The American President (1995)


The American President (1995)

Director:

Rob Reiner

Starring:

Michael Douglas

Annette Bening

Plot:

Comedy-drama about a widowed U.S. President and a lobbyist who fall in love. It’s all above-board, but “politics is perception”, and sparks fly anyway.

Review:

The world was a different place when this was written. Kind of. I mean, yeah, the environment and guns were still a huge issues, but we actually thought they could be solved. We were innocent.

In the past I’ve liked this movie. It’s from Aaron Sorkin, so it definitely idealizes the American government but it’s also much more believable than the movie Dave. Now, though, it’s depressing to watch. It’s really impossible to watch and ignore the politics of everything and just take it as a romance. He’s the president, she’s a lobbyist. The politics are enmeshed in everything.

Maybe in another time I’ll be able to watch this again and enjoy it. I really hope so, I used to love re-watching West Wing. My heart just can’t handle it right now.

4/5

 

Deadpool 2 (2018)


Deadpool 2 (2018)

Director:

David Leitch

Starring:

Ryan Reynolds

Josh Brolin

Morena Baccarin

Julian Dennison

Zazie Beetz

Brianna Hildebrand

Stefan Kapicic

Plot:

Foul-mouthed mutant mercenary Wade Wilson (AKA. Deadpool), brings together a team of fellow mutant rogues to protect a young boy with supernatural abilities from the brutal, time-traveling cyborg, Cable.

Review:

This is one of those rare instances when the sequel is better than the original. I loved the first Deadpool movie, but this just about blew it out of the water, and I haven’t even seen the unrated cut yet.

Holy shit, the music, the jokes, the action! It was all spot on. I seriously can’t think of a single complaint and hope to god that Deadpool 3 and X-Force can live up to what Deadpool 2 has done.

Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool, kills all the bad guys, except one. Unfortunately that one ends up destroying all of Reynolds happiness. Due to his mutant ability he is unable to kill himself and finds himself at a loose end. He tries to be an X-Men and that fails. He tries to make his own team, that does not work as planned. Eventually, it takes a time traveling Josh Brolin to tell him his path back into the arms of his love. It’s beautiful.

In a year where we’ve had the fucking amazing Black Panther, Deadpool earns it’s position right up there with it. So good.

5/5

October Sky (1999)


October Sky (1999)

Director:

Joe Johnston

Starring:

Jake Gyllenhaal

Chris Cooper

Laura Dern

Chris Owen

William Lee Scott

Chad Lindberg

Plot:

The true story of Homer Hickam, a coal miner’s son who was inspired by the first Sputnik launch to take up rocketry against his father’s wishes.

Review:

Homer Hickam Jr., Jake Gyllenhaal, does not want to work in a coal mine, but has been born into a coal mining town and family. His brother has found his way out with sports, but Homer is not athletic and ends up failing to secure a spot on the football team. Dejected he feels as though there is no way to escape, while his friends and family are telling him to accept the inevitable.

Around this time Russia launches Sputnik and Homer gets the idea to make his own rocket. He doesn’t really think there’s a future there, at least I don’t think he does at first, but it gives him something to think about that isn’t his bleak future. His friends being the friends that they are they help him out.

This is very much a feel good story, but having watched it after Hidden Figures I don’t consider it to be inspirational. It’s nice to see some boys from a poor town succeed and I did wonder what was in the water in West Virginia that is spawned so many math minded individuals during that time, but I didn’t get as much of a warm fuzzy feeling.

Also, coal mines are scary.

4/5

Knight and Day (2010)


Knight and Day (2010)

Director:

James Mangold

Starring:

Tom Cruise

Cameron Diaz

Plot:

A young woman gets mixed up with a disgraced spy who is trying to clear his name.

Review:

I’ve watched this movie twice and I still don’t know if the characters are crazy. If they are then I think the movie is asking the question, is crazy something you can catch.

Tom Cruise is a spy that uses Cameron Diaz to get past airport security. She ends up getting pulled into his crazy life and eventually catching the crazy. Or maybe he just brings what was already there to the forefront, not sure.

In all fairness, she tries to escape multiple times, but he repeatedly drugs her and she eventually just accepts her fate. Then decides if you can’t beat them best join them so she starts pulling her own crazy shit.

Honestly, the movie is odd because of how Tom Cruise decided to play the character. Maybe he was trying to make it very different from Mission Impossible but still remain a badass, I’m not sure. He was just odd and Diaz just went from there.

3/5

Echoes in Death


Echoes in Death (In Death #44) By: J.D. Robb

Plot:

After a party in New York, Lieutenant Eve Dallas rides home with her billionaire husband, Roarke, happy to be done with cocktails and small talk.

After another party, not far away, a woman retires to her bedroom with her husband—and walks into a brutal nightmare.

Their paths are about to collide…

When the young woman—dazed, naked, and bloody—wanders in front of their car, Roarke slams on the brakes just in time, and Eve, still in glittering gown and heels, springs into action. It’s been a long night for the tired homicide cop, and it’s far from over.

Daphne Strazza is rushed to the ER, but it’s too late for Dr. Anthony Strazza. A brilliant orthopedic surgeon, he now lies dead amid the wreckage of his obsessively organized town house, his three safes opened and emptied. Daphne would be a valuable witness, but in her terror and shock the only description of the perp she can offer is repeatedly calling him “the devil” . . .

While it emerges that Dr. Strazza was cold, controlling, and widely disliked—and that he treated Daphne like a trophy wife—this is one case where the evidence doesn’t point to the spouse as the first suspect. So Eve and her team must get started on the legwork, interviewing everyone from dinner-party guests to professional colleagues to caterers, in a desperate race to answer some crucial questions:

What does the devil look like? And where will he show up next?

Review:

It is now Feb 2060, Eve and Roarke are on their way home from a gala when they almost hit a naked woman running through the snow. They rush her to the hospital where it’s discovered that she’s been tortured and raped by, in her words, the devil. Eve reports the attack then goes to the victims house where she discovers the body of the victims husband.

The mystery was not as non-stop as the previous book, which I appreciate, but there were enough twists to make it entertaining. I was able to guess who done it fairly easy, but it was still satisfying when they were caught.

We had more Peabody in this book, but not as much as I would have liked. The books have become more Eve centric than I remember. Sometimes it feels like Peabody is just her secretary, thankfully, she did make a couple contributions to the story, but not many. It has me wondering if she will find a new partner soon, which is kind of sad.

All in all, it was a fine book and nice addition to the series, but I’m hoping for more of a contribution from side characters soon.

3/5