The Writer's Life 1/25 - Tomorrow

RIP NYC legendary talk show host Joe Franklin, 88. Bronx born, his career spanned decades and he interviewed just about everybody in the arts, usually when they were just starting out. His guests ran the gamut from Al Jolson to Frank Sinatra to Weird Al Yankovic. Salvador Dali appeared on the show, as did scores of other oddballs, including Captain Lou Albano. He is credited with being the first TV talk show host, in 1950. He wrote 26 books. He was always positive and referred to his guests as “the greatest, the best.” He follows Ernie Banks down "Memory Lane" and into celebrity heaven. Kudos.

Last night I watched Edge of Tomorrow (2014), courtesy of Netflix. It is a combination of War of the Worlds (1953 & 2005) and Groundhog Day (1993), not quite as good as either of those films but entertaining. Tom Cruise stars as a soldier killed in combat by aliens. The blood of one he has dispatched seeps into his wounds, and he develops their ability to alter time. He is killed again and again, at least 20 times, I’d guess, trying to find a way to defeat the enemy. Emily Blunt plays his heroic sidekick. Screen vets Brendan Gleeson and Bill Paxton lend their considerable gifts to the proceedings. I didn’t understand all the elements, but that doesn’t really matter in a work of strict escapism, although it is interesting to read about them in the arguments in the commentary section at IMDb. The film is based on a novel, All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. From what I’ve read, the box office take was modest, probably greater overseas than in the U.S., and I'm sure the production more than recouped its costs after DVD sales and rentals, downloads and streaming. 273,000+ users have rated it at IMDb, forging to a consensus of eight on a scale of ten. I would not go that high. Seven seems about right. Doug Liman, who has many more credits as a producer, directed. He was also at the helm of The Bourne Identity (2002), which I really liked, and Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), which I hated. Although there is a lot of killing in Edge of Tomorrow, the violence is not the gross out kind. The film-makers were smart enough to realize it is light entertainment, not realism, and also smart enough to keep it under two hours.

My thanks to the kind folks who bought books today on Bay Parkway. It was almost spring-like, which makes news of the coming blizzard hard to believe.

Vic's 4th novel: tinyurl.com/bszwlxh

Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3

Vic's Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx
Vic's Short Story Collection: http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tiny.cc/0iHLb Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kx3d3uf
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/rP7o9

Vic's Rom-Com Screenplay: http://tinyurl.com/kny5llp

Vic's Horror Screenplay: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3f

Vic's Blog: http://vicfortezza.blogspot.com/

Vic's Web Site: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/