In order to enjoy a movie like Blade Runner 2049, that is a sequel to the original Blade Runner, released in 1982, you have to either have seen and liked the original Blade Runner or be filled on on what happened in the original so you better understand this film. There are a few sentences at the start of this sequel to the original that talks about replicants and a bankrupt company that makes these replicants but not enough information to know what happened in the last movie.

Additionally, you have to get used to the dark, rainy and very depressing environment of this futuristic world where either a nuclear war, global warming or both have ruined the planet earth forever. For me the constant rain, darkness, bombed out buildings and extremely depressing world of the future offset some of the good special effects. I also thought that the screenplay was pretty hard to follow as the main character of K, played by Ryan Gosling tries to solve a complicated mystery that involves the daughter of the original Blade Runner played by Harrison Ford in the first movie. One bright spot is the virtual character played by Ana de Armas, but overall despite the very high opinions of the critics, over 80% for both Rottentomatoes and IMDB, I cannot recommend this movie, for the reasons I mentioned and for that fact that this movie was too long and boring in too many spots to recommend.

I always wondered why anyone would want to have a job working for the various Airlines in the world and that includes being a pilot. The pay for an Airline pilot considering the fact that you are never home, living in Airports and Hotels and constantly en-route to somewhere in the world, is definitely not worth it in my opinion. Why anyone would want to be a flight attendant is a whole new question because considering all the huge downsides, that has to be one of the worst jobs there is.

The new movie “American Made” is about an Airline pilot from the year 1978 named Barry Seal, played very well by Tom Cruise, who was married had a few kids and was like so many who had his job back in the 1970’s needed to make a lot more money. What follows in this amazing true life story is a series of events that seemed more like a work of fiction then something that could ever have actually happened. From an opportunity with the CIA to aerial take pictures of a South American country, to drug and gun running followed by an upward and then downward spiral that is hard to believe, this is a story that when you see it you wonder why you never heard who Barry Seal was before this movie.

What happened to Barry Seal in this story is what happens to many people who get very rich quickly and then think they can never make a mistake or get caught because eventually all that money makes them very stupid and it all just goes south. Another recent movie that demonstrates greed and stupidity at this level is last years War Dogs and what is even worse with this story is Seal’s involvement with some very dangerous drug lords in South America. American Made is a big departure from movies that Tom Cruise normally makes with a much lower budget than the big budget Mission Impossible movies and the bad “The Mummy” he made this year.

I thought that American Made is a very well told and amazing story about an American Airline pilot who went bad and I do recommend it.

In the last few days as the new movie “Battle of the Sexes” was about to be released, it was suggested that Bobby Riggs threw his game against Billy Jean King because he owed money to mobsters due to his gambling. Now, after seeing this movie, I am more interested to figure out how a 55 year old Riggs beat the #1 woman in the world, Margaret Court, 6-2 6-1 before he lost to Billy Jean, just a short time after Court beat Billy Jean King almost as easily. Many things don’t make sense here, but perhaps Riggs paid off Court to lose to him easily, by promising her a piece of his winnings when he pulled off the Billy Jean King match. As the great promoter that Riggs was, he knew that he needed to have the tennis watching audience get interested first by beating the #1 woman player and then create all the hype and ridiculousness necessary to pull off one of the greatest spectacles in American History.

It is very clear that Bobby Riggs never meant any of the stupid male chauvinist things he said, he was just trying to generate huge interest to make the event become the big money maker it was, and ultimately it all worked. I would have liked to have learned more about the back story to this almost documentary like film about this famous match that happened in 1973 and even how much both Riggs and King were paid, but this was unfortunately never mentioned. The acting of Steve Carrel who played Riggs and Emma Stone who played King was very good, the story was slow at times but in the end the screenwriter and director did an effective job of remembering all that happened in the battle of the sexes, 44 years ago, so I do recommend this movie.