Monday, September 26, 2016
BACKLASHES (VERY BAD CASTING)
In fishing you get a backlash from very bad casting. This happens in movies, too. Lots of good movies are almost spoiled by the wrong actor (or sometimes just a bad actor) in the wrong part.
West Side Story (1961) is going splendidly; dancers are dancing; singers are singing; Jets are Jetting. Enter the wretched Richard Beymer in the pivotal Romeo role and things nearly grind to a halt. Apart from being a bad singer, dancer and actor, and not particularly good looking, he is perfect for the part. What were they thinking ?
In Steel Magnolias (1989) there is a wonderful ensemble cast of women ( Julia Roberts, Dolly Parton, Darryl Hannah, Sally Field and Shirley MacLaine) who hang out at the beauty shop in a small Southern town and share their hopes, dreams and heartaches.. Olympia Dukakis, with her posturing and utterly phony Southern accent, looks like an escapee from some other movie.
The Hunt for Red October (1990) is splendidly suspenseful and faithful to the book about the possible defection of, or attack on America by, a Soviet submarine. The intrepid Sean Connery is fine as the Russian commander. So are Scott Glenn, James Earl Jones and Sam Neill in supporting roles. And Alec Baldwin is so bad as the American CIA agent he is like fingernails on a blackboard. I note Baldwin was quickly, and wisely, dumped for Harrison Ford in all subsequent Tom Clancy films.
Meg Ryan is a pretty good actress (When Harry Met Sally; Sleepless in Seattle) so what are we to make of her dreadful performance in Courage Under Fire (1996)? And she is the character the movie is about! She did what the director told her? They wanted another name? Denzel Washington and Matt Damon weren’t big enough? Anyway, she is so bad it sets your teeth on edge and almost wrecks a very good movie.
The Big Easy (1987) is a fine, layered thriller about corruption in New Orleans. Dennis Quaid is perfect as the laid back but sharp as nails detective. Ellen Barkin is so badly miscast as the assistant District Attorney and love interest it’s laughable. In the first place, her slightly trashy good looks are all wrong for this part. In the second place, her Southern accent reminds you more of Fran Drescher than Jessica Tandy. She was good in Diner and Desert Bloom. She is not in this one.
All of the movies in this column are available on DVD and for streaming ,so see for yourself! None are suitable for children under 12.
Sunday, September 25, 2016
GENE WILDER
In the 1960s Mel Brooks found his ideal crazy-eyed crazy guy to perfectly fit into his crazy movies. His name was Gene Wilder, and it’s hard to imagine the great Brooks films without him. Mr. Wilder died recently at 83.
His breakthrough role was as Eugene Grizzard, an undertaker of all things, and a hostage of the outlaws in Bonnie And Clyde (1967). It isn’t a big part, but he makes the most of it. Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway are just right as the trashy, murderous bank robbers. This is one of the first films to use the slow motion multi-gunshot scene that has become a standard take. The outlaws are on the receiving end of this.
In that same year, Gene Wilder joined the Brooks gang in the hilarious The Producers. Zero Mostel plays the nefarious producer Max Bialistock and Wilder is the easily swayed accountant Leopold Bloom. They combine to produce a musical that is a cinch to be a failure: Springtime For Hitler. They plan to skim the money raised for the production after their play tanks. But it doesn’t tank, it becomes a huge hit and their plan is doomed to fail (“Where did we go right?”). The Producers also became a smash hit as a Broadway musical. The movie was remade with music, and featured Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. All three productions (get it?) are hilarious.
Four years later, Gene Wilder became the magical, mysterious main character in Willie Wonka And The Chocolate Factory. He runs a candy factory visited by several obnoxious children and their obnoxious parents. Charlie is the only good kid and is duly rewarded. My favorite bad kid is the greedy Mike TV. While certainly not without its charm, I find this film slightly creepy. The remake with Johnny Depp is, like most remakes, a dud.
Gene Wilder again teams up with Mel Brooks in the classic Blazing Saddles (1974). This film is in my all-time top five. From Alex Karras knocking out a horse with his fist to Harvey Korman as Hedley (not Heddy!) Lamarr, this movie is a laugh a minute. Mr. Wilder plays Jim, the Waco Kid, the sidekick of the newly appointed black sheriff played by Cleavon Little. The ripe-for-plucking small town is populated entirely by white people named Johnson. But the sheriff and his sidekick win them over and justice sort of prevails. Trivia bit: One of the writers was Richard Pryor!
In the same year (!) Brooks and Wilder teamed up for the marvelous Young Frankenstein, with Wilder as the title character, a grandson of the infamous Dr. Frankenstein. He of course also creates a monster (Peter Boyle) aided by his very weird assistant played by Marty Feldman. This film is high camp indeed and very funny!
Gene Wilder plays mild-mannered book editor George Caldwell in Silver Streak (1976). He is falsely accused of murder and steals a sheriff’s car containing arrested criminal Grover Muldoon (Richard Pryor). The plot is too complicated to replicate here. Let’s just say it is intermittently funny and is Gene Wilder’s last really good film.
All of the movies in this article are available on DVD and for streaming. Willy Wonka is fine for all ages; the others are okay for 12 and up.
In the 1960s Mel Brooks found his ideal crazy-eyed crazy guy to perfectly fit into his crazy movies. His name was Gene Wilder, and it’s hard to imagine the great Brooks films without him. Mr. Wilder died recently at 83.
His breakthrough role was as Eugene Grizzard, an undertaker of all things, and a hostage of the outlaws in Bonnie And Clyde (1967). It isn’t a big part, but he makes the most of it. Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway are just right as the trashy, murderous bank robbers. This is one of the first films to use the slow motion multi-gunshot scene that has become a standard take. The outlaws are on the receiving end of this.
In that same year, Gene Wilder joined the Brooks gang in the hilarious The Producers. Zero Mostel plays the nefarious producer Max Bialistock and Wilder is the easily swayed accountant Leopold Bloom. They combine to produce a musical that is a cinch to be a failure: Springtime For Hitler. They plan to skim the money raised for the production after their play tanks. But it doesn’t tank, it becomes a huge hit and their plan is doomed to fail (“Where did we go right?”). The Producers also became a smash hit as a Broadway musical. The movie was remade with music, and featured Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. All three productions (get it?) are hilarious.
Four years later, Gene Wilder became the magical, mysterious main character in Willie Wonka And The Chocolate Factory. He runs a candy factory visited by several obnoxious children and their obnoxious parents. Charlie is the only good kid and is duly rewarded. My favorite bad kid is the greedy Mike TV. While certainly not without its charm, I find this film slightly creepy. The remake with Johnny Depp is, like most remakes, a dud.
Gene Wilder again teams up with Mel Brooks in the classic Blazing Saddles (1974). This film is in my all-time top five. From Alex Karras knocking out a horse with his fist to Harvey Korman as Hedley (not Heddy!) Lamarr, this movie is a laugh a minute. Mr. Wilder plays Jim, the Waco Kid, the sidekick of the newly appointed black sheriff played by Cleavon Little. The ripe-for-plucking small town is populated entirely by white people named Johnson. But the sheriff and his sidekick win them over and justice sort of prevails. Trivia bit: One of the writers was Richard Pryor!
In the same year (!) Brooks and Wilder teamed up for the marvelous Young Frankenstein, with Wilder as the title character, a grandson of the infamous Dr. Frankenstein. He of course also creates a monster (Peter Boyle) aided by his very weird assistant played by Marty Feldman. This film is high camp indeed and very funny!
Gene Wilder plays mild-mannered book editor George Caldwell in Silver Streak (1976). He is falsely accused of murder and steals a sheriff’s car containing arrested criminal Grover Muldoon (Richard Pryor). The plot is too complicated to replicate here. Let’s just say it is intermittently funny and is Gene Wilder’s last really good film.
All of the movies in this article are available on DVD and for streaming. Willy Wonka is fine for all ages; the others are okay for 12 and up.
Sunday, September 18, 2016
GENE WILDER
In the 1960s Mel Brooks found his ideal crazy-eyed crazy guy to perfectly fit into his crazy movies. His name was Gene Wilder, and it’s hard to imagine the great Brooks films without him. Mr. Wilder died recently at 83.
His breakthrough role was as Eugene Grizzard, an undertaker of all things, and a hostage of the outlaws in Bonnie And Clyde (1967). It isn’t a big part, but he makes the most of it. Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway are just right as the trashy, murderous bank robbers. This is one of the first films to use the slow motion multi-gunshot scene that has become a standard take. The outlaws are on the receiving end of this.
In that same year, Gene Wilder joined the Brooks gang in the hilarious The Producers. Zero Mostel plays the nefarious producer Max Bialistock and Wilder is the easily swayed accountant Leopold Bloom. They combine to produce a musical that is a cinch to be a failure: Springtime For Hitler. They plan to skim the money raised for the production after their play tanks. But it doesn’t tank, it becomes a huge hit and their plan is doomed to fail (“Where did we go right?”). The Producers also became a smash hit as a Broadway musical. The movie was remade with music, and featured Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. All three productions (get it?) are hilarious.
Four years later, Gene Wilder became the magical, mysterious main character in Willie Wonka And The Chocolate Factory. He runs a candy factory visited by several obnoxious children and their obnoxious parents. Charlie is the only good kid and is duly rewarded. My favorite bad kid is the greedy Mike TV. While certainly not without its charm, I find this film slightly creepy. The remake with Johnny Depp is, like most remakes, a dud.
Gene Wilder again teams up with Mel Brooks in the classic Blazing Saddles (1974). This film is in my all-time top five. From Alex Karras knocking out a horse with his fist to Harvey Korman as Hedley (not Heddy!) Lamarr, this movie is a laugh a minute. Mr. Wilder plays Jim, the Waco Kid, the sidekick of the newly appointed black sheriff played by Cleavon Little. The ripe-for-plucking small town is populated entirely by white people named Johnson. But the sheriff and his sidekick win them over and justice sort of prevails. Trivia bit: One of the writers was Richard Pryor!
In the same year (!) Brooks and Wilder teamed up for the marvelous Young Frankenstein, with Wilder as the title character, a grandson of the infamous Dr. Frankenstein. He of course also creates a monster (Peter Boyle) aided by his very weird assistant played by Marty Feldman. This film is high camp indeed and very funny!
Gene Wilder plays mild-mannered book editor George Caldwell in Silver Streak (1976). He is falsely accused of murder and steals a sheriff’s car containing arrested criminal Grover Muldoon (Richard Pryor). The plot is too complicated to replicate here. Let’s just say it is intermittently funny and is Gene Wilder’s last really good film.
All of the movies in this article are available on DVD and for streaming. Willy Wonka is fine for all ages; the others are okay for 12 and up.
In the 1960s Mel Brooks found his ideal crazy-eyed crazy guy to perfectly fit into his crazy movies. His name was Gene Wilder, and it’s hard to imagine the great Brooks films without him. Mr. Wilder died recently at 83.
His breakthrough role was as Eugene Grizzard, an undertaker of all things, and a hostage of the outlaws in Bonnie And Clyde (1967). It isn’t a big part, but he makes the most of it. Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway are just right as the trashy, murderous bank robbers. This is one of the first films to use the slow motion multi-gunshot scene that has become a standard take. The outlaws are on the receiving end of this.
In that same year, Gene Wilder joined the Brooks gang in the hilarious The Producers. Zero Mostel plays the nefarious producer Max Bialistock and Wilder is the easily swayed accountant Leopold Bloom. They combine to produce a musical that is a cinch to be a failure: Springtime For Hitler. They plan to skim the money raised for the production after their play tanks. But it doesn’t tank, it becomes a huge hit and their plan is doomed to fail (“Where did we go right?”). The Producers also became a smash hit as a Broadway musical. The movie was remade with music, and featured Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. All three productions (get it?) are hilarious.
Four years later, Gene Wilder became the magical, mysterious main character in Willie Wonka And The Chocolate Factory. He runs a candy factory visited by several obnoxious children and their obnoxious parents. Charlie is the only good kid and is duly rewarded. My favorite bad kid is the greedy Mike TV. While certainly not without its charm, I find this film slightly creepy. The remake with Johnny Depp is, like most remakes, a dud.
Gene Wilder again teams up with Mel Brooks in the classic Blazing Saddles (1974). This film is in my all-time top five. From Alex Karras knocking out a horse with his fist to Harvey Korman as Hedley (not Heddy!) Lamarr, this movie is a laugh a minute. Mr. Wilder plays Jim, the Waco Kid, the sidekick of the newly appointed black sheriff played by Cleavon Little. The ripe-for-plucking small town is populated entirely by white people named Johnson. But the sheriff and his sidekick win them over and justice sort of prevails. Trivia bit: One of the writers was Richard Pryor!
In the same year (!) Brooks and Wilder teamed up for the marvelous Young Frankenstein, with Wilder as the title character, a grandson of the infamous Dr. Frankenstein. He of course also creates a monster (Peter Boyle) aided by his very weird assistant played by Marty Feldman. This film is high camp indeed and very funny!
Gene Wilder plays mild-mannered book editor George Caldwell in Silver Streak (1976). He is falsely accused of murder and steals a sheriff’s car containing arrested criminal Grover Muldoon (Richard Pryor). The plot is too complicated to replicate here. Let’s just say it is intermittently funny and is Gene Wilder’s last really good film.
All of the movies in this article are available on DVD and for streaming. Willy Wonka is fine for all ages; the others are okay for 12 and up.
Sunday, September 11, 2016
I DON’T GET IT
I recently saw Under The Skin, which features Scarlett Johansson as an alien wearing a real person skin, luring human males to a sort of weird place where they disappear forever. I liked it! And yet- I realized quite quickly I had no clue what the movie was getting at.
Then it occurred to me that there are lots of movies I actually like but didn’t understand at all. So it’s confession time. Mr. Movie is here to admit that he’s a mainstream guy and that often I JUST DON’T GET IT!
The Life Of Pi (2012) features a young Indian boy marooned in a lifeboat with a tiger named Richard Parker. They drift awhile, then come to an island populated by a million meerkats. Then the tiger leaves and Japanese officials find and question Pi, who has an alternative story all ready. I didn’t get the book, either!
Blue Jasmine (2013) has Cate Blanchett as a clueless and homeless drug addict who lands at the home of her more traditional sister (Sally Hawkins) and her thuggish husband (Andrew Dice Clay). Things go from bad to worse and never really get resolved. Shoot, Blanchett won the Oscar and Hawkins was nominated. But- I just don’t get it!
Beasts Of The Southern Wild (2012) features the youngest ever Oscar nominee who also sports the weirdest name. Hushpuppy (Quvenzhane’ Wallis) was only seven years old when this was shot. She lives in a remote area of the Louisiana bayou called The Bathtub. She sees all sorts of strange creatures, some of which might be real. There’s something about ice caps melting and a big storm. Then the home area floods and they float away but come back. Then Hushpuppy might or might not find her mother, then leave again for the swamp.
Natalie Portman won the Academy Award for her portrayal as a ballet dancer in Black Swan (2010). She is an accomplished ballerina who lacks the passion to dance the Black Swan. Through bad drugs, she not only fills the role but grows black feathers (don’t ask). Then she sees her double and kills her, but then it really isn’t her but her competitor.
The Tree Of Life (2011) at least openly admits it is an experimental drama. It has heavy hitters like Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain, and Brad Pitt. It is a breathtakingly beautiful film. It is also breathtakingly not understandable. Childhood scenes are interspersed with scenes of the beginnings of life on earth and that sort of thing.
There’s a lot more of these that I didn’t get- watch this space! All of the films in this post are available on DVD and for streaming. All are for confused grown-ups.
I recently saw Under The Skin, which features Scarlett Johansson as an alien wearing a real person skin, luring human males to a sort of weird place where they disappear forever. I liked it! And yet- I realized quite quickly I had no clue what the movie was getting at.
Then it occurred to me that there are lots of movies I actually like but didn’t understand at all. So it’s confession time. Mr. Movie is here to admit that he’s a mainstream guy and that often I JUST DON’T GET IT!
The Life Of Pi (2012) features a young Indian boy marooned in a lifeboat with a tiger named Richard Parker. They drift awhile, then come to an island populated by a million meerkats. Then the tiger leaves and Japanese officials find and question Pi, who has an alternative story all ready. I didn’t get the book, either!
Blue Jasmine (2013) has Cate Blanchett as a clueless and homeless drug addict who lands at the home of her more traditional sister (Sally Hawkins) and her thuggish husband (Andrew Dice Clay). Things go from bad to worse and never really get resolved. Shoot, Blanchett won the Oscar and Hawkins was nominated. But- I just don’t get it!
Beasts Of The Southern Wild (2012) features the youngest ever Oscar nominee who also sports the weirdest name. Hushpuppy (Quvenzhane’ Wallis) was only seven years old when this was shot. She lives in a remote area of the Louisiana bayou called The Bathtub. She sees all sorts of strange creatures, some of which might be real. There’s something about ice caps melting and a big storm. Then the home area floods and they float away but come back. Then Hushpuppy might or might not find her mother, then leave again for the swamp.
Natalie Portman won the Academy Award for her portrayal as a ballet dancer in Black Swan (2010). She is an accomplished ballerina who lacks the passion to dance the Black Swan. Through bad drugs, she not only fills the role but grows black feathers (don’t ask). Then she sees her double and kills her, but then it really isn’t her but her competitor.
The Tree Of Life (2011) at least openly admits it is an experimental drama. It has heavy hitters like Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain, and Brad Pitt. It is a breathtakingly beautiful film. It is also breathtakingly not understandable. Childhood scenes are interspersed with scenes of the beginnings of life on earth and that sort of thing.
There’s a lot more of these that I didn’t get- watch this space! All of the films in this post are available on DVD and for streaming. All are for confused grown-ups.
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