I am in this boat as well. I thought I was Wes Anderson fan until I saw some of his others and now I realize I am just a TRT fan. Though I have a soft spot for Rushmore and Bottle Rocket so who knows.
His later work ‘insists’ upon itself.
I enjoy Bill Bryson’s books and I believe I read them all. I didn’t realize until yesterday that A Walk in the Woods was turned into a film. Apparently this was originally intended to be vehicle for Redford and Newman, but delays caused Paul to be knocked out due to failing health/death. However, Nick Nolte was perfect as the replacement for the character of Katz.
Great cast, simple story, gentle humor, snappy dialog, breathtaking cinematography of the Appalachian Trail. May not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I found it to be a small gem.
I too wish we saw more of the obnoxious hiker. Kristen Schaal’s kooky character elevates anything she’s in. She was great in Flight of the Conchords among other things.
I didn’t know about it either. Maybe I’ll check it out.
Me, three. A Walk in the Woods was my Bryson gateway drug, too. I’ll have to look for it.
I was so happy to read in one of his early books that he had no idea what a counterpane was either.
Thief 1981 - James Caan and Tuesday Weld
It’s been on my bucket list to watch. It’s on Paramount+.
James Caan delivers his unique take on a fast talking tough guy. His character was hardened beyond belief after 11 years in prison. Willie Nelson has a few brief scenes as his criminal mentor and advisor.
I was disappointed that Tuesday Weld had very little to do. Her character is approached by Cann to be his wife in the most clumsy and unromantic way possible. Tuesday has some great movie roles that are much more interesting.
The movie works as a study of very soul less people. Everyone is working a hustle and looking for ways to make big money.
Oddly, I was disappointed that Cann was unable to complete his dream of making a final big score and live in retirement with his newly created family and home. It was only a fantasy life created by someone who never had a family and could never fully adjust to that life.
I’d give a slight recommendation to watch the film. It’s an important part of film history. They don’t make crime dramas like this very often. The characters are uniquely drawn and compelling.
I really like, even love, Rushmore and The Grand Budapest Hotel; Anderson’s other movies just haven’t done much for me.
Re-watched Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) on Kanopy and it held up well.
It’s a very meta crime/detective comedy/drama with Robert Downey Jr, narrating. His character — unlike Tony Stark or Sherlock Holmes — is mostly stupid and incompetent. And surprisingly short, altho he eventually rises to the occasion.
Val Kilmer provides the smarts, and Michelle Monaghan the love interest.
I’ll give it a strong A-.
A very good movie, from what I recall.
If you like that, you’d probably like The Nice Guys with Ryan Gosling and some other guy I can’t remember. (ETA: Russell Crowe.) It’s hilarious. I don’t know why it wasn’t more popular.
I remember being pleasantly surprised by that, a really good laugh and the two leads were very engaging.
“There was like a 12% chance!”
“Twelve percent? TWELVE?! WHO TAUGHT YOU MATH?!”
It’s a Wonderful Knife
Somewhat recommended. Kind of?
A nice movie to put on at Christmas time, but not hugely entertaining or funny enough. I think Happy Death Day is really the best of this type of movie. Comedic, slasher-film, more or less PG-13, with a fun hook at its premise.
This is from the writer of Freaky, another movie with a fun premise that really disappointed. This was disappointing, too, but not a bad way to spend 90 minutes.
The premise of this is that a girl wishes she was never born, is granted the wish, and realizes even more death and destruction would occur without her birth.
It was OK.
Candy Cane Lane
Big, splashy production, some snazzy writing to offset the inevitable treacle, good performances all around, everyone is enjoying themselves making this movie, kids will probably love it. Needs trimming by 20 minutes. SFX are OK. Some solid laughs. Won’t bounce Elf off the Standard-Xmas-Movie watchlist, but a decent try.
Is Eddie Murphy good in it?
I thought he was just what the doctor ordered, especially in the “twist” at the climactic scene, but YMMV. Adults need to turn their IQ settings down 10 points and go with the flow. 
Hopefully helpful.
Re-watched A Man for All Seasons last night, one of my all-time faves. I was particularly hit by Norfolk’s entreaty to More to Give In and Take the Oath. He says of himself and the other lords “WE’RE supposed to be the Proud Ones, and we’ve ALL given in.”, not saying the obvious, that More has not acknowledged Henry VIII’s position and recognizing the divorce. Makes me think of all the Republicans who have given in and drunk the Trump Kool Aid.
I watch this one every once in a while. I love it and recommend it to people all the time. I think it deserves more acclaim.
Napoleon (2023). Overly long series of scenes that don’t seem to be bound together. At the end of the film I could not really get a sense of what the movie was supposed to portray. Different people have different takes on historical events and people, but this one felt disjointed to me and the portrayal of Napoleon felt uneven. The actors gave credible performances but on the whole I was underwhelmed.
I won’t comment on the historical inaccuracies because of course those are expected and I don’t know that this is any worse than any other films in the same genre.
//i\\
The Crow - recommended. I mentioned it above. Probably not as memorable if Brandon Lee didn’t die, but still a solid movie.
The Crow: City of Angels - I saw this opening weekend in 1996 and never again until the other day. Uh, I like this sequel and am surprised it was so poorly received. It’s quite good and while not the equal to the first one, a very good sequel.
The Crow: Salvation - Again, kind of surprisingly good. This one had its theatrical release cancelled after the failure of Crow 2, but it’s a shame. It’s a solid Crow movie and didn’t deserve to be shoved out on VHS/DVD. I recommend it.
The Crow: Wicked Prayer - this one starts off solid, but the final 30 minutes are horrible, a huge step down. It plays like a Western…though they should have gone all in and made it take place in the 1800’s. But no, it’s set in modern times and by the end, it is just atrocious. The only Crow movie that is actually quite bad. Eddie Furlong is the Crow in this movie and I think he has 45 minutes of screen time. They obviously had their budget spread quite thin.
We watched May December
Apparently loosely based on the story of Mary KatherineFualaau, a teacher who had sex with a 12 year old pupil , and went to jail, she eventually had two children with the boy and they became married for 14 years.
The story is about an actress ( Natalie Portman) who is set to play the part of the lady in a movie about it all, she is visiting and talking with the lady and the now adult boy. Very well acted, certainly an uncomfortable and definitely a tense movie. Several reviews mentioned it was humorous at times, not sure what they were seeing. Also there was a short piano motif that was played over and over, very loudly which was deeply annoying , not sure if they were trying to use it to add tension, it was just annoying, maybe it was just me.
We also watched The Laundromat, which was a movie about The Panama Papers, a lawyer firm in Panama that basically help hide a whole lot of money amongst other criminal activities.
Funny, well acted and very highly recommended. Classic line “ Oh lord when you say ‘forgive them, for they know not what they do’ I am pretty sure they know exactly what they are doing” .
Speaking of Todd Haynes, we watched Don’t Worry Darling, and didn’t expect to rewatch it any time soon. But for comparison watched the 1975 Stepford Wives, and just to be thorough watched the 2004 Stepford Wives. All three of these movies were a hoot. That’s all the reaction I had, despite the “societal conversation we desperately need” that accompanied them. They were each a very fine hoot.
In the meantime, I also went back and rewatched 1995’s Safe, by Todd Haynes and with Julianne Moore, because the theme deserves better than a hoot, and even though director and actor did go a bit arch later with Far From Heaven, in Safe they made a story about a real woman you can care about. In hopes of that May December is on the watchlist.