Dog

2022 Amazon MGM Studios

Rated: PG-13

Length: 1 hr 41min

Comedy ~ Drama

Directed by: Channing Tatum and Reid Carolin.

Starring: Channing Tatum, Jane Adams, Kevin Nash, Q’orianka Kilcher, Ethan Suplee, Emmy Raver-Lampman, and Nicole LaLiberte.

“A filthy animal unfit for human company and a…DOG”

SYNOPSIS (From The Movie Website):

In this road-trip comedy, two hard-charging former Army Rangers paired against their will — Briggs (Channing Tatum) and a Belgian Malinois named Lulu — race down the Pacific Coast in hopes of making it to a fellow soldier’s funeral on time. Along the way, they’ll drive each other completely crazy, confront the possibility that pet psychics are real, and begin to reckon with the one thing they were trained never to do: surrender.

THE BACK STORY:

The Road Trip:

In Channing Tatum’s Interview with Ethan Alter at Yahoo Entertainment News, he talks about how his one last road trip with his real life Dog Lulu inspired the movie Dog.

Channing Tatum is a big believer in channeling grief into art. In 2018, the Magic Mike star hit the road for one last ride with his longtime canine companion, Lulu — a pit bull Catahoula mix he shared with his ex-wife, Jenna Dewan. Diagnosed with cancer, Lulu didn’t have long for the world and Tatum wanted to make every last moment with her count.

“When I went on my last road trip with my puppy, [I experienced] that feeling of, ‘There’s nothing I can do. There’s nothing left to do,'” he tells Yahoo Entertainment now. “You just have to accept it and be thankful for the time that you did get and know that they’re not supposed to be here forever. I’m supposed to go on and she has to go someplace else.”

But that last road trip with Lulu also marked a new beginning for Tatum. The experience served as the touchstone for the new drama, Dog, his first starring role since 2017’s Logan Lucky, and the first film that he’s directed alongside his regular collaborator, Reid Carolin. In the film, Tatum plays Briggs, an army veteran who is tasked with driving a skittish military dog — a Dutch Shepard appropriately named Lulu — hundreds of miles to her handler’s funeral, giving them plenty of time to tussle, and bond, along the way.

The Dogs:

In the MovieMaker article by Margeaux Sippell on July 3, 2024 she reveals how three dogs played the part of Lulu in the Movie Dog:

There are actually three different dogs who played Lulu. Their names are Britta, Lana 5, and Zuza, and though they look similar to German Shepherds, they’re actually Belgian Malinois, a breed well suited to police or military work. The production team got them from a kennel in Amsterdam that trains dogs for military service. And the story of how the three dogs got adopted by their current owners is just as heartwarming as the movie itself.

“They’re such high energy, aggressive dogs that they each got assigned to a trainer, and the trainers all said at the very beginning, ‘There’s no way we’re taking these dogs home, so we have to figure out when the movie’s over what we’re going to do, who we’re going to adopt them out to,’” Carolin said.

Then the pandemic hit, and production was halted for nine months — giving Tatum and the trainers ample time to work with each dog to get them ready for the movie. The result was a powerful bonding experience that started out reluctant, just like the plot of the movie, but ended with all three of the trainers deciding to adopt the dogs they worked with.

THE REVIEW:

Do you like Channing Tatum?

a) NO ~ Don’t Watch

b) Yes ~ Continue on

Do you like Dogs?

a) NO ~ Don’t Watch

b) Yes ~ Continue on

Seriously if you don’t like dogs than this isn’t the movie for you, and if you’re not a Channing Tatum fan you’re probably not going to like it. Because it is a Dog movie, aimed right at Dog lovers. If you’ve ever had a dog, you know what I mean. They become a family member, you become very attached to them.

Well now that I’ve said that, I might have been wrong………….maybe you are a cat lover (Or a pet-lover period) that LOVES, I mean LOVES Channing Tatum. Then you might like it because you can relate to the story about a pet that you absolutely became emotionally attached to, and you want to watch Channing in action. Ok, my bad…….. Carry on.

Bur Seriously, it is that kind of movie. A guy and his dog go on one last road trip and bond. Yup, you know what I mean, right to the heart this one. I liked it but I am a dog lover and a Channing Tatum fan. There were good laughs and drama on that road trip. Definitely entertaining and heartwarming.

So really, what’s not to like? There’s Channing Tatum, there’s a gorgeous Belgian Malinois (actually three), there’s Marijauna (if that makes you happy……), Pet Psychics, Tantra Healing (I think mine needs some healing…), a vintage Ford Bronco (I want one..), and a road trip (I’m ready, let’s go!).

Yes, you should watch it. I did and liked it.

From Channing Tatum’s Facebook Post:

A little over a year ago I got back from a road trip where I said goodbye to my best friend. Now I’m making a movie inspired by her. So proud to announce that DOG will be released by MGM Studios and in theaters next Valentine’s Day weekend. March 2, 2020

Operation Mincemeat

2021 Netflix

Rated: PG-13

Length: 2 hr 8min

Drama ~ Thriller ~ War

Directed by: John Madden

Starring: Colin Firth, Kelly Macdonald, Matthew Macfadyen, Penelope Wilton, Johnny Flynn and Jason Isaacs.

“We’re going to play a humiliating trick on Hitler.”

The Book:

Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory by Ben Macintyre – April 5, 2011.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NOW A NETFLIX FILM STARRING COLIN FIRTH

The “brilliant and almost absurdly entertaining” (Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker) true story of the most successful—and certainly the strangest—deception carried out in World War II, from the acclaimed author of The Spy and the Traitor.

Near the end of World War II, two British naval officers came up with a brilliant and slightly mad scheme to mislead the Nazi armies about where the Allies would attack southern Europe. To carry out the plan, they would have to rely on the most unlikely of secret agents: a dead man. Ben Macintyre’s dazzling, critically acclaimed bestseller chronicles the extraordinary story of what happened after British officials planted this dead body—outfitted in a British military uniform with a briefcase containing false intelligence documents—in Nazi territory, and how this secret mission fooled Hitler into changing military positioning, paving the way for the Allies’ drive to victory.

The Movie (Warner Brothers UK Website):

It’s 1943. The Allies are determined to break Hitler’s grip on occupied Europe, and plan to launch an all-out assault on Sicily; but they face an impossible challenge – how to protect the invasion force from potential annihilation. It falls to two remarkable intelligence officers, Ewen Montagu (Colin Firth) and Charles Cholmondeley (Matthew Macfadyen) to dream the most inspired and improbable disinformation strategy of the war – centered on the most unlikely of secret agents: a dead man. Operation Mincemeat is the extraordinary and true story of an idea that hoped to turn the tide for the Allies – taking impossibly high risks, defying logic, and testing the nerves of its creators to breaking point.

The Review:

I have seen this movie a few times and just watched it again. It is a remarkable story, hard to believe that MI5 and British Intelligence concocted this plan and set it into motion. And better yet, that the plan worked, fooled Hitler and changed the course of the war. It is very similar to The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare, the story and the movie. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare was based on MI5’s Operation Postmaster which occurred in January 1942. Operation Mincemeat occurred in April 1943. Both British Intelligence Operations that were highly successful in spite of all the odds. I find it completely fascinating how deceptions in special operations were carried out in WWII that ultimately helped defeat Hitler and The Nazi regime.

I wondered how many Operations there were like Postmaster and Mincemeat. Wikipedia has the answer….a lot. Here is the link if you’re interested: OPERATIONS. So just to wrap up Operation Mincemeat: They took a dead body from the city morgue with no apparent family ties and fabricated a background story on him. His service in the military, his social life, family, a girlfriend (they used a photo from one of the secretaries involved in the operation to stick in his pocket). They dressed him up in a Major’s uniform, loaded his briefcase with false attack plans and used a submarine to sneak in off the coast of Spain. They then dropped his body in the water close to shore so someone would find him on the shore and take him to the Nazis.

Ian Fleming, played by Johnny Flynn in this movie, is another interesting look at the role he played in British Intelligence’s role in WWII. Ian Fleming also appears in The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare and was involved in that Operation behind the scenes. In both movies you can see him constantly at his typewriter writing on his fiction work. He would later write the James Bond series of Books that later became a very popular worldwide Movie Franchise. He created 007 and you can see in the movies where he got the influences for his characters. They were inspired by the real men and women doing the dirty work of the covert operations in WWII. Fascinating stuff.

I think it’s a great story and a great movie, well done by the Netflix folks. Colin Firth, Matthew Macfayden and Jason Issacs all did great jobs in this. Simon Russell Beale was a very believable Churchill and I really liked Kelly Macdonald as Jean Leslie. I remember her from Boardwalk Empire, I’m a fan of that series. This is a good war movie without much of the violence and bloodshed, more of a secret agent spy covert operation movie.

Yes, this is a good one, you should watch it.

Two Thumbs Up!

The Life List

2025 Netflix

Rated: PG-13

Length: 2 hr 5min

Drama ~ Romance

Directed by: Adam Brooks

Starring: Sofia Carson, Kyle Allen and Connie Britton.

“Do something everyday that scares you.”

The Book:

The Life List: A Novel by Lori Nelson Spielman – July 2, 2013

Synopsis:

Brett Bohlinger seems to have it all: a plum job, a spacious loft, an irresistibly handsome boyfriend. All in all, a charmed life. That is, until her beloved mother passes away, leaving behind a will with one big stipulation: In order to receive her inheritance, Brett must first complete the life list of goals she’d written when she was a naïve girl of fourteen. Grief-stricken, Brett can barely make sense of her mother’s decision—her childhood dreams don’t resemble her ambitions at age thirty-four in the slightest. Some seem impossible.

Inspiration for The Life List, by Lori Nelson Spielman:

Like any author, I’m often asked how I came up with the idea for my novel. My answer comes easily. The seed for The Life List was found in an old cedar box.

It had been years since I’d last opened my miniature hope chest, a high school graduation gift. The scent of cedar greeted me, along with my first bankbook, my grandmother’s rosary, a couple of silver dollars, and a single sheet of notebook paper, folded into a neat little square.

Curious, I unfolded the yellowed paper. In flowery cursive, Lori’s List was penciled across the top. My abandoned life list.

I was wise enough to include the day and month, March 13th, but foolishly I’d omitted the year. Maybe I hadn’t planned to keep it. Maybe I didn’t realize how quickly memories fade, how years later, I’d barely remember the day that young girl sat on her blue flowered bedspread, contemplating her future. But judging from the goals, what had and hadn’t been accomplished, I was somewhere between 12 and 14 years old.

The crumpled piece of paper revealed a list of 29 things my adolescent mind imagined would make for a good life. I’d also added a sidebar called Ways to Be, which included such pearls as, Don’t talk about ANYONE. Laugh. Say “hi” to everyone.

As I read the list, I thought about how different my life would be if I’d fulfilled every goal my youthful heart longed for. In no time, my mind was racing. A story was taking shape. What if someone were forced to finish their life list—a list they thought they’d outgrown?

In the course of several days, my story evolved. First, I came up with riddles from a dying mother, offering her daughter cryptic clues to find her true self. But that was silly. Why the riddles? Why wouldn’t her mother just tell her daughter what she wanted her to accomplish? And it was crucial that the mother didn’t appear heavy-handed or controlling. The story could only work if it was clear that the mother’s intentions came from a loving heart. I also knew the story risked being predictable. I imagined readers rolling their eyes, sure that in the end, Brett would be married to the love of her life and have a baby and a dog and a horse. Her dreams couldn’t be accomplished easily, or in conventional ways the reader might expect. I wanted some goals to lead to others, in circuitous, serendipitous ways. Soon, pages for Another Sky were piling up, becoming the manuscript that would later be re-titled, The Life List.

So there you have it: the kernel for The Life List was my old life list—Lori’s List. Though I fell short of some goals, I believe my list served me well. It’s true, I won’t be waving my children off to college. But I will get to watch my novel set off for parts of the world I may never visit. My book will be introduced to new people, and hopefully entertain, and possibly provoke discussion. And maybe, just maybe, my story will inspire some other little girl, in some other small town, to set her own goals, to aspire to something that’s hers alone. And whether her ambitions are humble or grandiose, silly or pensive, it doesn’t matter. The important thing is, she dreams.

The Movie Review:

I didn’t know the movie was based on a book until I started to write this review. I have not read the book but I included the information on the book because I thought it was a great story. And I thought the Author’s vision that writing the story might inspire young girls to dream about their future was a really admirable wish and intention behind the story she wrote. Awesome!

I say the same thing about the movie. Awesome! Great story and a great movie. It is a romantic drama that pulls at the heart. You feel for Alex as she stumbles along trying to find her way and make sense of her mother’s wish. And as Alex heads out on her journey, it quickly becomes about Alex finding herself and not about the money. Personally I thought she could have been a great stand up comic, quick on her feet and funny as heck.

Sofia Carson threw herself into this role and movie with all her heart and it shows. Excellent job. She had me rooting for her the whole way. Connie Britton as her Mom was great, you could feel the love she had for Alex and the desire for her to live her best life. Alex’s brothers, Brad, Garrett and both her Dad’s I liked. I liked everything about this movie, the scenery and videography, the characters, the list itself. It was heartwarming, sad yet happy and fulfilling, funny and lighthearted yet serious all at the same time, just like life.

I really liked it and I highly recommend it.

Two Thumbs Up!

The Outrun

2024 Sony Pictures

Rated: R

Length: 1 hr 58min

Drama

Directed by: Nora Fingscheidt

Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Paapa Essiedu, Nabil Elouahabi, Izuka Hoyle, Lauren Lyle, Saskia Reeves, and Stephen Dillane.

“It never gets easy……just less hard.”

The Book:

The Outrun: A Memoir by Amy Liptrot ~ October 11, 2018

When Amy Liptrot returns to Orkney after more than a decade away, she is drawn back to the Outrun on the sheep farm where she grew up. Approaching the land that was once home, memories of her childhood merge with the recent events that have set her on this journey.

Amy was shaped by the cycle of the seasons, birth and death on the farm, and her father’s mental illness, which were as much a part of her childhood as the wild, carefree existence on Orkney. But as she grew up, she longed to leave this remote life. She moved to London and found herself in a hedonistic cycle. Unable to control her drinking, alcohol gradually took over. Now thirty, she finds herself washed up back home on Orkney, standing unstable at the cliff edge, trying to come to terms with what happened to her in London.

Spending early mornings swimming in the bracingly cold sea, the days tracking Orkney’s wildlife―puffins nesting on sea stacks, arctic terns swooping close enough to feel their wings―and nights searching the sky for the Merry Dancers, Amy slowly makes the journey toward recovery from addiction.

The Outrun is a beautiful, inspiring book about living on the edge, about the pull between island and city, and about the ability of the sea, the land, the wind, and the moon to restore life and renew hope.

The Movie:

After living life on the edge in London, Rona (Saoirse Ronan) attempts to come to terms with her troubled past. She returns to the wild beauty of Scotland’s Orkney Islands — where she grew up — hoping to heal. Returning from London to her childhood home in Orkney, Rona finds solace in the remote island as she processes years of family trauma and addiction. Adapted from the bestselling memoir by Amy Liptrot, it was shot completely on location in The Orkney Islands of Scotland. Many of the locals of The Orkney Islands were used as actors and played supporting roles in the film.

The Review:

It is one of those True Story movies and you know I like those. This is the true story of someone battling and trying to overcome Alcoholism and Addiction. That is never a pretty picture, and as such, this movie won’t be for everyone. If you have lived, so to speak, or have a loved one that is or has battled in that war, you will relate to this movie. It is a personal battle based in a very beautiful location. The scenery in the movie is beautiful, the cliffs, the untamed ocean beating against the island, the wind howling like a banshee….Rugged, isolated, barren…but beautiful serenity.

I remember seeing The Lovely Bones but didn’t realize that she was the same actress that played in Hanna. Hanna is one of my favorite movies and I really like Saoirse Ronan in that movie. I remember seeing the name starring in this movie The Outrun and thinking that sounds familiar. Wait, I know that face, I have seen her but where? That’s Hanna grown up. She has also recently been in Blitz, Foe, See How They Run and The French Dispatch, none of which I have seen. Blitz is on Apple TV+ and Foe is on Amazon Prime…I might watch Foe tonight.

So I am a Saoirse Ronan fan and think she did a good job with this movie. You could see and feel her pain as she navigates the remnants of her life ravaged by addiction, and through solitude and isolation works to rebuild her life. I liked the movie and the scenery is beautiful, and even in her ugliest, deepest moments Saoirse’s inner beauty and spirit shine through and make this a captivating performance.

Highly Recommended!

Two Thumbs Up!

The Electric State

2025 Netflix

Rated: PG-13

Length: 2 hr 8min

Action ~ Adventure ~ Sci-Fi

Directed by: Anthony and Joe Russo

Starring: Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, Ke Huy Quan, Jason Alexander, Woody Harrelson, Anthony Mackie, Brian Cox, Jenny Slate, Giancarlo Esposito and Stanley Tucci.

“Rage with the Machines.”

THE BOOK:

The Electric State A Graphic Novel by Simon Stålenhag 2018

In late 1997, a runaway teenager and her small yellow toy robot travel west through a strange American landscape where the ruins of gigantic battle drones litter the countryside, along with the discarded trash of a high-tech consumerist society addicted to a virtual-reality system. As they approach the edge of the continent, the world outside the car window seems to unravel at an ever faster pace, as if somewhere beyond the horizon, the hollow core of civilization has finally caved in.

THE MOVIE (Netflix Tudum):

In the world of The Electric State, the ’90s look a little different. Sure, plaid flannel shirts and grunge black eyeliner are still in, but a catastrophic war between humans and robots has left the world scarred and divided. With robots banished to a remote wasteland, an uneasy peace has been reached — but it may not last for long.

The Electric State tells the story of Michelle ( Millie Bobby Brown), a young woman traveling with a sweet but mysterious robot. The pair reluctantly team up with eccentric drifter Keats (Chris Pratt), and set out on a cross-country road trip to find Michelle’s younger brother. Along the way, they have to navigate an electrified, retro-futuristic US landscape with eerie similarities to our own time.

The Electric State is an explosive adaptation of Simon Stålenhag’s 2018 graphic novel of the same name about a young girl and her small yellow toy robot who travel west through a high-tech wasteland. The Russos’ version takes the story concept and runs with it, expanding the world while remaining true to the emotional threads Stålenhag weaved into his work.

“I’m blown away by the movie,” Stålenhag told Netflix. “It was an amazing experience watching things that I have drawn come to life this way. What resonated most with me was the emotional core of the movie, which is the need for family. Even though the movie has changed genre from the book a bit, that main core is still the same and has been expanded on beautifully.”

The Russos and writers Markus and McFeely were in communication with Stålenhag throughout the film’s development, and he was pleased to see the creative liberties they took to make the film stand on its own. “They asked me questions about the timeline and backstory, but it’s their work,” he said. “They’re the best in the world at what they do, and to see them work on a project that comes from me, it’s beyond satisfying, surreal. I am so positively surprised by the end result.”

THE REVIEW:

I didn’t know that the movie was based upon a book until after I watched the movie. I included a lot of information about that because I think I would have had a better appreciation of the movie if I had known that going in. After the fact, looking at the illustrations of the book, the movie does a great job of bringing those illustrations and the book to life. I love Millie Bobby Brown and I think she was good in this, but I don’t think the movie would have survived with another actress. Chris Pratt was good as well but I think the stars were Millie, Cosmo and Devyn Dalton. Devyn Dalton is the Motion Capture actress that played Cosmo.

I appreciated all the robot characters, they started to grow on me. Herman (Anthony Mackie), Mr. Peanut (Woody Harrelson), Popfly (Brian Cox) and Penny Pal (Jenny Slate) were my favorites, after Cosmo of course. Yes, they started to feel like human beings to me. They drew me in to their struggle to be accepted. Robots co-existing side by side with Humans. And to quote Millie in the end, “We are going to do it right this time.” I liked it, but if you don’t like Robots and Sci-Fi, you’re gonna think it was dumb.

Again, take a look at the book the movie was based on, you’ll appreciate it more.