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Hey Paul. I have a really serious question.. Why does Halle want to solve this murder and draw more attention to it by writing a huge exposé? As the murderer, wouldn’t she want it to just slip through the cracks??? Sure you could assume she wants to pin it on Harrison Hill to really protect herself, but for all we know, the ONLY piece of evidence that eventually links her to the murder is that she previously visited the wife’s photography site. No cop is ever considering her and Halle was even told by Grace that she and her ex were recently doing “more fighting then fucking.” So Halle should just give that nugget to the cops and be on her way. Case closed. PS: Besides Bruce and Halle previously being in other HDTGM films, so to was the Rebook account. That was also the big get for the ad agency in “On the Line.” (The lance bass film... ha.)

I'm sorry that I've completely lost all ability to join in on these conversations, y'all. Apparently getting myself to pay attention to anything after work is near impossible.

Yeah, but even after that she's able to watch TV from across the room with no problem. I think Rocky is like E.T., in that he has healing powers to magically cure nearsightedness.

No apologies necessary Life gets in the way. We all know we all need to pop in and out from time to time.

Subtext of that interview between Bruce and Halle is that he moved out of his house next to hers prematurely so she couldn't keep pressuring him into appearing in any more terrible movies with her.

He specifically says he didn’t get married because of her. I *think* he’s supposed to be quite a bit older than her. At least, he tells her he “raised” her at one point. I think their parents died when she was pretty young and he took care of her and there’s a lot of resentment. He blames her, like he blames everyone, for his shitty lot in life. My only problem with this as I feel like Rocky says at one point he and Paulie “grew up together.” But we also know both Rocky and Adrian are ~30, so who knows. I don’t think we learn much more about Paulie in the sequels except for he’s a chronic leech and disaster waiting to happen.

The fact that it is the second most popular Christmas song in Japan drives me a little more insane each year.

Re: above, Orson Wells said a director is someone who presides over a series of accidents.

That's interesting, and something I've been thinking about in all our movies lately. Wasn't Taxi Driver also written one way first, but due to limitations or luck or whatever, it ended up being another (far far better) way? (I'm about to sleep, can't recall the specifics right now.) These sort of coincidences of fortune seem to come up often in these AFI films. So are great movies just a product of luck? Or like, a function of a good director/writer who can notice and adapt? I mean, all along the way of Rocky, it could have fallen apart/been far less great so so so easily, but they continually got to go with the flow in ways that really help it (from minor things like the robe fitting to this scene with Adrian, etc.).

I could be reading too much into things, but I thought although Adrian was nervous, she didn't necessarily want to leave Rocky's apartment either. It's this little moment where Rocky has his arms on both sides of her and she sort of checks out his forearm: So sorry about the huge pic (and the odd screen grab), but I thought it was kind of hot. After they get down to the floor (and I instantly wanted to bleach the doorway), Adrian lets out a moan and I thought again, hot. Anyway, I didn't believe for a second that Rocky would have it in him to hold her against her will. I think he liked her too much. Also, Amazon trivia says that this scene wasn't shot the way it was originally scripted. Talia had the flu and was worried about giving it to Stallone, so she was very hesitant to kiss him. Her hesitation was reported a big improvement over the actual scripted scene that they kept it. Stallone said this is his favorite scene in the entire Rocky saga and both he and Talia Shire see the scene as a "birth-scene" for Adrian, where she is awakened to a new life.

I was trying to figure a way to say this in my letterboxd review but I couldn't think of a pithier way of saying it. I think it is funny that this movie is considered a sports movie or a boxing movie when it is more of a character study. One can relate the message to being about sports and boxing, but this is a story about this man. About getting to know him and where he's from and what he's about and seeing him struggle and grow. The boxing is just a device to allow and show that happen. If this was a movie truly about boxing we'd see more scenes of him learning or honing his technique and more boxing scenes. You definitely would not have that first hour if it was just about the sport. That's why the end of the movie isn't about whether he won or lost but rather that he did it and proved it to himself. Much like why Last Christmas by Wham! is not a Christmas song, you could easily replace the boxing with some other competitive sport like many other films went on to do and the story doesn't change.I think just calling it a boxing movie or a sports film you are missing what makes this movie great. That's also to me a shame that the rest of the films until Balboa basically put the boxing first and all the great character stuff second.

I agree with this. They work for each other and I think Rocky's intentions are good. Just look at everything leading up to Thanksgiving dinner. He is constantly checking with Paulie that everything is all right and that Adrienne is aware he's coming and all that. He cares about her and realizes that she's shy and doesn't want to push it. We see him practicing the joke he wants to tell her because he wants to impress her. There so many little things like that that point to, while on paper a big strong guy like him shouldn't have problems with women he is looking for that missing piece. When he meets Adrienne he sees a woman who is the bits he's lacking. He's a rambler, she's quiet and listens. He acts, she thinks. This ultimately leads to the apartment scene. While him holding the door shut did make me a little side eye it, I firmly believe that if she turned away from the kiss he would have stopped. He's never that aggressive with her prior or in the rest of movie and they do seem to really love each other. So while in the moment it seems a little strong when looked at he whole I feel okay with it. Also, not sure if it was intended or not but I like the fact that he shows her his turtles. She quickly acknowledges that she knows because she's the one that sold them to him. However, I read this more as hi saying to her "Look around, am the kind of guy that keeps turtles?" where he is showing her that basically he got the turtles as a way of getting to know her and talk to her.

And I’m fine with artistic license, but it should serve a greater theme. Something I think FFJ tries to do, but doesn’t really nail. It might be a bit cliche, but I think I would have started the movie with her recital for President Hayes. It would show how much true promise she truly had, and how that promise got taken away from her. This way, playing Carnegie at the end would feel like a more impactful moment than just enabling the delusions of a wealthy socialite.

Also, in my reading up on the real Florence, she died following a heart attack that occurred in the weeks following her Carnegie Hall performance. My understanding is that the whole hiding of the newspapers bit and a bad review causing collapse, was all artistic license.

OK, I'm not going to bring this up on the reddits, but do you get the sneaking suspicion that this whole Pee Cast/HH thing was a set-up? I may have my order wrong because I have no sense of time: Step 1. (REAL) Sean throws a jab at "Parking Lot Scott" just off the cuff, but it starts taking off online and weed-fueled "producer" Chef Kevin gets an idea to stoke the fires... Step 2. (FAKE) The boys bitch about Pee Cast Blast and make a big deal about it, the fans go wild. "Fuck the Doughboys" becomes a thing. Step 3. (FAKE) Scott comes on the show and confronts them about Parking Lot Scott as if he's irritated about it, also the boys bitch about Pee Cast Blast to him. In truth he already knows all about Parking Lot Scott. Step 4. (REAL) The HH fans go into a frothy madness online and Scott acts annoyed, but it actually raises awareness about Pee Cast so of course he is loving it. Step 5. (FAKE) Scott throws a jab about "the worst podcast audience" (HH) on CBB to further fuel the fire. Step 6. (REAL) BIG REVEAL - The Boys will be on Pee Cast WITH the Doughboys! Step 7. (FAKE) Scott pretends to be annoyed and says he "shadowbanned" them from Pee Cast, but in reality he's promoting Pee Cast again and The Boys. And there you have it. The machinations of one Chef Kevin laid out before you. See the boys are too cool to scheme this much because that takes effort and effort isn't cool; it takes a Kevin to do the dirty work. Whatchu think?

BTW.... What major paper has a hacker on staff? In this setting, a news organization, hacking is illegal and any information obtained that lead to a story is subject to lawsuit! And as far as Harrison Hill being so recognizable as ad exec, I'd equate him to Donny Deutsch in our world.

The Monkees’ Christmas Album (Christmas Party-Available Now) is great. There’s no denying that. Everyone should buy it.

Another small detail which I find very interesting. Given the fact that Paulie and Adrienne share a home makes me ask why that is. Did their parents pass and she was forced to move in with him or he inherited the house? Why would she be with him and not their parents otherwise? Or was Paulie married and Adrienne moved in to help him as he turned towards alcoholism after losing his wife to death or divorce. There is also a picture of him in a military (I want to say navy) uniform in their living room. There are little bits like this that paint a more complex picture to who Paulie is. Did something happen to force him out of the military and that's why he turned to drinking? Given the timing of this movie most likely he was in Vietnam and that changed him and that's why he became the guy he is. I've not seen Rocky II or V so not sure if this is covered in the later films.

What about The Monkees? Are you just on their social media team?

What struck as a bit odd about the ending is that a few scenes earlier Florence gives this speech to Cosme about when she first started seeing St Clair and she hid bad reviews from him. Yet when he does it for her, and let's face it all the signs were there that's what he was doing, she goes and does it anyway. Dramatic licensing I'm sure, but having her talk about it the day before it happens just seemed like an odd choice to me.

If you don't catch Schindler's List in theaters, you can stream it from Netflix (in the US). If you don't catch It's A Wonderful Life on TV, you can stream it from Amazon Prime. If you can't get In The Heat Of The Night at your local library, it's on some subscription streaming service called IndieFlix.

Bongo needs a show strictly about his band. The lore of the lyrical content is second only to the lore of the band members themselves.

Craptown ladies sing this song, doo-doo, doo-doo / Craptown ladies pushin’ brown, all the doo doo day

Since Paul F Tompkins said he'd like to hear Changerous edited both him fully cut out and with every mention of Eartth cut out, here it is: