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Modern Love (2019)
I want some
Of what everyone is taking before they see this because I don't get it. No way does it deserve an 8.0 rating. I don't know how many episodes there are, I'm at the one of the two gay guys. I admit I'm swayed by now much I personally like the actors in each episode. i.e. Anne Hathaway not at all, but the Shea Whigham and Julia Garner I liked a lot more. I do have a serious question. Do all millennials reject hair -do's? It seems they all just pull it back and let strands fall where they may. There were two with May-December romances, are the writers old?
Merrily We Live (1938)
In Praise of Clarence Kolb
I absolutely love this screwball. I don't care if it's a Godfrey remake or not. It's full of heavy hitters from Patsy Kelly to Alan Mowbray (who was in Godfrey) to Constance Bennett and Billie Burke. It seems no screwball can be without Billie in it. However, to me, it's Clarence that makes it all worthwhile. He can't do anything without making me laugh. His attempts at trying to rein in his family alway make things worse. He does this spectacular pratfall in the kitchen that had me howling. He was obviously very athletic and coordinated to pull it off. I wonder how many takes it took. I loved him on Margie and every time he would bellow "Albright, you're fired!" I would laugh, but this is really his show. I wish we had wonderful character actors like him around now, but sadly they are all gone. I love the way the two great Danes played him too. He played the stooge to everyone. I suspect Preston Sturges had something to do with this, but there is no mention of him. It's so unfortunate how some gems like this one get buried and forgotten when they could be making so many people happy.
Animal Kingdom (2016)
Ma Barker meets The OC
I stumbled across this because I saw the promo for the coming of season 3. This time of year is a grave yard as far as good television goes, everything I watch is on hiatus. The Affair will start soon, but when I start looking forward to AGT returning, that's desperate. I love crime shows, i.e., Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire, Ray Donovan and love shows about trashy people, Shameless, so I thought this might do. I binge watched the first two season and still I can only give it a 7. The star of the show is Ellen Barkin. She carry's the whole thing on her skinny shoulders and is the best actor of the group. She is what makes the premise believable. She is gruesome to look at. She started excavation of her face when she was married to Ron Perelman and as usual, went too far. The fish lips were a terrible touch. No one is really nice to look at, the guys all have hair that's either wet or greasy or full of sand, except for Pope and J. However, Ellen looks like death eating a cracker. The writing is passable, but the dialogue is weak and full of chiches. There finally was some plot development in the second season. One of the biggest deficits is there is no humor. The Sopranos was always funny, really funny. When you have the really dark stuff you need humor to even it out, give relief. The women don't fare any better. They are either stupid or boring or annoying. Even the ones that have some sense are predictable. I particularly can't abide Nicky and Amy, Lucy is smarter. Catherine wasn't on long enough to get up my butt. The woman are there for T & A really and there's lots of that. My other big gripe is there is not one redeeming value in any of these people. To have loyal fans, you have to have characters that people car about, in any small way. Tony Soprano and Nucky Johnson could be kind and charming when they wanted to. These Cody's are like a pack of mongrel dogs that are constantly fighting over the same piece of meat. I do like the psychological games they play, like the murder of Catherine. Personally, I don't think it was her being a CI that got her killed, I think it was when Baz said to Smurf that she wanted another child. Smurf wasn't going to have it, especially if the child was a boy and it might further pull Baz away from her. Smuf is a real piece of work, she makes Olivia Soprano look like the mother in I Remember Mama. She and Pope are off the grid on the creep o meter. When she touches one of her sons, it literally makes my skin crawl. Pope (Shawn Hatosy) is perfect as a homicidal maniac who constantly has to strain to keep his rages under wraps. I don't know if I have ever seen anyone so evil as Smurf, except maybe that character in No Country for Old Men (Javier Bardim). So we move on to the next season which I will watch because I love Denis Leary. This will probably run into the beginning of the next season of Ozark which is heads above this. It's got trash and violence and homicidal maniacs, but it's writing is much tighter and the acting is better,
Winter Meeting (1948)
Bette leaves the scenery unscathed
This was one of Bette Davis' most disliked films. It got bad reviews and didn't make any money but I can see why this appealed to her. It's all above the neck, somewhat ethereal. I'm sure she wanted to see if she can pull the audience in, bring the same emotional storm she has brought to so many other films with out any action. She succeeded beautifully. So did her co-star, but he has always been known for his deliberate delivery. The dialogue was quick, sharp and at times, very funny, due to John Hoyt's 40's imitation of a bitchy Queen. I laughed out loud when I saw Florence Bates dressed as caretaker's wife. I could also imagine the director screaming at her while she stumbles around the kitchen, a place she has never been seen before in a film. However, this film is not light and amusing, it's very sad, almost heartbreaking. To spend your whole life unloved and than to finally find the perfect mate only to be told he is married to a religious ideal that he will never obtain. I was hoping for a happy resolution but let me tell you, to have to accept reconciliation with ones mother in exchange for Jim Davis is not an even exchange. These people connected and communicated on a lever that neither one had ever experienced before and knew they never would again. I have one question. Why would Slick pursue her if he knew it could not lead to anything? Except there would not have been a movie without it. I wonder how the two got along during this shoot. I'm sure Jim was scared to death of her and his affect was stiff and unsure sometimes, but it was the dichotomy that also created the attraction. I hope more people will give this a try. You will never see Bette so quiet and so hurt, You ache for her.