"Age of Adaline" #Movie #Review: Ageless Film Hampered By Invasive Narration

(Minor Spoilers, though I'm careful here!)

So, I saw "Age of Adaline" Friday. It was very good, but not perfect. A bit of a chick flick, but the subject, extreme longevity without aging, is something I've written about in my flash fiction.

(Yes, this review definitely contains spoilers!)

Any fan of the show "Forever" or perhaps even the 90s show "Forever Knight" or the Twilight series will understand the concept of extreme longevity explored here, and I'm a very big fan of both those shows and the concept, so I was eager to see this.

Blake Lively was amazing as Adaline, and Harrison Ford performed well, too, in all his flustered brilliance. His character here has great depth, as I think only he could pull off.

In a minor but amazing role, newcomer Anthony Ingruber plays Ford in a flashback as a youth and just NAILS his looks and mannerisms (which he's actually done for years on YouTube before being discovered by the director!)

In Ford's great film "Blade Runner," the original, theater release had a voice-over, which was later cut by the director on DVDs. There, it was an under-appreciated homage to 1940s Film Noir movies. In Age of Adaline, however, the ever-present narration seems pointless at best, demeaning and overly expository at worst. And while it may have seemed necessary to fill out the story's scientific details, it's often talking down to the audience in a way that's unnecessary. Verbal exposition often took the place of something that would have been better acted. And everyone who saw the previews already knew she lived a long time. It should be cut in the DVD.

That said, the story progresses well, though I wished for more flashbacks and more rye indications that she had acquired vast knowledge of her hometown - elements that add charm and a bit of humor. A date at an old movie theater, for example, was a charming scene.

It's beautifully filmed, and Lively's wardrobe is a painful reminder that women used to dress elegantly in their daily lives. I wish they still did (Adaline never gave up dressing well for 100 years and it added to Lively's already stunning looks.) I could have done without the pet storyline, but only because it struck a personal chord, as it will for any pet owner. It illustrated her sense of loss quite beautifully, and asked, without actually asking: How would it feel if everyone you had ever known had died, decades ago, and you were afraid to get close to, or even date anyone, as a consequence? Great post-date or dorm room discussion material here!

Very few flaws or goofs to note here. Some include: Why did Ford's character need that photo - it didn't prove anything. She seems to remember an event in 1906 but she wasn't even born until 1908. Why did she keep going back to that same city, where she would risk being recognized by people just 25 years older than she had been on a previous sojourn there? And wait - wouldn't her new man be grossed out knowing what he finally learned about the Ford character, to whom he was RELATED?

The very end (comet) is deeply flawed and confusing, leaving the audience with a big "huh?" (I suspect that a 2031 scene was cut, or was never filmed) and the narration during the "accident" before it that changes her physical situation is again unnecessary. It's as if people are so dumb they'd miss what was happening.

Overall, a worthy film about an interesting topic, filmed beautifully. Go see this!

5 Ways to Fix America's Nightly Network "#News"

Network news - news programs shown on the original Big Three networks and other, newer, upstarts - is broken. Below are five examples, and what I believe they need to do to fix their news programs to better serve the American people:

More International Focus - A "world news" program that focuses solely on domestic news is not worthy of the name. And international celebrities getting into trouble or the latest plane crash overseas doesn't count as "news." Americans who are insular and insulated from the news of the world are suddenly surprised by trends both friendly and ferocious when they hit without warning. When that happens, that's a failure of the "world news" programs we watch. Network newscasts must rededicate themselves to covering the entire world.

More International Politics - Political trends are also vital to our full and complete awareness as voters and as citizens. It may not, at first glance, seem important that a new anti-American party is rising in the polls in a nation traditionally friendly to the USA, or that a certain governor was elected in a prefecture in Japan. But if that nation  turns hostile, or if that governor is more hostile to Americans remaining in a military base there than his predecessor, then that indeed is a problem that will have regional and international repercussions. Network newscasts should commit to covering international politics, because it's relevant.

The Weather Is NOT "news" - It's snowy in the winter in the Northern half of the United States. It's a fact. It's not, however, news. It's exciting to show cars skidding off the road, rivers frozen and, in other climes, wet summers, minor hurricanes and tornadoes. But aside from an in-depth analyses of how slowly the aid got there after the storm, or how we are adapting to changing weather patterns, it's not "news." Network newscasts should stop wasting time covering routine and expected weather, and blowing storms out of all proportion.

Less "Special Kid Plays On the Team" Stories - I love the stories in which a young person - who is disabled in some way or is a terminal patient - gets to play on their favorite professional sports team or on their high school team, especially when they actually score for the team! These stories (and there are many of them) are inspirational, interesting, heart-warming, and emotional. Note that none of those words are "news," and are not newsWORTHY. They should exist in a separate show, which I'm sure would get great ratings, but they should not be taking up time in the nightly newscast, crowding out actual news. Network newscasts should leave the "feel good" stories to other shows on the network.

Fewer YouTube Videos - What's truly shocking about today's American nightly "newscast" is the inclusion of actual YouTube videos. ABC News includes these (and the aforementioned "kids play on teams" videos) in its "Index" segment near the end of the program. It literally shows YouTube videos of animals doing funny things, near-miss car accidents and other hilarity, which we can see with better justification on shows like "America's Funniest Videos" or its cable show equivalents. The YouTubization (tm) of Network news must end. 

"If it bleeds, it leads" was the old saying about the nightly news and the local paper. National Network newscasts shouldn't fear though. There is plenty of blood in the political turmoil around the world to quench their viewers' hearts. Demonstrations, corruption, trade deals, hard-fought elections, coups and uprisings, and much of it with consequences for American voters and consumers.

That's one of the reasons why I founded "World Politics News," a news aggregation service that points American readers to the news they're missing on the nightly network newscasts.

American news organizations owe it to us to bring us the world, and to show us accurately and fairly what's happening THERE before it happens HERE. And if they begin to do this again, the nightly "World News" programs will once again be true to their names.

Stephen Abbott
Abbott Media Group
www.abbottmediagroup.com

Picture this: 1984

Picture this: It was #1984, and #Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” was blaring from the speakers at the local record store. (A record store is a place that sold records, which contained music and were like large vinyl CDs.

CDs, or "compact discs" were smaller plastic discs that played music on a special "CD player" at home, in your car or they could be carried, like a Sony Walkman.

A Sony #Walkman was a small device you could carry around and wear around your neck with a strap and headphones, like an #iPod.

An iPod was a device that played MP3s, like you’d find on the Apple iTunes and download to your #iPhone or other smartphone.

"Downloading" is the thing people used to do to capture music and play it later, before streaming services like Pandora, iHeartRadio​ and Spotify​.)

Anyway….  I lost my train of thought so just enjoy the music.

McDonald’s Announces It’s Abandoning Burgers, Introducing All Soy-Based Menu!

Cash-strapped and with sales declining, McDonald’s today (April 1, 2023) announced in a press release that they would stop selling meat-based hamburgers by May 1 this year, and would introduce a line-up of all-soy products by next year.

The Oak Brook, Illinois-based company announced several new soy-based products in the press release, which follows:

OAK BROOK, IL--(Marketwired – April 1, 2023) - McDonald's USA (NYSE: MCD) today announced new menu changes designed to revolutionize the American palate and remain in tune with growing trends in the food marketplace.

McDonald’s U.S. restaurants will stop selling all hamburgers by May 1, and introduce a larger line of chicken products by the end of the year, CEO Steve Easterbrook said. The company will feature an all-soy burger product line by January 1, 2022. It will greatly expand its line-up of chicken products throughout the current year.

"Our customers have been demanding healthier menu items and we’ve listened to their concerns. They want food they can feel good about eating, and for McDonald’s, that’s soy and other non-beef items."

Some of the new products we’ll be introducing are the Big MacSoy™, the Double McSoy™ and (starting in California and the American Southwest in 222, nationwide in 2023) the Soy McBurritto™. Several new chicken items will be introduced, including McChicken Bites in both “original” and “spicy” varieties.

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