A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Midway  (2019) Directed by: Roland Emmerich Written by: Wes Tooke Starring: Ed Skrein, Tadanobu Asano, Luke Evans, Etsushi Toyokawa, Aaron Eckhart, Jun Kunimura, Nick Jonas, Peter Shinkoda, Mandy Moore, Hiro Kanawaga, Woody Harrelson, Patrick Wilson, Dennis Quaid On Friday, November 8, Lionsgate released Midway, a $100 million war film written by Wes Tooke and directed by Roland Emmerich ( Independence Day, The Patriot ) that tells the story of the famed 1942 naval battle between the Imperial Japanese Navy and the U.S. Pacific Fleet that turned the tide of the war in the Pacific in America's favor only six months after the devastating Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Reportedly, the film, which is not so much a remake of Jack Smight's eponymous 1976 all-star mishmash of fact-based war action and soap opera-like fiction but rather a corrective re-interpretation, was a labor of love for the German filmmaker who gave us Stargate, Independence Day, Godzilla (1998), ...

"As I suspected, you're a rank sentimentalist." - Capt. Louis Renault to Rick Blaine, Casablanca Hello there, Constant Reader! Welcome to another edition of Odds and Ends, an occasional feature here in A Certain Point of View where I write about other things that aren't necessarily my usual Review of the Day fare. I was hoping I'd have that review of John Carpenter's 1983 adaptation of Stephen King's Christine, but I haven't gotten around to it this week. I received the Blu-ray via Amazon Prime and I've watched it once, but I think I'll have to watch it again at least one more time. I liked the movie well enough, even though 36 years have passed since I saw it in theaters back in Miami, Florida, but if I'm going to review it, I need to see it again, this time paying attention to the acting of the cast and the differences between the original novel by King and Bill Phillips' screenplay. Anyway, I've been feeling a bit senti...

One down (Germany), two (Finland, Japan) to go: the Allies defeat the Axis' most powerful nation-state in Europe in 1944: Triumph and Tragedy. © 2018 Fury Software/Matrix Games and Slitherine Ltd. Well, ladies and gentlemen, I finally did it: I played a complete scenario in Strategic Command WWII: World At War.... and won. Nemesis: The Western Allies and the Red Army overrun Nazi Germany in the fall of 1945.  ©  2018 Fury Software/Matrix Games and Slitherine Ltd. Yesterday was Sunday; I didn't have any good ideas for a blog post, and because my latest script is now in the hands of the director (Juan Carlos Hernandez), I also didn't have any pressing outside obligations to fulfill, so I took the day off from writing. Even though I used to play computer games when I was younger, I don't devote too much time to gaming as I used to. Yesterday I had plenty of options as far as entertainment was concerned: three new books to read, lots of movies and old TV s...

Hey, there! Hello and welcome to another edition of Bloggin' On, a recurring feature here in A Certain Point of View in which I step out of my usual role of a writer of reviews or political essays and just talk about...stuff. On this first weekend in November, I decided to take a pause from the usual Review of the Day routine; I am juggling several books that I will be writing about in the near future, and I did watch John Carpenter's Christine last night, but I don't feel quite ready to review any of them either today or tomorrow. I hope that by Monday I'll have the Christine review done for you, but we'll have to see what develops. So...what else is going on in my little corner of Florida? Well, my Star Wars collection will soon see a new addition: the Disney Parks exclusive Droid Factory Sandcrawler Playset for the 3.75-inch scale Star Wars action figures line by Hasbro. Now, I've been collecting Star Wars action figures and their assorted vehicles/...

A view of East Wind Lake, a man-made lake at the center of the condominium where I lived from February 1978 to April 2016.  Looking to the south on a midsummer afternoon circa 2013. Note the cumulonimbus cloud forming in the background. (Photo by the author.) Hello again and welcome to another edition of Bloggin' On, a recurring feature in A Certain Point of View where I step out of my usual review of product reviewer or budding screenwriter and just talk about "stuff." Don't get me wrong; I love writing reviews about music albums, books, movies (especially movies!), and the occasional computer game, but there are days when I wake up in the morning and I don't feel like doing the "same old, same old." Today, apparently, is one of those days. It's almost 3 PM in my corner of the Sunshine State; outside, the temperature is 88℉ (31℃) under partly sunny skies; with humidity at 63%, the "feels-like" temperature is 98℉ (36℃). It's ...

Photo Credit: Pixabay Hello again and welcome to another installment of Bloggin' On, the section of A Certain Point of View where I don't feel compelled to review movies, books, music, or computer games. I love reviewing; it's something that I have done since I was a 10th grader at South Miami High, and I'd like to think that I'm pretty good at it. But sometimes I wake up in the morning and I have no freakin' idea what I'm going to write about...and today is one of those days. As I write this, it's 3:21 PM Eastern Time, and it's a nice sunny afternoon. Outside, the temperature is 82℉ (31℃) under mostly sunny skies. I have not ventured outside today; I should, but going for walks and meeting the neighbors is a habit I eased out of once I left my hometown of Miami for another part of Florida in early 2016. Maybe I'll start walking around the block at some point in the future...just not today. My heart's not in it. I am, however, thinki...

Screenshot of Strategic Command WWII: World at War main menu screen. © Fury Software/Matrix Games/Slitherine Ltd.  On December 6, 2018, British PC game publisher Matrix Games released Strategic Command WWII: World at War, a turn-based grand strategy wargame that depicts the Second World War on every major front from Germany's invasion of Poland on September 1939 to the end of the conflict in the summer of 1945. Developed by Toronto-based Fury Software for Matrix, Strategic Command WWII: World at War (or WAW) is part of the rebooted Strategic Command series that includes Strategic Command WWII: War in Europe, Strategic Command Classic: Global Conflict, and this year's Strategic Command: World War I.  Fury created this long-running series in the late 1990s, publishing its original game, Strategic Command: European Theater in 2002 through Battlefront. WAW is the fifth game in the series and it was designed by Hubert Cater and Bill Runacre, Fury Software's president/lea...