Last night I watched Miss Julie. It is a film that was created with two of my favorites movie folks, Liv Ullman (director) and Jessica Chastain (titular role). Last night it was confirmed that I do not really enjoy faithful reproductions of stage plays on film. They absolutely have their place and many people enjoy them. I am not one of those people. This does not sour my feelings for either woman as they both fulfilled their roles wonderfully but the style of acting when one of performing on stage seems too much a departure from my desires. I rated Miss Julie 4.7.

I also had the pleasure of watching Hiroshima mon amour a few nights ago. This film is a lasting impression that my analytic rating system sucks feeling out of films. Hiroshima is a great film but I gave it 6.5 which belies my emotional connection to the film. Nothing was perfect about the picture but people seem to give it between 4 and 5 stars and I get it. Push that aside though because there is a raw, seething, emotion throughout that sucks you in, quickly, and doesn’t let go until love walks out on you. The film works just as well as a historical document as it does a love story. Watching it in 2015 acts as a reminder of the lives of Europeans and Japanese people during World War Two forcing you to see beyond the villain that we have been trained to see.

I am still peeling apart my thoughts of the James Bond set so that will be forthcoming. I have been gearing up for the new Star Wars movies in a couple of months so I have been watching the movies and tv shows and reading the new canon novels. It is very strange reading a novel about a villain, not even an anti-hero, a straight-up bad dude. My whole life I have rooted for the hero. Reading Lords of the Sith there are heroes battling villains, but I know that the villains survive. This is a very strange feeling.