The Oscar nominations will be revealed this coming Monday morning. I am pulling for a previous Oscar winner to be invited to Hollywood Prom Night once again. That gorgeous ebony goddess, Lupita Nyong'o, won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her gripping work as an enslaved woman in director Steve McQueen's 2013 drama, 12 YEARS A SLAVE.
Did you see US, the modern-day horror thriller written and directed by Jordan Peele? Lord, have mercy. He wore me out with GET OUT. He did it again with US. Lupita plays a wife and mom in Southern California. The family of four -- Mom, Dad and the two sweet kids -- are on a vacation and spending time at the beach. They're staying in a very nice, roomy and comfortable house. Then, one night, four people show up in the driveway. The four stand in the shadow and we cannot see their faces. It's a most eerie scene. Dad goes out to make them leave the property while Mom gets on phone to call the cops. Things get freaky. I will not spoil it. However, I will tell you that Jordan Peele's love of classic films like INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS and THE STEPFORD WIVES is reflected in this story. Combined with that is some social commentary to make you think. There is one class on top of another class. The story is called US because the four invaders, out to do harm, are exact replicas of the four family members in the house.
Lupita Nyong'o has a dual role. She plays both the protective mother and the invader. She's awesome in this film, giving a distinct voice and personality to each character. The mother, Adelaide, experienced some childhood trauma at a seaside amusement park. In her adult years, that experience remains a small dark cloud in the back of her mind and impacts the tight attention she gives to her kids. Has that trauma come to live again in the invaders?
This movie plays with your mind like a cat playing with a squeak toy. Honestly, you may not totally get the plot. But you cannot deny that Lupita Nyong'o delivers a powerful performance. If she gets a nomination for Best Actress on Monday, she will be the third Black actress in Hollywood history to have a Best Supporting Actress and a Best Actress nomination in her credits. First there was Whoopi Goldberg -- Best Actress Oscar nominee for THE COLOR PURPLE and Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner for GHOST. Then there was Viola Davis -- Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee for DOUBT, Best Actress Oscar nominee for THE HELP and Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner for FENCES.
Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer are the most Oscar-nominated Black actresses in Hollywood history with three nominations each. Now we wait for early Monday morning when the nominations are announced.
Have you the new LITTLE WOMEN written and directed by Greta Gerwig? Several times have I seen the 1933 adaptation directed by George Cukor and starring Katharine Hepburn as Jo March. I've seen the deluxe 1949 MGM studio remake directed by Mervyn LeRoy a number of times. I've enjoyed the 1994 remake directed by Gillian Armstrong from a screenplay adaptation by Robin Swicord. I admit it. I love the LITTLE WOMEN story. Ailing Beth's goodbye to Jo, Jo getting her hair cut and selling it to get money to help their mother, Jo telling Professor Bhaer that his empty hands are "Not empty now" -- those scenes touch my heart in all those three productions. This new adaptation is worth seeing. It's alive and fresh. It's unexpectedly different. If I had not seen the older versions, I may not have been able to follow the story as well as I did. That's not a criticism of Gerwig's version. She gives a marked modenity to the aged narrative.
Greta Gerwig not only honors what we have loved about those previous big screen versions, she has rearranged the story's molecular structure in order to introduce new information about author Louisa May Alcott that makes the entire film feel like it's based on a contemporary novel. It is so vibrant and complicated and relevant to today. Gerwig takes well-known scenes beloved from the earlier adaptations and gives them a new interpretation. To me, Gerwig's version celebrates women's independence, creative spirit and their need to distinguish themselves in areas other than marriage -- marriage as expected by society. The remarkable Saoirse Ronan stars as Jo March, the determined aspiring writer of the family. Meryl Streep also stars in the film as rich and crotchety Aunt March.
The opening shot. We see a publishing office. The glass door is closed. A woman stands before it, her head bowed as if she's going to charge and ram the door open. She enters the publication office and we see that she is the only woman in it. The office is full of men, all working. To them, she's pretty much invisible. No one stands to welcome her or offer her a seat. The woman is Jo March and she's there to negotiate with the editor, Mr. Dashwood. He wants extensive edits to be made in her story, but he will publish it. She disagrees with his philosophy that "morals don't sell nowadays" in reference to the kind of fiction readers like. She especially disagrees with his editor philosophy that a main female character must be "married by the end. Or dead" in order for the story to sell.
This scene, set in post-Civil War times, is just like Meryl Streep's opening scene in the Steven Spielberg journalism drama, THE POST, set in 1970s Washington, D.C. Streep plays Washington Post publisher Katherine Graham. She has a restaurant breakfast meeting with her male editor, played by Tom Hanks. She's the only woman in the fully-occupied restaurant area. No man stands to greet or help her when she drops some of the paperwork she's carrying. To them, she's pretty much invisible. Katherine will be treated by men as though she's invisible as the story progresses. Her opinion never seems to matter as much to the businessmen around her concerned about the fate of the newspaper. This will change when she finds her voice as groundbreaking female boss battling the Nixon administration.
Gerwig's scene of Jo March in the male-dominated publication office is new. We didn't see that in the 1933, the 1949 or the 1994 versions. Greta Gerwig's LITTLE WOMEN gives the story a kinship to Spielberg's THE POST and Craig Brewer's DOLEMITE IS MY NAME starring Eddie Murphy. Her film is about when who have been told by society that they're not good enough, that their opinion don't matter as much, women who have been treated as though their invisible. Think of Lady Reed, the full-figured black woman in the hilarious and touching DOLEMITE IS MY NAME. She's played beautifully by Da'Vine Joy Randolph. When the crew of misfits led by Rudy Ray Moore (Murphy) actually gets their movie made and booked for a theater premiere, Lady Reed says to Moore: "I'm so grateful for what you did for me, cause I'd never seen nobody that looks like me up there on that big screen." Gerwig honors the marginalized. She lets them raise their voices.
Laura Dern is a wonderful Marmee, the mother. You feel that she and Saorise Ronan are truly related. When you see this Marmee's social activism in her community, when you hear her admit to having angers in a society that treats women as second class citizens and sold Black people like chattel, you see that Jo is most definitely her mother's daughter.
We're in New England in post-Civil War times. However, Gerwig's version presents the March sisters like they're the offspring of liberal, responsible parents in the San Francisco area in the post-hippie era. Here's a trailer.
I wrote posts last November and December about the late British screenwriter and movie director, Muriel Box. She won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay (THE SEVENTH VEIL, 1945). She went behind the camera and directed entertaining films in the 1950s. Unfortunately, critics were dismissive to her trailblazing 1950s films mainly because she was a woman. Muriel Box's favorite theme to focus on in her films was "the female experience." Greta Gerwig is doing that today in a way that would make Muriel proud. Look at her Oscar-nominated LADY BIRD, also starring Saoirse Ronan, and now LITTLE WOMEN. As Amy, Florence Pugh is excellent. Timothee Chalamet, Chris Cooper and Bob Odenkirk co-star.
Robin Swicord, screenwriter of the 1994 LITTLE WOMEN remake, is a producer of this Greta Gerwig version. Robin Swicord also directed a film. She directed a very smart and entertaining one that deserved more attention than it got. It's the funny and romantic 2007 film, THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB with fine performances from Emily Blunt, Maria Bello, Lynn Redgrave, Jimmy Smits and Hugh Dancy. Swicord also wrote the screenplay based on a novel of the same name. Check out that movie sometime. Check out LITTLE WOMEN. Let's support women directors.
He deserved all the praise from critics he got for his work on MAD MEN. His 1950s white collar character was dark, mysterious, slapable and yet you had sympathy for him. Jon Hamm's performance anchored that new series and helped establish AMC's new identity. Remember when those letters stood for American Movie Classics and, like TCM, it showed a daily diet of classic movies aired without commercial interruption and presented by hosts? MAD MEN ushered in the new era and new identity as a channel bringing you original, scripted programming. Hamm, a big and handsome hunk o' man, was powerful and fascinating as Don Draper. Not only was his talent impressive, his look was perfect for that character. Also, he has the looks of a movie star from the Classic Hollywood era.
Then I saw Jon Hamm on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE and I howled with laughter. He could go from playing that often cold-hearted corporate character to being an absolutely clueless dork in sketch comedy -- and getting big laughs. He's got solid dramatic chops and the gift of goofiness. Did you see BRIDESMAIDS? He's perfect as the constantly horny and intellectually limited boyfriend to Kristen Wiig's Milwaukee character. Hamm and Wiig did sketch work together on SNL.
If Jon Hamm was around in the 1940s and 50s, he'd have been sought by directors such as Preston Sturges, Billy Wilder and Howards Hawks. Those guys would've known how to fully utilize and spotlight his comedy skills. So far, no current movie director has done that with Hamm in a starring role. My cherished Twitter buddy, author Thomas Pluck, feels that Jon Hamm needs a good comedy role in a movie. I agree. Tommy suggested something like the part George Clooney played in O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? from the Coen Bros.
If not a starring role, like Clooney's in O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?, then I suggest a wacky supporting role -- like Michael Palin's as Pontius Pilate with a speech impediment in MONTY PYTHON'S LIFE OF BRIAN.
About the Coen Bros. and O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? As filmmakers, they were heavily influenced by the 1940s screwball comedies written and directed by Preston Sturges, a noted director I mentioned earlier in this post. They rarely mention this influence in interviews I've read or heard. They seemed reluctant to give Preston Sturges a credit the one time I interviewed them and brought up his name. However, you can see his famous influence in their 2000 film. In a Larry King interview on CNN in 2006, Clint Eastwood enthusiastically explained how the 1944 Preston Sturges comedy, HAIL THE CONQUERING HERO, inspired the issues he addressed in his film, FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS. The Coen Bros. credited Homer's epic poem, THE ODYSSEY, as the inspiration for their original screenplay, O BROTHER, WHERE ARE THOU?
See SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS, the 1941 comedy classic written and directed by Preston Sturges.
Joel McCrea stars as a young, successful Hollywood producer. He's known for a string of hit comedies and musicals comedies. But with all the strife in the world, he longs to make a dramatic, heavily serious film that reflects the grim reality of modern times. He wants to do a film version of a critically acclaimed, grim novel called -- O BROTHER, WHERE ARE THOU?
Of course, his studio team tries to talk him out of it. One chimes in with the truthful statement that Hollywood producer John Sullivan doesn't know anything about hard times because he's had a life of comfort and success. Sully agrees. So he decides to hit the road alone and incognito. He'll dress as a hobo, wander, and get to know the average person along the way. Sully gets more than he bargained for in his travels. He finds true love.
Later, on the long road odyssey alone and still dressed as a hobo, he'll get knocked unconscious, unjustly convicted of a crime and sentenced to work on a chain gang. He's without identification and down South. Don't worry. Sturges will somehow manage to give us a fabulous happy ending.
Watch SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS and then watch O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? I'll be busy imagining Jon Hamm saying "Biggus Dickus."
Do I feel that Joaquin Phoenix is a most fascinating actor? Absolutely. He's long had that quality onscreen that makes him stand out and draw your attention. For me, he did that years ago in the 1989 comedy, PARENTHOOD. He went by the name Leaf Phoenix in those days. Then came his work in TO DIE FOR with Nicole Kidman and Ron Howard's INVENTING THE ABBOTTS. His performance in GLADIATOR just about made my jaw drop down to my bucket of popcorn as I sat in the theater seat. Do not think I'm exaggerating when I tell you that I've seen him as Johnny Cash in WALK THE LINE at least half a dozen times. I love that performance. I saw Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck in JOKER. His portrayal of that unhinged comic book-born character is stunning. It's stunning in a film I feel was bleak, pointless and the type of thing that was done way better and with more depth by Martin Scorsese in TAXI DRIVER and THE KING OF COMEDY.
Did you see it? Here's a trailer for JOKER starring Joaquin Phoenix and Robert DeNiro.
Here's the main thing I absolutely could not buy about that screenplay. This is no criticism at all of talented Zazie Beetz in the role. She did a fine job with the material and direction she was given.
But what young Black woman in New York City who was a responsible single working mother with a little girl would have gone out on a date with an unemployed white dude who looked like a psychiatric ward patient in ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST?
He's gaunt, he's so thin that his backbone is protruding, he looks like he hasn't slept in a week, he's got a gun... AND ...he follows her to work one morning. Every Black woman I knew in New York City would've greeted him with pepper spray and then called the police. But in JOKER, this psycho-Caucasian man gives the lovely Black woman that "Gee, I wonder if he'll take me to the Olive Garden tonight" feeling.
What did you think about that romantic angle of JOKER? I just could not get into it.
I watched the Golden Globes awards show on NBC last night. I have a hunch that this year's film awards season will be a major traffic jam. Early next week, the Oscar nominations are announced. Then the Screen Actors Guild Awards come up later this month. The Super Bowl airs on Sunday, February 2nd. Then the Oscars -- which some call "The Gay Super Bowl" -- air the following Sunday, Feb. 9th. For some reason, the Oscars telecast has been pushed way up on the schedule this year. Does that give voters enough time to see the nominated works and make well-informed choices? Last night, 1917 won a Best Picture Golden Globe. Directed and co-written by Sam Mendes, it's about carrying out orders in the midst of the horror known as World War 1. There are no stars in the lead roles. We follow two British soldiers. They receive a grueling task to carry out. It's a race against time order that involves them having to cross into enemy territory. They must deliver a message to a commanding officer. The message could save the lives of 1600 soldiers. There is plenty of action in this film.
1917 is based partially on stories Sam Mendes heard from his WWI veteran grandfather.
Some other films directed by Mendes are AMERICAN BEAUTY, ROAD TO PERDITION, JARHEAD, plus the James Bond adventures SKYFALL and SPECTRE.
I did gasp at some of the perilous activity of the two valiant, young soldiers. I was in awe of some of the stunning visuals. Technically, it's marvelous. The acting was good. As for 1917 as a whole, let me put it to you like this: Remember back in the 1980s when having nouvelle cuisine in trendy, new restaurants was the thing? The chefs were personalities. The presentation was like performance art. The plates were larger than the ones in your kitchen at home. In the restaurant, you'd get these big, fancy plates with little-bitty portions of gourmet food. It was all very posh. You felt oh, so sophisticated. However, on the way home, you were definitely stopping at the nearby pizza joint to grab a couple o' slices or a whole pie -- because you were still friggin' hungry. That's 1917 from director Sam Mendes. It's a big, fancy plate with little-bitty portions of gourmet food that leave you still hungry. It looks excellent, but there's really not much to fill you up. The film doesn't have much of a story and, for that matter, much of a soul. It's quite different from JARHEAD, his much better 2005 film about a bookworm U.S. Marine sniper who wants to shoot and kill in the Gulf War and then must check that lethal desire.
Did you see the Stanley Kubrick classic from 1957, PATHS OF GLORY? It too is a World War 1 drama. Kirk Douglas starred as the moral center of that wartime drama. Kubrick gives us memorable tracking shots in PATHS OF GLORY. You'll see a bit of one in this trailer. Click onto the link:
1917 seems to be based on the stories from the director's grandfather and the Stanley Kubrick tracking shots in PATHS OF GLORY. Mostly the tracking shots. Click onto the link and watch the trailer:
When the film ended, instead of absorbing the emotional journey the characters had just taken me on, instead of thinking about the message of the film, I was wondering "Wow. How did Mendes do all those tracking shots?"
I finally got around to seeing the 2019 Elton John biopic, ROCKETMAN. Wow. It is a winner. Taron Egerton is terrific as Elton John and the whole movie works. BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY, I felt, was a mediocre movie hoisted up by the strong performance of Rami Malek as the late Freddie Mercury. Malek took home the Best Actor Oscar for his work. This is a much better rock star biopic that also has an outstanding performance by the actor in the lead role. I hope ROCKETMAN gets some Oscar nomination love on January 13th. It would be cool to see Taron Egerton as a Best Actor nominee. The story opens with international rock star Elton John, decked out in one of his flamboyant, glittery stage costumes with matching shoes, strutting into an AA group meeting with his ego-blazing.
Another major difference between ROCKETMAN and BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY is that the Freddie Mercury biopic was rather timid in dealing with his being gay. It's mentioned, but that's about it. In ROCKETMAN, you see the young man struggling to let his outward experiences and attractions match his interior feelings. When a man does find him romantically attractive, it's visualized. We see them together, shirtless and kissing and embracing on a bed. This is a warts-and-all biopic -- and Elton John was an executive producer of it. Lonely and emotionally pushed away by his mother because of his sexual orientation, he says "Real love is hard to come by. So you find a way to cope without it."
"Enough of this bullshit. Who wants to go to a party at Mama Cass'?" That fabulous invite comes from festive Doug Weston, the man behind The Troubadour in West Hollywood. Newcomer Elton John is booked there and he's an instant success. It's 1970.
His talent takes his from being a shy, closeted young man to being a top rock star in America and England AND being a millionaire at age 25. When he emerged from the cocoon of "Reginald Dwight" and took flight as rock butterfly Elton John, he did become a commodity of sorts, defined by his stage image. He's now taken to drink, cocaine, sex, shopping and loud rock diva tantrums. We will watch the journey as he pulls himself back together.
There is one thread through the ROCKETMAN screenplay that I loved. Besides being the story of an outrageous gay and talented rock star, this film is also a valentine to all straight allies whose friendship with a gay person occupies a very dear place in their hearts. Young man Reggie, working to kick off his career, is put in touch by a manager with another young dude. He's Bernie Taupin. They will become a famous songwriting team in rock music. At their first meeting, in a diner, Reggie is attracted to Bernie, but he's shy about showing it and also cautious. Bernie may not be gay. Well...Bernie is not gay. However, he comes to love Elton and will proudly say so in a heartbeat. He gives Elton the kind of love and acceptance he couldn't quite get from his parents. Bernie is a good friend who never lets the extremities and trappings of stardom go to his head.
Starring opposite Taron Egerton as Elton John is the always impressive Jamie Bell as collaborator Bernie Taupin.
If you've seen current films and TV shows with British actors playing Americans, we get equal time in ROCKETMAN. Ron Howard's daughter, Bryce Dallas Howard, plays Elton John's mother.
I'm definitely going to see ROCKETMAN again. I enjoyed it that much. It's well-acted, smartly written and creatively presented. For a weekend double feature at home, I suggest ROCKETMAN and the 2000 film, BILLY ELLIOTT. In that charmer of a movie, young Jamie Bell played Billy Elliott -- a working class boy who wants to take serious dance classes. Ballet lessons.
The movie was adapted into a London/Broadway musical with original music by Elton John and a book by Lee Hunt. Lee Hunt wrote the original BILLY ELLIOTT screenplay. He also wrote the ROCKETMAN screenplay.
In my previous blog post, my last one of 2019, I wrote that I'd seen two of the three releases that contained characters singing Broadway show tunes by Stephen Sondheim. First was JOKER with "Send In The Clowns" from Sondheim's A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC. Next was KNIVES OUT with a fabulous Daniel Craig singing "Losing My Mind" from Sondheim's FOLLIES. Last night, I watched MARRIAGE STORY on Netflix. Written and directed by Noah Baumbach, it stars Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson as the young married couple that hits an emotional wall in the marriage. The wife seeks a divorce. Both are in the New York City theater world. She's an actress. He's a gifted new director. Initially, they want to keep the break friendly. They have a little boy. Then she books a major TV job in Los Angeles. The occupational relocation changes the tone of the divorce proceedings. In MARRIAGE STORY, the people that you want to just slap repeatedly, like they're Mrs. Mulwray in the last 20 minutes of CHINATOWN, are the lawyers. The West Coast lawyers now handling the divorce. If you've read high praise for the performances of Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson, I second those emotions. Those two actors are excellent. Driver can tap into deep emotions and get raw like Sally Field. You feel the weight of the flood of tears in his heart ready to break loose at any moment.
MARRIAGE STORY also boasts rich supporting performances, most notably the three veteran actors playing the West Coast lawyers. There's Laura Dern, a high priced and very slim Southern California lawyer who always seems as if she's in the midst of delivering a TED talk. She listens to her client with a studied sympathy as she offers gourmet tea during their meeting. There's Ray Liotta as a pitbull lawyer and Alan Alda as an old school lawyer. The lawyers bring out the worst in Charlie and Nicole who, we sense, are not totally out of love with each other.
There are two other performances that I loved in MARRIAGE STORY. They're not getting a lot of attention but they should. Remember the comedy AIRPLANE! from 1980? Julie Hagerty plays the former actress mother to Johansson's character. She goes around the house singing pop spiritual tunes about the Lord's goodness. She's divorced. She's proud of still being friendly with her gay ex-husband. She likes wine. A lot. Hagerty nails that SoCal airiness I've seen in older L.A. women. I say that as someone who grew up in L.A. The separated actress (Johansson as Nicole) and her little boy are now living with her mother in West Hollywood. Charlie flies out to see Nicole and visit their son. Nicole has to serve him divorce papers. She wants to keep it all grass roots with no fuss and, at first, no laywers. She cannot physically hand him the papers. Someone else has to do it. Her mom doesn't want to because she's fond of Charlie (Driver). Nicole's sister, Cassie, winds up with the duty. Like their mom, she's having wine too.
To me, Merritt Weaver as nervous Cassie rehearsing how to hand Charlie divorce papers is a highlight scene in MARRIAGE STORY. She's a knockout in a scene that seemed right out of good screwball comedy from the Classic Hollywood era. Merritt Weaver, Julie Hagerty and Scarlett Johansson later perform "You Could Drive a Person Crazy" from the 1970 Sondheim Broadway musical, COMPANY. After that, Adam Driver sings "Being Alive" from the same show. He may not have the big belter voice that Dean Jones did on the original Broadway cast album. Nonethless, Driver's rendition touches the heart. He's in the moment -- and very moving. Don't be surprised if hear you Adam Driver's name read as an Oscar nominee for Best Actor on January 13th.
As for Scarlett Johansson...her range is most impressive and, I feel, often overlooked. Here's a trailer.
Here's Johansson as another mother she played last year. She was the single mother. of a German boy seduced into the Hitler Youth program. He has no idea she's secretly helping a Jew. Her little boy was called JOJO RABBIT.
In the Hollywood satire from the Coen Brothers in 2016 called HAIL, CAESAR!, Johansson played the tough-talking swimming star of deluxe 1950s Hollywood musicals. She's pregnant, unmarried and needs to find a husband so there's not a scandal that could damage her career and the studio's reputation.
Scarlett Johansson is one talented actress. She's never been an Oscar nominee. Maybe one day she will be. Maybe on January 13th.
