Dogs Bark

The Next Moreau? - - Zimna Wojna [Cold War] (2018, Poland/UK/France, B/W, 89 min) - - 23 February 2019

Strongly recommended. Now here’s a quandary. Cold War at eighty-nine minutes, I most wanted more, yet its one misstep was the ending. But, how do you end a movie about an obsessive, ten-year love affair? Cold War details a real grown up romance that has deep cultural and political implications, yet told in a totally unpretentious way. Sadly, it won none of its three Oscar nominations. Wicktor (Tomasz Kot, Bikini Blue) and Zula (Joanna Kulig, Ida) meet in compromise, couple in intrigue and are separated by the post-war battle of ideologies. Wictor’s political malleability is demonstrated early but his love of Zula is unwavering. We never quite find the handle on Zula but like all great movie flames, her heat overwhelms reason. Seriously . . . I expect great future things from Ms. Kulig. We’ve seen talent already from Polish auteur Pawel Pawlikowski’s (Ida) three BAFTA awards. Add Cold War to the list

On The Basis Of Talent - - RBG (2018, USA Color, 98 min) - - 21 February 2019

Recommended. The proper evaluation of this documentary on the life of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg should come from the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Justice Scalia, though an overrated legal mind, was clearly not a liberal; however, as Julie Cohen  (Dateline NBC) and Betsy West’s (Turning Point) timely offering shows, Scalia adored the RBG. Not only did he admire a worthy opponent in court, he enjoyed her over lunch, too. The next candidate might be her late husband, Marty, who sacrificed his own very successful legal career to allow her to follow her ambition. Early shots of RBG show a gorgeous girl, with almond eyes set in a Modigliani-esque oval face.  And she was - -  and is  - - brilliant. At nighty-eight minutes, the film is really more of a TV series, exposing its CNN roots, than a true documentary. Regardless, it clearly shows why Ginsberg deserves every measure of her regard.

Duke's Picks - - The Oscars (2018) - - 23 February 2019

Whoa! When did Donald Trump take over the Academy? Last year might have been the roar of the pussy hat but this year Hollywood proved that the dicks are still swinging. Aside from the usual slighted shoulda beens, the Academy infuriated the camera folk and editors by trying to banish their time in front of the lens to the commercial break. They completely banished the host . . . I suppose, so no one can make fun of them. They even tried to make a category for movies people actually spent money on (Best Popular Movies). But never let the suits grind you down. We shall proceed onward.

Best Actor in a Starring Role - - Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born - - The real best performance was one of those widely whined about slights, Ethan Hawke in First Reformed. After that we have four celebrity impressions and Mr. Cooper, none of whom lit up the place. Rami Malek did throw sparks, but his mercury nevr climbed. Viggo was a good fella and the rest were also good in bad parts. That leaves Bradley.

Best Actress in a Starring Role - - Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me? - - Glenn got close but I did not fall for The Wife. La Gaga and Yalitza made amazing debuts and Olivia Colman was good in not really a lead. Melissa McCarthy broke the mold and the mildew of past raunch and carried the show. She need apologize for nothing.

Best Actor in a Supporting Role - - Sam Elliott, A Star Is Born - - All good ones here. I think it comes down to the wire between Sam and Mahershala and the latter may even be slightly ahead in the photo finish. But this is ol’ Sam first - - and possibly only - -  Oscar race after a half century of great runs and so . . . The Mustache abides.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role - - Rachel Weisz, The Favourite - - Another great group although I unfortunately missed If Beale Street Could Talk‘s Regina King, (who showed me her money in Jerry McGuire). I wish I could give it to Amy Adams after six bootless nominations, but I didn’t think Vice gave her much to chew on. Marina de Tavira was splendid but was hard for me to evaluate in subtitles. That leaves the cat fight, and even though her character lost, I think Rachel won the war.

Best Original Screenplay - - Paul Schrader, First Reformed - - As movie buffs know, Paul Schrader was a major contributor to the last golden age of movies (late 60’s to mid-70’s). He came roaring back with the astonishing First Reformed. I have no idea why it was so slighted by the Academy of Trumps . . . but that needs correcting. And he was the best of this group

Best Adapted Screenplay - - Charlie Wachtel & David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman - - More past injustice. Spike Lee has only been nominated twice for Oscars. Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty wrote a wonderful script for Can You Ever Forgive Me? Almost as good as BlacKkKlansman and I hope they win their next nomination. I also loved Terence Blanchard’s BlacKkKlansman score; however,this was the only nominee I saw so I should skip the Best Music category.

Best Cinematography - - Alfonso Cuarón, Roma - - Supposedly Cuarón wanted to use his old pal Emmanuel Lubezki for Roma. He was not available so he shot it himself and did a wonderful job. The others were fine and it’s hard to bet against Caleb Deschanel (another six unsuccessful nominations). Again, I did not get to see Never Look Away.

Best Direction - - Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman - - Will Cuarón make it five out of the last six for Mexican directors? Actually, only one of this year's group is white and American and none are female (again). That could have been corrected if Marielle Heller’s excellent work on Can You Ever Forgive Me? had been included and Adam McKay had been dropped. Spike has deserved a directing Oscar for years and he earned it this year.

Best Picture - - Alfonso Cuarón, Roma - - This is really not a contest. Bohemian Rhapsody and Vice were terrible movies. Black Panther bored me. And the rest were good but not great. I would have liked to see The Rider or The Miseducation Of Cameron Post in the mix but they were far from the ‘Best Popular Movie.’ Regardless, I still would have voted for Roma. In almost every category . . .  it could have taken home the statue.

And so it goes . . . Meg won’t be with me at the ceremony and it will be touch and go at the TCM Classic Film Festival. Yes, she’ll be there to attend the 30-year anniversary screening of When Harry Met Sally . . . I just hope we don’t reprise the bit where Harry meets his ex-wife in a Sharper Image store. I think Sharper Image stores got dumped, too. Oh well. Until next time . . . I’ll see you at the movies.

A Royal Flush - - Bohemian Rhapsody (2018, UK/USA, Color, 134 min) - - 20 February 2019

Not recommended. In full disclosure, I was never a Queen fan. Musically, the 1980’s provided we with an endless elevator ride. Mercury’s wild vocal skills notwithstanding, his songs seem pretentious. So, Bohemian Rhapsody, his hagio-pic, is lost on me. Other than the fact that he was born in Zanzibar, I learned nothing from the film about why I was so horribly wrong about either the band or Mercury. Actually, the Internet will inform that numerous things I learned didn’t really happen. It was even hard to get excited about Rami Malek’s (The Master) high-energy performance since that was evasive, too. The idea that it is the best movie of the year is laughable. Perhaps the flaw is in the script which fast-forwards through all the personal drama to get to the next song. Bottom line, if you like Queen’s music you’re probably safe to see this but all others . . . abdicate.

 

Purloined Parker - - Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018, USA, Color, 106 min) - - 19 February 2018

Recommended. Words never uttered before: Melissa McCarthy (Ghostbusters) deserves an Oscar. In Marielle Heller’s (The Diary of a Teenage Girl) smartly directed and written (Nicole Holofcener, Enough Said) comedy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, McCarthy does the difficult deed of making the audience sympathetic to a bitter, foul-mouthed criminal. She has shown glimmers of a dramatic talent in past roles, but never as deep as this. In 1992, Lee Israel, a real-life, semi-successful writer from the 80’s, began selling forged letters from famous dead writers. Her literary career had cratered. When the collectors started to get suspicious, she drafted her friend, Jack Hock (very Oscar-ly portrayed by Richard E. Grant, Gosford Park). Also in real life . . . Israel was mourning a crumbled same-sex relationship, rendered in the film with poignancy and zero salaciousness by McCarthy and Anna Deavere Smith (Rachael Getting Married) . . . which is rarely done well in major motion pictures.       

     

Still Dancing - - My Fair Lady (1964, USA, Color, 170 min) - - 17 February 2018

An essential. This month’s TCM Big Screen Classic, My Fair Lady, through the lens of the last 55 years of gender politics is interesting.  The blatant sexism of Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison, Cleopatra) gets its comeuppance but only with the famous Audrey Hepburn (Roman Holiday) charm. The other bad behavior seems uncorrected unless the implied last line is, “Garn! Find ‘em y’self, ya lazy toff!” I’d like to think so. That said, giving oneself over to fun of the thing is almost irresistible. This was near the end of both Harrison’s and Hepburn’s career . . . he, out of age, and her, out of disinterest. The supporting cast - - including Oscar-nominee Stanley Holloway (The Lavender Hill Mob) - - shines. An amusing moment comes when Zoltan Karpathy (Theodore Bikel, The Defiant Ones) describes Eliza’s diction as somewhat stilted, that English is clearly her a second language, which is exactly how Hepburn’s somewhat stilted diction arose.

 

Don And Tony’s Excellent Adventure - - The Green Book (2018, USA, Color, 130 min) - -16 February 2019

Recommended. OK, The Green Book is a movie made by - - mostly - - white liberals (Peter Farrelly, Dumb And Dumber) for white liberals about black people eating fried chicken. And I get that Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali, Moonlight) probably deserves his own movie. Shirley was a composer, pianist, psychiatrist and neglected genius. But if we strip away the need of Farrelly (and co-producer Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures) to meet other people’s expectations, The Green Book is a pretty entertaining story about contrasting personalities bonding under duress. Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises) plays the goombah roots of his character a bit broadly and I was a little bothered by the offhand comment on Shirley’s sexuality . . . a subject that is currently only speculative. Anyway, Shirley hires good fella Tony Vallelonga (Viggo) as his driver/bodyguard on a eight-week concert tour of the 1963 Jim Crow South. Both are changed for the better by the experience. Surprised?

Schnabel Babel - - At Eternity’s Gate (2018, USA, Color, 111 min) - - 12 February 2018

Not recommended - - My disappointment over At Eternity’s Gate runs counter to most other intelligent viewers so I guess I’m either really stupid or easily confused. I expected a movie that would explain something new about Vincent Van Gogh (Willem Defoe, The English Patient). We all know he was poor, unappreciated in his life and quite mad. Having the movie state that he painted the way he saw the world is not much of a reveal either. And we never get much of an idea how he painted those spectacular images. Yes, the song told us that he was too beautiful for this world. Ditto Frances Farmer, Silvia Plath, and Virginia Woolf. Actually, I’m pretty sure Julian Schnabel (Basquat) is the problem. Hand-held camera work is fine until it provokes nausea and what’s with the constantly shifting from English to French and back again? Sigh . . .  painters are not filmmakers.

 

James Madison’s Nightmare - - Vice (2018, USA, Color, 132 min) - - 10 February 2018

Not recommended. In these times of careless - - and often deliberate - - shredding of truth, recent history must be scrupulously presented to the public. For this reason, I am not recommending Vice, Adam McKay’s (The Big Short) multiple-Oscar-nominated story of Dick Cheney’s governmental career. In The Big Short, MacKay could riff on (mostly) made-up characters, but Vice gives us an Anchorman cartoon of a real-life villain, covering up Cheney’s true mendacity. Intercuts of bizarre images (beating hearts) and plot gimmicks (dead narrator, Shakespearian pillow talk) suggest some sort of Hunter Thompson surrealism, but there’s nothing gonzo about this Dick. Further, there is no evidence that the late Justice Antonin Scalia believed "unitary executive theory" applied to any broader presidential powers than the specific way he and President Ford opposed the Freedom of Information Act. The theory that if the president does it . . .it’s legal, awaited the law firm of Giuliani and Trump.

Social Engineering - - First Man (2018, USA/Japan, Color, 141 min) - - 8 February 2019

Recommended. I like what director Damien Chazelle (La La Land) appears to be up to in First Man although he’s not completely successful at it. We gotta remember, the guy’s got only two other director credits. Unlike previous NASA-themed movies . . . he wants more screen time for the human side of space stuff. In Apollo 13, we vicariously solve an existential problem in a tiny space. But First Man depicts many actually lethal FUBARS. The danger is all too apparent to Janet Armstrong, strongly characterized by Claire Foy (The Crown). We get a more complex reaction from Neil Armstrong, perhaps too stoically played by Ryan Gosling (The Ides of March). Chazelle uses hand-held filming - - attempting to suggest intimacy - - but ultimately Armstrong remains a cypher, as he did in real life. A taciturn actor playing a reluctant celebrity. He never told anyone what he did on the edge of Little West Crater.