5 FILMS

Have you ever seen 5 films in one day?  Why five?  It was in March of 2013, just before My Ultimate Global Adventure (MUGA), first class around the world, air travel of 35,354 miles, and this was to be a 51-day trip.  In one of my MUGA stops at Matsumoto Castle, this gold koi ate a capsule of Pearl's ashes I tossed into the moat.  The trip was largely inspired by my crusade to lay her ashes at spots of relevance around the world.

For the record, these are the five I saw that day:  InaPPropriate Comedy, Olympus has Fallen, Admission, Croods, and Spring Breakers.  Rotten Tomatoes reviewers only gave them scores of from 51% to 70%.  I vaguely remember Olympus.  The others, can't remember anything.

My 5 recent films were seen from June 22 to July 6.  One problem is I can only account for four of them.  I searched Box Office Mojo for recent releases, and still can't recall the fifth, which was one of those where RT reviewers gave an embarrassing score, while the audience loved it.  If I later do, I'll add it to this posting.  For the record, #1 this weekend was the latest Spider Man, #2 Toy Story 4 and #3 Yesterday, the only one I saw.  My remembered 4:

                                                                  Rotten Tomatoes        My Grade

                                                              Reviewers  Audiences

• Yesterday                                          61             90                B+
• Pavarotti                                            89             98                B
• Echo in the Canyon                          93             91                B
• Wild Rose                                          94             87                C

Yesterday is one of those productions unpopular with critics, but enjoyed by audiences.  I agree with the latter, and, while the basic premise was incredibly flawed, the production was entertaining.

Himesh Patel, a struggling musician, through a global incongruity (can't think of the appropriate word, for how do you describe a situation where, just at the time Patel gets hit by a truck, the rest of the world loses electricity and any memory of The Beatles...including hardware like CD's and everything else, even in the worldwide web), becomes famous composing and singing Beatles hits, because he is the only one who was not affected.  Lily James is a supportive love interest, Kate McKinnon has a villainous role and Ed Sheeran plays himself.  Danny Boyle directed.

Pavarotti was liked by all.  A 98% audience rating is rare.  Toy Story 4 got 98 reviewer and 94% audience scores.  But I don't go anymore to children's shows.

Ron Howard, who directed, has been doing some interesting things these days.  Did you know he acted as himself in Donald Trump's the Art of the Deal?  Johnny Depp played Trump. Rotten Tomatoes refused to review it, although audiences gave a 46% score.  Upcoming are Hillbilly Elegy, a film, and an untitled Netflix series about Cortez versus Montezuma.  His films have won 9 academy awards.

This is a documentary which deftly convinces the audience that Pavarotti was beloved, even his family at the end, weaving in his indiscretions.  He was a decent humanitarian.

Here, the Three Tenors in their memorable rendition of O Sole Mio in 1994.  He passed away in 2007 at the age of 71.  Want more Pavarotti?  Here is a nearly two-hour free CD of his greatest hits.

Echo in the Canyon is a meaningful documentary of how singers were drawn to Los Angeles' Laurel Canyon (LC) in the mid-60s.  Here, folk rock went electric, creating a third steeple of recorded hits:  Motown (black), The Beatles (British) and California Sounds (white).  Rotten Tomatoes:  93% / 91%.  Interestingly enough, the fraternizing and catalysis were deep between the UK and Southern California. 

While a whole host of entertainers (The Byrds, The Beach Boys, Jackson Browne, Buffalo Springfield, Eric Clapton, David Crosby, Ringo Starr, Mamas & Papas, Tom Petty, Carol King, etc.) participated, the thread through it all was Jakob Dylan, youngest of five to Bob and Sara.  I did not realize that Jakob was kind of famous himself, with two Grammys.  The production derived from a desire of Jakob, Bech, Fiona Apple, Cat Power, Regina Spektor and Nora Jones to perform last year in a concert honoring those early pioneers.

Wild Rose earned 94% / 87% ratings from Rotten Tomatoes.  It is about this talented Scot in Glasgow who only sings country music.  Not Scottish country, but American country & western.  Roller coaster of mostly downs, until, at the end, a happy ending.

I should not have gone to this film, for I can't understand that kind of English.  Thus my grade.  Maybe my hearing is going, but I remembered being in Edinburgh for their International Festival perhaps a third of a century ago, sitting in the audience for an early live show of Trainspotting, also directed by Danny Boyle, which later became an international hit, and not comprehending what was being said.  I went to the movie, and same thing, total befuddlement.

I might add that this weekend sees the opening of The Farewell, said to be an American comedy, with what looks like an almost all-Chinese (one Japanese) cast, based on an actual lie, starring Awkwafina (if you remember her in Crazy Rich Asians, you won't recognize her in this film--watch the trailer).  Oh, Rotten Tomatoes reviewers have bestowed a 100% rating.

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Now barely a tropical storm, Barbara will bring surf and rain to much of Hawaii beginning Monday.  AccuWeather, however, hints that Honolulu might not get much rain, meaning I might be able to golf tomorrow.

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