MOVIE NOTES
REEL TALK
THEATER NOTES
TV NOTES

MOVIE NOTES

Like everyone else, I was saddened by the news of Robert Redford’s unexpected death.  His commitment to independent film changed the entire film business in recent decades.  And his achievements as actor and director (sometimes undervalued) only strengthened his importance. I had some personal contacts with Redford that are worth remembering.  The first article I ever published–for Film Quarterly magazine–included a major segment on INSIDE DAISY CLOVER, Redford’s early movie in which he had a daring role is a gay actor in Hollywood of the 1930s.  A couple of decades later, when I wrote a feature story about THE NATURAL for The New York Times, I included a phone interview with Redford, in which he praised director Barry Levinson for his contributions to the movie.

In 1991 I wrote another article for the Times about the production of A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT, one of Redford’s finest achievements as a director.  I visited the location in Montana for a couple of days, watched some of the filming with Brad Pitt, Craig Sheffer, and Tom Skerritt, and conducted extensive interviews with Redford.  He was welcoming, articulate, and forthcoming about how passionately he responded to the story and the setting.  He sat with me for a fairly extended interview in his office but then provided some additional tidbits in between takes.  (“Ready for another sound bite?” he asked humorously.) Many years later, in 2018, Redford was one of the honorees at the Telluride Film Festival, where his film THE OLD MAN AND THE GUN was screened.  I approached him after the screening and reminded him of our previous meeting. He gave me a warm welcome.  What a classy, irreplaceable movie star.

9/17/25

I haven’t added to this Blog for a while, but here are a few notes on moviegoing during a pandemic.  I have probably seen fewer films during the past six months than at any time in my life.  But I have watched a few in several different formats.  I got to see Spike Lee’s DA FIVE BLOODS on my (fairly) large-screen TV, streaming from Netflix.  I liked the movie up until the last half hour, when it took an unfortunate lurch into melodrama.

I also watched several movies on my laptop, including Ron Howard’s excellent–and all-too-timely–documentary about the Paradise fire and another stirring documentary about Obama White House photographer Pete Souza.  Over the last few years, I have watched a number of movies on my laptop, usually because that was the only format that the studios would provide.  Although it’s good to see movies that would otherwise be unavailable, the screen is too small and the sound too tinny.

Then I went to a drive-in screening of a highly touted fall festival movie, NOMADLAND, starring the great Frances McDormand, and directed by Chloe Zhao, who also made the excellent film THE RIDER.  Both movies use real people in addition to trained actors, and the byplay works well.  Perhaps NOMADLAND has been slightly overrated, in part because there have been so few stellar movies available this year, but I enjoyed its look at people living far off the grid and yet managing to maintain their dignity.  But although it was fun to relive a drive-in experience after several decades, it was far from an ideal movie watching experience.  Cars were told where to park, and although we were in the third row, it was still too far from the screen to be fully immersed in the lovely atmosphere that Zhao had created.  And then there was the car-watching atmosphere.  You had to keep the car on to be able to use the FM radio that provided the sound, but about every 15 minutes, the engine would come on, apparently to save the battery.  This was distracting and worked against thorough involvement.

And then I saw one movie in an actual movie theater: the new version of DAVID COPPERFIELD, directed by Alberto Iannucci.  As a huge admirer of the Dickens novel and even of the 1930s version directed by George Cukor with an outstanding cast that included W.C. Fields, Basil Rathbone, and Edna May Oliver, I felt this retread was only moderately entertaining.  But it was a thrill to watch a widescreen movie in a large theater in a multiplex in San Diego (where theaters opened before Labor Day).  There is no way to match the immersion that is possible only in a darkened theater.  I must admit it was weird to be the only person in that particular theater, but I have sometimes watched movies in screening rooms by myself, so it wasn’t a completely novel experience for a critic (though it probably was less appealing to the exhibitors who can’t exactly sustain a business on such low attendance).

All the rules have changed during a pandemic, and if people don’t feel comfortable yet attending an indoor theater, that is a personal decision, and no one should dictate to others.  But we also shouldn’t fool ourselves by pretending that all of these moviegoing experiences are of equal value.  The theatrical adventure is unique, enveloping, and hopefully returning in the not-too-distant future.

9/29/20

Top Ten Movies of 2014:

1. THE IMITATION GAME

2. A MOST VIOLENT YEAR

3. SELMA

4. BOYHOOD

5. THE RAILWAY MAN

6. MR. TURNER

7. LIFE ITSELF

8. IDA

9. THE SKELETON TWINS

10. WHIPLASH

But I would also like to mention several runners-up: American independent films WILD, LOVE IS STRANGE, NIGHT MOVES, FORT BLISS (with a great performance by Michelle Monaghan), and NIGHTCRAWLER; fine foreign films THE LUNCHBOX, GLORIA, and TWO DAYS ONE NIGHT; memorable documentaries KEEP ON KEEPIN’ ON, CITIZENFOUR, and THE OVERNIGHTERS among many others. It wasn’t a great year for Hollywood studio pictures, but there were a lot of stimulating films just a little off the beaten path.

1/5/15

The last screening in our new Anniversary Classics series was a 50th anniversary screening of HUD. Only about one-third of the people in the audience had seen the movie before. Everyone marveled at the sharp dialogue, the stunning black-and-white cinematography by James Wong Howe, and the superb performances. Patricia Neal and Melvyn Douglas deserved their Oscars, but Paul Newman matched them. Seeing the movie again reminds you of what a natural, unfussy actor Newman always was. He never seemed to be ACTING, and that may be why he was often underrated. He was always 100 per cent believable.

It was a pleasure to be able to honor the one surviving member of the movie’s extraordinary creative team: co-writer Harriet Frank, Jr. Some sources list her age as 96, though her nephew Joshua Ravetch describes her as “only” 90. She seemed to be touched by the acclaim and all of the applause she received at our screening, since she’s always stayed out of the limelight. She and her late husband and writing partner, Irving Ravetch, rarely gave interviews. (They were married for 64 years before his death in 2010.) When I was a film student at UCLA in the late 60s, I wrote a lengthy article about HOMBRE, another collaboration of Ravetch, Frank, director Martin Ritt, and actor Paul Newman. I sent the article to the Ravetches and requested an interview. They said they did not give interviews but invited me over to their home off Laurel Canyon for an informal get-together. It was wonderful to chat with them, and I was taken by their modesty and professionalism. I saw them a few other times over the years. They spoke at a couple of classes I gave for UCLA Extension in the late 1980s. It was wonderful to see Harriet again and to get another chance to appreciate their superb writing. One member of the audience asked if the pungent dialogue in HUD came from Larry McMurtry’s novel. Harriet didn’t quite remember, but her nephew said he recently read the novel, and virtually none of the dialogue was in the book.

A touching moment came when someone in the audience asked about Paul Newman’s line in the film during an argument with his stern father: “My momma loved me, but she died.” Harriet said that probably was a tribute to her own mother, who had been a story editor at MGM and always encouraged her daughter to pursue her dreams. It’s hard to identify all the sources of a successful career, but we certainly shouldn’t underestimate the value of parental support. When someone else asked if HUD could be made today, Harriet said she doubted it. When did you last see such a sharp-witted, uncompromising movie? Keep coming to our other classic film screenings! Very few of today’s movies measure up.

9/1/13

Would you rather see an action movie that is ponderous or preposterous? Those are your choices this summer, and the alternatives are depressing. On the ponderous side, we have MAN OF STEEL, an agonizingly slow and pretentious reworking of the Superman myth. Director Zack Snyder seems to be harboring the delusion that he’s making an art film rather than a comic book retread, because he and screenwriter David S. Goyer introduce a convoluted, time-fractured narrative structure that would be more appropriate to a small Sundance offering. There’s no humor at all in this glum, deliberate, heavy-handed opus. Several good actors–including the new Superman, Henry Cavill–are completely wasted in a numbing attempt at simple-minded mythmaking.

Compared to this self-important muddle, WORLD WAR Z and WHITE HOUSE DOWN are at least fast paced and unassuming. But did they have to be quite so idiotic and farfetched? In WORLD WAR Z credibility is strained at every juncture. When the plane he is riding is bombed and zombies and passengers alike begin flying out of the aircraft, how does Brad Pitt manage to survive merely by fastening his seatbelt? In another sequence set in Israel, we are told this is the only country that has survived the zombie infestation because of the giant walls built around the city of Jerusalem. But then the jubilant Israeli survivors begin singing ebulliently at the top of their lungs–even though it’s known that zombies are attracted to loud sounds. Soon the undead are scaling the giant walls in a mad frenzy, and it’s curtains for those enterprising Israelis. Who concocts these summer spectacles without paying the slightest attention to the most basic rules of logic?

This same idiocy infects WHITE HOUSE DAWN, though you might argue that at least director Roland Emmerich takes his comic book mayhem less seriously than either of the other two directors. Still, the sight of president Jamie Foxx wielding a bazooka to save the White House does push even comic book action well past the breaking point. This summer’s action extravaganzas take cinematic storytelling to a new low.

7/20/13

TOP TEN MOVIES OF 2012:

1. LIFE OF PI

2. AMOUR

3. ARGO

4. THE SESSIONS

5. SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK

6. SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN

7. BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD

8. THE INTOUCHABLES

9. ZERO DARK THIRTY

10. BERNIE

I would add several fine foreign films: MONSIEUR LAZHAR, A ROYAL AFFAIR, FAREWELL MY QUEEN, THE KID WITH A BIKE, FOOTNOTE, WHERE DO WE GO NOW?

Also a group of exceptional documentaries: HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE, THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE, WEST OF MEMPHIS, THE INVISIBLE WAR, THE GATEKEEPERS.

1/25/13

Nora Ephron remembered: The news of Nora Ephron’s death from leukemia came as an especially sad shock. I talked to her many times over the years, and I always enjoyed our conversations. The first time was a phone interview I did about a forgettable film that she wrote, MY BLUE HEAVEN, starring Steve Martin. Since we had never spoken before, she asked if I would call her back to clear any quotes I wanted to use. She said she was making this rather untoward request because of a bad experience she’d had recently with another journalist. As she explained, “I read a supposed quote of mine using the word ‘futon,’ which is a word I’ve never used in my life.” I had to appreciate the wit of that comment, even though journalists don’t usually like being asked to double check their quotes. I complied and called her back when I had completed the article and read to her what I planned to use. “That’s exactly what I said,” she commented with an obvious sense of relief. I interviewed her many times after that. She was always cooperative and never again asked to reconsider a quote. For an article on Mike Nichols, she praised him without ever gushing, and she helped me to identify the key to his character in talking about the childhood illness that not many people knew about.

A few years later, when I was producing a documentary on Spencer Tracy for A & E’s Biography series, I interviewed Nora on camera because I thought she would have some pertinent comments on the importance of the Tracy-Hepburn romantic movies. (Her parents had written one of those movies, DESK SET.) She did not disappoint, and we used a long excerpt from her interview. I still remember how perfectly she described Tracy’s contribution to the duo’s romantic spark: “What he brings is a confidence in his own masculinity that is so absolute that he doesn’t mind that she’s smarter than he is.” We met again shortly after that at the Santa Barbara Film Festival. I hosted the opening night tribute to Sally Field, and Nora was very complimentary about my handling of the event. The next day I attended a panel on screenwriting that she participated in, and her comments were the highlight of the afternoon. (I don’t even remember who else was on the panel.)

Lots of tributes are pouring in. Many people appreciated the wit of her screenplays and of her immensely popular essays and books. I can add personal testimony that she was a smart, gracious, classy voice of literacy. You could say she advanced the cause of women in film, but she did it without any self-righteousness. She was one of those people who brightened every room and every conversation she entered.

6/30/12

Turner Classic Festival Rocks and Rules: TCM’s Classic Film Festival in Hollywood was a revelation this year. This was my first year attending this festival, and I was amazed by the enthusiastic crowds that the movies drew. People came from across the country to watch classic movies on the big screen and sometimes meet the stars and directors. It was especially gratifying to see people of all ages in line for the films–plenty of younger people in addition to the older crowds who might seem to be the primary audience for vintage films. Lots of people (including me) were turned away from the screening of RAW DEAL, which was unfortunately held in one of the smaller theaters in the Chinese Theatre multiplex. But I really didn’t mind missing out because I was so thrilled to see so many movie fans vying to make it into a pretty obscure film noir from Hollywood’s golden age.

On the whole, the festival was extremely well run. Films started on time, and the larger theaters seemed able to accommodate everyone who wanted to attend. I was disappointed that the conversation with Kim Novak before the screening of VERTIGO seemed a bit truncated. But she revealed some fascinating tidbits. She did not feel comfortable in the grey suit that is one of the key costumes worn by the film’s mysterious heroine. But Hitchcock insisted on the outfit, and Novak reflected that in retrospect, her discomfort in the fairly formal suit helped to convey the awkwardness of a woman who did not quite feel at home in her own skin.

Discussions with Stanley Donen after the screening of CHARADE and with Angie Dickinson before the screening of RIO BRAVO were even more illuminating. Dickinson dished director Howard Hawks, who made a lot of entertaining movies but clearly left a lot to be desired as a human being. Stanley Donen, on the other hand, was remarkably charming and gracious. Revisiting CHARADE only underscores the decline in literate screenwriting over the last 40 or 50 years. And of course, where are the actors who can match the urbanity of Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn? I began the festival by thinking that people who paid $500 or more for a pass were being overcharged. But given the quality of these classic films, I’m not so sure the price tag was overinflated. The cinematic offerings of 2012 seem pitifully thin by comparison.

4/16/12

New ratings controversy: A massive protest has erupted over the R rating assigned by the MPAA to the documentary BULLY. This is a remarkably timely film that exposes the painful consequences of teen bullying all across the country. Of course one of the techniques that teenagers use to humiliate their peers is language, and the film includes a number of four-letter words, most notably “fuck,” which is supposedly verboten in the PG-13 category. It’s a joke to pretend that teenagers under the age of 17 never hear this word outside the company of their parents, but that is in effect what the R rating assigned to this film suggests.

The benighted head of the MPAA rating board, Joan Graves, insists that the board must be consistent and cannot alter its standards to reflect the quality of the film under consideration. And there is apparently a hard-and-fast rule that a PG-13 film can contain no more than one “fuck,” no matter the context. Actually, reporters who had done their homework would discover that there have been several exceptions in the past. Before there was even a PG-13 category, ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN (1976) got a PG despite several expletives flying through the newsroom at The Washington Post. In 1983 THE RIGHT STUFF was also rated PG, even though it was one of the running jokes of the movie that the astronauts regularly exclaimed, “Fuckin’ A!” In fact, the movie featured at least 6 or 8 uses of the F-word, and I don’t think the Republic collapsed. Lawyers who have spoken about suing the MPAA should look up these precedents–there are several others as well–and keep the fires flicking at Joan Graves’ feet. This woman is clueless, and she’s keeping teenagers from seeing one of the few movies that might actually improve their lives.

3/30/12

TOP TEN MOVIES OF 2011:

1. THE DESCENDANTS

2. THE ARTIST

3. A BETTER LIFE

4. WIN WIN

5. INCENDIES

6. SARAH’S KEY

7. MY WEEK WITH MARILYN

8. HUGO

9. BUCK

10. 50/50

15 more good movies: RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, A DANGEROUS METHOD, CONTAGION, BRIDESMAIDS, MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE, A SEPARATION, THE DEBT, PINA, INTO THE ABYSS and CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS (both by Werner Herzog), THE HELP, THE GUARD, RAMPART, ALBERT NOBBS, PARIAH

1/15/12

Memories of Elizabeth Taylor: I had two encounters with Elizabeth Taylor, one of the last great screen icons. In 1964 I was a student at Amherst College, and on a trip to New York, I went to see the Richard Burton production of HAMLET and was thrilled by his performance. I wrote a review for the college paper, and my father cheekily sent a copy to Burton in New York. In it he mentioned that his son had enjoyed the production even though on a student budget, he had to see it from the balcony.

Surprisingly, Burton wrote back. He was very complimentary about my review, said that it was more perceptive than the reviews written by many professional critics. He also invited us to come back to see the production, and he would offer two pairs of orchestra seats and then would like to meet us afterwards. I went back to New York that summer with my sister, a friend and cousin who lived in New York. We joked beforehand that it would be exciting if La Liz would also be there, but we really thought that was unlikely. But when we were ushered back to Burton’s dressing room after the performance, there she was. My sister sat down next to her before realizing who was beside her on the couch. Burton was very gallant when he said, “Elizabeth, have you met Mr. Farber?” (Shouldn’t it have been the other way around?) She didn’t say much but was very gracious, and she looked stunning. He was a pleasure to talk to.

When we left the theater, hordes were crowded around the stage door, behind police barricades, and flashbulbs were popping. That was of course the height of the Taylor-Burton romance, and crowds waited outside the theater every night hoping to catch a glimpse of her. Needless to say, we felt privileged. 25 years later, in 1989, I was writing a story for The New York Times about a new TV movie version of Tennessee Williams’ SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH. I went to interview Taylor at her Bel Air mansion. I started out by telling her that we had actually met once before. “My God, Hamlet!” she exclaimed. “That must have been 30 years ago.” “25,” I replied, wincing only slightly.

At first glance she didn’t cut an imposing figure. She was short and overweight, dressed in sweats. But when I sat down next to her on the couch and looked into those famous eyes, something magical happened. I don’t know that I’ve ever met anyone who conveyed the same magnetism. Her face was the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. We had a very enjoyable conversation about Tennessee Williams. She confided that she once planned to do SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH on the stage, but she decided to do PRIVATE LIVES instead because she wanted to work with Richard Burton one more time. (This was years after their second divorce.) She spoke very thoughtfully about the play and about her AIDS work, which was her main activity at the time. When I got up to leave, she said, “I hope we’ll see each other before another 25 years have gone by.” Sadly, that was not to be. But I feel privileged to have encountered a true legend at two very different moments in both of our careers.

3/24/11

Oscar bores: In the last few years there hasn’t been a single surprise in the major Oscar categories. Probably this is because of the explosion of awards and award shows. By the time the Oscars are announced, every other industry group has anointed the winners, and the Academy doesn’t seem to veer from all these pre-ordained choices. But it may also have something to do with the growing timidity of the voters. They seem to want to go with the tried-and-true picks. Remember some of the upsets of the past: Roman Polanski and Adrien Brody winning for THE PIANIST, SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE beating SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. That’s one of the things that makes the show fun. It’s all well and good to criticize this year’s hosts. To put it bluntly, they bombed. But the bigger problem is the disappearance of all suspense from the victory speeches.

2/28/11

Oscar snubs: This year’s Oscar nominations have to be among the most boring ever. There were only a few surprises on the entire list of nominees. Voters seemed to be very timorous this year, going with all the tried-and-true candidates and veering away from any independent thinking. In years past many foreign directors and writers would make it into the director and screenplay nominations, but this year there was only one: Mike Leigh’s nomination for the screenplay of ANOTHER YEAR, which deservedly pushed the ridiculous BLACK SWAN out of contention in that category. But the Academy choices have been growing increasingly provincial.

It’s shocking that Lesley Manville was overlooked for ANOTHER YEAR; to my mind she gave the best single performance of the year. And speaking of foreign film snubs, since the Oscars expanded to 10 best picture candidates, there hasn’t been a single foreign film included on the list. This year there wasn’t a single nomination for THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, the most successful foreign film of the year and one that received several nominations from BAFTA (the British Academy), including best screenplay and best actress. Shame on the American Academy for ignoring so many filmsbeyond our own borders.

2/1/11

TOP TEN OF 2010:

1. THE KING’S SPEECH

2. 127 HOURS

3. THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

4. GET LOW

5. RABBIT HOLE

6. ANOTHER YEAR

7. THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT

8. THE SOCIAL NETWORK

9. THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES

10. THE FIGHTER

Ten more good movies: THE WAY BACK, INCEPTION, WINTER’S BONE, ALL GOOD THINGS, THE GHOST WRITER, HOW DO YOU KNOW, EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP, MESRINE, UNSTOPPABLE, AGORA. how notoriously unreliable the movie reviews in The New York Times have become. There was

12/31/10

Reading A.O. Scott’s glowing review of DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS only confirmed for me a time when Bosley Crowther became a whipping-boy for other critics, and eventually he lost his job after he famously failed to “get” counterculture hit BONNIE AND CLYDE. The Times critics are in a different but no less distressing no-comprendo zone today. If Crowther’s fatal flaw was a deference to middlebrow standards, the critics today are so desperate to avoid being called middlebrow that they frequently miss the boat. A.O. Scott, the man who savagely attacked Oscar-winner DEPARTURES and Oscar nominee THE LAST STATION, laughed himself silly while watching the bloated, witless DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS. Didn’t he see the original French movie, which was lean and biting and even poignant? I’ve seen movies that are worse than SCHMUCKS, but the film is clearly a misfire for the talented director, Jay Roach. Other critics saw the film’s obvious flaws. Scott didn’t. Read him at your own peril.

8/2/10

THE GREEN ZONE is the kind of movie that Hollywood once made far more frequently. It’s an expensive studio picture with a big star (Matt Damon) and an intelligent exploration of a provocative social theme. But studios rarely attempt such films today, and the tepid box office response to Paul Greengrass’s movie makes it unlikely that we will see many more of these films in the future.

It’s not surprising that rightwing columnists have denounced the movie. It’s a surprisingly hard- hitting indictment of the deception and ineptitude that led up to the invasion of Iraq. In the guise of an action movie, GREEN ZONE pulls no punches in exposing the phony rationale behind this costly and destructive war–the search for WMD that never existed. And in the character of the Iraqi interpreter who aids Matt Damon’s search for the truth, the film offers a poignant critique of the hubris that led us to meddle in another nation’s inner turmoil. This is a more politically charged movie than the Oscar-winning HURT LOCKER, and it’s just as well made.

3/22/10

TEN BEST MOVIES OF 2009:

1. UP IN THE AIR

2. THE LAST STATION

3. THE HURT LOCKER

4. PRECIOUS

5. THE COVE

6. THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG

7. MY ONE AND ONLY

8. LEMON TREE

9. ADAM

10. SERAPHINE

16 more good movies: STAR TREK, EVERY LITTLE STEP, AN EDUCATION, TRUCKER, SKIN, ME AND ORSON WELLES, THE HANGOVER, THE MESSENGER, YOO HOO MRS. GOLDBERG, BRIGHT STAR, THAT EVENING SUN, THE STONING OF SORAYA M, THE YOUNG VICTORIA, A SERIOUS MAN, THE INFORMANT!

Worst movies of the year include: ANTICHRIST, CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC, COUPLES RETREAT, I LOVE YOU BETH COOPER, NINE, and SHERLOCK HOLMES.

12/27/09

Yesterday I saw two movies in a single day that provided pure entertainment pleasure. Such a rare occurrence is almost enough to restore one’s faith in the movies. Perhaps it has something to do with expectations. PIRATE RADIO bombed in England, and it was not screened here until right before opening, so a certain smell was emanating from the movie. Yet it turns out to be another delicious British comedy from writer-director Richard Curtis, the wit behind FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL, NOTTING HILL, and LOVE ACTUALLY. Philip Seymour Hoffman is the ostensible star, but he’s really just a member of a superb ensemble that also includes Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans, Kenneth Branagh, and Tom Sturridge. They all create vivid characters in this tribute to the subversive spirit of rock and roll, which amazingly was banned from British radio in the 1960s.

The soundtrack of 60s hits is pure bliss for anyone who remembers the music of the era, and Curtis’s writing is full of wickedly funny touches. Perhaps the shipwreck finale is straining too hard to give the movie a commercial lift, but the whole enterprise is so spirited that you’re willing to forgive this lapse into grandiosity. Another delight is the new Disney animated musical, THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG. We’re supposed to keep a lid on our reviews for another two weeks, so let me just say that this is one of Disney’s most entertaining movies since BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, with ravishing animation, a wonderful cast of mainly African-American actors, and a rousing score by Randy Newman.

11/11/09

It’s not so surprising that ANGELS & DEMONS didn’t match the opening-weekend grosses of Hollywood’s other action blockbusters. This new Ron Howard-Tom Hanks opus is a brainy potboiler. That’s not to say it is drenched in profundity. But it does require you to pay attention, which eliminates about half the popcorn crowd. There are actually some (half-baked) ideas in this latest Dan Brown adaptation, as there were in THE DA VINCI CODE. But this movie is a lot faster-paced, and although it doesn’t really hold up to close scruitny, it’s an entertaining ride through the Vatican (mainly recreated in Hollywood). People who have ADD will find this movie much too hard to follow, which is one reason I enjoyed it. As the level of popular entertainment continues to sink, this classy thriller is a throwback to the adventure films of yesteryear. The only thing that’s missing is a truly surprising denouement. Any seasoned moviegoer will be able to guess the identity of the villain, though at least Howard and his screenwriters (David Koepp and Akiva Goldsman) sprinkle the plot with some clever red herrings. The movie may not be Oscar bait, but it’s an acceptable summertime diversion.

5/17/09

1. WALTZ WITH BASHIR

2. BOY A

3. SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

4. THE READER

5. MILK

6. FROZEN RIVER

7. THE VISITOR

8. THE CURIOUS CASE

OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

9. THE EDGE OF HEAVEN

10. IN SEARCH

OF A MIDNIGHT KISS

Other worthwhile movies (listed alphabetically): APPALOOSA, AUGUST EVENING, THE BAND’S VISIT, BEFORE THE RAINS, BOTTLE SHOCK, THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS, CAPTAIN ABURAED, THE COUNTERFEITERS, DEFIANCE, THE DUCHESS, KABLUEY, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, MAN ON WIRE, A SECRET, STOP-LOSS, WALL-E, THE WITNESSES, YOUNG AT HEART. Worst movies of the year included: WANTED, MAMMA MIA, EAGLE EYE, SYNECHDOCHE NEW YORK, and SEVEN POUNDS.

12/20/08

TWILIGHT was a huge hit over the weekend, and despite many nay-saying reviews, I found it surprisingly entertaining. While critics seemed to assail it for unintentional humor, I found most of the humor was intentional. How could you do a contemporary teen vampire movie without a bit of tongue-in-cheek slyness? The movie’s success owes a lot to director Catherine Hardwicke, one of the most talented filmmakers working today. She honed her skills as a gifted art director, and I liked her two previous films as director, THIRTEEN and LORDS OF DOGTOWN. (I must admit I skipped THE NATIVITY STORY.) TWILIGHT has a great visual style. The Pacific Northwest town where the story takes place is beautifully caught. It’s a place drenched in fog and mist, darkness and rain–vampires hate sunlight, remember–and the setting is bewitching to behold. The two lead actors, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, have the requisite chemistry, and while I probably don’t share the enthusiasm of the fan base, I had a good time at this pop-cult phenomonen.

11/24/08

Is THE DARK KNIGHT as great as many critics say? In a word, no. On the plus side, the film compels your interest for its entire running time, and director Christopher Nolan brings off a number of spectacular action sequences. The late Heath Ledger definitely etches one of the scariest and most sinister villains to darken the screen. And Ledger’s isn’t the only strong performance in the movie. Christian Bale is a bit monotonous, but Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, and Maggie Gyllenhaal all deliver smoothly effective turns. And Aaron Eckhart’s outstanding performance has been overshadowed by all the well deserved praise for Ledger. As crusading district attorney Harvey Dent, who turns into the vengeful Two Face, Eckhart has an even more complex role than Ledger’s Joker, and he does it full justice.

To its credit, the movie also has a more intricate plot than most comic book movies, but here is where it gets into trouble. Many of the plot developments are confusing, sometimes downright incomprehensible. The set-piece involving the shooting of the police commissioner is something of a muddle. As the movie races toward its climax, we’re never quite certain how the story resolves itself. Critics who have priased the darkness of the vision may be confusing thematic darkness with narrative murkiness. To tell the truth, this is a consistent failing of Christopher Nolan’s films. I saw MEMENTO three times, and I never managed to parse the plot. Nolan’s period piece about rival magicians, THE PRESTIGE, also zoomed toward an elaborate denouement that never quite made sense. Could it be an accident that INSOMNIA, Nolan’s most lucid movie–and in my view, his best–was the one movie he didn’t write? Most of his other films succumb to incoherent storytelling.

Critics are reading all kinds of psychological depths into THE DARK KNIGHT that I don’t see and that they haven’t done a very good job of elucidating. Incidentally, not all reviews have been raves. The New Yorker’s David Denby is another nay-sayer who raises some pertinent criticisms. I would have to agree that THE DARK KNIGHT is the best of all the Batman movies. But in the last analysis, it’s still a Batman movie, not a work of moral or psychological acuity. The critics are trying to read a lot of profundity into a skillfully executed but superficial action extravaganza.

7/19/08

REEL TALK

All 8 movies shown during my summer series received votes from some members of the Reel Talk audience. Yes, even Matthew Weiner’s controversial ARE YOU HERE collected a few votes, though I must admit it came out in last place. ALIVE INSIDE, the inspiring documentary about music therapy for older people suffering from dementia and other ailments, was the definite favorite of the audience. LOVE IS STRANGE was not far behind, in second place. THE NOVEMBER MAN (third place) and HECTOR AND THE SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS (fourth) were only a couple of votes apart. AFTER, the family drama with a surprising 9/11 subtext, also drew quite a bit of support from the audience. Summer of 2014 was not the best season for movies, so I had to search a little farther afield for rewarding films to screen and discuss. Looking forward to a rebound in the fall!

9/7/14

Nine of the ten movies shown during our spring series received votes from some members of the Reel Talk audience. There were no votes at all for THE M WORD. I guess you really really didn’t like Henry Jaglom’s latest opus. But in addition to the top four movies, there were significant votes for WALKING WITH THE ENEMY, OBVIOUS CHILD, and even, surprisingly, GOD’S POCKET. I was personally pleased that once again the audience chose my favorite movie of the series, THE RAILWAY MAN, as their favorite as well. WORDS AND PICTURES was a close second, but I am happy that one of the earliest movies in the series–and one of the most intense–came out in the top position. People enjoyed hearing the filmmakers from those two movies, but I think many agreed that Shirley Knight (from REDWOOD HIGHWAY) and John Slattery (from GOD’S POCKET) were especially scintillating guests. Knight regaled us with wonderful stories from her long career. She had really wanted to be a singer but fell into acting almost by accident when she won a role in THE DARK AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS, filmed in her native Kansas, and started out acting alongside Robert Preston, Dorothy McGuire, and Angela Lansbury.

But the actor who influenced her the most was Richard Burton, who starred in her second film, ICE PALACE, which Knight characterized as dreadful. Still, Burton gave her a tutorial on Shakespeare during breaks from filming, and Shirley still remembers his generosity. She also spoke candidly and movingly about the devastation she felt after the accidental death of her husband, writer John Hopkins. But she relies on the support of her three children. When she told her daughters that Tom Skerritt would be her semi-romantic interest in REDWOOD HIGHWAY, they all encouraged her to take the part. “Mom, he’s hot!” they all said.

6/14/14

SUMMER 2013 AUDIENCE AWARD: Often when Reel Talk members vote on their favorite movies of the series, they will include at least one of the later movies in the series. But this summer’s top choices were the first three movies in the series: FRUITVALE STATION, STILL MINE, and BLACKFISH (in that order). I was pleased to see FRUITVALE remembered as the #1 choice, since that remains my favorite movie not just of the series but of the entire year to date.

Once again, however, every single one of the nine movies shown received votes from some members of the audience. The second, third, and fourth choices–STILL MINE, BLACKFISH, and YOU WILL BE MY SON–were bunched very close together, and THE SPECTACULAR NOW and JOBS were not far behind. I would have to say that James Ponsoldt, the director of THE SPECTACULAR NOW, was the most inspiring guest speaker, but all of the filmmakers were passionate, articulate, and enlightening to hear.

8/31/13

During our spring series, there was a clear audience favorite: THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST. But of the remaining nine movies screened, seven had considerable support from members of the audience, and votes were pretty evenly divided among those movies. Many people commented how much they enjoyed STARBUCK, THE ENGLISH TEACHER, AT ANY PRICE, THE COMPANY YOU KEEP, FILL THE VOID, even MY BROTHER THE DEVIL. Only two movies scored poorly: ADMISSION and AUGUSTINE. And even those two movies collected a few votes. AUGUSTINE was probably the least favorite, and yet it was one of the best reviewed movies of the 10 in this series. It has 91 per cent favorable reviews from Top Critics on Rotten Tomatoes. This only confirms my view that there is a serious disconnect between critics and members of the audience–at least members of the Reel Talk audience. You can judge for yourselves which group is the more sensible.

5/22/13

9 of the 10 movies shown during our fall series received quite a few votes from members of the Reel Talk audience. David Chase’s movie NOT FADE AWAY was the only movie that received no votes–that’s right, zero–from our audience. Partly, of course, this was because fewer people went to see this bonus screening at Paramount Studios. But the bottom line is that most people just didn’t respond to this movie. It happens. I might add that the movie did receive excellent reviews in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and several other important publications. These critics could be wrong of course, or they could be right, and the audience might be… less right. As I’ve said many times, opinions vary–often wildly.

SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK was the clear audience favorite, but there was lots of support for QUARTET, THE IMPOSSIBLE, A ROYAL AFFAIR, KON-TIKI, and A LATE QUARTET. It was interesting that many of the people who voted for QUARTET also voted for A LATE QUARTET–not because they have a fetish for quartets, but probably because the classical music theme of both movies appealed to a certain segment of the audience. Most people seemed to appreciate the diversity of the films shown as well as the passion of the filmmakers who spoke after the screenings. Dustin Hoffman certainly ended the fall series on a high note. He seemed fully engaged with the audience, and his stories were candid and eye-opening. Hoffman spoke during my first-ever Sneak Preview series, after a screening of KRAMER VS. KRAMER. It was fun to re-connect with him 30 years later!

12/21/12

I was thrilled that the audience agreed with my choice of the best film of the recently concluded Summer Series. SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN was the decisive winner of our audience poll. I predicted that ROBOT & FRANK or HOPE SPRINGS would be the winner, and they were indeed the second and third choices, but I am delighted that the audience really appreciated and applauded the very unique qualities of SUGAR MAN.

All 10 movies that I screened received votes from some members of the audience. In fact, every single film received at least a few first-place votes. Even ALL FALL DOWN, our film from 1962, had a number of champions, and this was impressive considering that fewer people probably saw this film. I asked the question of whether Reel Talk members would like to see occasional older films with special guests like Eva Marie Saint, and the vast majority voted YES. In fact, many people said they loved the idea and welcomed such screenings, especially if they were bonus evenings as we offered this time. All in all, people seemed very pleased with the diversity of movies screened and with the informative and entertaining guest speakers. Thanks to everyone who participated in the poll!

8/29/12

My recently concluded foreign film series may have had the best audience reactions of any series I’ve given. It’s not uncommon for all of the movies to receive votes from some members of the audience, but this time, every one of the eight movies had a LOT of votes, and many people commented that they had trouble ranking the films because they had enjoyed all of them or almost all of them. There was a tie for first place: IN DARKNESS and MONSIEUR LAZHAR. And amazingly, there was also a tie for second place: CHICO & RITA and SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN. And the remaining 4 films were not far behind. There was not a single complaint in all the surveys, which must be a first, and I don’t expect that to be repeated any time soon! But the reactions were most gratifying.

To the question of whether people would be more likely to stay for the discussions if there were unlimited free parking, only a small percentage–15 out of more than 100 surveys–said this would make any difference to them. Some commented that they left early simply because it was too late for them, and there’s no way to remedy that situation. Of course it would be great if the Landmark were able to allow a longer period of free parking to Reel Talk members, but I’m glad that most people seem happy to stay for the discussions if they find the film stimulating. Looking forward to the spring series!

3/1/12

THE ARTIST was the overwhelming winner in the audience poll of favorites of the fall season. Following were THE DESCENDANTS and the final film, THE FLOWERS OF WAR, which were only separated by a few votes. There were also plenty of votes for MY WEEK WITH MARILYN, YOUNG ADULT, and ORANGES AND SUNSHINE, but every single one of the 12 movies screened had support from some members of the audience.

To the question of whether audience members would prefer to see a very good film with no speaker who worked on the film or a slightly less good film with a stimulating filmmaker to speak, there were strong opinions on both sides of the question. However, a large majority favored the idea of showing the better film without a speaker from the film. These people liked having speakers from a related field who could address the issues raised in the movie. I will always continue to try for that. I ignored a couple of people who said, “We want to see great movies with great speakers every week.” Don’t we all, but we’re living in a material world, as someone said. Onward to foreign films!

12/22/11

As I expected, THE DEBT was the audience favorite during our summer series. Once again, all nine movies received votes from some members of the audience, though A LITTLE HELP and HIGHER GROUND stirred less enthusiasm. All of the others had lots of support. I was pleased to see the documentary SENNA come in second, followed very closely by THE WHISTLEBLOWER and CRAZY STUPID LOVE. Then there was a bit of a gap, and STRAW DOGS, 5 DAYS OF WAR, and ANOTHER EARTH were also bunched very close together.

I was especially pleased with the guests this summer, and many people singled out Renny Harlin and Rod Lurie as their favorite speakers. Others mentioned the crew from ANOTHER EARTH, the directors of CRAZY STUPID LOVE, the director of THE WHISTLEBLOWER, and of course John Madden and Vera Farmiga. This is one of the few times in the history of Reel Talk that I had the director of every single film I screened, and I had leading cast members with 4 of the 9 movies shown. Some people think that the best movies are shown in the fall, which isn’t necessarily true. I certainly get top-notch speakers during other seasons, so if you come not just to see the movies but to talk about them with the most knowledgeable sources, this session ranked especially high.

9/2/11

Once again, every movie in the series received votes from some members of the audience. THE FIRST GRADER was the first choice, followed closely by A BETTER LIFE and BUCK. I was impressed that THE FIRST GRADER did so well, since it was shown early in the series, and often people are more favorably inclined toward movies shown more recently. MY AFTERNOONS WITH MARGUERITTE, BEAUTIFUL BOY, and THE NAMES OF LOVE also received substantial numbers of votes from Reel Talk members. I was pleased that a difficult film like BEAUTIFUL BOY was appreciated by the audience. One person wrote, “A disturbing film, but my favorite.”

I was also pleased that the Regent Theatre received high marks from many members of the audience. A few people commented that they were “surprised” at how much they liked it, referring to it as a comfortable, old-fashioned theater. People also liked the helpfulness of the theater staff, the convenient, inexpensive parking and the proximity of so many restaurants. Several people preferred The Landmark for its stadium seating and better concessions, but others commented on the larger size of the Regent as a plus. So it is definitely a theater we will consider in the future.

6/23/11

This year’s foreign film series was to my mind one of the best series I’ve ever held, and the audience seemed to agree. All 8 movies got quite a few votes from the Reel Talk audience, and there was no overwhelming favorite. EVEN THE RAIN was only a few points behind the first-place winner, INCENDIES, and WINTER IN WARTIME was only 3 points behind PRECIOUS LIFE. A few people commented that they had a hard time voting because they liked all the movies, and several people voted for 5 or 6 instead of just 3.

I did find it interesting that the comic films–SIMPLE SIMON, FRIENDSHIP, and A SOMEWHAT GENTLE MAN–had fewer votes than the heavier dramas. Is this a slight prejudice against comedy that also figures in Oscar voting? It’s too bad that many people find comedy a bit more negligible than drama, but it may also be true that the dramas I showed were particularly strong this winter. In a tighter field, comedy gets edged out. The victory of INCENDIES is impressive, since this was a bonus screening that was seen by fewer people than most of the other movies. If you missed any of these films, be sure to catch them when they open in theaters or when they make it to DVD.

3/5/11

All 14 movies shown during the fall series received votes from several members of the Reel Talk audience, and there were first-place votes for every single film. HOW DO YOU KNOW had fewer votes than any other film, but this was partly due to the fact that more than half the people had turned in their ballots before this bonus screening. A lot of people made a point of mentioning that they had hated HOWL and/or THE TEMPEST, yet both of those movies did have enthusiastic support from some Reel Talk members. One person who was critical of many of my selections this fall called HOWL “awesome.” Which only goes to show, different strokes…

As I suspected, there was no runaway favorite this time. Votes were fairly evenly divided among many of the films. Despite its disturbing subject matter, RABBIT HOLE was the surprise winner, closely followed by FAIR GAME, 127 HOURS, CONVICTION, TODAY’S SPECIAL, and NOWHERE BOY (which was only one point behind TODAY’S SPECIAL in the balloting). ALL GOOD THINGS, BURLESQUE, JOLENE, and CASINO JACK all had a significant number of votes. Not much support for MORNING GLORY; that actually had an even smaller vote total than THE TEMPEST and was tied with HOWL near the bottom of the list. It seems as if the more challenging films definitely were the audience favorites, though the feel-good indie comedy TODAY’S SPECIAL was the high scorer among more lightweight fare. Good, discerning choices from the audience this time. Onward to foreign films!

12/17/10

After the shocking death of Ronni Chasen a few weeks ago, the publicist for our Reel Talk series said to me, “Who would want to kill a publicist?” I responded, “Well, there are a few…” In putting together my series, I depend on publicists, and some of them are infuriatingly unreliable and unresponsive. They seem determined to make everyone’s life difficult so that they can confirm their own importance.

Ronni wasn’t like that. I knew her for more than 30 years and always counted on her straight shooting. If I asked her for help in lining up a film or a speaker for my series, she responded immediately. Often she delivered the people I asked about, but if she couldn’t, she would call me promptly to tell me that it wasn’t going to work. Many people leave you dangling, refusing to return phone calls and just behaving with a rudeness which is not at all justified by their position as handmaidens to the more talented and more powerful.

Ronni, by contrast, was unassuming, helpful, straightforward, and always fun to chat with. When I saw her at Sundance a couple of years ago, hawking a film that she knew wasn’t quite first-rate, she confided to me, “I’m getting too old for this,” and we shared some of our battle scars. By rights she should have faded out slowly and with dignity, as she deserved. Her violent end was an affront to all of us who knew her and cared about her. Now as for some of those other Hollywood publicists…

12/3/10

All of the movies shown during the summer series received votes from some members of the audience, and 7 of the 8 movies had substantial support. LOVE RANCH was clearly the least favorite, with only 7 points total. MAO’S LAST DANCER, which received decidedly mixed reviews from the critics, was the unmistakable audience favorite. GET LOW was a strong second, but there were lots of votes for WHITE WEDDING, THE SWITCH, THE DRY LAND, THE WILDEST DREAM, and EAT PRAY LOVE. Overall audience satisfaction seemed high this time. In fact, this was one of the few times that not a single person complained about the quality of films selected for the series.

8/17/10

Allan Loeb, the screenwriter of THE SWITCH, was one of the most candid speakers who has ever attended my screenings. He pulled no punches in discussing his conflict with the Miramax executives who softened some of the hard edges in his script in their desire to make the characters more “likable.” When someone asked Allan if he had considered a less “predictable” ending, he revealed that his first idea was that when Jason Bateman finally proposes to Jennifer Aniston, she tells him that she is pregnant as a result of her romance with Patrick Wilson. The film was then meant to end on an idyllic family celebration (not unlike the scene that currently ends the film) with one surprising fly in the ointment: Aniston and Bateman are raising their child, along with a younger boy who looks exactly like Patrick Wilson. Now that would have been an unconventional ending!

8/11/10

Some notes on the audience award: All 11 movies shown in the Spring series received votes from some members of the audience. In fact, while a few people complained about my choice of movies in the spring, I found it interesting that every single movie had first-place votes and a number of second and third-place votes from some members of the audience. The votes were more evenly divided than in most other seasons of Reel Talk–with one exception. The overwhelming favorite of Reel Talk members was the Oscar-winning best foreign film, THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES.

Since this was a bonus screening that not everyone could attend, the support it received was even more impressive. In the winter season, the movie that won the audience award was also a bonus screening–THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO. This may suggest that bonus screenings are a big draw, but it also suggests that people have a taste for complex mystery stories that unfold over a period of years or even decades.

5/31/10

CHLOE intrigued audiences at our screening, and there were more questions than usual for our excellent pannel–producers Ivan Reitman and Tom Pollock and screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson. The mixed reviews for the film are not really surprising. Any strong sexual film inevitably polarizes critics. But don’t believe the critics who describe the film as “silly” or “laughable.” This is a common defense mechanism when critics see a graphic sexual film that makes them uncomfortable. They invariably describe it as ridiculous because they are simply too frightened to confront a serious exploration of a taboo subject.

Members of our audience recognized the truthfulness in the portrayal of an older woman (brilliantly played by Julianne Moore) who fears that she is losing her attractiveness. Ivan Reitman candidly discussed his interest in the subject–his desire to contemplate the staleness that can infect any long-term marriage. When it comes to facing these bold sexual themes, supposedly sophisticated critics like The New York Times’ A.O. Scott and The New Yorker’s Anthony Lane really don’t have a clue.

3/25/10

REEL TALK AUDIENCE AWARD WINTER 2010: Every one of the seven movies I showed this time received votes from some members of the audience. GIRL ON THE TRAIN and VINCERE had less support than the others, but the other five movies all received a substantial number of votes. THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO was, not surprisingly, the first choice, though the victory was more impressive when you realize this was a bonus screening that not everyone was able to attend. NORTH FACE was a strong second, followed by BROKEN PROMISE, NOBODY TO WATCH OVER ME, and THE YELLOW HANDKERCHIEF. Two of these well received movies–BROKEN PROMISE from Slovakia, and NOBODY TO WATCH OVER ME from Japan–have no American distributors and may never be seen in theaters in this country. So I am especially pleased that I was able to expose people to these two fine films.

3/3/10

REEL TALK AUDIENCE AWARD FALL 2009: Every single movie shown during the fall series received votes from some members of the audience, though I must admit there were only a few votes for PARIS, AMELIA, and OH MY GOD. I expected UP IN THE AIR to win the audience award, and indeed it did, but the race was closer than I expected. There was strong support for half a dozen additional movies. THE YOUNG VICTORIA came in a strong second, but THE LAST STATION was only five points behind. There were a a great many votes–including quite a few first-place votes–for SKIN, ME AND ORSON WELLES, THE DAMNED UNITED, and TRUCKER. Although the last three movies shown in the series scored best, I was pleased that so many people remembered the movies screened early on.

12/18/09

The recent death of John Hughes made me remember his appearance at my screening series during the early days when I was doing the program with UCLA Extension. In 1985 Hughes came to discuss THE BREAKFAST CLUB, along with one of the stars of the film, Judd Nelson. You may remember that the film ends with the 5 diverse members of the Breakfast Club, who were suspicious of each other at the outset, forging a rapport. The first question I asked the audience when the film ended was: “How many people think these 5 kids will still be friends on Monday morning?” The audience was pretty divided on that question. I asked Hughes for his answer to the question, and I remember he said, “You have a lot of pessimistic people in this audience.” People’s answer to that question reflected their own philosophy of life, and Hughes made it clear that he believed the friendship the kids formed over the course of one day together would carry over once they re-entered the real cutthroat world of high school. His own optimistic pointof view showed through his answer to that question, and it probably shone through all the movies he made as well.

8/10/09

REEL TALK AUDIENCE AWARD SPRING 2009: All 11 of the movies I showed during the spring series received votes from some members of the audience. Actually, there were a lot of votes for 6 or 7 of the movies, so that was gratifying. But there was a clear favorite: DEPARTURES, which also won the Oscar for best foreign film of 2008. These were the top five choices:

1. DEPARTURES

2. THE SOLOIST

3. LEMON TREE

4. AMERICAN VIOLET

5. THE STONING OF SORAYA M

5/20/09

The turnout for THE STONING OF SORAYA M was a little lighter than usual. No doubt the title scared some people away. And there were a few walkouts during the gruesome stoning sequence at the climax of the film. Given that, the reaction to the film was overhwelmingly positive. Most viewers saw beyond the violence to the film’s pertinent message about the mistreatment of women in fundamentalist societies, and they responded to the power of the filmmaking. Shohreh Aghdashloo, the wonderful actress who was Oscar-nominated for HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG, was particularly eloquent in protesting the human rights absues that have taken place in her native Iran. All of the filmmakers hope that this film will eventually be shown there, even if it’s only via pirated DVDs. The audience was tremendously engaged in the discussion, and more people had questions and comments than we’ve heard in most of our screenings this time.

5/13/09

Our screening of LEMON TREE stimulated some anticipated controversy. This film about a Palestinian widow fighting to hold on to her family’s beloved lemon grove was made by an Israeli director, Eran Riklis. Nonetheless, a few members of the audience considered the movie anti-Israeli. One person said that it neglected to demonstrate the genuine security concerns that motivate the Israeli characters in the film. In fact, a few people wanted to conduct an extended argument with our panelists, who represented a full spectrum of opinions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

A couple of the panelists were more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. Saree Makdisi described the wall as comparable to apartheid, a comment which agitated some members of the audience. On the other hand, Carrie Menkel-Meadow, a legal scholar who was worked in Israel, pointed out that Israeli courts have sometimes sided with Palestinians who lay claim to land held in the occupied territories. Carrie also said that she sees hopeful signs in that younger people whom she has taught in Israel seem much more open-minded than members of an older generation. The film itself ends on a melancholy note that leaves us looking for any sliver of hope.

4/24/09

REEL TALK AUDIENCE AWARD FOR FOREIGN FILM SERIES 2009: In our recently concluded series, all six movies got a lot of votes from the audience. The only one that was at all controversial, surprisingly, was SHALL WE KISS? A few people said they hated that film, though others picked it as their favorite. There were no negative comments about any of the other movies–a welcome change from some past series! PATRIK, AGE 1.5, the final movie in our series, came in first, though THE NECESSITIES OF LIFE, from Canada, was a very close second. The rankings:

1. PATRIK, AGE 1.5 119 votes

2. THE NECESSITIES OF LIFE 111

3. MOSCOW, BELGIUM 90

4. EVERLASTING MOMENTS 76

5. TEAR THIS HEART OUT 62

6. SHALL WE KISS 48

Our bonus screening of PARIS 36 also went over very well. We had a delightful discussion with the director, Christophe Barratier, and the leading actress, Nora Arnezeder, who makes an extraordinary impression in her first starring role. Christophe commented that he wanted some of the musical numbers to evoke the feeling of an old Busby Berkeley musical, and most of the songs had to be pre-recorded because of the elaborate staging. But for the scene where Douce, played by Nora, makes her singing debut, Christophe wanted the singing to be done “live” in order to capture the immediacy of the moment. His decision was astute; it’s a beautiful moment, and a very entertaining movie.

3/13/09

REEL TALK AUDIENCE AWARD FALL 2008: The votes are in, and there’s a clear winner for the audience award: SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. Will the Oscars follow suit? Time will tell. Four movies won the lion’s share of the votes in this fall’s voting: After SLUMDOG, #2 was THE READER, #3 went to THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON, and #4 was THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS. Even though a few people commented that they hated WALTZ WITH BASHIR, that film came in fifth, though it was well behind the top four.

In past series every single movie I showed received votes from some audience members, but this time 10 of the 12 movies had champions, but there were two movies that got no votes at all: BALLAST and THE DUKES. I guess you really, really didn’t like those two! Many people went out of their way to denounce BALLAST.

Obviously I don’t agree, or I wouldn’t have shown it, but I can’t dismiss the audience reaction. This was perhaps the worst reaction to any movie I’ve shown in years. Yet it got rave reviews from many critics and has been nominated for six Independent Spirit Awards. So there’s some disconnect between the critics and the audience with regard to this particular film. You may notice BALLAST is not on my list of the year’s best films, so I am somewhere in between other major critics and the Reel Talk audience. Fascinating to see the different reactions.

12/20/08

WALTZ WITH BASHIR is one of the strongest films of the year, and it encouraged a lot of audience participation in our discussion. I anticipated that the film would be controversial because of its criticism of Israeli involvement in the war in Lebanon in 1982. One woman commented that at a time when there is so much hatred of Israel and of Jews, she did not like to see a film that presented Israel in a negative light. The director, Ari Folman, challenged her and asked if she had such strong feelings why she did not send her own children to fight in Israel. She responded by saying she was not a pampered American Jew but an Egyptian who had been banished from Egypt for being Jewish. The exchange was fascinating, but others immediately jumped in to defend the film as a powerful anti-war testament.

Today I received an e-mail from another member of the audience who praised the film for its brilliant artistry but attacked it for being leftwing propaganda that criticized Israeli soldiers rather than Palestinian terrorists. So this is a film that stirs strong reactions. Many people stayed afterwards to debate the film among themselves in the lobby. How rare to find any film that generates this kind of impassioned discussion.

12/2/08

The screening of THE DUKES this week led to one of the most scintillating evenings we have had at Reel Talk recently. The film itself, the wryly comic story of a band of desperate Doo Wop singers who turn to burglary to reverse their fortunes, is a charming small movie. While it begins awkwardly, it keeps building and develops a great deal of wit and warmth by the time it reaches its rousing conclusion. Some critics have compared the film to the classic Italian comedy about a bungled burglary, BIG DEAL ON MADONNA STREET, and director and co-star Robert Davi confirms the influence of Italian cinema on his life and work. (The Felliniesque score makes these parallels quite explicit.)

The movie is a winner, but the discussion with Davi and co-stars Peter Bogdanovich and Elya Baskin truly turned this into a memorable evening. While they shared anecdotes about the making of the movie, they also regaled the audience with their views of current films and their adventures working with legendary stars like Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando, and Clint Eastwood. One of the highlights was their illuminating dissection of Method acting. Both Davi and Bogdanovich studied with the legendary Stella Adler, and they provided vivid reminiscences of the great acting guru. Adler’s most famous pupil was Brando, and Davi worked with Brando on one of the actor’s last movies, CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. He recalled being invited to Brando’s hotel suite for ice cream, and Brando showed him the long fingernails he wanted to use to play the part of the Spanish inquisitor, Torquemada. Davi used this to illustrate the way in which the best actors rely on both external and internal technique to create their characters. But when Brando asked Davi if the makeup he envisioned might be a little too outlandish for a fairly conventional Hollywood spectacle, Davi conceded that he was probably exercising his skill on the wrong kind of movie.

For his part Bogdanovich railed against the emptiness of today’s special effects extravaganzas, to the cheers of the audience. He also dished some of the actors he has directed, including Cher and Timothy Bottoms, the young star of THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, who kept flubbing one of the picture’s key lines of dialogue. The director said he generally preferred working with new actors like Tatum O’Neal (who won an Oscar for Peter’s PAPER MOON), Madeline Kahn, and John Ritter. But Bogdanovich had nothing but praise for Audrey Hepburn, whom he directed in one of her last movies, the underrated THEY ALL LAUGHED. “Audrey was not a diva,” he said, contrasting her to some of the other self-important stars he encountered. Bogdanovich waxed nostalgic about the era of the late 60s and early 70s, when he got his start as a director. “Working on Robert’s movie took me back to those days,” Bogdanovich said.

10/29/08

The votes are in for the audience award for this summer’s Reel Talk series. All eight movies shown received votes from some members of the Reel Talk audience. And the winner is: FROZEN RIVER. THE TRAP came in second, and the next three movies were not far behind: SIXTY SIX, TOWELHEAD, and BOTTLE SHOCK. I am especially proud of having shown FROZEN RIVER and THE TRAP, and I’m delighted that Reel Talk members responded so strongly to both movies. No other screening series in town showed FROZEN RIVER, and not only did we show the movie, but we had the two stars and the writer-director for our discussion. THE TRAP will probably not be released theatrically in Los Angeles at all, so I am pleased that we were able to screen it with the director, Srdan Golubovic, who traveled all the way from Belgrade for our screening. Thanks to everyone for joining us. I look forward to more great movies in the fall!

8/17/08

Our screening of SIXTY SIX on Monday may have elicited the warmest response of any movie shown in the current series. No doubt this was the perfect audience for this particular movie. When director Paul Weiland asked how many people in the theater were Jewish, he was a bit startled when about 3/4 of members of the audience raised their hands. (For the record, others seemed to be equally captivated by the movie.) As one person commented, the movie did a great job of balancing and more emotional moments. The LA Times clearly sent the wrong person, one Michael Ordona, to review this movie. He just didn’t get it the way the Reel Talk audience obviously did.

It was fun to meet the leading actor, Gregg Sulkin, who has grown up since making the movie a couple of years ago. He’s in Hollywood to meet with studios, and it’s easy to see him as the next young heartthrob. Too bad the Harry Potter movies have already been cast. The kid could have been a contender. He made it clear that there was real acting involved in playing the nerdy Bernie in the film. In reality Gregg is a star soccer player, so it wasn’t easy for him to impersonate the last geek chosen. Weiland obviously sensed an innate talent when he selected Gregg, who had never acted before, after a lengthy search.

Paul has pointed out that the movie is at least semi-autobiographical. His own bar mitzvah did indeed take place on the same day that England aced the World Cup in 1966. One member of the audience revealed that he was at the match at Wembley Stadium, and the movie stirred a lot of memories for him. Paul noted sardonically that history repeated itself when SIXTY SIX opened in England the same day as BORAT. Still, it caught on in England and hopefully will find an audience in America. When someone asked how he expected the movie to play in Des Moines, Iowa, Paul claimed to have never heard of such a place.

8/6/08

After the discussion of FROZEN RIVER, it was inspiring to hear Melissa Leo talk about her struggles as an actor. After working for close to 30 years, it was gratifying to her finally to land a leading role of grit and substance. I remember hosting a discussion of THE VISITOR a few months ago when Richard Jenkins made exactly the same point. He said he had been waiting his whole life for a role like the one he was finally offered in THE VISITOR. Now he seems like a good bet for end-of-the- year critics’ awards and maybe an Oscar nod as well. It’s possible that Leo may repeat the pattern. The critics have always recognized her talents, and now they at last have a chance to anoint her for a starring role. It’s interesting that both FROZEN RIVER and THE VISITOR deal with the subject of illegal immigration, though in FROZEN RIVER the focus is not on the immigrants. These are two movies that actually have some social and political consciousness.

THE VISITOR has more humor, but in my view it’s an even bleaker movie than FROZEN RIVER. Although some see it differently, I found the ending of Jenkins playing the drums in a subway station to be an image of utter desolation and desperation. FROZEN RIVER, by contrast, offers a glimmer of hope at the end in its suggestion of newly formed families and friendships. Both movies are among the strongest of the year. It was great to have a panel of three smart, impassioned women–Melissa, co-star Misty Upham, and writer-director Courtney Hunt. Misty appreciated the script’s three- dimensional portrayal of Native American characters. It sounded as if she and Melissa had something of the same fractious relationship offscreen that they embodied onscreen. But they clearly came away from the experience with a great deal of mutual respect.

7/22/08

We had another great discussion this week after the screening of IN SEARCH OF A MIDNIGHT KISS. I discovered this movie at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2007, and the film’s director, Alex Holdridge, and producer, Seth Caplan, said that our response after that screening provided a major boost for them. We saw the movie as part of one of our film festival tours. I invited the filmmakers and cast members to join us for breakfast at Landmarc restaurant in Tribeca, and the dozen members of our group welcomed them with applause and ecstatic comments.

The Reel Talk response was just as enthusiastic, confirming that this movie made by a group of twentysomethings has an appeal that extends way beyond that age range. Alex amazed the audience when he reported that the movie was shot for $12,000 in 2006. Eventually they spent a bit more when they reshot a few scenes and did the final edit and 35 mm transfer. But the audience was astounded by the quality that could be achieved on the most minuscule budget. The key to a good movie is the writing, and the wit and perception in Alex’s script clearly made up for any budgetary limitations.

The actors and filmmakers had all known each other since their student days in Austin, Texas, and they were eager to work together. Sara Simmonds, the lovely actress who plays the feisty female lead in the film, commented that at first they thought they were just making an enjoyable home movie. But her view changed when she saw the first day’s rushes and appreciated the visual beauty in Alex’s portrayal of Los Angeles on film. Indeed the movie’s black-and-white photography is a major asset, and the visual evocation of downtown Los Angeles ranks with the most memorable portrayals of the city of angels on celluloid.

One audience member even suggested that the movie should be shown to members of the Los Angeles Conservancy, and Alex reported that the Conservancy is hosting the movie’s LA premiere at the Orpheum Theatre in August. Ironically, Alex and Seth reported that they had to sneak into the theater when they shot the film, pretending that the actors were auditioning for a reality TV dance show that was holding auditions there. One of the most rewarding aspects of Reel Talk is being able to expose unheralded movies to audiences who might never seek out the films on their own. The warm response of the audience was gratifying to me as well as to the filmmakers.

7/16/08

Tonight’s screening of THE TRAP turned out to be a high point of the series, thanks to the participation of director Srdan Golubovic. Srdan traveled from Belgrade to attend the screening, and he said it was his first attendance at a screening of his film in the U.S. THE TRAP was one of the nine semi-finalists for the best foreign language Oscar of 2007, and some of us felt it should have been one of the five nominees. It’s a powerful moral drama, with some similarities to the recent Woody Allen movie, CASSANDRA’S DREAM, but far more compelling.

Although Srdan apologized for not knowing a few English words, his passion came through most eloquently in the discussion following the screening. He lamented the current state of Serbian society, particularly the huge divide between rich and poor. “There is no middle class in Serbia today,” he declared. Sounds an awful lot like George W. Bush’s America. And the plot of the movie, which hinges on a father’s desperate actions when his insurance refuses to pay for his son’s operation, could easily happen in this country. Some have even talked about an American remake of THE TRAP.

While Srdan would like to make a movie in Hollywood–as he commented, “Any director who says he does not want to work in Hollywood is lying”–he is clearly deeply invested in the life in his country. He attributes many of the problems to the years of warfare that wracked the Balkans in the 90s, and he spoke eloquently about the far-reaching and devastating consequences of war on the soul of a nation. Once again, the theme resonates in our lives as well.

6/30/08

THEATER NOTES

WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY is the best new musical I’ve seen since MEMPHIS, which won the Tony award last year. I saw both musicals at the La Jolla Playhouse, though I can’t say every show I’ve seen there has been stellar. Last fall’s LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE was a stiff, far inferior to the movie that inspired it.

WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY, by contrast, is a true original. It transposes the Sleeping Beauty myth to a present-day sleep disorder clinic, and its interweaving of classical fairy tale motifs and contemporary satiric riffs is often inspired. The show has a light, comic touch, but it also has moments of emotional power as it examines timeless themes of parental overprotectiveness, feminist yearnings, and the terror as well as the promise of love. Maybe the first act is more exciting than the second (a common problem with musicals), but the music is stirring, and the performers have the soaring voices to do it justice. I hope to see this show duplicate MEMPHIS’s success on Broadway.

8/24/11

When Arthur Laurents died on May 5, many of the commentators discussed his famous prickly personality along with his achievements. My first encounters with Laurents didn’t reveal that side of the man. He wrote me very nice notes after my reviews of THE WAY WE WERE and THE TURNING POINT. I appreciated the compliments, and as a result, I did my own research on Laurents and decided that he wasn’t really getting his due from critics of the 1970s. A playwright, screenwriter, librettist and director who had conquered Broadway as well as Hollywood, he was undervalued at that point in his career. That changed in later years when he outlived most of his collaborators and directed revivals of his most famous musicals, WEST SIDE STORY and GYPSY, when he was in his 90s. I met Laurents only once, when I was doing research for HOLLYWOOD ON THE COUCH. I read something that led me to believe that he might have some interesting insights into psychoanalysis in Hollywood, and he did not disappoint.

We had a long conversation at his apartment in the Village, and then I discovered the delightfully bitchy and gossipy side of him that others had noted. He was honest about his own experiences on the couch, but he also dished plenty of dirt about others–stars as well as shrinks. He asked me to sign a paper promising that I would let him approve his quotes before the book was published, but he asked for only a couple of minor word changes when I sent him the manuscript. Surprisingly, since he was known to be openly gay, he asked me to change one use of the word “acerbic,” because he felt that was code for gay. I contacted Laurents a couple of times after that. When I saw his play, JOLSON SINGS AGAIN, in Seattle, I wrote him a note telling him how much I had enjoyed it. (Once again, he had been underrated by the critics.)

When I saw a preview performance of his musical disaster, NICK AND NORA, I actually called him and tried gingerly to make a few suggestions and offer a little encouragement. He was polite, but I think he knew by then that the game was up. I re-evaluated Laurents after reading his autobiography, ORIGINAL STORY BY, in 2000. Even though I had championed him for years, this book disappointed me. It was disheveled and disorganized, and it was a truly nasty piece of work. I was dismayed by the unredeemed viciousness of so many of his comments, perhaps because I knew some of the people he was trashing. His comments on Sydney Pollack, the director of THE WAY WE WERE, were scathing but unfair. At one point he tried to prove the idiocy of Pollack and Robert Redford by talking about one of the love scenes in the movie. The first time they make love, Redford’s Hubbell Gardner is drunk, and Streisand’s Katie Morosky is not sure he even knows who she is or that he remembers what happened. For their second love scene, when their affair has begun in earnest, Laurents had written a line for Hubbell: “It’ll be better this time.”

But Redford and Pollack wouldn’t include the line, and Laurents blamed it on the star’s vanity and the director’s weakness: “Someone was trying to say Robert Redford couldn’t be better: he was always good,” Laurents wrote in his book. Actually, the movie is much better without that line. Laurents doesn’t like ambiguity; he wants to hit every nail on the head. Pollack and Redford realized the film was more interesting if we weren’t entirely sure whether Hubbell remembered their first sexual encounter. After reading Laurents’ book, my view of the author changed, and I moved from being a passionate defender of an underappreciated artist to a disinterested observer mildly amused by Laurents’ venomousness as well as by his amazing longevity. I couldn’t help being tickled by a comment attributed to Harvey Fierstein at Laurents’ 85th birthday: “Only the good die young.”

5/7/11

Ben Brantley of The New York Times has pronounced the current theater season as one of the strongest in many years. Having just returned from a New York theater binge, I’m scratching my head. I certainly saw a number of intriguing plays, but the overall impression is one of disappointment. Theater critics are starved for quality, so they tend to overrate moderately interesting or enterprising productions. I saw nothing that even came close to THE HISTORY BOYS or THE COAST OF UTOPIA, two of the Tony-winning plays of recent years that truly deserved their accolades. No musical performance dazzled me as Hugh Jackman in THE BOY FROM OZ did a few years ago, and this year’s musicals could not measure up to AVENUE Q or IN THE HEIGHTS, other recent winners.

To start with the worst first, BILLY ELLIOTT is mind-bogglingly mediocre. Stephen Daldry’s movie is exhilarating, but the stage version adds absolutely nothing to the movie. The Elton John songs are completely undistinguished, and Daldry doesn’t seem to have the flair for musical staging of some of his British peers. When the young Billy and his adult counterpart–a superb dancer from the New York City Ballet– perform a pas de deux to the music from Swan Lake, the show rises to a whole different level, simply because of the quality of the music. Of course it may not be fair to compare Elton John to Tchaikovsky, but that’s the risk you take when you let audiences listen to something better than Muzak.

The actors perform well, and the show jerks a few tears simply because of the strength of the original material. But it’s a surprisingly flat evening in the theater. In terms of drama, GOD OF CARNAGE is an entertaining tour de force for the superb quartet of James Gandolfini, Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, and Marcia Gay Harden. But the play itself seems fairly slight compared to Reza’s earlier plays, ART and THE UNEXPECTED MAN. It doesn’t resonate as those plays did; it’s a fairly superficial exercise in venom–the theatrical equivalent of a cinematic catfight.

I preferred Neil Labute’s REASONS TO BE PRETTY. This play left me with a lot more to mull when the lights came on. Not everything was tied up neatly; I found myself questioning the actions of the characters, which made for a deeply involving experience. Labute’s writing is always razor-sharp, but this time, he touched some emotional depths as well. The characters come alive in a way that the boors and harpies of GOD OF CARNAGE never quite managed to do. And I personally found Thomas Sadoski’s performance one of the highlights of the Broadway season. Don’t expect my choices to win the Tonys. The voters will probably go for the box office successes. Business as usual on Broadway.

6/5/09

One of the most enjoyable performances I’ve seen recently was the REPRISE production of I LOVE MY WIFE at the Brentwood Theatre. This seems to me exactly the kind of revival that REPRISE was designed to offer. Although I’ve seen a lot of musicals, I was unfamiliar with this one, so I was curious to check it out. While the comedy about swingers in the 70s is definitely of its period, and predictably tame, the Cy Coleman music is fun, and the whole production is exhilarating. The four lead actors–Jason Alexander, Patrick Cassidy, Lea Thompson, and Vicki Lewis–have the musical chops to make the show sizzle, and the four musicians–who double as singers–add to the impudent mood. After speaking to the bass player, I learned this was the way the show had been performed on Broadway in 1977, but I can’t imagine that it could have been performed any better than it was at the Brentwood Theatre. The musicians moved in and out of the action with breathtaking ease. This show itself may not be a pinnacle of musical theater, but the production is a knockout.

This was not, however, an opinion shared by the LA Times theater critic, Charles McNulty, who trashed the show in today’s paper. It was an outrageously unfair review. McNulty didn’t even mention the four musicians, who add so considerably to the irreverent bounce of the production. Anyone who’s been reading McNulty for the last couple of years knows that he’s notoriously hard on lively entertainment while exalting a lot of esoterica. This is the privilege of the critic, God knows, but McNulty has been to my mind a consistently unreliable arbiter. Worse, he fails to make a convincing case for his perverse preferences. The LA Times has been decimating its critical ranks recently. Isn’t it time for McNulty to make the cut?

12/8/08

After the Saturday matinee performance of XANADU at the La Jolla Playhouse, I overheard an older woman say to her companion, “Well, it’s no MAMMA MIA.” That’s a good thing. I missed XANADU on Broadway, but this new incarnation, directed by Christopher Ashley, who also directed it in New York, is a hoot. I can’t say that I have strong memories of the Olivia Newton-John movie, but this film riffs not just on that legendary camp disaster but on all the cultural mistakes of the 80s. The lead character, Sonny (charmingly played by Max von Essen), is an aspiring artist who is blissfully ignorant of all artistic events that transpired before the birth of disco. Douglas Carter Beane’s delightful book skewers many of the fads of the roller disco era with sly wit. The show even has a serviceable plot, which is more than you can say for many contemporary musicals. The songs are about at the level of the ABBA repertoire, but they’re rousingly performed by an expert ensemble. All in all, this is one of the most pleasing musical entertainments that I’ve seen lately.

11/24/08

TV NOTES

The season finale of ENTOURAGE has to rank as the worst series finale in the history of television. How did a series that started out so sharp and edgy end on such a stupefyingly soggy note? This was a series at its best that was known for its biting wit, not for its big bleeding heart. Yet the ending went for unbelievable sentimentality in resolving all of the story lines. Do we really want to see weddings, pregnancy, and cloying family reconciliations at the conclusion of a series about the cheerfully cutthroat world of Hollywood. The series has been going downhill for some time, which is no doubt why they decided to bring it to a close. But I wouldn’t have guessed that such rank sentimentality would overtake this once acerbic series. I guess Mark Wahlberg wants us to know that he and his buddies are sweetie pies after all is said and done. And the sun will come out tomorrow, blah blah blah. What were they thinking???

9/12/11

With the Emmy awards approaching, I have to put in a word for my favorite show, BREAKING BAD. MAD MEN, a good but not great show, has won two years in a row. It’s time to spread the wealth. BREAKING BAD has gotten steadily better during its three years on the air, and it’s now one of the most daring and compelling TV series ever produced. It’s up there with THE SOPRANOS, and frankly, during the last season, I think it’s actually surpassed that TV landmark. The show has steadily darkened in tone, and it’s also become almost unbearably suspenseful. The episode “The Fly,” which consisted of a duet between the two lead actors, Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, must be one of the best hours ever seen on television. Cranston has deservedly won two Emmys, and this year, Paul matched him with a devastatingly poignant portrayal. The twisted father-son relationship that develops between these two drug dealers is quite unlike anything I’ve seen in other series, and it built to a cliffhanger ending that was breathtaking in its boldness and terrifying moral anguish. Will Emmy voters see the light? We can hope.

7/30/10