Post football yesterday I did a semi-binge of Mission Impossible on Pluto. Watched MI II,MI III and Ghost Protocol. All I remember from II and III is a lot of explosions, fight sequences, car/motorcycle chases and crashes and The Tom Cruise Run. Ghost Protocol had all that AND the lamest space launch/flight/reentry sequence I’ve ever seen apart from the ghastly James Bond in Space sequences. I appreciated the commercial breaks to renew snacks and popcorn. Great scenery on locations, fantastic stunts, some twists and turns were good.
The movies were entertaining, fast paced, and very much define current action films (at least those without superpowers or supernatural elements). Sublime, they are not.
Yes, it is kind of amazing how obscure Williams is in the U.S., considering the massive success he has had elsewhere (in addition to Europe, he has also been successful in Australia and East Asia).
It’s very weird regarding what musical acts in the U.K. can achieve Stateside success as well. This is particularly peculiar for pop acts; for every Adele, Spice Girls and One Direction there seem to be two Craig Davids, Steps and S Club 7s.
Being the Ricardos (2021). Watched it for a second time, though I don’t think I’ve commented on it before.
Basically a biopic of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz set against the backdrop of the making of I Love Lucy, arguably one of the most influential TV shows of all time and one of my guilty pleasures since childhood. Despite some silliness and the typical lack of sophistication of the 1950s, it benefited from a small but competent and dedicated writing team – Madelyn Pugh and her lifelong colleague Bob Carroll, and Jess Oppenheimer who also produced the show. Pugh was credited as “Madelyn Martin” in later episodes, but it’s the same person.
Ball is excellently portrayed by Nicole Kidman, Arnaz by Javier Bardem. Kidman manages to both look and sound like Ball; Bardem is somewhat less authentic, since he neither looks nor really sounds like Arnaz.
I strongly suspect that Aaron Sorkin, who both wrote and directed, took considerable liberties with the facts, but these are some of the story lines I got out of it:
The extent to which Ball and Arnaz supported each other, each bringing their own creative and management skills to the table. It’s well known that the real-life Lucille Ball was a both a skilled actress and shrewd businesswoman, the exact opposite of the ditzy redhead she played on the show.
Ball refusing to do the show unless Arnaz played her husband, and getting tremendous pushback from both CBS and the sponsors, because they felt the audience just wouldn’t buy the idea of a Cuban with a thick Spanish accent as a typical American husband. Casting Arnaz, of course, turned out to be a big part of the show’s comedic genius.
The controversy of Ball going on with the show despite her real-life pregnancy, with Arnaz shocking the network and the sponsors by suggesting that the way around the “problem” was just to write her pregnancy into the script. By then Lucy was far and away the #1 show on television, and Arnaz appealed to the head of Philip Morris. My favourite line from the movie, when Arnaz receives a response: it was a copy of a memo sent to all employees of Philip Morris and CBS, allegedly reading simply “don’t fuck with the Cuban”.
Ball’s alleged communist background being dredged up by the media, nearly killing the show, and Arnaz’s determined attempt to counter the libel against his wife.
In addition to being an obviously talented comedian with a knack for physical comedy, Ball was an excellent actress. She starred in dramatic roles in several major movies, but her movie career never took off. Instead she went on to do a comedy series on radio, which eventually moved to television and became I Love Lucy.
The story line is a bit scattered and incoherent at times, but overall, recommended if this sort of biopic interests you. I admit to having a special nostalgic interest in the story behind the series.
It was a great idea and executed well. A bunch of little kids can be harder to deal with than criminals, especially with someone untrained and unprepared.
That’s okay, I once read a review of the movie in which the critic said he had to eat crow, as he’d once said he didn’t think Arnold would ever be an actor.
I agree. Check it out. It’s cringe but it perfectly fits Arnold’s role. It’s like Kindergarten Cop, Arnold just being himself is exactly what the film calls for.