F1: The Movie: A talented aging type-A rebellious personality in his “late 50s” (although never specified) looks to rekindle the magic by teaching a young upstart in a male dominated field. Sound familiar? Last year it was Tom Cruise (age 63 on Thursday) in Top Gun: Maverick and this year it is Brad Pitt (age 61) in this new release with much fanfare. They are both directed by Joseph Kosinski. Oh and Jerry Bruckheimer is also involved in both. The formula works again. I should probably state that I am the likely audience dynamic. I am just a couple years younger than Pitt and Cruise. I would like to think that I can pilot a jet or drive a F1 race car better and faster than a twenty-something elite athlete but I just can’t. In this installment Pitt plays Sonny Hayes, a former F1 driver who has fallen from grace in his twenties, had failed relationships and has no money or prospects. What he does have is talent behind the wheel driving. Any wheel. He is approached by a former F1 racing buddy, played by Javier Bardem, who is a principal in a fledging and struggling F1 team and he is desperate halfway through a season for a new driver who can drive, but also serve as a mentor for his hot new young raw driver. An offer is made.
And then the story continues as the cocky upstart learns to deal with a new aging driving partner. Hayes also has to learn about his new team, designer, and other team members. The learning curve is steep as Hayes is flown in and then has to drive in the car which is struggling for handling and performance. Kerry Condon is the lead designer seeking more speed.
For me I find it interesting that popular movies involve a man past his best before date looking to show how impressive he can be today against much younger people. He will teach while also excelling. Whether it is in an F-18 fighter jet or a race car. Even though Lewis Hamilton is a producer of this movie, I can see why current drivers like him or World Champion Max Verstappen would have a difficult time swallowing the premise that an older former racer can defeat them in a car which hadn’t registered a single point in the standings halfway through the season, let alone won a race. Having said that, this is fun. I was entertained. Hans Zimmer adds in some music. There is real tension. Some of the shots taken inside the cars and on the track are outstanding. The audience gets a feel for the stresses of these drivers and the speed of the cars. As a summer blockbuster this one fits the bill. Pitt has plenty of charisma and there are some good jokes. There are also some quality emotional tie ins too. Overall this is worth the admission and a lot of fun. Go and check it out.
The Materialists: this is a new movie from writer and director Celine Song. Earlier she had brought forward the really good Past Lives which described a couple who over the years had their relationship change. She writes about real people, fully formed with flaws and backgrounds. The relationships are relatable for those in the audience with a few under their belts. Starring Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans and the ever-present Pablo Pascal. For me, this was not the typical romantic-comedy. It was more real than that, exploring deeper and more serious issues.
The story revolves around Johnson who is a matchmaker in NYC. She is single, but active in finding her clients a romantic relationship. She has a pool of people to draw from. We are introduced to a few of her clients. We learn that she has a knack for this work, but nothing else that she had tried. She has life experience and brings it forward to her job and assessment of potential matches. For many of these she regards the match as a business deal and the “math has to add up”. She had her own personal long term relationship with Evans that didn’t work out and she believes that she needs to be with someone “rich”. At a wedding she accidentally meets up with Evans, a struggling wanna-be actor. At the same wedding, she is approached by Pedro Pascal, the brother of the groom who she regards and explains is a “unicorn”. Pascal is interested in her, although she tries to explain that the math doesn’t add up for them. He convinces her otherwise. Things happen. Of these things there are some real world challenges which makes Johnson to question what she is doing. Dating may just be dating but in this day and age it can have some real risks and not just to your heart or self-esteem. This isn’t the typical rom-com and I wasn’t sure just how dark it decided to go. Viewers will have to see for themselves. Matters of the heart are complex, and finding the right partner is not an easy journey. This movie ably addresses a few of the challenges while still providing some humour which can show how ridiculous it can all be as well. Worth the viewing.
How To Train Your Dragon(animated): the “live” version of this has been newly released into the theatres. I had not seen the original animated cartoon from 2010 and decided to watch over a recent flight this week. I was pleasantly surprised by this story however formulaic it can appear on the surface.
In the story, set on a mythical island with Vikings populating it (although strangely the Vikings sound more Scottish than Nordic but never mind) there is a long held problem with dragons of all shapes, sizes and abilities which steal from the Vikings. The Vikings then are forced to slay the dragons for self preservation. Those who slay best are valued the most by the people. Canadian Jay Barushel voices Hiccup who is the son of the fearless leader of the island. He slays dragons easily. Meanwhile, Hiccup not only doesn’t resemble his tribe physically, but he doesn’t have the killer instinct. As a teenager he is coming of age and teased by his fellow teens but also doesn’t have a terrific relationship with Dad. Hiccup is a reader and investigates his environment all the while working as an apprentice to the local blacksmith. Hiccup is good with this. He notices young women his age but knows that they have no time for him. The village gets attacked by dragons and Hiccup decides to try and use a new weapon against the attackers. He thinks he succeeds but is unsure. He needs to investigate. I won’t share further details except to say that the results are not as predicable as you might expect. Yes Hiccup gains the trust of his father and townspeople, but he also helps out a dragon (and thus the name of the movie). I will say that the dragon teaches Hiccup too. The dragon is named Toothless, and has his own journey. This is a “kids’ movie” that works on an adult level. It is a good story and the animation is well done. But more importantly the audience cares about awkward Hiccup and cheers for him and the dragon. In this story there is a great deal of growth all around and in ways that were not obvious. I will likely need to see the updated live version to see how it compares. This was worth my time.
Sleepless in Seattle: I was away this past week and didn’t watch many shows nor movies. However before leaving I had re-watched this 1993 film with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. First of all, it was good to see Meg Ryan again, as I had remembered her. She and Tom Hanks had good chemistry, and although she was never supermodel hot, she was always attractive and funny. She was cute.
The story I was amazed to find mirrored many aspects of a movie like Serendipity, with Kate Beckensale and John Cusack. An engaged person is not so sure that they are marrying “the One” but have just gone along with it at this point. They are introduced to a stranger and seek them out to an extent which appears a little extreme. In Sleepless it is over the radio with Annie (played by Meg Ryan) listening to a young boy Jonah (played by the delightful Ross Malinger) call a syndicated radio program making a pitch for his Dad (played by Hanks) to find a new wife, as his wife had died earlier from cancer. Jonah wants to find a new Mom.
Annie is a writer and she hears this story. She shares with friend, played by Rosie O’Donnell and her fiance (played by Bill Pullman). She decides she wants to write a story about this boy, as it has gotten some media attention since it first aired. Meanwhile, Hanks is not pleased that his son called a radio program, and gave their address on the show, in order to try and help him find a new relationship. His touching question to Jonah is “aren’t we doing okay?”. The mail starts to roll in, and Hanks and Jonah are reading responses to Jonah’s situation. Jonah likes a letter from Annie. Hanks decides he wants to avoid long distances (Annie is from Baltimore, while they live in Seattle). He meets another woman and they begin dating. Eventually Jonah takes things into his own hands as he wants to force his Dad to meet Annie at the Empire State Building in NYC on Valentine’s Day. This mirrors one of the original rom-com’s from 1957 An Affair to Remember, with Cary Grant, later re-done with Warren Beatty and Annette Bening in 1994 called Love Affair.
For me, one of the challenges in such movies is that the partners of the two romantic interests are simply not attractive in actions or in looks. Why is this the case? Why can’t those partners be just people that aren’t a fit for those others? Bill Pullman has eating and sleeping issues, and is generally too geeky for a woman like Meg Ryan. The audience isn’t surprised that she is seeking out someone who just sounds nice. I will admit that I think that Jonah and his sarcasm with Dad’s girlfriend, with the horrible laugh, is polite but just oozes with contempt. Should Dad be introducing this woman to Jonah so early in the relationship? One would suggest now in 2025 that the answer is likely no. However for the time, Dad may feel that his son is his only family, and that he wants to see if Jonah gets along with someone he is dating. These are not easy choices. But despite any challenges, this is still a delightful movie. Hanks and Ryan, despite very little time on screen together, have good chemistry and they are likeable actors. So this is a good rom-com and has likeable characters. It was worth the time to visit, for the first time or a repeat after a long while.
Alien Earth: Alison shared a trailor for a new series on FX in August. From what I can tell, it is based upon Alien, or the Alien world which has had numerous storylines. Alien was released in 1979. Ridley Scott was the director. There were eight more Alien-related movies to come with varying level of success. The latest one Alien Romulus was reviewed by me last year, and I was not a fan. I find that there hasn’t been enough new ideas in the alien world. Prometheus and Alien Covenant I liked more than Romulus. I am not really sure what to make of this attached but I will leave that for the viewer to decide.
I watched two documentaries this past week from iconic Hollywood women. The first was Elizabeth Taylor, then the other was Faye Dunaway. Both were on Netflix. I also watched Nixon on Nixon which was a documentary and analysis of the Nixon Oval Office tapes that were not released until 2013. Nixon ensured that while he was alive that they were not released.
I have to say that I have watched some really good and interesting documentaries lately. These three are added to that list.
Elizabeth Taylor: Lost Tapes. New tapes have recently been found with interviews of Elizabeth Taylor. Some from 1964 and then others later. The documentary examines the life of the iconic actress who is probably most known for her eight marriages to seven different men.
But make no mistake that Taylor was Hollywood royalty. She was the first actress to receive $1m for a role (the over-budget Cleopatra with Richard Burton with whom she married twice). She was married three times in her early twenties. Only one of her marriages ended in a death. Ironically in the film she says that he (Director Mike Todd) was the love of her life. She later in life was an early champion for research into AIDS. Many of her early closest friends were gay including Roddy McDowell, Rock Hudson and Montgomery Clift. I enjoyed this glimpse back into her life. The fishbowl even then for the major film stars was intense.
Faye Dunaway:
Faye is currently still alive and 84 years old. She lives in New York. The film documents her life as she rose quickly to stardom with the major role in Bonnie and Clyde which propelled her career to new heights. Interestingly Warren Beatty wasn’t sure about her for that role but the director insisted on her. In 1967, it was her fifth role. Other amazing roles followed in Chinatown, Network, Thomas Crowne Affair with Steve McQueen and Mommie Dearest which had a lukewarm reception. She is still acting. She was married twice. Once to rocker Peter Wolf from J Geils Band.
I enjoyed this too. Faye had a reputation of being difficult to work with. Much of this probably comes from her perfectionism. She admits to being bi-polar. This could obviously cause some issues on the set. Together these two women have created some amazing and memorable roles. They have both been awarded Oscars. This is worth checking out.
Nixon on Nixon: Also on Netflix. Richard Nixon I would expect would think was the high water mark for Presidents who used the Office as their own personal means of addressing those who didn’t agree with him. Having been defeated by JFK early on, Nixon was very suspicious and vindictive at times.
This documentary uses excerpts from the tapes known only to a few close Nixon confidants and were subpoenaed during Watergate. Nixon refused but the Supreme Court disagreed.
I watched this because I wanted to be refreshed with some of the Nixon issues of the day. Note he was dealing with Vietnam, China and a press that was viewed as against him. In the tapes you hear the President speak freely and surprisingly about blacks, Jewish people, the press, and others. You can see why he wanted to suppress them. But all of this pales with the current administration. Nixon still believed in the rule of law, and when impeachment was being proposed he chose to resign. I wouldn’t say that current President Donald Trump is Nixon 2.0 but rather Nixon x10. This is a good insight into what transpired 50 years ago, and how things while they have changed, they can still have recurring themes. Well worth a watch.
Tim Weiner’s new book, One Man Against The World, explores some of the questions surrounding the presidency of Richard Nixon.
Air Force Elite: Thunderbirds: In my youth, after my first flight on an airplane I had always thought of being a pilot. When asked what alternative career I would have pursued other than law, I always respond that I would have wanted to be a pilot. That interest in airplanes also transferred into an affinity for making model airplanes, and also going to air shows (mostly to see the jets). Going to the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto Air Show each Labour Day weekend has been a ritual for decades. I am most impressed by the US air demonstration teams of the Navy (the Blue Angels) and the Air Force (the Thunderbirds). The Navy flies F-18s, and the Air Force the F-16. When I saw that Netflix was releasing a documentary on the Air Force Thunderbirds I was eager to seek it out.
What they have done is put together a story about the 2023 Thunderbird season, with the pilots, family and crew involved. Half of the team changes each year as the pilots are assigned for a two-year engagement. In 2023, they have a leader (call sign Astro) entering into his second season. One of the major milestones for the team collectively each year is to become certified from the top brass. It involves training for the coming show, and demonstrating that it can be performed safely for all members. The Thunderbirds put on approximately 60 shows a season. It is a grueling and intense time for all involved. Astro’s wife points out that when her husband approached her about doing this assignment (being the leader of the team) that historically there has been a 10% chance at dying while with the team. The last fatality was in 2018 when a pilot blacked out doing a high g-force manoever. I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this, and not just for seeing the jets perform in their tight formations (when the wings can be within 18 inches of each other) but also the human stories. The certification process is difficult, and we see one of the pilots struggling with the final air burst demonstration. These are elite pilots, who have flown combat missions, and thousands of hours and are the best of the best. Yet air demonstration is not what they trained for at all. So there is a steep learning curve with plenty of pressure and knowing that your life, and those of your team are at stake. For me it gives me a much greater appreciation for the skill involved in this most difficult but glamourous job. The training, the stresses on the human body, the coordination of effort and the magnificence of the machines involved is astounding. Seek it out, as it is worth your time.
Andor Season 2: I have mentioned in previous posts that a friend had suggested that I check out Andor. And despite my last review stating that I wouldn’t rush out to see Rogue One again, I did anyway! I have the blu-ray dvd and just watched it after the conclusion of the first season. I will preface my remarks in that I have been utterly disappointed in the Star Wars offerings since Disney has taken over from George Lucas. From Solo, to Boba Fett, to Obi Wan and others nothing has come close to living up to the Star Wars creativity and wonder. This includes the sequels of the main story (episodes VII, VIII and IX) and The Mandalorian which started out decently and faded. I also noted that Andor is a significant investment in time. Both seasons are 12 episodes and those are close to an hour each, so you are in for 24 hours of viewing. This is the conclusion to the series. So I was more than a little skeptical about what lay ahead. What I can report is that Season 2 gets better and better, and from the episodes regarding Ghorman it becomes more compelling. The intrigue is on a number of levels. From the Imperial side, there is leadership (Ben Mendelsohn being at the top as Krennic), the middle management with Dedra Meero and Syril Karn and then the emerging Rebellion side which has the same power structure. Cassian Andor is a soldier among many with his love interest and friends.
It is all coming together really well. It is well written and well acted. There is weight to the situation and the intensity rises. Aspects of Rogue One, where were simply introduced without background make more sense, like the battle droids. But it has so many aspects that start to come together, and for me it likely will require another viewing to fully appreciate it. Not sure I am prepared to invest even more time, but like Alison was saying to me, she is taking a slow approach to this series and not binging it to more fully enjoy it and savour it. I am understanding that approach more. Sure, some episodes are stronger than others, but there are some really strong episodes. Who would have expected Senator Mon Mothma to be so important, from a minor character in A New Hope and later Return of the Jedi. She and Luthen Rael (played by Stellen Skarsgard) are laying the foundation for resistence to an oppressive Imperial regime. All of that ties well into the manifesto from the young rebel Karis Nemik (played by Alex Lawther) in the first season, in the mission on “Aldhani”. In summary, this for me is the best effort from Disney for Star Wars. They aren’t just putting out mindless content that leverages off the work of Lucas and known characters, but rather created a fulsome overview in the elements leading up to Rogue One and A New Hope. It is fair to say that Rogue One is viewed differently after seeing this series. Well done Disney, giving credit where credit is due.
Pee Wee As Himself: Periodically on X, formerly Twitter, there are random questions posed like “name a character played by a person that coudn’t be done by anyone else?”. For me other than Napoleon Dynamite actor Jon Heder, Paul Reubens comes to mind as the incomparable Pee Wee Herman. Reubens was a comedic actor, and he created this alter ego many years ago. The story of the creation, and the years leading up to that moment are outlined in this two-part documentary. Reubens died in July 2023, shortly after completing this documentary.
Reubens and his life had been tied to Pee Wee Herman for so long, and he (without telling the director and producers of the documentary) had been fighting illness, specifically acute myelogenous leukemia and metastatic lung cancer. He wanted to tell HIS story and to be seen, which I can respect. The first episode talks about his early days, and being at school. He had ultimately joined a group of comedic actors, who had performed improv and put on shows. I think the genesis of the idea about the man-child who is Pee Wee. Then once performed it took on a life of its own.
Reubens was gay, and his early days he was in a long term same-sex relationship that eventually ended. He decided to pour himself into his career. One thing about Reubens is that he wrote much of the material (along with SNL alumnus Phil Hartman) and had most of the decisions about casting and sets. He surrounded himself with quality people, although he was a perfectionist and a bit of a control freak. One can see that control even in speaking with the director on camera about the production of the documentary. Of course, episode two cannot avoid speaking about Reubens’ fall from grace when he was found and charged with public indecency at an adult movie theatre. Much of this was prompted by a prosecutor who was looking for re-election and wanted to make a public splash. Reubens suffered from this humiliation in addition to a charge later of having possession of child pornography which he vehemently denied and which the facts brought forward certainly seems to support.
I enjoyed this. I think it met Reubens’ goal of having the audience know his story. Pee Wee’s Playhouse was cutting edge, must-watch TV on Saturday mornings as a university student and ran from 1986 to 1990. It was funny. The first movie was excellent. Reubens latched on to not only an idea and concept, but to the entire world that his creation Pee Wee lived within. This iconic character will live as a remembrance of the genius that Paul Reubens and team brought to the world at that time. This is well worth watching.
Flow: This Latvian animated film has won both the Oscar and the Golden Globe for animated film. The first ever Oscar award for Latvia. Both awards were displayed in the Latvian National Museum of Art where 15,000 people came to see them over ten days. This movie is on Crave now. Sometimes art, creativity and visuals come together so well that the plot is not as important in the grand scheme of things. For me, this is such a film. There is no dialogue at all in this movie. Basically, there is an adult black cat in a wilderness that very quickly has to deal with a catastrophic environmental event. The cat’s world is flooding, and quickly. Other animals around the cat are scrambling just like the cat is, including a pack of dogs of various breeds that were initially chasing the cat. In very much a Life of Pi kind of way, a boat out of the blue arrives. It is a lifeline to survival, and different creatures need to be able to life in tight spaces together. Along with it comes other animals, some friend and others not. The animals need to respond to what has occurred. No explanation is given, no political statement is made, like global warming. Instead the viewer is able to make up its own mind. Because there is no dialogue, the creatures need to be able to communicate their feelings and emotions with non-verbal cues. The animators have done an excellent job with the cat mannerisms, but who would have expected the same with the meerkat or the cappyberra? It is all good.
I enjoyed this. I had questions. None of them were answered. So I get to fill in my own blanks. Be sure to watch until the very end. This kept my attention, and I am glad that I watched it. I think too from an awards standpoint, an independent film like this winning is a very good thing for the industry. It doesn’t always have to be a Disney/Pixar film that wins Best Animated film.
Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning: According to star Tom Cruise, who also produces this movie, this will be the last installment in this series. The series has a total of eight movies, including this one and dates back to 1996. Twenty-nine years with Ethan Hunt and his outrageous endings for movies. This last in the series does its best to bring all of the previous movies together, and works somewhat for me, but not entirely. There is a lot of exposition early on that does its level best to explain what is the global threat that seemingly only Ethan Hunt can address. In short, there is an online “entity” which is a self-replicating AI virus which has manged to infiltrate governments around the world and their respective nuclear arsenals. The job of Ethan Hunt and his team is to find the source code for this entity, and then utilize a self-made poison pill (made by Hunt’s friend Luther, played by Ving Rhames, who has put on considerable weight over the past 30 years.
Hunt is challenged to undertake a series of missions which increasingly are more and more risky and dangerous. For me, there were a number of eye-rolling moments, but most especially when dealing with the retrieval of the source code from an abandoned and damaged Russian submarine at the bottom of the ocean. How does one manage to do that exactly? Well, in short, you must get onto a US submarine near the location, and then find a way to get yourself onto that submarine and track down the elusive source code. Oh, by the way, you would be going down 300 feet, in jet black ocean that is extremely cold, and required to get back to the surface so quickly that you would suffer from the bends (nitrogen bubbles in the blood stream). Now I am no diver, but I don’t think that the explanation for it is very plausible. The source code, which exists in a computer program, naturally is in a self-contained plastic container which looks a lot like an eight-track tape, but with a convenient receptical area to allow for a supplemental thumb drive to be added. No explanation for this is ever given. No one ever said that it had to make sense! Overall, it doesn’t so if you are inclined like me to see some realism in this, then you will be sadly disappointed. It is entertainment and mind candy. Pure and simple. But is it effective?
In short, I think so. I was entertained. There were enough suspenseful moments that kept my attention, along with the risk to Hunt and his team. For those who saw Dead Reckoning Part One (where is Part Two?) you saw that a character like Ilsa Faust (played by Rebecca Ferguson) could be eliminated. I had actually wondered too whether this movie would give Ethan Hunt the James Bond treatment in No Time to Die. Do you need to see and know all the previous movies to follow this one? Certainly early on in the talking phase it likely may help. But truthfully I don’t think anyone spoke about “an entity” until most recently. The bad guys and quasi-good intentioned government types who THINK that they are good, like Eugene Kittridge (played by Canadian Henry Czerny) make appearances. Angela Bassett plays the US President, and we are all reminded how a level-headed, logical leader of the free world is no longer in place any more in reality. One cringes to think what the current sitting President would do in the same position as she in the movie. For the record, I don’t like the longer Cruise hair for this version of Ethan Hunt. He looks better in a more military haircut to me. To summarize, it is long. It doesn’t suck. It had some genuinely suspenseful moments, including the now almost required airplane sequence which Cruise seems to want, even though inexplicably one wonders why they choose to use open air biplanes. The answer is revealed through the stunt sequence. I especially liked flying an airplane with your foot! Again, it doesn’t need to make sense! For what it is, this is a movie to see in the theatre on the big screen like only Tom Cruise it seems is able to do these days.
The Lost City of Z: This Amazon original was released back in 2016, and I hadn’t heard of it until I saw it listed on Netflix. Part of me thought this was in some way a zombie movie, but that was Brad Pitt in World War Z, back in 2013. Ironically and interestingly I found out that Brad Pitt was originally slated to play the lead role of real-life British explorer Percy Fawcett in the early 1900s. Instead he had a conflict and the role is played by Charlie Hunnam (from The Gentlemen, Papillon etc). His loyal sidekick is Henry Costin played by Robert Pattinson, and his son Jack (older) was played by Tom Holland. Fawcett’s UK based wife is played by Sienna Miller. It is a good cast. The story based on real events, was that the governments in Brazil and Bolivia had a boundary dispute, and they asked an independent neutral third party (Britain) to intercede and map out the boundary between their two countries. Fawcett was requested to be the representative to do it. While doing this mapping, Fawcett comes across evidence of an ancient civilization in Bolivia that he felt was worth exploring further. It became a lifelong obsession for him.
Fawcett and his team make presentations to find investors, as opposed to educational institutions, in order to finance these trips to South America. Naturally along the way, there are unknown dangers like the local indiginous people and natural challenges like piranha and panthers. Yet, however much it sounds like an Indiana Jones adventure with a city of gold, it isn’t. The adventurous scenes and moments are few and far between. Rather it is a story of the quest, and cutting through the red tape, as well as a troublesome wanna-be adventurer and the relationship with Fawcett’s wife and kids. While Mission Impossible is one action sequence after another, this was one journey into the jungle followed by discussions with bureaucrats and a wife at home to decide whether to explore further. I won’t reveal the ending, but suffice it to say that it is historically accurate. For me, this was a story of a part of the world that I know very little about. I can only imagine how it would have appeared (Bolivia) in the early 1900s, and the means it took to get there in the first place. Fawcett was a man of vision and determination, including the necessary sacrifices to get to that position. This was interesting. I was introduced to a story and part of the world that was new. It’s not a spy or superhero movie. It was worth a viewing. Part of me thinks that if Pitt could have made it work that it would have had more box office success, but we will never know.
Andor Star Wars Story – Season 1: Rogue One was released in 2016. It provided a back story to the original 1977 Star Wars in showing how rebel fighters stole the plans for the Death Star to allow a vulnerability to be found. In the original iconic movie, it was a byline, but was viewed as meriting a more full treatment. They were right, as in my view, Rogue One was the best of the tangental stories to the main Star Wars trilogy and later nine films. It had a good story, the characters were wotyhy of the audiences cheering and praise, despite the fact that we knew the ultimate outcome. Cassian Andor was one of the team who was involved in the stealing of the plans. Felicity Jones was the primary protagonist, as Jyn Erso, whose father was one of the designers of the Death Star, despite his opposing political views. The Empire, it seems, just takes what it wants. I will note that I did not re-watch Rogue One in preparation for this, nor do I have any interest in re-visiting it anytime soon. It wasn’t THAT good.
It was suggested to me to watch this series on Disney +. On a flight I was able to get well into it. I managed to watch eight of twelve of the episodes. It is commitment to watch this as each episode is around an hour in length. For me, it is Disney elongating a story of a relatively minor character. Disney has however put forth some quality actors in roles in this series like Stellan Skarsgard, Andy Serkis and Forest Whitaker. Each of them are good.
There are a few lines of plot to address differing things that are happening before the efforts of Luke and friends to blow up the first Death Star. There is a political story, where characters in the Senate are dealing with Emperor Palpatine who is centralizing his power, and also the background story of Cassian Andor with the people around him on his planet, and then the operations which are untaken where Andor is involved. The second one seems pretty contrived where the larger disruption to the Empire really is meant to be a bank/payroll heist from the Empire to fund the rebellion (I am considering the initial meet up with Skarsgard to move a piece of stolen Empire technology). There are more compelling episodes and some less so. All that to say it takes too long to move it along. For me, the action sequences are better than the scene setting or the character and family development episodes. But with the release of season two, I am not sure whether I need to keep watching this. The production is decent in a Disney way, but it is still forced I think. I’ll complete the first season, but I will unlikely continue with it. It is hard to feel that Cassian Andor is a different version of Han Solo. We saw how Disney handled a Han Solo spin off, and it wasn’t pretty.
Charlie Hustle and the Matter of Pete Rose: I had read on the news this week that Pete Rose was removed by the Commissioner of Baseball from the Permanently Ineligible List for the Baseball Hall of Fame. I was quite shocked to read this. Rose was known as the player who had many statistical records including the most hits of any player, usurping Ty Cobb’s record of 4189 hits. Cobb was known as an unlikeable player, but a helluva player who was a win-at-all-cost type of player. Pete Rose was a big personality who remained a big leaguer from great skills but more because of his attitude towards the game and competing hard every single game, every single at-bat. His fatal flaw was a life of excess including betting on baseball, which he emphatically denied for decades before later admitting it. Incidentally he finished his career with 4256 hits. When he hit the record breaking single, on September 11th, 1985 he had a nine-minute standing ovation from the Cincinnati home crowd. Rose was a native from Cincinnati.
I decided to watch the four episodes of this HBO series released in July 2024.
As an 82yo guy, Pete Rose back in 2022 was looking to get himself reinstated for consideration for the Hall of Fame. He was aging and didn’t want to be in a situation where he passes, and then a year later he could be then be put into the Hall.
What you see in this documentary is the undisputed talent of the man on the field, but the flaws in his character which continued throughout his life and career off of it. When he was playing and managing, he bet on almost everything. He had a gambling addiction. Apparently he didn’t bet football and basketball games very well and lost money, but he was better with baseball. The problem was, which is obvious, is that Major League Baseball (MLB) had a ban on any player betting on baseball in those days. This is a foreign concept for readers in 2025, where the betting apps are major sponsors of professional sports leagues, and odds for games and on players are listed each day on sporting shows. But baseball after the 1919 Chicago Black Sox scandal, in which eight members of the White Sox were found to be given money to throw the World Series (ironically won by the Cincinnati Reds), forced MLB to be extremely harsh on violators to maintain the integrity of the game. One of those players was Shoeless Joe Jackson, who was a player mentioned (and played by Ray Liotta) in Field of Dreams (1989), along with D.B. Sweeney in the movie Eight Men Out (1988). This was well known by all players, both past and present. The MLB Rules under Rule 21(d) speaks directly to “any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee” gambling and its prohibition. In the end it is an interesting and insightful discussion about the life of an iconic baseball player. Rose also was jailed for failing to file income taxes. So off the field, the character of the man just couldn’t match the ability that he brought to the field. So this is a tale of how the mighty have fallen after the cheers of the ballpark are silenced. Ironically a year after a lifetime ban from baseball in 1989, the Reds won the World Series in 1990 without Rose as the manager, but with Lou Pinella instead.
For the record, despite being allowed back into consideration for the Hall of Fame, I do not think that Rose should be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Megalopolis: I have to admit that this is a difficult review. I had watched this movie months ago now, and it didn’t resonate with me. I didn’t like it, that is the ultimate memory that I had about it. Maybe it got sucked up into the vortex of unreasonable expectations since this is a new film from Francis Ford Coppola, the legendary director who had brought forward The Godfather(I and II) and Apocalypse Now. This movie had been many years in the making, and it starred Adam Driver, Giancarlo Espositio, Aubrey Plaza, Laurence Fishburne and Jon Voight to name a few.
What I mostly remember is that this movie took a modern day fable approach using New York City to address characters that are from ancient Rome. The main character (Adam Driver as Cesar Catilina) is brilliant and a visionary architect but he is battling against the Mayor of the City (Esposito). But it was messy in plot and disjointed in execution.
Without going too deep into this plot, Cesar has the ability to stop time and then restart it. This ability threatens the existing order of power within the city, as he has a vision to transform the city into a utopia of sorts. This naturally flies directly in the face of the existing hierarchy. The mayor’s daughter, named Julia, seems to be able to watch Cesar’s abilities (stopping time) but she is intrigued by him. She seeks him out and then understands his vision. Things happen. Cesar’s ability leaves him temporarily and then returns. Julia helps him while seeing what her father is really all about.
One of the more curious characters in this mess is played by Shia LaBoeuf (named Clodio) who is looking to discredit Cesar with the people. The make up and acting on LaBoeuf are disconcerting and the character is wholly dispicable. This is reflective of the story all around with characters who aren’t fully formed do things which seem simple without much explanation beyond the most basic. Stupid and silly turns take place which become increasingly ridiculous to the point where I couldn’t care any further. Ultimately I didn’t care about the people, nor the relationships. I was not invested in it or cheering on a particular faction. I cannot recommend this, and would add my name to many who have been disappointed in this effort. A hard pass for me.
May 19th update: Over the weekend I visited Napa California and went to the Coppola vineyard located in Geyserville. While there I saw some fine memorabilia from Coppola films like The Godfather I and II, Tucker: The Man and His Dream, Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Apocalypse Now. But they also had the following display below:
It was further noted on the luxurious property spanning 1400 acres that he in 2021 sold 75% of his interest in this property for $500M in order to fund the making of this movie. One would argue that it was not money well spent. The property still has some really cool items and history of the legendary filmmaker. The food at the restaurant Rustic was very good.
The Last of Us: Season 2 – Episode 4 (Day One): This episode released last Sunday shows the updated journey of Ellie and Dina as they reach Seattle. There was plenty that transpired between them. But before those details, we are introduced to Jeffrey Wright who a number of years before the present time was a soldier leading a troop into a combative zone and then meets up with the leader of a group in that city. Something dramatic and surprising takes place with his soldiers and we learn where his loyalties lie. Fast forward to the present day and Ellie is still seeking revenge tracking down the perpetrators.
Part of me is wondering where the idea of finding a cure for the disease that turns people into “the infected” has been lost. The whole point earlier in Season 1 was that Ellie COULD be a potential source for a cure because she has been bitten and survived means that she could be used medically. Instead, the battles seem to be between different factions of humans who aren’t infected. One would surmise that if the healthy humans banded together, that they could have a better chance against the infected. One of the things that these two young women do which is surprising is in having a lack (at least initially) with moving around hostile territory, by for example wandering through unknown streets in the middle of the day and in the open. They seems to have no sense of trying to hide or staying hidden. Ultimately the budding relationship between these characters is overplayed, all the while there is a serious unexpected encounter with more infected than expected. Ellie needs to reveal something to Dina which one can expect will have lasting impact. We further learn something about Dina which gives Ellie a new perspective on the whole enterprise and the reason for being in Seattle in the first place. At the same time, Ellie is more powerful now and has shown herself to be able to withstand infected attacks. This is a superpower in this world, and it will need to be further explored.
I enjoyed this episode more than the previous episode. I do think that it was unnecessary to get deeper into the relationship and the musical interlude, but overall this was good. I will continue to watch.
The Last of Us – Season 2: The new season has been released a few weeks back, and epsiode 4 will drop this evening (as I am writing this on Sunday afternoon). Episode 1 was released April 13th, and I was anxious to see this series since the end of Season 1 in March 2023. The audience is forgiven in not remembering the details of what had occurred back then. All I could remember is that the citizens in the community Joel and Ellie were in (Salt Lake City) were managing to survive through the deception of the leaders in charge. Things happened and like any life situation, there are consequences for the actions. Joel and Ellie end up in Jackson Hole. I will preface my review of the early episodes of season 2 with the fact that I am not familiar with the video game, and I had no idea where the story went within the video game sequel. With that said, here we go. Season 2, Episode 1 opens up five years later in Jackson Hole, and Ellie and Joel aren’t really talking to one another. The older adult and parent in me sees a 19 year old young woman asserting her independence, and thinking that her parent/person of authority doesn’t know anything about her or about life in general and she is rebelling. Added to that mix there is a sense of invinsibility for young Ellie. She can be reckless, talk back and disregard her elders. Younger viewers may take issue with that characterization, and that Ellie has been deceived by Joel, although she is not fully aware of it, and she needs to form new bonds of friends and people her own age. So the episode has little to do with the zombies, and more about the dynamic between the principal characters.
I found episode 1 slow, and not very compelling. In a series where the writing and story have been so good this didn’t start off in a manner that I would have hoped. But given the history of the series, and my enjoyment of it, I was going to stick with it.
Episode 2 was worth the wait, and racheted up the intensity heavily in an action-packed story. Very quickly we move on from family dynamics and get into some imminent threats. There is a group from Salt Lake City determined to seek revenge for the actions of Joel in his escape. It is a young group, and the one female leader, named Abby (played by Kaitlyn Dever, notably from Booksmart) has great motivation for any revenge. Of course there is also the real external threat of the zombies who seem to have been dormant but not for long. In very quick order, a scouting mission from the walled town end up, with some assistance from Abby, unleash the zombie hoard. They come in numbers and attack with force. The walled town defends, for which they seem to be well provisioned. Things happen. Both Joel and Ellie are outside the walls, but separately as the zombies descend. Without spoiling anything further, fate intervenes and both Ellie and Joel have consequences for their actions with lasting impacts on them both. A new commitment for revenge is initiated, and heavy losses take place on all side both inside the walled town and outside it. It is a shocking and surprising turn which made the episode feel like a workout. At each turn there were more surprising layers and plot to sink in. My excitement and enthusiam for the series is re-ignited.
Onto episode 3, where the aftermath of all of the actions from the previous epsiode are digested. For the second of the three episodes the pace slows to take a breath. A plan is hatched which requires town council approval before it is done, given the resouces required for it. A passionate plea is made to the council and a decision is made. It is difficult to speak at length about episode 3 without addressing episode 2. But suffice it to say that a path is before the characters and another journey is to be undertaken to Seattle. For me, I find it interesting that despite the significant zombie external threat that human beings find ways to attack one another. There seems to be limited capacity for cooperation and coordinated effort to meet this common enemy. Certainly there is little effort made to research about the zombies, the plants that cause the disease and looking for a cure. Naturally the viewers know that the potential solution could be Ellie. But it is a thought that is pushed to the side given the issues that are most current. We’ll see where this season continues to take us.
Your Friends and Neighbors: Episode 5 of this new series with Jon Hamm continues with the well-written premise of a recently unemployed hedge fund manager steering himself through his divorce and two teenage kids, along with his other well heeled neighbors. There are also married and newly divorced couples, school, and work people to deal with. He has decided to begin stealing from his neighbors and using a local fence to move the product. He begins with watches, but then expands what is available. Along the way he meets up with people who can assist with his activities, and these are necessary people. As would be expected, many of the neighbor’s houses have security devices and this can pose a challenge.
Then he needs the fence, along with others who may be avilable to help move the stolen goods. Of course, he never really knows who he can trust and what their ultimate motivations are. His ex-wife, now with her new boyfriend struggles with her current situation and she may be having some doubts. His manager with his wife are making substantial changes to his house and he requires a significant influx of money. There are some comedic moments, but like White Lotus (or so I have heard) it is rich white people acting badly. No one is free from bad behaviour, and the audience shares in the Hamm voiceover as he talks through his own actions. Episode 5 ties back into the very first episode in dealing with Hamm in a house that isn’t his and finds a man dead inside. This isn’t Mad Men, but it has some fun moments, and I enjoy trying to flash forward and see where they might take this premise. So stay tuned.
October 8: This movie is advertised as a documentary. My viewing of this movie, executive produced by Will & Grace’s Debra Messing, who is Jewish, is that this promotes an interpretation of the actions and subsequent consequences and results of the attacks on October 7 last year in Israel by Hamas. Hamas attacked October 7th killing 1200 and taking 58 people hostage at various locations. This part of the world has been in a stalement between Israel and the Palestinians for decades. The excellent movie Oslo from 2021 addressed attempts to bring peace to the region with talks back in 1993. One ongoing theme is that two wrongs do not make a right. Another theme for me for both sides is that the actions undertaken by a ruling government are not to be automatically associated as those of its people. Hamas is NOT the Palestinian people. The ruling party in Israel is NOT all Jewish people, and not all Zionists (for those looking to make that distinction).
The actions undertaken by Hamas on this day (October 7) are taken from that day forward and do ignore the ongoing and historical occupation and conflict within the region. Both parties in my limited view and understanding are not coming forward with clean hands. Far from it. To be clear, nothing justifies rape and the killing of innocent civilians attending an outdoor concert. Nothing. At the same time, how many ongoing actions of discrimination and oppression must any group accept? When is the breaking point. Nobody wins in a war of absolutes where there is no compromise or recognize of the others’ right to exist.
I am not looking to become overly political. Rather I am reviewing a recently released movie. I am mindful of a movie, however, that seems to take a very political attitude and only at the end mentions Gaza. The pictures and attitudes within US college campuses is most shocking to me. There are protestors openly chanting about the killing of Zionists and Jewish people. The universities are said to be too biased towards the Jewish perspective. Simultaneously we see that the rape and killing of Jewish women at the concert on that day has not been condemned by organizations like UN Women. Yet other atrocities against other women have been condemned straight away. I note that a number of the universities shown have more recetly had their federal funding threatened to be removed like Columbia and Harvard.
This is a very complex situation and this movie for me has limited its scope to black and white issues. One can disagree with the actions of any government and not criticize the people and their religion. One can further take a strong position for an issue, however by ignoring the wider context and historical background, it can turn the complexity into simple choices which for me don’t reflect reality. In the end as the credits rolled, I had learned a few things and better understood one perspective. I respect it. I see the threat which can be seen in campuses and social media. Isn’t the starting point to recognize that life is better than death? That parties have a right to live, and live in peace? That without that fundamental understanding, then any hope for a lasting and meaningful resolution isn’t possible. As a movie I think this does a disservice with avoiding bringing forward the larger issues and the perspective of the other side. I will remain hopeful that the political hawks who want death to the other side can be silenced and replaced with more moderate people, and poltical leaders can reflect the wishes of the majority of their citizens. But we can hope.
The Two Popes (revisited): With the passing of Pope Francis this past week, I decided to re-watch this excellent movie starring Academy award nominees Anthony Hopkins (best supporting actor) and Jonathan Pryce (best actor) from 2019. I found it more emotional, as I in retrospect could see how Pope Francis became an agent of change within the Catholic church. Hopkins had a difficult task, in humanizing Pope Benedict who was a more hardline conservative, and traditionalist. The interplay between the two men showed how their overall attitudes about the role of the church, and the traditions within it were compelling and telling. Fundamentally, the church was losing parishioners. The church was not changing with the times and growing, realizing that people were not the same and the message was getting lost. A sermon to an empty church doesn’t get heard. The emotion also came though with the realization of Pope Benedict that he was no longer the right man for the job. Sure he could hear some of the negative feedback on him, but he recognized that a popular Cardinal who engages with the people will carry a message that is more likely to be heard and followed.
I love the scene pictured above. I love this scene because after sharing a simple pizza and Fanta, these two men entered the Sistine Chapel and gave a thrill of a lifetime to a room full of tourists. Can you imagine the Pope showing up out of nowhere in this most holy place? Ultimately these two men, who have fundamentally opposing views on the direction of the church, can still respect one another deeply and grow to become friends. They share a difficult job and can be thankful for the other. Pope Francis was a simple man who led a remarkable life. He shunned the opulence of the leadership within the church, and he remained committed to the poor. He couldn’t ever understand how a world with so much could still have a billion people who are malnourished or starving. His final wish was to be buried in a simple wooden casket and in a smaller church. I am saddened by his loss, and it will be interesting to see how the next conclave will decide who should lead the church going forward.
Mondays With Robbie 