Spontaneous Musings

Finished watching Anora via AppleTV for $5.99. I'm glad I didn't see it in the theater for more than that. It did make me laugh, it also infuriated me.

Anora is a story about an exotic dancer (she's actually a prostitute - exotic dancer is an euphemism - but she does lap dances, and does have intercourse with quite a few of her patrons for a price) who marries an ogliarich's ( a very rich Russian) son, after he pays her 10K to be his girlfriend for a week. Then, after they are married? The boy's parent's insist on getting it annulled. The premise reminded me a great deal of Pretty Woman, but a darker and far more realistic version of it.

I saw an ad slogan for Anora which stated : "It makes Pretty Woman look like a Disney Movie" - that's actually an apt assessment, although I'd state that it is in actuality what the original version of Pretty Woman was supposed to be? Pretty Woman was initially titled, "For One Thousand Dollars". The original take on Pretty Woman was really dark, and the studio changed the script - because it scared them. So, instead they romanticized it - which is actually worse. (I always felt a little guilty for enjoying that movie - but in reality it wasn't the movie I enjoyed, but Richard Gere and Julia Roberts, and the soundtrack. I was able to ignore the plot.)

Anora is an independent film, not distributed or made by Hollywood - so it went the dark and hyper-realistic route. It is a far better film than Pretty Woman, and will haunt me far longer, even if I'm unlikely to ever see it again. It kind of embeds itself on one's memory.
( Review of Anora - a dark take on Pretty Woman, there are spoilers behind the cut )

It's not a film that leaves you with a warm happy glow. But it does stick with you. It left me angry and edgy and wanting to slug someone. Much like Memoir of a Snail - I found it to be an ugly representation of humanity and a sad one. Also a reminder, but there for the grace of god go I.

A strange movie. I laughed. And I wanted to scream or punch someone. Often at the same time.

Off to bed.

Just finished watching Killers of the Flower Moon on Apple Plus. It's streaming on Apple for free now, well free if you already have a subscription. (I've an All-in-One subscription that includes unlimited music and the Cloud. )

This is the film adaptation by Martin Scorsese of the non-fictional work "The Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI".

( vague spoilers in the review )

Edited 1/15/24

Watching a film, much like reading a novel or staring at a piece of artwork is largely an individual experience. Everyone sees something different. No two people see the same thing or are focused on the same thing.

Often, I'll see the phrase: "We're not watching the same show or film."
And I'll think, well, of course not. Why would you think otherwise? Our brains process the information differently.

Which is why it is so difficult to write a film review or even recommend a film - because a film that blew me away, may leave someone else scratching their noggin or bored. And vice versa.

The phenomena of Barbieheimer - fascinates me partly because of the communal response to the films as a duel event, almost as if the human conscious realized upon seeing the trailers that both films were handling the same themes, but from different perspectives and completely different ways - yet, somehow coming to similar conclusions. Although, not all of us want to nor feel inclined to see both films - mainly because one or the other may not be our trope or to our liking. Watching a film that delves deeply into science and political tactics, with mostly dialogue, and a bunch of white men in rooms talking incessantly with each other, may not be your thing. Just as watching a film in cotton candy and bubble gum flavors, satirizing male toxicity, and how it cages any and all expressions of feminity in a desert bright, pinkish bubblegum world, complete with satirical musical numbers - until ultimately that feminity break free and no longer lets itself be caged, may not be your thing. (From the trailers, haven't seen the film). Both films appear to be about breaking free of cages.

It's interesting both came out at the same time - and both have broken box office records in their own right and devoured the global and domestic box office - showing a hunger for that thematic structure, if nothing else.

But again, going back to my original point, or the first paragraph of this meta or review, it's all a matter of one's perspective. I spoke to two people about Oppenheimer after I saw it, one the individual I saw it with (movie buddy) and my mother (who'd seen it the week it first came out, and had been discussing it with me ever since). I was largely spoiled coming into it - as a result. Neither of them were.

And I saw things in that they didn't see or hadn't thought of. My mother said that she hadn't seen any of the toxic male culture stuff - but she doesn't think metaphorically, and her focus was more on what was happening and less on what the filmmaker was trying to do.



Oppenheimer directed by Christopher Nolan, starring Cillian Murphy, Robert Downy Jr, Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, and various others including Tom Conti, Josh Hartnett, Rami Malek, Kenneth Brannagh, Gary Oldman, Tony Goldwyn, Matt Modine...is much like Nolan's other films a visual and auditory intellectual puzzle box of a film.

Nolan's approach to the biopic - is not to tell it in linear fashion nor in a 3rd person perspective, as most biopics and films are told. Instead he tells it out of order and in two first person perspectives, one in black and white, and one in color. Also the focus of the film isn't really on Oppenheimer - we learn nothing of his childhood, we don't meet his parents, and there's little on his romances or his kids, who are merely mentioned but barely seen. That's a daring approach to take with a biopic. Those who are avoiding the film - because they don't like biopics or don't care to know much about Oppenheimer's life - don't. This isn't that movie. I don't like biopics - and this film I loved, because it veered away from telling the story of Oppenheimer.

Instead, it went into the why of it all. Why Oppenheimer chose to lead the Manhattan Project (which was the top secret American Government endeavor to develop an atomic bomb). Why he developed the bomb. The consequences of doing that. The complicated politics and ideologies that got in the way of the scientific endeavor and development, and prevented any discussion of stopping it.

The focus of the film is on the toxic male culture, politics, and hubris that permeates our culture then and now.

The film is at times a taught political suspense thriller - that had me on the edge of my seat, a horror movie, and a devastating portrait of a generation that came perilously close to annihilating the world. It is not a celebration of the WWII generation but an indictment of them. ( vague spoilers )

This is interesting film, it plays with my head and will for some time to come. If you've not seen it - I highly recommend.

***

After the film, MovieBuddy asked if I thought Roosevelt would have dropped the bomb if he'd still been alive and President.

I said I didn't know. Although it was definitely within Roosevelt's persona to do it.

I went home and asked my mother, and she said that Roosevelt definitely would have done it. That I had to understand - back then, they had no idea what Japan would have done. It is true enough - information was harder to come by back then. It took longer, and got more garbled. And it was common knowledge that the Japanese Military and People were into fighting until the bitter end or death, resulting in a costly occupation (in both lives, time and dollars). Also, even after the bomb was dropped, the Emperor of Japan had to step forward and order them to surrender.

Yet, was dropping the bombs truly justified? This is the question Nolan's film asks us. The government told the scientists - that they just had to show a test of it, just show they had it, and that they willing to drop it - and that would be enough. Remember, this was a bomb that at the time they initially dropped it - the scientists didn't know for certain whether it would set the atmosphere on fire and start a chain reaction, detonating the world. They did not know when they did the Trinity Test - whether it would destroy the world - yet they did it anyway. And they did not know what the long term affects would be when they dropped it on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, yet they did it anyway. They did know it would be devastating, that it would kill thousands possibly millions of women and children, yet they did it anyway.

That's toxic male hubris in a nutshell.

The quote from The American Prometheus that Nolan bookends his movie with, and has stated in the middle...Now I've become death, the Destroyer of Worlds..."

Finished watching RRR - it stands for Roar, Rise, and Revolution - and had the most viewers and downloads in Netflix history worldwide in one day. I think it was somewhere around 47 Million downloads globally.

The film is excellent. Held my interest throughout the three and a half hours. It's an epic bro-romance, with lots of stunts, action, suspense, and various musical performances. It also is very pro-India, and dear god, they really do still hate the British for their lengthy invasion and occupation of India, don't they?
( the anti-British sentiment in RRR )

Anyhow, outside of the slightly propagandish bits here and there - it's a fun film. A bit over the top in places - but it's supposed to be. I found it highly entertaining.

I'm still flirting with seeing the Bway show Six for my birthday. ( what to do with myself on my Birthday musings )

Saw the flick She Said finally. It was excellent. I was pleasantly surprised by it. It's the story of the New York Times investigation into Harvey Weinstein and Miramax's sexual assault allegations. The investigation resulted in 82 women coming forward, Weinstein being convicted on two rape charges and serving a 23 year sentence in NY, and on charges in Los Angeles and London. It also changed how sexual harassment and violence were viewed in the workplace around the world.

Adapted from the book of the same name.
( Read more... )

In other news? Former college roommate and Marvel Movie Fan, saw Quantamania in the theaters this week - and loved it. Stated that she was surprised by it, and that it was excellent - did a good job with the villain, and the family dynamic, also spent time on supporting characters.

So, I may need to make a point of seeing it.

Buffy is leaving Hulu apparently. (I still have it on DVD, or mostly. Not that I feel the need to rewatch it. Also, it is available on Youtube. I memorized that series - saw it so many times, that I can close my eyes and literally visualize any scene from it. Actually I can do that without closing my eyes. So no need to rewatch any time soon. Plus? I've got enough other things to watch, thank you very much.)

My father used to say that, along with things like "Good on you", and "Wherever you are, There you are", and "That's Alright? It's alright." He's been on my mind a lot of late, and I couldn't seem to stop talking about him over the holiday. It was as if...he was everywhere, yet nowhere at the same time. If that makes any sense? While down there...mother asked if I wanted my father's left over art supplies, and the wooden suitcase style box that he carted them around in. Also, she wanted me to take his watercolors, which he worked so hard on, and was so proud of, and display them - once she was gone, or if anything happened to her. Here's one of them, and I took pictures of all five. I like them, so I'll take them, no problem. (My father and I had similar tastes in art.)



Although home really is where the folks I love are.. it is nice to be in my own space again, with my laptop, my own bed, fridge, kitchen, etc. My life is in NYC, my Momma is in Hilton Head. Such is life. Also the people I love are kind of across the globe. And in NY, of course.

Also as lovely as Hilton Head is, I did miss NYC in some respects. ( Read more... )

It was a lovely and uneventful visit. Mother has a persistent cough, but it wasn't a contagious one. Although she became convinced this morning, for some reason or other that it was COVID. So insisted on taking a test in her armchair. I tried to tell her it was supposed to be done on a hard service - but to no avail. She took another one after she dropped me off at the airport, and it was negative too. I think it may be a blood pressure medication issue. But she will check with her doctor again. I worry about her, but alas, there is nothing I can do.

We did enjoy each other's company, talked about my Dad, whom she misses every day - but has managed to find a way to enjoy her life without him there. She's lonely though, I think. But she has friends, and people who care about her. Also, in a way, having my father at the Preston and their separation helped her get used to his absence, at least enough, to make it bearable. She reminds me a lot of her own mother, in her resourcefulness and determination to find the joy in small things. I try to emulate them both.

**

I'm not a fan of regaling folks with the gifts that I've received or provided. Let's just say, everyone was grateful and happy. I found this season - that I felt very ambivalent about Christmas. Although I did help Momma decorate her tree, and remove the decorations. It turned out nicely, I think...



She put the other decorations up herself. But the tree - she discovered she could get maintenance to put up and take down. They do so many, and do it faster than we do. There was a brief scare though - on Thursday night, we had a deep freeze, and Mother felt the need to drip her outside faucets. (I figured okay, that's not a big deal, and let her go out and do that. Big mistake.) Mother, without telling me and for reasons that escape me, decided she had to put sheets over her hibiscus and a fern. She was trying to protect them. And due to where the hibiscus is located, she almost fell over. Actually she did, kind of fall, but didn't hurt herself. Just over-exerted herself. She came back inside, wheezing, and I got worried. I also told her not to do that again, and next time to ask me to do it. It was completely futile of course - since it was windy, and the wind blew the sheets off the plants. Both got frozen, and she lost the hibiscus, alas. (Also, most likely the fern.) Hilton Head doesn't usually get temperatures below 32 degrees F.

***

My brother got COVID, most likely from his trip up to Montreal with his family. Fever, cough, sore throat, no voice. His doctor told him to hold off on taking the anti-virals. He's feeling better today, but now, his wife seems to have come down with it. (They had four of the five vaccines, but not the biavalent. I've also had four of the five, but the biavalent, not the booster in May. Also I was all Pfizer, they were all Moderna. Mother has had five of the five - all Moderna. Niece got COVID twice, once in May, and again in October or November, so she's probably immune at the moment.)

He apparently went to a spa that is operated off of a barge in Montreal. And had one of the best prepared meals of his life - six-seven courses, with a different wine entry for each course.

***

Over the holidays, mother and I went to the musical A Christmas Story at the Hilton Head Self Family Arts Center - which puts on repertory and touring productions of various musicals and plays throughout the year. In the past, we've seen Hello, Dolly, My Fair Lady, Mary Poppins, Singing in the Rain, White Christmas, Newsies, and a few others. Some are better than others. Mother and I went in with low expectations for this one. (Last year they put on Elf, which we skipped, since neither of us have been able to make it through the film version - let alone a musical adaptation. At least we enjoyed the film version of A Christmas Story.)

It was a lot better than I thought it would be. ( Read more... )

****

I think the Universe took pity on me, and decided to give me an uneventful holiday? I didn't get sick. Allergies weren't an issue. No flight delays (outside of a very brief one on the way down. The flight crew was late coming out of Boston, so we were delayed about an hour, if that). By the LaGuardia is amazing. ( Read more... )

When I got into JFK - it was wall to wall people. My god, I've not seen that many people in an airport in a long time. ( Read more... )

***

Mother saw six movies over the holiday.

1. The Last Duel (Hulu) - starring Jodi Comer, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Adam Driver. Directed by Ridley Scott. We were pleasantly surprised by it. It's actually a very good movie. Adapted from a true story - it is told in three perspectives. ( Read more... )

[Available on Hulu]

2. Bullet Train - this was enjoyable and funny. A kind of action/comedy. It stars, Brad Pitt (making fun of action heroes again), Sandra Bullock (she's not really seen through most of the movie), Joey King, and a whole lot of other folks. Directed by David Leitch.

It's fast action. About a group of seemingly unrelated folks brought together on a Japanese Bullet Train to Russia. Except - they are all somehow connected to a Russian Assassin, known as the White Death (portrayed by Michael Shannon). It's better to go in blind, so won't tell you anything else. Half the fun is figuring it out. Mother and I were having a blast figuring out the movie, with it's fast talking banter, and twists and turns.

[Available on Netflix]

3. Glass Onion: Knives Out Mystery directed by Rian Johnson, who is having fun parodying, satirizing and playing homage to Agatha Christie's
parlor room mysteries. Standing in for Hercule Poirot, is Daniel Craig's bumbling Benoit, who has a thick Southern Twang.
( Read more... )

[Available on Netflix.]

 
4. Wild Mountain Thyme by John Patrick Shanely, who apparently did Moonstruck. (It's not Moonstruck). It stars, Christopher Walken, Emily Blunt, Jamie Dorman, and Jon Hamm.

I found it to be a bit slow in places. ( Read more... )

[Available on Hulu]

5. Code Name Banshee - stars Antonio Banderas in a small role. It's okay.
Lots of action. Kind of boring. I went to sleep during it. ( Read more... )

6. Charade - Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matheu, George Kennedy, and James Coburn round out the cast of the best Hitchockian film not directed by Hitchcock. It was also recently added to the Library of Congress - one of the 25 selections added to that film library.

It's an interesting film. Charming and twisty. Also, suspenseful. I'd forgotten most of it - even though I'd seen it at least twice previously.

It's available on TCM Movie Classics.

***

Yawn.

Going to bed. I got up early - and had a busy day. Tomorrow will be busy too - my goal is to get rid of things, while waiting for a package. Friday - I plan to go into the city and buy a new, short, coat from Macy's.

Leaving you with a picture of the beach. It was too cold to go to the beach until roughly Tuesday afternoon. So mother and I went, she only went as far as the boardwalk. She can't walk very far. But there's a little gazebo there that she can sit and wait at - which overlooks the ocean. It's a new addition. I walked out to the water - since it was low tide and the beach was flat as a pancake, flatter actually, and the water exceptionally calm.

Decided to see the movie Tar with Wales today.

Discovered much to my annoyance, that Wales is a very noisy and somewhat animated movie partner. During the movie, she sighed, cursed, grabbed my arm, and exclaimed "Oh God" or "Oh my God" or "Shit".

I, on the other hand, was fairly quiet in comparison.

It wasn't too big an issue - and I didn't complain about it. If anything it made the movie more interesting. But I did worry a little about the people around us.

The movie itself is a Todd Field film, and much like his other films focuses on an anti-hero and takes the audience deep inside this character's point of view. It's more of an extended character sketch - focusing on one character's emotional, mental, physical arc. Considering it was focusing only one character - it could have been a lot tighter. The movie was three hours long, and felt at times interminable. Wales and I agreed on that - actually we agreed on everything about the film.

I'm not sure it was the best film for me to see today mood wise. I might have been better off with Ticket to Paradise, this one felt a bit like a horror movie. But, I was curious about the movie - the reviews had indicated that it was a fun and twisty tour de force. (It wasn't. I'm beginning to think these reviewers are on something.)

The set-up is Lydia Tar, top composer, who studied with Leonard Bernstein, actions are starting to catch up with her. ( spoilers )
Bits of the film remind me a lot of Black Swan - so if you hated that film, I doubt you'd like this one. It's not an easy film to watch at times. And it ends oddly.

But it does stay with me. I'd have preferred one that didn't, though, this weekend.

[I was admittedly distracted during it by a recent loss in my family - another one. My cousin died this weekend. So I kept thinking about him and his Mom off and on all day long. Grief isn't a straight line or time line or linear in anyway, it is best described as a spiral. Circling up and down.]

***

Just finished watching Peripheral the Amazon Prime series adapted from William Gibson's cybernetic science fiction thriller. It's good. But I also adore William Gibson's writing. He's among my favorite sci-fi writers - among the few, I'd put in the literary category of sci-fi. Hard science, with something to say, and falling more in the speculative category.

Peripheral is about two gamers in Appalachia who make their money playing video game simulations. Flynn is excellent at them - and uses her brother's avatar to play. She's female and can't play as herself - but she can play as him or in a male body. And she gets to higher levels than he does.

Little does she know that the game they are playing in 2032 is taking place in real time in London in 2099. The new headset she puts on - places her in an Avatar's mechanical body in 2099, where she feels his pain, etc, even if she just the puppeteer pulling his strings.

Well produced, acted, and with great F/X, the first episode was even better than expected. If a tad long. Amazon likes to do 85 minute episodes or episodes that are much longer than 45 minutes to an hour.

I'm baaack! Miss me? Probably not. ;-) My mother gave her nightmarish computer that was allegedly infected with fraud to her cousin to clean up and refurbish, and donate to good will.

Cousin: Are you sure - this is a perfectly good lap-top?
Mother: I never use and it's funky, I can't get it to work well.
Cousin: It's most likely the mouse. It's not connected well to the computer so doesn't work well with it. But if you use the pad there's no real issues. Also, I've run virus detector on it - and there's nothing really, just some mallware, that I've removed. I can take it off your hands if you really want me to?
Mother: I do.
Cousin's wife: I could use a new lap-top. Oh, that's too big, but still -
Cousin: I'll donate it, no problem.

[They drove.]

So long story short - my parents no longer have a computer for me to putter on while I'm in Hilton Head. I'll have to either cart my own lap-top down there, which I can technically do - I've not one but two backpacks that have lap-top compartments. Or do without, which I did, this go-around. It's probably better for me to do without.

***

While in South Carolina, I talked to my mother, brother and sisinlaw about the film Elvis - briefly. All saw it on streaming like I did, all loved it, all were impressed to varying degrees. Also we all ended up with a renewed respect for Elvis.

Also shared various friends reviews of it - the friends didn't understand the movie, while my family completely got it.

I picked up a pattern between it and the Marilyn Monroe flick adapted from Joyce Carol Oates fictional novel Blonde, regarding professional and amateur critical reviews.
( Read more... )

***

Been rewatching the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings and Hobbit series - and the special effects don't quite hold up well. You can kind of see the early clunkiness of CGI. The new effects surpassed them.

That said, I did like Fellowship better than the others.

Also, watched Thor : for Love and Thunder and was kind of bored by it? Too many pointless action scenes that went seemingly nowhere. And not enough character moments. Christian Bale's villain is however, interesting. And Bale continues to physically disappear into his characters, to the point of being unrecognizable. Marvel still has the best villains. Also, there's a few nice twists here and there. And Dr. Jane Foster's story does follow the comics. (She has breast cancer in this movie too, and the hammer has the same effect on her, and the same result.) But we have a lot of guest stars here - beside the director who is in all his films (much like Hitchcock, except more so), we have cameos by The Guardians of the Galaxy (if you don't like them, don't worry, it's just a cameo - blink and you'll miss them), Russell Crow (is almost unrecognizable as Zeus and sporting a Greek accent - at least I think it's Greek), Matt Damon (an actor who plays Loki and the theater director), Liam Hemsworth (an actor who plays Thor and co-theater director).

It's all rather silly in places, as is the script. And by the end of the film - Thor was getting on my ever-living nerve. I liked Thor: Ragnarock a lot better. This effort was busy, and difficult to follow, also the effects felt a touch cheap. And I kind of missed Loki. Thor almost needs Loki to keep him balanced.

Currently listening to a flutist play. There's a concert going on outside my back window. It sounds like flute, and various wind instruments.

Hot day. Went out for a bit to pick up food from various spots, and well exercise. (I walk everywhere - so my grocery shopping consists of me walking about an hour or so to various stores and coming back again. It's good exercise, involves lifting, carrying, walking and navigating around human obstacles such as motor vehicles and people.)

Tried Tokoyo Vice on HBO Max, but it put me to sleep. [That could of course be having pancakes for breakfast. I don't know. I've been going to sleep a lot during the lunch hour on weekends.] Ansel Elgort who plays the lead - does nothing for me. I do not understand why this actor keeps getting cast - he's bland and kind of ...dull to look at it. Don Johnson he's not. Seriously the millenial generation's actors are lacking in the charisma department.

Mother is still fussing over her fraud scare. It was bad. She gave the assholes access to her bank account to wire money into it.

I don't know if I want to explain it, but maybe it will help someone?
( Read more... )

**

Me: I watched Jurassic Park World Dominion.
Mother: World Dominion?
Me: Yup the latest one, I've seen all of them - Sam Neil was in this one.
Mother: Isn't he in all of them?
Me: No, just three.
Mother: Wait, how many are there?
Me: About six -
Mother: SIX??
Me: I find them nostalgic - it's sort of reminiscent of the Godzilla films of my childhood and the horror flicks of my teen years (actually Jurassic Park - the first film was in my adolescent to post-adolescent years, we saw it as a family). Plus, not scary, since I know none of that is remotely possible. So I have fun with them.

I rented Jurassic Park: World Dominion via Amazon Prime tonight. Went in with low expectations due to the reviews.

Discovered it was available for rental and went for it. I love the Jurassic Park movies - I've seen all of them. I saw the first three films in the movie theater. I actually think I saw the fourth one in it as well. The last one was on television. I've also seen the first one, and the third one four times.

( frak you, I loved it )
In sum, a fun movie. Quite cathartic. The bad guys got eaten. The good guys survived. Lovely, intelligent, likable, and cool monsters. Didn't require much if any thought, actually the less thought the better, and fluffy. It's a B disaster-action flick with dinosaurs, what's not to love?

***

Prior to this - I watched the first episode of the Canadian Reality series Alone. They basically send about ten people into the Canadian Wilderness alone, with the option to tap out at any time. Although alone is kind of relative - since they have a bunch of camera equipment with them and spend 90% of their time talking to the camera. Plus they have a tap out button or walkie talkie - which enables them to call for help at any time and tap out of the competition. They lose the money, but hey, they also get to live another day. So, there's that.

It comes with a disclaimer - that all these people are skilled outdoors folk, with primative nature survivalist skills. So don't do this on your own. (People have been dumb enough to do that - and did not survive to tell the tale.)

So they are taken out by boat and dropped on the shore of this big lake, in separate sections, miles apart, selected randomly by each contestant, with the same basic conditions. All they can bring with them is their pack, and basic supplies, and they can opt for things like a fire starter or a tooth brush.

Half-way through the first episode, I found myself rooting for the wild animals to take them out. You know there's a problem with the series - when you begin rooting for the bears, mountain lions, and well nature to get rid of these folks. One guy decided to chase the mountain lion because he wanted to hunt and kill it. "Run Mountain Lion, Run. But bring back your friend the Grizzly later..." I think he'll survive though - he's great at catching food and foraging. He just sucks in the shelter department. I was thinking him and the heart attack guy should have teamed up - heart attack guy could build a shelter, but sucked at foraging for food.

I don't know if I'll stay with it or not. These shows seem to be able to find the most annoying contestants. It's my difficulty with game shows. I don't like the contestants - I root against them. Where they find these folks, I do not know, but they do.

***

Mother informed me that her choir directors dogs had died, and he had one left (he had three dogs) and his last dog was his favorite and he loved dearly. But the dog is missing. He's searched everywhere for him. And..

( Read more... )
Mother likes to rattle off the things everyone is doing like some deranged Christmas List from hell.
( Read more... )

**

Tomorrow I get a haircut, from a new stylist. First new stylist in five years. First haircut in well, however long it has been since I got the last one in November.

Wish me luck.

Hot day. In the 90s. Ninety degree weather is not kind to menopausal women who recently had COVID. I sweat profusely, get winded, and feel like I'm going to faint. Best to just stay indoors with the A/C.

So I stayed inside with air conditioning, watched television, a movie, and did a bit more archiving. (The archiving is weirdly addictive. Also, I got an odd email that someone had requested a password change on my account. I was told if it wasn't me - to feel free to ignore and the request would expire. Maybe I requested and forgot? Or there's another shadowkat and they accidentally put in the wrong name?)

Yesterday, walking by my co-workers, who are Long Island Italians, emphasis on the Italian - New York Italians sound like them came out of the Godfather movies, overheard the following...

NC: Never put oil in the pasta.
M: Exactly - heard Lidia on her cooking show state that -
NC: Salt. The oil it ruins the pasta and the sauce
Me: Okay, are you talking about putting oil in the boiling water prior to the pasta ?
NC: Exactly! Never do that. Always put salt. The oil causes everything to slide off the pasta, it can't stick. And you want the sauce to stick to every inch of the macroni and ziti, and the penne, get in every crevice. Otherwise it doesn't work.

***

As promised, Reviews

1. Doctor Strange and Multi-Verse of Madness

This was directed by Sam Rami (reminding me of why I'm not a fan of Sam Rami movies and television shows - he's into cheesy effects and on the busy side of the fence, also I find his direction style jumpy).

Sam Rami films tend to have four things in them:

* Cheesy special effects
* Zombies or references to the evil dead in some winking way
* An old car running into something
* Bruce Campbell being beaten up

In 2021, I read Bruce Campbell's autiobiography (two of them) - no wait, I listened to them on audiobooks for free. In both, Campbell states that his pal Sam Rami likes to put him in all his films - just to beat him up. It's kind of inside joke between the two of them - going back to their first film together - The Evil Dead Franchise - which consisted mostly of Sam Rami beating the crap out of Bruce Campbell.

In this film, Campbell plays an annoying pizza ball vendor, who America (portrayed by Xoitchel Gomez) steals pizza balls from and Strange spells - so that he keeps hitting himself. The poor man is in one of the alternate universes. He's white headed now, but I'm getting there.

***

Anyhow. I was disappointed in the movie. The trailers mislead me into believing it was going to be an entirely different movie. Also, Marvel? Please stop it already with the cute side-kicks to appeal to the tween demographic. I feel like this movie was made for ten-thirteen year olds.

( no real spoilers, cut for length, no other reason )

Overall grade: D for disappointing.

2. The Offer

Is Al Ruddy, Bob Evans, and Coppola's story of making the Godfather.

Wales: Is it documentary?
Me: No -
Wales: Is it a fictional -
Me: It's a dramatization of real events, based on Coppola, Ruddy, and Evans accounts of what happened, specifically Al Ruddy - so it's an inside look on what was involved producing the Godfather, and honestly, I'm amazed the movie ever got made.

I am. Amazed.

The best character is Juno Temple's Bettaye, a brassy blond assistant producer to Ruddy, who manages Ruddy and everyone else. She's smart, she doesn't take shit from no one, and she is tough as nails. I adore her to pieces.

For a film that is about 90% male characters, there are some interesting female characters in there.

We deal with Bob Evans marriage to Ali McGraw, which breaks up during the shooting of the Godfather. (Ali McGraw does the Getaway with Steve McQueen and falls for him on the shoot and has an affair - breaking up her marriage, and destroying her career - her film career kind of collapsed due to her marriage to McQueen. Evans would have kept her employed.)

Both Evans and Ruddy are still alive by the way and still producing movies and television shows. Actors die. Producers are too wicked to do so, they seem to live forever.[ ETA: I was wrong, Evans apparently died in 2019.]

Matthew Goode (Discovery of Witches, Downton Abbey) is playing Evans, and is rather good in the role. The whole cast is surprisingly good. The guy who played Alex Kirov in Grey's Anatomy is playing Marlon Brando, and sounds like him. And the guy playing a young Al Pacino is brilliant.

My only quibble continues to be the emphasis on the mob, which I find boring.

3. Stranger Things

Halfway through it. Love everything that is focused on the kids in Hawkins, investigating the weird events in Hawkins. But everything else is dragging.
( vague spoilers )

4. Essex Serpent on Apple TV

It's okay, kind of drags. Similar to the book actually, which also drug.
I liked the female characters in both, the male characters annoyed me - in both.

Kind of agree with SmartBitches review of it. Except the reviewer is raving about her love of Tom Hiddleston, and I'm thinking in the back of my head, you'd be singing a different tune if you knew what I did about him.

[Really don't worship humans, they are flawed creatures. Particularly male humans.]

5. Dark Winds on AMC (broadcast cable) - it's well done. Based on the Tony Hillerman Joe Leaphorn mysteries. And the casting for once is actual Navajho actors, and it's filmed in or around Arizona and on the reservations. Robert Redford, and Hillerman's daughter, and George RR Martin are involved with it.

I found it fairly well cast.

Will stick with it. Just wish it was on PBS - because, ugh, commercials.

6. Decided to try the first episode of Alias on Disney +, which I'd forgotten, but it came back to me in snatches as I watched. The difficulty with Alias - is Bradley Cooper and the guy who played Danny have more on-screen charisma and chemistry with Jennifer Garner, than the CIA agent, Vaughn does (who is her love interest throughout the series). I remembered as I was watching the pilot again - that I watched that series for her friends, who weren't with the CIA or SDX. I think if you loved Victor Garber, Garner, Vaughn, and Sloan - then you probably stuck with and loved the series more than I did. I remember flipping between it and Angel, then between it and West Wing, they put them opposite each other back in the day. And this was before DVR's or streaming existed. Back in those days, you had to choose.

I may or may not stick with it - in that I have far too many other television series to watch and have been rec'd to me by co-workers and other people.

(Co-workers rec'd Bobba Fett, Obi-Wan, Severance, Man on the Moon or to the Moon - Apple TV's series (I think), Time Traveler's Wife, among others.)