August 28th, 2023

Armageddon Time: There are times when after a movie is done, I am unclear about what I had just finished watching. Some of it can be wondering what happened to what on first glance appears to be a stellar cast. In this instance, you have Anne Hathaway, Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Chastain, and Jeremy Strong to name a few. But all of it can be derailed, from my viewing, from a 14 year old Banks Repeta. The story is a family drama, revolving around husband and wife, Strong and Hathaway and their children and the grandpa (played by Hopkins).

As a parent, seeing how the parents interact with the kids is just a surprise. Young Banks is in high school and has been challenging to his teachers and for his parents. He is making some choices of friends who aren’t very commited to their studies. The one friend is a young black man who doesn’t feel supported at home or at school and pushes the envelope. Banks admires, and supports him, even when he is doing things which are questionable. Strong as the Dad, has his head in the sand, not seeing what happens with those around him. Hathaway is trying to play strong Mom with little help from Dad, who can fly off the handle at times, and she isn’t having much impact. The young Banks does have a connection with his Grandfather. Grandfather supports him and has little secrets with the grandson. But really to what end? Part of me wants to just discipline this young, disrespectful brat.

Did i like this? No. I didn’t like at all. I found the writing to be lacking. Nothing really happens, and the things that do happen in the grand scheme of things felt so irrelevant. None of the performances were memorable. In the end, with a predictable scene or two, the credits roll and I was surprised at how so very little was resolved. So in the end, I scratched my head and reached out to Alison and she confirmed my thoughts of this just being terrible. So this is a hard pass and I would encorage you to avoid it.

Eat The Rich: The GameStop Saga: One of the things that happened during the pandemic was an unexpected story in the stock of the “meme stocks” as they were later called. This is a three-part series which outlines the history of how a stock and company that was viewed as history became the focal point of a stock market phenomenon. The details are more complex, but the crux of it was that in the stock market, you can buy the right to a stock at a fixed price and then make or lose money based upon the spread of increase or decrease in the stock since the option was purchased. A key is that there is no cap on what could be lost if the stock does what you didn’t expect. The stock in question was the bricks and mortar store that sells video games, GameStop. The number crunchers see it was in trouble. So hedge funds would buy up options expecting that the stock would go down. They are betting against them, and openly cheering for them to fail. Enter the little individual investor.

These individuals often are using the trading platform Robin Hood. For no dollars, the individual could buy and sell stock. Robin Hood would then put the buy/sell request through a “market creator”. So that is the background. There are a few individuals who do some research and are cheering for the underdog. They buy up some GameStop stock. Some going online and touting the stock, through Reddit and other places online, and they gain some momentum. It becomes a little guy versus Wall Street. By driving up the price, for a stock with no fundamentals, the pressure was put on those hedge fund managers. The documentary explores the details of it, where one of the hedge funds eventually had to pay out billions for their position in this one stock. The stock had gone from $16 a share in short order to over $500.

For me, it was the aftermath of the rise and fall of this stock where Congress and the regulators got involved and wanted to investigate. For me, I scratched my head and wondered about “home of the free” and adults being able to make their own choices. How does an online guy who speaks about what he is personally investing in, in any way different from a Warren Buffet or a Jim Cramer on CNN? The difference would be the losses of all these Wall Street hedge fund managers! In the 2009 financial meltdown, those same Wall Street folks sought and obtained a bailoout from Congress. The little investor who lost their home, or were foreclosed weren’r compensated. Some of those involved with GameStop saw their parents or relations get impacted by those 2009 events. If you haven’t watched The Big Short, check it out for details of it. Or watch Wall Street years ago with Michael Douglas as Gordon Gecko. In the end, as a small investor myself, I am intrigued by this story. One because I wish I had caught a GameStop early (because every one wishes to win a lottery ticket) but also because I am sympathethic to the person who picks stocks, does research and hopes for the best, when the big players are the waves that can have you rise or fall with little thought of your personal situation. Sure some of the individual small investors were quirky and unusual. But isn’t that what the stock market wants? More participation? Or do they just want more chum for the sharks who swim around and decide which companies they are going to support or dump? Check it out and decide for yourself. It’s worth your time.

August 21, 2023

Painkiller: Recently released on Netflix, this 6 part series is meant to shock you. Outlining in the series a number of parallel stories, we the viewer are able to see the early days until today what the “opiod crisis” has done. Specifically, we are shown the Sackler family, the company Purdue and their opiod creation Oxycotin. A powerful drug with even more powerful marketing and business model, which turned the Sacklers and Purdue in a multi-billion dollar company. We see the effects on individual families, including introductions by real people showing real victims to drug addiction before each episode begins.

The series starts off pretty slowly. As someone of my generation, it is hard to think of Ferris Bueller (actor Matthew Broderick) as a bad guy. He plays Richard Sackler. We are introduced to Edie Flowers who from all appearances seems jaded to being brought into a law office to discuss new efforts to “go after” the Sackler family. Then we look backward in time. Edie has her own issues with Purdue and she is formerly with the Attorney General’s office. She decided earlier in her career to pursue a case against Purdue. Elsewhere we see the Purdue team ratcheting up the marketing effort by hiring new attractive female recent university grads to sell to the mostly male doctor clients. Purdue is looking to incent sales people to sell more, by also incenting the doctors to prescribe higher dosage of the new drug, which incidentally is basically prescribed heroin. Some doctors understand this, but many others prescribe because they are making money from the drugs. One of the more intriguing aspects of the show was looking to get the FDA to approve the drug and the particularly diligent agent at the FDA handling the case. Talk about Purdue making a full court press with this individual. By the end, with the lives of many falling apart at the seams, something has to give. But one wonders “I think I remember a big settlement in the news for billions by Sackler” and you would remember correctly. Sadly that isn’t the full story and those who have watched enough series like this will not be overly shocked of the outcome. Yes, the producers and director wanted you to be, but it seems like there can be different layers to “justice”. This was decent. I don’t consider the performances particularly noteable, although Edit probably stands out among them. This series is all the more reason to be avoiding precribed drugs, and especially drugs for pain.

SpiderMan: Across the Spiderverse: So what do you say about a Spiderman cartoon when you aren’t really much of a Marvel superhero? It’s a challenge. I had seen the prior cartoon incarnation Into the Spiderverse from 2018. This is a sequal and builds upon it. It should be said that you should likely watch the original to better understand this one and the characters. You are introduced to Miles Morales who is bitten by a radioactive spider. Pretty standard Spidey stuff.

I spoil nothing if you have any familiarity with this series that there are multiple existing spider-errr people. This is the Spiderman series that someone who loves time and existential plains would write, so someone like a Christopher Nolan and his brother. In short, there are multiple Spideys (like Peter Parker) but he is not the only one. Others can be fighting the good fight. Miles like all new Spiderman has to better learn the skills and keep his existence under wraps and away from his police dad. In the first episode he made some friends, but he still keeps mainly to himself. He is smart in school but struggles with balancing his roles. In this episode his parents are a bit worried about his studies and what is happening with him.

In the end, this is another installment and there is more to come. It was a smash hit earlier in the theatres with mostly positive reviews. I find it hard to keep track of all the plains and who is in that plain. Further it is a challenge with opening up windows of existence (think Doctor Strange if that means anything to you) and moving around that way which animation handles adeptly better than a real version ever could. There is a guy who looks oddly like Roschach/Walter Kovacs. There is an explanation given for this characters skills, but it is beyond my comprehension as my eyes were glazing over. He is pretty important but still. In the end, this was quality animation, with really good use of colours and cool visuals. It was a complex, if not a little confusing story for me, but your viewing and understanding of the material could be a LOT better than mine. So I was somewhat entertained. I still don’t see what all the fuss is about, but everyone has their own thing. So it was decent for someone who was not a big fan of these multiple Spidermans and actors who play them.

August 14, 2023

Heart of Stone: Netflix recently released this, to much fanfare and a cast that is decent. Principally starring Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman). This movie tries REALLY hard to be Mission Impossible, James Bond and Jason Bourne rebooted with Gadot as the lead character. Sadly for all it’s best intentions, I can hear the pitch meeting in my head, it doesn’t deliver. You are better off on Netflix to rewatch the earlier and more recent Mission Impossible movies. The story is all too familiar with a device with more power than one should ever have put into one person’s hands and the various spy agencies doing their best to get a hold of it. A quality actress like Glenn Close is woefully under-utilized, even though she tried to channel Meryl Streep’s look in The Devil Wears Prada in this.

Jamie Dornan (from the Fifty Shades of Grey series and also The Fall) is in the cast, and Alia Bhatt, and Jing Lusi who looks eerily like Olivia Munn in the opening sequence of this film. I like the set pieces in Lisbon and also Iceland which are familiar friends, but there is so much that is very silly. The stunts aren’t at the same level as Cruise in MI. A good example is the parachuting scene. But you could also add the motorcycle scene as well. We have seen it all before, and done better. The whole agent acts-as-a-double-agent falls flat, and I cannot believe that the technology for following around and viewing remotely the actions of the spies is in any way plausible. Is that true of other stunts and other movies in this genre? Of course! But as the audience viewing it, I don’t want to feel as though it’s a fake as it looks at times in this. The writing and the story are not the same calibre and overall it simply doesn’t capture my attention, or keep it. To its credit, it isn’t three hours long, but that really isn’t a high bar to hold it up to.

Gal Gadot does her best and can do physical stunts very well. Jing Lusi cannot hold a candle to Ana De Armas in Bond. Overall it feels like a the B-Team on virtually all fronts with writing, stunts, CGI, villian in comparing to the others. So for that, I would suggest that this isn’t the movie to watch. If you really like Gal Gadot, then perhaps watching Wonder Woman again.

65: It was a tough week. Crave recently released the prehistoric themed movie that doesn’t involve genetic manipulation, like Jurassic Park, 65 with Adam Driver, with the 65 referencing 65 million years ago. Driver with a wife and young daughter, has decided to take “one last job” to assist in getting money for some needed expensive medical assistance for his daughter. Query whether a father would head off on some mission with a sick daughter. I doubt I could do it. But that doesn’t make much of a movie. On the mission there is a catastrophic ship failure because he has never listened to C-3PO in Star Wars in that you don’t ever go INTO an asteroid field. The odds of surviving are astronomical, and Adam Driver isn’t Han Solo. His ship crashes down onto an unknown planet, but thankfully it has breathable atmosphere. Phew! Another really short movie if it doesn’t. But wait, also on his ship, and someone else who survives the crash is a young passenger. She is looking to reunite with her family.

Cue the references to The Last of Us. In fact, much of this feels like the successful HBO series, which incidentally is far better than this is. One challenge for me that is simply annoying is Driver’s inability to communicate with the young girl. Of course, different worlds, different planets, different countries one can expect different languages. But we have dinosaurs running around, could we suspend the realism of a language barrier and allow them to talk to one another? Please?! As for the dinosaurs, time and again things happen right at the last moment that is very convenient. All this to say that overall this movie for me was a mess. I found it silly and disjointed. I didn’t care for the characters despite the attempts to make this feel more like Interstellar and connect with the Matthew McConoughay character leaving Murphy. So I cannot recommend and would actively encourage readers not to view this if available to you.

August 7th, 2023

Dances With Wolves: I had noted that I had referenced Dances with Wolves four separate times in my posts. This epic Kevin Costner film was released to great acclaim and brought him seven Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Sound and Best Original Score. The score, like many films adds so much to the experience. John Barry wrote the score and it enhances so many of the scenes. Released in 1990, I saw at a theatre in Windsor when I was in law school. It holds very well 33 years later. It was one if the first movies that I can recall which had native Indians, indiginous people speaking their own language with subtitles. This was Kevin Costner’s directorial debut and what a first attempt. The film ran over budget, and Costner ended up paying the $3M difference out of his own pocket.

At its heart, the story involves a Union soldier in the mid 1800s, named John Dunbar, who after a dramatic battle in which he was unwittingly a turning point, he decides to go station himself in the frontier “before it disappears”. Dunbar can see the shifting winds and the ever expanding world of white influence. Out to the frontier at a remote outpost, which hasn’t seen people in a long while, Dunbar sets up shop. What he doesn’t expect is some visitors, in the form of a wolf and later some Sioux indians. The story moves forward, and he begins a relationship with his neighbours. There is a language barrier and it is a slow process. He is able to begin to make a positive impression with the Holy Man, named Kicking Bird, played by Graham Greene. Not everyone in the Sioux village is as enthusiastic with his presence, including fierce warrior Wind In His Hair. There is also a white woman among the villagers and she is introduced to Dunbar through unusual circumstances. Her name is Stands With A Fist and for good reason. Dunbar finds ways, some planned and others not, to try to ingratitate himself to the village, and the leaders. Time moves on, and the buffalo become the focal point as they do their annual hunt. Dunbar continues to make an impression as he integrates further into the tribe.

The turning point in the relationship is when Kicking Bird asks Stands With A Fist to become his translator. They are able to communicate better. She has her own backstory and was once part of a white settling family before they were attacked by another tribe of natives and she ran free. The performances across the board in this epic are all solid. Costner is the centre point, but there are quality supporting roles from Greene, and Mary McDonnell as Stands with a Fist. Add in the young people add some good scenes. There is some good humour, along with some more dramatic moments. You learn how the Sioux are worried about the white man, and whether this is a change that will last. The Sioux leader Ten Bears is not convinced that another foreign invader will last. What sets this apart from western from before is the recognition that previous portrayals of the indiginous people were wrong. In this movie, it is the white soldier who is adapting and realizing that his way of life, and outlook on the world is very different than those around him. He is shown time and again how the white man takes without asking, and has no harmony with nature. This is an emotional journey on multiple fronts. It is a story of friendship, of understanding, oppression, cooperation and love of family. These are all timeless, and this is why this is a movie to be remembered fondly. Good stories last. Kevin Costner when approached about this story by his writer friend Michael Blake from acting school, Costner had told him that he needed to write a novel. Only once in the novel form could he look to invest and want to explore making it. The result of all this is one of best films in the 1990s. Well worth the time with the three hour running time, which also is reminiscent of the latest three hour epic Oppenheimer, and also worth your time.

Better Call Saul, Season 3: I am a big fan of Breaking Bad. I really like the character of Saul Goodman from the original, as I think he delivered some of the funniest lines. One memorable line was Saul addressing Jesse and Walter after a crazy event he said “now I know what to call my polyps”. I was eagerly anticipating this show but it got off to a slow start. Seasons 1 and 2 focused on his relationship with his older brother. Both parties contributed to the strained relationship, even though Saul (original name Jimmy McGill) stayed with his brother to help him through his challenges. This season 3 brings those challenges to a head with an excellent episode 5 in the hearing held by the New Mexico Bar on whether Jimmy should keep his law license. Jimmy with his collegaue and personal partner Kim Wexler, look to find a way to cross examine older brother. It’s clever, and memorable while at the same time unfortunate that the result of course is the end of that connection between the brothers.

At the same time there are ongoing parallel stories with Mike, the enforcer and former cop in Breaking Bad as well as Giancarlo Esposito playing Gus Fring who runs his drug operation through the memorable chicken franchise Los Polos Hermanos. This past week Mark Margolis passed away at the age of 83. He played Hector Salamanca who is a driving force in both franchises. He is a mob boss, drug dealer who is working hard to keep his empire which he struggles to do. This season made me realize that the previous hype that I had heard was warranted. I really like the Kim Wexler character. This is another series well worth your time.

July 31, 2023

Oppenheimer (IMAX): If you listen to the hype and the social media buzz, this is the movie that was going to “save Hollywood”. Well this and Barbie! Christopher Nolan creates memorable movies, many of which I thoroughly enjoy, he is one of the directors that I seek out, like many other audience members. For me, I think that he is a clever writer and writes quality scripts. I really like that he is a proponent for using film and IMAX cameras rather than digital (like a James Cameron). This was a highly anticipated release starring a who’s who of Hollywood, notably Cillian Murphy (a Nolan staple taking the lead role), Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr, Florence Pugh, Kenneth Branaugh, Jason Clarke and others. Some cast members will be surprises, like those I haven’t seen in a long time like Josh Hartnett, Matthew Modine (even though Stranger Things brought him back to the screen) or David Krumholtz, who played an Elf in the Santa Claus back in 1994.

The key performance is taken on and embraced by Murphy, who has shown his ability to carry a project in his work in Peaky Blinders. His piercing blue eyes and expressive face show much of what he is thinking without the need for dialog. This is a complicated man, who has lead a life that many can’t imagine. Intellectually he was brilliant, as he knew or was friends with giants in his field at the time like Einstein. He was more than just the Manhattan Project, which was the development by the US of the atomic bomb, in a race with the Germans during WWII.

For me, I am not sure whether it was the hype, or the expectations but for me I didn’t leave this three-hour epic feeling all pumped about it. I enjoyed it. Nolan likes to jump around in time, here using the technique of having black and white footage, in addition to regular colour and then used hair colour and styling for Oppenheimer to keep the viewer mostly on track of where they are in time. Murphy sports curlier and longer hair early on as opposed to shorter greyer hair later. Without disclosing too much, there was more political intrigue in this movie than I was expecting. Then again, I didn’t know the history of Oppenheimer himself, but was more than aware of McCarthyism during the 1950s which remains a black mark on the US treatment of its own citizens. I was reminded of Imitation Game and Sully and other such movies in how people who are by all rights heroes are treated once that time has passed. One would like to think that their actions speak for their loyalties speak to their true allegiances. Emily Blunt has an impressive scene where she gets an opportunity to voice her true feelings in how her husband was being treated.

Still, I was aware of the fact that much of this movie is a drama, and that the IMAX technology is wasted for most of it. Sure, there were some sweeping aerial shots but generally you don’t need this technology for testimony at a hearing. Does it take away from it? Not at all. But for me it means that a movie like Mission Impossible should be seen more in IMAX than this one. Apparently Tom Cruise was lobbying theatres hard to have them keep the IMAX theatres for his film, but Nolan had already secured the times for this one. Nolan won out.

In the end, I turned to Alison (we went together with two of her friends) and we all agreed that we enjoyed it. It is well told, well acted with a quality script. I had expected from earlier reports of those seeing early screenings on how “powerful” it was (“like a horror” it was described) to see more footage from Nagasaki and Hiroshima. In truth, for Oppenheimer once he delivered his weapons of mass destruction, he only heard about their use on the radio. It was a turning point in human civilization; the beginning of the nuclear age. Despite later conflicts, like Vietnam or even now Ukraine there has been no use of nuclear weapons. Oppenheimer himself was not convinced that this was a good thing, but it was a necessary thing. He provided the weapon, it was politicians who decided if and how those should be used. The advancement made in science to get to this point is remarkable. Oppenheimer was a master project manager, and managed time after time to get the most out of his people. Interestingly the German attitude towards Jewish people impacted their ability to win this nuclear race, because many of the top minds, like Oppenheimer, were Jewish. This is one of the movie events of the year. I would encourage everyone to watch. It’s not a movie for 17yos. or those who have no interest in history. But it is another quality edition to the catalog of films from Christopher Nolan.

John Wick 4: If you have watched the previous three chapters of this unexpected hit series, then you know exactly what you are going to get with this latest edition. Bearded Keanu Reeves will be utilizing many of the skills that he acquired in creating Neo in The Matrix, in (how do you describe it) ploughing through an endless stream of assassins intent on killing him, with him wearing nothing more than a dark suit. Yes, that suit has magical bullet proof capabilities, even though it is astounding to me that despite all the bullets and swords directed towards John Wick that none hit his hands or ankles. But I shouldn’t ask those questions. John yet again takes a beating. There are endless head shots made against the bad guys, some of whom where similatr suits to John.

Does it really matter what the plot is in this instance? Suffice it to say that John is put in a position where there is a “winner take all” proposition. In order to get there, John must overcome sizeable odds. That is an understatement in the extreme. I won’t delve too deeply into some characters, however I do have to mention one blind character who uses a cane as a weapon. But he is much more than that. But how?? If you know that he is blind, and Wick was very aware of it, isn’t it relatively easy to take him out at a distance? Apparently not.

In the end, this delivers predictably on what is expected. It was decent. I cringed at the thought of seeing yet another shooting blood bath and rampant destruction. There were a couple of twists and turns. I have to admit that I really enjoyed the scenes in Paris. Such a treat to see familiar territory. So if you’ve never seen John Wick before, this is not the place to start. For those who wish to see more, then by all means take this in and see where it goes.

July 24, 2023

Extraction: I had a couple of positive views about the 2020 Chris Hemsworth in my circle and decided to see this on Netflix. I note that there is akready Extraction 2 out as well. I will further note that I haven’t watched a lot of Chris Hemsworth movies. I certainly haven’t sought him out in the Marvel series of movies as Thor.

In this film, he plays a single ex-military mercenary who needs money and seeks out dangerous jobs in order to make a living. He carries with him some baggage which the viewer better understands as the movie carries on. The life of Tyler Rake (Hemsworth) is complex, but his motives are simple enough. Do a job, if he is sober enough, and move on. This job involves finding the son of an East Indian imprisoned drug lord, who has gone missing. The drug lord has threatened his own right hand man that if his son isn’t found straight away, that the guy’s own son would be at risk.

Rack is part of a team that is charged with obtaining the young man. Let the fun begin with all of these armed folks trying to deal with this young man. Interestingly the same men who are very careful not to be killing children, don’t seem to have any issue with killing the father of many children. In many ways this is similar to a John Wick film with the carnage of those involved. Like John Wick, Rack can seem to take a beating and still continue on. One wonders about all this effort and all these lives impacted for the sake of one child. Of course there is a tie in with Rack and his own story. Family is a big part of the underlying theme. There are plenty of action sequences, lots of shooting, chases, helicopters and the whole ball of wax. Is this worth watching? For me it was okay. Alison told me that she couldn’t stay with it and I can understand why. I cannot recommend in the same way that it was brought to my attention. I feel no need to seek out the sequel. The emotional hook that I read about wasn’t really there for me in the motivation and ultimate choices of Rack. So, as a viewer, one gets to make their own choices.

The Secretary: James Spader before his career on TV as Red Reddington in The Blacklist was known for more quirky roles. Among them included the 1989 Sex Lies Videotape with Andie McDowell. He had some less than mainstream sexual appetites, but he was a troubled soul. Other roles like Bad Influence or White Palace, have similar stories for him. So he is familiar with the territory with 2002 film on Netflix. His co-star in this movie is Maggie Gyllenhaal, who plays a young woman looking for a job. Spader plays Mr Grey who is a sole practioner lawyer. Maggie plays Lee, who lives with her mother and just wants to have some independence.

Mr Grey (no relation to Shades of Grey) is a man who seems to go through secretaries with regularity and he is looking to bring on someone new. But he is a lonely guy. He develops an attachment with his secretary, and she for him. Things unfold.

This smaller independent film shows that people, in whatever desires that they have, can find one another. They don’t have to conform with societal norms. Spader shows his own vulnerability while Gyllenhall is able to channel the woman able to better asset herself and recognize who she is and where she belongs. Lee turns that assertiveness into better understanding herself and her value. She becomes more confident, and it shows in many aspects of her life. This movie isn’t for everyone. It can be a bit slow. Not a lot happens, but then again life for most people doesn’t have car chases and gun fights. It is filled with routine, work, weekends, and everyday interactions. We meet people, I think, under the saying for “a season, a reason or a lifetime”. Certainly this can be true in romantic relationships. Sometimes it takes some time to figure just which one that someone may be for you.

July 17, 2023

Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1: Well Tom Cruise has done it one more time. Last summer it was post-pandemic sequel Top Gun Maverick. Adding to his string of watchable, exciting, blockbusters he adds for summer 2023 the seventh installment in the MI Series. It all started, remarkably, back in 1996. The core cast has been there from the beginning include Simon Pegg (as Benji), Ving Rhimes (as Luther) with other pieces that are added from one episode to the next. These are important pieces with various upper levels of the intelligence agency, like Alec Baldwin, or Jeremy Renner, and Henry Czerny who plays Kittridge. Notably for me this series regained some energy with the addition of Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust. She joined in 2015 for episode 5 Rogue Nation. She played a British agent who was in a precarious position of playing both sides between The Syndicate (bad guys) and the UK and US powers that be, including the the clandestine Mission Impossible team.

In more episodes new pieces like Vanessa Kirby (as power broker Alanna) and for this one Hayley Atwell (called Grace in this movie) are added. Each play key roles and add tremendously to the watchability of the story. But let’s be real, this series is about the stunts, the settings, the car chases and technology. This episode has it all, jumping from one heart-pumping scene to another with ease. Of course many of the scenes and the timing will have a viewer role their eyes, but that is the point. This episode also adds some unexpected twists and turns when you are dealing with Artificial Intelligence. This doesn’t give away very much. The rest I won’t detail any further because this is a movie best seen without too many expectations, nor knowledge into where it is going.

After watching, I decided to re-watch the Rogue Nation episode and was surprised to see how closely the two mirrored each other in structure. But of course the basic principles do remain the same. I have to admit that from the beginning I do find the reliance of the face-peeling masks which is ultimately just silly throughout the series more than a bit far fetched. Alison tells me this was a common practice in the original TV series that was not watched by me. But all this to say, find the largest screen you can (I saw in IMAX in a packed theatre) on Tuesday and cannot recommend more highly for 2.5 hours of entertainment. Go see it. Strap in. Have some popcorn if that is your thing. I tip my cap to you Mr Cruise (at 61yo!!!) for what I am sure will line your pockets in ways that are no longer necessary given your previous success! Dead Reckoning Part 2 will be released June 28th, 2024.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3: Moving from one very successful series that adds a memorable, watchable installment we go to a series that, for me, could have stopped after a single episode. Those who read my movie reviews know that I am generally not a superhero movie fan and less a Marvel fan than I am for DC Comics. Query whether the Guardians are really superheroes to begin with? They aren’t really in a strict definition of it, but then again I am not prepared to debate the point. The original movie from 2014 was a surprise hit because it was campy, had new fresh characters and had a really good catchy soundtrack.

Of note, there is a tie in between this movie and Mission Impossible in the cast. Pom Klementieff, who plays Mantis in Guardians (pictured on the far left above) plays Paris in MI7. Also of note I saw that Karen Gillan who plays Nebula (far right pictured above) is not wearing the form fitting clothes from earlier, and earlier films like Jumanji. The online speculation is that she is in real life pregnant. The movie producers have seemed to accommodate her, to their credit.

As for the plot of this movie, we have a lot of backstory to the Bradley Cooper voiced raccoon named Rocket. It’s far more backstory for a talking raccoon that I ever needed to see. But like Rogue Nation where Benji was taken and in trouble, the Guardians stick together and try to help out their own. In some movies it is just done better than others in how it is done. For me I didn’t need to know this and I was overly engaged in it. In short, I don’t care enough about these characters. I cannot recommend seeing this, and for me it was forgotten almost as sokn as the closing credits (including the stay-to-the-end vignette with Chris Pratt addressing a question that I didn’t even consider). So while this movie seemed to come and go in the theatres without much fanfare, it has still grossed $842M worldwide and $358M domestically. Domestically this is third for the year. Behind Super Mario Bros (!!) and Spider Man cartoon. Clearly I am not the targeted audience for movies these days. Apparently, according to the ad I just saw on TV today, that this movie was certified 96% FRESH on Rotten Tomatoes. Certainly I would be part of the 4%, and I cannot imagine (nor need to) are more positive about this movie.

Next on my list of films to see in the theatre will be Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.

Ted Lasso: I finally had access to Apple TV and have been able to see some series that I have been meaning to watch. First on the list was the popular Ted Lasso that many feel is a must see. I finished Season 1 and have the following comments. Did I like this? Sure. It is a feel-good type of series with the very likeable Jason Sudekis playing a gosh-gee-willikers southern american football coach that was hired by a British soccer team. Of course he knows nothing about British football, nor does he know anything about British customs or vernacular. He brings with him an assistant coach. He inherits a team of players, and some other employess within the organization.

Most importantly he has a female owner who is newly and most public divorced from the former owner, and she obtained the team as part of the divorce settlement. He is a cad throughout this first season, showing himself time and again in places which serve to antagonize the new owener, who Ted calls “Boss”. Early in episode one Boss admits that she brought Ted on board to fail. Her aim, like many divorced and recently hurt ex-spouses, is to hurt her former partner by destroying something that he cared about. The dynamics between the owner, the coach, the assistants and the players are what the series is about. It is done well. But is this must-see TV?

For me, this is a series that follows in a long line of movies and series like this. The TV series Coach comes immediately to mind with Craig T Nelson as the basketball coach. He had an assistant coach in much the same vein (played by Jerry Van Dyke). Other movies and series would include The Natural, Bad News Bears, The White Shadow, Hoosiers, Black Sunday etc. In each the coach has to mold a team, deal with the characters involved and the season at hand. There are challenges and plenty of sports cliches are used. The one difference with Ted the coach is that he is about team building, honesty, friendship and sportsmanship. He isn’t a win-at-all-cost kind of guy. He remains consistent despite the challenges he and his people endure. This is reflected on a personal level for him as well. I enjoy this. There are some characters that you care about, and hope that they do well. I will look forward to seeing more as Season 2 gets streamed. So far, this has been good.

July 10th, 2023

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves: Can you imagine what the pitch was for this picture? So we have a board game from the 1970s which everyone over 40yo will know some geeks who used to play this on weekends and throughout the summer, ensuring that they don’t get any sun. I note that Stranger Things have had the main players playing Dungeons and Dragons. The producers cannot blame the cast, as they have acquired the talents of some A-list actors like Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Hugh Grant, Bradley Cooper and Rege Jean Page from Bridgerton fame. So what happened? Because this is an utter mess. You would think that a movie with a title that is WAY too long, but has Dragons in it would have more dragons! The first dragon on my count shows up at 52 mins!! Huh? You also have Michelle Rodriguez singing. Yes, you read that right. Chris Pine’s singing, if it is actually his voice, will be challenging Pierce Brosnan (Mama Mia) and Russell Crowe (Les Mis) for most cringe-worthy. But this is a sidelight to the main plotline. Basically, Pine plays a smart-mouthed, charming rouge who has a daughter for whom he has been separated. His wife had passed away earlier for reasons that Pine feels responsible. Pine then meets up with other random characters who must make his tiny band which has at least a modest tie into the game (where a group of players with various skills would take on a task, they using various skills like warrior, fighting, magic, thieving etc).

There are of course bad people, seeking power and looking to gain with others losing. Enter the cad Hugh Grant who has taken care of Pine’s daughter, acting as an “uncle” while poisoning her mind about her father.

All this to say that this movie was way too long, way too convoluted, and simply silly. If you are a fan of the game, you will be disappointed, because it really doesn’t have anything to do with the game. If you like medieval fantasy, you will also be disappointed because this is non-sensical and silly. If you hope to see some good acting with stars who are capable of doing so, you will also be disappointed because there isn’t any story or writing provided that gives these performers any opportunity to show what they can do. So overall, an effort that is a head-scratcher and not really surprising to be on Netflix so close to its theatrical release. Don’t be fooled by the Top 10 viewing as listed by Netflix. I would say, take a pass.

The Black Phone: sometimes watching movies and reviewing can be pleasant, and one feels as though you are able to suggest watchable and memorable content for viewers who don’t always watch a lot of movies. The question can come up from time to time from people to me as to “what should I watch out there?” After a week like this, I am saddened that I don’t have much positive news to respond to that. In this instance, Crave is showing this thriller which is reminiscient of other movies notably Silence of the Lambs, or even Stranger Things, but not nearly as good despite the reference. The premise is one of young people disappearing with regularity from a local high school in Colorado. There has been a black van that has been rumoured to be involved, but there haven’t been any witnesses. They kids are calling him The Grabber. The intrigue begins.

Underlying this background is a young male student and his sister with just a Dad, as Mom had passed away earlier and Dad (played by creepy Jeremy Davies) is often drunk and abusive towards his children. There is a supernatural angle to this story as the younger sister has dreams that sometimes come true. Our young man, who has been friends with one of the boys who was just taken, seems to have a connection with a number of the other missing teens.

So what’s with the title? Well, without giving away too much, the old style dial phone is in a room and we are told by the bad guy “it hasn’t worked in years”. It rings and brings in another supernatural element to the story which is more than a little bit strange. Ethan Hawke is also in this movie. He is one of the more versatile actors of this age. He can play a variety of characters and this one is quite different for him. In the end, there were aspects of this that didn’t make a lot of sense, like if there was a black van involved, perhaps the police would be better able to track down a black van parked in an open garage on an ordinary suburban street. Go figure. Perhaps setting this in the late 70s with the accompanying music would explain the lack of technology used by the police. Overall, I cannot recommend, and found the end quite disappointing. I think that there has to be a better way for a young man to assert himself, and grow in character that doesn’t involve a set up like this. Oh, and if you’re wondering, if you choose to engage in this anyway, you would be pardoned in wondering why on earth the pattern of the bad guy was interrupted by the pattern he had established with this situation from before. The movie is a pass for me.

Tom Segura: Sledgehammer: I am a Tom Segura fan. I really like his humour and I think that he is hilarious. He is married to comedian Christina P who I also think is hilarious. Both have a number of specials on Netflix and Youtube. I think that Segura’s earlier work in specials like Completely Normal, Disgraceful and Ball Hog are all very funny with many laugh-out-loud moments. For me anyway, and humour is a very personal thing. I like Jim Jeffries, Jimmy Carr, Daniel Tosh, George Carlin and others who are similar,and all of whom I have seen live. I have been to Just for Laughs, and other comedy festivals.

Maybe it was me anticipating this so much, and building it up in my mind, but this special fell flat for me. There was a discussion about his two young boys, and another chat about his father, but none of them had me in stitches with his familiar delivery. I have laughed more on his more recent appearances on his wife’s podcast Your Mom’s House which can be very funny as well. So feel feel to catch it. It isn’t all that long. I do think that there are other things that he has done, or his wife, that are funnier.

July 3rd, 2023

Being Mary Tyler Moore: Crave has put out a new HBO documentary entitled Being Mary Tyler Moore. For those of us who grew up in the 1970s, it seems I was always aware of the show Mary Tyler Moore. In it, the single Mary is working for a newsroom in Minneapolis MN, as an associate producer. There is a memorable ensemble cast, with notable stars like Ed Asner, Betty White, Ted Knight, Valerie Harper and Cloris Leachman. Ed Asner plays Lou Grant. Valerie Harper plays Rhoda Morganstern. There were numerous spin offs from the original show which aired from 1970 to 1976. But this documentary is more than about this show.

Mary Tyler Moore of course was also the star of the show, The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-1966). She was brought on as a newcomer because she had pluck and worked well with Dick. She had very good comedic timing in her previous TV work. She had been working steadily since finishing college. Born in 1936, she was 25yo when she landed the role on the very influential comedy show with Dick Van Dyke and blossomed from there.

This documentary was well done and shows the context in which made Mary a poster woman for her generation. Moving from the dutiful wife as Laura Petrie, she transitioned in the early 70s with the women’s lib movement in full swing with protests and Gloria Steinam in full force. Mary was the smart, single woman on her own in the big city without the need for a man. She dated. She worked. She had a male boss. Juggling it all. She showed all of America in her show that the balance was possible. Her personal life reflected her TV life, as she divorced her first husband, for whom she had a son, and then later married again. She was an Emmy award winning actress but also a mother and a wife. And what a full life that she led. She was nominated for an Oscar, in Ordinary People, directed by Robert Redford. She like everyone has had her challenges like losing her son long before any parent would ever want. She had divorces. She had health challenges. She died at the age of 80yo in 2017. But her impact on TV, and the body of work that she left behind made her a one of a kind.

Full Swing – a Netflix series: Talk about timing for a Netflix series. They’re first foray into the golf world just happened to be the year when there was a rival league to the PGA tour that came into existence. LIV is a rival league that was the brain child of ex-PGA player Greg Norman. He managed to get backers from controversial Saudi Arabia government. In turn, they set up a rival league and then threw around millions of dollars to star PGA players for them to switch allegiances. Some switched and others as we see, were in the middle of contemplating in doing so.

Early on players like Justin Thomas and Brooks Koepka are the focal point. You note that Koepka who had suffered from injuries and his game had tailed off (in his results). They both fly around in private jets and live in lavish properties that most ordinary watchers won’t even have a frame of reference on. All for being able to hit a little white ball better than anyone else in the world. It is a skill for which they are dearly compensated. It is difficult to have sympathy for a group of millionaires who fight over whether they should be accepting more millions from a dubious source. For me, I like the idea that the party which generates the revenue (the players), gets to keep more of the revenue. Why was it that this is the one major sport where the participants are only paid in the event IF they reach the final two days (make the cut). If they don’t, they get nothing; no flights paid for, no hotels, no health insurance, no guaranteed appearance money. Does that make sense when TV networks pay billions of dollars to the organizer of the touraments?

The more compelling story for me was with John Dahmen, who seemed to be quite accepting of the fact that he wasn’t in the upper echelons of the game. He never expected to win, especially in the majors, because he didn’t think that he was as good. Naturally on the way to the PGA tour and obtaining his card he would have won many tournaments. He is a winner. But this episode shows him as being willing to be 30th in the world. All of this background then leads to him being the third round leader at the 2022 US Open. Maybe he can be a top player. He finished 10th. What this series doesn’t show is the guy who struggles for his card, and lives out of his car driving from event to event. The LIV discussion is interesting to be sure. Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Bryson Dechambeau, and then Cam Smith (Number 2 of the world) all got paid by LIV. If you are a golf fan, you get to see some behind-the-scenes views with some of the best players. You hear Rory McIlroy bad mouth Phil Mickelson. You hear Dustin Johnson feel strongly that his legacy isn’t in any way impaired because he was a Number 1 for a lot of weeks and has already won his majors. It is also interesting that post filming that in the past few weeks that Brooks Koepka has won the PGA Championship and then the PGA Tour and LIV have merged, a decision that was undertaken by PGA leadership without any discussion or direction from its loyal members. The plot thickens and Season 2 should be even more compelling as the fall out from all these things come to light from the players themselves.

June 26, 2023

Still: A Michael J Fox Movie: Canadian Michael J Fox became a household name on television in his breakout role of Alex P. Keaton on Family Ties. We learn in this engaging documentary with the star that he was nearing the end of his commitment to pursuing his dream of being an actor before that role. He had no money. He had no jobs coming in, despite having some roles when he was younger, but none of them paying very well. But then the world turned in his favour. Despite the producer Gary David Goldberg and the studio NOT wanting Fox, he went onto the stage in an Eninem moment, and slayed the crowd, convincing them with his wit and charm. He landed the job. Like winning the lottery, his life then turns around completely.

Then while filming Family Ties, he is offered the film role in Steven Speilberg’s Back to the Future of Marty McFly. It turns out that Speilberg’s first choice Eric Stolz was not working out, and Spielberg wanted to reshoot every scene that Stolz had completed. Goldberg wasn’t prepared to let Fox take a hiatus in order to film it, so instead Fox filmed both the movie AND the TV series at the same time. He admits that he felt that both roles suffered and he didn’t think that they were very good. He was wrong. His already soaring star left the galaxy, and he was one of the most bankable and successful stars. All from this small of stature young man (then 24yo) with the killer smile and likeable personality.

Life doesn’t always follow any set rules. Unless you have been living under a rock, you know that Fox has Parkinson’s disease. He first learned about it when he was 29yo in 1991. He kept working all the while movie after movie and show after show. The movies included two sequels for Back to the Future, Casualties of War and Doc Hollywood. He met and married Tracy Pollan from Family Ties, and when first diagnosed had son Sam in 1989. Twin girls arrive in 1995, and then youngest daughter in 2001. He went public with the disease in 1998. He worked on Spin City. In total he did 172 episodes of Family Ties and a further 103 episodes of Spin City.

What struck me most in this very watchable film was his gait. He struggles with walking and balance. He must fall an awful lot, and that is reflected in the physio sessions he is taking throughout the film, and the myriad of injuries and broken bones he has suffered. He is sporting a puffy left eye which is explained. The other thing that comes across loud and clear is his love and devotion to Tracy. He has a tight family, and the children rally around him. For Tracy she, I am certain, never signed up for this when she wed a mega-star. I will imagine that they have had many challenging days. But when told she said to Fox “in sickness and in health”. She is remarkable. From early on when the diagnosis was first given, Fox was hitting the bottle pretty hard and she challenged him. He has been sober since. All of this is detailed in this movie. I thoroughly enjoyed and I learned a few things about him and his family. When you know he has the Parkinson’s you can see him not moving his left arm in Spin City. But he was very good at hiding it. He keeps plugging away, while answering directing a question early on about “why make this movie now?” A Delorean won’t fix the diagnosis and he has already far surpassed the initial guidance that he could only work a few more years. Fox fights the good fight, and I hope that he can keep it up.

The Courier: Benedict Cumberbatch is telling the true cold war story dramatized of Greville Wynne as a UK business man who is asked to become a conduit between a high ranking Soviet government worker who is concerned about Nikita Kruschchev the Soviet leader. Set during the late 1950s and early 1960s the Soviets are increasing their nuclear arsenal, but want to have first strike capability with the US, as their present Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) aren’t able yet. Cuba is the answer. Rachel Brosnahan plays the American CIA agent looking to enlist the help of Wynne.

Wynne reluctantly agrees but successfully makes contact with this Soviet worker, Oleg Penkovsky. The stakes couldn’t be higher. The information that Oleg is sharing reveals details of the missiles and the locations of them within Cuba before they are capable of a launch. Soviet KGB are not easily fooled and the web around these two begins to collapse. There is plenty of intrigue and thrills. If you read ahead and cheat with a google search or two you will spoil the ending that the movie sticks to accurately. I give away nothing to say that the US and President Kennedy were able to successful stand up to the Soviets and their plans to increase their war machine. I will mention in passing that in the third act, Cumberbatch does a very credible job of matching the skills of other actors like Christian Bale and Robert DeNiro. All this to say that I like war movies, historically accurate movies, and all the intrigue surrounding those uncertain times with not much goodwill between the two main victors from the Second World War. The new Super Powers. So many resources were spent to spy on one another and prove that their system of governement/philosophy is better than the other. I enjoyed this movie with good performances. Two very brave men chose to do the right thing in their eyes and for their own good conscience, along with their young families. We across the globe and fortunate that they did.

Vengeance: After writing about two movies that I enjoyed, it is more difficult to write about one that I didn’t enjoy nor can I recommend. I know that in the past it was often more fun to read Roger Ebert when he did not like a film, rather than those that moved him positively. He was an excellent writer, and was able to fully articulate why he was annoyed that two hours (or less) or his precious time on the planet was lost to an inane movie. Now I can say that Vengeance isn’t completely inane, in the same way that Jack Frost was for Roger. But still, it seems that there are movies so intent on delivering a message or a comment on today’s society that they lose sight of trying to put together an entertaining story. It should have been apparent early on when I saw John Mayer as himself that this wasn’t going to be a notable film.

Writen, Directed and Acting is BJ Novak. You may know him from the US version of The Office. I was not, but I did recognize Boyd Holbrook from Narcos. It also has Ashton Kutcher in it. Told simply, writer and blogger Ben is told of a woman he had hooked up with in Texas who had passed away. He is asked to come to the funeral. He barely knows her. But the family thinks he was a boyfriend. He meets them, and gets to know a little more about the departed woman, who the family maintains was murdered. The official story is that she overdosed. The family wants answers. Meanwhile, Ben is looking to move ahead in his career and trying to sell a story to a publisher/newspaper editor. He is told by the editor to keep digging and writing about his findings.

Things happen. Ben finds some things out that he was not altogether surprised about, and this colours his view of the family. Other things are uncovered with a more detailed discussion which is, I suppose, a social commentary. Do we really need to hear in detail about the short sightedness of people these days, and how the trial of public opinion sways back and forth as lies are taken as truth? Or hear about a divided America and how on any issue there will always be some group taking the contrary opinion just to be contrary. Will people actually care about a young girl and which way she met her untimely end? The commentary then trumps the story, and you realize that it wasn’t all that important anyway. People just want to deliver speeches. But they aren’t adding anything to the discourse other than to hold a mirror up to it. So in summary, I can’t recommend it and don’t find it much of a commentary. I find most of the family characters are really caricatures and cliches. For me, the ending was not very satisfying, because it turned out to be much ado about nothing. A hard pass.