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MOVIE REVIEW: Mary Poppins

The highlight for me was the dancing of the chimney sweeps to Step In Time; incredible!

The day after Christmas, the Palace Theatre, a once-and-again-classic Albany movie theater from the 1930s with a fascinating past, was showing the 1964 movie Mary Poppins at 3 p.m., preceded by activities for children. We pretty much missed the activities, such as posing with a young woman dressed as Ms. Poppins, because I was still moving slowly from whatever bug was paining me.

My wife decided that we should go up to the balcony, which I thought was an intriguing idea; it’s been a very long time since I’ve seen a film from there. At some point, Ms. Poppins took the stage and announced the winners of a couple of drawings. Then there was a 10-minute drive-in movie theater intermission countdown that looked EXACTLY like this, only the full 600 minutes long. Then we got a short, Pecos Pest, a Tom and Jerry cartoon about the mouse’s guitar-playing Uncle Pecos terrorizing the feline.

Then our feature began. This was DEFINITELY a film, as opposed to some digital version. For one thing, there were three or four pops/skips, a couple of which unfortunately appeared during songs early on. For another, the second reel was much more orange-tinted than the prior or subsequent part of the film. Rather than annoyed, I found it oddly charming.

Speaking of odd, this was the first I had actually seen the movie. Oh, I’d viewed various segments over time. And I had read book adaptations to the Daughter. But I was unaware of the subplot involving women’s suffrage that Mrs. Banks (Glynis Johns, who I remember from a short-lived CBS fall 1963 sitcom called Glynis) was involved with. The guy with the cannon on a neighboring roof? New to me. But I must have seen the end of the film on TV, for I clearly recall the anagrammed name of the old banker changing to the actor who actually played him.

Julie Andrews was wonderful in this, of course, though Mary Poppins is sterner than I would have suspected. The songs by the Sherman brothers were infectious, especially, for the Daughter, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. The first song A British Bank, though, reminded me greatly of the With a Little Bit of Luck from My Fair Lady by Lerner and Loewe from about a decade earlier.

But the highlight for me was the dancing of the chimney sweeps to Step In Time; incredible! Indeed, my admiration for Dick van Dyke, already quite high, increased greatly.

One last bit: the tickets cost $5 each for The Wife and me, $3 for the Daughter, purchased at the box office. But, had we bought them online, it would have cost $23 more!

A good time.

The Fifteen Movie Questions Meme

Seems that “dream casting” often goes awry.

From here:

1. Movie you love with a passion.
West Side Story. I know it’s only a good, not great movie. But I love the music, dancing. I saw it when I was young, so it had a huge impression on me.

2. Movie you vow to never watch.
Saw 1 to infinity.

3. Movie that literally left you speechless.
Young Frankenstein, during which I laughed so hard, I couldn’t speak. Or Mel Brooks’ History of the World, Part 1, that was so bad from a major director that I was slackjawed. Or Schindler’s List, which is probably the best answer.

4. Movie you always recommend.
I never “always recommend” anything. But if someone said, “I never like any of X (type or actor’s) movie,” I would see what has been seen and recommend something else. People who don’t like Woody Allen, e.g., I probably wouldn’t say, “Annie Hall”, which I love; I might pick Zelig. I’m likely to suggest Unforgiven for those who hate Westerns.

5. Actor/actress you always watch, no matter how crappy the movie.
Meryl Streep. I wouldn’t say I ALWAYS see her films, but she is the film performer whose body of work I’ve probably seen the most of, percentage-wise.

6. Actor/actress you don’t get the appeal for.
Oh, there are so many. The first person who came to mind was Megan Fox, whose acting lack of acting ability, even in the movie trailers, is evident.

7. Actor/actress, living or dead, you’d love to meet.
Denzel Washington. Seems like an interesting guy.

8. Sexiest actor/actress you’ve seen. (Picture required!)
Well, by the nature of the biz, a lot of performers are “sexy.” Not trying to overthink these things, the first person I thought of was Rose Byrne.

9. Dream cast.
I suppose it would depend on the project. I saw The Dirty Dozen when it was brand new, and it was perfect. Seems that “dream casting” often goes awry.

10. Favorite actor pairing.
Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau.

11. Favorite movie setting.
Paris. I love Paris, though I’ve never been there.

12. Favorite decade for movies.
The 1990s. Probably saw more movies from that decade, too.

13. Chick flick or action movie?
Ignoring the argument over the nomenclature, chick flick.

14. Hero, villain, or anti-hero?
I’m not sure what antihero really means. So I’ll pick that.

15. Black and white or color?
Obviously, it depends on the film. But I’ll say b&w.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Descendants

“If you think being in Hawaii all of the time is paradise, then you’re an idiot; no one’s immune to heartbreak and illness.”

So now it begins. The Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe nominations came out last week, and I usually look at the film choices that I’ve already missed (e.g., Ides of March, Moneyball), ones that haven’t made it here yet (War Horse, The Artist, et al.), and what’s currently available. Having three other choices (Hugo, My Week with Marilyn, Melancholia), I opted to see the film set in Hawaii at the Spectrum Theatre Sunday, while the Wife and Daughter went to a children’s dance recital.

The descendants of the title are a bunch of cousins some generations removed from Hawaiian royalty and missionaries, who own this pristine coastal property, but that, by law, they must sell. Matt King (George Clooney) is wrestling with that decision, while, at the same time dealing with his wife’s boating accident and his sometimes strained relationship with his two daughters. Directed and co-written by Alexander Payne, who created the well-received films Sideways, About Schmidt, and Election, the movie is a sad and occasionally funny tale of betrayal, loss, and reunion.

I was initially annoyed by the seemingly endless voiceover at the beginning of the film; I guess I like my story shown, not told. But the information contained therein 1) was important to the plot and 2) made me think. There was a specific line, which I don’t remember exactly, but it was something like, “If you think being in Hawaii all of the time is paradise, then you’re an idiot; no one’s immune to heartbreak and illness.”

Ultimately, I bought into the characters in the film, stopped thinking, “Hey, there’s George Clooney.” Figuring out fatherhood CAN be difficult. There were a number of strong performances, including Beau Bridges as a cousin, Robert Forster as Matt’s father-in-law, Judy Greer as a woman with something in common with Matt, and Shailene Woodley as the elder daughter. If the movie was a tad pat at times, it may have been the fault of the generally appealing screenplay, rather than the performers.

Still, I was moved by the story – quite a bit, truth be told – and would definitely recommend it.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Muppets

With all the big, Oscar-bait movies coming out in the fall, what is the one movie I wanted to see most of all this week? If you’ve read the title of this piece, you already know. I think it’s in no small part to a very clever campaign of faux trailers online – Green with Envy is still my favorite – that kept up the interest and bringing the Muppets back in the limelight.

The movie is about two big Muppet fans, Walter, and his brother Gary (Jason Segal). They and Gary’s long-time girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams) take a trip to Los Angeles and discover, though, that lots of people HAVE forgotten Kermit the Frog and his cohorts. Worse, there is an unfortunate contractual provision that will make things worse.

I didn’t see most of the movies, but I was a huge fan of The Muppet Show TV program. This entry, which we saw at the local Madison Theatre at a not-that-crowded Saturday matinee, seemed like a logical extension of where the various Muppets have been over the years. I sought out the three critics (out of 125) who panned the film. One said, “Except for a few good zingers from balcony dwellers Statler and Waldorf, there isn’t much here for mom and dad.” Oddly, I had just the opposite sense; I went with the wife and daughter, and I’m convinced that the adults enjoyed it more than the daughter did. And SHE said she wanted to watch it again.

Another: “The Muppets has none of the easy confidence of the original TV show or the 1979 movie.” Well, yes, and that is precisely the whole point. And finally, “The Muppet charm, always more at home within the intimate frame of a TV set, is gone here.” A paean to nostalgia by someone who just didn’t get it. This is a film where classic 21st-century copyright infringement plays a pivotal role.

I loved this movie. My wife and I laughed out loud, even when the daughter didn’t. The guest performers – Mickey Rooney? – were well used. Segal was very good as both writer and actor. Ever since I saw her in Enchanted, I knew Amy Adams would be great. Chris Cooper, unsurprisingly, is a great villain. My favorite moment in the movie involved two instruments and two/four people. Yet there is a bit of melancholy as well, as happens sometimes when old friends try to rekindle the past.

I’d give it a 3.8 out of 4.

Oh, on the way home, a total stranger and I were torturing my daughter by singing a song from the end credits, which is one of the Muppets’ 20 best musical moments, complete with video.
***
Lest I forget, a quite decent Toy Story short, Small Fry, precedes the movie. Is that how therapy works?

Of Anger, Polyester and other things

There was a movie in the 1980s by John Waters called Polyester which a bunch of us went to.

This is a combination of two Sunday Stealing posts from here and here, but I decided to answer only the questions I felt like answering. Besides, I don’t HAVE a favorite mall store.

1. What has been your longest love relationship?

Actually, my current one. We started going out -again – in late 1998. And I’m not even counting the 1.5 years we went out earlier in the 1990s.

4. If you could live anywhere would you live?

I seem to be fine where I am. I fantasize that Madison, WI or Portland, OR might be a mecca for me, and I did like Madison the one time I was there in 1987 or 1988, but I’m unmotivated to change at this time.

7. What’s the longest job that you’ve had?

That would be the current one, where I started October 19, 1992, three work addresses ago. The second-longest was FantaCo (8.5 years). The third place was 13 months.

8. If you won the lottery, who’d you call first?

My wife.

9. If you won, how would you spend your money after investments?

An ever-expanding list of social and cultural programs. Surely the Red Cross would be one.

10. When was the last time you went to church (or a religious house)?

That would be yesterday.

14. What food do you hate?

Canned beets.

16. What’s the longest shift that you worked at a job?

11.2 hours in a factory job after high school, 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. But I regularly worked 10 hours, 5:12 p.m-4 a.m., then worked Saturday from noon to 6 p.m.

17. What was the last concert that you attended?

This one. Well, unless you mean classical concert, which was in the spring of 2011.

21. Do you ever sleep in the nude?

Seldom. I want to be able to leave quickly in case of a fire or whatever.

22. Have you ever had a long-distance relationship?

Yes, and it was not good.

24. What’s you’re favorite lyric quote from a song?

“Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream.” Which I don’t do nearly enough.

25. Tell us something random about yourself.

I used to have some anger issues, I suppose. Occasionally, it still flares up. It was after church a few weeks ago, and a few of us were in the kitchen. I noted that one of the songs we had sung that morning had a different arrangement from I had sung it previously several times, specifically, a harmony line in the original that was unison in the newer version; inferior, from my point of view, BTW. Apparently, someone else in the choir had made the same observation. So another singer declared that our observation was “stupid,” that we read music and should sing what was there, rather than assuming what was on the page.

I yelled at her that I didn’t appreciate her crap, I didn’t need her crap (and I didn’t; my tooth was still hurting at the time.) I realized later that I got so enraged because I dislike the fact that she, who has also been a school teacher, didn’t understand the fact that we all learn differently.

When I was in the high school choir, we couldn’t even use the score for our twice-yearly concerts. I’ve long tried to get out of the music, keeping in front of me mostly for lyrics and pauses.

And, though I’ve been in choirs for decades, I only read music in relative terms. If note A is this, then a third up must sound like that; I don’t think, “Oh, that’s a C.”

But I suppose the yelling was unnecessary. Though I disliked being called “stupid.”

26. Have ever attended a theme party? If yes, do tell.

There was a movie in the 1980s by John Waters called Polyester which a bunch of us went to. Afterward, we all went to someone’s house, and we had to bring polyester (unreal) food, however we defined it. Marshmallow Fluff, Cheez Whiz, TANG beverage…I don’t remember what else.

27. What is your favorite thing about winter?

Its demise.

28. What was the name of your first pet?

Peter. He was a cat we had for about six years.

30. Has your humor ever been called “sick”?

No. Corny. Obtuse. Situational. Unfunny. But not sick.