Some Like It Hot (1959)

These days we are fortunate for the opportunities to see classic films once again in a movie theater. While the films are projected digitally, it does not take away from the theatrical screening experience. Many classic films are as relevant today as ever. Turner Classic Movies is on pretty much all the time in my home. Their partnership with Fathom Events is a true boon to film lovers.

This week, I screened Some Like It Hot for only the second time ever. And it was my first time seeing the movie on the big screen. What really struck me was the amount of innuendos which were cleverly crammed into the movie. I also realized how much more cellatious Lemmon's character was over that of Curtis. I mean, his character was one randy dude!

To briefly recap, two musician bachelors (Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis) are looking for any opportunity to make money. They discover an opportunity to play with an all female orchestra and decide to dress as women to join them. In the process they become witnesses to a mob hit and remain on the run from some mobsters out to rub them out. During their time performing in Florida (which was actually filmed at the Hotel Coronado in San Diego), both men fall for fellow orchestra member, Sugar (Marilyn Monroe). There are a bunch of rich older bachelors staying at the hotel and one of them falls for Daphne aka Jerry. Jerry then encounters the world of being objectified as a woman as well as it's benefits. Joe works hard to get Sugar, eventually adopting a Cary Grant affect and pretending to be a wealthy oil tycoon. The mob inadvertently catches up to them and hilarity ensues. The (musical?) comedy Some Like It Hot, conjures many images from pop culture with its iconic moments. The most common is Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon dressing as women. Or perhaps Marilyn Monroe singing, "I Wanna Be Loved By You." To me, the most impressive thing about this film from director Billy Wilder is that it basically blew apart what was left of the Hays Code. That list of restrictive, censored topics that for a couple decades were banned from films.

Time has also brought the homosexual themes depicted within the film to the forefront. While I would not say that they were intentionally placed there at the time of production, you can't help but wonder what was going through the mind Jerry's (Lemmon) character. He got so excited when Osgood Fielding III had proposed marriage to her/him. Joe (Curtis) had to remind Jerry that he was actually a man after spending so much time reinforcing to him earlier about being a woman. Was Jerry merely caught up in the role as a woman, or did he actually enjoy the male attention?  Joe goes from being a man pretending to be a woman, only to meet a woman he's interested in and then having to pretend to be an entirely different man to woo her. Crossdressing helped him meet women, but it would not work to close the deal with one. I'm sure there have already been many essays written on this topic. Some of those can be found here. Essentially, the movie hints at homosexuality, studies the male gaze, speaks to female objectification and misogyny, and finally, condemns male insensitivity. Wraps it all into an nice bow.

The whole gangster storyline was good for framing but totally secondary to the story. This element was added by Billy Wilder himself. The original storyline was adapted from a French film called Fanfare For Love from 1936, which followed the story of the men dressing as women but did not feature men on the run as part of the plot.

Fun fact from Wikipeda: Marilyn Monroe worked for 10% of the gross in excess of $4 million, Tony Curtis for 5% of the gross over $2 million and Billy Wilder 17.5% of the first million after break-even and 20% thereafter. The movie made $40 million in it's initial run.

A Monster Calls (2017)

As I've aged, I do find myself more open to being moved emotionally by movies. I remember back in the summer of 1982 watching E.T. in a crowded theater. I was 6 and everyone but me seemed to be crying during the scene of E.T. dying. I even had my aunt lean over to tell me that it was ok to cry, which I thought was weird since I didn't have anything moving me to tears, there was a fake alien on screen in a dramatic death scene. Maybe it's because I was only 6, with just 84 months of life experience. I really don't remember being emotional in a moving screening until 1994 watching Schindler's List in a sold out theater just after Christmas. That movie moved me to tears.

Fast forward to last night. Yes there have been many other films to effect me emotionally, but last night hit me hard when my kids and I watched A Monster Calls. The movie is based a popular children's fantasy novel that's become required reading for middle school aged children. I had not heard of the book, but I did see the previews which looked regrettably familiar to the recent Spielberg flop, The BFG. However, these are not the same movie and have next to no similarity to one another other than they are both based on popular books and have very large menacing looking but friendly creatures romping about. Otherwise, these are two different movies.

This story follows a young boy with his dying mother coming to terms with the inevitable reality that life goes on, even when loved ones pass away. Children often don't have the ability to cope with the understanding and emotions involved in losing a loved one, especially a parent. In this story, the troubled boy, known mostly around town for having a sick mother, is visited over several nights by a large tree which comes to life and comes to him to tell three metaphorical stories to explain aspects of life to him. The fourth story must be told by the boy to the tree, where the boy is required to share his nightmare. The boy overcomes bullying, a demanding grandmother, an absent father and losing his mother.

The boy, Conor O'Malley is played by Lewis MacDougall, who has a face for film. Felicity Jones is the mother with the terminal illness. With an inconsistent British accent is Sigourney Weaver. Liam Neeson voices and via motion capture, portrays the giant humanoid yew tree who visits Conor nightly. I brought my 10 and 11 year old children. The younger child was somewhat bored because of the slower pacing of the film but in the end, we discussed the movie and they both walked away with a strong message from it.

Lastly, getting back my mention of feeling emotional, I lost my mother unexpectedly when I was 23 and she was just 44. Any films with mom's dying get to me, this film particularly hit me because the boy's nightmare is losing his mom. My childhood nightmare was my mother dying and it eventually came true, while I was no longer a child, I still could not have been emotionally prepared for what I experienced with her sudden death. There was a very cathartic element in this movie for me, which caused me to weep during the film with large tears rolling down my cheeks. It truly is rare for me to me to experience any emotions anymore, especially as strongly as A Monster Calls caused me to feel last night.

Thelma & Louise - 25 years never looked better

Being that today is Women's Equality Day, today is the perfect day to share my thoughts after watching a Fathom Events screening of Thelma & Louise, two nights ago. This year marks the 25th anniversary of a film that can certainly be considered a classic.

You're probably familiar with the story: Meek housewife Thelma (Geena Davis) joins her friend Louise (Susan Sarandon), an independent waitress, on a short fishing trip. However, their trip becomes a flight from the law when Louise shoots and kills a man who tries to rape Thelma at a bar. Louise decides to flee to Mexico, and Thelma joins her. On the way, Thelma falls for sexy young thief J.D. (Brad Pitt) and the sympathetic Detective Slocumb (Harvey Keitel) tries to convince the two women to surrender before their fates are sealed.

If you have only ever read the synopsis or heard someone tell the plot, Thelma and Louise appears to to be dark, disturbing, and tragic. Without a doubt, it is all these things. Due to Ridley Scott's fine direction, the film is also vibrant and funny, filled with characters that jump off the screen. Whether it is a truly feminist statement, or an armed and violent perversion of feminist ideology - it is left to the eye of the beholder to decide.

Road pictures were nothing new in 1991 when this film debuted. However, it was less common to see it with two female leads who inadvertently become outlaws on the run. In the 70s, we saw films like Smokey and the Bandit, Easy Rider and Mad Max. The 80s brought us Midnight Run and Cannonball Run (we weren't much for original titles that decade). The 90s brought us into a more violent road films, including Reservoir Dogs and Natural Born Killers. But before those two films, came this one, Thelma and Louise. Women take the reins in this movie. From the get go, the film’s attitude toward male oppression and the appropriate female response is complicated and difficult to break down into a simple blog post. The protagonists have both been affected by male violence in one way or another and their decision to deliver retribution in kind ultimately leads to their untimely demise, in a moment that has become an iconic moment in cinema history.

This film had Sarandon and Davis both at their prime and both were nominated for Academy Awards for their portrayals. The only Oscar for the film went to the fine screenplay by Callie Khouri.

One striking aspect of the film was Keitel's Detective Slocumb. I have been so used to seeing Keitel play scummy characters like in Taxi Driver or smooth talkers like in Pulp Fiction, Slocumb is a character opposite of what has come to be typecasting for Keitel. While some of his tactics are typical for trying to negotiate with outlaws, he is able to add a level of sincerity in his expression of acknowledging that these two women fell into the this accidental situation and are merely now trying to find a way out of it.

This is also one of those films that really is best viewed on a large screen. The landscapes across Utah are massive, juxtaposed with Thelma and Louise and a 66 Ford Thunderbird trying to get to the southern border. Only a large screen really does this film the justice it deserves. You are immersed into the story and the plight of sheltered Thelma and life-worn Louise. I'm grateful Fathom Events chose to screen this movie for the 25th anniversary and that I was able to attend.

Turner Classic Movies and Disney: Unite!

You wonder what took so long! When the Disney/MGM Studios (now Disney's Hollywood Studios) opened, the center piece attraction was the "The Great Movie Ride" which highlights some of the most famous film moments in silver screen history.  Disney had negotiated rights to use many of MGM's greatest cinematic moments, including the Wizard of Oz and Singing in the Rain.  The MGM library ended up in the possession of Turner Broadcasting in 1986 and Turner Classic Movies went on the air in 1994 and now its quite full circle.

  The Great Movie Ride is set to receive a TCM-curated refresh of the pre-show and the finale.  The finale will feature an all-new montage of classic movie moments, which has been updated over years but will now get a glossy major makeover, expecially with more access to classic movies. The TCM-curated refresh is set to launch by spring.    The part that is equally exciting to me is that TCM will launch Treasures from the Disney Vault, a recurring on-air showcase.  This is similar to the Vault Disney program that ran on The Disney Channel in the early 2000s.  These programs have been sorely missed and many are not even available currently anywhere. Programming will include such live-action Disney features as Treasure Island (1950), Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959) and Pollyanna (1960); animated films like The Three Caballeros (1944) and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949); classic nature documentaries, including The Living Desert (1953) and The African Lion (1955); made-for-television classics, such as the Davy Crockett series; special episodes from Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color; documentaries about the studio, including Walt & El Grupo (2009) and Waking Sleeping Beauty (2010); and animated shorts, such as 1932's Oscar®-winning "Flowers and Trees."
 
It is likely that some of the other animated features could be presented at a later time.  And unlike the current Disney Channel format, they would not be broken up with spot breaks and announcements.  These could be given all new introductions by Robert Osborne and Leonard Maltin, just think of it!


Treasures from the Disney Vault is scheduled to premiere on TCM Sunday, Dec. 21 at 8 p.m. 

The big opening night of the showcase will include the holiday and winter animated shorts "Santa's Workshop," "On Ice" and "Chip An' Dale," followed by The Disneyland Story. The night will also include The Reluctant Dragon, Disney's 1941 film that combined a live-action tour of the Walt Disney Studios facility with animated shorts; Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier (1955), a compilation of the first three episodes of the iconic series starring Fess Parker; the Oscar®-winning documentary The Vanishing Prairie (1954), part of Disney's True Life Adventure series; the rarely seen Third Man on the Mountain (1959), an Alpine tale starring Michael Rennie and James MacArthur; and Perilous Assignment (1959), a documentary about the making of Third Man on the Mountain. Did you know that the Matterhorn ride at Disneyland was inspired by Third Man on the Mountain?

Jersey Boys - the movie!

It opened on Broadway in 2005 and then Las Vegas had a exclusive contract to run the show for several years, which kept it from touring the southwest.  The show did finally make it around in 2011 to little fanfare, but since the film release, it seems to be playing stronger houses than ever. I just missed in during its OC run, but I plan to catch it on stage in October when it plays LA.  My point here, I never saw the stage production before seeing the film.  I know the music, I had a vague idea of their background but really, I went into it with modest expectations.

The Four Seasons, Tommy DeVito (Vincent Piazza), Nick Massi (Michael Lomenda), Frankie Valli (John Lloyd Young), and Bob Gaudio (Erich Bergen) each tell a portion of their story. Each was supposed to also represent a season in their representation of the story line.  This was not really clear from my point of view and perhaps it is more apparent on stage.  The boys really made sure during those early days to keep their personal history a secret, so as to maintain the squeaky clean image. But like almost every entertainment success story, there was some drama and darkness behind the curtain.

The biggest surprise to me was that Frankie Valli, at least in his younger days, always tried to do what was right. He put as much priority on his family that he could, he backed up his friends and held strong to his Jersey street ethics.  What seems to have been downplayed in the film is the significance of Bob Crewe's lyrical contributions. Bob Gaudio composed the music but the words were Crewe's.

I've seen many of Clint Eastwood's movies. He's a director that focuses on human relationships. There was plenty of attention paid to the interactions of these people: the band, their families and the people that made the Four Seasons who they became. What I would have enjoyed more was some creative cinematography. It did unfortunately seem to suffer from time to time from being a stage adaptation. Most of it was excusable, except... when we flash forward to the the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame appearance in 1990. The old age make up in closeups was just too distracting and no believable. It took me out for a moment.

The performances were solid. Not many of us know what the other three guys acted like or sounded like off stage, so it was easy to accept them in their roles. DeVito and Massi were drawn as caricatures mostly, with DeVito being the Jersey tough guy and Massi being the simple minded bass singer. Massi contributed greatly in real life to Valli's performance style and DeVito was the guy who put the group into motion.  All but Piazza played their respective roles on stage at some point. Bergen also has bragging rights to having been fired from the Vegas cast several years back.

The movie is actually very family friendly with no nudity and only some adult language.  It's music you know and a great time in the theater.  Who knew Joe Pesci was so musically influential?

Dorothy, Meet Metallica

In the last couple of weeks, I have watched my first two IMAX 3D films. First, I was able to catch The Wizard of Oz up at the TCL (Grauman's) Chinese Theater. Then, last Friday night, I sat with a large crowd at the local AMC IMAX in Riverside to catch Metallica: Through the Never. These are the perfect juxtaposed films to discuss in a single post, in my opinion.

I am not a big fan of 3D, but I am a little more forgiving when the movie was at least shot in 3D. The Wizard of Oz has seen numerous restorations and re-releases. The last digital restoration was in 2009 and now we have another restoration along with a 3D conversion. I found the 3D titles to be captivating but as for the rest of the film, the 3D was basically detectable in only a handful of sequences. Overall, I found it unnecessary. That being said, the film looked fantastic in IMAX. The fear of a large grainy, blown up image, was put at ease. There were some fantastic details I had not seen, such as the rivets on the Tin Man.  I also noticed that the fishing line holding up the Lion's tail was non-existent in this version.  Overall, I was once again reminded that films that were never intended in 3D, should just stay that way, in 2D.

There was something very enjoyable about hearing Judy Garland sing "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" in IMAX proportions. The same can be said for watching James Hetfield sing "Master of Puppets" in the third dimension, as well as in front of a wall of sound.  I am not a huge Metallica fan and was the only male audience member not wearing a Metallica shirt, but I was surprised by the fact that I was familiar with every song played in the movie. That could also be due to the fact that it was basically a "greatest hits" type of set list.  But he movie was not just a concert film. There was also a thin plot about a young roadie who was tasked to go retrieve a bag from a truck that had run out of gas in the middle of the city. A crazy adventure ensues that involves riots, angry dogs and a living doll.

Through The Never, reminded me about the last concert film I saw in a theater, Shine a Light, the Rolling Stones film from 2008. Much like the Metallica film, it showcased a band that is timeless, sharp as ever and the definition of longevity.  This was the perfect time (August 2012 concert dates) to put Metallica on 3D film.

Both The Wizard of Oz and Metallica: TTN, had small releases, just over 300 screens. It is hard to say if there will be a profit made in the box office.  Through The Never had a $18 million dollar budget and getting Oz into 3D was north of that amount.  Oz will continue making money, regardless. It is available tomorrow on Blu-ray and in 3D, if you've got the equipment for that.  And Through The Never will likely recoup it's investment via DVD and soundtrack sales.  Maybe it will turn into a IMAX midnight movie, who knows?

"Blue Jasmine" (2013)

I like movies. I especially like when I get to go watch movies by made by auteurs.  I enjoy Allen's films but I have not seen all of them, in fact, I've seen only a handful, but I have enjoyed most every one.  During my 7:30 show last night, I again also had the privilege of being the youngest audience member. I'm 37, so I'm not a kid and I should say that the theater I attended usually has a disproportionally high amount of seniors that come to see movies there.  It could also be said, film buffs aside, that few people under 40 would venture out anymore for a Woody Allen film.

The film tells the story of Jasmine, who's life has undergone some major changes recently in her life and we are witness to what brought her to this point.  Honestly a big attraction for me to come see this film was to see Andrew Dice Clay in a straight role. I had heard a recent interview with him and he was very excited to have been part of this film and having the chance to work with Woody Allen. Clay was truly a highlight to the movie. Allen has three talents: writing, directing and casting.

After catching on that the film uses sudden and frequent flashbacks, I found that I really wanted to see more interactions between married couple Jasmine (Cate Blanchett) and Hal (Alec Baldwin).  It was not necessary, however, because their relationship is established with very little exposition needed.  Look out also for a hilarious but short cameo from baby-faced Max Casella, who was almost unrecognizable and appears to finally have done some aging.

Again, with my limited familiarity with Allen's full canon, I can't help but think he definitely harbors anger against women. The lead role of Jasmine is put through the ringer of modern day turmoils: monetary, relationships, family and mental health.  Part of Allen's persona has always been his self-deprecating nature, which is often portrayed onscreen by Allen himself or whomever the male protagonist leads the film. In the case of Blue Jasmine, the role of Jasmine could be interpreted as a female representation of himself, complete with neurotic tendencies and dependent on psych medications.  The film has some really funny moments, but it is more of a drama than anything. 

The recent Allen films have used big cities to feature heavily in the film. I'm especially thinking of Midnight In Paris and To Rome with Love. Blue Jasmine predominantly takes place in San Francisco and uses the city for some fantastic background settings. It's an engaging film. Go see it.

"The Desert Song" (1953)

In 1953 Warner Brothers released the third version of the operetta, The Desert Song. In fact, as you can see in the poster below, it was marketed as "The New Desert Song." This film was released in three-color Technicolor and in 1.37:1, not widescreen. The first widescreen film, The Robe was released by Twentieth-Century Fox in CinemaScope that same year. The first version of The Desert Song in 1929 was the first Warner Brothers film released in color, with the two color Technicolor process.

The movie is based on a hit stage musical that featured Oscar Hammerstein's book and lyrics. The basic plot is that the French are attempting to build a railroad line through the desert in Morocco but they are under constant threat by some Arab rebels. The leader of the rebels is actually a Latin tutor hired by the French general who is sent to protect the railroad from the rebels to watch keep a femme fatale named Margot from flirting with the army. The big surprise at the end is when she discovers that the rebel leader, who she admires, is the same Latin tutor.  Songs that do not do much to move the plot along are thrown in from time to time.

The storyline trots along but it is hard to identify with any of the characters in the movie. It fails to create any sense of enthusiasm in the audience for the lead characters. The comic relief in the film comes mostly from Dick Wesson's character, an American journalist always trying to dig up dirt. He's honestly the only character I can actually remember from this movie.  The film looks nice though.

I was able to screen this film during the 2013 TCM Classic Film Festival. Robert Osborne had been hyping this film from the start of the festival. He was even there to introduce it. He informed us all that it was the first time this film had been screened in over 50 years in a theater.  Two of my colleagues and I sat in anticipation to film. Throughout the film, I can assure you that I was not the only person snickering and rolling their eyes at the movie. We all shared equal disappointment from the film after the credits rolled. We all wondered exactly why WB thought they needed to remake this film? Third times the charm? Because it wasn't.

After writing my thoughts, I dug up the original New York Times review of the movie. You can see that even 54 years ago, my impressions were shared.