One Battle After Another

Extremism, Movies

 

 

This film much to my delight, won the Academy Award for Best Picture of the Year 2026.  That was a good choice.  But I was very disappointed by the few patrons that watched it. How can that be? It had great stars with great acting. I thought it was very funny. I laughed harder the second time I watched it than the first time. It had some great actions scenes, including a 3-vehicle car chase that made me feel as if I was on roller coaster. It was very well written. What are people going to see if they don’t go to see this film?  I am perplexed. My theory is that any film not designed to attract teenagers won’t be watched by enough people to make much of a profit, if at all. That’s a pity.

The film is about some young left-wing revolutionaries who are definitely not treated as heroes. Neither are their opponents, the right-wing Christmas Adventurers and their leading military style cop, Col. Steven Lockjaw, played with insane aplomb and bravado by the brilliant Sean Penn. The film definitely does not worship the revolutionaries or counter-revolutionaries. It mocks them both unmercifully. Hence the ample platform for comedy. What could be better than mocking extremists in this age of extremism?

Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor) is the female revolutionary and seeing her 9 months pregnant, if not more, firing an automatic rifle, is a heart stopper. She tells her too tame boy-friend, Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio) to “Snap Crackle Pop.” This is revolution to the sound-track of breakfast cereals. She also makes clear to Bob that she is not his “udder buddy.” Her job as a revolutionary means she is too busy to be a mother, so poor Bob has to raise their daughter as best he can.

After the radicals bomb a few buildings, rob a bank, and kill a teller, the film changes direction. Perfidia gets caught and the establishment lands on her like a tank.

 

Then the film springs ahead 16 years when her daughter, Willa (Chase Infiniti) is a feisty and strong rebel, but rebelling as much against her revolutionary father as the establishment, and explains to her perplexed friends that her father is “a fucking paranoid.” But Bob, now a has-been rebel with a drug addled brain, hassles her friends and insists she says, “I love you Bob” before she gets in the car with her friends

 

My favorite character in the film is the incredibly laid-back revolutionary Sergio (Benicio del Toro), who calmly leads a long line of refugee children through a revolutionary melee while sipping a beer and encouraging Bob to chill, as all around him everyone except for the trusting children, are frantic. The refugees have to flee, but  Sergio takes the time to introduce Bob to them as “the gringo Zapata.” Bob ends up running in a panic through the streets in his dressing gown, whining that he has nowhere to charge his phone.

 

Sergio sends Bob out to follow 3 young punk revolutionaries carrying skateboards, running on the roofs of buildings, jumping and bounding exactly like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Bob follows as best he can, but inevitably, tries to jump from one building to another, and does not make it, instead landing on a tree that fortunately breaks his fall as he crashes to the ground.

 

What are they fighting for? As one revolutionary says, to oppose “a white bread, philistine, asshole, corporate, culture whose only end is to profess the science of advertising.” In other words, this is modern American-style revolution as absurd as the society that spawned it.

 

Of course, the corporate counter revolutionaries are no better. They say their goal is “no more lunatics,” but their lunacy is on steroids. These money glazed idiots called the Christmas Adventurers are introduced with a sound track of a very loud and obnoxious version of Hark the Herald Angels Sing.  They meet in a secret meeting room in a bunker underneath a mansion that looks like a hunting lodge and greet each other with a hearty “Hail Saint Nick.” To be admitted to the group, each proposed member must conclude a vulnerability study called “a double Yankee anti-white Inquisition completum.” Basically that means they must demonstrate proper racial animus against all non-whites and then they are good to go. They want to attack the refugees in Baktan Cross, a sanctuary city full of thousands of “wets and stinkies.” They are flown in on a large helicopter  and use automatic weapons and flack jackets, to harass the grade 6 & 7 students. Their main target is Chicken Licken Frozen Farm which they believe is a front for a large-scale heroin operation.

 

Willa is aided in her flight from the Christmas Adventurers by dope smoking nuns. She had been taught from an early age that when a revolutionary comes to her and says “Green Acres, Beverly Hillbillies, and Petticoat Junction” (the names of 3 inane TV comedy series years ago) she must follow their instructions to be led to safety. When Bob tries to get help for her from his old revolutionary pals, he must first give them a very complicated secret code that he learned 16 years ago.    Sadly, Bob can no longer remember the Code and as a result a left-wing revolutionary, called Comrade Josh,  who is a stickler for the rules, will not help Bob or Willa. Bob is extremely upset because he learned the Code so many years ago when his brain was French-fried by hallucinogenic drugs and complains to the revolutionary: “This is not how revolutionaries do shit! You’re a little nit-picking prick. What kind of revolutionary are you brother? Get a better name Comrade Josh, that’s a ridiculous name for a revolutionary.”  The only thing the Comrade does tell him is his location. “I am in a secure location somewhere in between the stolen land of the Wabanaki and the stolen land of the Chumash.”

 

Watching 10 films nominated for best picture I thought I noticed a common theme. Many of them were infused with insane goals. This movie illustrated that well.  In this film, both revolutionaries and counter-revolutionaries, had insane goals—revolution or fighting it. Neither made any sense at all.

 

Academy Award for Best Picture of 2026

Movies

 

 

In my opinion the film One Battle After Another should win the award for the Best Picture of 2026. At the time I am writing this I don’t know who will win I just finished watching the last of the 10 nominees yesterday, and today I decided to watch again the one I thought was best of all those nominated. That was One Battle After Another. I enjoyed it all over again.

 

I can’t believe this movie was not more popular.  When I went to see it in Steinbach I was surprised and disappointed that more people had not gone to see  it. I thought it was very funny and thought-provoking with fine acting, great writing, wonderful cinematography, and pretty good songs. Who could ask for more? If you haven’t seen I recommend you do it. Its worth the watch.

 

I wanted to announce that before the awards ceremony in a couple of hours, though I know my choices have usually been wrong in the past.  Even my predictions when I divorce that from my preferences have usually been wrong. It is hard to predict, but fun to try.

 

After going through this process this year my faith in films has been renewed. Films are a great art form. Maybe the best because they combine so may art forms. Writing, acting, music, and cinematography. They can create a wonderful conglomerate or an awful mess. Sometimes both at once.

 

Often the films when I first watched them did not appeal. After reflection though, I thought they were all worth watching. Even the weird ones. Adn some were very weird. All were flawed. Perfection is hard to find.

 

But I think it will win. Later tonight we will find out what the Academy thinks.

 

After today, I will comment on all of the 10 films that were nominated for best picture, including why I thought this one was best.

 

Happy viewing.

Academy Awards 2026

Movies

 

 

 

In the last few years, I have been enamoured of the Academy Awards. It has been my crazy assumption each year that the films that have been nominated for Best Picture are good films worth watching. Sadly, that has not always been true. At least sometimes I just did not get it. Why was this choice a film great?

 

Each year I am totally perplexed by some of the choices. Of the selections by the academy, to my wholly untrained eye and ear and mind,   many seem at first glance, nonsensical .  Who would want to see all of those films? And for what purpose?

 

Why do I do this? First, I started this because I thought I would enjoy the Academy Award show more. Not really a good reason to watch all those films. After all, in the last few years as many as 10 possible winners were nominated for Best Picture of the year. If the show is not interesting don’t watch it. But, I felt a little more knowledge might enhance the show and my appreciation of the films.

 

One problem is that when it comes to movies, I live in a cultural desert here in Steinbach.  We get very few films at our local theatre and those we get are mainly ones for young children or older children. Or action films with legions of people killed by one “hero.” Not really for me. But this year, I realized I could actually watch all of them from my home with film streaming. No trips to Winnipeg and modest fees. That made it a bit more palatable.

 

Despite these hesitations, I have plowed ahead. I got into the game a little late this year, but have seen 8 of the 10 nominated films and still have a couple of days to go. But I have found that as a result of this silly goal I have seen a lot of movies I ordinarily would never see and many of these have been very pleasant surprises.

 

That is the key. Surprises. I have always loved movies but the best part is watching a hidden gem and I have done that. Even this year. I will post on this year’s selections soon. There was some less than stellar films, in my humble view.

 

However—and this is the point—humility is important.  If a film has been nominated by peers in the film business it must have some merit. I have learned, that if I don’t catch on right away, it might be my fault, not the film’s fault. Maybe I did not work hard enough to understand a particular film. That means I should try harder to figure out what is good about a film in which I see little of value. I had a couple of surprises about films after I paid some extra attention. Attention and awareness can reap gold. And not just the gold of the Oscars.

 

It has been fun. And enlightening. I will share my views on each film in upcoming posts.

 

What do Epicurus, Henry David Thoreau, Daniel Klein and my mother have in common?

Books, Philosophy/Ideas, The Simple Life, World of ideas

Daniel Klein the author of the book Travels with Epicurus, drew a lot of inspiration for that book from his reading of the ancient Greek philosopher, Epicurus. There was another brilliant thinker who also found inspiration there. This was the American thinker Henry David Thoreau.  I would say they were all kindred spirits.

Both men were profoundly content.

When I read Klein’s book, I was reminded of Henry David Thoreau, one of my heroes.  Thoreau lived simply in a plain cabin by a small lake, called Walden Pond. One day a friend arrived and offered him a floor mat.  Thoreau declined, feeling that the acquisition would not really enhance his life and would just create more useless work. He would have to pound it from time to time to get rid of dirt and dust. Not a big job, but an unnecessary one. What good would that do him?  He found no need for it. Therefore, he did not want it and declined the gift from a friend.

 

I remember my mother’s small senior’s apartment she moved into after my father was admitted into a personal care home.  In it she had a plaque which  read, “This is all I have, so it is all I need.”  She was making do with less by deliberate choice. She was nervous about her choice. I remember when she first moved in she referred to the apartment as her “dollhouse,” but within weeks she was entirely content. She did not need much so she reduced her wants and simplified her life. This made her life more joyful and meaningful. It was less dominated by things she really did not care about. I don’t think she had ever read Thoreau, but she was in her own way, a deep thinker.

 

I think all four of these thinkers had reached a conclusion that they wanted to know how to live the most fulfilling life in their present circumstances. Each of them in their own way worked on their own philosophy of life.  Perhaps Henry David Thoreau spoke for all of them when he said, “for my greatest skill has been to want but little.”

Fellowship

Books, Fellow Feeing, Health, The Simple Life, World of ideas

 

I know someone. His name shall remain secret. He is an old man who moved to a small town where he knows only 1 other person. The two of them get together from time to time. But often not.  He was invited to meet a group of others living nearby in his neighbourhood. He did not know them. He did not want to meet anyone of them. In fact, he told us, “They are not my kind of people.” He said that even though he knew nothing about them. He declined an opportunity to make new friends. He did not want to have new friends. So now he has no friends in his neighbourhood.  None except the one. I think that is sad.

 

He gave up a chance to get together with new friends.  I figure he lost a lot.  Social scientists have learned that companionship and friendships are the greatest cause of satisfaction in life. Particularly older life, where other pleasures are often diminished. They are also the greatest source of mental health. Good friends usually means good mental health. Though of course, not always.

 

I say each of us can choose to walk our own path. I don’t want to choose paths for others. Yet sometimes I think I see others making a mistake.

 

Daniel Klein went to Greece for the explicitly purpose of studying Epicurus more closely in the country in which he lived. He wrote about it in his book Travels with Epicurus What a great goal. Epicurus an ancient Greek philosopher who never studied social sciences knew this and understood it. Here is what he said: “Of all the things that wisdom provides to help one live one’s entire life in happiness, the greatest by far is possession of friendship.” He wrote that about 2,000 years ago now scientists know he was right. How cool is that?

 

I could not agree more with Epicurus on that point.  I am blessed by the fact that I have a few groups of friends who get together periodically. Some groups every week. Some groups once a month. Some groups once every 3 or 4 months. All groups are very convivial. We laugh and talk. We talk about ideas and nonsense too. We talk about funny things and sad things.  That’s about it. No obligations. No strings attached. All groups are very different from each other mainly with completely different people.  In my old age these groups are among my greatest pleasures.

 

Recently, Christiane, my wife, has decided that we should periodically visit the local Public House. It is a modest place. No food. Only beer and wine. Only two wines are served. One red and one white No more. The beer is crafted in the house. You can sometimes get a mixed cocktail in can. But no ice and no limes (for a gin and tonic a major omission). But what counts is vising with friends. We did not know most of the people who attended regularly, but have got to know some new friends.  It has led to great conversation—a social blessing in other words.

 

This is what Daniel Klein called “the comfort of personal communion.”That expression has a touch of the spiritual to it doesn’t it? I’m good with that. After all, as I keep saying fellow feeling is the basis of all religions, and we should note the word “compassion” which means fellow feeling or empathy, has the same root as “companionship.” These are not accidents.

 

I like the expression fellowship.  It is related to my favorite concept on which I have commented from time to time—namely, fellow feeling. Fellow feeling in my view is the fundamental basis of all morality, the best of politics, and all art. Nothing is more important than fellow feeling.

I am blessed. We are blessed. And we are happy.

Greek Civilization

Books, civilization, Philosophy/Ideas, World of ideas

 

Some people think civilization was invented by the Greeks. I am not sure that is true, but they sure learned to practice it. Daniel Klein had come to Greece to figure out how best to live out his life in his old age. He thought he was in the right place and wrote about it in his wonderful book Travels with Epicurus. That book inspired me to meander off on all kinds of tangents some of which I have been blogging about. I too went to Greece many years ago in 1989.

 

Klein told a story about he and his wife getting on a train in Greece falling asleep quickly, and learning to their dismay when they woke up that they were going the wrong direction. They took the train going east when they wanted to go west. A pretty big mistake. What could he do about it?

 

He went to tell the conductor about his misery, but it seemed the conductor was ignoring the problem and kept pestering him about people he might know back in the USA.  Then all of a sudden, his train stopped and he noticed a train going in the opposite direction that also had come to a stop by an apricot grove.  People had disembarked the train and were enjoying the apricots and sun and were telling each other stories and just plain enjoying life.

 

Then he realized that this other train had stopped only for Klein and his wife. Someone had signalled them about Klein’s problem and stopped the train to help them out. No one on the other train that the Kleins got onto complained about the unscheduled stop. In fact, they just enjoyed it. They smoked, talked, and ate apricots. It was all good. They all had time to help someone out. No one was fussed. It was not big deal. They were content.

Then Klein later recalling the episode said that he knew “I had come to the right part of the world to meditate on the best way to live my old age.”[1] These people knew how to deal with small problems of life. He had come to civilization. Greek civilization.

Klein also said, by all accounts

 

“this was a civilization that liked to talk and made the time to do so.  Later forms of communication, like the frequently one-way media of our era, did not offer competition to daily dialogue…These people were talking about ideas.”

 

Imagine that people talking about ideas. Not the latest political news. They talked about ideas. And enjoyed it with apricots, and sunlight.

 

Kleins also mentioned something we had learned about when we went to Greece so many decades ago.  It was something about ancient Greeks. They loved to attend plays—dramas, often of a philosophical nature. As Klein said,

 

“Attending a performance at the Dionysus amphitheatre was often an all- day affair in which the audience was cast in the role of a jury that deliberated on which character’s actions and viewpoints was most worthy. After-theatre discussions about justice, proper conduct, and human frailties could get hot and heavy. These people were talking about ideas.”

 

Imagine that. Taking the time out of a busy day to talk about ideas. That is civilized.

 

As Klein said, “This, in the end, is the prime purpose of a philosophy: to give us lucid ways to think about the world and how to live in it.” Yes, Klein had come to the right place.

 

It was the place where great philosophers were born, like Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, and Epicurus. This was a place of great civilization.

 

 

Whisper words of Wisdom; Let it Be

Philosophy/Ideas, The Simple Life

 

One of my favorite fictional series of books was that created by John D. MacDonald. Each book in the series had a named color in the title. The series revolved around Travis McGee who lived on a houseboat in Fort Lauderdale and worked irregularly, as sort of a detective. His job really was helping women—usually beautiful women—in distress. Not a bad job if you can get it. He always claimed he was taking his retirement in instalments. He didn’t want to wait until he was old to retire. He couldn’t wait that long.

 

Daniel Klein, in his book Travels with Epicurus, was sitting one day on the terrace again on his favorite Greek Island, Hydra, drinking in the sun, enjoying the day deeply, when, much to his surprise he met an old classmate from Harvard. Both men were surprised to see each other. The Harvard man stepped off a yacht. Klein look dishevelled. He had not cut his hair since he arrived there about half a year earlier. When the Harvard friend asked him what the hell he was doing there, Klein explained, “I’m taking my retirement early while I can still enjoy it.” But Klein did not stay more than a year. Shortly after that, he had enough and returned home. He had no regrets. He enjoyed it immensely while he was there and then returned home. He was content.

 

I had a good friend Eugene Reimer. He was the best man at my wedding and he was a bit like Travis McGee. I know he enjoyed those books like I did. But unlike me, Eugene took that philosophy to heart. He was one of the original computer guys and found it very easy to find work.  At about age 40 he decided he had been working too hard. Those who knew him laughed at that suggestion. He never worked hard.  At least not for long.  When he actually worked he ‘gave ‘er’ But he decided that from now on, as soon as he made enough money for the year he would quit for the rest of the year. I remember one time inviting him over to our house in early December and he said he had just quit work for the year. I remarked, “You sure worked a lot this year.”  He replied, “well I just started November 1.” Each year when he made enough, he quit. Why work more? He was content. That year he worked less than 2 months.

 

I often admitted to him how jealous I was and he reminded me that I could do that too. The only difference he said was the he lived simply. I always thought I did that. I have lived in the same house for more than 50 years. His needs and desires were modest. In his house he still used the same sofa he had bought from the Salvation Army when he and I lived together as poor university students. And it still had the same spring sticking out that would grab you by the ass if you sat down on it.  It was good enough. Especially since he never had to sit in it. Only his hapless visitors like I got the dubious pleasure of sitting on the couch.  His only decorative item in the house  was a cheap pair of spectacles hanging on a nail on the wall of his living room. I never knew why. It seemed to be his only concession to ornamentation.

 

Eugene never bragged about it or got preachy about it; he just lived a simple life. And he enjoyed the rewards of a simple life, more time—a lot more time—to do the things he really liked and largely avoided doing the things he didn’t like.

 

Eugene was lucky for he died pretty young. That may sound odd. He was lucky in the sense that he did enjoy annual interim retirements. He was also lucky, because if he had waited to retire at age 65 he would never have retired at all. And he did fully retired at about 45. So actually, he wasn’t lucky. He was smart. He was probably the smartest guy I ever knew. And he retired young and enjoyed every moment of it. He knew how to live. Like Epicurus. Adn Travis McGee. Be content.

 

Eugene liked the philosophy of Travis McGee, and he lived it. Daniel Klein got his advice from Epicurus, but both might have got it from the Beatles, who said, “Whisper Words of Wisdom, let it be.”  What could be wiser than that? Too many of us waste our lives by striving forever. They can’t stop.  What a pity.

 

The Prison of Everyday Life

Books, The Simple Life, Woke, World of ideas

Life can imprison us. That is fact that young men and young women often fail to understand. They spend their entire lives relentlessly looking for that which they don’t have, but they think they need. As Bob Dylan said, “Don’t go mistaking paradise for that home across the road.” It isn’t paradise. In fact, it might be a prison for it will forever chain us to the responsibility of maintenance.

 

Henry David Thoreau when he was living on Walden Pond was offered a gift of a small door mat. He declined because he felt if he accepted he would have to clean it regularly and he felt that was too much trouble, so it was not worth the price.

 

Routine can also imprison us. We often do things just because we think we have to do them. But we don’t. Often, we are as free as a bird on a wire. But we don’t know it. Then we are imprisoned by routine. Then we must bolt for freedom. In the act of rebelling, we will understand we are free. Until then we are in jail. Daniel Klein in h is book Travels with Epicurus called it “radical existential freedom” and said it “is absolutely necessary for a happy life.”  I agree.

 

Epicurus was wise, for he said, “We must free ourselves from the prison of everyday affairs and politics.” I do not mean to say we should pay no attention at all to politics. We must recognize injustice and unkindness and speak up against it. If we don’t we facilitate injustice and thus contribute to the decay of society. We are then partly to blame. I am not saying we should follow the lead of the uber woke either. I am in favour of woke, which I see as awareness, but too much can be sickening. Like a basketball player who dribbles too much.

 

The key, I think is that we should not let politics dominate our lives.