#a standup guy and a charmer

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[steampunkforever]

Beverly Hills Cop is a really fun copaganda flick. Produced by the guy who also produced Top Gun, you know what you're in for, and that means not thinking too hard about some of the things the movie is pushing. It's picking up a dirtbike from some guy on craigslist and ignoring some concerning comments on politics these days in order to make the sale go smoothly. You can raise a couple eyebrows but the #1 goal here is fun.

To that end, this film is very good. There's a reason it shot Eddie Murphy to stardom, and the script--rewritten with heavy input from Murphy after Sylvester Stallone's disastrous edgy primary rewrite--is just as charming as the leading man. This is a movie about an underdog Detroit detective trying to investigate his childhood friend's murder by a corrupt LA art dealer, and Murphy really sells it. Frustrated by class divisions and--take special note--procedural requirements the police are forced to follow, Murphy's detective character is a lovable, fast-talking charmer and you can't help but cheer for him as he drives his dented Chevy Nova next to the shiny Mercedes models of Rodeo drive.

Taking note that all films are inherently about making films, it's easy to draw a direct line between a film starring a relatively small entertainer new to the movies and the story of a scrappy detective from a smaller (and relatively racially dissimilar) town trying to rub elbows with the stuck up establishment guys who do things a certain way. Inasmuch as a movie is about making movies, it's clear that Beverly Hills Cop is telling a story about making it in showbiz as someone who wasn't born into the big club (perhaps a young comedian trying to break into the movies after finding success in standup).

Simultaneously, the finale's "moral" of the story is that things are better when cops violate civil rights to nail the bad guys who they couldn't get otherwise. As a writer I saw a clear opportunity for the LA cop characters to obfuscate the truth and bend the rules to nail the bad guy on probable cause, already a morally dubious ending but still better than what we actually got. Rather than omit some truths in the police report with a wink, the film's great moment of triumph has the Beverly Hills police outright lie about the events culminating into a bloody shootout, with Murphy's character smiling in approval the whole time.

To that end, I found the messaging of the film reminding me of a campus cop who'd prevented a local homeless man from stealing student bicycles. Retelling the story of how angry the man had been at being stopped from cutting bike chains, the cop remarked that he wished he could've punched out the man like a Philadelphia policeman had recently been caught doing. Which is to say, while the emotional appeals to justice there are valid, the rhetoric there leads to more civil rights violations than not.

This is a precise example of what a lot of my posting on propaganda references. Even as some scenes furrowed my brow (*shaking my head and frowning while I laugh so that people know I disagree with the copaganda in Beverly Hills Cop*), the movie is too good not to watch, and rather than studiously eschewing anything with the hint of a harmful idea I'd posit that you should lighten up instead.

I highly suggest Beverly Hills Cop as a staple 80s film, even with the copaganda caveat. In fact, its biggest societal harm was not glorifying police violence but rather the fact that its main theme served as the sample for the Crazy Frog Song that plagued flip phone ringtones and will probably continue to haunt phone calls for decades to come.

[uomo-accattivante]

Tiffany Haddish talks about working on The Card Counter with Oscar Isaac and Paul Schrader in the following article:

EXCERPT:

After Tiffany Haddish achieved mainstream success with her outlandish performance in 2017’s hit comedy “Girls Trip,” she was determined to strike while the iron was hot — and she has never stopped striking. Since that film came out, Haddish has published a best-selling memoir; starred in eight films (and appeared in a bunch more), as well as the sitcom “The Last O.G.”; released the Netflix comedy special “Black Mitzvah”; and started the talk show “Friday Night Vibes.” Given her professional voraciousness, it was probably inevitable that Haddish would try her hand at heavy drama, which is what she has now done by co-starring alongside Oscar Isaac in “The Card Counter,” written and directed by that legendary cinematic examiner of guilt and expiation Paul Schrader. Her appearance in the film, which will have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September, would seem to mark a new level of industry acceptance for Haddish’s manifold talents—though Haddish pushed back on that notion. “People have said, ‘You’ve crossed over, Tiffany,’” says Haddish, who is 41. “But I haven’t. There’s this big film festival coming up and I’m seeing what they’re doing for my counterparts: A lot of them are getting paid to be there. I am not. I am paying to be there. But I’m willing to invest in myself. I’ve always made a return on that investment.”

I saw that you’ve been training to play Florence Griffith Joyner.1 Did getting ready to play an Olympic athlete make you watch the Olympics any differently? No. I didn’t think any different. I’ve always thought I would play an Olympic athlete at some point in my career because it’s something I’ve always wanted to do. Everything that I have done in my acting career is something that I’d already wanted to do.

In that case, what were you looking to do with “The Card Counter”? I’ve always wanted to be a pimp.

Which, if I’m not mistaken, you have some prior experience with? I kind of was one.2 In her memoir, “The Last Black Unicorn,” Haddish recounted a brief period in her pre-comedy career when she facilitated paid sexual relationships between young men and older women. Not necessarily the best at it, but I tried. In “The Card Counter,” there’s La Linda, my character. She’s an agent-slash-pimp. She’s a middleman. She’s getting this guy to these poker events and getting him funded. She’s fronting, giving him money to do things. I’m not slanging him, but I’m definitely slanging his talents.

What was most interesting about working with Paul Schrader?3 He’s kind of a strange bird. He was like: “Tiffany, when you talk, it sounds like you’re singing. Stop singing.” I’m like, “I’m not singing.” “Yes, you are.” “I don’t sing when I talk.” “You’re definitely singing when you’re talking.” Then I realized, oh wait, I do sing when I talk. That’s just the way I talk. I think it comes from doing standup. So it was a lot of me working on trying not to have the singsong voice. He did talk about the themes of the film and stuff. I’m like, “Why is Oscar’s character doing this [expletive] with this furniture?”4 Oscar Isaac’s traveling-poker-pro character in “The Card Counter” meticulously covers the furniture and fixtures in his motel rooms in his own clean white fabric. He was like: “That’s not your problem to worry about. That’s more on Oscar. Your character, you’re a charmer. But not as charming as you are in real life. Be charming but not too charming.”

And how was Oscar Isaac? He was horrible.

Oh? Nah, he was amazing. That man is so freaking talented, and there’s a little piece of me that was like, Is he prettier than me? This man is gorgeous.

He is an attractive man. Very attractive man. But I’m good at finding something ugly on somebody so that I don’t get too mesmerized. It was difficult with him. I found one thing: He kept wearing this one shirt. I was like, This shirt is so damn ugly. [Laughs.] It wasn’t him. It was the shirt. But he’s a beautiful person. He was so helpful. Like, “Do you want to run lines?” It’s hard to find other actors that are willing to participate and be a team player. For me, anyway, it seems to have been difficult.

Are there ways you’ve learned to get people to give you what you want? I rarely get what I want. God gives me what I need. You know, I wanted to be a cast member on “S.N.L.” Never got that, but I did get to host, and I got an Emmy because of it. So God gives me what I need. What’s the saying? The rejection is my protection. A lot of people can’t handle rejection. But it always pans out for me the way it is supposed to.

1 In addition to starring as Griffith Joyner, Haddish is a producer of the biopic about the track star, who died in 1998 at age 38.

2 In her memoir, “The Last Black Unicorn,” Haddish recounted a brief period in her pre-comedy career when she facilitated paid sexual relationships between young men and older women.

3 Schrader, of course, was the screenwriter on, among other classics, “Taxi Driver” and “Raging Bull,” as well as the writer-director of the Academy Award-nominated “First Reformed” from 2017.

4 Oscar Isaac’s traveling-poker-pro character in “The Card Counter” meticulously covers the furniture and fixtures in his motel rooms in his own clean white fabric.

(The rest of this article can be read via the source link below.)

[mrmichaelchadler]

When Jeff Tried to Save The World

Just as nice guys tend to finish last, nice movies often get lost in the shuffle. It’s tempting to take for granted the delicate balancing act required for creating characters who are endearing rather than cloying, empathetic but not at all saintly. In her directorial feature debut, 23-year-old Kendall Goldberg has crafted a low-key charmer that leaves us with a surprising amount of good feeling. “When Jeff Tried To Save the World” is a slow burn of a comedy that never relies on the proverbial Deus ex Machina to fix its titular protagonist’s problems. Goldberg doesn’t pretend that closure is a given in life, but she’s wise enough to know that there is almost always an alternate route one can take on the path toward betterment. No matter how trapped we may feel within our daily routine, there is a potential escape beckoning to us, if only we strain to look for it. 

This was the lesson of Goldberg’s delightful senior thesis film, “Gloria Talks Funny,” about a voice-over star (played by Candi Milo, a.k.a. Sweetie Pie on “Tiny Toon Adventures”) who finds herself being replaced on the reboot of her hit show with a young social media celebrity. Only when riffing on her real-life predicament at a standup club, a la Mrs. Maisel, does the actress realize that she is much funnier as herself than any of her cartoon personas. For Jeff (Jon Heder), his job as manager of a small town bowling alley is not the purgatory friends and family may perceive it as from the outside. What the old-fashioned site provides him with is a sense of sanctuary, epitomized by its tagline, “Where kids can be kids—and adults can too.” Even in his more outlandish comedic roles, Heder has always excelled at the art of understatement, suggesting so much with the slimmest supply of dialogue. When he admits that the world appeared too “complex” upon graduating from college, the way Heder handles the line tells us so much about the gravitational tug of nostalgia at a time of near-apocalyptic discontent. It’s no mystery why he feels safe within his self-imposed cocoon strewn with childhood trinkets, not least of all the PAC-MAN-style arcade game he designed himself, thriving proof that Jeff’s skills could take him far beyond the realm of shoe-cleaning. 

The bowling alley, dubbed Winky’s World, isn’t all that far removed from the roller rink or drive-in theater still welcoming customers in my hometown of McHenry, Illinois, thanks to each company’s diligence in making the necessary upgrades. Alas, Winky’s won’t be able to make the leap, in part because building owner Carl (Jim O’Heir of “Parks and Recreation”) has other priorities. Many of the film’s biggest laughs arrive during a sequence where Jeff attempts to steer away potential buyers of the building by having his employee Frank (Steve Berg) rattle off a series of scripted claims as to why their purchase is destined to become a money pit. Jeff further adds to their befuddlement by filling the oft-quiet alley with a barrage of bowlers on the day of their visit, luring in bystanders with the promise of free pizza. A lesser picture would’ve allowed these miniature triumphs to result in a standard feel-good ending, yet the script coauthored by Goldberg and her frequent writing partner, Rachel Borgo, is too honest to settle for such clichés. 

While this plot thread more or less follows the structure of the filmmaker’s short film of the same name—which was produced as a proof-of-concept for the feature—the heart of the movie is contained in the scenes Jeff shares with Samantha (Maya Erskine). She’s the friend of Jeff’s sister, Lindy (Anna Konkle, soon to be featured alongside Erskine on Hulu’s “PEN15”), who crashes at her brother’s apartment uninvited as a last ditch effort to infiltrate his enclosed world. It’s clear Samantha feels guilty about how Lindy had her tag along, yet every time she tries to smooth things over, Jeff is always the first to apologize. Eventually we realize that Jeff has neglected to tell anyone in his family about his current profession, including his mother (Elizabeth Laidlaw), for fear of humiliation. With Lindy, he suddenly feels comfortable enough to open up. 

There are echoes of “Punch-Drunk Love” in the harrowing sibling dynamic between soft-spoken Jeff and maddeningly self-involved Lindy, not to mention the tenderness that Samantha exudes when hanging with Jeff. If he’s the Adam Sandler to Lindy’s Mary Lynn Rajskub, then Samantha is most certainly the Emily Watson of the movie, even wearing the Watson character’s signature color of red in the scene where Jeff starts taking a liking to her (how can he resist her request for a two-player game?). Of course, Heder achieved cinematic immortality when struggling to find the right words for a given moment as Napoleon Dynamite, telling his prom date, “I like your sleeves. They’re real big.” Jeff shares some similarly amusing banter with Samantha in the early stages of their friendship, declaring, “Yes, go clean up!”, as she’s about to take a shower. Yet Goldberg and Heder never push Jeff over the line into caricature, and they treat his anxiety with the seriousness it deserves. 

Watson had to find some way into Sandler’s world in order to fall for him, and Erskine shows us precisely what draws Samantha to Jeff. She’s intrigued by his peculiarities and doesn’t view him as an object of pity. More importantly, she also shares his unsettled perspective on adult life, in light of her own mother’s impending remarriage. Just when I found myself ready to write off particular characters as one-note adversaries, they proved to be more human than expected. Konkle has a touching moment late in the film where her character softens the instant she realizes that Jeff is wholly unaware of the challenges that have plagued her relationship with their parents. Occasionally the dialogue can be too on-the-nose, such as when Carl casts off his own villain facade, yet Goldberg’s utter disinterest in condescension is precisely what makes her movie so lovable. 

“When Jeff Tried to Save the World” has the added distinction of being the latest indie produced by Shane Simmons, who has made several of the finest Chicagoland-set films in recent years, including Stephen Cone’s “Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party,” Michael Glover Smith’s “Mercury in Retrograde” and Clare Cooney’s “Runner.” Goldberg’s warm-hearted movie is a worthy addition to this collection of character portraits, where the most illuminating truths are left unspoken, tucked into the halting pauses between words. So assured is this debut that it reminded me of a Duplass Brothers picture, the title of which it could’ve easily borrowed, albeit with the following revision: “Jeff, Who No Longer Lives at Home.”

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[animalsoffarmsanctuary]

Ogar: Always Leave Them Smiling

At first, Ogar was not all smiles; instead, he arrived as a very frightened, very sickly, and nippy young boy. 

The family. Ogar was clearly the most assertive, looking directly at the photographer and ready to take a nip when they leave. 

Always the protector of his siblings, Ogar would bite us as we left the pen where this little family of six had to be treated for pneumonia, lice, and mange. 

“Hey everyone — don’t mess with my peeps." Ogar into everything, as always. 

But Ogar was likely the protector because he was the smartest and most perceptive. And because of this, he quickly recognized that he was safe, as were his porcine peeps.

Ogar meeting a little friend who has an apple. 

So he lightened up and learned to enjoy life. And his personality came out — and it was quite funny. So we named him after another funny guy, Charlie Ogar.

Ogar’s first experience with mud. Needless to say, it was a big hit!

Charlie did standup comedy and was also a therapist and drug counselor — although the comedy part was the reason that this special pig got his name. Because, though Ogar pig did not do standup, he kept us smiling and laughing all the time.

Charlie Ogar getting the huge pig snuggle!

And he still does. Since he weighed a mere 75 pounds, Ogar pig would play with us, spinning in circles — often until he fell. And this boy loves the belly rub — really loves it. Just touch his belly and he is down.

From his early days with us to the present, Ogar has always had a soft spot for the belly rub!

He would (and still does) run when you call his name.  

If you call him, he will come. Ogar is always up for human attention and really wants to be where the action is. 

He is a camera hog — unlike his brothers Farley and Dennis, who were not fans of the attention from humans, Ogar is a clown, and he loves to mug for each shot.

Teenage Ogar in our main pig barn — chillin’.

He is a big talker and responds when you call his name each time. With a grunt or a “huh huh huh” sound to greet you, this boy is always saying something to communicate his feelings. 

Big talker — the typical Ogar greeting. He loves to talk (just like his namesake) and when you call his name, he grunts a response each time.

And he is a lover of mud. He loves to dig and create newer, larger mud holes to share with his people. This boy is a regular engineer of the perfect wallow. 

These photos, taken today, show that with the arrival of spring comes the need for a much larger wallow!

And what a looker he is, too. Those beautiful tufted ears, that silly grin on his face, and those beautiful eyes. 

Big smile, hairy ears, and that amazing pink nose. This boy is a real charmer.  

He and his brothers remained very close, although Farley and Dennis never got over their fear of people — even when they were bigger than everyone they encountered. Both Dennis and Farley attempted to bite people — again, out of fear; they are not mean.

Dennis, Farley, and Ogar grazing and enjoying the day.

So the two brothers were to be moved to our rescue barn, which was being converted into what we lovingly call “the biter barn.” This area is where pigs who tend to nip, have bitten caregivers, or have lunged can live away from human strangers and with each other, which is how they like it.

If the boards start a rockin’, it’s Ogar a-knockin’.

And knowing how amazing Ogar’s personality was, we thought — incorrectly, as it turned out — that he could happily remain with his sister in the big barn, and the two brothers would move to their home across the farm.

The brothers as young pigs in a piggy pile. From right to left: Dennis, Farley, and Ogar. 

We were wrong, and Ogar, in protest, stopped eating for a full two days (although Emily was thrilled — those boys picked at her relentlessly wanting to play, and she had been growing weary of their antics). 

“Where are my people?” Ogar in his new pasture and happy again to be with his brothers. 

So Ogar was moved to the barn whose name described his behavior during his first few weeks with us only — and the reuniting of the family was a tearjerker. They spun and played and hoofed and ran, and Ogar’s appetite returned. And to this day, he never sleeps away from his brother Farley (Dennis passed away last year).

Ogar now — a very hairy boy with the cutest ears on earth. 

He did, however, find love for the first time this year — a bit late in life, but when it’s right, it’s right.  

Roxy and Gus a few years ago. They were the happiest siblings, and her sadness over his loss was so painful to watch. 

Roxy, who just lost her beautiful but very sickly brother Gus, was moved into the herd (the biter barn) because she had met these pigs through the fence for the two years that she’d lived beside them with Gus. She was very depressed and lonely, so we moved her quickly after his passing.  

Roxy and Ogar.  

And out of all the pigs, she was smitten with our boy Ogar, and he returned this love — which surprised us, since so many have entered the herd and he usually either fights them for position or ignores them.  

Ogar and Roxy enjoying the great outdoors together.

But not with this girl. And it’s great for her — because Ogar runs the place. Our first lady of the pig barn now sleeps beside her boyfriend as well — with Farley on his other side. Although we have seen Farley chase her away, it does not deter the love that has developed, and we are so happy for them both.

Loving this belly rub from friend and caregiver Abbie! (A nest-building Socks pig makes a cameo.)

So from biting, fearful baby to funny, loving, and quite comical adult, Ogar showed us that he was unique — different, even, than each of his siblings. And though our food system raises these animals more like machines, they are not. Each one is unique and has his or her own personality. They are each someone — they are individuals — and he is Ogar. 

Snowgar — or Ogar in the snow!