gordonzola

Yeah it's been a while. I had some health issues I'd rather not discuss. I hesitate to write anything anymore because it's all terrible out there. 

But recently, I watched:

1. Pluribus: high concept sci-fi that is also a drama about an "unlikeable" woman's decision about whether or not she want to save the world. So watchable, so relatable, and occasionally really funny. From the creators of Breaking Bad, which I have not watched. 
2. Once Upon a Time in China, which is the movie series featuring Jet Li as Chinese folk hero/doctor Wong Fei Hung that is set around the turn of the century. This basically launched Jet Li's career and made him a legend. It's iconic, and Jet Li's portrayal of the character as an upstanding, moral character who won't ever let his students fight is a running gag, and also the movie plotlines are kind of stupid. And yet, these are so mesmerizing. I would really love someone who's more educated than I am do a critique of these films as ongoing commentary on Western imperialism, and the price of modernization. The main Chinese characters are often antagonistic to anything Western, and the lone female main character has embraced Western ideas and dress, making her both a target and an outsider to normal Chinese people. I am in the middle of the third movie, which features a lion dance competition that has turned cutthroat between all the different martial arts schools in Beijing. Wong Fei Hung, says, "Why can't we resolve this issue like civilized men?" Everyone else: "Because we don't want to!" Anyway, full movies with English subtitles can be found on YouTube - #1, #2, #3. #4 and #5 does not have Jet Li. Wong Fei Hong is played by someone else. #6 dumps Jet Li in America where he gets in the middle of a fight between two Native American tribes, gets amnesia, stays with a Native American tribe that rescues him, and nurses him back to health, but then he regains his memory and then forgets all about the people who rescued him. 
3. Rooster, which is about Steve Carell stepping in as a guest lecturer on his daughter's college campus where she is a professor, to save her from being fired. It is very gently funny, with some very endearing characters.