Director Joe Dante recommends Bill “Karloff” Pratt in The Man Who Lived Again… or is it The Man Who Changed His Mind?
By whichever title it’s known, here’s the movie. Boris at his best!
Canned Can Laughter
A bit of unreality from Adult Swim that isn’t Joe Pera. It’s John C. Reilly, and there’s a special guest star surprise for Boomers.
Home Despot
The rise of socialism is why “nobody works, nobody gives a damn,” Bernie Marcus said in an interview with the Financial Times Thursday. “‘Just give it to me. Send me money. I don’t want to work — I’m too lazy, I’m too fat, I’m too stupid.'”
What are Marcus’ definitions of “nobody” and “socialism?” His disdain of working people is straight out of Ayn Rand’s fantasy-romance novels. But he also distrusts the college-educated. What an attitude.
Marcus is actually asking, “Why won’t people work for whatever wages employers are willing to offer?” It’s the same, old tired party line that’s been used by conservatives for generations.
You would think Marcus admires the desperate immigrants coming from Latin America, who are willing to work hard at any job for below minimum wage. But of course he hates them too, and he supported Trump’s efforts at closing the southern border.
As successful and experienced as Marcus is, in his final years he has learned nothing. He cannot see how thoughtless, simplistic, and limiting his thinking is. Here are more parting shots from the 93-year-old crank who co-founded Home Depot.
https://news.yahoo.com/home-depots-93-old-cofounder-221522799.html
Dancing! Singing!
MGM did ’em, so did Warners, and RKO too. Musicals!
https://youtu.be/x438BleiQsc
Note: Filmstruck was Turner Classic Movies’ online service. It closed four years ago, as I explained at the time.
The Place Where Nothing is Real
Glass Onion the movie is, of course, a reference to the song “Glass Onion” on the Beatles’ so-called White Album. The movie is a lot of fun, with Daniel Craig reprising his role from Knives Out. A parallel between Craig’s character, consulting detective Benoit Blanc, and Sherlock Holmes, is revealed in a cameo appearance by another British actor.
The premise of the movie borrows from Agatha Christie’s famous story “Ten Little Indians,” which was retitled “And There Were None” in the United States. The reference to “Indians” was itself changed from something else, as explained in the Wikipedia entry for the story.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_Then_There_Were_None
The movie also borrows from the video game Myst, which is coming up on its 30th anniversary. The comparison is made explicit in a 3D tour of Glass Onion Island.
The island doesn’t exist, but the special effects making it seem like a real place are utterly convincing.
Taking the virtual island tour doesn’t require a Netflix account.
https://www.netflix.com/tudum/glass-onion-knives-out-island
Well Blow Me – Down!
Way back during the Dubya years, I mentioned a perceived sadistic streak in some of the Famous studio cartoons.
In “Popeye, the Ace of Space” Olive isn’t present to be sexually assaulted by Bluto, which is the premise for most of the cartoons. Another example of the boys going at it without Olive being caught in the middle is “Friend or Phony” from 1952.
It makes sense that Bluto is dying as a result of Popeye’s addiction to his performance-enhancing drug of choice. But you have to likewise wonder how Popeye has survived Bluto’s ultra violence.
Here’s the cartoon, with the ever-naive Popeye being a sucker for Bluto’s never-ending scheming.