movies Archives - Page 67 of 111 - Ramblin' with Roger

MOVIE REVIEW: Ant-Man

Oddly, it was The Wife who said, “We need to see a movie,” before the school year went on for too long, and we were buried in homework hell. Of the three movies playing at the nearby Madison Theatre, we’d seen one film, and I actively didn’t want to see the second (Pixels). The obvious choice was to see Ant-Man.

I had read comic books for a number of years, so I knew that the original Ant-Man was Hank Pym. Of all the early Marvel characters, this one was arguably the most boring. So it was interesting that this version of Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) has hidden away for three decades the technology that allowed him to shrink down to the size of an industrious insect.

But now he needs to find someone to put on the suit with the ability to shrink, yet increase in strength. He engages cat burglar-for-a-good-cause Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) to pull off a heist that will stop the evil plans of Pym’s former protege Darren Cross (Corey Stoll). And what side is Pym’s daughter, Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), angry about her mother’s mysterious death, really on?

My spouse, who knows next to nothing about the Marvel universe, really liked the film and appreciated the way the various ants behaved. The Daughter was likewise pleased. Neither had ever seen a Marvel movie.

I too was pleased. I found the Lang character interesting and compelling character who loves his young daughter, and is resistant to the lure of another heist until, being unemployable because of his record, his buddies (Michael Peña as Luis, and others) push him into a “sure thing”.

There’s been a lot of analysis in the 80% positive reviews about where this film falls into the Marvel universe, and whether the movie was “big” enough. Not having seen any Marvel movie in three years – STILL haven’t seen the first Avengers film yet – I find the question superfluous. I’m watching THIS movie, and I’m less concerned about where it fits in the big picture.

Others complained that the setup – the initial heist and figuring out the suit – took too long. I SO disagree. It was the struggle that gave the character of Lang some depth. There was plenty of action in the third act.

Both The Wife and I have become fascinated how Bobby Cannavale has evolved from bad guy roles to the dad, or, in this case, the surrogate dad, to Lang’s daughter (Abby Ryder Fortson) as well as beau to Scott’s ex, Maggie (Judy Greer).

Early in the credits – so happy to see comic artist Jack Kirby’s name up there, as well as writers Stan Lee and his brother, Larry Lieber. Then there was a tease. But one must wait until the VERY end for a future plot twist.

K is for Kinky Boots

Kinky Boots will be performed in 2016 in Melbourne, Australia.

Back in June, The Wife and I saw the touring company production of the musical Kinky Boots at Proctors Theatre in nearby Schenectady, NY.

The book was written by actor, playwright, and voice actor Harvey Fierstein, based on the Miramax motion picture written by Geoff Deane and Tim Firth. Music and lyrics were by Cyndi Lauper, probably best known for the song Girls Just Want To Have Fun.

What I wanted to know: how did I NOT know about the movie version? OH, it came out in 2005, when the Daughter was one, and her parents were still in a sleep-deprived fog.

As for the storyline, it was quite compelling. “A drag queen comes to the rescue of a man who, after inheriting his father’s shoe factory, needs to diversify his product if he wants to keep the business afloat.” That drag queen suggests moving from those conservative shoe styles that were no longer selling to something a bit more daring. This was not necessarily an easy sell for some of the long-tenured factory workers, who, in fact, might be out of jobs altogether without the diversification. But, as a business librarian, it was easy to see the value of this strategy.

The musical I enjoyed quite a bit, though I was unfamiliar with any of the songs. Much of the audience seemed to know when the showstopper songs were going to come up.

In addition to Broadway and the US tour, the show is running in London, England; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and the show will be performed in 2016 in Melbourne, Australia.
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Raise You Up – finale

Billy Porter is (still) the star of Kinky Boots, the long-running hit on Broadway. At the performance on June 26, 2015, he made a touching curtain speech.

A Final JEOPARDY! answer.

ABC Wednesday – Round 17

Craven, Dyer, Sacks

I lived in four different cities, in two states, in 1977 alone.

If there is a more descriptive title than The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, by Oliver Sacks, M.D., it’s not coming to mind. I know both The Daughter and I, on separate occasions, have mistaken a coat rack that was placed in a different part of the hallway, for The Wife.

I never read any of Oliver Sacks’ books, but I did peruse some of his articles in the New Yorker magazine, where he wrote about people “coping with and adapting to neurological conditions or injuries” this illuminating “the ways in which the normal brain deals with perception, memory and individuality.”

My distant recollection of the 1990 movie Awakenings, based on Sacks’ book, is quite positive, especially the performance of the late Robin Williams, who played a character drawn from Sacks’ life.

Oliver Sacks died on August 30 at the age of 82.
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I’ve never seen a Wes Craven film, none of the Scream films or Nightmare on Elm Street. Wait a minute- he directed Music of the Heart with Meryl Streep? I DID see that.

Back in my FantaCo days, I became aware of his popularity through all the books and magazines we sold. Moreover, there were those annoying popular Freddy Krueger masks and gloves, the latter complete with plastic “blades”, that were primarily purchased by our mail order customers in disturbingly large quantities. It was one of the reasons I eventually quit the job.

Wes Craven died on August 30 at the age of 76.
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After I finished college in 1976, I bounced around a lot, without any focus, or particular goals. I lived in four different cities, in two states, in 1977 alone. While I was crashing with Uthaclena and his then-wife in early 1978, I read the best-selling book Your Erroneous Zones by Dr. Wayne Dyer.

If you’re plagued by guilt or worry and find yourself falling unwittingly into the same old self-destructive patterns, then you have ‘erroneous zones’ — whole facets of your approach to life that act as barriers to your success and happiness. Dr. Wayne W. Dyer can now help you break free!

If you believe that you have no control over your feeling and reactions, Dyer reveals how much you can take charge of yourself and manage how much you let difficult situations affect you. If you spend more time worrying what others think than working on what you want and need, Dyer points the way to true self-reliance. From self-image problems to over-dependence upon others, Dyer gives you the tools you need to enjoy life to the fullest

Yeah, that sounded like me, a lot. But you know how newly born-again Christians, or alcoholics who are now sober, get a tad carried away with the message? That was also me after reading the book, where I went from directionless and dysfunctional to a bit too cocky and perhaps arrogant, before I was able to regulate the emotional thermostat.

Still, reading Dyer, at that critical moment, at least turned the thermostat ON, and that was a very good thing.

Dr. Wayne Dyer died on August 29 at the age of 75.
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Dean Jones died at the age of 84 on September 1. Saw him in lots of Disney fare, such as That Darn Cat! and The Love Bug, as well as a slew of TV appearances.

MOVIE REVIEW: She’s Funny That Way

The working title of the film She’s Funny That Way was Squirrels to the Nuts.

The imperative for going to the movies was that The Daughter’s favorite ~~babysitter~~child watcher would soon be going away to college, in Ohio. The Wife suggested that we see She’s Funny That Way. I had never heard of it, knew nothing about it.

We’re sitting in a none-too-crowded room at the Spectrum Theatre waiting for the story to develop, involving this guy Arnold (Owen Wilson) arranging for a call girl, Isabella (a UK actress named Imogen Poots), but then makes her a different type of proposition that can get out of “the life,” and onto the path of what she wants to be, which is an actress.

At some point, these two women in the theater start laughing hysterically, and we’re not “getting” it. It turns out that an actor one of them knows, Austin Pendleton, is playing Judge Pendergast, who had previously had been with Isabella, and is distraught when her former madame (Debi Mazar as Vickie) tells him that Isabella has retired. Apparently, Pendleton is playing against type.

Soon enough, though, The Wife and I start laughing, occasionally vigorously. I’ve seen the film described as a screwball comedy, which I suppose it is, but it also reminded me of one of those Shakespeare comedies of coincidence, where Arnold is producing a play, which features his wife, Delta (Kathryn Hahn), and an aging Lothario who may have slept with Delta (Seth, Rhys Ifans), and the playwright (Joshua, Wil Forte) falls for the auditioning actress playing a hooker, the aforementioned Isabella.

The working title of the film was Squirrels to the Nuts, a line referenced a few times in the movie, which came from a 1946 comedy Cluny Brown, starring Charles Boyer and Jennifer Jones.

I kept thinking this felt like a Woody Allen pic, in part because of Wilson, who I last saw in Woody’s Midnight in Paris. But in fact, the story was directed and co-written by Peter Bogdanovich. The movie even had small roles for Bogdanovich alums Cybill Shepherd as Isabella’s mom, and Tatum O’Neal as a waitress.

Jennifer Aniston was particularly strong as Jane, who seems to be the shrink for many of them, and quite terrible at it. Someone pointed out a possible goof: “When Jane lets the German Shepherd, Shep, into a taxi, she says, ‘Good girl.’ Later she refers to him as a male: ‘Come on, boy.'” But Jane’s character was so self-absorbed that I wouldn’t doubt she didn’t KNOW the gender of her own canine.

The weakest link, unfortunately, was Poots, as the lead. Among other things, her Noo Yawk, or more specifically, Brooklyn accent was terrible. But the cast surrounding her, which also included Richard Lewis as her father, and Illeana Douglas as the bored reporter, were fine.

I had a debate with my wife whether Rhys Ifans could be a convincing sex symbol, to which I said, “Mick Jagger.” That was a convincing point, she acknowledged.

It’s not a great film, but there are hilarious moments. So I give it a mild thumbs up.

DVD review: I Am Big Bird

Caroll Spinney’s first performance before legendary Muppets master Jim Henson was disastrous.

There was a Kickstarter campaign to make a movie about a guy named Caroll Spinney back in July of 2012, which successfully raised $124,115 USD from 1,976 backers.

Who’s Caroll Spinney? Why, he’s the guy who, for over 40 years, has played the iconic character on the children’s television show Sesame Street named… Oscar the Grouch. Well, yes, he does, but he also occupies the costume of an internationally-known, eight-foot-tall, yellow avian creature.

The movie I Am Big Bird garnered some success at film festivals, so it wasn’t until a couple of months ago that I had a chance to see it digitally (and, because I was too busy, I didn’t). Finally, this yellow envelope arrived in the mail in early August, and I got to watch the film.

I’m oddly fascinated by negative reviews of movies I like. Though it got 84% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes (53 out of 63), those who were less enthusiastic suggested that it was a puff piece with “little sour to temper the sweetness of this portrait.” One critic thought the tension between Spinney and a Sesame Street director was contrived, even though Emilio Delgado (Luis on Sesame Street) and Bob McGrath (Bob) confirmed the conflict onscreen.

Those critics must have missed the part about his painful growing up with his father’s hair-trigger temper that he seemed to find ways of bringing out. This was mitigated by his mother’s introduction of puppet shows, but his “dolls” became a source of bullying by some of his classmates. His first performance before legendary Muppets master Jim Henson was disastrous. His early days on Sesame Street, aggravated by his failing marriage, were so bad he considered quitting the job, or worse.

When I was in college, I used to watch Sesame Street (the show didn’t start until I was in high school), and few things on television have made me more verklempt than when the human cast explained to Big Bird that Mr. Hooper, the shopkeeper on Sesame Street, had died, a programming decision based on the death of his portrayer, Will Lee. Seeing it again brought back that sentiment.

There were other less upbeat aspects, including Spinney’s loner status, Jim Henson’s funeral, and the Challenger disaster. There’s this story. And the movie told of the physical wear of being Big Bird, as well as the Bird being supplanted on Sesame Street by the Muppet Elmo.

Yet maybe the critics didn’t find enough drama because Caroll Spinney is a great guy. The story of how he met his second wife, Deb, is absolutely charming. His now-adult kids adore him, his coworkers are touched by his continued sense of wonder.

You should check out I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story. If it lacks a sufficiently dramatic narrative arc, it is nevertheless a loving portrait of an interesting man.