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Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown (2014)

 

This describes a scene that is particularity interesting: 

 

 

Guns weren't uncommon in a time of shady business deals and even shadier industry figures. Usually, this meant promoters and label employees, but drummer Melvin Parker also needed a weapon to show his boss force. "It didn't matter where I was, I was always strapped," said Parker. "Because sometimes James had good days; sometimes he had bad days. I didn't want to be a part of the bad days."

Parker recalls the story of him and brother Maceo being summoned to Brown's dressing room in Minneapolis. Thinking that the latter was talking behind his back, Brown began to lunge at the musician and cock his fist. "I pushed Maceo to the side, went in my pocket and pulled [my gun] out," said Melvin. "When you have that automatic, you always keep one in the chamber. I let him know it was loaded…and stuck it right in his nose and said, 'I'm ready now. What do you want to do, huh?! What do you want to do?!' He put his hands up and said, 'Naw, naw, naw, naw. I didn't mean that. Not like that.' I said, 'You don't come for me. You don't come for my brother.'"

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Four terrific films. Red is the trilogy's crowning achievement, but White is underrated, its comic touches unfairly overlooked.

 

Maybe I'm just weak sauce, but White was my favorite. It was like half way between Mel Brooks and Ingmar Bergman.

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I loved American Animals. Had me hooked the whole way through. Won't say anything else about it, so I won't spoil it.

 

I'm headed out to see Paul Schrader's First Reformed.

 

While I'm here, let me give some love to Upgrade. This used to be the type of sci fi film that would fill the cinemas back in the day. The script was smart & surprisingly had great humor. Almost all of the special fx are non-CGI, so everything here looks amazing and tactile. Logan Marshall-Green does a great job in the leading role. The story is about a man who becomes quadriplegic during a gang attack that left his wife dead. He gets a computer chip implant that allows him amazing powers, while a detective is simultaneously searching for the gang that murdered his wife.

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I'm headed out to see Paul Schrader's First Reformed.

I am curious to hear your opinion of this film. I did not like it, but after reading all the stellar reviews, I feel like I must have missed the point.

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First Reformed was a terrific film which was elevated by Ethan Hawke. It wasn't as entertaining a film as American Animals, thanks in part due to its bleakness & austerity, but it will stay cemented in my mind for a very long time due to the subject matter explored.

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Is there anyone else watching HBO's Succession? I'm loving every second of it. The characters are all so unlikable, but the writing & actors make it extremely addictive. Brian Cox is awesome!

 

I'll start Sharp Objects soon. I like that it's over and done in 8 episodes. The pedigree makes it look really promising: based off of the book by Gillian Flynn who also wrote Gone Girl & directed by Jean Marc Vallee who also directed Big Little Lies.

 

I'm loving G.L.O.W. Excellent acting and writing. Love the 80s backdrop.

 

Sacha Baron Cohen returns to TV this weekend with his new show Who Is America? that they just announced a couple of days ago. It will be on Showtime and it looks like he's interviewing politicians while in a disguise. Dick Cheney is the first "guest".

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First Reformed was a terrific film which was elevated by Ethan Hawke. It wasn't as entertaining a film as American Animals, thanks in part due to its bleakness & austerity, but it will stay cemented in my mind for a very long time due to the subject matter explored.

 

Same here. To my eyes, American Animals is one of the summer's most entertaining movies and yet fairly limited in what it wants to say. (Even when factoring in the interesting fiction/nonfiction hybrid, it's rather conventional in its ideas.) For me First Reformed is a much more thoughtful and incisive work of art, especially in its searching questions about individual spirituality, religious hypocrisy, and the intersection of churches and politics. It joins Silence and Calvary as one of the great recent movies about what it means to be a person of faith.

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"Lady Bird", last nite.

Finished 2nd season of Handmaid's Tale on Wed. Rather disappointed with the ending

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We started watching It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia a few weeks ago and are on Season 7 now. Can't believe we waited so long to watch this series. Devito is ther cast hilarious, and the other cast members, as well, 

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I saw Sorry To Bother You yesterday. “Bizarre” does not even begin to cover it. *laughs hysterically*. I give it a somewhat hesitant thumbs up (if you are into “outrageous!” LOL), but it’s definitely not for everyone.

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I watched "The Death of Stalin" and "Genius" over the weekend. Both are good movies. I missed "The Death of Stalin" at the theater earlier this year, and I'm not sure whether "Genius" even ever played in my neck of the woods.

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Watched this the other night.  I think i saw it when it first came out and had forgotten much of it.  I think it does a nice job of capturing the ups and downs of being a band with limited success and an ardent cult following.  They obviously edited it to include lots of scenes of the band sitting around or being in a van or getting on each others nerves.  

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I'm halfway through "Wild, Wild West."  I remember the Bhagwan and his community in rural Oregon.  A guy I knew who lived down the block from me ditched college and joined him. Never heard from him again.

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Me and the family saw a newly restored version of "Yellow Submarine" at a local movie palace last night. In our discussion afterwards, the kids said the film made them feel strange.

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Me and the family saw a newly restored version of "Yellow Submarine" at a local movie palace last night. In our discussion afterwards, the kids said the film made them feel strange.

Pretty much achieved its creators' vision, I suppose.

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I suppose so. My daughter compared it's weirdness to Alice in Wonderland. Me, I thought it was an hour too long. And they really should've sharpened up the spoken vocals because we didn't understand half of what they said.

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Watched "Goke: Body Snatcher from Hell" over the weekend. Japanese late 60s horror craziness!

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Same here. To my eyes, American Animals is one of the summer's most entertaining movies and yet fairly limited in what it wants to say. (Even when factoring in the interesting fiction/nonfiction hybrid, it's rather conventional in its ideas.) For me First Reformed is a much more thoughtful and incisive work of art, especially in its searching questions about individual spirituality, religious hypocrisy, and the intersection of churches and politics. It joins Silence and Calvary as one of the great recent movies about what it means to be a person of faith.

Yes, I agree with what you wrote, although I still haven't seen Calvary. First Reformed should be available to rent digitally later this month, if anyone is curious about this film.

 

I started Castle Rock on the first day of this month with a free trial of Hulu. It's cool to see Orange, MA as most of the fictional town's namesake, but I find something lacking here that I can't place my finger on. Maybe you need to know every Stephen King story to appreciate what I guess are little winks to King fans when they name drop someone or some event. To be fair, it does feel like with the 4 episodes that are available they are "setting the table" for something big to connect all of the separate story lines. Casting Melanie Lynskey & Alison Tolman as sisters is a brilliant idea and one that I had when I first saw Fargo's first season.

 

When I am waiting on new Castle Rock episodes, I will be watching The Handmaid's Tale.

 

Oh, and Mission: Impossible: Fallout was one of the best action/spy films that I've ever seen. Please try to see it on as big of a screen as possible. The action set pieces are simply breathtaking & smile inducing.

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When I am waiting on new Castle Rock episodes, I will be watching The Handmaid's Tale.

 

Oh, and Mission: Impossible: Fallout was one of the best action/spy films that I've ever seen. Please try to see it on as big of a screen as possible. The action set pieces are simply breathtaking & smile inducing.

 

You're going to love "The Handmaid's Tale." I binged the entire series in late June and am ready for more. I also deeply enjoyed "Fallout"--that's a rare series that seems only to improve with each new installment--but even more breathtaking was "Sorry to Bother You." That's my favorite movie of the year so far!

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-but even more breathtaking was "Sorry to Bother You." That's my favorite movie of the year so far!

That's one of my favorite movies of the year. I forgot to mention that in my last post. I wish that I saw it sooner, so I could see it a 2nd time. I recommended it to a friend and he thinks it's the best film of the year. And it also reminded me to check out Robert Downey, Sr.'s Putney Swope.

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I just got back from Bo Burnham's Eighth Grade which I found to be completely engaging, yet extremely anxiety inducing due to all of the small moments that seem so huge at this age. Elsie Fisher does a great job as the lead and feels natural in the role via her awkwardness in such small moments. I recommend it, but I don't think I can sit through it again. Oh, and Josh Hamilton, who I remember the most from early Noah Baumbach films, really shines here as "the dad".

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Started the Netflix documentary series I Am a Killer last night about people on death row and how they landed there. It touches on the the death penalty controversy and is very well done https://www.netflix.com/title/80202283.

 

Looking to start the new Orange is the New Black season tonight or tomorrow ( i THINK it's out...).

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