Grimm And Gory

Speaking of fairy tales, I've been rereading Grimms'.  It's fun because you forget how much cruelty and violence they contain.

For instance, in "Rapunzel," when the Witch tells the Prince he'll never see his beloved again, he jumps from the tower and is blinded by thorns.  In "Little Red Riding Hoods," the Hunstman cuts open the wolf, and not only do Red and Grandma escape, but they fill the body with stones and when the Wolf tries to run away he dies from the strain. In "Rumpelstiltskin," Rump, who's been a stand-up guy, saving the Daughter of the crazy Miller who makes promises he can't keep, and who's given the Queen (formerly Daughter) an extra chance to save her child when he didn't have to, gets so angry when she discovers his name that he literally tears himself in half.

In most versions today these stories are sanitized, but I wonder. As long as they're old enough to know it's not real, the blood and guts make it all the better for kids to love.

Harvey's Night

Don't have too much to say about the Oscars.  The production was efficient if uninspired.  Billy Crystal did a decent job filling in as host, but it felt as if his time were over.  Maybe no one can replace him, but isn't it time for the Oscars to try?  Some of the speeches were gracious, a few moving, but, once again, nothing that memorable.

As for the awards, when Octavia Spencer won Best Supporting Actress, it was a bad sign.  She did a fine job in The Help, but her pick indicated that every award would be predictable and safe.  The only surprise of the night came almost at the end.  Viola Davis didn't win Best Actress, Meryl Streep did.  Not that she deserved it.  Yes, she was an impressive Margaret Thatcher stranded in a dull movie, but, just to pick impersonations, I thought her turn as Julia Child, or, for that matter, her take on Anna Wintour, were more inspired.  I guess the Academy figures it needs to give her an award about one out of every six nominations.  (Same attitude for Woody Allen when he won Best Screenplay.)

A few sidelights:

The cast of Community can't even get an Emmy nomination, so I wonder if there'll be trouble now that Jim Rash has an Oscar.

For that matter, Bret McKenzie, who wrote one of only two nominees for best song, is one of only two members of Flight Of The Conchords.  Will his new status as Oscar-winner break up the group?

Also, not that it required great foresight, but let me note what I predicted in my 2011 film wrap-up:

Least Deserving Performance Guaranteed To Win An Oscar: Christopher Plummer in Beginners.

Thrice Upon A Time

So the TV season is starting to wind down (not that TV seasons mean anything any more).  I sampled a lot of new network shows, but no longer watch The River, Pan Am, Revenge, Whitney, Up All Night, Smash, New Girl, Alcatraz, Napoleon Dynamite, 2 Broke Girls or Person Of Interest. So what do I still watch?  Once Upon A Time.  (I guess I also watch Suburgatory, but that's mostly because it comes before Modern Family.)

I believe this is the third time I've posted on the show.  And each time I write about it, I can't believe I still watch it.  By any rational analysis, it's horrible.  The acting is mostly bad.  The plot is slow-moving and ridiculous.  And the writing is excruciating, with cardboard characters, generic dialogue and strained parallels between the two worlds. So why do I watch it?

I guess I like the premise.  A town with a huge, intriguing secret that only a few people know, and cracks around the edges.  I guess this shows something important--no matter how much they put into a show, unless the basic situation grabs you, nothing else makes any difference.  But if you've got something that intrigues people, they'll forgive quite a bit.  (But I won't forgive anything.  If the plot doesn't start moving soon, I may not come back for season 2.)

Getting Off At Saratoga

I just caught Saratoga, a 1937 comedy-drama from Clark Gable and Jean Harlow, notable for being her last film. In fact, she died--only 26--during production and some of her scenes were shot with a double.  MGM was going to reshoot the entire film with another actress, but Harlow's fans demanded to see her final appearance.  Here's Jean mostly not appearing in her own film:



The plot has a successful bookie, Gable, trying to set up a rich sucker, Walter Pidgeon.  Harlow, engaged to Pidgeon, is onto Gable.  There's a lot of horse racing, and other MGM names like Lionel Barrymore and Frank Morgan, as well as old reliable (if rarely inspired) director Jack Conway. But the whole thing adds up to very little.

The main trouble is the script.  A fast-talking bookie is a good role for Gable, but the love story between him and Harlow (yes, they get together--wasn't that obvious?) is ridiculous.  She's supposed to be falling for Gable's charm--which is pretty easy when the competition is stuffy Pidgeon--but she keeps turning on a dime, now loving him, now loathing him.  And Gable's plan doesn't make too much sense. He's going to make enough money with a final killing against Pidgeon so he can quit and be with Harlow, but it's the very no-nonsense all-business side of him that's turning her off, and he knows it.

Gable and Harlow made several films together, and were a good team. Too bad they had to bow out with Saratoga.  (I suppose it has some fans, but that's what makes horse races.)

Angry Old Man

Tom Courtenay turns 75 today, but I still think of him as the "Angry Young Man" in those early 60s British movies The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner and Billy Liar.

Around the same time, he appeared in a TV play where he sang a song that would become a #1 hit for Herman's Hermits.  I didn't even know it was available, but here it is (with photos from Billy Liar):



I gotta admit, HH does it better--but then, music wasn't Sir Tom's specialty:

Doug-less

The stars of the Hangover movies, Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms, have asked for, and received, $15 million each to star in the third film of the series.  Sounds like a bargain to me. The first film grossed $467 million worldwide.  The second (and much worse) film made $581 million. Even if the third is a relative flop it should still make money.

You know who's probably the least happy about this development?  Justin Bartha.  Don't know who he is?  He plays Doug, the fourth member of The Hangover "Wolf Pack," who gets stuck atop Caesars Palace for most of the first movie while his friends search for him, and then gets to sit out the action again in the second (while they essentially redo the first movie step by step).  If he demands big bucks, they can drop him like they dropped Heather Graham after the first film.  In fact, they need Ken Jeong as Mr. Chow more than they need Doug.

So Doug, sorry buddy. So close to $15 million, yet so far.

Crystal Ball

The Oscars this Sunday.  Some decent nominations, but not too much to get excited about.  The favorites have become clear, though there's hope for some surprises.

Best Picture:  The favorite has become The Artist, but with nine nominees, it's possible to get odd voting patterns, and something like The Help (which is loved by the biggest voting bloc, actors) or Hugo or The Descendants to slip through.  I'd pick The Tree Of Life, but that has no chance.

Best Actor:  Jean Dujardin is the favorite, which might lead to a fascinating acceptance speech.  George Clooney has a shot, though I'd pick Brad Pitt in a weak bunch.

Best Actress:  Viola Davis should win (was she the lead?) though I'd pick Michelle Williams. Another weak group.

Best Director:  Probably Michel Hazanavicius, which might lead to some amusing pronunciations.  I can almost imagine any of them sneaking through to win (especially Scorsese) except for Terrence Malick, the one who deserves it.

Best Supporting Actor:  The lock of the night.  Perhaps the lock of the decade.  There's no way Christopher Plummer won't win.  I'd probably give it to Jonah Hill.

Best Supporting Actress:  Octavia Spencer looks like the winner, though I could see Melissa McCarthy sneaking through.  Spencer would have to defeat her costar Jessica Chastain, but it wouldn't be the first time that happened in this category. I'd give the award to Chastain, though they nominated her for the wrong movie.

Best Original Screenplay:  Woody Allen will win another one of these, though he doesn't deserve it.  (The Academy will give plenty of awards to The Artist, but not for screenplay.)

Best Adapted Screenplay:  Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim (Dean Pelton) Rash will win for apparently capturing the intense boredom of their source material in The Descendants.

The film that will win the most Oscars:  It's between The Artist and Hugo (I'd say they both have a good shot at five), though the latter mostly or entirely in the technical categories.

PS  Okay, the Oscars are over, and every favorite listed above won except for Meryl Streep as Best Actress.  Also, The Artist and Hugo both got five Oscars.

CC

Carol Channing, now in her 90s, is one of those odd creatures who found her niche.  She obviously had something, but it doesn't easily come across on TV or in the movies.  But on stage, she was magnetic.

I recently saw Carol Channing: Larger Than Life, a documentary on her life.  From the start she was special.  She got on Broadway in the revue Lend An Ear in 1948 and won a Tony.  Then she got her first leading role as Lorelei Lee in the 1949 hit Gentleman Prefer Blondes--and it didn't lead to much for another 15 years.  She got the lead in The Vamp in 1955, but that flopped.



Then in 1964, producer David Merrick, composer Jerry Herman and director Gower Champion (who staged Lend An Ear) were looking for a female star to carry their new musical, but the big names turned them down.  So they got Channing to star in Hello Dolly! and it was a perfect match.  The show was a blockbuster, Carol won another Tony and drag queens found another icon. (Though I agree with Harold Prince, who almost directed the show--Dolly Levi was not an habitue of fancy restaurants, so the title number where they welcome her back makes no sense.)

Carol Channing did do some movies, but she wasn't a big enough star to recreate her Broadway hits--Marilyn Monroe played Lorelei Lee and Barbra Streisand, Dolly Levi.  But Channing is still as big as they come on stage, and she's been touring in Dolly for decades.  She never misses a performance--she knows people came to see her.  It must be tough, because the role is exhausting.  (Far better to be Yul Brynner and play in The King And I forever--Anna's the lead, while the King only has two songs.)  But she understands she got the role of a lifetime, and made it her life.

A Particular Set Of Skills

I caught the first episode of Life's Too Short, the new Ricky Gervais/Stephen Merchant series.  It's a pseudo-documentary about the life of Warwick Davis, show biz dwarf.  He also helped create the show.  Following the Gervais/Merchant formula, most of the humor comes from the embarrassing situations the lead is put in--his career is going nowhere, his wife wants him out of the house, his accountant is incompetent and so on.  Even his pals Ricky and Stephen don't really want him around, but Warwick tries to put the best face on everything.

It was passable at best.  Perhaps one episode is too small a sample, but (this being British) there are only seven overall, so it better pick up fast.  Seeing Davis, who played an Ewok and starred as Willow falling on somewhat hard times is a novel premise, but the comedy is so far pretty mild. In fact, by far the funniest stuff in the first show had nothing to do with him--he was merely a bystander as Liam Neeson insisted on practicing improv with Ricky and Steve.

It's Still Winter

I once flew to Detroit and there, on the plane, was Johnny Winter.  (Or was it brother Edgar?  Didn't get a close look.)  Anyway, it's his birthday, so let's hear some tunes:

Reason To Be Cheerful

Community gets walloped in the ratings by Big Bang Theory, but if you could measure popularity by fan intensity, it would probably be the #1 show on the nets.  So we happy few fans have finally got the news we've been waiting for--Community will return to the NBC schedule. It'll be back to its old losing ways in its old losing slot at 8 on Thursday starting March 15th.

30 Rock, presently at 8, will be pushed to 8:30, while Parks & Recreation will, alas, disappear until April 19, when Up All Night finishes its run. Why not just finish its run now--burn them off on Saturdays or some other night that's easy to ignore. (Actually, viewers find every night at NBC easy to ignore.)

So they'll make it through their junior year.  But it's still up in the air if they'll be allowed to notch another season and graduate.

I Can't Make Up My Mind About This

A number of pundits look at polls of Obama versus Romney or other Republicans and say if the President is under 50%, he's in trouble, even if he leads.  The argument is everyone already knows what they think of the President so if they don't support him by now, they'll break against him.  They claim this has been proved in previous elections.

Maybe it works sometimes, but as a rule, as far as I can tell, it's nonsense. I've watched politics long enough to see if you're ahead in every poll 47% to 42%, you're probably going to win.  Yet no matter how many times the incumbent rule is disproved, certain "experts" keep it alive.

The real question is why are people undecided.  Is it because they hate the incumbent and are waiting to make sure the challenger isn't too crazy?  Or because they don't like either candidate?  Or because they don't pay attention to politics and wait till the last second to decide anything, based on flawed information and prejudices?  Each election makes its own rules.  The only rule you need to follow is try to be ahead in the polls.

Jerry's Heads

Talking Heads started as a trio, but they needed a fourth to fill out their sound.  Jerry Harrison, who'd already played with the Modern Lovers, auditioned and got in just before their first album.  He played guitar and keyboards and became an essential part of the band. Happy birthday, Jerry.



Of course, in later years they made the sound even fuller.

Artistry And The Artist

With The Artist apparently the favorite to take the Best Picture Oscar, The New Yorker has a timely piece on silent acting.  David Denby, whom I've taken to task for dragging politics into his reviews, sticks to the art form here.

The Artist is charming and enjoyable, but it's not as powerful as the best silent drama.  Here's how Denby puts it:

In “The Artist,” there is nothing close to the intensity of the work of [Louise Brooks, Douglas Fairbanks, Greta Garbo or Emil Jannings]. The movie’s principals—Jean Dujardin, as George Valentin, a swaggering silent-movie idol who is ruined by the advent of sound, and Bérénice Bejo, as Peppy Miller, the girl from nowhere who loves him and becomes a star herself—are eager, likable performers. But both characters, and both actors, move in a straight line in each scene; they stay within a single mood. The great silent actors did so much more.

[....] “The Artist,” a likable spoof, doesn’t acknowledge that world of heroic ambition and madness—it’s bland, sexless, and too simple. For all its genuine charm, it left me restless and dissatisfied, dreaming of those wilder and grander movies.

It's not that The Artist is trying to be an old-style silent drama, but that's part of the problem.  It's going for something pretty basic, and, at its best, that's what it achieves.  The main thing it has going for it is the central stunt of not using sound--if a similar film were served up in the 20s, it would have seemed rather bland.

Denby notes, and I agree, that Martin Scorsese--using color, widescreen, CGI and sound--captures the magic and artistry of the silent era far better in Hugo.  If the Oscar really wants to honor a film that honors film, this is the one.