Movie Time: Wicked - For Good

It's Movie Time!

Last weekend, we embarked from the Fortress Ineptitude to go to see a movie.

The "we" in question was yours truly, Dave-El plus wife Andrea, son Dean and friend Jan.

The "movie" in question was Wicked - For Good.

(Rosie the Dog did not go because she didn't want to take the chance of seeing that bitch Toto.)

It's been a year since we ventured out to see part one of Wicked. 

And it's been a year since  Elphaba defied the Wizard of Oz. 

Elphaba has been busy fighting for animal rights in the Kingdom of Oz, animals who are being ostracized and tormented under the Wizard's iron fist rule.   

Elphaba's efforts to fight for noble causes is undermined by Madame Morrible's propaganda machine that has labeled our emerald hued sorceress "the Wicked Witch of the West".  

Meanwhile, Glinda is the kind, pretty face of the Wizard's kingdom, a bright and smiling epitome of all that is good to counter all that is wicked.   

Wicked - For Good brings us to a dark place, metaphorically and sometimes literally.  There are a couple of scenes where I wonder if director Jon M. Chu ran out of budget for light bulbs.

This is a problem not unique to this movie. A lot of recent films have had night scenes that are so dark, it is difficult to know what's going. I understand eschewing the hokiness of "day for night" shooting and embracing the realism of shooting in the actual dark but let's not lose sight of , well, not losing our sight. We still need to see what's going on.

I think Elphaba and Fiyero may have had a love scene.  It was hard to tell.  

Speaking of darkness, going to the movies should be an escape from the dark times we're living in. But listening to Jeff Goldblum's Wizard talk about people believing what you tell them to believe made me thing of a certain orange skinned wannabe tyrant and his idiot cult and damn it! I paid good money to get away from that shit. 

Sigh!  

Take a deep breath.

...

...

Back to the movie...

If all you know about the kingdom of Oz is from the movie The Wizard of Oz, some stuff might throw you.

A tornado does rip a farmhouse out of Kansas and drop it on Elphaba's sister, Nessarose. 

But this is no mere accident. Madame Morrible summoned the tornado for the express purpose of putting Nessarose in danger to lure Elphaba into a trap.  

Nessarose's shoes wind up on Dorothy's feet but they are still silver.  Apparently in the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the shoes were silver and were only made red for The Wizard of Oz. It seems MGM owns the rights to the ruby red slippers so Universal's Wicked - For Good sticks with the shoe hue from the book.  

Dorothy does accumulate some strange friends along the way down the Yellow Brick Road but at least two of them (the Cowardly Lion and the Tin Woodsman) have serious beef with Elphaba, blaming her for being what they are.  As for the Scarecrow, we will discover by the end he has a more sympathetic understanding of Elphaba. 

Speaking of Dorothy....

She's not really in this movie.  We see her from behind and from a distance and what not which is apparently more than we see of her in the stage play Wicked.  In the play, she's talked about but never seen save for a silhouette at the end when she takes out Elphaba with a bucket of water.

Wicked - For Good echoes that sequence for the movie.

I had guessed the ending of the movie but I avoided reading about the play in order to not completely spoil it for myself. 

SPOILER

Dorothy does NOT kill the "Wicked WItch of the West" with a bucket of water. Elphaba stages her death with a good old fashioned magic trick involving smoke and a trap door. 

Meanwhile, Glinda struggles with her role in Madame Morrible's propaganda casting Glinda as Glinda the Good vs. Elphaba's Wicked Witch of the West. But by the end of the movie, Glinda is fierce as she confronts the Wizard with the depths of his sins (the woman he ordered killed was his own daughter) and tells him he's gonna hop in his balloon and leave Oz. 

And Glinda's final confrontation with Madame Morrible is epic with Glinda hurling Morrible's insults back at her and sending flying monkeys to carry her scheming ass to a prison cell.

So our movie ends at the end which is where it began a year ago in Wicked part one: Glinda finishes telling her story to the Munchkins.  

Glinda's in charge now and she's she going to be ruler who is good. For example, she restores Animal rights and they get their voices back. 

Elphaba and Fiyero (who is now the Scarecrow) leave Oz. 

So.... what's the verdict?

As my son Dean said, this did not need to be two movies.

Well, I'm not sure what director Jon Chu would've left on the cutting room floor to make this work as one movie but Wicked - For Good does feel less like a movie and more like an extended third act of the movie we started last year.  

A lot of what made Wicked so charming was the interaction, the chemistry between Ariana Grande (Glinda) and Cynthia Erivo (Elphaba) which is missing in Wicked - For Good. The needs of the story keep them mostly separated but the scenes they do share crackle with energy and, dare I say it, passion. 

(Yes, you Glinda/Elphaba shippers are going to be disappointed.)

As a movie in and of itself, Wicked - For Good may be found lacking.  But I think it succeeds in bringing the Wicked saga in for a relatively satisfactory landing.  

A landing I think that would have had more power and resonance if it was part of a single whole instead of being doled out in parts.  

Your Friday Video Link: It's A Me, Silvia!

A frequent visitor to my Tik Tok For You Page is It's a Me, Silvia!

It's a series of totally nonsensical sketches perpetrated by a strange woman named "Silvia".   

Your Friday Video Link#1 is Silvia as a super villain.

And her henchperson.

And her secret agent arch nemesis. 

Your Friday Video Link#2 is Silvia as the absolute worst flight attendant.   

Your Friday Video Link#3 is Silvia as an incredibly clueless TV news anchor person.   

Your Friday Video Link#4?  Silvia dies!

Finally, Your Friday Video Link#5 is Silvia decorating for Christmas!  

It's a me, Silvia can be found on Instagram.  

That's all for this week's Your Friday Video Link!

Movie Time is up tomorrow as we journey to the land of Oz> It's Wicked - For Good!  

Until next time, remember to be good to one another.  

The Legend of the Long Streaker

 

My wife Andrea and son Dean are both seeking to expand their knowledge with learning another language using the app called Duolingo.

Both of them have committed themselves to practicing on this app everyday, developing their understanding of Spanish.

Recently, Dean received an encouraging post from Duolingo offering kudos and congrats for staying with the program for such a length of time.

It seems to me that a language app could find a better way to comment on a long streak than to call someone a "long streaker".

I want to express my pride in my wife and son for their respective efforts to expand their language skills and their dedication to do this every day.

It is, however, NOT an excuse to run naked through the streets.

It's not the 1970's, you know.  

Journeys With Food and the End of K&W

A frequent visitor to my Tik Tok For You Page is Dylan Huynh who apparently eats food for a living.

Nice gig, if you can get it.  

He posts videos on trying various kinds of restaraunts:

• diners along Route 66.
• comparing chain breakfast places (IHOP vs. Waffle House vs. Cracker Barrel, etc etc)
• fast food restaraunts 
• knock offs of fast food restaraunts 
• theme restaurants

And so on and so forth. Dylan's videos are fun and I appreciate his enthusiasm even if a particularly eatery does not meet his expectations.  

Here is a video Dylan making comparisons of the most expensive buffets in Las Vegas.

I wonder if cafeterias count as buffets.

If so, I would have been interested in Dylan's assessment of K&W.

But sadly that will not be happening now.

After being in business for 88 years, K&W shut down immediately as of Monday, December 1st.  

I really feel sad that K&W is gone.

I feel bad that I have not eaten at K&W in what, maybe over 25 years or so? 

I remember K&W being very cost effective and with a nice selection of different kinds of food.

Of course, with theTirzepatide injection I now take each week curbing my appetite, I'm not sure how far I would get out of K&W's extensive and varied serving line. 

I remember one factor that caused me some stress going to K&W was the "Whachermeat" lady. As you advanced through the line, a woman responsible for doling out whatever meat was on the menu, she would call out "Whachermeat" to people back in the line before you could see what the meat was.

My wife Andrea grew up in Greensboro and frequently dined at K&W with her grandparents when she was a child.  So the loss of K&W is particularly poignant for her.    

When I used to go to K&W, I was among the youngest people there.  

Now that I've aged into the average demographic for K&W customers, they are no longer around.

Well, that's kind of a bummer.

And I'm sorry Dylan Huynh won't get to try it. I would've loved to hear his review of K&W.  

Tuesday TV Touchbase: Time For Crime

This week on the Tuesday TV Touchbase, it's TIME FOR CRIME!

I don't follow Law & Order every single week but I do check in occassionally.

The o.g. L&O had a shake up in the cast when the black guy who used to be on Supergirl was replaced by another black guy who used to be on Supergirl.

Mehcad Brooks (who was James Olsen on Supergirl) left his role as Det. Jalen Shaw after 3 years at the end of season 24.  Apparently the decision to leave was so sudden, Reid Scott's Det. Vincent Riley did not have a partner for the first episodes of season 25. 

Maura Tierney's Lt. Jessica Brady would join Riley in the field which was not a bad thing. One of the things that even remotely keeps me interested in this revival of L&O after it's wobbly and disastrous start is adding Maura Tierney to the cast as the squad lieutenant.  Anything that gives us more time with Maura Tieney is fine by me.  

Eventually, Riley gets a partner in the form of Det. Theo Walker played by David Ajala.  Ajala was the villianous Manchester Black on Supergirl and also had a run on Star Trek: Discovery.  

Ajala also joins Hugh Dancy's Assistant D.A. Nolan Price as another Brit taking jobs from 'Mericans! Damn their flawless American accents! 

One series in the L&O franchise that I have not followed in the past is Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. I understand the show is very popular but I find it difficult to engage with a show made for purposes of entertainment but on the premise of investigating crimes of sexual violence.  

But the unbiquitous nature of L&O: SVU reruns are hard to avoid and the enticing nature of certain guest stars engaged my curiousity and so I started sampling some episodes.

Like when Martin Short was a perp!

What the hell? Oliver Putnam from Only Murders In the Building as a Law & Order bad guy? One of The Three Amigos as a sex fiend? Really?

Gotta give it up from Martin Short who was very convincing in his smarmy incidious role on L&O: SVU.

I get why fans of L&O: SVU just love Mariska Hargitay as Olivia Benson, detective turned squad captain. She has this uncanny ability to balance being a tough kick ass cop with a devoted compassion and fierce advocacy for the victims who come to her squad.  

All that being said, the subject matter of L&O: SVU leaves me feeling very uncomfortable. Which I suppose is the point.  But how the more devoted fans of L&O: SVU can just watch episode after episode, I just don't get it.  

I'm reluctant to list Leverage in this post as it is not a crime show, per se.  The people that the Leverage team go after frequently have not technically broken the law but these people of wealth, power and influence are guilty of fucking over some hapless individual or entity that does NOT have wealth, power and influence. 

Andrea and I are halfway season 2. 

Each episode is an elaborate con job to get some entitled prick to want to add to their already considerable wealth, power and influence only to fuck themselves over.  

The individuals of the Leverage team have strong established personalities and the show loves challenging them by forcing them into to roles outside their comfort zones.  Like Hardison, super tech wizard, would rather be safe at base behind a keyboard hacking some fucker's security or bank accounts but danged if team leader Nathan keeps finding excuses to put him in the field.

Or Parker, weird and quirky as hell, she is extraordinarily gifted at breaking in to anything and escaping from anywhere but she has the social skills of a brick.  So of course she winds up stuck having to engage someone in a "normal" conversation and she has few clues as to how to do that. 

Leverage is fun and often funny but also a cathartic release to see the rich and powerful being held to account.  

I can't discuss crime shows without mentioning that Andrea and I are still plowing through Hudson & Rex.  Over the Thanksgiving holiday, the cable channel UP TV ran a three day marathon and now our DVR is straining under the weight of umpteen episodes of Hudson & Rex. 

We will not be watching episodes after John Reardon's unceremonious exit from the show when producers fired him after his recovery from cancer during season 7. 

Until we reach the time of that despicable decision, Andrea and I have a LOT of Hudson & Rex to get through.  

Not much to say here but just a reminder I have watching random episodes of Sue Thomas: F.B. Eye, this odd duck of a crime show about a deaf female FBI agent to solves crimes along with her hearing ear dog Levi.  

It is the least offensive crime show you will ever see. Unless you're put off by some of the agents' Pro-America gingoism. 

And that is that for this week's Touchbase.

Coming up on future editions of the Touchbase.   

• Brilliant Minds 
• Stranger Things
• Peacemaker

Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.   

Punishable By Rant

The Whiny Bitch In Chief has been busy lately.

Donald Trump has been particularly testy with female journalists, responding to inquiries from female women of the opposite sex with "Quiet, piggy!" and "Are you stupid?" 

But just to show Li'l Donnie can be an equal opportunity offender, he called Minnesota Governor Tim Walz "retarded".

And for good measure, der Führer went and called for a group of Democrat Congresspersons to be put to death.

Gee, is Donnie okay?  

The habitually grumpy Donald Trump seems to be even grumpier that usual.  The problem is der Führer keeps butting heads with stuff that does not accept his version of reality.

Trump keeps insisting prices are going down. People can fucking SEE that prices are going up. When confronted with questions about that, Li'l Donnie gets all petulant and insists he's is right and everyone else is wrong, prices are going down and why the hell can't we appreciate all he has done to bring down prices? 

der Führer keeps declaring victory over solving a bunch of wars and why nobody gives him credit for that.  One of those wars he "solved", Israel vs. Hamas, still has Israel lobbing missiles at Gaza.  

Trump is lobbing American missiles at fishing boats off the coast of Venezuela.  His version is he's protecting America from narco terrorists who have declared war on the United States using drugs.  

There is a distinct possibility these fishing boats are carrying drugs but there is no evidence any of this is true. But it gives Pete Hegseth who is just itching to blow shit up an excuse to blow shit up.   

Hegeth's reasoning for blowing up fishing boats? Because Trump said so.

Trump's reasoning for blowing up fishing boats?  Because he said so. 

Fun Fact: the President can't just blow shit up because he said so. There has to be some verifiable evidence or intelligence that there is a legitimate threat to American interests.  Evidence and intelligence that neither Trump or any of his boot licking minions have bothered to provide.

Meanwhile, a group of Democrat Congress persons who have also served in the military made a short video to remind those who serve in the military that they swore an oath to the Constitution and also have a legal responsibility to not follow illegal orders. 

These Democrats did not mention anyone by name or even specify any recent orders that may be construed as illegal. They merely stated a factual truth: troops do not have to follow illegal orders. It's the law.

der Führer immediately took offense and declared these Democrat Congress people to be traitors and guilty of sedition which is punishable by DEATH! 

Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona was part of that group and Pete Hegseth has singled him out by threatening to recall the retired Marine to active duty so he can be punished for treason or some shit.  

Meanwhile, Li'l Donnie keeps insisting American cities run by Democrat mayors are burning cesspools of unrelenting crime and violence despite the lack of cesspools burning or otherwise infested with rampant crime and/or violence. 

Trump says sending the National Guard to Washington DC removed ALL crime. Which was a surprise to the two National Guard troops who were shot last week.  Trump immediately blamed Biden for the Afghan national who shot them.  

Yeah, the guy came here in 2024 when Biden was President.

But he was granted asylum in 2025 while Trump is President.

Trump claimed there was NO vetting done on this person which was Biden's fault. But what about the vetting to grant asylum that should've been done this year?

Nope! Biden's fault! 

And anyone who dares ask about this is STUPID!  

Especially any women who ask about this.

Meanwhile, Trump decided to go after Somalians because.... it's their turn on his Wheel O' Hate?

Minnesota has a significant population of people from Somolia who have lived in America for decades.  They are all here under legal protections granted by the United States and many have gone on to become full on American citizens.  

Trump insists there are roving gangs of Somalians rampaging across Minnesotas where good people are are quivering in fear behind locked doors and under their blankets, afraid to venture outdoors or WHAM! get attacked by Somalians.  

Trump's logic is that Somolia is a shithole country beset by crime and violence and I guess that people from Somolia bring that crime and violence with them or something? 

The reason so many Somolians call the United States home is that know first hand that their native land is shithole country beset by crime and violence and are very grateful to be here away from the crime and violence.

Anyway, Dementia Don is convinced Somolians are on a reign of terror against Minnesota and the state's Democrat governor, Tim Walz, is too "retarded" to do anything about it.  

By the way, the use of this slur against Gov. Walz has cost Trump the support of a Republican in Indiana. The Republican led state legislature is scheduled to take up the issue of redrawing their voting district maps to add a few extra Republican seats to the U.S. House of Representatives.  

Indiana state Sen. Michael Bohacek, who has a daughter with Down's syndrome, took exception to Trump's offensive language and announced he will NOT vote in favor of redistricting.  

Well, gee Mr. Stable Genius, I hope insulting a Democrat is worth losing Republican support. 

And this is only some of the insane bullshit that has come out of Donald Trump.

Is this part of that cognitive decline we've all seen coming from miles away for years now?

Is Donnie okay?

Or is this lying, petulant, bullying, unintelligent, sociopathic, dishonorable, treasonous, gutless, moronic, heartless, soulless, slimy, loathsome, vile, incompetent, psychotic, crooked, disgusting, reprehensible, revolting, horrible, malicious, obnoxious, hateful, small minded, despicable god damn, motherfucking piece of shit just being himself?

Movie Time: Detour

It's Movie Time! 

Today's post is about a film noir that was released on this day 80 frickin' years ago. 

Wow! Time flies when you're caught in a web of deceit, betrayal, questionable life choices and.... murder!

From 1945, this is... Detour!

Meet Al Roberts, a struggling musician hitchhiking his way across America from New York City to Hollywood.

A woman done did him wrong and Al is determined to done did it right by following her out west.

Flashback time: Al Roberts was a piano player in a nightclub and Sue Harvey was the club's lead singer. Al and Sue are young and in love and life is good, at least for Al.

Sue thinks she can do better than schlepping as a singer in a two bit night club in New York City. So she books it for California to become a movie star.  

Al remains in the Big Apple all mopey and depressed then decides to fuck it all, quit his job and it's westward ho, young man!

Questionable Life Choice #1:  Al embarks on this journey with no money and no plan. It's thumb out and relying on the kindness of strangers to haul his butt as far west as he can git. 

Which is Arizona where a bookie named Charles Haskell Jr. gives Al a lift.  Charlie is on his way to Los Angeles to bet on a horse. 

Charlie is always popping pills for an unspecified medical condition.  While taking a turn behind the wheel, Al is unable to get Charlie to wake up.  Pulling over the car, Al opens the passenger side door and Charlie tumbles out, hitting his head on a rock.   

While it seems clear that Charlie died in his sleep, probably from a heart attack, Al is worried the blow to Charlie's head on the rock is going to make the police think Al killed Charles Haskell Jr.

I mean, yeah, the blow to the head will look kind of suss but an autopsy will show Charlie was dead from a heart attack before his skull collided with the rock.

But...

Questionable Life Choice #2:  Al hides the body in the brush and takes the dead man's clothes, money and ID, driving off to Los Angeles.  

All Al has to do is keep his head down, stay out of trouble, abandon the car somewhere outside of L.A. and proceed on his reunion with Sue. 

Questionable Life Choice #3: he picks up a hitchhiker, who gives her name as Vera.  She knows Al isn't Charles Haskell Jr. because damn the luck, she had hitched ride several states back with the real Charles Haskell Jr. He tried to rape her but she got away from him. So she knows the fucker she's with now ain't Charlie.

Questionable Life Choice #4: Al tells Vera what happened to Charles Haskell Jr. and she now uses that information to blackmail him into giving her all of Charlie's money plus whatever dough they can get from selling his car. 

Seems to me that Vera does not quite have the leverage Al thinks she has and could just very well drive off and leave her scheming ass by the side of the road.

But he doesn't. 

Questionable Life Choice #5: In Hollywood, they rent an apartment, posing as Mr. and Mrs. Haskell, because they need to provide an address when they sell the car. 

So "the Haskells" have a record of renting an apartment. This will come back to bite Al.  

But before Al can make the sale, Vera learns that were there was a Charles Haskell Jr., there is a Charles Haskell Sr. who is weathy, old and dying and looking to reconcile with his long lost son before he kicks the bucket.

Vera thinks Al could keep up the charade of being Charles Haskell Jr. and go claim Charles Haskell Sr's big bucks when he croaks.  

Al doesn't think this plan will work. Charles Haskell Sr. may be old and sick but come on, the man will know is own son and Al will NOT know stuff about Junior that the elder man will ask about.  

Questionable Life Choice #6: In a drunken rage, Vera argues that the plan will work and if Al doesn't cooperate, she's gonna call the police. To back up her threat, she runs into the bedroom with the telephone and locks the door.  

Vera passes out on the bed with the phone cord around her neck. From the other side of the door, Al pulls on the cord to try to disconnect the phone. When he breaks down the door, he discovers he has inadvertently strangled Vera.

What the fuck! Really?

Remember the whole reason Al embarked on this ill conceived misadventure in the first place? Yeah, he gives up on the idea that he and Sue will ever be a thing again and hits the road once more, hitching a ride to anywhere, nowhere.

Sitting in a diner in Reno, Nevada, Al hears on the news that Charles Haskell Jr. is wanted in connections with the murder of "his wife".  (Yeah, that apartment rental record back in Hollywood.)  

The film ends with Al imagining his inevitable arrest.

The Motion Picture Production Code did not allow murderers to get away with their crimes. That box gets checked off when the film ends with a police car picking Al up after he has his imagined flash forward to being arrested.  

Clocking in at a mere 68 minutes, Detour packs in a LOT of drama, crime and very Questionable Life Choices. (I counted 6 but I was being kind. The number is way higher.)    

It also also gained a considerable reputation among fans of film noir as perhaps the most bleak and nihilistic film noir thriller ever made.

Detour is a swirling nightmare of paranoia, death and despair.

Director Edgar G. Ulmer made this movie cheap and he made it fast.

• Shooting schedule:  six days
• Cast:  seven actors
• One outdoor desert location
• Six minimally furnished indoor sets. 
• New York City is a streetlamp on a fog-enshrouded sound stage
• Los Angeles is a drive-in restaurant and a used car lot. 

Ann Savage plays the venomous Vera and delivers what has been described as the most frightening femme fatale in the history of film noir.  Columbia had plans for Ann Savage in more glamorous roles but she was relegated to grade-B pictures.  

As luckless as Al Roberts is in Detour, the story of the man who played him is also frought with drama and questionable life choices.  Here is some of the shit that went down with actor Tom Neal.  

• an affair with Inez Martin, mistress of the notorious racketeer Aaron Rothstein
• Three failed marriages
• In 1951, Tom Neal got into a terrible fistfight with Franchot Tone. Tone was beaten unconscious and rushed to the hospital with a fractured cheekbone, broken nose, and brain concussion. 
• His acting career shot all to hell after that fight, Neal started a landscaping business that ended in bankruptcy.
• In 1965, he was accused of murdering his third wife, Gail Evatt, with a .45 caliber pistol. Neal was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to ten years in prison. 
• Eight months after he was paroled in 1972, Tom Neal died of congestive heart failure.

In 1992, Detour was selected for the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Pretty good outcome for a film about  questionable life choices made fast and cheap.

_______________________

Next Saturday, Movie Time returns to the 21st century.

It's time for Wicked: For Good.  

Movie Time: Soylent Green

I hope you had a chance to gather with family and/or friends to indulge in the yearly food fest known as Thanksgiving. I hope your table was blessed with food of sufficient quantity and quality.  

I guess we should be thankful we still have access to real food and not fabricated food substitute wafers made from...

Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

It's.... Movie Time!

This week's cinematic post takes us back to 1973 for a film set in a dystopian future beset by a catastrophic climate, over population, wealth inequity and food shortages.

Was that a move I saw or was I just watching CNN?

Nope, it's a movie from 1973 starring Charlton Heston which combines science fiction elements with a crime procedural.

This is Soylent Green.  

In the future year of 2023, life on Earth sucks!

The compounding effects overpopulation, global warming, and pollution are pushing humanity towards extinction.

The population of the planet is 20 billion.

40 million of them are crammed into New York City.  

It's a hell of a great city to live... if you're rich.

The elite can afford spacious apartments, security, clean water and real food. 

These apartments come with concubines, sex workers who have no citizenship or right and are considered "furniture".

New York City is just plain hell if you're not rich.     

The poor live in whatever squalid corner they can find, use irradiated water from communal spigots, and eat highly processed and often toxic wafers: Soylent Red, Soylent Yellow.

Good news! The latest wafers taste better, have more nutritional value and are less likely to poison you: Soylent Green.

NYPD detective Robert Thorn lives with his aged friend Sol Roth, a brilliant former college professor and police analyst.

Thorn is investigating the murder of the wealthy and influential William R. Simonson, a board member of the Soylent Corporation. Since the rich are supposed to have top of the line security, Thorns suspects this murder was a professional hit, an assassination.  

With the help of Simonson's concubine Shirl, his investigation leads to a priest whom Simonson had visited shortly before his death. Because of the sanctity of the confessional, the visibly exhausted priest can only hint to Thorn at the contents of the confession. 

For his trouble, the priest is also murdered.

Wow! Thorn has a doozy of a case on his hands.

Too bad he's been told to let it go.

Under direction from Governor Henry C. Santini, Thorn's superiors order him to end the investigation. 

Thorn is a classic archetype of movie detectives who will doggedly refuse to let go of a case even when told to do so by those in authority. 

Simonson's murder hints at something big and sinister and Thorn will be damned if he's just going to let it go. 

Driven by a need for order in a world in chaos.

Driven by a need for justice in a world increasingly without care.

Driven by a need to just know the answers in a world with too many questions. 

Roth is helping Thorn with research, reviewing some books that Thorn retrieved from Simonson's apartment: the Soylent Oceanographic Survey Report, 2015–2019.

The oceanographic reports that the oceans are dying and can no longer produce the plankton from which Soylent Green is made. Which begs the question: what the hell is Soylent Green made from?

The answer to that question was especially disturbing to Simonson and it appears the Soylent Corporation had him killed to keep him quiet.  

Roth is so bothered by these discoveries that he chooses assisted suicide at a government clinic.  Thorn tries to stop his old friend but he's too late. 

Thorn becomes more determined than ever to find proof of  the Soylent Corporation's crimes against humanity. 

Thorn secretly boards a waste truck transporting human bodies from the euthanasia center to a waste-disposal plant, where he witnesses human corpses being processed into....

Well, you know where this is going, right?

Thorn is discovered by Soylent's guards and he barely gets away. Thorns escapes to a church crowded with the indigent poor while Soylent sends a cadre of assassins in pursuit.  Thorn kills his attackers but is severely wounded.   

As paramedics tend to the injured Thorn, he shouts to the surrounding crowd, "Soylent Green is people!"

Gee, Dave-El, how about a spoiler alert or something. 

Look, Charlton Heston's frantic revelation is ingrained in pop culture and has been referenced, homaged and parodied countless times. The first time I watched Soylent Green, I already knew "Soylent Green is people!" from sheer pop culture osmosis.

Knowing about this film and watching this film are two different things and when I sat down to actually watch Soylent Green  from beginng to end, I was not fully prepared for the visceral power of the world this movie creates.  

Yes, we may have successfully kept this planet alive up to and past the year 2022 but watching Soylent Green, I can't help but fear that the world we live in is precariously balanced and would not take much to tip it over into the dystopian hellscape delivered by this movie.

The United States is under the leadership of a man and a political party that puts corporate greed over the ideals of human compassion and dignity.  This is leadership that sees climate change as a hoax and hinderous to economic and political power.  It seems we are too close from turning Soylent Green from a science fiction movie into a damnable documentary. 

About that movie...

The role of Sol Roth is the final film performance of Edgar G, Robinson. The scene of Roth entering the government run euthanasia center  to end his life was done under the shadow of Robinson's own mortality: the long time actor from the Golden Age of Hollywood was dying of cancer.  

The poignant scene where Thorn says goodbye to Roth was also Charlton Heston saying goodbye to Edgar G. Robinson. Those tears were real.  

Soylent Green is powerful and gut wrenching in it's unflinching look at a world where everything than can do wrong is going wrong and the frustrating request of one man to find some small measure of justice in such a world.

Charlton Heston had a reputation for a being an over the top actor but this inclination serves Heston well in his approach to Thorn, one last man who actually gives an actual fuck in a crazy dying world with no fucks left to give.  

In 1973, Soylent Green  won the Nebula Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film.

If nothing else, in the wake of Thanksgiving, Soylent Green makes you thankful that our world isn't quite that bad yet.

And fearful of how close we can be to that kind of world.  

___________________

Coming up on future editions of Movie Time:

tomorrow, a film noir from 1945. 

Next Saturday, Wicked: For Good.

Followed by a 2025 Pixar film and (believe it or not) K-Pop Demon Hunters!

Your Friday Video Link: Skywriting!

The theme for today's edition of Your Friday Video Link: SKYWRITING!!!

First off, the science of skywriting!

Next up, this skywriting pilot has an important question.

Finally, Batman challenges the villainous Shame with the world's longest skywriting message.

Let me end this post with a heartfelt message

And who doesn't?

Back with Movie Time tomorrow!

Remember to be good to one another.   

Thanksgiving Goes To the Birds!

Today is Thanksgiving which is also known as Turkey Day.

Because people tend to eat turkey on Thanksgiving.

Not here at the Fortress of Ineptitude where I'll be serving up a roast chicken and some beef brisket. Turkey is not on the menu.

A turkey who is not on the menu is this turkey named "Goose" who has become a family pet. Goose is a frequent visitor to my Tik Tok "for you page".  

From a turkey named "Goose" to actual geese, here is an animated sequence from Dropout TV where a knight seeks to impress a king.

The king is not so much impressed as horrified.

For animated shenanigans from Dropout TV with Andrea's favorite bit with Sam Reich tormenting Brennan Lee Milligan with a simple game of "Name That Bird".

Happy Thanksgiving to all and remember to be good to one another.  

And Lo There Shall Come No Bananas

 

Uh oh! Yes, we have no bananas!

Also meaning yes we have no blog post.

The blog will be back tomorrow with a Thanksgiving post for the birds and Your Friday Video Link will follow the day after that.

And look for Movie Time on Saturday!

Remember to be good to one another! 

Tuesday TV Touchbase: It's Funny Because It's True

There's a saying in comedy: it's funny because it's true.

And in our current political climate, it has fallen to comedians to keep us apprised of the truth of what's going on in our world.

Today's Tuesday TV Touchbase will look at some of those programs that I watch for laughs and, sadly, the truth.

Have I Got News For You on CNN is a panel show hosted by Roy Wood Jr and features Amber Ruffin, Michael Ian Black and 2 other guests.  The discussion of the week's events are centered around trivia contests and other games.

• "What's the Story?": Wood shows the teams clip packages referencing a major news story from the last week and they have to tell him what they refer to.
• "Offend-O-Meter": Teams receive pictures from an index and have to guess who they are, what they did, and whom they offended.
• "Missing Words": Wood gives the teams headlines with keywords excised and they have to fill in the blanks.
• "Odd One Out": Teams have to guess which picture out of four does not belong.
• "Lie-Curious": Teams are given three biographical statements and are asked which is true.
• "Meet in the Middle": Panellists decide which people share a common characteristic.
• "Caption Contest": Wood gives the teams pictures and asks them to caption them.

Think NPR's Wait! Wait! Don't Tell Me but it's on TV.

Here is a compilation clip from Have I Got News For You.

Based on the long running British show of the same name, Have I Got News For You is laugh out loud funny and depressingly accurate about the shit we have to put up with.

"Laugh out loud funny and depressingly accurate about the shit we have to put up with" can also be applied to Late Night With Seth Meyers  and Seth's "A Closer Look" segment.  

Donald Trump calls for Seth to be fired citing his lack of talent and poor ratings.

Seth gleefully relays Donnie's threats and gets comedy gold out of it. 

I am a little worried about Seth.  Much like the Paramount/CBS debacle from earlier this year that led to Colbert's cancellation notice, NBC Universal is in the middle of a deal that needs FCC approval and the chairman of the NBC is not at all shy about exerting the authority of his agency to make der Führer happy.

I also follow The Daily Show for my combo of comedy + tragedy.  While the big draw is Jon Stewart who anchors the show on Monday nights, I'm a big fan of when Desi Lydic and Josh Johnson take on hosting duties behind the big desk.  

What is it about hot chicks wearing neckties? Or is it just me?

I like Josh Johnson a lot, about what, 1,000%?

I don't follow Last Week Tonight With John Oliver regularly. John takes a half hour to skewer the same news Seth does in 10 minutes and my ADHD brain thinks that's too long. 

But when I do bring myself to invest the time to watch one of these episodes, John inevitably gets me laughing but I am also impressed by the level of research that goes into making sure his segments are accurate. It's like watching a 60 Minutes segment except to add in jokes.  

Jimmy Kimmel Live! is still going on despite efforts of Donald Trump and his supplicant FCC chairman to kill it.  

Donald Trump calls for Jimmy to be fired citing his lack of talent and poor ratings.

Jimmy gleefully relays Donnie's threats and gets comedy gold out of it. 

Yeah,  there was that close call when Jimmy was pulled off the air for a few days and damn, it looked like Li'l Donnie had wished really hard and it came true.

Then people started cancelling their Disney+ subscriptions and shit, this is costing Disney real money.

Jimmy was back!

YAY! For freedom of speech! And capitalism.  

Jimmy and his writers come up with some of the best nicknames for Donald Trump.  Here are a few of them.  

• Napoleon Bone-Aspur
• R. Smelly
• Fiberace
• Commander-In-Thief
• Nostra-Dumbass
• El Pork-Choppo
• Count Flatula
• Founding Farter
• Teddy Dozevelt
• Dopey McGropey
• Lepre-Con Man
• Al Ca-Porn
• Julius Squeezer

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert is still on it's death march to a May 2026 date with cancellation despite being the highest rated show on late night network TV and winning an Emmy for best late night show this year.

The official word from CBS is the show costs too much and the ratings are not that great.

It's just a coincidence that the CBS owner Paramount is owned by David Ellison who is a right wing billionaire buddy of Donald Trump who  (you guessed it)....

Donald Trump calls for Stephen to be fired citing his lack of talent and poor ratings.

Stephen gleefully relays Donnie's threats and gets comedy gold out of it. Even if it puts him on the unemployment line.

Colbert might be a dead man walking as it were to his May 2026 cancellation fate but it has not stopped him from mining Trump's lack of competence, ethics and intelligence for wickedly incisive jokes in his monologue.  

Stephen Colbert has been nothing but gracious and professional throughout this ordeal, making him a far better man than the thin skinned orange ogre who can't fucking take a joke.

Let's move on to Saturday Night Live  which in our advancing ages, Andrea and I still watch when it's new. We persevere through sketches about pop culture phenomena we don't understand and musical guests we've never heard of until we get to Weekend Update with Colin Jost and Michael Che.

Jost and Che are funny and ascerbic in their jokes about whatever bullshit Trump and his acolytes been up to but it's hard when Seth Meyers and the Daily Show gang has already done a lot of damage to der Führer during the week already.

Thankfully Colin and Michael can turn on a dime because Trump is churning out bullshit on Truth Social 24/7 and he doesn't take weekends off.  

One night we didn't have to wait until after midnight to get to Colin. Here's the cold open when Colin plays Pete Hegseth.

"OUR MILITARY IS GAY AS HELL!!"  

I call Colin Jost Andrea's boyfriend which Andrea does not care for but it's OK if I can get Scarlett Johansen in the bargain. 

Getting under der Führer's fat wrinkly thin orange skin is 

James Austin Johnson who does Donald Trump on the show. 

FUN FACT:  Johnson began his acting career starring in independent Christian films. (He's moved on from that.) 

Johnson's take on Trump is less a caricature and more of a fully evolved character who revels in his insane excesses and slips into occassional lapses of realizing how fucked up he's made everything then lapses back into not caring about that. 

Johnson is good at other stuff besides Trump.  Check out this sketch where Johnson plays an airline pilot with questionable life choices that he shares with the passengers.

If you can ignore Nikki Glaser botching her lines, I thought that was a very funny sketch due to James Austin Johnson's deadpan delivery.  

OK, that is that for this week's Tuesday TV Touchbase.  

Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.