Conspiracy Theory (1997)

Jerry Fletcher (Mel Gibson) is a New York City cab driver who lectures most of his passengers about various conspiracy theories that he holds to be gospel.  After work, he parked near an apartment building and spied on Alice Sutton (Julia Roberts) as she runs on her treadmill.  Next, he takes a pile of newspapers to his cramped apartment that has plentiful locks on the door, and even locks on the refrigerator.  He reviewed the papers and highlighted the important stories.  Soon, he types up his newsletter: Conspiracy Theory.  This issue proposes that someone is trying to assassinate the president via an earthquake during a visit to Turkey.  The space shuttle will trigger the earthquake from orbit.  Yes, of course.  He sent the newsletter - each one from a different mailbox - to his subscribers.  He has one more person to inform: Alice.

Alice Sutton is a lawyer with the Justice Department and has had regular visits from Jerry over the last six months.  Both she and most of the office staff view Jerry as a crackpot but she humors him.  He had saved her from a mugging, which was their first meeting.  He asked her to warn the president about the earthquake.  She is noncommittal.

Then Jerry is snatched from the street, taken to a secret location, and interrogated by Dr. Jonas (Patrick Stewart), who uses harsh methods.  He asks who else knows?  Knows what?  Jerry has no idea which of his theories might have been true.

Mel Gibson is terrific as a paranoid crackpot.  He freestyled much of his conspiracy talk in the taxi, which is some of the funniest bits.  When he warns a pair of nuns against the Vatican, you have to laugh.  This is a complicated character and an excellent job of bringing him to life.  Roberts is good in the role of Alice, but it isn't as interesting a character as Jerry.  Patrick Stewart is great at Dr. Jonas.  This was probably the first time I had seen Stewart play a villain.  He can be menacing and scary in his interrogation scenes with Gibson and then entirely sympathetic and sincere when talking to Roberts.

When released, conspiracy theories were viewed as ridiculous and silly.  That is no longer true today.  Because conspiracy theories were generally laughable and easily dismissed, it became common to accuse one's opponents of spouting conspiracy theories.  What is labeled a conspiracy theory has expanded so much that many have since been proven true.

Great popcorn fun.  Recommended.

RIP Patrick Stewart

Vivek

I like Vivek Ramaswamay.  When he first came on the scene, he proved to be an excellent spokesperson for the Republican Party and a terrific booster for President Trump.  He was upbeat and articulate.  I was eager to see him join Elon Musk in cleaning up the government at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).  Instead, a bowed out before DOGE even began and started pursuing the governorship of Ohio.  Naturally, I assumed the gubernatorial election was in November 2025 and he had to start campaigning immediately.  No, it was in November 2026, and he was getting started quite early.  Fine, I guess.  Maybe he could have put a few months into DOGE, just for appearance's sake.

To hear Vivek's spiel, one would think that the Democrats are driving Ohio's policy decisions.  He's going to clean out the Augean Stables like they have never been cleaned before.  Well, as it happens, Ohio has a Republican Governor, Mike DeWine, and a Republican Legislature.  Why isn't the current Republican administration implementing these great ideas now?  Why can't DeWine boost energy production, reform education, or cut taxes?  Are you dissing the current Republicans or offering pie in the sky plans that cannot be made to work?

Obviously, Vivek is to be preferred over his opponent, but a lot of the excitement for Vivek has faded over the last two years.  He's transformed from a conservative advocate to a standard politician.  Will he be transformational for Ohio or come and go like John Kasich?

Stop Paying Them!

With the latest riots throughout Europe, there is much talk of how to handle the issue of migrants who are not assimilating.  The pundits all explain how there are too many people to even consider deporting.  It is far beyond that as an option.  They are here to stay and a solution based on that must be found.  Then the discussion moves to the cost of housing and supporting these migrants - both legal and illegal - at government expense and how unsustainable it is.  Let's follow that for a moment.  The government is paying the expenses of these migrants.  The government is renting rooms at hotels and providing food and medical care for people who are mostly unemployed.  What if you stopped paying for them?

One of the main reasons that migrants travel through multiple European countries until they reach England is because England has the most generous welfare benefits of all the European countries.  They are coming for the handout.  Stop paying them to come and they will not only stop coming, but those already there will migrate to the next most generous country.  You keep pouring sugar on the counter and can't figure out why there are ants.  The solution is simple and obvious.  That they are not even considering it tells you that they do not want to solve the problem.

Europe has subsidized immigration for decades and - now that they are overrun - cannot figure out how to reverse the problem.  Try subsidizing remigration and taxing migration.  At the very least, stop paying them.

The Hot Rock (1972)

No sooner was John Dortmunder (Robert Redford) released from prison than his brother-in-law Andy Kelp (George Segal) recruited him to a diamond heist.  Dr. Amusa (Moses Gunn) was a UN Representative from an African country that laid claim to the Sahara Diamond.  Several other countries also made claims.  In order to strengthen his claim, Amusa wanted the diamond acquired; it was on display in the Brooklyn Museum.  He offered $25,000 each to a four-man team.  He further acceded to pay expenses and a weekly stipend.  The two added men were Murch (Ron Leibman), who could operate any vehicle, and Allan Greenberg (Paul Sand), an explosives expert.  The plan went reasonably well, except that one of them got caught with the diamond.  A new plan must be developed to break him out of jail.  But they still don't have the diamond!

The movie is a comedy of errors that sees the heroes always one step away from securing the diamond and each new plan requires ever increasing expenses, much to Amusa's irritation.  Zero Mostel appears as a shady lawyer who proves to be yet another hurdle to overcome.

Great popcorn fun and highly recommended.

The Game's Afoot, Holmes!

You Can See Everything is a new documentary about Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of the Theranos. Prior to her incarceration, she allowed a documentarian - Nathan Fielder - to have access to her life.  I have not seen the film, but the trailers are informative.  What particularly struck me was when Nathan and Elizabeth are face to face, almost like he's about to kiss her.  Nope, they are just chatting about how she has no reason to deceive him.  Look at how close they are:

This is framing.  I wonder about the cameras being setup to film this.  There is something off-putting about the conversation they have, because she clearly has reason to deceive him.  In fact, the film has gained her some positive PR.  This may get some time shaved off her prison sentence.  Yeah, good reason to deceive.  But is he being deceived?  In another part of the trailer, he questions her husband about why she married him, highlighting the fact that his family is rich.  Then we have scenes of Nathan rolling his luggage toward the house, standing by a bed, staring out a car window, and similar antics.  Is this a story about him?

Not having watched Fielder before, it looks like his schtick is to mix truth and fiction.  The trailers do not delve into the evidence that convicted her, but it does show her bafflement at her impending incarceration. It also shows her with a baby in her arms, lap, or otherwise nearby.  What exactly is being documented in this documentary?  Is it exposing a fraudster or building sympathy for a mother headed to prison?  That Holmes agreed to a live-in spy with cameras would lean toward the second option.

I am curious.  The trailers are well done and certainly pique interest in the full story.  Holmes convinced seasoned investors to give her hundreds of millions of dollars, so it would not be surprising if she could convince me to watch a movie.  I'll certainly review it when that comes to pass.

The Enemy Below (1957)

The USS Haynes was a US Destroyer on patrol in the South Atlantic when it caught sight of something.  It turned out to be a German U-Boat.  Though a one-on-one battle between a destroyer and a U-boat isn't generally advisable, Captain Murrell (Robert Mitchum) ordered a pursuit.  Aboard the U-boat, Captain Von Stolberg (Curt Jurgens) had little interest in tangling with the American ship.  He was on a mission to Argentina to retrieve intelligence.  As such, he submerged and waited for the destroyer to move on after a desultory bombardment of depth charges.  He changed his course temporarily and then resumed his original course.  Murrell had already guessed that the German was bound for some rendezvous and used that hunch to continue the chase.  While the destroyer launched barrages of depth charges, the U-boat surfaced briefly to launch torpedoes.  A thrilling duel at sea!  It is a game of chess between to skilled commanders.

As usual, Mitchum makes for an engaging lead.  He is one of those actors who could deliver lines without effort and still be terrific.  It is unclear if he ever really acted, or just arrived on set as Robert Mitchum with an alias.  David Hedison plays Lt. Ware, the executive officer on the Haynes.  This was great preparation for his eventual role as Captain Crain in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.  Where Mitchum has this look of world-weariness and maybe a case of insomnia, Hedison is chipper and optimistic.  Also of note, Doug McClure has a small role as Ensign Merry.  This was one of his first movie roles.  Curd Jurgens made a career of playing German officers from WWII, though I best remember him as the Bond villain from The Spy Who Loved Me (1977).  Where Mitchum had Hedison, Jurgens' captain had the support of Schwaffer (Theodore Bikel).  To make Von Stolberg more sympathetic, he is shown to be a loyal German who is not keen on the Nazi party, even bumping heads with the political officer on the ship.  Yes, if not for the war, Murrell and Von Stolberg could be friends.

Good popcorn fun.  Recommended.

In the Game of Thrones, You Either Win or Die

Yesterday, Brazil had its runoff election between President Lula and Flavio Bolsonaro.  Of note, Flavio is the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro.  Jair had a J6 incident after the last election and, unlike Trump, he was successfully prosecuted and sent to prison.  Back to his son, Flavio lost.  However, there were some irregularities.  The Supreme Court called for polls to be held open for an additional 2 hours on election day.  Flavio protested.  Today, the Supreme Court ordered Flavio to turn in his passport as he was viewed as a flight risk.  Flight risk for what?

President Lula is a member of the Workers' Party.  It proposes socialist solutions and governs from the left.  Lula had served as president before.  Of note, he is older that President Trump.  What is with all these old politicians?  It is noteworthy that he appointed the judge on the Supreme Court that extended voting and has now demanded Flavio's passport.  These are not good signs.  This gives banana republic vibes.

In the primary election - 1st round voting, Flavio had received over 2 million more votes than Lula.  In the 2nd round, Lula received over 4 million votes more than Flavio.  Impressive recovery.  Could that 4 million gap have been produced in a two-hour voting extension?  Does Brazil have early voting?  Whatever the case, Flavio's failure to accept his defeat looks to be a case of win or face prison.  Like his father.