[I review "House of Gucci," "Lucy and Desi," "Flee," "The French Dispatch," "Life & Beth," and "The Thing About Pam."]
Yep. I got it. After getting vaxed and boosted and being careful, I managed to avoid the dreaded Covid for over two years, and then once I thought the world was doing better, and I let my guard down by traveling to Washington State for a party, I GOT IT!
Yuck. And it's embarrassing. Admitting to getting Covid is almost like admitting to doing something wrong. I feel there is a stigma in there somewhere, so in addition to feeling like crap physically, I have to feel like crap that I got it.
So 5-10 days of quarantine feeling like crap (cough, cough) is one thing, but the worst part? The boredom and isolation. So good thing I had lots of content on my beloved telly. I was entertained. (And I read some books too!)
So here is what I watched:
Movies
House of Gucci (2021)
Family intrigue in the House of Gucci.
I know I am rather late to this party, but there was that little thing called The Pandemic, and I lost interest in going to the theatre, so wasn't able to see this film until it just now showed up for rent on Apple+. And even though I am late to the party, I wanted to see if this film, along with Lady Gaga and Jared Leto, deserved to be robbed of Oscar nods.
After all of the buzz around the film and Gaga's and Leto's performances, the film garnered only one Oscar nomination - hair and makeup! How can that be? We know Leto will do anything to make his role work. Who can forget his losing 40 pounds for his Oscar winning role in "The Dallas Buyer's Club?" And Lady Gaga reportedly kept her Italian accent day and night for nine months while filming this. She was nominated for an Oscar for her first starring role in "A Star is Born." Was that a flash in the pan?
I had to get to the bottom of this!
The film is the true story of the family machinations that brought down the House of Gucci, a powerful fashion brand that dominated the fashion world for much of the mid-20th century. Lady Gaga plays Patrizia Reggiani, a Liz Taylor look-alike, who meets Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver) at a party in 1970. She is beautiful and charming, he rather shy and awkward, but when she heard his name, ka-ching! Patrizia made a point to get herself a date with Maurizio and through sheer force of will, her will, he fell in lover with her. He didn't have a chance. Patrizia was a force of nature. They married but all was not well in the Gucci family. Maurizio's father, Rodolpho (Jeremy Irons - and no one does bored aristocrat like he does!), did not approve of his only son marrying Patrizia, thinking her a gold digger. Duh. But Patrizia had ambition, more ambition than her husband, and when Rodolpho died, she constantly worked on Maurizio to take out his uncle Aldo (Al Pacino) and cousin Paolo (Leto). Patrizia didn't have much to worry about with Paolo. He was a sad character. As his own father, Aldo, says about him, "He's an idiot, but he's my idiot."
Maurizio moves up in the company but his marriage to Patrizia fades and he unceremoniously discards her, even though they have a daughter together. However, Patrizia is not going down without making Maurizio pay. And with the help of her psychic, Pina (Salma Hayek), she plots her revenge.
So...after watching all two hours and 38 minutes of this film, I have come up with my conclusion.
Somebody associated with this film pi**ed somebody off, because not only should this film have been nominated (I mean it was directed by Ridley Scott, for god's sake!), but both Gaga and Leto were robbed. They both should have been nominated because their performances were brilliant.
The film, with a screenplay by Becky Johnston and Roberto Bentivegna (based on the book "The House of Gucci" by Sara Gay Forden), was beautiful to look at and was engaging, all two hours and 38 minutes of it. It captured the opulence of the very rich. Leto did what he usually does. He embraced the role fully from his latex face makeup to his fat suit, all making him unrecognizable. But makeup and prostheses aside, he brought the role of the sad, incompetent Paolo Gucci to life. And Lady Gaga. She was amazing in this. Never once did I think I was watching the superstar singer. I was watching the beautiful and charming Patrizia Gucci make waves all over Milan and Lake Como.
If we are going to have 10 movie nominations (something I don't agree with, by the way), this one totally deserved to be in that group. It certainly could have replaced "Drive My Car," which in my opinion did not deserve to be in the Best Picture category. Likewise, when I compare Best Supporting Actor nominee Jesse Plemons performance in "The Power of the Dog" to Leto's, though a good performance, no comparison. Likewise, much as I enjoyed J.K. Simmons as William Frawley in "Being the Ricardos," his part was so small, again, no comparison, and much as I like Ciaran Hinds as an actor, I hardly remember him in "Belfast." In my mind, Leto could have taken one of those places.
As for Lady Gaga, she should have been nominated for Best Actress instead of Kristin Stewart. If you read my review of "Spencer," you know I hated that film. It made a mockery of Princess Diana, and though Stewart's performance was okay, she mimicked Diana's mannerisms but there was no there there. And then she had the gall to wear shorts to the Oscars!
As for the other actors, Al Pacino was quite wonderful as Aldo Gucci, Maurizio's uncle. He was uncharacteristically toned down, well, as toned down as Al can get. Jeremy Irons? What can't he do? And Adam Driver as Maurizio. His role was less flashy than the others, but crucial to the film and he was great. Though he has consistently been nominated for awards, I still feel he is an underrated actor. You don't hear his name come up in "greatest actors" conversations, but he is right up there.
And as for the film itself, though I am not a fan of movies that run two hours and 38 minutes, this one didn't feel that long. My gauge on such things is whether or not Hubby stays awake, and he was awake for the entire film! And the film did move along. It's a fabulous, real life soap opera. My only other criticism is that I wish there had been more time spent on the ending of Patrizia's and Maurizio's marriage and why she chose to do what she did.
Rosy the Reviewer says...an enjoyable and satisfying film experience that deserved more than one Oscar nomination!
Lucy and Desi (2022)
The rise of Lucy and Desi and how "I Love Lucy" changed Hollywood.
"Being the Ricardos" was a fine dramatization of a time in Lucille Ball's and Desi Arnaz's marriage but this is the real thing. Directed by Amy Poehler and with the help of Lucy and Desi's daughter, Lucie Arnaz Luckinbill, who also narrates, this film gives insight into not just Lucy and Desi's marriage but Lucy and Desi themselves. Lucie shares her mother's tapes and videos, never-before-heard or seen, and from them we see the personal side of Lucy and Desi.
Written by Mark Monroe, the film covers each of their careers - Lucy as a young girl growing up in Jamestown, New York but leaving home early, heading for New York where she modeled and was a chorus girl on Broadway. She was discovered by Hollywood and went under contract with RKO. She was happy for the work, did what she was told but never really made it past the "B" movies to stardom.
Desi started out in Cuba in a rich family but when the Cuban Revolution of 1933 occurred, Desi's father lost everything and the family fled to Miami. Desi had musical talent, formed a band, and was discovered by Xavier Cugat which in turn led to him starting his own band, The Desi Arnaz Orchestra, where he played the conga drum and sang. He was credited with introducing the concept of conga line dancing.
Desi had appeared on Broadway in "Too Many Girls" and when he was called to Hollywood for the movie version, he met Lucy. They fell in love and married. However, his touring schedule and her work kept them apart for much of their early marriage which led them to think of what they could do together. And "I Love Lucy" was born. They did the TV show so they could be together.
In "Being the Ricardos," Nicole Kidman did a good job of portraying some of Lucy's famous comic moments on the show, but there is nothing like seeing the real thing. This documentary has many of Lucy's funniest moments, reminding us what a gift she had for physical comedy. The irony was that Lucy was not a funny person. In fact, she was a very serious person who took the work of being funny very seriously. But she was an actress. She knew how to get a laugh. And more importantly, she was not afraid to look silly or unattractive in order to get that laugh. She put in hours and hours of rehearsal so it would all work.
Though Desi was often overshadowed by Lucy, he was the glue that held it all together, and he turned out to be a good producer. Because the quality of the film that played on the East Coast wasn't very good, he came up with the idea of filming the show live with an audience using three cameras, an innovative concept at the time. He also invented "re-runs." Desi and Lucy formed Desilu Productions and eventually bought RKO Pictures, the very studio where Lucy had been under contract and where they had met. Desilu was responsible for such TV shows as "Star Trek," "The Untouchables," "Mission Impossible," and so many more.
But over time, it all became too much for Desi. He just didn't enjoy it, and the marriage suffered. Lucy and Desi divorced, married others, but always maintained a close relationship until Desi's death.
Like "Being the Ricardos," the documentary also deals with Lucy being called before the House Un-American Activities Committee for registering as a Communist but doesn't dwell there as much as the dramatization did.
Seeing this old footage from the "I Love Lucy" show brought back so many memories.
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I was five years old when we got our first TV, so I guess I must have started watching Season 2 (the show started in 1951). Funny how I remembered every bit of the footage shown and it's still so funny. And it was groundbreaking as well. Never had a pregnancy been a focal point of a TV show before.
Bette Midler, Carol Burnett, and Norman Lear all weigh in about the influence Lucy had on television and on them. Lucy was dedicated to helping other women come up and Carol and Bette share their experiences and friendship with Lucy.
Those of you who grew up with Lucy and Desi will love this and so will those of you who didn't.
Rosy the Reviewer says...a fitting tribute to television icons (Amazon Prime).
An animated documentary about a man forced to flee Afghanistan as a boy and the secret he had to live with.
TV
Life & Beth (2022)
Beth is 40, unmarried, and childless and wondering how she got there and where she is headed.
I know that Amy Schumer can be polarizing, because she is not afraid to "go there." Some of the things that come out of that innocent face of hers...but women comics have had a difficult road. Women often aren't considered funny. John Belushi famously said his female counterparts on SNL were not funny, Jerry Lewis said female comedians weren't funny and author/journalist Christopher Hitchens said women in general were just inherently not funny. But what did they know? Belushi didn't live a very smart life, Lewis didn't respect women and was supposedly an abuser and Hitchens was just a grouch.
I admit up front I am an Amy fan. And she proved her worth at the Oscars when she came out after the slap heard round the world and said, "Did I miss anything?" Brilliant. Even before that she and Wanda and Regina were killing it as hosts. And they were funny!
But whether you are an Amy fan or not, this series shows a very different side of her. Yes, it's funny and she still goes there, but she is toned down. She almost plays straight woman to a cast of odd characters. You see, Beth (Schumer) is not a particularly happy women. She is a wine cellar rep who feels the clock is ticking on her life. She is almost 40, unmarried, childless and then her mother dies and her mother's death shakes up her life.
So Beth moves out of Manhattan, back to her childhood town and home on Long Island, where she has to confront many painful childhood memories and try to rekindle her relationship with her sister, Ann (Susannah Flood). In flashbacks, between Beth's middle school years and her adulthood, we see where Beth's angst came from: middle school bullying, her parents' divorce, her mother's affair with her best friend's father, the constant stream of new men coming and going in her mother's life, a boating accident that ruined her high school volleyball career and her dealing with all of that by pulling her hair out.
But she also meets John (Michael Cera), a local farmer who doesn't seem to have a filter. He's a nice guy but very flat and socially awkward and just too darn honest. Perhaps Beth needs that. But underneath that flat exterior he also has a sense of humor, though an odd one. He thinks it's fun to read out loud the items for sale for less than $100 in his local paper. And, actually, you know what? It was quite funny. I need to do that.
Perfect casting for the young Beth (Violet Young) and was that David Byrne playing Beth's doctor? Michael Rappaport plays Beth's ne'er do well father, Leonard, the kind of Dad who thinks it's funny when his daughters are entering the kitchen to pretend he is going to put their poodle in the microwave. Now he is practically homeless and losing his memory. In flashbacks, we meet Beth's mother, Jane (Laura Benanti) as Beth relives their sometimes unhappy relationship. Excellent casting all around.
What I love about Amy is that she is unafraid to say just about anything. She pushes the envelope. Her bits don't always work, but I appreciate what she does. Her comedy is all about shattered expectations and awkward situations - life! - and she is always all in. She has no problem making fun of herself and she's not a skinny bitch. She's a real girl. She makes me smile.
Created by Amy and written by Amy and a team of co-writers (she also directed four episodes), this is taken from her own life and she tackles the age old issue of confronting our parents' weaknesses and faults, realizing how those have influenced us, forgiving them and then moving on. This is a raw, more poignant Amy Schumer, and, yes, she still goes there, but there is a sweetness to where she goes.
Rosy the Reviewer says...it's all very droll but its a side of Amy you have never seen and a satisfying little series about grief, forgiveness, empowerment and hope. (Hulu)
The Thing About Pam (2022)
Who really killed Betsy Faria?
It’s difficult to know whether to take this seriously or not, though it’s a very serious subject. As Keith Morrison would say, it’s all about mu-u-u-r-der. And speaking of Keith Morrison, he actually narrates this dramatization of the Betsy Faria murder case that has been all over the news lately making us think that we are watching a “Dateline” re-enactment. And we kind of are, because "Dateline" was the first to blow the whistle on Pam Hupp, the "star" of this story, and they don't want you to forget that. But it’s actually a drama series starring Renee Zellwegger in a fat suit as Pam Hupp, the woman at the center of this murder case.
(NOTE: If you are looking for a particular movie or series, check out this cool site: JustWatch. It tells you where you can access all TV series and movies)
