While it may not be the definitive Magnum Opus of Tarintino, Django is the most rewatchable film in his filmography for me. It feels like a “guilty pleasure” film, even though it definitely is very well made so there’s nothing to be guilty over! The reason for this is because Django scratches many primal itches: revenge, self-growth, and simple power fantasy. It’s a lot like why many people read/watch Isekai stories even when they repeat the same story beats ad nauseum. I will never get sick of watching Django find success in the cruel world this film takes place in.
I watched this out-of-theater with subtitles on so I didn’t have to experience the same issues that many found with this film at launch. I think that this film is a competent Nolan film with all of his Nolanisms cranked up to 10. The sound mixing is a mess for people without “optimal cinema setups”, the dialogue is hard to follow and some of the characters are not relatable or well developed at all. However, I don’t think the plot is as “nonsensical” as some make it out to be. I think the way the film handles “time-reversed” things make sense (at least in universe to the average audience member) and the logic stays consistent throughout the movie. The gimmick gives way for Nolan to do what he does best, make big spectacle to really WOW the audience. It definitely is not my favorite Nolan film, but in no way is it a film I failed to get enjoyment out of. 7/10
Playing a classic Queen’s pawn or King’s pawn opening is way too theory intensive. For each major opening you have to memorize multiple lines of theory to play at a semi-competent level, and playing chess very sporadically, I don’t relish the “relearning” process in order to start enjoying the game again.
I have resorted to diving hard into lines that have a very clear mainline / aren’t as popular on a fundamental level. These are some lines that can be forced into from the most popular openings and allow the learner to be more “studied” on the niche traps since they branch from openings where the opponent must study multiple lines. I pray that this knowledge advantage is enough to carry me; at least it makes Blitz easily accessible from a long break.
King’s pawn opening – Kings Gambit
Whenever I play the Double King’s pawn game from white, my go-to is the King’s Gambit. Most e4 – e5 openings devolve into the classic development of the minor pieces in the center. Playing the King’s Gambit allows a very “narrow” branching opening where a slight mistake from the opponent will lead to an easy advantage.
Queen’s pawn opening – Englund Gambit
I hate Queen’s Gambit players with a passion. The opening for white is so fundamentally sound and it definitely is tricky to maneuver around if you haven’t played for a while. What better way to play against it than with the fundamentally unsound Englund Gambit. This opening is a pure gimmick, with a very braindead trap that works well against low level players. If you study the theory heavily though, your opponent will have to play in a minefield for a series of moves to actually earn that material advantage. This opening works until a undeservingly high level too, I’ve sniped matches from 1500s in a few moves.
King’s pawn opening – Sicilian Defense
Unfortunately this is one of the sound openings I usually have to understand intensely to round out my game. Once the Sicilian is played, you are playing a Sicilian game. Sounds obvious but from the white side they have to study the Double Kings Pawn, the French, the Caro-Kann, etc, when they want to open with the King’s pawn. Once you force a Sicilian against lower level players, you should have a massive theory advantage over your opponent. It’s also good to know because if you play the King’s pawn opening from the white side, you may find the Sicilian forced upon you as well.
Summary
White side: King’s Pawn opening
-> King’s Gambit
-> Sicilian game
Black side: King’s Pawn opening
-> Sicilian defense
Black side: Queen’s Pawn opening
-> Englund Gambit
I’d guess around 85% of games I encounter in Blitz can be forced into one of these three lines. Keeping a basic knowledge of these few branches allows me to come back into chess and relearn the lines of my games relatively quickly and they have the added benefit of being extremely fun to play as well.
I consider this a modern classic simply because of the fight choreography. This film has very little fluff in terms of story, but the action in this film surpasses anything in mainstream Hollywood. It’s one the most accessible foreign films of all time because the draw of this movie does not lie in the dialogue. Instead, a lot of the creativity is in liberties they took with fighting, and creating tension while the MC climbs the tower. By the end, the enemies get pretty ridiculous with some of the plot points that come up but Rama is just Spongebob climbing Karate Island man.
I watched the Final Cut, which is thought to be inferior to the Theatrical version of this film. Consensus is the shorter the cut is, the better this movie becomes with it’s original theatrical release being regarded as the best. This movie still felt competent to me, with very engaging scenes/characters. I definitely think it’s a product of it’s time and became such a staple because of it’s commentary on the then recent Vietnam war. From a modern perspective, it never gave me the impression it did anything to warrant it’s “classic” status. Maybe the original cut would change my mind. 8/10
With all the sponsored VPN posts on the internet I would like to put my personal experience out there with my current choice Mullvad VPN. It is a privacy focused VPN based in Sweden which claims to hold no logs of it’s users. If you are using a VPN to obfuscate your traffic from spying eyes like your ISP or the government, you definitely want to vet the practices of the VPN you are using.
Speed
Firstly we can look at the speeds of the service. I’d rate them as mid to mid-high in terms of VPN speed.
Mullvad Speeds from a Bay Area node from a Bay Area location:
Speed on open connection
Speed through Mullvad VPN
Service & Features
In terms of features, Mullvad falls fairly low in the pack. If you are using a VPN simply to spoof your location in order to watch Netflix, Hulu, etc. this VPN will most likely not be your first choice. It does have some useful features that are very useful to me such as: port forwarding and split tunneling. I would say the features it does implement feel robust. It feels like they are in no rush to implement a lot of the popular features of other VPNs as they are competing for a different group of consumers. Overall, I’d say the feature set falls a little flat for Mullvad.
Trustworthiness
This is where I rate Mullvad the highest and where I put the most weight in my VPN service. Mullvad claims to be a ‘privacy-focused’ and ‘no logs’ VPN but consumers can never know until a government subpoena proves it so. However, the closest thing we can get are independent audits which vouch for the nature of these VPNs which Mullvad has done in the past. In addition, Mullvad is the ‘white-label’ VPN for Mozilla VPN which means they provide the underlying service with Mozilla’s brand name. I personally trust in Mozilla for their highly praised Firefox browser, and trust in their ability to vet and audit the VPN provider they use for their own service. I trust in Mozilla’s dedication to privacy and, by extension, am willing to pass that trust onto Mullvad which has shown nothing but good faith in their blogs and business model.
Pricing
Mullvad frankly has a gimmick pricing model. It is a 5€ per month model with no discounts for longterm subscriptions(although you can pay 5 USD through their IOS app). More than that, they offer no avenue for referral kickbacks for people who want to recommend Mullvad. While this may make VPN reviewers stray away from it, I actually commend Mullvad for having the confidence to let the service stand on it’s own merits rather than a large advertising campaign. While well advertised ≠ a lack of quality, I personally believe there is a correlation.
The payment system is also interesting. You don’t have to tie your Mullvad account to any of your personal information. You can simply generate a 16 digit key, and add funds to that key using any form of private payment ranging from crypto to straight mailed-in cash. I’d say this system is less of a gimmick, and more of an actual benefit of Mullvad’s model.
Conclusion
I’d say for what Mullvad is trying to be, it accomplishes nicely. It fills a niche in the VPN market for people who actually want a VPN for privacy. From it’s partnership with Mozilla to it’s implementation of privacy-centric features, I am willing to give Mullvad the benefit of the doubt over many other VPNs that saturate the market. At the end of the day, it’s stubborn pricing model might as well be consumer-centric as all their consumers are not tied down to one provider. You better believe privacy focused VPN consumers are ready to leave at the drop of a hat if Mullvad shows even the slightest hint of anti-consumer practices.
21 Jump Street is a very self-aware modern comedy, and in my opinion Jonah Hill’s best comedy even over ‘Superbad’. Full of low-brow humor, this is a movie you can put on without having the gauge the taste of your friends much. Even while extremely accessible, it doesn’t feel like this is a throwaway comedy made by a bunch of out-of-touch execs. Jonah Hill is credited both as an executive producer and writer. He put a lot of effort into getting this film greenlit and completed and that effort shows; it definitely feels like a passion project rather than a cashgrab. 9/10
Most likely because of it’s simplicity, this movie has aged beautifully and has a timelessness that many others films around its time do not. Even if you are not that into older movies(can’t say that I am), Twelve Angry Men will captivate you throughout. It shies away from revealing the ‘truth’ on whether the accused is guilty to the viewer and focuses more on the jury process. Being as in-the-dark as the jurors, it feels as if we were being convinced along with the characters throughout the film. Definitely a classic.
Brad Pitt’s beginning of his serious roles and arguably still his best. In addition, this can be counted among Bruce Willis’s best films as well. Twelve Monkeys can scratch the mainstream blockbuster itch while still giving plenty of re-watchability and maintains it’s ability to follow it’s own self contained logic. It is definitely one of the best implementations of time travel logic in movies and is worth watching solely because of that. Regardless, it comes with an interesting plot with similarly interesting character dynamics. I give this a perfect score because, for what the movie is trying to be, I argue it accomplishes it perfectly.
Notable:
*Film gets great use of main actors Bruce Willis(hit or miss actor) and Brad Pitt(pivotal point in career)
*One of the best implementations of time travel logic ever in film and basically stays consistent throughout
