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Where The Crawdads Sing

I’ve seen what I think are Oscar Contenders this year and it’s not even November/December when they are eagerly trying to get their films in under the wire to be in on Oscar eligibility. So far I’ve seen Death On The Nile and Elvis and this film. 

So my 3rd Oscar contender is this film. Great story, with a fantastic plot twist at the end. Where the Crawdads Sing. Great performances throughout by not easily recognizable faces. That’s what I liked; it wasn’t the usual blah blah blah. I couldn’t tell you who any of the actors were. And that made this fresh for me. 

It actually stars Daisy Edgar Jones as the "Marsh Girl." And there's a good guy Tate played by Taylor John Smith, and a bad guy played by Harris Dickerson. But perhaps the greatest performance perhaps David Strathairn as Marsh Girl Clark's attorney. Reminesent of Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird. Daisy Edgar Marsh deserved this major break and now she's off and running. We are going to see her a lot from now on. David Strathairn was amazing. You've seen him dozens of times before and he's always good, but he did a great job here. 

For fear of any kind of spoiler that is all I’ll say. But for fear it’s a chick flick it’s not. Reminded me a little of my second favorite film of all time, To Kill A Mockingbird. 

Just a heads up if you’re thinking of going to the movies but don’t know what to see. 

Grade: A-

Joker

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Joker

No masks, no hoodies, no sunglasses, on and on was the sign that greeted us at our local theater in small-town America and this was not on the door because of the newest Disney movie.

Joker is not an easy film to review. Because it is a complicated delve into the psychosis and mental illness of this delusional man and then also touches upon the failures of a system that would prefer to lock up the ill rather than treat them.

This is a look into the downward spiral of a man who has suddenly been neglected by the system. Budget cuts don't you know. He lives with his mother and she is ill.

But this is the perfect back story to the Batman character Joker. Portrayed magnificently by Joaquin Phoenix who can always make the screen his own playground. He has deftly morphed from Johnny Cash, and the lonely man in Her, to this complicated character. Some may complain that there wasn't enough action, things blowing up, and exploding, but that will happen later. This is how The Joker came to be.

It adds layers of complexity to a character some may have written off as just another criminal with a gimmick, giving himself a clown face and so on. But no. So much deeper than that.

I for one, now have even more respect for Heath Ledger's  uncanny portrayal of this character because it all makes more sense now.

I would recommend this film, but not if you just want another boring superhero movie. This is levels above that.

I think there may be an Oscar nod for Joaquin and although he may not win, this performance is worthy of a nomination.


Grade: B

Blinded By The Light

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'Blinded By The Light' is a Bruce Springsteen song from his first album "Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J." His music was great from the beginning but it was so different that it took awhile for it to sink in and begin provoking thoughts and eventually establish itself at the big boys table. As John Stewart said in his opening remarks at Springsteens Kennedy Center Honors induction, he believed that Bob Dylan and James Brown had a baby - and that baby was Bruce Springsteen.

So fast forward a few years. In London a Pakistani kid is struggling through a crazy environment of a town and country that doesn't want him, and an extremely oppressive Father. He doesn't have much luck with girls. In fact there is a scene where a friend of his tells him there will be a girl at the party that may go for him. His girlfriend chimes in 'she's not fussy.' And he's thrilled.

A different friend at school turns him on to Springsteen saying this is the guy that gets what we are going through. He takes the cassettes and puts them in his backpack and forgets about them for a few days. And then after a particularly frustrating row with his domineering father, he goes to his room notices the tapes, and puts one in his walkman. And it is an awakening.

As he continues to listen to Springsteen he becomes more and more entrenched and starts having urges to stand up for himself in the community and at home. And his passion for Springsteen and the music continues to grow.

The film uses interesting techniques such as putting the lyrics on buildings as he walks past as the music is playing through his headphones. That often happens in the film as he is in a situation and the Springsteen lyrics in his headphones fit it perfectly. This happened bordering on hokey. But not quite.

However the fact that India the second largest movie audience in the world, loves their dance numbers and there is a misguided scene that borders on a dance number but not all the way, still the hint is there. And his quoting the lyrics constantly becomes nearly over the top. But this is a true story after all.

Finally he and the kid that turned him onto Bruce got to come to America to visit Bruce's hometown. And it's the thrill of his life.

In real life, he has seen Bruce in concert over 150 times [in concert is where Bruce is the superstar], and has met Bruce on many occasions. Stay for the credits and you'll see photos from his trip to Freehold, New Jersey and pictures of him with the Boss.

This is a fun film but not a great film. It touches on hokey too often. I think it's better than Yesterday, but there won't be any Oscar nominations coming for this one. But still I think I may have to buy this one.

Grade: B

 Entertainment

People like to be entertained. And we are so bombarded with entertainment today that we don't know where to turn half the time. But back in the 1880s they didn't have recorded music, movies, TV, smart cell phones, telephones, facebook, youtube, netflix, hulu, or amazon prime.

I'm reading a book about Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft. I learned that Taft's future wife used to hold things called salons once a week. They would announce a topic each week that would be discussed next week and everyone would go to the library and learn as much about the topic as they could to be able discuss it intelligently at the next salon. Can you imagine that as your only source of entertainment? Topics were broad, varied and interesting. So people not only entertained themselves, they got smarter.

Their alternative was card games and other games. Or picnics or nature walks. And of course this was the perfect atmosphere for PT Barnum to create his circus. The most loved pastime was reading. Can you imagine? People getting smarter for entertainment?

I guess what I'm trying to observe is that I feel like everybody staring at their phones and Facebook all day are getting dumber. God help us all.

Yesterday

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I was able to see the film Yesterday today and as a die hard Beatles fan I was dying to see it.

The premise was fun. There is a power outage all over the world and after that, no one remembers The Beatles. No one except musician Jack Malik. So after he recovers from an accident his manager gives him a beautiful guitar to replace the one that was wrecked in the accident. So he plays her Yesterday. She says something like when did you write that? And he answers, "I didn't write it, Paul McCartney wrote it. The Beatles." And everyone says, "Who?"

So after he investigates he realizes there is no history of The Beatles ever. So he decides to go for it. And he starts cranking out Beatles tunes and getting all the credit. He'a becoming a mega-star. But it always gnaws at his conscious that this wasn't his stuff.

So who doesn't love the music? And it's performed very well. Even Eleanor Rigby on the acoustic guitar when in fact there was only a string quartet playing on that track.

But here are my problems with it. It was cut a bit fat. I keep thinking "get on with it." It dragged a lot. A lot.

Also the whole romantic thing took way too long to materialize. And the first performance of "Let It Be" with the parents and their constant interruptions was funny for a little bit but it dragged on too long. And along his meteoric rise there were a lot of memorable moments, although too many. There are a lot of other problems with this.

Finally there is a roof top concert and he [*spoiler*] he comes clean.
The ending was great but it took too long to get there.

Grade: B+ [mostly for the John scene]

Speculation

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I haven't posted in quite a while, and as I've gone through all of the drafts I meant to post about TV, I haven't posted much at all. But let me just say one of the things I have been most excited about in the last couple years is The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. The end of the second fantastic season left us with a lot of interesting ideas.

Midge is going on an extensive tour of Europe with Shy Baldwin. He is the Johnny Mathis character. So this is a big deal. Suzie is excited but is carrying a big secret.

Susie has agreed to manage Sophie Lennon and she will pull Sophie out of comedy and get her in some dramatic spot on Broadway, eventually making a big splash in Long Days Journey Into Night or some such thing.

Learning that Suzie is managing Sophie will undoubtedly create tension between Midge and Susie.

Joel has been given an unusual sum of money and instead of buying a house, will realize that his real  place in comedy isn't the stage, but rather owning a comedy club.

The Doctor fiancé will ultimately get screwed over in this deal because Midge isn't smart enough to realize where her true best interests lie. She has a messed up opinion that Joel is her anchor. This will ultimately be her downfall down the road.

Midge's Parents will assume parental opportunities for Midge's children as Midge tours Europe. Papa will deal with the fact others where he teaches hate him, and he agrees to take an early Sabbatical. Midge's Mama will still be trying to relocate to Paris and they very well might.

Midge will persuade Lenny Bruce to appear in Joel's club a lot, and she will, and between the two of them, they'll make the place a hit. And then Lenny gets unfunny ranting abut his legal struggles on stage, and dies.

These are my guesses, and if I'm remotely in the ballpark, what a season that will be.

The Greatest Showman

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I don't like musicals. Since in 1967 or 68, when producers totally trashed the musical Oliver! and then they put out the worst piece of garbage ever put on film, a musical I love and they wiped their ass with it on screen. Not only do I hate it, I want everyone who produced it to die of painful cancer in their eyes.

So I never go to musicals. So the wife took me to The Greatest Showman, and just after the star and director thank you for coming on screen the movie starts to roll and my beautiful wife leans over and says, "You know this is a musical right?" She waited because she knew I'd never to go if I knew.

And then it started. This is a total masterpiece. The poses of Jackman in the beginning were perfect. And then the music. Masterful. Every song, one after another, superb. And a great story to boot. Zack Efron is fantastic. The whole cast is spot on. Including the Jenny Lind character and even the kids who played Barnum and his wife as kids.

I bought the soundtrack and listen to it most of the time. We own the Blue-Ray and even after we did, I went and saw it in the theater anyway. Who knew Hugh Jackman could sing like this? Probably many people, but I didn't.

I love the Youtube videos of Jackman singing before he was medically allowed to and as he's singing he starts bleeding from his cancer surgery scars on his nose, but he was so dedicated he had to jump in out of excitement for the project.

I think this was the best film I've seen since Hidden Figures and I was certain that it was going to sweep the Oscars in every category. But what happened? It was ignored. And that put the stamp of death on the Oscars for me. It's not just that they ignored this masterful film, it's that they gave the best picture nod to an absolutely horrible film about a women who falls for a fish.

Oh wait. It wasn't entirely ignored. There was a song nominated. And near the end of the Oscar broadcast This Is Me was performed by the cast member and it brought the house down. And then that gave it to that cute little song from Coco. Not nearly on the same level as This Is Me.

So The Greatest Showman is an absolutely wonderful film. I couldn't recommend it more.

Grade: A+