Monday, September 30, 2019

Judy (2019): A Review (Review #1284)


JUDY

Despite what some may think Judy the film is not the first biopic on Judy Garland, this legendary yet troubled performer. A very good miniseries, Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows, covered the entirety of Garland's surprisingly short 47 years, winning Emmy Awards for both actresses that played Garland as a teen (Tammy Blanchard) and as an adult (Judy Davis). Judy, unlike Life with Judy Garland, covers the final months of Garland's life before her death from an accidental drug overdose in 1969. Judy has a very strong performance from Renee Zellweger in the title role, and while the film overall could have been stronger it is quite good, even moving, as it is now. 

Judy Garland (Zellweger) is in deep financial straits. Desperate to keep her children Joey and Lorna Luft with her, she is forced to take a booking at the Talk of the Town Theater for a five-week engagement. Garland being Garland, she can be temperamental and terrified, a despondent, destructive diva, insufferable and insecure. Will she show? Will she do the show if she shows?

While her assistant/minder Rosalyn (Jessie Buckley) does her best to keep Garland going, Garland marries her fifth husband, Mickey Deans (Finn Wittrock), a nice-enough goombah of a man. She also works against her third husband, Sid Luft (Rufus Sewell) who insists the children would be better off with him. Sid can give them stability versus Garland's peripatetic and perhaps pathetic life. Undaunted and unwilling to bend, she keeps singing for her supper and her kids. As Judy struggles with her addictions, her neuroses and her struggles to function, occasionally flashing back to her MGM days, she keeps plugging away, fighting to the bitter end.

Image result for judy 2019When both Cary Grant and Judy Garland were alive it was routine for Grant impersonators to say "Ju-DY! Ju-DY! Ju-DY!" as part of their act despite as far as I know no evidence that Grant ever actually said "Judy! Judy! Judy!" in any film or to Garland herself. Ever the raconteur, Garland joked that she'd love to make a movie with Grant so she could reply "Ca-RY! Ca-RY! Ca-RY!". Yet that side of Garland, the fun and funny wit who could spin yarns and celebrate the joy of life, does not exist in Judy.

Instead, we see the 'tragic' Judy: the insecure, neurotic woman who could be hard to work with but who also be terribly sympathetic. Perhaps this is why we had a gay couple pop up in Judy, who at one point literally take her home to make her breakfast and spend time with her, albeit at her request. In retrospect, these two male practitioners of Judyism don't add much to the plot save for the stereotype of gay men passionate about Judy Garland.

Also in retrospect, I don't think Garland would like Judy. Perhaps she would have enjoyed the flashbacks that pop in and out which detail just how horrid MGM was with her, starting her out on the pills that eventually overtook her. She also perhaps would appreciate the joy her children gave her and her determination to keep them with her. However, Judy, again while good, does not give us much about Garland the person apart from how she stumbles then rights herself.

Image result for judy 2019Judy, however, has one major positive: Renee Zellweger in what almost feels like her own comeback. She, thanks to some good makeup work, resembles Garland, and her performance gives us a very sympathetic image of this diva. I think at times it does a bit more like mimicry than a genuine performance, but Zellweger excels in scenes that require a gentle touch such as whenever she is with Joey and Lorna.

It's a curious thing that Zellweger can get Garland's physicality during the musical numbers but curiously her voice seems higher and softer than Garland's. Garland's singing was lower and stronger than Zellweger's. Renee Zellweger is a good singer (it can't be that long since Chicago to have people forget she has musical abilities) but I found her voice rather whispery compared to the brassier manner Garland had.

On the whole though, Renee Zellweger did a strong job in the title role.

As much as Zellweger is being praised, right so, I think not enough attention has been paid to Buckley's role as Rosalyn, forever juggling the temperament with the torment that is Judy Garland. Wittrock continues to steadily impress with his Mickey Deans, part idiot part sincere fellow. I would say Sewell came off the worst as a one-note Sid Luft, but I think Tom Edge's adaptation of Peter Quilter's play End of the Rainbow gave him precious little to work with.

Everyone was competent to great in their roles, and while director Rupert Goold did not make a mess he did not overwhelm either.

Finally, in my view Gabriel Yared's score was a bit misplaced in that it tried to cue the emotions when the scenes and performances are perfectly able to do that.

On the whole I think both Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows as well as Garland's final film I Could Go on Singing are more accurate portrayals of Judy Garland than Judy. I'd add that I Could Go on Singing is closer to the real Judy Garland in this period than Judy itself. That being said, Judy is a good film that serves as a primer to this most extraordinary of talents. It's less a portrait of the artist and more a sketch but a good sketch nonetheless.

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1922-1969
DECISION: B+

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Angel Has Fallen: A Review

ANGEL HAS FALLEN

I will make this clear: Angel Has Fallen, the third film from an increasingly oddball and unexpected franchise, is nowhere near good. It isn't clever. It isn't original. It's silly bordering on stupid, with a baby managing to out-act almost the entire cast.

So yes, I thoroughly enjoyed Angel Has Fallen, though whether for the camp value or the mindless romp I cannot fully pin down.

Secret Service Agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) is still guarding the President, though there's been a change in administrations with the President now being Alan Trumbull (Morgan Freeman), formerly the Speaker of the House in Olympus Has Fallen and Vice President in London Has Fallen.

Mike is secretly suffering from physical and emotional wounds which he keeps secret from both the President and Leah (Piper Perabo), Mike's wife and which he self-medicates with copious amounts of pills. In the good old American tradition of 'I ain't got time to bleed', Banning keeps at it until an assassination attempt on the President is made.

Worse, Banning is framed for the attempted assassination. With Trumbull in a coma, Vice President Kirby (Tim Blake Nelson) is in command. He is also in cahoots with the real assassins, paramilitary company Salient Global and its chief Wade Jennings (Danny Huston), who happens to be Banning's BFF. It's all part of a conspiracy to essentially have a war with Russia and give lucrative contracts to Jennings as mercenaries.

Banning manages to escape, albeit with the accidental help of Salient Global, and now must both clear his name and save President Trumbull while avoiding FBI agent Helen Thompson (Jada Pinkett Smith). This requires some help from his woodsman father Clay (Nick Nolte), with whom Mike has not reconciled. It ends in a spectacular hospital battle where Trumbull, now out of his coma, is still in danger.

Image result for angel has fallenANYONE who thinks he or she is going to see an intellectual exploration into the tortured soul of Mike Banning when seeing Angel Has Fallen is a fool unto him/herself. This is clearly a dumb action film, one that delights in being big, loud, chaotic and obvious.

Anyone with an ounce of brain knows who the villains are. It's so patently obvious that the only real suspense is waiting for both Jennings and Kirby to reveal themselves, and I think that was by and large the point. Angel Has Fallen is not a film to think on or over, and that's not a condemnation. It's an acknowledgement of reality. Angel Has Fallen is open about its own outlandishness and as such one should recognize it isn't even going to try to be anything else.

In short, Angel Has Fallen is a hoot: silly, loud and even comical both intentionally and not, but at least it knows it. Granted, it does try to add some elements of 'character' and 'drama' via Banning's health and Daddy issues, but those get forgotten or tossed whenever we need more explosions.

Gerard Butler is almost 50 and it is beginning to show. While his weathered look adds a touch of weariness to Mike Banning, it is starting to look more odd to see him outrun, outlast and overpower single-handed a platoon of men half his age. Whatever promise he had early in his career is almost extant, but Butler knows his way around weapons.

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Freeman was blessed by being in a coma for most of Angel Has Fallen, so this was a nice paycheck that required little of him. He makes a fine replacement for Aaron Eckhart, a fine actor who had enough sense to decline a third round of being beat up. Perabo also replaced the original Leah, Radha Mitchell, and despite the rather thankless role of 'wife in danger', I think she did quite well.

Smith was also in an equally thankless role as the FBI agent who let's say won't make a return appearance in any future Has Fallen feature. She did a good job with a nothing role and worse, the film opted to eliminate a potentially good counterweight to Butler's Banning to where a teaming might have done wonders.

I think we will always look fondly on Nolte's bonkers Clay, full of paranoia and growls. Huston shows he can use firepower and yell like the best of them. These roles are so beneath the collected talents of just about everyone involved, but again no one is pretending that Angel Has Fallen is anything other than action-packed and mindless entertainment.

The best performance came from the child/children who played their daughter. She cried on cue and had almost an uncanny ability to react to everything. Whether you think it is good or bad that a baby managed to do better acting than those deemed 'professional actors' I leave to you. 

At this point, should we actually get another Has Fallen film, we might just as well make Mike Banning the President and get it over with. Angel Has Fallen, even for the schlock that it is, has issues. Sometimes the action scenes are hard to follow with the jumbled editing and at two hours seems longer than it should be.

On the whole however, Angel Has Fallen is clear about what it is: a big, loud bombastic film that is not meant to be taken seriously on almost any level. Embrace the outlandishness of it all and you'll have a good time.

DECISION: C+

Saturday, September 28, 2019

WWE in El Paso: Some Thoughts


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Yesterday, I went to the WWE Live event in El Paso and found it most entertaining even if I had no idea who anyone was apart from Sin Cara. The 'women's division' was nice, though I believe that technically they are not 'divas'. What differences lie between Natalya, Lacey Evans and Sasha Banks are things I could not fathom a guess.

Shows how much I know about the goings-on in World Wrestling Entertainment.

I have vague memories of Sgt. Slaughter, the Iron Sheik, Hulk Hogan and for some reason The Great Kabuki, but as to who all the people in the ring last night were, I wouldn't know a King Corbin from a Ricochet or AJ Styles. I'm someone who thinks The OC is a television show, so a lot of the theatrics was lost on me.

Nevertheless, I loved it all: the spectacle, the matches, the rivalries, the wild over-the-top nature of it all. I had an awesome time: thrilling whenever a wrestler got flung out of the ring, exhorting others to get back in when they scurried off. It was wild hijinks and I had a blast. I cheered the heroes and booed the villains, though I declined to join in the "O-C/ A-J Sucks" chants going around.

Part of me was surprised at how in particular children were into this gaudy show, but I shouldn't. I too as a child found the intricacies of wrestling fascinating, and I figure way back then I knew whom 'hated' whom. Granted, in time I moved away from all that to grow into the somewhat more snobbish fellow we all know and love, but I can understand why kids and their parents thrill on seeing these figures live in person.

I give WWE credit for this: they are perfectly aware of their audience, particularly children. The 'evil' OC (and I'm figuring this trio is meant to be hated) never used one profanity while spouting their taunts. The matches might be staged in that the outcomes are predetermined. They may even follow a routine: my BFF Gabe accurately predicted when The Viking Raiders would storm in to confront their nemesis, but I'm reminded of something I have long referred to as 'The Agreement'.

'The Agreement' is the unwritten acknowledgment that everything you see and hear is purely for entertainment, not to be taken literally or seriously. There is an 'Agreement' between the audience and the performer that the latter will put on some kind of shtick and the former will suspend disbelief long enough to go along with it. In short, a good time will be had by all (or at least as much a good a time as one can get after landing on one's back with force).

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This 'Agreement' goes with every kind of performance: WWE, film, television, the stage. I suspect that outside the ring, A.J. Styles and Lacey Evans (IF those are their real names) are probably very nice people; from what little I know many WWE stars are very respectful, even fond of their fans and do various charity work along with USO tours.

Watching all the spins and drops, I was reminded of what the character of Bill Sampson said in All About Eve.

Yes: while watching WWE I was reminded of All About Eve. That's just how I roll.

When the title character shows disdain at Bill going to Hollywood to make a film and leave 'The THEATER', he gives a brilliant and impassioned speech against her snobbery (courtesy of IMDB):

The THEATER! THE THEATER! What book of rules says THE THEATER exists only withing some ugly buildings crowded into one square mile of New York City? Or London, Paris or Vienna?...Want to know what THE THEATER is? A flea circus. Also opera. Also rodeos, carnivals, ballets, Indian tribal dances, Punch and Judy, a one-man-band: ALL 'Theater'. Wherever there's magic and make-believe and an audience there's 'THEATER'!...You don't understand them all, you don't like them all, why should you? THE THEATER's for everyone, you included, but not exclusively, so don't approve or disapprove. It may not be your "THEATER", but it's theater of someone, somewhere.

Bill Sampson, or more accurately Joseph L. Mankiewicz, is absolutely correct. WWE IS 'theater': the lights, the entrance music, the rivalries and storylines. It's openly and unapologetically 'theater'. The performers know it. The audience knows it. It's 'The Agreement' in bold print.

No one is fooled. No one is deceived. Everyone knows up-front that this is, as my cousin George would say in Spanish "Puro Show" (Pure Show). Some may take it a bit overboard but what I saw last night was a lot of people, myself included, having a great deal of fun, entertained and leaving joyful.

Perhaps children are fooled, but we should cut them some slack. Innocence is a beautiful quality, and once wisdom comes, it makes all those memories much warmer.

I'm someone who can enjoy both a WWE Live event and an Itzhak Perlman concert and recognize both as 'theater'. I see little difference between them. Yes, they are not the same and may cater to different audiences, but both work to delight their audiences with their specific and unique skills. In short, their goals are to create something wonderful for those who come to see them.

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Unfortunately, many of my fellow film reviewers and some performers come from the Eve Harrington School of Artistic Theology. Meryl Streep immediately comes to mind. Her impassioned Golden Globes speech denouncing President Donald Trump also included a snide jab at the hoi polloi. She bemoaned that without her or Dev Patel or Amy Adams or Ryan Gosling or Natalie Portman, people would be condemned to watch nothing but football and mixed martial arts, which she helpfully reminded us are not 'the arts'.

I don't know anyone who would confuse the Octagon with the Louvre, but there it is.

Far be it for me to once again remind one of our great actresses that I figure many people would find a world where there was nothing but football or MMA to be nirvana and not a vast wasteland. I imagine more people would rather watch an AFC championship game than they would Florence Foster Jenkins, The Shape of Water or Nocturnal Animals.

They are not 'stupid' or 'uneducated' for enjoying the various matches and grandiose nature of professional wrestling, or football or MMA. They are not morally or intellectually inferior for preferring the styling of AJ Styles over the musings of Meryl. Streep and her cohorts forget 'The Agreement'. Far from being hicks or rubes, WWE fans are shrewd in their awareness of the illusion. They willingly suspend disbelief but unlike what their 'betters' believe WWE fans do not take things at face value.

Madame Streep and those who think like her have a wild misreading of their audience and perhaps of people in general. Streep and those who think like her do believe 'THE THEATER' is something specific. Perhaps not those ugly buildings within one square mile of New York City but something grand, elevated and elegant, reserved for those with refined tastes and far above those who enjoy seeing three women in sparkling costumes fling each other about.

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The same disdain for certain elements in film also, sadly in my view, colors the opinions of my cinematic brethren. I believe a film should be judged by what the filmmakers aim for, some some grand 'statement' on art. This is why I can with a perfectly straight face laud both Seven Samurai and The Hangover. They are nowhere equal in terms of cinema, but both did what they aimed to do and did it exceptionally well.

Why my fellow critics hold some idea that "CINEMA" must be "THEATER" in the Eve Harrington mode I do not understand.

I am always amazed at why despite the harsh, almost enraged reviews from critics and the cinematic intelligentsia Bohemian Rhapsody is generally loved by audiences while the critically and Film Twitter-adored Rocketman flopped. My colleague Christian Toto insists it has to do with lip-synching: that because Bo-Rhap used Freddy Mercury's voice while Rocketman used Taron Egerton's voice audiences embraced the former and rejected the latter.

I don't quite fully agree. I think for all its flaws (of which it has quite a few) Bohemian Rhapsody was a more conventional (read: accessible) film with a more upbeat ending than the more artistic (read: eccentric to bizarre) Rocketman.

Seeing an HIV-positive Mercury rise to give a breathtaking performance at Live Aid is something people will embrace easier than seeing a child dressed as Sandy Cheeks belt out Rocketman to a drowning Elton John before the Esther Williams Revue comes to his rescue.

In conclusion, I do not look upon with contempt those who love WWE, and I think it's a mistake to do so. Professional wrestling and mixed martial arts are most certainly not 'the arts', but they are 'theater'. Maybe not Meryl Streep's 'theater', but it's theater for someone, somewhere, which does not require Madame Streep or her ilk's approval or condescension.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Brian Banks: A Review

BRIAN BANKS

I don't follow football, so I am unfamiliar with the Brian Banks story. Brian Banks tells his story of wrongful incarceration and efforts to clear his name while attempting an NFL comeback at an age when most players contemplate retirement. Brian Banks, while in many ways a standard 'inspirational' biopic with so many of its trappings, at least knows this and does not fail in its aim to be audience-pleasing. It also takes time to be instructive on the many important issues Brian Banks tackles.

No pun intended.

Told in slightly non-linear fashion, Brian Banks chronicles our title character (Aldis Hodge), a decent young man whose dreams of gridiron glory were deferred due to a false accusation of rape when he was in high school. He was advised to take a plea rather than go to trial with the idea he'd get some probation but ended up sentenced to six years in prison, four years on probation and a lifetime as a registered sex offender.

This endlessly hampers his ability to get a job, but he has the loving support of his mother Leomia (Sherri Shepherd). Brian has already been rejected by the California Innocence Project when he was in prison, but now time is running out. His probation is coming to an end, and Brian is determined to clear his name before he essentially has a lifetime sentence: physically free but hampered by being a sex offender. Brian's stubbornness on the issue along with his surprisingly adept handling of a writ of habeas corpus impresses Justin Brooks (Greg Kinnear), head of the CIP who somewhat reluctantly agrees to help.

Armed with nothing but truth, along with some revelations by his original accuser Kennisha Rice (Xosha Roquemore) and his new love interest Karina (Melanie Liburd), Brian and Justin fight to clear his name, culminating with justice finally being served.

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Brian Banks is a combination of a feel-good  and topical film. The audience I saw it with, small as it was, reacted strongly to it: I heard cheers and applause at its climatic ending. As such, I think director Tom Shaydac and screenwriter Doug Atchison accomplished what they set out to do: tell Banks' story in a way that general audiences would embrace.

It is not hard to embrace Brian Banks when almost the whole cast works so well. Hodge is an absolute winner as Brian Banks. He makes Banks into a good man caught in an unfair world. From when he quietly mourns his inability to find employment to his frustration when his parole officer (Dorian Missick) keeps making his life difficult by being so by-the-book, Hodge wins us over.

He is equally complimented by Shepherd as his mother, forever loving and supportive. It may be a one-note character but Shepherd is so endearing as this strong yet vulnerable woman that when she talks about the pain of seeing your son in prison for something he didn't do, it moves you deeply. Primarily known for comic roles, Shepherd is an untapped talent as a dramatic actress and someone who should work more.

Also earning high praise is Liburd as Karina, the personal trainer and aspiring grad student who falls for Brian. Karina is not a one-note supportive type but a strong individual with her own haunted past. Brian Banks was smart in allowing for a complicated subject such as sexual assault & accusations of it to each have a moment.

While clearly Banks was falsely accused, Karina tells her own story of actual sexual assault and the school's inaction. As such, both sides have their moment: the dangers of false accusations and the dangers of real sexual assaults not being believed.

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I would argue that Kinnear was probably the weakest as this crusading attorney. To his credit it was not a showy performance as the temptation to play righteous fury is there. There was a quiet manner to Kinnear's performance, but I don't think he was particularly strong. It was serviceable, and I can't fault him for that.

In many respects Brian Banks is a better set of ideas for a film than a film itself. It touches on important topics: sexual assault and false allegations of such, the higher incarceration rates for African-American men, the expediency of plea deals versus the true search for truth and justice, the stigma against formerly incarcerated men forcing them to a secondary sentence. Brian Banks touches on them but doesn't stick to one. I would argue its impossible to stay with one as the story spreads over all of them.

It also has elements that seem slightly far-fetched and moments that veer close to parody. Morgan Freeman has a cameo as Mr. Johnson, a teacher at the prison Banks is in who serves as a de facto mentor to Banks. Literally and metaphorically seeing the light while Brian is in solitary is probably a touch much. However, I didn't think badly of these elements as I thought the film was being open about such elements.

Brian Banks, film and story, is one that I think should be better-known. Dealing with important subjects and with strong and sympathetic performances, Brian Banks simultaneously entertains and informs. It tells an important story with wide implications on the justice system, and while perhaps a touch maudlin it tells its story effectively to appeal to all audiences.

Born 1985


DECISION: B-

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Gillette's "We Believe: The Best Men Can Be" Ad. Some Thoughts.

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While shaving this morning the Gillette We Believe: The Best Men Can Be ad came to mind.

Having seen the ad again, part of me genuinely thinks that Gillette meant well. Up to a point there is a good message about 'men holding other men accountable', something that churches routinely do with their Men's Groups.

HOWEVER, Gillette came across as smug, arrogant and worse, insulting to their customers by suggesting that they, Gillette consumers, were this collection of boorish, mansplaining, violent & bullying sexual harassers. One wonders why the company opted to portray their customers in such a surprisingly negative light and expect there to be a sales increase and/or customer satisfaction.

It's an oft-told story in advertising and filmmaking: We think you are horrible people...now buy our product or see our film/television show.

Moreover, one wonders why Gillette decided it was their place to tell men how to be. Do companies routinely go about instructing their customers how to live and behave? Is this a trend I have missed?

The backlash was strong both in terms of anger and financial losses to the tune of $8 billion. That's $8,000,000,000.  Some outlets appear to suggest that the We Believe ad had little to nothing to do with its loss, citing a declining market share and competition from other brands.

That, I believe, is disingenuous. It is likely that the We Believe ad in and of itself did not cause Gillette such losses. However, if an ad exists to increase sales, We Believe did not do that. I don't think it was meant to do that. Instead, it was meant to impart us with Gillette's moral wisdom. One would hope fathers would teach their sons and daughters how to be genuine men, not corporations.

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Add to that how the We Believe ad left a very negative impression with its targeted audience. The impression left is that all men would harass women, belittle them and terrorize children; add to that the idea that fathers not only condone such acts but almost encourage them on a regular basis. The dads grilling away say 'Boys will be boys' in a unison monotone, suggesting not only indifference but dismissiveness from men. Also note that it is the woman, not the man, who comforts a bullied child.

What message is Gillette sending, particularly to its customers? It's one thing to say 'Men Can Do Better'. It's another when you seem to say 'Men Are the Worst'.

Gillette's ad, in short, basically implies that all men are toxic and that only via Gillette's website (and perhaps their product) they can go from demonic monsters to semi-rational beings. We Believe, whatever the merits of its intended goals, came across as almost virulently hostile towards men.

Most men I imagine, even men sympathetic to Gillette's suggestion that all men are bullies chasing down kids and seconds away from hassling a woman until a more woke man comes along to set them right, did not take kindly to the company's messaging. The ad felt and came across as antagonistic towards its customers.

I don't begrudge Gillette's hopes for better men. I do think their method of all but attacking its customer base was a bad one. They may have the accolades and applause but they also earned enmity and hostility from men who have been loyal customers and did/have done nothing to deserve being trashed like this.

Pointing out flaws in society is not a bad thing. Suggesting your customers are essentially evil and 'toxic' is a bad thing.

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Despite what Gillette and its parent company Proctor & Gamble say, I think many surprisingly decent men did opt for other products in response to being told what horrible people they are. As it is Gillette's right to put out ads like We Believe, it is the consumer's right to reject the company's characterization of said consumer and turn to other brands that don't think badly of them.

It is not toxic men who left Gillette. It is men tired of being accused of being toxic with no evidence to support that accusation who left.

We will be seeing things like this in the future from other companies determined to put virtue-signaling over market shares. I hope things settle down to where a company like Gillette tells me about their product rather than telling me what a horrible man I am in general.

I may have grown up without a father, but I don't need Gillette to instruct me on how to be a man.

As for myself, I too opted to no longer use Gillette products after I finish out their shaving creme that I already have. We Believe was not the sole reason: I find their blades far too expensive when Harry's is cheaper and to my mind better. To be honest I was leaning towards ending my relationship with Gillette prior to We Believe. It was not the final nail in the coffin. It just came along and I decided I could do without them for something more effective and less expensive.

I wasn't angry or horrified by We Believe. I was however, irritated by it. Surprisingly, I was as irritated by We Believe as I usually am after using a Gillette razor.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Breathe: A Review

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BREATHE

Any actor with a modicum of artistic (and Academy Award) aspirations will invariably be drawn to 'inspirational' biopics. If the character has a disability, all the better. Gives one a chance to show his range by showing his limitations, or rather showing how skilled he is by not using his whole body.

Eddie Redmayne is the worst of this lot for he was actually rewarded for his monstrous performance in and campaigning for The Theory of Everything. However, his shameless Oscar-bait and more brazen Oscar campaigning inspired many an actor to give 'Redmayning' a go in his efforts at Oscar immortality. A case can be made that Matthew McConaughey did succeed in Redmayning his way to an Oscar via Dallas Buyers Club. For the most part though, the streets are littered with failed efforts to build on Redmayne's Machiavellian cinematic career.

Then again, we're still waiting to see if Tom Holland will also try a little Redmayning by eventually playing Louis Braille in something with a faux-inspiring title like The Sight of Touch or something equally awful.

Jake Gyllenhaal tried to Redmayne his way to an Oscar via Stronger. Benedict Cumberbatch tried to Redmayne his way to an Oscar via The Imitation Game. Granted, homosexuality is not a disability but the film played up Alan Turing's potential Asperger's as said disability.

Scattered among the dashed hopes for lofty praise and statuettes is Andrew Garfield in Breathe.

All three failed to win Oscars for their films, with only Cumberbatch managing a nomination, but bless them for trying.

As a side note, it's interesting that these 'respected thespians' are now working in franchises post-Oscar glory, with only Redmayne himself not shilling in comic-book films, but I digress.

Image result for breathe 2017Breathe plays like a parody of these 'inspiration' biopics, parody made worse by the fact that everyone involved is so totally sincere.

Robin Cavendish (Garfield) and Diana (Claire Foy) quickly fall in love, marry, and move to Kenya where Diana finds she's pregnant. Robin, however, contracts polio, nearly dies and is condemned to a few months of immobility before death.

Diana will not accept this diagnosis nor Robin having to live out what little life he has in a hospital. Insisting on taking him to their new home and son Jonathan, they build as idyllic a life as possible. Robin also pushes his friend Teddy Hall (Hugh Bonneville) to build a chair that will give the ventilator-bound Robin something akin to mobility. With his portable breathing machine, Robin now lives his life working to bring his device to those forced into iron lungs until his years of ventilator use has corroded his lungs to where he may end up drowning in his own blood.

With that, he decides that his time is up, throws a farewell party and elects to die, Diana and the teen Jonathan at his side.

For a film titled Breathe, the whole thing is surprisingly airless, drowning in its good and noble intentions. Jonathan Cavendish produced Breathe, and one can have a great deal of fun speculating exactly whether Breathe was a tribute to his parents or a way to work out any psychological issues he had about them.

The Robin and Diana in Breathe are simply not human. There is never a sense of conflict or sometimes emotions apart from 'joy' and 'triumph'. It takes an hour for Diana to show even a slight sliver of anger or fear about Robin's condition, but for the rest of Breathe she is the doggedly cheerful, loyal wife, forever standing by her man.

As a side note, the Oscar campaign for Breathe slotted Foy for Supporting Actress consideration. How could anyone think hers was a supporting role given she was clearly a co-lead and was probably on screen for the same time or slightly longer than 'Lead Actor' Garfield? Her character was supportive to an almost saintly manner, but Foy was clearly a Leading Actress.

Image result for breathe 2017Foy's performance really gave Diana nothing of substance apart from looking on adoringly and with nary a complaint at Garfield, though I confess laughing out loud when she was given the grim news of Robin's polio. Her face was hilarious, expressing more irritation than devastation.

I also laughed heartily at Garfield's performance. It consisted mostly of grins, but at one point where the film wants us to be terrified that his life was in danger, Garfield's face and clicking elicited howls of laughter from me. I kept telling myself 'I shouldn't laugh! I shouldn't laugh!', and I was certainly not laughing at a disabled man's potential death but in how Breathe portrayed it. Garfield had no real emotion in Breathe, nothing to make Robin a genuine person or even personality.

He, Foy and everyone on screen really was so blank in Breathe, forever suggesting these were people but never coming across as people. It's a poor sign when Diana Rigg in a cameo showed more of a character than the leads. You had the prissy and racist lead doctor Entwhistle (Jonathan Hyde) forever complaining, stomping about and saying how "You'll be DEAD in six weeks!" Entwhistle's racism was directed at the Indian Dr. Khan (Amit Shah), as close to comic relief as Breathe gets with his slightly befuddled doctor.

In short, Breathe had character types, but not flesh-and-blood characters.

William Nicholson's screenplay was simultaneously slavishly worshipful and accidentally hilarious, and perhaps that is where Breathe's greatest issue lays (though it has other problems). The film is simply far too worshipful towards its subjects. Robin and Diana have no flaws, and the film romanticizes them to the point where one almost wants to mock them.

When the Cavendishes go to Spain, I actually was hoping the stranger giving Diana's brother Bloggs (Tom Hollander) a ride to get a to a phone would end up murdering him.

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I was also hoping General Franco would pop up too. Certainly would have livened up the film. That the film ends up having a fiesta amid all this makes it look faker even if perhaps this actually happened and wasn't artistic license.

Nicholson's script was also shockingly cliched. When we see the toddler Jonathan playing with his dog near Robin's bed, who here didn't expect said puppy to literally pull the plug? When, while driving in Spain, Diana asks Bloggs to plug in the ventilator, who here didn't expect said ventilator to blow a fuse? Not only does it not come as a surprise that these things happen, the film all but screams that we should wait for said things to happen.

Breathe has other odd choices. While Nitin Sawhney's score is at times appropriately lush, other times it seems wildly out of step with the scene. For example, when Bloggs has to get to the phone after accidentally blowing Robin's fuse, the music seems curiously cute and light for what should be a very serious moment. It's almost comedy music. That Lee Marvin's version of Wand'rin Star plays when Robin rides for the first time in the front seat or Robin twice enters a large gathering to Verdi's Triumphal March from Aida playing only punctuates the oddness of it all.

Andy Serkis in his directorial debut I think really wanted to make an inspirational and lush film. He got the latter part right but the former was floundering. The subject alone is not enough to make the film inspirational or moving. It should be a fascinating topic, but Breathe was so hung up on making Robin and Diana Cavendish this oh-so-perfect and loyal and 'courageous' couple that they and their circle end up rather dull and distant.

Breathe is a film more interested in being pretty than in being good. To its credit it is very pretty looking, as are Garfield and Foy. If the film had ended with the creation of the basic rudimentary portable breathing machine and spent more time introducing Robin and Diana, then we might have had a film.

Instead, what Breathe ended up as was either a case for canonization of Mr. and Mrs. Cavendish or worse, a spoof of so many 'inspirational' biopics. Either way, it's a poor way to chronicle this story.

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1930-1994

DECISION: F

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. A Review (Review #1280)

Image result for the lord of the rings the two towersTHE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS

Editor's Note: This review is of the theatrical version.

The Two Towers occupies a curious space in the Lord of the Rings trilogy as the midsection of this massive epic series. Neither beginning or end, The Two Towers has to serve as a bridge between The Fellowship of the Ring and The Return of the King. The questions become whether it stands on its own and whether it holds as said bridge while also working as a film independent of them. On the whole, The Two Towers holds up well, though it does give in at times to both some ill-placed comedy and a loss of focus.

Essentially picking up from The Fellowship of the Ring's ending, The Two Towers has two stories. The main story is of hobbits Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) and Samwise Gamgee (Sean Astin) continuing their journey to Mt. Doom in the forbidding world of Mordor to destroy The One Ring. That destruction would ensure the Dark Lord Sauron would be defeated and not destroy all Middle-Earth.

Frodo and Sam are lost, but an unlikely ally comes in the form of Gollum (Andy Serkis), the One Ring's former possessor who is himself possessed by his 'Precious'. He knows the way into Mordor, but Sam does not trust him. Gollum's motivations are as conflicted as the creature himself, for he struggles between seeing 'Master' Frodo as a friend and as his enemy keeping him from his 'Precious'. On their journey, they are captured by Faramir (David Wenham), who takes them to Gondor to gain his father's approval. Faramir happens to be brother to Boromir, killed in The Fellowship of the Ring, but unlike Boromir, Faramir has the strength of character to eventually let Frodo, Sam and Gollum continue on to Mordor, where Gollum may be more foe than friend.

Image result for the lord of the rings the two towersThe other story involves the continuing search for two other hobbits: Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd). Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), the dwarf Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) and elf Legolas (Orlando Bloom) search for them, encountering Orcs and The Rohirrim, fabled Riders of Rohan sent into exile by their king. In their search, they encounter the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen), now restored to life as Gandalf the White. The search ended with Merry and Pippin accounted for, they all now press on first to save Theoden (King of Rohan) from the power of Saruman (Christopher Lee), then to fight off Saruman's army at the stronghold of Helm's Deep.

Merry and Pippin, having encountered Gandalf previously, find themselves with Treebeard (voiced by John Rhys-Davies), a wise Ent (a sentient tree), who with his brother Ents does not appear interested in joining this war until he sees what Saruman has done to his fellow trees. Enraged, he lays siege to Isengard (one of the two towers).

Unbeknownst to both groups of hobbits, the Men at Helm's Deep, now joined by Elves in a last-ditch alliance, fight on. The only Elf that Aragorn thinks of is Arwen (Liv Tyler), the love of his mortal life who reluctantly agrees to join her fellow elves in exile at the urging of her father Elrond (Hugo Weaving). This causes a bit of a complication for Theoden's niece Eowyn (Miranda Otto), who has developed feelings for Aragorn. However, this Shieldmaiden of Rohan is conflicted both by her emotions and her efforts to save her people.


That's a lot of story for one film, yet the curious thing is that for all the Sturm und Drang in The Two Towers, story-wise we really don't move far. Frodo and Sam are closer to Mordor but not yet within it. The other members now move on to more pressing matters but are essentially in a prelude to the final confrontation with their enemy. Moreover, The Two Towers has a major issue: simultaneous stories.

It's interesting that Frodo and Sam disappear in a 35-minute gap, that gap filled by the Battle at Helm's Deep. That there is a gap of that length for ostensibly the main character isn't the problem. It's that when he does return one is almost surprised to remember he was there to start with. I found that a lot of The Two Towers has this jumping about that mostly works well but that also has us forget characters and situations until they come back.

Probably the worst was the transition between when Sam and Frodo avoid capture at Mordor's Black Gate and Merry and Pippin travelling with Treebeard. That jump jolted me, but at times The Two Towers seemed a bit unwieldy in trying to balance so much. For example, all of Arwen's scenes, though beautiful and tragic, did not seem to really fit well within the story. It wasn't wildly out-of-place but seemed a bit of a tangent.

Image result for the lord of the rings the two towersAdd to that that this is the first time I thought things did not look authentic. The dream/love scene between Aragorn and Arwen looked like a stage. A couple of the visual effects looked inauthentic. Then there was seeing Legolas essentially skateboard down a flight of stairs during the Battle. I figure viewers chuckled at that at the time but now, nearly twenty years on, it looked a bit too humorous.

I could have done without this little bit of levity as well as Gimli being the 'comic relief'. Again, it's not that comic relief couldn't work or even that Gimli could not be a funny character. It's just that too often Gimli's height was used as a source of comedy and it felt a bit forced for me.

I also think The Two Towers was far too fond of 'cliffhanger' moments when perhaps cutting them or changing them about could have worked better. At least twice did Legolas think a character was dead when he wasn't, and you can only suggest something so many times before people start questioning whether said character really is dead.

As a side note, I wondered if I was the only one who thought The Black Gates of Mordor looked like The Wicked Witch's Castle from The Wizard of Oz, down to its marching army all but singing "oh-WEE-oh, E-O-UM!"

To be fair The Two Towers has more positives than negatives. It introduced the entire Norse-like world of Rohan well, from its politics to its characters. Composer Howard Shore introduced a new theme for Rohan and what is exceptional about it is that while it's the same melody it can be both triumphant and tragic. When fully orchestrated the Rohan music can be stirring, but when left to a lowly violin it is deeply sad.

It also was a fantastic showcase for Gollum, this poor, sad creature so brilliantly performed. Serkis makes Gollum a creature of deep tragedy and sympathy, a fully realized and complex character. In turns frightened and frightening, Serkis' work is a credit to both his skills and Peter Jackson's directing.

It's a much better and stronger performance than Wenham's Faramir, who was almost blank to boring. Otto was strong as Eowyn, and Bernard Hill's Theoden too was strong in a wider performance: from the weak and defeated old man to a more vigorous (albeit slightly pompous) warrior king. I won't fault Rhys-Davies for making Gimli into a bit of a joke but I do wonder why he voiced Treebeard as well.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is a very good film that sadly suffers from a bit too much weight and from being that bridge. It is not that it does not work but I would say that some things might have been better left off or reworked.

DECISION: B+

Monday, September 9, 2019

Agatha: A Review

AGATHA

For all the mysteries Dame Agatha Christie wrote about, there was one she never touched on: her own. The truth about Christie's eleven-day disappearance has never been solved, and the only witness took her secret to the grave. Regardless of how close or far the film was to the truth, Agatha, released three years after her death, would certainly have not pleased the very private Lady Mallowan.

Agatha is fanciful and steeped in the feel of a Christie mystery. It may not be historically accurate and in its own opening clear: "What follows is an imaginary solution to an authentic mystery".

Agatha Christie (Vanessa Redgrave) is a shy woman who has found reluctant success with her mystery novels, especially her most recent book, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Visiting American journalist Wally Stanton (Dustin Hoffman) is intrigued by Christie, particularly the dichotomy of her timidity to her writing ability, but Mrs. Christie is not about to give interviews.

Especially now when she hears what she has dreaded from her husband, Colonel Archie Christie (Timothy Dalton): he wants a divorce to marry his secretary and mistress, Nancy Neele (Celia Gregory). Agatha is devastated and shocked, aware of Miss Neele's existence but somehow hoping she and Archie won't split up. Right after Archie leaves for the country to be with Miss Neele, Agatha packs a bag, leaves two letters for Archie and her secretary/friend Miss Fisher (Carolyn Pickles), and drives off.

Agatha Christie has vanished without a trace.

Image result for agatha 1979The disappearance of this celebrated mystery writer becomes front-page news, causing all sorts of wild speculation. Was she murdered? Has she gone bonkers? Where could she have gone?

In a haze, Agatha Christie goes to a Harrogate resort and checks in as 'Teresa Neele'. During her stay she makes friends with Evelyn Crawley (Helen Morse), who takes her to spa treatments. Stanton comes upon Christie and unlike others immediately recognizes her. Using a fake name himself of Curtis Schatz, Jr., he too befriends her and attempts to romance her too.

However, 'Teresa Neele' may or may not be in her right mind. She may also be playing a much more sinister and dangerous game against Nancy Neele, one that only Stanton can stop. In the end though, Agatha Christie is finally found, with Wally Stanton putting away his story of how he found her and Agatha and Archie Christie divorcing for him to marry Miss Neele.

In its favor Agatha has a certain style that echoes a Christie mystery: the steam rising from trains, the literally shocking moment that has a surprise, a little bit of romance and a somewhat despicable main suspect. I can't fault Agatha for having a certain style and for being entertaining, even if it is a thorough work of fiction.

No mention is made of the fact that Mrs. Christie was still reeling from her mother's death at the time her husband dumped her for another woman. Agatha Christie, already overwhelmed by this tragedy and dealing with her mother's estate, had to endure a more devastating blow. That is enough to drive an already depressed person into a near-total mental break.

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Instead, Agatha creates a lot of things to 'spice up' its story, an odd decision given that the disappearance is already enough to make for an interesting film. One aspect in that is to suggest Christie was apparently simultaneously bonkers and coldly calculating when it came to the other Miss Neele. We keep wondering whether Christie was genuinely sane or not.

Perhaps the most outlandish suggestion Agatha has is this supposed romance between Christie and Stanton/Schatz. To the film's credit there was no lurid love scene and only the tamest of kisses, but somehow the idea that these two had any romantic feelings seems absurd.

As a side note, Agatha almost emphasizes the half-foot difference between Hoffman and Redgrave to inadvertently comic results. The film has Christie tower over Stanton, making their dance highly curious to say the least.

The love theme for the film, Close Enough for Love, is a good song divorced from the film but does not seem to actually fit the movie. It fits the mood of Agatha: a bit mysterious and haunting, but seems out-of-place for two people who never showed they were attracted to each other, let alone in love.

Vanessa Redgrave gave a fine performance as Agatha Christie, a woman driven to wits end, struggling with so much in her haze. She's all nervousness and confusion mixed with some hesitancy and even a touch of frivolity. Hoffman seems a bit one-note as the arrogant Stanton and not once did I believe these two could be remotely in love. It's a pity that Dalton was reduced to a bit of a pantomime villain in his Archie, all barking and stomping about. He's a much finer actor than that.

I think one of Agatha's flaws is how things and characters seem to come and go. Evelyn Crawley is introduced and pretty much forgotten once she gets Christie to the spa. Same for Foster (Paul Brooke), Stanton's field man and fellow journalist covering the Christie search. Once they stop searching his character is never seen again.

Agatha has potential and her story should be revisited. I would recommend cutting out any suggestion of romance and focus instead on her activities in this sojourn of the mind. Near the end of Agatha, Stanton tells Christie that she was 'very silly but very clever'. That seems a good way to sum up Agatha itself.

1890-1976

DECISION: C+

Sunday, September 8, 2019

The Music Room (Jalsaghar): A Review

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THE MUSIC ROOM (JALSAGHAR)

The Music Room, Satyajit Ray's portrait of a man whose time has long past him, is a haunting and beautiful film. It is like the best of Ray simultaneously universal and distinctly Indian.

Lord Roy (Chhabi Biswas) is now a shadow of his former self, still a major landowner but living in opulent poverty, his once-stately palace in wrack and ruin. Lord Roy, however, still holds a semblance of dignity despite his poverty both material and familial. Hearing music from his nouveau riche neighbor sends his memory back...

...back to when he was wealthier, with a wife and young son. Lord Roy, not a bad man, continues to hold to a stubborn view of the world where his status should grant him much. In a bizarre effort to "keep up with the Gangulis" (the moneylenders living nearby), he opts to hock his wife's jewels to throw a lavish celebration for entertainment in his equally lavish music room. Continuing his rivalry with the gauche Mahim Ganguli (Gangapada Bose), his entertaining unwittingly causes a major tragedy in his life.

Image result for the music room 1958Now a haunted man with very little to hold him, Lord Roy wanders about his dilapidated palace, no goals, no future. It isn't until he's visited by Ganguli, who invites him to another celebration where he will have the most expensive dancer/singer, that Lord Roy rises for one last hurrah. The 300 rupees that he has left, which should be dedicated to the gods, is going to find another use. While his servant Ananta (Kali Sarkar) is delighted that the music room will be reopened, Lord Roy's steward (Tulsi Lahari) is appalled.

With the celebration completed and Lord Roy showing up the boorish Ganguli one last time, Lord Roy sees that while dawn is breaking, it is really the sunset of his reign.

The Music Room is a portrait of a dying world where the new replaces the old, but the old will not go gentle into that good night. Ray manages to portray the clashes between the old, refined world of Lord Roy and the modern, coarser world of Ganguli in exceptionally subtle ways. For example, as this broken old nobleman looks upon both his elephant and what remains of his land in his elegant but ragged coat, we see a Ganguli and Co. truck pass by him. The symbolism of it all strikes you: the wealth Ganguli has built for himself cutting through the former world of this Zamindar (landowner).

Ray also does this by forever displaying the refined manners of Lord Roy with those of the unsophisticated Ganguli. In one concert, the latter clearly does not know what to do, and the boorishness of his manners to the elegant Roy demonstrate the contrasts of their worlds, one rising, one falling.

"I'm a self-made man. No pedigree", Ganguli tells Ananta as he waits to be granted an audience with Lord Roy. Ganguli has no shame in this, but in his way he sees that for all his wealth Ganguli is on a different level to the impoverished by elegant Roys.

Image result for the music room 1958The film also succeeds because of Biswas' performance. In many ways, Biswas echoes Orson Welles' performance in Citizen Kane. Like Charles Foster Kane, Lord Roy is lost in his own Xanadu, unaware of the world, haunted by tragedy.

When we first see him, he is alone, a forlorn figure who has to ask "What month is this?" He is a man lost in time now, but in the extended flashback we see him more active, still not as wealthy as he once was but with a spark of life.

Biswas and Ray do not make Lord Roy evil or heartless. He is essentially a decent man, but one with the fatal flaw of pride. When for example he agrees to let Ganguli ply his trade as a moneylender on his land, he sets out limits on what Ganguli can and cannot do such as ask for a high return rate. Lord Roy also loves his son deeply and in some ways is a child himself.

It was not with evil intents that he insists on summoning his wife and heir back for a lavish celebration despite an incoming storm. However, with Ray's masterful adaptation of a Bengali short story, we see the foreshadowing used to great effect, and once he sees the end results of his actions, your heart does break for Lord Roy.

The Music Room actually seems very sympathetic to Lord Roy, giving him something of a triumph at the end but also dooming him to be brought down by progress. The world of Lord Roy is fading, falling to a new class of elites, but his tragedy is in inability or refusal to adapt or change. 

As for the music, while some of Vilayat Khan's work is not to my liking, the final dance number is quite effective.

The Music Room is again a beautiful film, brilliantly acted and directed. One understands that push-and-pull between attempting to keep up appearances and knowing one has to bend to reality. A portrait of a world and a man in decline, The Music Room will not fail to move the viewer who explores it.

DECISION: A+