I really enjoyed the book Code Girls, which touched on quite a lot of this.
There are a number of good books on the history of codebreaking, as is given in Code Breaking Books .
I really liked this version of the movie. It’s better for viewers that aren’t familar with the history of WWII. It spends almost the first hour covering Pearl Harbor and other events leading up to Midway.
They based several of the pilots and other characters on actual airmen. The Wikipedia movie page has links to their bios in the Cast section.
Anyone else find it odd not to recognize actors? There were so many unfamiliar faces (to me) in this movie from 2019. Makes it diffcult to keep up with the character names. I don’t have that reference point of knowing the actor and making a character connection. It’s not a problem in movies with a small cast
Or leftovers from Tora, Tora, Tora.
The combat scenes in the 1976 film are ridiculously inconsistent and it’s easy to tell what was archival actual combat footage, grade-A recreations intended for Tora, and cheap close-up footage made for the ‘76 film. The worst offense is trying to pass off Oahu’s Hickham Field as the primitive one on Midway Island,
They used CGI in the 2019 movie. The air battle scenes looked much, much better.
That’s another reason I recommend the remake.
The remake didn’t fully explain what happened to Torpedo Squadron 8. The squadron attacked the carrier without fighter air cover, and were all killed except for George Gay. Both movie versions show him in the water. The remake didn’t make clear why they were wiped out.
It may seem like a nitpick. But dive bombing a carrier without any fighter protection is almost suicidal. Those 30 airmen made an incredible sacrifice. Even the Japanese (in the movie) commented about their bravery.
(Not a spoiler. This was 2 minutes of a raging air battle). Otherwise it doesn’t connect to the story.)
you forgot they added a female gray spy that appeared to be smarter than the other two …
Just correcting the “dive bombing” part; they (the aircraft and pilots) were torpedo bombers coming in low over the water. They had to be at a specific altitude and bearing to successfully launch a torpedo and hit a ship. Made them sitting ducks for the fighters defending the carriers.
Madame Web (free on Netflix) yes, it’s a hot mess. I can sort of see a decent movie in there, somewhere, but hoo boy did they mess it all up. #1, your lead character is a paramedic, don’t get ALL THE MEDICAL STUFF WRONG. When a paramedic is actively performing CPR, her boss isn’t going to ask her to step away for a quick chat, whereupon she tells her patient “You’re all set.” and he sits up ready to head home.
You almost drown, and your paramedic partner says “You need to go to the ER for a workup.” and she replies “but I trust you.” and the partner somehow doesn’t say “Yes, and the medical person you trust says you should get a real workup.”, but lets her go back to work.
C’mon, what is that? Can you have a little respect for the craft, a little realism? You have decent enough actors, stop embarrassing them by making their characters do idiotic things. The teenage girls on the run from a psychopathic spiderman aren’t going to climb onto a diner table to dance for some teenage dipshit boys they just met 3 minutes ago.
The plot would have moved along just fine if they didn’t do that, absolutely unchanged, all the plot parts were in motion before you had them do that stupid thing, actually they were almost acting like normal humans, going to a diner to eat because they were hungry. Going to a diner when you’re on the run but hungry is maybe a poor choice, but it’s an understandable human choice. Dancing on a table is a ridiculous writing choice that served no purpose. Boo!
is it on crunchy roll yet?
I don’t know as I saw it in the theater. I just happened to look at was showing at a nearby cinema and saw that it was there, so I went to see it. It is not still showing there so it might soon be available on streaming services.
//i\\
I’m not finding it on my account. Might be too soon.
My wife and I watched Anyone But You.
It was entertaining I guess. The problem is that Glenn Powell and Sydney Sweeney look like boardwalk sketch artist caricatures of really attractive people. Like there was never any doubt they would end up together. Like are we supposed to believe they are either going to get back to their sucky exes inexplicably invited to the wedding or that they are going to hold out for someone more attractive and charming?
It was also very formulaic in the sense that it felt like every other modern rom-com:
- He’s rich and does something in finance
- She’s a hot mess trying to figure her shit out
- Unresolved ex issues
- Contrived tension built on some misunderstanding
- Destination location (friend/relative’s wedding)
- Ending-credits musical number
We also watched The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
I liked it, but I felt it dragged in places, but rushed in other places. It could also have easily been two movies.
We watched the first few minutes of it, just the opening scene in the coffee shop, and it seemed so stupid we just gave up.
And then they remake this movie for some reason, this time with Brooke Shields and (a kinda beat up) Benjamin Bratt in Netflix’s Mother of the Bride, where two once-involved people come together because their kids want to get married in a tropical resort in Thailand. Perfect for that night in which you just want to turn your brain off and watch two good-looking people (admittedly not as good looking as Clooney and Roberts) in a pretty location with lots of sunlight replay a story we’ve seen multiple times. It’s a good at-home date movie in that if you chat through the thing, you won’t miss any of the plot developments.
I refer to it as “Anyone But Sydney Sweeney”.
Movie night Monday.
We watched Stop Making Sense the remastered Talking Heads concert originally released in 1984.
My understanding is that David Byrne while putting together this remaster said it helped him come to terms with his autism. I guess it took him decades to realize this about himself but when you watch his performance, the lyrics about social alienation, the vocal and body stimming, it really puts everything in a new light.
I also found it very relatable as a person with social anxiety.
The concert was worth watching for the opening of “Psycho Killer” alone. He really commanded the stage and my God does this man have stamina. I was exhausted just watching him. He is truly magnetic. I might have fallen a little bit in love.
Prior to this I was familiar with the most popular Talking Heads songs but wouldn’t really describe myself as a fan. That changed tonight. There were some seriously good jams and lyrics with a lot of thoughtful subtext. I thought of Talking Heads as a pop band but this was a funky rock concert. Lots of fun.
They started as part of the New York New Wave, playing with the likes of The Ramones and Television in CBGB and very early developed a collaboration with Brian Eno. Very experimental for the time. By the mid-1970’s they had recruited people like Bernie Worrel of Parliament/Funkadelic fame and were heavily into funk.
You might like the Rome concert, which was from the previous tour. It’s a little more inclined to offbeat guitar pyrotechnics since that touring band included the legendary Adrian Belew and an extra bassist and it’s a lot less theatrical, more a straight rock concert. But still heavy on the funk (maybe even heavier in fact).
I saw the Remain in Light tour in 1980, and I think I was pretty startled to see that stage full of people (though I think I talked about Adrien Belew for weeks, he impressed me that much)(and then saw him a couple of years later in King Crimson and was equally impressed)
It’s quite the touring lineup, awesome in both size and quality:
David Byrne (vocals, guitar)
Chris Frantz (drums)
Tina Weymouth (bass, vocals)
Jerry Harrison (keyboards, guitar)
Adrian Belew (guitar, vocals)
Nona Hendryx (backing vocals)
Busta “Cherry” Jones (bass, guitar)
Steve Scales (conga)
Bernie Worrell (keyboards, vocals)
Jose Rossy (percussion)
Challengers
Very strongly not recommended.
Wow, I kind of hated this movie. I mean, I’m as surprised as can be. Not only did I like this director’s previous movie, I like tennis* and had heard this received universal acclaim level reviews.
This was just not for me. A relationship drama with a bit of sports. It would all work if I liked the characters, but I honestly did not. These are the type of people I would dislike in real life and I can not support them as protagonists.
Overlong, too. And boring. And shallow, very shallow.
I will admit some very neat camera work(special effects?) in the final tennis match, but otherwise a very boring movie and I will never see it again.
Not recommended for anyone unless you are a relationship-drama nut.
*had no idea it was about tennis until I watched it. I did not enter with tennis expectations. If anything, the fact tennis is featured should draw me in. Nope not at all.
Yeah, the wife and I watched that one too. Same basic template as the aforementioned Anyone But You. We kept falling asleep through it but didn’t feel like we missed anything.