"Elvis" and The Week in Reviews

[I review the new "Elvis" biopic as well as the movie "Stillwater" and the documentary series "Bad Vegan." The Book of the Week is "Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of an American Fortune"]

Elvis (2022)

Director Baz Luhrmann's two hour and 39 minute take on the life of Elvis Presley.

This movie could also have been called "Colonel Parker" or "Colonel Parker and Elvis," because it is as much, if not more, about Colonel Parker as Elvis.  He was Elvis's manager, almost a Svengali, and is the narrator of the film as he tries to prove that he wasn't a crook and didn't abuse Elvis.  

Or the film could have been called "The Baz Luhrmann Show" because Luhrmann throws everything he's got at this long, long film - split screens, animation, film footage, flashbacks, flash forwards, ominous music, and an epilogue of footage of the real Elvis from his early days to the end, in case you weren't paying attention during the first two and a half hours. It's frantic, over-the-top and A LOT! But there is a lot that's good.   

The film follows Elvis from his early days as a boy living in a mostly black neighborhood, attending black tent revivals and being filled with the holy spirit, which Luhrmann attributes to Elvis's wild, hip swinging movements when he performed. And it was Elvis's love of rhythm and blues that popularized him with white folks.  But it was that very same thing that got him in trouble in the segregated South.  The white girls loved Elvis but their white Daddy's did not. They didn't like Elvis the Pelvis singing that devil music. Supposedly Colonel Parker made him join the Army to clean up his image. Was that really true?  Who knows?  

After the army, Elvis's story is fairly well known.  He married Priscilla (Olivia DeJonge), they had little Lisa Marie, he became a movie star and then when his star began to fade he had a famous comeback.  You know the one - the black leather Elvis period.  And then there was the residency in Las Vegas, that also according to Luhrmann, is what killed him because Colonel Parker just would not let him stop.  Elvis was Colonel Parker's meal ticket to cancel his debts and allow him to gamble at will.

And it's Parker's story that is probably unfamiliar to the general public.  He was always there with Elvis and guided his career (taking 50% of everything), but he was a shadowy figure.  Here we learn he was an ex-carny who was known as The Snowman because he could "snow" anyone and that's what he sold to Elvis. He was also not a colonel, nor was his name Tom Parker.  He was born Andreas Cornelis (Dries) van Kuijk, was from Holland and his American citizenship was dubious.  Hence the plot line where Elvis wanted to tour abroad but Parker did everything he could be prevent it, probably because he had no passport. Yes, he made Elvis a star, but according to this film he also contributed to Elvis's death. Luhrmann made sure we knew he was a bad guy because whenever Parker was around or made a trenchant statement, ominous music played. 

Tom Hanks chews the proverbial scenery as Parker.  He's all padded and pancaked up and if the make-up team that did what they did to make him look like Parker doesn't get an Oscar nod, I will be surprised. I enjoyed Hanks' performance and I will also be surprised if he doesn't get an Oscar nod as well.

But the real kudos go to Austin Butler who plays Elvis.  

He embodies Elvis at all stages of his career, from the hip-swiveling 50's to his stint in the army to his film roles to his TV specials to his Las Vegas residency to his last bloated appearance.  He is believable at every turn.  He supposedly studied Elvis for two years, read every book about him and watched every movie and special and it paid off.  I thought I was watching Elvis. This guy is going to go far and I see an Oscar in his future as well. 

But speaking of bloated. The unhealthy, aging, drug-addicted Elvis is given less than 30 minutes of this bloated film, and before I go on, let me rant a bit. No movie should be two hours and 39 minutes unless it's "Gone With the Wind," and I am even having second thoughts about that one.  Movies seem to be getting longer and longer and directors more and more long-winded.  They can't seem to edit themselves. Luhrmann could have pulled this film in at two hours and he would have still been able to say what he wanted to say.  And he had a lot to say about the influence of blues and gospel music on Elvis, about racism, segregation, capitalism, the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, and more. Maybe he tried to say too much.  

Despite my wondering if everything in this film was true about Elvis (I think Luhrmann used some dramatic license here and there), the film, written by Luhrmann, Sam Bromell and Craig Pearce has the blessing of Priscilla and Lisa Marie Presley and I see why.  Priscilla is shown in the best possible light and as the real love of Elvis's life. No marital fights and no mention that she was only 14 when they met. Elvis is shown in the best possible light too. There was no mention of Elvis's obsession with Nixon or his really bad eating habits which led to his weight gain and bad health, and his womanizing, shooting up TV screens and drugs are given short shrift. It's Parker who is not portrayed in a good light.  In fact, he is portrayed as the villain. 

Despite some of my reservations, if you loved Elvis and you don't mind really long films, Butler does him proud and the music and performances are wonderful.  The film is also beautiful to look at though at times frantic.

Rosy the Reviewer says...wait, let me catch my breath...I was kind of out of breath after seeing this film because it was A LOT.  It was stylish and beautiful to look at, the kind of epic experience that only Baz Luhrmann can deliver. If you like A LOT and you love Elvis, you will enjoy this. Just don't have too much to drink before you go! It's a loooong movie! (In theatres)

Stillwater (2021)

An Oklahoma father moves to France to try to help his imprisoned daughter.

Matt Damon is Everyman because he can play every man.  Here he plays Bill Baker, a sometime oil worker, a sometime construction worker, a sometime handyman from Stillwater, Oklahoma.  He has had a tough past with drinking and drugs and has been estranged from his daughter, Allison (Abigail Breslin), but now he's clean and he wants to help her.  She is in prison in France for murdering her girlfriend but claims she didn't do it.  She also says she has new evidence that will clear her if only her lawyer would reopen her case. Supposedly there is prison gossip that a guy named Akim did it, so Bill travels to Marseilles to talk to her lawyer. When her lawyer says she can't help, Bill takes the case into his own hands.

Bill is a religious good old boy who not only doesn't speak French, he doesn't have much concept of European culture. The first thing he does when he gets to Marseilles is get a Subway sandwich to eat in his Best Western hotel room. But he's a good guy who fortunately meets Virginie (Camille Cottin) and her precocious young daughter, Maya (Lilou Siauvaud), who help him navigate Marseille and the French legal system.  And let's just say, Marseille isn't a charming French village.  It has its rough edges and there are people who don't like nosy Americans asking about a guy named Akim.

And then there is the whole murky issue of Allison's guilt or innocence that hangs over the film.  Did she do it?

Written by Tom McCarthy, Marcus Hinchey, Noe Debre and Thomas Bidegain and directed by McCarthy (who also directed the Oscar winning "Spotlight"), one can't help but draw a comparison here to Amanda Knox, the American girl studying in Italy, who was convicted of killing her roommate, despite her protestations of innocence. 

But there is more to this film than the guilt or innocence of Bill's daughter.  This is also a story of family relationships, a clash of cultures including those within France itself, a fish out of water, and second chances with some vigilantism thrown in. Bill may be from Stillwater, Oklahoma, but "still waters run deep."  Get it?  With that said, perhaps this film tried to do too much, and as the film wrapped up, there were several unbelievable plot twists that left me saying "Huh?"

But Matt Damon's performance saves the day.  He is one of those actors who is believable no matter what he plays.  He can play an astronaut marooned on Mars ("The Martian"), a zookeeper ("We Bought a Zoo") or an ex-CIA assassin on the run (the Bourne series) and you believe him.  French Actress Cottin is also believable.  You may recognize her from "Killing Eve" and "House of Gucci." And Abigail Breslin is all grown up.  I didn't recognize her at first but she has matured into a fine actress, though she doesn't have very much to do here.

Rosy the Reviewer says...though there are a few "Huh?" moments, all-in-all this is a satisfying, though perhaps overlong, film experience thanks to the wonderful performance by Damon.

(On DVD, Showtime, and for rent on most platforms)

 

Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives (2022)

A successful NYC vegan restauranteur meets a guy who says he can make her dog immortal and then everything goes to hell.

Sarma Melngailis seemingly had it all.  She was beautiful, smart and had a popular New York City vegan restaurant called "Pure Food and Wine."  Celebrities like Alec Baldwin were regulars and he actually met his wife, Hilaria, there (after actually flirting a bit with Sarma). Both Forbes and New York Magazine named it one of the top restaurants in New York City.  Everything was going along smoothly until Anthony Strangis AKA Shane Fox slid into Sarma's DM's.  

Anthony or Shane was a con man and gambler who used elaborate mind games on Sarma and convinced her that he could make them both immortal, including her beloved dog, Leon. She just had to believe him. So she married the guy, they stole money from her own restaurant and went on the run. You can't make this stuff up, people.  

As crazy as all of this sounds, director Chris Smith (who also brought us "Tiger King") does a good job of telling this story, how someone as smart as Sarma could be lured into the nutty world Anthony created. This four-part docuseries follows Sarma through her meeting Anthony or Shane or whomever he was, marrying him, embezzling money from her own restaurant, ($1.6 million) and going on the run, leaving the restaurant and her employees high and dry.  The story is told through a series of interviews with past employees, investors and celebrities. 

Sarma herself cooperated with this docuseries and tells her story without the help of Anthony, who wasn't happy about it. She claims it was all him, he brainwashed her and just wore her out so much she couldn't think. Turns out, in the end, Sarma wasn't happy with the docuseries either.  Check out how it ends. You will have to decide just how culpable she was.

Rosy the Reviewer says...this series shows that reality really is so much stranger than fiction and why it's so much fun. And here's the most fun part. The two were eventually caught after using a credit card to buy a pizza from Dominoes! I wonder if it was vegan!

(Netflix)

***The Book of the Week***

Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of an American Fortune by Bill Dedman

Who was Huguette Clark and why did she have so many empty mansions?

F. Scott Fitzgerald said "...the very rich...are different from you and me."  You got that right, F. Scott.  They have more money.  Though actually, I don't think they are that different. They just have enough money to allow themselves to give into their personal craziness.

And here is just such a story.

This is the fascinating story of Huguette Clark, a woman who inherited millions of dollars when her father W.A. Clark died.  It's strange that W.A. Clark is unknown today because in his day he was probably richer than Rockefeller.  During the late 1800s, he was one of the "Copper Kings."  He was also a politician, was involved in banking and railroads and was one of the founders of Las Vegas.  He built a "palace" in New York City, on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Seventy-Seventh, right in the middle of Millionaire's Row, "up the avenue from Vanderbilt and Astor, down from Carnegie. By the time it was finished in 1911,...it was 'without doubt the most costly and, perhaps, the most beautiful private residence in America" and was estimated to have cost the equivalent of $250 million in today's dollars. It was nine stories high and consisted of 121 rooms - 26 bedrooms, 31 bathrooms, five art galleries, a Turkish bath, swimming pool, a storage room for furs and more, with 17 servants in attendance and that is where Huguette lived from the age of five to eighteen. Yes, the very rich are different from you and me.

Huguette was one of two daughters that Clark had later in life when he married his second wife, Anna Eugenia La Chapelle.  He was 62 and she was 23. The first daughter, Andree, died at 17 of meningitis, leaving Huguette as the only child of that marriage. 

  

Huguette spent her early years in France but eventually moved to New York and after a marriage and divorce and inheriting millions when her father died, became a recluse, collecting dolls, watching "The Smurfs," and spending the most of her later years in a hospital, even though she wasn't sick. Why?

Despite owning estates in New Canaan, Connecticut ("Le Beau Chateau") and Santa Barbara ("Bellosguardo" which will soon be open to the public) and several floors in an apartment building on Fifth Avenue in New York, in later life, Huguette never lived in any of them, though she spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to maintain those residences as if she would return at any moment. But she never did. They remained empty. Why?

Huguette lived to be 105 and left $300 million and two wills, one that shared her fortune among relatives, the second left most of it to charity, but $30 million to her nurse and $12 million to her goddaughter.  Mmmm.  Needless to say, the second will was contested. Was she coerced by those closest to her at the end to change her will?

With the help of one of Huguette's cousins, Paul Clark Newell, Jr., one of the few people to be in contact with Huguette through the years, Dedman attempts to answer those questions and shed light on this very rich and eccentric but practically unknown heiress. But this is not just the story of Huguette. It's also the stories of her father, W.A. Clark, her mother, those who surrounded her...and those empty mansions.  It's a piece of little known history.

Rosy the Reviewer says...if you are interested in The Gilded Age, enjoy historical biographies about eccentric people with architecture as a theme or you just like a fascinating story, this is for you.  And it's not surprising that the film version of this book has been optioned by Ryan Murphy!

(Check it out from your local library)

Thanks for reading!

See you again soon!

If you enjoyed this post, feel free to like it and share it on Facebook, Twitter, or other sites; email it to your friends and/or follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/rosythereviewer 

And next time you are wondering whether or not to watch a particular film, check out my reviews on IMDB (The International Movie Database). Go to IMDB.com, find the movie you are interested in.  Scroll over to the right of the synopsis to where it says "Critic Reviews" - Click on that and if I have reviewed that film, you will find Rosy the Reviewer alphabetically on the list (NOTE:  IMDB keeps moving stuff around so if you don't find "Critics Reviews" where I am sending you, look around.  It's worth it)!

(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)

Biopics! - "The Eyes of Tammy Faye," "Being the Ricardos" and "What Happened, Brittany Murphy?"

[I review biopics "The Eyes of Tammy Faye," "Being the Ricardos," and "What Happened, Brittany Murphy?"]

 

The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021)

A biopic about Tammy Faye Bakker and her televangelist husband, Jim Bakker.

Watching this film, I couldn't help but wonder... why?  Why was this film made?

Why are we supposed to care now about Jim Bakker and his wife, Tammy Faye, 20+ years after they fell from grace in the midst of financial and sexual scandals?  And what led Jessica Chastain to want to play this role, portraying a woman who became a cartoon of herself? Oh, don't get me wrong. The film is well-done and Chastain channels Tammy Faye and Andrew Garfield, who plays Tammy Faye's husband, evangelist Jim Bakker, channels him too, but I don't feel that you would be able to appreciate Chastain's performance if you didn't know who Tammy Faye Bakker was (she died in 2007). So what is the deal?

Turns out, according to an interview with Chastain in the LA Times, while filming "Zero Dark Thirty" back in 2012, she came across a documentary on Bakker by Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey (2000) and connected to it.  She secured the rights and went on a ten year journey to get it made.  When asked what she thought of Tammy Faye she said,

"I had this judgment against her, and I realized it's so fascinating how the media can give everyone a collective memory that may not really be the truth.  It's not right.  I wanted to do something about it to honor her...there's shade of me in [her]...Tammy Faye doesn't write anyone off.  I love that she believes everyone is deserving of love without judgment."

So that is how it came to be but again, I can't see that Tammy Faye Bakker is relevant today.  Maybe Jessica has a Tammy fetish because her next role is playing Tammy Wynette!

Tammy Faye and Jim met in college and decided early to devote themselves to God. Their work spreading The Word began with a puppet show ("Get the kids and their parents will follow") and eventually turned into their famous, or infamous, PTL Club.  Despite Tammy Faye's giggly personality, according to this film, she was the brains behind Jim and the power behind what was to be their evangelical empire.  

Chastain was amazing in this - the makeup, the mannerisms, the Minnesota accent.  She got it all spot on.  Likewise, Andrew Garfield was Jim Bakker.  Speaking of the make-up. Tammy Faye was made fun of for, er, famous for, her elaborate make-up, especially outrageous eyelashes and eye shadow.  So the title is apt, though it's also a metaphor for how she saw things. Despite her very conservative religious beliefs, she was also amazingly accepting of the LBTGQ community and the rights of others to be happy, even if she didn't agree with them. 

But is Chastain and the make-up enough to make this film work?  Yes and no.  If you didn't really know who the Bakkers were, you could take this film at face value - a film about a sweet televangelist who just wanted to love people - but if you do remember them, then you may feel that this film didn't go far enough about their deeds and misdeeds and you may ask the same question I did.  

Why?

Rosy the Reviewer says...adapted from the aforementioned documentary by Abe Sylvia and directed by Michael Showalter, this is an interesting film that is worth a look, particularly because of Jessica Chastain's "outside of the box" performance. (Netflix)

 

Being the Ricardos (2021)

A week in the life of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

You young-uns out there (anyone born after 1960 is a young-un to me), might not know who these people are or ever seen an episode of "I Love Lucy." But back in the day, that show was a household staple, and the star, Lucille Ball, is arguably considered one of the greatest comic actresses in history, mostly because of her amazing physical humor.  Who can forget Lucy doing a commercial for the supplement vitameatavegamin and getting drunk on it (she didn't know it had alcohol in it) or her stint working in a candy factory where the assembly line got the better of her?  I could go on and on.  "I Love Lucy" was not just a household staple during the 1950's, it was also a staple of my childhood.

This film begins with Lucy (Nicole Kidman) already at the top of her game, but behind the scenes she is anything but the silly Lucy character she plays on her TV show.  In real life she is all business as she works to make her show better, deal with her husband, Desi's (Javier Bardem), suspected infidelities and fight off an accusation from Walter Winchell (no, not the donuts, he was an influential gossip columnist) that she is a Communist at a time when the House Un-American Activities Committee was going after actors suspected of liberal leanings. She was also pregnant and worried about how that would affect the show since TV not only never showed pregnant women, the word itself was taboo.  

And all of that was just one week in her life! 

And that perhaps is the weakness of this film written and directed by Aaron Sorkin.  It's all over the place and tries to tackle too many issues.  Yes, Lucy was a shrewd business woman who belied the nutty character she played on TV.  Yes, Desi was a cheater.  And yes, she "checked the wrong box" once on a voter registration card.  But there was more to all three of those stories and the film just didn't delve deep enough, though we do learn some things about Lucy that perhaps we didn't know such as why she never became a big movie star and why she wanted to do a TV show (so she and Desi could be together).

That said, I thought my biggest reservation was going to be Nicole Kidman as Lucy.  I just couldn't see it. But she lowered her voice just enough to approximate Lucy's gravelly voice and was particularly skillful at reproducing some of Lucy's most famous antics on the show. And though she is way too skinny for Lucy or any other 50's woman for that matter, she pulled it all off. I found myself believing she was Lucy.  Nina Arianda as Vivian Vance and J.K. Simmons as William Frawley were also believable.  However, Javier Bardem as Desi?  I didn't buy it.  Much as I respect him for his acting, he was just too beefy and didn't exude the charm that Desi inately had that would explain why he was such a ladies man.

Rosy the Reviewer says...despite some reservations, this was still a satisfying film experience that honored Lucille Ball and brought back many happy memories of my childhood, though I could do without being reminded of the House Un-American Activities Commission (Amazon Prime).

What Happened Brittany Murphy? (2021)

An investigation into the mysterious death of actress Brittany Murphy.

Brittany Murphy was a successful actress in the 1990's who made her feature film debut as Tai Frasier in "Clueless" and went on to have critical success in such films as "Girl, Interrupted" and "8 Mile" among others. This two-part docuseries investigates her untimely and mysterious death at the age of 32. And to make matters even more mysterious, her husband died several months later of the same illness under the same mysterious circumstances.

Murphy was a successful actress whose career seemed to take a turn for the worse when she met her husband Simon Monjack, who appeared to be a con man and one of those guys who needed to run things.  Not having much going on before he met Murphy, when they married, he not only took over her career but appeared to take over her life, isolating her from others.  He also seemed to be one of those guys who liked wraiths. She lost a lot of weight after marrying him and didn't look well.  Let's just say that when she met him, she lost much of the joie de vivre for which she was known.  

Her death was a shock to those who knew her.  

An autopsy report said that the manner of death was "accidental" and the cause of death was pneumonia with secondary factors of severe iron-deficienty anemia and multiple over-the-counter drug intoxication meant to treat a cold or respiratory infection. Even more shocking was the death of Monjack soon after of seemingly similar causes. But huh?  There was no real reason for a seemingly healthy 32-year-old woman to just die. Murphy's mother lived with them and, after Brittany's death, she and Monjack went on a talk show tour of sorts, being interviewed about Brittany and there was a decided "ick factor" to that and their relationship (she would supposedly crawl into bed with Monjack to comfort him after Brittany died - double ick).  What was Brittany's mother's role?  We will never know.

This series, directed by Cynthia Hill, tries to figure out just what happened and though, frustratingly, there are no easy answers offered, the implication here is that Brittany was yet another young woman who had everything going for her but was vulnerable to her insecurities and met the wrong guy.

Rosy the Reviewer says...If, like me, you are a sucker for true crime and unsolved mystery stuff, especially when it involves celebrities, you will like this. (HBO Max)   

Thanks for reading!

See you again soon!

If you enjoyed this post, feel free to like it and share it on Facebook, Twitter, or other sites; email it to your friends and/or follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/rosythereviewer 

And next time you are wondering whether or not to watch a particular film, check out my reviews on IMDB (The International Movie Database). Go to IMDB.com, find the movie you are interested in.  Scroll over to the right of the synopsis to where it says "Critic Reviews" - Click on that and if I have reviewed that film, you will find Rosy the Reviewer alphabetically on the list (NOTE:  IMDB keeps moving stuff around so if you don't find "Critics Reviews" where I am sending you, look around.  It's worth it)!

(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)

"Respect" and Some Movies You Might Not Know About

[I review the Aretha Franklin biopic "Respect" as well as "tick, tick...BOOM!," "Old," "The Guilty," "Val (a documentary about Val Kilmer)," and "Yellow Rose," a little indie film about a Filipina girl who wants to be a country singer]

Shoulder surgery recovery is coming along and 2021 will soon be behind me, so thank you for listening to me whine, but now I don't feel the need to go on about it any more.  Let's get back to what I do best - reviewing some good films (and warning you about some films you should avoid)!

Rosy the Reviewer is back!

Respect (2021)

Aretha Franklin gets some respect with this biopic starring Jennifer Hudson, who as a singer and actress is worthy of bringing Aretha back to life.

But that's kind of the problem here.  A little too much respect and not enough life.

Divas come and go but some live forever and Aretha is one of those - she lives forever in this respectful biopic that reveals aspects of her life most people might not have known about, that she stopped speaking after her mother died and later in life she had a drinking problem that almost sidelined her career. Sadly, this film skirts another issue you might not know about - that she had two children before the age of 15, her first pregnancy at the age of 12 after sexual abuse by a family friend. How does someone get over something like that and become one of the greatest singers of all time?  Yes, the film implies the first early pregnancy but then leaves it out there. It doesn't dig deep into that aspect of her life and how it affected her. In fact, at one point in the film, she says "I'm going to say goodbye to my children," and I said, "What?  She has more than one?"   

As I said, as the title implies, this film written by Tracey Scott Wilson and directed by Tommy Liesl, is very respectful of Franklin, so it's not surprising that the film did not dwell on those early pregnances since she did not like to discuss what happened to her as a young girl.

One can't help but compare this film to the eight-part TV mini-series "Genius:Aretha" starring Cynthia Erivo as Aretha that played on the National Geographic Channel earlier in the year and, in my opinion, did a better job of revealing all of the personal details of Franklin's life. Certainly, eight 50-minute episodes have plenty of room to give all of those details, but at two-and-a-half hours, this feature film could have done better, especially since it only covers her life up to 1972.  However, I have to say, in both cases, they were too long and failed to capture the heart and soul that was Aretha Franklin.

Here the first hour kind of drags and it's only when Aretha gets rid of her Dad (Forest Whitaker) and sets off on her own that the film takes off, though "takes off" is high praise.  In fact, the film doesn't really leave the runway. This is a traditional biopic that mechanically checks off the main points of Franklin's life up to the release of her gospel album, "Amazing Grace."  Raised in Detroit by her minister father who had divorced her mother, Franklin was a gospel star in her church from a young age.  Her father would wake her up at night to sing for party guests so it's no surprise that a gospel album would turn out to be her biggest-selling album ever.

Franklin hand-picked Hudson to play her and she does a good job dramatically and vocally and almost saves the film. I say almost. She is joined by some acting stalwarts but sadly the film lacked heart.

Rosy the Reviewer says...if you are a big Aretha or Jennifer Hudson fan, you might enjoy this but as for me, it was a missed opportunity to really shed light on an American icon and instead found it to be a kind of a soap opera snooze fest. (On DVD and for rent on most sites)

 tick, tick...BOOM! (2021)

A young man tries for years to make it on Broadway.

What a cruel irony that composer/ playwright Jonathan Larson, who tried for years to get his plays produced on Broadway and who faced rejection after rejection, should die suddenly at age 36 the morning that his play “Rent” was to preview on Broadway, a play that would go on to great success and change the face of Broadway musicals. But it’s a happy irony that this play by and about Larson was directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda, another composer/playwright whose play “Hamilton” also changed the face of Broadway musicals almost 20 years later. And it’s a film you do not want to miss.

“Tick Tick Boom” was a solo work that Larson performed off-off Broadway during the early 1990’s before “Rent” and was made into a three-actor musical play after his death. It’s an autobiographical piece about “Jon” and his trials and tribulations as he tries to make it on Broadway. As his 30th birthday approaches, he laments that time is ticking away and that he will never make it.

Andrew Garfield, as you have never seen him, stars in this film version of Larson’s play making his singing debut. Vanessa Hudgens and Alexandra Shipp also star along with others you will recognize. Garfield is quite wonderful. He can not only sing, he can dance! Lin even makes a cameo appearance as do many Broadway greats in a song about Sunday brunch (see if you can spot them).

The film (screenplay by Steven Levenson) is a musical about making a musical and it does a good job of integrating parts of Larson’s original play into this film version of his life as he not only tries to make it on Broadway with his scifi musical "Superbia," but is also dealing with his best friend and roommate moving out, losing his girlfriend and a friend in the hospital dying of AIDS. As he turns 30, Jon's life really does seem like a ticking time bomb.

The music is wonderfully original and the songs all have the hallmarks of those in “Rent.” In fact, this film reminds us of just how groundbreaking Larson’s work was, creating a modern day “La Boheme,” but adding themes that were happening in real life, embracing difficult subjects like HIV/Aids, homophobia, poverty and drug addiction.

“Rent” didn’t open until 1996 and Larson never would know what a success it would become and how it would change musical theatre forever, but nevertheless, his play “Tick Tick Boom” and this film version end on a note of hope.

Rosy the Reviewer says…sadly, when Larson wrote and starred in “Tick Tick Boom,” he didn’t know that his life was also ticking away and that he didn’t have long to live but his talent and creativity lives on in “Rent” and this wonderfully charming musical film that made me cry. I cried partly because of Larson but also because this was such a wonderful film. If you love musicals, this is a must, and even if you think you don’t love musicals, this is still a must!

(Now streaming on Netflix)

Old (2021)

You are on the vacation of a lifetime - a deal you found on the Internet - only to discover that you could die of old age on the beautiful beach you are sunning yourself on. What?

Nothing like some good, old-fashioned horror from the likes of director M. Night Shyamalan (“The Sixth Sense,” “Signs,” “Split”) to get over the horror of hanging out with family members over the holidays.

The film starts out in classic horror mode – unsuspecting family of four - Guy (Gael Garcia Bernal), Prisca (Vicky Krieps) and their two children Maddox (Alexa Swinton) and Trent (Nolan River) - heads to a tropical resort for the vacation of a lifetime and everything seems fine. Yes, they have some personal issues – medical and marital – but the couple decide to put those issues aside, compartmentalize and give the kids a great vacation. And as Prisca, the wife, says, “Can you believe I found this place online?”

BUT…yes, well, everything seems fine, but there is this little thing…a special beach that they and others are invited to by the resort manager. They are taken there on a bus (note the driver is Shyamalan himself) along with a doctor named Charles (Rufus Sewell), his wife Chrystal (Abbey Lee) and the doctor's mother, Agnes (Kathleen Chalfant), and their daughter Kara (Mikaya Fisher). There is also married couple Jarin (Ken Leung) and Patricia (Nikki Amuka-Bird). When they all arrive they meet a rapper named Mid-Sized Sedan (Aaron Pierre). His nose is bleeding and... is that a dead body on the beach? Special beach, indeed.

Turns out, this special beach is a place where cells age at an accelerated rate and one could die of old age in a matter of hours. The cells in the kids are particularly susceptible. Let’s just say that a little girl manages to go through puberty and adolescence and not only get pregnant but give birth within hours of arriving on the beach and then for the older folks, there is dementia, hearing loss, blindness and death, all developed by some of our unlucky heroes, all in the course of one day. Oh, and did I say that no one is able to get off the beach?

We all fear getting old and not being able to escape the passage of time is a great topic for a horror film and the ensemble cast does a good job with what they have to work with, but at times, the dialogue is over-dramatic and quite laughable. Adapted for the screen by Pierre-Oscar Levy (from his graphic novel "Sandcastle" with Frederik Peeters), this is one of those films destined to become a cult classic, because it’s so bad it’s good. At certain points, I thought I was watching a comedy. But that’s not a bad thing. I thought the whole thing was great fun, in a horror sort of way. I love all of Shyamalan's films because even when they shouldn't work, they do!

Rosy the Reviewer says…If you fear getting old, this might not be for you, but if you are already old, it’s a hoot. If you liked the series, “Nine Perfect Strangers,” you might like this one, because it’s kind of like that. And the moral of the story? Beware of online deals!

(Available on DVD and to rent through the usual sites)

The Guilty (2021)

A police officer who has been assigned 911 dispatcher duty is in a race against time to save a kidnapped woman.

I had a negative attitude about this film since it is a remake (you know I hate remakes) of a 2018 Danish film that I loved.  My feelings about most remakes is why try to improve on something that is already wonderful.  In the case of the Danish film, it and its star, Gustav Moller, had won 40+ awards.  But I know...Americans don't like reading subtitles so "foreign" films are ripe for poaching, and though I'm not a fan of remakes, surprisingly this remake directed by Antoine Fuqua with a screenplay by Nic Pizzolatto is faithful to the original and actually good. And if making an English version of this film will get viewers, then I am all for it because this film needs to be seen.  It's that good.

Jake Gyllenhaal plays LAPD officer Joe Baylor who has had some issues and been demoted to the night shift at a 911 call center while he awaits a court hearing for an incident that occurred on duty eight months prior. He's not a happy man and has no problem telling people off who should not be calling 911. But when he answers a call from a woman named Emily Lighton (voice of Riley Keough, Lisa Marie Presley's daughter) who reveals she has been abducted, Joe realizes he is in a race against time. Joe learns that she and her abductor are traveling in a white van, but Emily is forced to hang up before she can provide more details. Joe relays the information to the CHP but they are unable to locate the van without a license plate number.

Joe calls Emily's home phone and speaks with her six-year-old daughter Abby, who tells Joe that her mom left the house with her dad and she is alone with her baby brother, Oliver. Joe then calls his former partner Rick (Eli Goree), who is off-duty, and asks him to visit Henry's house. When the officers arrive at Emily's house, they find baby Oliver gravely injured in his crib. And then Joe and we realize that nothing is as it appears.

Jake Gyllenhaal has always been a good actor but here he excels in pretty much a one-man-show as we watch Joe play out this emergency in real time on the phone. It's a white knuckle experience for us and for Joe.

Rosy the Reviewer says...here's an idea.  See this one and then see the original Danish film and compare.  Then get back to me!

Val (2021)

A documentary about actor Val Kilmer - you know, the "I'm your huckleberry" guy.

Val Kilmer has said that he may look like a leading man but he's really a character actor. You would never know he was once a leading man in this documentary that follows him now as he attends fan conventions and lives his life after suffering from disfiguring throat cancer and the loss of his voice (though he can speak through a voice box).

The film spans 40 years with never-before-seen footage - Kilmer's own videos taken over the years - of Kilmer as a young man to the height of his career and now. Kilmer is probably most famous for his stints in "Top Gun" and "Tombstone" and playing Jim Morrison in "The Doors" and Batman in "Batman Forever."  He was married to actress Joanne Whalley and had a reputation as being "difficult" to work with. He was a dichotomy - a successful Hollywood actor who also resented his own success when faced with doing films he didn't approve of. However, before his cancer diagnosis, Kilmer was traveling the country with his pet project, a one-man-show portraying Mark Twain. In 2015, Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer and several operations later, his face is now disfigured and his voice has been reduced to a rasp (his son, Jack, plays his Dad in a voice-over narration).  Sadly, Val is no longer a leading man but makes his way attending fan conventions and helping young artists.

Now you might think that this would be a depressing film and that Kilmer would be angry about how his life has turned out, but it's not and he is not.  He attends the conventions and signs autographs because he wants to thank his fans and he realizes he has much to live for and be thankful for.

Leo Scott and Ting Poo are credited as directors but this is a family affair and all Val as he shares his home movies and videos that he compulsively shot over the years. Was he difficult? You decide. At any rate, this is a fascinating look at a fascinating life from the man who lived it.

Rosy the Reviewer says...a poignant portrait of Val Kilmer as you have never seen him. (Available on Amazon Prime)

Yellow Rose (2019)

A Filipina teen living in Texas wants to be a country singer. 

Seventeen-year-old Filipina Rose Garcia (Eva Noblezada) lives in a motel in Austin, Texas with her mother, Priscilla (Princess Punzalan), who supports them by running the front desk and cleaning the rooms.  Rose dreams of becoming a country singer, a hill difficult to climb as Rose is not perceived as your classic country singer, though she certainly has the chops. But it doesn't help that Rose and her mother are undocumented and when ICE comes calling and Priscilla is taken away, this story becomes much more than a young girl trying to make it as a country singer. Rose is taken in by her estranged aunt (Lea Salonga) who took a different path, one of assimilation, and is living a middle class life with her wealthy American husband and regretting giving up her Filipino family. Rose is also befriended by country singer Dale Watson (playing himself) who takes her under his wing.

Written by Diane Paragas, Annie J. Howell and Celena Cipriaso and directed by Paragas, this is not just a coming-of-age story, but a story of racial discrimination and our broken immigration system played out as Rose faces roadblock after roadblock trying to find work and find her mother. But there is also some great music too!

Noblezada is a Broadway baby who made her Broadway debut as Kim in a 2017 revival of "Miss Saigon," for which she received a Tony nomination.  She was only 21, becoming one of the youngest nominees.  She received a second Tony nomination in 2019 for originating the role of Eurydice in "Hadestown" on Broadway. She carries this film

Rosy the Reviewer says...a charming coming-of-age story that brings a personal side to the immigration issue.

(Available on STARZ, on DVD or from Direct TV)

Thanks for reading!

See you again soon!

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And next time you are wondering whether or not to watch a particular film, check out my reviews on IMDB (The International Movie Database). Go to IMDB.com, find the movie you are interested in.  Scroll over to the right of the synopsis to where it says "Critic Reviews" - Click on that and if I have reviewed that film, you will find Rosy the Reviewer alphabetically on the list (NOTE:  IMDB keeps moving stuff around so if you don't find "Critics Reviews" where I am sending you, look around.  It's worth it)!