Guy and Back of Car Boat Guy) where the nature of dreams, lucid dreams (of which I have many), and the realities of waking life are explored. The title is taken from an Edgar Allen Poe poem titled, A Dream (1827): "In visions of the dark night I have dreamed of joy departed— But a waking dream of life and light Hath left me broken-hearted." Ok. Yoga breath. Waking life runs the emotional gamut from A to B (annoying to boring) while plodding like a mud stuck frog struggling to hop from one mundane muddle to another miasma of mind-numbing blithering blather. I fear there is laziness afoot when the viewer remains stuck on age old existential questions like, "What's it all about, Alfie?" However, Waking Life does evoke a preponderance-o-plenty of familiar philosophical references including: Sartre, existentialism, etymology, despair, brooding, hope, convention, challenges, Kierkegaard, nowism, truth, symbolism, eternity, barriers, potential, parallel universes, artificial intelligence, abstractions, God, Dick, evolution,distractions, reality, fantasy, dreams, ego, life, death, loyalty, chaos, justice, freedom, and much much more! Reminder, not all philosophical questions require polite answers. Yet, "...everyone knows, fun rules!" Waking Life reminded me of a Cherokee mule driver I interviewed in Missouri who said he's, “A dreamer. WIthout a dream, nobody can help you. Your parents can’t help you, your teachers can’t help you, the government can’t help you. Not even God can help a person that doesn’t have a dream. You’ve gotta find something that you’re passionate about or called to and go after it.” I agree, although my mind wandered while watching Waking Life. Here, Mr. Linklater succeeded. I dreamed Waking Life was a ten minute TED Talk presented by Fritz The Cat; or, an MMA tag team match between Car Boat Guy and Kierkegaard against Young Girl Playing Paper Game and Philip K. Dick; or the last four years of reality never happened; or the widely sought reincarnation of Epicurus manifested in epistemological musings where knowledge is actually not knowable. Mostly Waking Life made me want to nap. So I could dream. I liked it! I give Waking Life 2 out of 5 ZZZZZ's.😴😴 Stay well! 😷🤓

MOVIE REVIEW: Knives Out (2019). The knives have it! Not agony but Agatha! Agatha Christie would smile knowing her crafty style of mystery, suspense, intrigue, and her primary question, "Whodunit?" carries on in this witty murder mystery comedy. What do X-Acto, pairing, Ginsu, carving, butter, Bowie, pocket, survival, whittling, hunting, and boning have in common? They're knives out to slice more twists than Chubby Checker on speed into this glorious pulp noir plot. James Bond plays a worthy version of Hercule Poirot with a Colonel Sanders KFC accent. Captain Marvel plays a jilted family member. Who knew Toni Collette is an Aussi? (Great acting!) The scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis plays a screamless aristocrat beautifully. And, Captain von Trapp (Amanda Plummer's dad) plays another lovable dad with wisdom and charm. (Who knew he's Canadian?) Every performance in Knives Out is as sharp as the next. The cutting edge direction and cinematography are perfectly on point. But the real star of Knives Out is the well-whetted, well-honed, never a dull moment script by writer and director Rian Johnson. I liked it! I give Knives Out 5 out of 5 bloodless Gut Hooks. ### Furthermore, we had a terrific Thanksgiving meal. Thank you turkeys everywhere. Hope you did too!