I really enjoyed the book:
Finally saw the 2017 American biographical comedy-drama movie. Also excellent.
The film chronicles an unlikely friendship between budding actors Tommy Wiseau and Sestero that results in the production of Wiseau’s 2003 film The Room, widely considered one of the worst films ever made.
The Disaster Artist stars brothers James and Dave Franco as Wiseau and Sestero, respectively …
Wikipedia
Casting couldn’t have been better.
Mike recommended a terrific film musical, produced by Lin-Manuel Miranda of Hamilton fame.
Based on the stage musical of the same name, the film tells the story of a corner in the predominantly Dominican Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City, where every member of the community pursues their dreams of a better life.
Corey Hawkins is my favourite. I got to like him first in 24: Legacy.
All tracks are written by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Plenty of smart rap lyrics.
I love how it’s cut like a YouTube video.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Unfortunately, it was a box office bomb, grossing just $43 million against its $55 million budget and $200 million break-even point, though it was successful on HBO Max. Hopefully the success of the new West Side Story will motivate folks to check this out, as well.
It’s long at 143 minutes. Too long, I’d say.
YET I highly recommend you watch it. Fast forward through any slow sections. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, In the Heights holds an approval rating of 94% based on 351 reviews with an average rating of 8.3/10.
I actually enjoyed this film.
…
Finch Weinberg (played by Tom Hanks), has survived the apocalypse — but just barely. He’s dying of radiation poisoning because of the depletion of the ozone. And though he tries to stay a step ahead of the worst of the resulting extreme weather events and starvation, he’s more than aware his days are numbered.
That bothers him. But more than that, he worries about what will happen to his beloved pet dog after he dies. To that end, he’s been converting his vast library into PDFs, feeding them into a computer brain that will serve as the main hard drive of a robot he’s built. …
Cult of Mac
It’s simple. Kind of charming. But no Academy Award winner. 😀
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On the Rocks tells the story of a daughter and father, played by Rashida Jones and Bill Murray respectively, as they explore New York together in an attempt to mend their fractured relationship.
Bill Murray can do no wrong for me. He’s different but still entertaining in this Sofia Coppola film
Rashida is convincing in the understated role of Bill’s daughter.
Still — it’s not as good as Lost In Translation.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
I was happy to get my hands on the sequel to Thursday Murder Club.
Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim—the Thursday Murder Club—are still riding high off their recent real-life murder case and are looking forward to a bit of peace and quiet at Cooper’s Chase, their posh retirement village. …
The writing is witty. The old folks endearing, especially Ibrahim.
It’s a lark. Don’t take the plot — or the murders — too seriously.
And soon to be a major motion picture from Steven Spielberg. It will be more like Best Exotic Marigold Hotel than a murder mystery.
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I’ve always been a big fan of the original Dune published 1965.
Such a fan that I even loved the 1984 film adaptation by David Lynch. Recall Sting was Feyd-Rautha, Baron Harkonnen’s younger nephew. It was widely panned.
I booked an IMAX ticket online. Sat in the second row so the screen would fill my vision. I wanted to be engulfed by sand.
And I was not disappointed.
Denis Villeneuve was the right person to remake this story.
Dune is BIG. Dark. Gritty. Dusty. Beautiful.
I hiked that area of Jordan. Fond memories.
Though the cast was all excellent, Timothée Chalamet makes this film. He’s perfect as Paul Atreides. In contrast, Kyle MacLachlan was not believable in the 1984 version.
Villeneuve stated that Chalamet was his first and only choice to play the role.
Stellan Skarsgård was intimidating as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. He reminded me of Marlon Brando when he reached 300 lbs.
Zendaya as Chani is excellent too, but doesn’t have much screen time. She’ll be a central character in Dune part 2.
The only casting I’d question is Sharon Duncan-Brewster as Dr. Liet-Kynes. Not sure that worked.
Great soundtrack by Hans Zimmer.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
I believe John Lennon would approve of this version. The song is the opening track on the Beatles 1969 album Abbey Road.
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Great song. But I like this fan remix even better.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
I’ve read all 23 of Rankin‘s Rebus novels.
Doors Open is a stand-alone thriller. No Rebus or Fox.
The plot is good.
With a vast collection but limited wall space, the National Gallery (on the TV adaptation, a Scottish bank) has many more valuable works of art in storage than it could ever display.
The plan is to stage a heist at the Granton storage depot on “Doors Open Day” during which a selected group of paintings will be “stolen”.
The gang will then give the appearance of having panicked and fled without the works of art, but will have switched the real paintings with high quality forgeries good enough to convince anyone investigating the matter that no theft has been committed. …
Like many Rebus fans, I found the book lacking.
The screen version looks to be more entertaining.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
I’ve never become a Shyamalan fan, though — of course — The Sixth Sense (1999) is a brilliant film.
I finally watched the critically acclaimed Unbreakable.
For me Unbreakable was an inferior version of Sixth Sense. Another picture where Bruce Willis is quiet and subtle.
Samuel L. Jackson was excellent, however.
And the movie is skillfully done.
But too slow paced for me.
The plot reminded me of the more entertaining Fearless (1993). But Jeff Bridges as Max Klein in that film was better than Willis in this one.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
I clicked PLAY because it was Anthony Hopkins. Guaranteed to be a good movie.
And it is. I was quickly hooked. Hopkins has such gravitas.
Serial killer. Hopkins is called back from retirement because they need his psychic abilities.
Finishing the film I was surprised to see it was 25% on Rotten Tomatoes. And had gotten terrible reviews.
I recommend Solace.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Rick McCharles 