Luckylyn

I read a short story whose title I can’t remember with that sort of plot. A woman goes home for a reunion and runs into the ex boyfriend she had always wondered about. She discovers as she gets to know him again that she’d been romanticizing him and realizes the break up was the right thing. They both achieved goals separately that they couldn’t have if they stayed together. It ends with her and her ex agreeing to keep it in touch but only as friends. The Hallmark Hall of Fame movie Back When we were Grownups takes the reconnecting with the old boyfriend plot and does something really interesting and unexpected with it. It’s one of my all time favorite movies. I wonder if Hallmark is capable of making a movie anymore where the lead ends up single and content.

It’s on YouTube! I’m gonna rewatch it. I haven’t seen it in so many years. I wonder if it’s better or worse than I remember.

I remember an episode of Scrubs where Jordan is mean to someone and then says her parents were mean to her as justification. Then seconds later she admits her parents were wonderful and she has no explanation for why she turned out mean. I’m kinda hoping that Cruella subverts expectations. I’d love it if we get a Debbie from Adams Family Values type of monologue where she provides an explanation for her evil that makes sense to her but is actually no justification at all. Bonus if they give is a Kind Hearts and Coronets type of narration. The protagonist of that movie murders various people with the aim of getting an inheritance. He narration is entertaining even if you’re horrified by his coldness. He speaks as if his actions are totally reasonable and just. I’d rather a villain be interesting than sympathetic.

He was going on about the shoot being like Sophia Loren, and she interrupted him to say it’s just pantyhose. It was a mild comment but his face changed after she said it. That’s when he made a point of telling her he knew her secret and started blabbing. He completely overreacted because he felt she was acting superior and her wanted to bring her down to make himself feel superior. It was such a horrible thing for him to do.

Susan Slade is showing at 5:45pm est if anyone wants to watch the cheesy terribleness.

There was a movie whose name I can’t remember. The plot involves various family members reuniting for the wedding of the lead’s oldest son. The lead character divorced her oldest son’s dad because he was abusive. Her parents refused to believe her about the abuse and favored her ex over their daughter. Their attitude was she was stupid to leave her super rich husband. There’s a scene where the ex- husband finally admits to her family that he did hit her and threatened her. Instead of apologizing or simply comforting the daughter they treated like crap for leaving her rich abusive husband, her father turns to his daughter’s abuser, commends his bravery for telling the truth, and starts comforting him. Her father says nothing at all to her. The daughter is just speechless after that and wonders in a daze in the yard until her son from her second marriage goes to see what’s wrong. I turned the movie off at that point and never saw the conclusion.

Little Monsters Ready or Not

I enjoy the couple falling in love while pretending to be a couple trope. I hate the while they’re pretending to be a couple they decide they must have a public fight to break up the fake relationship. Since when are public break ups mandatory? In my experience, I find out about my friends break ups second had because they usually happen privately. Only one person I know had a public break up and that’s when she realized her boyfriend was married when she accidentally ran into him and his wife at a street fair which lead to an ugly argument. The type of break up I most commonly see is ghosting where one partner just stops communicating and seeing someone without bothering to have the break up conversation. One guy moved out of his girlfriend’s apartment while she was at work and left her a break up voicemail. A lot of people try to avoid ugly break up scenes and so the fake couple must have a public break up to be believable never works for me.

I feel like I need to watch it again to get a clearer idea of how I feel about it. My initial thoughts are that I don’t hate it but don’t love it either. I feel like there’s the potential for it to be something really good, but it just doesn’t get there. There are major pacing issues, and the movie desperately needed more editing. I felt like there were too many scenes that went on too long and some scenes were totally unnecessary. For example The Great Escape clip just felt like Tarantino showing off rather than really adding anything to the narrative. This is going to sound kinda random but I was reminded of commentary of the Princess Diaries 2. The reviewer talked about how scenes in the movie should have some sort of narrative value and too many scenes felt not only unnecessary but a distraction rather than enhancement of the movie. So that’s how I feel about this movie. The western scenes went on way too long. I felt like the point was to show that Leo really had acting talent and that he’s his own worst enemy. Way too much time was taken to make that point. Those scenes could have easily been trimmed down. I thought Brad Pitt driving Leo’s car when he went with Pussy to meet the hippies was going to have meaning to the plot. I assumed that on their way to Sharon Tate’s house to kill her and her guests they would spot Leo’s car since he’s Sharon’s neighbor and then switch targets to get revenge on Brad Pitt. Then it turns out that Brad’s trip to the old movie lot had zero impact over what happens later. It’s only after they are already in the house intent on killing that the hippies and Brad have any recognition of each other. So that whole sequence at the old movie lot ultimately doesn’t matter to the narrative, and it easily could have. I don’t hate the sequence by itself because it was quite tense in a good way but I just wish it mattered more to the story. Also I hate that 2/3 into the movie all of a sudden we have Kurt Russell as the narrator. It felt so random. If a movie is going to have a narrator then that needs to be established earlier unless the director can find a creative reason for the narrator to suddenly pop up later like make the narration about entertainment show covering Leo’s Italian gambit to revive his career. There was good humor in this and I some genuine tension. Unfortunately it is was also bloated, and I think the script needed some tweaking.

I know the Susan Slade scene you’re talking about and it’s supposed to be so horrific but the prop totally undercuts the drama making it funny. Plus the gauzy camera filter they use for the mom is so distracting. I have a soft spot for Troy Donahue that I can’t justify because he’s such a limited actor. I will happily watch Parrish or Rome Adventure anytime they are on tv. Yet despite my Troy fondness I was only able to sit through Susan Slade once. It might work nicely for a MST3K movie night with friends.

I remember that movie. I think it had the actress who plays Clair on Modern Family as the scientist who creates the man but I could be remembering wrong. There was another terrible tv movie Island City that had a premise that could be more interesting in the right hands. It’s a world where people invented a drug that stops aging but there’s a horrible side effect so that a lot of people who took the drug ended up mutating. So there’s a futuristic city where people who either were immune to the side effect or choose not to take the drug live and are trying to survive. They have people go on missions to find humans who survived the break down of society and save them from the mutants. There was a married couple where the woman took the drug and the husband didn’t and he’s struggling with looking older while his wife still looks young. There was also a guy who was half human and half mutant who struggled to be accepted by the people of the city. There was also these jewels that were attached to people’s chests that made it clear which people were genetically compatible to conceive children to prevent conception of more mutants. One guy’s jewel had a color no woman matched and so was struggling to find someone who would date him. This was supposed to be a tv show, but it wasn’t picked up. So the network released the pilot as a tv movie. There was another tv movie that was really a pilot for a show called 3 Inches. I really liked the premise. The lead was a guy who after getting struck by lighting had the power to move objects with his mind but only a distance of 3 inches. He feels his power is useless until a guy recruits him to join his team. His limited telekinesis is great for opening locks on doors and safes. I liked the idea of people having powers that might be considered lame and people finding creative ways to use them. One guys superpower was making rooms stink which could be useful to the team for diversions. The team was a mix of people with and without powers. I think it had potential and was sad it was left as a tv movie because there was more story to tell. I think the premise would work really well as a film in theaters.

Just like the Nina Katz thing where Carrie didn’t like that there was someone who had a negative opinion of her due to how she broke Aidan’s heart. Aidan wasn’t a saint but she’s the one who cheated on him, insisted he take her back, refused to give up Big to the point to of forcing his presence on Aidan at his cabin, and said yes to a marriage proposal when she knew she wasn’t ready. If Aidan’s marriage proposal had totally blindsided Carrie, I would have understood her saying yes and realizing later it was a mistake. She wasn’t surprised by the proposal. Finding the ring in advance gave her time to think. Once she found the ring it was on her to speak up immediately about what she was and wasn’t ready for when it came to commitment. She wanted to hold on to Aidan but didn’t want to fully commit. It’s like she always wanted one foot out the door. It shouldn’t have shocked Carrie that someone close to Aidan would have a poor opinion of Carrie. Consider how negatively Carrie’s friends viewed Big at different times over the years. Was Carrie was supposed to be Aidan’s Big that relationship that you hold on to too long when it’s clear it may not work?

I hope the adaptation translates the depth as well as the humor and romance from the novel. This could be such a great movie and possibly series of movies if all three novels and three novellas get adapted. I’m curious if it’s a tv, movie, or streaming adaption. Whatever the platform I will definitely be watching it.

Carrie’s inability to accept that the woman whose husband she cheated with didn’t want to have anything to do with her was dumbfounding. Why force your presence on someone you helped hurt and have no regard for their feelings? Sometimes when the damage has been done you just have to accept that someone dislikes you. Natasha’s simple refusal to be in the same room as Carrie was kinder than some people’s reaction would be. Some people get vindictive when cheated on and Natasha simply wanted to move on. Carrie refused to give her that.

The Goldfinch

I appreciate how much cgi has improved so there’s no uncanny valley effect. Visually they did a great job making things look realistic. My one big criticism is by making the animals look more real they sacrificed the expressiveness of the faces the original had. I think it lessened the impact of some of the scenes. They needed to find more of a middle ground between realism and the facial movement of the original animation. It’s a good movie but the original has the stronger emotional resonance for me.

I heard Tom Cruise got the insurance provider for Ghost Protocol fired because they wouldn’t give him clearance for one of the stunts. I think it was when he’s scaling the side of the building. So to keep Tom happy the studio found a new insurance company which is unusual because usually the insurance company is the final word. When Tom Cruise wants to do a stunt he does it or else. I can’t figure out if it’s bravery or ego but it gives audiences great stunts to watch.

Top Gun Maverick

I remember her taking a hammer out of her bag and threatening someone I think Electra with it at a ball in a previous episode. I’m trying to remember but I think there were two occasions where Candy had her hammer. Was there an episode where she threatened the judges with her hammer last season?

@DearEvette I’ve read Alyssa Cole’s Reluctant Royals series and Off the Grid Series. I’m planning on reading the Loyal League next. Thanks for the recommendation. I think Cole is an author who is ripe for adaptations because she has different genres, variety in the ethnicities of her characters and is inclusive of all sexual orientations. I think the right production company could adapt any one of her books and make some good television with it. Now that I think about it Off the Grid could be an interesting series where all the world’s technology has stopped functioning and people are trying to rebuild society. The books are focused on a particular family and their love interests dealing with the events but a tv series could really expand the story.

The casting reflects a trend of colorblind casting that the Broadway show Hamilton made a huge success with. Sometimes audiences can get behind it and sometimes like with Still Starcrossed people object to the diverse casting decisions. I was fine with the diversity of Hamilton and Still Starcrossed. There are historical romance books featuring black characters I’d love to see made into movies like the ones by Beverly Jenkins. There’s also a great modern day romance series of books called Reluctant Royals by Alyssa Cole that I have really enjoyed and I think could be adapted wonderfully. I hope Shondaland gives some attention to black authors if they want to do more romance adaptations. The romance novel industry like Harlequin used to segregate black characters into separate book lines which always bothered me but now have integrated.

I loved Still Starcrossed and was sad about it’s cancellation. I was shipping Rosaline and Benvolio so much and was enjoying their engagement of convenience hate to love story. I’m looking forward to the Brigerton series.

I’ve seen both versions and like things about both of them. I tend to prefer the remake. It’s unfortunate that Mel Gibson seems to be terrible in his personal life. I think Mel Gibson gives a great performance but the dynamic between Mary and Tim in the original doesn’t work as well for me as it does in the remake. There are a couple of scenes early in movie like when she’s tucking him into bed that are kinda mother/son like so when they transition to romance it’s kind of awkward. It’s a shame because they had good chemistry. Plus I hate that she makes the decision Although, I do like how Tim handles his sister at the end showing he has it in him to be independent. The remake establishes a close friendship without any mother/son moments so when they fall in love it works better for me. Mary and Tim is available on Amazon for free. https://www.amazon.com/Mary-Tim-Candice-Bergen/dp/B07C27XMHW/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Mary+and+time&qid=1562849849&s=instant-video&sr=1-1 Unfortunately, Tim is not available. Maybe someone posted it on YouTube? Both movies are an adaptation of the novel Tim by the same author who wrote The Thornbirds. I really want to read the book.

Brienne of Tarth Vow

One thing I appreciated on the show Daria is that although it contained characters that fit the typical high school stereotypes the show would transcend those tropes as well. Quinn and her friends were examples of the cliche mean girl popular kids but Jodie who was popular was really nice to everyone. Being friendly helped Jodie get ahead in school. The show also acknowledged Jodie’s struggle of being only one of a few black students at the school. She felt a ton of pressure to be the best student and popular. Most shows don’t really cover intersectionality in high school. It really resonated when she insisted to her parents that she wanted to go to a Historically Black College instead of her father’s college because she wanted a break from the pressure of being the only black face in the classroom.