What are you watching? - 2025

I remember learning about it in HS, and thinking that conflict was never going to end.

Watched the 2016 movie Arrival (Paramount+) last night and thought it was very good over all. There were a few places where we would have liked more explanation about how certain things were accomplished (avoiding spoilers here), but Googling the film’s plot details helped with some of our questions. Solid performance by Amy Adams.

That was a fine film.

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Just saying that I appreciated the different subject matter and the setting, obviously realizing that it was a semi soap opera full of made up personal conflict as present day Guinness family has stated. I was interested in the Irish in NYC scenes and as I said my dad was born in Ireland (Belfast) and I still have family there although most moved south from Belfast into the republic. Death by Lightning was also an interesting very different story that captured my attention.

Also big thumbs up for Jay Kelly and The New Yorker at 100.

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That’s the one!

If there are any Counting Crows fans out there, HBO has an excellent documentary on them (Have You Seen Me Lately). I didn’t recognize Adam Durwitz without the dreadlocks :slightly_smiling_face: He had some serious mental health issues that he has overcome. I didn’t realize that he had dated Jennifer Anniston and Courtney Cox at some point.

Episode 2 and now we’re sure we don’t get this thing at all. Done!!!

I thought everyone had :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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We finished The Capture last night. Really enjoyed it, thanks for the recommendation!

Also watched last week’s SNL, which didn’t suck entirely for a change. Ashley Padilla is one to keep an eye on.

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I’m glad that you enjoyed The Capture!

I thought that the second season finale was quite satisfying.

It really was. The season was a bit confusing, TBH. I had to read up on it.

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You are doing a mitzvah introducing them to it.

It is one of those films that can be held up as one of, if not THE, acme of its particular genre. If you don’t like it, then you simply DO NOT like romantic comedies. But it is undeniably an exceptionally well executed bit of art. Very line read is just right. The timing is impeccable. The characters are engaging and appealing. It’s just about perfect.

Add Spinal Tap and Misery and Princess Bride and A Few Good Men… the guy hits home runs in disparate genres. Who else does that sort of thing? Kubrick? Ridley Scott?

That’s some damned fine company to keep.

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I know I’m a total outlier here, but I never ‘got’ Princess Bride.

Also I am excited to see it WHMS again. I’ve seen it many, many times, but it’s def been a while. So quotable. So New York. Everybody is SO YOUNG.

Great soundtrack, too.

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There’s a few of reasons Princess Bride is beloved.

  • It was written by William Goldman, based on his book. Goldman is an Oscar-winning writer (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President’s Men) so movie folks were already primed to give it a nod

  • The original book is written as if Goldman is abridging the work of another, older author, Morgenstern. According to the book, Goldman’s father read the book to him as a child, and when he picked it up as an adult, he found it super dull, because his father had left out all the ‘boring parts’ about politics and banquets and kissing. There was even a very meta joke where Goldman wanted to include a scene, his editor said no, but here’s an address you can write to if you want to read it. People wrote in and got a hilarious letter explaining why he couldn’t send it out. And over the years, further explanations were tacked on. It was pretty novel and amusing, esp for its time.

  • It’s exceptionally well made. Hilarious lines, fabulous timing , great performances. The book is a touch more cynical, but the film is so pure an earnest in its tone that it’s hard to dislike. It’s the Labrador retriever of movies. It just wants to live you and for you to love it.

  • fans of the book, of course, loved it. I, in particular, loved it because prior to the film, I was in a stage play version in college, itself adapted by abridging the novel. I played (among other roles), Yellin, the Weasley captain of the guard. (Indigo: Give is the gate key. Yellin: I have no key. Indigo: Fezzik, rip his arms off. Yellin: oh you mean THIS gate key!

  • finally, it is immensely quotable. Ex: “My name is Inigo Montoya!…” , basically Billy Crystal and Carole Kane’s entire sequence, etc.

Pick up the book. It’s great!

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IniGo! Thanks for that, I could not figure out that crossword clue in an old NYer.

No, I get that it has a cult-like following. Some of my best friends adore it. It just didn’t click with me the way other movies have, even after seeing it multiple times :woman_shrugging:

When I was a school librarian, I would occasionally show movies based on books, and The Princess Bride was the most popular with all the kids, 1st through 8th graders. Every student at our school could quote: “My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”

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You’re an academic though. Surely you had a laugh at the “teaching” scene and the lake house that somehow she could afford on her salary.