Unknown

Liam Neeson stars in this film about agents and secrecy and memory loss and plot twists and exotic European locations and... wait, sounds like a Jason Bourne wannabe movie to me.

Yes, this film kept my attention but I can't say that I'd recommend it to anyone...

Los Angeles

- view from our hotel in Playa del Rey

-Los Angeles in all its vastness

My wife and I have an occasion to return to Los Angeles for the first time (for me at least) in 2 1/2 years for a long weekend visit. L.A. is one of the world's most unique cities and people either love it or hate it...

Inside Job

Charles Ferguson's intimate look into the myriad of causes of the 2008 global financial crisis. Anybody and everybody associated with the credit derivative house of cards gets indicted or at least mentioned here...

Political, financial, regulatory, academic, societal, you name it. It's all here.

There are a couple of economics professors (who held positions with the Federal Reserve and the White House) who make complete and utter fools of themselves when trying to defend their research...

Another Year

A Mike Leigh film that is ultimately about happiness. Why do some people seem to have an abundance of it and why are some just so utterly miserable?

Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen serve as a married couple that is the centerpiece of stability and happiness for their collection of friends, most of whom are quite discontent.

This is a gentle and poignant tale of a modern society (even though this is set in Britain it could very well be any westernized culture) and how individual and family behaviors, choices, insecurities, disappointments, jealousies, pleasures, and destroyed dreams all combine to form our daily existence.

This is a mature film meaning that adults who have experienced any bit disappointment (and who among us has not?) will relate to this material.

Lesley Manville is especially excellent in the role of Mary.

The Adjustment Bureau

Based on a Philip K. Dick story (whose work also was the genesis for Blade Runner, Minority Report and Total Recall), Matt Damon stars as an up-and-coming New Yorker running for the Senate who shall we say, runs up against fate.

This is a modern dramatization of the age-old question: Do we choose our own fate in life or is it already chosen for us?

There's an unseen Chairman who is in charge of agents (otherwise known as angels) who help to steer Damon's character back on course after he gets off his own fate track to pursue his love for a woman (Emily Blunt) that has unintended consequences down the road.

Love wins out in the end but it turns out that... well, I'll let you see this film and see if the ending is as unsatisfying to you as it was to me.

I enjoyed this film and it definitely makes you think of important theological and philosophical concepts such as a "higher power" and how our day-to-day choices (such as getting on a particular bus at a particular time) that we believe are mundane at the time can become so important when we reflect on them much later.

This is ultimately a love story and worthy of seeing...

Biutiful

Javier Bardem stars in this film directed by Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu (Amores Perros, 21 Grams, Babel).

I'm a fan of Iñárritu since I first saw Amores Perros. His best work (Amores Perros, 21 Grams, Babel) was when working with screenwriter Guillermo Arriago. However this creative partnership disintegrated after Babel was made...

Shot in a beautifully seedy Barcelona, Bardem's character works on the wrong side of the law to care for his two children. He contracts for illegal unskilled Chinese immigrants to work in construction and helps Nigerian illegals sell their wares in the streets of the city. Part criminal, part savior, his journey is a sorrowful one and his path does not ultimately end in redemption...

Bloomsday

- A public dramatization from a scene in "Ulysses"

- James Joyce fans dressed in period attire celebrate Bloomsday

- Musicians perform as part of the festivities at The Butler's Pantry in Sandycove

- A public reading from James Joyce's "Ulysses"

- My wife and her friend in front of the James Joyce Tower in Sandycove

On June 16th of each year Dublin celebrates Bloomsday. In reality it's a commemoration of James Joyce and especially his novel "Ulysses," the events of which took place in Dublin on one day -- June 16, 1904.

It's a treat to see all of the celebrants dressed in period costume, the public readings of the novel, the public performances of scenes from the book, and in general the celebration of one of the great Irish writers.