History & Some Fun Stuff
I reluctantly added Midway (2019) to my Netflix list, leery that it was simply an action flick. It is much more, detailing events prior to the battle that turned the tide of the war in the Pacific. It depicts the prescience of the intel officers who saw in the late ‘30’s what was coming, the attack on Pearl Harbor that crippled the Navy, and the daring bombing raid on Tokyo, 4/18/’42. Only seven months after the sneak attack, 6/4/’42, despite being severely outgunned, American commanders and seamen lured the Japanese fleet into a devastating trap. According to two sources I scanned, the movie is largely accurate historically. It is interesting that two of the heroic pilots are portrayed by gentlemen from the UK: Brit Ed Skrein as the cocky Dickie Best and Welshman Luke Evans as the confident C. Wade McCluskey. Patrick Wilson and Brennan Brown are outstanding as the brainiacs. I thought Woody Harrelson an odd choice as Admiral Nimitz, but he is a fine actor and acquits himself well. Dennis Quaid seems perfect for Admiral Halsey, ditto Aaron Eckhart also as Lt. Colonel Jimmy Doolittle. The special effects are fantastic, as is expected in the age of CGI. At one point it seems the narrative is headed for lengthy domestic color, but it is brief, thankfully. Director Roland Emmerich now has 24 credits to his name. Many of his works have been highly successful at the box office. Of the handful I’ve seen, I would rate Midway as his most important by far. Kudos to screenwriter Wes Tooke, whose previous work was eleven episodes of TV fare. Some of the dialogue may come off as corny bravado, but so what? Made on a budget of $100 million, the film returned $126 million worldwide and has added to that through DVD rentals and sales and streaming. 60,000+ users at IMDb have rated Midway, forging to a consensus of 6.7 on a scale of ten. On a scale of five, I rate it four. Its two-hour-plus running time flies by. The film concludes with a bit of political correctness, a caption lauding both the Americans and Japanese lost in the battle. While I don’t question the bravery of Japanese soldiers, I would never praise them given what they perpetrated in China, at Pearl Harbor and during the Bataan Death March. Here’s a neat publicity still:
Here’s an interesting nypost.com headline: “Airport officials strike gold searching passenger’s butt.” I have no desire to look into it closely… And here’s another amusing one: “Joe Biden town hall likened to an episode of Mister Rogers.” “Would you be mine? Could you be mine — my voter?”… And how ‘bout this one from foxnews.com?: “Rapper Nuke Bizzle arrested for identity theft, fraud after boasting about unemployment scam in music video.” Shall we call it “selfie incrimination”?
My thanks to the elderly couple who bought three Danielle Steel novels, one in Russian; and to the middle aged woman who purchased two of the latter; and the middle age guy who went for five in the thriller genre; and to the woman who selected three; and to the gentleman who chose The Cardinal Sins by Andrew M. Greeley for his Irish girlfriend; and to Lou, who went home with How to Think Like Stephen Hawking by Daniel Smith; and to Bill, who pounced on Papillon by Henri Charriere… Lou mentioned a bit of trivia I don’t recall having ever heard. He asked: “Who was the only U.S. president to have been arrested?” I guessed Andrew Johnson, since he was impeached. It was Ulysses S. Grant in 1872. Here’s the story according to Wiki, edited by yours truly: In one version, William H. West, a former slave who fought in the Civil War, was patrolling on foot near 13th and M Streets in DC when he stopped the President for speeding in his horse and buggy and released him with a warning. The next day West observed Grant repeating the behavior, and arrested him. Grant was taken to the police station and released on bond. He did not contest the fine or arrest.
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