Welcome Back, Vietnam!

Last time I welcomed you (back?) was in July, so I guess it's been awhile. Thanks for the visits; please stick around, and peruse the archives to see if I've said anything new or interesting in the last six months.

In other news, I worked on my sister's Moebius Scarflet again today, on and off, while also puttering around in the kitchen AND calling ten thousand phone lines to submit for work AND watching two more of my SAG Award (TM) screeners. The "chili" (more of a meat stew) will be ready for consumption tomorrow; I'll work some more on the scarflet tonight and tomorrow; here for your reading pleasure (?) NOW are more reviews.

99 Homes - let me just start with Andrew Garfield (who I honestly DID NOT recognize on the movie posters) as a working-class construction dude in Florida, and Laura Dern as his working-class mother. That's a good start. Fine performances from each, totally believable that he could be a single dad (?!?!?!) and she could be his mom (what the WHAT?!?!? Okay, yeah, while linking their pages, I just looked at their ages. SHIT). Early on, we see a realtor schmuck evicting people from their homes, so we know that the general topic is very similar to The Big Short. But I can't fathom why this one is up for any awards. The subject matter is dullsville, presented from the POV of the "victims" so we'll feel a tug on our heartstrings, etc. The pace is sssssssllllooooooooooooooooooooooooooowww, and anytime we should really understand what's going on, they kind of rush through the explanations. If you have to watch a film about the housing market's economic collapse in 2010-ish, I suggest you skip this one and watch The Big Short.

Black Mass - South Boston dialects meet the true story events of the crimes and collaborations that lead to the eventual arrest of James "Whitey" Bulger. BORING topic; fine performances; FOCUS, people, or you will MISS something (not that you'll miss having missed it, but you'll wonder if you did, and then you'll have to back the damn thing up - AGAIN - because you'll think what you've missed is pivotal). I was paying attention, but I was also making phone calls (you really don't have to listen to busy signals, but you do, every once in awhile, have to look to see that the auto-redial is working), AND the houseguest walked in, AND I was puttering around in the kitchen. So I would hit "pause", only to discover that I'd NOT hit "pause" but had, instead, reset to an earlier frame. I REALLY don't like trying to watch streaming video! But what do you care? You wanna know how I liked the movie, so you can decide whether to watch it. I didn't. But if you have interest in "Whitey" Bulger's eventual arrest and the events that led to it, OR you love Johnny Depp (FINALLY, they made him unattractive!), OR you just want to occasionally hear Benedict Cumberbatch or Kevin Bacon speak "Southie", then by all means. Knock yourself out.

Two for two tonight! Two LOSERS, that is. I've reached the point where I just want to be done watching screeners, so I can vote, already. Tomorrow, if I'm not working, I'm going to try to use my SINGLE ticket for a screening of Trumbo. Another "based on true events", but it looks at least like they Maybe tried to make it the lighthearted POV. Maybe it'll be worth the drive over the hill into Hollywood. Maybe it'll be different to see something on the big screen (it's been awhile for me). Please, Dear Baby Jesus, let it be fun.

Before I was finished puttering AND before I was ready to post this, I WAS able to get submitted for some possible work tomorrow AND put myself on the rush-call list, Just In Case. Let's hope someone calls or emails or texts me, so that my post tomorrow can be a new case of "And now, for something completely different!"