Posts Tagged ‘movie’
Sopranos for Fathers Day
Last year, HBO recommended an episode of The Sopranos for Fathers Day. It kinda makes sense, as long as you don’t watch it with your kids (depending on how old they are, of course).
The specific episode recommended by HBO is called “College” (Season One, Episode Five).
In it, Tony Soprano (played of course by the late and very great James Gandolfini) takes his daughter Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) on a trip to visit colleges. Since this is The Sopranos, Tony gets sidetracked by some unexpected business.
It’s an early episode of the show — it first aired on February 7, 1999, according to Wikipedia — and is very good. (Sorry! Forgot to say “spoiler alert.”) It certainly deals with father-daughter issues in a unique way, as did the show as a whole. One of the many great things about The Sopranos was seeing Tony try to be a dad while also conducting his, ahem, legitimate business dealings.
If you want to double-down on Gandolfini for Fathers Day, you can also watch the film Enough Said, which stars Mr. Gandolfini and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. (Catherine Keener is also terrific in a smaller role.) The two have great chemistry, and it’s a nice movie that is also parenting/dad-themed, and it has a fun twist. Here’s the trailer.
There is, of course, an extra note of sadness to the film because it is James Gandolfini’s last starring role.
You can watch The Sopranos and Enough Said via HBO Go and probably HBO Now. (I don’t have the latter and don’t want to say something that isn’t true.)
So if you’re looking for some dad-themed stuff to watch for Father’s Day, here are two solid suggestions… or perhaps we should say… DaddyTips.
Happy Father’s Day to all dads out there!
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Avengers Age of Ultron Science Fact?
There’s a bit in Avengers Age of Ultron that involves a machine that prints skin. (I’m simplifying.) This technology even leads to the creation of a really cool character. (I won’t say which one in case you haven’t seen the movie yet. Although if not, what exactly have you been doing with your time? I mean, sheesh.) It would appear that what I thought was mere science-fiction is becoming science fact.
(The photo below has nothing to do with this post. But it could one day! 3-D Eyeball Printers!)
Deutsch: Zentrale Heterochromie: Grüne Iris, um die Pupille herum jedoch ein braun-gelber Ring (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
L’Oreal is working on a 3-D printer that can print human skin.
“Print” should probably be in quotes. Basically they’re using a machine to create skin cells to replace human skin that’s burned or otherwise damaged. Read the Wired article for more.
Eventually, of course, this same technology could be used to create an entire body. For now that’s science-fiction instead of science fact. But who knows what the future holds.
h/t Top Tech Blog (via Scott Adams. Yes, the Dilbert guy. He blogs about interesting stuff and has other folks blogging about interesting stuff on his behalf.)
Source: Inside L’Oreal’s Plan to 3-D Print Human Skin | WIRED
Avengers: Age of Ultron Link Roundup (Ongoing) – UPDATED
Now that Avengers: Age of Ultron is finally here, and I’ve seen it (twice), I can start reading about it until my eyeballs fall out. This page will have an an ongoing list of links to some of what I’ve read that I found interesting.
Personally I prefer The Avengers. Have I mentioned that lately?
UPDATED 5/11/15 (new links after the break; you can tell they’re new because they say NEW LINK.)
As you know, I frickin’ LOVED The Avengers, the first one. To say that Avengers: Age of Ultron isn’t quite as good as the first film is like saying I’m shorter than Shaquille O’Neal. Or, to ever-so-slightly borrow a joke from the movie, that this blog post will be shorter than a Eugene O’Neill play. Bottom line: it was a lot of fun, Joss Whedon did a nice job of balancing all of the myriad demands of a film with a ton of characters and future Marvel Cinematic Universe movies to promote, and I’ve already seen the movie twice and would gladly see it again.
As expected with a summer blockbuster, especially a follow-up to a film as great as The Avengers, the Interwebs are filled with articles and blog posts and charts and click-bait about all things Ultron. I went on Rotten Tomatoes planning to read a few reviews. I got as far as one before being sucked into a rabbit hole (maybe I should say tesseract instead) of Age of Ultron related topics.
Oh, the obligatory Spoiler Alert from this point forward. I’m not going to bother watching what I say about the movie, although this isn’t a review and odds are I won’t reveal anything particularly important. But if you haven’t seen the movie yet and prefer to do so without knowing anything about what happens, stop reading now. Then come back. Don’t worry. We’ll wait. Read more »
Age of Ultron Hard on Joss Whedon Because He Has a Family
Avengers: Age of Ultron ruled the box office this weekend. And before that, it ruled director Joss Whedon‘s life. This was, according to the director, difficult on him because he has a family. Here’s what he said in an interview:
English: Joss Whedon at the 2010 Comic Con in San Diego (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
“When I watch it, I just see ‘flaw, flaw, flaw, compromise, laziness, mistake,’” said Whedon. “The reason I set out to make another film is because I wanted to make one that was better, and I wanted to up my game as a shooter and work harder on every aspect of it and sort of give myself up to it in a way that’s hard for me, because I have a family. I started as a writer in low-budget TV, and there was always this element of, ‘This is good enough.’ And with this movie, I never wanted to say, ‘This is good enough.’” (emphasis added)
And now the explanation. Read more »
Patrick Stump’s Dad Big Deadhead
Fall Out Boy has a new album out, American Beauty/American Psycho. The “Beauty” part comes from the Grateful Dead album of the same name; the “Psycho” is for the Bret Easton Ellis novel.
(There are actually movies with the same title — “American Beauty” and “American Psycho“, the latter being actually based on the Easton Ellis novel, which I’ve read and don’t recommend because it’s very disturbing. Never saw the movie, which stars Christian Bale. “American Beauty” the movie has nothing to do with the Grateful Dead album as far as I know, and I personally found it to be a bit overrated. The Dead album is good. Now that you know my opinion of everything, let’s move on with the article, shall we?)
I read that Fall Out Boy sampled a Mötley Crüe song on their new record but after listening to every song on American Beauty/American Psycho I couldn’t find it. So I hit the Google. An Billboard article from December 2014 clued me in that a bit of “Too Fast For Love” is used on the title track. I’ll have to listen to it again. (Note: I like Fall Out Boy a lot. This isn’t their best album but I’m OK with that.)
Further down in the Billboard story is this little tidbit of info:
Despite the nod to the Dead, there is no “Box of Rain” cover, though it would score Stump some points with his family. “I was talking about that record with some friends the other day. My dad is a huge Deadhead,” he said.
I’m trying to imagine a Fall Out Boy cover of Box of Rain, and it’s not easy. I could see Patrick Stump singing/playing it acoustic, whereas if the whole band did it they’d need to do it more hardcore, in my humble opinion. Like most of what Fall Out Boy does, I’d give it a listen.
It’s funny to think of the lead singer’s dad being “a huge Deadhead”. It’s a small, personal detail that made me smile. One of the things I like about Fall Out Boy (other than their music) is that they come across as honest and fairly normal. I don’t know them, and of course it’s possible that they’re all weird dudes. But that’s not the impression I get when I read about them. It helps that I like their music.
via Fall Out Boy Talk New Album, Motley Crue & Grateful Dead | Billboard.
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All 7 X-Men Movies For Only $31.98 – Time-Limited DaddyDeal
Not going to say much about this because you don’t have much time to buy it if you want it. Here’s the DaddyDeal from Amazon — all 7 X-men movies for only $31.98. Free shipping. Deal expires November 15 just before midnight. Your mileage may vary. Disclaimer disclaimer disclaimer.
![Amazon.com: X-Men: Days of Future Past and Wolverine Collection [Blu-ray]: Movies & TV](https://daddytips.com/wp-content/uploads//2014/11/91lLaa234UL._SX385_.jpg)
According to a commenter, the X-Men: Days of Future Past and Wolverine Collection [Blu-ray] is “missing almost all the special features of every movie. They basically took all the old movies that have 2 discs and only put the first disc in this collection so the special features disc for all the movies is missing. It even says disc one on some of the movies. So basically you get just the movie and that’s it.” (Note that according to the description, you do get special features on X-Men: Days of Future Past.) However, another commenter points out how good a deal this is: “At less than $5 per movie, what do you expect? Rent digital once, or own on Bluray – easy choice. As many have said, lots of people never watch the extras anyway … great deal.”
That’s where I come down on the issue (if issue there be). Getting all of the X-movies for such a low price is a great deal. I bought it. You should buy it before the price goes back up. Which is kinda soon. So do it already!
Amazon.com: X-Men: Days of Future Past and Wolverine Collection [Blu-ray]: Movies & TV.
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A Nice Broadway Tribute to Robin Williams
From Theatermania.com, a video of a nice Broadway tribute to Robin Williams, courtesy of Tony winner James Monroe Iglehart, who plays The Genie in the stage version of the Disney musical; Williams, of course, played the part in the animated feature film.
Here’s Robin Williams in the movie (animated, obviously, both literally and figuratively). RIP, condolences to the man’s family and friends.
Broadway’s Aladdin Pays Tribute to Robin Williams With “Friend Like Me” Sing-Along – Video Flash – Aug 13, 2014 – Theatermania.com
