The Peanut Butter Falcon: Review

 

If I had to sum up the Peanut Butter Falcon in one word it would be “sweet”. Like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn it’s a story about finding friendship and running away on a homemade raft. But where Huck Finn held up a mirror to society and showed flaws about the treatment of blacks, Falcon is concerned with individual growth through redemption. Two men with different lives form a bond by escaping their problems’ through the marshy Outer Banks along the Carolina coast in search of a different life.

Zak (Zack Gottsagen) is a young man with Down’s Syndrome who lives in a nursing home with other elderly patients and tries on multiple occasions to escape. He has no family so the state put him in the facility although he isn’t happy about it. As he says to his case worker Eleanor (Dakota Johnson) in one scene “I’m young, And I’m not old”. His roommate Carl (Bruce Dern) sympathizes with the desire to leave. One night Carl helps Zak escape through the bars of his room and head off into the night. While running around Zak stumbles upon a fishing boat owned by a crabber, Tyler (Shia LaBeouf) with a penchant for stealing from other crabbers. Tyler gets into a fight with the other fisherman and sets their gear on fire, setting of a chase through the tributaries of the Carolina coastline. While hiding he discovers Zak hidden under a tarp.

From this point the movie begins to feel Huck Finnish, both men running away from something and depending on each other in the process. Zak isn’t capable of living along and Tyler is a broken man trying to forget about his dead brother. The film hints that he was responsible for his brother’s death. It’s a burden he carries around like the tattered ruck sack on his back. Zak wears nothing but underwear since his escape, a symbol of his total dependence on others for help. Tyler eventually gives him pants and boots, a sign of manhood and independence. Zak desperately wants to go to a wrestling school run by a former pro named “Saltwater Redneck” and become a “Bad Ass”.  Tyler wants to go to Florida and run a charter service. He agrees to take Zak to the town where the wrestling school is supposedly housed.

Tyler teaches Zak how to fight, how to fire a shotgun and how to fish. Their collective pasts keep catching up with them at various times. The crabbers who Tyler stole from catch him in cabin and set his raft alight before Zak appears with a shotgun to scare them away. Eleanor finds the pair on a beach one morning after a night of drinking homemade liquor. She tries unsuccessfully to bring Zak back to the nursing home but neither Zak nor Tyler is having it. Besides, Tyler is struck by her and convinces her to join the pair on their rafting crusade to find the wrestling school for Zak.

The materials for the raft they eventually build came from a blind preacher that nearly shot them as they drifted onto his property looking for a boat to steal. He agreed to let them built it in exchange for an old style baptism down at the water’s edge. After that scene Tyler seems to let go as the redemptive nature of baptism washes away the guilt for his brother. I may be assuming some of this because it never shows him going under the water. But a lot of his weariness melts away and he becomes a more sympathetic character.

It’s impossible not to root for Zak. He is completely alone in the world. He lacks independence and has little understanding of the world outside the home. He desperately needs a friend, a “Bro Dawg” as he calls it. He has some pain from being called a ‘retard’ by people in his past. He is passionate about wrestling and believes he can become a superstar. The film’s title is taken from a scene where Tyler tells Zak that he needs a wrestling name. It’s a beginning of sorts for him, a new name and a new purpose. They settle on the ‘Peanut Butter Falcon’. I won’t give away the ending but this is a movie for everyone.

 At its core is a story that shows how we all need each other.

I highly recommend. 

A Bridge Too Far: Review

 

Another addition to my old war movie review habit began the other night. I sat down to A Bridge Too Far.

I’ve been a fan of war movies since I was a kid but I always tend to view the same ones instead of looking at different ones. I head right for the old favorites. I’d wanted to see Bridge for some time but kept missing it on the replays. Thankfully Netflix has been buying up a lot of old movies from comedy to war so I caught a glimpse on the scroll. If you have Netflix you know what the scroll is all about. It means spending more time mashing the down button on the remote and hoping some gem catches your eye. It rarely does. Last night though I felt Hitler needed another kick in the teeth.

It was made in 1977 so “old” is kind of a relative term. I expected a 1960s era movie for some reason. The first thing I noticed is the star studded cast: Sean Connery, Michael Cain, Anthony Hopkins, Gene Hackman, James Caan, Robert Redford, Ryan O’Neal. The acting is first rate from the start as expected. I’ve mentioned it before in my reviews but I always notice how the older films start with the 20,000 foot view and zoom in from there. Not literally of course but they set the stage for the audience who might be unaware of the historical details of the film. Lot's of maps and overviews of the terrain and mission. Quotable lines about the dangers of hubris on the battlefield.

This one is about the second offensive of the World War II by the Allies called Market Garden. It’s the second offensive since the Normandy beach anyway.

Briefly, Market Garden was an attempt to secure key positions in the Netherlands and hold bridges for the Allies--the ultimate goal being to move on to Berlin. The Nazi were in place too securely and the effort proved a disaster. Paratroopers and gliders landed 8 miles away from their destination and had to walk the rest of way getting slaughtered in the process. A German Panzer division held firm at Arnhem and wiped out the Allied opposition. Radios didn’t work in the heavily wooded area causing supply drops to land in the German area. Fog prevented a battalion of paratroopers up to 3 days, too late to be much help. None of the planners thought they'd face much resistance.

The operation was too aggressive and cost over 18,000 men on the Allied side. The film shows the plan and sets the action in motion. It’s a little easy to get lost on exactly which group is in which part of the country, where is the 101^st Airborne again? Why did it take XXX corps so long to jump? Which group is getting shelled by Panzers? I loved the river crossing scene. Robert Redford leads a company (82nd Airborne) across a river in collapsible boats. They row with their rifle butts until the artillery knocks out about half of them in the water. The rest make an attempt to take and hold the bridge but they have to retreat, unable to take the town. 

War movies have a tendency to make the war, or even all war, about one thing. There is one particular confusing line from Gene Hackman (who Polish General Sosabowski) about ‘when men decide to play war games everyone loses’. It’s meant to sum up the war but ends up sounding like it belongs in a completely different film. It felt like a Ken Burns war documentary for a few minutes at the end, no larger purpose just misery and death.

 World War II was about stopping an evil regime from slaughtering half the world and subjugating the rest. Some conflicts you could make a case that power politics ruined everyone’s life. But the case for defending the world against Hitler in Europe and Hirohito in Asia was self-evident. Besides, the British tried to appease the Fuhrer with give-aways in Austria and Czechoslovakia.  Right after that he invaded Poland.

 I might be reading too much into it, but a quote like that at the end of movie signifying a ‘wrap up’ is grossly misleading. The film drives the history pretty straight but gets drunk at the end and veers into a ditch.

The last shot is of an old man and a women with young children pushing a cart with their belongings away from a burned out shell of home. It’s a poignant reminder of who is left when war has taken the lives of so many fathers and sons. A Bridge Too Far is a thorough retelling of Market Garden through a few key players and their mistakes. Although it’s a little uneven in message it’s worth a watch.

Stumped

Whenever I struggle to write something I go back to what has worked for me in the past. Especially when I hate everything I put down on the page. This isn’t a new thing for me of course. It happens on occasion. I get blocked by either too many ideas or none at all. The ‘too many’ side of the coin usually means I have some germ of a thought that might work for a blog post. The blog website is always in the back of my mind. These ‘germs’ only get started growing before I smother them in the soil like an invasive weed. Last night I started on about corporate morality or some such thing. It’s an idea that just didn’t work. I didn’t stay with it long, an hour or so at most. It’s never a good thing when lose the thrust of the argument in complex jargon.

I eventually had to stop and ask myself in very clear language “What are you trying to say?”  

That’s often the best measure for trying to think my way around a particular problem. Try to summarize it one or two sentences and then work from there to whittle it down like raw basswood. The rest of the time the problem is the point I’m making requires way more information and knowledge than I have time for. It’s too broad for a simple blog post. I haven’t always worked through the thought process anyway. Nothing is wrong with figuring that out in the course of a writing session. Although when pinched for time it just invites more frustration. Not everything can be wrapped up in 55 minutes like an episode of CSI. 

But real blogging is quick posts and angry screeds right? Yes and No.

Nothing is consistent about individual blogs except the inconsistency of them. But what do we expect when we turn the internet lose and tell be people to be creative? There are as many fashion and food blogs as opinions and videos all littering the space like a newsstand after a tornado. One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to information people post about. It’s better to start at a small ‘blade of grass’ view and expand the lens outward capturing the valleys while moving toward the ranges.

One method that works well is a personal anecdote that follows a larger narrative. This is also how I think about the world.

 I’ve noticed a reduced interest in youth football since I started working in sporting goods. Each year the overall numbers of kid sign ups drops by around 10 to 15 percent. Those are purely my figures but after talking with a lot of directors it’s clear that parents are scared of long term effects of concussion on their kids. No one ever complains about concussions from soccer, especially for girls, but it’s also very high. Expand that local view out to other states and the trends are similar, so are the reasons. I did a quick google search on the declining numbers and read a short Forbes article, here. The author doesn’t have a prescription, other than some ‘football needs to change’ line. The reasons for the decline were beyond the scope of the article so I can’t criticize too much.

Writing often works this way for me. I identify a local problem and move toward a larger pattern across the country. I could go a couple of ways with it as well. Either focus why football declines and not other sports with similar head injuries, or why now and not a decade ago? I could also investigate why girls suffer higher rates of concussion than boys, also a Forbes article. No one is sure why this is of course, but I’ll bet parents aren’t nearly as aware of that as they are about football being a concussion laden sport.

Sometimes I think I should have been a journalist. 

Anyway I’ll get back to what I do best and write what I know. Done complaining for now.

Group Training (running update)

I’m back to running with a group again.

The local running club does training twice a year for seasonal marathons and half marathons. I got most of the way through the last session but the Chinese virus stopped me cold, like a beating heart. OK, that’s not entirely true. The group stuff got cut short but I kept running until my plantar fasciitis sidelined me. When I could I got back in the swing and started a regular (ish) schedule again. I don’t see a time when I won’t be doing some sort of running throughout the week. Lifting weights and doing high intensity training will likely drop off over the years. It gets tough to hit the gym 5 days a week, every week. Some seasons we work more, or have health issues or family priorities. I’ve been hit or miss about going the last few weeks. 

This particular season is hectic for me at work. I’m putting in extra hours at work, 8 to 10 per week on average, and feeling every bit like I earned overtime. That isn’t always true in the fall or winter. Oddly enough I do more outdoor running in the cold weather because I have more time. Also I can run in the evening after work, outdoors. No contending with full sun and a heat index over 100 degrees. It’s much easier to get in a full 3 days of scheduled running.

I’m in the half marathon group again at Runner’s World. Every so often I’ll run with the full marathoners just to see what it feels like. It’s pretty much what I thought. I can keep up just off the lead pace for about 3 miles and then their speed starts to show up. In these early stages of group running the total distances are within my wheelhouse. I’m comfortable up to around 7 miles and then the heat kicks my ass. I can go further but only after a break which tends to cut into the overall time. But like always I’m not concerned with time right now. I’m focused on steady pacing throughout the run. This is where group running is better than solo at least some of the time. You start to improve when pushed by others who already run faster and further.

Officially we’re training for the Route 66 event in Tulsa in November. I’ll probably sign up like everyone else. The race isn’t the goal for me though. I’m more interested in the lifestyle of consistent running and steady improvement. Despite a slew of regular hard core, fit joggers the store sees an influx of people who only want to train for the upcoming races. After that they drop off. Different goals for different people, I won’t criticize them for it. But it seems pointless to me to put in that much work and not try to make it a regular thing.

 

How do Writers Write?

I finished reading another Harry Bosch novel by Michael Connelly. I think it was number 7, A Darkness More Than Night.  I’ve never read one I didn’t like. You’d think detective novels with a lonely booze loving cop would get old. They don’t. How many stories about former Rangers (or Seals) that track and kill bad guys do we really need? Who doesn’t love tough guys? As long as the stories are compelling we’ll keep reading them. It doesn’t matter if something has been done a thousand times. If you keep making it great, we’ll keep buying it.

 Partly the stories entertain because there is a mystery at the heart of it all. Not just murders but character stuff, will he win her over? Is the secret investor her dad? Does the family know the dog is still alive? And like Dune (which I just finally read) will the prince fulfill his destiny? It’s a puzzle to figure solve piece by piece. I like knowing how the writer puts the information together. I don’t mean I want to find an interview where he talks about his writing process. Those interviews never sound quite right and the answers are all hindsight so it sounds way more polished when we hear it.

 I want to look over his shoulder as he puts the thing together and takes out extra information. I want to watch what happens as he fills in the plot holes that didn’t work well on the first draft. I’m curious how he lays out the plot. Does he know the murder from the start and the one who did the deed? My dad used to draw these mazes for us to solve. They were simple sketches that only took a few minutes for him to complete. He always drew the direct path first though, that’s how you have to do it. Once you have a completed path to the end you need only fill in false lanes and double backs to trick the kids. That’s how I assume authors handle mysteries, not only murder stuff but big reveals and climax endings. They start with a simple story of a guy who murders his wife’s lover and then fill in the details to spin a yarn for the reader. Maybe put in some false flags to draw out other characters. This is where the fun is right…in trying to hide motives and play the guessing game?

I know that isn’t always how it happens though. I’ve heard writers (Stephen King comes to mind) say that they don’t always know what happens in the end. They start with an idea for a scene or a character and write from there. That kind of surprises me. Novels don’t have to be done any particular way of course but it seems like it's creating extra work with no obvious resolution in mind. That’s why I opt for the over the shoulder view while they work their magic. Is that creepy? To sit there and stare as they clack away on the keyboard and curse at the blank screen waiting for ideas to pop? That’s what I do on even silly little writing projects.

I said once before that I loved to read fiction and I liked to write non-fiction. I think that might be because fiction is completely daunting to me and feels like a lot of work. All of that plotting and arranging dead ends can end up confusing the writer too. It’s probably not a lot different but impressions are what they are and until you do it yourself that’s all it will ever be, an impression. Until I get up the nerve to write a book I’ll have to just keep reading them.  

Dune: A review

A friend let me borrow his copy of Dune recently. This December a new movie comes out based on the book so I thought I'd read it. I’m not much of a science fiction guy but this book is a classic. It was written in the late sixties and the author kept the series going for years with the same characters. At least that’s what I’m told. I love the coming of age progression of the main character, Paul or Muad’Dib. He has like 7 or 8 names depending on the context. One means spiritual leader, one is a tribe name or first name. Another refers to his royalty, as the son of the Duke. He's the hero of the story, the boy who would be king.

The story unfolds as Duke Leto moves his family to Arrakis where he is to rule, mine spice and set up a kingdom for his family. But betrayers in his house made a deal with another ruler for the seat of power. He gets sold out in short order.

The growth of Paul as leader plays out over the course of a few years as the House Atreides is scattered across the planet Arrakis after the betrayal. The powerful Duke Leto is captured and killed by a Baron from an opposing House (or family). His son Paul and Paul’s mother (Lady Jessica) are forced to hide out in the desert with sand people who live on very little water and stay underground. Called Fremen, they are skilled fighters that take Paul in and train him to live like them. Paul becomes their great leader and his mother becomes their mystical guru (Reverend Mother). She is originally from an order of physics that serve as concubines to powerful men. Arrakis is known for its spice which the sandworms create through their larvae. It’s basically a drug with mystical properties and medicinal uses. It’s also highly prized and dangerous to mine since the sandworms guard it.

 There are Islamic themes in the Fremen tribe which tells me the author got his inspiration in part from nomadic peoples in Saudi Arabia or Egypt. He uses the idea of jihad to describe a collective uprising and some of the names have an Arabic sound to them.

 To my mind he overbuilds the world a little bit. It isn’t that I don’t appreciate the attention to detail he used, but I found myself tripping over the information while trying to keep up. Frank Herbert (the author) loves his terms. Mercifully there is a glossary in back to check on each word or concept. You can bet I’ve look it up a few times.

 I love the idea of the sandworms. What a crazy, brilliant idea. And he gives his Fremen the ability to tame them in a ritual, not unlike cowboys breaking a wild horse. They can ride a sandworm across the desert if done right. Everyone else is afraid of them. When walking in the desert one needs to shuffle in a certain irregular way or risk having one rise out of the sand and eat you. They respond to rhythmic patterns like walking. I think the Kevin Bacon movie Tremors borrowed a bit from the book. I’ve heard Dune fans complain that George Lucas ‘stole’ the sandworm idea in Empire Strikes Back. The Millennium Falcon nearly gets gobbled up by a giant worm with no eyes. Of if you’ve seen the Family Guy edition, it’s a giant Meg Griffin (hilarious)!

All the best stories require the main character to undergo some test of strength or conquest. Even the kid’s shows like the Lion King show a transition from adolescence to adulthood, a passing of authority, a reluctance of leadership. It’s a reminder that when the right people rule the land, the people rejoice. When the wicked rule the people mourn. I’m sure that’s a summary of a Bible verse but I can’t quite place it. Sounds like Proverbs to me. But the hero story is no accident. We love heroes and we love moral leaders.

Dune succeeded for me on the heroic level but failed to be enjoyable. I’m struggling to find a term for Herbert as a writer. It might be the dialogue and phrasing that turned me off. It wasn’t easy to read because I always felt like I was learning a new idea and not following the progress. As always though it’s my fault, not his. 

Life Training for the Negative

 

We all know our weak points in life. When the interviewer asks you where you could improve, you make something up don’t you? It’s easier than saying “I’m only here till something better opens up” or “I really don’t like people”. For me it’s negativity, I’m just too often negative. I think that last sentence even qualifies as such. If you’re willing to call yourself negative then, ipso facto…you’re negative. But admitting is the first step. Next is finding ways to work around the problem.

Mostly it means walking around it like a fallen tree across the trail. In practice it means finding something positive to focus on in the midst of the negative onslaught. Road ragers understand how this works. Instead of catching up to BMW that cut you off and swooping right in front as they lay on the horn, take a breath and let them go. Or maybe just glide past breezily and wave like an old neighborhood friend, big smiles everyone!!

Whatever it takes to ignore the blinding rage overwhelming you like a zombie infection, do that. Not that I would know. The good news is that weaknesses are fixable; negativity is easier because it’s less emotional. I did a quick google search for “how to fix negativity” to get a sense of what “experts” (bloggers getting paid in store credit) said about it. The first bit I guessed right, admit you have a problem. This holds true for most addictions as well. One way to tell if you might have a negativity problem is to ask people you work with, friends too. No one person is right of course but if a picture starts to emerge of a grumpy, dark cloud persona—take heed. I like the suggestion to “practice gratitude” for just about all situations.

Being around positive people makes a difference too. I worked for a guy who owned a landscaping company. I was in high school then and could only work on Saturdays. This man was distilled sunshine with spectacles and gray hair, he didn’t even have the facial muscles necessary to frown. We never had bad weather. We never had a lousy day. We never disappointed a customer. His reaction to any imperfect situation was to look at the positives. He would acknowledge the rain but say at least it wasn’t snowing, we could do most of the work a little wet anyway. He would acknowledge the cold but say at least the sun was up, we could get in a full day like that. On it went about nearly everything. It rubbed off on me for a little while at least.

At some point in life he practiced gratitude and it became a muscle he flexed whenever stress or anger or anxiety tried to test him. I used to think some people are just positive natured, but as an adult I understand how unlikely that is. Negativity is like weight gain, it happens when you don’t try. Positivity is like getting fit, it’s what happens when you put in effort and force yourself to improve.  Fortunately the Bible has some suggestions too.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Philippians 4:8

 I think a misconception about excessive positivity is that it’s kind of childish, or pollyannaish. A faux cheerful demeanor and empty phrases are about as good as a caffeine kick, boost the good energy and overwhelm the bad. But so many things in life are designed, yes designed, to keep us in misery. We are vulnerable when helpless. We just want the bad thoughts to go away. It can’t be said enough, the scripture is the source of wisdom and happiness and good success in this life.

So seek it out on purpose because life gives us too many reasons to focus on the bad.