Human Nature

Charlie Kaufman is one of my favorite screenplay writers, with a totally unique way at looking at life. Just consider these films: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Being John Malkovich, and Adaptation. (He doesn’t always hit it out of the park. I wasn’t too impressed by Anomalisa or Read more »

Human Planet

Here is an interesting nature documentary. The filmmakers track down and document the strange and infinitely adaptable animal known as Homo sapiens. These strange creatures live in, and often thrive in, biomes as diverse as the ocean, the desert, the ice cap, jungle, mountains, plains, rivers, and that oddest environment of all: the sprawling hives they build and ... Read more »

The Human Stain

Two students have never shown up for the class taught by a respected college professor, Anthony Hopkins, who idly wonders aloud, “What are they? Spooks?” The missing students are black, which the prof didn’t know, and they take offense. He is brought up before a committee, and resigns in a rage. His wife dies that very day from an embolism brought on by the stress. But he has a ... Read more »

The Hundred-Foot Journey

An Indian family is burned out of their thriving restaurant in Mumbai and relocate to Europe with the idea of opening a new restaurant. They settle in France, of all places. The patriarch is Om Puri, who is a huge star in India. (He has one of the most outstanding noses I’ve ever seen. To call it a potato would be an insult to potatoes. It is, to quote Cyrano, a rock, a peak, a cape. It is ... Read more »

The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared

This was a big hit in Sweden, but probably too quirky to find more than a small audience in America. Like the title says, this old dude escapes from the retirement home where he has been wasting his later life. He goes to the bus station, and through a series of funny events, ends up with a suitcase stuffed with money that belongs to a drug dealer. And so the chase is on. Allen is a little ... Read more »

The Hunger Games

I enjoyed the books (I have read all three), and was curious to see how this one would turn out as a movie. I guess they didn’t dare change much, since the books have such a huge fan base of ‘tween and teen girls. And they didn’t. The premise is so awful that I think a lot of people would be put off. As punishment for an uprising over 70 years ago, the government of a future nation called ... Read more »

The Hunt

“Children don’t lie!” Who on Earth comes up with these cockamamie ideas, anyway? And who are the idiots who believe it? Children are born liars, they don’t even have to be taught. Usually they’re no good at it until they’ve had some practice, but they don’t lie? Give me a fucking break!

“Well, they don’t lie about sexual abuse, anyway.” Nothing can be further from the truth. The ... Read more »

The Hunt for the Wilderpeople

This movie tries very hard to be liked, and I really wanted to like it, I really did. It’s about a twelve-year-old boy in New Zealand, a kid who gets in trouble a lot. He is placed in a foster home way, way out in the bush, where he quickly learns to like the first real home he has ever had. But the nice woman who takes care of him dies suddenly and he is left with her grumpy, anti-social ... Read more »

The Hunted

An almost complete abomination. I say almost, because it got off to a good start, so when it degenerated into a mindless slugfest with men doing things men simply cannot do, when it turned into a comic book like so many movies these days, it was even more of a letdown. This movie was shot all around Portland while we were living there so we had high hopes. And it ... Read more »