Showing posts with label Biographies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Biographies. Show all posts

Friday, December 16, 2016

"Office Christmas Party" and The Week in Reviews

It's comedy week with a touch of the holidays thrown in!

[I review the new comedy "Office Christmas Party" as well as the DVDs "Love the Coopers" and "Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising."  The Book of the Week is "Last Girl Before Freeway: The Life, Love, Losses and Liberation of Joan Rivers."  I also bring you up-to-date with "My 1001 Movies I Must See Before I Die Project" with Lucino Visconti's epic "The Leopard."]
 
 

What do you do when your mean old CEO of a sister wants to shut down your branch of the company and says absolutely NO CHRISTMAS PARTY?  Why you throw a Christmas party to end all Christmas parties, right?!

Clay Vanstone (T. J. Miller) is a trust fund baby whose father, when he died, left him the Chicago branch of  his company, Zenotech, to run.  However, he must have loved Clay's sister, Carol (Jennifer Anniston) more because he made her CEO of the entire company, and she is, shall we say, not the warm and fuzzy type.  She is all about the bottom line and has no problem whatsoever shutting down branches and laying people off, even if it's her brother's branch and it's the Christmas holidays.  When she shows up, people quake in their boots.  And wouldn't you know, she shows up at Clay's branch.

Josh Parker (Jason Bateman) is a recently divorced guy and also the Chief Technical Officer for Zenotech.  He is loyal to Clay, despite the fact that Clay is a total bonehead.  But Clay is a kind of sweet bonehead who means well.  When Carol decides that not only is she going to shut down Clay's branch but she is shutting down the annual Christmas party, Josh teams up with Clay to save both. They decide that if they can land a big account from wealthy Walter Davis (Courtney B. Vance), all will be saved.  To do that, they decide to impress him with a big Christmas party. 

Carol is on her way to London, or so they all think, but wouldn't you know,   snow sets in and Carol's flight is canceled so she returns to the office when the party is in full swing.  She is not amused.

There is a side plot about one of the employees, Nate (Karan Soni), who is being bullied by a couple of his co-workers who not only don't believe that Nate's girlfriend is a model, they don't believe he even has a girlfriend. Of course they are right, he doesn't, but when he is forced into bringing his "girlfriend" to the Christmas party, he hires a prostitute, Savannah (Abbey Lee), to pretend to be his girlfriend, who proceeds to cause all kinds of havoc at the party. 

With the party in full swing, Clay and Josh have a misunderstanding, Clay drinks (he shouldn't) and goes off with Savannah's pimp (Jillian Bell) to party while she proceeds to try to find out where he keeps his money.  The rest of the film is a car chase to save Clay.

The plot itself has been done in various iterations many times.  People are being mistreated by the boss or some officious person, so screw it! Let's get even by having one big blow out to end all blow outs.  It's part "The Hangover" and part "Adventures in Babysitting."  However, the potential for funny in this film isn't the plot but the characters.
 
Here is a rundown on the characters:
 
  • Clay (Miller), the long-haired hippy dippy boss who is an idiot but means well
  • Josh (Bateman), the deadpan, put upon friend and co-worker who appears to be the only sane one in the company
  • Carol (Anniston), the mean sister and CEO
  • Tracey (Olivia Munn), the geeky and brilliant IT woman who has a crush on Josh
  • Mary (SNL's Kate McKinnon), the uptight HR person who is always breathing down everyone's neck about PC issues
  • Allison (SNL's Vanessa Bayer) a single mom with a crush on Fred (Randall Park), until she discovers he has a mom/baby fetish
  • Jeremy (Rob Corddry), Head of Customer Service, who hates people and complains constantly
 

You know that I am always on the look out for a good comedy and am usually disappointed because I just don't find very many comedies funny.  If I end a review with "I laughed," that is high praise.

Just to give you some background, my idea of funny and what makes me laugh is this:  early Woody Allen and Peter Sellers ("Sleeper" or "The Party" are some examples).  Also Christopher Guest's mockumentaries are hilarious to me ("This is Spinal Tap"), and I also loved Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor before they got all sentimental.  Anyway, those are the kinds of movies that make me laugh, and I know those are hard acts to follow. And in fact, I haven't really laughed much at the movies in the last 30 years.  Well, that is sort of an exaggeration, but not much. But hope springs eternal as they say, so I keep trying (and by the way who are "they?).

So how does this film measure up?

Directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck, the movie is very character driven and has some funny characters, so whether or not you think it is funny depends on whether or not you think the characters are funny. For example, Jennifer Anniston is once again a "horrible boss."  Does the idea of her being a mean boss again and being able to beat men up make you laugh?  If so, you might like this.  Do you think someone accidentally inhaling a busload of cocaine and then turning from an uptight dude to a party animal funny?  Then you might like this. How about people taking pictures of their butts on the photocopy machine (do people even do that any more?). Again, if you think that's funny, then you might laugh.  I, on the other hand, do not find those things very funny.

However, I do give props to T.J. Miller as Jennifer Anniston's brother, the clueless boss.  He did make me laugh. Fans of the TV show "Silicon Valley" will recognize him. He was also very kooky in "Deadpool," where he had one of the funniest lines in the movie, which he supposedly adlibbed (when describing Wade's disfigurement he says, "You look like an avocado had sex with an older, more disgusting avocado.")  He is very hot right now.  He is so hot that he hosted the "Critics Choice Awards" this last week and was just as nutty as the characters he has played on TV and in the movies.  I am always drawn to the actors who aren't afraid to "go there," and Miller is willing to not only "go there," but go beyond there. 

I also enjoyed Jillian Bell as the female pimp who is super friendly until you cross her and Fortune Feimster as a first-time Uber driver makes an impact in a very small role.  They both made me chuckle.  Jason Bateman is the king of the put upon, sad sack guy. He pretty much plays straight man to the antics of everyone else but that in and of itself is very funny. 

But was that enough?  Not really.

Rosy the Reviewer says...if you liked "The Hangover" or really over-the-top Christmas parties are your thing, you might like this but if you don't, don't say I didn't warn you.



 
***Some Movies You Might Have Missed***
(And Some You Will Be Glad You Did)!



On DVD



Love the Coopers


What do you think might happen when four generations of the Cooper clan come together for their annual Christmas Eve celebration?  Right. 

Charlotte Cooper (Diane Keaton) wants to have the Perfect Christmas for her family just like they used to have.  However, we all know that reality can never live up to happy memories and that's what we have here. Families getting together for Christmas is fraught with drama.  But the real problem is that Charlotte and her husband, Sam (John Goodman), are going to get a divorce after 40 years - you know, it's an empty nest thing - but Charlotte wants to have one last big party before announcing the divorce to the family (sound familiar?).

Son Hank (Ed Helms) spends a lot of time looking for a job and daughter, Eleanor (Olivia Wilde, whom I really like), is avoiding going home and while dawdling in an airport bar meets a soldier (Jake Lacy). Grandpa Bucky (Alan Arkin) is mourning the days when he was a hot commodity with the ladies and acts out a bit with Ruby, the young waitress (Amanda Seyfried) at the restaurant he frequents every day. He has a crush on her and wants to tell her, but it's also her last day on the job.  Marisa Tomei plays Charlotte's sister, Emma, who has a problem with shoplifting and Anthony Mackie is the cop who arrests her and befriends her.  Far-fetched as can be.

If all of that sounds funny or even interesting to you, you might like this, but for me...yawn.

This is the age old story of a married couple losing themselves and their relationship while raising their kids and Christmas bringing up memories, regrets, family slights and expectations, but in the end, no matter how dysfunctional we are we are still family.  Yawn.

I am an Olivia Wilde fan and she has done some great work, but here she seems to be channeling Diane Keaton's mannerisms so that we will really believe she is her daughter, and since I am not a fan of Diane Keaton's mannerisms, I didn't much care for the performance and it didn't really make sense to me.  In fact, most of the characters and situations just didn't make sense. It's a star-studded cast with little for any of them to do.

The script by Steven Rogers was probably supposed to make us feel all warm and fuzzy about family and Christmas, but despite a few good moments, it was disjointed and there weren't enough of the good moments to override the bad ones such as precocious kids (which I hate) and farting old people, which I also don't find funny, probably because I am one. 

Directed by Jessie Nelson, the film just didn't come together in a satisfying way.  I just didn't know what I was supposed to feel when it was over.  That the holidays are fraught with emotion?  That families are dysfunctional?  Duh. I already knew that.

With a holiday theme and disparate characters and their stories coming together, this could be compared to a low-rent Garry Marshall movie like "Mother's Day," so...

Rosy the Reviewer says...if you like Garry Marshall's movies like the aforementioned "Mother's Day" (or "New Year's Eve" or "Valentine's Day"), you might like this, but I don't so I didn't.  If you are dying to watch a Christmas movie, watch "It's a Wonderful Life" instead.







Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2015)


They're baaaack!  As Yogi Berra famously said, "It's deja vu all over again."  Mac (Josh Rogan) and Kelly (Rose Byrne), who fought off their old neighbors, a rowdy fraternity in the first film, have new neighbors.  No it's not another fraternity.  This time it's a sorority and the girls are even worse than the boys. They are so bad in fact that Mac and Kelly ask their old nemesis, Teddy (Zac Efron), to help.

I liked the first "Neighbors." But you know how I feel about sequels.

Kelly and Mac decide it's time to sell their house.  They have some buyers and the deal is just about to go through...

Meanwhile, Shelby (Chloe Grace Moritz) joins a sorority and is told that sorority girls are not allowed to party in the sorority houses, but they can go party with the boys in the frat houses.  That is not OK with Shelby so she declares war and decides to start her own sorority.  Guess what?  It's going to be in the house next to Mac and Kelly, the same house where that darned fraternity was last time!  What are the odds? 

The girls party like mad making Mac's and Kelly's lives a nightmare.  The girls harass them, throwing used tampons at their windows and exhibiting other gross behavior.  Mac and Kelly are worried that they won't be able to sell their house if the buyers find out there is a sorority next door. 

How do you hide the existence of the sorority next door and eventually get rid of them before those buyers back out?  Why you ask your arch nemesis and his friend to help.  They ask Teddy and Pete (Dave Franco, who has the same smile as his brother, James - it's something about the teeth), their enemies from the last movie, to help them bring the girls down.  Teddy is out of college now and is a model.  Not sure what Pete is doing.  I think he is gay and I don't remember that from the first one.  Anyway...

It's WAR!

The girls really can't afford that house so they decide to sell weed to finance the sorority so Mac, Kelly, Teddy and Pete decide to infiltrate a party the girls are throwing and throw a wrench in their big drug deal. 

And  that's the crux of this story. 

Directed by Nicholas Stoller, with a few new tweaks, it's basically a rehash of the first film.  Hey, the first movie was a success, why not do it again but this time with girls? 

You are probably sick by now of how much I talk about HATING SEQUELS!!  Not to mention that gross-out humor and talking about penises (that's not the word the girls use) is not my idea of funny.  This film had good box office and I give the feminist angle some props - I mean girls like to party, too, so why should the guys get all of the fun? That is a plus, but that doesn't make it a good film, though I'm not the demographic this film was aimed at either.

But ...just when I was going to give up on this mess, Zac goes up on the stage at the party shirtless and does a strip tease...nothing like a little naked Zac to add some life to a movie.  Maybe I am that demographic after all.

Rosy the Reviewer says...if you want to see a rehash of the first "Neighbors" again, you might like this, though the first one stands as the best one.



 
***My 1001 Movies I Must See Before I Die Project***


223 to go!

Have YOU seen this classic film?




The Leopard (1963)


A Sicilian nobleman tries to maintain his integrity and class in the upheaval of 1860's Italy.

(I know I said this post was all about comedy and it is.  You wouldn't think an epic like this could be classified as comedy, but I think one can say that life is a comedy in many ways and this film is actually quite comical).
 
This is the story of Prince Fabrizio di Salina (Burt Lancaster) who by trying to avoid a confrontation with Garibaldi's army has to move his family to their retreat at Donnafugata.  But he also understands that if he wants to maintain his position in life, he needs to make some compromises, so he marries his nephew, Tancredi (Alain Delon), off to Angelica (Claudia Cardinale), the daughter of the local mayor, an alliance between "The Leopard" and "The Jackal," an alliance between the old ways and old rich and the new ways and the new rich. 

That is fine with Tancredi, who is not only suave and handsome but smart and opportunistic about what lies ahead.  It is the wedding ball that covers the entire last third of the film and which also brings the central metaphor to life - the end of an era.  When the Prince dances with Angelica at the ball, it is the  last dance of an aging man who remembers his youth and what might have been with a beautiful woman like Angelica (and she knows it too), but it's also the last dance of a particular kind of social order. 

The Prince: "We were the leopards, the lions.  Those who will take our place will be jackals, hyenas.  And all of us - leopards, lions, jackals, and sheep - we'll go on thinking ourselves the salt of the earth."

This film, directed and adapted by Italian auteur director Luchina Visconti from the novel by Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa, is considered a masterpiece of filmmaking.

Why it's a Must See:  "A cult classic, [this film] is a sumptuous fresco of a world that's active at twilight...No other filmmaker handled [Burt] Lancaster the way Visconti did, making him look so aristocratic, so distinguished, but also so human.  His wonderful performance made Prince Salina one of the emblematic noble characters in movie history...The film's refined chromatic and visual style, based on Visconti's competence in the fine arts, became his signature.  One of the most expensive, sumptuous movies ever produced in Europe."
---"1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die"

Burt Lancaster is almost unrecognizable here, so maybe it is his amazing acting, but it's difficult to judge his acting since it is obvious his Italian is being dubbed by an Italian.  But he is still affecting because acting is not all about how an actor delivers dialogue.  It's also about the face and Lancaster's face delivers.

"It was my best work," Lancaster himself told me [Roger Ebert] sadly, more than 20 years later. 'I bought 11 copies of The Leopard because I thought it was a great novel. I gave it to everyone. But when I was asked to play in it, I said, no, that part's for a real Italian. But, lo, the wheels of fortune turned. They wanted a Russian, but he was too old. They wanted Olivier, but he was too busy. When I was suggested, Visconti said, 'Oh, no! A cowboy!' But I had just finished 'Judgment at Nuremberg,' which he saw, and he needed $3 million, which 20th Century-Fox would give them if they used an American star, and so the inevitable occurred. And it turned out to be a wonderful marriage." 

Alain Delon is French so he's probably being dubbed too, though who cares?  He is SOOO handsome.  I first fell in love with him when he starred in the British film "The Yellow Rolls Royce," and he has been a swoon worthy leading man for me ever since.  His big break-out roll was "Rocco and his Brothers," which I reviewed last year as part of this "project." Swoony McSwoonerson.

Claudia Cardinale, who coincidentally was also in "Rocco and his Brothers," became an international sex symbol after she starred in "The Pink Panther" and is at the height of her beauty here. She looks like a young Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Rosy the Reviewer says...if you like historical epics that are beautiful to look at and with political significance that could well resonate today, you will love this film.  They don't make movies like this anymore.  But spoiler:  it's LONG.


 

 

***Book of the Week***






Last Girl Before Freeway: The Life, Loves, Losses and Liberation of Joan Rivers by Leslie Bennetts (2016)




The life and career of Joan Rivers, the first biography since her untimely death.

Even though comedian Joan Rivers was 81 when she died, she not only had no intention of retiring, she didn't plan on dying anytime soon either.  She did a sold-out show the night before a botched endoscopy ended her life.  Rivers was not just a legendary comedian whose career spanned 60 years, she was a feminist pioneer in the male dominated world of stand-up comedy with her conspiratorial humor and her relatable looks.  However, she wanted to be beautiful and not being beautiful haunted her and drove her.

"If I had to choose between being funny and beautiful - beautiful." 

Hence her dedication to plastic surgery, something she made no bones about admitting and her drive to be funny.

It's all here - growing up in middle class Larchmont with a conventional Jewish mother who wanted her to give up comedy and get married to a nice Jewish boy, her big break on the Johnny Carson Show and their subsequent feud, the suicide of her husband, her estrangement from her daughter who blamed her for her father's death - all of that drove her to work, work, work - and Rivers decided that if she couldn't be loved because she was beautiful, she would be loved because she was funny. 

But Rivers was also a feminist trying to make it in the male dominated world of stand-up comedy, so she was tough and didn't care who she insulted.  Funny is funny was her motto.  Most female comedians credit Rivers with paving the way for them in a world where men didn't think women could be funny.  And we ladies know that men are wrong a LOT because women are funny!

Rosy the Reviewer says...an engrossing biography that reveals the woman behind the jokes.



 
See you 

***Tuesday***

 
for a special

Holiday Treat!
 


 
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Check your local library for DVDs and books mentioned.

 

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Go to IMDB.com, find the movie you are interested in.  Once there, click on the link that says "Explore More" on the right side of the screen.  Scroll down to External Reviews and when you get to that page, you will find Rosy the Reviewer alphabetically on the list.

NOTE:  On some entries, this has changed.  If you don't see "Explore More" on the right side of the screen, scroll down just below the description of the film in the middle of the page. Click where it says "Critics." Look for "Rosy the Reviewer" on the list.

Or if you are using a mobile device, look for "Critics Reviews." Click on that and you will find me alphabetically under "Rosy the Reviewer."



 

Friday, July 29, 2016

"The Fundamentals of Caring" and The Week in Reviews

[I review the new Netflix exclusive movie "The Fundamentals of Caring" as well as DVDs "Race" and "I Saw the Light." The Book of the Week is "Florence! Foster!! Jenkins!!!: The Life of the World's Worst Opera Singer."  I also bring you up-to-date with "My 1001 Movies I Must See Before I Die Project" with Orson Welles' "F for Fake."]




The Fundamentals of Caring


A man suffering from loss becomes a caregiver for a young man with muscular dystrophy. 


  • Care but don't care too much
  • I can't take care of another unless I first take care of myself
  • My needs are equal to the needs of the person I am caring for
  • Caregiving is hard
  • All I can do is do my best and maintain a positive attitude
  • Always remember ALOHA: Ask, Listen, Observe, Help, Ask Again

Those are the fundamentals of caring that Ben Benjamin (Paul Rudd) learned in the six-week class he took on how to be a caregiver. Ben is down and out. He is a failed writer whose young son has died and he has been separated from his wife for two and a half years.  His wife is anxious for a divorce but Ben keeps putting her off, telling her he's not ready so he decides to change his life and become a caregiver.

He finds a client right away, Trevor (Craig Roberts), who is from the U.K. Trevor has a kind of muscular dystrophy that will shorten his life.  Trevor is also a smart ass.

When Ben is asked by Trevor's overprotective mother (Jennifer Ehle) why he became a caregiver, he replies that he likes to help people, but we can see that Ben is clearly suffering himself and needs help.  She warns Ben not to get too close to Trevor because he won't be around forever.

We learn that both Ben and Trevor have had emotional trauma. Trevor's father has been writing to him but Trevor has never forgiven him for leaving when he was three, and Trevor is clearly sad about his father's inattention. Ben can't face the divorce and the loss of his son, so they are both broken people who need each other to heal.

Trevor has a routine that is not supposed to be deviated from but Ben slowly tries to get Trevor out of his routine and out of the house.  Trevor is obsessed with TV, especially a girl who reports from various little known tourist roadside attractions around the country, such as The World's Deepest Pit or Rufus, the World's Biggest Cow.

Ben suggests they go see some of those attractions.  Trevor initially says no, but changes his mind and the two go on a road trip to see some of those sights and, of course, have a series of adventures.

Adventure #1 -they go to see Rufus, the World's Biggest Cow.
Rufus is on the second floor and there is no ADA access so Ben makes a scene and threatens the owner and says if they don't get Trevor up to see Rufus they will sue them. So up and down they drag the wheelchair in a funny scene where, after all of that, Rufus turns out to be a bit of disappointment.

Adventure #2 - they pick up, Dot (Selena Gomez) a young female hitchhiker.  She is a stroppy little thing who asks Trevor all kinds of uncomfortable question such as "Does your penis work?"

Adventure #3 - they help a pregnant girl (Megan Ferguson) who is trying to get to her mother's house before she gives birth.  Her car has broken down and she joins their motley crew.

Adventure #4 - Trevor decides he wants to see his father which turns out about the way you thought it would.

Adventure #5 - someone is following them.  Is it a divorce paper server?  Is it Trevor's over-protective mother?

Adventure #6 - The World's Biggest Pit.

When they all get to the Biggest Pit, we discover who has been following them and all kinds of healing takes place.  Trevor faces the ultimate challenge, gets to pee standing up (Ben asked him what was the main thing he would want to do if cured), Dot leaves them to handle her issues but not before telling Trevor he is handsome and cool and gives him a kiss and Ben finally makes a decision and comes to grips with his life.

This film is very similar to "Me Before You," which I reviewed recently except instead of a young female caregiver taking care of a smart ass Brit, we have a middle-aged guy taking care of a young smart ass Brit.  We know they are smart asses because they both do an imitation of Daniel Day-Lewis in "My Left Foot" to scare and test their caregiver's ability to deal with someone with disabilities.
Both films feature a difficult sarcastic patient, an inexperienced caregiver and a healing road trip.  Each patient also had a mission.  In "Me Before You (let's call it MBY so I don't have to keep typing the full title), Will wanted to kill himself.  In this one, Trevor wants to meet his Dad who had been out of his life.  Like, MBY, this film also involves a road trip and both carer and caregiver learning about themselves.  However, there is no romance in this one, though you could make a case that it's a sort of bromance.

Ben learns that the "Fundamentals of Caring" apply, not just to his caregiving role, but to his life.

There are some "Huh?" moments such as getting a motel room and letting Dot, a total stranger hitchhiker, stay with them in their room.  Hey, these days, even picking up a hitchhiker is difficult to believe.

Writer/director Rob Burnett's film (based on a novel by Jonathan Evison) is sentimental and derivative, and I shouldn't have liked it, but I did, mostly because of Rudd.  Paul Rudd has a charm that exudes from the screen.  Add to that Trevor, with his false bravado, and Dot, with her street wise cockiness, and some original dialogue and situations, and it's an interesting combination that results in a satisfying 90 minutes. 

Rosy the Reviewer says...yes, you have seen inspirational life-affirming stories like this before, but this one has some originality and Rudd adds some charm.



***Some Movies You Might Have Missed***
(And Some You Will Be Glad You Did)!

Now on DVD





Race (2016)


Dramatization of Jesse Owens' triumphs at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin in the shadow of Hitler and his vision of Aryan supremacy.

The film begins in the fall of 1933 in the midst of the Great Depression as young Jesse Owens (Stephan James) heads to college at Ohio State.  He has a girl at home, Ruth (Shanice Banton), and a baby.  He promises to marry her when he gets home.  When Jesse arrives at college, he meets the track coach, Lawrence Snyder (Jason Sudeikis) who is initially unimpressed, and right away we see the racism black athletes had to endure.  He is pushed around in the locker room by the all-white football players and has to listen to a liberal use of the "N-word."  You see, black guys were not allowed to play football. 

As is usually the case with these kinds of films, the coach doesn't know anything much about Jesse, he takes him for granted, and the coach has his own problems, so that we can all enjoy the big reveal when the coach times Jesse for the first time and Jesse blows him away. 

At track meets, the black athletes were booed and sometimes screwed out of their record breaking times by white time keepers. Owens had to not only be good, he had to not only be better, he had to be so far ahead of everyone else that there could be no question that he broke the record, because at that time, if the white world couldn't stand for black athletes to compete, they certainly couldn't stand for them to break records set by whites. 

But success and stardom appears to break the color barrier. Where once Jesse was booed and was a parish, when he starts winning everything, everyone wants to hug him.  So I guess winning has no color - and I also have to add, not sure about that message.

Like "The Natural," a woman screws Jesse up a bit (we women always get the blame), and when Ruth finds out, she breaks up with Jesse but he sees the error of his ways and tries to get Ruth back in a cute scene where he woos her in the beauty shop with all of the ladies looking on.

The film is centered around the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.  Members of the Olympic Committee argued about whether they should go or not in light of "rumors" of what the Nazis were up to.  They decide to compete, but Jesse is pressured by the NAACP not to compete because of Hitler.  What a horrible dilemma. To be held up as the symbol of your whole race and have to make a decision about giving up your dream.

"On the track when I run, I'm free.  In those ten seconds, there's no black or white only fast and slow."

Jesse decides not to go.  He doesn't want to be an example for black people and endure the pressure of standing up for a whole race.  An hour and ten minutes into the film, I was sure there was going to be a little black kid who would look up at Jesse and say something that would inspire him to change his mind and go, but it was actually his rival Eulace Peacock (Shamier Anderson) who gives him a pep talk. 

Jesse tells Ruth, "If I lose, it means those Nazis were right," to which Ruth replies, "Don't think so much, Jesse.  It's not what you're good at."  The wisdom of women.  Let us do the thinking.

He decides to go and we all know how that turned out.  He kicked those Nazi asses and history was made.

Stephan James does a good job as Owens. It's taken me awhile to believe Jason Sudeikis as a dramatic actor because some of his funny bits on SNL are implanted in my brain but he is believable here.

There is a little side plot with Leni Reifenstahl, played by Carice Van Houten, who "Game of Thrones" fans will recognize as The Red Woman, at odds with Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's Minister of Propaganda. Riefenstahl was Hitler's personal filmmaker who he hired to glorify The Third Reich (and I think there was a little hanky-panky going on as well). She famously filmed the propaganda film "Triumph of the Will," and naturally he wanted her to film the games to also glorify Germany (some of her actual footage is included in the film). 

Even though you may be familiar with Jesse Owens' story and you know how it all turns out, you will keep watching this film, because you want to see Jesse prove the Nazis wrong at the Olympics. You also get to have a taste of what it might have felt like for a young kid from Ohio finding himself with the weight of the black community on his shoulders, representing them in front of the world.  And when Jesse befriends a Jewish athlete, he gets a taste of what they were going through too in some nice cinematic moments.

The title is a good one when you think about the levels this film is exploring: Race - running; Race - Jesse pressured to represent the black race; Race - Hitler's vision of a master race.

A good biopic depends on accuracy, but also it needs to show us something new and make us feel something about the subject, or the film might as well be a documentary, and director Stephen Hopkins and writers Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse succeeded.  I not only learned about Jesse Owens, I felt for him, rooted for him throughout the film and felt uplifted by his story of courage against great odds. 

However, his winning at the Berlin Olympics didn't really change that much for Owens at home in regards to racial inequality.  A final scene shows Owens and Ruth attending a banquet at a hotel where he is the guest of honor -- and they are told they must enter by the service entrance.

Rosy the Reviewer says...good family fare but also a good sports film with an inspirational message about a sad time in human history and a reminder that we still have miles to go.






I Saw the Light (2015)



Biopic of country legend Hank Williams.

Hank Williams was one of the biggest stars ever in country music and wrote some of the most iconic songs when he was only in his twenties ("Jambalaya" "Hey Good Lookin," "(I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle," "Your Cheatin' Heart," "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," "Cold Cold Heart," "(I Can't Help It If I'm" Still in Love With You," and many more).

Written and directed by Marc Abraham (based on a biography by Colin Escott), the film begins with young Hank (Tom Hiddleston) marrying his first wife, Audrey (Elizabeth Olsen) in an auto repair shop by a justice of the peace.  Audrey and Hank are a singing duo, though calling what Audrey does singing is stretching it a bit.  Hank is only in his early 20's and has a 6:30am singing radio show but his drinking and carousing are already causing problems with his career and his marriage so he goes to rehab.

Hank finally wins his dream and makes it to the Grand Ole Opry, the holy grail of every country singer. He is a big hit, but sadly he starts drinking again and the film becomes a tale of the excesses of success and the pressures placed on him to perform, even though he wasn't well. He was born with a mild form of spina bifida and took pain pills for that but exaserbated his condition with prolific drinking and drug taking. Williams died in the back seat of his car on his way to a concert at the age of 29.

A highly dramatic story, but for the drama that was Hank Williams's life, the film is strangely flat and took an hour to get going.  Though it's easy for a story like this to fall into soap opera, I would have liked a bit more drama and a bit more exploration of why Williams couldn't pull it together. We didn't really learn anything new.  And there should have been more singing.  I'm not sure, but it seemed like Hiddleston never sang a whole song all the way through.

Some of you Baby Boomers out there might remember an early film about Williams - "Your Cheatin' Heart (1964)," starring George Hamilton.  Though his playing Williams seems almost laughable today, I remember him as actually being quite good and I liked the film, though grain of salt time, I was 16 and had probably not yet honed my incredible movie critiquing skills. 

Hiddleston also might seem to be a strange choice to play Williams since he is a Brit and is right now probably more famous with Americans for being Taylor Swift's main squeeze than the excellent actor he is, but he pulled it off albeit he looked way too old to be a 20 something and was a bit phlegmatic. But he did his own singing and he was credible.  Elizabeth Olson is one of our more underrated actresses.  She was believable as the ambitious but talentless Audrey.

One of Williams's last songs was "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive," and he never did.

Rosy the Reviewer says...a nice depiction of the times but I wish the story had been a bit more dramatic and that there had been more Hank Williams music.




***My 1001 Movies I Must See Before I Die Project***


242 to go!

Have YOU seen this classic film?






F is for Fake (1973)


A free-form documentary or film essay about trickery, magic and deceit by movie genius Orson Welles that focuses on the famous Clifford Irving - Howard Hughes hoax of the 1970's.

You can't beat a film with Orson Welles narrating.  That voice.  I don't care what the film is about or whether I understand what is going on or not, I can't resist that voice.

This is loosely a documentary about the famous hoax perpetrated by Clifford Irving, where he tried to sell a fake biography about Howard Hughes.  This was back when Hughes was a recluse and no one had heard from him in years, so an authorized biography about him was a huge deal back in the 70's.   Unfortunately, it was a fake.

If you didn't know about the Clifford Irving/Howard Hughes hoax, you might be confused about this film because it goes all over the place.  Irving had come to fame when he wrote a book called "Fake," about one of the most famous art forgers in the world, Elmyr de Hory.  It was a bestseller, and it exposed art experts who couldn't tell the difference between a real Modligliana and one that Elmyr had painted.  With the nod of a head, a so-called art expert can make a painting worth thoursands or millions so it was a milestone book where Irving punctured the pomposity of the art world.  There was also an implication that everyone in the art world was complicit and in the end, no one really cared whether a painting was fake or not.  Quite an idea! 

Welles starts the film wearing a huge cape (he was already having weight issues) and a jaunty hat and doing magic tricks for children.  Welles himself had always had a fascination for magic.  He assures us at the beginning of the film that everything he is going to tell us during the next hour will be true.  It's all very free form and Welles is clearly having fun with this.

He starts with a portrait of Elmyr and his story.  Elmyr was the consummate art forger.  His fakes were so good that some probably hang in museums today.  The art world was duped by him and now his fakes are also valuable. He had wandered Europe until settling in Ibiza and that's where we find him in this film.

As depicted in this film, Elmyr is quite proud of his work and implies that his paintings are as good as the originals. That may be true in what the painting looks like, but the difference between the forger and the original artist is that the original artist CREATED the painting, had the idea and created it.  The forger merely RE-created it.  Big difference, in my mind.  But you have to have quite an ego to have a career as an art forger.

So now back to Clifford Irving.  With that credential, his bestseller about Emyr, Irving set out to sell a book that was supposedly an autobiography written by Howard Hughes that Irving had supposedly written for Hughes through personal interviews.  Well, this was the time when Hughes was famously ensconced in Las Vegas overseen by Mormon bodyguards.  No one had seen him for years so Irving probably thought no one could refute it's authenticity but Hughes came out of hiding via a telephone conversation and refuted the book. Irving had created a whole scenario around this scheme with fake names and money being transferred hither and yon. So he had to confess to the hoax and was sentenced to prison where he spent 17 months.  But as these go, he later wrote and published a book called "The Hoax (1981)," so in the end he not only became famous but rich.

So basically, here we have a movie about a guy who wrote a book about a faker who was himself a fake. 

This was Welles' last completed feature film before his death. Welles doesn't just narrate the film in his mellifluous voice, but swans around in his cape, hat and cane. He not only chews the scenery, he gnaws a big hole in it.  But he is always fun to watch, no matter what he is doing. 

And since this film is about fakery, we can't not talk about Welles' own bit of fakery when he made that infamous radio broadcast "War of the Worlds," where it was announced Martians had landed.  Though there was a disclaimer at the beginning of the broadcast, many did not hear that and believed that Martians really had landed and started to panic.  Just imagine - no TV, no Internet, no Twitter, just your radio telling you that the Martians had landed.  You would probably be scared too.

One can't help but wonder if this film has really passed the test of time.  People today probably don't know anything about the hoax, about Irving or even Howard Hughes, for that matter, so if not, this film probably won't make much sense. 

At the end of the film, Welles reminds us that he said he would tell the truth for an hour, but since the film lasts for 88 minutes, when did he stop telling the truth?

Picasso said, "Art is a lie, a lie that makes us realize the truth."

Is Welles saying that movies are also lies and fakes?

So we not only have a movie about a guy who wrote a book about a faker who was himself a fake.   We also have a movie by a faker making a statement about fakery.

Why it's a Must See:  "[This] has been called 'Welles's happiest film.' Yet it's possible to detect in it that undertow of melancholy that tinges all of his work...Yet the ultimate message is one of affirmation.  In the long run, says, Welles, 'Our songs will all be silenced.  But what of it?  Go on singing."
---"1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die"

Rosy the Reviewer says...Orson Welles was a genius who made movies that made us think.  He only had a small body of work so anything he did should be seen and relished. As long as we continue to watch his films his song will not be silenced and he can go on singing!



***Book of the Week***





Florence! Foster!! Jenkins!!!: The Life of the World's Worst Opera Singer by Darryl W. Bullock
 
 

 
When you have enough money and charm, you can buy yourself a singing career -- even if you can't sing!

Florence Foster Jenkins was a turn-of-the twentieth century socialite and wannabe opera singer.  She had the money to back up her socialite status but not the talent to back up her singing career. She couldn't even really carry a tune. However, that did not stop her. She funded her own recordings and concerts and at the age of 76 performed at Carnegie Hall.  Despite her lack of talent, her concerts were routinely sold out. 

How bad was she?  She was so bad that she was good. Her "caterwauling" and over-the-top costumes (a favorite was "The Angel of Inspiration complete with wings and tiara) drew crowds because, as one of her accompanists remarked,

"As usual she was slightly off-key and substituted shrieks for some of the high notes...Everyone wanted to get invited to [her concerts] because it was such fun to try and keep from laughing."

A 1943 Time Magazine article read:

"The audience, as Mrs. Jenkins' audiences invariably do, behaved badly.  In the back of the hall men and women in full evening dress made no attempt to control their laughter.  Dignified gentlemen sat with handkerchiefs stuffed in their mouths and tears of mirth streaming down their cheeks. But Mrs. Jenkins went bravely on."

However, because Mrs. Jenkins was so well-liked and well-connected, no one had the heart to really crucify her in print, though after her Carnegie Hall recital, Richard S. Davis wrote in the "Milwaukee Journal:" 

"The mere appearance of the singer provoked a prolonged wave of titters. She was wearing a pale peach gown that was nothing short of a masterpiece.  Bright gems glittered at her bosom, around her throat and on her fingers, but the sensation of her costume was an immense fan of orange and white feathers.  She waved it coyly at the multitude and laid it on the piano. And then she sang, or whatever..."

Despite the fact that few of her recordings exist today, celebrities such as Barbra Streisand and the late David Bowie were big fans.

See what you think.


It appears that Meryl Streep is also a fan because a movie about Jenkins starring Streep will be released August 12.





Rosy the Reviewer says...this is a slight but well researched biography that will be a quick read before you see the film!



That's it for this week!


Thanks for reading!

   
See you Tuesday for


 "Why a Woman of a Certain Age Hates Summer"
  




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