Cannoli.
Arguably the most famous dessert in all of moviedom, especially when you consider that you never actually see it in the film. Of course, I’m talking about The Godfather. If you know, you know. If you don’t, shame on you. Watch the movie. And be charmed by Clemenza’s instructions to his trusty companion, where he shows more empathy for these bakery treats than a former colleague.
Just be wary when you’re driving some folks, and one of them asks you to pull over for a minute.
Well, the Baltimore Ravens kicked off their 2022 season yesterday. Big game, full of drama, as they played the NY Jets, led by the Ravens former Super Bowl Quarterback Joe Flacco. Personally, I was never on the “Flacco is an elite quarterback” train, as so many were after his championship run. Along came Lamar Jackson, and while I’m not convinced he’s worthy of the multi-hundred million dollar contract that he thinks he is, he’s certainly an improvement over Flacco.
It was a much ballyhooed game, as Flacco was set to face off against his former team. The Ravens won 24-9 in a game that featured Flacco intercepted once and sacked 4 times (one of which was undone by an inconsequential and unrelated penalty).
So, how am I feeling after the game? I think Larry David sums it up perfectly.
It’s nearly the end of August, aka the “Dog Days of August”. What better way to celebrate than to honor “Dog Day Afternoon”, the movie that garnered six Academy Award nominations including one for Al Pacino who plays wanna-be bank robber Sonny Wortzik. The movie is based on a real-life bank robbery in Brooklyn, NY in 1972.
The attempted hold-up devolved into a hostage situation, where Pacino is faced negotiating against a phalanx of police with SWAT teams with guns aimed directly at him. The movie portrays his transformation from anti-hero to hero. In today’s scene, he leads the crowd of on-lookers in chants and cheers, by invoking the name of a prison uprising that had occurred in upstate New York just a year before.
Just remember this chant the next time you want to rally a protest against anyone trying to hold you back from your dreams.
Summer of 1975. The summer blockbuster movie was Jaws, the original shark movie that had vacationers staying out of the water in droves. Veteran actor Robert Shaw played old school shark hunter Quint, forced by circumstances to work together with the professional student of sharks Matt Hooper (played by Richard Dreyfuss) to catch the Great White Shark that was the ruination of the summer season on Amity Island. Needless to say, the grizzled angler had no patience for the book-smart “expert”.
After Hooper explains how the shark cage would work, Quint has a good laugh, singing a song that best expresses how he feels about Hooper’s chances against the Great White Shark.
Always a fun tune to remember when someone gives you their goofy idea for success.
No spoiler alert here, but it’s always fun to see who (or what) gets the last laugh at the end of the movie.
Everyone’s got something to say. Opinions are like…..you know what’s. Everyone’s got one. Well, if someone tells you something that you disagree with, The Dude (“The Big Lebowski” for you uninitiated) offers up the best response. Is it snarky? Patronizing? Or is it just a bit conciliatory. That it provides such multiple interpretations makes this so special.
RIP Paulie Walnuts
Read MoreGourmet dining, courtesy of Napoleon Dynamite
Read MoreSamuel L. Jackson respects the genius of Brad.
Read MoreDeNiro. ‘Nuff said.
Read MoreIn “American Beauty” a tribute to domestic tranquility (not), Kevin Spacey plays Lester Burnham, archetype white suburban male deep into his mid-life crisis depression. He’s had it with his job, his wife, in fact, pretty much his entire life. As with many men so afflicted, he went and bought the car of his dreams. “1970 Pontiac Firebird, the car [he’s] always wanted.” His less than accepting wife (played by Annette Bening) is the root of much of his anger at life, and when she shows her disdain at this recent choice, Lester needs no further motivation to assert his dominance. The last two words of this clip pretty much sum up his self-satisfaction.
It’s a rather grim movie, but this scene just makes me smile, and not just because of the remote control jeep!
Before he was Bird Man, before he was Mr. Mom and before he was Bat Man, Michael Keaton’s breakout role was Bill “Blaze” Blazejowski in the movie “Night Shift”. A natural born self professed “Idea Man”, he was the annoying gnat to Henry Winkler’s milquetoast investment banker turned morgue worker. Ever the entrepreneurial thinker, he carried a tape recorder with him to keep record of his fabulous ideas. Here’s his creation for tuna fish in the can.
The kicker line, though, is one to be said whenever you have an idea for the greatest invention ever.
Every fan of The Soprano’s knows that “The Many Saints of Newark” opened up this weekend. Billed as the story of the man who made Tony Soprano, it’s a bit of a prequel as well as the story of New Jersey mobsters in the 60’s and 70’s. If you’re looking for some munchies to enjoy while watching the movie, Silvio Dante has the perfect suggestion.
Breaking Bad. Two words and most of you know what I mean. The drama that told the story over 5 years of Walter White and his transformation from cancer-riddled science teacher looking for a way to leave his family in good financial condition into one of the toughest, no, baddest drug lords in the area.
In this scene, Walter’s wife shares her concerns for his safety. Walter literally sheds his outer layer to reveal that it’s everyone else who needs to be concerned for their safety. As he says, he IS the danger.
His wife is concerned about danger knocking on their door. In six words, Walter explains that she needn’t worry.
It’s harder to be more bad-ass than this.
It was sad to learn of the death of this fine actor. With roles in several HBO series such as The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire, he was best known as Omar Little, the Robin Hood of the drug trade. Robbing from the drug dealers in the streets of Baltimore, Omar was even called out by President Obama as his favorite character. He had a code, and in his own words…
In that scene, his testimony was being impugned by a criminal defense attorney. Omar, unable to be rattled, gave it right back to the attorney for making a living by defending the City’s drug traffickers.
In reality, though, Michael K Williams was fighting the demons of drug addiction himself. He never felt worthy of the accolades and success he earned. While I don’t mean to belittle the tragedy, even he realized the risk was part of the lifestyle. In other words,
Another great actor, taken too soon. RIP
The Big Lebowski is the gift that keeps on giving. So many wonderful nuggets, so many great performances by so many great actors. Among them is John Goodman as Walter Sobchak, the all wise yet PTSD Vietnam Vet who lives his life his way, to honor those who were left behind, fighting for the rights that we, as Americans take for granted. Here he is celebrating those freedoms by enjoying some morning joe.
I know, I know, his real name was Ed Asner. And all the clips in memoriam include this quote. So I guess I’d be remiss if I didn’t post it here. It was classic when it first aired in 1970, and it still holds up. I doubt in 50 years anyone will be quoting sitcoms from today. They don’t make them like this any more.
Was there a character who lacked self-awareness more than Michael Scott in The Office? Always thinking he was the coolest and smartest person in the room, he was rarely either. In this scene, he’s recruiting his staff to help him sell calling cards without realizing it’s nothing more than a pyramid scheme. (As his protege Ryan Howard points out, “Who uses calling cards anymore?”) For my money, the best line in this scene is when Toby reminds Michael of the money he lost in an “investment” from an email. We’ve all received the same email, right? Hopefully you were smart enough to trash it. But not Michael Scott, again disproving his claim to be the smartest person in the room.
Quick hint- When the son of the deposed King of Nigeria emails you directly asking for help……..don’t!
When Crocodile Dundee and his gal pal are accosted by a would-be mugger, he calmly and very coolly gives the mugger knife envy. If only scaring off the bad guys were always this easy!
As the saying goes (sort of), don’t bring a baby knife to a knife fight.
The movie “Rounders” is a great primer on Texas Hold ‘Em Poker. Not so much the game of poker, but the gamesmanship behind the game. What motivates players to play, and what really separates winners from losers. There’s this adage, even referenced by Warren Buffet, that if you sit in on a poker game and don’t see a sucker, you’re the sucker.
The main scenes in the movie feature Teddy KGB (played with a fabulous accent by John Malkovich) and Mike McDermott, the troubled law student played by Matt Damon. It’s a great movie, though with many predictable plot turns. You know that eventually the bad guy gets taken down, you just don’t know when.
When that bad guy gets taken down, he utters this fantastic line of surrender. You won’t forget it, and if you ever have to say the line yourself, you’ll no doubt say it with the same Russian inflection.
If you were a young man in the 60’s, you most likely believe that Adam West’s Batman is the one and true version. All the other Batmen-come-lately make a mockery of the Caped Crusader. (Yes, we also know that Adam’s West version was all tongue-in-cheek, but so what.)
We also know that the Batmobile is one of the coolest super-vehicles out there. Hence, no doubt most of us think about this line when we start up our own cars, turn around and head straight out the driveway.
To the Batcave!