E is For Empire

 A to Z Challenge

A Month At The Movies

Hello and welcome back to A Month at the Movies,  my contribution to the A to Z challenge for 2023.

This year I am copying from a myriad of other a to z challengers by reprinting the same synopsis about my theme with every letter.  You can skip over this part if you want to.  

I love movies and have decided to share with you a movie each day that I have enjoyed to one degree or another.  With each entry, I'll give a brief synopsis of the film, share a positive and negative review from Rotten Tomatoes ( a website, I didn't use much at all until preparing for the challenge), discuss its resiliency (the theme of the A to Z challenge this year), and other tidbits like whether the film may appear in my top 100 film list, which I have been revamping this year. I think that's enough in the way of introduction, considering you'll be reading it (hopefully) 21 more times this month.

Film: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Director: Irvin Kershner

Star Wars Begin Again

   

Old friends are back.

Too back new friends are

Darth Darth Darth Darth Darth Darth Darth Darth Darth

Positive Tomato: The Empire Strikes Back displays the same soaring imagination that made Star Wars a filmmaking classic; most other space movies seem clunky and earthbound in comparison. Bob Thomas - Associated Press 

By Bogaerts, Rob / Anefo - [1] Dutch National Archives, The Hague, Fotocollectie Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau (ANeFo), 1945-1989, Nummer toegang 2.24.01.05 Bestanddeelnummer 931-2164, CC BY-SA 3.0 nl, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27409421

Negative Tomato:  A Stars Wars that has not only lost much of its humor and charm but more important a good deal of its innocence, traveling in the process light years away from the shiny magnitude of its original world  Joy Gould Boyum - Wall Street Journal 

If you look closely you can see the Millenium Falcon avoiding being eaten.

Star Wars Episode 5 is in my opinion the best sequel ever made. How do you follow up on a film that revolutionizes the movie industry?  By continuing to revolutionize.

Resiliency: The empire is very resilient when it comes to replacing admirals. 

Top 100: This movie is definitely in my top 100.  The question for me becomes do I put it before or after te original Star Wars. I think what I did with my original 100 was place them back to back which makes the order less consequential.  I enjoy watching Empir more than I watch New Hope, but as I explained to someone at C2E2 (A midwest Comicon-like event) I would rank Star Wars just a little higher than Empire since Star Wars paved the way for it.  When I make my official top 100 later this year we will see if I have the courage of my convictions.  

Next Time: F is for First 

For more A to Z Challenge click here.

D is For Dave

 A to Z Challenge

A Month At The Movies

 

Hello and welcome back to A Month at the Movies,  my contribution to the A to Z challenge for 2023.

This year I am copying from a myriad of other a to z challengers by reprinting the same synopsis about my theme with every letter.  You can skip over this part if you want to.  

I love movies and have decided to share with you a movie each day that I have enjoyed to one degree or another.  With each entry, I'll give a brief synopsis of the film, share a positive and negative review from Rotten Tomatoes ( a website, I didn't use much at all until preparing for the challenge), discuss its resiliency (the theme of the A to Z challenge this year), and other tidbits like whether the film may appear in my top 100 film list, which I have been revamping this year. I think that's enough in the way of introduction, considering you'll be reading it (hopefully) 22 more times this month.

Film: Dave (1993)

Director: Ivan Reittman

Presidential movies were all the rage in the 1990s. (The American President, Air Force One, JFK, Nixon, Absolute Power). In this one,  a presidential body double makes the most of what was supposed to be a temporary job.

 

 Dave (Official Traier)

 

Positive Tomato:  A genial, expertly played political comedy proves that the spirit of Mr. Smith still lives.  Richard Schickel - Time Magazine

Negative Tomato: As Kline begins to take his presidential duties seriously, the comedy seeps out, a listless civic-mindedness drifts in like the fog off the Potomac. Leah Rozen - People Magazine

If you've never seen this film. the 30th anniversary is a good time to jump on board.  This may be Kevin Klines best film and with a resume filled with hits gems like Cry Freedom and Silverado that is certainly saying something.  Charles Grodin is in only a few scenes but does a great job of showing the uniqueness of a guy like Dave.

Resiliency: The balancing the budget subplot of Dave is a great snapshot in Resiliency.

In the film, Dave visits a homeless shelter with the President's wife.  When the homeless shelters are stripped of funding, Dave is told by the President's draconian chief of staff (played ever so malevolently by Frank Langella) that he can keep the shelters by adding 650 million dollars to the budget.

In the next few scenes, Dave attempts to do just that and even brings his accountant, the aforementioned Grodin, to help him with the gargantuan task. 

To watch this scene and read more about its resiliency factor click here.

Top 100: One of my criteria for top 100 films lies in its rewatchability. I remember enjoying this movie increasingly upon every viewing.  For that reason alone, I cannot imagine a Top 100 film list of mine with Dave, not on it.

For more D in the A to Z Challenge, click here.

Next Time: E Equals Evil Empire