Did someone in Hollywood find the box that contains the hidden formula for making an entertaining picture? Maverick, the sequel to ‘Top Gun’ more than three decades later, lights up the box office and makes you feel glad to be an American.
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26 replies on “An Old-Fashioned Blockbuster: Maverick Nails the Great American Movie Formula”
Tom Wolfe called it “the right stuff”. He understood that the problem wasn’t toxic masculinity , it was the lack of of it.
Maverick watches [Goose] play Great Balls of Fire…
Suddenly, the dust stirred as the AC kicked in..
I enjoyed this movie and its complete lack of the customary Hollywood sneering immensely. It transported me back to another time that I deeply yearn for and was grateful to revisit. Going on 51 this month, in a world where I’ll be soon be unemployable if things keep going more ridiculously Woke 😂, I can definitely identify with modern-day Maverick’s dilemma, which leaves us questioning where he fits in a transformed new world and wondering whether he’s about to be put out to pasture. To his credit, the old Maverick we know stubbornly refuses to give up and die.
I had the great pleasure of getting to see SR-71 pilot Brian Shul speak at the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos, twice. Somewhere alongside telling his legendary “L.A. Speed Check” story, Brian threw in a joke about maybe getting Tom Cruise to play him when the movie of his life was made. When I gave a quiet but visible chuckle at that, Mr. Shul bristled playfully at the suggestion that said casting would be so far-fetched. I imagine he will see this movie, enjoy a smile at Tom Cruise piloting the mythical “DarkStar” Blackbird successor, and figure he can check that one off.
OK. Maybe Tom Cruise is partially redeemed for attempting to star in the Jack Ryan franchise. Thinking that he could pull off portraying a lead character that is physically, intimidatingly, giant when you are 5 foot 6…..
Jack Reacher, I presume you mean. 5’6″ can’t really pull off 6’5″
It was a great movie and the fact it was all shot in real planes with real Navy pilots flying makes it that much better. Everyone should definitely see it on the big screen with the good surround sound are in theaters too. I saw it on Screenx which has screens on both sides and it made it feel much more immersive when they were flying in the jets and you had the side views also. They didn’t have much detail and weren’t distracting they just made it more immersive. Would highly recommend.
Could Tom Cruise play John Boyd. I would really like a movie about John Boyd.
I have a comment I want to make about women in “heroic” roles. First, I’d like you to think about 3 names:
Ellen Ripley
Sarah Connor
Ziva David
Those are the names of some of the most badass, and most loved, female characters to ever be put on video.
The difference is that their stories followed The Hero’s Journey.
The Hero starts out as just some average schlub who is in the wrong place at the wrong time, and by guess and by golly manages to survive. Thus begins The Hero’s Journey.
Through the story, the Hero keeps facing crises, surviving and learning. It helps the believability of the story if part of the reason the Hero survives is because of lessons learned when they survived previous encounters.
But it is also vitally important that each encounter leaves behind not just lessons, but wounds and scars. All of the above characters are loved, and believable, partly because of the scars and the flaws they have acquired.
Sarah Connor in Judgment Day says one of the most delightfully chilling lines ever uttered in any movie anywhere:
“Good morning, Dr. Silberman. How’s the knee?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V9chfNfOu8
One of the things that makes that line so delightful is the very fact that the Sarah Connor of the first Terminator movie could never have said it.
Ziva David is one of the most badass women ever on video… and one of the things that makes her so lovable is that, as you get to know the character, you realize that her father sacrificed her on the altar of his own ambition back when she was a small girl, that she has never been anything else in her entire life except a weapon for the Mossad… and it has left her profoundly wounded and deeply flawed in many ways.
Sure, there is no question that biological males have many advantages in terms of strength, leverage and mass. That’s why, while Ziva is able to kick ass among the LVM or the rednecks at Jackrabbit Slim’s, she is no match for a Marine. Skill and technique can overcome a lot, but the more it has to overcome, the wider the gap in skill has to be.
And the more skill and technique she has acquired, the longer the Hero’s Journey was, and the more damage she has to have gotten getting from there to here, in order for the character to be believable, someone the audience can empathize with and identify with.
That’s why the Woke Mary Sue characters fall flat. To quote a completely different author using a completely different badass female character to make a completely different point in a completely different setting:
“You call yourself some kind of goddess and you know nothing, madam, nothing. What don’t die can’t live. What don’t live can’t change. What don’t change can’t learn. The smallest creature that dies in the grass knows more than you. You’re right. I’m older. You’ve lived longer than me but I’m older than you. And better’n you. And madam, that ain’t hard.”
Steve, I have the same story, except she hadn’t seen it either. We watched Top Gun two nights ago, and now planning for a date night movie soon.
Scott, I would not have considered watching the old one or the new one, except for your backstage discussion. And with this show you sold me. Thanks for that.
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I want to comment on ‘highly disciplined ‘ oh yea’? Not necessarily in private when they don’t think anyones looking. Had a couple fighter jocks steel the oars off ourboat when we were at lunch at a lake up in AZs white Mts. Had to row out with our hands after them & get them back & left them stranded. Reported them to their Commander at what was then Williams AFB, he didn’t seem to care
Guys! Why was this video made when the two interviewees (Bill & Steve) have not seen the movie (!!??) they are commenting on? Bill, I look forward every morning to your unique take on issues and even movies and you talked about CGI and its shortcomings? Steve tells a story about his early experience with the first Top Gun? Here is what you are missing. This movie is an absolute breath of fresh air!! There is patriotism. There is emotion. There are no negative comments about the USA for a change. It shows true manliness. The woman pilot in the movie is excellent and does not once try to show up the “boys” or end up being the hero of the story. Cruise is manly enough to ride a motorcycle like grown ups used to without a helmet. It’s hard to even comment on profanity because I think I heard maybe 3 swear words. There is no sex scene at all. Even though Tom spends the night at his girlfriend’s house, we are left to “fill in the blanks” like TV and movies used to do. Bill, please find the time to see this movie and then give us some of what you are best at….applying your understanding of the modern world and how this movie shatters all of the woke ideology dogma that is rammed down our throats. I have seen it twice and will be seeing it again…simply because it has literally taken all of the negativity of the last 2 years (or 2 decades) away from my mind in one 2 hour movie and put me back to where I was 2 years ago.
In my opinion, Top Gun, original, had THE BEST OPENING SEQUENCE ever. Low music playing with a steady beat while aircraft people get ready for a jet takeoff. The music gets louder as takeoff gets closer, jets fire up…music and drums are loud…the anticipation you can cut with a knife, you know something big is going to happen. Then ZOOM…the plane flies up in the air with “Highway to the Danger Zone” blasting in your ears. Always gives me chills. Gotta see this new one.
I live in San Diego and have gone to the Miramar Military Base Air Show, where Top Gun is/was located…usually in October…to see all the cool military toys lucky people get to play with. There is a grandstand. Filled to the brim for one specific show. The music starts to play…just like in Top Gun… It builds up and up until the drums start beating loudly and WOW….jets fly about 50 feet off the ground in front of the grandstand. VERY loud. Highway to the Danger Zone! The crowd goes wild. Then the next jet…and another. People are screaming with delight. It is really something to see. Gets your blood flowing. And you will burst with pride.
Sash ! For sure… however this new movie does a similar thing with the opening but better. Better sound quality. Better clarity of picture. Kenny Loggins’ Danger Zone is there too! You will not be disappointed. It is so good! Make sure you see it in the theatre and XD if possible.
My very first job, at 16yo, was in a movie theater the summer Top Gun came out. I got paid very little, but was allowed to see all the free movies I wanted while I wasn’t working. Because of this, I watched Top Gun about 50 times in the theater. Since then, I’m sure I’ve seen it another 50 times, if not more. I will see Maverick soon.
I can sympathize with Steve, though, because I have never seen or wish to see Forest Gump for some of the same reasons.
Saw it opening day on an iMax from the front row. Definitely a big screen movie. I’m guessing that the sniffling scene, that Scott referred to, had something to do with Val (Iceman) Kilmer. Also, you could clearly see the G-effects on the faces in the movie. Can’t fake that.
I would like to add that both of the Top Gun movies are definitely Big Screen movies. To satisfy that need for the original Top Gun (and other classic big screen movies), a VR headset is well worth the investment. It enables you to continue to enjoy these big screen classics on a virtual big screen. It is very satisfying!
Paul you are so right on! I think I was sniffling for 50% of the movie. Maverick’s flashbacks did it. Seeing Ice did it. All of the reminiscing did it. The first flight in the black plane did it. The musical score did it. And I think just the emotion of seeing a movie that is so different than all of the other movies we have seeing for years did it as well.
I will admit – I saw the first two words of the title of this episode and thought it was going to be one of Steve Green’s cocktail mixing videos.
I am only mildly disappointed, I already make a great OF (several versions actually).
We watched TG this past Monday night and are going to see it Sat. Looking forward to it.
Ron, we have seen it twice as well and will be going at least once more to the theatre…and buying the DVD when available.
Went to a street party with a band tonight. Everyone we spoke with had already seen it. No one had anything but good reviews.
Steve, I feel the same way about Seinfeld. Never seen it.
Steve, are you seriously going to leave us hanging like that? What was the garbage line from Top Gun?!?
I think he said it before somewhere. If I remember right, it was something like “you’ve had seventeen major violations”. One would have got him kicked out.
That’s the one.
Glad I finally got one right. 😏