Law welcomes Chad C. to rehab by forcing him to reviews Fifty Shades Freed, The 15:17 to Paris, and Game Night. It’s all very sobering…. until Chad C tries to drink with Moreno again. Never do this. Even once. People get pregnant.
This column will introduce you to the most popular movies that are coming out in theaters this weekend and why you should go see them. Which one will you see?
The Disappointments Room
Reasons to see this:
This horror/thriller is about a couple and their son, who move into a new home(oh geez, here we go), only to discover a room that is not on the floor plan and the evil thats inside. The cast includes, Kate Beckinsale, Gerald McRaney(George Hearst from Deadwood), Lucas Till(the new MacGyver….gross), and more. The Disappointments Room is written and directed by D.J. Caruso. Caruso has directed, Two for the Money, Disturbia, Eagle Eye, and 2017’s xXx: Return of Xander Cage. Do your plans for the weekend look disappointing, well then go see The Disappointments Room this weekend.
Other People
Reasons to see this:
Jesse Plemons(Meth Damon) plays a writer from New York who heads back home to Sacramento to take care of his sick mother. His mother is played by Molly Shannon, while the rest of the cast includes, Bradley Whitford(West Wing), Zach Woods(Silicon Valley), Maude Apatow(Judd’s daughter), and more. Writing and directing this dramedy is Chris Kelly. Kelly has directed several shorts, as well as writing for SNL between 2011 and 2014. Sick of hanging out with your friends, well, go see Other People this weekend.
Sully
Reasons to see this:
No, this is not a Monsters Inc. spin-off. Sully is based on a true story about Chesley Sullenberger, a pilot who landed a plane on the Hudson River in 2009 and saved everyone on board. Sully, played by Tom Hanks takes the tiller in this biographical drama. Other cast includes, Anna Gunn(Breaking Bad), Laura Linney, Aaron “Two Faced” Eckart, and more. Directing this flick, is none other than Clint Eastwood. We all know his work, but here are his last 4 directorial films: American Sniper, Jersey Boys, J. Edgar, and Hereafter. Dont be so gully, go see Sully. Awful joke.
Eons ago on the Binge Cast, Jim Law challenged me to write up a list of unofficial sequels to established films. It only took me almost two months, but here he finally gets his wish. This list was much harder to do than I originally thought. Reason being is how many times have you said to yourself, ‘ahhh, (fill in the blank) could very easily be a sequel to (fill in the blank),’ and then processed what you just said. Of course, it doesn’t help that I watch movies drunk 90% of the time.
Anyway, let’s get on with the list that Law was so adamant on me doing. Ok, he wasn’t. But if this list completely sucks, I have to lay the blame on someone, don’t I?
Here we go:
10) Gran Torino – Dirty Harry
When I originally watched Gran Torino in its original release at the tail end of 2008, I had not seen one Dirty Harry film. Ok, I take that back. My father would always take me to the drive-in to see them. But if it did not have aliens or special effects, I wouldn’t pay attention. So in essence, I had seen three out of the five Dirty Harry films. However, in recently watching the entire Dirty Harry series and then following that up with Gran Torino, you can take away Walt’s backstory of being a Korean War veteran, and you could have Harry Callahan in retirement, angry at what the world around him has become after spending years defending it.
9) The Rock – Sean Connery’s Bond Films.
This one is gaining a bit of traction as the result of a Yahoo article that explored the question of whether now retired curmudgeon Sean Connery was using The Rock to play an older version of his characterization of Ian Fleming’s spy he played throughout the 60s and early 70s (and the 80s if you must include Never Say Never Again). The theory holds a lot of water, as The Rock makes lots of references to Connery’s character of Mason’s checkered spy past, with this bit of exposition spewed to say what happened for Mason to have ended up imprisoned in Alcatraz: “Of course the British claimed they’d never heard of him. And we held him without trial, until he gave up the microfilm. But he never did.” Say what you will about Michael Bay. The man knows cinematic history, and I think all references to Bond made in The Rock are far from coincidental.
8) Manhattan Murder Mystery – Annie Hall.
Say what you will, but I am a fan of Woody Allen’s late 80s – early 90s work. I started getting into his stuff while still an employee of a video store. With three free rentals at my disposal, I figured I had nothing to lose by renting at least one Allen film a week. That one became two a week. Progression took its course, and I was eventually renting three a night. His ‘nebbish caught in situations he cannot control’ schtick worked with me for years. It has only been in the last decade or so where I have found myself not getting as hooked on his writing as before. Getting back to this part of Allen’s career (and the essence of this list), when I watch Manhattan Murder Mystery, I like to pretend Woody Allen and Diane Keaton are playing Annie and Alvey from Annie Hall, having gotten back together over the last 20 years. It would seem to be a natural progression, and it wouldn’t surprise me, especially given Allen’s original intentions of making Annie Hall revolve around a mystery, if it had some shard of truth in it.
7)Election – Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
I’ll go ahead and say it: I have never been a fan of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. I think it pales in comparison to John Hughes’ teen fare. But its biggest flaw is that its main character is nothing short of an asshole. While you can say that about the majority of Hughes’ characters, Ferris did not have one endearing quality which made me root for him. Even as a kid, I wanted his parents to get home in time so that his ruse for a day off could be completely broken. So when I finally laid eyes on Alexander Payne’s Election a couple years ago (yes, I was late to that party) I couldn’t help but feel that little asshole was finally getting his comeuppance in the form of Reese Witherspoon’s shenanigans.
6) My Blue Heaven – Goodfellas
This is an odd one. Coming out the same year as Goodfellas, My Blue Heaven was written by Nora Ephron, who was the wife of Nicholas Pileggi. Of course, Pileggi wrote the book Wiseguy, on which Goodfellas was based. Not a coincidence. My Blue Heaven stars Steve Martin and Rick Moranis as men leading different lifestyles but share similar life altering situations. IE: Their wives leave them and they both deal with the Witness Protection Program. Of course, we all know about Goodfellas, which tells of Henry Hill’s induction and obsession into the world of mobster life. Heaven‘s witty script is helped by Martin’s hilarious portrayal of Vinnie, a mobster who does not want to give up ‘the life.’ I guess when played side by side, these two films can be seen as a single episode of ‘Crimes in Conjunction with Lifestyles.’
5) Enemy of the State – The Conversation
I didn’t notice this one until rewatching both of these films in close conjunction with one another. There are quite a few similarities between Gene Hackman’s NSA agent Edward Lyle from Enemy of the State and his freelancer Henry Caul from The Conversation. From their trench coat filled wardrobe all the way to their all-consuming paranoia, the two characters are one of the same. Proving not to be indignant to the similarities, director Tony Scott uses a picture of Henry Caul from The Conversation as the image to represent the younger version of Edward Lyle.
4) E.T. – Close Encounters Of The Third Kind
In my experience, there are two types of people. Those who love E.T. and those who love Close Encounters. There are no two ways about it. You either go with Richard Dreyfuss living his dream of going up in an alien space ship. Or you go with Henry Thomas watching his best friend go up in his. Me, I have always been an E.T. guy. And when watched back to back, both films act as well done acts of projection. Where E.T. gets it right is in its innocence and vulnerability. Dreyfuss playing with his mashed potatoes did nothing to make me like him. So, is Elliott Steven Spielberg’s mirror image, or is he the son of Dreyfuss who, much like Elliott’s dad, left his family without a father? Perhaps not coincidentally, 23 years later Spielberg would revolve a remake of Wells’ War of the Worlds around the story of a father trying to make ado before he loses his family.
3) Hard Eight – Midnight Run
Paul Thomas Anderson is another modern filmmaker whose work I am not up & over the moon over, but his love for the art form is not to be ignored. Hard Eight is probably my favorite work by him, and it was only in recently rewatching Midnight Run where I made this connection: Hard Eight is built around Philip Baker Hall’s burnt-out gangster, who may or may not be the same man from Midnight Run. However you feel about either, you cannot ignore one similarity: both characters are named Sydney and played by the same actor. Ohhh Anderson, you sly devil you.
2) This is 40 – Knocked Up
Judd Apatow has spent the better part of a decade building his own comedy universe. Both behind the scenes and his cinematic universe, Apatow has done a nice job of weaving characters and their lives just to his liking. Almost as if all his Freaks & Geeks characters have gotten their own bit of screen time. Some people like these characters. Others (me) do not. But however you feel about his comedic style, Apatow takes his good ol’ time with each character he creates. Almost as if this is how Ron Howard would have handled his Parenthood universe had he decided to stick with it. These two films, when watched back to back, work just as well when looked at as a four hour movie. In fact, I would argue one could not be watched without the other in order for either to work.
1) Unforgiven – All of Clint Eastwood’s Spaghetti Westerns
I start with Clint, I end with Clint. Hey, it’s my list. I can do what I want. In any event, this connection is quite obvious in watching Unforgiven today. A dark film written by David Peoples (Blade Runner) with no leeway in sight, Unforgiven is an unrelenting foray into the world of prostitution in the Old West. When given the opportunity for a reward, Eastwood’s character of William Munny can be seen taking on ‘one more job,’ and seems to be a perfect cap-off to all his other -less dark- spaghetti western films. Eastwood hasn’t taken the genre on again in the 23 years since The Unforgiven was released. And much like Gran Torino did for Dirty Harry, I see it as a perfect conclusion to what he started.
Do you have any more? There are so many I wanted to include but didn’t. For example, I think Black Rain and Basic Instinct go very well together as one story. Both films have Michael Douglas playing a cop dealing with vice issues, and they are both named Nick, albeit with different last names. Nonetheless, Douglas’s character in Basic Instinct gets a lot more interesting if you look at Black Rain as his backstory.
Anymore? Let me know either here or on our Facebook page.
Welcome to another edition of Working the Weekend with Luke. I plan on keeping this short and sweet as between this and the NFL previews I’m doing at Binge Media Sports, this is my fourth piece in two days. So with that being said, we’ll get to #7 on the trilogy countdown in a minute, but first, I’m excited to announce that my top five all-time movie list has changed.
WARRIOR
After I put my daughters to bed last night, I immediately threw in Warrior. I had seen Tom Hardy in a movie earlier in the day as I was writing, and I hadn’t watched it in a while anyway. To be honest with you, I’ve got it playing in the background as I type right now. Each time I’ve seen it, I’ve picked up a few more things here and there, and I’ve decided that it really is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. I’m not going to get into all the details here, as I think the full Binge Media revisit treatment is in order soon, but as it’s been doing each time I’ve watched it, it made the leap into my top five. If you haven’t seen it, I won’t spoil anything here, but do yourself a favor and get on it. The first time was the story that got me, just the overall great writing. The next time it was the fight choreography and how authentic it looks. Last night, it was the music and how it fits perfectly in every single scene. And if you know me, then you know I’m a Nick Nolte guy as well. I’m just going to stop before I do the revisit right now. But seriously, Warrior is flat out amazing.
TRILOGY COUNTDOWN
#10-THE INFERNAL AFFAIRS TRILOGY-IF YOU MISSED IT, CLICK HERE
#9-THE NAKED GUN TRILOGY-IF YOU MISSED IT, CLICK HERE
#8-THE LECTER TRILOGY-IF YOU MISSED IT, CLICK HERE
#7-THE MAN WITH NO NAME TRILOGY
A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE, THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY
If you’re a fan of Spaghetti Westerns, then you can thank Sergio Leone, who basically created the genre with these movies. Also called “The Dollars Trilogy”, these three films made Clint Eastwood a star, which is good enough for me to enter the countdown at #7. This is another one that could be higher on the list, but the fact that it’s not the traditional trilogy hurts it a little bit. Don’t get me wrong, all three are great as they follow the adventures of Clint Eastwood as “Joe” or “Manco” or “Blondie”, or really “The Man with No Name”.
It’s actually very hard to pick a favorite of the three. I’ve seen The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly more than I’ve seen the rest as my old man used to watch it all the time when I was a kid. Much like The Lecter Trilogy, the last movie is set before the first two, and it’s done very well as they even switch up the firearms. A Fistful of Dollars is probably the strongest of the three, which is usually the case with trilogies, but if you haven’t seen them, make sure to watch them in the release order. I still think this is the best way to get the most out of them. If you have seen them, here’s a reminder of the awesomeness that is Clint Eastwood.
That’s it for me today. Any thoughts? You know what to do. Leave them below or follow me and tweet @THElukenorris. But don’t worry, I won’t go without giving you your Beverly Hills, 90210 clip of the week.
Now that we’re balls deep into summer, I started thinking about what summer means to me now versus what it used to mean to me growing up. This is what summer is to me now: scolding hot sun (and by scolding hot, I mean in the 80s… hey, that’s hot for Seattle!), working indoors thinking about being outside 40 hours a week, early sunrises and late sunsets, and all three of my kids at home 24/7, driving my wife and I absolutely bonkers. That’s what summer is to me now… which is probably why fall is my favorite season. But summer used to mean something special. Growing up, summer meant: sleeping in hella late every day, weeks going by with a solid agenda, staying up late enough to watch the sun come up, hanging out with friends, spending hours in AC-cooled theaters watching the latest summer movie extravaganza, checking out chicks in skimpy summer attire, and essentially basking in the glow of absolute freedom.
And I’m not just talking about being summertime as a kid, where bike rides around the neighborhood went on for hours and the fascination of building a fort was on the top of my list of things to do…. No, I’m talking about every summer since birth all the way up through the day I graduated college. Yes, I had summer jobs, and I worked a lot during at those summer jobs, but my days were spent outside, ushering tourists to the latest kayak and whale watch tour or pouring them beers while overlooking a harbor filled with boats and summertime fun. And even when I worked 10 hour days, there was still daylight when I clocked out, and I still managed to drink my balls off, get completely obliterated, and stay up late enough to see the sun come up (not every day, but enough).
Shit, this is starting to sound like a GREASE song. Fuck GREASE. What I’m trying to say here is, summer just isn’t the same once you grow up, get a “real” job, and have adult responsibilities. Fuck responsibilities. For those first 25 summers, life is good… and now? Well, I still drink cold Miller High Life on hot days (i.e., every day), I do lots of camping (so much fucking camping), I wear flip-flops when I can, I lounge around in the shade whenever I get the chance (fuck the sun), and while they’re few and far between, I still love going to the theater to check out the latest epic blockbuster (I’ve only really seen one this summer, but GODZILLA definitely fit the bill and then some). Anyway, getting old sucks. I think that’s what I’m getting at.
I re-visited GRAND TORINO last night, so my outlook on life is that of a grumpy old man. Fuckin’ Clint Eastwood is brilliant in that movie. When I grow way the fuck up, I want to be a grump-ass old fucker just like him.
My wife and I have been obsessed with the Tiny House movement for the last year or so and we’re finally taking the plunge and taking our obsession one step further by setting out to move our family of five into a Tiny House, and then blogging about it every step of the way. This is my blatant attempt at self-promotion. So if you want to read all about what it’s like downsizing from a regular 2,000 square foot house down to something around 400 square feet, follow our blog at www.BigFamilyTinyHouse.com and throw us a like via our Facebook page. I’m pretty excited about getting rid of like 90% of all my shit, but I’ll tell you right now what I’m not excited about…. Downsizing my DVD/Blu-ray collection. Seriously, it’s the toughest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life….and I’m just at the “thinking about downsizing my movie collection” stage and not the actual act of downsizing. I feel like there should be a support group for movie fans reluctantly needing to purge their collection for the greater good. Thanks god we’re in the age of Digital Copies.
Tune into Monday’s BingeCast for a possible special guest, plus updated discussions about THE STRAIN, reviews on shit like GRAN TORINO, and other drunken shenanigans. Now get out there and enjoy your summer while it’s still here.