This is the Official Website and Blog of Ryan Scott McCullar. I am a Professional Graphic Designer, Writer, and Visual Artist currently working for the State of Illinois. Previously, I was an adjunct college art professor for 20 years who also worked in marketing and communications.
Outside of my day job, I am the creator-owner of THRILL SEEKER COMICS™ ANTHOLOGY Pulp Action & Adventure Series featuring The Yellow Jacket: Man of Mystery™ that I write and illustrate under my independent publishing banner named Bandito Entertainment™. I also currently write and illustrate the brand-new comic strip series SEA SHANTY FUNNIES™ featuring the public-domain character POPEYE.
Topics of Interest Covered: Comic Books. Music and Vinyl Record Collecting. Films. Books. Action Figures. Philately (Stamp Collecting).Karate. Politics. Blogging and Life.
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed are my own. This is my personal account and does not reflect my employer.
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I recently stumbled upon the website Letterboxd where a person can catalog, track, rate, and comment on all of the movies that they have seen as well as make a watchlist of films they want to view. They can then connect with like-minded moviegoers and compare notes.
I'm connected there with my son Mitchell. We share a love and strong bond of watching movies together and discussing them. About 25 years ago, with my pal and colleague Ryan Reeves, we used to run a film club at Springfield College in Illinois (before the college was absorbed into Benedictine University and later permanently closed). It was one of my favorite memories and expediences of working at that college for those 20 years.
I'm still going through the website and cataloging the films that I have seen in my lifetime. I've got listed over 800 films so far, but I know that I've seen more than than over the last five decades or so. I will keep looking at lists and try to remember so that I can input them into the site.
Last night, I rewatched the John Huston film THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING released back in 1975. It is based on a novella by Rudyard Kipling. The film stars Sean Connery, Michael Caine, and Christopher Plummer.
The film is set in 1880s India, follows the story of two former soldiers of the British Army who decide to set themselves up as Kings in Kafiristan, a land where no white man had set foot since Alexander the Great in Fourth Century B.C. The two sign a contract with Rudyard Kipling being the witness. Off they go on their great and tragic adventure. I won't spoil it for you, but it was one heck of a buddy movie (real life pals) with Connery and Caine together.
John Huston had tried to make this movie back in the 1950s. He originally picked Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart to play the leads. Sadly, Bogart died before the movie could be made and not too much later, Gable also passed away. I can only imagine what that film would have been like with two of my favorite American actors -- but I do believe having an Englander and a Scot playing ex-sergeants from Her Majesty's British Army seems to be a little more authentic.
It had been almost 20 years since I'd seen this movie. I had forgotten how much I really enjoyed this film.
Over the last four days, Jennifer and I watched the three-part Beatles docuseries “GET BACK” over on Disney+. I had been hyping it on Facebook ever since it was announced a few years ago that director Peter Jackson was going to take the footage that has been locked in a vault for decades and make a definitive docuseries out of it that would in a way re-write and re-place the abysmal “LET IT BE” film that for 50 years has been termed the documentary about the break up of The Beatles. The footage and sound recordings had been meticulously restored. I felt that since I’ve hyped my excitement up about wanting to see this docuseries, I might add my two cents. I thought since many of you know that I am a diehard, lifelong Beatles fan, you'd like to know what I thought.
For this longtime fan who has poured over the music of The Beatles, listened to this material for thousands of hours over the since early childhood including collecting and listening to bootleg outtake materials of these sessions, reading book after book of analysis on the subject matter, and even owned a bootleg copy of LET IT BE on a pirated DVD, etc. --- well, this docuseries changed my perception on many things of what I’ve believed yet what was most important to me to watch as a fan was to see the dynamic of the Fab Four working together in the studio and seeing how these songs materialized while witnessing the dynamics and drama going on in their interactions. It did rewrite the history books and what I had previously thought.
While it was said that Peter Jackson had free reign to cull the footage and make this documentary to reveal the true happenings of what was going on, I still do suspect there were a few selective moments that may have been left out to not cast certain people in a negative light --- most of all – probably John Lennon as he was struggling with a drug problem in the early part of January 1969 before they moved the sessions over to the Apple Studios. The traditional history was that Yoko Ono caused the break up of The Beatles and I purely don’t believe that was the case. But I digress.
To distill all of this into a quick reaction of the docuseries --- yes, I loved this film and thought it was truly amazing. It was very much a “Fly on the Wall” experience to watch The Beatles make one of their greatest albums in their final year all together as one group. To see and hear songs “come together” was truly out of this world like watching childbirth to hear them materialize.
I mentioned to Jennifer that this 6+ hour docuseries is really for the hardcore diehard Beatles fan to watch. Again, I had to break it up and watch it over four days with her because of the length of the 3-part docuseries. I think for the casual fan and/or a “newbie” who doesn’t know much about The Beatles, it would be best if there was a companion abridged “Reader’s Digest” version of this to make it a shortened 2-hour film at the most to watch it one sitting. I read the other day that Peter Jackson did put together this shortened version that he premiered at two red carpet events for the rich and famous in London and Los Angeles and I hope that Disney will make this version also available for the casual viewer that would be more likely to watch it in one viewing for the highlights. Otherwise, I think this is too much to digest unless you were somewhat more invested into The Beatles.
So, while I could write a whole thesis on my reaction(s!) to this docuseries, I will just keep it simple and say that I absolutely loved it. For decades, like I mentioned, the only way to see the original 1970 “LET IT BE” film was through pirated copies as it was a sore spot for The Beatles. Now, with Peter Jackson’s intervention, this has finally after all these years been lovingly remastered and given back to the fans to see a fuller, bigger picture of what more honestly transpired during those sessions, and it was a love letter to and from The Beatles to their fans – and actually this was a gift to Paul, Ringo, and their loved ones as it is a sore spot no more. I truly loved “GET BACK” and thought it was “Fab”.
