Much. We’re considering seeing Wicked part deux on the big screen. But it’s rare we go out to the movies.
Oh, wow. That got pretty terrible reviews, but I didn’t see the first one, either.
I hate musicals with very few exceptions… all that random singing 
Also, I just remembered something from TMS that bugged the hell outta me: all the women actors seemed to have gone through a lot of ‘post-editing’ vs. the male actors. No lines, and their faces filtered like the most embarrassing Toks.
Pathetic.
I love musicals, we saw the first one and liked it (because SPECTACLE!).
If TMS is The Morning Show, I didn’t notice, but Jennifer Aniston is always suspiciously smooth. I think she might look like that in real life.
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Yup, and apparently there’s a lot of internet discussion about it. All the female actors had their faces “improved,” bc men always naturally look perfect 
Re: musicals, we’ve had a similar convo about them here before. The only musicals I’ve seen & enjoyed I can count on one* hand:
The Producers
Grease (my first crush was John Travolta)
Hair
The Book of Mormon
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, which I suppose technically isn’t a musical, but there shore are a lot of songs in the movie
Team America: World Police (same)
As for Wicked, I find watching Ariana Grande almost painful to watch these days, and it’s too damn long for me 
*I have 6 fingers dontcha know…
That’s why movies are better at home! Unless…SPECTACLE.
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And that’s why I’m so glad we invested in a big screen & a projector, for the SPECTACLE movies (like Sinners, most recently, or The Substance) — plus watching those at home provides ample access to martinis and weed, and the ability to pause for pee breaks / replenishing snacks.
Just watched two big-hearted new documentaries that really take me back: When We Went MAD! — a history of MAD magazine— and Sound of the Surf — the story of surf music. Both really good.
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Speaking of documentaries, my husband and I watched Listers: A Glimpse Into Extreme Birdwatching last night. One of my favorite film critics described it as “Bill and Ted Go Birding,” a description that persuaded us to give it a go.
Brothers Owen and Quentin Reiser spent a year traveling the country in a used minivan, spotting as many birds as possible and exploring the quirkiness of birding culture along the way. Funny and full of heart, this extremely indie film made us happy we went along for the ride.
Note: Includes profanity and references to drug use, in case anyone’s thinking of watching this with kids. Free to watch on YouTube at the link above.
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It absolutely is a musical. And one that expertly spoofs just about every musical convention with biting accuracy.
These are the same guys who did Book of Mormon and remember their first ever feature film was Cannibal: The Musical.
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Yep. I was just talking about it last night with one of our poker buddies, who is a total musical and Broadway lover.
Indeed.
It’s the Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown is weird. It’s a brief musical special that the description describes as “parodying” various musicals and then-current or current-ish pop culture (Saturday Night Fever, breakdancing), but it’s not “parodying” so much as “mentioning.” It’s kind of an interesting fingerprint of its times, I guess, right down to Stacy Ferguson voicing Sally, not just pre-Black Eyed Peas but pre-Kids Incorporated.
Otherwise we’ve mostly been watching the autumnal hits: Harold and Maude, Miss America, When Harry Met Sally. All good stuff. This was somehow the first time it occurred to me that the original audience for Harold and Maude had just seen The Graduate four years earlier, which while very different, is also a movie about an aimless young man lectured by his useless elders while romancing an older woman, with a soundtrack by a single artist.
Tonight, the HBO shows.
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Harold and Maude is one of my faves, whereas my PIC doesn’t quite ‘get it.’ Such a great soundtrack, too!
Very much looking forward! Would you agree Derry cranked up the creep factor a bit?
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It has, although … I have some reservations about the show. The military subplot specifically. Those reservations are based mainly on a description I read before the show started, so I can’t tell if I’m just … what’s the opposite of the benefit of the doubt? I might be just assuming that the story is going to develop in a way I don’t like, that they’re not going to pull it off. But they haven’t actually screwed anything up yet (other than the Overlook maybe seeming like small potatoes to Dick Halloran after all this).
That aside, though! I like the stuff with the kids a lot.
I have a lot of attachment to the story because it was the second Stephen King book I read. On the one hand it makes me glad to see the things they’re doing well, but on the other it might make me too demanding about wanting to see them “get it right.”
We just had a plumbing emergency upstairs (handled for the moment, pending calling a plumber in the morning), so it may turn out we’re too stressed for Stephen King tonight, I don’t know!
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OMG SAMESIES! The first SK book I read was Pet Sematary, which was being published in excerpts in a popular weekly magazine. I thought they actually did a pretty good job with the movie version of it.
Then I read IT, which I loved. I was also convinced that it would be damn near impossible to make a movie out of it… and then they did — which I also thought worked, save for the ending. They really did a great job with the kids part, and of course, there’s Tim Curry! 
I wasn’t a fan of the recent remake with one of the Skarsgårds, TBH.
It seems like with the new show they can dig deeper into the history of Derry, but I don’t recall the military playing much of any role in the book. Do you? And I find it tedious as well.
NEW CHAIR COMPANY TONIGHT 
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Happy and relieved to be through with The Beast in Me. Hard seeing Claire Danes emote & chew up the scenery in EVERY scene she was in. H calls her the quivering chin now. 
Matthew Rhys was maybe too good in his role, but I find him lacking in charisma. Now on to something else!
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OK, thanks for your input, as we are now DEF not watching that 
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Good idea!
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Watched train Dreams last night, sooo good! Great story, acting and cinematography. Wonderful film, highly recommended. 10/10 
On the flip side, I tried to watch last Last Samurai Standing a few days ago, def not what I was expecting. Watched 2 episodes and gave up, too Squid Game-y and cheezy 
for me . 2/10 
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Rewatched Twelve Monkeys last night. I forgot how good Brad Pitt was in this. Fantastic insanity!
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