Tag: movies

Morgan Freeman is 75

The last two movies I’ve seen of Morgan Freeman’s were Invictus, in which he played Nelson Mandela quite convincingly, and the kid-friendly Dolphin Tale. Such range.


I was already in college, but I really enjoyed watching the Electric Company. And one of my favorite actors was this guy who played a number of characters, but especially Easy Reader. Little did I know that being stuck on children’s television was literally driving Morgan Freeman to drink.

I saw Brubaker (1980) and the TV movies The Marva Collins Story (1981) and the Atlanta Child Murders (1985). I don’t think I really knew that he was MORGAN FREEMAN, though, until I saw a trio of 1989 films, all in the theater: Lean on Me, where he played principal Joe Clark who shook up an inner city school district; Driving Miss Daisy, where he was a chauffeur to a white woman while attempting to demand his dignity; and Glory, in which he helped lead the Civil War’s first all-black volunteer unit, while dealing with prejudice. All strong performances, though I didn’t love Miss Daisy, for whatever reason.

I barely remember Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) at all, but was totally captivated by Unforgiven (1992) and the Shawshank Redemption (1994) and Freeman’s performances in them. Since then, I’ve seen Amistad (1997) – good; Deep Impact (1998), as the ineffectual President – eh; and Brice Almighty as God (2003) – enjoyable. I think his voiceover work on March of the Penguins (2005) helped make it the hit it became. There are plenty more I will want to see (Million Dollar Baby, the Batman pictures).

He was also noteworthy for his views about Black History Month. He said: “How are we going to get rid of racism? Stop talking about it!” I wish that were true. I don’t think we know HOW to talk about it without the knives being drawn. And I found his comments somewhat peculiar given the fact that he participated in a DNA study of his racial breakdown.

ABC News, at the time of his 2008 car accident, noted the “dark cloud” over the cast of The Dark Knight: besides Freeman’s incident, the accusation of assault against Christian Bale, and, of course, the death of Heath Ledger. Not sure I believe in that stuff.

The last two movies I’ve seen of his were Invictus, in which he played Nelson Mandela quite convincingly, and the kid-friendly Dolphin Tale.

Such range. A very fine actor, who turns 75 today.

Our Viewing Tastes Are “Polls” Apart

“Interestingly, the majority of both parties conclude that movies have a liberal bias…”

I was, for a brief time, receiving, for free, this conservative magazine called Newsmax. The February 2012 issue has “How Grover [Norquist] Conquered Washington,” Norquist being the author of the “taxpayer Protection Pledge.” One of the features in that issue reported polls commissioned by the Hollywood Reporter about movies, and the other by Entertainment Weekly about television.

The reported premise is that Democrats like comedies, “at least today’s version of it,” while Republicans prefer reality TV which is, according to an Iowa professor, “the only genre that regularly includes Christian conservatives and treats them like they’re normal.” But Republicans do like the sitcom The Middle.

Conservatives like reality shows on History such as American Pickers (collectibles), Top Shot (shooting challenge), and Only in America with Larry the Cable Guy, while Democrats like the “raunchy” Jersey Shore. The Democrats also like the scripted HBO drama Treme, which shows “sympathy for the underdog.”

In the graphic box, the favorite TV shows of Republicans are Castle, The Biggest Loser, Hawaii Five-O, and The Mentalist, while Democrats prefer 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, Glee, and Cougar Town.

As for movies, Republicans like Secretariat, Chariots of Fire, My Fair Lady, and The Sound of Music, while Democrats prefer Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Kramer vs. Kramer, American Beauty, and Crash (the 2005 version).

“Interestingly, the majority of both parties conclude that movies have a liberal bias…The movie that [both parties] say reflects that left-wing bias most happens to be the biggest blockbuster in history: Avatar.”

I found Chariots of Fire boring, but The Sound of Music has wonderful music. I know some Castle fans who probably aren’t Republicans. And I find it fascinating that the NBC shows that apparently, Dems like (30 Rock, Parks & Rec) haven’t translated to higher ratings.

R for A Raisin in the Sun

I sensed that my father really related to Walter Lee, frustrated by living in a house owned by his mother-in-law for the first two decades of his marriage to my mother, always looking for the big score.

 

A Raisin in the Sun is a play by Lorraine Hansberry that debuted on Broadway in 1959, which portrays a few weeks in the life of the Youngers, an African-American family living in Chicago’s Southside sometime between World War II and the 1950s…the Youngers are about to receive…$10,000 from the deceased Mr. Younger’s life insurance policy… The matriarch of the family, Lena, wants to buy a house to fulfill a dream she shared with her husband. Her son, Walter Lee, would rather use the money to invest in a liquor store with his friends. He believes that the investment will solve the family’s financial problems forever. Walter’s wife Ruth agrees with Mama, however, and hopes that she and Walter can provide more space and opportunity for their son, Travis…”

The play was nominated for four Tony awards in 1960, though winning none: Sidney Poitier (as Walter Lee), Claudia McNeil (as his mother), plus Lloyd Richards (for director), and for best play.

“In 1961, a film version of A Raisin in the Sun was released featuring its original Broadway cast of Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Claudia McNeil, Diana Sands, Ivan Dixon, Louis Gossett, Jr., and John Fiedler. Hansberry wrote the screenplay, and the film was directed by Daniel Petrie.” I saw this film more than once on TV.

Later that decade, there was a civic theater group that did at least one production of the play in Binghamton, NY. My father was very involved in this. Not as a performer, for he never wanted to act in another person’s role. But he did set design and a lot of technical stuff.

Considering my distance from New York City, I have seen relatively few Broadway musicals. One I DID see in 1973 or 1974, though, was Raisin, “based on the play, and starring Joe Morton (Walter Lee), Virginia Capers (Lena), Ernestine Jackson (Ruth), Debbie Allen (Beneatha), and Ralph Carter (Travis). The show won the Tony Award for Best Musical.”

I have only a vague recollection of the 1989 TV film with Danny Glover (Walter Lee), Starletta DuPois (Ruth), Esther Rolle (Lena), and Kim Yancey (Beneatha).

Never saw the 2004 Tony-nominated play revival with Sean Combs as Walter Lee, Audra McDonald as Ruth (Tony winner for best actress in a featured role), Phylicia Rashad as Lena (won a Tony as best actress), and Sanaa Lathan as sister Beneatha (nominated in McDonald’s category). I did see the 2008 TV movie based on it, however, with the same core cast.

I wonder why I’ve been always drawn to the story. Maybe it’s idle speculation, but I sensed that my father really related to Walter Lee, frustrated by living in a house owned by his mother-in-law for the first two decades of his marriage to my mother, always looking for the big score.

The title of the play came from a poem, A Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore–
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over–
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

ABC Wednesday – Round 10

Titanic- that sinking feeling

Back to Titanic contains a mixture of previously unreleased recordings and newly-recorded performances of the songs in the film.


On the 14th of April, 1912, Titanic struck an iceberg on her maiden voyage and quickly sank. Many people were lost due to insufficient lifeboats. Yes, I know; everybody knows. Is there a non-war-related historical event more familiar than this? Not many.

Amazing what a little 1997 film can help to do. (Not that Titanic was the ONLY film on the topic, but was clearly the most successful.) It “achieved critical and commercial success. It equaled records with fourteen Academy Award nominations and eleven wins, receiving the prizes for Best Picture and Best Director. With a worldwide gross of over $1.8 billion, it was the first film to reach the billion-dollar mark, remaining the highest-grossing film of all time for twelve years.” And it was just re-released in 3D, which Roger Ebert reviewed.

I think it succeeded because it was a kitchen sink film that appealed to a lot of people. There was this love story that touched some, not so much for me. There were the class issues, which I found more interesting. There was the hubris of the boat builders, applicable in other settings. And then there was the disaster itself, which, if you didn’t think too much about the ACTUAL PEOPLE WHO DIED, was rather spectacular. (SamuaiFrog revisits the film.)

Another issue was the music. I have the original soundtrack, composed, orchestrated, and conducted by James Horner, and I found it a bit too much of the same feel. But, I also have Back to Titanic, “which contains a mixture of previously unreleased recordings and newly-recorded performances of the songs in the film…Horner created a new suite of music, comprising light and dark sections from the score, which represents the ‘soul’ of his music for the film.

“In addition, several of the source numbers from the film were included into this second album. From ‘Nearer my God to Thee’ to the raucous pipe and drum rhythms heard in the Irish folk music played in the lower decks, these selections recreate the most poignant moments in the life and death of the great ship. ‘Alexander’s Ragtime Band’ was played on the deck by Wallace Hartley’s small orchestra and lifted spirits as the ship settled, lights blazing, into black oblivion. And ‘Come Josephine, in my Flying Machine’, which Jack Dawson briefly sings for Rose DeWitt Bukater and Rose sings when she is waiting to be rescued in the freezing seas. The song was a top hit song the year before the sinking.”

The second album, to my ear, is vastly better than the first, because it’s more eclectic, and frankly, more representative sonically of the film as a whole. Though I can avoid the bit when Celine Dion’s huge hit ‘My Heart Will Go On’ is interspersed with movie dialogue; that’s the reason for the skip button on the CD player.

See what Neil deGrasse Tyson got James Cameron to fix for the re-release of Titanic.
Then watch the video, which has nothing to do with Titanic, but a lot to do with my own growing up.

Pretty much everything you need to know about the Titanic.

Requiem of the week- Mozart

The last time I sang the Mozart Requiem was on September 11, 2002.

The Requiem Mass in D minor (K. 626) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is almost certainly the best known requiem, since its creation (and non-completion) was presented in the 1984 movie Amadeus. Here’s a segment in which Salieri helps Mozart write his Confutatis. Parts of the Requiem show up in some three dozen TV shows and movies, such as The Big Lebowski and Watchmen.

As noted in Wikipedia, it was “composed in Vienna in 1791 and left unfinished at the composer’s death on December 5. A completion by Franz Xaver Süssmayr was delivered to Count Franz von Walsegg, who had anonymously commissioned the piece for a requiem Mass to commemorate the February 14 anniversary of his wife’s death. It is one of the most enigmatic pieces of music ever composed, mostly because of the myths and controversies surrounding it, especially around how much of the piece was completed by Mozart before his death.

“The Sussmayr completion of the Requiem is divided into fourteen movements, with the following structure:
I. Introitus: Requiem aeternam (choir and soprano solo)
II. Kyrie Eleison (choir) {used in commercials, too]
III. Sequentia (text based on sections of the Dies Irae):
Dies irae (choir)
Tuba mirum (soprano, contralto, tenor and bass solo)
Rex tremendae majestatis (choir)
Recordare, Jesu pie (soprano, contralto, tenor and bass solo)
Confutatis maledictis (choir)
Lacrimosa dies illa (choir) [which almost always make me cry]
IV. Offertorium:
Domine Jesu Christe (choir with solo quartet)
Versus: Hostias et preces (choir)
V. Sanctus:
Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth (choir)
Benedictus (solo quartet, then choir)
VI. Agnus Dei (choir)
VII. Communio:
Lux aeterna (soprano solo and choir)”

It is clearly my favorite requiem, as it is one of the two scores I ever purchased so that I can sing along, the other being Messiah by Handel. I have sung this in performance at least thrice. Once was in the spring of 1985 for which I had a now long-long cassette recording. Another time was sometime in the mid-1990s. The last time was on September 11, 2002, when my friends Tim and Gladys, and I crashed the Albany Pro Musica performance to honor the first anniversary of 9/11. (Wasn’t REALLY “crashing” as such.)

Here’s the Wiener Philharmoniker performance, with those nice section breaks. And here are scores and more performances.

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