The Gunman movie review: the yawn identity
A tired old piece of action junk that expects us to sympathize with a very bad man. We don’t.
Year: 2015
London photo: backyard chicken
Technically this is not a city chicken but a denizen of the Surrey suburbs to the south of London.
The Divergent Series: Insurgent movie review: being human
Sneakily undercuts tropes of the young-adult hero’s journey. But in a more adventurous movie environment, this wouldn’t feel this fresh as it does.
London photo: bird with plastic
In Little Venice, near Paddington.
Where Are the Women? X+Y (aka A Brilliant Young Mind)
Boy genius is confused, upset. Mom and girlfriend will guide him on the path to manhood. Because of course they will. [This post is not behind the paywall.]
Where Are the Women? Cinderella
Subsume your individuality and your desires in the hopes that other people will like you? How come we never tell stories about men that sound like this? [This post is not behind the paywall.]
male protagonist bingo
This was created (not by me) as a commentary on videogames, but almost without any alteration, it also applies to movies. [This post is not behind the paywall.]
Where Are the Women? Suite Française
A wonderful example of the fact that war is not the exclusive domain of men (as it often seems to be in fiction) and that women have war stories, too. [This post is not behind the paywall.]
Where Are the Women? Run All Night
Women do not figure into this testosterone fest, except as the object of sexual jokes or as familial property that can be threatened to motivate a man. [This post is not behind the paywall.]
London photo: classic pickup
A classic American pickup truck, with California plates (which I suspect might be fake).
