Psycho-Sexual: Male Desire in Hitchcock, De Palma, Scorsese, and Friedkin by David Greven; rating: 7/10

I didn't get through this whole book, but I did read a good part of the chapter discussing how a number of Hitchcock films seem to have an undercurrent of the gay vs the feminine. A male character befriends a male protagonist or even the villain and fights with a female lead for their loyalty. Greven pursues this thesis through a number of movies including Man who knew too much ('56) and North by Northwest.

I must say it's an interesting thought. Hitchcock did seem to have a lot of overtly gay characters and actors. The housekeeper, Ms Danvers, in Rebecca, the bodyguard, Leonard, in North by Northwest, the killers in Rope (taken from real life though), etc. It seems to be a topic which fascinated him, or possibly he had some personal interest in.

Anyhow, it puts Hitchcock in a new light, and could be a reason to revisit his films.

The perks of a wallflower (2012) rating: 8/10

Charlie (Logan Lorman) is a bit too tall, sufficiently good looking and having too fine a voice to realistically be an unpopular freshman in high school. Still there are some things to like about this movie. Probably a lot of real people have the idea that they weren't popular in HS, that they were outsiders. And this movie is an ode to those wallflowers. But Charlie here promises to be an extreme case, though his early high school isolation actually lasts exactly one whole day. On the 2nd day he meets very mature teenagers in step-siblings and seniors, Patrick and Sam, the latter in a fine performance by Emma Watson. In essences these two are more like adults, but with their own unique problems and challenges. They are not popular, but they are strong enough to stand on their own. They sort of take Charlie under their wings and help out the friendless kid and he starts to gain confidence. He has an obvious crush on Sam, but Sam already has a boyfriend. You can guess parts of what happens next. Overall it is well acted and the story while unrealistic in many aspects can be related to.

** spoilers **

Charlie also has a lot of problems. His aunt was killed when he was little, but

Django Unchained (2012) rating: 9/10

I am not a big fan of Quentin Tarantino. I think most of his films are needlessly violent, though I understood that was part of his style. At the time of its release, I liked Pulp Fiction probably because of the great music. But I had reservations about the promotion of hit men as good or funny.

But Django Unchained is different. It is less ambiguous about its good and bad. And I guess I just like a simple good versus evil story. This is something this movie delivers in spades with a couple unequivocally good and smart heroes.

Waltz switches sides from the villian in Inglorious Bastards and becomes the worldly yet practical German bounty hunter (here, a good guy version of hit man) who in fact speaks excellent French as well. Eventually he takes Foxx's Django as his protege. Later, they take on the wicked but smart DiCapro playing plantation owner, Candie.