Day 164: Haywire

After finding out she has been sold out by her handler, Mallory Kane (Gina Carano) is focused on working out why.

The story was boring, I won’t lie to you. And yet I wasn’t bored at all. Sometimes it’s just good to watch a mindless fighting film, you know? The fighting itself was impressive and well directed, I’d say. I’m not sure whether or not I liked the lack of sound in those scenes though. Sometimes music was used, or all you could hear was far away grunting. It seemed odd but interesting at the same time, so I’ve yet to make up my mind with that. The acting was passable but nowhere near as good as would be expected, considering the cast. Gina Carano is a MMA fighter in real-life and she is a beauty to watch when she’s fighting in this film. It's worth watching it just to see her, really.

The picture up top is the moment after she strangles him with her thighs and before she shoots him in the face. Intense moment.

6/10

Day 163: The Art of Getting By

George believes that there exists no point in life and so thinks that completing homework is meaningless. The teachers all like George but can’t keep defending his lack of participation. He’s given an ultimatum; complete a year’s worth of assignments in 3 weeks while also attending classes and doing exams, or be expelled. His new friendship with a popular girl at school disrupts his life but perhaps not in the worst way.

A lot of homework assignments are actually meaningless, I think. I’d say that a large majority of homework is only given out to justify the education system. Giving homework for the sake of keeping everyone occupied just doesn’t seem like the best way to teach kids. I understand that it can be useful to get them practising what they’ve learned in class but so much of it is just repetitive and mind-numbing. Why not set general tasks and let the kids create something that is individual to them? Although, I suppose, that would be difficult to grade. But so what? It shouldn’t be about grades, it should be about engagement with learning.

After becoming friends with Sally, George seems to find his motivation in life. Which is nice and everything, but we saw none of what caused that change. Apparently she’s amazing and he loves her but all she does is talk to him a bit and introduce him to her friends? And then she fucks the artist guy that George was learning from. I just don’t get how this helped him. That’s a failing on the film’s part though, I think. There was no chemistry between them and it seemed almost like it wouldn’t have mattered who the girl was, all that mattered was that someone took an interest in him. Obviously it helped him and that’s great but I just don’t think that’s a good way to go about it.

6/10