Category Archives: Biography

Queer

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Queer                   4 stars

It’s hard to adequately describe Daniel Craig’s new starring role in Queer, the new film by Italian director, Luca Guadagnino. It’s a journey of searching and suffering as the main character, Bill Lee (Craig) wanders the bars in 1950’s Mexico City looking for sex with social outcasts like himself and ways to hide his pain with tequila and heroin. The role is about as far away from James Bond as you can get. The film is based on a book by William S. Burroughs that is said to be somewhat autobiographical. Lee, who is in his forties spends his days seeking the company of other “queers”, while denying that he is one, until one day he spots a young twenty something man who captures his imagination. The man, named Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey) is attractive and self-assured and is comfortable with men and women alike. It doesn’t take long for Lee to get Eugene in the sack, where the two get more than a little intimate. If you have seen Guadagnino’s earlier works, Call Me by Your Name, Suspiria and this year’s Challengers, this will come as no surprise. They all feature very intense sex scenes. Despite all the sex though, Eugene is still very distant when it comes to an actual relationship, leading to desperate measures by Lee. If the film stopped there, it wouldn’t be exceptional, but it goes on from there when Lee convinces Allerton to travel with him to South America in search of a hallucinogenic drug that he believes has telepathic powers. He can’t stop talking about it. What follows I describe as Indiana Jones appearing in 2001: A Space Odessey, only like it was directed by David Lynch. Things get very weird for these two as they journey through the jungle to find a woman scientist who is studying this drug. This segment I found to be surrealistic. It has images that are disturbing yet fascinating at the same time. The movie will keep you thinking about it after leaving the theater and will at least change your view of Daniel Craig. Look for him to get an Oscar nomination for the performance; that is, if the Academy can tolerate homosexual roles like this. In addition, two actors appearing in the movie are completely unrecognizable. I was surprised to see they were Jason Schwartzman and Lesley Manville. Manville especially gives an outstanding performance.

The Eyes of Tammy Faye

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The Eyes of Tammy Faye               3 ½ stars

It’s back to the seventies and eighties to the time of big hair, polyester pants and expensive furs with The Eyes of Tammy Faye. To say that Jessica Chastain stars as the iconic fallen Tammy Faye doesn’t bring justice to her performance. The actress known for her strong woman roles in Zero Dark Thirty, Miss Sloane and Molly’s Game transforms herself into the cheery, high-pitched, almost comic wife of the high powered TV evangelist, Jim Bakker as we follow her life from the sixties where the pair meet in college, to their creation of the massive PTL Network and to their ultimate downfall. Andrew Garfield takes on the role of Bakker, matching the enthusiastic personality of the televangelist, bringing his message of God’s love and prosperity to the faithful. To those of us who remember that time it is fascinating to see their origin, their rise to power and their ultimate fall as the couple’s marriage crumbles under the weight of unfaithfulness and greed. The film was a personal project of Chastain’s who has been working to bring the story to the big screen for years. While much of the movie might seem like a cliché, Chastain’s performance may be one of the best of her career. It is such a departure from her earlier roles that I had to check if it was really her when she first appears on screen. The movie serves as a reminder of how success can lead people astray, causing them to forget their true mission and pursue fame and riches instead. The Eyes of Tammy Faye brought back memories of the headlines of the late eighties of the corruption and extravagance of the PTL Network that ultimately lead to bankruptcy and prison for Jim Bakker. And who could forget the excessive eye makeup and tears on Tammy Faye’s face?

Spencer

Spencer               4 ½ stars

Pablo Larrain’s Spencer is a biopic of a different sort, one that sets the mood early with a view of a pristine kitchen with a sign that says “They Can Hear You”. The discordant jazz score tells us that this is a story filled with tension and distress. We are viewing the Christmas holiday with the British Royal Family, around 1991 and the primary focus is on Princess Diana (Kristen Stewart in her best role to date). She has been married to Prince Charles for ten years and it is clear this is not the picture of happiness. Throughout the movie the camera is always on Diana and we only get a periphery view of the rest of the royals. Diana interacts more with the staff of the palace including Major Alistar Gregory (Timothy Spall), Maggie, her dresser (the great Sally Hawkins) and the chief cook (Sean Harris) and the police assigned to guard the palace. The set schedule and assigned wardrobe for each occasion brings out how for Diana this is a prison where she has little freedom. Although it is never spoken we know that there is another woman in the picture. There is no character representing Camilla Parker Bowles and we never hear her name, but it is clear there is something unwelcome going on. In this fictionalized drama, Diana is haunted by ghosts of Britain’s and her family’s past. Her own family estate lies vacant and boarded up, but the memories still occupy her. The one bright spot in her life are her two sons, William and Harry. When we see her with them her entire mood and that of the film becomes bright and warm. The music and cinematography contribute to the feeling of the movie but it is really Stewart’s performance that make this a great movie. I don’t think it is too early to say that Kristen Stewart is the one to beat for the Best Actress Academy Award. (Of course, I am waiting to see Lady Gaga in The House of Gucci.)

Belfast

Belfast  5 stars

Kenneth Branagh’s much anticipated film about growing up on the streets of Belfast in the late sixties is quite the drama told through the eyes of a nine year old boy. Based in part on his own experiences, we meet Buddy, the younger son of a working class family who is mainly interested in getting chocolate from the local store and hanging out with his grandpa. But then reality sets in when the violence erupts with riots and Molotov cocktails on the street of his family’s home. It’s the time of the ethno-nationalist, religious struggles between the Protestants and the Catholic minority that claimed so many lives and forced many Irish to leave their homes that they have known for generations. The main cast is excellent including the parents and especially Ma (Judy Dench) and Pa (Ciaran Hinds) who are all Protestant. The father (Jamie Dornan) is targeted by a local hothead, also Protestant who believes he is not doing his part to rid the community of the Catholics, (even though they have also lived here for generations). The film does little to explain the reasons for the conflict. That has been the focus of other earlier movies. It’s purpose is to show us the pain inflicted on ordinary people and why families chose to leave friends and relatives for a land where nobody knows them. It is all done in black and white and has plenty of nostalgia in the form of the music, movies and TV of the times including clips of John Wayne westerns and Star Trek. There is plenty of Oscar buzz around Belfast and I would have to say it will be a strong contender for the Best Picture Oscar already. The man who brought us Cinderella and Thor has given us one fine movie this year. I am already looking forward to his next work, Death on the Nile.

House of Gucci

House of Gucci                  4 stars

The movie to see this week is the true crime drama House of Gucci, Ridley Scott’s take on the treachery and backstabbing that went on in the family handbag business of Gucci from the seventies to the nineties. Much of the movie is about the squabbles and double crosses over the differences of opinion on how to run the family business. But the thing that really makes the movie is Lady Gaga’s performance as Patrizia Reggiani, the daughter of a middle-class business owner who married Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver) and then forces her own ideas of running the business on others with dire consequences for everyone involved. The story develops slowly but gets progressively more interesting with each move turning one family member against another. Al Pacino is his usual convincing self as Aldo Gucci, one of the two brothers that are the primary owners of Gucci. Jared Leto is unrecognizable as Paolo Gucci, the clueless cousin of Maurizio who falls victim to Patrizia’s schemes. I was not familiar with the story of the Gucci empire and you will probably be better off not knowing the background before seeing the movie. With every scene she is in, Lady Gaga proves that she deserves the title of movie star as she determines the mood of the film throughout. She proves that her performance in A Star is Born from four years ago was no fluke.

Being the Ricardos

Being the Ricardos           4 ½ stars

Aaron Sorkin brings his quick pacing, high drama style to the subject of the TV show I Love Lucy in Being the Ricardos. It’s not a true biopic as most of the story takes place in a one week period in a fictionalized take on the lives of married couple Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz as they and the TV show staff produce an episode of the hit TV sitcom that made Ball and Arnaz stars. Nicole Kidman portrays Ball brilliantly as the woman who was a master at creating comedy with her wit and sight gags and Javier Bardem is convincing as the Cuban bandleader who mesmerizes a crowd and is popular with the ladies. Sorkin, the writer and director uses creative license in bringing the red scare accusation against Lucy at the same time that she announces she is pregnant and she suspects that Desi has been cheating on her. The matter of the pregnancy is most memorable as the two insisted that the pregnancy be part of the show against the will of the network and the corporate sponsor. The accusation from Walter Winchell of Lucy being a communist is a reminder of the time period of this film, when Hollywood was racked by such charges. The best part of the movie involves the interaction of the actors and writers as they engage in heated discussions of how to change the script and action to get the most laughs out of the 30 minute episode. It is made clear that every aspect has to meet with Lucille’s approval. The other actors, William Frawley (J. K. Simmons) and Vivian Vance (Nina Arianda) bring their own character and issues to the show. Frawley with his off screen wisecracks and Vance who is uncomfortable playing second fiddle to Ball. Though most of the action focuses on the single week early in the TV’s show’s long run, we also get plenty of background about how Lucy and Desi met and how the movie studio exec’s treated Ball until she got her chance to break through on “I Love Lucy”. Don’t listen to the critics about the casting. Nicole Kidman is completely convincing in bringing Ball’s character to the screen.

Saturday Night

Saturday Night  4 stars

Chevy Chase at the Weekend Update news desk. John Belushi in a bee costume. A profusely bleeding Julia Child. The infamous Land Shark. These are all very familiar images to the fans of Saturday Night Live in its first incarnation back in 1975. Saturday Night, directed and co-written by Jason Reitman (Whiplash, Juno) takes us back to the night in October, 1975, when in 90 minutes the first episode of a revolutionary new comedy show called Saturday Night is set to go live on NBC. The show went on to become a staple of late night television, but those who were there that night had no way of knowing that. Calling the scenes chaotic would be an understatement. In 90 minutes, we see fights breaking out between actors, a fire burning on stage, the sound system failing, one cast member refusing to sign his contract because of a bee costume, a few confrontations with the network censor who can’t quite grasp some of the script’s sexual references and a studio executive threatening to air a Johnny Carson rerun in place of the show. According to what I have read, much of what we are seeing is based on recollections from those who were there on October 11, 1975. It’s hard to imagine that the show was not better planned and had so many loose ends before airing, but this is what we are to believe. Much of the credit for the success of the movie must go to lead actor Gabriel Labelle, (of The Fabelmans) who portrays producer Lorne Michaels trying to keep his cool and deal with a myriad of mishaps. There are a few familiar faces in the cast that include J. K. Simmons as an arrogant Milton Berle, Willem Dafoe as NBC studio executive David Tebet, Matthew Rhys as the show’s host, George Carlin and Nicolas Braun as both a whiny Jim Henson and nervous comedian Andy Kaufman. Jon Batiste appears briefly as musical guest Billy Preston. The casting of the Not Ready for Primetime Players was spot on. The young cast is made up of practically all unknown actors that I did not recognize, but I had no difficulty picking out who it was they were portraying. The look of the comic actors was near perfect from the style of Chevy Chase, the moodiness of John Belushi to the wackiness of Gilda Radnor. The only cast actors that I did recognize were Lamorne Morris (New Girl) as Garrett Morris and Rachel Sennott (Bottoms) as Lorne Michael’s wife and show writer Rosie Shuster. (Rosie plays an important role in convincing John Belushi not to walk out on the show before it even starts.) We gain some insights about the show along the way including that some studio execs wanted the show to fail and were only using it as leverage against Johnny Carson. And we see how Chevy Chase and John Belushi hated each other. (And how head writer, Michael O’Donoghue hated everybody.) We even catch a glimpse of writing team Al Franken and Tom Davis. Those of you who were around for the beginning of Saturday Night Live should definitely see it to see what happened before Chevy Chase said “Live from New York, It’s Saturday Night!” for the first time. Afterward I went back and watched the first episode again. I must say the magic was still there.

tick, tick…BOOM!

tick, tick…BOOM!             4 ½ stars

tick,tick…BOOM! takes us into the world of Broadway musical theater in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s movie directorial debut. We are introduced to aspiring playwright Jonathan Larson played exuberantly by Andrew Garfield (who we just saw portray Jim Bakker in The Eyes of Tammy Faye). This musical was actually written by Larson about his own life when he was writing his first musical, Superbia, a futuristic never produced play he has been working on for eight years. Larson went on to write the musical Rent, the hugely successful production but unfortunately he died just before it was performed. tick,tick…BOOM! captures the ambition and desperation of Larson as he struggles to become a success at age 29, hoping not to be just a waiter with a music writing hobby. His behavior is so manic he puts off his girlfriend Susan (Alexandra Shipp) and alienates his childhood friend Michael (Robin de Jesus) who recently left the theater to pursue a successful career in advertising. The performances and music nearly rises to the level of In the Heights, the Miranda creation from last year. The joy and inspiration of the movie is balanced by the tragedy of many of Larson’s friends dying of AIDS. This is 1990, during the height of the epidemic, so there is plenty of sadness going around. There are some very well staged musical routines here with Andrew Garfield being worthy of his Academy Award nomination. I have enjoyed every role I have seen him in including the first film I remember him in, 2010’s Never Let Me Go.

The Catcher Was a Spy

The Catcher Was a Spy   3 stars

The Catcher Was a Spy takes us back to the espionage days of World War II when men in trench coats and fedora hats met secretly at night to gather intelligence and plan strategic assassinations. Here director Ben Lewin tells the true story of professional baseball player Moses “Moe” Berg who volunteered for the OSS and was sent on a mission to find and assassinate nuclear physicist Werner Heisenberg who may or may not be working on a German atomic bomb. The usually comedic Paul Rudd steps into the dramatic role of Berg and does a decent job given the material. I wanted to like the movie more but there wasn’t enough to get excited about though the combination of sports hero, wartime intrigue and harrowing situations would seem to provide plenty of material. Berg is an interesting subject, given the facts that he was Jewish, studied at universities, spoke several foreign languages and was sometimes perceived as being gay. We don’t get a full picture of Berg and his motives making him a mysterious figure which may be a good thing for the movie. With hindsight we now know that Germany was not close to producing an atomic weapon though it was feared they might be. So perhaps the premise of tracking down a scientist who could be working on such a weapon during a war is not that interesting of a story after all despite the background of the baseball player turned spy. That’s just a thought.

The Duke

The Duke                             4 stars

If the bloody fighting of The Northman or the zany comedy of Everything Everywhere All at Once isn’t for you, perhaps you should try the British comedy, The Duke. Jim Broadbent, the character actor of so many fine films gets his chance at a starring role as Kempton Bunton, a friendly out spoken man who resents the fact that the government expects people to pay for their over the air TV shows and tells the TV police his views when they track him down in his rundown apartment. (I know that they do this in England as I heard about it from a British fellow once.) Kempton and his wife (Helen Mirren) are still aching from the death of their daughter many years earlier. We find out early in the light-hearted comedy that Bunton went on trial for theft. Eventually he concocts a bizarre plan to steal a famous painting of The Duke of Wellington from The British Art Gallery and hold it for ransom, demanding that the government make television free to the elderly. As if this isn’t bad enough, he involves his son in the half baked plot as well. This low key type of comedy with likeable characters should appeal to a wide range of audiences. Sadly, the director, Roger Michell, won’t be making anymore like this as he passed away last year. The movie was actually based on a true story that happened in 1961. It was the only successful robbery of the Art Gallery in history. If you enjoy British comedy you can’t go wrong with The Duke.