caracas1914

Nothing against Louisa Jacobson, she's competent as Marian. But let's just say she's not incandescent in the role, I simply don't see what makes her this object of fascination. Having said that, in all fairness, it's not as if that character is all that well written.

LIke many here I hate watch Oscars hoping I'm not too disappointed enough to slap who's sitting next to me. Best Picture: CODA Nice choice, the films was surprisingly quirky, though I hate once again that the director of the BP wasn't even nominated; though not gonna lie, The Power of the Dog was the "art film" which I thought was so accessible per it's theme and I was rooting for. Drive my Car, Belfast, West Side Story, King Richard, even Dune (HALF a movie) all had their merits. I would have bitch slapped everyone if Don't Look Up had inexplicably won, WTF?? Will Smith was OK for best actor, shades of Julia Roberts winning for Ellen Brokavitch, mix in the coronation of a career of a popular actor with an uplifting true life underdog story, insert OSCAR. Could have been worse, Javier Bardem could have won. Thought that both Benedict Cumberlatch and Andrew Garfield gave superb full bodied performances in very challenging roles that could have gone off the rails very easily... and Denzel's mastery of the Scottish play was an acting class exercise. Best Actress: Jessica Chastain, sigh the worst choice won. Olivia Coleman and Penelope Cruz would have thrilled for either, just great performances. People trash Kristen Stewart but that was an impressive and surprising performance, would not have been crushed if she won. Glad she got the nomination after so many downgraded her chances. Kidman..meh. The best supporting choices I can't quibble with. However looking and sounding nothing like the real life character/actor William Frawley, JK Simmons spin on him was so interesting and "lived in". Mike Faist in WSS, that was an indelible performance that was overlooked for a nom. Best supporting actress, Can live with Debose: just wish either Ruth Negga, Tessa Thompson or Cailtrona Bailfe were nominated

It’s based on a Patricia Highsmith novel and in the book’s ending the husband gets caught. But Geeze, this film deviates so much from the novel that I would at best say it’s a “loose adaptation.”

To paraphrase a line, Sam Elliot reminds me of “ I’m not a cowboy, but I portray one on TV.” His statements smack so much of both homophobia and sexism rolled into one. For someone who’s made Westerns his whole life, he’s criticizing THIS film for being an inaccurate portrait of the West? Seriously? As opposed to what? Wyatt Earp? Fort Apache? The Magnificent Seven? New Zealand isn’t Montana? shocker! Let’s burn all nitrate from every spaghetti Western that Sergio Leone/Eastwood filmed in Europe. Campion can’t understand Westerns but every Hollywood hack who filmed inaccurate portrayals of cowhands, Native Americans, the West I guess is OK for Elliot as long as they portray HIS version. As an actor, it’s embarrassing Elliot can’t grasp the notion of a psychological drama wrapped around a Western setting because his head is too wedged in his ass for his own mythical West.

What’s funny to me is that back in the day I didn’t mind Lipinski, she had a great skate at the Olympics and deserved her Gold , it happens. However now I curse that win because I have to endure her chatter on TV with Weir. Fingers on a chalkboard would be a bliss alternative.

FUCK. That still holds up.

True, but at least she acknowledges her privilege. As opposed to the ones who claim that they got there because of meritocracy. Does anyone truly believe the children and step children of Kurt Russel and Goldie Hawn would have made it on their own AT ALL??

Well if they continue to suck in real time the NY Giants can always look forward to the 20th anniversary and the 30th anniversary and the…

Novaxx better think twice about not getting vaccinated before the FO because if Rafa wins the FO then's he's two up and even Novak can't count on catching up so easily. Over the moon over Rafa's win, 3 different ways those heartbreaking losses of 12, 14 and 17 all had to sting very badly . The Wawrinka loss hurt so much because his back acting up like that before the final when Rafa had been playing so well. Can you imagine what were Rafa's thoughts when he was broken when serving for the match at 5-4, 30-0. Incredible he somehow worked through it. Wish people would stop acting like Medvedev choked, maybe he used poor shot selection and was a bit gassed, but he was admirably fighting until the end.

I'm good with the SB lineup though it being in LA at SOFI the amount of thirsty celebs will be unbearable.. Only 49r I truly feel for is Deebo Samuel, that man is a BEAST and to have to rely on JimmyG as his QB as he did all the heavy lifting...

So Bridget Fonda was in the news: https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/bridget-fonda-rare-public-appearance-birthday Always thought Bridget was very talented. Thought this old 1993 Movieline interview requoted was interesting, about as “honest” an answer I’ve heard one of the Beneficiaries say about the subject.

With all due respect, it didn't matter when he retired, he was still be bashed by some. I think after 20 years in the league, GOAT and all, he retired in probably the least fanfare way possible, no farewell tour, no mikes before a stadium, 3 weeks before the SB and letting Tampa start the process of replacing him (sort of) I agree it's the mental strain of putting football first (basically) for yet another season. Even with proper conditioning and nutrition, etc, I seriously doubt we are going to see another 44 year old QB who puts MVP numbers up like Brady in our lifetime...

OK, I've not called him an "unwashed Covid ignoramus", and I have friends and families who are not vaccinated and I'm fine with that , but that's not just why he gets on people's nerves. 1) For a "smart" person, it's obvious he deliberately misled others with his "inmunized" BS. Both Kirk Cousins, Carson Weitz, etc made clear they were not vaccinated. Rodgers wanted his cake and eat it too, as in acting like unvaccinated shouldn't be criticize from a 3rd person perspective. That was an asshole move. 2) He tried to skirt protocol rules for a nonvaccinated person. Again, non vaccinated players are not BANNED from the NFL, they just have to follow certain protocols. 3) Rodgers was close to journalists/media/others without mask protection and it was obviously they thought he was vaccinated. Now there is an argument to be made that vaccinated people transmit COVID too, but again, there were rules in place. 4) Anybody who quotes the blow hard Joe Rogan IS an ignorant dofus, because JOE ROGAN? 5) Personal choice and all that, and fine. Just don't quote unsubstantiated "evidence" why not to get vaccinated and gussy it up with the Aaron Rodgers "free thinker" claptrap. The man doesn't hide the belief he's this center of the universe intellectual above it all. It's not Cancer culture why people reacted to him the way they did because of his deceptive actions, but someone as entitled and spoiled in his life like Rodgers cant's seem to grasp that point at all.

I have new sympathy for Aaron Rodgers. It has to be very tough to actually be the center of the universe and be cursed with that level of self awareness.

As much as I feel for Josh Allen, if their Defense couldn’t contain KC for 13 seconds and protect that lead….

2022: So the Packers will be around 45 million over the salary cap AND Devante Adams among several starters will be free agent. Even if Rodgers renegotiates his contract it’s hard to believe they will field a better team than the last couple of years. Rodgers is on the record stating he’s not playing for a rebuilding team, so that might have been his last Packer game. I’m sure he’s pouring Goat’s blood on the altar of the NFL Gods that Brady loses because if Brady wins another SB in the NFC… Bus/Rams game: I dunno, all the talk from the pundits seems to center on how Brady and the Bucs offense is depleted with injuries… But apparently the Bucs Defense has all its starters back for the first time since game 1 , so in this high stakes playoff game are we really going to bet on Matthew Stafford?

Its actual a public service deserving of a medal of freedom.

I liked the element of danger and foreboding Leda felt with Nina and her extended family. However it made sense to me that per her character, she would refuse to move from her spot on the beach. Leda in a sense had courted "danger" all her life. She had courted being in moral danger with her very life choices, but it was clear she was not regretting putting herself first instead of her daughters, which to many is a monstrous choice. She could sense Nina's sense of anxiety with motherhood and thought it mirrored her own exactly, which of course it did not. So I think Leda always felt separate from so many mothers around her; even her memory of her daughters childhood experiences seems fractured and spotty. What I found fascinating was after deciding she is leaving husband/said daughter, her berating her husband for threatening to hand the children over to Leda's mother. Leda throws out how selfish and uncaring that would be, as she was traumatized by her upbringing under that roof. It makes absolutely no sense, but it rings true as to how screwed up people's family dynamics can be. ("Your selfishness is worse than mine!")

That's why the Celestials are tough to use as actual characters, Ego, Thanos, etc have relatable emotions/feelings/ to bounce off of. The Celestials: nada, zip. Sentient Lives mean nothing to them if it's stands in the way of their "projects". How the Eternals are treated, rebooted and recycled by the Celestial shows they don't even consider their loyal minions in anything. The best rationale I can think of regarding the Celestials is that they are the general building contractors hired to build/renovate the Universe, they have their "methods" they've used forever and that's just the way things are. Ever tried arguing with a building contractor?? You get nowhere. It's not even whether the Celestials are a force of good or evil, they are almost presented as beyond that. (Tear down an existing wall to build up a new building in its stead, kill a few billion to create a new galaxy). The conundrum per the Celestials creating the Eternals to destroy the Deviants is that the Deviants are presented as potentially delaying the population of host worlds increasing to the desired limit to create the energy needed to birth a Celestial. So it is shown that the timetable is important to stick to. Well, Thanos blew that up across the whole frigging universe, so that would delay their construction timetable far more than the Deviants could dream to accomplish. Again, maybe they could have introduced the Celestials as this late date somewhat plausibly, but IMO the way they presented them on screen in this movie makes no sense.

Mixed bag, not as bad as the fanboys claimed but neither a genuinely cinematic breakthrough for the genre. The Eternals film never resolved the dilemma the comic book also had; how to fit it in with the rest of the MCU. Even making them artificial beings seems like a weaselly way to exclude them from the effects of Thano's snap (ie robots are not living beings) while depriving them a genuine sense of self or history. Another issue bleeded over from the comics: Celestials are these huge unimaginably powerful beings (forces of nature?) who are responsible for the physical creation of the Universe but are dull as dishrags as far as characters. So they are in a sense the villains but almost nothing you can connect to, and the Deviants who at least in the comics were intelligent beings (one was Thena's lover) are reduced to generic movie monsters. The ambition was there: a storyline encompassing 5000 years of mankind's history, and Marvel's first genuinely international and diverse cast (Agreed that the Bollywood Eternal movie star storyline was such fun) and the conflict between duty and what is the greater good. So I liked flashes of it that was different from the Marvel movie formula , and some of the self mocking humor was welcome, but at the same time the film couldn't shake a sense of ennui hanging over the Eternals that made things seem so depressing. Try to survive centuries of passive non interference when you have the power to change things. One final vent; it annoys me no end that these Eternals that stood by while billions of beings over millions of years were sacrificed for the Eternals grand design ( basically all a planet's inhabitants were fodder for a celestial's birth) would only have their consciousness awaken by mankind. Yes, the world's humans are *that* special from everyone else. Rolling eyeballs.

I'd buy the Government's new stance, that he poses a public "risk". https://www.theage.com.au/sport/australia-declares-djokovic-a-risk-to-civil-order-and-public-health-20220114-p59oex.html

I chalk up the Laconia storyline to the business end in case there is a sequel series... Though the wrapped up storyline I really can't complain about: Chrisjen: Loved the callback to the first season where Earth came first above all for her and she had no compulsions in torturing a Belter for intel. Her growth was the one of the best things about the series, and has there ever been any TV character who wore jewelry seemingly as armor as magnificently as she did? Loved the confirmation yet again that Amos & Bobby were the two baddest badasses to ever roam a universe and woe be to anyone and anything that gets in their way. I get that James Holden was the necessary trope: noble "leader" and no diss on Steven Strait, but dang, compared to so many of the other characters he was sooo boring. Season 6 did not change my opinion. Reversing the usual "white male savior" endgame was nice. Drummer: Making her a fearless fighter AND a humanitarian supplying badly needed supplies makes her storyend arc make even more sense. Drummer was basically the flip side of Marco, acutely aware of the injustices against her people but it was never about her pride and position but the Belters. I loved how BOTH Marcos and Drummer's followers were shown sincere and even good people fighting for a cause they believed in. Oye! Beltalowda indeed. Marcos Inaros, another boring character but at least his death was silent, no chance for another wordy tirade. "Peaches"/Clarissa was a pleasant surprise, in that I initially didn't see the point of her reintroduction but the personal struggle to redeem herself struck a chord, and Naomi's gradual acceptance of her just reminded us again what a genuinely good person Naomi is. And I'm sorry, but yes, the callout of pilot Alex was a great emotional touch, with the characters singing along to a Hank Williams tune, now THAT'S how you do a departed character tribute.

It's like calling the fire dept. after the house has completely burned to the ground. Rodgers is not the worst person ever, but he's among the most annoying group of people we all familiar with; the ones who self proclaim themselves intellectuals and free thinkers. ANNOYING. You couldn't write the script of his referencing Ayn Rand's "Atlas shrugged " the Bible of all the pretentious douche bags from high school. Having said that, he had a heck of a year, what with that 37 to 4 TD/INT ratio. However , while it's annoying how the MVP debate unfairly shifts to QB's, I just can't see the argument for Rodgers being the MVP over Brady. Both their teams had 13-4 records and won their division, with Rodgers/Packs the #1 seed but the Buck right behind as the #2 seed in the NFC, but Brady had more completions, more pass yards and more TD passes. Albeit in 17 games, but Brady also broke the record for most completions in a season. He's the only QB other than Drew Brees and Peyton Manning in the last 40 years to lead in all 3 passing categories. (comp, yards, TD's) I do agree both teams would have done far worse without these two guys leading them, though with Rodgers losing a game due to COVID stupidity, I can't give the edge to him.

It's well known that Steven Sondheim wasn't exactly thrilled looking back at his lyrics for WSS, but I actually thought the creative ways Spielberg set up the musical numbers enhanced the music and words. Less "traditional" (ie n just letting the characters statically belt out a song ), Spielberg brought out a nice visual style to complement the music, which is so familiar to people to almost make it inert otherwise. To me, the most appealing and complex character has always been Anita, , and one interesting touch was the implied skin color bias even among the Puerto Ricans in the film , Anita obviously being also of African American descent. One thing that both films sort of skip over was how Anita would have the largesse to help out the killer of her lover Bernardo. Anita knew Bernardo was an impulsive hothead, but just something that let us know Anita acknowledged it was an unfortunate series of events beyond any one character's control one make her 180 turn just a wee bit less incredulous. I mean, this is the same Anita who minutes earlier had angrily spit out: " A boy like that, would kill you brother." Somehow Anita ceding to Maria's "pure love" platitudes is still hard for me to swallow

Ok we finally have a contender for best movie pretty couple since “ Cat on a hot tin roof” (Elizabeth Taylor/Paul Newman) and it comes in a MCU flick. When Gemma Chan/Richard Madden were on screen I kept on visualizing the little Eternals those two would produce. ( Organic robot babies?) ; )