Amazon has a Christmas ad playing a familiar song. Here it is in all its analog, pre CD, pre VCR glory. This was the first movie to bring a Saturday Night Live sketch to the big screen.
Lots of good music in this movie. Here's a young Aretha Franklin!
Be sure to watch the original first and then you can see Blues Brothers 2000 (1998) starring John Goodman and Dan Ackroyd
Last Christmas
T'is the Season for Christmas movies. Hollywood is good for 2 or 3 a season while Hallmark does it all year long.
Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones, Me Before You) plays Kate, a nice little elf who works in a year-round store for Santa (Michelle Yeoh). The old Wham! favorite "Last Christmas" plays on a loop.
She meets Tom, an an angelic young man Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians) who works in a homeless shelter while working as a bike messenger.
But you'll have to see the movie to see the surprise plot bringing the song Last Christmas to life. Last Christmas I gave you my heart/ but the very next day you gave it away/ this year to save me from tears/ I'll give it someone special.
Some good talent comes together, written by Emma Thompson and directed by Paul Feig.
Better than expected! * * * * of 5
Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones, Me Before You) plays Kate, a nice little elf who works in a year-round store for Santa (Michelle Yeoh). The old Wham! favorite "Last Christmas" plays on a loop.
She meets Tom, an an angelic young man Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians) who works in a homeless shelter while working as a bike messenger.
But you'll have to see the movie to see the surprise plot bringing the song Last Christmas to life. Last Christmas I gave you my heart/ but the very next day you gave it away/ this year to save me from tears/ I'll give it someone special.
Some good talent comes together, written by Emma Thompson and directed by Paul Feig.
Better than expected! * * * * of 5
Gone in 60 Seconds (1974)
My friend Keith is not only a talented car restorer but also a fan on 70s car chase movies. Smokey and the Bandit is his favorite but he also likes Bullitt, the French Connection, Bond movies and this one.
An unusual movies without stars or even much of a plot. A group of car thieves finds more and more cars to steal, until the final White Whale, named Eleanor, gives them the final ride. Not so easy to follow but the visuals were interesting.
* * of 5
An unusual movies without stars or even much of a plot. A group of car thieves finds more and more cars to steal, until the final White Whale, named Eleanor, gives them the final ride. Not so easy to follow but the visuals were interesting.
* * of 5
One Child Nation
Grand Prize winner at Sundance 2019, this documentary is about the one child policy in Communist China from the 80s to the 2000s in response to a booming population. The filmmaker Nanfu Wang does an admirable job of getting Chinese people involved in the one child policy, from enforcers to those affected to show what it was really about: Not just voluntary birth control, but forced sterilization, inducing birth, abortions, infanticide and forced adoptions.
A highlight is showing a girl whose sister was forcibly taken and adopted out to an American family. Through DNA they find out about each other but that is as far as it goes. The Chinese girl muses "she probably has milk and bread for breakfast every morning".
A strong subject, but seemed a little choppy.
* * * * of 5
A highlight is showing a girl whose sister was forcibly taken and adopted out to an American family. Through DNA they find out about each other but that is as far as it goes. The Chinese girl muses "she probably has milk and bread for breakfast every morning".
A strong subject, but seemed a little choppy.
* * * * of 5
The Two Popes - on Netflix
Professor Futch would have loved this - it could be required viewing for his course The Papacy Since the Schism aka "Popes for Dopes"
A historical fiction story about the friendship between Pope Benedict and Cardinal Bergoglio (later Pope Francis) and their personal struggles as top leaders in the Roman Catholic church.
Great photography, particularly the scenes in the Sistine Chapel. Mind blowing! And the costuming - top notch.
* * * * * (highest)
A historical fiction story about the friendship between Pope Benedict and Cardinal Bergoglio (later Pope Francis) and their personal struggles as top leaders in the Roman Catholic church.
Great photography, particularly the scenes in the Sistine Chapel. Mind blowing! And the costuming - top notch.
* * * * * (highest)
Jay and Silent Bob Reboot
After his 2017 heart attack, Kevin Smith was lying in the hospital thinking, "I can't believe the last movie I'm made was Yoga Hosers!" After surviving, he launched into a new creative burst and got together all his old friends to make a new movie, the Reboot.
All his old friends from the 90s have gone on to big things: Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, his own daughter Harley Quinn Smith. So they're all back in what he called "a high school reunion with everyone you wanted to see". This movie is playing like a concert tour, a road show, with Smith and Jason Mewes (Jay) live. It's a nice way to watch the movie and see a live show at the same time.
If you haven't seen all his movies, you'll figure them out soon enough. As a Generation X kid, he takes the touchstones of our youth, the mall, the convenience store, the fast food restaurant and turns them into everyday existentialism, with occasional interruptions from the real world such as customers, security guards and store supervisors.
The plot is like Dumb and Dumber (no surprise). Two goofball slackers must travel across the country to stop someone from stealing one of their stoner ideas. Along the way, Jay meets up with his old girlfriend (Shannon Elizabeth, that 90s icon) who tells him that her daughter (Harley Quinn Smith) is his. They all end up going to Chronic Con where Jay finally has a chance to grow up after all. Not a bad story. It lives up to its definition of "reboot".
* * * * of 5
All his old friends from the 90s have gone on to big things: Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, his own daughter Harley Quinn Smith. So they're all back in what he called "a high school reunion with everyone you wanted to see". This movie is playing like a concert tour, a road show, with Smith and Jason Mewes (Jay) live. It's a nice way to watch the movie and see a live show at the same time.
If you haven't seen all his movies, you'll figure them out soon enough. As a Generation X kid, he takes the touchstones of our youth, the mall, the convenience store, the fast food restaurant and turns them into everyday existentialism, with occasional interruptions from the real world such as customers, security guards and store supervisors.
The plot is like Dumb and Dumber (no surprise). Two goofball slackers must travel across the country to stop someone from stealing one of their stoner ideas. Along the way, Jay meets up with his old girlfriend (Shannon Elizabeth, that 90s icon) who tells him that her daughter (Harley Quinn Smith) is his. They all end up going to Chronic Con where Jay finally has a chance to grow up after all. Not a bad story. It lives up to its definition of "reboot".
* * * * of 5
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