No doubt!
The Circle on NFLX. Tom Hanks and others trying to take over the world with a social media company. Kind of a yawn.
These were journalists, not G.I.s. Soviets were there first I believe.
Yes, the Soviets were there first, and partially trashed the place. Yes, those were war correspondents, but I was assuming US soldiers were there, too, and entered the bunker ahead of them. I may have been wrong.
The Eagle Has Landed 1976 Michael Cain, Robert Duvall, Donald Sutherland etc.
Wow, this was superb. Great cast. Duvall with an eyepatch. 
You have to get past the incongruity of an all star British cast playing nasty Germans. Donald Pleasence is quite convincing as Himmler.
It is a bit slow in the beginning. The best espionage movies usually are slow paced as the plot unfolds.
The mission? Kidnap Churchill! The thing that drew me in was the Germans were humoring a deranged Hitler with a feasibility study.
Much to their own shock, Churchill is scheduled to visit a small village a few miles from the coast. What seems absurd becomes quite possible. Churchill is vulnerable and there’s a quick escape route back to Germany.
The German soldiers are shown sympathetically. The leader of this misson is a decorated hero of the Reich that is facing court-martial for trying to save a Jewish girl from execution. It’s hard not to forget this is a evil and desperate plot aimed at the British Prime Minister.
I found it interesting to see the plan conceived,
deployed, and then fall apart by several mistakes as it’s executed.
It’s free with Prime. I recommend watching.
Yes, my favorite of his roles in one of my favorite movies.
I started reading this to my sister, and before I got to telling her Elmer’s answer, my sister yelled out “It’s at Harlan Crow’s!” Great minds.
One last comment on The Eagle Has Landed.
It was clever to cast British and American actors in German roles. The public has seen them countless times as heroes in other movies. Naturally that feeling continues far into this movie. That only changes after the shooting starts and we see them killing Allied troops.
But not so clever casting an American in an Irish role. Sutherland’s accent is cringe-worthy.
Donald sounded like he’d been filming Lucky Charms cereal commercials.
Yeah. Miss Cleo has a better Irish accent.
Have you heard Sutherland in Crossing Lines? His Dutch accent is likewise embarrassing.
Donald Sutherland was born and bred in Canada. He went to London in 1957 to study acting and was all over the British Isles as a young actor. (I love his small bit in Sebastian.)
Find another nit other than him being an American.
I stand corrected.
Correction:
“But not so clever casting a Canadian in an Irish role”
Continuing with Alistair MacLean.
Where Eagles Dare 1968 Richard Burton, Clint Eastwood, Mary Ure (she was married to Robert Shaw, the shark hunter in Jaws)
Another classic adventure/spy/espionage movie. This time with Commandos posing as German soldiers. They’re sent to rescue a captured Allied General before he is interrogated.
There’s several surprises in the plot that I won’t spoil.
Great movie. I hadn’t seen it since a Tape rental in the 80’s. It’s one of the best adaptations of a Alistair MacLean book.
I enjoy seeing Clint in supporting roles before he became a huge star and director. He brings a strong and dangerous persona to his character roles. The director doesn’t give him many lines. But you know that character is suspicious of their mission and quietly observing everyone on the team.
Clint plays similiar roles in the Eiger Sanction, and Kelly’s Heroes.
‘Broadsword calling Danny Boy’
The Greatest Night In Pop - Netflix
This is a documentary about the making of the We Are The World song in 1985. It was released in January, but I hadn’t heard about it until I saw the Lionel Richie interview yesterday on CBS Sunday Morning.
I of course was familiar with the song, but I hadn’t ever given any thought as to how one would get 47 famous musicians together to record it. Especially when the singers were as diverse as Harry Belafonte to Cyndi Lauper to Huey Lewis to Bob Dylan to Ray Charles to Willie Nelson. And this was back before cell phones and email were commonplace.
I found it quite interesting.
The best line of the 96 minutes was when Kenny Loggins recounted Paul Simon looking around and saying “If a bomb lands on this place, John Denver’s back on top.”
We recently rewatched Saving Ryan’s Privates on D-Day. The opening scenes are still as harrowing as the first time I saw it in a theater. For equal time, we watched the remake of Midway last night. They must have had a tough time finding name actors, as the cast was fairly inept. And Woody Harrelson as ADM Nimitz was a laughable choice. The story was, I think, truer to actual events than the original with Heston, Fonda, et al, and was not as stereotypic about the Japanese.
Good Grief (2023)
Dan Levy wrote, directed, and starred in this film about a man trying to deal with the sudden death of his husband. Most of the story takes place a year later as Levy takes a trip to Paris with two of his friends in search of some closure.
Levy’s performance is excellent. Moving and heartfelt without feeling sappy or maudlin. A few nitpicks: the romantic subplot (while I understand its place it Levy’s character arc) doesn’t feel earned. The supporting characters are somewhat two-dimensional, and Ruth Negga’s scenery chewing is pretty distracting.
But it’s worth checking out if you like this sort of thing, and/or if you like Dan Levy.
Netflix has this filed under “Comedy,” but don’t go in expecting a lot of laughs. I’d call it a character drama with some humor and wit.
Um…
Are you sure it was that or perhaps was it Saving Irene Ryan?