Thanks. I couldn’t find a book called Mission to Mars by Andy Weir.
Wow, I’m tired. Thanks.
Yes, please check out The Martian.
Mission to Mars was this very dull movie:
I’ve long thought that Cruise was a pompous ass; the scientology crap is just the icing on the cake. So I’m biased, but I think he’s highly overrated as an actor. I actually tend to avoid movies that feature Cruise just because I can’t stand the guy.
Interesting side note, IIRC, is that Andy Weir could not get a publisher interested in The Martian, which was his first novel, and ended up self-publishing. It started becoming more and more popular, and the rest is history – a major motion picture, more books, and more movies, notably the recent Project Hail Mary and likely Artemis at some point.
He’s a good actor. He’s given great performances. Shame he got involved with a cult. I don’t really know how they do anything for him.
Looking for something to watch and came across “The Eiger Sanction”, with Eastwood climbing mountains to kill people. I saw it way back when it was new, but have no real memory of it, so I thought how bad could it be. Really, really, really bad. Didn’t make it through the first twenty minutes. The 70s were great for music, but not for film or clothing.
It’s a thousand pages, give or take a few.,
It comes together in the end. I like it. But, it is typical mid-70s Eastwood.
There are exceptions, of course.
Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie (2023). Available on Peacock, but maybe nowhere else(?). If you liked the Monk series, then this is a bit of nostalgia with most of the cast from the original series featured, and references to some that are not. Although it is a murder mystery comedy, I was surprised that it also dealt with suicide as well.
I had not seen the last season of Monk (we moved around the time it aired) so there was some information that is alluded to that I had to look up because I did not know it. That said, it was not really necessary in order to understand what was happening, it just was something that confused me a little since I had seen most of the series.
The comedy and the mystery were pretty good and sub-plot involving suicide was touching. Getting to see the old gang back together again along with seeing where they are now in their lives was cool as well. On the whole it moves along fairly quickly like you would expect a longish episode of the series to be. It ties everything up neatly in a way that does not make you think a sequel (or a new series) is imminent.
//i\\
Ah, yes, the Disney ride where I discovered (while riding with my boss) how nauseated I could become when my inner ear was significantly agitated. Fortunately I kept it together, but I had to sit for a while.
I really enjoyed seeing them all again too.
I remember being surprised at how much Ted Levine (Stottlemeyer) had aged. We’re the same age, but he looked and moved like a much older person. And Jason Gray-Stanford (Disher) had a heart transplant in 2020!
I think that Cruise is convinced Scientology is responsible for his success. And in a Freemason way they possibly are able to facilitate some things in his favour. But I’m not sure that’s provable.
You want a run, check out Apocalypto. From faulty memory: main guy takes a spear to the shoulder, then runs non -stop across South America. Least that’s how I remember it.
Totally agree. One of the worst films I’ve watched all the way through.
The last ten minutes are basically one long screensaver. I think they were going for a 2001:A Space Odyssey vibe but boy howdy did they miss.
I also saw it in the theatre at roughly the same age. And I totally agree with your assessment of the whole thing.
Abso-frigging-lutely.
Admittedly I thought Steve Martin’s rendition of “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” was pretty funny at the time, but then it was 1978 and I was a teenaged boy.
I watched the trailer for this and said “It’s very pretty but what’s it about?” If they can’t manage to give you some inkling of the plot or even the general tone of the story in the trailer, it never bodes well for the film.
IMO. the 70s were one of the best decades for film. One reason is that the Hays Code died in the late 60s, which allowed filmmakers greater freedom. Some examples of great movies from that decade:
M*A*S*H
Patton
The French Connection
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Fiddler on the Roof
Deliverance
Cabaret
The Godfather
The Godfather Part II
American Graffiti
The Sting
The Conversation
Blazing Saddles
Chinatown
Young Frankenstein
Dog Day Afternoon
Jaws
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Network
All the President’s Men
Rocky
Taxi Driver
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope
Annie Hall
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Grease
Halloween
Alien
Monty Python’s Life of Brian
I concede the point. My arthritis flare-up is making me cranky.
He may very well believe that. He’d be wrong.
Sure, they maybe pull some strings behind the scenes, but Tom Cruise is responsible for his success. He plays likeable or at least relatable guys for the most part. By all accounts he comes prepared for his films and treats everyone as an equal. And he picks films in his range. When he steps outside that, like Tropic Thunder, it seems like an act. If Tom Hanks did that, it would be called acting.
Still, could anyone prove that, if Michael Caine had taken as much effort for Jaws 3 as Tom Cruise takes in his films, J3 wouldn’t be considered a good film? 
I’ve seen trailers that keep the plot very mysterious. Problem with this movie is…it’s just god-awful. It is like what a film student turns in as their magnum opus before they get a real career going. Trash.
Adam Driver comes through unscathed. He does a great job acting without a clue what the movie is about.
I think it’s less about “pulling strings” and more a belief that some unseen magical force is guiding him to success as a direct result of his dedication to the cult. Scientologists believe some (checks to make sure this isn’t the Pit) … questionable things.
From what I’ve heard, the cult waits on him hand and foot - he’s Scientology’s most famous member and biggest recruitment tool, and they treat him like a demigod.