First a belated Happy New Year to my friends at the fitness center, Ed, Bernie, Tony and Russ, I hope to get back soon.
Itâs been a few weeks since we published, so there is a little catching up to do. First and foremost there is a You Tube video that you must see. It lasts a little over four minutes but is as or more entertaining than any movie I have watched in the last year.
The music is from Bruno Mars, a modern day genius in the world of pop music, but the movie scenes are from the silver screen, brilliantly edited in to the music. Youâll be glad you watched, and I guarantee youâll be passing this recommendation on to your friends and family. And oh, the bigger the screen the more fun to watch. Iâm guessing many of you have already seen it and shared with others.
I canât imagine that you havenât heard all the âto doâ about the latest Netflix original film, Bird Box, starring Sandra Bullock and John Malkovich. In the first eight days after they began streaming it, over 48 million households tuned in. Thatâs literally 100 million people (or more) in a little over a week. That was my motivation to see it, and with that level of interest, it surpassed my usual trip to the theater. To begin with, its rated R, principally due to a non-stop stream of four letter words, particularly in the first half. This is an apocalyptic film, and the story revolves around a small band of survivors, and what they go through. Bullock plays Malorie, one of the grittiest characters Iâve seen in some time. Why is it called Bird Box? Because our fine feathered friends have something to say, (or I should say chirp). If you can deal with the profanity and an extremely stressful story line, I reluctantly give it a Thumbs Up. Of course the advantage of Netflix streaming is you can shut it off any time, and there is no walk to the parking lot.
The Mule, ★★★ rated R, for sporadic profanity and one brief nude scene. Clint Eastwood stars and directs as well. Rumor has it this could be his last film. This is far from his best work, but it is an interesting story and a fascinating look into a world that we hear and read about, but know little. A mule, of course, is a beast of burden, and this story is about the two-legged kind. Eastwood plays Earl Stone, an old timer whose life has been devoted to horticulture, at the expense of his family life. He loves the open road and is unwittingly duped into delivering a package of narcotics cross country on one of his road trips. He has no idea what he is hauling, but the financial payoff is so great that he agrees to do it again, and then again and again, eventually learning whatâs in the back of his pickup. As the story progresses Earl Stone finds himself slowly vacuumed into the cartel world. Very nasty people.
Bradley Cooper plays Colin Bates, a DEA agent assigned to track down the mysterious mule. One of the most fascinating scenes in the movie is when the two of them meet each other at the counter of a Waffle House restaurant, sharing a cup of coffee and chit chatting about life in general, neither of them knowing whom the other one was.
Also spent some time on Amazon streaming, picked up three films I missed while they were in the theater:
Florence Foster Jenkins, 2016, PG-13 The story of a New York heiress who dreamed of becoming an opera singer despite having a terrible singing voice. Stars Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant. This is Grantâs best performance ever, and despite ten major nominations, including Streepâs 20th, I give this one a Thumbs Down.
Lady Bird, 2017 R (no this is not about Lyndon Johnsonâs wife) rather a very unusual and well-acted âcoming of ageâ story. Stars Saoirse Ronan as a teen-ager in Sacramento dying to get to the East coast. Laurie Metcalf plays her mother. Received 41 major nominations, including five Oscar nominations. Watching Saoirse is worth the price of admissions, Thumbs Up.
Jack Reacher, Never Go Back, 2016, PG-13 There are 18 Jack Reacher novels which have sold over 100 million copies in 42 languages. Tom Cruise once again plays the role of Reacher in the second movie about this highly unusual ex-military officer. Just watching him do his own stunts makes this fun to watch. If you are a Reacher fan, look it up now. Thumbs Up.
