Edgy MD

Bonus Neil Diamond material. Awesome. But the cargo shorts dance was even better.

I think that would be a stretch.

I'm more interested in the next two installments in the trilogy: Smoker and Midnight Toker.

I quit half-way through. Lots of potential. Perfectly good performers. But it's like the screenwriters didn't even show up.

A classic underdogs-vs.-snobs plot (The Bad News Bears meets Moonrise Kingdom with some The Greatest Christmas Pageant Ever and Little Miss Sunshine thrown in) unfolds as a group of near-feral southern Georgia kids in 1977 put together a girl scout troop (called "Birdie Scouts" to please the lawyers) to snag the big prize from the high-falutin' kids who wear shoes and stuff. https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/IGkAAOSwVYNeGmLE/s-l640.jpg>

Two solidly true statements.

Frayed Knot wrote: I hope the book was better than the movie. Yeah, I like to hold off on critiquing, but man, this was a stinker. Like, you appreciate it's earnestness, but that only convinces you to sustain the charity to make it into the next scene, and the next scene does not reward you. There are musical sequences where you're not sure if we've broken into a surreal, musical bit, or the kid just did something awkward, acting out in public. Either way, it's embarrassing, but you're not sure if you're embarrassed for the character or the film-maker. And that in-between-ness is all over the context of movie too. Springsteen himself is in-between. As this movie is set in 1987, he's in between his world-conquering Born in the USA tour and the paradigm shift to Tunnel of Love, where he pared down the band, mixed the record track-by-track for the first time, retreating from the pressure of trying to sustain his superstar sound into returning to niche artistry, abeit a different (but still very popular) niche. He was also transitioning from his American working hero bod to his crazy-big mezomorph bod. Transitioning from his starter marriage to his longer-term followup. Transitioning from Jersey Muscle Car Bruce to California SUV Bruce too. Springsteen's arc up until that point is taken as one canon, but nobody would hand somebody cassettes of Darkness and Born in the USA to a newbie without carefully explaining that these are two very different Springies. I sure wouldn't, anyhow. Certainly not in 1987. My point being that it's odd that in 1987, with BS&tESB having toured the world a few times over in the previous few years, filling soccer stadia, and generally being a ubiquitous presence, riding the wave of Reagan/Thatcher nationalism, while maintaining the open secret that he's a subversive champion of the underdog ... how do you just discover him like he's some sort of underground taste? His frenemy is all "synths are the future," and even that seems to be a dated perspective by 1987. This small town really sucks. And it does. His father is apparently working in an auto factory, but the town lacks assembly line grit. Dad's whole demeanor is more that of an ambitious small business owner. And you don't find the grit of Springsteen's music either, which is the real tragedy. The music connects the kid with his own life, and only ends up making both feel false and sophomoric. (High-school sophomoric.) It's there in the kid's writing, too, which is supposed to demonstrating him as a budding voice, but like many films about good writing, fails to convince because the screenwriter can't really do good writing. He uses Springsteen's lyrics instead as a talisman, shouting them out in public in an attempt to ward off skin-headed bullies or sway the heart of the local big-hearted politically active cutie pie, but again, you're feeling embarrassed for him when you're supposed to be rooting. And they're often the wrong lyrics — lyrics that barely have any content that relates to the context of the scene. You appreciate the eagerness, but for the two or three scenes you surrender to, you have to summon the patience to get through a lot of tone-deafness. Actually, that sounds like the way a non-fan might describe more than a few Springsteen records. And that's the real tragedy. This won't win the Boss any new fans and might cost him one or two. Myself, I lifted the needle at the 45-minute mark.

Eddie Murphy stars as fringe comic Rudy Ray Moore, an early seventies Hollywood figure with more gumption than talent, who put together a company of nobodies and somehow made the worst entertaining movie you ever saw — the story of an avenging superhero pimp — that he paid for out of his own pocket, and killed with it at the box office. [FIMG=475]https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMzFiYWQxYzgtOThmYi00ZmIwLWFlZWMtMzk2NTI2YTYzMjkyXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTkxNjUyNQ@@._V1_.jpg[/FIMG]

In the second of your series of British films about young men of South Asian descent being transformed by rock icons, comes this entry from the director of Bend It Like Beckham director Gurinder Chadha and fringey screenwriter Sarfraz Manzoor. In a nowhere British town where auto factory jobs are disappearing, Javed is torn between his controlling Pakistani father and wanting to find his own voice as a young Brit. When a fellow Pakistani-English youth passes him a few cassettes, he decides his true story is but an echo coming out of New Jersey. [FIMG=450]https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81iXHSllFYL._SY679_.jpg[/FIMG]

There was a light movie back around 1980 — I remember liking it but the critics did not — in which a newly-elected-but-already-alienated-pope-sneaks out the back door and passes himself off as a simple parish priest in a poor Italian mountain village. OH, the hyjinx. But yes, we need to a Dave-type movie in which a papal stand in ends up in the job, or King Ralph plot where an ordinary shlub gets elevated through a series of improbable events. Both would likely suck, but have good opportunities for garbled Latin, impure urges, and sight gags when the pope decides he likes actually wearing the sports jerseys all the teams present him with.

When Karol dies at an advanced age, a whole bunch of cardinals meet to pick a new pope. Jorge is desperate to see the Church address the internal rot among them, but he is shy and guilty and doesn't put himself forward as a leader. Josef, on the other hand, has been Karol's right-hand man on doctrinal affairs, and is happy to thrust himself forward, if for no other reason than to provide doctrinal clarity. Flash ahead a few years, and Josef (now Pope Benedict XVI) has summoned Jorge to Rome to talk to about the latter's application for retirement. It turns out, both men are burned out, tired of fighting internal and external forces, and carrying a lot of guilt. Benedict is all, "You can't resign! I want to resign!" The ensuing of hijinx commences. [FIMG=450]https://www.thekfs.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Two-Popes-Poster-1.jpg[/FIMG]

I think we should open with Bar Mitzvah footage. Mom is all proud of pious young Chaim while he's sneaking into the girls' room to ogle cousin Ruthie. Too cheap?

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: Rock biopics have come a long way from Athens: Inside-Out As discussed here previously the Van Halen origin story could be a dynamite movie. The KISS origin story: Are you kidding? Would be so fucking great. The latter idea is such a guaranteed Moneymaker I'm surprised Gene $immons hasn't done 3 versions already And he's so-far passed on a juke box musical. Weird, but I guess there's more certainty in the coffin game.

=whippoorwill post_id=30283 time=1579700536 user_id=79] Please say this is one of your masterpiece made up stories

BLAME IT ON THE BORAP! MUSICIAN BIOS CURRENTLY IN DEVELOPMENT (AND SOME THAT HAVE ALREADY HAPPENED) Judy (2019) Renée Zellweger plays 1969-era Judy Garland. Suck it, Judy Davis. I Am Woman (2019) This Helen Reddy biopic has already been released in Australia to great fanfare, but it has so far been enbargoed in the US. Call Netflix and get angry. WHAT THE FUCK!! I Still Believe (March 2020) Riverdale's K.J. Apa plays hard-luck Christian singer Jeremy Camp, with Shania Twain playing his mom. Has this guy really covered The Call? If so, OK, but don't tell me they're using the Call song as a title for his biopic. Respect (August 2020) Jennifer Hudson plays Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, written by Thema & Louise screenwriter Callie Khouri. The Power of Love — Celine Dion (2021?) Valérie Lemercier both directs and stars, so you know this will be great. Plus, it's in French, so you don't have to listen to the words, just the notes, which gets you halfway home, I think. Untitled Elvis Presley-Themed Thing (October 2021) Baz Luhrman directs beauty-boy-but-up-until-this-mostly-a-supporting-actor Austin Butler portraying the King, with Tom F. Hanks as The Colonel, telling the story of Presley's rise to fame. On the bright side, if you're having trouble sleeping, you can count reasons not to see this film. Blue Moon of Kentucky (2021?) No release date (or cast) has been publicly announced, but Khori is also writing this story about the life of bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe. Untitled Amy Winehouse-Themed Thing (2021?) Not much news except that Winey's father is cooperating. Untitled Bob Marley-Themed Thing (2021?) Ziggy producing. Untitled Boy George-Themed Thing (2021?) Sacha Gervasi (Anvil: The Story of Anvil) tells the tale of Boy growing up, as the genre of rock biopics becomes even more dominated by the sub-genre of gay rock biopics. Beautiful — Carole King (2022) This adaptation of the jukebox musical has been bouncing around since 2015, but now it's got Tom Hanks' backing. And when he joins a project, it becomes big. Untitled John and Yoko Thingie (2022?) BoRap writer Anthony McCarten has been hired, so you know the historical accuracy will be pristine. Jean Marc Vallée (Big Little Lies, Dallas Buyers Club) will direct stuff. I've got to get in the shower, but other upcoming music biofilm subjects I've found: Leonard Bernstein, Teddy Pendergrass, Madonna, etc. Kill me now.

Yeah, this was OK for a debut, but by most other standards, it contained big holes. The most glaring was this absence of this magical song. In films about prodigious writing, this copout often occurs. A young writer begins reading from something they wrote, and the sound fades after a sentence or two, and they montage the audience raptured by this young genius, but what's glaringly obvious is we're not hearing this great work, because the screenwriter isn't capable of writing something so brilliant on the face of it. So it goes with A Boy Called Sailboat. He begins his song and what sounds like the old "Emergency Broadcast Test" tone plays while we watch the transfixed listeners, stunned by it's beauty, putting aside old grudges, giving up their sinful ways, reconciling. You can play this sort of magic in earnest or you can play it for laughs, but give us some of that song so we can feel a little blessed too. No such luck.

In an un-named town somewhere in the Southwest, an extended drought has gutted the population, and those left behind are stuck in an eroding culture of closed downtown shops, high-attrition schools, and used car lots with only three cars for sale. In a shack that's so ramshackle that it is precariously propped up by a single supporting beam, José y Meyo raise their oddball son Sailboat. As insecurely as the prop holds the house erect, each of the family members are barely sustained by an eccentric fixation José (Noel Guglielmi, who you'll recognize as a convict from 100 prison movies) is fascinated by images horses, which he continuously renders with his paint-by-numbers kits. Meyo is a sociophobe whose main connection with the world is cooking spicey meatballs. (I shit you not.) And young Sailboat, you may have guessed, is obsessed with sailboats, despite living in a town where nobody has even seen the sea. The little boy finds a ukulele and writes an allegedly magical song. An overplayed, stilted Wes Anderson-type style intersects with Southwestern magic realism, and stuff happens. [FIMG=400]https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNGM2NzJlNTMtYjlmMy00ZGM4LTg5ZWMtZWVlM2UyZWJhNDYxXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNDA1NDA2NTk@._V1_.jpg[/FIMG]

There's a whole subplot of Hitchcock knockoffs and homages. Besides Charade, there's Wait Until Dark, Night Train to Munich, Dressed to Kill*, Twelve Monkeys, Le Boucher, Bell, Book, and Candle (a Hitchcock movie in virtually every way except suspense, so there's that), Les Diaboliques, and I'm sure there are many I'm forgetting. * Is Brian DePalma the auteur of ripping off the style of other auteurs?

Got better, but it was mostly episodic until the tension picked up around the banquet.

I'm watching this in pieces, and I'm not pulling much from it so far. My main takeaway is that, if you want to keep your job and even flourish at work, don't make your boss tell you all the evil shit he or she wants you to do. Just figure out how to interpret the non-verbal clues, offer a silent nod the next day, and allow the boss the plausible deniability and the sleep of the just. Someday, you'll get yours.

He's still somebody to love.

Yeah, he's looking sweeter than Marty Balin's ass, this guy. Good pick. Best part is that the 2.38 ERA is actually the highest of his career. As a 17-year-old with the DSL Mets 2, he notched a 1.86 ERA in 29 innings. He returned to DSL2 as an 18-year-old, improving to a 1.69 figure in 32 innings. They bumped him up to at the end of the season to start at DSL1 (the same division but a higher standard of play), and he dropped to 1.42 in 25 1/3 innings. He gets to skip the Gulf Coast League and it doesn't matter because you see above how he killed it in the Appy League. His WHIPs are so low, I won't publish them, because they'd freak you out as if logic and proportion have fallen slowly dead.

So, where's your son sleeping, now?

Lefty Specialist wrote: It's not a car chase but the cropduster scene from North by Northwest is a few minutes of the best cinema ever. We just noticed this got redone by James Gunn for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

Interesting. Basquiat and Fab Five Freddy both appear with Blondie in their "Rapture" video, shot around the same time.