If you expect A History of Violence
to be a typical Hollywood mindless shoot-em-up, you’re going to be disappointed. But you might just be the audience that would get the most out of the film anyway.
David Cronenberg’s thriller is violent, but more important than the fight sequences are their consequences for Tom Stall and the characters, each of whom changes over the course of the film as a result of being part of it, or merely witnessing it.
The question of identity, both the one a person is born to and the one they create for themselves as an adult, is the other central theme, specifically the question of which is real. When faced with the revelation that she may not know the whole truth of who her husband is, Edie Stall has to figure out if she still loves her husband and how she feels about that realization.
The film does not wrap things up into a tidy little bow: Unlike most movies, the violence done in the film does not end in a satisfying way and we know that the consequences of what happened will continue, for all of the characters, for the rest of their lives.
A strongly recommended adult (in the true sense of the word) film.
You may not be able to fit into your lederhosen any more, but you don’t look a day over … hmm, whatever age you wish you looked, boss.
My left hand and both feet feel as though someone has drawn a razor across them, going from between my two middle fingers (or toes) down to the heel. The pain comes and goes, but at midday, I was hobbling and my left hand was a claw.
The handful of episodes on the Firefly: The Complete Series DVDs range from the merely enjoyable to the great, but Joss Whedon’s Firefly is somewhat frustrating as a “complete series” because he wasn’t given time to complete it, or even to put a satisfactory ending on the show’s television incarnation.
Mysteries abound after the final episode, with the secrets of many of the characters frustratingly only hinted at, at best.
That said, the series is one of the strongest science fiction television series to date and marks a maturation of Joss Whedon’s craft — many of the same archetypes from his Buffyverse appear here, but in more complex and satisfying form. Well worth seeing for any science fiction fan, particularly those who prefer their starships a little more Millennium Falcon and a little less Enterprise.
Strongly recommended.
The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test
Pure Nerd
56 % Nerd, 47% Geek, 0% Dork
For The Record:
A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.
You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd.
The times, they are a-changing. It used to be that being exceptionally smart led to being unpopular, which would ultimately lead to picking up all of the traits and tendences associated with the “dork.” No-longer. Being smart isn’t as socially crippling as it once was, and even more so as you get older: eventually being a Pure Nerd will likely be replaced with the following label: Purely Successful.
Congratulations!
I feel vindicated.
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