Watched 3 movies yesterday and this evening:
Apocalypse Now
I watched this years ago but couldn't remember much. Seeing it again, I was surprised at just how many scenes I'd completely forgotten. Most of the scenes I'd forgotten are really weird. Like that segment where Baldwin and his boat crew meet up with a rain soaked and muddy military outpost and pay two drums of boat fuel to fool around with a couple Playboy bunnies for a while. It's a strange way to make a war movie and I'm honestly not sure what to make of it. The long segment of the movie with the French land owners who protect their own little slice of family owned Vietnam was completely unexpected. Couldn't remember any of that at all. It was as if I was watching an entirely new movie at that point. The movie is frankly pretty surreal, right from the very beginning - not just when things get weird in Marlon Brando land.
Whiplash
Pretty entertaining movie, but I really have to admit that I think it is silly as hell. No way could or would a teacher behave like that and keep his job for even one day. It's completely nuts, plus his motivations are pretty damn hard to call plausible. It's a good movie, but it has to be taken with a few buckets of salt. I felt like it's narrative was more suitable for a sports movie than a music movie. The music loving side of me finds the movie's portrayal of the world of professional jazz drumming completely preposterous.
The Martian
Being a big fan of Ridley Scott's movies, I'm not sure why it took me so long to watch this one. It was actually pretty damn good. It was surprisingly nice to see a sci-fi movie with such an uplifting attitude for once. I liked the whole cast in this movie and it was both funny and exciting. Definitely a modern Scott classic in my book. It belongs next to several of his finest movies. There's really no other space movie quite like this.