Good evening from Princeton Heights, where the drivers are mad, the coffee is hot and everybody has a dog.
The door reads "entertainment news" division, but this is basically all the noise in my head that needs to break out and be heard. Small stuff, big ideas, random thoughts, and their maker. Movies, television shows, local eateries, and a beer to savor. Let's just get right into it. Hot takes will be saved for last.
Is Stallone really retiring Rocky?
There was an Instagram video released last week (it's been a minute since I did a movie buffet) where Sylvester Stallone addressed the Creed 2 cast in the desert, saying what many people thought was a goodbye to the Rocky Balboa character. Here's what I took from it: it was a wrap video. The Rock did one for Furious 7, came back for another round, and now has a solo film being filmed. Stallone is done until the producers call him for Creed 3 or a great script catches his eye. He once again owned the screen in the most recent installment of Michael B. Jordan's Adonis Creed and his battle against legacy and destiny, so the desire is still there. Creed 2 performed very well and should finish with a sweet box office number.
I just despise the "he's done" articles. Actors don't retire characters, whether they die onscreen or not. Spoiler alert: Rocky survived the latest movie. He's alive! If he had died, they'd feed him some magical Philly cheesesteak, and he'd be back. I kid, but the point remains. Stallone put the character to rest back in 2006, and Ryan Coogler brought him back. It can happen again. Personally, I'd be up for a Rocky-Ivan Drago road trip across the world.
Avengers 4 trailer, anyone?
Attention, Kevin Feige, can we have a taste? Imagine sitting at a restaurant a week or so after you ordered your dinner. One would become quite mad about the lack of service and food. Anthony and Joe Russo's final installment in the Avengers series comes out in five months, and yet there has been no trailer. No teaser. Nothing. Captain Marvel got a fresh look this week, but nothing about A4.
While I am not worried or think Marvel needs to woo us in order to get the theaters packed, I'll admit we are pushing patience here. Give us something. Iron Man and Captain America playing Connect 4 over coffee and blueprints while Black Widow cleans her guns. Something for the holidays. The extra wait could simply mean they want to get it right and not spoil too much, or they may be planning some kind of Thanos Christmas song. We need a preview.
Rest in peace, Philip Bosco
Ninety-nine percent of you have no idea who the actor is, and it's okay. You'll read that name, scroll down, and carry on. I get it. Bosco wasn't a household name or someone to fetch an extra look or IMDB search. He was in 94 movies, most notably Working Girl, The Savages, and Law and Order. For me, he was the blunt judge in Nobody's Fool who put the late Philip Seymour Hoffman's Officer Reymour in his place. "Anesthesia is what he should be under." Timeless. A noteworthy character actor who put in good work. Bosco was 88 years old and died on Monday after a long battle with dementia.
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs and Hold The Dark: Netflix delights or snoozers?
Don't rush to watch either of these movies. The former is a Coen Brothers film revolving around six different stories based in the wild west. Liam Neeson, James Franco, and Tim Blake Nelson populate a few of these tales, and while a couple of the segments land well and make you smile, the majority just put you to sleep. There's way too much singing, an excess of goofiness that doesn't stick, and just a lost and never found tone. I stick to my notion that the Coens stopped making gems a long time ago.
Hold The Dark, with Jeffrey Wright and Alexander Saarsgard, pulls a few notes from Taylor Sheridan's Wind River without being able to duplicate the success. Once again, wolves are bad and deadly, but human beings may be even worse...right? Who knows? Wright looks confused the entire film, things get very weird late, and at the end, you are depressed and wondering what you watched. A gun fight outside a barn is the highlight of the film.
Escape At Dannemora is worth a look
Ben Stiller's Showtime limited series about the real-life escape of two prisoners back in 2015 is well-filmed, superbly acted, and gets better with each hour. Patricia Arquette hasn't had a role like this in years, and Benicio Del Toro just oozes menace without much dialogue. David Morse playing a prison guard again (The Green Mile) is also a delight. This makes for a great one-two punch with Ray Donovan on Sunday nights.
THIS JUST IN: THE GOLDEN GLOBES ARE A JOKE!
Kevin Hart as Oscars host? Not if I, or homophobic tweets, can stop it
Tuesday night, Hart was announced as a late selection to host the Oscars. Now, the same thing that almost buried James Gunn in career purgatory, Twitter, is threatening to get Hart fired. Homophobic tweets back in 2011 about a fear over his son being gay is coming back to haunt Hart. Before you wonder why these tweets are coming up now, well, the timing isn't a shocker. When you get a big gig, a certain social media police division will search your history for controversy and find a few skeletons. In 2015, Hart told the Rolling Stone he would try to prevent his son from being gay. It proves words don't go away, and I'll admit, these are ugly and narrow-minded views from Hart.
I didn't like the guy as host anyway. He isn't that funny and will probably be sucked up by Donald Trump hate jokes for the entire show and not add much to the event. At this point, he may be fired just as fast as he was hired. If you want to make it big in this town, don't tweet out nonsense. Hart deleted the tweets this week. Too late, dude.
Real Quick:
*James Badge Dale is an underrated talent.
*I could eat grilled salmon every single night. It's that good. Have you ever put it on a cedar plank inside the grill? Do it and thank me later.
*Seoul Taco and Mission Taco are overrated. I went there, ate their food, and left without a desire to rush back. I could have made better tacos.
*Need a good Bloody Mary? Russell's On Macklind or Southwest Diner. Take your pick.
*The Sicilian omelet at Chris' Pancake Restaurant may be the best in town. Italian sausage, provel, and veggies inside a well-cooked bed of eggs and seasoning. Try it out.
*We are getting into stout season, beer lovers! My craving right now are milk stouts, nitro made.
One last thing. Rest in peace, George H. W. Bush. Before he was President, he was a true American patriot. He fought for our country and was willing to die for it. What a life.
That's all I got. I now must return to my December binge-watch session of foreign language films and documentaries.
-DBuff
