[SouthernSweetieTX]

We liked Wonder Woman. The story dragged in places, but overall, it was good.

I'm feeling better, really. Still a bit sore in places. Having to spend too long in the car is the worst of now.

Originally Posted by KitscherSunk (View Post) I know baby minion said he thought it looked dumb, but try the new Spider-Man that came out this summer. It's fun, the actors are younger so they're more relatable to kids, and Michael Keaton is great too. I also finally watched Wonder Woman, and I recommend that one too. Gal Gadot is somehow both stunningly gorgeous and totally adorable. And Chris Pine is ... In fact, I couldn't stand him for ages lol but I've seen the light. It's why I decided to give WW a proper chance. I didn't finish it before because I thought the message was so simplistic and corny. But these days, I think we could all use some entertainment where the people are decent and kind, and where love wins out over hate. Meanwhile, Diane Lane was on the Chew today, as pretty and sweet as ever. I realized just how much the abuse allegations against Josh really cooled me on him. I was a fan of his also before they married, and I used to love them as a couple and they seemed like great friends. It goes to show that you just never know.

[elherts]

I'm glad you are feeling better Kayla. Falls are no joke! I fell in Chicago a while back and I really hurt myself. I hit the ground hard. I'm glad you are feeling better overall. Surround yourself with happy things, like Taylor!

[worthyoflove]

They're starting to do screenings over in the UK and response over there is just as positive as here, of course!

[SouthernSweetieTX]

Originally Posted by elherts (View Post) I'm glad you are feeling better Kayla. Falls are no joke! I fell in Chicago a while back and I really hurt myself. I hit the ground hard. I'm glad you are feeling better overall. Surround yourself with happy things, like Taylor!

I hurt my right knee a few years ago, tripped in the garage and rolled down the steep driveway. It wasn't pretty. Didn't break anything, but knee has never been the same. I hurt my left knee sometime during my first pregnancy. It's cranky too. If I left it up to my knees, I'd be old! lucky for me, they don't call the shots!

[KitscherSunk]

Originally Posted by SouthernSweetieTX (View Post) I'm feeling better, really. Still a bit sore in places. Having to spend too long in the car is the worst of now.

Do you mean for commuting or mommy duty, or both? Audiobooks help a lot. I borrow them from the library. I actually sometimes miss the slightly longer ride to and from work. It takes me months to finish a single audiobook now. Haha. I never did finish Savages!

[worthyoflove]

Kiki, I know you were interested about the shelters and why they didn't work. NASA is working on developing improved shelters currently.

[SouthernSweetieTX]

Originally Posted by KitscherSunk (View Post) Do you mean for commuting or mommy duty, or both? Audiobooks help a lot. I borrow them from the library. I actually sometimes miss the slightly longer ride to and from work. It takes me months to finish a single audiobook now. Haha. I never did finish Savages!

A bit of both! The kids are 30 plus minutes from school. Work is now 45-60 minutes depending on traffic. The hip I hurt is the right one and pressing on the gas pedal for so long strains it.

I can't do audiobooks. Well, at least not at home. Maybe if I was in the car I'd do better. At home I want to follow along in the actual book. If I was doing something else, it might be easier for me. I can listen to motivational CDs in the car, So listening to a book wouldn't be too different, I guess.

[SouthernSweetieTX]

I'm glad they are working to improve them!
Oldest minion asked why they didn't work as well. Was it just too hot for too long? Like the fire was too big to pass over them in the designated safe zone of time?

Originally Posted by worthyoflove (View Post) Kiki, I know you were interested about the shelters and why they didn't work. NASA is working on developing improved shelters currently.

[worthyoflove]

Kiki, you'll like this review. Someone who didn't like Jennifer's performance. I'm only posting it because it has a great Taylor mention.

Should also note that with the overseas reviews coming in its Rotten Tomato score has jumped up to 91%.

Teller gives him a growing humility that anchors the film appealingly, and he doesn’t overdo the junkie showboating, which is something of a relief. He’s helped a lot by Taylor Kitsch, as the guy least likely to accept this broken newcomer into the fold. Kitsch is some kind of cast standout here, doing good, sardonic work underneath a scuzzy ’tache that gives him a passing resemblance to Sam Rockwell. The back-and-forth between these two, with hostility turned to friendship via hazing rituals, is the best thing in the script: it’s certainly a fresher element than Jennifer Connelly’s part. As the horse rancher wife of Brolin’s character, she doesn’t get much to do except stand around waiting for another angry speech every reel or two, while her bonding moments with Teller over their past of addiction have more than a residual whiff of pure Hollywood corn.

Only the Brave review: a beautifully slow, reverential lament for fallen firefighters

[worthyoflove]

The full article is in the news thread, but here is the portion relating to OTB, love that he still texts with Mac's dad.

Kitsch has come a long way from those days of Riggins, tall boy beers and Texas but now, at aged 36, he’s finally getting into his groove, working on his directorial debut, a mix of TV and film work - and drive motorbikes across the American plains. ‘I drive motorcycles and I just went through Montana and Wyoming and it just eats me alive when people just throw cigarettes out [their window] when they’re done,’ he tells Metro.co.uk. ‘If you’re camping, everyone wants a fire - but you’ve got to listen to the fire bans! And yet you still see people doing this, and it kills you that people don’t understand the repercussions of that.’ Kitsch’s anger comes as we discuss his new drama Only the Brave, which immortalizes the 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots who died as they battled the raging Yarnell Hill fire in Arizona on June 30, 2013; the greatest loss of firefighters in a wildfire in eight decades and the greatest loss of firefighters in the United States since the September 11 attacks. The film is a devastating look at the Prescott Fire Departments hotshots - elite teams of 20 wildland firefighters who battle the most serious fires across the US - and their real life friendships, romances, and family lives of those same brave men. Miles Teller portrays McDonough, the fire’s lone survivor, along with Josh Brolin, Jeff Bridges, James Badge Dale, and Kitsch. The Yarnell fire was started by lightening, however wild fires have increased in numbers and severity in recent years, and although NASA admits that ‘climate change has increased fire risk in many regions’ there is also a large role played by humans in the risk. ‘I hope there’s a level of consciousness that will be raised with this film, that you can easily start something with just “that”,’ he adds. ‘It only happened three years ago so it felt really raw and we celebrated the third anniversary while we were shooting. You just want to do everything in your power to play these guys honestly.’ ‘[This film] couldn’t be more relevant - my hometown a few years ago had a huge wildfire and even this year there’s 100 different wildfires around that area, my best friend had a cabin near there and they got evacuated this summer three times. They’re getting worse - an hour away there was a big one when we were shooting in Albuquerque and you could see the flames from on top of the mountains.’ The Canadian actor stars as Christopher MacKenzie, a 30-year-old California native who had always wanted to be a firefighter, like his father. He gets emotional and clearly cares about this role when he talks about the prep involved, which included spending time with Mac’s father Mike - ‘we still text back and forth’ - and hanging out with McDonaugh. ‘I had the best source in McDonaugh, his roommate and the only survivor,’ he says. ‘So we would hang out and have a beer and he’d tell me these amazing stories of them going out and just filling in as much as you can - any time you want to get the real info on someone you go to their best friends first, so it was an awesome experience.’ ‘You needed to get to know who these guys were, when they’re not in their yellows, who are they and what makes them tick,’ he says. The cast and crew spent two weeks on a training course before the film began so they could get a feel for how the Hotshots worked - ‘it was a boys club!’ laughs Kitsch - hanging out with each other. ‘We really made the most of the two weeks before filming with the Hotshots, hanging out before and after set. Miles would put basketball games together and everyone would show up,’ he says. Kitsch says 100% of his scenes were filmed on location, with the crew building a ‘three plus acre set with aluminum trees that they filled with huge propane tanks so they could turn it on and off.’ It sounds terrifying but it’s clear that for Kitsch nothing but getting his hands dirty and getting a real sense for who these men were would do for him.

[SouthernSweetieTX]

That's sweet. We know he keeps up with Marcus. I bet he stays in the loop with the Murphy's as well.

[elherts]

Originally Posted by SouthernSweetieTX (View Post) I'm glad they are working to improve them! Oldest minion asked why they didn't work as well. Was it just too hot for too long? Like the fire was too big to pass over them in the designated safe zone of time?

The thing is, I don't even think it was the biggest fire per say. I mean, it wasn't in a huge redwood forest where the flames and fire probably get 800 times stronger and higher. I think this fire was so brutal because it was fast moving. I still plan to look into all this. I'm intrigued.

As the horse rancher wife of Brolin’s character, she doesn’t get much to do except stand around waiting for another angry speech every reel or two, while her bonding moments with Teller over their past of addiction have more than a residual whiff of pure Hollywood corn.

OMG! Yes! Nailed it. That's exactly how I feel. But they were too kind to Miles.


I still have to get to the rest of my movie notes. I know you are hanging on the edge of your seats. lol

While an investigation into the deaths didn’t reveal any unknown shortcomings with the device, the Forest Service decided to fast-track a scheduled redesign of the shelter in light of the tragedy.

This is good to hear, because I was like, "Uhhh, someone should look into that." and the stupid drop planse.

[KitscherSunk]

Kitsch is some kind of cast standout here, doing good, sardonic work underneath a scuzzy ’tache that gives him a passing resemblance to Sam Rockwell.

I TOLD YOU guys he resembled Sam Rockwell! lol I first saw it in the Spartan Race photos!

"You needed to get to know who these guys were, when they’re not in their yellows, who are they and what makes them tick,’ he says.

Based on the movie, just what does make Mac tick? Other than practical jokes and trashy women? I don't mean to sound snarky, but it's how the portrayals left me feeling. I didn't really see much depth. Sorry.

Re the Jennifer criticism: After thinking about the script's structure in the weeks since I saw it, I think that critic's point is a valid one, about her popping in for an angry argument, then she's gone again. I still think her performance is terrific though. And I loved that scene with her and Miles and it didn't seem corny to me.

The movie probably should've added an epilogue about why the shelters didn't work. It's a very good question that I think because you're so emotional at the time, you might not wonder until afterward.

KiKi the book is called "Fire Line." Maybe the answer is in there. It starts with the description of how the authorities found them. It's as far as I got. It's so sad.

[SouthernSweetieTX]

I had to Google Sam. I can kind of see it. But Sam is no Taylor.

My understanding is that Amanda Marsh spent quit a bit of time onset, so Jennifer's portrayal is probably pretty accurate of who she is.

Here's an interview Amanda did three days after the LA premiere
Amanda Marsh Interview

Originally Posted by KitscherSunk (View Post) I TOLD YOU guys he resembled Sam Rockwell! lol I first saw it in the Spartan Race photos! Based on the movie, just what does make Mac tick? Other than practical jokes and trashy women? I don't mean to sound snarky, but it's how the portrayals left me feeling. I didn't really see much depth. Sorry. Re the Jennifer criticism: After thinking about the script's structure in the weeks since I saw it, I think that critic's point is a valid one, about her popping in for an angry argument, then she's gone again. I still think her performance is terrific though. And I loved that scene with her and Miles and it didn't seem corny to me. The movie probably should've added an epilogue about why the shelters didn't work. It's a very good question that I think because you're so emotional at the time, you might not wonder until afterward. KiKi the book is called "Fire Line." Maybe the answer is in there. It starts with the description of how the authorities found them. It's as far as I got. It's so sad.

[worthyoflove]

So from what I remember reading somewhere, I'm not sure if it's in the GQ article or not the shelters have worked when deployed in other situations. Just that the situation the GMH found themselves in, in that particular location in a valley like that, the fire had nowhere to go, it was basically like a tunnel and they were stuck in it.

Thanks, Kayla. That was the interview I watched of Amanda and thought, wow, Jennifer really really nailed her portrayal of Amanda.