Donald Sutherland

To me he was the original Hawkeye Pierce, and the detective involved with Jane Fonda in Klute.

To my kids, he is the President Snow from The Hunger Games franchise.

To all of us, he was a Hollywood Legend.

RIP

This. Always This.

A long forgotten memory

I just remembered something from decades ago. 

Up until Yaya was three we lived in an apartment building on 23rd Street with a washer and dryer in the basement. In the stairwell going down to the basement there was an abandoned  spider web. Actually abandoned isn't the right word; the spider had passed away and, long dried out, was still present in the web. Every time we would go down to the basement YaYa would say hello and goodbye to that spider. 

Later when we moved to a flat on 31st Street Lisa incorporated the spider into a mural she drew on the girl's bedroom wall.

Willie Mays

 Willie Mays, in my opinion the greatest center fielder of any era, a man with 660 home runs to his name, who loved the game and was loved by it in return, has died at 93.

Long  ago, as a senior in high school, I set out to learn everything I could about baseball in the way I knew best: through books. One of those books was Say Hey,  one of a few autobiographies Mays put out in his lifetime. It wasn't the greatest book on the sport that I would ever read, and I remember that each chapter ended with a summation of that season stats. Stii, it was enough to convince me that people were right when they said that he was one of the best ever.

RIP 

Atlas

 So I recently watched Atlas, a Jennifer Lopez science fiction flick on Netflix.

In a not so distant future mankind has survived a brutal war initiated by AI. The leader of the AI terrorists flees to space, promising to return and gain his revenge.  Fast forward 28 years, where a data analyst played by Lopez discovers his location on another planet, and accompanies a mechanized unit to bring him to justice. 

First things first this is obviously not a very original concept, and I do think that you can predict each plot point well in advance if you care to do so. Plus I find it difficult to forgive naming the main character Atlas, when it's obviously meant to reference her belief that the fate of the world lies on her shoulders. 

On the other hand, you more often than not choose not to  anticipate what's coming because it is, overall, a pretty entertaining movie.

I would say that 75% of what makes this movie watchable is Lopez herself. She is alone on screen for most of the film, interacting only with the green screen. The range of emotions she displays is genuinely impressive.

I do not think that this movie will be remembered in 5 years much less 50. But if you happen to have the evening free and desire a decent popcorn movie, cue this one up. 

Grade: C+