Occasionally, one is tasked by Twitter users to respond to some random question that is pulled from the nether world. This morning while I was working on a future project, I noticed the following task on the service: Name 4 MOVIES you have Watched MANY times.
Here are my choices with some explanation:
Groundhog Day (1993) This film runs on a loop for 24 hours every February 2nd, I even have a YouTube playlist set up so I don’t have to monitor it. Groundhog Day 24-Hour Marathon
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) This is a consensus pick. Before a premiere of a Marvel Cinematic Universe production, I used to watch the entire MCU production slate from start to finish. I also used to watch in chronological order. So, this film was always first up. This habit has somewhat bit the dust since the end of The Infinity Saga, but I’d imagine I might still do this in the future. I have a YouTube playlist for this as well.
tick… Tick… BOOM! (2021) I just love this film. Ever since it premiered, it brings me joy. It has just about everything: pathos, music, comedy, and drama. I love the cast, especially Andrew Garfield and Robin de Jesús. I wish I could come home to “Michael” and wrap him in my arms to make him feel secure. love… Love… LOVE! this movie.
What’s Up Doc? (1972) This used to be the film that I began every New Year with. These days, it’s part of a double feature with When Harry Met Sally (1989). It’s hard to go to bed unhappy after watching this film.
Usually, when you have a list of any kind, you’ll have a pick that just missed the cut. People call that an Honorable Mention. Yet, my fifth pick stands above all the rest. When all the political silos and television faux pas are too much to bear, I sit down and watch what I call my Venerable Mention:
Network (1986) In that year, this film depicted a future where anything goes on a network newscast. Well, reality has not only matched this fantastical story, but it has also surpassed it. You need only to tune into one, better two, cable news networks on a given night before you start to wonder what is real and what is surreal.
That’s it. That’s my answer to the task. What’s yours?
A New Year is often an excellent time to take stock, see where you’ve been, and decide where you’re going. I’m no different. So, as 2023 approached, I logged into YouTube Studio and looked at what I’d been up to. I’ll violate a rule here. You can tune out now if you’re not interested in a retrospective. Please LIKE, SUBSCRIBE, and SHARE this podcast. More timely episodes will be coming your way.
For those sticking around, here is some brief retrospection.
One year ago, I began this podcast. I knew that I was better at producing thought when writing. Once my thoughts are written, it’s easier for me to dispense them in spoken words instead of creating a video. I’m OK producing other peoples’ video content, but I am somewhat of a disaster at producing video content featuring me. For whatever reason, I become tongue-tied. I can’t think and talk extemporaneously, even though it’s something almost all of us do daily.
Anyway, the plan was to produce an audio podcast where I thought I would be more comfortable. So, I began with a video idea that I turned into the first episode of this podcast, centered around my surviving on this planet for 25,000 days. I recorded the episode, posted it, and never looked back. I got all discombobulated setting up the distribution of the podcast. Once I get frustrated, I quickly give up and move on.
Likewise, it was late when I started the YouTube channel in 2021. Many folks started streaming in 2020 at the height of the pandemic. I spent 2020 producing a friend’s video series and got a lot of positive feedback. People told the host that the series looked like a professionally produced show. Boy, did THAT stroke my ego!
Meanwhile, I didn’t know what to focus my channel on; so I did what I typically do. I hung out and participated in other people’s channels. Even though I wanted to stream, I didn’t have the gumption or the finances to do it. I procrastinated. I spent time researching my brand. I wanted it to be uniform across all social media platforms. I settled on MikeylitoLIVE, which was available just about everywhere.
24 August 2021: I finally decided to start streaming and produced my first live stream. I did a 30-second blurb in the afternoon to promote the show named MikeylitoLIVE After Midnight. I chose that daypart because I had been making occasional post-midnight appearances on another channel and because it was a quiet time in my residence. There’s not a lot of activity here after midnight; also, not a lot of questions from my big brother about who I was talking to on the computer.
I stole an episode title from Aaron Sorkin, as it had been a really crazy day. Still in the middle of the pandemic, I had to go to the medical lab to have blood drawn for one of my cadre of doctors. I walked into the lab, which had taken all the standard precautions. Yet, there were still people inside, not wearing masks, coughing, and touching everything in sight. After I finished there, I caught a bus to travel to my local movie theatre. Again, despite signs on both doors of the bus, one guy still refused to put on a mask despite the driver asking him to wear one.
I’m a Regal Cinemas Unlimited member. For approximately $24/month, Regal Unlimited will allow you to pre-book three showings of any movie playing at any Regal theatre across the United States. Of course, there are a few restrictions. The movie show times can’t overlap, and it has to be you sitting in the theatre. Those are reasonable restrictions. One of the perks of being an Unlimited member is getting a free bucket of popcorn and a large fountain drink for your birthday. These perks expire after 90 days. Now, you can also purchase concession discounts with your Club points, and they also have various expiration dates.
The plan was to see Free Guy, a film Ryan Reynolds did with Disney’s new acquisition, 20th Century Pictures. I wasn’t particularly in the mood for a big concession fest; so, I wandered to the concession stand to get a small free popcorn I had purchased with Club Points. That perk expired in two days. Yet, the cashier rang up, or so I thought, the free popcorn bucket perk, which expired in 88 days. When I mentioned that to the cashier, he said he didn’t have an option. The perk taken was programmed into Regal’s system. I asked for a manager. When the manager came over, he stated he could do nothing. So, I canceled the entire order and just went to watch the movie.
One of the things I learned while producing other people’s streams is that preparation is critical. You should always prepare what you want to talk about. When you have guests, you should always prepare them for how the show works, what you want to talk about, and what you DON’T want to talk about. All this is just to get an idea of how the broadcast will go, minimize surprises, and generally have a good time. Unfortunately, after the many annoyances of the day, I didn’t do that. I didn’t prepare anything. Worse, I went live on the channel and promoted the midnight broadcast.
The result is available for all to see on my YouTube channel.
My point, however, is that my reaction sent me into a deep depression. I walked away from streaming for quite a while after that. It was three months before I attempted to do another video. That was a trailer reaction for Spider-Man: No Way Home that one of our PGS friends encouraged me to do. However, I’m not very expressive; so, I’m uncertain that trailer reactions are something I should do, at least by myself anyway. I wasn’t happy with that video also.
I did a Happy Holidays message and the pilot episode of this podcast, and that was it. I wasn’t sure I would ever do another video ever again. All told, I produced four videos in 2021,
A couple of months later, The Batman appeared in theatres. Disney and Marvel pulled the plug on Netflix’s licenses and moved the remaining Marvel content from the Netflix platform to Disney+. I also had some thoughts about various Star Trek content appearing on Paramount+, and I decided to do another stream
That was 4 March 2022, and the result can be found on LIVE After Midnight #002.
I had an actual viewer in chat, and as a result of that stream, I picked up a subscriber.
I soon realized that streaming is somewhat like a living organism. A stream has a mood, a life of its own. When you have nothing left to talk about, you end it. It doesn’t have to have a predetermined length. Also, since live streams have a life after, you just have to prepare material and present it, even if nobody is watching. Or listening, as is the case with this podcast.
After that stream, I was motivated, and I’ve done all kinds of content since then. While I wasn’t looking, I produced 42 videos and one Short in 2022.
So, now, it’s 2023. It’s a New Year. I’ve made some equipment upgrades, and I have plans for the future. However, plans aren’t resolutions. I resolutely resolve to not make New Year’s Resolutions. I have some content ideas for the future. I’ve killed a couple of shows and will be instituting new ones. I plan to stream more often, but we’ll see how it goes. It’s really about quality, not quantity. There are certain things I want to do, but I’m my own worst critic. Succeed or fail, I have to do things on my own terms. I’ve always felt life was a journey. I hope you’ll join me on mine.
Thanks for sticking with me through this episode. As I did for those who left early, I ask that you LIKE, SUBSCRIBE, and SHARE this podcast. Likewise, check out my video content on YouTube, where I also hope you become a subscriber. I resolve to always tell you how I honestly feel, even if you disagree or it makes you uncomfortable. That’s not a New Year’s resolution; that’s a life resolution. It’s one I’m too old to break.
THE MENU stars Ralph Fiennes as Chef Julian Slowik, who has an exclusive restaurant named Hawthorne on an island off an unnamed coast.
We meet a young couple played by Nicholas Hoult and Anya Taylor-Joy, who are among 12 guests who’ve come to Hawthorne for what proves to be an unforgettable meal by chef Slowik and his crew.
Suppose you want to know absolutely nothing about this film going in. In that case, I’ll tell you that I recommend this film for the delightful performances of Fiennes as the celebrity chef who runs a tight ship. Also, Elsa, his majordomo and maitre’d, played with military precision by Hong Chau, a Vietnamese American actress you may have seen in Treme, Downsizing, HBO’s Watchmen, American Woman, and an Independent Spirit Award-nominated performance in Driveways. Finally, Taylor-Joy is Margo, a young woman who may not be who she is supposed to be.
For the rest of you, I won’t reveal too much more; however, several details have been shown in the trailer, which is one reason I’m calling out the marketing of the film.
Nicholas Hoult is a hoot as Tyler, who has invited Margo along for this culinary carnival.
Chef Slowik introduces each course with a story that amplifies the course his guests and we, as the audience, are about to consume. However, as the meal progresses, it gets stranger and continues until it becomes deadly.
Mark Mylod has fun directing this macabre tale. It turns out to be a game of cat and mouse between Chef Slowik and Margo while keeping the rest of the guests off-balance except for Tyler, who seems to be taking all of the evening’s events in stride, no matter how disquieting they may be.
Mylod has solid bona fides as a director, having directed three other films, six episodes of Game of Thrones, 12 episodes of Shameless, and 13 episodes of Succession. The script by Seth Reiss and Will Tracy is delightful and funny despite the horrid goings-on, and Adam McKay and Will Ferrill are attached as producers along with Betsy Koch and others.
Just talking about the movie has caused me to upgrade my rating, and I absolutely recommend the film. Rated R for strong/disturbing violent content, language throughout, and some sexual references, The Menu is a horror-comedy thriller for adults, and I’m rating it four stars, 8/10.
Trailer
Author’s Note: If you haven’t seen this trailer, don’t watch it. Go into the movie knowing nothing. You’ll thank me later.
Aside from the animated What If series, the last time we saw T’Challa was at the close of 2019’s Avengers: Endgame at Tony Stark’s funeral. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (hereafter Wakanda Forever) begins with T’Challa’s funeral.
Several reviewers have complained about the run time of Wakanda Forever, even though almost everyone agreed that this film had a significant burden on its shoulders. It had to explain what has happened in Wakanda and incorporate the real-life, real-universe death of Chadwick Boseman, who played T’Challa in four previous MCU films and several episodes of the aforementioned What If series. Many also felt it needed to bring some sanity to the disjointed Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Since Endgame, several years have passed. In the intervening time, T’Challa has contracted a fast-acting disease, and Shuri (Letitia Wright), who, to this point, has been unable to re-create a synthetic Heart-Shaped Herb, is desperately trying to cure her brother. She fails, and her brother dies because she doesn’t have the Heart-Shaped Herb, artificial or natural.
This is an example of how Ryan Coogler, as director, story author, and co-screenwriter with Joe Robert Cole, avoids taking shortcuts in weaving the tapestry that is Wakanda Forever. Coogler and Cole could have easily written around the total destruction of the Heart-Shaped Herb by Killmonger. Instead, they constructed a story element that incorporated an explanation.
Queen Ramonda, who has become the reigning monarch in the wake of T’Challa’s death, implores Shuri to recreate the Heart-Shaped Herb, but Shuri is still grieving her brother’s death, and we learn she doesn’t really believe in the Ancestral Plane. Ramonda is concerned that Wakanda will be attacked by outside forces trying to obtain vibranium.
Instead, Wakanda is threatened by a civilization unbeknownst to them. Namor, the leader of an underwater society known as Talokan, appears to Ramonda and Shuri. He tells them that vibranium was not only in The Great Mound of Wakanda but also under the sea in his nation. It seems the countries of the surface are not only trying to exploit Wakanda but Talokan as well. Namor wants Wakanda to ally with Talokan against the surface worlds, but Ramonda is reluctant.
Coogler and Cole’s storytelling is enhanced by the return of several Academy Award winners. Ruth E. Carter returns as Costume Designer, and Hannah Beachler as Production Designer. Ludwig Göransson’s score is weaved with songs from Rihanna and Baaba Maal.
I think of the film as a series of chapters, each dealing with a separate part of the overall story. One section of the story introduces Dominque Thorne as Riri Williams. A second section introduces Tenoch Huerta Mejía as Namor, Mabel Cadena as Namora, Alex Livinalli as Attuma, and the people of Talokan. A third section features Martin Freeman returning as CIA agent Everett Ross and a character we know but didn’t expect, which expands upon what we know about that character. Coogler and Cole weave all of this together with stories from Wakanda onto a grand tapestry.
The opening of Wakanda Forever is a moving tribute to T’Challa and the actor who played him. However, the film’s closing moments and the mid-credits scene will absolutely rip your heart out.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, action, and some language. It’s playing in theatres now.
I’m not unbiased, but I rate the movie a solid 10 out of 10, the equivalent of five stars. I recommend you see it. Now, it’s up to you to decide.
88 grams (½ cup) black beans, unsoaked, rinsed, soaked
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup broth, preferably beef or vegetable
1 cup (235ml) water
1 pound ground beef
1 package McCormack Taco Seasoning Mix (Strength: Your choice)
1 package Ben’s Original Ready Rice, Long Grain & Wild Rice (or your choice)
1 11oz (311g) can, Green Giant Steam Crisp Mexicorn, drained
Preparation
Add beans, salt, broth, and water to the Instant Pot.
Pressure cook on high for 30 minutes. It will take about 8 minutes for the Instant Pot to pressurize before cooking begins.
Let the beans rest in the pot for 20 minutes so the steam can dissipate naturally. This means you don’t push any buttons — we recommend setting another timer so you’ll remember to remove the lid after 20 minutes.
While the beans are resting, brown the ground beef.
While the beef is browning, mix Taco Seasoning Mix in 3/4 cup water (or broth).
When beef is browned, pour Taco Seasoning Mix into pan with beef. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
While beef mixture is simmering, microwave Ready Rice for 90 seconds. Set aside.
When beef mixture has simmered for 5 minutes, mix in:
Ben’s Original Ready Rice, from microwave
Green Giant Mexicorn
When the Instant Pot has de-pressurized, add the black beans from the Instant Pot.
You’re done!
With this mix, you can make nachos, tacos, burritos, bowls, whatever you like! Enjoy!
Mikeylito @LEISURE 