Category: Movies

Twelve Angry Actors

Albuquerque’s Adobe Theater is presenting “Twelve Angry Men” through June 28th at its intimate venue on Fourth just north of Alameda. NMK and Donna attended the performance last night.

This is a tough play to present I’d think. Many of those most likely to attend have undoubtedly seen (many times perhaps) the classic 1957 movie with Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Martin Balsam, E.G. Marshall, Jack Warden and Jack Klugman. (There was a made-for-TV version produced in 1997 with Jack Lemmon, George C. Scott, Ossie Davis, James Gandolfini, Tony Danza, Hume Cronyn and others. Watch both, but especially watch the 1957 version.) In any case, because those 52-year-old characterizations are such a part of pop culture, how does the amateur theater compete artistically?

At Adobe the actors portrayed the jurors a little more angry, a little more on the edge. The dialogue was Reginald Rose’s original, somewhat reorganized, but the tension, if possible, seemed more on the surface than I remember from either film. It being New Mexico, I half expected someone to pull a concealed weapon.

This, of course, may be the direction, or the most skillful these actors could be, but it came across a little less as jury room and a little more as barroom.

Still, an enjoyable time and recommended. When a movie costs $9 or more, seeing a play in a very small theater for $14 ($12 senior and student) is quite rewarding.

I wonder BTW when someone will rewrite the play as “Twelve Angry Women.” It seems to me the dynamic, even if the same biases were represented among the jurors, would be quite different with an all-female jury. Well-done it could be a striking antithesis with the classic movie.

Mel Blanc

… the voice of Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Private Snafu, Sylvester, Tweety, Yosemite Sam, Pepe Le Pew, Foghorn Leghorn, Speedy Gonzalez, Marvin Martian, Wile E. Coyote, Tasmanian Devil, Barney Rubble, Tom, Jerry, Woody Woodpecker’s laugh and Jack Benny’s Maxwell automobile was born in San Francisco 101 years ago today. His full name was Melvin Jerome Blank.

Blanc was in a serious automobile accident in 1961 that left him comatose. Unable to bring him out of the coma for weeks, in desperation the doctor finally said to him, “How are you today, Bugs Bunny?” Blanc reportedly answered, “Eh…just fine, Doc,” in his Bugs voice and began to recover.

Mel Blanc died in 1989. His epitaph reads: “That’s All Folks!”

Tonto

I just heard on NPR that there is going to be a Lone Ranger movie. I’m pretty sure this will be a disaster for my childhood heroes, especially Tonto who was, when you think about it, the more fascinating character.

The reason I’m fearful is because Johnny Depp is signed to play Tonto.

Memos to Hollywood

To: The Internet

Cc: Hollywood

From: A. O. Scott

People really like movies. In theaters. On TV. On DVD. Whatever. We don’t mind paying for them, but we like to see them without too much trouble or inconvenience or confusion. It would be nice to be able to see some on our iPods or our computers. It might even be the best way for specialized, uncommercial movies to reach us. Can you come up with a business model to make this possible, while also ensuring that the artists and producers can make a living? When you figure something out, kindly forward it to the music, newspaper and publishing industries. Thanks!

Scott and Manohla Dargis send out “urgent, eyes-only communiqués to Hollywood.” Good stuff for any film buff.

The other Walter

Walter Lantz was born 110 years ago today (1899). Lantz was the creator of such animated characters as Andy Panda, Chilly Willy, Wally Walrus and the greatest cartoon character of them all, Woody Woodpecker. Lantz was nominated for the Academy Award 10 times. He received the Academy’s Life-Time Achievement Award in 1979.

Lantz.jpg

Click on the image above to visit The Walter Lantz Cartune Encyclopedia for audio and video clips and lots of other goodies.

The Soloist

We took in our first movie of 2009 Friday evening. The film was The Soloist.

The story is based on L.A. Times columnist Steve Lopez’s encounter with a street person, Nathaniel Anthony Ayers Jr., a Julliard dropout. Robert Downey Jr. plays Lopez, Jamie Foxx plays Ayers.

It’s good. Go see it.

‘The Soloist’ Trailer

Rabbit Proof Fence

Four years ago today I thought then blogger Ralph had written such a great movie review I copied it all. I subsequently saw the film and agreed completely with Ralph.

When a really great movie comes along, one that really grabs you, you think: “With all the dough the big shots in Hollywood spend, why can’t they make a movie like that.” Such is the case with Rabbit Proof Fence.

In what is very arguably the best directing job I’ve ever seen, Phillip Noyce took three young amateur actors and made a film that is starkly believable.

In 1931, three aboriginal children were taken from their home and transported to a boarding school to further the Eugenic policies of the Australian government. They aren’t in the school long when the oldest, Molly, takes her sister and her cousin and says, simply, “C’mon, we’re leaving.” So begins one of the most incredible (yet true) chase scenes on the big screen.

The young actors are incredibly good, and Noyce deserves the highest praise for getting this work out of them. The strength and determination the young women display is incredible. Kenneth Branaugh is actually so good I didn’t realize it was him until the movie was almost over.

The screenplay and cinematography are first rate and quite frankly this is a film everyone should see. I was left with two questions: 1972? Did it really take until 1972 before the Australian government abandoned this hideous policy? and Why can’t Hollywood make a movie about America’s experience with boarding schools?

Oscars

Each year Jill, official co-daughter of NewMexiKen, conducts an Oscar picks contest. She sends out a spreadsheet to friends and family listing the nominated films/actors/directors/etc. — the 24 awards announced during the broadcast — and we all pick our winners. We also list how many of the nominated features we’ve seen. (There were 36 films this year, I’d seen four — but two of them twice!)

The best prognosticators this year were Emily and Rob getting 20 of the 24 awards correct. Clearly, they cheated.

The best of the film-goers saw 23 of the 36 films.

The poorest showing was by Mark. But Mark is being cut some slack because he spent more than half of 2008 as a Marine Corps helicopter pilot in Iraq.

Every one of us picked Heath Ledger and WALL-E to win and they did. None of us got the foreign language film, Departures.

Thanks Jill. It makes Oscar night a lot more fun.

What’s too scary?

During my recent visit to Virginia I suggested that Mack (8) and Aidan (5) would really enjoy the greatest movie ever made if I could find it on cable or the internets. I was, of course, referring to Tremors, the Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward classic.

Mack and Aidan’s parents were adamant that the boys could not watch the film. Too scary. I suggested it wasn’t any scarier than Transformers and Space Rangers, but I was told the boys knew Transformers and Space Rangers weren’t real, but might not be so sure about huge underground flesh-eating worms.

I wouldn’t go against the parents, but I wondered if anyone else has a take on this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe0Q59292EI

And the Oscar nominees are

BEST PICTURE
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“Frost/Nixon”
“Milk
“The Reader”
“Slumdog Millionaire”

BEST ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway, “Rachel Getting Married”
Angelina Jolie, “Changeling”
Melissa Leo, “Frozen River”
Meryl Streep, “Doubt”
Kate Winslet, “The Reader”

BEST ACTOR
Frank Langella, “Frost/Nixon”
Sean Penn, “Milk”
Brad Pitt, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Mickey Rourke, “The Wrestler”
Richard Jenkins, “The Visitor”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, “Doubt”
Penelope Cruz, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Viola Davis, “Doubt”
Taraji P. Henson, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Marisa Tomei, “The Wrestler”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Josh Brolin, “Milk”
Robert Downey Jr., “Tropic Thunder”
Philip Seymour Hoffman, “Doubt”
Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight”
Michael Shannon, “Revolutionary Road”

BEST DIRECTOR
Danny Boyle, “Slumdog Millionaire”
Stephen Daldry, “The Reader”
David Fincher, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Ron Howard, “Frost/Nixon”
Gus Van Sant, “Milk”

The Blu-Ray Problem

James Surowiecki takes a look at The Blu-Ray Problem. He begins:

With the Consumer Electronics Show starting this Wednesday in Vegas, we’re seeing another raft of predictions of the inevitable demise of Blu-Ray, Sony’s high-definition video disk technology. The most common prediction is that Blu-Ray is doomed because it will soon be eclipsed by streaming video and downloadable movies.

Surowiecki disagrees, “Blu-Ray’s real problem, it seems to me, is much simpler: it’s too expensive.”

He makes a good case.

The 10 Best American Movies

Stanley Fish has a top 10:

“… like everyone else I have a list, in my case a list of the 10 best American movies ever. Here it is, with brief descriptions and no justifications. Only the first two films are in order. The others are all tied for third.”

Go take a look. I think I’ll add the ones I haven’t seen to my Netflix queue — and maybe the ones I have seen need another look, too.

I do agree that his number one, The Best Years of Our Lives, is among the very best films ever.

Random stuff

I read somewhere that a survey sent to economists asking when they thought the recession would end did not even include any dates in 2009.

We saw Slumdog Millionaire Wednesday evening and it lived up to its hype. Definitely one you should see and a likely prospect to take the best picture Oscar. The audience stayed longer into the titles than any in my recent memory and I’m thinking they didn’t want the experience to be over. (It’s a story of a young man who succeeds remarkably on India’s version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” He is accused of cheating and explains how he knew the answers with flashbacks to his growing up. The child actors are phenomenal; the whole film fascinating and poignant.)

You know how sometimes after you’ve been driving too long, even after you get out of the car it still feels like you are moving? Yesterday when I finally turned off the TV after the Orange Bowl (way to go Virginia Tech!), I could still hear football announcers in the house. Three games back-to-back is really too much for me.

But I must confess I switched back and forth a lot during the Orange Bowl to the movie Waitress on HBO. The film had all the signs of a Lifetime channel movie, but was entertaining nonetheless, perhaps because Keri Russell is about the cutest person on the planet.

The guy that invented the button on the remote that jumps back-and-forth between two channels ought to be given a damn Nobel Prize.

When do you take down your Christmas decorations (including the tree)?

Best new cliché of the day

“Take a moment here to refer to the performance of Viola Davis in the role of Donald’s mother: If she doesn’t get an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress I’ll throw shoes.”

Frank McCourt in his look at the movie Doubt.

A stong-willed nun in the 1960s. Imagine that.

“You haven’t the slightest proof of anything,” Father Flynn.

“But I have my certainty,” Sister Aloysius.

James Stewart and Frank Capra’s ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’? It’s a Miserable Life!

“It’s a Wonderful Life” is a terrifying, asphyxiating story about growing up and relinquishing your dreams, of seeing your father driven to the grave before his time, of living among bitter, small-minded people. It is a story of being trapped, of compromising, of watching others move ahead and away, of becoming so filled with rage that you verbally abuse your children, their teacher and your oppressively perfect wife. It is also a nightmare account of an endless home renovation.

A fascinating look at It’s a Wonderful Life.