MIDWAY PARASITE

I searched and searched and the only parasite I could find from Midway came from Florida, more specifically the Midway Animal Hospital.  That is a photo of an intestinal parasite found in horses.

The reason for the title is that I saw two films this weekend:

                               Rotten Tomatoes           Box Office    My Grade

                          Reviewers   Audiences            Mojo

Midway                    42               92                    #1                B+

Parasite                   99               93                  #13                A-

I particularly love to see those films where the viewing audience totally disagrees with reviewers.  Those war films have a tough time trying to integrate human interest with computer graphics (CG), and invariably fail movie critics.  I identified with Midway because I was a child of one when this naval battle occurred around 1300 miles away, six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, which, my mother told me, I saw, because she pointed out the  emanating smoke while holding me in her arms.  If the USA lost that battle, Hawaii and World War II could well have ended differently.

There was another Midway film, in 1976, this one starred Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, James Coburn, Glenn Ford, Holbrook, Toshiro Mifune, Robert Mitchum, Cliff Robertson, Robert Wagner, James Shigeta, Pat Morita, Tom Selleck and Edward Albert.  The 2019 version had few real stars, although the admirals were Woody Harrelson as Admiral Chester Nimitz, Dennis Quaid as Vice Admiral Bull Halsey and Aaron Eckhart as Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle.  Roland Emmerich produced and directed.  Rotten Tomatoes gave this one 47/72 ratings.

One of the comedic moments had to do with a movie director and his small crew flying in to Midway to record the possible coming attack by the Japanese in 1942.  Not sure why they were depicted as buffoons.  There was an actual documentary of this battle officially released by the U.S. Navy.  That was John Ford (right) directing the effort, in person.  Here is the entire documentary (all of 18 minutes long).  This is a holiday, Veterans Day.  Be patriotic, click on that clip.  John Ford is a four-time Oscar winner.

For equal time, here is this battle from Japan's perspective.  Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (left), who had studied English for two years at Harvard, and had recognized the strength of the U.S., felt that if Japan could wipe out the American fleet at Midway, they could quickly negotiate an end of war, for the country was not particularly interested in occupying the USA.  They needed resources in the Pacific, and would have been satisfied just with that. 

In the movie, it all starts with the Pearl Harbor attack on 7 December 1941:

The CGs were awesome.  You almost wanted the whole 138 minutes to be about attacks and battles.  I can highly recommend this film as good escapist fare.

Parasite is an extraordinary R-rated film directed and co-written by Bong Joon Ho (left), famous for Okja (RT:  86/81) and Snow Piercer (RT:  97/72).  This is a typical South Korean film of today:  twists, turns, surprises and more.

I won't say much but indicate that the parasite is a family, where members serially inveigle themselves into the household of a rich high tech family.  There are touches like computer applications and architecture and culture that keep you involved.  The ending of this 132-minute epic is somewhat metaphorical, and could well actually happen.  This is the top movie of the year in South Korea, and I will see many of the rest on that list while flying internationally.

Two films soon to come include Martin Scorsese's The Irishman (RT:  96/91) and Mickey and the Bear (RT:  100/not yet rated by audiences), with no actors you would recognize, and, maybe, nothing to do with a bear.

You would think this national holiday to honor our veterans would be honored by all.  But not Wall Street.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average broke its all time record, up 10 to 27,691.  Here we go again, but President Donald Trump today said he had NOT agreed to roll back tariffs on China.  However, Boeing announcing that it would resume deliveries on their 737 Max next month had a bigger effect on the market.

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