And the big budget 2007 film is better – The Golden Compass. GREAT cast.
My favourite character on the TV adaptation might be Ruth Wilson as Mrs Coulter. That’s a tough role when you know you’ll be compared with Nicole Kidman who’s perfect in the film version.
The show follows the orphan Lyra, played by Dafne Keen, as she searches for a missing friend and discovers a kidnapping plot related to an invisible cosmic substance called Dust.
Ultimately, I didn’t care much about the plot. The prophecy. The Magisterium. Nor many of the characters. Dust. Angels. I really didn’t care about anything in this show.
Most interesting are the animal companions called daemons.
And there are some interesting special effects and speculative fiction touches.
Read the books. Watch the movie. Skip the TV series.
… The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the film for its visual effects and technical achievements but criticized the thin plot and lengthy runtime (3 hours and 12 minutes). …
Too sentimental.
But I’m glad I saw it on IMAX. And the 3D was not annoying. They seem to have made that technology more subtle.
Personally, I want less battle, more visuals of that amazing world.
Cameron said that about ten minutes of “gunplay action” were cut from the film as he was no longer inclined to “fetishize the gun” — but there’s still too much for me.
He also said that if you loved the first movie, you’re gonna love the sequels, and if you hated it, you’re probably gonna hate them.
My favourite character was Sigourney Weaver as 14-year-old Kiri.
She was the most tortured by being part human. BUT adapted to the water world most quickly.
I was intrigued, too, by Bailey Bass playing Tsireya (aka Reya), the daughter of clan leaders Tonowari and Ronal.
No doubt I’ll pay good money to see the sequels in the theatre. These special effects are fantastic.
My goal in hiking is to ENJOY the experience as much as possible.
High altitude mountaineers suffer — the opposite.
I finally got around to watching Meru, the 2015 documentary film about climbing the Shark’s Fin route in the Indian Himalayas.
Mainly because I really admire Jimmy Chin, the best climber of all-time who can ALSO film his adventures.
In 2008 Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin, and new guy Renan Ozturk almost made the first ascent of the infamous Shark’s Fin. It was harsh. They suffered physically and psychologically.
Before their next attempt in 2011, both Chin and Ozturk (separately) suffered horrific climbing falls. Somehow Jimmy popped out of a monster avalanche suffering barely a scratch.
Watching the movie, everyone agrees Renan should not be going back to Meru. He suffers a minor stroke during the second climb.
Jimmy’s master work was the Academy Award winning Free Solo. (2018)
This one is no Free Solo. But it did keep me gripped from start to finish.
“Meru is the anti-Everest,” says mountaineer and author Jon Krakauer. “This climb has seen more attempts and more failures than any peak in the Himalaya.”
Krakauer commentary throughout was a highlight for me.
On October 21, 2020, it was reported that Purdue had reached a settlement potentially worth $8.3 billion, admitting that it “knowingly and intentionally conspired and agreed with others to aid and abet” doctors dispensing medication “without a legitimate medical purpose.” Members of the Sackler family will additionally pay US$225 million and the company will close.
Arthur Sackler (born 1913) was an impressive person in many ways. The eldest son of Jewish grocer immigrants in New York.
“No single individual did more to shape the character of medical advertising than the multi-talented Dr. Arthur Sackler. His seminal contribution was bringing the full power of advertising and promotion to pharmaceutical marketing.”
He did many, many things. But the Sackler empire was mostly built on how Arthur popularized dozens of medicines including Betadine, Senaflax, Librium, and Valium through direct marketing to physicians during the 1960s.
At times it was edited more like a YouTube video than a Hollywood blockbuster. That was a brave choice. A modern twist on an American icon.
It is long at 2-hour-and-39-minutes. But they started with a four-hour cut including scenes of Presley with his first girlfriend, Dixie, and his meeting with President Richard Nixon in 1970.
I suspect the next future Elvis biopic will be darker. More realistic. And the role of Colonel Parker will be less prominent.
The story follows a 12-year-old boy named Miguel who is accidentally transported to the Land of the Dead, where he seeks the help of his deceased musician great-great-grandfather to return him to his family among the living and to reverse his family’s ban on music.
The concept for Coco is inspired by the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead. …
It was ME New Year’s Even crashing off the dance floor, knocking down the drums at the Calgarian Hotel. The pogo dancing was fierce.
I threw up in a Volkswagen Beetle — woke up in a closet atop all the winter boots.
CBGB is a 2013 film that follows the story of Hilly Kristal‘s New York club from its concept as a venue for Country, Bluegrass and Blues (CBGB) to what it ultimately became: the birthplace of underground rock ‘n’ roll and punk.
Rick McCharles 