November leaned into cathartic fight stories, clever and witty mysteries, and a return to old-school thrillers, with underdogs getting bloodied but not broken and just enough page-turning suspense.
I watched this based on a recommendation by Tim Ferriss (who always has good recs, btw), and I was blown away by how good it was. I remember seeing the poster when this movie was originally released and thinking that this was just a bad action flick that sought to capture the ascending popularity of UFC.
Now, however, I’d put this movie right up there with Rocky or The Fighter. It uses some of the standard “fight movie” storytelling tools, but those aspects never (I mean never!) get in the way of the heart of the story: family.
This wonderful story becomes absolutely gut-wrenching with each of the performances from Nick Nolte, Tom Hardy, and Joel Edgerton.
I teared up in just about every single Nick Nolte scene (it’s no surprise he was nominated for an Oscar), and Tom Hardy becomes spellbinding in embodying his empty, angry character. The story perfectly tells who Hardy’s character is, while maintaining his distance between each of the other characters.
Joel Edgerton is like the final piece of the puzzle that lets Nolte and Hardy knock this movie out of the park. Add in the lovable (and appropriately present-you were always glad to see them) minor characters, and this was a perfect movie.
Just a perfect 90’s movie. Val Kilmer in peak form.
A clever, tongue-in-cheek meta story about a Whodunnit. The writing was very witty, and the Sam Rockwell/Saoirse Ronan duo had a great, understated comedy. However, Adrien Brody really did steal the show.
A wonderful movie for fans of the mystery/comedy genre (think Guy Ritchie mixed with Knives Out, with just a sprinkle of Clue).
I remember reading Clancy’s Rainbow Six and Jack Ryan novels as a teenager, and John Clark was always a favorite character. So it was great to read a strong origin story for the John Clark character. Overall, it was a fun, taut Tom Clancy novel, with a good mix of the classic Clancy-esque hyper-technical thriller with a classic revenge story.
An okay entry in the revenge-vigilante justice genre. But honestly, the best/scariest part about this movie was how realistic the portrayal of asset forfeiture was. Otherwise, it’s what I’d consider background TV (in a good way).
A Final Note
What I’m currently reading
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. Weir’s The Martian was such a groundbreaking work of science fiction, and I remember tearing through it. I had pretty low expectations for Project Hail Mary (because The Martian was just so damn good), but it appears that Weir has captured lightning in a bottle a second time.
The Coldest Winter by David Halberstam. Been looking for a survey of the Korean War, and think I finally found it, and Halberstam’s narrative style keeps it from feeling like a dry military history.
A quote I’m pondering:
Anna lit another cigarette and handed it to the Count. He took a drag and watched the smoke spiral toward the ceiling where the Muses looked down from the clouds.
"I'll tell you what is convenient," he said after a moment. "To sleep until noon and have someone bring you your breakfast on a tray. To cancel an appointment at the very last minute. To keep a carriage waiting at the door of one party, so that on a moment's notice it can whisk you away to another. To sidestep marriage in your youth and put off having children altogether. These are the greatest of conveniences, Anushka-and at one time, I had them all. But in the end, it has been the inconveniences that have mattered to me most."
Anna Urbanova took the cigarette from the Count's fingers, dropped it in a water glass, and kissed him on the nose.
Until next time