"Heart of Stone" on Netflix

The movie "Heart of Stone" debuted on Netflix this past Friday, so while Linda was at book club with her besties yesterday afternoon, I treated myself to watching this one.  In all honesty, had this starred anyone but Wonder Woman herself, Gal Gadot, I'm not sure I'd have watched, but while this movie will never win any awards, there are certainly worse ways to invest two hours of your time, entertainment-wise.

The movie takes place in London...and the Italian Alps....and the desert in Sudan...and in the fringes of outer space....and Iceland...and I probably left some other locations out.  Gadot plays Rachel Stone, who works for Britain's MI6, but who really works for some organization called The Charter, who controls some super duper commuter gizmo called The Heart, which can control and predict just about everything.  The Charter wants to use this gadget for Good.  A fellow MI6 agent, who is really a Bad Guy, wants to, and eventually does, steal The Heart.  He says he wants to use it for Good, but he really wants to use it for Bad.  Somehow, it all comes down to Rachel to find The Heart, ward off the Bad Guy, and return it to The Charter, who will continue to use it for Good.

All of this mumbo-jumbo of a MacGuffin just serves to highlight Godot as an absolute total BadAss female James Bond while performing some unbelievable stunts in the Alps, the Sudanese desert, in a space station, and in Iceland, all while looking unbelievably attractive while wearing well fitting jeans, tank tops, motorcycle leathers, and even while bruised and bleeding after engaging in some amazing hand to hand battles with the forces of evil.

And of course, the movie ends with a perfect set-up for more adventures of Rachel Stone and The Charter.  Or, as the moguls in Hollywood might put it, a Money Making Movie Franchise for Gal Gadot.

Like I said, it ain't the greatest, but it's entertainment.  Also, it's an excuse to post more pics of Ms Gadot.

Two Stars from The Grandstander.

"Wonder Woman 1984"

What better way for The Grandstander to start a brand new year than with a movie review, and the I'll start with our New Year's Eve movie from last night, "Wonder Woman 1984."

 Actually, the perfect review for this movie came from the mouth of Mrs. Grandstander as the final credits were rolling, and I quote:

"The first one was better."

Says it all.  The 2017 "Wonder Woman" was much better.  This one was convoluted, went on too long (2 hours, 31 minutes), had some guy named Pedro Pascal completely overact as the villain, and was an exercise in showing off and perhaps the overuse of CGI special effects.

On the plus side, it had some cool observations to make about fads and fashions of the mid-1980's, Kristin Wiig was good in her role as Diana's friend and co-worker who goes bad, but mainly it had Gal Gadot in the  title role, and just seeing her in this spectacular dress almost made the entire movie worthwhile.

Seriously, Miss Gadot is unbelievably beautiful and very charming as Diana/Wonder Woman, and she can no doubt churn out a new WW movie every two or three years and live comfortably forever, but I would like to see her take on something else.  You know, stretch it out a bit and do more than the comic book stuff.  She is going to be in the new Kenneth Branagh Agatha Christie movie "Death on the Nile" later this year.  IMDB also tells us that she is in pre-production for a 2022 version of  "Cleopatra", and, most intriguingly, in a TV mini-series based on the life of Hedy Lamarr.  So, there's that to look forward to.  There is also a Wonder Woman 3 and a few more Justice League movies in the works to keep the big paychecks coming in.  

Gal Gadot gets Four Stars, but "Wonder Woman 1984" only gets Two Stars from The Grandstander.

In The Area of Critical Commentary....

Some quickie critical commentary as The Grandstander still tries to catch up from vacation.....

We saw the new "Wonder Woman" movie last week, starring the incredibly beautiful Gal Gadot in the title role.

You have heard me say time and again that I am not a super-hero, comic book movie fan, but something drew me to this one, and, yeah, maybe it was the chance to see a beautiful actress in a skimpy outfit, but Mrs. Grandstander attended as well, and we both liked this movie quite a bit.

If you can accept the idea that there actually ARE super-heros, then this was a pretty good story.  There were a lot of neat special effects and slow motion filming that I enjoyed, and Miss Gadot was charming and delightful as the kick-ass amazon warrior princess.  Like a lot of these movies, it went on too long (2:24), and the climactic battle between Diana and the Evil Bad Guy was implausible, even by comic book movie standards, but when the next WW movie comes out, and as this movie is killing it at the box office, there will be more of them, we shall be in line to see it.

Three stars from The Grandstander.

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The newest Lucas Davenport thriller from John Sanford finds Lucas in his new role as a US Marshall.   A couple of crooks/killers have robbed a drug cartel of millions of dollars and killed several people, including a little girl, in the process.  This sets both the Cartel and the US Marshalls on their trail.  Typical Davenport/Sandford action - brutal criminals, some new partners for Lucas, a compelling storyline, and a most interesting ending to the story that will set up future stories in the series.  As a side note, the story also describes a US Presidential election with fictional candidates, of course, but comparisons can certainly be made.

Three and one-half stars.

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In 2001, a college freshman is drugged and gang raped at a college fraternity party.  Thirteen years later, the woman commits suicide, and shortly thereafter, one of the football players who took part in the rape, is killed, and another one turns up missing.  

The missing guy was last seen in Portland, Maine, and that brings Portland police detectives Michael McCabe and Maggie Savage into the case.  This is the fifth novel in James Hayman's series about McCabe and Savage, and I have written of this series before. "The Girl on the Bridge" continues the series and is another excellent police procedural thriller.

There is a bit of a twist in this one as to who the villain is, and, I must say, I did see it coming, but not at first!  I highly recommend this one, and all of the novels in the series.  Oh, and this one also ends with a hint of a possible change in store for McCabe and Savage in the future.  Can't wait for the next book.

Four stars.

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Yesterday we took advantage once again of the fabulous TCM/Fathom Events Series of classic films on a Big Screen.  This one was Billy Wilder's 1959 classic - and it truly is a Classic - "Some Like It Hot".

Has anyone not seen this one?  In 1929 Chicago, musicians Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon witness the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. In order to escape the Mob, they disguise themselves as women, join an all girl orchestra to escape Chicago and get to Florida, where they will then ditch the band and go on their way.  Of course, another musician and singer in the band is played by Marilyn Monroe, and complications, and hijinks, ensue.

This movie is lauded as the Best Comedy Movie ever made, and it is hard to argue the point.  The three stars, Curtis, Lemmon, and Monroe may never have been better in anything that they ever did, Wilder's direction and script (with I.A.L. Diamond) was fabulous, and, of course, there was that memorable closing line from Joe E. Brown.

No matter how many times you've seen this movie, it is always funny. Always.

Four stars all the way.