I realise that I don’t like action movies very much, which is something I should have considered when I decided to do this, but I’m almost a fifth in so no point giving up now.
Nic is an English teacher whose wife is attacked by a stranger and hospitalized. A shady guy finds Nic in the hospital and offers to kill the man who did it in exchange for a favor from him to be provided at a later date. Sure. This brings Nic into the fold of a shady vigilante organisation that makes him kill a journalist or something. The bad guy from iron man three is there and everybody says “The hungry rabbit jumps.” like a hundred times.
There’s also a lot of commentary on the lawlessness of New Orleans post-hurricane? I’m not sure what that is about, and Nic Cage teaches Shakespeare to underprivileged youths.
Positive notes are that his wife doesn’t die. (Yes it’s a low bar and it’s disappointing that I was briefly impressed by this in my cage delirium.)
Nic’s Job in this one: Literature teacher obsessed with Shakespeare! At this point I love every job where he isn’t a cop. And hearing him monologuing is always fun. 7/10
Nic’s Name in this one: Will Gerard. Hmm I like Will for him, less masculine then his usual franks or johnnys. But it’s a pretty boring one.
Nic’s look in this one: Oh my GOD that goatee. Beautiful. Makes no sense. I love it. In terms of his fashion he dresses like a winchester nothing more to say there.
Overall it’s boring and ugly to look at but at least it had a plot and while I would never encourage anyone to watch this, if it came on while you were at the dentist or something it would probably be a little more entertaining then just staring at your watch. 3/10
Fact-checking “From Here to the Great Unknown”: Lisa Marie Presley obsessed in being “perfect” for Michael Jackson
When he would come over her whole world would stop. The front gate would buzz, and a voice would say, "MJ is here." The drive from the gate to our house was about six minutes-in that time, my mom would be scurrying around to fix her lips and put her makeup on.
Did Lisa truly became a “glamazon” because of Michael Jackson?
Lisa’s public style did took a turn to a more vintage Old Hollywood vibe in 1994 (which would return during her marriage to Nicolas Cage and in 2012), creating the narrative she did a full on makeover because of Michael. But, as we already established in the previous post, Lisa didn’t paint her nails red because of Michael (quite the opposite, she stopped doing so during their relationship). She also didn’t use red lipstick because of Michael; it was probably one of her favourite make-ups, and she wore it before and after their relationship, including after his death.
Lisa and her husbands/boyfriends: Danny Keough in 1988; Michael Jackson in 1994; Luke Watson in 1999; John Oszajca in 1999; Nicolas Cage in 2001; Michael Lockwood in 2005
The subtext in the “memoir” is that Lisa was trying to be someone she wasn’t when she was with Michael, since she was kind of known to be tomboy-ish. But that’s not true when one looks at her style evolution. That same Old Hollywood vibe was present in her relationships with Nicolas Cage and Michael Lockwood (especially in 2012-forward). In fact, in 2012, when she debuted a entirely new look from the early 2000s, Lisa said:
“People that I trusted for years turned out to be not good. Plus there was pressure from the label trying to make me dress like a teenage sexpot onstage [laughs]. I lost control. I had to have a wake-up call.”
— Lisa Marie Presley: A Previously Unpublished Q&A About Her Father and the Healing Power of Music (2012)
Contrary to what the “memoir” is trying to hint at, Lisa herself has said her early 2000s “rockstar” look wasn’t even her choice, she was pressured by her record label, Capitol Records, to dress, as she described it, “like a teenage sexpot”. In 2012, she had a new contract with Universal Republic Records, and went back to the vintage-inspired style she sort of had with both Michael Jackson and Nicolas Cage.
She did seem to wear more jewelry with Michael, though (which lead J. Randy Taraborrelli to make some wild claims on his fanfiction of a biography), but, as Lisa revealed on “The Howard Stern Show”, in 2003, Michael sort of showered her with all kinds of gifts. Donald Trump, allegedly, was witness to Michael gifting Lisa with a pearl necklace (since they spent months in a penthouse in Trump Tower, in 1994).
While the “memoir” is doing some heavy lifting to try and draw parallels with how Priscilla behaved with Elvis with how Lisa acted with Michael; Michael’s behavior wasn’t, in fact, not so different from her father. Elvis was a loving and dotting father, but (in)famously indulgent with his “little princess” whom he adored and treasured more than anyone; he gifted her with diamonds, a mink coat, a pony, a golf cart of her own. He shut down entire amusement parks just for her (at a time this was unheard of). He flew her on his private jet to Idaho just for her to play in the snow for a few hours.
However, in a casual setting with Michael, Lisa had a more laid back style; and didn’t always wore red lipstick, or high heels (especially during their honeymoon), which contradicts this claim she was obsessed in fixing her make-up, trying to be “perfect” on his behalf, or be someone she wasn’t for him.
August 9, 1994; September 5-6, 1994; April 10, 1995; May 25, 1995
