10/25/2014 Hannah and Her Sisters, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay, 1986
Woody Allen has a great way with dialogue and bringing out character nuances. Hannah, played by Mia Farrow, is the oldest of three sisters and married to Elliot, played by Michael Caine, who won a Best Supporting Actor for his role. Barbara Hershey as Lee and Dianne Wiest as Holly, also in Oscar-winning role (Best Supporting Actress) played Hannah's younger sisters. Woody Allen is Hannah's ex-husband, a neurotic and psychosomatic television writer. The movie is chock full of characters, some only appear for a few minutes, others for one act, and another handful throughout the story. Sometimes this drives me nuts, it's like an embarrassment of riches (I always think of Gosford Park or any other Robert Altman film) and you don't get enough of a character that you might like, and you may get too much of a character that doesn't really move the story forward. Hannah is experiencing a resurgence in her acting career, while her sisters struggle to find their place in the world. Lee is living with an emotionless automaton (Max Von Sydow) whose only passion is his stuffy, pretentious art. Holly is a recovering drug addict who moves from one job to another as she tries to start her own acting career. Elliot is wrestling with his feelings for Lee, which they eventually act on to an unexpected end. Holly launches a catering business with her friend, played by Carrie Fischer, and a loan from Hannah. Elliot is convinced he is going to die so he quits his job as a television writer and seeks enlightenment from a variety of religions, breaking the hearts of his Jewish parents. Through it all, the connecting tissue of the film are three Thanksgiving dinners where the family comes together united by the singing performances of their parents, played by Lloyd Nolan and Maureen O'Sullivan, Farrow's real mother. See what I mean by a lot of characters? The movie blends drama into the comedy, and the comedy isn't side-splitting laughter like in Bridesmaids, but it definitely is funny. This was Wiest's first Oscar win (her second was also for an Allen film Bullets over Broadway) and she is so good; Michael Caine won his first Oscar for his role as Elliot; when you look at the other nominees for that year, either the voters split over Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe in Platoon or they went for the comedy over the drama from the other movies. Not that he is not a great actor, he has such a breadth and depth of film work, but I kind of think the Platoon actors should have shared it, since they were two sides of the same coin. I did not find this at the library, in fact, I've had a hard time finding Allen's movies there at all, but Netflix had it. I would recommend it if you are interested in Allen's films, want to see some great actors and see a well-told story.
10/26/2014 The King & I, Best Actor, Best Art Direction - Set Decoration, Color, Best Costume Design - color, Best Music - Scoring of a Musical Picture, Best Sound Recording, 1956
I realize that what I am about to say may be considered blasphemy, but I really didn't love The King & I starring Yul Brynner as the King and Deborah Kerr as Anna (rhymes with car). I didn't even really like it. It did have beautiful set and costumes, which were both recognized by being award the Oscars for those categories. I also will not dispute that Yul Brynner was a larger than life presence on the screen, but I got tired of the constant shouting and bellowing by his character, the King of Siam. 1956 was quite the year for performances, including Kirk Douglas as Vincent Van Gogh in Lust for Life, Rock Hudson and James Dean in Giant and Sir Laurence Olivier in Richard III; my vote would have been for Douglas. On top of all the shouting, the damn movie was over two hours long and there was one point where I thought about hitting my hand with a hammer to end the pain. I was only familiar with a couple of songs "Getting to Know You" and "Shall we Dance?". Anna is a very strong character, which is nice to see, but otherwise, eh. And of course, some of us remember Yul Brynner performing in the stage version for many years. I'd like to say you should see it to have a cultural reference for those songs or whatever, but if you have something else to watch, watch that instead. My apologies if anyone is offended.
10/27/2014 Monsters University, not nominated 2013
Monsters University is the prequel to Monsters Unlimited; and it stars Billy Crystal and John Goodman reprising their roles as Mike and Sulley as they make their way through Monsters University to earn a degree in Scaring. Even though the movie was not nominated, there was a lot of pre-Oscar buzz and it made a boatload of money. The movie is an homage to the underdog and the nerd (kind of an animated Revenge of the Nerds). The monsters are great, including Randy (from the first movie, voiced by Steve Buscemi); Dean Hardscrabble, who is dean of the university and as daunting as Dumbledore, played by Helen Mirren, and many more. Mike REALLY wants to scare kids, that's his dream, but the fact is, he's not very scary, not compared to his soon-to-be best friend, Sulley. Mike is at risk of being kicked out of the Scare program at school when he comes up with an idea to compete in come campus games and assembles a group of misfit monsters. Sulley, who is scary without really trying, doesn't do well at the actual classwork and is threatened with losing his place as well. Hijinks ensue, and the nerdy monsters have an uphill battle, but they don't quite give up the ghost. If the kids haven't seen it, and I'm guessing they probably have, put it on when you don't want to watch (insert favorite sports team) lose and get humiliated.
10/28/2014 Mary Black and Roisin O, Fitzgerald Theater
This was my third time seeing the legendary Mary Black, and unless I get back to Ireland, probably the last. She was focusing on songs that featured in her autobiography, Down the Crooked Road. As with a lot of singers that I like, there is an abundance of songs I want to hear, and if I get even half of them, I feel lucky, especially with a career like Mary's. Of course, I can't remember every song, because it's like a blur, but she did "The Golden Mile", "Caroline Rua", "The Moon & St. Christopher", "Don't Say Okay". The audience seemed to be mostly long-time fans and the audience was respectful and supportive, like old friends, but at one point a woman just a few rows behind me shouted out a request for a song (heaven help me, I'm drawing a blank at the moment), and Mary handled it like a pro and asked the woman who she wanted the song for and she replied "My children." It was quite a nice moment, one you can really only have in a small theater like the Fitz or the Dakota. The night ended with "Only a Woman's Heart" (which is always a great singalong and she brought out Roisin O to help and they blended a little of Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry" which was awesome).
When Mary (we're on a first name basis) came two years ago, she brought a new artist from Ireland, Roisin O, with her. At that time, Roisin seemed a little nervous and did several covers, including a beautiful Joni Mitchell cover (again, cannot remember the title), but the audience was very supportive. Well, two years later, Roisin emerged a much more confident singer who was comfortable with the audience, making jokes and switching from guitar to keyboards, and then borrowed Mary's band for the last song. This time she did many more songs from her album (pictured above which she signed for me :)) "The Secret Life of Blue". I'll admit, I'm very partial to female singer-songwriters (Dar Williams, Mary Fahl, Angel Snow, etc.), and I like finding someone new to listen to. "Let's Find Some People" is an upbeat song, and Roisin got some laughs when she introduced "You Owe Me a Drink" by saying there are two things that the Irish like to do, drink and go to Mass. She did a song called "Hold On" which she wrote about a friend who had bipolar disorder and sometimes as a friend all you can do is let them know you're their. It was a heartfelt introduction and the song is hauntingly beautiful. She's got a big and soulful voice which really came out when she joined Mary for "Only a Woman's Heart". If you can catch Mary and Roisin on their remaining dates, definitely GO. If not, Roisin has made occasional visits to the East Coast (Minnesota may be too far inland for a solo visit - for now). As for the album, I listened to it on constant repeat for two days straight and just love it. The songs take on a different tinge with her full band, and "Tea Song" is so unique with Brian Murphy from her band singing co-lead. There are moments where I hear a little Kate Bush in her voice. Find Roisin on Spotify or Amazon or at her next concert.
