The Social Reckoning. Aaron Sorkin’s sequel to The Social Network; this time, it’s about the Wall Street Journal investigative reporting into Facebook. Jeremy Allen White as the reporter; Mikey Madison as his Deep Throat, and Jeremy Strong as Marc Zuckerberg.
The “All The President’s Men” reference is intentional, as the film really plays the same notes (which, for me, is a very good thing) although the stakes are very different: the investigative reveal is “how does FB’s algorithm work” instead of “who paid the Watergate burglars”.
The part of Zuckerberg didn’t really need to be in the film – he’s a side plot/back story. And Jeremy Strong plays him as one-note automaton focused solely on the algorithm and the bottom line.
But recommended, especially if you like Sorkin’s dialog.
I recently re-watched Edward Scissorhands. If I am correct, Tim Burton doesn’t want any sort of sequel or reboot because he wants Edward’s story to remain told the way it is. I wish more movies were being respected that way.
Yes, that film had me a little itchy-footed to begin with but the longer it went on, the more I got dragged into it (well, I guess that’s how good films work but this was an extreme example). By the end I was a teary-eyed mess.
Joe Dante directed movie about a filmmaker (played by John Goodman) who comes to a Florida town to promote his latest movie horror movie Mant!, under the shadow of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Dante looked like he had fun with this ode to 50s moviemaking, bringing in actors from that era as well as his typical collaborators Robert Picardo and Dick Miller. The movie has some fun but the story itself wasn’t very exciting to me. I do have to say though that it is nice to remember back to the time of innocent filmmaking of 1993 remembering back to the time of 50s filmmaking.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Prime)
Buffy is a cheerleader at an LA high school that suddenly has a vampire problem. She learns that she’s a Chosen One who will stop the vampires. The movie is moderately amusing and led to the TV show (of course). Paul Ruebens’ vampire death scene is probably the funniest part of the film but Rutger Hauer seems a bit dull as the big bad.
I was disappointed to learn last night that it currently can’t be rented or bought on Prime. The 2016 version is available. I even went to my Amazon App and searched. Blu-Ray and DVD is available.
Hulu seems to have exclusive digital rights right now. I was able to watch Ghostbusters 1984 on Philo with commercials.
I don’t need to review it again. It’s a beloved movie by most people.
I heard the familar line, Don’t Cross the Streams and suddenly noticed the special effect stream is yellow.
I’m ashamed to admit it took me a dozen viewings to catch that joke.
I enjoyed this one. This was a fun return to the Avatar world with its mythology and oddball fauna. The animation looked very nice and the action was kinetic but not too frantic. Aang is attacked at an Air Temple which leads him and the Avatar gang on a quest where they find another Airbender asleep, locked in a mountain. They then seek out a legendary Air staff to keep it out of the hands of the antagonists. In the end, Aang has to make a choice about what he wants to do and what he has to do, which is a common theme on Avatar.
I enjoyed the storyline and it did feel like an epic journey and not just fetch questing, and though the characters were voiced by different actors (with the exception of Dee Bradley Baker voicing Momo and Appa) the choice worked, making the characters older and maturing into their roles. Because it’s a movie, we do get a bit shortchanged with the character arcs and I did guess a plot development that I don’t want to spoil, but other than that this was a fun adventure.
Evolver 62 on Hoopla. Beatles uber-historian Mark Lewisohn’s one-man show where he tells the story of what happened to the band in 1962. Recommended for any fan of the Fabs.
Kes (1969) - A coming of age tale about a young boy in Northern England during the late 60’s. He has a tough life but finds comfort in training a Kestrel he finds. I watch Criterion Closet on Youtube regularly. They’re short videos werein famous actors talk about the films that meant something to them. Too many have mentioned Kes as a seminal film, so I had to watch it.
It was good. Had I seen it in my early years it would settle near Where The Red Fern Grows in my young mind.
Galaxy of Terror. Awful. Terrible dialog, no real plot, and a revolting gratuitous death scene where a woman is rated to deat by a gigantic maggot. The only reason you might want to watch is that the production designer is a pre Terminator James Cameron, who producer Roger Corman loved for his ability to get a lot out of a little. You can see something that would later show up in Aliens in the set design.
Chopping Mall. Stupid but fun slasher where a bunch of teens are trapped in a mall with a trio of killer robots. It is very 80s. It doesn’t take itself too seriously. I had a good time. Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov cameo as their characters from Eating Raoul. Kelli Maroney stars as the final girl, playing basically the same character she played in Night of the Comet.
Well, not only do you see early Cameron work, but you get to see Ray Walston (My Favorite Martian) in science fiction again. And you get to se Cindy Williams crushed by tendrils. And bald-headed Sid Haig cutting his own arm off to try to stop something from killing him from inside. Lots of gruesome deaths, but the
