Entertainment Binge

By Isaac White.

I’m up pretty late writing this. All of a sudden, I’m tasked with a bunch of stuff, and for some reason, I put our weekly talk at the bottom of the list. This is not cool. The fact of the matter is that I enjoy writing this more than anything else. Well, aside from my extensive Emily In Paris fan fiction scribblings. Yes, that’s a joke. I don’t watch Emily in Paris, although if I did, I wouldn’t be embarrassed. Well, not that much.

My willingness to stay up this early in the morning to make sure you get your weekly dose of my musings brought joy to me. I know I’ve told you before how much I enjoy this series, but after a whole day of writing, I was still happy to put this on, even though you’d think I would rather go to bed finally. But no, I sacrifice for all of you. I could turn this back on myself and say you’re sacrificing your well-being by reading my self-aggrandizing work. I won’t do that because it would shatter my self-image. Ha ha.

We embarked on a new feature last week with the introduction of me watching movie and series trailers and then sharing my thoughts on them and predictions of what will happen. So I’m pretty pumped because this will be the first time I’m reviewing a movie whose trailer I previewed and professed my prediction to the people. I love alliteration, especially when it just happens with no purposeful attempt to make it happen.

Before we get to the movie, I want to talk about a series that I just finished. Jack Ryan is an Amazon show that stars John Krasinski as Jack Ryan. I know that seems obvious, but I had to tell you, even though I feel like everyone will read this and say, “Gee, no kidding, Captain Obvious.” At least, that’s what I would do if I was reading this. I’m kind of snarky sometimes, though, so I shouldn’t expect you all to be that meanspirited.

Some of you must know Tom Clancy. Not personally, of course, but that would be pretty cool if any of you did. So, as you know, he is one of the best-selling authors of all time, particularly because of his iconic character; here we go again: Captain Obvious, Jack Ryan. There have been a lot of movie adaptations of his books. There are even video games that use the franchise name Tom Clancy. I’ve played some of those games and the ones I’ve played are pretty good.

With Tom Clancy and Jack Ryan sufficiently introduced, let’s get into the show. We’ve seen Jack in movies such as Clear And Present Danger and Patriot Games. Harrison Ford plays Jack Ryan in those films, and while I’ve seen Clear and Present Danger, I don’t remember it well. I do, on the other hand, remember Patriot Games quite well. If you haven’t watched that movie, you should check it out. Jack Ryan takes down the terrorists who target him after he thwarts their assassination attempt on the royal family.

Based on that, I think you will understand what the Jack Ryan series is all about. This iteration of Jack Ryan sees him as a desk jockey for the CIA. Granted, he’s a desk jockey with a heavy military background and skills that your average finance analyst doesn’t possess. Of course, we don’t learn that right away, but we’ll get there.

The first season starts with Jack noticing an anomaly with a money network utilized by more than regular customers: terrorists. Surprising, right? Of course not. But this isn’t a bad thing. We learn early on that Jack is dogged – like a JACK Russell Terrier. If I didn’t make that corny joke, it would be a disservice to myself.

Jack sees a pattern that alarms him, one that he researches, and leads him to conclude this particular terror network is readying to carry out a significant attack. Jack is lower on the authority ladder, so those above him dismiss him. But he’s tenacious, and when his gut tells him something, he doesn’t let it go.

Eventually, Jack gets the attention of his boss, James Greer (Wendell Pierce, who you may know from The Wire), who at first is annoyed that Jack went around him to pitch his theory to Greer’s boss. Greer is angry but begins to see that Jack is onto something. Something big.

The first season lays out Jack’s mind quite well and establishes some characters who run through the four seasons and help Jack with his hunches. Of course, Jack is always correct in his hunches. Would it make sense to be any other way?

Keeping with tradition, I won’t give spoilers aside from generalizations. This one is that season one culminates with Jack saving the day. Maybe you think that’s a lousy spoiler, but do you think it would play out any other way? It’s not really about the result that is awesome about this show. The show is fun because of the journey. It’s how Jack maneuvers, how we see his mind work, and how he works around the system that tries to mire him in a mud slog meant to slow him down.

This show is quite entertaining. The pacing is terrific. The first three seasons are eight episodes each, with the 4th and final seasons being six. The conspiracies Jack and his friends uncovered and how they attacked them are entirely rewarding.

The acting is excellent. Krasinski is not my idea of the prototypical action star, but he’s terrific in this show. He’s got the right balance of arrogance, intelligence, loyalty, sense of duty, and genuine goodness in his performance. After all, Jack isn’t only about that action, son.

The supporting cast is fantastic. Wendell Pierce, who played Bunk Moreland in The Wire, is phenomenal as always. I’ve always thought he was a great actor, and I’m still befuddled as to why he’s not a giant star. The rest of the cast is also great, but I can’t compliment them enough.

Watch this show. It’s really fun and exciting, and the journey to the end of each season is worth the time. I recommend it very highly.

So, for my first review of a movie whose trailer I reviewed. Does that sound right? Whatever, I don’t think it’s a big deal. I know I made a big deal out of them doing a reboot of Road House. Maybe I didn’t make it clear before (joking, I know I did) how much I love the original Road House. My trepidation of this new version was warranted; it was. When it’s going to potentially mess with one of your favorite movies of all time, I think it’s fair to be concerned.

All I have to say is...I loved this movie. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Dalton this go-round, a former UFC fighter unceremoniously bounced from the octagon. I won’t tell you why because you should see that yourself. It’s not what I was expecting, but it’s impactful.

As in the first movie, Dalton is approached by a bar owner whose place is filled with rowdies who tear up the place all the time, hurting their business. So it’s no surprise that Frankie (Jessica Williams) tracks down Dalton and brings him to her spot in the Florida Keys to clean up her establishment.

If you’re familiar with the first movie, and you should be, the moment Dalton gets to his new job, the trouble starts almost immediately. The low-level goons causing the ruckus at Frankie’s bar, actually named Road House, test Dalton and quickly find out they made a huge mistake.

Just like in the first movie, the reason for the constant problems at the bar is at the behest of a rich jerk who thinks he owns the town. He is the one ordering his buffoons to cause trouble, all in the hope that Frankie will pack it up so the bar and its land can be bought. Why? You’ll watch and find out.

Why do I highly recommend this movie? First, Jake Gyllenhaal is one of my favorite actors, and I’m glad he was chosen to play this Dalton. It’s a wonderful rendition. For one, I think it was good that while they took inspiration from the original, it’s clear they weren’t going hit for hit with the 80s version.

This Dalton is not all Zen-like like Swayze was in the first movie. He makes clear that he has no problem with violence and uses his incredible skills to mess up anyone who gets in his way of doing his job. I liked that quite a bit.

I want to say something about Connor McGregor in this movie. He plays the absolute psycho hired by the head evil man, Brant, to come in and wipe out Dalton after his wimpy crew can’t take him out.

McGregor is terrible in this movie. Yes, he’s an unhinged psychopath who delights in destroying people’s property and, quite frankly, their physical well-being. He’s way too over the top, and it’s annoying. I don’t know why they chose him for the role other than my thought that it’s because he’s an actual fighter. But I’d have picked someone who can play the role without being obnoxious.

But aside from him, this movie is super fun. The filmmakers didn’t taint the legacy of the original. They struck a great balance between taking parts from the original for this new film and not overdoing it or underdoing it.

So, for the first time, I’m reporting back to you on my prediction based on a trailer. I’m telling you; this one was a hit. I know I was doubtful, but it was fantastic and fun. There was no Sam Elliot, but I will let that go.

I gotta split.

Thanks for reading, and until next week…..