#(hope they win an Oscar for best original soundtrack)

[inexpressiblybeatiful]

The best part about solving the e-mail was how hungrily Irene acted towards Sherlock.

I MEAN

GURL

YOU

YOU GOTTA

STOP

I CAN'T

And the fact that neither Sherlock nor John were paying attention to her. LMAO.

[the-celluloid-correspondent]

Guardians of the Galaxy VOL. 3

Still reeling from the loss of Gamora, Peter Quill rallies his team to defend the universe and one of their own - a mission that could mean the end of the Guardians.

Ever since EndGame, the MCU has been a complete mess. After numerous critical and box office flops, the franchise has become directionless and soulless. However, the only group of the MCU that still has somewhat of a soul would be the Guardians of the Galaxy. The surprise hit from 2014 took a bunch of nobodies and turned them into a household name. But the question remained on whether or not this group will finally meet their end was up in the air. With the firing and rehiring of James Gunn, their future was uncertain. However, with the announcement that this would be the final Guardians movie, my hopes were renewed and met. Guardians of the Galaxy VOL. 3 is a satisfying and surprisingly moving conclusion to the galaxy's favorite mischiefs.

The heart of VOL. 3 is Rocket, The Raccoon. His story is central to the film as we are shown his heartbreaking backstory. This backstory delves into the darkest material that the MCU has shown. The tone is serious, and a joke is thankfully not found in these scenes. This tonal consistency is what Marvel has been desperately lacking over the past couple of years. The MCU never treated serious moments seriously, and it was a breath of fresh air to see Marvel take itself seriously. As with all Gunn films, the jokes stick their landing, especially the MCU's first F-Bomb. The dialogue is witty and smart, with only a handful of questionable lines. The action is spectacular, though it does run into the MCU trope of a massive CGI battle in its final act. Lastly, all of the characters have their proper and bittersweet send-off that perfectly complements each character. VOL. 3 has a soul that doesn't feel like it was made by a corporate machine.

What adds to my further suprisement is that the actors took their acting seriously here and delivered some of the best acting performances in the MCU. As previously stated, Rocket was the heart of this film, and Bradley Cooper's voice acting here is excellent. His performance is heartbreaking and moving. If there was an Oscar category for voice acting, Cooper would absolutely win it. As for the rest of the returning actors, Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillian, Vin Diesel, and Pom Klementieff they all deliver. They all return to form with their original characters but are given much more to work with as each character is given more layers. Chukwudi Iwuji was one of the most terrifying MCU villains to date, or at least within the first two acts. In the final act, it was hard to take him seriously with his character's constant screaming and shouting. Will Poulter is wasted as Adam Warlock. He is not given all that much to do other than being a bumbling idiot.

As with all Guardians films, the soundtrack has to be kickass, which VOL. 3 lacked. The majority of needle drops were a mixed back, with only four drops actually sticking the landing. The accompanying score is also lacking, as with all MCU films. The character and production design were colorful and unique. The VFX, for the most part, was pretty good, with only a handful of shots of questionable CGI. My only other complaint was the first act was a bit of a mess and scrambling trying to figure out what it wanted to be. Once the movie figured that out, it hit all the strides that it needed to.

Overall, Guardians of the Galaxy VOL. 3 is a heartbreaking and moving send-off to our favorite misfits. It feels like Phase 2 and 3 of Marvel. It has a creative soul that actually cares about its characters and story. This is what the MCU has lost; hopefully, this will be a lesson.

I am giving Guardians of the Galaxy VOL. 3. an A-.

[final-girlboss]

So @sounds-of-some-day and I have been trying to watch as many movies we felt would be nominated at the Oscars this year, and now with the official nomination list, I can't say I'm shocked but I'm definitely disappointed.

If Maestro wins a single Oscar (save for maybe Sound), I'll be incredibly upset. Never seen a more haphazardly slapped together, desperate film before, and I think Bradley Cooper's begging for an Oscar is starting to get incredibly annoying.

Killers of Flower Moon was mid at best, but I wouldn't be upset with it winning Costuming, or with Lily Gladstone winning Best Actress (even if I personally feel Sandra Hüller was the standout actress this year both in Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest). Shocked to see that Margot Robbie wasn't nominated for Barbie however, she was truly the standout performance in that movie and I really feel like she deserves one at this point (she was previously passed over for I, Tonya, which she truly deserved it for in my opinion).

I truly hope Anatomy of a Fall wins something (Original Screenplay seems to be the most likely), because it was such an incredible film. Past Lives, as well, because it did not go where I thought it would and it was such a breath of fresh air, as well as bringing a unique perspective to the idea of destined lovers. I'll be a little pissed about May December winning, mostly because the producers didn't ask for permission to tell the story of the real person and events their story was based on.

I'm tickled to see Nimona nominated for Animated, even though I know it won't win (not that I'm begrudging Spiderverse or Boy and the Heron for this, they're both incredible movies).

I can see Barbie getting Production Design, and I honestly wouldn't be upset with that at all. Though, knowing the Academy, it's usually the historical pieces that win these categories. If Napoleon wins, I'll be incredibly upset.

If Maestro wins Makeup and Hairstyling, I'll walk into the fucking ocean. That fake nose prosthetic was so bad and distracting and it made Cooper sound incredibly nasal-y and awful. Or maybe he was doing that on purpose to sound deeper and it just sounded like shit instead. Regardless, I think it's the worst pick for this category.

Disheartened by the lack of Metro Boomin in Best Song. The Spiderverse soundtrack was breathtaking, and Metro and the rest of the musicians worked incredibly hard on the incredible songs such as Am I Dreaming and Annihilate. Barbie getting two songs nominated...I understand I'm Just Ken was a funny song with a creative dance number, and the emotion and story of finding yourself in What Was I Made For are both really good, but it should have been one or the other.

TLDR; Oscars stay predictably boring and disappointing.

Side note, in December I was able to watch The Iron Claw; INCREDIBLE movie, I cried at least 4 times while watching it. Not a single nomination. Sorry but Zac Efron's role was far better than Bradley Cooper's shit ass Maestro. Please watch The Iron Claw.

[kingofmyborrowedheart]

I hope one day Taylor can win an Oscar for best original song. I think she hasn’t won yet is because each of her soundtrack songs has felt/sounded like it could have been a track on her albums. It would be also cool to see her write songs for broadway since!

I would love it if Taylor did a broadway musical or even a play for that matter! I hadn’t thought about how her soundtrack stuff could slide onto specific albums before but you’re totally right! It will be interesting to see what accolades her feature film garners when that comes out. Who knows she could win her first Oscar for her film rather than for a soundtrack song!

[the-cat-chat]

April 9, 2022

The Shape of Water (2017)

At a top secret research facility in the 1960s, a lonely janitor forms a unique relationship with an amphibious creature that is being held in captivity.

JayBell: I heard so many different conflicting opinions about this 2018 Best Picture winner that it took me almost five years to watch it. While I actually knew very little about the movie, I knew enough to expect weird. So when the weird did indeed come (like Elisa did several times throughout the film), I was perhaps more prepared and open-minded than the individuals who warned me away.

Am I desensitized to the extremely weird? Maybe. But I still wasn’t as shocked or as scandalized as I expected to be. I knew there would be cross-species sex, but it wasn’t graphic and there were no tentacles, although I’m sure that was a disappointment to many others.

The soundtrack stood out as something special to me, which research shows resulted in an Oscar win for Best Original Score. The cinematography led to several beautifully shot and well-constructed scenes, and there was a certain coloring to the film that created a sense of atmosphere. I was also pleasantly surprised by Michael Shannon’s effective performance as the villain.

I went into this experience expecting freaky cross-species sex. While that did indeed occur, believe it or not, this movie is about much more than that. By the end of the film, its themes of injustice, racism, and even misogyny were what truly stuck with me. Yes, even above the cross-species sex.

Rating: 7/10 cats 🐈‍

Anzie: With a reputation that precedes itself, I wholeheartedly thought movie night would take a very freaky turn quite rapidly. Which made me shocked when the movie opened up with light music and a beautifully intricate setting. And to be honest not knowing what this movie was beyond all the scandal swimming around Fish guy and the grief it got- I had no real hope for plot, but it drew me in and held my attention almost immediately and remained an engaging story until the end.

The cast gives outstanding performances that truly show the kind and endearing qualities of companionship, but also the uglier sides of humanity. *cough cough to a certain unhinged character played very well by Michael Shannon* That being said, Fish guy actually gave me a violent, physical reaction when he first appeared on screen. Something in the eyes and the breathing of the Fish guy made me deeply uncomfortable.

All in all it was a good film and led me to ponder a very important question- which I literally have thought about at least once a day since watching: is buttering both sides of your toast really a thing??

Rating: 6.5/10 🐟

[365days365movies]

100%. Oh, sorry. January 12, 2021: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Epilogue)

100%, THIS MOVIE IS PERFECT

I can’t even hope to be objective about this one, this movie is GODDAMN AMAZING.

Look, I’ll try to go into it in some detail, but I can’t even pretend that this isn’t my favorite movie so far this month. But did it dethrone Mad Max: Fury Road? We’ll get there. Let’s do the review.

Review

OK, let’s get this over with.

Cast and Acting:

Perfect, both for the action scenes, and for the acting scenes. Michelle Yeoh and Chow Yun-Fat have a timeless chemistry that betrays and unseen-yet-boundless history, and they both reveal nuances to their characters in every moment they’re on screen. Did you know that Michelle Yeoh LEARNED MANDARIN for this movie? Zhang Ziyi, HOLY FUCK. This is her THIRD MOVIE, and it made her a star in China AND eventually in the USA. Amazing turn. And Cheng Pei-pei! NEVER thought I’d see her in this film, and even at 54, she’s still got it! GODDAMN, this cast rules. And Chang Chen was awesome, too. 10/10, easy.

Plot and Writing: 

Complex, and yet surprisingly easy to follow and remember. Sets up backstory masterfully, and executes the story efficiently and succinctly. Literally some of the best plot-work I’ve ever seen in a film, period. The writing, too, gets its point across, while injecting profundity that never feels pandering or desperately cloying. Also, for a story revolving around Chinese culture and a book series from China, this movie’s story is surprisingly Shakespearean. I mean it! The intertwined love stories, the revenge, the action, the pathos, it’s something that Shakespeare easily could’ve written. And yet, Wang Dulu wrote it instead. For the screenplay, though, massive credit to Wang Hui-lung, James Schamus, and Kuo Jung Tsai for this one. 10/10, no question.

Direction and Action: 

GORGEOUS CINEMATOGRAPHY, thanks to Peter Pau. Can’t emphasize that one enough, this movie is art. I wanna talk more about Ang Lee on another day (stay tuned for Romance February), but OK, THE ACTION, HOLY GOD. The choreography was TIGHT. AS. HELL, and wins the prize for my favorite fight scenes so far. And the filming of those fight scenes is fantastic, capturing all of the action, yet never feeling detached from the characters and movement. And by the way, THIS is now the quintessential action movie that works within it genre for me. Why? Because it tells a story through the action. When they fight, the characters aren’t just trading punches, their communicating. When Jen is fighting the town thugs, she’s showing off her skills, but also displaying her arrogance, and showing why she isn’t truly worthy of the Green Destiny. When she and Shu Lien fight, the former is displaying her frustration and arrogance, while the latter is putting her in her place, and revealing her own hurt emotions and spurned assistance. When Jade Fox and Mu Bai fight for the first time, both are fighting their past, but from different angles, and in different ways. One fights for anger, the other for justice. GODDAMN, MAN, 10/10!

Production Design: 

Already said it, really. The cinematography is amazing, but that’s also because this film looks fantastic. The bamboo forest, the Beijing temples, the bar, the desert, the battle arena, the bridge, the cavern at the end, all of them are amazing looking. That’s not even mentioning the costumes. Not sure what time in history we're in here, but it doesn’t really matter. We’re in an older time, and the sets and costumes whisked me there as I watched it. 10/10, it’s astonishing.

Music and Editing: 

Editing is fantastic, and this movie is paced brilliantly. Thank you to Tim Squyres for that. As for the music, I have the soundtrack on my phone now. It’s gorgeous. This movie, remember won the Oscar for Best Original Score, and it shows for sure. I don’t even have more to say about it, other than a thank you to Tan Dun, and a 10/10.

.

Look, I know I’m just a humble Tumblr critic, but seriously...100%. This movie got SLEPT on by the Oscars, and ABSOLUTELY should’ve defeated Gladiator for Best Picture. And as I’ve already said, if you haven’t seen this movie, WATCH IT. Seriously, WATCH THIS MOVIE. It’s easily the best movie I’ve seen this month. Which raises the question...has it dethroned Mad Max: Fury Road?

...Maybe. But I’m not sure yet. If nothing else, it’s absolutely tied with it. Might be nostalgia speaking there, somehow. But, yeah...this might actually have defeated Fury Road. I’m gonna have to figure it out by the end of the month.

I love this goddamn movie. How the hell am I gonna top this? I mean...more wuxia?

January 13: House of Flying Daggers (2004)

[fandumbstuff]

The DC Extended Universe, Ranked Best to Worst.

1. Wonder Woman Directed by Patty Jenkins

Wonder Woman might be the only good movie that DC has made. Patty Jenkins really hits the nail on the head and perfectly captures the voice of the character. For a character so old and so iconic, there are many versions of Diana’s story, but Patty Jenkins really manages to deliver a definitive version. Gal Gadot, like Christopher Reeve or Chadwick Boseman before her, is perfectly cast in a role that is so much more than just a movie character. Diana is as strong as she is compassionate. The character flaws she needs to overcome is her own naivete, rather than the misguided angst so many of DC’s other characters grapple with. While other action sequences in the franchise have been overly cluttered, Wonder Woman’s cinematography offers some of the slickest, most iconic action scenes in the genre. It’s an altogether incredible achievement and a milestone for cinema in general.

2. Wonder Woman 1984 Directed by Patty Jenkins

The greatest fault I could find with this movie is that it didn’t lean into the 80s setting more. It does tread the line of a rather schmaltzy central plot, but solid performances from cast members like Pedro Pascal make it believable. It’s an absolute joy to see Gadot and Pine return to their roles, and an even greater joy to see ther choice of outfits for every scene. Solid. While Kristen Wiig is expectedly brilliant like with everything she does, she’s handling a character arc that seems derivative and outdated. Like it’s predecessor, WW84 showcases some pretty stellar action sequences, with Jenkins once again showing a knowing eye for big, impressive set pieces paired with frenetically paced fight sequences.

3. Aquaman Directed by James Wan

After the convoluted mess of ensemble films like Suicide Squad and Justice League, and even some of Marvel’s recent fare, it was refreshing to see a more traditional origin story. This was ultimately what drew my interest to superheroes in general, and while this film doesn’t have the same elegance of a Superman (1978) or Batman Begins, it’s an origin story that modern audiences can sign on for easily. It’s strongest scenes are in the lore-expanding quest that Arthur and Mera go on, simultaneoulsy a National Treasure-esque adventure and a showcase for solid chemistry between Jason Momoa and Amber Heard. And while Ocean Master does seem like an exaggerated villain at times, It’s Patrick Wilson’s solid performance that manages to sell it and make him arguably the best villain DC’s had.

4. Shazam! Directed by David F. Sandberg

Obviously, an inordinate amount of fun. Shazam doesn’t try and be something it’s not. Ultimately, more than any other superhero film, Shazam understands that this genre was always intended for children. And while at times the plot might seem thin or the conflict inconsequential, Shazam never loses sight of it’s heart. A capable cast of child actors make this believable, and subverting the genre tropes makes the film charming and witty. While it seems overly simplistic in terms of it’s storytelling, in DC’s world of confusing plots, this is a welcome change.

5. Man of Steel Directed by Zack Snyder

Perhaps the strangest portrayal of Superman to date, Zack Snyder honed in on the mythos of the character and what makes him “super” Unfortunately, it seems to completely ignore what makes him a “man”. We’re left with a wholly alien representation of the character- a gross misunderstanding of who Superman is supposed to be. Horrible character choices for both Jor-El and Jonathan Kent leave Clark a shell of the hero he’s supposed to be. We’re left with a character more willing to grapple with moral dilemmas and his own inner angst than actually step up and do the right thing. Henry Cavill has an undeniably affective presence, and he certainly feels right for the role, but he’s never given a chance to actually play the part. Aesthetically pleasing to look at, and generally quite entertaining, it’s unfortunately the way Man of Steel fails its character that makes it so unbearable.

6. Birds of Prey (And the rest of the title) Directed by Cathy Yan

I mean, this is basically just a Harley Quinn movie with some other random characters thrown in. Considering Margot Robbie wrote the film, I find it particularly bothersome that the most work she does for character development is for her own character. We see brief intriguing glimpses of some of the other Birds and unfortunately never get more than a taste. Some of the fight scenes are handling quite capably, trading in the more grittier feel of the standard DC fare for more amusing prop and set work. However, much like Suicide Squad before it, I feel like the movie suffers from “soundtrack vomit”-  a post Guardians of the Galaxy symptom in which a movie tries to assemble catchy songs and them slot them into the edit with no real motivation. 

7. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Directed by Zack Snyder

An absolute misfire from DC in a sad attempt to make themselves relevant amidst Marvel’s runaway success. A focal point in the movie is the collateral damage caused by Superman in Man of Steel. And apparently the best way for the movie to deliberate on this is by exhibiting even more collateral damage. Showcasing the conflict between these two iconic characters seems like a good idea on paper, and it’s certainly been captivating in past comics. But the movie seems to devolve it into nothing more than a bar fight between two dumb jocks. We see Batman get cyber bullied by Lex Luthor, and Superman get coerced by a stupid plot hole. Then they beat each other up like idiots. A movie that spawned a thousand jokes, it’s really only worth watching to make fun of.

8. Joker Directed by Todd Philips

Apparently, this movie isn’t supposed to be counted as part of DC’s Film Universe. But I couldn’t resist the opportunity to remind you what a steaming pile of garbage it is. It would be inaccurate to even call this a movie. It’s really just a desperate actor trying to win an Oscar from an Academy that continues to be woefully out of touch. And an even more pathetic attempt by a incel director to stay relevant. The talented work from it’s cinematographer and composer force me to show some restraint from putting it at the bottom of this list, but rest assured- while there might be films I put below this, there are none I hate more. 

9.  Justice League  Directed by Zack Snyder(?)

Painful to watch, I went into this movie with the lowest of expectations, and they were somehow not met at all. It feels altogether rushed, poorly constrcuted and boring all at the same time. They forego any need for world building and instead toss us headfirst into a horribly convoluted storyline. They rush through an origin for Cyborg and introduce Aquaman like he’s the douchebag you never invited who shows up to your houseparty. Batman over-compensates for his eye-rolling seriousness in the last movie by being overly witty in this one. And they solve Superman’s death by having a hilarious grave robbing scene that I guess is supposed to be funny but is so ridiculous to watch that it felt more at place in an Adam Sandler movie. And to top it all off, the movie in general is one big eyesore. It’s honestly painful to watch the shoddy CGI that constitutes the main antagonist and the waves of enemies we watch the JL plow through. And while the opening scene I think is supposed to be a last ditch effort for them to make Superman relevant, it would be promising if I could look past his god awful CGI lip.

10. Suicide Squad  Directed by David Ayer

A hilarious comedy where the characters don’t actually have any dialogue and instead just speak in one-liners. A touching romantic drama where the Joker abuses Harley Quinn. A moving character study where Deadshot just wants to be a better father by killing Batman. A thrilling action movie where we hope the heroes can overcome Cara Delevigne’s dumb dancing and blow up the generic pillar of doom she’s summoned in the middle of Gotham. Suicide Squad is all of these things and more- so there’s my rousing endorsement.

[redcarpetview]

H.E.R. AND TAUREN WELLS  DEBUT VISUAL FOR THEIR DUET “HOLD US TOGETHER (HOPE MIX)”

Platinum hit makers H.E.R. and Tauren Wells premiered the video for their popular single "Hold Us Together (Hope Mix)," available now at all major digital music providers, in a co-artist release by RCA and Provident Entertainment. The two acclaimed singer/songwriters united their talents on H.E.R.'s song "Hold Us Together," to create an empowering duet on this new recording.

In March, the two artists released the “Hope Mix” of “Hold Us Together,” originally recorded by H.E.R. for the soundtrack of the Disney+ film Safety. Written by H.E.R. and Josiah Bassey, the song shares a timely message of hope and encourages listeners to hold on through difficult times.

Both H.E.R. and Tauren Wells have firmly established themselves as dynamic and trailblazing artists who are helping to change today’s music landscape. H.E.R. is fresh off of two GRAMMY® wins for Song of the Year(“I Can’t Breathe”) and Best R&B Song (Robert Glasper’s “Better Than I Imagined” featuring H.E.R. and Meshell Ndegeocello) and earning an OSCAR® for Best Original Song(“Fight For You” from the award-winning film Judas and the Black Messiah).

Beloved for his platinum and gold-certified Contemporary Christian Music hits “Hills and Valleys” and “Known,” Wells released his second studio album, Citizen of Heaven, in 2020. An eight-time GRAMMY® Award nominee, he received two nods at the 63rd annual awards for Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song for “Famous For (I Believe)” featuring Jenn Johnson and Best Contemporary Christian Music Album for Citizen of Heaven. Wells just received a 2021 Billboard Music Award nomination in the Top Christian Song category for his multi-week No. 1 single “Famous For” (I Believe) with Jenn Johnson.

Watch the “Hold Us Together (Hope Mix)” [RCA/Provident Entertainment] Video at:

# # #

[tcm]

My Life-Long Love of Julie Andrews by Susan King

I’ve missed Julie Andrews. She hasn’t starred in a feature since 2010, the same year her husband and frequent collaborator of over four decades, writer/director Blake Edwards, died. Andrews has supplied voice work on a number of projects, including Gru’s mom in the Despicable Me animated films and Karathen in 2018’s Aquaman. She also created and starred in a Netflix children’s series two years ago, Julie’s Room. Aside from those, Andrews has been relatively out of the spotlight.

But now she’s back in a big way with the recent publication of the second volume of her autobiography Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years, as well as being named the latest recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award. Andrews is also supplying the voice of Mrs. Whistledown in the 2020 Netflix series Bridgerton.

And last but not least, she’s a co-host with Ben Mankiewicz on TCM this month.

I’ve been an unabashed Julie Andrews fan since my parents took me to see MARY POPPINS (’64) on January 31, 1965 at our local theater in San Mateo, California. In her Oscar-winning performance, my obsession began and continued 18 months later when I finally saw THE SOUND OF MUSIC (’65). I was so entranced that I decided I would become a librarian when I grew up and work in Salzburg, Austria. I know it sounds silly, but I was just 11 and the closest I’ve gotten to Austria is via my 3-D View-Master. Of course, when I saw the film again in 1973, I was more interested in Christopher Plummer.

Thanks to my profession, I have had the opportunity to interview Andrews six times and she has been everything you’d hope a childhood idol would be. I literally felt like I was nine years old again sitting in the balcony of the theater in San Mateo every time I’ve talked with her.

One of Andrews’ films my parents didn’t take me to is now one of my favorites: 1964’s THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY, a dark anti-war satire penned by the great Paddy Chayefsky, who won Oscars for 1955’s MARTY and 1976’s NETWORK and directed by Arthur Hiller. Set in London in World War II, Andrews plays Emily, a war widow who ends up falling in love with Charlie (James Garner), a self-proclaimed coward who is assigned to acquire steaks, girls and booze for his superiors. As she tells Charlie, “It is your most important asset, being a coward. Every man I ever loved was a hero and all he got was death.”

Considering she was known for her musical-comedy work, Andrews acquits herself nicely in this dramatic role, and she and Garner (whom she would go on to make two more films with) have a lovely chemistry. And the Johnny Mandel score is sheer bliss.

I was about 12 when my parents took me to see Andrews in 1967’s THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, which was advertised as a film for the entire family. Yet, I do remember asking my mother what “white slavery” was. Watching the film recently, I do think it’s odd that a subplot for a musical comedy revolves around a white slavery ring taking place at a hotel for single women run by the great Beatrice Lillie. Still, this farce set in the 1920s is a lot of fun thanks to Andrews, Mary Tyler Moore, James Fox, John Gavin and Carol Channing – who earned an Oscar nomination for Supporting Actress as a daffy socialite.

Directed by George Roy Hill, THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE was nominated for six Oscars, winning for Elmer Bernstein’s score. I adored the title tune penned by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn and played the soundtrack album over and over and over again much to my parents’ chagrin. I also played the soundtrack album of 1982’s VICTOR/VICTORIA over and over again, but at least I was grown up and on my own, so my parents didn’t go crazy. I saw Edwards’ delectable gender-bending musical comedy three times when it was released. And the framed movie poster decorated my wall.

VICTOR/VICTORIA has incredible slapstick moments, including the cockroach scene at a French restaurant that turns the patrons into madcap crazies. Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton would have loved it. And the box-office classic also is a perceptive look at sexual identities. Andrews plays a poor soprano trying to etch out a career in Paris. Enter Toddy (Robert Preston), a gay entertainer who transforms her into Victor, a male entertainer who works as a female impersonator. Garner plays a wealthy gangster King Marchand who finds himself attracted to the performer.

Sumptuous and overflowing with good will, VICTOR/VICTORIA was nominated for several Oscars, including Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor for the lovable Preston and Supporting Actress for Lesley Ann Warren, a hoot as King’s showgirl gal pal. Henry Mancini and Leslie Bricusse took home the Oscar for Original Song Score.

I’ve always had mixed feelings about the films Andrews did with her husband. The 1970 overstuffed musical Darling Lili bombed; and 1981’s S.O.B., which featured Andrews’ highly publicized topless scene, is too cynical for its own good. And I wasn’t fond of 1986’s THAT’S LIFE!, an indie production shot at the Edwards’ former Malibu beach home starring Andrews, Jack Lemmon and members of both their families.

THAT’S LIFE! is a drama with comedic elements revolving around a famous singer, who may or not have cancer, throwing a 60th birthday week for her husband, a successful architect who hates himself and thinks he’s going to die.

The late Roger Ebert said it best when he wrote “THAT’S LIFE! has many moments of truth and good performances. But it’s not all of a piece; not every scene seems to have been thought through on the same level. Tone is everything in a film like this. Unless you establish one, how can you get laughs by violating it?”

[mst3kproject]

401: Space Travelers

 Once Upon a Long Time Ago (August of 2015, to be exact), I started this blog with Samson vs the Vampire Women, pretty much at random… I was probably craving Chinese food.  Now I’m ending it, though hopefully only temporarily, with Space Travelers, also pretty much at random.  I guess I could argue that I’ve saved the best for last.  I mean, this is the only MST3K feature ever to win an Oscar. It wasn’t one of the good Oscars, but you know.

Space Travelers, the non-Film-Ventures-International-title of which is Marooned, is a sort of pre-Apollo 13.  The crew of Ironman 1 enjoy a successful blast-off and docking, but after five months in an orbital laboratory both the astronauts and the equipment are getting worn out and NASA decides to cut the mission short. On the way back, the capsule’s main engine fails to fire.  The exhausted crew are now, uh… well, Stranded in Space.  With only a couple of days’ worth of oxygen on board, their only hope may be a rescue mission far more dangerous than anything the space program has ever attempted.

I’m gonna try not to talk about Apollo 13 in this review, mostly, but I can say with confidence that Ron Howard watched Marooned a few dozen times before he started filming.  There are shots that are very carefully copied and others that are deliberately referenced and then improved on – examples of both can be found in the first fifteen minutes of the movie.  There’s a shot in which we watch from inside as a stage of the rocket falls away and burns up in the atmosphere.  In Marooned this is Apollo launch footage, a bit grainier than the rest of the film and colour-corrected to the best of their ability.  Howard’s version of the shot is much clearer and cleaner, but otherwise replicates the original exactly.  Then there’s the bit where the astronauts first take off their helmets. In Marooned they hang on to them – in Apollo 13 they let go and watch them spin and float in the air.

The Oscar Marooned won was for its special effects, and the movie deserved it – in 1969 it must have looked fabulous, and it still holds up pretty well.  The matte paintings are obviously paintings but they’re beautiful.  The zero-gravity effects are used only when absolutely necessary but they’re not awful.  For the most part the greenscreen work is pretty good, and I never noticed the strings. Things like control rooms, spacesuits, and capsule interiors are extremely accurate, since they were copied from the then-current Apollo program.  The interior of the S4-B Lab looks kind of hokey in the eyes of somebody who grew up watching footage from space shuttle missions, as does the ‘futuristic’ red rescue craft, but that’s hindsight.  The only thing I’m really going to complain they did wrong is that in some shots the spacewalking astronauts are not tethered.  Do you want to go flying away into the infinite abyss? Because that’s how you go flying away into the infinite abyss, as our heroes eventually discover.

At the other end of the extravagance scale, the soundtrack is very sparse, almost nonexistent.  I don’t recall a single scene in which I was aware of music, even on a radio or someone humming within the world of the film.  Some movies can use a lack of background music to great effect – I liked how The Land that Time Forgot used it to differentiate between the ‘normal’ world and the fantastical land of Caprona.  In Marooned a lack of music is an attempt to replicate the feeling of uncomfortable silence when nobody in the room knows what to say or do.  Sometimes it works.  At other times, it feels like something is missing.  The moment when they try again to fire the engine and nothing happens really needed a musical cue at the end of the countdown – without one, it feels like an anticlimax instead of a moment of disaster.  What ought to be the climax is just guys drifting around in space for what seems like forever, and then the movie suddenly ends.

Marooned is a movie full of good ideas, but it commits one really major sin and that is that it drags.  It wants to be an important film that takes time to linger on the details, but it doesn’t choose the right places to do so.  We hang around in space for ages watching the astronauts talk about nothing – their conversations are supposed to be the philosophical musings of men who think they are about to die, but they don’t seem to mean much.  The conversations between the astronauts and their wives, where they discuss things like insurance bills and lab mice because they don’t want to face the inevitable, goes on forever. There are endless shots of rockets being prepared and helicopters flying.  I don’t know how much of Space Travelers was excised by MST3K and how much was pre-cut by Film Ventures International, but there’s so much unnecessary material that you don’t miss any of it.

Besides the lack of music, the main reason so much of the film feels so dragging and unimportant is that we don’t know these characters very well.  We can figure out that Jim is in charge, that Stoney is the optimist and Buzz the pessimist, but there aren’t exactly personalities associated with them.  They’re just a bunch of big-faced 60’s guys.  We haven’t seen them interact with their families in any other context than this disaster, so scenes that ought to pull on our heartstrings don’t have any emotional leverage.

The one moment when the movie really achieves the tension it’s going for is during the launch of the rescue craft, which must be precisely timed to pass through the eye of the hurricane on its way to orbit.  Part of this is the technicians and reporters all chanting “Go! Go!  Go!��, which is a surprisingly effective substitute for music as a way to pump up the audience.  It makes us think of sports competitions and other situations where a large number of people chant together, and draws upon the associated emotions.  Another factor is that there’s just so much going on here.  This is their last chance, anything can fail at any time, and if they screw it up that’s the end of it.  It’s slightly excessive, but everything in it was set up well enough that it doesn’t tip over the edge into disaster-movie farce.

The one moment when Space Travelers achieves the desired depth of emotion is when Keith has to give Mrs. Pruett the news that her husband is dead.  She already knows what she’s going to be told when she enters the room. When she picks up the phone, Keith lies to her.  Mrs. Pruett knows he’s lying, and he knows that she knows, but she does not challenge him. The spaces between the words are allowed to speak for themselves, and say volumes more than words ever could. Space Travelers needed more of that.

The amount of down time in the movie does give me plenty of opportunity to think, and there are two main things I find myself pondering.  The first is the relationship between this film and the reality that followed so closely on its heels.  I suspect an awful lot of people at NASA saw this movie in theatres and enjoyed it in 1969, because why wouldn’t they?  It was a movie about them, in which they overcame impossible odds.  How much was it on their minds when disaster really did strike in April 1970?  Did it make them think about the idea of rescue, and how impossible it really was?  Did they recall that one of the astronauts in the film sacrificed himself, and wonder if that would be necessary now?

I also wonder about the people involved in making the film, and the effect on them when Apollo 13 went wrong.  Did they feel somehow responsible?  I once started writing a piece of fanfiction in which one plot point was a hurricane in Manhattan – and weeks later, Hurricane Sandy happened.  I know it would be ridiculous to call this anything but a coincidence, and yet I could never make myself go back and finish the story. The idea of sympathetic magic, that we can ‘jinx’ something just by talking or thinking about it, is deeply ingrained in the human psyche even when we supposedly know better.  Thousands of people must have worked on this movie, and any or every one of them might have taken a bad hit to their mental health.

The other thing I keep thinking about is the nature of science fiction.  We generally think of science fiction as being stuff like Star Trek or, for a more down-to-earth example, Jurassic Park.  These stories posit things that might theoretically be possible but which nobody yet knows how to do. When we encounter something like Marooned, it’s harder to categorize.  The closest thing I can compare it to in modern film is, I think, The Martian. While much sci-fi depends on things we can’t yet do, The Martian is centered on things we just haven’t yet done.  There was nothing in the movie that was absolutely beyond humanity’s current technology – the least plausible thing in it was NASA getting funding to send humans Mars. Marooned presents the people of 1969 with a similar situation.  They hadn’t yet put a long-term space station in orbit, but the space program was at a point where the biggest reason why they couldn’t was money.

The neat thing here is you could argue that this is the most important kind of science fiction.  The ultimate purpose of stories, surely, is to help prepare us to cope with the world we live in.  By saying ‘we could do this, and this is what might happen’, this hardest of sci-fis is doing exactly that job.  Another reason I’d be interested to know if NASA techs were thinking about it, and what those thoughts were, while dealing with the situation of Apollo 13.

So that was it, folks – every movie ever featured on Mystery Science Theatre 3000, including twenty that did not yet exist when I got started.  If Joel manages to find the show a new permanent home, on television or streaming, I will be back.  If not, I’ll just keep doing Episodes that Never Were until I either get sick of it or run out of bad movies… and I doubt I can ever run out of bad movies.  Thanks for sticking with me, and keep circulating the tapes!

[webbergirl]

A First Look at Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story

The director talks about reimagining the musical that riveted him as a child.

 Steven Spielberg has been making West Side Story in his head for a very long time. As a boy in Phoenix in the late 1950s, he had only the soundtrack, and he tried to picture the action and dancing that might accompany it. “My mom was a classical pianist,” says the filmmaker. “Our entire home was festooned with classical musical albums, and I grew up surrounded by classical music. West Side Story was actually the first piece of popular music our family ever allowed into the home. I absconded with it—this was the cast album from the 1957 Broadway musical—and just fell completely in love with it as a kid. West Side Story has been that one haunting temptation that I have finally given in to.” 

The film, out December 18, is both a romance and a crime story. It’s about dreams crashing into reality, young people singing about the promise of their lives ahead—then cutting each other down in bursts of violence. It’s about hope and desperation, pride and actual prejudice, and a star-crossed couple who find love amid it all on the streets of New York. 

West Side Story became a global sensation when it hit Broadway in 1957, with a book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim that made generations swoon, snap, and gasp. The show was both dazzling and gritty, layering a Romeo and Juliet romance between Tony and Maria over a contemporary story of street gangs, racism, and violence in the shadows of rising skyscrapers. When director Robert Wise and choreographer Jerome Robbins adapted it into a film in 1961, West Side Story broke the box office record for musicals and dominated the Oscars, winning 10 awards, including best picture. Six decades later, the stage show has toured the world and been revived repeatedly. (A new production, directed by Ivo van Hove, opened on Broadway in February.) Of course, it’s also so commonly performed at high schools and community theaters that if you haven’t seen it, it’s probably because you were in it.

Threaded throughout the story is the question of who has the right to call a place home and why people who are struggling look for reasons to turn on each other. “This story is not only a product of its time, but that time has returned, and it’s returned with a kind of social fury,” Spielberg says. “I really wanted to tell that Puerto Rican, Nuyorican experience of basically the migration to this country and the struggle to make a living, and to have children, and to battle against the obstacles of xenophobia and racial prejudice.”

Like Fiddler on the Roof or The Sound of Music, West Side Story locates the joys that endure in hard times. For the new film’s dance sequences, Spielberg recruited Justin Peck, resident choreographer for the New York City Ballet. For the new script, he turned to Angels in America playwright Tony Kushner, who previously worked with him on Munich and Lincoln, to craft an updated story that retains the familiar songs but embeds them in a more realistic cityscape. That realism also applied to casting. Many of the “Puerto Ricans” in the original movie were white actors in brown makeup. Spielberg only wanted performers with Hispanic backgrounds to play Hispanic characters, and he estimates that 20 of the 33 Puerto Rican characters are specifically Puerto Rican or of Puerto Rican descent. “They brought an authenticity,” he says. “They brought themselves, and everything they believe and everything about them—they brought that to the work. And there was so much interaction between the cast wanting to be able to commit to the Puerto Rican experience. They all represent, I think, a diversity, both within the Puerto Rican, Nuyorican community as well as the broader Latinx community. And they took that seriously.” 

“The cast brought an authenticity,” says the director. “They brought themselves—and everything they believe—to the work.”

The film stars newcomer Rachel Zegler in the role originated onscreen by Natalie Wood—purehearted Maria, part of the wave of Puerto Rican migrants who traded one island for another when they came to New York seeking a new life in the post–World War II economic boom. Her streetwise Casanova is Tony (Baby Driver actor Ansel Elgort, taking over the part played by Richard Beymer), who once led a gang of local toughs known as the Jets, but has since outgrown them. Tony’s old friends are engaged in an escalating battle for control of the neighborhood against Puerto Rican rivals who call themselves the Sharks, led by Maria’s brother Bernardo (David Alvarez, one of the original leads of Billy Elliot the Musical, playing the role that earned George Chakiris a best supporting actor Oscar).

When a neighborhood dance devolves into hostility, Maria’s best friend, Anita, tries to be a voice of reason. Now played by Ariana DeBose, Anita has one of West Side Story’s most vivacious numbers, extolling the wonders of living Stateside in the song “America.”

Anita: “Life can be bright in America.”

Bernardo and the Sharks: “If you can fight in America.”

Anita and the girls: “Life is all right in America.”

Bernardo and the Sharks: “If you’re all white in America.”

Rita Moreno won a best supporting actress Oscar for playing Anita in the original film, and, at 88, has returned to play a different role in Spielberg’s project. Remember Doc, the old-timer who ran the corner store that served as neutral ground for the gangs? Moreno plays a new character, Valentina, Doc’s widow, who’s also a peacemaker—although perhaps a little tougher. The actor says Spielberg and Kushner “really wanted to right some…should I say wrongs? I don’t know if that’s…yes, that’s fair, because the [1961] film had a lot of things that were wrong with it, aside from the fact that it had a lot of things that were very right.” One of the wrongs, she says, was that she was one of the few Puerto Ricans in the cast. “That’s what they were trying to fix and ameliorate, and I think they have done an incredible job.”

Spielberg made Moreno an executive producer on the film and urged her to share her perspectives on that time and place with the younger actors. For one scene, in which the cops arrive to break up a rumble, Moreno thought that the dancers playing the Sharks didn’t quite appreciate how much worse the situation would be for the Puerto Rican boys. “I was using bad language and all that, and I said, ‘You are fucked! You are fucked if they catch you! You don’t have a chance,’” she says. “And they’re all looking at me with big beautiful brown eyes. I said, ‘Talk to each other before you do the scene again! Scare each other!

One person she tried to put at ease was DeBose. Moreno gushed about the actor who inherited her signature role of Anita. “She is a ferocious dancer—way, way better than I was,” she says.

DeBose was nominated for a Tony Award for Summer: The Donna Summer Musical and was one of the original cast members of Hamilton, renowned for dancing as “The Bullet” that kills the founding father. Like Spielberg, she’s been obsessed with West Side Story since childhood: “I just absolutely loved the music. Every time a number started, I couldn’t help but get up and dance with them. I would say that the music of West Side Story has always lived inside of me.”

“West Side Story was actually the first piece of popular music our family ever allowed into the home,” says Spielberg.

In the new film, DeBose swishes through “America” in a golden handmade dress with scarlet ruffles beneath, but the actor says she was haunted—and daunted—by the violet swirls of the woman who originated the part on screen. “I grew up watching the film and I just fell in love with the woman in the purple dress,” she says. “Even before I really understood what the story was about, I knew that I loved what she was doing. As I grew up, I discovered who she was and her name was Rita Moreno, and she looked like me. She was one of the first women onscreen that actually had skin color that was close to mine—especially in a film made at that time, where there weren’t many women of color on the screen. That was very influential on me during my childhood.”

DeBose says that, as with Moreno, Spielberg often asked for her views on the way her character was depicted. The actor recalls one pivotal conversation during auditions. “I’m Afro-Latina and I said to him, ‘As a woman of color, if you’re going to consider me for this role, I would potentially be the darkest woman to play her onscreen,’” says DeBose. “There’s also the reality that it’s a period piece and there’s racial tension.” Having a biracial Anita intensifies that for the new film. “In one way, you’re not really sure if Anita’s African American or if she’s Latina,” she says. “I was like, ‘I think there’s really something to lean into, if that’s of value,’ and he was intrigued by that observation. It was fun from the jump to feel like I was contributing to his new vision in a way.”

DeBose’s presence adds a new dimension to her character’s unshakable faith in a country that has so often failed people like her. “The way that I see Anita, she is the consummate optimist,” she says. “She believes in the American dream. And she believes in her right as a woman to pursue it. There’s something really amazing about not only Anita, but women in general who constantly find a way to see the world—not with rose-colored glasses—but with hope.”

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/03/a-first-look-at-steven-spielbergs-west-side-story

[quarantinemusiccalendar]

Day 198: Call Me By Your Name (OST)

The Call Me By Your Name (2017, dir. Luca Guadagnino) is a fairly small independent but already iconic film about memories, dreams, love and desire and all the mess in between and the pain at the end. The story is really good, the cinematography is absolutely gorgeous, the acting is spot on and the music fits perfectly. The film tells a coming of age story of 17 y.o. Elio Perlman, musically talented son of a French - American couple living in Northern Italy, and 20-something y.o. Oliver, his father’s summer intern and research assistant. It follows Elio through the development of their 1983 summer fling. It may sound like another cheesy queer romance, but it’s not. It didn’t win an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay and wasn’t nominated for further three (including a Best Original Song) for being inclusive. 

It’s a great film on many levels and the fact that the main protagonists are two men is secondary. Because human emotions are universal.

The film has a warm colour of old Kodak photos from a summer holiday long gone. I makes the viewer follow the story as Elio’s memory of his first love. And it probably causes some of our own memories and to resurface as well. The main take away from the film is that we should not cut away from our  feelings - we should be facing them, feeling them and processing them.  Regardless if it’s love, pain, desire or fear. Feeling all of those means we are alive. And as Elio’s father says at the end of the film and sums it all up: “We rip out so much of ourselves to be cured of things faster than we should that we go bankrupt by the age of 30 and have less to offer each time we start with someone new. But to feel nothing so as not to feel anything—what a waste!“ And although I myself have done exactly what Elio’s father warned him not to do, several times actually, and as a result of that I am numb and partially hollow on the inside, no point in arguing about that, not willing or not being able to invest emotionally again, you would have to be COMPLETELY dead inside to be unable to relate to this film. And I hope none of is emotionally damaged to that degree.

The soundtrack is a mix of lesser known classical pieces, original music composed by Sufjan Stevens and a good amount of Italian and European 1980s disco hits. And it sets the mood perfectly.

It was one of Steven’s song Mystery of Love, that got the Oscar nomination for Best Original Song in 2018.

Although Mystery of Love is probably the more famous of the original songs and it is instantly likable, it’s another song that really deserves a bit of an analysis. Visions of Gideon is a song we hear at the very end of the film before end credits start rolling. It is full of symbolism. Sufjan Stevens is referencing a number of things in it, which link to each other and it should be mentioned. As I said, the film is really about memories and the visions that stay in our memories. The colour filter hints at that. And maybe it’s even more about memories then it is about love. Who knows... Visions are referenced throughout the song when we keep hearing the echo “Is it a video?“. Another clue is in the name of the song itself and in the other line echoing through the second half of the song: “Visions of Gideon”.  If you are not familiar with the biblical figure of Gideon, he was a Jewish prophet and judge mentioned in the Book of Judges, who lived in a time when Israel was under pressure from raiding neighboring tribes. He received visions from God to sent only 300 men to attack the enemy, he has won a decisive victory and secured peace which lasted for 40 years. For Jews Gideon is even more important figure then for Christians. The story of Gideon is a reference to Elio and Oliver's Jewish faith. And the acceptance of own religious identity is a minor topic in the film, but it’s there and it’s worth mentioning.

And yes I am partial to anything Sufjan Stevens writes and it may be one of the (several) reasons for picking this soundtrack, but hey ... we already now that.

Happy Friday, relax and enjoy.

Highlights: - Sufjan Stevens: Mystery of Love - André Laplante: Une barque sur l’océan from Miroirs - The Psychadelic Fur: Love My Way - Sufjan Stevens: Futile Devices (Doveman Remix) - Sufjan Stevens: Visions of Gideon   Playlist:

shorturl.at/fEUX4

Links and references: - Call Me By Your Name (film) - Wikipedia - iamthatroby (5 February 2018 ).The Seductive Atmosphere of CALL ME BY YOUR NAME (2017). YouTube.

[weasley-gal]

Cindy’s Top Ten Movies of 2019!

Ahhh...2019. In the interest of building suspense, I could be all cagey about this countdown, but let's face it: For me, 2019 was the Year of Rocketman. As lousy as the real-world year was, it was salvaged by Rocketman. Someone suggested in jest (maybe?) that Rocketman should be numbers one through ten on my year-end list, and that would be fair enough; HOWEVER...I did like some other movies this year, so I'm gonna give you--yes YOU, dear reader(s)--ten of my favorites. Just know in your hearts that the other nine fall way behind number one. Way, WAY behind.

The usual disclaimers:

A movie's position on my year-end list does not necessarily reflect its original Weasley score. Some films age well, bear up, and even improve under repeat viewings. Some...well...some do not. Also, I live in a rinky-dink town, so great movies like JoJo Rabbit and 1917--pictures that almost certainly would have found spots here or gotten very close--have not made themselves available to me yet. This is disappointing, but unsurprising. I'd hung my entire holiday break on the prospect of seeing 1917, only to discover on Christmas Day that its Christmas opening was limited release, and I have to wait until January 10th. Humbug. Finally, I think three or four of these movies already made Variety's "worst of" list for 2019, so kindly do not be too shocked when I diverge from The Serious Critics (TM).  

Without further ado, presenting my top ten films of 2019:

TEN

"The most important qualification for any leader is not wanting to be leader."

THE TWO POPES

2019 threw me a nice surprise on its way out the celestial door, with the Netflix original The Two Popes. It's a deliberate, thoughtful, and timely film carried by a pair of the year's most exquisite performances: Jonathan Pryce as Pope Francis and Anthony Hopkins as Pope Benedict XVI. While the subject matter is weighty, this movie is an absolute delight.

NINE

"I'm glad I'm a revelation and not a disappointment."

DOWNTON ABBEY

This big-screen adaptation of the popular television series Downton Abbey, is, in fact, something of a revelation. A totally new story in the familiar and much-loved setting, with just the right amount of fan service, it is a joyful exercise that hits nearly every note perfectly. Making its case for the big screen are breathtaking costumes and production design...and Mr. Barrow finally seeing a bit of happiness doesn't hurt, either.

EIGHT

"We're gonna bury Ferrari at Le Mans."

FORD V FERRARI

At a glance, Ford v Ferrari might seem like a film appealing exclusively to car enthusiasts; however, that assumption does a great disservice to both the film and the viewer. Ford v Ferrari is an inspiring story about people. It's a nail-biter from start to finish, it has heart to spare, and it's fronted by great turns from Matt Damon and Christian Bale. Beautifully filmed race action makes this one to see on the biggest screen you can find.

SEVEN

"It always fits...eventually."

SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE

Technically, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is a last-year movie, but for me it's a this-year movie, and--despite its being the very first film I saw way back in January, 2019--it's far too great to leave off my best-of list. A Marvel property in the hands of Sony, Spider-Verse is smart, funny, touching, and better than the entire Avengers catalog combined.  

SIX

"This is a twisted web, and we are not finished untangling it, not yet."

KNIVES OUT

Knives Out is a great piece of original cinema crafted from artful twists, clever humor, and terrific performances, layered with a gorgeous Gothic setting and an ominous score. Written and directed by Rian Johnson, this perfect murder mystery is a huge creative and financial win for the cinema, and I recommend it without hesitation or qualification.

FIVE

"This is the worst...and best...and most terrible...excellent thing that's ever happened to me!"

THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING

Hands up if you missed the Kid Who Would Be King at your local cinema? Yeah, I see you, ALL of you. The good news is that one of the year's most wonderful pictures is now available for streaming and download, and you shouldn't make the same mistake twice. The Kid Who Would Be King is a charming movie, great fun for people of all ages. Truly one of the year's best.

FOUR

"Si vis pacem, para bellum."

JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 — PARABELLUM

The John Wick franchise has become quite the phenomenon, and deservedly so. Continually upping the action ante in Fast-and-Furious-like fashion, these movies are so much more than just your garden-variety shoot 'em ups and beat 'em ups. John Wick is the role Keanu Reeves was born to play, and Parabellum raises the stakes for Wick while doubling down on masterful fight choreography and stunning cinematography. Here's to many more adventures for John Wick!

THREE

"Bruce is the direct line to all that's true in this world!"

BLINDED BY THE LIGHT

Blinded by the Light is another terrific picture that didn't exactly set the box office on fire. Inspired by the true story of one Springsteen superfan, and built on the Boss's epic catalog, it's a hopeful tale about overcoming prejudice and the limitations set for us by ourselves and by others, one of the year's most inspiring movies.

TWO

"Tell the truth to everyone, whenever you can."

YESTERDAY

Yesterday is yet another of 2019's under-appreciated gems, a beautiful, unique movie fashioned around the timeless music of the Beatles. Himesh Patel is a delight in the lead, and--while the premise requires suspension of disbelief--Yesterday is a charming picture that captivates with its "what ifs?" as well as its iconic soundtrack and enchanting cast.

ONE

"You were never ordinary."

ROCKETMAN

My number one movie of the year, and of the decade, was set on May 31st, when I saw Rocketman for the first time. I saw the movie at least twice a week as long as it was at my local cinema. I've watched at least part of it every day since it became available for home viewing. Outside of a week or so around each of the wonderful concerts I saw this summer, I've listened to nothing but the Rocketman soundtrack since the end of May. My phone and all my desktops have Rocketman wallpapers. I've joked (hmm?) that I only speak Rocketman now. The truth is, I'm not interested in speaking anything else. Pre-Rocketman, it had been a decade since a new movie made its way into my all-time top ten. Then there was Rocketman. Pre-Rocketman, my favorite acting performance hadn't changed since 1993. Then there was Taron Egerton's astonishing turn as Elton John. Pre-Rocketman, I was finding reasons to stay away from the movies. Then there was Dexter Fletcher showing us the beauty of real imagination. Rocketman is more than just a well-crafted film that reflects on an iconic artist's inspiring life. It is a film that uses Elton John's art to tell his story in fantastic, creative fashion. It is a film that uses exquisite detail in its styling and costumes to further its vision. It is a film that draws something sparkling and new out of a classic discography. It is a film that is not bound by dull, linear timelines or small minds. It is a film that surrounds a performance for the ages with others that bear it up. It is a film that shows, however dark the times, you will find the light. In doing all these things, it is a film that is saving lives. Rocketman is a film that is, in every way, magnificent. Thank you, Dexter Fletcher and company, for giving us this beautiful movie. Whatever the critics say and whoever wins the prizes as Awards Season bears down upon us, nobody has done anything more valuable this cinema year.

A few Honorable (and Dis-Honorable) Mentions:

While Taron Egerton deserves all the awards, all the time, for his work in Rocketman, there were some other performances this year that also gave me life:

Jamie Bell (Rocketman): Without Bell's Bernie Taupin as his stalwart cornerstone, Egerton's Elton could not have flown. It's a lovely, understated performance that has been grossly underappreciated.

Tom Holland (Marvel Cinematic Universe): Holland is a real gem, a standout who consistently steals the show from bigger names who get weightier work in the MCU. No matter how good, bad, or painfully bloated the movie, Holland is an absolute delight.

Renee Zellweger (Judy): Who knew it was even possible for me to stop hating Renee Zellweger? Well played, 2019.

Rebecca Ferguson (The Kid Who Would Be King/Doctor Sleep): There was little I enjoyed more this year than watching Ferguson chew her way through this pair of pictures. Oh, and if I start walking around wearing a hat, don't ask, m-kay?

Chris Evans (Knives Out): God, I love seeing Chris Evans do *anything* besides Captain America. Bonus points if he gets to be funny. He's really funny, despite his obscenely gorgeous mug.

John Boyega/Oscar Isaac (Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker): These two, individually and together, draw joy out of what's otherwise a fairly mundane exercise. If Finn and Poe somehow jumped to another saga in the Star Wars universe, I wouldn't complain.

The Cast of Jumanji: The Next Level: Top to bottom, a perfectly cast film, and a lesson in how the right actors can elevate any property.

As a matter of interest, if you watch the Irishman and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood back to back, you can effectively calculate how many hours you'll wish you had back when you're on your deathbed.

I would like a word with Gary Oldman's and Sebastian Stan's agents, please.

Cats: Make. It. Stop. Please, just...make it stop.

As this most challenging year winds to a close, I wanted to offer a sincere thank you to everyone who takes the time to read my reviews, and especially those who engage on any of our various platforms. Special thanks to Daniel for allowing me to be a part of his great page, and for tolerating my unceasing randomness. (Hotel Transylvania 4 in 2021, my friend!) I take no one's support for granted, and I’m ever grateful for you all. I wish our readers many blessings as this festive season comes to a close and we roll into 2020. See you at the movies!

[back-and-totheleft]

Taking the gloves off

“Natural Born Killers” is the movie Oliver Stone was born to make, and if that statement is a knife that cuts both ways, so be it.

A filmmaker celebrated and excoriated, recipient of a pair of best director Oscars for “Platoon” and “Born on the Fourth of July” as well as the contempt of the political establishment for “JFK,” Stone has not exactly had a tranquil career. Yet nothing he’s attempted before is adequate preparation for the over-the-top savagery and carefully controlled madness that is “Natural Born Killers.”

The picaresque, satirical adventures of till-death-do-us-part serial murderers Mickey and Mallory Knox (Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis) and their road to international celebrity, “Natural Born Killers” is both audacious and astonishing, a vision of a charnel house apocalypse that comes close to defying description.

So unyielding violent and blood-splattered it took five trips to the ratings board to earn its R, “Killers” (which carries an advisory label unprecedented in its length and detail) is too consumed by carnage to be to everyone’s taste. But it is also, and perhaps more lastingly, a tribute to the power of film and the skill of a director who, for the first and perhaps the only time in his career, has taken the gloves off with a vengeance.

For all of Stone’s previous work can be seen as a prolonged attempt to pretend, with varying degrees of success, that he is an orthodox filmmaker. But after continuously trying to squeeze his crazed/visionary sense of the medium into Hollywood’s inelastic forms, of making at times awkward films that were equal parts conventional and maniacal, Stone has found subject matter that can tolerate his style at its most outrageous and disturbing. The effect has been liberating.

Screen violence poster boy Quentin Tarantino, whose Palme d’Or-winning “Pulp Fiction” seems almost tame compared to this, wrote the original script for “Killers.” But Stone, working with co-screenwriters David Veloz and Richard Rutowski, has so made this project his own that Tarantino has kept his aesthetic distance, settling for no more than a “story by” credit.

Like so many loners-on-the-loose films before it, “Natural Born Killers” opens in a bleak roadside diner. Mickey, a slight grin playing behind his rose-tinted granny glasses, is sitting at the counter deciding to “give the key lime pie its day in court,” while Mallory, in a skimpy halter top that reveals her scorpion tattoo, is dancing provocatively by the jukebox when some rough-and-ready locals slam through the door.

It doesn’t require much intuition to figure out that no good will come from this unforeseen meeting. But though the ensuing slaughter is inevitable, Stone, cinematographer Robert Richardson (a Stone regular) and editors Hank Corwin and Brian Berdan bring things off with so much visual panache we don’t know whether to be impressed or horrified. Or both.

While this kind of “Badlands on speed” opening is outrageous, how far Stone and company are willing to go is not apparent until the next set piece, when what might have been an ordinary look at Mallory’s tortured childhood is shown as a warped TV sitcom called “I Love Mallory,” complete with heart symbol, laugh track and a wisecracking, malignant Rodney Dangerfield startling as a sexually abusive toad of a father.

It is Mickey, forever after to be her knight, who shows up to deliver 50 pounds of beef and rescues Mallory from this pit. And the almost continuous murder spree that follows is intercut with juvenile protestations of endless love and a goony joining of vows that includes Mickey’s wistful determination “not to murder anybody on our wedding day.”

As unnerving as “Killers’ ” plot is, relating it can only hint at what the experience is like on film. For Stone, in a brilliant display of visual dexterity, has so heedlessly, even recklessly, piled image on top of image--color, black and white, tinted stock, video, double exposures, animation and more--that surrender to the onslaught seems the only option.

More than showing highlights of M&M's three-week murder spree and their 48 (or is it 52?) victims, “Killers” is intent as well on visually taking us inside their minds. This means that a constantly changing array of images is projected on any surface that is handy, everything from shots of animals having sex to Edward Curtis’ vintage ethnographic footage.

Equally eclectic, and just as essential in creating mood, is the “Killers” redoubtable soundtrack, containing more than 75 selections including Nine Inch Nails (whose Trent Reznor put it all together), Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the Shangri-Las and the story’s poet laureate, Leonard Cohen.

Unusual for a film whose effects are so dependent on the bombardment of stimuli, the cast’s satiric acting is on target as well. Not only are Harrelson and Lewis all they should be, they are matched by both Tom Sizemore as twisted criminal investigator Jack Scagnetti and Tommy Lee Jones as a feisty prison warden. Best of the lot is Robert Downey Jr. as Wayne Gale, the blabbering Australian host of TV’s hottest show, “American Maniacs,” intended, he fondly admits, for “the nitwits out there in zombie-land.”

And the nitwits, “Natural Born Killers” amusingly and horrifically points out, are eating it up. Mickey and Mallory become the ultimate international media darlings, cover subjects for Newsweek and People and captivating fans like the wanna-be victim who holds up a hopeful “Murder Me, Mickey” sign during one of M&M's courtroom appearances.

It was, not surprisingly, the chance to examine the how and why of this kind of celebrity-hood that initially motivated Stone to make “Killers,” and, aside from his technical wizardry, that is the element that makes the excesses palatable.

For unlike any number of films, the excruciating violence and gore here is not done to titillate. The idea, witness O.J. Simpson and the Menendez brothers, is to mock our societal fascination with blood-letting, to hold up a cracked mirror and literally force a reconsideration of what we’re doing as a culture and where it seems to be leading. This nightmare world in flames that’s making you wince, Stone is saying, it’s the one we live in right now.

Does this all come off as planned? Of course not. “Natural Born Killers” lacks the rigor of the similarly themed, little seen Belgian film “Man Bites Dog,” and it has twinges of its own kind of sentimentality, especially in the scenes involving Russell Means as an all-knowing (is there any other kind?) tribal shaman. Plus, if you don’t find yourself on the film’s often warped wavelength, the nonstop violence will sicken and offend you.

But because of the frisson of directorial energy Stone infuses this film with, we can’t help but be affected by its sensory barrage. Watching “Natural Born Killers” is like sitting next to a wild man driving at 90 m.p.h. in order to convince you to wear a seat belt. You may wish he’d slow down a bit, but it’s hard to argue with the effectiveness of the tools at hand.

-Kenneth Turan's review of Natural Born Killers, Los Angeles Times, Aug 26 1994 [x]

[expshared]

a little bit o’ spring anime season retrospective, a little late 👇

I’ve only watched 2.5 series involved in the Isekai Quartet but I was thirsty for Re: Zero content so I tuned in to this. I’mma be honest: this was fun. Crossovers are fun. I really enjoyed seeing funny skeleton man and Goddess of Dumbass interact, and I think equal time and attention was given to all parties involved, and that made it fun, too. It was accessible for someone like me whose knowledge of these shows was only tertiary and even if it had its questionable moments (Darkness I hate you so much), the sum is an enjoyable package. I question if this show could work with any other quartet of isekai heroes because all other isekai protagonists are boring af.

Watching Fruits Basket again makes me realize that I absorbed too much of Tohru Honda into my personality when I was impressionable and wee and never figured out that it was bad. Anyway this was a nice new coat of paint on a beloved series. The updated designs are nice to look at and the care given to the new material is evident. But it is considerably less…fun than the first incarnation and can I be honest? As a manga reader, knowing what I know about how the little love triangle pans out and watching it from the beginning? I just don’t like Kyo like I did when I was 12. Which, uh, wasn’t that much to begin with. Tohru deserves the world and the anime has a lot of work to do to convince me that Kyo can give that to her.

Fairy Gone takes its place alongside The Lost Village for being the biggest waste of time. In its favor: I liked the main character’s design and that she wore pants. Its sins: horrible clunky CGI I could not make out, way too many proper nouns, infodumps every episode, butt rock, a general disinterest in its main cast and their secrets. It expected me to care about a bunch of stuffy old men and their machinations when there were friends-to-enemies girlfriends in the background they weren’t even considering. I don’t remember who the assistant attorney general prime minister of Not-England is and I don’t care. The fact that this gets another 12 episodes is baffling, how anyone could anyone listen to another 12 episodes of dull political cud-chewing is beyond me.

Carole and Tuesday makes La La Land look like a plastic bag tumbling underneath a highway. Carole and Tuesday should win the Oscar for best everything. Carole and Tuesday is the best contemporary musical by a mile. Watanabe has been waiting 25 years just to make this show, and it’s a delightful cross section of everything that’s made his shows successful in the past—the slice of life futurepunk of Cowboy Bebop, the zaniness of Space Dandy, the ensemble cast of Samurai Champloo. It’s a pleasure to watch. I love seeing these girls underestimated and then blow everyone out of the water, it’s a consistent delight. The soundtrack is amazing and everything on it sounds genuine and legitimate—probably because it is. Netflix shouldn’t be keeping this one all to itself.  

Hitoribocchi was a sweet little gem of goodwill. Strange, anxious Bocchi’s quest to make friends with her equally strange classmates was funny, empathetic, and endearing. I love this cast of weirdo misfits and who among us doesn’t secretly hope their friends don’t forget about them when they’re sick oh thank goodness it’s not just me.

Senryuu Shoujo was a little cute, a little funny, a little heartwarming. It’s forgettable but a nice kind of forgettable, where you fondly remember it for five minutes and then move on with your life. It’s a short form series so if you’re in the mood for a quick n’ light shoujo about pining and misunderstanding, this is an easy recommendation.

I think I set my expectations too high for Sarazanmai. I wanted it to be the takedown of yaoi tropes like Yurikuma so gleefully pitchforked yuri tropes, but that wasn’t its project at all. It was Ikuhara’s most visceral work, but also, I feel, his most grounded in reality, which is a weird fucking thing to say about a show wherein three boys turn into kappas to go up the concept of someone’s butt. This was, decidedly, my least favorite Ikuhara title, which isn’t to say it’s bad. It’s just not Penguindrum or Yurikuma. Its scope felt smaller, its commentary less biting, its reveals less….revealing. Stand By Me is a bangin’ ED, though, I will Stand By That.

Kono Oto Tomare suffers from not knowing who its main character is. Surely it’s Megane Senpai, who starts the show off? But it’s not, it’s most assuredly Delinquent Guy, who is the emotional heart of the show and who definitely has something going on with our third main character, Prodigy Girl, leaving Megane Senpai the third wheel. This show just doesn’t start with its feet underneath it—it hobbles along an ungainly fusion of shoujo and sports anime and doesn’t do either tremendously. It does, however, have a heart, and this cast did eventually grow on me and I want to see them succeed. Protip: if your show is about an activity, please feature the activity. There is very little actual koto playing in this show and this is one of its biggest missteps. It’s a serviceable show, but not a great one.

I don’t drop a lot of anime but I dropped Cinderella Nine at episode 5 because it was just too ugly. It was so bad that I began to doubt there was an “on model”. There was just nothing going for it—the character designs were awful, the animation would pass as a power point, and the sportball was nonexistant. Non Non.

Dororo really let me down. I didn’t care for its ending at all, and in fact, sort of felt as if it nullified all the hard work of the prior 23 episodes. Having Dororo and Hyakkimaru part is a terrible decision. Nothing was learned. The payoff was not rewarding. Would have to point to Aldnoah to find an ending in recent memory I disliked more than this one. >:(/10

The show I was most hyped for every week was Demon Slayer. It didn’t start out swinging—Tanjiro’s origin story is unfortunately pretty par for the course in terms of shonen heroes, and the years-long training arc and time skip right after it was not the most inviting beginning. In fact, that’s where I dropped the manga when I tried reading it a couple of years ago. But ufotable makes this serviceable and by the fourth episode or so, I was completely sold. Something I loved about the manga was its unique artstyle and use of patterns and gradients—any other studio would have sacrificed both. Watching a fight scene in Demon Slayer is a joy. Characters ping pong around each other and footwork is fancy and weapons feel dangerous and the techniques look cool and require Tanjiro to puzzle them out. Also, Tanjiro is such a good boy. He drinks so much respect women juice. Every time an episode ends I’m disappointed I don’t have more to watch.

[onestowatch]

From Stefani Germanotta to Lady Gaga to Mother Monster: How a Star Was Born [WHERE ARE THEY NOW?]

Photo: David Crotty/Getty Images

“I had a boyfriend who told me I’d never succeed, never be nominated for a Grammy, never have a hit song, and that he hoped I’d fail. I said to him, ‘Someday, when we’re not together, you won’t be able to order a cup of coffee at the fucking deli without hearing or seeing me.” These powerful words were uttered by Lady Gaga in 2010 and seem all the more prophetic than ever some odd nine years later. 

The GRAMMY Award–winning singer and songwriter, Academy Award–winning actress, philanthropist, and political activist has paved out a path for herself to become one of the most pivotal figures in pop music and culture as a whole. In light of a year that saw a slew of acclaim, from the Academy Awards, the GRAMMYs, and beyond, we reflect back on how Gaga, Mother Monster, known as Germ to her friends and Loopy to her father, rose from a girl who would supposedly “never succeed” to a household name who regularly makes history. 

Photo: Evening Standard 

Born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta in New York City, from a young age she was urged to pursue her creative inclinations, picking up the piano at age four at her mother’s behest that she become a “cultured young woman.” Performing at a host of open mic nights and in a series of plays growing up, Germanotta would follow her passion for creative arts for the entirety of her formative years, in spite of rejection. Though she did make a small appearance in an episode of The Sopranos when she was 14, Gaga unsuccessfully auditioned for a number of New York shows. With an Oscar under her belt now, we are sure it is all water under the bridge. 

Earning early admission to Collaborative Arts Project 21, a musical theatre training conservatory partnered with New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, at the age 17, the distinctive nightlife of New York City would become a wellspring of creative influence for the soon-to-be Mother Monster. Dropping out of school in her sophomore year to fully focus on music, Germanotta would make her musical debut with Grandmaster Melle Mel on the audiobook accompaniment to the children’s book The Portal in The Park, but more importantly, it was during this time she would form The Stephanie Germanotta Band. 

The Stephanie Germanotta Band, popularly shortened to The SGBand, would become a staple of the downtown Lower East Side club scene and the catalyst to Lady Gaga. Talent scout Wendy Starland would discover Germanotta at one of The SGBand’s shows, and subsequently introduced her to producer Rob Fusari, whom she would go on to date for a brief period and is purportedly the first one to call her by the name “Lady Gaga.” With a name taken from Queen’s song “Radio Ga Ga,” the music produced alongside Fusari would go on to catch the eye of Def Jam Records, and the rest was history, or so we would say if Def Jam Records did not go on to drop Gaga three short months after signing her. 

Following the unfortunate turn of events, Gaga would return to her family home heartbroken yet resolute to make a name for herself. Immersing herself in New York’s growing underground neo-burlesque scene, she would come to befriend performance artist Lady Starlight. Taking inspiration from ‘70s tribute acts and glam rock, the pair would adopt the name Lady Gaga and the Starlight Revue and present ‘The Ultimate Pop Burlesque Rockshow’ at venues around New York, as well as a set at Lollapalooza in 2007. During their time performing together, which continues to this day, multiple people would see the promise in this experimental pop artist, the likes of which included record executive Vincent Herbert, Akon, and chairman and CEO of Interscope Records, Jimmy Iovine. 

Akon, who had met Gaga during her time at Sony/ATV, where she wrote songs for Britney Spears, Fergie, and The Pussycat Dolls, persuaded Iovine to sign the then undiscovered artist to a joint deal record deal. This joint deal would produce The Fame. For those of you somehow unfamiliar with The Fame, it is Gaga’s landmark debut album and one of the important pieces of 21st-century pop. Yet, in spite of securing a record deal, some radio stations still refused to play her music, citing it as too provocative, dance-oriented, and underground. Gaga’s response? “My name is Lady Gaga, I've been on the music scene for years, and I'm telling you, this is what's next.”

The Fame proved not to be just a successful debut for Gaga; it established Gaga as an artist fully capable of unapologetically doing things her own way and having the world applaud her for it. Preceded by the singles “Just Dance” and “Poker Face,” the latter of which would go on to become 2009’s best-selling single in the world, The Fame would also receive Gaga five GRAMMY nominations and two wins, officially proving that boyfriend all those years ago oh so wrong. Critical acclaim and record-breaking would become commonplace for Gaga.

“Poker Face” broke yet another record, spending 83 weeks on Billboard’s Digital Songs chart. “Bad Romance” become the most watched music video on YouTube in April of 2010, and in that same year, Gaga became the first person with more than a billion combined views on the platform. She was the most nominated artist for a single year at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, as well as the first female artist to receive two nominations for “Video of the Year” during the same ceremony. She entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the most downloaded female act in a year in the US in 2008. In 2010, Gaga’s first headlining tour, ‘The Monster Ball Tour’ grossed over 227-million dollars, making it the highest grossing concert for a headlining artist ever. The list goes on.

It was difficult to imagine Gaga topping the astronomical success of her debut, but then she released “Born This Way” in 2011, the lead single from the eponymous sophomore album. Selling more than one million copies in a span of five days, it would net Gaga another page in the Guinness World Record book for the fastest selling single on iTunes. The acclaim and awards for Born This Way poured in in similar effect to The Fame, but what is most remarkable is not the fact that Gaga managed to do it twice, or even four times with the release of 2013’s Artpop and 2016’s Joanne, but that throughout it all she remained completely true to herself.

Photo: Candice Lawler 

While vast sonic exploration exists throughout Gaga’s impressive catalogue, from the experimental aesthetic of her experimental underground club days to her sound in The Fame days to the more restrained poise of modern Gaga, her ethos has remained the same. It is an ethos centered around the idea that as long as you are true to yourself, you are beautiful and important, and it begins to explain just why so many people resonate with her as an artist. This is not pop selling you a perceived notion of beauty; this is Gaga telling you that “There’s nothing wrong with loving who you are.”

Beyond the realm of music, raising millions for charity and relief efforts, launching a nonprofit focused on empowering youth and community development, and advocating for LGBTQIA rights, Gaga has found the time to achieve another long-held dream of hers. Acting. Since first making that small appearance on The Sopranos in 2010, Gaga’s passion for the art form still burned all those years later. 

While she would appear in a few small roles in films during her rise to fame, it was not until 2015 that Gaga would see this dream fully-realized, appearing in American Horror Story: Hotel. She would also go on to return to the anthology series the next year in American Horror Story: Roanoke. However, chances are it was not her role as a supreme witch that left an impression but her landmark lead role in A Star Is Born.

A Star Is Born was the movie that proved we could somehow fall even in more with Gaga. A remake of a 1937 film of the same name, it captured the hearts of the critics and the public alike. From the impeccable soundtrack, which featured a whole host of Gaga songs to swoon over and cry to, to the performance of a lifetime, A Star Is Born cemented Gaga as an artist capable of doing it all. Co-writing and producing most of the songs on A Star Is Born alongside fellow star Bradley Cooper, the film’s lead single, “Shallow,” would earn Gaga her first Academy Award win for “Best Original Song.”

There is no one else quite like Gaga, and there likely never will be. Through rejection, dismissal, criticism, Mother Monster has gifted the world with lasting pop that will stand the test of time and all while doing it entirely on her own terms. So, whether you first become a fan of her from Lady Gaga and the Starlight Revue, The Fame, A Star Is Born, or you are reading this after discovering her for the first time following the forthcoming release of her sixth studio album one thing is certain. There will always be a place for all of you little monsters.