https://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomFo...7#pid80587

Seen at AMC Sunnyvale. From the trailer, I was thinking this was going to be more Bonnie & Clyde, but I think it's a little more Sid & Nancy (from what I can remember of that film). Less action and more outsiders struggling with their identities (bride more than Frank) and their relationship. 

The narrative is a bit scattered. It opens in b/w with a really tight closeup on Jesse Buckley as Mary Shelley explaining that she wrote Frankenstein on a a dare, but didn't get to tell the story she wanted to and is going to do that now (she's a little angry about that), but she's not sure how to do that and decides to possess someone...a party girl (Jesse Buckley) and it switches to color where Buckley becomes possessed and gets to show off her acting chops by switching between American party girl and angry Victorian British Mary Shelly mid-sentence. 

The chemistry between Buckley and Christian Bale is good, but the story tries to be about her coming to terms with her identity while also throwing in a #MeToo movement, Moulin Rouge, and more of this than is needed...(I think it detracts from what directory Maggie Gyllenhaal is trying to say)



Jake Gyllenhaal is the singing/dancing star of the era and Frankie constantly goes to the movie theater to watch him dance. 

It could have been better IMHO.

--tg

He was good friends with one o my psych mentors, Jack McCloskey, and popped up a lot in my early RM days. I think the last time I saw him was at Jack’s wake in 96. They were both staunch activists cor veterans rights and connected to Swords to Plowshares. 

Joe was kind of a one-hit wonder with his Fixing2Die protest song. Man, do we even categorize songs as protest anymore? But he had a humble stage presence and that song was anthemic. Still is. Just gotta swap Vietnam with Iran in the lyrics. I always enjoyed hearing him sing it.

A free show in the Haight? Why yes, I’ll be there.

Scored a good parking space on Clayton, a block from Haight.

Got there early and paid a visit to my dear friend Michael (my former dealer) who lives next to the Dead house. He’s an invalid now, under caretakers in his home. I haven’t seen him in a year and the last time, it felt like the last time. But he’s strong - still lucid and engaged as much as he can be. It was good to reconnect.

Went down to the panhandle just in time for China Cats. They played well but not their best. Ran into friends and ended up hanging with my old Den of Geek editor who left the company last year to work on a doc on Stan Lee and his GF. We had a grand time.

It was a gorgeous day - T-shirt weather - and a kynd crowd. Happy deadheads. Only mildly obnoxious. Mostly joyous.

They played on the back of a flatbed - old skool hippie style. 

Graham Lesh’s band began with some strong bass and I was struck by how much I miss Phil and how no one even approached him but the first 2 songs were solid and reminded me. The bass was way up. Then they descended into a jug band sound - Cumberland, uncle, etc - with that bum bum bum-ba-bum bass thst came off flat. If you’re going to turn up the bass that much, it needs more dynamics. It was drowning out the keys which was where the action was - a fake Hammond = keyboard and one of those spinning subwoofers. I luv a Hammond but the fake ones just don’t have that punch. For second set, we moved to behind the stage truck in line with the keys and it was much better. The last few songs were good.

A delightful day. Well worth the trip.

Somebody quit Netflix way too early because Warmachine rules!

Okay, it doesn't rule, but as origin stories for Jack Reacher go, it was pretty interesting.

Okay, it wasn't the origin story for Jack Reacher but it should be.

Alan Ritchson promises to join the rangers after a terrible experience in Afghanistan. Basically, that is all he wants to do. Fulfill his promise. He doesn't want to hang with the guys. He doesn't leadership. He wants to do the stuff, get the patch, and leave. Most of the first third of the movie is him going through Ranger training school and all those problems. To graduate they have to do the death march (Stupid name) It's during the death march that the fun things happen. There are some crazy set pieces that make you wince from the over amped sound effects. Lots of cringe worthy blood shed. Lots of impossible things to do that go awry. It was plenty of fun and has been noted many times, I know fun.

The last ten minutes was all pretty lame. The valuable lesson is learned. They set up maybe a sequel or an ongoing series. I really can't watch Dennis Quaid any more and he was a big part of the ending. I suggest turning the movie off maybe after the final big explosion.

JAH Med wasn't called upon for this show. It was only a third show, and anticipated to be mellow, which, indeed, it was.  Nevertheless, the house manager offered us comp tix, so me, Stacy, Ben, Sarah, Dr. Z and his wife Lindsey. It was a lovely evening and we all had a delightful time. 

Our emailed passes didn't come until 6:30 and the show was 7, so there was some mercurial worry going in, but once we were there, it was all good. 

We paid for parking like plebeians and as we walked up the hill, we heard a pack of coyotes howling from behind us. As we walked on, it got louder. Later we told the others that we were chased by coyotes, much to everyone's amusement.

There was only one food truck that served burgers, chicken wraps and try-tip sandwiches. I got Stacy some fries and wine, and had a hard cider for myself. 

I got carded. Sure, sure, they say they card everyone, but Sarah & Ben didn't get carded and they're in their 40s. And sure, sure, it was dark. But still, that was a highlight of the evening. As of last Saturday, I am one year shy of being 3x drinking age. 

The show was very enjoyable. I didn't know much about Lila beyond checking out her tiny desk concert last week. She sings almost exclusively in Spanish, ballads, cumbria, and jazz influenced Mexican songs. She plays guitar and dances. Sarah is a long time fan but this was the first time she saw Lila live. She said Lila was on the Frida soundtrack and now I want to watch that again.

She had an 8 piece - 2 rhythm guitars, 2 drummers (traps and bongos), 2 horn players that alternated between trumpet, trombone, accordion and keys, and a bass player, who played keys and guitar. Didn't care for the bass player. I dunno, I just aint that into bass on keys. He had the guitar. Just play that. He was turned up way too high in the mix, obscuring the other musicians who were much better. he did drop a few reggae-influenced bass lines, but I was already disdaining him. The horns were where the action was. The trumpet player was spot on. There was also tap dancing, in a cool percussive trio between him and the drummers. What the band really needed was a sousaphone player. 

Nevertheless, the band had a lively powerful sound, very rooted, and the audience went nuts for it, dancing and singing along. Lila herself was captivating, dressed in black lace like Morticia Addams, alternating shawls like Stevie Nicks. She has a great voice and some suave dance steps. 

It was such a delight to enjoy a show with Stacy and our other friends, not have a radio in my ear, and allowed to sit on my ass and just watch the whole show. 

One the way back, the moonrise over the Cruz was spectacular, so much so that several dozen of our fellow attendees whipped out their phones trying to catch all that heavenly glory. 

So went the 1st of 5 Quarry shows this year. A wonderful season opener. 

We were home just after 10.

(02-05-2026, 09:59 AM)Greg Wrote: Young Sherlock. March 4. With more Guy Ritchie!

I didn't know who Bill Raney was either. The Nick has been down for the count for quite awhile, but back in the day, it was really the only place in town (Santa Cruz) to see cool movies. Especially after the Rio switched to a live performance venue. That Nick, the one next door to Zach Pitts' house...two doors down from Jack's Burger Stand.

https://www.goodtimes.sc/bill-raney-nick...anta-cruz/

Quote:‘Nick’ owner Bill Raney left behind a cultural legacy

Richard Stockton
March 4, 2026
Bill Raney, the founder and longtime owner of the beloved Nickelodeon Theater, died last week at 90, leaving behind a legacy that is deep in the cultural DNA of Santa Cruz. For more than three decades, he brought independent, foreign and classic films that helped form Santa Cruz culture.

When Raney and his first wife, JoAnne Walker Raney, opened the Nickelodeon in 1968, Santa Cruz was being shaped by the Summer of Love. The “Nick” culturally helped inform that ethos, as the town turned from a quiet beach community into something more expansive and revolutionary. The Nickelodeon arrived at a time when most theaters were showing the same Hollywood fare, as the Nick screened Bergman, Fellini, Truffaut and Kurosawa. It offered stories that felt urgent, intimate and often radical; the full-blown Rocky Horror Picture Show experience went on for years. For generations of UCSC students and locals the Nickelodeon was a gathering place for exploring the world beyond the mainstream.

Born in Grand Forks, ND, Raney’s life, like the films he loved, contained beauty and tragedy. Shortly after opening the theater, JoAnne died of an aneurysm. The couple had recently adopted a son, Zerky, who also died the following year. Bill’s son Zachary Raney says those losses shaped him deeply.

“There was a lot of loss. Zerky passed in ‘70, and then it was just me and him. He was so consistent and so caring and loving all the way through. I really don’t know how he was able to stay so strong through all of that.”
Bill remarried and continued building Santa Cruz film culture, expanded programming and eventually opened additional venues. Zach said, “My dad held his arms open for everyone, both in our home and at his second home, the Nick. The doors were open for the whole community. My dad embraced everyone.”

Not a loud man, nor one to chase celebrity, Raney’s contribution was steady, patient and rooted in the belief that if you give people access to art, they will grow, says his son, Zach. Even after he sold the theater in 1997, the ethos he created continued to ripple outward, influencing local festivals, the Del Mar Theatre’s revival, and the ongoing hunger for film as a community experience.
The Nickelodeon closed during the pandemic, a loss that still feels raw to longtime residents. Could the Nick come back? Zach Raney says, “I’m not going to say the Nick is going to open again, but there is some chatter. There are some structural things that have to happen in the building, but there is a dream to get it open.”

Bill Raney is survived by Nancy Raney, Zachary Raney, Julie Atkinson-Harrington, and Kevin Atkinson. In later years, Bill traveled widely and wrote about his experiences in Letters to Zerky, but seen from Santa Cruz, his greatest journey may have been the one he invited the rest of us on. In a moment when the world feels fractured and smaller, his gift feels larger than ever. Bill Raney helped Santa Cruz see a bigger world and helped us all open our arms wider.

Brendan Fraser plays a struggling actor who takes a job pretending to be a member of various people's families. Melodrama ensues. The whole thing takes place in Japan. I'm not really sure why the character Fraser plays is in Japan, he might have come for a job and never left. But he's there. There's two main threads. In one, he's a reporter talking to an aging actor suffering from early stages of dementia who wants to feel important again. In the other, he plays the absent father returned in order to help a young girl get into a prestigious school. In the end, of course, Brendan learns a valuable life lesson.

I was hoping for a more comedic take but that is not what comes up.

I'll fill this in tomorrow after the announcement. Super excited for that weekend - a wild 3-night run just lined up and I gotta pull it together for that. 

KB, tg - put this on your radar for Bicycle Day.

I found seasons 1 and 2, while pretty to look at, to be slow and meandering, leaning into boring. So epic...and simultaneously glacial. Hari Sheldon seems a super annoying know-it-all that you want to slap. I'm not fond of the cast of characters that follow him, either. Lee Pace as Day (the middle clone in Empire's 3 seats) is very wooden. 

I was going to give up and didn't bother with Season 3 even tho it came out awhile ago...but I started it and binged it this week. Much better. I barely remember where Season 2 left off, but this one is much better. Still beautiful to look at, but moves much faster, lots going on, but easy to follow. There's a new baddie, "The Mule" who easily controls people with his mind and intends to take over the galaxy and crush both Empire and The Foundation. Lee Pace's Empire discovers drugs and falls in love with a lady and gets to be "The Dude" from Big Lebowski for much of the season, but his acting is way better, especially after that part. The arc of Dusk (the eldest Empire clone) to Darkness is Shakespearean (possibly trying to hard to be so, but the sets and lighting that go with it are great)

There is a plot twist about The Mule revealed at the end that I'm not sure I can accept, but I'm not going to go back and watch the season over to see if it jives. There's a bit of "I'm going to tell you a story and all points are leading there...oh, I didn't tell you this one little thing..."

Anyway, recommended if you can slog thru seasons 1&2 (and I hear it got renewed for another)

--tg