Chuck Norris, Dr. Pepper Vanilla Float, Coca-Cola Cherry Float, Jack in the Box, & Tommy

Hearing that Chuck Norris passed away this morning was a surprise; perhaps I should have inferred from the amount of publicity his hospitalization in Hawaii garnered yesterday that he was in grave condition. I never saw much of Walker: Texas Ranger or even paid attention to the memes from 20 years ago but as an adult I saw some of his entertaining B-movies from the 70’s and 80’s so his death is a bummer.

The past few weeks, I have done a few interesting things. At a store in the Florida Mall I’d been to before that offers usually international food & drink, they also had a can of Dr. Pepper Vanilla Float, a beverage only sold in limited areas across the United States-not in Florida. I now wish they had it in Florida. I also dig Coca-Cola’s Cherry Float, recently released.

I did return to a few different restaurants for the first time in awhile-such as Uno’s Pizzeria or at Joe’s Crab Shack to have some shrimp. The most exciting place I went to was a Jack in the Box-yes, they have one in the Orlando suburb of Longwood; the chain hadn’t been in the state in something like 30 years. It was still popular when I went there one afternoon. The food is indeed tasty; it’ll be awhile but another location for Jack will be… the town I live in, Clermont! That’ll be handy.

Speaking of Clermont, a Sprout’s Farmers Market opened literally a few minutes’ drive from where I live; the store’s been visited more than once already. Mix in an afternoon that included me walking around a nature preserve for a bit, and another one where I went to a new Walmart in The Villages area that is “next generation”, which basically was “wider aisles” and “they had a sushi bar” … I’ve been doing fine as of late. The World Baseball Classic was fun this year, and the first full day of the NCAA Tournament in basketball was as entertaining as typical.

On Wednesday evening I went to the IMAX screen at the AMC in Altamonte Springs to see an old movie that only had two showings. I was surprised that 1975’s Tommy (based on the rock opera album from The Who) had IMAX showings; while I’d never even seen the film before-or heard most of the songs on the album-I was expecting a weird movie as I’d seen a few other movies from late British director Ken Russell… no relation. Indeed, the movie was weird yet had plenty of subtext, was colorful, and had great music. The film drew a largely older crowd, most of whom reacted enthusiastically once the end credits finished.

It likely won’t be until April that I return.

EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert, Psycho Killer, Undertone, and Cow & Cheese

Today felt like the day for me to mention the last few films I’ve viewed on the big screen, along with the local establishment I ate at before one of the movies. Elvis Presley in Concert is a film which was Elvis in the 70’s, mainly on but sometimes off-stage and featuring plenty of unearthed footage. Despite being directed by Baz Luhrmann-I was mixed on his 2022 Elvis movie-after the opening the rest of Concert did not feature many of his worst instincts.

It was a great experience; the music, the visuals, the crowd… the movie was solid evidence why I’m happy to ignore modern music when it does not compare to someone like Elvis. The best experience was afterwards; a lady a bit younger than me was dressed in 50’s clothing & wore a SWEET black satin Elvis jacket. Afterwards, a group of grey-haired women were talking to the lady and they happily discussed everything Elvis, at least from what little I overheard. It was a tremendous experience seeing multiple generations and a crowd of people featuring different races come together to celebrate one icon.

One night I saw Psycho Killer; it was after hearing the bad reviews-I was curious. “Qu'est-ce que c'est?” is my reaction! The first two acts weren’t great but was not terrible either. Killer was simply a dopey picture w/ a killer who had a dumb fake voice that was still watchable. Then, the final act happened; the story went in a bizarre direction that was also bad; what a huge misstep. Before anyone asks, no, the Talking Heads song doesn’t appear, either in original form or an insufferable modern cover.

This past Monday, I saw an early screening of Undertone, an A24 horror film releasing officially tonight. Now, I don’t love the movies that A24 produce or simply release like most cinephiles… however, some are worthwhile. Thankfully, Undertone did not have the typical A24 pretension. I knew that Undertone focused on sound first & foremost, which intrigued. What I didn’t know: not only is it a movie set in one location, the only character you see speaking on camera is a young lady who is a podcaster… nor that she lived with a bedridden mother who is comatose and near death. Despite being reminded of what happened to my late mother 6 years ago, I made it through the movie alright. I do understand why the character’s mom remained in the house-hospice isn’t inexpensive.

As for my thoughts, re: Undertone… the movie did a lot right. The movie’s methodical pacing was fine w/ me. The lead actress did a nice job, I liked the subtle moments, and I even recognized the ambiguity throughout, especially the final act. Unfortunately, the ending fell flat with me; nice idea, but it didn’t work out. Still, I’ll say that the movie was good overall.

As for the crowd at this screening, despite my fears, they actually were behaved and reacted to certain moments as you’d expect. However, once the end credits began, an experience new to me happened. Many people laughed… not just for a few seconds-I mean, uproariously laughed, for more than 30 seconds straight! They did not like how Undertone concluded, and they made it clear. Their reaction was far funnier than if they booed or catcalled the screen. I did hear some negative comments as I left the AMC but I’ll never forget the long, sustained laughter in disbelief.

Before the Elvis film, I was in Maitland to try a local establishment I found out from some website or account. Befitting its name, Cow & Cheese only offers a few items but the smashburger I had accompanied by seasoned fries were both tasty. Tasty to my ears was the Sirius radio station they had on consisting of 90’s and early 2000’s hip-hop. I won’t be able to visit that often as Maitland isn’t that close by yet I was still happy to support such a place.

My return should be sometime in the next few days.

The Housemaid, Mercy, Conan the Barbarian, Cold Storage, Crime 101, Sholay, & Send Help

On the eve of me turning FORTY-FIVE (!) I will catch up on what I’ve seen theatrically since December that hasn’t been mentioned by me yet. First, I’ll mention one from December: Cinemark played the 1975 Indian movie classic Sholay, something I’ve seen before. Cinema in India has a rich history for many decades and many languages-for that to be arguably the most impactful in their history says a lot. The movie is a lot of fun, a version of the Japanese movie The Seven Samurai, best known in the United States for being remade as The Magnificent Seven. Yes, even Indian movies back then had song-and-dance numbers and are very long.

One evening I saw The Housemaid; no, it wasn’t because I wanted to see either Sydney Sweeney and/or Amanda Seyfried on the big screen. Rather, because I knew this was a surprise hit and heard it was like a tawdry trashy movie from the past. Yes, it was trashy fun (although not quite like an 80’s or 90’s sleazy movie) and was ridiculous; seeing Housemaid w/ a crowd helped, as it’s a movie designed to have people hooting and hollering at times, which some people definitely did.

That same night, I saw Mercy. The movie is as lousy and goofy as you probably heard. The idea of an AI legal system isn’t the worst, but the execution was just lacking. Not terrible or unwatchable, but even at home you probably won’t be satisfied unless you have the movie on as background noise. At least it is short.

One night at a Regal, I saw a revival screening of Conan the Barbarian; yes, the 80’s movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger. I’d seen Conan before but never on the big screen. The film is a blast, a classic engrossing tale for adults. Another night I saw Send Help; it being the type of movie that Sam Raimi used to make but hadn’t in decades plus the good reviews intrigued me. It’s a shame that the ending didn’t work for me (among other things, it felt too modern for a movie that otherwise felt retro) as the rest was a blast, the type of movie I wish we got more of.

The same goes for what I saw a few days ago. While flawed themselves, Cold Storage and Crime 101 are also films I prefer to what’s been clogging the cineplexes for many years now. Cold Storage is a silly horror-comedy you don’t want to scrutinize too hard yet was still a fun “killer fungus causes humans to explode” film with an overqualified cast, including Liam Neeson, who thankfully has moved on from his “old man action” movies and instead played an old man w/ a bad back, which of course is realistic.

Crime 101 was styled after a heist film from decades past; it wasn’t quite the same and I wish the dialogue didn’t turn into “F this” and “F that”; it being included in almost every sentence from Barry Keoghan wasn’t to my tastes. Otherwise, the movie was pretty good, echoing the sort of movies from the past I do enjoy… talented (and usually veteran) actors acting not against a green-screen but rather on actual sets and on location in Southern California—the title refers to Highway 101. Chris Hemsworth actually did a nice job. I feel bad the movie is a disappointment at the box office as flaws aside I was happy to support a film like Crime 101 that was made for adults.

I hope to return sometime in the first half of March.

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith, Illinois State Redbirds, & Milano Cortina Winter Olympics

My apologies for not doing one of these as soon as I expected; January and February have been quiet in terms of new events or interesting experiences, at least that haven't been mentioned last month by me. There were two things I neglected to mention concerning January until now: how the Chicago Bears lost their playoff game (heartbreaking) and how the Illinois State Redbirds lost the NCAA FCS college football game against Montana State after an improbable run to the title game… it was just brutal and best left forgotten by me.

I have only revisited various spots/restaurants (such as Shake Shack) so nothing new there. I am disappointed to hear that every restaurant in the Bahama Breeze chain will shut down in a matter of days. I always enjoyed hearing there once in a blue moon since moving to Florida oh so many years ago, including not that long ago.

Thus, I’ll mention that I went to Walt Disney World twice, once at Epcot to tackle their annual Festival of the Arts and to Hollywood Studios to ride Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith one last time. It will close at the end of the month as during the summer it’ll be reopen w/ a Muppets theme. Now, while at Hollywood Studios I interacted w/ a rude employee. This is only mentioned in contrast to how much fun I otherwise had. After all, on the Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run ride, one employee (Jo) did a great job in character, going above and beyond as me and the random group I was part of waited to board the ride. A unique experience was waiting in long for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster… a random couple were by me and I was asked about the ride as the woman was concerned about it. She ended up chickening out but that may be for the best if coasters are really not her thing. They were still nice people.

Finally, I’ll mention that the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics have been a fun time and I’m sad they’ll end after Sunday. Nevermind the politics or how they’re broadcast (even on Peacock), it was still nice to see various sports I’m interested in while not spending as much time on others-bobsled, skeleton, and luge in particular are neat. There were nice stories, along with some wild ones; I was entertained.

I’ll be back tomorrow afternoon to finally catch up on all the theatrical movies I’ve seen this year that haven’t been mentioned yet.