Big Blue Huddle

I enjoyed Reacher very much. The Terminal List was OK, but, to me, it really got a bit silly about 3/4 of the way thru.

 I am old and I am a native NYer, who was a HUGE Brooklyn Dodger fan. For sure, I hated the Yankees and still do. In my youth, when the Dodgers and Giants were playing in the National League together, I hated the Giants as much as I hated the Yankees. I wasn't around for the 'Shot Heard Round The World' Bobby Thompson's Home Run to win the pennant for the Giants. ( I was around but I was 5 and really didn't know much then).

But in those days baseball was king in NY> (yes the football Giants were good then, but always took a backseat to baseball). We had it all in NY. Really 3 teams that could win it all at any time, and we had the 'star' players to back it up. The Yankees had Dimaggio and then Mantle, the Dodgers had Jackie and The Duke, and the Giants had maybe the best of them all Willie Mays, which brings me to my point. On HBO, they just came out with a special, 'Say Hey, Willie Mays" which I watched over the weekend.
I can't say I was a huge fan of Mays, but I sure respected his talent, and when the Giants and Dodgers moved away, a lot of my interest in the Dodgers waned as 'my guys' left and were replaced by Hollywood guys. But Mays stayed on and he got better and better. He even came to the fledgling Mets, just to get some star power here. He was done by then, but it was still 'Willie', and fans came out.

So anyway, this documentary is about Willie Mays, his career, and what baseball was really like --back then. They declare Mays the best baseball player EVER, and they could be right. he did it all, ran, hit, threw, and did them all so well, he really could be the best ever.
I was taken back to my youth in many of the clips (and, BTW, Mays is still alive and contributes a lot to this documentary.) If you are a baseball fan, an older guy who remembers Willie, this is a must-see film.
If I had one complaint, there was a lot of racial stuff thrown in also. Some for all the right reasons and some, I just felt was unnecessary. I felt they did not spend nearly enough time on Willie's family, his kids, his wife, etc. They showed one son, but darn if I know anything about him or even if he had any other children. They mentioned he was divorced and then married again, but to whom, for how long, etc. They could have eliminated some of the racial stuff and spent more time about the man himself.

Anyway, I enjoyed this documentary a lot, and again, if anyone wants to see when baseball was king and maybe the greatest player to ever play the game, here it is.

Hearing (reading) this makes me wish I had HBO.
Opposite of you, Lenn, my dad was a huge NY Giants (baseball) fan and even though I was born after the move to SF, I grew up a Giants fan and Willie is my favorite player of all time. My dad would take me to Shea Stadium whenever the Giants came to town just so I could watch my idol play.
I'm sure I'm a bit prejudice here, but I too think Mays is the best all around player ever. I also think he would have beaten Ruth's HR record if he played somewhere other than the Polo Ground with their crazy deep centerfield fence and Candlestick Park with their non stop swirling winds keeping the ball in the park.
Hopefully, that documentary will be able to be streamed on another platform in the future. Maybe MLB network will show it.

Quote from: ozzie on November 14, 2022, 01:27:08 PMHearing (reading) this makes me wish I had HBO.
Opposite of you, Lenn, my dad was a huge NY Giants (baseball) fan and even though I was born after the move to SF, I grew up a Giants fan and Willie is my favorite player of all time. My dad would take me to Shea Stadium whenever the Giants came to town just so I could watch my idol play.
I'm sure I'm a bit prejudice here, but I too think Mays is the best all around player ever. I also think he would have beaten Ruth's HR record if he played somewhere other than the Polo Ground with their crazy deep centerfield fence and Candlestick Park with their non stop swirling winds keeping the ball in the park.
Hopefully, that documentary will be able to be streamed on another platform in the future. Maybe MLB network will show it.

Lou

If you were a baseball Giants fan, yes, this is a must-see. I was like you, in that I never had HBO and missed a lot of things like this. I just happen to get a terrific deal thru AMEX and I have it for a year.

They did mention the winds at Candlestick and how it did affect a lot of how Mays played the game there. He sort of alluded to the fact that he changed his swing and was able to get the ball to go with the winds instead of against them.
Funny, in the documentary, Bonds is in it a lot, showing a lot of his career and how Mays influenced him and helped him. He says Mays was basically his second father. Nothing was ever mentioned about his juicing though and if one didn't know about it, you would think he really is getting shafted by baseball. There is a clip, I guess on Bond's Day, when they were honoring him, and Mays makes a huge appeal for him to get into the HOF. Don't know if that will ever happen though.

If I'm not mistaken, Willie Mays is Barry Bonds Godfather. Willie played with his dad, Bobby Bonds and was very giving in helping young Barry develop.

Quote from: ozzie on November 14, 2022, 03:49:53 PMIf I'm not mistaken, Willie Mays is Barry Bonds Godfather. Willie played with his dad, Bobby Bonds and was very giving in helping young Barry develop.

You are correct.

So it's almost the holiday season and my wife and I always watch the regular crop holiday movies sometime before the New Year, Miracle on 34th St (the original), It's a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Carol, and a couple of others. Yes, I know most are corny, but it has become a tradition to watch all of these and you know about 'Tradition' in a Jewish household.

Which brings me to my point, the other movie we always watch is A Christmas Story, probably my favorite of them all. I was, and still am, a HUGE fan of Jene Shepard, who wrote the story and narrates the movie. I related to so many of his stories and his humor. So, when I heard they were making another Christmas Story, I was annoyed. Thinking another remake of a classic movie will never be any good. But then, I learned that this was not a remake, but a sort of continuation, following Ralphie into adulthood with a family of his own. I was filled with anticipation that maybe they could really pull this off.

WRONG, WRONG  WRONG

This is the way I saw it, my darling wife liked it more than I did, but nowhere near what we were expecting. I will not go into specifics because each thing might ruin the movie for any who might want to see it. If you were also a fan of the original Christmas Story, you will have to see this one and form your own opinion.
Peter Billingsly who was Ralphie in the original, never acted again after that movie until now. He was OK but way too much narration as he surely is no Jean Shepard. The cast tries hard, but the cuteness, originality, and just plain good family humor that we all could relate to, is dearly missing here. PLUS, no leg lamp returns.

See it and let me know what you liked or dislike.

A Christmas Story Christmas on HBO.
 

Quote from: LennG on November 11, 2022, 05:08:49 PMI enjoyed Reacher very much. The Terminal List was OK, but, to me, it really got a bit silly about 3/4 of the way thru.

You're right the first part of Terminal list was good but got to big at the end.

Quote from: LennG on November 19, 2022, 02:16:36 PMSo it's almost the holiday season and my wife and I always watch the regular crop holiday movies sometime before the New Year, Miracle on 34th St (the original), It's a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Carol, and a couple of others. Yes, I know most are corny, but it has become a tradition to watch all of these and you know about 'Tradition' in a Jewish household.

Which brings me to my point, the other movie we always watch is A Christmas Story, probably my favorite of them all. I was, and still am, a HUGE fan of Jene Shepard, who wrote the story and narrates the movie. I related to so many of his stories and his humor. So, when I heard they were making another Christmas Story, I was annoyed. Thinking another remake of a classic movie will never be any good. But then, I learned that this was not a remake, but a sort of continuation, following Ralphie into adulthood with a family of his own. I was filled with anticipation that maybe they could really pull this off.

WRONG, WRONG  WRONG

This is the way I saw it, my darling wife liked it more than I did, but nowhere near what we were expecting. I will not go into specifics because each thing might ruin the movie for any who might want to see it. If you were also a fan of the original Christmas Story, you will have to see this one and form your own opinion.
Peter Billingsly who was Ralphie in the original, never acted again after that movie until now. He was OK but way too much narration as he surely is no Jean Shepard. The cast tries hard, but the cuteness, originality, and just plain good family humor that we all could relate to, is dearly missing here. PLUS, no leg lamp returns.

See it and let me know what you liked or dislike.

A Christmas Story Christmas on HBO.
 

Yeah I didn't want to watch it and opted for "spirited" with Ryan Reynolds and Will Farrell instead and it was ok!

Gangs of London season 2 just dropped and its phenomenal.

Also the new Jack Ryan season drops In the next week or so!

Saturday afternoon is MY time to watch with my darling wife usually taking her much-needed nap, so I scroll thru u the listings, trying to find something I would like and she wouldn't.

I saw a bleep in the paper the other day about a new series on Prime called 'The English'. Why it is dubbed that, I really don't know except one of the main characters is English. Anyway, I saw it as a sort of revenge western, and, to me, it shouldn't get any better than that. I LOVE westerns and I also LOVE those revenge-type movies where our heroes get the worst of the bargain, only to exact their revenge later on, so this seemed like a no-brainer for me.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11771270/

So, story, the English lady meets an Indian scout and they team up to go somewhere together and each has their own reasons for it. Maybe it should have been called Pawnie as that is what the Indian is.

So I am 4 episodes in and I have mixed feelings. There is some really good action, but also so many subplots I get confused along the way. What should be a simple story, now has evolved into much more, and all of it isn't that good. Why do shows always feel the need to doctor up things when a good simple story will do? You need everyone's 'inner' feelings now to ex[plain everything else.

I probably won't finish it until next week, but I will stay with it.

Quote from: LennG on November 19, 2022, 06:45:07 PMSaturday afternoon is MY time to watch with my darling wife usually taking her much-needed nap, so I scroll thru u the listings, trying to find something I would like and she wouldn't.

I saw a bleep in the paper the other day about a new series on Prime called 'The English'. Why it is dubbed that, I really don't know except one of the main characters is English. Anyway, I saw it as a sort of revenge western, and, to me, it shouldn't get any better than that. I LOVE westerns and I also LOVE those revenge-type movies where our heroes get the worst of the bargain, only to exact their revenge later on, so this seemed like a no-brainer for me.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11771270/

So, story, the English lady meets an Indian scout and they team up to go somewhere together and each has their own reasons for it. Maybe it should have been called Pawnie as that is what the Indian is.

So I am 4 episodes in and I have mixed feelings. There is some really good action, but also so many subplots I get confused along the way. What should be a simple story, now has evolved into much more, and all of it isn't that good. Why do shows always feel the need to doctor up things when a good simple story will do? You need everyone's 'inner' feelings now to ex[plain everything else.

I probably won't finish it until next week, but I will stay with it.

They don't make episodic westerns like Lonesome Dove anymore.

Quote from: Jclayton92 on November 19, 2022, 10:07:31 PMThey don't make episodic westerns like Lonesome Dove anymore.

One of the best, but look who starred in it--would you expect anything else from them?

Quote from: LennG on November 20, 2022, 12:08:01 PMOne of the best, but look who starred in it--would you expect anything else from them?

I know it's so good, I'm only 34 and I still watch it once a year. They don't make casts like that anymore!

As I said previously, I was in mid-watch on a Prime series, 'The English' which is a sort of western type revenge movie--right in my wheelhouse. After watching the first 3 chapters, I wasn't really impressed and if this type of movie wasn't what I really liked I might have forfeited the rest, but I stayed with it and was amply rewarded. Since the series is only 6 chapters, I watched the last 3 yesterday and I enjoyed them very much. Many of the confusing aspects of the earlier chapters were explained and the action really picked up, but not to the point where you would call this an action movie. It is more about the relationship between this English lady and a Pawnee Indian who just retired from being a scout for the US Cavalry and the revenge aspect they were both after.

So just another series that you really have to stay with to get the full enjoyment out of but I would recommend this if these type of movies are what you might enjoy.