Category Archives: Reviews

2014, alternatives, crime, Movie Review, movies, thriller

[Alternatives] – Movies – Nightcrawler

December 15, 2014 Joey @ thoughts and afterthoughts 5 Comments

Alternatives is the tagline feature for other forms of entertainment outside of discussing literature. These posts may encompass television, movies, games, and music with a randomized flavour of the moment approach to each post.

Alternatives
Movies – Nightcrawler

Genre: Crime, Thriller, Drama
Duration: 117 Minutes
Directed & Written By: Dan Gilroy

"NIGHTCRAWLER is a pulse-pounding thriller set in the nocturnal underbelly of contemporary Los Angeles. Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Lou Bloom, a driven young man desperate for work who discovers the high-speed world of L.A. crime journalism. Finding a group of freelance camera crews who film crashes, fires, murder and other mayhem, Lou muscles into the cut-throat, dangerous realm of nightcrawling -- where each police siren wail equals a possible windfall and victims are converted into dollars and cents. Aided by Rene Russo as Nina, a veteran of the blood-sport that is local TV news, Lou thrives. In the breakneck, ceaseless search for footage, he becomes the star of his own story."

Nightcrawler—not to be confused with the Marvel mutant—gives a master class in shameless journalism that panders to fear mongering and is served with a side of ambitious, sociopathic enthusiasm of the everyday schmuckn. This is perhaps the superficial layer of the film and it works just fine. But the meaning is rooted in how Louis Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) treats himself as an enterprise. From discovering where his core values and interests lie to business modeling and analytics, every action reinforces Lou’s corporate mantra as he navigates the competitive landscape while maintaining and manipulating his relationships with only success in mind. It becomes incredibly fascinating (and a tad bit frightening) to witness Lou endorse the American dream; an aspect this film paradoxes so well of today’s culture of ambition. “If you want to win the lottery, you have to make the money to buy a ticket.” Logically sound, metaphorically resilient—Ayn Rand would surely endorse this film—and it is a meaning best understood post-viewing.

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2014, Book Review, contemporary, mystery, standalone, status & class, YA

[Review] We Were Liars – E. Lockhart

December 10, 2014 Joey @ thoughts and afterthoughts 38 Comments

Book Title: We Were Liars (Standalone)
Author: E. Lockhart
Number of pages: 227

Synopsis:

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

(re: Goodreads @ We Were Liars by E. Lockhart)

Should this book be picked up? the tl;dr spoiler-less review:

– If you are dying to read this book, forgo every review and just read.
– Putting on that detective hat may ruin the reading experience. The “big twist” isn’t earth shattering if readers can uncover the clues.
– The narrative follows an unreliable narrator and often reads with a staggered-yet-lyrical bounce. The descriptive prose is vivid but often overbearing and too dramatic—teenagers don’t think/speak the way this novel imagines them.
– The plot centers on a mystery and how the protagonist cannot recall a pivotal moment that changed her family. Everything else is filler content; basically tom-foolery, eating lots of food, and romantic dilemmas.
– Themes (money and power, corruption, racism and discrimination, misogyny, etc.) are lacklustre in development and add limited commentary to inspire change.

Initial Thoughts

First-world problems.
To eat that scone or not.
A fair-skinned girl; a boy quite the opposite.
Three musketeers, three French hens, a BLT sandwich. Three.
A skeptical hat. An ill-conceived plan. A lot of hype.
No one likes the truth.
Truth can save you.
Truth is boring.

Read it (or don’t).
And if anyone asks you how it ends, please consider the TRUTH.

In another world, this may have at least made it past the first round of proofing. (Maybe not, maybe not, maybe not.)

Disclaimer: Potential spoilers inherent to this review from here onward.

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