What Did You Watch Today?

[Chef Duane]

Watched a documentary on a guy named Tood Hodne. Thirty years before the Sandusky sex scandal at Penn State there was a Penn State football player named Todd Hodne who raped at least 2 girls on different occasions while a member of the 1977-8 team. The investigation and trial was kept hush-hush by Penn State so as to avoid scandal. After he was convicted in Center County (where Penn State is located) he was incredulously granted bail by the presiding Judge before his sentencing and returned to his home on Long Island, NY, where he proceeded to rape 12 more young women before being caught. He was given a life sentence and recently died in prison in 2020. In a perhaps not so strange coincidence that Judge that reprimanded him to him parents custody in 1979 was a member of Penn State team and played for Joe Paterno years earlier. It was a pretty damning commentary about the influence of PSU in the community and how they attempt to cover up anything derogatory about the University and the PSU football program. The Sandusky scandal was to follow in 2008.

 

[Ex-Calif]

John Ritter is a high society defense attorney with a passion for Beauty Pageant Coaching on the side.

My bad - the actor is Dallas Roberts - I swear he is a doppelgänger for a young John Ritter.

 

[Tulecreeper]

Watched Hook last night. The wife is not a Robin Williams fan, but she soldiered through it.

 

[edjunior]

Watched Hook last night. The wife is not a Robin Williams fan, but she soldiered through it.

I think this was one of the best of the Peter Pan movies. I've watched a few different versions, and this one is the one I like best. I almost watched it again, but found something else.

 

[NY_Dutch]

Just finished watching The Bridge on the River Kwai and now I'm watching The Dirty Dozen. One of the few good things about getting old is forgetting much of the old movies, making them almost new again.

 

[Ex-Calif]

Just finished watching The Bridge on the River Kwai and now I'm watching The Dirty Dozen. One of the few good things about getting old is forgetting much of the old movies, making them almost new again.

I love some of the classics.

I watched the French Connection about a month ago. Still holds up well...

Love Classic Gene Hackman

 

[Ex-Calif]

Oppenheimer dropped on Netflix so I finally got a chance to watch. Interesting treatment of his pre-war activities and post war trouble. Not totally what I expected but having to mix in the war, the Manhattan Project and his complicated personal life must have been challenging. Definitely worth watching.

Elvis also showed up on Netflix. Very much not what I was expecting but the music was good. The story was really about how Colonel Parker bilked and exploited Elvis for millions. TBH I think it leaned a little to heavy on how Elvis was a naive victim. Many artists are troubled and go young. I can only imagine the pressure of being a superstar and trying to stay in touch with reality. Unfortunately excess, drugs and addiction is often the tragic way out. No doubt Parker was a pretty evil opportunistic leach but I think there was actually more co-dependency there than was portrayed.

Final Movie this week is The Hill - True story of a Pastor's son who overcame leg braces and sever spinal deterioration to join Major League baseball. The only drawback for me was Dennis Quaid as the preacher father. I am not a big fan of his work say past his 30's. Loved him in Great Balls of Fire and The Right Stuff but not much else after that. But the supporting cast is great and the story is good and I love me all kinds of sports themed movies. Scott Glenn plays the head scout at the tryouts. I did not expect to see how darn old he's become - Man time has marched on.

The only other thing I'll mention is "Flagrant Foul" - There's a series of documentaries and this one is about an NBA ref who gave game tips to the mob through intermediaries. Spoiler alert but it's crazy that this guy reportedly only received $2k per tip and if you believe the doco he tipped only 100 games. He had a $400k a year job as one of only 60 refs. Did he really throw all that away for a marginal $200k in income? There is a lot of juicy thought provoking stuff about Stern and the whole NBA business model and yielding of power. At the height of this scandal the NBA sogned tv rights worth over $7 billion dollars. That's a lot of hay to protect....

 

[John From Detroit]

Just watched series TV today Oh and the most depressing show on TV (The News)
Will watch a movie later on.
CSI Vegas
Equalizer
Tracker
And of course for a uplifting show.. Tune in with Tooney on Me TV (7am Eastern) Classic Cartoons (Popeye Bugs. Woody and others of that era)

 

[Tulecreeper]

Watched U-571 last night. Released in the year 2000, it's amazing how young Matthew McConaughyey was at the time. When the movie came out, I had never heard of the guy.

I've seen the movie a dozen times over the years, but as a retired Navy man it's nice to watch a Navy-themed movie that got the technology so right.

 

[jackiemac]

Last night we watched a documentary about the rescue of the boys stuck in a cave in Thailand. It was pretty incredible. On the BBC. The Rescue.

 

[jackiemac]

There's one on Netflix about the rescue too but I haven't seen that one.

 

[Ohiosnowbird]

Oppenheimer dropped on Netflix so I finally got a chance to watch. Interesting treatment of his pre-war activities and post war trouble. Not totally what I expected but having to mix in the war, the Manhattan Project and his complicated personal life must have been challenging. Definitely worth watching.

We watched this last night, I bought the dvd. It was pretty interesting. They could have done more with Los Alamos in the story line, but I wonder how many people (under the age of 50) know this history and some of the names they threw around. I once got to go to Fermilab (on business) and hadn’t remembered professor Fermi was part of the Manhattan Project. We’ll probably watch it again after I brush up on that history. They say it’s historically accurate.

 

[Chef Duane]

Binged watch a few episodes of "Why Planes Crash" and "Mayday." As a pilot, I like to speculate about the eventual root cause of the problem and see if my problem solving skills are accurate. Usually (as with many things) it's a series of small events that eventually lead to major disaster. Most notable was the emergency on TACA 110 in May of 1988 that had a double flameout due to hail intake at 16,500 ft. over the Gulf of Mexico. In a remarkable feat of airmanship Capts. Carlos Dardano and Dionisio Lopez GLIDED the 737-300 into a descent and approach to New Orleans (MSY). Realizing that they would not make the airport they prepared to ditch the airplane in one of the canals. At the last second Dardano spotted a grassy levee, diverted, and was able to land the 737 safely atop the Intracoastal Waterway Levee adjacent to the canal. Absolutely fantastic airmanship by the flight crew. Saved 38 passengers and 7 crew. Many consider this right up there with the "Miracle on the Hudson" ditching by Sullenberger. And in a "you wouldn't believe it if it weren't true" moment, Capt. Dardano had lost an eye a year before due to crossfire on a short flight to El Salvador, where civil war was raging at the time. So he managed the in-flight emergency, glided a 737-300 down from 16k feet, and landed on a grass levee, while only having one eye.

Why isn't there a movie about this!??

TACA Flight 110 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Tulecreeper]

Binged watch a few episodes of "Why Planes Crash" and "Mayday." As a pilot, I like to speculate about the eventual root cause of the problem and see if my problem solving skills are accurate. Usually (as with many things) it's a series of small events that eventually lead to major disaster. Most notable was the emergency on TACA 110 in May of 1988 that had a double flameout due to hail intake at 16,500 ft. over the Gulf of Mexico. In a remarkable feat of airmanship Capts. Carlos Dardano and Dionisio Lopez GLIDED the 737-300 into a descent and approach to New Orleans (MSY). Realizing that they would not make the airport they prepared to ditch the airplane in one of the canals. At the last second Dardano spotted a grassy levee, diverted, and was able to land the 737 safely atop the Intracoastal Waterway Levee adjacent to the canal. Absolutely fantastic airmanship by the flight crew. Saved 38 passengers and 7 crew. Many consider this right up there with the "Miracle on the Hudson" ditching by Sullenberger. And in a "you wouldn't believe it if it weren't true" moment, Capt. Dardano had lost an eye a year before due to crossfire on a short flight to El Salvador, where civil war was raging at the time. So he managed the in-flight emergency, glided a 737-300 down from 16k feet, and landed on a grass levee, while only having one eye.

Why isn't there a movie about this!??

TACA Flight 110 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Wow, I remember that as I can see in my mind the picture on the news of the plane sitting on the levee. It sure doesn't seem like it was 35 years ago. I always wondered how they got that plane off the levee. There is this:

"After the landing, the aircraft, weight several tons, begins to sink into the bog. How do they get it out? They refurbish the engines, replace them, and fly it out, using test pilots. Whatever the test pilots are being paid, it's not enough."

"Air Crash Investigation" Nowhere to Land (TV Episode 2012) ⭐ 8.5 | Documentary, Crime, History

46m | TV-14

www.imdb.com

 

[edjunior]

Currently watching Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Pretty good so far. A lot of action and loudness. I'm about half way through it. Back to the movie!

 

[Ex-Calif]

I like to watch irreverent comedy type stuff...

Queenpins is loosely based on a true story. 3 ladies set up an illegal business selling coupons on-line bilking manufacturers out of millions. I haven't been a Kristen Bell fan until recently but this is probably a 6 outta 10. They could have done a lot more with the comedy and there were several "slow" spots. Vince Vaughn and his sidekick didn't really have great chemistry nor a lot to work with in the script. They definitely didn't get as much from Vaughn as they could have. Eventually (spoiler alert) they had to resort to fart and poo jokes. However what really stands out is in the true story these ladies made millions and ended up doing less than 2 years and paying a nominal fine. If you are gonna do crime it pays to do white collar crime and... well... be white - LOL...

Bank of Dave - A British film and another true story. A northern England Car/Van dealer is quite the philanthropist making small loans in the community to help his fellow citizens. He decides he wants to officially start a local bank pitting himself against the large, well established and evil banking community. Enter the conservative lawyer hired to do the paperwork who falls in love with the town and the town doctor. Nice Feelgood movie culminating with Def Leppard doing a charity concert to raise money for the start up.