"There's something attractive about a man who's sensitive to the agonies of existence."

It's been so much fun booing the last few days that Brandon and I have decided to take our Girls talk to the Boo blog. There is more to talk about in episode 2 than there was last week - like the way every single character creates a lie around themselves to mask less than perfect scenarios in their lives. Also, we get some interesting "race" talk between Hannah and Donald Glover's character. On the backdrop of last season's controversy over race it creates an especially interesting tension. But that's enough for now. I'll boo all that and more later.

I've mostly stopped my quest to watch all the films on the 2012 Hammer to Nail list. I still want to see The Comedy but haven't got around to it yet. Here are the few from the list that I watched since my last post.

• The Wise Kids ****
• Compliance ***
• The Dish and the Spoon ***
• The Color Wheel ***1/2

Of those 4 The Wise Kids had the strongest impact on me. It's a smart and (mostly) neutral approach to religion in the lives of teenagers in their final summer before college. In terms of their lives and their faith, they all turn towards different paths. But the film does not seem to favor one over the other. Rather, it takes a tender look at what each of them is going through and ends on an uplifting note. This is by far my favorite film from the list. It also made my 2011 Top Ten (HtN determines release date by US whereas I'm sticking to the International. Hence the discrepancy in years). 

Compliance had a few boos and some Facebook talk. John and I are mostly in agreement on the film. It doesn't quite work. 

Any film with Greta Gerwig in it is difficult for me to dislike. So, while The Dish and the Spoon was alright, in the end it is pretty forgettable. 

The Color Wheel is a funny and absurdist film. The final long scene is perfect and is sure to cause some controversy. I thought it was a really strong film.

I also watched To Rome with Love. Yes, Chris, I thought it was better than Midnight in Paris. It's funny and odd. I'll wait to see if anyone else is going to watch it before I talk about it too much. 

Right now I'm about 25 minutes into Bergman's Hour of the Wolf. I don't know why I decided to start it yesterday at 4:30 when I had to be somewhere at 5. I'm going to probably finish it up tonight.