"Little Women" has a great cast and a timeless story of how siblings are woven together for life. I is worthy of time and consideration. It does a good job of showing the obstacles of young women in the 1800's and why the changes we get to witness are so important. That is unless you are a jerk.
We had 36 members of the Foutch family over for out annual luncheon. We eat the old food: hog jowl, ham corn and sausage, potato cakes, cabbage, beans and cornbread, black eyed peas, mac and cheese, salads and deserts. It is old in that we don't eat this food but once a year. Every one smiles and eats their fill. It is good to start the year with loved ones and smiles.
It is September and my mental New Year has arrived. Since childhood my calendar has been the same as the school calendar. I also am renewing my efforts to blog or as I think of it a to journal.
I am discontinuing movie ratings since I have waited out the people that used to read them. I believe that I now have no regular readers. So everything is new again.
There is a
difference between interest and commitment. When you are interested in doing
something, you do it only when circumstance permit. When you are committed to
something, you accept no excuses only results.
FUTURE:
I watched "Bird Box" on Netflix to see what all the talk was about. This is a good movie starring Sandra Bullock and is a tense story. In last year's "A Quiet Place" Aliens have invaded but they are blind. But if you make noise they will get you. In Bird Box if you go out side to see they will get you through your eyes. Yikes! Great fun. 2019 Movie 2 I give it ***1/2 stars.
PAST:
"Mary Queen of Scots" is the retelling of Mary, Queen of Scotland and her life. It shows her world where she once was married to the King of France. He dies and she returns to Scotland to claim her throne but also sets her sites on England. She was the daughter of King Henry of England but the throne was taken by her cousin Queen Elizabeth. This is Monarchy at its most treacherous. Great acting. 2019 Movie 3 It is ****star
The thing these movies have in common are three strong women who face great odds in a male dominant world. Sandra Bullock's character faced great odds, but so did Mary. Another common bond is how they all viewed the importance of children in their lives.
First: I am not a teacher. I am a story teller and I discuss things based on experience or what good stories tell, but I am not a trained teacher. When I am given a time to teach, I tell those that gather that my function is to arouse thought. They teach themselves.
Second: Sunday School is weird. As I wise elder once to me: "Mike, did you know that Sunday school is the only school where you can't graduate. It is endless."
That said: When asked to have a class, I chose to talk about the future of the church. WE muse about the future being heaven but we never consider our future while in our present position. The Old Testament has many stories pertaining to the future but we normally skip those. Jesus challenges us in the later writings to live for the future and God's dealings with the apostles was ALL about the future. But we tend to think that we were the future since everything is about us.
I hope my stories and the Bible's stories will make sense. I'll keep you posted.
It is well documented that we baby boomers are different. I had this thought the other day about current fashions
Men with three beards and stubble: Growing up in the first of the TV age the only men that looked like they were unkept or needing a shave were the "Bad guys" in the westerns. John Wayne and his kind always beat them. So we tend it be clean shaven,
Men with beards: In the days of the westerns only judges and old wise men had beards. We grow them when we want to be wise. When I started my first business, I was 30 and wanted to seem older and smart so I had a full beard for eight years. I only shaved it when my chin started turning gray (before I was ready).
Tattoos: Again as a child the only people that had these had just come back from World War 2 and were Navy veterans. I equated them with someone who had a wild experience. Never thought they would be a fashion thing worn by folks that have never experienced anything.
I would mention piercings but I would have to dive into old Nation Geographics!
"Welcome to Marwen" is my first movie of 2019. Rotten Tomatoes and other ratings do not give this much of chance. As a creative, I totally get it. This is a true story of an illustrator who gets almost beaten to death by five punks. He looses all personal memories of his life before and has to reconstruct everything. He can no longer draw so he turns to photography to capture his new world.
Steve Carell was great.
His imaginary world allows him to live in a time and place that he can control. I won't go any further about the story but I will tell you this. It made sense to me.
When I was younger I loved to draw and create my own fantasy worlds that could not be explained to anyone. I know I tried a couple of times. I heard from people we know that this movie was horrible. That tells me they were never creative.
Vice: One of the year's best movies and scariest. No it has a little history, a little dark humor and a lot of reasons to fear what happens in Washington. Great cast and directing. Republicans may not vote for this. *****stars 2018 Movie 53
Aquaman: A very wet super hero move with enough humor to keep me interested. Too many endless fight scenes. *** star 2018 movie 54
Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse: Actually a very good movie that has heart and a story besides fight scenes. ***1/2 stars 2018 movie 55
That's all for this year. Next year I'm going to revert back to old ways.
Mile 22: Great movie forth time. Plot twist at the end. Good Popcorn flick. ***stars 2018 Movie 37
Peppermint: Revenge Movies just seem to appeal to me. ***1/2 stars 2018 Movie 38
First Man: Is a great movie that documents one of the moments in my life that I remember well. Great cast. Great story. ****1/2 stars , 2018 movie 39
A Star is Born: Great Remake with great actors. Lady GaGa will be up for an Oscar. ****1/2 stars
2018 movie 40
Bad Times at the El Royale: Crazy fun and wild story. Loved it. ****star, 2018 Movie 41
Old Man and a Gun: Good Movie and good to see Robert Redford again. ***1/2 stars,
2018 Movie 42
Bohemian Rhapsody: Great Movie, Another Oscar proformance for Best Actor: ****1/2 Stars
2018 Movie 43 The Grinch: Good Christmas Movie Remake. ***stars, 2018 Movie 44
Green Book: One of the Year's Best. Mortenson for Best Actor, ***** stars, 2018 Movie 45
Widows: Gritty and Tense Movie, Great Cast and all made. ***1/2 stars, 2018 Movie 46
Crimes Against Grindelwald: Confusing Movie with no heart. Did not Care for any character and left half way through. Don't care how it ended. Great effects though. * star, **stars for effects.
2018 Movie 47
Instant Family: Almost a docudrama about Adopting Foster Kids. Important film. *** stars.
2018 Movie 48
Girl in the Spider's Web: Good James Bond type movie for a female lead. Popcorn movie.
***stars, 2018 Movie 49
Meg: Jaws in 2018, Larger, Better special effects, But not as creative. 2018 Movie 33, **1/2/ stars
MI Fallout: Mission Impossible can keep going just like the TV show. There must be something to Scientology. Tom Cruise doesn't look like 58. Fun Movie. 2018 Movie 34, ***stars
The Spy Who Dumped Me: Guilty Pleasure, Great Comedy but language was over the top. 2018 Movie 35, **1/2 stars
Equalizer 2: I love escapist movies that are smart. I also love Denzil. 2018 Movie 36, ***1/2 stars.
Here I find myself in 2018. In my youth the United States was seen as the good guys with the white hats. We protected the world. We nurtured our friends. We were the place where people could come to find freedom and the opportunity for new lives. Our enemies are Communist countries like Russia, China and North Korea. Our Fiends were Great Britain, Canada , Mexico and France. Germany and Japan was an enemy but have been friends for the last 30+ years.
And then we found a liking for black hats: I never thought I would see the time when the USA could not be trusted. Our friends are now bewildered and our enemies have smiles. We are no longer the world's good guys. We are the stuck up kids who think we are better than everyone not named Putin.
Woman Walks Ahead: Great Western with much history about the last days of Sitting Bull. 2018 movie 22 ***1/2 stars
Hotel Artemis Popcorn movie about evil people. No one worth shooting but they get it any way. **1/2 stars 2018 Movie 23
The Catcher is a Spy: True Story from WW2. See Ant Man in a meaty role as a spy sent to stop Germany from getting an Atomic Bomb. Great story. 2018 Movie 24. ***stars
Won't You be My Neighbor: A great documentary about the life of Mr. Rogers. Must See for me. it is ***** star 2018 movie 25
TAG: Also a true story although a comedy. Grown men who once a year play tag. Better than it sounds. 2018 Movie 26 I give it ***stars
Ocean's 8: true story (Just kidding) another version of the Ocean series this time with female cast. **1/2 stars 2018 movie 27
Sicario, Day of the Soldado: The sequel with the two main stars from the first. Just as gritty, violent and real. ****stars 2018 movie 28
Jurrassic World (the next): Fun with dinosaurs and Chris Platt. Great Popcorn movie. No dinosaurs were hurt making this even though it looks like it. 2018 Movie #29. ***stars for fun.
Incredibles 2: Yes it is fun too. ***stars, 2018 Movie 30
Ant Man and the Wasp: I am a fan because of the humor. Michael Pena is my favorite. ***stars 2018 #31
Solo: Yes I saw it again. Still good. 2018 movie 32
At first I didn't want to see this since I remembered the story so well. (I thought) When you add in the back story and the story of Tonya Harding's Mother and the tale of her boyfriend's friends. Wow!
Great cast and great story. It is ****star. 2018 movie 6
Black Panther
As tired as I get with Super hero stuff, I was grateful for this story with a great message for today. The Villian seemed more James Bond than some Destroying a city ending. ***** star.
2018 Movie 7
Annihilation
Alien arrival on earth or is it? A remote section of the country has been taken over by something and every scouting party that goes in vanishes. Now an all woman team goes in (2018). Good flick with Alien and Close Encounters elements. Enjoyed it. ***1/2 stars. 2018 Movie 8
Red Sparrow
Movie for today's headlines; Russian Spy stuff. Raw story. Well done. Hard R. **** stars. 2018 movie 9.
Gringo
Fun Stupid Movie. Great with popcorn. Great Fun. ***stars. 2018 Movie 10
Tomb Raider
Remake, since we are now requiring strong female leads. Laura Croft is back and the sequels are already planned. Fun action. ***stars. 2018 movie 11
