Hacksaw Ridge
Have No Gun – Will Travel
Official Site | Trailer & Mo
R | 139 min

Sadly this movie is not about Hacksaw Jim Duggan

Luckily it is about a different kind of an American hero – a REAL American hero… Desmond T Doss!

Doss was a dude who fought in WWII… WITHOUT FIGHTING!!! OR EVEN TOUCHING A GUN!!!  This is a true story!!!!  And Mr All(White)-American Mel Gibson tells the story the only way he knows how – blood & guts + hope & faith.  Mel, never change.  NEVER!  OK, change, but don’t

Doss (Andrew Garfield, plus himself) didn’t believe in violence, mainly cause he hurt his brother as a kid, and had a drunk abusive dad (Hugo Weaving, looking A LOT like Homer Simpson… ok it’s a stretch, but I really thought he looked like Homer in this movie)

But MS-Doss REALLY wanted to help the war effort, without the warring part, and so he enlisted in the army, while trying to remain a pacifist.  Obviously the Army wasn’t having any of this sh!t, and his commanding officers (a not awful Vince Vaughn, and Sam Worthington) basically make him eat sh!t and try to get him to quit, but there aint no quit in Doss, and so Doss goes to war as a medic with no weapon

And guess what – all those who doubted him – don’t doubt him no more when he starts saving their lives on the battlefield!

What a story!  But the movie itself wasn’t anything extraordinary, kinda ordinary actually.  Not bad, but not blammmazing.  Still, I’m glad I saw it on Veteran’s Day, and then ate a cheeseburger afterwards.  I am no hero, but I am All-American, and all for America!!! 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BMrpkeSj9ls/

Eyes Before Thighs: I’m not much of a blue-eyed guy, but Teresa Palmer‘s peepers made me jeepers all over!!

Verdictgo: Jeepers Worth A Peepers

Hacksaw Ridge is currently playing at a theater near jews & white nationalists

and until next thyme the balcony is clothed…

Peace The Forks Out

to

Leonard Cohen

my relationship with Leonard Cohen began with a 1990 film that left quite an impression on me then, and forever – Pump Up The Volume.  Within the opening minute of the film, a young and super cool Christian Slater leans into a microphone and says…

Down to business. I got my Wild Cherry Diet Pepsi, and uh, I got my Black Jack gum here! And I got that feeling. Mmm, yeah that familiar feeling? That something rank is going on out there

Slater then applies a needle to a record, and my ears would never be the same…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQJIjXSmwhs

WHO IS THAT GUY SINGING THIS SONG???  WHY IS HIS VOICE SO DEEP, SO HUSKY, SO RESONATE, SO UNIQUE AND AMAZING???

oh wait, here’s another song by this guy in the movie!  this song and that voice are JUST AS INCREDIBLE!!!!

I ran out and bought the soundtrack – and yet NEITHER song was on the album.  my heart sank.  sure, there was a Concrete Blonde cover of ‘Everybody Knows’ on the disc, but that was no consolation to me.  I NEEDED those two songs, but this was a pre-internet time – with no easy mp3ing as an option, and for some reason, I was stifled in finding a CD that contained both of these songs.   ARRRRGH!!!

Four years later, in 1994, I found myself in a Tower Records in Tel Aviv, Israel, and there was a Leonard Cohen CD containing both songs!!  FINALLY!!!  Alas, they were live concert versions, but they would do.  Anything would do in order to get my ears back to those songs, without having to hire Christian Slater as my personal DJ

And that’s when my Leonard Cohen loved blossomed even more, and has never stopped blossoming.  I even nudged my parents into the grip that Leonard can wean on any ears he enters.  This was an odd twist – as my parents’ love of 50s and 60s music greatly influenced my musical upbringing and tastes, and here I am, influencing them on something they probably should have known about well before I was even on this earth, but better late than never, for all of us.  And mom has always been appreciative of the introduction, and as a Leonard convert, she would try to influence others to fall under his spell too

Now if only the guy who hadn’t been on tour since 1993 would tour…

AND HE DID!

And of course I had to be there - May 16th, 2009 at Radio City Music Hall – and of course it was amazing, BUT, when it was time for ‘If It Be Your Will’ – he let his backing singers sing the lead, and I was thighly disappointed – cause I NEEDED to hear him sing it live, but hey, I at least heard him sing ‘Everybody Knows’ live, and many many other of his great songs!

And of course my mom (and dad) needed to see him, and so I gladly saw him again with them - December 18th, 2012 at Madison Square Garden – and of course it was amazing again, and of course he let his backing singers sing lead on ‘If It Be Your Will’

I guess it was his will for me to never hear him sing it live, but I can hardly complain – as Leonard Cohen and his music was a part of my life, and even after he lost his life, he and his music will remain with me, and us all

I think it’s time for me to watch Pump Up The Volume again.  It will be my will

Doctor Strange
Mind Over Marvel
Official Site | Trailer & Mo
PG-13 | 115 min

Prior to seeing this movie – this is what I knew about the comic book character Doctor Strange… nothing!  Well, I knew what he looked like, and figured he was guy who had a doctorate in something, but I didn’t even know if he was a good guy or a bad guy or even if he was a Marvel or a DC character.  Well, after watching his origin story – I now know who Doctor Strange is, and what he’s all about, and how I want nothing more than 894391293193 more Doctor Strange movies starring Benedict Cumberbatch.  BENEFCUKINGDICT CUMBERSNATCH!!!!!!!!!!!

BUT!!!

But, I only want to see Benedict Cumberbatch do his Strange things – solo, and not alongside the Hulk or Spidey or Captain America or Iron Man or Ironweed or Scarlet Fever or Hawkeye Pierce or Trapper John MD.  While I like SOME Marvel movies, I’m sick and tired of the crossovers and seeing the same dudes over and over and over and under and over, and not doing anything really new, or interesting, or newly interesting.  This Doctor Strange movie felt different from the rest of those Marvel movies, from tone (it was like a real movie!), and to universe (more mystical, less comic-al).  What goes on feels miles away from all that Avengers jazz, which to me, is juss a bunch of loud noises.  While the Avengers dudes destroy buildings, the Doctor Strange folks bend and fold buildings!!!

I’ll take bending/folding buildings over destroying them 9999999999999 out of 9999999999999 times

This movie was cooler and made more sense than the other building bending/folding movie – Inception.  EAT THAT CHRISTOPHER NOLAN!!!!

So, what more do you need to know besides Cumberbendi and bendi-buildings?  Mads Mikkelsen is the sh!t?  If you didn’t know that already, you SADS Mikkelsen!!!

Verdictgo: Jeepers Mos Def Worth A Peepers

Doctor Strange plays at a normal theater near you

and until next thyme the balcony is clothed…

do the right thing today

and vote for the woman who can put up with Bill Clinton’s sh!t, cause if she can deal with that sh!t, she can deal with ANY sh!t

Kirk Cameron and Heather Langenkamp say ‘Let’s Go Europe‘, an episode of Growing Pains that aired on November 7, 1990

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European Vacation: The Facts of Life vs. Growing Pains