Insecure Writer’s Support Group, Oppenheimer and They Cloned Tyrone Reviews, and August Movie Preview

It’s time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you’d like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post the first Wednesday of every month. I encourage everyone to visit at least a dozen new blogs and leave a comment. Your words might be the encouragement someone needs.

The awesome co-hosts for the August 2 posting of the IWSG are Kate Larkindale, Diane Burton, Janet Alcorn, and Shannon Lawrence!

Today’s question: Have you ever written something that afterwards you felt conflicted about? If so, did you let it stay how it was, take it out, or rewrite it?

I don’t think I ever have. I write from my moral gut, so nothing there to alter. My only conflict was killing a main character, but I left it in anyway. Although some people protested the fact there are no women in my first book. (Read the second and you'll understand why.) I never changed it though. How about you?

Just a heads up – next month is the twelve-year anniversary of the IWSG!

Reviews

Oppenheimer
Christopher Nolan’s latest ambitious project covers a portion of the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the man key to the development of the atomic bomb.
Like all Nolan films, this one boasts a high level of brilliance on every level. The visuals are precise, purposeful, and striking. The music fits every scene, often haunting and unsettling. And the acting – everyone brings their A game.
Most notably is of course Cillian Murphy in the title role. He wastes no words, gestures, or expressions. Robert Downey Jr. also blends into his role as Lewis Strauss.
My one negative – can no one make a movie under two hours anymore? At three hours, it’s just too long.
That said, every scene is riveting. Good luck getting up to go to the bathroom! For a talking film, it moves at a fast clip and clues are dropped every time the scene changes.
The moment they test the bomb is of course spectacular. Although I liked the last third of the film (what happens after that test) the best.
I didn’t love it yet I have to highly recommend it!

They Cloned Tyrone
Set in the ghetto, strange events leads to three people trying to track down the truth.
Highly recommended, I had no idea what to expect. And the first ten-fifteen minutes just follows Tyrone as he traverses The Glen and its slew of shady characters. (Who do not hold back with their colorful language.) I was beginning to wonder.
Then things get weird!
Yes, they discover Tyrone has been cloned. And a bunch of other suspicious events start piling on top of that.
Where this movie excels is in the banter between the three leads. John Boyega (Finn from Star Wars) is Tyrone Fontaine the drug-dealer, Jamie Foxx is Slick Charles the pimp, and Teyonah Parris is Yo-Yo the ho. As they stumble through the bizarre, X-Files like things happening, they keep it light with exchanges that will have you laughing out loud.
This film isn’t for everyone, but if you can handle the language, I really recommend it.

August Movie Preview

Here are the theatrical releases for August. Descriptions courtesy of the IMDB. Snark provided by me.

4 –

The Meg 2: The Trench
Director: Ben Wheatley
Stars: Jason Statham, Jing Wu, Sienna Guillory
Sequel to the 2018 film 'The Meg.'
Not so much a sequel as a cheap ploy by Discovery Channel to pad out Shark Week.

10 –

Dragonkeeper
Director: Salvador Simo
Stars: Bill Nighy, Anthony Howell, Brendan Coyle
In ancient China, dragons were once friends of humans, but our greed ended their alliance, and these magical creatures were hunted down. Years later, in a remote fortress, a young slave girl, Ping, strikes up an unlikely friendship.
When I was in high school, I had a trapper keeper…

11 –

Last Voyage of the Demeter
Director: André Øvredal
Stars: Corey Hawkins, Aisling Franciosi, Liam Cunningham
Based on a single chapter, the Captain's Log, from Bram Stoker's classic 1897 novel Dracula, the story is set aboard the Russian schooner Demeter, which was chartered to carry private cargo - twenty-four unmarked wooden crates - from Carpathia to London. The film will detail the strange events that befell the doomed crew as they attempt to survive the ocean voyage, stalked each night by a terrifying presence on board the ship. When it finally arrived near Whitby Harbour, it was a derelict. There was no trace of the crew.
Please don’t suck. Or please do! I’m so confused…

17 –

RiffTrax Live: RAD
Going to be awesome!

18 –

Blue Beetle
Director: Angel Manuel Soto
Stars: Becky G, Bruna Marquezine, Xolo Maridueña
An alien relic chooses Jaime Reyes to be its symbiotic host, bestowing the teenager with a suit of armor that's capable of extraordinary and unpredictable powers, forever changing his destiny as he becomes the superhero Blue Beetle.
Special guest appearance by Herbie the Love Bug!

Have you written something that made you feel conflicted? Have you seen Oppenheimer or They Cloned Tyrone? Any movies catch your eye for August?