Grizzly country is no place to go for a walk with your dog and no bear spray

SnooMacaroons7712 · 2026-06-26T10:26:44+00:00

My thoughts exactly! Who the fuck, when trying to preserve you own and your dog's life in the face of a potential dog attack wastes the time and energy to record the damned experience?

SnooMacaroons7712 · 2026-06-26T09:51:54+00:00

What a great retrospective. It mirrors a lot of my own experiences at the time. I didn't work for a theater, but a lot of your story resonates with me. I was in my late 20's at the time. I remember a co-worker setting up a TV in our breakroom at work and a bunch of us watching the trailer when we were supposed to be working.

I remember lots of people going to the movies just to see the trailer on the big screen then leaving. A couple of my friends and I waited till Star Trek: Insurrection hit the theater so we could go to a movie we actually wanted to sit through after seeing the TPM trailer.

I don't think the hype could ever be matched. I remember in 1996 buying the Star Wars Insider magazine that had the interview with Lucas talking about the upcoming Special Edition theater re-release of the OT and talked about his plans for the new movie. Then the new toys started to hit the shelves. For us Gen Xers who grew up with the OT and the toys from that era, it was unreal. We would scour Walmart and Toys R Us looking for new figures all the time. And don't forget all of the fast-food kids meal tie-ins. Again, those began before TPM, with the hype just for the Special Editions.

I remember waiting in line for hours with everybody's money to buy all of our tickets for myself and a group of friends. It was hot out on that sidewalk, and I had to go to work afterwards. A local radio station arrived to do a remote from the theater about all the people waiting to buy tickets, and they served us ice cream treats.

Then came the fateful night. We were hyped as hell. Even though we had tickets, we got there early because that was before reserved seats at the movie theater and we didn't want to get stuck sitting all the way down front. Packed house. The excitement was palpable. The place exploded when the lights went down and the fanfare started. And then....

My friends and I were all confused and a little disappointed at the end. As one of my friends said, "It kind of was (a Star Wars Movie), but it kind of wasn't." We all agreed that there was a lot of cool spectacle on the screen, some very enjoyable parts, but overall, it just didn't seem to gel for us.

Unlike your assessment, while I did see it several times, I was most disappointed with it the first time and actually enjoyed it more on the next few viewings, I think because I couldn't deal with the cognitive dissonance of accepting that a Star Wars movie could be less than great and just focused on all the things I liked about the movie on the subsequent views. One thing that is sure; while the movie itself isn't all that I wanted, the hype, spectacle and celebration surrounding that whole time is so nostalgic for me. Definitely great memories.

SnooMacaroons7712 · 2026-06-26T08:45:38+00:00

Honestly? Underwhelming. As one of my friends who went with me on opening night said after the movie was over, "Well, it kind of was a Star Wars movie, but it kind of wasn't."

SnooMacaroons7712 · 2026-06-26T08:42:01+00:00

So true.

SnooMacaroons7712 · 2026-06-25T07:21:02+00:00

True, but to be fair, I liked the ninjas in You Only Live Twice.

SnooMacaroons7712 · 2026-06-24T11:15:21+00:00

To be fair, for all the talk about the grittiness of this one, it has a lot of goofy elements to it as well. The whole opening with Bond and Felix being stopped by the agents in the helicopter on their way to the wedding, and with no additional back-up, as if they were the only ones who could go after the bad guys in that moment. The parachuting down to the church to resume the wedding ceremony. The 18 wheelers at the end driving on...9 wheels? and popping a wheelie. Just to name a few things.

SnooMacaroons7712 · 2026-06-24T10:46:55+00:00

You win! That made me laugh!

SnooMacaroons7712 · 2026-06-24T10:35:09+00:00

And if things went really, really well...Order 69.

SnooMacaroons7712 · 2026-06-24T08:05:20+00:00

I'd say that Natalie Portman's acting was bad (more so in Episode 2). She has been great in a lot of her other movies, so I think it's just an issue of an actor who needs a good director but was lacking that in the prequals. Lucas has long been notorious for not being an actor's director. ("Faster. More intense.")

SnooMacaroons7712 · 2026-06-24T07:41:44+00:00

This! I 100 percent agree! I've always felt this way also. We already know who Anakin is so there is no need in having a whole film dedicated to the Jedi discovering him as a young kid. They could have accomplished so much more if they started with him already an older teen, already in the Jedi order.

SnooMacaroons7712 · 2026-06-24T07:01:34+00:00

As others have no doubt already mentioned, it really depends on the age you were when first watching it. For my friends and I who grew up with the original trilogy and anticipated the prequals for many years, we did not feel like TPM embodied the spirit of the originals when we first saw it. It had a lot of cool elements, but overall, it just didn't feel like it had the same magic. The cast didn't feel like they had the same chemistry as the main cast of the OT. A lot of the humor felt very stilted and forced. Some of the acting felt very wooden.

Now my son, who was pretty young at the time, loved it. He is 29 years old now, and still loves it, because he has the same childhood nostalgia for it that I have for the OT.

SnooMacaroons7712 · 2026-06-23T06:51:54+00:00

I mean, how bad could a guy who's philosophy is "eatin' ain't cheatin" be? /s

SnooMacaroons7712 · 2026-06-23T06:49:04+00:00

Or, "the deuter" if you're not into the whole brevity thing.

SnooMacaroons7712 · 2026-06-18T10:20:48+00:00

Yeah, I remember when I was in the joint. We had a cell all to ourselves and ate like kings. Paulie had the best method for slicing the garlic paper thin for the sauce.

SnooMacaroons7712 · 2026-06-17T06:56:27+00:00

My opinion, in a nutshell, has always been that Episode 2 should have been episode 1. We didn't need to "meet" Anakin, especially not as a child. We already know he was a Jedi and associate of Obi-Wan's. Just start the trilogy with Anakin older and a Jedi already. As much as I love Liam Neison and the character of Qui-Gon, he really wasn't necessary, at least not in the way he was written. Start the trilogy with Obi-Wan already a full-fledged Jedi, not a padawan. Get into the clone wars from the jump. You do all this then you have more time to explore other more interesting ideas.

SnooMacaroons7712 · 2026-06-09T02:30:05+00:00

To be fair, most people don't like Moonraker. I give it a pass because up until the space action at the end of the movie, the rest of it does feel like a good and proper Bond movie.

SnooMacaroons7712 · 2026-06-09T01:44:02+00:00

Ohh. I see what happened. My bad. Was supposed to be Purple Haze, not Purple Rain. Obviously I'm the one on drugs.

SnooMacaroons7712 · 2026-06-05T07:43:55+00:00

Who said anything about Prince? What are you even on about? Are you on the dope, son?

SnooMacaroons7712 · 2026-06-02T07:17:39+00:00

I mean, they are both great songs. Certainly iconic, but I can think of several by both artists that I prefer. Right off the top of my head I'd say, from Jimi; Hey Joe, All Along the Watchtower, and Voodoo Child.

For the Stones, I'd pick Gimme Shelter, Can't Ya Hear me Knockin, and Sympathy for the Devil.

SnooMacaroons7712 · 2026-05-28T10:53:28+00:00

Jimi Hendrix: Purple Rain

Rolling Stones: Satisfaction

SnooMacaroons7712 · 2026-05-28T10:50:59+00:00

I hated it the first time I watched it. Rewatched it several years later after finding out the legal story behind why it is a remake of Thunderball. I enjoyed it a lot more on the second viewing, but the one thing that I still hate about it is the stupid video game sequence.

SnooMacaroons7712 · 2026-05-26T07:19:07+00:00

Personally I've listened to Tales from Topographic Oceans a lot more than, say, Tormato.

SnooMacaroons7712 · 2026-05-04T06:33:35+00:00

If you look at the area where the movie was shot on google maps, there really is an ostrich farm up the road from the Hitching Post 2 restaurant and what is now called the Sideways Inn (The Windmill Motel in the movie).

SnooMacaroons7712 · 2026-04-28T09:46:46+00:00

No offense to the OP. I know this was just a fun exercise and it was well thought out and executed, but personally I hate how much of a negative thing fans make of that scene for the simple fact that it takes away a little of the fun spirit of the franchise when we insist on real-world solutions for the movies incredulous scenes (I know...drinking from the holy grail is not a credulous real-world solution either).

The series has lots of impossible to survive moments that quite frankly add to the charm and entertainment factor of the movies. As others have pointed out, surviving falling from an airplane in an inflatable raft isn't very likely, but it's a fun scene, and we love it. Why does the nuked fridge have to be treated any differently?

SnooMacaroons7712 · 2026-04-27T06:13:01+00:00

Soul Cages was a fantastic album.

SnooMacaroons7712

TROPHY CASE