Luckylyn

“While travelling with top-secret documents on a B-17 Flying Fortress, a female WWII pilot encounters an evil presence on board.” So I think the premise had the potential to be a great suspenseful action movie. Those early scenes with her trapped and hearing the horrible things being said over the intercom were really good. I like that at moments I worried she was in danger from them and then at other points I wondered if she was the danger to them. I was really getting into it and coming up with theories about what was in the box. I wanted to know the symbolism behind the red and green colors. The director made some interesting stylistic choices, and I loved the score even though the music was more 80s than 40s. But somewhere after I think 40 minutes it basically turns into a ridiculous live action cartoon. It just gets more and more bonkers. I realized that I just needed to turn my brain off. This movie was accidentally hilarious. I laughed so hard. I had so much fun watching it. It’s terrible in a way that is so entertaining. I genuinely recommend watching it for a good time. This review really gets into how bananas the movie gets

I associate that song with that movie and it makes me smile everytime.

I remember watching a documentary about disability and film. One commenter gave an example of casting a scene of a guy running into an ex-girlfriend in a bar. Casting defaults to white, slim, cisgender, and not disabled. The ex-girlfriend is a blank slate and could be played by anyone. There many roles that on paper are blank slates where the casting could go a variety of ways but people in the industry default to the same type over and over. When casting Lethal Weapon, when Danny Glover’s name came up the director Richard Donner initially said no because Murtaugh was white. Luckily the casting director pushed back and asked where in the script it said Murtaugh was white. The script said nothing about the race of the characters and Donner said it made him realize he defaulted to white. He said the situation made him realize he had some subconscious biases that he needed to be aware of. He was someone who had marched in support of civil rights and it never occurred to him that he could have that kind of bias. It’s good that Donner reevaluated rather than get defensive and double down on the insistence that Murtaugh was white. There’s this idea that the script must specify that the character is disabled, non-white, not straight, etc... in order to cast more diversely. But it should be that if the character isn’t specifically labeled then casting should be wide open to a variety of people.

I definitely saw a spark in the little screen time they had. Plus he’s good with her kids. I hope in future movies they have more interactions. In the finale

I just finished Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore. I liked a lot of it but sometimes got frustrated with repetitive conversations between the leads. I thought the conflict addressing real woman’s rights issues of the time period was good. I am going to start Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron. The novel is set 200 years after Cinderella has married the prince. Girls have to attend a special ball when they turn 16 where they are either selected to be brides or are never seen again. The lead of this book is trying to resist being forced to participate in the ball.

Lindsay Ellis mentioned in her video that she won’t be able to walk away from Twitter like she wants to because she has contractual obligations to her publisher that require her to post. So she’s planning to honor that but otherwise stay off of Twitter. I wonder if Chrissy may have similar obligations.

Lindsay Ellis has posted a video in response to the Twitter drama It's quite long and really deep dives into the various issues.

I love The Matchmaker! I appreciated the scenery porn in As Luck Would Have It. I enjoyed it. I really liked both leads. I remember the actress from the Reba sitcom. I also remember the actor from Dowton Abbey.

I have blocked that from my memory. It’s like a rejected Sargent Pepper uniform.

I am starting The Hundredth Queen by Emily R. King. It’s a fantasy about an orphan girl eventually becoming a warrior.

I liked the Ugly Betty finale that left the outcome for Daniel and Betty ambiguous . Daniel realizes he has feelings for Betty and asks her to dinner but viewers never see the dinner so it’s up to our opinion what happens next. If you want to believe she rejects him romantically but they stay friends or if you believe she loves him too is up to you.

Even though the friend to lovers trope can be wonderful, there is value in strong platonic friendships. I am so happy that 30 Rock never went romantic with Liz/Jack and Parks and Rec kept Lesile/Ron as friends. I wish Zoey/Max was kept platonic on Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist. He’s got this “nice guy entitlement” attitude that comes out towards Zoey that makes him hard to like sometimes. In other interactions I like him. I don’t like the Simon romance either because of the emotional cheating when he was engaged. Plus I hated that whole quad of Max/Zoey/Simon/Fiancee whose name I forgot. The writers need to not have her go back and forth between Max and Simon. Let her pick one and stick to it or just be single for the season letting her meet someone viable (not neighbor guy) for endgame in season 3. Also Zoey comes off poorly. She breaks up with Max because she’s not ready so soon after the death of her father but then she’s going to be with Simon. I’m not thrilled about Simon/Zoey because I wanted them to be friends but now that it’s gone in that direction I want the show to stick to it and not have her end up ping ponging back and forth between Simon and Max. I hope giving Max a new love interest works out. I do find him more likable when he’s not in romantic mode with Zoey. The only good thing about the Max/Zoey/Simon triangle is that the guys ended up friends with each other and Mo. I thought that was a unique direction to go. I want more Max/Mo/Simon friendship stuff.

I just finished Forever Amber. I found the ending abrupt and unsatisfying. It’s almost like the author didn’t know what to do next so it just ended. It’s one of those books where most of the characters are not likable but can be compelling. I can respect Amber’s cynicism and ruthlessness. A woman of her class in that time period had such limited options and so some choices I don’t judge her for. But the whole fixation on Bruce is one that really diminishes her as a character because of how desperate she is. I am firmly convinced his unattainability is his main attraction for her and that she’d grow bored if she ever felt she had him completely. That’s a romance where both are terrible and you pity the people around them who love them. Now I am moving on to read Act Your Age, Eve Brown which is the third book in The Brown Sisters series by Talia Hibbert. I really have enjoyed these books. After finishing Forever Amber I need to read a book with likable engaging characters. Plus, I there’s so much comfort in romance novels because of that guaranteed happy ending.

I love Something New. Great characters and hot chemistry.

$20 remake of Justice League. This looked fun to make. I especially loved their laughably cheap but creative special effects. It made me flashback to my childhood where we’d try to recreate movies like Back to the Future.

Every Way The 2020 Stand Miniseries Original Plan Changed I’m very curious how the original R-rated film trilogy idea would have turned out. It’s interesting to see multiple high profile people had been involved before we got what we did. I vaguely remember hearing about the version where Matthew Mcconaughey was going to be Stu and Christian Bale was cast as Flagg years ago. I would have liked to have seen that. I will say for the most part casting was where 2020 Stand did good. Sadly that talent was wasted with poor writing.

That’s one of my favorite movies. So many good actors and interesting characters. You could do a whole movie just on James Earl Jones’ character. I am so sad I don’t have Hallmark Drama.

So I was thinking that if they wanted to do a Franny gets tempted by Flagg plot the perfect way to do it would have been when the baby was seriously ill from Tripps and Stu’s fate was unknown to her. Have Flagg come to her and show her a vision on Stu seriously ill. Have him tell her he’ll cure the baby and bring Stu back alive. Then they should have not skipped over the Tom . They should have let us see Stu’s condition worsen to create suspense and then have Fran be tempted to save him and her child. That would have been better than everyone acts stupid so Fran can fall into a well plot. And in the book Fran and Stu don’t leave so soon. They are waiting for Lucy who tragically doesn’t exist in this version to I am so bitter that Joe was left an orphan when the book left him with a I didn’t need to see Stu and Fran’s journey to Maine. Just knowing they planned to go was enough for me. I liked that we didn’t know for sure what would come next after that. Trashcan man was so interesting in the book because I was horrified by things he did but felt so much pity for him. They skipped over his arch to make him a one note set of quirks instead of a person.

I really liked Don’t Go Breaking My Heart. Ryan Paevey really has improved exuding some charm instead of stiffness, and I think Italia Ricci is really good. The instructor/client relationship as obstacle was realistic. The last minute conflict was earned because I totally understand why she was hurt because she doesn’t let herself be vulnerable easily. The morning show guy’s inclusion into the bootcamp made it clear she was transparent and open to the media interviewing her. So I get why the subterfuge was so hurtful because if he approached her honestly she probably would have agreed to an interview and would have still allowed him to attend class. But I do think if he had told her he was working on an article she would have been more cautious with him and since he liked her instantly I think he subconsciously wanted an excuse to get closer to her and didn’t want her guard up with him. I love that they didn’t do the “dislike at first meeting” trope and that they sparked immediately. That was nice that they got along well and really seemed to enjoy and challenge each other in positive ways. The obstacles between them felt organic. I even liked the side characters like the widow repeating the course and the woman sharing custody of her cat with her ex-girlfriend. I kinda want a sequel where the morning show guy and the sister maybe start dating. I felt like there was a vibe there between those two.

I will watch Andrew Walker or Paul Campbell in pretty much anything. Autumn Reeser is probably my favorite Hallmark actress. And I want Andrew Walker and Arielle Kebbel to do another movie together. They are one of my favorite pairings. I love Bridal Wave.

Luke Macfarlane is one of the leads I like. I just find him very likeable. The actors I think struggle the most with chemistry are Christopher Russell and Brendan Penny. I always have trouble with them as romantic leads. Ryan Paevey can be wooden but has shown improvement. Plus I enjoy just looking at him. Of the female leads I feel like Cindy Busby has the least chemistry in her pairings.

I looked up your recommendation and it’s available on kindle for free. https://smile.amazon.com/Custom-Country-Edith-Wharton-ebook/dp/B008495XZQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=kindle+custom+of+the+country&qid=1614713022&sprefix=kindle+custom+o&sr=8-4

I fully was expecting that to happen. The book went into a tragic direction and so I figured they would throw in something like that at the end to make it more upbeat. The book had potential but the author made some missteps with those twists. Also I got this anti adoption vibe from the book that I didn’t like.

I am starting the historical novel Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor. I have been told Amber is a Becky Sharpe, Moll Flanders, or Scarlets O’Hara type of character. I am interested to see her rise from poverty to wealth. Apparently this book was banned in the 40s when it was released for being too sexy. Gone with the Wind is problematic as hell but Scarlet is compelling severely flawed character. You hate what she’s doing while dying to read what will happen next. I have never seen the movie because the stuff in the book that pisses me off made seeing GWTW undesirable for me. I find I don’t remember Moll Flanders that well. But I loved Vanity Fair and watching Becky Sharpe strive to attain wealth and how things go wrong for her. So I am really curious to see how I like Amber.

I just finished it. I was annoyed because the description made it sound more comedic but it gets extremely dramatic the further it goes. The twist towards the end was abrupt and shocking because I was not expecting things to go that bleak before transitioning into the romantic happily ever after. When I read Nicolas Sparks I am expecting tear jerker angst . With him you get romance but the happy ending may or may not happen. Sometimes it’s tragic and sometimes happy. But I know that before I read it because it’s not advertised as a comedy. They really should advertise The Friend Zone differently. The other thing I didn’t like was that the author pushed that “Cool Girl” b.s that’s so obnoxious. What I liked was it took a woman’s issues with her menstrual cycle and fertility seriously. You had a male lead who didn’t treat her like she was radioactive when she was bleeding but was caretaking instead. Having a period that can last three weeks of the month and how much she suffered made me really feel for her. I appreciated someone writing how rough the fatigue and cramp pain can be. The media tends to treat a women’s period either as a taboo not to be discussed or as something comedic that makes a man’s life difficult. Usually they push the women is difficult because of hormones trope and this book doesn’t do that.