The Beatles wanted to do a LotR movie, starring:

McCartney as Frodo, Starr as Sam, Lennon as Gollum and Harrison as Gandalf. The Beatles' choice of director? Stanley Kubrick, fresh from making 2001: A Space Odyssey.

But Tolkien didn’t like the idea of a pop group being associated with his books. I am not sure about that cast either, but just imagine Kubrick’s Lord of the Rings. In the style of Barry Lyndon, perhaps? (ᔥMarginal Revolution)

🍿 The Incomparable podcast recently had a series of episodes dedicated to the Back to the Future triology so of course I had to see them all again. My favorite is still Part 1, but with time Part 3 rose up to the number 2 spot and the accompanying episode of The Incomparables has nicely outlined all of the reasons why.

🍿 Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) was fun, and I’ll pat myself on the back for being only 3 years late to this party.

Now, instead of jumping straight to the sequel we’ll check out the director’s 2008 live-action debut which I’ve never heard of before but my oh my does it look promising.

🍿 Finding Dory (2016) was a disappointment. For perspective, I have seen Wall-E and Ratatouille dozens of times beginning-to-end, but it took me 8 years to finish this over-plotted under-baked mess which managed to omit everything that made the original Finding Nemo so brilliant. Quo vadis, Pixar?

🍿 Casino Royale (2006) is one of the better Bond movies but has a little too much fun shooting on location and ultimately, at 144 minute run-time, overstays its welcome. Still, not having every scene be obviously green screened was refreshing. It’s strange to think that Daniel Craig may become our kids' idea of 007 but hey, it could be worse.

🍿 Paddington 2 (2017): even better than the first. It doesn’t look like Paddington 3 is in the cards, but what a fun set of movies this has been. Just compare it to what we had back in the day.

🍿 Paddington (2014) is the perfect family movie to which we were 10 years late, but it was worth waiting for every family member to be able to appreciate it. Too sappy and twee for adults? Perhaps. But did it make our kids laugh and cry? Also, yes, and you don’t often find the crying bit in movies like this any more.

🍿 Anatomy of a Fall (2023) is neck and neck with The Holdovers in being my favorite film of 2023. What a great year for movies.

I have no plans to watch Poor Things due to a severe Yorgos Lanthimos allergy, but if I do it will be only to see what kind of a performance Emma Stone could possibly have had to top the absolutely brilliant Sandra Hüller.

🍿 American Fiction (2023) was as good as biting satire gets: funny, poignant, and, ultimately, tripping on its own feet. It is better than The Triangle of Sadness and miles above Don’t Look Up but at heart it is still an insecure adolescent whose every seemingly earnest confession is followed by a “just kidding…” handwave.

🍿 The Holdovers (2023) shows that not making ‘em like we used to was a matter of choice not fate. Some people still have it in them to make beautifully shot, perfectly paced, subtly acted movies with a complex message. Here’s hoping it becomes a Christmas classic.