From The Desk of Daniel Dern
November 23, 2016
Dern spotted the British Version of the musical version of Groundhog Day. It is nice that some people have noticed my GHD obessesion). He sent along two other Bill Murray observations:
2) If you didn't see the recent THE JUNGLE BOOK, you should -- for you, because, if nothing else, Bill Murray voices Baloo (the bear), and yes, he and Mowgli do indeed sing "The Bear Necessities." Here they are doing it live on Jimmy Kimmel:.
Also from Dern: Watch the New York Public Library's Beautiful Reading Room Get Reshelved with Books and (SNL) movie trailer for Disney Bambi live-action sequel
Too late for theaters, but just in time for on-demand and DVDs from the Library, are some brief reviews from Daniel Dern (who also discovered Windows 9). Yes, I know I used to review these things myself, but I also used to eat a pound bag of M&Ms and drink a large bottle of Tab at one sitting—there are lots of things I used to do that I don’t do anymore.
Star Trek Beyond - I'm sure there are no shortage of plot holes, cavils, and legit criticisms, but I thought this movie was Just Fine. Gave us lots of what we want -- lingering looks at the Enterprise, space fights, (a reasonable amount of) snappy dialog. Recommended. Note, no 'post-credit end of movie 'Easter Egg.''
Deadpool - I'm sure you saw this in the theatre. (I didn't.) The BluRay version includes lots of bits that were left out because of too much cussin', violence, sex, etc., dramatically upping the humor level. If you haven't seen the BluRay, consider doing so.
The Jungle Book - I never read Kipling's stories this is based on, nor saw the Disney animated 'toon. This take was live/CGI, and quite well done.
The Legend of Tarzan - I see that the reviews were mixed, to say the least. I enjoyed it. Jane was played by Margot Robbie, who (of course, although I didn't remember until seeing the info online) played Dr. Harley Quinn in the recent Suicide Squad movie.
Brooklyn - A good historical (pre-WWII USA) movie with no villains, no chase scenes, no explosions.
Through the Looking Glass - Having just watched it courtesy of our library, I enjoyed it, and recommend it. In some ways it's better than Burton's previous Alice movie, although I can easily list what feels like some weak points in TtLGlass. Much of what I could say, I won't, because it would be spoilers. Here's what I will say: It's not a movie of Carroll's book. It does take place in that "universe," focusing on Alice, with many familiar characters. It's an action movie. It opens with explosions, and builds. It looks fabulous. The library disk had a good short feature on aspects of the costuming which give a better look at some of the details. And Sasha Baron Cohen has a great role and does it well. That's all I'm going to say, that should be enough.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets - Official Trailer #1 (2017)