Inquisitionist

Like many things in this story. Another contrivance.

My friend Jill, who reads everything, nailed it on Goodreads. It's been a while since I slogged through it, but I think there are both pros and cons to the changes with Mia's character. I like that she's no longer the saintly earth-mother contrast to Elena, but the characterization has swung too far in the other direction.

I think this is true of many of the performances. As I read the book (and I was among the few who did not rave about it), I thought "This would play better on the screen with writers and actors who could flesh out the stereotypes that Ng has created." I had forgotten that Mia and Pearl were not black in the book. I do like the depth this adds. And while Washington is playing Mia a bit too sneering and contemptuous for my taste, I like that Mia is shown to have flaws from the start rather than being the saint-like earth mother of the book. According to IMDb, the actors playing Pearl, Lexie, and Izzy are all 4'11". I know Reese is tiny (5'1") and they probably didn't want the younger actors towering over her, but good gosh, they are munchkins!

That's exactly what it was. Real people don't talk like that. Mia is written that way but I agree with others that Washington's incessant sneer is wearing on me. Don't the other characters see it? And there was never meatloaf in my immigrant household either. Can't believe people eat that. 🤪

Isn't that what Twitter is for? 🙄😄

I stand corrected. Thank you.

A black minister on Walton's Mountain in 1933? Now that's wishful thinking. Or did they just rename his character? Who the heck is Toby Walton? ETA: the family photos do show just 6 kids. Maybe Toby is a cousin...

Definitely some off-key moments in that long drone. I doubt he worries about it. They dated for 3 months 11 years ago and she's still whining about it? I watch SNL on Hulu on Sundays. I almost always Ffwd through the "musical" guests. I gave TS 3 minutes and couldn't believe how long I still had to FFwd after that.

I never watched Bosom Buddies, but I enjoyed Peter's performance on Newhart. 😢

Of all the LOL moments in the show, this was the LOL-est. I remember seeing a promo for the show on a United flight and thinking, Good lord, what has Andre Braugher sunk to? I tuned in for him and stayed for the ride. Just amazing work by everyone. Yes. Simply the best.

Me either. Not fun for me. Who are they trying to pull in with this format? They lost me after about 4 minutes.

Carol Reed and team did a great job staging those big production numbers. On a walking tour of London almost 30 years, led by an actor/carpenter, we thought we were seeing the "crescent" of houses where Who Will Buy... was filmed (our guide said he recalled dancing there), but according to many reports, the entire movie was filmed on sets at Shepperton Studios. Amazing!

Woo-hoo! Thanks for the heads-up!

Uh-oh, the big NY v. LA debate looms ahead. 🤣

Well shoot, it's gone now. 😟

Markie Posts's guest-starring turn on Cheers, Season 2, as an old friend of Diane's was very good. RIP, Ms. Post. So lovely, so talented, so brave.

Episodes is really fun and it elevated my opinion of Matt's acting ability.

Great insights, possibilities! Thanks for sharing. As I posted way back when:

I've watched the first four episodes to placate Mr. Inqui, and I think that's enough to say the writing sucks and the acting isn't good enough to overcome that. And good lord, what kind of payday did Dustin Hoffman and Brian Cox get for those truly abysmal "performances"? 🙄

Somehow I've managed never to see Stand By Me. Must correct that.

Victoria may have been victimized, but don't understand why she had to go along with framing Fonny. Her testimony that she couldn't identify her assailant (which apparently was the truth) could have exonerated him. Was her return to safety in Puerto Rico the price for her complicity? She seemed adamant in telling Tish's mother that Fonny was the one, though we know he couldn't have been. I have to say that the soundtrack was overpowering at time, to the point that I needed subtitles to make out much of the dialog. This seems to happen in a lot of movies these days and I don't get it. Gone with the Wind had a sweeping score throughout, yet you can plainly hear every spoken word. Has technology gotten worse in this area? I also thought the movie was a bit slow and more focused on atmosphere than storytelling at times, but by the end, I felt overwhelmed for Tish and Fonny and what had been stolen from them.

Did anyone else catch 1988's Running on Empty the other week? I've always had a soft spot for this film. Some of the plotting is too coincidental, but the performances are lovely. The one scene between Christine Lahti and Steven Hill as her estranged father is devastating. The film makes me incredibly sad for the early loss of River Phoenix. He was an amazing talent.

Terry Gross did a Fresh Air interview with Questlove about Summer of Soul and other topics. Well worth a listen!

I've watched many McCartney interviews on youtube and read a lot of articles, so I went into this thinking "What could he possibly say that I haven't heard/read already?" Boy, was I pleasantly surprised. This article gives some insight into why. And music producer Rick Rubin (whom I'd not heard of before) was a great choice as interviewer for this approach. Really worth watching even if you think you know everything about Paul and the Beatles already!

When a film makes a big deal of using this technology, I find it hard to overlook! To each their own. 🙃