John Boyega to Star in Otis Redding Biopic With Danielle Deadwyler

https://variety.com/2024/film/news/john-boyega-otis-redding-biopic-danielle-deadwyler-1236161720/

Making Movie Theater Popcorn At Home | But Better

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOES56VjzJg

Man of Steel

 I wrote of review of Man of Steel right after it came out.  I simply noted that I liked it much better than the average review on Rotten Tomatoes.  I am a sucker for Superman stories.  I very much liked the slightly mundane Superman Returns, and I was a big fan of the television show Smallville until it overstayed its welcome by stretching out to ten seasons.

Man of Steel is a near-perfect Superman movie despite a few minor flaws that turned off a few people and critics.  

Just to get this out of the way, the second half of the movie is dominated by over-the-top battle scenes between Superman and other Krytonians, like General Zod.  These superbeings hit each other with such force that they send their opponent flying through multiple buildings doing enormous damage.  Yet, the Kryptonians don't take much damage personally despite the force they inflict on each other.  Superheroes in movies often do physically impossible things, which takes away from the believability, but if such powerful and nearly indestructible beings actually did fight each other on planet Earth, this is what it would look like.

What I like about Man of Steel is that this is the first Superman story to put extra emphasis on him being an alien from another world.  We see Krytopn, and we see their technology and how it is more advanced than ours.  On Earth, the people's initial reaction to Superman is to be fearful, and rightfully so.

Henry Cavill makes a good Superman.  He portrays stoicism and morality in the face of lifelong adversity.  He does a good job of displaying angst over trying to fit into a world that he wasn't meant for.  

But a good hero needs a good villain and we get it in General Zod, who is Superman's apparent equal and played menacingly by Michael Shannon.  Zod isn't just a cartoon character.  He is pursuing the logical goal of preserving the Kryptonian race, even if he has to wipe out humanity to do it

Amy Adams is perfect as Louis Lane.  Kevin Costner and Dianne Lane do superb jobs as Jonathan and Martha Kent.  Many of the other cast members have small but memorable performances, like Laurance Fishburne as Perry White, and Christopher Meloni as a military officer who puts his life on the line.  

However, I feel that Harry Lennix is typecast in most of his roles, always playing similar predictable characters, but he is memorable nevertheless.

I noticed television actors popping up in a bunch of different roles.  I recognized Alessandro Juliani from Battlestar Galactica.

I cringed in just a few places where the dialog seemed simplistic or just unnecessary.  Movies have a compulsion to explain what is going on in the simplest possible terms just to make sure that we get it.

Rating: A-.

P.S. The CW series Superman & Lois feels very derivative of Man of Steel.  The show uses a similar storyline, and similar props and effects.  Since the show is 80% soap opera, I don't care for it.  The 20% that is not a soap opera makes for a good Superman story, but it is not that different from what we have seen before.

'The Apprentice' review: Sebastian Stan dazzling as Donald Trump, from raw hustler to larger-than-life tycoon - Chicago Sun-Times

https://chicago.suntimes.com/movies-and-tv/2024/10/09/apprentice-review-donald-trump-movie-sebastian-stan-roy-cohn-jeremy-strong

Poison gas and the Invisible Man

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/HGaGWb_WoWM

What Lord of the Rings Bloopers Reveal About The Making Of The Movie

https://youtube.com/shorts/8oY8Lt_hRno?si=p25pOOo2VEPCnh74

Buster Keaton. The time when movies didn't need voiceovers.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/nYK6EqqB8T4

Sam Witwer Explains Why Luke Skywalker is The GOAT

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/f9vt_09rCHk

15 Years Later, I Finally Understand Inglorious Basterds

According to the video, Inglorious Bastards symbolizes American national identity, and the decline of film as a form of storytelling.

Michael Keaton as Batman surprises a kid

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Q8HQxH_iV2g

Reagan

I did not think Dennis Quaid would be the right person to play Ronald Reagan.  This is the same actor who played Gordon Cooper 40 years ago in The Right Stuff, one of my favorite movies.  In that film, Quaid displayed his wide boyish grin, which is on display here as well, and gives away that under all that makeup we are watching Quaid and not Reagan.  However, Quaid gives an Oscar-worthy performance as Reagan, capturing perfectly not only the voice but also the essence of who Reagan was.

The problem with any two-hour biography is that it is going to be rushed.   Ronald Reagan's entire life was much more complicated than what can be shown in two hours.  A single event in his life might take two hours to tell perfectly.  The movie is more of a collection of brief highlights of Reagan's life.  There are so many details left out that I feel shortchanged.  For example, we see David Stockman for only about 5 seconds, and the film barely covers the Iran-Contra scandal.  However, the movie succeeds brilliantly at capturing the emotional feel of Reagan.

Had this been a three-hour movie like Oppenheimer, it could have captured more detail about Reagan's life, but Oppenheimer didn't do this very well and was more of a soap opera.  However, a longer run time wouldn't have made the film any more entertaining.  You can tell that the movie had a limited budget and they did the best they could with the budget they had.

I'm impressed by the performances of a great many supporting actors.

The negative reviews have much to do with how people feel about Ronald Reagan.  If you lived through the 1970s and 1980s then you are going to have a different perspective than people who didn't.  The 1970s was likely the worst decade for the nation in my lifetime.  There was the Watergate scandal, the oil crisis, and then during the Jimmy Carter presidency, we had monstrous inflation,  high interest rates, unemployment, a deep recession, and the Iranian hostage crisis.  Ronald Reagan came along and said that we as a nation are better than this, and we have only forgotten what a great nation we are.  Things did improve significantly under his presidency.

The rushed presentation reminds me of "The Iron Lady", but the difference is that "The Iron Lady" is highly critical of Margaret Thatcher, and this film adores Ronald Reagan.  For older Americans who also adore Reagan, it is preaching to the choir.

The story is told from the perspective of a fictional KGB political analyst whose job was to monitor Reagan as a potential threat to the Soviet Union.  I have no doubt that such people existed, but here it comes off as a gimmick, but it also works by putting Reagan into the context of the Cold War.  Reagan was such a strong anti-communist that the movie made that the main focus of his life.

Since the movie was released during an election year some people might view it as political propaganda.  However, the plan was to release three years ago but the film was delayed by COVID and the writer's strike.

I was so impressed that I wanted to applaud at the end.  I didn't at first because I thought that it might look silly to applaud a motion picture, but when the rest of the audience applauded, I joined in.

Rating:  A-.  Although far from a complete biography, the movie does an excellent job of capturing who Ronald Reagan was.

When film critics clearly just do not get the movie

Whatever Happened to the DEATH STAR?

The Truth About Yoda’s Origin From George Lucas!

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/5MV6k2u_VEc

The Jetsons - 1950s Super Panavision 70

What you can generate with AI these days, is just astonishing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZOnC8hdX8k

@frankpoperowitzmusic   2 days ago
I could watch two straight hours of Jane just strolling around the apartment.

Disney Plus: You paying more for less is their brilliant business strategy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DppIlEH3GaU

Good video!

A Google search shows that Disney+ is offering three months for $1.99 per month.  This is the version with ads.

Last year on Black Friday I got a combination of Disney+ and Hulu for a year for $3 per month.  

There was a similar offer on HBO Max, now just called Max.  It is my favorite streaming service.

Years ago, I got the Disney+ pre-start discount where I was paying around $4 per month by paying for three years in advance. The problem is that I didn't see a ton of new content that I wanted to watch. I had already seen most of the stuff worth watching.

A must watch version of "Ahsoka"? (The Patterson Cut Review)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s1af99ZNEg

https://www.kaipattersonfilms.com/ahsoka

The Wild Robot | Rotten Tomatoes

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_wild_robot

What Could Have Been: George Lucas' SEQUEL Trilogy

https://youtu.be/nUDNtspH1bI?si=Sc7XO7PotKHxBGue

Why is "The Empire Strikes Back" considered the best Star Wars film? (Star Wars Discussion)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbUdTONl8MY

@john2001plus

0 seconds ago
I had just barely graduated High School when I drove to Indianapolis to see TESB at a big theater with a large curved screen.  I sat in the front row.  At one point my head had to turn quite a ways to follow a ship flying across the big curved screen.  It felt almost 3D.

I grew up in the 1970s.  The country was in a state of malaise for the entire decade.  We had suffered through the Vietnam War, Watergate, the oil crisis, stagnation, and inflation.  China and Russia were evil empires trying to take over their neighbors.  

Star Wars was a beacon of hope.  It said that good could stand against evil.  The Empire Strikes Back became my favorite movie and it still is.

I'm slowly turning into an old man but I am still a die-hard Star Wars fan.

Matt Walsh Ranks The Top 5 Most OVERRATED Films

@john2001plus

2 minutes ago

Matt, You could not be more wrong on Star Wars. Adults loved these films too. I was 17 when the first movie came out, and 20 when The Empire Strikes Black came out, which is still my all-time favorite film. On a scale of 1 to 10, the Louisville movie critic gave Empire an 11. Siskel and Eibert gushed over the first two films.

Show less

@john2001plus

9 minutes ago

I remember being blown away by Avengers Infinity War. I am not a huge Marvel fan, but this one impressed me.

THE EMPEROR (Ian McDiarmid) meets George Lucas! #starwars #shorts

https://youtube.com/shorts/0EP1kJj46qU?si=5Pxpb-nfGLBxeX5X

As Astra: A Massive Missed Opportunity

https://youtu.be/DUwlliWrcYY?si=LZ27VgAb5NzIYttR

A is for Alien Read-Aloud

I saw this book advertised on Facebook and thought it was a joke.  Let's take the scariest movie monster of all time and put it in a children's book.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vidgv0Ea0UA

STAR WARS JUST CANCELLED ANOTHER MOVIE! (maybe)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCn_MhDQeCk

I liked the Acolyte better than most people, because most of the fans hated the show, but the finish failed to deliver and turned the series into a daytime soap opera.  However, most YouTubers judged the show negatively before it even aired.  The ratings were abysmal, and almost nobody watched this show.

Disney and Lucasfilm failed partly because their Star Wars shows pushed a woke agenda, which I can live with, but the shows mainly failed because the writing was weak.  

However, Rogue One is a great movie, and Andor season one is a fantastic television spin-off of Rogue One and the best Star Wars Disney has made.  

The Mandorian season 1 was pretty good and the second season was excellent.  However, the third season was barely passable.

'The Acolyte' Canceled: Disney's Star Wars Spinoff Done After One Season

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/the-acolyte-canceled-star-wars-1235978593/

No surprise. Disney made a mediocre show that at best split the fans. I liked the first six episodes but the payoff wasn't great.

Best wishes,

John Coffey

The Reagan Era | Dennis Quaid

Shave and a Haircut

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/jUVWn3csvSw

I knew the name because it was mentioned in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" which I saw 35 years ago.

This other video is interesting...

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1RUAe32TBPM

George Lucas On The Problems With Big Studios!

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7rRFd_uLCnw

Manny Jacinto on why some don't like "The Acolyte"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqIEIirZ9so

@john2001plus
5 minutes ago 

Hey Thor,

I don't interpret the message of The Acolyte in the same way you do.  I don't think that it is saying that the bad guys are the good guys and are justified in murder, any more than Tony Soprano is portrayed as the good guy and is justified committing murder.  You can have a show where a good character turns bad, a show where most of the characters make bad choices, and a show where the bad guys are the main characters.

I know that Leslye Headland made a bunch of statements way out in left field showing her own biases.  However, in the show, these biases aren't so clear.  Yes, the characters do bad things and make bad choices, but it is not clear that the show is defending those choices or saying that the Jedi are bad.

The pre-release comments by Leslye Headland convinced many YouTubers that this was what the show was going to be about, and there was a backlash before the show even started.

In my opinion, the first six episodes are not excellent, but just good enough to be entertaining.  Unfortunately, the show failed to deliver and the payoff was disappointing.

I doubt that Disney would waste another 180 million dollars on a lackluster show, but I would like to see a second season that adds some clarity to the story.  I want to see the bad guys get justice and maybe for Osha and the Jedi to get redemption.  There is still enough mystery in the series for us to get a follow-up.

Best wishes,

John Coffey

P.S.  I think that the series accomplished what it was supposed to; it got people like me to subscribe to Disney+.