Mr. B axed any depressing or scary movies. Alas, that means no Hamnet.
So we are eating cookies, drinking Rombauer, and watching Twisters! 
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Tonight I watched a 1997 Hallmark Hall of fame adaptation of a William Faulkner short story called, “Old Man”. Had never heard of it nor the short story before coming across a recommendation of it and about a dozen other movies I’d never heard of in Saturday’s Times.
Boy, did it deliver. This is no Hallmark card. Horton Foote whom some of us remember from the Rick Burns “The Civil War” documentary, wrote the screenplay and it was a wholly unexpected reminder of what a twisted, cunning, genius Faulkner was at observing human misery. The story of a convict and a flood. That’s all you need to know.
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Peaky Blinders Immortal Man on Netflix. Argh! I wanted so much for it to be a satisfying conclusion to one of the greatest series of all time (IMO of course!) My admiration for Cillian Murphy spans decades, but not even he could save it. I guess it’s predictability was, well, predictable! If you watched the series you would tell yourself it could end only one way. But getting there was lazy.
We give 9 out of 10 for Project Hail Mary! One star was deducted for sound quality. At times, the music was overpowering the dialogue in some critical moments so someone not familiar with the book could get a little lost. It is possible that it was just a quirk of the particular theater, so we absolutely will watch it again when it lands online.
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I saw Project Hail Mary on Saturday. Loved it. It was funny and poignant and sciency. I will definitely watch it again.
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Oh, good, I was wondering if it was my hearing that was at fault! I definitely want to watch it again when it streams on TV. I didn’t read the book and know I missed some things.
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Hoping Hail Mary does stream on TV. Based on comments here, I’ll know to run captions to better understand the dialog.
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I noticed in the beginning they said it wad produced/made(?) by Amazon. So I told H I assume that’s where it will be streaming later.
We both also loved project Hail Mary. I knew nothing about the story going in. Other than it being 2:30 I thought it would be a good movie for kids. Very sweet
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I haven’t seen the movie, but I felt the sort of the same about the book. To me writing Hamlet seemed a very odd way to react to the death of a child. I did like Agnes and the writing style very much.
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Saw Maudie 2016 movie on Tubi (with commercials). It was very well acted- based on a true story of an arthritic artist living in remote Nova Scotia in early 1900s who lived a very unusual life. I found it interesting, H thought it was slow and left several times during it. That said- it was very interesting to me. 90% rotten tomatoes.
We just saw Hail Mary. Thought it was wonderful! No sound issues for us. Visually stunning. I could see it being a bit slow moving for kids. There was a boy in front of us who was engaged at points but got squirmy throughout.
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Train Dreams. Outstanding.
The After (2023) just 19 minutes. Great short film.
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Glad to hear that you haven’t encountered any sound issues. I’m inclined to think that it was the sound issues at our theater.
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Yesterday friends and I saw a preview of The Great Awakening (free via AARP, opening Easter weekend) yesterday. It is about Ben Franklin and an English evangelist in the time period between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. We enjoyed it.
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H and I saw Project Hail Mary. We both enjoyed it and glad we saw it in IMAX. H said if he had to compare it to The Martian (also by Andy Weir), he liked The Martian better. He also noted that he liked the music in both movies. I agree that the musical score in Project Hail Mary was good.
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My husband was very impressed with Stratt’s singing! Apparently, the scene was added at the suggestion of Ryan Gosling!
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And despite the recent SNL ‘skit’, Harry and Ryan are good friends.
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Dh and I just watched the documentary #SkyKing. Really good.
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That is such a sad local to us story. On my to watch list.
Speaking of documentaries, we watched and really liked Babushkas of Chernobyl covering the lives of elderly women living in the exclusion zone.
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On Netflix: Daddio (2023) with Sean Penn & Dakota Johnson (the daughter of Don Johnson & Melanie Griffith). $10 million budget; 16 day shoot (intended for the stage). (Loved the scenery. Kudos to the location scout !)
Also on Netflix: The Best You Can (2025)
Kevin Bacon & Kyra Sedgwick (real life husband & wife) Judd Hirsch
Loved the credits at the end of the movie. Brittany O’Grady sings & plays the sax. Irresistible.
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