Just imagine Humphrey Bogart playing Sam Spade as Sam Wilson — a 1941 version
of Sam Wilson, private eye turned Captain America’s unofficial and unorthodox partner.
That’s what I did in this mockup for the mashup Captain America and the Maltese Falcon. Ever since brainstorming the title a couple of years ago for a hashtag game on Twitter, I’ve found its Reese’s Peanut-Butter Cup potential hard to shake.
Photo: Al Levine for NBC © 1982.
What’s most surprising about Don Pardo’s passing on Monday is either half of
this sentence taken with the other: He was 96 and still working as the primary voice
of Saturday Night Live.
Cropped image from To Have and Have Not © 1944 Warner Bros. Pictures.
This post is currently down for maintenance.
That was a really difficult post title to type.
Original photo: Jim Britt for ABC © 1978.
I was introduced to Robin Williams, who died on Monday at 63, as Mork from Ork
— first on Happy Days; then, of course, on Mork & Mindy. Although I’m two decades younger, I aged with him, through his stand-up and dramatic roles and talk-show appearances and film comedies and, just this past year, his return to network TV.
Which I think is a big part of why his death hits so hard.
As I think I’ve said here before, I prefer to have a nice buffer between reading books
and watching the movies on which they’re based — with the book, ideally, coming first.
The film adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl is scheduled to open in early October, so I’m glad to have finished the novel last week. I don’t want to spoil even a bit of it for those who haven’t, but I will say that it’s both a page-turner of a mystery and a surprisingly dark, incisive look at domestic partnership.
While I’m not sure whether the film attempts to evoke the book’s structure, I suspect
by dint of that alone they’ll be different enough works that you could pick up the book in the next few weeks and have the movie feel like its own thing when it rolls out. I’m still chewing on the controversial ending; I recommend the book, though, and hope to read Flynn’s previous novels sometime.
Related: A Great Escape • Grit Expectations • Forest Gumption
Who has a pair of thumbs that look like they're made out of big pink sausages, like
eagle talons mixed with squid, and finally saw The Lego Movie? This guy!
Promo image from The Lego Movie © 2014 Warner Bros. Entertainment.
Although not in the greatest head space, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to watch it with my nephew. Given how great the overall messages were, I am kinda disappointed that it doesn't pass the Bechdel test (unless there’s a stray line I forget between Wyldstyle and Unikitty; even then, Unikitty’s… a Unikitty) or just plain have more girl power, and especially considering how much the film’s portrayal of Batman has blown up it’s quite sad that Wonder Woman’s appearance here is her first in a theatrically released motion picture.
Still, I totally get why everyone raved. The all-ages factor is very high and I agree that it's far cleverer than, not to mention in some ways 180° from, what you'd expect a branded Lego Movie to be.
Related: Amazon Primer • Cold Hands, Warm Hearts • Past of Future Days
