The Great Gatsby
Monday, April 28, 2014
INTERMISSION
Darling Readers:
I have compiled and edited all of my columns from my heyday of writing film reviews so that they may be savored and enjoyed by others. These columns were originally written for a consumer review site, Epinions.com and appeared between 2000 and 2006 at odd intervals. With the demise of Epinions this year, friends requested that I save these little musings of mine so I have placed them all here in chronological order. (They'll make the most sense if you go to the end of this blog and read them in reverse). I have also been engaged by a new website, www.movierewind.com as a regular columnist and will be providing them with a review a week for the foreseeable future. As these new columns are being housed by the fine folks there, I will not be posting them here, but I will post links so that you can click through and continue to enjoy my tasteful Hollywood life and my thoughts on the state of the modern cinema.
Kisses,
MNM
I have compiled and edited all of my columns from my heyday of writing film reviews so that they may be savored and enjoyed by others. These columns were originally written for a consumer review site, Epinions.com and appeared between 2000 and 2006 at odd intervals. With the demise of Epinions this year, friends requested that I save these little musings of mine so I have placed them all here in chronological order. (They'll make the most sense if you go to the end of this blog and read them in reverse). I have also been engaged by a new website, www.movierewind.com as a regular columnist and will be providing them with a review a week for the foreseeable future. As these new columns are being housed by the fine folks there, I will not be posting them here, but I will post links so that you can click through and continue to enjoy my tasteful Hollywood life and my thoughts on the state of the modern cinema.
Kisses,
MNM
Dreamgirls
WE'LL MAKE YOU HAPPY
Where does the time go? No sooner do I get one
project tied up than a dozen others come down around my perfectly coiffed head,
burying me up to the tops of my size six Capezio character tap shoes. It's very
annoying. Pre-production work on my new film project, Flaming Desire, the musical remake of Die Hard has slowed over the usual and inevitable creative
differences. Wardrobe presented me with a gown for the difficult escape by
helicopter from the roof sequence that made me look like a refugee from
Anatevka, not a glamorous international business icon. I tried it on, looked in
the mirror and I could have sworn it was Lazar Wolf looking back.
While the film is at a low ebb, I am continuing to
look at other opportunities to use my many talents. My publicist has suggested
that I should join the current pack of junior celebs headed by Paris Hilton,
Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan. Normy and I thought this would be a marvelous
idea so we headed off to Chateau Marmont where we settled ourselves into the
bar. We didn't have long to wait before Britney came in with a couple of her
young lady friends. I squealed Britney as loud as I could and hustled my way
across the room, but one of my taps caught on the edge of an ill-placed throw
rug and I fell straight into the arms of a rather burly security guard. By the
time I recovered, she had left the building. The paparazzi photograph shot up
my skirt that landed on Page Six was not flattering.
Normy and I decided not to wait for Lindsay Lohan to
make an appearance and instead headed for the Cineplex where we caught a
showing of Dreamgirls starring Jamie Foxx, Beyonce, Jennifer Hudson and Eddie
Murphy. I had thoroughly enjoyed the stage production some years ago (and had a
few meetings with Michael Bennett over starring in a film version at that time.
Our concept was that all three of the Dreams, Effie, Deena and Lorell were
aspects of the same personality and that I should play all three roles). Alas,
that project never came to fruition and we have all had to wait for several
decades for a suitable film to arrive.
The wait has been worth it. Writer/director Bill
Condon, who adapted Chicago to film
several years ago with director Rob Marshall, has again managed to find a way
to present musical material to a post modern audience so that they will find it
engaging and entertaining rather than quaint and stilted. After the relative
failures of Rent, The Phantom of the Opera and The Producers as films, I was relieved
to find that my chosen genre is still capable of being an exhilarating
experience in the correct hands.
Dreamgirls
is loosely based on the rise of The Supremes and Motown records during the 60s
and early 70s, as it chronicles the lives and loves of three young women from
naive girls from the wrong side of the Detroit tracks to international singing
superstars. The three are Effie (Jennifer Hudson), a tempermental diva with a
powerhouse voice and overly zaftig figure, Deena (Beyonce Knowles), a somewhat
timid beauty and Lorell (Anika Noni Rose), the spitfire comic relief. One
evening, they appear at an amateur night talent competition. Would be
impresario Curtis Taylor (Jamie Foxx) catches their act and recognizes that
they will be his way into the music business. He arranges them to sing back-up
for established star James 'Thunder' Early (Eddie Murphy), engages Effie's
brother C.C. (Keith Robinson) to help him make a new kind of musical sound and
soon the Dreams are born, but not without cost to all of the characters,
especially Effie who is shunted aside as both lead singer and lover by Curtis
in favor of Deena who has a more appealing look and blander voice. Bitter
fights and recriminations ensue but there's eventually an uplifting
reconciliation or two in the final reel.
Henry Krieger's original Broadway score, a pastiche
of Motown and midcentury soul/R&B numbers, is augmented by a few new tunes
by the composer to keep the movie flowing. Condon, as director, has wisely
recognized the difference between stage and film musical. A stage musical needs
pauses to let an audience reflect and digest the emotional moment. Film
musicals must constantly move forward. Any musical moment that does not further
plot or character development is wasted and a modern audience's attention span
won't stand for it. Condon has taken and shaped the original material with
judicious trims and interpolations into a constantly moving texture of music
and image that carries us through the ten years of the plot, allowing us to
interact with the leading characters, but also to reflect on the greater
changes occuring in American society with the final ascendancy of
African-American culture to full recognition.
The original Broadway production, long renowned for
its constantly moving cinematic staging was set in a neverland of neon lights
and moving pillars. The film is set in an all too real Detroit and Hollywood
with costumes (Sharen Davis) and production design (John Myhre) recreating the
world of Motown (here called Rainbow Records) in full detail. To get us into
this world, the film uses music only in concert sequences for the first fifteen
or twenty minutes. Gradually, characters start to sing off-stage about their
lives and we are ready for this due to the assured direction of Condon who
brings us into traditional musical territory slowly and deftly, without any of
the usual 'that's so unreal' that prevents the suspension of disbelief with
musicals.
Performances are excellent all the way around.
Beyonce is gorgeously photographed and made up and exquisitely lovely to look
at. If she's not the greatest of dramatic actresses, the script doesn't make
too many demands on her. The revelation and emotional heart of the story belong
to Jennifer Hudson, the former American Idol finalist who brings heft, sass,
and a huge belt to Effie. The core moment of the story, her 'And I'm Telling
You I'm Not Going' thrills in the film, in similar ways to Jennifer Holliday's
original stage performance. Jamie Foxx is appropriately slimy as Curtis and
Keith Robinson shines in the underwritten part of C.C. Eddie Murphy, who could
very easily have fallen into his old schtick, actually delivers a decent
dramatic performance as the star on the skids, quite restrained in the second
half of the film as his career and his life collapse around him.
Dreamgirls is hugely entertaining, exceedingly well
crafted, and definitely worth the $8.00 at the cineplex in a town near you.
Multiple
wigs. Sequin dresses. Gratuitous Jackson 5 reference. Oversize
album covers. Seedy club. Alley strutting. Vintage telephones. Vintage
microphones. Vintage radios. Gratuitous Lady
Sings the Blues reference.
Happy Feet
TAP YOUR TROUBLES AWAY
Happy belated turkey day wishes to all of my fans out there in
the dark. I just haven't had a moment to myself for weeks, what with preparing
my new musical film remake of Die Hard and seeing to my other
business ventures, not to mention the busy social calendar. Why, just last week
I was the guest of honor at the opening of the newest Lane Bryant in Tarzana.
Why they chose me for the ribbon cutting ceremony, I cannot be sure as I could
not possibly look stunning in most of their clothing but a paying job is a
paying job, as my agent is fond of telling me.
Normy and I spent the long holiday weekend at home at Chateau Maine. We had a lovely little catered luncheon for a few of the Hollywood old guard who are still around. Nice round helpings of turkey a la Vicki all served up by catering staff in these tasteful little turquoise sequined pilgrim outfits. After the meal, we gathered round the Steinway and sang some of the old songs and had an impromptu contest to see who could created the best night club act using only items in the room. Doris Day won. She had brought along some of her dogs from Carmel and they yodeled the choruses of 'The Lonely Goatherd' with her. There was no way my tapping on top of the piano to Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto was going to compete.
We did get to the cinema over the weekend. Our first stop was, of course, at the new dance film, Happy Feet from director George Miller starring a lot of penguins who deliver more rock'em-sock'em musical numbers in ninety minutes than Nicole Kidman and Ewan Macgregor managed in two and a quarter hours of Moulin Rouge. I was attached to this project briefly, several years ago, when the protagonist was going to be a female penguin named Mumbelina and it was to be a live action film with the actors in large plush costumes. I left the project when they went another way over the usual creative differences.
Happy Feet is part children's musical fantasy and part ecology lesson, taking place in the Antarctic amongst the emperor penguins made famous by last year's documentary, March of the Penguins. Penguin Memphis (voiced by Hugh Jackman as a two bit Elvis impersonator) meets penguin Norma Jean (voiced by Nicole Kidman as a drag queen Marilyn Monroe) and from the mating comes an egg which eventually produces Mumble (voiced by Elijah Wood who seems to have loaned his preternatural blue eyes and beatific smile to the animators - tap moves by dance genius Savion Glover in a motion capture suit). Mumble, as a penguin, is different. While the other penguins sing elaborate choruses and musical numbers and are encouraged to find their heart song, he can only emit off-key squeaks. Instead, he has the titular 'Happy Feet', tapping up a storm from the moment he leaves the egg. This aberration is considered heretical by the colony's leaders (led by a curmudgeonly old penguin voiced by Hugo Weaving) who loom over the other birds like a bevy of old puritan prelates, using the rod to keep their flock in line. Mumble, who doesn't seem to mature as the other penguins do, flubs his voice lessons, gets nowhere with his heart throb Gloria (Brittany Murphy doing a Whitney Houstonesque diva), and eventually leaves the colony determined to solve the mystery of why there are fewer fish on which to feed.
The film then becomes a road movie interspersed with solemn eco-drama of such preachiness that one expects an Al Gore cameo. Mumble meets up with various other penguin species (mainly voiced by the nimble Robin Williams doing a male Carmen Miranda and a James Brown clone), has some fairly scary encounters with penguin predators and eventually comes face to face with the only species on the planet capable of upsetting an ecosystem through sheer orneriness. Everything comes out all right in the end when all tap hell breaks loose and the value of following one's own convictions is upheld.
I thoroughly enjoyed the film, but am uncertain as to who it is aimed at. While it is marketed at children, young children are likely to find some of the scenes with predatory animals quite disturbing. They will also nod off in the last third when the ecology lesson is conducted. Older children will find the idea of tap dancing penguins somewhat juvenile. Adults will have fun recognizing all of the various sources of music (which range from folk song to the Beatles, to Elvis, to the Communards), marvel at the animation effects (many of which are quite wondrous to behold) and will either embrace or be off-put by the ending depending on their political beliefs. (The film has come under a good deal of withering attack from some right wing pundits who view it as an assault on religion and right wing environmental policy - it really is neither. It's message is simply that if people create a disturbance in the natural world, it's up to them to recognize it and change their behavior to set things right.)
George Miller, who previously made the animal based family fable Babe, guides the proceedings with a sure hand. Issues of the environment are obviously important to him and he makes his points well, dressing them up in enough hijinks to keep the film palatable. A lesser director might have made a dreary lesson that would be unwatchable. He and his animation team have worked out ways to make essentially identical looking penguins into individuals and given them personality and verve. His talented voice cast has also given their all to the project and it's fun to hear how well a number of them can actually sing, especially old pros like Miriam Margolyes.
While the environmentalism is laid on just a little too thick to make it a perfect film, it remains highly enjoyable. However, be prepared to console very young children after the scary parts.
Dropped egg. Crevasse hiding. Aurora austraialis. Leopard seal teeth. Bong of the bell of the buoy in the bay. Gratuitous downhill snow sliding. Plastic beverage ring plot device. Aquarium exhibits. Rousing tap finale.
Normy and I spent the long holiday weekend at home at Chateau Maine. We had a lovely little catered luncheon for a few of the Hollywood old guard who are still around. Nice round helpings of turkey a la Vicki all served up by catering staff in these tasteful little turquoise sequined pilgrim outfits. After the meal, we gathered round the Steinway and sang some of the old songs and had an impromptu contest to see who could created the best night club act using only items in the room. Doris Day won. She had brought along some of her dogs from Carmel and they yodeled the choruses of 'The Lonely Goatherd' with her. There was no way my tapping on top of the piano to Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto was going to compete.
We did get to the cinema over the weekend. Our first stop was, of course, at the new dance film, Happy Feet from director George Miller starring a lot of penguins who deliver more rock'em-sock'em musical numbers in ninety minutes than Nicole Kidman and Ewan Macgregor managed in two and a quarter hours of Moulin Rouge. I was attached to this project briefly, several years ago, when the protagonist was going to be a female penguin named Mumbelina and it was to be a live action film with the actors in large plush costumes. I left the project when they went another way over the usual creative differences.
Happy Feet is part children's musical fantasy and part ecology lesson, taking place in the Antarctic amongst the emperor penguins made famous by last year's documentary, March of the Penguins. Penguin Memphis (voiced by Hugh Jackman as a two bit Elvis impersonator) meets penguin Norma Jean (voiced by Nicole Kidman as a drag queen Marilyn Monroe) and from the mating comes an egg which eventually produces Mumble (voiced by Elijah Wood who seems to have loaned his preternatural blue eyes and beatific smile to the animators - tap moves by dance genius Savion Glover in a motion capture suit). Mumble, as a penguin, is different. While the other penguins sing elaborate choruses and musical numbers and are encouraged to find their heart song, he can only emit off-key squeaks. Instead, he has the titular 'Happy Feet', tapping up a storm from the moment he leaves the egg. This aberration is considered heretical by the colony's leaders (led by a curmudgeonly old penguin voiced by Hugo Weaving) who loom over the other birds like a bevy of old puritan prelates, using the rod to keep their flock in line. Mumble, who doesn't seem to mature as the other penguins do, flubs his voice lessons, gets nowhere with his heart throb Gloria (Brittany Murphy doing a Whitney Houstonesque diva), and eventually leaves the colony determined to solve the mystery of why there are fewer fish on which to feed.
The film then becomes a road movie interspersed with solemn eco-drama of such preachiness that one expects an Al Gore cameo. Mumble meets up with various other penguin species (mainly voiced by the nimble Robin Williams doing a male Carmen Miranda and a James Brown clone), has some fairly scary encounters with penguin predators and eventually comes face to face with the only species on the planet capable of upsetting an ecosystem through sheer orneriness. Everything comes out all right in the end when all tap hell breaks loose and the value of following one's own convictions is upheld.
I thoroughly enjoyed the film, but am uncertain as to who it is aimed at. While it is marketed at children, young children are likely to find some of the scenes with predatory animals quite disturbing. They will also nod off in the last third when the ecology lesson is conducted. Older children will find the idea of tap dancing penguins somewhat juvenile. Adults will have fun recognizing all of the various sources of music (which range from folk song to the Beatles, to Elvis, to the Communards), marvel at the animation effects (many of which are quite wondrous to behold) and will either embrace or be off-put by the ending depending on their political beliefs. (The film has come under a good deal of withering attack from some right wing pundits who view it as an assault on religion and right wing environmental policy - it really is neither. It's message is simply that if people create a disturbance in the natural world, it's up to them to recognize it and change their behavior to set things right.)
George Miller, who previously made the animal based family fable Babe, guides the proceedings with a sure hand. Issues of the environment are obviously important to him and he makes his points well, dressing them up in enough hijinks to keep the film palatable. A lesser director might have made a dreary lesson that would be unwatchable. He and his animation team have worked out ways to make essentially identical looking penguins into individuals and given them personality and verve. His talented voice cast has also given their all to the project and it's fun to hear how well a number of them can actually sing, especially old pros like Miriam Margolyes.
While the environmentalism is laid on just a little too thick to make it a perfect film, it remains highly enjoyable. However, be prepared to console very young children after the scary parts.
Dropped egg. Crevasse hiding. Aurora austraialis. Leopard seal teeth. Bong of the bell of the buoy in the bay. Gratuitous downhill snow sliding. Plastic beverage ring plot device. Aquarium exhibits. Rousing tap finale.
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