'71 (2014)

I've been reading the biography of Gerry Adams, which I acquired quite a long time ago, but just got aroudn to reading now, and I stumbled upon this film two days ago, which covered the same topic as the portion of Gerry Adams biography. So I knew I had to watch it immeidately, and I was able to find it for free on Hulu. Very convenient. The film does a great job of portraying the turmoil that was taking place in Northern Ireland during this time period. Also, it really captured the feel of the 70s, which I was quite surprised by. I would have though the film was actually made in the 70s, except for how clear the picture was. The look of the houses, especially their interiors, furniture and even wallpaper and the clothes the people wore all seemed to be right out of the 70s. One thing that I did wonder about was that the accents didn't sound very Irish to me. Of course I am no expert on Irish accents, and perhaps they are played up a bit in other films, but again they didn't stand out as sounding very Irish, but then again, the also didn't sound like the fake accents you often hear in American films. Wild Mountain Thyme, I'm talking to you. Also, I wondered about the title of the film, '71, which is so vague that no one would know what the film was about, from the title alone. I would think it might have been connected the the Ballymurphy Massacre, thought that event was not pictured, nor alluded to in the film. Or perhaps it is supposed to have taken place before the Ballymurphy Massacre, as it seems to depict the conditions in Northern Ireland just as they have taken a turn for the worst.

Osmosis Jones (2001)

I stumbled upon this movies, and was shocked to find I had never heard of this animated film, especially as it has such big stars are Bill Murry and Chris Rock in it. It also came with the warning about "bodily functions", which I have never heard of as a warning before, though it does seem like a good category to include for warnings epecially considering the use of it's gross out humor, and it couldn't be more appropreate for this film. There were a couple of instances where the use of bodily fluids weere taken too far, made a bit worse by the fact that those scenes were during the live actions sequences, during which Bill Murry appears.I am really impressed that that made this film, as it is such an odd ball concept, almost a childish Fantasitc Voyage. Unfortunately, the whole concept and dealing with the internal bodily fuctions doesn't make a very appealing film. Still, it was fairly well done, converting the location (inside a persons body) into a source for action and occational comedy.

Hamilton (2020)

The date on this is a bit confusing, as it was filmed at performance held in 2016, though the film itself was released in 2020.

I learned a lot from this film.  First, Alexander Hamilton was Latino, and a master at rap battles.  Also, that most of the founding fathers were black, and that racial diversity means making 3/4 of your cast black, without only one person who is half Asian, but no native Americans, Arabs or any other races.  And that a white parents can have two black daughters, and one half Chinese daughter.  And finally, that Thomas Jefferson was actually Prince.  I had no idea that randomly dancing was so common in colonial times, as well.  So the point being, this fantasy is clearly the product of it's times, with racial diversity triumphing over historical accuracy.


I had heard this was a great musical, and so I wanted to check it out for myself.

This film / musical is my worst fears of what musicals would be prior to my having ever seen a musical as a kid.  It's people signing sporadically for no reason, as well as dancing.  And the style of this film is that the everyone is constantly signing, so that there are about 50 songs in this musical, one after another, from the very beginning until the very end.  I watched this film with subtitles turned on, and when people sing, it is often hard to make out the words, I would think the story would be lost if I had seen in live on stage.

Also, all of the songs are completely unremarkable.  There is a lot of word repetition with a lot of the chorus repeating what the lead singer sings, and even some points where the lyrics are merely vocables (such as Da da da dat da dat da da da da ya da).  None of the songs stand out as emotional high points, nor do they have a catchy tune.

All of the action takes place on a single, nondescript set.  It doesn't appear to be a colonial setting, as the walls are at least two stories tall and brick.

While I realize that the creator of this musical is also the lead actor, and that is admirable in itself, I still prefer more of a story, with more depth than this musical goes into.

While the Founding Father Hamilton's life should really be better known, there are only 5 points that are relevant.  In this musical, those points are brought out every 3rd song or so.


1) He was born in the Caribbean, and lost both his mother and father at a young age.
2) He was the first Treasury Secretary and he created the banking system for the US
3) He cheated on his wife (though it appears to that he was tricked, to a point)
4) His son died in a duel
5) He died in a duel.

One other point is that his wife created an orphanage

This musical completely omits Alexander Hamilton's 7 other children, making it seem like Philip, who died, was his only child.