Gerald Pyke

Calvinball season ticket holder. Been a lot of places, seen a lot of things. You name the babies, I'll name the dogs.

[Gerald Pyke @pykeiam]

After 50 years I've realized , the baddest man was never Leroy Brown, it was always Yukon Cornelius.

[Yehuda Remer @ThePewPewJew]

Happy Lexington and Concord day!

[Dudes Posting Their W’s @DudespostingWs]

Japanese engineers developed a “Sword Tip Visualization System” for the Fencing World Championships, and it makes fencing look absolutely incredible to watch.

[Stone Gasman @stonegasman]

#MarchRankingChallenge2026 #RonHoward (MARCH 11: FAR AND AWAY)

After Parenthood & Backdraft were box office hits for Universal, the studio essentially gave Ron carte blanche to do whatever he wanted, a labor of love if you will. Thus, Ron recruited his Willow screenwriter Bob Dolman to craft fan fiction involving his ancestors who immigrated from Ireland in the 1890s. Power couple Tom Cruise & Nicole Kidman took on the project having married a year after Days of Thunder. The result is an old-fashioned, sweeping epic in the spirit of John Ford; many people disliked, even mocked the result.

Cruise plays an Irish farmer whose father dies and property is reclaimed by mustache-twirling villain Thomas Gibson, making his film debut before Dharma & Greg and Criminal Minds who works for rich landowner Robert Prosky. Through chance and circumstance, Cruise hooks up with Prosky's feisty daughter (the luminous Kidman) as they travel to Boston and eventually Oklahoma to garner land in the famous Land Rushes of the 1890s (after much of the land was stolen from Native Americans).

Let's get the elephant out of the room: yes, the accents delivered by Cruise & Kidman are far from top notch despite fact they clearly are giving them their all and they worked with one of the best dialogue coaches in the business, Tim Monich. Aside from that rather embarrassing aspect, however, I adore everything else about this production: Mikael Saloman's breathtaking 70MM cinematography (dude should have won an Oscar) and John Williams' powerhouse score, with tremendous support by Irish folk band The Chieftans and exquisite song "Book of Days" by Enya, who was offensively nominated for a Razzie (in response, Cinematic Excrement told the parody show to "go fuck a weedwacker and whole assortment of garden tools."

Making up for the leads' less-than-stellar accents are a strong supporting cast with real Irish actors including Colm Meaney (aka Chief O'Brien from Star Trek) as slimy Boston fight organizer Kelly, Eileen Pollack who runs the Boston whorehouse our protagonists find lodging at, and Cyril Cusack (in final performance) as Danty Duff who warns Cruise of "Captain Moonlight" in seeking revenge against his landlord. In addition, Ron's dad Rance & bro Clint have delicious roles as a horse wrangler and chicken factory supervisor, respectively.

The climactic Land Rush of 1893 is both a vivid & eye-popping spectacle as Howard had hundreds of extras to employ and I regret not seeing Far and Away in theaters because of it. Film historians will note that while the Land Rush had been previously showcased in Tumbleweeds (1925) and Best Picture winner Cimarron (1931) they weren't nearly as spectacular as it was executed here. Many have retroactively made comparisons to Cameron's Titanic and understandably so as the parallels are impossible to ignore. I'm more than comfortable than saying I think Far and Away eclipses Titanic on every level and even the accents have grown on me in repeat viewings. I love this movie!

Universal has been less-than-respectful when it comes to Far and Away on physical media as they initially provided only a bare-bones, barely adequate Blu-ray. Shout! Factory came along to rectify that with a 2-disc Collector's Edition 4K/Blu-ray combo approved by the cinematographer and an outstanding feature-length documentary "Enterprise or Love: The Story of Far and Away" with interviews with practically every cast member except Tom & Nicole. A truly must buy for fans, with the only caveat being none of the deleted scenes from the 3-hour TV version is present.

[John A. Douglas @J0hnADouglas]

A book series we deserve.

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

The average man's dream

[Gerald Pyke @pykeiam]

@mtahmisian24 Squeeze

[Gerald Pyke @pykeiam]

@TheCinesthetic As far as entrances go.

[Gerald Pyke @pykeiam]

@SvenTystnad Snatched or Once Upon a Time in Hollywood or Inglorious Basterds. I can't decide.

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

Absolutely

[Gerald Pyke @pykeiam]

@THErealDVORAK Tyrique - standard spelling

[Gerald Pyke @pykeiam]

@RealJamesWoods And God bless you and yours, James.

[Gerald Pyke @pykeiam]

@ScottPresler Thank you, Scott.

[Gerald Pyke @pykeiam]

@TheCinesthetic This is for.........Mathilda.

Great ending for a truly evil character.

[Physics In History @PhysInHistory]

In your opinion, does the universe have a purpose ? ✍️

[Gerald Pyke @pykeiam]

@PhysInHistory Yes, it's where I keep all my stuff.

[Gerald Pyke @pykeiam]

@PlatypusIronic

[Johnny Midnight ⚡️ @its_The_Dr]

How will Tim Walz be remembered?

[Gerald Pyke @pykeiam]

@its_The_Dr Who?

[Gerald Pyke @pykeiam]

@MTGrepp 👍

[Klara @klara_sjo]

New York squirrels are training, they have become radicalized.