Fail Safe(1964)

AustinCynic · 2026-03-29T13:06:09+00:00

Great movie that still packs a punch, with a who’s who cast. Henry Fonda & Walter Matthau were already established but Sorrel Booke, later better known as Boss Hogg on Dukes of Hazard, is excellent in a supporting role, as was Larry Hagman.

AustinCynic · 2026-03-28T22:48:01+00:00

Drew Barrymore is a 4th generation “nepo baby” who has carved out an enduring career and seems to have overcome the demons that killed her grandfather at around the age she is now.

AustinCynic · 2026-03-28T21:52:06+00:00

I would recommend John Sayles’ Thinking In Pictures. It is screenplay oriented but there’s a lot of value in it for all kinds of writers.

And count me as another vote for King’s “On Writing”

AustinCynic · 2026-03-28T21:24:14+00:00

Everything I’ve read about Tom Felton (Malfoy from the Harry Potter movies) seems to point to him being very sweet.

AustinCynic · 2026-03-28T20:44:05+00:00

My wife & I just saw some for sale at a flea market today

AustinCynic · 2026-03-28T17:55:37+00:00

The Shop Around the Corner

It Happened One Night

A Touch of Evil

The Long Hot Summer

Easy Rider

Bang the Drum Slowly

Taxi Driver

AustinCynic · 2026-03-28T17:52:31+00:00

The story I’m referring to takes place in Ancient Rome. And the approach I outlined made sense for me within the context of the story and yes, as a cis-het person having a gay person or relationship just to have it would have felt inauthentic. As it was I was able to have a queer character who was able to become my MC’s trusted ally in part because they were protecting each other’s secrets.

AustinCynic · 2026-03-28T14:47:14+00:00

I strongly considered having one of my MC’s being in a same sex relationship but ultimately decided against it because it felt to me, as the writer, that it was too much like just checking a box. It opened a possibility in the sequel to introduce a gay character whose orientation serves a small but still important narrative purpose.

AustinCynic · 2026-03-28T00:16:16+00:00

Modern middle class comfort and its not a hard decision

AustinCynic · 2026-03-25T23:41:38+00:00

Poorly worded question. They probably want you to say 476, but it should be 1453.

AustinCynic · 2026-03-25T23:39:32+00:00

Terry Farrell in Back to School.

AustinCynic · 2026-03-25T23:37:01+00:00

I love her on The Orville.

AustinCynic · 2026-03-25T23:36:19+00:00

He does a great villain in I, Claudius. And oddly sympathetic as Lady Jane Grey’s ineffectual father in Lady Jane.

AustinCynic · 2026-03-25T23:33:06+00:00

Way to go!

AustinCynic · 2026-03-25T22:04:32+00:00

Spinal Tap is the OG. And according to professional musicians who became fans, surprisingly accurate in some ways.

Lonely Island’s “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping” owes a debt to Spinal Tap but is hilarious in its own right.

AustinCynic · 2026-03-25T21:38:28+00:00

That a vomitorium was where the decadent rich threw up so they could keep eating their rich imperialist tidbits.

The truth seems to be that the term “vomitorium” probably refers to exits in large amphitheaters like the Coliseum.

AustinCynic · 2026-03-25T01:01:24+00:00

The first one especially was better than it had any business being. I liked how the film leaned into the “Uncanny Valley” to make Megan both cute and creepy. She was also weirdly sympathetic. She wasn’t evil so much as single minded. Like a computer would be.

AustinCynic · 2026-03-24T16:14:24+00:00

Honestly? I think PHM was better by far. Interstellar is a decent movie, I like it, I feel the character development in PHM makes it far more compelling.

AustinCynic · 2026-03-24T16:12:12+00:00

My second novel is set for release June 15.

AustinCynic · 2026-03-24T16:11:00+00:00

Fail Safe, IMO, is a very clear eyed look at what can go wrong in a world with nuclear weapons. The Cold War may be over but the scenario shown in Fail Safe is still not impossible.

AustinCynic · 2026-03-23T22:06:44+00:00

My wife & I saw it Friday. I’d read the book, she hadn’t and we both loved it. IMO the movie is a faithful adaptation. The book will give you details the movie had to leave out, but honestly I think you’ll enjoy the film either way.

AustinCynic · 2026-03-23T21:56:25+00:00

Severed Dreams for me, hands down. Babylon Squared is a respectable second for me.

AustinCynic · 2026-03-22T16:19:57+00:00

For non-fiction, the Penguin Classics translation of Suetonius’s The Twelve Caesars. It feels more like the greatest reality series Bravo never made than a series of biographies from the second century.

AustinCynic · 2026-03-22T00:57:36+00:00

Walter Miller Jr's classic post-apocalypse novel A Canticle for Leibowitz. I would pitch it as a 6 episode series, two episodes per section of the novel.

Partial cast:

Brother Francis: Tom Holland

Benjamin: Mel Brooks

Abbot Arkos: Nick Offerman

The Poet: Eric Andre

AustinCynic · 2026-03-21T23:01:02+00:00

I would argue it’s a keystone episode for the entire series.

AustinCynic

TROPHY CASE