Dreaming of a Life Less Ordinary

42 Written by:     Brian Helgeland Directed by:   Brian Helgeland Starring:    Chadwick Boseman, Harrison Ford, and Nicole Beharie   To me there is nothing more American than baseball.   It has been around since the late 1800’s.   America grew up at the same time America did.   Baseball was there for the Civil War, the first World War, the second World War, Vietnam, and still going through the war on terror.   As the country has fought through so has baseball.   It has always been here being the steady stable hand the guided us through our maturing as a nation.     When the freight train that is the movie binge I have been on since the start of the Covid Pandemic headed into the 4 th of July weekend it just made sense that a baseball movie was included on the Watch List.   I feel like I have seen most of the classic baseball movies: Sandlot, The Natural, Major League, Field of Dreams, Bull Durham, For t...

This is the Weekend in Home Viewing for the 3-day weekend starting on Thursday July 2 and ending on July 5 th .    July 4 th holiday is always a special time when it comes to viewing movies for me.   For as far back as I can remember my 4 th of July’s have been spent catching up on old movies, or just watching some of the classics ones I love.   It was on July 4 th that I first watched Almost Famous.   Another 4 th of July I watched Red Cliff.   I think of July 4 th and New Year’s Eve as big drinking Holiday where there are a lot of people out on the roads that should not be, so I am perfectly fine staying home with some good movies.   Over the last four or five years I had gotten into the habit of spending the Holiday watching the original three American Pie movies.   We can debate on if these should be classified as good movies or not.   However, I find them hilarious and they remind me of simpler times.   The old jokes still ...

Time Freak Written by: Andrew Bowler Directed by: Andrew Bowler Starring: Asa Butterfield, Sophie Turner, Skyler Gisondo Some times you have to take a break from trying to make up for more than 50 years of sci-fi in a few months. So after watching Repo Man, which, I quite liked even if at times I was confused about how science fiction plot fit in and why it was there. Last night (Friday June 26, 2020) I turned on a movie that caught my eye from Amazon Prime: Time Freak. Most people will think this movie caught my eye because of Sophie Turner from Game I’d Thrones fame or X-men. The truth though she was more of a detractor for me because I’m not a fan. I think she plays a bad Jean Grey probably more a symptom of bad X-men movies than her though. Why I really can’t stand her though is because she is Sansa Stark. I hate Sansa Stark. Therefor I hate Sophie Turner. I know my logic is flawed. She played Sansa a little to well. As a reader of the GOT books I hold Sansa at fault for the fall o...

Knives Out Written by: Rian Johnson Directed by: Rian Johnson Starring: Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas, Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Katherine Langford, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, LaKeith Stanfield, Jaedon Martell, and Christopher Plummer Status: Must Watch Available on: AmazonPrime currently on PrimeVideo Normally you see a cast like this and shake your head because it will never be able to live up to the billing of all the stars. You just shake your head and say this is a great ensemble but is it really a waist, a gimmick to fill seats. Most will play just a few minute cameo, there isn’t possible enough screen time for all of them. However in this motion picture Rian Johnson weaves something very special together here. Using each actor not as a cameo but as a means to move the story forward. This cast, this crew, and this director deliver one of the most original stories I’ve seen in a long time. Knives Out will be going into my favorite movie lists going forward. The...

To be honest I am probably the last person in the world to be reviewing and discussing Phillip K. Dick’s stories as brought to life by Channel 4 and Prime Video.   I have never read one of the Phillip K. Dicks stories, well at least not that I remember.   I hardly remember any of the stuff we were forced to read in school.   So, it is very possible I read one or was supposed to read one back then.   I have Phillip K. Dick’s stories on my list of things to listen too, when I get back into listening to books.   Perhaps, I should just buy some of his short stories and read them and turn off the T.V. for a little bit.   For some one who loves to write, I don’t really consider myself super well read.... Probably why I am a hack blogger and writter.       The moment I saw the first trailer for Electric Dreams, I said to myself that Amazon is ripping off Black Mirror just doing it with the Rock Star cast and crew from the get-go.   You...

    Midnight Special is a 2016 drama and Sci-fi movie written and directed by Jeff Nichols.  I have wanted to see this movie since I first saw the trailer.  I think that was in 2015 or 2016, I don’t really remember.  It just watched and thought this might be my kind of movie.  Like with most movies that I watch that aren’t Star Wars or Marvel it takes me some time to finally get to them.  After four years I finally got to Midnight Special last night.    When social distancing began, I decided that I was going to catch up on all the movies I had wanted to see.   I figured it is 2020 and I can’t go anywhere so why not, right.   Little did I know that I was going down a rabbit hole.   What started off as selecting a few Sci-fi movies to start off became a quest of sorts to watch as much Sci-fi I could.   Along the quest I came to realize that there was a lot of “Classic” Sci-fi that I had not seen.   So, I pivoted an...

I am not going to sit here and say it was easy to clear the first 22 from the Classic Moive Watch list I came up with, however, we have come a long way in a few weeks.  We are 22 movies into the 80 movie list.  At times I struggle with what I want to watch vs. wanting to get through this list.  Perhaps I am pushing to hard.  Still love the movies, but not loving it as much as when we started.  There are some real gems on this list but things I thought were dudes as well.  I think the list is not for the Sci-fi faint of heart.  If we keep the current pace up and with it getting hotter and hotter in California I don't see why we wouldn't we should clear the list by the end of next month.  There are three or four movies on the lit I won't be watching.  For example Star Trek:  First Contact will have to wait until I have watched all of Star Trek: The Next Generation.  Hunger Games and Hunger Games:  Catching Fire will have to wait...