E.R. Torre's Blog, page 52

Deep Insecurity…

So the other day, “President” Donald Trump was briefed about the projected path of Hurricane Dorian. Here’s a photograph of that projection and our illustrious leader looking at the graphic. This was the original graphic by the way…

Here’s a close up of the actual graphic:

Pretty clear, no?

Welp, “President” Donald Trump goes on to state that, among other states in potential danger is… Alabama. Very promptly, NOAA issues a statement saying Alabama is NOT in danger from this storm. And later on “President” Trump shows up with this chart to PROVE that Alabama was indeed in danger…

Can’t make it out? Here’s a close up:

See that black line at the end of the projected path, the one that bulges out and has Alabama now in its…

…sigh…

I just don’t know anymore. Look, Donald, you made a freaking mistake. Nothing big. Hell, if one were to take the original not-childishly-altered chart and project the movement of the storm forward, you could argue that Alabama might be in danger and, hell, a true adult would say so and say its good that Alabama isn’t in the path after all and, hey, no biggie.

Subsequent projections showed the storm didn’t take the path illustrated here after all, and that is what these things are: Projections which can be proven wrong in time (this is why, by the way, the final few projections in these charts are presented without the solid white background. They are far more theoretical at that point).

But no, childish Donald just had to prove when he said Alabama was in danger he was right, dammit, and the evidence he submits to prove it is this outrageously and obviously altered projection map with a (control your laughter) marker line added in to show/justify Donald’s statement that Alabama was in some kind of danger after all.

This is the United States today, folks.

I repeat: Sigh.

Hurricane Dorian some more…

It seems like the past few weeks have been nothing more than updates and fears regarding Hurricane Dorian.

As of today, the storm is moving generally northwardly after coming to a deadly stop over the Bahamas and, with its category 5 status, lingered there for nearly two full days.

It breaks my heart to think of the damage and loss of life which we will surely read about in the coming days and, given how close I personally live to that area, also think that I -and the people around here- were incredibly lucky.

Over at CNN.com, Patrick Oppmann, Madeline Holcombe and Jason Hanna have the following grim article:

The death toll in the Bahamas is likely to rise as Hurricane Dorian recovery begins, authorities say

I hope this proves not to be the case but, given the devastation we’ve seen so far, I suspect its sadly all too possible.

TMI…?

If you don’t know what the header means, its and abbreviation for “too much information”. In other words, if you were to say something in conversation, something very personal and perhaps more than a little embarrassing, someone might respond “TMI, man, TMI!”

One of the more interesting films that are about to be released is the latest Terminator film, Terminator: Dark Fate. The reason there is interest in the film is that for the first time since Terminator 2, actor Linda Hamilton returns to the role she is best remembered for, Sarah Connors. Sarah Connors was the target of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator in the first -and in my humble opinion best of the franchise films. She proved a tough as nails protective mother in the second film, ensuring her son would survive to protect mankind in the future.

There were several Terminator films that followed this one. Terminator 3 featured Arnold Schwarzenegger but not Linda Hamilton. In fact, if memory serves her character had supposedly passed away. Terminator: Salvation featured none of the original movie actors but Linda Hamilton did provide some uncredited voice-work in the film. Terminator: Genysis featured the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator and I felt the explanation for why he looked so much older was pretty clever. Alas, despite a decent first act -and some of the second act- the film truly went off the rails in its finale.

Thing is, every Terminator film past Terminator 2 did not feature director/writer James Cameron’s input and another part of the reason one may feel cautiously optimistic about this latest Terminator is that he’s back as a producer and was involved in the movie’s story.

Anyway, so I’m curious to see if this film will somehow be what most of the other post Terminator 2 sequels couldn’t, ie good, but that’s not why I’m writing about it.

Remember way, way back when I wrote about TMI?

Welp, Cole Delbyck at Huffington Post writes about how…

Linda Hamilton has been celibate for more than 15 years: “I love my alone time.”

Sadly, I can sorta/kinda see how this bit of information made it to the public: On a press/promotion junket, Linda Hamilton is interviewed by many about the movie and what she’s been doing the past few years. While she’s worked in the movie/TV industry pretty consistently, this is the first time in many years she’s returned to a very prominent starring role, and in what is her biggest role of her career.

I can see one of the interviewers asking her what she’s been up to and, gossipy question follows, who are you currently seeing?

And I suppose that’s where the TMI comes in. Ms. Hamilton probably doesn’t care at this stage of her life what is written about her. She’s noted that she purposely moved away from the spotlight because she didn’t feel comfortable there. Perhaps the response -and the too detailed information about her personal life- were calculated to get people talking about her and, therefore, about the film.

Who knows.

Still, and perhaps its the prude lurking in me (and that’s on me), but it seems when the question was asked she could have simply said she’s not seeing anyone currently and left it at that.

Then again, we wouldn’t be talking about her, and Terminator: Dark Fate, would we?

Is the new Joker movie any good…?

Since the announcement a while back that Martin Scorsese was involved in some kind of Joker film in the capacity of a Executive Producer (this was not to be), to the news that Todd Phillips, best known for the Hangover films, was set to direct this film and that it would star Joaquin Phoenix in the titular role, people have been curious, to say the least, as to what kind of film this would be.

We got photographs of Phoenix dressed in a gawdy, almost Batman-TV show-esq Joker costume, so it appeared they weren’t going for the prosthetic look of Jack Nicholson. But neither did it appear they were going for the grungy Heath Ledger version…

Intriguing stuff, certainly, and then we got trailers…

I wasn’t sure what to think of this new Joker film. On the one hand, Joaquin Phoenix is without a doubt a very high level actor, one who has received plenty of praise for his abilities. On the other hand, Todd Phillips, though he scored big with the first Hangover film, which my wife absolutely loves, also was responsible for Hangover II and III, films which were sooooo damn bad (as much as my wife likes the first film, she hates the other two. Alas, I’ve only seen the last two, which I agree are horrid).

Welp, the film had its world-premiere on August 31st at the Venice Film Festival and the reactions have, for the most part, been quite positive. Christopher Campbell on rottentomatoes.com offers the following article which encapsulates critical reaction to the film, which is still a month away from being given a general release. The article’s headline is quite positive:

Joker First Reviews: Give Joaquin Phoenix the Oscar, already

As intrigued by the film as I am, I’m not certain if I’ll be able to catch it upon its initial release. As I’ve noted too often, I don’t have the free time to go to films as much as I’d like to lately, and the fact that this sounds like something of a downer of a film (which is perfectly fine!) means I’ll likely have to go see it alone. My wife faces enough of that in her job so its highly unlikely she’ll care to go see this film.

One of the more intriguing things I’ve read and which are noted in the above article is that the film seems to pay tribute to two Martin Scorsese films in particular, Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy. Some have speculated that the film was originally an attempt to remake/update one or both of those films and the concept was married to the character of the Joker.

It’s still an intriguing concept, I feel.

Let’s see what others think of it when it is formally released.

2019 Summer Movies in the Rear-View Mirror

There have been very, very good summer movie seasons littered with great and interesting films and there have been other summers that didn’t connect quite that well.

Entering September, Autumn is just around the proverbial corner (it officially begins on September 23rd) and school has begun for most if not all students in the U.S.

What better time to look back and the Summer Movie Season of 2019 and assess it?

Matthew Jacobs over at Huffington Post does just that, and his views parallel my own:

Let’s face it: The 2019 Summer Movie Season was dreadful

Man, do I agree with almost everything he writes in this article. From his notes regarding Disney, the big winner at the box office not only for summer, but for the entire year, to the fact that too many sequels didn’t connect and there were almost no comedies that found interest among audiences.

Thinking about the summer movie season, we started with Avengers: Endgame, the concluding chapter of the “phase 1” Marvel films. I have yet to see the film, though I fully intend to, but it made a great deal of money during its release yet, curiously, it feels to me like it was a big splash in a rather shallow pool.

I don’t see people analyzing this or that about the film, it seems like they watched it, enjoyed it, and moved on to the next big thing. Disney, of course, doesn’t care if the film is five years down the road looked upon as some kind of modern movie masterpiece. Especially when they pulled in as much money as they did from its initial and second run.

From there, though, things get sketchy.

Disney did well, also with Aladdin, The Lion King, and Toy Story 4 but, once again, I’m getting this feeling that the films were seen, enjoyed, made their money, but they won’t linger too long in the public consciousness afterwards. Toy Story in particular feels like its been played out and I wonder how much longer Disney will be able to make “live action” versions of their animated films before people lose interest in that.

I could go on and on, but I fear I’m going to start cribbing more and more ideas presented so well in Mr. Jacobs’ article and there seems little point in doing so.

So if you have a moment or two and are one of those film geeks like me and want a rundown of the stuff that worked, and didn’t, in the Summer of 2019, click on the link above.

It’s interesting stuff.

Death of Rock Legends…

Rather depressing article I stumbled upon written by Damon Linker and presented on the week.com regarding…

The coming death of every Rock Legend

As they say, time ticks on, for wealthy and poor, and the reality is that most of the “biggest” rock legends, those who emerged in the 1960’s and 70’s, are getting awfully old. Some, like David Bowie, Lou Reed, and Tom Petty, have already passed, while its only a matter of time for many, many others.

At the risk of giving away the article, this paragraph illustrates only too well the current situation regarding many rock stars of that era:

Behold the killing fields that lie before us: Bob Dylan (78 years old); Paul McCartney (77); Paul Simon (77) and Art Garfunkel (77); Carole King (77); Brian Wilson (77); Mick Jagger (76) and Keith Richards (75); Joni Mitchell (75); Jimmy Page (75) and Robert Plant (71); Ray Davies (75); Roger Daltrey (75) and Pete Townshend (74); Roger Waters (75) and David Gilmour (73); Rod Stewart (74); Eric Clapton (74); Debbie Harry (74); Neil Young (73); Van Morrison (73); Bryan Ferry (73); Elton John (72); Don Henley (72); James Taylor (71); Jackson Browne (70); Billy Joel (70); and Bruce Springsteen (69, but turning 70 next month).

Oh my.

(Note Paul McCartney is listed but the other surviving Beatles bandmate, Ringo Starr, who is 79, is not listed!)

And as I was thinking about the people listed above, I couldn’t help but recall some people not on the list.

For example, how about Fleetwood Mac’s classic Rumours lineup? We’ve got Stevie Nicks (71), Lindsey Buckingham (69), Christie McVie (76), Mick Fleetwood (72), and John McVie (73).

Who else? How about the original members of Yes? Jon Anderson (74), Steve Howe (72), and Rick Wakeman (70).

Let’s move along to the original members of KISS. Paul Stanley is 67 (relatively young!). Gene Simmons is 70, Peter Criss is 74, and Ace Frehley is 68.

What about the members of Black Sabbath? Ozzy Ozbourne is 70. Tony Immi is 71. Bill Ward is 71. Geezer Butler is 70.

One more: The surviving members of The Cars (Benjamin Orr, the band’s bassist and lead singer on many of their biggest hits, including Drive, passed away from cancer in 2000): Ric Ocasek is 70. Elliot Easton is a very young 65, Greg Hawkes is 66, and David Robinson is 70.

I could go on and on, listing members of various bands or famous singers, and depress myself all the more about their ages and the fact that we will indeed, likely in the next decade or so, see many of these people pass.

It’s articles like this one that make what could be a bright and beautiful day all the more sobering. Enjoy life while you can!

Strap yourselves In, Part Trois

Today is likely the last day before parts of Florida feel the impact of Hurricane Dorian. The lastest NOAA predictive map shows the following:

Essentially, by Monday morning the storm should be close enough to the US coast to feel some tropical storm-type impact, if not hurricane level winds. How close the storm eventually does come to the coast will determine just how much of the monstrous 180 mph sustained winds (maximum) will be felt. I read there were gusts up to 220 mph, and that’s completely nuts.

The fact of the matter is that hurricanes have become much bigger and far more fierce in the previous years. There can be no doubt about that. A few years back it was nearly unheard of to have a storm react Category 5, the highest level a hurricane can reach, and now it seems like every other year we’re getting a storm in that category or, as is the case with Dorian, on the far end of that scale.

The reason the storm is as powerful as it is, one presumes, is because of the warm water which fuels these monsters, and this past July was on record as the hottest July ever recorded.

But of course, one thing doesn’t have much to do with the other, right?! There’s definitely no such thing as global warming, right?!

Right?!

Yeah. Right.

The Bahamas are going to take a major beating for a while, and my heart truly goes out to them. We’ll see what happens with Florida, and beyond, in the next couple of days.

Strap yourselves in, Part Deux

Florida is, sometimes quite rightfully, viewed as one of the crazier states in the US. We are the ones that have, after all, Florida Man and the weird stuff this “Man” does, like this wild headline and article found on The New York Post…

Florida Man with no arms stabbed stranger with his feet

The man in question, Jonathan Crenshaw, had the following mugshot…

I actually know Mr. Crenshaw, though only very casually. He rented a room at the Hotel my father used to run and, emotionally, the guy is something of a mess. Born without hands (he has finger-like stubs where his shoulders end), Mr. Crenshaw can be a good person but, at other times, he can also be short tempered.

Being born without hands, he spent his life using his legs and toes in their place. He is essentially homeless and whatever money he makes is through his artwork. People online joked about the headline but the sad reality is that this is a person with great problems, both physical and mental, and society doesn’t care for people like him as well as they probably should.

Going back to Florida in general, there’s also the issue of voting. I strongly, strongly suspect that ever since George W. Bush “won” Florida by a sliver thin margin and the subsequent re-count issue and court intervention (the Supreme Court essentially gave Bush the presidency, and the country is all the worse for it), there has been funny business going on regarding voting here.

Too often it seems polls suggest a certain candidate (usually Democratic) being up or winning, and exit polls have shown this as well, and, what-do-you-know, the Republican winds up pulling it off in the end!

Hmmm…

Then there’s the hurricanes, of which the latest is Dorian. As of this morning, the projected path looks like this:

It’s oh-so-wonderful to live in such a big state (I read somewhere -and I hope my memory isn’t faulty- that the only state with a longer North/South spread is California) and find that a powerful potentially Category 4 hurricane is approaching your state and almost every single part of this state could have the storm’s landfall.

You live in Jacksonville, which is basically on the Georgia Border? You could get hit. You live in Key West, the southernmost point in the United States and the opposite end of Florida? You’re just outside the cone, but if the storm veers to the far southern end of the above predictive model, you will face hurricane conditions.

How does one deal with this?

I guess the first step is to try not to have a nervous breakdown.

Around here, I suspect everyone during Hurricane season becomes an amateur meteorologist. We check out models and predictive breakdowns and in our own, amateur way, try to figure out what’s going to happen. Hopefully something you see in the models indicates your neck of the woods will emerge from this latest threat unscathed. Or, if not, the effects won’t be quite as devastating.

I’ve been following the models -it seems like that’s all I’ve been doing the last couple of days- and I think the main reason the cone of uncertainty is as large as it is is because one Hurricane tracking model, the European one, indicated the storm might go further south and potentially make landfall right on Miami or even parts south of it.

As time passes, new calculations are made and new projected paths are created while the previous ones are discarded. Still, for some two days the European model was consistent in its belief that the storm would strike much further south than almost all the other models were indicating, Including the American model.

Yet the people at NOAA took the European model’s results very seriously. Why? Because it is considered one of the better predictive models for hurricane movement. It predicted, for example, Hurricane Andrew back in 1992 quite well.

So despite having various models almost all showing routes which take Dorian more toward the center of Florida, NOAA kept the European model in mind and in their own prediction of the storm’s path and hence the reason it winds up giving us a projection that is as large as it is.

But -and again, I’m an amateur here just like so many other Floridians- after the 5 A.M. path was released by NOAA and which I pasted above, it appears the European model was run again and this time the Hurricane’s path was more in line with the American and other models, ie having the storm moving toward the center of Florida rather than jogging south toward Miami or parts south of it.

Alas, we’re still a little too early to feel this is the way things will shake out and that South Florida has dodged the proverbial bullet. Nonetheless, for those who live in central Florida, it is truly time to start taking serious notice, if you haven’t already.

Dorian is a category 2 storm and is predicted to reach category 4 before it makes landfall.

That makes it a monster storm, one that could inflict a lot of damage wherever it should land.

Get ready, be safe, stay informed, and listen closely to the news.

If this amateur meteorologist knows nothing else, it is this much.

Strap yourselves in…

…’cause here we go again.

This is the latest (5 pm, 8/28) track of Hurricane Dorian…

How about that? The entire state of Florida for the most part is in the so-called “cone of concern”, which denotes where the storm may be by Sunday and Monday, when it may make landfall in the United States.

For those interested/concerned who want to see the latest regarding this, or any, storms, please go to the National Hurricane Center website, which can be found here:

nhc.noaa.gov

A second site I like to use is the Cyclocane website. This offers the so-called “spaghetti” models, the various mathematical predictive models for storms and where they may go. It’s another way to keep track of storms potentially headed one’s way.

Cyclocane International Hurricane/Cyclone/Thyphoon Tracking Map

Keep safe, everyone out there who may be in the path of these storms.

Didn’t see that coming…

One of the things that amuses me is the way movies either hit or sink.

There seems to be no rhyme or reason… one film connects with audiences and can become a HUGE box office hit, beloved by audiences world-wide, while another film is a complete (or near complete) wiff and sinks without much of a trace. Often this comes down to how “good” or “bad” a film is but not always. There are films that are critical bombs yet connect with audiences. There are films that are critical darlings yet bomb with audiences. Then there are those films that are complete box-office failures which, over the years, become cult darlings. Some even manage to become viewed as genuinely classic films, even if they did nothing when they were originally released. In the later case, you have the classic Metropolis and Blade Runner, both of which didn’t do very well upon their initial release and are now considered film classics.

We’re at the beginning of the school year and the latest movie releases are slim pickin’s indeed. This is not terribly unexpected. The summer rush is over and with the beginning of school, people aren’t as free to go to the theaters during the week, so studios aim their “biggest” guns to the summer period and release lower budget works they hope will recoup their investment and can hope -but do not expect- the box office of these films to be in the mega-hit range.

This past week, two films were released to theaters, one which I only discovered at literally the very last moment.

That film, Angel Has Fallen, is the third of the “Fallen” movies featuring Gerard Butler as Mike Banning, the President’s secret service detail. The two previous films featuring the character were 2013’s Olympus Has Fallen and 2016’s London Has Fallen.

The plot of the first two films involve Banning trying to save/keep the President, played in those films by Aaron Eckhart, alive despite an intense terrorist attack. In the first film, that attack was on the White House itself. In the second film, it was while the President was in London.

In this third film, Mr. Eckhart is gone, replaced by Morgan Freeman (who was in the original two films as well), as the new President. Further, Radha Mitchell, who portrayed Banning’s wife, has been replaced by Piper Perabo. This time around, Banning is framed for trying to kill the President and must clear himself…

The other relatively “big” film being released this past week was the horror/comedy Ready of Not…

Both films, IMHO, look interesting based solely on their trailers, though I have less interest in Angel Has Fallen because the previous film, London Has Fallen, was so awful IMHO and Ready or Not features an intriguing (again, IMHO) concept for a horror/comedy.

So, going into the weekend, I figured Ready or Not would likely be the box office champ, with Angel Has Fallen either a very, very close second or perhaps just taking the #1 spot.

Boy, was I wrong.

Angel Has Fallen easily took the #1 spot at the Box Office with a much stronger than expected $21 plus million take. Ready or Not came in 6th with a decent (considering the film’s very low budget) take of $7.5 million.

One other new film, Overcomer (another film I know absolutely nothing about), came in at #3 with $8.2 million. The rest of the films in the top 10 were holdovers from past weeks (if you’re curious, here’s the complete rundown of the box office weekend via Box Office Mojo).

Again: I’m intrigued by this. Incredibly so. I suppose audiences were in a mood for an action extravaganza and that’s why Angel Has Fallen did well. There might be other times and other weeks where there are plenty of action films available and a film such as this one may not have done quite as well. As for Ready or Not… maybe audiences weren’t in the mood for a horror film this weekend. Maybe if the film had been released closer to Halloween it might have garnered a little more interest.

Is this the reason one did really well and the other not quite as well? I suppose its possible.

Ultimately, who knows?

As it is, I once again fall back on the quote by screenwriter William Goldman, of Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid (among others) fame. In his book Adventures in the Screen Trade, Mr. Goldman provided a quote I’ve posted here many times which, in my opinion, encapsulates the entire entertainment industry…

“Nobody knows anything…… Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what’s going to work. Every time out it’s a guess and, if you’re lucky, an educated one.”

I absolutely love this quote because its so damn true. You can create what you think is an absolutely smashing work, one you think audiences will eat up and make you a zillionaire… and the work comes and goes without so much as a shrug from audiences. Then you can create something almost literally in your sleep, a work you think is nothing big, and it becomes HUGE.

The best we can hope for is some mild/moderate success in the works we do, and hope the next one does even better.

Ultimately, nobody knows nothing.

Least of all me.