THE MT VOID
03/21/25 -- Vol. 43, No. 38, Whole Number 2372
Editor: Evelyn Leeper,
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Topics:
(Very) Slight Schedule Change
Mini Reviews, Part 7 (THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT,
A QUIET PLACE--DAY ONE, JULES) (film reviews
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Commercials (letter of comment by Paul Dormer)
This Week's Reading (Bryn Mawr-Wellesley Book Sale)
(book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: (Very) Slight Schedule Change
Starting with this issue, the MT VOID will be sent out at 8AM
instead of 9AM, because 8AM is the default time for scheduled
gmail, and it's a nuisance to have to keep typing in the time
every week. [-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Mini Reviews, Part 7 (film reviews by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Three science fiction films:
THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT (2024): In THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT, two
sibling bank robbers hear about a "safe house" where they can hide
out for a couple of weeks in the past, or the future, or a
parallel timeline, or somewhere out of time, or something...
There is a voice that may be an alien, or someone from the future,
or someone from the past, or an parallel timeline, , or somewhere
out of time, or something... And they are stuck there until they
perform a task set by the voice that will eventually happen.
If you thought PRIMER was confusing, wait until you watch this.
[-ecl]
Released theatrically and streaming 04 October 2024.
Film Credits:
<
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27491225/reference>
What others are saying:
<
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/things_will_be_different>
A QUIET PLACE--DAY ONE (2024): A QUIET PLACE--DAY ONE is the
prequel to the 2018 film A QUIET PLACE (which had a sequel A QUIET
PLACE II in 2020). This is the film in which the aliens with
super-sensitive hearing arrive on Earth.
(Side note: Why does "Earth" sound right and "Terra" sound wrong?
Is it because "Terra" only used when humanity has become
interplanetary?)
It is not clear how the authorities have figured out the
"super-sensitive hearing" part, or how they have managed to tell
make announcements telling everyone that.
For someone dying of cancer, Sam is awfully strong. [-ecl]
Released theatrically 28 June 2024.
Film Credits:
<
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13433802/reference>
What others are saying:
<
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_quiet_place_day_one>
JULES (2023): The elevator pitch for JULES would be "E.T. with
senior citizens." Milton (Ben Kingsley) is starting to show signs
of dementia, so when a spaceship lands in his backyard and he
starts telling people there is an alien in his house, after they
go through the "You mean an illegal alien?" routine they are
convinced this is just another symptom. But Milton and his two
friends Joyce (Jane Curtin) and Sandy (Harriet Sansom Harris) are
determined to help the alien, and in the process to help each
other.
Clearly this is aimed at an older audience (such as like COCOON)
while not abandoning its science fiction roots. (My favorite
COCOON anecdote: a relative about my age said she didn't like any
science fiction films. I said, "What about COCOON?" "Oh, that's
not science fiction." "Aliens come to Earth and give a bunch of
people immorality, and that's not science fiction?" She did have
to acknowledge that okay, COCOON may be science fiction.)
Jade Quon does an excellent job as the alien, although a lot of
credit goes to the make-up department. (There is no GCI used.)
We watched this on Hoopla; there's probably a DVD as well. [-ecl]
Released theatrically 11 August 2023.
Film Credits:
<
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15428940/reference>
What others are saying:
<
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jules>
===================================================================
TOPIC: Commercials (letter of comment by Paul Dormer)
In response to Gary McGath's comments on commercials in the
03/14/25 issue of the MT VOID, Paul Dormer writes:
Actually, that reminds me. Channel 5 which showed the games in
the UK overnight did show commercials, but never during the games.
Somebody on raseff at the time explained that channels could not
show more than a certain number of minutes an hour, but this was
averaged over the entire day. Not showing commercials overnight
meant they could show more during the day. [-pd]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
I will interrupt my comments on books with my annual commentary on
the Bryn Mawr-Wellesley Annual Book Sale (formerly the Bryn Mawr
Annual Book Sale). This is the first time since 2019 that I was
able to go, and I have to report that it is a pale shadow of its
former self.
There are several reasons. First, they apparently started with
about 50,000 books, as opposed to their peak size of 90,000 books.
Second, according to someone who had a friend who was a
volunteer, the dealers on the preview day cleaned out a lot of
stuff. All I know is that there were no boxes under the tables,
and lots of empty space on the tables, which they tried to fill by
having a lot of books face-up rather than spine-up.
Also, the prices went up--no surprise there, but not as much as
one might expect. Trade paperbacks were $3--they used to be $2.
Hardbacks were $4--I think they also used to be $2. DVDs were
still only $1 each--they've become old technology. In 2019, we
picked up two seasons of FOYLE'S WAR, and all of THE SOPRANOS
except Season 5, for $1/season. (We later filled in THE SOPRANOS
for only $5 on eBay.) But the DVD section was much smaller now
than in the past. I suspect that in the past few years, people
had already gotten rid of most of their DVDs. I did pick up a
couple of Teaching Company/Great Courses: "The Holy Land Revealed"
and "The Shape of Nature", both 36 lectures long on DVD (but
unfortunately missing the guidebooks that come with the TTC/GC
courses).
And while I am trying to downsize, I found a few books I wanted.
There was THE COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, or more
accurately, OBRAS COMPLETAS DE WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, since this was
a Spanish translation. Yes. I know people will say it's
Shakespeare's use of language that sets him apart, but for $4 I
couldn't pass this up. I will not be reading the 1000+ pages
cover-to-cover, or even entire plays, but I will probably sample
some of the famous soliloquies.
Another offbeat purchase was a graphic novel of Marcel Proust's
REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST--well, just "Combray", really. It was
adapted by Stephane Heuet, to give due credit, and is 72 9-inch by
12-inch pages. I guess I'll shelve it next to the Lovecraft works
done in the style of Dr. Seuss.
In a more normal vein, I got George C. Brauer, Jr.'s THE DECADENT
EMPERORS, Sara Anson Vaux's THE ETHICAL VISION OF CLINT EASTWOOD,
and Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi's FREUD'S MOSES (an analysis of Freud's
MOSES AND MONOTHEISM, which I reviewed in the 06/18/10 issue of
the MT VOID).
I also almost bought two books about Herman Melville and
MOBY-DICK, but when I checked my catalog, I discovered that not
only had I already read them, I actually already *owned* them.
And that's why one needs a catalog. [-ecl]
===================================================================
Evelyn C. Leeper
evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com F. Scott Fitzgerald is the first of the last generation.
--Gertrude Stein
MT VOID, 03/21/25 -- Vol. 43, No. 38, Whole Number 2372
Re: MT VOID, 03/21/25 -- Vol. 43, No. 38, Whole Number 2372