Celebrating Joey "Jaws" Chestnut, American Hero
No sound is key.
Movies Watched -- Helter Skelter (1976)
183 minute running time … that’s over three hours long, but amazingly I didn’t fast forward much, so it must have been well made … it was hilarious how incompetent the police were, and these were rich white people who got murdered, which makes it doubly shocking. The actor who played Manson was really good (meaning really scary). Prosecutor Bugliosi comes across well, which is not surprising since he wrote the script. This was a John Farr recommendation.
Blackie will wipe out whitey…
Movies Watched -- Mean Streets (1973)
110 minute running time but felt like forever… Who cares about these lowlife Italian guys, other than Marty Scorsese? … gritty early 1970s Manhattan … went to fast forward after 20 minutes and never looked back .. stars Harvey Keitel and Bob De Niro… I just didn’t care. John Farr recommended it, but I sure don’t.
Positively No Gambling
Movies Watched -- The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976)
91 minute running time, which is a good length, but I still watched this one on fast forward since it was weird and had pedo vibes … Jodie Foster not acting her age (being precocious) … Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez played a gorgeous pedophile (I guess that’s why John Farr recommended this one) … I wasn’t thrilled with this and certainly wouldn’t recommend it.
You’re a regular hippie, huh?
Movies Watched -- The China Syndrome (1978)
122 minute running time so 22 minutes too long … Hanoi Jane (she’s a good actress), long-haired Michael Douglas and old Jack Lemmon playing a serious role (very well) … nuclear power (a pity Douglas says nuke-you-ler, but Fonda pronounced it perfectly), women’s lib, corporate greed and bad guys, public safety … don’t forget that Three Mile Island happened on March 28, 1979 and Chernobyl happened April 26, 1986, so this movie was pretty timely! I guess everybody should see this one and John Farr also recommended it, so I’ll make it a green-go even though it’s 22 minutes too long.
Don’t worry your pretty head about a nuclear meltdown.
Movies Watched -- A Simple Plan (1998)
121 minute running time so 20 to 30 minutes too long … my DVD wasn’t subtitled so I couldn’t watch it on fast forward so I just fast forwarded it without the dialogue… I saw this 25 years ago and liked it then but wasn’t thrilled with it on re-watch, just too long and predictable (“greed ain’t good”) and sort of second-rate acting … Billy Bob playing his usual simpleton, Bill Paxton with a bad haircut, a very pregnant Bridget Fonda, which was nice to see … looked like it was filmed in my neck of Appalachia, but no, that was Minnesota. John Farr recommended it, but I wouldn’t.
See how simple it is?
Movies Watched -- Taxi Driver (1976)
114 minute running time so 14 minutes too long … Martin Scorsese has made only a couple of great movies and this is one of them, a green-go for sure. Robert De Niro is so good, Cybill Shepherd, 12-year-old Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, they’re all good… the story is good (though 14 minutes too long) and well told (Paul Schrader script), holds up great nearly 50 years later … America in the early 1970s was about as low as it got in modern times, just brutal … I liked the fantasy ending, I think that was a Scorsese joke on “happy” Hollywood endings, because Travis is in hell for sure. John Farr recommends it too: “alienation in an urban wasteland.”
Taking me to a place like this is about as exciting to me as saying, “Let’s f*ck.”
Movies Watched -- The Illusionist (2006)
110 minute running time so 10 minutes too long, but I enjoyed this one, green-go. It stars Eddie Norton and his lisp, Paul Giamatti and his pimply forehead, and Jessica Biel and her great bones. I fell in love with Biel because of Season One of The Sinner. She’s both smart and beautiful, a rare combo in Hollywood.
Anyway, this is a fun story, well told. I had heard nothing about this movie, so went in with no expectations, which is always best. John Farr recommends it too.
Movies Watched -- The Fugitive (1993)
130 minute running time so 30 minutes too long … 90s action movie, bus crash, train crash, dam dive, helicopters, subway fights, one-armed men, evil Big Pharma, Ralph “Who-are” Cifaretto, Tommy Lee Jones playing a jerk, which he does naturally … some nicely done twists, but this was just too damn long. John Farr recommended this one: “Over two three decades after its initial release, it's worth another peek if you haven't seen it since. As to first-timers — well, it'd be a crime to miss it.” Nah, you can miss it.
Provasic