Tag: Maurice McDonald

OVER 5,000 VIEWS FOR ‘THE FOUNDER’ REVIEW!

Posted on by Lloyd Marken

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My father is fond of saying to me “Statistics are just that-statistics.” Still one can’t help but be fascinated a little by them. My post https://lloydmarken.wordpress.com/2017/01/18/ray-kroc-what-an-asshole/ , a review of the movie The Founder is my most viewed post by a significant margin but had been quieting down with daily views until last month. I assume this is due to the film coming to network television in North America.

I’m grateful for the interest and hope those whom have read-enjoyed.

A few stats just cause stats, the post published 18JAN2017 received 53 views in January, 372 in February, 212 in March, 1,098 in April, 875 in May, 420 in June, 371 in July and in August 1,779 views – more than any other month. The last week of July boasted 62 views followed by an uptick of 425.81% the following week to reach 326 views. The second week of August saw an increase on the previous week of only 123.01% but this equated to 727 views including 131 views on the 8th of August. Averages across the months per day have been 3, 13, 6, 36, 28, 14, 11 and then in August a record of 57. It currently has 18 Likes and 5,258 views. The number of likes has not increased for some time suggesting a large number of views from people who are not bloggers or those who were not too impressed by the review. 🙂

-Lloyd Marken

OVER 2,500 VIEWS FOR ‘THE FOUNDER’ REVIEW

Posted on by Lloyd Marken

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I’ll try to keep this short but I did want to share that Ray Kroc…What An Asshole! reached 2,500 views on the 27th May, Australian time. Views has been slowing down in the past fortnight following on from the heady explosion of interest in April following the digital release of the The Founder for the home market. I doubt there will be many more milestones to celebrate in the future, certainly in the near future but I hope people who read the review enjoyed it. It is the engagement I get from my regular readers that matters most but it has been exciting knowing so many different individuals from around the world have, even fleetingly, read something I wrote once. Once again I’d just like to thank anybody who has read anything from this humble obscure corner of the internet and enjoyed it.

A few stats just cause stats, the post published 18JAN2017 received 53 views in January, 372 in February, 212 in March, 1,098 in April, 875 in May and so far 29 in June. The last week of April boasted 382 views, followed by 296 views in the first week of May, then 206, 178, 143 and so far this week 81.Averages across the months per day have been 3, 13, 6, 36, 28 and so far in June 10. There is simply no other post on this blog that boasts such stats. It currently has 18 Likes and 2,639 views. Thank you internet.

-Lloyd Marken

RAY KROC…WHAT AN ASSHOLE!

Posted on by Lloyd Marken

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The Founder is one of the earlier Oscar bait releases with the resurgent heat of Michael Keaton at its centre with a performance no less engaging than his recent ones in Spotlight and Birdman. Slickly directed by John Lee Hancock with an award winning cast and something to say about one of the lynchpins of latter 20th Century Western consumerism, if there is a shortcoming it is this pure and simple, Ray Kroc ‘The Founder’ of McDonalds was an absolute prick. A mean cruel man ruthlessly destroying lives for his own selfish needs that at the end of it didn’t get anything coming to him. Without the duality of say a character like Tony Soprano it’s hard as an audience member to watch this and not leave the theatre a little bummed out. The only justice to be found maybe in the fact that maybe this outrage will grow in numbers due to the film’s release.

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Fifty two year old travelling salesman Ray Kroc is selling milkshake makers in 1955 when he receives an order from two brothers running a diner out in San Bernardino, California. There he meets Maurice McDonald (John Carroll Lynch) and Richard McDonald (Nick Offerman) who has perfected a system of making consistently uniform food of good quality delivered instantly as you place the order. Kroc is blown away by their innovation but it is when he sees their failed franchise venture complete with Golden Arches that he possibly falls in love for the first time in his life. Related image

He has reached an age at that time where he could comfortably slip into retirement and have a good life. Ray does not want a good life though, he wants a great life and Ray proves most sympathetic when we see him dismissed at every turn for his failed ventures and looked down upon by others who have enjoyed more success. Unfortunately he does not value personal relationships nor the loyalty, kindness and trust of others. His wife Ethel played by Laura Dern is a buttress of patient support while dealing with her own loneliness and his deceit. Married younger women whispering down the end of telephone lines “Are you a bold man?” get him more excited.

McDonalds feeds 1% of the entire global population on a daily basis. Could something that big be built without ruthlessness shown to others. The McDonalds brothers themselves exasperate Ray at various points as he sets up their franchise stores because they don’t want to compromise the quality of the store at any cost. If they’d had their own way would McDonalds exist today? Robert Siegel’s screenplay has some great moments describing how The Golden Arches would become synonymous with America as much as Church Crosses and court houses were and how your own personal identity let alone your business can be bought and stricken from the record if the law and big money is on the other guy’s  side. It’s well made and a little fascinating but it sure as hell won’t make you feel like ba da ba ba bah lovin Ray Kroc.

-Lloyd Marken