In the Mood for some variety? Try these movies: The Glenn Miller Story, Rain Man, A Most Wanted Man

7/26/2014 The Glenn Miller Story, Best Sound Recording, 1954

James Stewart stars as Glenn Miller in this bio-pic of the band leader, and June Allyson plays his wife, Helen. If you are unfamiliar with Glenn Miller, he was a band leader in the 1930s and 1940s, famous for songs like "In the Mood", "Moonlight Serenade", "Little Brown Jug", among others. He was a trombonist and enjoyed arranging pieces more than following others' arrangements, and that's what led him to become a band leader. The movie starts out in the 1920s as Miller and his friend and pianist, Chummy MacGregor (played by Harry Morgan - Colonel Potter from MASH) and follows Miller as he alternately pawns his trombone and then manages to get enough money to get it out of hock, and then as Miller gets a job in New York as a pit musician. He marries his sweetheart from college, even though she barely remembers him (that is a pretty funny scene, with Stewart at his most charming). The movie features several musical figures from the time, including a great jam scene with Louis Armstrong, Gene Krupa and (I think) Ben Pollack. Stewart is his usual steady, reliable self, he doesn't play Miller as some kind of saint, he's a little naughty (by 1950s standards), he gets upset, frustrated; and Allyson holds her own as his wife who totally supports his dreams and brings some business sense to help get his band off the ground. There are some scenes that made me furrow my brow: integrated troops a few years before President Truman desegregated them, and an adoption that seemed to happen with only one parent involved and in a very quick time frame, but otherwise, I enjoyed the movie, and I did like the music. I was fortunate enough to have some exposure to Glenn Miller and other big band music, so this wasn't totally foreign to me, and the version of "In the Mood" was really good (in my opinion). Miller volunteered to join the Army during World War II so he could help bring music to the troops and lift morale. In December 1944, he was in a plane flying from England to France that was declared missing. There are still questions as to what happened, why he was on that plane, was he shot down, etc. If you like music from this era and Jimmy Stewart and maybe you're looking for a family movie, give this a try. It's funny, dramatic, touching (and no CGI).


7/27/2014 Rain Man, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay, 1988

Rain Man is over twenty-five years old and this was my first time watching, other than a few clips here and there, and I really had no desire to see it. And after having watched it, it was okay, it didn't change my life or make me think 'wow, why did you wait so long?'. And when I look at the other nominees for this year, including Mississippi Burning (with Gene Hackman), Stand and Deliver (with Edward James Olmos) and Dangerous Liaisons (which I didn't love but seems like the kind of movie the Academy would love), I don't know that it really should have won all of the awards it did (no offense to Dustin Hoffman, who was wonderful). Anyway, if you're not familiar with the story, Tom Cruise is Charlie Babbitt, in a role that isn't very different from many of his earlier roles: smart-aleck, self-involved and kind of smarmy and Dustin Hoffman is his older brother, Raymond, who has been diagnosed as an autistic savant. Charlie has no recollection of Raymond as Ray was sent to a facility when Charlie was very young. Charlie learns that his recently deceased father left everything to a trust for Raymond, and just gave Charlie his 1949 Buick Roadmaster and his prize rose bushes. Needless to say, Charlie is fairly pissed off and decides he deserves half of the money, not even considering the fact that Ray might need the money for his care. Charlie takes Ray away from his 'home' and his routine, which is very important, and drives across country and has to get used to Ray's quirks and idiosyncrasies. Because of Raymond's incredible calculation ability, Charlie sees a way to make some big money in Las Vegas. Did I say that Charlie was self-absorbed? Like I said, there were a lot of good movies this year, and Dustin Hoffman was a worthy Best Actor winner, but Best Picture? I don't think so.

7/30/2014 Stella Walsh: A Documentary, not nominated 2014

If you were living in Cleveland in 1980 and were able to follow the news, you probably remember the murder of Stella Walsh, a former Olympian runner, record holder and heroine to the Cleveland and Polish communities. Stella was shot in the parking lot of an Uncle Bill's (a regional store similar to a Walmart that no longer exists). This is a documentary short that was funded on Kickstarter, which is how I was able to see it before any general release. In less than twenty minutes, Rob Lucas introduces us to Stella, who at the height of her running career was breaking records and winning medals, winning the gold medal in 1932 and the silver in 1936 for the 100 meters. Because Stella was murdered, an autopsy was required, and what the medical examiner discovered is that Stella was intersex, meaning she had male genitalia but also had female characteristics. You can imagine what kind of hue and cry and crude jokes were made, in some way taking the focus away from the fact that this woman was murdered in a robbery gone bad. The documentary shows interviews of detectives at the time, Dan Coughlin who was a Cleveland sportswriter for decades and who knew Stella, "Big Chuck" a local Cleveland television personality (Big Chuck and Little John) as well as being a figure in the Polish community, and a couple of women who trained under Stella; and  it includes footage from the local news at the time and from Stella's races. Stella's story has always touched me and been in my consciousness, and as I was watching the documentary I was wondering if her murder had occurred now, in this age of instant news, snarkiness and cruelty, but also, strangely, somewhat more tolerant, how she would have been portrayed. It's a moot point, but I wondered anyway. Lucas has an affection for his subject and hopefully, viewers will be able to connect with a woman who just loved to run, loved to teach runners and had a love for her adopted hometown of Cleveland, but never lost touch with her Polish roots, and they won't see her as some freak. If you can see this documentary as part of a presentation of documentary shorts or when it gets to wider release, I hope you do.

8/2/2014 A Most Wanted Man, not yet nominated, 2014

I like a good thriller, so I probably would have seen this movie at some point, not necessarily on the big screen, but it was getting pretty good word of mouth and it was one of Philip Seymour Hoffman's last roles. I didn't realize it at first, but as I was watching it, I kept thinking "this seems like a John Le Carre story" and sure enough, it was based on his book and he was a producer on the film. Hoffman plays Gunther Bachmann, the leader of an anti-terrorism team working in and among the Islamic community in Hamburg, which, as the introduction to the film mentions, was the fertile ground for the planning of the 9/11 attacks. A young Chechen comes to Hamburg, illegally, looking for something left by his late father; Grigoriy Dobrygin plays Issa Karpov, and he does a great job of acting with restraint and very little dialog. He needs the help of a lawyer and is put in contact with Annabel Richter (Rachel McAdams) who works with refugees trying to help them get asylum. If you have followed anything going on with how national security organizations work, or don't work, with one another, you won't be surprised at the maneuvering, squabbling and betrayals that take place. You also won't be surprised that an American agency makes an appearance and gets between the two German agencies and is a little more than duplicitous. Martha Sullivan (Robin Wright) represents the American interests in Germany and you can tell immediately that she and Bachmann are not going to get along, although they put on the polite face of people who need to play nice in the sandbox. Willem Dafoe is also in the movie as banker, Tommy Brue. The last 15 minutes are very tense with suspense and I read enough news to believe it could happen (you'll have to see for yourself). I will say that I did like the movie, but I didn't think it was the best movie ever, I'm not even sure it was Hoffman's best role (Capote or Father Flynn from Doubt?). The supporting cast, especially, Nina Hoss who plays Bachman's right hand, Erna Frey, was really strong. The movie seemed a little long, which was probably exacerbated by extreme back pain which I alleviated by standing for the last twenty minutes and a few bizarre stretches that I may patent - don't worry, I was in the back row. I would say that unless you wanted to make sure you saw it before Oscar nominations come out in December or January, you can see it on DVD, which may be a good idea, then you can turn on the subtitles because occasionally the dialog was very muddy and inaudible.

8/2/2014 The Butler, not nominated, 2013

This is another movie that came out in 2013 that received a lot of buzz and was mentioned for Oscar contention but came away with nothing. Lee Daniels directed The Butler, starring Forest Whitake as Cecil Gaines, the butler of the title, and Oprah Winfrey as his wife, Gloria. The movie is based on the life of Eugene Allen who served as a butler in the White House for over 30 years, starting in the Eisenhower administration through Ronald Reagan's term. It begins with Cecil's life in the south in the 1920s where he and his family work and live on a cotton plantation. Cecil's young life is marred by the violent death of his father, who is shot by the white man who has just raped his mother (Mariah Carey). Cecil eventually runs away and learns how to be a butler at the elbow of his mentor, Maynard (Clarence Williams III), and later, in the 1950s, Cecil is noticed by the supervisor of the White House staff for his refusal to get drawn into political discourse and is hired as a White House butler. The list of actors who make appearances in the movie is long: Robin Williams, John Cusack, Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, Lenny Kravitz and more. Cecil and his eldest son, Louis, have a difficult relationship, with Louis resenting his father's subservient role, and his refusal to support Louis in his fight for civil rights. Cecil and his wife also have their challenges because Cecil works late hours and is also bound by a confidentiality agreement to not speak about anything that happens in the White House. Oprah Winfrey can still act and she portrays Gloria Gaines as a totally developed character, not just one thing or another, she has her struggles, but she has a strength as well. Forest Whitaker is a chameleon of an actor. I just watched him as the sheriff in Out of the Furnace, he was the voice of Ernest in Ernest and Celestine and now he is the quietly strong Cecil Gaines. So, you're probably wondering, was the movie Oscar-worthy? Not in 2013, as we saw with Enough Said, 2013 was a great year for movies and for actors and actresses, and anything on the bubble just didn't have a chance. Is it a good movie? Yes, it's a good movie, and wonderful historical time capsule of America from the 1920s through 2008. Is it a great movie? I don't think so. All I could think of when I was watching it was "Backstairs at the White House" which was a mini-series from 1979, that was re-broadcast a couple of times, and I watched it again on DVD a few years ago, and I always loved that series and how it was able to give a little more time to the different administrations and the changing civil rights movement. "Backstairs at the White House" started with the Taft administration going through the Eisenhower administration. I thought that the story of Cecil Gaines and his family, would have been better told over four to six hours, and it wouldn't have felt rushed. I do enjoy movies based on true stories and any of my little complaints aside, it's worth a watch.

8/3/2014 Harry and the Hendersons, Best Makeup, 1987

There must be a revived interest in Harry and the Hendersons because it is listed as a long wait on NetFlix, but luckily for me, my library had a copy readily available. It wasn't as painful to watch as I thought, although it definitely has the imprint of the 1980s on it, which I found to be mos noticeable in the clothes and the way the older daughter was so whiny and put upon (maybe this isn't limited to the 1980s). John Lithgow plays the patriarch of the Henderson family, whom we meet as they are finishing up a camping trip and son Ernest kills his first rabbit. As the family is driving home, they hit something, a large furry homonid; George (Lithgow) wants to bring him home because he could be a money maker. His wife, Nancy (Melinda Dillon, who was the mom in A Christmas Story) is not a fan of the idea, but she is very supportive and thus begins their adventure. The Sasquatch-like creature begins wrecking their house, not necessarily out of malice, but it's too small for him, and he's not a fan of George's collection of animal heads. You can imagine that the young son Ernest became quick friends with the creature, now known as Harry, and teaches him to eat chips and dip and watch tv. This may sound idyllic, but the Hendersons have to contend with a nosy neighbor and a hunter, Jacques LaFleur, played by David Suchet (yes, the same Suchet who plays my beloved Hercule Poirot). Don Ameche plays an anthropologist who helps the family release Harry back into the wild. There are a few swear words, but otherwise, this would make a fun family movie (as an adult, you may need to just go with it). There aren't any special effects in the way we know them today, Harry has a real actor inside the suit, but there are also puppeteers, there's no CGI here.

Before I post this entry, I wanted to post a couple of updates. Some of you may have noticed I have funded several films on Kickstarter (Stella Walsh), and that is so satisfying when the projects are completed.  A friend turned me on to another crowdfunding site called Seed & Spark which focuses on independent film projects (whereas Kickstarter funds all kinds of projects). I just funded a project called Directed by Women and there are so many other opportunities out there. It really is very cool to be a part of something, especially if it tickles your fancy: animation, women in films, documentaries. Also as part of Seed & Spark, when you participate (even just by following a project) you gain sparks points so you can watch some of these movies online (using the points). Anyway, I just wanted to let you know about some of the possibilities out there.

Okay, so here's the thing, a friend of mine introduced me to another friend of hers and said I was a movie buff and wrote a movie blog. This person asked if I saw 'every movie' because if I didn't, then I wasn't really a movie buff. I told him I never claimed to see every movie, and some movies are crap and I don't have to see them to be a movie buff. So, I'm not a top the topper, that takes an energy I just don't have, but what an asshat. Anyway, I will leave it up to you to decide. If you keep coming back, that's enough for me. But I would be interested to know if you think I should branch out and see everything (keep in mind I still have over 600 Oscar winners to see and review and another 300+ to review). Of course, seeing everything costs moolah, so feel free to send me movie tickets ;)

Have a great rest of the week, movie fans. I'm hoping to get to my home theater, the Cedar-Lee at least once in the next 10 days, and stuff my face at Tommy's, and get into other trouble on the North Coast, so stay tuned.

Peace.