Jordan Hoffman Dot Com

I’m very slowly making my way through the massive 700+ page novels by Alastair Reynolds (three down, many to go) but I took a side trip with this short story/novella mainly because I like a challenge. It is very much out of print and available on Amazon for something like $125. There is *one* copy of it in the New York Public Library system. I tracked it down, read it in one sitting, then sent it back into the stream.

Is it any good? Yes, because Reynolds is incapable of writing something that doesn’t have a few “woah, where the hell did that idea come from?” moments every 30 pages.

This one is something of a space spy story, but (as usual) with characters that are both good and bad and over long stretches of time tend to play both sides of that line. It imagines an alternate Earth where Genghis Khan conquered the world, and the Mongol Empire is now making leaps into deep space (hey, just go with it.) What they find in some wormhole hub thingy is, well……maybe I shouldn’t spoil that for you.

Quite possibly the most “meta” thing I’ve ever read – this may very well be the actual notebook Roth was keeping when he wrote “The Anatomy Lesson,” without intending ever to publish it. At least that’s what “Philip Roth” claims when his jealous wife finds the text, most of which are intimate details from an affair that are too specific not to be genuine (as is what happens in “The Anatomy Lesson.”)

The text is almost exclusively dialogue – it is practically a play – and even if you aren’t familiar with all of the names in the greater Roth Universe (Zuckerman, Carnovsky, Tarnopol etc) a reader will still find some marvelous, crystalized moments.

Some of Roth’s navel-gazing can be a but much (skip “The Facts” and “My Life As A Man”) but sometimes his insights are revelatory (as it “Patrimony” and “Operation: Shylock.”) I place this one somewhere in between.

Oh my God the Vanguard series is so much fun. This is book 5 in the series and it has gone to very much unexpected places. I say with no joking around that if the character of T’Prynn had ever made it to one of the TV shows she’d be the new fan favorite.

I’ve been horrible. I haven’t watched anything. It’s because I went bananas with the screenings just before the new year, then went away for a week. I’ve seen two things this year, but that’s about to change because I am heading to Sundance.

I saw:

Haywire (2012), Steven Soderbergh, A- (look for forthcoming review on About.com)
Art Blakey: Live in 65 (2009), Unknown Director, B

There’ve been some new, fun things that I’ve written for various outlets that you may want to check out.

Firstly, my review of WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN is over at About.com.
It’s a great movie, and not quite what you expect.

I have a new column over at MTV’s NEXT MOVIE called Planet Fanboy. It’ll go live every Thursday, kinda in the middle of the day. The first one is a welcome post and the second one is how you should prepare for the first half of 2012.

Lastly, things continue to heat up at One Trek Mind. I’m very proud of the one I wrote for Friday the 13th of Freakiest Star Trek moments. But you should also check out the rundown of Strong Female Characters, Best DS9 Supporting Players, Best Trek Food and Best Trek Drink.

All-Star Western #4 – B+
DC Universe Online Legends #20 – D (I’m taking this off my pull list. Once the Sinestro arc ended I just haven’t cared.)
Green Lantern: New Guardians #4 – C+ (This one is in danger of getting dismissed, too)
Captain America #5 – B
Captain America #6 – A-
Kick-Ass 2 #6 – B
Aquaman #4 – B+
The Strain #1 – A-
Voodoo #4 – B
Star Trek #4 – B

You’ll forgive me if my reaction to Dee Rees’ film Pariah is more emotional than critical. Ya see, it really hits me close. No, not because I’m an African-American or a lesbianor had parents who would not accept me, but because my coming of age coincided with the boom years of the American independent film scene of the early 1990s. Pariah is, at least to me, greatly reminiscent of that era and its films.

[Continue reading at About.com.]

The movie is Margaret, the six-years-on-the-shelf post-9/11 drama, and it is the type of thing you rarely see. It has a solid cast, a dramatic setting and a powerhouse opening. All the tracks are laid for a big emotional movie with recognizable beats and teary-eyes speechifying. But something kinda magical happens. It is as if writer/director Kenneth Lonergan stood up, said “No!” and demanded that the chaos and heartache that challenges us in real life must challenge us as audience members, too. As such, the story chugs along following its own internal logic, chasing tangents and getting hyper-focused on vignettes that seem, at least on the surface, to be completely unrelated to anything.

[Continue reading at Badass Digest.]

There’s the famous quote from Shakespeare – “the first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” It’s from one of his plays that was never made into a movie, so I can’t tell you which one. I can tell you, though, it was meant as a vision of utopia. Having seen Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation I can report that a justice system that dispenses of the sleazoids in slick suits still has plenty of problems.

[Continue reading at About.com.]

Tomas Alfredson’s adaptation of John Le Carré’s celebrated Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy flat-out fails in its efforts to grab ya in a breathless, page-turning spy thriller way. It achieves, however, something far more interesting – a striking look at what British intelligence really (okay, probably) was like in the early 1970s.

[Continue reading at About.com.]

New to JH.c!
I waste $ on comics, the least I can do is keep track of what I felt. This’ll be a week-by-week.

BATMAN #4 – A
BIRDS OF PREY #4 – B
BLUE BEETLE #4 – A-
CAPTAIN ATOM #4 – B+
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #4 – B
JUSTICE LEAGUE #4 – B-
NIGHTWING #4 – B+
WONDER WOMAN #4 – B
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #676 – A
DEFENDERS COMING OF DEFENDERS #1 – B
VENOM #11 – A

The Front (1976), Martin Ritt, B+
The Matrix (1999), The Wachowskis, A-
The Matrix Reloaded (2003), The Wachowskis, C-
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – Extended Edition (2001/2002), Peter Jackson, A
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – Extended Edition (2002/2003), Peter Jackson, A-
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – Extended Edition (2003/2004), Peter Jackson, A-
Margaret (2001), Kenneth Longergan, A-

Roth’s books (and I’ve read almost all of them) take on a mantra-like quality with their repetition. All of ‘em, even the high concept ones like Operation: Shylock or The Plot Against America, are basically the same stories over and over.

This time, the main character is a little more of a pompous prick than usual. And it doesn’t work out well for him.

This li’l novella is wonderfully funny and has some of the best recollections of mid-century sexual deviance that I’ve ever read. He does it so effortlessly. There’s an insight on every page. Another masterpiece from a man who has delivered many of them.

To say that I loved this book just doesn’t cut it. I actually found it so hard to put down that I MADE myself put it down so it could last longer. It is hilarious, it is insightful and it feels like it is sent to us from another planet.

Somewhere along the way I decided that Vonnegut wasn’t worth any more of my time. I don’t know where I got this idea. I’ve read many of his books, but not all of them. This is ending now.

(not a lot this week.)

Shocker (1989), Wes Craven, C

Young Adult (2011), Jason Reitman, B-

Deadwood, Season 3, A

What is Butt Numb a Thon?
Read my report on IFC.com.

Scrooge (1970), Ronald Neame, B-

The Iron Lady (2011), Phyllida Lloyd, C+

We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011), Lynn Ramsay, A-

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011), David Fincher, B

A Dangerous Method (2011), David Cronenberg, B+

Carnage (2011), Roman Polanski, B+

X-Men: First Class (2011), Matthew Vaughn, A-

Hugo (2011), Martin Scorsese, B+

A Trip To The Moon (1902), George Melies, N/A

Just Imagine (1930), David Butler, B+

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (2011), Thomas Alfredson, A

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011), Guy Ritchie, C+

The Beast With Five Fingers (1946), Robert Florey, B

The Adventures of Tintin (2011), Steven Spielberg, A-

Porco Rosso (1992), Hayao Miyazaki, N/A (I kinda slept through it)

The Cabin in the Woods (2012), Drew Goddard, A-

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2012), Neveldine/Taylor, D

The Grey (2012), Joe Carnahan, A

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011), Brad Bird, B+

Okay, folks, let’s get this out before I change my mind again.

First, if this were a top 20, these would be the additional ten in some kind of order:
A Separation, Attack the Block, Black Death, Contagion, The Descendants, The Guard, Midnight in Paris, Our Idiot Brother, Redline, The Tree of Life. I love each of those movies and, at one point during the crafting of this top 10 list, they each had a spot on it.

But, alas, there can be only one. Or, there can be only ten. And these are the ten.

10 – Rubber

One of the most overused words in English is “surreal,” but Rubber’s deadpan True West surrealism tickles me on a very basic level. It’s like the best bits of every Hal Hartley movie exaggerated by 100 and put into one movie.

9 – X-Men: First Class

I watched this again the other day to make sure. Yeah, it’s really quite good – certainly the best Marvel movie ever.

8 – United Red Army

This Japanese film from 2008 finally got its New York theatrical run this year. This look at 60s/70s leftist groups puts you through the ringer, taking political fanaticism to its strange, inevitable conclusion.

7 – Take Shelter

One of the best descents into madness I’ve ever seen.

6 – Rango

Nuts.

5 – We Need To Talk About Kevin

It’s not just Tilda Swinton’s performance but Lynn Ramsay’s. This is total cinema, and more playful than her previous work. Is it wrong that I found some of this movie funny.

4 – Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Next time I curse a money-grubbing reboot I’ll think of this sharp and highly entertaining movie.

3 – Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

If I think about this too much I might make this my number one. It is not only gorgeous to look at, but so rich in subtext that watching and trying to understand it makes you truly empathize with the lead character. Good the first time, brilliant the second and I’m itching for a third.

2 – Meek’s Cutoff

The landscape of Herzog, the interpersonal dynamics of Polanski.

1 – Of Gods and Men

My Catholic fetish and Francophilia are powerless against this gorgeous film. It’s not just the best of 2011, it’s on my list of best movies of all time.