July 6, 2018
Dear Everyone:
Having a
Holiday in the middle of the week completely screws up my internal
calendar. The past two days
I’ve had to remind myself that “today is not Monday”, today is not
Tuesday”. It feels that way
because “Jeannie” and I went to a movie on Independence Day which this
year landed on a Wednesday.
We haven’t been to the movies in quite a while, but lately we’ve seen
two:
Jurassic
World: Fallen Kingdom
One good sequel deserves another…
Jurassic
Park:
Good story! Good
actors! Great special
effects!!! Made lots of
money!!!! Let’s do it
again!
And
again! And
again!
In
Jurassic World,
Bryce Dallas
Howard, as Operations Manager
Claire Dearing, proved that she could outrun a velociraptor in
stiletto heels. But
evidently, she didn’t learn her lesson.
This time she’s trying desperately to save the very dinosaurs
that tried to eat her the last time.
Chris Pratt
reprises his role as
Owen Grady, former Naval officer, who apparently engaged in a brief
relationship with Claire, which didn’t quite work out.
Ted Levine has a
field day as the
hardened mercenary who will stop at nothing to “earn” his bonus.
B.D. Wong,
of the original movie, is apparently going for the Guinness World Book
of Records for the number of sequels he can appear in.
James
Cromwell plays the necessary
Wealthy Guy to get everything going.
Add a dozen or so dinosaurs, transplant the whole kit-and-kaboodle to
Northern
California, and “press any key to continue”.
Just enjoy the popcorn and try not to let logic sneak in.
The original “Rat Pack”
was a journalistic reference to a group of loosely-associated people who
tended to congregate informally at the home of
Humphrey Bogart
and Lauren Bacall
in the 1950s. Occasional
members included
Errol Flynn, Lena
Horne, Ava
Gardner, Nat
King Cole,
Mickey Rooney,
Janet Leigh and
Tony Curtis, and so on…
When the same term was applied to
Frank Sinatra
and his group, they bristled at the “old-fashioned” reference,
preferring to call themselves “The Summit” or “The Clan”.
Nevertheless, when people hear the term “Rat Pack”, they think of
the singer and his cohorts.
Dean Martin,
Peter Lawford,
Sammy Davis, Jr.,
and Joey Bishop
comprised the “main group”.
“Mascots” included
Angie Dickinson,
Marilyn Monroe,
Juliet Prowse,
Shirley
MacLaine, etc.
When one of them was entertaining at a venue, like
Las Vegas or
New York,
there was always the “chance” that one or more of the others would
“spontaneously” drop in for an unexpected performance.
The audiences were thrilled.
Ticket sales shot up.
While Sinatra was the acknowledged leader of the group, it was actually
Bishop who did most of the organizing, making sure the right people
showed up at the correct place and time.
So, when they all decided to make a
picture in
Las Vegas, it was really just an excuse for the “Rat Pack: to romp
around. Decades later,
Henry Silva, one
of the “real” actors who helped carry the load, reminisced:
“Nobody slept! Nobody
slept!” Everyone filmed
during the day and caroused at night.
Lots of fun for everyone.
Fast-forward 40 years and somebody decided to do a
remake.
This time
Danny
Ocean, described by one character as “…a well-mannered shark” when
played by Frank Sinatra, was portrayed by
George Clooney.
Add Brad Pitt,
Andy Garcia,
Julia Roberts,
Matt Damon,
Don Cheadle,
etc., and the movie was almost guaranteed to be a hit.
In fact, it spawned multiple sequels.
It was only a matter of time before an
all-female
“spin-off” would happen.
Debbie Ocean, played by
Sandra Bullock,
is Danny Ocean’s sister. Not
that there was any reference to a sister that I ever heard.
Also, there is a reference to Danny Ocean being deceased, but
with a hint that he faked his own death.
Whatever. There has
to be an “Ocean” in it somewhere.
Throw in Cate
Blanchett as Debbie’s favorite partner-in-crime.
Add Anne
Hathaway as an unwitting dupe and you have four
Academy Award winners on set.
(Blanchett has two Oscars.
Hathaway won for proving she could sing and cry simultaneously in
Les
Misérables.)
The whole thing is based on Debbie’s desire for revenge and a touch of
sibling rivalry. Lots of
great clothes and jewelry. A
really big crowd scene inhabited by dozens of cameo appearances by
people famous for being famous.
Think Kim
Kardashian.
Just relax and enjoy the air conditioning.
As for the title, Ocean’s
Eight. Why Eight?
Because it takes eight women to do the work of eleven men.
Love, as always,
Pete
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