Damsel (2018)

In the middle of the Utah desert, two men sat at a peculiarly situated stagecoach stop.  The younger man (David Zellner) said he was heading West to make a new start.  The older man, a preacher (Robert Forester), scoffed at that idea.  The West would be just as bad as where he had come from, though perhaps bad in a new way.  He had enough of the West and was returning to the East.  The old man grew impatient for the stagecoach.    Eventually, he stripped off most of his clothes, handed his tattered bible to the other man, and marched into the desert in his long johns.

At a barn dance, Samuel Alabaster (Robert Pattinson) and Penelope (Mia Wasikowska) were partners with wide grins.  The music was energetic and the dancers stamped the ground like an Irish river dance.

On a lonely northwestern shore, a man rowed a boat a shore.  He unloaded a crate that contained a miniature horse!  The man was Samuel and the horse was Butterscotch.  He made his way to a town and sought Parson Henry.  He found the drunken Parson Henry on the beach.  Notably, Parson Henry proved to be the younger man from the stagecoach stop and he wore the preacher's clothes and carried his tattered bible.  Samuel hired him via telegram for unspecified purposes.  After making Parson Henry presentable, the pair rode into the wilderness.  Samuel eventually explained that Penelope was kidnapped and he was on a rescue mission.  As soon as she was safe, he wanted Parson Henry to marry them.

Billed as a dark comedy, there is precious little comedy to be had.  Here is a collection of motley characters who, once you get to know them, are mostly dislikeable or bad.  Parson Henry, who links the tale together, is a coward who has no direction.  He wants to latch onto something or someone.  So, he's a parasite?  Samuel is an unreliable source, painting a picture that isn't accurate.  Props to Pattinson for taking such a role and doing a great job in it, but Samuel gets less and less likeable as time goes on.  Penelope is a sympathetic character but fails to be likeable; she's a very masculine character, destroying all the men she encounters.

What was the point of this story?  Parson Henry is unchanged from when met at the stagecoach stop.  The other characters have been dislodged from the lives they had, but the future is unknown.  It's like a story about a house that burned down that ends with the family staring at the ashes before walking away.  Uh, okay.  Throughout the movie, there are bits that ruin the setting.  That stagecoach stop in the middle of the desert was one such instance.  There is litterally nothing else in sight and it isn't a crossroad.  How would the potential rider get to the stop?  When leaving the town, Samuel had a chicken in a birdcage on top of Butterscotch.  What's that about?  On their first night out, they eat the chicken and the birdcage is not seen again.  Oh, okay.

Hard pass on this one.  Zellner made a much better movie: Kumiko the Treasure Hunter.  Watch that instead.

March or Die (1977)

Major William Sherman Foster (Gene Hackman) returned to Paris at the conclusion of the Great War.  Though an American, he was a member of the French Foreign Legion.  Clearly, he suffered PSTD from the experience.  Not long after the return, he was dispatched to Morocco.  Francois Marneau (Max von Sydow) wanted to resume digging at a ruin.  Foster warned against it, saying that El Krim (Ian Holm) would not take kindly to such activities.  Nonetheless, Foster and his legionnaires were sent.  Among the legionnaires were some new recruits: Marco Segrain (Terence Hill) the cat burglar, Top Hat the musician (he got his name on account of his headgear), Ivan the Russian (Jack O'Halloran), and Hastings the runaway Englishman who had never traveled less than first class before.  This clique provided a view of life in the legion.  There was also Simone Picard (Catherine Deneuve), whose father was a colleague of Marneau and last seen at the ruins.  The ship voyage to Morrocco saw the beginning of romance between Marco and Simone.  Marco is not the only one interested in Simone; she has several suitors.  Eventually, the legionnaire's travel to the ruins, Marneau begins excavating, and soldiers go missing.  El Krim is not pleased.  Conflict is imminent and Foster doesn't have enough men to hold the position.

The setting is interesting and has a Beau Geste or Alamo feel to it.  Terence Hill is much too lighthearted and comical for his role.  Yes, he is charming, but he lacks the dangerous edge that Marco needed.  Perhaps I have seen too many of his comedies to take him seriously here.  The arc of Foster is hard to discern.  On the one hand, he has this fatalistic air where he expects to die in the desert.  He waited almost too long to resist an attack.  When not being gloomy, he's an insufferable jerk.  Even as a bad guy, Hackman is usually likable, but here he isn't.

Mediocre.  Skip.

Moonlighting (1985)

Maddie Hayes (Cybill Shepherd) awakens to the sound of shattering glass.  Jumping out of bed, she finds that her personal chef is destroying her fine China and anything else breakable.  His paycheck bounced and he is furious.  Maddie soon discovered that her accounting firm had vanished along with all her money.  However, she still had some assets.  Of course, there was the house, cars, and so forth, but she also had a series of small businesses, all that existed to lose money for tax purposes.  One of those businesses was a detective agency headed by David Addison (Bruce Willis).  Though Maddie fired David and all the staff, he repeatedly pressed her to reconsider.  Like a bad penny, he kept turning up.  Then, a man fell dead at their feet.  Flung together in a case of Nazi diamonds, Maddie warms to the detective life despite - or maybe because of - the many dangers.

This TV movie was the pilot for the successful goofball series that followed and launched Bruce Willis' career.  It does have quirky comedy though it is often slow.  The scenes where side characters are pursued last far too long.  Rather than building tension, it felt more like an effort to fill time.  The climactic scene where the villain follows Addison onto a precarious ladder was beyond belief.  In fact, much of the mystery remains unexplained at the end.  Who was Simon and how did he figure into the background?  Doesn't matter.  Why did Blond Mohawk (that is how he is listed in the credits) not have his gun, thus allowing himself to be an easy target later in the episode?  Of course, all the mystery stuff is just there to provide background for the comic interactions between Maddie and David.  Success.

Good popcorn fun.

It Takes Two to Tango

The big story is the fraud among Somalis in Minnesota.  There are countless daycare and health centers that have received millions to billions in government funding, yet they are shown to provide no services.  Clearly, this is bad.  Obviously, the Somalis receiving the money are aware that they are skirting the rules of the program.  Absolutely, they should be prosecuted and/or deported.  However, there is another facet to this.  Who approved all of these daycares and health centers?  Though the saying goes not to blame malice when incompetence could be to blame, that doesn't hold water here.  It's too big.  This level of incompetence is too obvious to continue long term.  Indeed, if some random YouTuber was able to uncover massive fraud in a couple of days, how did the agencies overseeing these programs not notice?  Some of those overseers need to be prosecuted too, if only to encourage other overseers to do the job.

On a related issue, many of these bogus daycares and health centers made political donations to... Democrats.  Huh.  Probably not a quid pro quo, right?  Blame aside, this is why government should be as limited as possible.  Larger government inevitably leads to greater corruption and waste.

The Long Good Friday (1980)

Colin (Paul Freeman) delivered a suitcase of money, but not before pocketing some of it.  Soon after, his driver and date are killed and left on the side of the road.  Harold Shand (Bob Hoskins) returned to London from the United States.  Harold is a gangster with a beautiful girlfriend (Helen Mirren), an extensive network of goons & thugs, a police chief on the dole, and even a councilman in his pocket.  His trip to America was to arrange a joint venture with the mafia.  Everything was going his way.  Then his Roll Royce exploded, killing the driver.  Colin turned up stabbed to death at a swimming pool.  Who was making a move against him?  His deal with the mafia was being threatened.  Strong measures were needed.  However, every effort came to naught.  No one knew from where the threat originated.  When the full story is finally revealed, many of the mysterious events become clear.  Even so, Harold thinks he can handle this threat the way he has handled other gangsters.  He cannot.  Of course, virtually everyone in the film is a criminal, a corrupt official, or a hapless victim.  Many of them get their just deserts.

Bob Hoskins is terrific as the gangster, a great performance.  Sure, he's clearly a bad guy but you can't help but root for him to come through this trial.  The rest of the cast is quite good, but this is Hoskin's movie and he carries it perfectly.  Paul Freeman had surprisingly high billing for someone with almost no lines who dies early in the film.  He followed this movie by playing the chief villain, Belloq, in Raiders of the Lost Ark.  Pierce Brosnan makes his movie debut as an IRA assassin, his only line being 'Hi' before stabbing Colin to death.  His IRA partner, Daragh O'Malley, would go on to play Sgt. Harper in the Sharpe series.

Terrific film that grows to a crescendo of an ending.  Highly recommended.

The Creator (2023)

In the near future, AI robots are everywhere.  The world is wonderful until a nuclear blast incinerates a million people in Los Angeles.  The United States and much of the world turns against AI in the wake of this and declare war on the regions that still allow AI.  Somewhere in Southeast Asia, Joshua (John David Washington) lives with his wife, Maya (Gemma Chan), and many AI robots.  Harun (Glen Watanabe) was the primary leader among the AI robots and held Joshua in high regard.  Then the American soldiers stormed the beach.  Breaking his cover, Joshua tried to call of the attack.  Instead, he only revealed his duplicity to Maya.  She fled without him and was presumed dead.

Several years later, Joshua worked as part of a cleanup crew in Los Angeles.  One of the duties was to recover robots and crush them.  The robots act like humans, showing emotions for those who died in the nuclear blast.  The military approached him and requested his return to service.  He's not interested.  Then he saw a video with Maya.  The AI was making a weapon that would destroy the NOMAD - a space-based weapon platform that was key to American combat ability.  If NOMAD was destroyed, the AI would win the war.

An insertion team led by Col. Howell (Allison Janney) landed in SE Asia.  Their goal was to locate the underground complex that housed the weapon and destroy it.  Joshua found an AI robot that looked like a 7-year-old girl; he called her Alphie (Madeleine Yuna Voyles).  She was the weapon.  Unable to kill her, he instead went on the run with her, hoping that she would guide him to Maya.  Not only must he avoid the AI police robots, he also had to keep ahead of Col. Howell.

Though visually impressive, the story is inexplicable.  As shown, AI is nothing more than human-like robots.  The Americans don't seem to worry about their technology being taken over by the AI, only being turned off.  The robots come in a variety of designs.  There are those that look entirely robotic, with blocky heads, metal limbs, and garbled voices, then there are the ones that could pass for human but for the missing parts around the ears and neck.  The hole through the head around ear-level was a curious design choice.  The Americans are not entirely opposed to robots.  There was once action sequence where ambulatory bombs - kind of a barrel with arms and legs - would charge at the enemy line and then detonate.  That's odd.  Why not a mortar or an RPG?

The AI countries are inept.  One would think that a society that had robots on every corner would basically have a near perfect system for following a pair of fugitives through a big city.  No, it proves incredibly easy for Joshua to sneak among robots without being noticed.  Robots have a sleep mode, don't you know.  Worse, Col. Howell is able to chase Joshua and Alphie through AI countries, also doing so without too much trouble.  And these incompetent AIs are viewed as a threat?

Humanity - at least that portion opposed to AI Robots (i.e., the Americans) - is the bad guy.  Yes, it is left to Joshua and Alphie to win the fight for freedom and equality.  Robots are people too.  Humanity proves to be just as incompetent as AI.  Somehow, despite being in a military convoy, Joshua and Alphie escape, flee ahead of all the soldiers, somehow get to LAX, board a ship headed to the moon, hijack the ship to reroute to NOMAD, and are allowed to dock with humanity's only defense against AI victory.  Seriously?

The makers do not understand technology.  There is no exploration of the true threat of AI.  The only thing that NOMAD did was serves as an orbital missile platform, which hardly seemed an improvement over modern cruise missiles.  The robots only communicated with each other through speech, not bluetooth or Wi-Fi.  What's the point of that?  When it does come to a toe-to-toe fight, the Americans so outclass the AI forces that one wonders why they didn't just march across the AI territory and blast every underground bunker they found.

Mediocre.  Skip.

The Crossing (2000)

Early December, 1776.  With his army retreating from the British, General Washington (Jeff Daniels) is forced to steal boats to get across the river to the comparative safety of Pennsylvania. In the 6 months since the Declaration of Independence, Washington had suffered defeat after defeat.  His army has shrunk to 2000 men, many of whom would go home when their service concluded at the end of the month.  Then there was news from the Continental Congress; they have retreated to Baltimore since Philadelphia was now undefended.  General Gates suggested surrender.  It was indeed bleak.  However, intelligence arrived that 1200 Hessians were stationed at Trenton, just across the Delaware River.  Washington proposed a plan that most of his staff viewed as lunatic.  Hessians were the best troops in Europe while Washington had volunteer farmers.  Nonetheless, he pressed forward with his plan.  If he didn't do something, the revolution was indeed over.

Daniels is good as Washington.  In his hands, Washington comes to life as a real person rather than a mythic figure.  The only quibble would be his comment about Henry Knox's balls.  Beyond Washington, this is the tale of Colonel John Glover (Sebastian Roche), who managed the boats.  This may be Glover's first appearance on film.  Among Washington's officers are Lt. Alexander Hamilton, General Hugh Mercer, General William 'Lord' Stirling, and General Nathaniel Greene, most of whom became major figures of the revolution or the early republic.  There are a couple of details left out of the movie.  First, the Hessian commander had an unopened letter that revealed Washington's impending attack.  Second, James Monroe, future president, was part of the attack.  He was seriously wounded in the action.  However, he was not party of the Crossing, as he was already in New Jersey.

This is a terrific movie and a great glimpse at a pivotal point in the revolution.  Highly recommended.

Amazon's James Bond

Since Amazon bought the rights to James Bond, there has been much speculation on where the franchise would go.  Will Bond become a social justice warrior?  Maybe Bond will be a black man - Idris Elba was once suggested - or even a woman.  Heck, Lashana Lynch could just resume her position as Agent 007 from No Time to Die (2021).  An online creator suggested that Pierce Brosnan resume the role as Old Man Bond, something along the lines of Logan (2017).  Then there is the idea of having Young Bond.  This could be like Batman Begins (2005), exploring Bond's final days in the Royal Navy and joining MI-6.  A series of 9 novels have been written about Young Bond.  Another suggestion, and one which appeals to me, is to do the literary Bond.

Ian Fleming set the books in his present, which was the 1950s and early 1960s.  Amazon could do for James Bond what Granada Television did for Sherlock Holmes.  Jeremy Brett played the most faithful adaptation of Sherlock Holmes.  It was an outstanding series.  Eventually, the literary Bond will be made.  Will it take almost a century as it did with Holmes or will Amazon take the leap?

The Race Tightens

Five years after the fact, Trump is on the brink of winning the 2020 election.  Fulton County, Georgia, has admitted that 315,000 ballots were unlawfully certified.  Joe Biden carried the county by a 73% to 26% margin, so most of those votes went into his column.  The margin of victory for the state of George was just shy of 12,000 votes.  Removing the invalid ballots would flip the state to Trump.  It has already been determined that Pennsylvania's new voting law was unconstitutional.  Nixing those invalid ballots would likewise flip that state.  Georgia is worth 16 electoral votes and Pennsylvania is worth 20.  That 36-point shift would drop Biden from 306 to 270 and raise Trump from 232 to 268.  The race is getting close!

Next, it might be time to take a closer look at Maricopa County in Arizona.  Here is a county that has voted Republican in every election since 1952 with the exception of 2020.  That is odd.  Biden carried the state by only 10,500 votes, but the typically Republican County by 45,000 votes.  Perhaps investigate the surge of absentee votes after midnight from Milwaukee in Wisconsin.  Biden carried Wisconsin by only 21,000 votes.  If either of these have issues like Georgia or Pennsylvania, the 2020 election flips.

Does it matter at this point?  Yes.  If our elections are tending toward becoming mere shows, like those in China, North Korea, Russia, and so on, then the country is over.  Once the Deep State can consistently choose the winner (or even just the party nominees), the country is at an end.

Sons of Liberty (2015)

Samuel Adams (Ben Barnes) is a widower.  Sometime before the story begins, he was appointed as a tax collector.  However, he has done a poor job of it, being 8,000 pounds in arrears.  Governor Hutchinson (Sean Gilder) ordered his arrest, which led to a chase through the dark and gloomy streets of Boston.  Unable to catch Adams, those who failed to pay taxes to Adams are instead arrested.  Riots followed and Adams was viewed as the leader of these 'Sons of Liberty.'  Hutchinson called upon John Hancock (Rafe Spall) to deal with Adams.  Hancock paid off Adams' debts and resolved his legal problems.  Hutchinson was not amused.  Tensions in Boston grew until, in 1770, the Boston Massacre tipped the balance to the Sons of Liberty.  Soon followed the Boston Tea Party (1773), The Quartering Act (1774), the Battles of Lexington & Concord (1775), Bunker Hill (1775), and the Declaration of Independence (1776).

The casting is questionable.  Paul Revere (Michael Raymond-James) is elevated to command Bunker Hill when he was not even present.  However, it was easier to expand his role than add more characters to an already full cast.  Sam Adams was 43 years-old in 1765 and 54 when the miniseries concludes.  By contrast, Ben Barnes was only 34.  He is a young hot head with no impulse control and a rage that bubbles just beneath the surface in many scenes.  Though he is shown as a widower, he has no kids.  In fact, Adams had 2 children, Sam Jr (who would have been 14 in the opening and 25 at the conclusion), and Hannah (9 to 20).  John Adams (Henry Thomas) comes across as the older and wiser cousin despite being 13 years younger than Sam.  Margaret Kemble Gage (Emily Berrington) was 40 when she arrived in Boston, a decade older than the actress.  Committing treason against her husband has been suggested; she was born and raised in New Jersey.  John Hancock comes across as an effete snob with all the passion of a wet towel.  He is so wishy-washy and indecisive that one would expect his signature to be a meek scrawl, not the dominant Alpha signature of history.  General Gage (Marton Csokas) is painted as evil incarnate, a man who did everything he could to alienate the colonists.  In truth, many accused him of being too lenient.  Gage was in a difficult position, having to implement unpopular laws while having limited forces.  

Many of the incidents are turned up to 11 to add some excitement.  During the Boston Tea Party, Sam Adams stands in full view and defiantly stares down a score of redcoats while tea is hurled over the side.  Revere takes down British soldiers during his ride in feats of fisticuffs and gunplay.  Joseph Warren leapt over the redoubt of Bunker Hill and charged down the hill to fight hand to hand with red coats and even General Gage.  Not only is Margaret's role as Warren's intelligence source included, she becomes his lover.  Yes, changes have been made to spice up the narrative, but it gets the gist correct.

Just okay.

Hands of a Murderer (1990)

It is 1900 and Professor James Moriarty (Anthony Andrews) is led to the gallows.  The crowd cheered and Inspector Lestrade looked on with approval.  Suddenly, smoke bombs exploded and the hangman fainted on the scaffold.  When the smoke cleared, Moriarty was gone!  Sherlock Holmes (Edward Woodward) blamed Lestrade for the escape.  Now Holmes would have to track down the villain again.  Before he could do so, he and Watson (John Hillerman) were summoned to the Diogenese Club to see Holmes' brother, Mycroft.  Sensitive information was being leaked from Mycroft's office and he wanted Sherlock to find the leaker.  Sherlock declined, stating that his efforts to find Moriarty were more important.  Of course, the two cases proved to be the same case.

Edward Woodward is passable as Holmes, though he is too old.  Holmes should be around 45 in 1900 whereas Woodward was 60.  Hillerman is a standard Watson.  He's not an oaf like Nigel Bruce but he's not much help either.  Anthony Edwards is much too young to be Moriarty, nearly 20 years Woodward's junior.  He oozes villainy in every scene.  He is oh so villainous.  Ugh.  Maybe dial that back a bit.  The rest of the cast is serviceable, but unremarkable.

It is merely okay.  Not bad but not good either.  Skip.

Tripoli (1950)

During the Tripolitan War, Marine Lt. Presley O'Bannon (John Payne) of the USS Essex volunteered for a mission against the city of Derna.  Together with General William Eaton (Herbert Heyes), O'Bannon, Navy Lt. Tripp, and 8 Marines traveled to Minya on the Nile.  There, they met the exiled Pasha Hamet Karamanly (Phillip Reed), the rightful ruler of Tripoli who was usurped by his brother.  Eaton arranged a treaty with Hamet that would put him back on the throne.  Hamet signed.  With agreement in hand, Eaton and O'Bannon planned a rendezvous on the coast near Derna.  Eaton left to join the fleet while O'Bannon marched across the desert with his handful of Marines, Hamet's Arab soldiers, and Captain Demetrious' Greek Mercenaries.  Can O'Bannon get this ragtag army to the shores of Tripoli despite sandstorms, ruined waterholes, mutiny, intrigue, and Countess Sheila D'Arneau (Maureen O'Hara)?

Payne is quite good as a wisecracking, supremely confident O'Bannon.  His clashes with the countess cannot help but lead to a growing attachment between the two.  Of course, the countess's goal was to marry Hamet, who was immensely wealthy despite his exile.  However, this handsome and manly Marine is hard to resist.  As the director, Will Price, was married to Maureen O'Hara during filming, the love scenes between Payne and O'Hara must have been particularly awkward.  Howard Da Silva is a scene-stealer as Captain Demetrious.  His good-natured demeanor and witty commentary are great fun.  Though he is supposed to be Greek, he felt like the most pro-American character in the film.

The movie is generally correct about the history, but changes have been made.  In fact, William Eaton was in charge of the march.  Though played by 60-year-old Hayes, Eaton was only 40 at the time.  Why not have Eaton as the main character and O'Bannon take over for the fictional Lt. Tripp?  Tripp is a stand-in for Eaton, who was a Navy Lieutenant at the time.  Eaton had an impressive career starting in the US Army before becoming a consul, then General and Commander in Chief of the Derna Campaign.  He was more accomplished than O'Bannon, whose only claim to fame is Derna.  However, it was O'Bannon who charged into the fray at Derna and raised the American flag on foreign soil during wartime for the first time in the nation's history.  The movie proposes that Hamet plotted to betray the Americans when it was the other way around.  The US negotiated a treaty with Hamet's brother and no longer needed him.  Eaton was quite upset at that turn of events.  US forces withdrew from Derna and left the city to the mercy of the Tripolitans.

Good popcorn fun.  Recommended.

The Phoenician Scheme (2025)

It is 1950.  Zsa-zsa Korda (Benicio Del Toro) is a wealthy businessman who has concocted the most extraordinary venture that will be hugely profitable.  However, there are those who want him to fail.  Thus, a bomb blasts a hole in the side of his plane.  Even so, he survives the crash.  This is the 5th or 6th plane crash he has survived.  Mostly.  He briefly visits the afterlife each time.  Determined to have his plan carried out in the event of his death, he summoned his daughter from a nunnery.  Liesl (Mia Threapleton) is not interested in being the heir but accepts the post temporarily.  Korda is a man of learning and hires a tutor for his kids - he has 9 sons in addition to Liesl.  Bjorn (Michael Cera) is a mousy fellow with a Swedish accent.  Korda also assigns Bjorn to be his administrative secretary when they travel.  And so begins the travels.  The deal is not yet complete.  There is a gap in the funding.  At each stop, Korda attempts to fill the gap, but it instead grows bigger.

Like all Wes Anderson films, it is quirky.  All the lines are delivered in monotone.  The camera moves in very specific ways and the scenes are meticulously formatted.  This man loves his blocking.  However, the story just isn't there.  Is this a story about a father reconnecting with his daughter?  Probably.  Is this a mystery in which a murderer is uncovered?  Not really.  Is Korda out to find the person or persons who have been trying to assassinate him?  Not intentionally.  Is this a story of how a rich businessman is going to get even richer?  Not at all.  Is this just a random series of events where quirky lines can be delivered by famous actors?  Yes.

It is an all-star cast.  Everyone wants to be in a Wes Anderson film and many of these actors have become Anderson regulars.  Tom Hanks, Willem Dafoe, F. Murray Abraham, Billy Murray, Bryan Cranston, Scarlett Johansson, and Benedict Cumberbatch each have small roles.  Cumberbatch looks ridiculous as the Rasputin-like Uncle Nubar.

The best line in the movie is repeated several times by Korda: "Myself, I feel very safe."  This became funnier with repetition.  Michael Cera's transformation from bookish Professor Bjorn to American spy was also quite funny.  Even with the cigarette and mustache, he still looks unimposing.

It has its moments, but it is a below average Wes Anderson film.  Obviously a must watch for his fans but I'd go with Moonrise Kingdom or The Life Aquatic instead.

Gentlemen Broncos (2009)

Ben Purvis (Michael Angarano) is an awkward young man who likes to write science fiction stories.  He has recently completed Yeast Lords: The Bronco Years.  His mother, Judith (Jennifer Coolidge), rushed him out the door and drove him to catch a bus.  He was headed to a young writers' camp which was hosting Ronald Chevalier (Jermaine Clement), a giant of science fiction.  In addition to meeting Chevalier, he befriends Lonnie and Tabatha, more socially awkward people.  Though Chevalier has been successful, he is currently in a rut.  His publisher is threatening to dump him and has refused his latest work.  Desperate, he modified Yeast Lords and submitted it to his publisher.

The movie occasionally flashes to the world of the Yeast Lords.  Bronco (Sam Rockwell) is the last of the yeast lords and in the hands of his enemies.  He escapes to join with an awkward brother and sister who assist him in raiding a yeast factory, overcoming cyclopses, turrets, and surveillance does.  Depending on who is reading the material and editorial decisions, the appearance of the world and characters change.  Funny.

There are some directors where the look and feel of a film marks them.  Wes Anderson is the most recognizable of these, but Jared Hess falls in there too.  This has a look and feel like Napoleon Dynamite.  It is a world where everyone is awkward, even the cool kids.  There is always a desire to look away so as not to witness the characters' embarrassment.  Either that or laugh at them.

Just okay.

Landman

Tommy Norris (Billy Bob Thornton) managed a small oil company in the Permian Basin of West Texas.  He was a landman, which is another title for an oilman.  The series opened with an unpleasant interaction with drug runners.  Such was just part of the job in the modern world.  His daughter, Ainsley, came to stay with him during Spring Break.  She brought a handsome football player with her, much to Tommy's consternation.  Tommy's son, Cooper, just dropped out of college to work as a "worm" on a crew of four men. A worm was just the new guy.  On Cooper's second day, a derrick exploded from a gas leak, killing the rest of his crew and putting him in the hospital.  So it was that Angela (Ali Larter), Tommy's ex-wife, came to Midland.  Angela decided to stay, which further complicated Tommy's already hectic life.  Monty (Jon Hamm) owned M-Tex Oil and kept in frequent contact with Tommy.  Tommy's housemates, Dale and Nathan, were none too keen on Angela and Ainsley moving into the house.  To make matters worse, Rebecca Falcone (Kayla Wallace) was hired to resolve legal issues.  She and Tommy quickly clashed.

This is a standard drama with all the standard dramatic twists and turns.  What makes it special is that it defends the way the world works.  Where most shows offer lip service or even encourage green energy, this hammers the point that oil runs the world and it isn't changing any time soon.  Tommy's monologues regarding this are the magic ingredient that makes this show fun.  This is the anti-woke show.  Tommy speaks his mind, damn the consequences.  Who else would threaten a cartel thug while bound to a chair with a gun to his head?  This is a man who has no Fs to give.  Let's hope season 2 can keep this up.

Highly recommended.

Tecumseh: The Last Warrior (1995)

October 1813, Canada. Tecumseh's band treks away from Detroit.  The situation is bleak but Tecumseh (Jesse Borego) is confident that they will defeat the Long Knives (Americans) tomorrow.  His sister, Starwatcher, is less confident.  She soon recollects what had brought them to this place.

March 1768, Ohio.  Tecumseh was born as a star streaked across the sky.  This was a great omen and his father named him for the Panther in the Sky.  All agreed he had a great future as a warrior.

October 1774, Ohio.  Tecumseh's father has gone to fight the Long Knives in Virginia.  While his father is away, Tecumseh has a nightmare/vision in which his father is killed.  He sees the face of his father's killer and it stays with him.

Some years later, Tecumseh's mother departs to the west, leaving her children.  Tecumseh will not go, as his father told him never to surrender land to the Long Knives.  In time, he is old enough to go to war with his older brother, Chiksika.  Though he fled in fear from his first battle, Tecumseh proved to be a natural warrior in his next.  As the years progress, Tecumseh becomes a respected warrior who fights beside Chiksika and Blue Jacket (Holt McCallany), a white man who didn't want to live among the whites.  They fight on the side of the British during the American Revolution

1794, The Battle of Fallen Timbers.  Before the battle, Tecumseh viewed General Wayne through a looking glass.  They would shoot this general during the battle.  However, he also saw another man who had the face of his father's killer.  The night before the battle, Chiksika declares that he will be killed and Tecumseh should carry on.  As prophesized, Chiksika died.  Worse, Blue Jacket signed the Treaty of Greenville.

Tecumseh had lived long enough to see the way of things.  Each time the Indians signed a treaty for peace, it promised only a few such years before more encroachments led to further treaties that surrendered more land.  The Long Knives played the tribes against each other.  He must unite the tribes to resist further encroachment.  It would require years.  His younger brother, Tenskwatawa, had become a prophet and drew others to him.  Here was the glue that might bind the tribes into a great confederacy.

William Henry Harrison (David Clennon) saw the threat of Tecumseh's plan.  To him, America must expand and Tecumseh was an obstacle to be overcome.  When the two met, Tecumseh saw the face of his father's killer in person.  Though the two conversed and nearly came to blows, they could resolve nothing.  A war was the only path forward.

The movie is surprisingly faithful to history.  The dates and events are generally correct.  Chiksika died two years before Fallen Timbers.  Harrison was indeed an aide to General Wayne during the Fallen Timbers campaign but was only an infant when Tecumseh's father was killed.  Clearly, this was just a vision to tie the long running conflict together at the end.  The man who claimed to have killed Tecumseh, Richard Johnson, gets a brief cameo.  The movie shows that only Tecumseh's band faced the American army at the Battle of the Thames.  In fact, 700 British troops were also present, though the red coats and the Indians formed up separate from each other.  Tecumseh's forces were stationed in marshy woods, not open fields.  As shown, dragoons and mounted riflemen would have trampled the Indians.

Too much time is covered in the film, giving only brief glimpses of his life as the years pass.  This covers a 45-year period!  How about starting with the meeting of Tecumseh and Harrison in 1810 and concluding with the Battle of Thames in 1813.  Yeah, that compresses things nicely and shows Tecumseh at his peak.

Entertaining and educational.  Recommended.

Archibald Gillespie, USMC

In Dream West, Marine Lieutenant Archibald Gillespie arrived at John C. Fremont's camp in Oregon to relay verbal orders from the president.  Moments later, he was killed in an Indian attack.  This is a rewrite of history.

Gillespie was born in New York in 1812 and joined the Marines in 1832.  In October 1845, President Polk provided him with secret messages for Commodore Sloat of the Pacific Squadron, US Consul Thomas O. Larkin (based in Monterrey, California), and John C. Fremont.  He sailed to Vera Cruz, arriving on December 10th.  His efforts to cross the country were hindered by the latest uprising.  However, he crossed the country and arrived in Mazatlán.  In late February, he was picked up by an American ship on the west coast of Mexico and made his way to Monterrey, California.  Having delivered his messages to both Sloat and Larkin, he then went in search of Fremont.

Fremont had been ejected from California by General Castro and was near Kamath Lake in Oregon, which is where Gillespie found him.  No sooner had Gillespie arrived with his secret message than Fremont marched back into California.  Little did they know, the war had begun with the Thornton Affair almost 2 weeks earlier.  The Bear Flag Revolt took place on June 14th and Commodore Robert "Fighting Bob" Stockton raised the US flag on July 18.  Los Angeles surrendered on August 13th, thus concluding the initial conquest of California.

Captain Gillespie was named military commandant of the southern district.  He had 48 men to hold Los Angeles.  This might have been fine if he had not imposed martial law.  The locals soon rose in rebellion.  The American forces were soon under siege at Fort Moore Hill.  By the end of September, Gillespie surrendered and marched to the coast, leaving Los Angeles to the Californios.  An initial effort to retake the city with the help of the US Navy failed.  The Navy transported Gillespie and his men to San Diego.

In early December, news arrived that General Kearny was nearby.  Stockton sent a detachment under Gillespie to escort him the rest of the way to San Diego.  Gillespie arrived with 40 men and a field gun.  After his long march, Kearny was itching for a fight.  He had traveled from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas to California without a shot fired.  So it was that the weary Dragoons charged to battle against fresh Californio lancers who knew the terrain much better and whose lances were not rendered useless by the rain.  The Californios recognized Gillespie from his tyrannical rule in Los Angeles and targeted him.  He was lanced in the chest, puncturing a lung.

Despite the disastrous battle, the column arrived in San Diego on December 12th.  Despite his injuries, Gillespie was well-enough to ride north the following month.  He was again wounded during the battle to retake Los Angeles.  On January 10, 1847, Gillespie was called upon to raise the US Flag, the very one he had hauled down in September.

Gillespie remained with the Marines until 1854.  He died in San Francisco in 1873.

Though most of this falls outside the story that Dream West tells, Gillespie should not have been killed off.  Though Fremont's party was attacked by Indians and also 'got even' with them soon after, Gillespie was not one of the fatalities.  Gillespie should have been yet another cameo, like Jim Bridger or Tom Fitzpatrick.

Stephen Watts Kearny

In Dream West (1986), Brigadier General Stephen Watts Kearny is cast as the villain.  In the first episode of the miniseries, an animus is established between Kearny and Fremont.  Fremont requested a cannon for his expedition, which Kearny reluctantly provided.  In conversation, Kearny asked what year Fremont graduated West Point.  Fremont did not attend West Point.  Kearny clearly looks down on him for this failing.  That is peculiar since Kearny was not a West Point graduate either.  In fact, though both had attended college, neither managed to complete their degrees.  In the second episode, Kearny and Fremont clash about who is in charge in California.  In the final episode, Kearny is a witness at Fremont's court martial, a court martial instigated by Kearny.  His final appearance in the series is to plead for forgiveness from Jessie Benton Fremont before he died from Yellow Fever.  Kearny deserved better.

Stephen Watts Kearny was born in 1794.  He dropped out of Columbia to join the Army when the War of 1812 began.  He was captured at the Battle of Queenstown.  His bravery at that battle earned him the rank of Captain.  After the war, Kearny stayed with the army and was posted on the frontier.

In 1819, he was part of the Yellowstone Expedition.  The expedition failed spectacularly, getting bogged down in Council Bluffs, Iowa.  The following year, he was part of another expedition, this one exploring and mapping the territory between Council Bluffs and Fort Snelling (Minneapolis, MN).

In 1825, Major Kearny was part of General Atkinson's Rocky Mountain Expedition.  Nearly 500 troops traveled from Fort Atkinson (Omaha, NE) up the Missouri River, replicating Lewis and Clark's travels.

The following year, he supervised the building of Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis, Missouri, where none other than William Clark lived.  Kearny courted and married William Clark's step-daughter, Mary Radford.

In 1833, Lt. Colonel Kearny was made second in command of the newly formed 1st Dragoon Regiment, based in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.  In 1836, he rose to Colonel and became the commander of the 1st Dragoons.

With all this western experience, it is unsurprising that Brigadier General Kearny was made commander of the Army of the West when the Mexican-American War was declared.  His westward march was surprisingly uneventful.  He captured Santa Fe, New Mexico without firing a shot.  He then set out for California, unaware that Commodore Stockton and Lt. Col. Fremont had already captured it.  He learned of those events when he met Kit Carson on the road.  Based on Carson's reports, Kearny sent two-thirds of his men back to Santa Fe and continued to California.  By the time he arrived, the state was in rebellion.

The Battle of San Pasqual

Having learned of a band of Californios in the area, Kearny decided to attack.  However, his men were poorly mounted; they had just suffered a trek across the southwestern deserts.  The rain made the gunpowder damp and surprise had been lost.  The Dragoons charged in a ragged line.  By contrast, the Californios had excellent horses and were armed with lances.  The Dragoons were no match and only the presence of a cannon saved them.

Kearny thus arrived in San Diego with a pitiful and beaten force.  Compared to Fremont's California Battalion and Stockton's sailors and marines, Kearny was all bark and no bite.  He conceded command to Stockton and joined in the retaking of Los Angeles.  When Stockton sailed away and Commodore Shubrick took over the Pacific fleet, Kearny made his move for command.  The Mormon Battalion and New York volunteers arrived to give him the biggest army in California.  He had been sent to take California and he outranked Fremont.  Fremont continued to balk and earned himself a court martial.

Fremont's court martial lasted 3 months, concluding in February 1848.  Afterwards, Kearny was sent to Mexico as military governor of Vera Cruz and then Mexico City.  He contracted Yellow Fever and was sent home.  He died in St. Louis in October, 1848.

Fremont put Kearny in an impossible situation.  Should he have just endured insubordination?  Certainly not.  In the best of times, Kearny was known to be difficult.  He was a harsh man who made few friends.  This is not the sort of soldier to forgive and forget.  On the other hand, Fremont was a national hero.  President Polk attempted to split the difference by nixing the punishment while affirming the verdict.

Hyphenated Americans

"There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. When I refer to hyphenated Americans, I do not refer to naturalized Americans. Some of the very best Americans I have ever known were naturalized Americans, Americans born abroad. But a hyphenated American is not an American at all.

"This is just as true of the man who puts "native" before the hyphen as of the man who puts German or Irish or English or French before the hyphen. Americanism is a matter of the spirit and of the soul. Our allegiance must be purely to the United States. We must unsparingly condemn any man who holds any other allegiance.

"But if he is heartily and singly loyal to this Republic, then no matter where he was born, he is just as good an American as anyone else." "The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities, an intricate knot of German-Americans, Irish-Americans, English-Americans, French-Americans, Scandinavian-Americans, or Italian-Americans, each preserving its separate nationality, each at heart feeling more sympathy with Europeans of that nationality than with the other citizens of the American Republic.

"The men who do not become Americans and nothing else are hyphenated Americans; and there ought to be no room for them in this country. The man who calls himself an American citizen and who yet shows by his actions that he is primarily the citizen of a foreign land, plays a thoroughly mischievous part in the life of our body politic. He has no place here; and the sooner he returns to the land to which he feels his real heart-allegiance, the better it will be for every good American."

Theodore Roosevelt

Address to the Knights of Columbus

New York City- October 12th, 1915

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."

Naturalization Oath of Allegiance

How many Americans who are foreign born actually meant it when they took the oath of citizenship?  When you see 'Americans' protesting while flying foreign flags, it gives one pause.  How many committed perjury when they took the oath?

Sam Harris on Triggernometry

Sam Harris appeared on the Triggernometry podcast and covered several topics.  Of note, his previous appearance (which I have not seen) figured prominently.  I am sure some of the comments went over my head for lack of that context.  The main topics were Trump, the irresponsible right, COVID, and Islam's incompatibility with the West.

To say that Harris is opposed to Trump is to massively understate his position.  Wow, is he opposed to Trump.  With the sole exception of getting hostages released by Hamas - for which Harris thinks he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize, Trump is all bad.  However, when challenged on some topics, he could not provide the alternative.  The one that stood out for me was the immigration issue.  Harris is strongly opposed to how ICE is apprehended people from the streets, separating families, and so forth.  Yes, he agreed that the Biden Administration fumbled it badly and that was a large part of why Trump won.  Even so, the border could be handled much better.  The hosts noted that it had not.  One might not agree with precisely how Trump is handling illegal immigration and the border, but at least he is handling illegal immigration and the border.  Harris was still unhappy.  He views Trump as vastly more corrupt than Biden and brushed Hunter's laptop away as an irrelevancy.  Sure, it was handled poorly by social media, but he still views it as a nothingburger compared to Trump.  He stated that Trump is enriching himself with cryptocurrency and using tariff negotiations to enrich his family.  It is odd that this was the first I heard these accusations; why is that?

Harris views the right as more dangerous regarding violence and terrorism.  Yes, he admitted that incidents of mass looting are almost always a leftwing phenomenon, but still views the right as more violent.  In fact, a helpful graphic (from CSIS) was presented that showed rightwing terrorism has vastly outpaced leftwing terrorism since 1994, this year being a rare exception.  Hmm.  That looks like it needs more context.  Charlie Kirk, who was clearly killed by a leftist, figured prominently in this discussion.  He conceded that it was not good to label opponents as fascists and Nazis.

Harris was a COVID apologist.  Everything that was done wrong during COVID was just honest mistakes in addressing a new crisis.  He thinks that Joe Rogan misinformed the populace on this, convincing them the vaccine was bad.  Though he held that it was mostly honest mistakes, the outcome is that we are less prepared for the next pandemic.  The implication is that loss of trust in the institutions is more an issue of misinformation from the likes of Joe Rogan rather than the bad policy decisions of the institutions themselves.

Finally, the discussion found its way to Israel and October 7.  He was dumbfounded that Israel, which was clearly attacked, had lost the PR war.  Of all people for Hamas to kill, they had attacked the peaceniks who were inclined to side with them.  Even so, Israel was quickly the bad guy.  Harris is no fan of religion and particularly not Islam.  Where Christianity and Judaism have nixed some passages over the centuries - slavery, animal sacrifice, etc., Islam has not.  He views it as 14th century Christians who would still proselytize by the sword.  So, it just needs a reformation?  He would rather do away with religion.  As it stands, Islam is incompatible with Western societies.  On that, I agree.

Overall, it was an interesting discussion.  His strongly contrasting views on Trump vs. Biden convinced me that he is a TDS sufferer.  So eager to forgive the corruption of the last administration and strident in his denunciation of the current one.  It was too much.  I would think Trump killed his dog.

Edge of the World (2021)

In 1839, James Brooke (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) arrived in Borneo aboard his schooner, the Royalist.  His cousin, Arthur (Dominic Monaghan), his nephew, Charlie, and his interpreter, Subu, accompany him ashore.  They are soon captured by headhunters who deliver them to Prince Badruddin and Pengiran Makhota.  Brooke claims to be an explorer, but neither Badruddin nor Makhota believe that.  Is he a spy for the British, scouting Borneo as a potential colony?  In short order, Brooke has formed a close relationship with Badruddin and a contentious one with Makhota.  The land is troubled by a rebellion and plagued with pirates.  Makhota suggests that the guns on the Royalist would be useful in fighting them.  Brooke agreed.  In payment, the Sultan named Brooke as the Rajah of Sarawak.  Makhota is furious and becomes Brooke's enemy.

The movie plays at a snail's pace.  Narration of his inner thoughts are used to bridge scenes.  He comes across as a man full of doubts, exactly the type of person who would never have dared to sail to the edge of the world.  Where his thoughts betray doubts, his actions often indicate certainty.  He demands an end to headhunting and slavery.  He has open clashes with Makhota even when he is the weaker party.  Meyers spends an alarming amount of the movie in bed, either entwined with his love interest, tangled in his sheets with a fever, or just sleeping.  The battles are non-existent.  The defeat of the rebels proved to be Kabuki theater.  While his nephew suggested using the guns on the Royalist to blast the pirates, Brooke had a better idea; he painted himself black and approached the pirate camp with a machete.  After the battle, he has yet another mental breakdown.

My first awareness of James Brooke was when I read the Flashman series.  He was quite the man of action and impressed Flashman.  In this version, the cowardly Flashman would find a kindred spirit.

Mediocre.  Skip.

Cross of Iron (1977)

It is 1943 in Russia near the Black Sea.  Corporal Rolf Steiner (James Coburn) leads a platoon of soldiers on a patrol through Russian held territory.  He returns to the lines to find that Captain Stransky (Maximilian Schell) is the new commander.  Stransky voluntarily transferred from a cushy assignment in France in order to win an Iron Cross on the front lines.  Stransky has already learned that Steiner is a living legend among the men and highly valued by the regimental commander, Colonel Brandt (James Mason).  Steiner has won the Iron Cross.  During a particularly difficult battle, Steiner is wounded and sent far behind the lines for recovery.  When he returns, he is asked by Brandt about the battle and whether Stransky deserved the Iron Cross for his part in it.  Stransky had never left his bunker.  When the army retreats, Stransky abandoned Steiner and his men to be overrun, hoping they would be killed.  Can Steiner dodge Russian soldiers and find the German Army?  Will he have his revenge?

As often is the case with a Sam Peckinpah film, the blood is plentiful.  The battle scenes dominate, a mixture of explosions, airborne bodies, bullet riddled soldiers, and collapsing buildings.  More time is spent on nameless soldiers being killed and blown up than is spent developing the characters.  When Lt. Meyer was killed, I only vaguely knew who he was, though it becomes noteworthy later.  To help differentiate them, several of his men have some distinctive characteristic: half an ear, severely scared face, impressive mustache, youthful grin.  Don't recall the names.

The conclusion wasn't.  The German lines are falling and the various characters are engaged in battle, but their fates are unknown.  They probably all died, except for Steiner; he returns in a sequel.

Just okay.

Dream West (Part 3)

It is 1847.  General Kearny arrests Lt. Col. John C Fremont with plans of court martialing him for mutiny, among other things.  The trial takes place in Washington, where Senator Thomas Hart Benton sits behind his son-in-law; the long break between Benton and his daughter Jessie is at an end.  Fremont is found guilty and ordered dishonorably discharged.  He counts on a Presidential Pardon, which comes but does not absolve him entirely.  He resigns the army and sets out on his 4th expedition.

Kit Carson was unavailable, so Fremont hired Bill Williams (Anthony Zerbe) as guide.  The expedition is a disaster as the men are stranded in the snows of the Rocky Mountains.  Several die of starvation.  When Fremont finally gets to California and reunites with Jessie, he is a rich man.  There is gold on the ranch he purchased.  With this, he financed yet another expedition, his 5th and final one, mapping a path through the Rockies for a railroad.

In 1856, Fremont is the first Republican nominee for the presidency.  Abraham Lincoln (F Murray Abraham) is among the delegates who nominate him.  He loses by a large margin.

1858.  Thomas Hart Benton is on his death bed.  Jessie visits.  Her father agreed that she was right about Fremont all those years ago.  She chose a very fine man.

In 1861, the Civil War has begun and President Lincoln named Fremont to command the Western Department, with a particular interest in preventing Missouri from joining the Confederacy.  In St. Louis, Fremont immediately confronted the rebel sympathizers in the city.  Time to stop treating them with kid gloves.  He went so far as to post a proclamation freeing slaves from rebels.  Lincoln viewed this as a huge overstep on Fremont's part and sent General Hunter (James Cromwell) to replace him.

It 1887, Fremont and his wife live a modest life on Staten Island.  All their wealth was lost on bad investments in the railroads.  They depend upon Jessie's writing to support them.  In a final train journey back to California, they encounter a man and his son.  The man gushes about Fremont and his book enabling his parents to travel west and thus provide him the prosperous life he now has.

The final chapter is a hodgepodge.  Where the first two episodes had a smooth flow with the rise of Fremont (episode 1 covered 4 years or so) and Fremont at War (episode 2 covers 4 years or so), this one covers the rest of his life (40 years). That's a lot of time to cover and it feels rushed.  The disaster of the 4th expedition is fully explored, even dragging at times.  The 5th expedition, which sees the return of Kit Carson, felt rushed by comparison.  The presidential campaign started with Fremont's nomination at the Republican Convention and ended almost the next scene with his defeat.  Next thing you know, it's the Civil War.  None of Fremont's battles are filmed; it is all camp and HQ.  This chapter feels more like a history lecture than an engaging story.

Though I like F Murray Abraham, he is badly cast as Abraham Lincoln.  He is in so much makeup that he almost looks to be wearing an Abe Lincoln mask.  The look is unconvincing to the extent of being distracting.  He lacks the towering stature of Lincoln.  His conversation with Jessie where she chides him for withdrawing Fremont's emancipation proclamation made Lincoln look small.

Overall, the miniseries is good.  It is too lenient on Fremont, but it is telling the story from his point of view.  My reading of the man shows him to be brash and arrogant.  He had a high opinion of himself and was not prone to humility.  Chamberlain's Fremont does not come across as a man who grew up in South Carolina.

Recommended.

Dream West (Part 2)

John Charles Fremont (Richard Chamberlain) finished his expedition by testing a raft on the river.  Loading all the gear and valuable data into inflatable boat, the explores raft back toward civilization.  Unfortunately, they were not ready for the rapids.  Much of the equipment is lost but the records are recovered. Back home, it is now time to write the report, but Fremont finds he has not talent for it.  Jessie (Alice Krige) gladly takes over.  She has a talent for making the report readable.  When the book is published, it proves to be a great success.  During a celebratory dinner, Secretary of the Navy George Bancroft suggested that Fremont should travel to California on his next expedition and be ready for war between the United States and Mexico.  However, no written orders were provided.

With Kit Carson (Rip Torn) at his side, Fremont set out on his 3rd Expedition.  Once in California, his wanderings drew the ire of General Castro.  Fremont was ordered out of the state.  While in Oregon, a Marine Lieutenant, Archibald Gillespie (Johnathan Frakes), arrived.  Fremont needed to get back to California, but there are still no written orders.  Soon, Fremont is nudging American settlers to overthrow the California Government, infuriating John Sutter (Jerry Orbach).  The Bear Flag Republic is born.  Only weeks later, the US Navy raised the US flag over California.  Eager to report the success to Washington, Fremont sent Kit east with dispatches.  On the way, Kit encountered General Stephen Watts Kearny (G D Spradlin) heading toward California with his column of US Dragoons.  Kearny roped Kit into leading the column back to California.  When Kearny arrived in California, he immediately clashed with Fremont.  Fremont declined to follow Kearny's orders; after all, Commodore Robert Stockton was in charge of California.

In Washington, Jessie sought help for her husband.  Bancroft denied any orders for Fremont to topple California.  When she met with President Polk (Noble Willingham), he was equally adamant that no such orders were conveyed.  Unsurprisingly, Kearny placed Fremont under arrest for mutiny and marched him east for an eventual court martial.

This episode gets several things wrong.  Firstly, Lt. Gillespie is killed during an Indian attack.  This came as a real shock when I watched it, as I thought it was going to be fun to have Commander William Riker of Star Trek play second fiddle again.  Nope, he's barely arrived when he is killed.  In truth, Gillespie was second in command of the California Battalion during the conquest.  He survived the war.  Polk is portrayed more like Andrew Jackson.  Polk was quite mild, letting folks convince themselves that he agreed with them by being pleasant.  Here, he denounced Jessie for implying that he sent Fremont to conquer California.  The initial conquest of California saw almost no fighting whereas this has a montage of battles as Fremont leads his men from town to town, guns blazing and cannon firing.  Senator Benton (Fritz Weaver) is still avoiding his daughter more than 5 years after her marriage.  In fact, the ostracism was quite brief, but it is ongoing throughout this chapter.

As with the previous episode, there are numerous historical figures beyond those already mentioned who get cameos: Tom Fitzpatrick, General Jose Castro, Ezekial Merritt, and Sagundai.  For a TV production, it is quite immersive of the period.

Recommended.

Dream West (Part 1)

It is 1839.  John Charles Fremont (Richard Chamberlain) is exploring the land between the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.  He is second in command of the expedition.  While exploring, he comes upon a dead family who got lost in the wilderness; a faulty map is among their belongings.  Fremont commits himself to publishing accurate maps to Oregon.

Back in Washington, Fremont is introduced to Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton, a strong proponent for westward exploration and expansion.  However, Fremont is more interested in the senator's daughter, Jessie (Alice Krige).  Romance soon follows but Senator Benton does not approve.  Fremont and Jessie marry behind his back, creating a split between father and daughter.

In 1842, Fremont sets out on his first expedition.  Unable to hire Jim Bridger or another well-known guide, he hires Christopher 'Kit' Carson (Rip Torn).  Carson proves to be an outstanding guide and a lifelong friend.  While mapping the Oregon Trail, they happen upon Jim Bridger (Ben Johnson).  Bridger says to go back or take a different route; the local tribe is up in arms.  Fremont will not be dissuaded and rides directly into the Indian camp.

The first episode of a miniseries from 1986, it is headed by Mr. Miniseries himself.  It does an excellent job of painting the era and showing the life of Fremont.  Many historical figures appear, some with little more than a brief cameo (Senator John Crittenden, Jim Bridger, Provost) and others get bigger roles (Maria Crittenden, Stephen Watts Kearny, Edward 'Ned' Kern, Karl Preuss, Joseph 'Papa Joe' Nicollet).  Where many such adaptations use fictional characters around the core of historic ones, this production followed the history.  David Nevin, who wrote the novel, has good attention to detail in his historical stories.

The series combines the first (1842) and second (1843) expeditions into one.  Likewise, the break between Jessie and her father was mended in short order (before Fremont left for his first expedition) while it lasts until the final episode of the miniseries.

This open episode leaves one eager to see the next chapter.  Recommended.

Hasan Piker, Communist Apologist

Triggernometry hosted Hasan Piker, a Twitch streamer who does political commentary.  Piker began his career by working for his uncle, Cenk Uigur of the Young Turks, before establishing himself as a political commentator on a gaming platform.  Piker is a self-described leftist.  During his discussion with Konstantin and Francis, he touched on several topics, but his affinity for communism was the standout.  Though Konstantin is from the first communist state, Russia, Piker offered the old refrain: that's not true communism.  Wow.  When asked where socialism/communism has been done right, he pointed to China.  Sure, it isn't perfect but look at the growth rate.  By contrast, the parties that aren't slipping toward socialism and/or communism are defined as nascent fascist parties.  He repeatedly described the Reform Party in the UK as a proto-fascist party, which provoked responses to the contrary from both hosts.

What is fascist?  Piker offered the definition of "palingenetic ultranationalism."  That's a mouthful.  Looking this up, it has five components:

• Palingenesis: Myth upon which national rebirth will rest
• Ultranationalism: Extreme nationalism with xenophobic tendencies
• Rejection of Liberal Modernity: The status quo sucks and has to go
• Totalitarian/Authoritarian: Led by single leader or party that suppresses pluralism
• Goal of the "New Man": Transformation of citizens by purging weakness or decadence

Unsurprisingly, he described the current Republican Party in the same way.  Both hosts confronted him on the use of fascism as a label for opponents.  The rise of another Hitler would demand that citizens take up arms and kill fascists before things get out of hand.  Calling someone Hitler is a permission slip for some crackpot to shoot him.

During the discussion, Piker often dodged questions by switching topics.  He dodged the issues with Islam in the UK; he is a Muslim.  In response to calling Nigel Farage a nascent fascist, he was asked if Keir Starmer could then be described as a nascent communist.  That got only a laugh.  So, right-leaning parties are likely to become fascists (in the long term) but left-leaning parties are just fine and no problem at all.  Of course, Piker has already declared his desire for a move toward Chinese-flavored communism.  Hmm.  The hosts pointed out that political critics in China, Russia, and even the UK are often locked up, while such is not the case in the US.  He argued the point by bringing up Eugene Debbs.  Really?  Debbs was locked up over 100 years ago!  That's the most recent example you have?  And it was Wilson - a Democrat - who jailed him.

It felt like Francis and Konstantin went easy on him.  It is somewhat alarming that this guy has a huge following and is an influencer.

Blue Origin joins the Race

The long anticipated New Glenn rocket has launched, sending the ESCAPADE on its way to Mars.  The New Glenn has a capacity of nearly 50 tons to orbit, which is double what the SpaceX Falcon 9 can deliver.  Not only did New Glenn deliver its payload to orbit, it successfully landed on a drone ship in the Atlantic, just like Falcon 9.  Yes, a new competitor has joined the space race.

Congratulations!

Nickel for your Thoughts

The penny has come to an end.  The US will no longer produce the cent because it costs much more than it is worth.  To mint a penny costs nearly 4 cents.  Clearly, this is just throwing money away.  However, this will make some expressions inexplicable to future generations.

• Penny for your thoughts
• My two cents
• Bad penny
• Pretty penny
• Penny pincher
• A red cent
• A penny saved is a penny earned

Rounding to the nearest nickel for change will be an interesting change.  Will that become a penalty for paying cash; always round UP to the nearest nickel?

The Rise of Nick Fuentes

Not so many years ago, a person who espoused white nationalism and antisemitism would have been exiled from society.  However, Nick Fuentes is on the rise.  I first encountered him a few years ago and found him to be annoying and misguided.  There is something about his manner that is fingernails on chalkboard.  Even if he was quoting Thomas Sowell, chapter and verse, I would not like him.  Sadly, he isn't a fan of Sowell.  No, instead he is the antithesis of the woke agenda.  LGBT?  Bad.  Blacks?  Dangerous.  Jews?  Disloyal to the US.  His show is called America First.  How did such a dislikable blowhard gain 5 million followers and get to the point where Tucker Carlson interviewed him?  How?

Fuentes has incubated in the multiculturalist nightmare that was launched before he was born.  Whites are bad.  If whites move out of a neighborhood, it's white flight.  Bad!  If they move in, it's gentrification.  Bad!  If whites move to the third world, it's colonization.  However, now that the third world is overrunning white countries, that just payback and just desserts.  Whites engaged in the slave trade, as if no other people had ever considered the idea.  It is the original sin of which they can never be absolved.  The antiwhite drumbeat has gone on so long that many whites have embraced their 'guilt' and are actively participating in the destruction of their countries and cultures.  During the Black Lives Matter era, it was viewed as racist to say "It's okay to be white."

I have read the occasional article or watched the rare YouTube video that said the constant hammering against whites while promoting other races would inevitably lead to white nationalism.  You can't say that Black Pride or Hispanic Pride is good and commendable on the one hand but that also say that White Pride is racist.  That double standard can only hold for so long.

That brings us to Nick Fuentes.  Young white men, who have never lived in the fictional white supremacist America, are fed up with being vilified.  Unfortunately, they have chosen to follow the likes of Andrew Tate and Nick Fuentes.

This was a preventable tragedy.

250 Years Old

The Marine Corps was founded on this day in 1775, less than a month after the Continental Navy.  Yes, the Marine Corps predates the United States.  It was the Continental Marines in those early days.  Two months after their founding, the Marines made their first amphibious landing in the Bahamas.  Since then, the Marines have often been the first in the fight for America's war and military actions.

Happy Birthday and Semper Fi, Marines!

The Rise and Fall of the Whigs

Upon the re-election of President Andrew Jackson in 1832, Henry Clay set about coalescing the many parties that opposed King Andrew.  Thus, the Whig Party was born in 1833.  By 1836, the Whigs nominated several candidates to oppose Jackson's VP and selected successor, Martin Van Buren.  They went down to defeat.  However, the Whigs held a third of the Senate and 40% of the House.  The party was growing.  In the midterms of 1838, the party increased its representation in both houses of Congress.  The Panic of 1837 earned the president an unwanted nickname: Martin Van Ruin.  1840 would be the year for the Whigs.

William Henry Harrison had been one of the four Whig candidates in 1836, winning the most votes and most states among them.  Despite his age (67), he was nominated as the sole candidate for 1840.  "Tippecanoe and Tyler too" was the slogan that won the presidency.  Better yet, the Whigs took control of the Senate (29 out of 52 seats) and the House (142 out of 242 seats).  Senator Henry Clay prepared a slate of legislation that would reverse Jacksonian policies and finally put his ambitious American System in the driver's seat.  However, President Harrison wasn't as pliant as Clay hoped.  Nonetheless, Harrison was a Whig who would push Whig policies.  There was nothing to stop the abrupt change in direction of the country.

President Harrison died.

After only one month in office, Harrison hadn't done anything yet.  Vice President Tyler, who had retreated to his plantation in Virginia after the inauguration (who needs a useless VP milling in Washington), was called to the capitol.  While Henry Clay was considering who could replace Harrison as president, Tyler took the oath of office.  The Constitution didn't say what happened if a president died in office and wouldn't until 1967.  Worse, Tyler insisted that he was now president and there would be no majority vote in the cabinet to determine what action he could take.  Worse still, Tyler suddenly resumed his Democrat views; he had broken with the party in the wake of the Nullification Crisis but now decided he was more Democrat than Whig.  He vetoed bill after bill from Congress, preventing the implementation of the Whig agenda.  The great victory of 1840 dissolved.

Though the Whigs would win the presidency again in 1848, they never again held the majority in both houses.  The death of President Harrison was also the death of the Whigs as a majority party.  The Whigs remained an opposition party until the mid 1850s, when it was absorbed by the newly-formed Republican Party.

No Welfare for Foreigners

Inexplicably, illegal immigrants are receiving SNAP benefits.  Of course, they are also receiving other benefits, but this is the topic of the day on account of the shutdown.  Why are they receiving ANY benefits?  Not only did you cross the border illegally, but now you are a drain on our economy rather than a contributor to it.  We are poorer as a country because such people are here.  Deport!  At the very least, no benefits.  I am not a fan of government-provided welfare in the first place, but if we are going to have it, only US citizens should qualify to receive them.  All others, go back to your home country and be non-productive there.

Jackson: A Novel

It is 1828.  After 9-years of living in France, Harvard graduate David Chase returned to the United States upon his father's death.  He was left nothing.  Near penniless, he sought employment; he was a writer.  As luck would have it, William Short was looking for someone to write the definitive biography of Andrew Jackson.  Chase accepted the commission.

While the presidential campaign of 1828 is played like a chess game between Andrew Jackson and President John Quincy Adams, Chase interacts with a wide variety of historical figures from the era.  In the background, the biography of Andrew Jackson is told as chapters of Chase's book.  The New Orleans campaign dominates the biography and is the source of Jackson's fame.

The book uses point-of-view characters - some real, some fictional - to tell its story.

- Andrew Jackson is central character but has a limited role as a POV character.  Painted as a man of iron will, volcanic anger, bristling gray hair, and a stick thin bean pole, Jackson is not the illiterate backwoodsman that many thought.

- John Coffee has been Jackson's friend and ally for forty years.  A bear of a man who serves as Jackson's right hand, he plays a large role in protecting Jackson from scandal and managing the campaign with Alexander Hamilton's son, James.

- John Quincy Adams is a disciplined man of great intellect and talent, but a complete lack of charisma.  His son, Charles Francis Adams, serves as his secretary and his wife, Louisa, is unhappy.  Adams comes across as hapless, though entirely laudable.

Fictional POV characters:

- David Chase is a fictional character who crisscrosses the country to research his Jackson biography.  Though American by birth, he feels like an outsider thanks to his many years in France.  Washington City is a backwater compared to Paris and Nashville even more so.  Nonetheless, he finds himself admiring Jackson with each new chapter he writes.

- Mr. Hogwood, an Englishman, proved to be the first writer that William Short had employed.  Though dismissed in favor of Chase, Hogwood provided his research so far to Chase and made introductions to his contacts in Washington City.  Many of the early chapters of Jackson's life are written by Hogwood.

- Emma Colden is Hogwood's beautiful daughter and the object of Chase's desire.  An aspiring writer herself, she frequently complains that women are not allowed such freedoms.  When she is the POV, it is usually when there is an interview with noteworthy women such as Louisa Adams or Fanny Wright.

The book paints an excellent picture of America in 1828, from Boston, to Washington City, to Nashville, to New Orleans.  Historical figures such as John Randolph, Sam Houston, John Eaton, Nicholas Trist, George Ticknor, Sarah Hale, Frances Milton Trollope, and many more have something to say about the campaign, America, women's rights, slavery, Jackson, Jefferson, and other subjects.  Here is a dynamic country where technology is racing and possibilities are limitless.

Outstanding book and highly recommended.

UK on the Brink

David Betz, a professor of war studies at King's College, was a guest on Triggernometry.  He was clearly uncomfortable to be there and not a polished speaker.  His message is one that he is reluctant to deliver: the United Kingdom is on the brink of civil war.  What?  As one who has studied such things throughout his academic career, he sees all the signs of civil war.  The cratering of faith in the institutions of government.  The people no longer believe that the government can solve problems through the normal processes.  The troubles have grown worse despite multiple votes to address them.  He notably brought up Brexit, which was supposed to address the uncontrolled migration.  It arguably got worse in the wake of Brexit.  Then there is the admitted failure of multiculturalism.  This itself has created a crack in the country.  Where those who have grown up in the UK have a natural affinity and loyalty to the existing norms, the immigrants do not.  That several members of parliament - of foreign descent - voted to build an airport in Pakistan was a demonstration of factionalism.  These members were interested not in doing that which would benefit the UK as a whole, but their faction. Where the hosts were optimistic that Nigel Farage might reverse course, Betz was much less so.  He views Farage as a pressure release valve that may lower the heat for a time but not actually fix anything, essentially a Brexit 2.0.  The kindling for a fire has stacked up over 20 to 30 years and, sooner or later, there will be a spark that ignites it.  Rather than Royalist Cavaliers vs. Parliamentarian Roundheads, this conflict is between the 'We Want Out Country Back' faction and the 'Shut the F--- Up!' faction. Betz proposes that the civil war will begin - if it hasn't already - when an anonymous native group targets a judge, influencer, or such.

Betz noted that the cities were in one camp while rural areas in the other.  Cities are notably weak, as they depend on the produce of the rural areas to survive.  Disruption of power, gas, and food will cause the cities to explode in civil strife and the police will be powerless to quell it.

Dark days ahead.

McBain (1991)

Vietnam, 1975

A squad of men receive word that the war is over and they are to pull out.  They climb aboard a Huey and fly over the jungle.  However, they spot some POWs being marched along and decide to engage.  Among the POWs is Robert McBain (Christopher Walken).  He offers eternal gratitude to the leader of the squad, Roberto Santos, offering to repay the debt.  Half of a $100 bill is given as a token of this debt.

Columbia, 1990

Santos is a revolutionary who fights El Presidente and his narco-terrorist enablers.  He has planned to assault the presidential palace and overthrow the government.  Instead, he surrenders to save innocent lives and is executed on live TV.

Christina Santos (Maria Conchita Alonso) travels to NYC to locate McBain.  She gives him the other half of the hundred-dollar bill.  McBain swings into action, assembling the very men who rescued him with Santos.  One of them, Frank Bruce (Michael Ironside) has become immensely wealthy as an arms dealer.  They travel to Columbia and restart the revolution.

Though it has an interesting plot, the execution is mediocre to weak.  The characters have all the emotion of a potato.  Walken is bland and boring.  The script gives the characters nothing to do.  The battles are ludicrous.  Everyone loves to stand exposed while they shoot, only to be utterly amazed when they prove to be easy targets.  Of course, the principle cast doesn't have to worry about that.  Christina stands up from cover and no bullets hit her.  Ditto for McBain.  Sigh.

Hard pass.

American Made (2017)

Barry Seal (Tom Cruise) is a TWA pilot with a penchant for mischief.  When introduced, he intentionally nosedives an airliner and then explains it away as turbulence.  He is caught smuggling Cuban cigars for extra cash.  Such antics bring him to the attention of Schafer (Domhnall Gleeson) as a potential resource.  Soon, Barry is flying recon missions over Central America and Columbia.  However, the CIA isn't paying well and he finds a new income source by transporting drugs into the US.  At risk of being arrested - but given warning by Schafer, Barry flees to Mena, Arkansas, a sleepy town with an airport that miraculously becomes Barry's property.  His business expands and Barry brings in more pilots.  Now he is running guns to the Contras in Nicaragua and drugs for the Columbians, or maybe vice versa.  Eventually, the crimes catch up to Barry and Schafer abandons him to law enforcement.

Based on the true story of Barry Seal (1939-1986), the movie has cameos by noteworthy characters.  Pablo Escobar is one of the Columbian drug lords from the Medellin Cartel, George W Bush sits sheepishly next to Barry at the White House while announcing that he too is a pilot, Ronald & Nancy Reagan have their 'Just Say No' to drugs TV appearance, and the Governor of Arkansas (Bill Clinton) instructs law enforcement to cut Barry loose despite mountains of evidence.

How much of this is true and how much is exaggeration and make believe?  Barry comes across as reckless and not too bright, but somehow is wildly successful.  Is it all down to his connections with the CIA?  Barry thought he was a CIA operative, but he was clearly just a pawn.  How did he not see that?  Was he willfully blind to it on account of all the money?

This was an unusual role for Tom Cruise.  Typically, he plays intense characters who, at some point, is going to deliver a line with a sharpness of a knife's edge or glare so hard that he could break a brick.  Barry doesn't have edges or hard surfaces.  Also, Barry never does the mad sprint, a staple of Tom Cruise movies.  He once fled on a bike, which was clumsy and comic.  He's a go with the flow sort of guy.  His frequent haplessness makes one wonder how he thrives in such a cutthroat industry.

For a movie that views itself as an action comedy film, the comedy is not the laugh out loud kind and the action is mostly stunt flying.  When Barry sees action, he is usually the victim of it.  Overall, it is just okay.

The Peace Deal

It is a day for celebration.  The current war between Israel and the Palestinians has come to a conclusion, just as it has so many times before.  Where those who engineered the peace paint a rosy picture of the future, it is all too likely that this is just a lull in the eternal struggle.  Hamas shall lie low for a few years as it recruits more fodder and assembles a new arsenal, same as always.  This is only an extended ceasefire; to think otherwise is to have no knowledge of the region's history.

Then again, the peace between Israel and Egypt has held for nearly a half century.  The Abraham Accords have normalized relations between Israel and several Muslim Arab countries.  The peace process may not be the chimera it has long appeared to be.  It has taken decades, but progress toward regional peace is undeniable.  Would the various peace agreements have been successful without American arm-twisting?

Peace is good strategy for the time being.  Islam is conquering the West through unfettered migration.  Muslims are openly declaring their intent to overwhelm countries where they have immigrated, assuring them that Sharia Law is on the horizon.  The West is too soft to believe it, even as more and more districts of capital cities become Muslim majority.  The West celebrates the 'peace' in a distant land while strife takes root in the home country.

Ten Gentlemen from West Point (1942)

In the Senate, Henry Clay argues in favor of funding the military academy at West Point while others, notably John Randolph of Roanoke, argued against.  Though the bill was passed, Major Samuel Carter was placed in command of West Point with the task of getting all the cadets to resign, thus defeating the academy by other means.  Among the first batch of cadets were Joe Dawson of Kentucky (George Montgomery) and Howard Shelton of New York (John Sutton).  Carolyn Bainbridge (Maureen O'Hara) was both Shelton's fiancée and an important lobbyist in favor of West Point.  She followed Shelton to West Point to be near him and offer assistance to the cadets.  The cadets must overcome the regular soldiers who dislike them, the machinations of Major Carter, and often each other.  Will the US Military Academy survive?

The story is campy nonsense, an ahistorical mess that doesn't know when it happens, where it happens, or who was involved.  Thomas Jefferson established West Point shortly after becoming president in 1801.  However, the battle in which this inaugural cohort of cadets fights took place in 1811.  Interesting tinkering with the timeline.  Of course, Henry Clay served several stints in the Senate, the first being from 1806 to 1807 then again from 1810 to 1811.  On the other hand, John Randolph of Roanoke spent his career almost entirely in the House of Representatives.  He spent two years in the Senate from 1825 to 1827.  However, he did have a habit of bringing his dog into the house chambers, which was a nice touch in the movie.

The battle against Tecumseh is complete fiction.  During the campaign, General William Henry Harrison marched his army north from Vincennes and established Fort Harrison at what is now Terre Haute, Indiana.  After some training of his troops, he marched north to the battle that made him famous: Tippecanoe.  His forces battled Tecumseh's brother, Tenskwatawa.  Tecumseh was somewhere in the South, recruiting more tribes for the eventual fight against the Americans in the War of 1812.  This telling has the Ten Gentlemen left at Fort Harrison when Harrison (Douglass Dumbrille) marched north.  No sooner is Harrison gone than Tecumseh (Noble Johnson) moves against the fort.  Can our cadets use their hard-earned military knowledge to save the day?  Of course they can.  They can use the fictional account of the Battle of Tours (732 AD) to defeat Tecumseh.

George Montgomery lays on the Southern charm, a poor country boy from Kentucky with homespun grammar and a can-do attitude.  John Sutton plays the cultured New Yorker with deep pockets and a haughty disposition.  Each have opportunities to shine, though George is clearly the more likeable of the two.  Maureen O'Hara outshines the rest of the cast.  Of course, she is the object of everyone's affection and the keystone of a love triangle.  Who will win her heart: the Kentuckian or the New Yorker?

Though a nonsensical and silly film, there are several noteworthy aspects.  The director, Henry Hathaway, would go on to far better films, notably the original True Grit (1969) with John Wayne.  The screenwriter, Richard Maibaum, went on to become the primary writer for the Bond series from 1962 to 1989.  Ward Bond plays Sergeant Scully, the leader of the enlisted men who dislike the cadets.  Stanley Andrews, who would go on to play the Old Ranger in Death Valley Days, plays Captain Sloane.

Mediocre.  Skip.