P.S. A Column On Things

Right Column Redux: Groundhog Day

 

The column to the right on this blog contains permanent content, most of which has appeared at one time or another in the main body. I’ve decided to include a reminder of said content each week.

Groundhog Day: Best Film Ever

This and That

A Concept I Love: Fainting Couch
The RWNJ media regularly shouts, ‘where is my fainting couch,” and “I need my clutching pearls.” Not literally, of course: that would show too much self-awareness. But watching them swoon pleases me and makes me think of these metaphors
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An Insult I Love: How Stupid
From the comic strip Pearls Before Swine, “How does a guy as stupid as you put his pants on in the morning?”
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A Quote I Love: Love and Intelligence
“Love means not being able to stop your heart trampling all over your intelligence.”
-- Hervé Le Tellier, The Anomaly
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Movie Brief: Passing *****
This Nettflix film about a black woman passing as white, is part of a genre, which also includes White Lies from New Zealand a few years ago. Apparently, good things to not come to people who deny their racial heritage. (An almost perfect 99 minutes)
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Ted Lasso
Ted has heart-warming Christmas message in Ted Lasso animated short
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Typing and Writing
Further on the subject I covered recently, The Effect of Writing Tools on Writing. Can “Distraction-Free” Devices Change the Way We Write?  | The New Yorker

Movie Briefs: West Side Story *****, House of Gucci***, Power of the Dog****

West Side Story *****
Yes, Virginia, there are movies that need to be 2 hours 36 minutes long (three minutes longer than the 1961 version). I know this is now considered a problem play, but screenwriter Tony Kushner made a valiant effort to solve some of the problems, as did Stephen Spielberg, who cast actual Hispanic actors. The plot (thank you Romeo and Juliet) as well as the music (thank you Sondheim and Bernstein) are breathtaking. This is a moving theatrical experience. Go if you can. And Rita Moreno, not a cameo. My wife feels that Maria’s despair and suicide in the end if done in a beautiful and sensitive way would have greatly enhanced the ending. After all, it is what Shakespeare did.

House of Gucci***

Adam Driver, Lady Gaga, Al Pacino, Ridley Scott at the helm. What could possibly go wrong? Ridley Scott’s power, I fear. At 2 hours 38 minutes, it is almost precisely an hour too long. Hollywood is afraid to cut the films of A-list directors these days, which produces massive self-indulgence. I know I have been riding this hobby horse for half a century, and the odds are that no one in Hollywood is hearing me. But the fact of the matter is there was a five-star film inside the bloated carcass of this self-indulgent overload.

Power of the Dog****

Yes, it is a half-hour too long, so I wouldn’t normally give it four stars. But director Jane “The Piano” Campion’s obvious respect for her viewers, combined with an astounding performance by Benedict Cumberbatch (he plays unlikable!) moved me as close to five stars as I’m willing to get on a film that could easily have been 25% shorter and so more interesting.

 

Movie Shorts: Tick, Tick… Boom!, Belfast

Belfast *****
Judging from this autobiographical film, Kenneth Branagh had an exciting and harrowing childhood in Belfast. He wrote and directed this picture and convinced Judi Dench and Ciran hand to lend their star power to a bleak and scary portrait of the time of troubles. The most remarkable aspect of the movie is the fact that it sticks mostly with the point of view of young Branagh, a rare and interesting decision.

Tick, Tick… Boom! ****
This is a Jonathan Larson biopic showing on Netflix. In case you’ve forgotten, he was the author of the musical Rent, who died before the first performance. I remember the rumor at the time that he was gay and died of AIDS; this film makes it clear that he was straight and died of a heart abnormality. The movie is an adaptation of his second musical, the one he wrote before he completed Rent. Great artists dying young are always tragic, But his life up to the moment of his posthumous triumph is extra piquant. Among other things, his unsuccessful first musical was seen by Stephen Sondheim, who complimented him on aspects of it: something which Larson says “was enough to keep me going for two years.”

I don’t know how true the adaptation is to the original material, but the music is lively, the pathos is palpable, and the performances are solid. The two-hour running time is 30 minutes too long, but otherwise this is a nearly flawless film. (lost one star for too long)

Movie: The French Dispatch *****

Breathtaking, amusing, subtle: Director Wes Anderson scores again. Bill Murray is brilliant as the sardonic editor of the fictional French Dispatch, whose level of humor is established in the opening shot, when the magazine is set in the fictional town of Ennui-sur-Blasé. If you’re interested, you can find Internet stories about how several of the segments are lightly fictionalized accounts of actual New Yorker stories, while the others are simply deft parodies of the New Yorker style. Not laugh-out-loud funny, but witty, clever, and a loving salute to eccentric magazine journalism.

Movie: No Time To Die

Well, it looks like Daniel Craig really meant it this time; this IS his last shot at Bond. I had hoped to pair this review with one of my Bond reviews from college (Live and Let Die or Diamonds are Forever), but discovered those two films weren’t among the 100 or so movies I expounded upon in The Tech.

I fell in love with Bond because of President Kennedy’s public infatuation with the spy, and have seen every Bond film, read every one of Ian Fleming’s novels.

No Time To Die probably is the best film (albeit an hour too long), and the plot twists mean that I might be able to actually differentiate it from the others. It hit all the mandatory highlights, “Shaken, not stirred,” (although I loved Craig’s first response, “Do I look like someone who gives a damn?”), “Bond, James Bond,” and wit under pressure. Women, in 21^st century Bond, have agency; if you don’t cheer when the woman in the evening dress delivers the roundhouse kick, you’re not paying attention.

Things blow up, people fall down, cars and motorcycles defy Newton at every 360 degree turn. Not a deeply moving cinematic experience, just a lot of sometimes confusing fun.

(In this iteration of PSACOT, I have reviewed one Bond film, Die Another Day (scroll down to Movies) and made fun of the films once (scroll down to Humor)

TV: If I Hadn’t Met You

Netflix is offering a time-travel series that seems innovative. I’m not a sci-fi expert; I don’t even play one on television. But the rules for this time traveler seem to be a change of pace from the ones I am used to. It was made in the Catalonia region of Spain, so it is slow-paced and obscure, since Europeans eschew American storytelling style. Still, interesting and worth a watch.

TV: Rousing Endorsement of Ted Lasso / Murder in the Building

Daniel Dern’s taste has proven impeccable over the decades of our friendship.  Here’s his endorsement of the show:

――-cut here――――

If you aren't already watching Ted Lasso on Apple+ and (if) I haven't already recommended it to you, I'm doing so now.

The premise: Lasso is a Midwestern US football coach who takes a job in England as a soccer coach (a game he knows nothing about).

What's surprising, refreshing and gratifying about this comedy is that it goes against traditional expectations of comedic targets, and has a lot of heart... and has some of the best gratuitous -- as in, not essential to the plot or character -- one liners and bits and other wordplay.

Some from the most recent episode or two made this real clear to me. (I'd have to rewatch to catch 'em.

And while yes, it's about a soccer team and soccer, and some soccer is played, you don't have to know or care about soccer (or sports in general) to appreciate and enjoy this show. (As was the case with Sports Night and Friday Night Lights.)

―cut here――

So, I watched it, and he was right in every regard. Yes, lots of heart. Also, as Prof. Gurney once told a class: “Good vs. Evil is a comic book. Good vs. good is drama.” The evil people on this show have occasional moments of decency, which makes them better than the usual comic-book villains of sitcoms.

Also: Murder in the Building

With a nudge from my daughter Rae, I started watching this Steve Martin/Martin Short production on Hulu. Only Murders In The Building, like all of Martin’s scripted work, is droll, trenchant, closely observed, up-to-the-minute and witty. If true-crime podcasts drive you up a wall, this is your comedy. A restrained Martin Short performance―well, OK, restrained is a relative term in his case.

Movie: Respect

I knew almost nothing of Aretha Franklin before seeing this biopic, so it was all news to me, and I can’t vouch for its accuracy. Jennifer Hudson is brilliant in her portrayal of the Queen of Soul as an adult. The film was too long at 2 ½ hours, but it wasn’t a watch-checker, so it was moving right along. Why yes, it could have used a little judicious editing.

My Film Reviews

I think it’s time to admit that my lifetime dream of being discovered and offered a job as a professional film reviewer has reached its sell-by date. In college I reviewed more than 250 films for The Tech as Paul Schindler, P.E. Schindler, Jr., Gene Paul and Reginald A. Stuart-Smythe. As recently as 1980 I saw more than 100 films a year. Since I revived PSACOT in 1998, I have done 30 reviews a year. Time eventually wears down even a movie buff as intense as me.

From now on, I won’t even attempt the semi-pro style of mentioning all the major actors, the director and the screenwriters. I’ll tell you about movies I see the way I’d do it if we were talking: briefly and impressionistically. I wager none of you will miss the old style.