Movie Talk

I went to see TONY, the new Anthony Bourdain origin-story film. I was and remain a Bourdain fan. I loved his attitude and his wit. The NYT loved the movie, and I enjoyed much of it as well.  However, the Bourdain character as presented in the film is obnoxious, dishonest and cruel. In fact, the filmmakers made him out to be very unappealing, a calculated risk on their part, I suppose. If I met that character in person, I'd walk away. 

Coyote VS Acme was very well done.  Highly recommend - especially if you grew up with hour of looney tunes cartoons on Saturday mornings.

Here's a nice compilation of the old cartoon.

New on Netflix

The Whisper Man

Written by Maplewood's Ben Jacoby!

Great, Dark Thriller!

Accidental theme weekend, before our month of Netflix expired:

Backward Unspooling Time

Merrily We Roll Along (filmed Broadway performance)

Memento (which I enjoyed 26 years ago but wife had never seen)

Lat night I watched A WALK ON THE MOON, (PRIME) a romance-type film that takes place in 1969 in a Catskills summer. It has a great cast and the music is terrific, mostly songs you know from 1969. It's very nice to hear those songs as backdrop to drama. It's directed by Tony Goldwyn, veteran actor, producer, director. I enjoyed it a lot. If you liked Dirty Dancing, this is in the same milieu. A bit sexier (Viggo!) and more raw. One minor (?) critique: Diane Lane as a Conservative Jew? Cmon....

• Diane Lane
• Anna Paquin
• Tovah Feldshuh
• Liev Schreiber
• Julie Kavner
• Viggo Mortensen

If you like that Catskills kind of the things, this under the radar movie, The Gig, was pretty good.  https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/gig/reviews.  About a group of friends who play jazz together just for fun but end up getting a gig at a Catskills hotel. With Wayne Rogers, Cleavon Little and real life NJ jazz musician Warren Vache.  

The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

Lat night I watched A WALK ON THE MOON, (PRIME) a romance-type film that takes place in 1969 in a Catskills summer. It has a great cast and the music is terrific, mostly songs you know from 1969. It's very nice to hear those songs as backdrop to drama. It's directed by Tony Goldwyn, veteran actor, producer, director. I enjoyed it a lot. If you liked Dirty Dancing, this is in the same milieu. A bit sexier (Viggo!) and more raw. One minor (?) critique: Diane Lane as a Conservative Jew? Cmon....

• Diane Lane
• Anna Paquin
• Tovah Feldshuh
• Liev Schreiber
• Julie Kavner
• Viggo Mortensen

Is that the one where Viggo is a traveling clothing salesman? I second the recommendation.

ridski said:

The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

Lat night I watched A WALK ON THE MOON, (PRIME) a romance-type film that takes place in 1969 in a Catskills summer. It has a great cast and the music is terrific, mostly songs you know from 1969. It's very nice to hear those songs as backdrop to drama. It's directed by Tony Goldwyn, veteran actor, producer, director. I enjoyed it a lot. If you liked Dirty Dancing, this is in the same milieu. A bit sexier (Viggo!) and more raw. One minor (?) critique: Diane Lane as a Conservative Jew? Cmon....

• Diane Lane
• Anna Paquin
• Tovah Feldshuh
• Liev Schreiber
• Julie Kavner
• Viggo Mortensen

Is that the one where Viggo is a traveling clothing salesman? I second the recommendation.

The blouse seller. Yes. 

jamie said:

Coyote VS Acme was very well done. Highly recommend - especially if you grew up with hour of looney tunes cartoons on Saturday mornings.

It was entertaining, and I’m glad it escaped financial writedown purgatory. My favorite Road Runner cartoon made a running gag out of explosive darts, so the magnetic glove’s callback hit the spot.

I wish, though, there were more surprises. By the time the Albuquerque joke arrived I had been waiting the whole movie for it. If, the very first time he got in his car, Will Forte had driven through a No Left Turn sign, I’d have laughed.

DaveSchmidt said:

It was entertaining, and I’m glad it escaped financial writedown purgatory. My favorite Road Runner cartoon made a running gag out of explosive darts, so the magnetic glove’s callback hit the spot.

I wish, though, there were more surprises. By the time the Albuquerque joke arrived I had been waiting the whole movie for it. If, the very first time he got in his car, Will Forte had driven through a No Left Turn sign, I’d have laughed.

Albuquerque was floating in my mind when I saw Bugs - but I really didn't expect many of the other looney tunes characters at all.  It's amazing how the humor in coyote/road runner is really timeless.  First appearance was in 1949.  Overall - a fun movie.  I loved the special effects on the road runner - perfecto!

"The Runner" on Amazon Prime, starring Gal Gadot.

Gadot plays a lawyer in London, who needs to save her son.