Category: Entertainment

Welcome News

Entertainment, Wokism

When I heard that Woke Disney was going to remake one of my favorite-ever movies, I was immediately overcome by a Black Mood.  What foul atrocities, I asked myself, are they going to inflict upon this jewel?

Fear not, Kim:

Disney fans are breathing a sigh of relief after it was reported that a live-action remake of The Aristocats has been quietly cancelled.

Plans for the new movie, based on the 1970’s classic, were initially announced in 2022 with Questlove attached to the project.

But, speaking on the August 20 episode of Score: The Podcast, the director – real name Ahmir K. Thompson – claimed that the film has been shelved.

Addressing the project’s demise, Questlove told the podcast: ‘A new administration came in, and then I was like, “Okay, well, this is what I plan to do, and dadada, do the song and dance, and here’s some of the music examples and there’s some team I’m working with dadada.”

‘And then they had another administration shuffle, and it was like, “Okay well. All right.” And by the third time I was just like, “Maybe this isn’t meant for me, because there’s also, at least, like right now, there’s so many options I have in pickings.”‘

Questlove said that The Aristocats live-action make could be revived years down the line.

‘Maybe it’ll happen in the future,’ he added.

I bloody well hope not.

Of all the old Disney movies (The Aristocats was made in 1970), this one represented all the good things about the classic animated Disney movies:  funny, satirical, heartbreaking, full of suspense, lovely musical numbers (Maurice Chevalier!), with wonderful supporting characters (e.g. Madame’s ancient lawyer and the gaggle of elderly English geese) and the most villainous of villains, Edgar the butler.

It is an example of the perfect movie — and, it should be said, the last okayed by Walt and made under Roy Disney’s supervision before their respective deaths.  (Since then…)

There is no doubt that any “new” take on this classic would only be foul, wrong and at the end, a commercial failure.  And making it “live-action” (i.e. mostly CGI) would add to the cataclysm.

Some movies — especially the perfect ones — never have to be remade.  And The Aristocats most certainly belongs in that category.

Hell, I always thought (and still do) that Duchess was just about the perfect woman:  gorgeous, unwittingly sexy, loved her family… the list is endless.  And as voiced by Eva Gabor… rowrrr.

And one last thought:

Worth Another Look?

Entertainment

The other day I heard a snatch of a tune while shopping — it was a theme tune from an old TV show — and it got me asking myself a question, and hence it’s a question for everybody:

If you could re-watch / binge all the episodes from any old TV show (minus the commercials, of course), which would be your Top 5?

Bear in mind that a lot of the old shows are hopelessly dated, and won’t have passed the test of time;  but some are so good, or have such treasured memories, that it wouldn’t matter.

I am also aware that most old TV shows are available on boxed sets and such, but run with me on this one.  Imagine it’s a cold, rainy / snowy long weekend and you don’t want to do anything except wrap up in a blanket and watch TV.  You turn on the streaming channel of your choice, and there they are.

Mine are below the fold.

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Endless Capitalist Fun

Entertainment

I’ve had quite a lot of fun with the Monopoly board game on this here website over the years.  In case you’re new to this back porch, or your brain is as old-fartish as mine, see here for an explanation of Poor Man’s Monopoly, here for Feministical Monopoly, here for some updated Chance / Commmunity Chest cards, and of course we have our old favorite, Black Monopoly:

Now we have this kind of Monopoly:

Going back to the original Monopoly for a moment, we now discover this seldom-exercised yet official rule:

“Whenever a player lands on an un-owned [vacant] property he may buy that property from the Bank at its printed price. If he does not wish to buy the property it is sold at auction by the Banker to the highest bidder.”

I’m interested in the terminology “…it is sold at auction” — it doesn’t say “can be sold”.

Does this mean that the auction is mandatory?

I invite the Powdered Wigsters among my Readers to debate the jots and tittles, in Comments.

R.I.P.

Bad News, Entertainment

Like most people, I suspect, I was saddened to hear of the death of actor Gene Hackman a couple of days back.  I know he retired from acting well over a decade ago, but his career was so long, and featured such brilliant roles that he deserves to be in any pantheon of great actors. He might even be the best.

While his forte was dramatic roles, he showed an unexpected flair for comedic ones too, and some of his best performances were when he combined the two.

So my question for the day:  What are your 5 favorite Gene Hackman performances?  (list is here)

Mine:

  • The Conversation (Harry Caul)
  • Unforgiven (Sheriff “Little Bill” Dagett)
  • Mississippi Burning (FBI agent Anderson)
  • Get Shorty (Harry Zimm)
  • Target (Walter Lloyd) — by the way, a totally silly movie, but Hackman is beyond brilliant in it.

Honorable mentions (next five, any of which could have been in the top 5):  The French Connection (Popeye Doyle), Bonnie & Clyde (Buck Barrow) Under Suspicion (Henry Hearst), Hoosiers (Coach Dale) and The Royal Tenenbaums (Royal Tenenbaum).

Honestly, considering that Hackman’s career spanned sixty-odd years, I could have picked yet another five quite easily;  and it was absolute hell to pick only a Top 5.

I’ve seen pretty much all his movies, and I’m trying to think of a bad performance.  Can’t.  (Some of the movies stank — see Target, above — but that’s not his fault.)  I have several Hackman movies on DVD, and I think I’ll watch a couple tomorrow.

Random thought:  he had the worst hair of any actor, ever.  Yet he still turned in brilliant performances regardless.

R.I.P. Gene, and thanks for all of them.

For what it’s worth, John Nolte agrees with me, more or less.

Commemoration

Entertainment

As Mr. Free Market reminds me:

Hey, what am I:  chopped liver?  I mean, I haven’t sent any rockets into orbit, but I bet I’ve sent a lot more lead downrange, and got a lot more people to do the same than ol’ Elon ever has…

And if I may be so bold:

 

We transplanted African-Americans all do our bit for our adopted country, in our own way.