353 – Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014)

Sometimes you review a movie and can’t quite figure out where to begin. That is not the case with Exodus: Gods and Kings; one of the film’s biggest issues is right there on the porcelain-white surface. I’ll let director Ridley Scott take it from here: “I can’t mount a film of this budget, where I have to rely on tax rebates in Spain, and say that my lead actor is Mohammad so-and-so from such-and-such. I’m just not going to get it financed. So the question doesn’t come up.” He’s got a point – why even consider ethnically appropriate actors when you can make a movie about ancient Hebrews and Egyptians starring superstars like Joel Edgerton, Ben Mendelsohn, and Aaron Paul? The closed-mindedness that Scott exhibits here is incredibly frustrating, and that very notion ought to invalidate the movie entirely. But it was made and released regardless, so reviews must be written.

271 – Not-So-Lazy Sundays

excellent photoshop courtesy of Megan Baker

Sundays are the worst. The entire day is mired in the inevitability of Monday, and the return to work or school that it heralds. Unfortunately for me, Sundays mean that I have to go back to work AND school. Because they’re the same thing, you see. So I think I can be excused for trying to take it easy on that last day of freedom. I was expecting today to be as lazy a Sunday as I’ve ever had – so lazy in fact, that I would almost write the same review twice. But life has a way of surprising you.