Taking the Weekend Off....To Catch Up With All Of You

To complete my personal, low-key celebration of 2 years and 500 posts (still cannot believe that!!) I am taking tonight and tomorrow off from the Journal...no new posts....

Instead, I plan to catch up with all of you, comment on some of your recent and incredible writing, and respond to your kind comments from the last week or so.

So now, you have more time to enjoy reading from the list of Movie Reviews found in yesterday's installment! (see below).

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Sunday, I may be back with a short series of small personal thoughts on the meaning of the passage of ten years...September 11....

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Next week:

--A sudden idea I had regarding Mr. Obama's Jobs Speech last night;

--Some ideas I have for features as a way to structure my blog (Mini-reviews; Guilty Pleasures; In the News);

--a WELCOME to some new followers.

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By the way: to Andrew, Luke, Cheryl, Jose, Stan, Eric (all of whom I never mentioned in my last two milestone posts), as well as Tom, Ben, and Walter.... Thanks again for being there, and always renewing your subscriptions! 

And to Mark... Who inspired a lot of my writing, and left me to it, even as I kept the lights on half the night....Thank You!!

And to the others who visit here regularly...You know who you are....and I appreciate you.

500 + 1: My Favorite Movie Writing and Reviews in This Blog

First and foremost, I love to write about movies.  As part of my "celebration" of two years and 500 posts, I offer now a special entry, a retrospective of my favorite writings about the movies.

Writing about film has always been my special interest, my passion.  From my teen years, I have been inspired by great filmmakers, and especially, great film critics.

I considered making this just a blog about movies.  But I then decided not to restrict myself  just yet, and to give free voice to any number of topics and ideas that would interest me.  Besides, the critics I admire most seem to have well-rounded interests. And what better way to educate ones' self (the cornerstone of reinvention) but to learn enough about a topic to write about it? Or, at least, to express one's opinions intelligently.

I have enjoyed the series of posts about Oscar 40 years past. This gave me a chance to revel once again in a movie era that influenced so much to me, in which the films took chances and meant something.  I can't wait to re-visit 1971 next February.(Oscar 1969;   Oscar 1970)

My remembrance of the late Sidney Lumet gave me a new appreciation of the director and his work.  His core of classic films in the mid-1970's are life-long favorites, and his quote about good movies is part of my manifesto.

And there have been my rants, and more thoughtful pieces, about the state of movies today, and the role of film critics and film criticism, not only as a reflection of movie trends, but as a way to even influence the viewing habits of audiences.  (What Makes A Movie Good?, and many others.)

Best of all was the opportunity to write film reviews and criticism.  I always tried to be sensitive to those who had not yet seen the films; I tried to make them WANT to see a movie I really liked.  To readers who saw the film I reviewed, I hoped to provide enough substance so that they could think about the film, articulate their feelings better, and, even if they disagreed with me, they would feel as though they had just had the experience of seeing the film again for the first time.  That is my goal in my reviews.

I was frankly surprised at how many reviews I wrote, even though I would write many more if I had the time (or desire) to see more new releases.

I especially enjoy re-viewing older films I love.  It's like taking a new friend around a town you are intimately familiar with, and love. 

I re-read all of the reviews and created a retrospective list of the ones I felt read the best, or represented the movies--or my views of them--most accurately and honestly.  They were the reviews I was most proud of, seemed most polished, or else I took more chances with them.  A few are very personal.  Quite simply-- I just enjoyed reading them the most.

I never assembled them all on one page like this...it's like an index to a book of reviews by Roger Ebert or Pauline Kael !!  (The reviews are listed in chronological order by the date the review was written). 

They are not all reviews of movies I liked.  I found that I write better if I enjoy a film, but I am more forceful if I dislike a film.

It's my first portfolio. I hope Ms. Kael would have enjoyed them. I hope you enjoy them too.  Feel free to come back often!

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"An Education"  (2009) 11/8/09

"Harry and Tonto" (1974) 11/21/09

"Chris and Don: A Love Story" (2008) 12/12/09

"Cabaret" (1972) 12/13/09

"Precious" (2009) 12/21/09

"Nine" (2009)  12/29/09

"A Single Man" (2009) 1/15/10

"The Blind Side" (2009) 2/15/10

"Citizen Kane" (1941) 5/25/10

"Toy Story 3" (2010) 7/5/10

"The Kids Are All Right" (2010) 7/17/10

"Inception" (2010)  7/25/10

"The Hours" (2002) 8/28/10

"The Tillman Story" (2010) 9/6/10

"The Subject Was Roses" (1968) 9/23/10

"Never Let Me Go" (2010)  10/2/10

"The Social Network" (2010) 10/25/10

"Hannah and Her Sisters" (1987) 11/8/10

"Love and Other Drugs" (2010) 12/5/10

"Black Swan" (2010) 12/24/10

"The King's Speech" (2010) 12/27/10

"Blue Valentine" (2010) 1/18/11

"Come Back, Little Sheba" (1952) 2/9/11

"The Red Balloon" (1956) 2/22/11

"Burlesque" (2010) 4/6/11

"Poetry", (2010) 5/5/11

"The Tree of Life" (2011) 6/7/11

"Midnight in Paris" (2011) 7/2/11

"The Help" (2011) 9/6/11

A Double Milestone! 2 YEARS...500 POSTS!

On September 7, 2009, I started a blog....

It is hard to believe I have arrived at this, the second "Anniversary" of that first small post.

I wrote then about the closing of a long-standing and popular little amusement park called Kiddieland. Most kids who grew up in Chicagoland had been to this park.  It was a rite of passage. And its closing seemed an appropriate beginning for a journal about a guy who had dreams of becoming a new individual.

All I had was my love of movies and dogs, an appetite for books and reading, a lot of opinions that I wanted to express, and a passion for writing.  That, and some vague idea that the very act of building this blog, from scratch, was an act of reinvention.

I knew this 2-year milestone was approaching.  So last week, I tracked how many posts I had entered since the first day. What floored me was learning that I was nearing post #500.  I decided to pace myself, and commemorate these two magic numbers on the same journal entry.

And here it is.

I still can't believe it.

I went back and browsed through the journal. It was fun to re-live some moments, painful to be reminded of others. 

This is a diary, and an op-ed page; a film-critic's record, a fledgling photographer's album. It is an experiment, a practice-ground, a canvas, a camera, an instrument, a voice.

And most incredibly, people read me.  I am incredulous, and grateful.

So I lifted a few of the posts I thought were among the best that I could offer. I singled them out either because they were especially fun to write; or because they were a perfect expression of my feelings and thoughts; or because I felt the writing was better than average.

If you want to catch up, or re-live the excitement (grin), here are some of my favorite, non-film-related posts.

Tomorrow I will list what I think were this Journal's best Film Writing and Reviews. I consider them separately because they are, to me, a very different form of expression.

Click below on the links to read the posts.

Enjoy!

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September 14, 2009: A Provincetown Journal  A personal essay about overcoming fear...and where the idea for this first began.  I received my first comment for this post, from Tom at Sophisticated Lunacy!


February 3, 2010: A Dog Shelter Story  Dogs are a big part of this Journal...Maggie's memory will always be kept alive here.


April 23, 2010: Billy Elliott is Like a Friend's Embrace  Writing about theater is still new to me.  This was a fabulous play, and writing this gave me much pleasure.


May 9, 2010: Tagged for a Musical Meme! Walter from The Silver Screening Room invited me to participate, in one of the most fun posts I have written.  I was proud to introduce The Shaggs to an unsuspecting audience!


June 22, 2010: Windy City Gay Chorus' Terrific Summer Concert Made Me Proud...  Mark's first concert, in his defining moment of re-invention.  He's still going strong, and I am still enjoying the concerts!  Our friend Jillian, as always, was there to lend support.


June 25, 2010: Thoughts on Leaving my Old Home: A Friday Photo Journal Sold the condo of 16 years, and took one last look, before a new life in Mark's house in Mt. Prospect, Illinois.


August 14, 2010: Is the Blog in Decline?  I was feeling insecure about the process, until I received some encouraging feedback.  Even got a standing ovation from Ben at Runs Like A Gay.

November 23, 2010: A Great Time in the Valley  The Chicago revival of the 1967 cult-classic film "Valley of the Dolls", with our friend Steve, a houseful of cheering gay men, and Patty Duke on stage. Unforgettable.

December 16, 2010: Blake Edwards: A Hollywood Party, and a Nameless Cat  One of several remembrances of favortite Hollywood artists who died.  Ah, "Breakfast at Tiffany's"...

December 19, 2010: DADT Repeal Clears Senate; A Guarded Celebration  Political op-eds are outside of my comfort zone, but writing them forced me to be well-informed.  This piece was one of my better efforts in expressing my views.  My concerns have, unfortunately, come to pass.

December 20, 2010: Book Review, "The King's Speech", by Mark Logue and Peter Conradi One of my proudest moments resulting from the blog. I was invited to review this book, upon which one of my favorite films of 2010 was based.

February 4, 2011: Chicago Blizzard Aftermath, A Photo Journal  A horrible day, but the pictures captured the odd beauty and exhaustion of it all.  When we complain about summer heat, I go back to this....

February 8, 2011: Remembering Film Composer John Barry  Another departed Hollywood favorite.  His music graced a number of movies that influenced me for life.

March 5, 2011: Tina Fey Channels Joni Mitchell  Joni is a profound inspiration to me, in my writing, my creative process, and world view.  Tina Fey is an admired comedienne.  The combination was irresistible!

April 1, 2011: My 1000th Post! Bening, Weinstein Latest  April Fool!  I had huge fun with this, soon after the Oscars.

August 13, 2011: A Tuscan paradise: Serenity, A Dog, and a Cooking Class  The Italian trip was a life-altering experience.  Of all the Journal entries I created about the visit, this was my most inspired.

July 16, 2011: Meditations About Quitting, Then An Act Of Kindness  The post explains itself. 

My thanks to all of you for your continued encouragement.


Tune in tomorrow for a look back at some favorite Movie Writing, and Reviews.  Some of my other regular followers will rate mentions.....

"The Help"--A Film Review

"The Help", the  movie based on Kathryn Stockett's popular novel, is a smash, a sprawling, character-studded soap-opera of a drama set in Mississippi during the Civil Rights era of the early 1960's.  It's a crowd-pleaser and a tearjerker, but it is also a thoughtful and relatively reflective piece of work. This is popular filmmaking at its best, the kind of movie Hollywood used to turn out in droves.  It is not highbrow, and in fact it is already being criticized for being tepid, and middlebrow.

What "The Help" offers is a rousing, epic story about characters in an intimate setting, presenting small moments of drama and comedy in an absorbing collage of self-discovery, heartbreak, anger and rollicking humor, set in a cataclysmic time that has been all but forgotten (at least by our movies).  It provides the satisfactions of excellent storytelling, superb craftsmanship, and exemplary screen acting, in the manner of such modern classics as "The Shawshank Redemption".  "The Help", I think, has even broader appeal.


Beyond the racial tensions, and the incendiary backdrop of history, "The Help" is essentially the story of Skeeter (Emma Stone), a young woman who aspires to be a writer, who is trapped in a social milieu of racism and studied snobbery.  She breaks with the attitudes of her family and her peers, and bonds with the African American housekeepers who suffer silently the indignities imposed by their insensitive (or outright cruel) employers. 

Soon she convinces one of her friends' housekeepers, the world-weary Abilene (Viola Davis), to tell the story of her life, and what it is like to be a domestic in these surroundings.  Skeeter records these stories in an effort to publish an anonymous book about the lives of women like Abilene.  Soon, Abilene convinces the volatile and reckless Minne (Octavia Spencer) to participate.  Eventually, due to the shocking news of the slaying of Civil Rights leader Medgar Evers, along with the indignities endured by other domestics, Skeeter has dozens of willing participants who share their stories, while Skeeter records them longhand, and types them later on her manual typewriter.


In the meantime, Skeeter prevails on her cancer-stricken mother (Allison Janney) to tell the truth about what happened to Constantine, the woman who raised her (a glorious return to the big screen for Cicely Tyson).


I love that "The Help" trains its focus on the efforts of a budding writer, to encourage a repressed group of women to liberate themselves by relating the hard truths they have had to keep silent all of their lives.  It's wonderful for a film to glory in the power of the written word and spoken word, and to connect so strongly with viewers.

 Director Tate Taylor, who grew up in Jackson Mississippi as the childhood friend of novelist Stockett, has done solid work here, along with his cinematographer and designers.  His style is unobtrusive, but intricately well-observed.  He places the camera perfectly, and moves the story along at a leisurely pace that never drags.  The use of artifacts (like a TV soap opera intro, and newsreel footage of Evers, and resonant old music on the soundtrack) lends an immediacy and authenticity to the film. Taylor 's adaptation of Stockett's novel has many stories to tell, and a lot of interesting characters to follow.  All of them are given the right amount of attention, and Taylor's coverage is excellent.

 In creating a film with a complex of plot lines and characters, there is a risk of falling short with some stories.  Occasionally there is a repetitiveness in the middle sequences; and the number of subplots, especially Skeeter's brief romance with a local redneck, pull the story away from its narrative motion.  I also worried that the depiction of the wealthy white women who employ these maids in their homes were falling into caricature. I was informed later that the unctuous treachery and exaggerated stylings of these women were very accurate.

Taylor understands this milieu, and decided to concentrate on the human element, preferring to keep scenes of violence off-camera, cutting away from the gruesome stuff.  There is nothing condescending about it;  I applaud Taylor and his crew for not compromising, and for refusing to throw the story off its orbit by pushing violent images, prefering instead to allow audiences to use their imaginations.  Although it doesn't hit as hard, the residual tension and shock remain, and so we can focus on faces, and dialogue, and incident, without being shaken by violence more explicit than a film as even-keyed as "The Help" can support.


Only once did I find the film cliched, and that was in the casting of Dana Ivey as the racist president of a local women's club, who pressures the Janney character to discipline her housekeeper simply for asserting a need.  Ivey played the same character, as the woman who employs and then humiliates Oprah Winfrey, in "The Color Purple" with the same tight-lipped self-righteousness.  (The appearance of Nate Berkus, a Winfrey protege, in the list of producers, as well as a story of female bonding and strength, give "The Help" a "Purple" undercurrent.)


"The Help" uses  the idea of separate bathrooms for blacks and whites as a motif to illustrate repressed freedoms.  This is an effective thread that helps viewers understand the degradation of the situation of the domestics, who are entrusted with the care of the white children, but unable to use the indoor facilities.  Commodes even account for one of the film's biggest laughs.  Food, too, is a symbol of the comforts that we take for granted that come to us through the thankless hard work of people we might not even notice on the street, or whose social circles we might never enter.  (I will guess that chocolate cream pies will not sell too well, for a while anyway, while this film is in release).

To some viewers unfamiliar with the era of repression in the early 1960's as the Civil Rights movement gained momentum, this film might seem impossible to believe, or accept.  However, one can find in "The Help" some sly observations and amazing relevance to today's economic crisis.  When a new maid begs her employer for a loan to help with her child's education, she is told that the christian thing to do would be to not extend charity to someone who is able-bodied.  That captured the irrational wrangling of modern politics as well as any essay, or direct depiction.


The performances are superb across the board.  Jessica Chastain perhaps plays it a little broadly as an ostracized member of the white women's circle, but I relaxed into her portrayal and liked her character.  Sissy Spacek hams it up as the aging mother of the town's most dangerous racist (Bryce Dallas Howard). 

Cicely Tyson's hair-raising cry in "Sounder" (1972) when she ran to meet her husband as he returned home from prison, echoed quietly in my head as I watched this beautiful performer inhabit the role of Constantine (in flashbacks) with grace.  I was glad to see this actress again on the big screen.

Allison Janney takes a well-worn role and breathes fresh emotion and humor into it.  She downplays her tragedy, and gives her all to this part that requires her to look unattractive. 

Once again I am completely won over by Emma Stone.  The real indication of her skill as an actress is in her ability to listen to other characters on screen and respond accordingly.  One cannot help but root for Skeeter as she takes a very dangerous risk to help her friends even as she seeks to make a career for herself.  And Stone has some moving passages of her own.  She's a strong performer, and she made Skeeter a formidable character.

Finally, how can one give enough appreciation to the efforts of Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis?  Davis will get the lion's share of accolades, given her character's tragic background, and Davis' complete command of her scenes.  Abilene is the narrative voice of the film.  Davis immediately warms a viewer to her with her honesty, and a well of emotion that is ready to bubble to the surface.  Davis triumphs in her confrontation with her employer, her recounting of her son's tragic fate, and, especially, in her interactions with the little girl in her care; these are among my favorite scenes, and often sad as hell.   It is a terrific performance, already a classic.

Spencer has the more flamboyant and comic role, which is likely not to be taken as seriously.  Her role as Minnie holds the most danger of veering off into slapstick and sitcom, but she avoids both. Spencer is to be commended for getting deep within this character, always showing the fear in the defiance, the humor in the indignity.  Her scenes carry some of the greatest tension, as well as account for the loudest laughs.

I suppose a backlash will be inevitable, especially among Oscar pundits who are scrambling to find a film worthy to topple "The Help" from its current critical and popular pedestal.  No matter--see this film, enjoy it, and prepare to be wanting to re-visit it again soon. 


Awards or no, this is a movie worth seeing.

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Slain Civil Rights leader
Medgar Evers

An Interesting Box-Office Statistic

Recently I finished a short series of essays in which I tried to examine the malaise of the Movie Summer of 2011.  I suggested, as I have in other essays I wrote for this journal, that there is a neglected movie audience  that would come back to cinemas if there were more substantial films, pictures not obviously targeted to pre-adolescents. 

I expressed my belief that "mature" viewers (not necessarily "older", but ones who appreciate something more than computer graphics, explosions, comic book heroes and brutality) would help make more modestly budgeted, high-quality pictures successful if only more of them were widely available.

I even found a recent quote by a powerful industry insider that succinctly summarized what took me several paragraphs to articulate:

"...The last seven or eight months of movies is the worst lineup of movies you've experienced in the last five years of your life. They suck. It's unbelievable how bad movies have been..."
   ~Jeffrey Katzenberg, DreamWorks Animation CEO, at the Brainstorm Tech Conference in Aspen,  Colorado in July. 

As fall approaches, the tide will hopefully turn.  But it is still Summer; "Midnight in Paris" has earned more than its budget;, and it appears that another "adult"film in wide release is poised to become a surprisingly huge hit.

Nothing about it would indicate that it would be a smash movie in the Summer of 2011.


It is a period piece (the American South in 1963).  It is the story of, of all things, a young woman aspiring to become a writer, and a maid who helps her realize her dream.  It tells of how these two unlikely allies collborate with a group of repressed women, and how all of them triumph. 

It is a somber tale of caregivers caught up in a dangerous era of change, when they began to resist the long-standing attitudes and traditions that robbed them of the most basic freedoms in personally degrading ways.  Its physical violence is shocking, wounding, but not shown on screen.  Its tension and sadness are punctuated by  laughter and honest warmth.  There is nary a computer in sight, nor a gun. 

It is an authentic re-creation of an unbelievable time and place in America's history, one whose repercussions are still felt today.  It was made by a competent and talented director, a gay white man who grew up in the milieu of the film, who was a childhood friend of the woman who wrote the novel  (one that no one wanted to publish) from which the screenplay was adapted. 

All it has to offer is a human story that absorbs audiences for 2 hours and 17 minutes, played by talented performers, new and old; and a meticulous design and soundtrack that engulf viewers into a world that requires the same suspension of disbelief as the latest fantasy blockbuster--except that it is based on a real time and place in our world.

The film, of course, is "The Help".

What makes this all the more interesting, in the context of the Summer 2011 Movie Season, is that among all of the billion-dollar franchises, the "safe" blockbusters that were critic-proof and all but guaranteed to be financially successful,  "The Help" is the only 2011 film to achieve the #1 weekend box-office spot for three consecutive weekends (and the first film to do so since 2010's "Inception".) (See more HERE)

That is amazing...and reinforces my instinct about audiences for movies that are real, entertaining and made without compromise (paraphrasing a mysterious voice from an Iowa cornfield):

If you make them--they will come.

Tomorrow...My re-view of "The Help".

Cicely Tyson ("Sounder", 1972) and Lila Rogers in a scene from "The Help"