Jules

Year 18, Day 127 - 5/7/26 - Movie #5,324

BEFORE: I've got an early thought about how to get to my Doc Block - it's still a fair distance away, if I follow my usual practice of starting it shortly after Father's Day, during the early summer slump. Look, it's not like studios release a lot of movies during summer or anything...

I arranged my docs in a rough viewing order, based on the limited information available through IMDB, which is getting less trustworthy every day, it seems. But I've also scanned through a bunch of the docs to make some additions of my own to the cast lists. Right now what makes the most sense is to start with a doc on Sigourney Weaver. This fits well with previous editions, where I opened with docs on Sylvester Stallone or Faye Dunaway - something with a lot of movie clips in it should give me a bunch of entry points. Well, there's this new "Star Wars" movie coming out, and Ms. Weaver is in there somewhere, or so I've heard. So now I've got a great excuse to go and see it (umm, I was going to go anyway, I don't really need an excuse - just put "Star Wars" in a movie title, and I'll show up) now all I'll have to do is get to some appropriate movie for Father's Day (if I don't use them all up before then) and then figure out a way to get to something with Pedro Pascal - "Eddington" and "Freaky Tales" are on my list, and then there you go, the Doc Block will take over for the next month of programming. 

Today, Cody Kostro carries over from "Marty Supreme" and I promise that this gets me one step closer to Mothers' Day. Hell, I could cut to the Doc Block from here, Ben Kingsley appears in archive footage in that Sigourney Weaver doc, but no, I'm going to hold back, and when I get back from North Carolina I'll start figuring out the road to Father's Day.

THE PLOT: Milton lives a quiet life of routine in a small western Pennsylvania town, but finds his day upended when a UFO and its extra-terrestrial passenger crash land in his backyard. 

AFTER: When I get my job teaching filmmaking, I will be imparting to students the knowledge that I've gained from watching over 5,000 movies in under 18 years, and so you just know that the best screenwriting tip will be to start with a simple premise and then ask yourself, "What could possibly go wrong in this scenario?" and then KEEP asking yourself that question, again and again, until you've filled up enough pages. A beautiful summer day at the beach, what could possibly go wrong? That's how "Jaws" was created. A man starts playing table tennis, what could possibly go wrong? Well, that's "Marty Supreme" or maybe "Balls of Fury" or maybe also "Forrest Gump". An alien lands in a suburban backyard, what could possibly go wrong there? Well, that's "E.T." but also it's "The War of the Worlds" or "Independence Day" or "Mars Attacks".

It's also "Jules", but this one isn't like any of the others, it's kind of its own quirky little thing. Here a spaceship lands in the backyard of an elderly man, and he's something of the town character, he's got some form of dementia, which results in him attending every town meeting and asking the same questions, possibly because he doesn't remember doing so before? It's unclear. But he's got a couple of older lady friends, and a daughter who wants him to get checked out, and a son who lives somewhere else, one that he doesn't talk to.  It happens. Look, I don't know exactly what message the chain is trying to send me this week, because it's a little all over the place. Two films about athletes who can't succeed at the championship level in their sports, one film about all the animal species living together in a futuristic city, and now two films about people who are getting old and losing their cognition. I'm so confused, like sure, I'm driving down to visit my parents for a week soon, so any tips on dealing with older people, sure, I'll take them. Let's ignore "Zootopia" because it's just a fantasy film for kids, plus this week got thrown out of joint by having to replace a few films at the last second, so I just don't know, maybe there's no clear message here and I could really use a week off, away from NYC and a bunch of late-night shifts, followed by movies that make me stay up until 4 am. But the good news is that our neighbors moved in next door, which means that three months of construction noise is over, I'm sleeping better than I have in weeks. 

Milton's maybe on the spectrum somewhere, because he has no filter - his first impulse was to call 911 because the spaceship damaged his azaleas. Then he called again because the alien left the ship and was crawling toward his house - I think he's right to panic, because you just never know what kind of germs those aliens might have brought with them from another world, could be something we don't have immunity to. But after a couple days he takes pity on the alien (because it's humanoid, probably) and invites it inside, out of the cold, and feeds it apples. When his friend Sandy comes over, Milton doesn't even think to warn her that there's an alien sitting with him watching TV, it's like the most natural thing. But Sandy tells him they've got to keep the alien secret, and that it might have weird alien powers, the ones in the movies are always chased by the government, which would want to study it or kill it or both. 

Joyce, another older friend, comes over because she sees Sandy's car at Milton's house, and before long the three of them share the secret. Meanwhile, Milton's daughter gets him to that mental evaluation, and it's determined that he is losing his faculties, and should consider assisted living. Milton discounts the diagnosis and feels upset and attacked, he just wants to stay in his home with his new alien friend, which he and his friends now call Jules. Sandy, who has started some kind of mentorship program to connect with the young people in town, is assaulted by a young man who wants to steal her jewelry - but Jules, having bonded with Sandy mentally, feels from afar that she's in danger, and causes the assailant's head to explode. Ah, so the alien DOES have powers, but only seems to use them to protect his new friends. 

Jules needs to fix the spaceship in order to leave Earth, only the supplies he needs to do so are rather unorthodox, but his new human friends are willing to try and supply them. However the NSA is looking for the alien craft, and agents are combing western Pennsylvania while others listen to everyone's phone calls, hoping to hear people talking about the rogue alien. The police also note Milton and Sandy's weird activities in trying to procure the things Jules needs to fix the ship.  Honestly it's really a re-working of "E.T." just with senior citizens in place of kids, and apple slices instead of Reese's Pieces - it's a wonder we didn't see a couple of Rascal scooters flying across the moon here. 

Milton is offered a chance to go with Jules back to his homeworld, or maybe just to fly across the heavens, and if he hadn't just reconciled with his daughter, maybe he would have. But also Milton knows that his mental facilities are declining, and if he ventures too far from home, he's going to feel even more lost. Really, bonding with aliens and flying out into space is a young man's game, after all. Hey, you know, they never really followed up "E.T." with a sequel, so we have no idea if he ever came back to visit Elliot, I mean, what are the odds of making a sequel at this point. But then again, why should we let THAT be the only big blockbuster with no follow-up movie? You know what, get me Spielberg on the phone...

Directed by Marc Turtletaub (director of "Puzzle" and producer of "Land" and "The Farewell")

Also starring Ben Kingsley (last seen in "The Thursday Murder Club"), Harriet Sansom Harris (last seen in "Love Is Strange"), Jane Curtin (last seen in "Queen Bees"), Zoë Winters, Jade Quon, Andy Daly (last seen in "Life as We Know It"), Teddy Cañez (last seen in "Ben Is Back"), Narea Kang, Edward James Hyland (last seen in "The Object of My Affection"), Blair Baker, Joshua Moore, John Skelley, Christopher Kelly, Aubie Merrylees, Anna George (last seen in "Syriana"), Eric T. Miller (last seen in "Nyad"), Marina Shay, Donald Paul (last seen in "Southside with You"), Jeff Kim (last seen in "Men in Black: International"), Patrick Noonan (last seen in "The Half of It"), Rebekah Brockman (last seen in "Bridge of Spies"), Lee Sellars (last seen in "Rocket Science"), Laura Jordan (last seen in "Drunk Parents")

RATING: 6 out of 10 city council meetings (I didn't realize they were daily in some towns)