(apologies to the John Denver song I twisted this title from)
Reviews and Comments by Ken Burke
I invite you to join me on a regular basis to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I’ll refer to as either the CCAL (Collective Critics at Large) when they’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they go negative.
Hillbilly Elegy (Ron Howard) rated R
Opening Chatter (no spoilers): There are other streaming options available (some of which you might consider to be more worthwhile than what I’ve chosen to write about this week; if so, I welcome your input in the Comments area at the very end of this posting), yet I’ve picked one that intrigued me long before it was available on Netflix (still no theaters open in my area; others of you in your various other locations might have a choice, but it’s doubtful I’ll see the inside of any sort of movie house for the rest of this year, who can predict when in 2021?), Hillbilly Elegy—even though I know nothing (except summaries, reviews) of the book it’s adapted from—mostly because the opportunity to see multi-Oscar-acting-nominees (although no wins yet) Glenn Close and Amy Adams just seemed too enticing to miss even when I became aware of blisteringly-negative-reviews (fortunately, there were just enough positive ones from critics I respect to keep me on track for my original intention). This film’s adapted from an autobiography of a man born in rural Kentucky, raised in a failing Ohio Rust Belt city, ultimately making an effort to break away from his undependable, drug-addicted mother to try to make something of himself by getting admitted to Yale Law School, yet Mom’s erratic behavior threatens to drag him back home when he can least afford it. Political implications about converted 2016 Trump supporters in the book are largely absent here (one reason for the scathing reviews), but the left-intact-explorations of family dynamics for me are still well worth your attention. Also, in the Short Takes section I’ll offer suggestions for some choices on the Turner Classic Movies channel (but too much extra text for line-justified-layout like you see here [Related Links stuff at each posting’s end is similarly-ragged], at least to be done by this burned-out-BlogSpot-drone—oh, tedious software!) along with my standard, quick dose of industry-related-trivia.
Here’s the trailer for Hillbilly Elegy:
(Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge it; activate
that same button or use the “esc” keyboard key to return to normal size.)
If you can abide plot spoilers read on, but this blog’s intended for those who’ve seen the film or want to save some $. To help any of you who want to learn more details yet avoid those important plot-reveals I’ll identify any give-away sentences/sentence-clusters like this:
⇒The first and last words will be noted with arrows and red.⇐ OK, now continue on if you prefer.
What Happens: (This film’s based on J.D. Vance’s autobiography of the same name [plus a direct subtitle: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis; 2016]—which, of course, I haven’t read, although my wife, Nina, has, tells me Howard’s adaptation properly captures the emotional heart of the book without delving into its political aspects, a publication coinciding with Donald Trump’s election to the Presidency—seen by many as an explanation as to why so many rural voters in formerly-dependable Democratic states who felt forgotten, unappreciated decided to back a wealthy political-outsider/TV personality 4 years ago; however, the book was controversial then, embraced by those who agreed with the author many of the sort of folks he grew up around aren’t as hard-working as they claim, are too easily seduced into opioid-addiction while others slammed the book as being too focused on the author’s personal experiences without more systematic exploration of Appalachia, ignoring the racism of the Whites he’s writing about. This film has its own active share of divided responses—mostly negative—which I’ll explore in the next review section but here I’ll just summarize plot details; however, as this narrative constantly jumps between the main character’s early teenage years in 1997 and part of his time at Yale Law School in 2011 I’ll just streamline it all into a chronological flow, admitting there’s much better drama to be had when watching how the events of these time periods interact.) In 1997 young J.D. Vance (Owen Asztalos) is visiting his family roots in Jackson, Breathitt County, KY, part of the large Appalachian locale/culture winding its way inland along much of the U.S. East Coast (for context, we see photos of the huge Vance family).
At some point earlier, his strong-willed-grandmother, Bonnie “Mamaw” Vance (Glenn Close), insisted she, her husband, Jimmy “Papaw” Vance (Bo Hopkins), and their 2 daughters—Bev (Amy Adams), mother of J.D., and Lori (Sarah Hudson; but she doesn’t factor into this story much)—move north to the steel-mill-small-city of Middletown, OH (which falls on its own hard times while J.D. grows up there), in hopes something better socioeconomically would come to at least someone in her family, when finally starts taking place when young-adult J.D. (Gabriel Basso) first joins the Marines (served in Iraq), then graduates college at Ohio State, following by acceptance to Yale Law School where he’s making progress, has a classmate-girlfriend, Usha (Freida Pinto), is trying desperately to get a paid internship at a top D.C. law firm (both to join Usha there that summer as well as help defray his considerable student expenses, which the school has maxed out on regarding his financial support).
At a dinner with some important law firm execs whom he hopes to impress (although he sneaks off to call Usha for a quick lesson on what item of cutlery’s used for each course) he gets into a bit of a heated exchange with a lawyer who assumes J.D.’s glad to be escaping from his redneck culture, which is privately true but the aspiring attorney gets defensive about his people and their values, an obviously sore point for him. Then, to make things considerably worse he gets a phone call from his sister, Lindsay (Haley Bennett), telling him Bev’s ODed on heroin back home in Middletown, is about to be kicked out of the hospital after her 1-week-maximum-stay due to having no insurance, J.D.’s desperately needed for help because Lindsay’s already bogged down with her customer-service-job and kids, so J.D. unwillingly starts driving to Ohio, calling Usha along the way (she volunteers to help; he refuses, knowing there’s little she can do, even as she has pressing matters ongoing to further her own hoped-for-career). Had I been following the flashback structure of the film in this text you’d know by now Bev (unmarried, no stable partner, had Lindsay when she was 18, angry about her life) was once a nurse but lost her license due to stealing painkillers at a former job, continues to promise improvement while constantly relapsing. At one point years ago she wanted J.D. to provide clean urine for her as she was trying to regain her license; this angered him, then as they’re in the car he criticizes her, she drives erratically—possibly intent on a fatal wreck—then slaps him before he jumps out and runs away; she chases him, he takes refuge with neighbors who call 911, the cops want to arrest her but J.D. lies to get her released; in light of all this (and other confrontations, as well as her son’s disinterest in men Mom always chooses) J.D. goes to live with Mamaw where he and Lindsay later find out Papaw was so abusive to Mamaw she finally set him on fire one night (so Bev and Lori grew up in hostile surroundings as well, leading to the family move to OH where these grandparents maintained nearby-but-separate-homes until he died; by 2011 Mamaw was also dead).
J.D.’s barely arrived in Middletown, given the task of finding a facility that will accept Bev for rehab, when he gets a call his desired D.C. firm will see him but only at 10 am the next day, so his efforts on Bev’s behalf increase furiously until he finds an acceptable place, has to max out his credit cards for the upfront payments, which results in no avail because Bev suddenly refuses to be admitted. ⇒In desperation, J.D. agrees with Lindsay to put Mom in a motel temporarily (Lindsay agrees to check on Bev when her shift’s over that evening), but when he goes out to buy her some snacks before starting his 10-hr.-drive to D.C. he returns to the room only to find her about to shoot up; he manages to wrestle the syringe away from her, flush it down the toilet, then leaves his hysterical mother in anger just as Lindsay arrives. Graphics before the final credits (illustrated with photos, home movies of the actual major players here) tell us J.D graduated in 2013, married in 2014, his book came out in 2016, J.D. and Usha moved to OH to be closer to his family, Bev’s been sober for at least 6 years.⇐
So What? For those of you, like me (no insult intended; put down that baseball bat), who might struggle on a reverse-version of Jeopardy (where you’d have to supply the answer instead of the question [R.I.P. Alex Trebek]) to quickly define “elegy,” it’s a “poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead”; this film (and, I assume, the book it’s based on) isn’t very poetic (except as an ironic-allusion to such a presentation) but it does lament an extended-lineage J.D.’s, on the one hand, determined to escape from (just as were Mamaw and Bev, not nearly as successful for them) but, on the other, he feels an obligation to stay connected with, following Mamaw’s rule that family should always be your primary concern. Just as I’d have to verify the meaning of “elegy,” though, it looks like I’d also have to defend my positive reaction to Hillbilly Elegy because I’d certainly find little about it that would gain acclaim from a majority of critics (see the next section of this review for a few more details on that). Much of the vitriol aimed at Ron Howard’s adaptation either laments the loss of Vance’s own negative views about some aspects of the heritage he shares with the KY and OH communities he grew up in or complains about the sense of stereotyping of the Vance family (except for this film's portrayal of J.D., often characterized as bland, difficult for audiences to connect with).*
Consider Stephanie Zacharek of TIME: “Vance’s book was published in June 2016, but by the following November, it had become a kind of reverse oracle, devoured by readers who simply could not understand why so many people in rural America—defined, roughly, as middle- or lower-middle-class white people who don’t live in cities—would be motivated to vote for a blustering, politically inexperienced reality-TV star. In promoting the book and in the years since its publication, Vance, who works as a venture capitalist, has espoused slippery political views that tend toward the conservative, and despite his love for his complicated family—made clear in his memoir—his focus on self-empowerment can all too easily be read, or misread, as a version of ‘Poor people just need to stop being lazy and get it together.’ […] Adams and Close end up affirming, rather than refuting, the prejudices of that fancy-pants law-firm guy. They also cut against Vance’s intent—which is clear, no matter how you may feel about his book—to paint these members of his family as complicated, flawed people. Hillbilly Elegy isn’t as terrible as the trailers make it look, but as an enterprise it’s just all-around sad, a movie that courts sympathy for its characters yet ends up only as a requiem for itself.” In the Rotten Tomatoes site below in Related Links you'll find an abundance of responses like this.
*Here’s a short video (5:56) comparing the film and reality, noting how Vance’s book became “the voice of the Rust Belt,” which doesn’t directly mention Trump but seems insightful into the needs of those emerged-supporters (Vance is a Republican, admits he didn’t vote for “The Donald” in 2016).
(Here’s a photo of the actual J.D. Vance, who's ultimately responsible for all of this chatter.)
Even the coverage from overseas can skew intensely negative as shown in this response from London’s The Guardian: “[…] Hillbilly Elegy is extra bad in its deflection of who and what it’s even about – a caricature of ‘hillbillies’ in a non-rural yet still other-ized place (the majority of the film takes place in Middletown, Ohio, where Vance grew up). That setting is relegated to an ambient, unmoored, ‘real America’ backdrop to one man’s story of escape. As with most Hollywood pieces attempting to communicate the white working class, or ‘other’ America, Hillbilly Elegy ultimately says much more about its imagined audience, and the stories some Americans are looking to find in films about economic struggle in the US, than the people it purports to portray.”* As you might expect, director Howard has a completely different opinion: "[…] Howard suggested that those who were critical of his film might be taking aim at political issues, ‘I do feel like they're looking at political thematics that they may or may not disagree with that honestly are not really reflected or are not front and center in this story.’ [¶] He added, ‘What I saw was a family drama that could be very relatable. Yes, culturally specific, and if you're fascinated by that, I hope you find it interesting. If you're from the region, I hope you find it authentic because certainly that was our aim and that was our effort. But I felt that it was a bridge to understanding that we're more alike than we are different.’" A critic I often agree with, James Berardinelli, is on the same (marginalized) wavelength as Howard and me, “Here’s a rare example of a Netflix prestige film that neither runs too long nor overstays its welcome. While some of the A-list directors working for the streaming distributor have taken the opportunity to meander and add bloat to otherwise worthwhile projects, Ron Howard has developed this project exactly as he would have made it if it had been intended for a traditional release. Cleanly shot and well-edited, Hillbilly Elegy tells a story that neither drags nor wanders into tangential cul-de-sacs. It also features a number of strong performances, at least two of which will be considered for awards plaudits (if such a thing exists in this fractured and uncertain release environment),” but we’re in that small minority where this version of … Elegy’s material is concerned.
*For comparison to The Guardian's stance, here’s another British perspective (10:55) on Hillbilly Elegy where the commentator, who notes his own leftist persuasion, usefully admits he may not fully understand American culture but still feels the constant time period intercuts don’t work for him, doesn’t think Bev’s motivations are properly shown (I disagree; I find it easy to understand why she’s so often angry and unhinged because it would take an aspiring Buddha to rise above the personal pressures that so often sink her back into addiction), thinks the opioid crises in rural U.S.A. should be addressed here (more so that what’s shown with strung-out, self-abusive Bev?), feels there’s a happy ending (at least in those final intertitles) without the necessary thematic explorations (although at 2 hrs. already I think audiences would be restive if this had additional content piled on much longer), yet does admit overall he basically liked what he saw and says the reviewers he’s aware of (but not Vance, Howard, and company) are insulting to Southern and Rest Belt voters. (While I join him in these final remarks, I’ll also note he doesn’t care for The Devil All the Time [Antonio Campos; review in our September 24, 2020 posting], to which I’ve also awarded 4 stars, so we might have an interesting chat sometime, trying to convince each other about the validity of our insightful outlooks.)
Maybe you have to know more about Vance’s background to better appreciate what’s evolved from page to screen; if so here are a couple of videos possibly of use, the first one (13:24 [ads interrupt at about 7:20, 12:50]) features him describing his own childhood which formed his opinions of what went into his book while the second one (7:04) presents his views on Trump and rural U.S.A. where he notes people in these American “provinces” (my word, not his) see themselves as hard workers who want recognition for that status (even though he apparently disputes that claim for many of these “hillbillies” in his book as well as in this video), become dangerous voters for incumbents when no change comes to their difficult living situations.* In my case, though, what draws me to this film isn’t so much about anything to do with Trump or either of the last 2 Presidential elections, even as that seems to be actively on the minds of those who so thoroughly dismiss this cinematic adaptation; instead, I find recognition of these mountain folks, not from direct experience of Appalachia but from years of being around many of my own relatives and their neighbors from rural and working-class Texas. Like J.D., I’m the first in my extended family to go to college, don’t truly despise where I’ve come from (for me, more in increasingly-conservative-familial-attitudes than location as I’ve lived my life in cities, just frequently visited the outlying areas where my grandmother, then later my parents lived in deep West Texas) but am happy to no longer be a part of it, thankful I had the opportunity for extensive-higher-education (along with working in academia for most of my adult life) yet try to understand, appreciate, hold back judgment as best I can on those who raised me, whose opinions were largely formed by limited opportunities and community-reinforcements defining their viewpoints.
Yes, I found the exaggerated yokels from the “Mama’s Family” skits on CBS TV’s The Carol Burnett Show, 1967-1978 (then later a series of its own, 1983-’84, 1986-‘90) to be hilarious, but not because they were absurd stereotypes (well, somewhat, but such tropes often reveal needed truths); rather, they reminded me of actual people I knew from those West Texas excursions so it was familiarity, not ridicule, I easily related to in those shows. However, with Hillbilly Elegy there’s nothing comic about anyone, just tragic frustrations of being on the outskirts of a society that devalues them for their attitudes and lifestyles, not even finding much to appreciate in the emphasis on family because these families are so often seen, even by me I admit, as being dangerously uneducated, too easily swayed by Rush Limbaugh, FOX News, social media idiocy, so while it may be difficult to watch the Vance family teeter on the constant verge of interpersonal/self-inflicted tragedy it’s still impactful to see these depictions, even if somewhat myopically-presented by J.D. Vance about those he knows best even as critics dismiss what’s on screen as simple-minded-fictional-constructions, possibly from critical perspectives sharing no specific knowledge of what motivates, limits, or informs these people.
*OK, here’s a direct dose of my political opinions (I’m sure you’ve waited with bated breath for this): I’ll agree with Vance (seemingly considerably more conservative than me, but that’s not a difficult position to occupy) about voters in the Heartland states (especially the Upper Midwest who provided Trump’s Electoral College surprise victory 4 years ago) felt the 8 years of the Obama Presidency did little to lift them up from the ravages of the Great Recession of 2007-’09 as emphasis was put on saving banks, various industries (more so carmakers than steel mills for pragmatic reasons), the economy as a whole (more so than many of the unemployed workers, displaced homeowners), although it must be noted how Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell and his GOP Senate chums did everything they could to block most of Obama’s intended agenda; further, I agree Hillary Clinton didn’t pay nearly enough attention to these rural voters so they turned to Trump as Vance verifies. Likewise, as the economic situation for these folks didn’t match Trump’s tax-cut/deregulation gains for the elite during his term many of them then turned against him in 2020 (why they continued to support GOP senators who’ve stalled on further pandemic-relief this summer and fall I can’t explain).
(Sorry for the poor quality of this photo, but the content called for its use.)
Bottom Line Final Comments: I guess it's no surprise regarding the vast discrepancy between my 4 stars-rating for Hillbilly Elegy and the OCCU—Rotten Tomatoes provides a miserable 26% cluster of positive reviews (no fluke as its based on 194 critiques), Metacritic is surprisingly more generous with a 39% average score (more details in the Related Links section of this posting, still much farther below as I ever-fail to shorten my ramblings)—because some years ago there was a similar gap between my 4 stars and their similar response to August: Osage County (John Wells, 2013; review in our January 15, 2014 posting [apologies for terrible layouts of those reviews of yesteryear])—an even-more-intense “several-long-days-journey-into-emotional-hell (that may feel at times like the darkest of nights, even during unbearable afternoon heat)” (as I quote my inimitable self)—written from personal experience by Oklahoman Tracy Letts as a play (winning a 2008 Pulitzer Prize, Best Original Play Tony Award), adapted by him into that film’s script—when RT offered 66% positives, MC lower as normally-usual at 58%, but at least those numbers indicated mild approval (nothing like my full-positivity, though) whereas our contrasting reactions to Hillbilly Elegy are like dismal night (them) to glorious day (me), so trust me if you will but maybe you should read over some of those trashings before choosing to watch this latest offering from a well-respected-director.
Still, I wouldn’t give such a high endorsement to something I have qualms about nor do I doubt my initial response to this film in hindsight (a great advantage of posting these reviews as I can get to them rather than just when a film opens [for those of you still with access to theaters; even San Francisco in my area has shut down again due to rising coronavirus cases] or becomes available for streaming is it allows me to better reflect on what I’ve seen, what I truly think something's worth a few days later in relation to others already on record in our Two Guys Blog Archive [to the right, at the top of the posting]). So, I’m impressed by these hard-to-navigate-approaches to family discord in Hillbilly Elegy, find the characters recognizable not stereotypical, appreciate the difficulty both actual and semi-fictional J.D. Vance encountered in rejecting the morass his mother kept trying to pull him into, feel the performances of Close (as Best Actress; no wins yet despite 7 previous nominations) and Adams (for Best Supporting Actress; nominated 6 times herself) merit Oscar consideration when Academy members' votes are tallied next spring (hopefully, no court challenges from Rudy Giuliani).
So, whether you’re willing to join me in seeing Hillbilly Elegy or not (easy enough if you’re a Netflix streaming subscriber; if not, there's that notable monthly membership charge to consider), maybe you’ll settle for enjoying my usual tactic of a Musical Metaphor to wrap up the review. One possible consideration I had here was from Michael Murphy (from back in the days before he added his middle name, Martin), "Boy from the Country" (on his 1972 Geronimo’s Cadillac album), written about St. Francis of Assisi (c. 1181-1226), not because J.D. Vance is some sort of saint (although he might be considered close to that in some libertarian circles, given his conditional-praise for the often-forgotten-folks on our society’s margins) but instead because this “boy from the country” rises above what would normally be considered major socioeconomic limitations to become a respected lawyer, author, and family man, so those who admire him might respond to lyrics such as ““Boy from the country Left his home when he was young Boy from the country He loves the sun”; you could also find a small connection between Francis’ love of nature along with all of its inhabitants and an early scene in the film where J.D. in 1997 is kind to an injured tortoise (even though this draws an attack from some local bullies, salvation coming again from that focus on family as a car full of his male relatives drives up, then they beat up the bullies). However, what I think speaks even better to the entire film with its many intra-familial-tensions is Bob Dylan’s “One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)” (from his astounding 1966 Blonde on Blonde album) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq-bNR-z7Nk, originally just about a romantic breakup (with its specifics reminding me of how I caused such an uncoupling from my first college girlfriend, ultimately not seeing much future given essential differences on some crucial matters [she disagreed]) but here I can project these lyrics, “I didn’t mean to treat you so bad You shouldn’t take it so personal I didn’t mean to make you so sad You just happened to be there, that’s all […] Sooner or later, one of us must know You just did what you’re supposed to do Sooner or later, one of us must know That I really did try to get close to you […] An’ I told you, as you clawed out my eyes That I never really meant to do you any harm,” to some degree onto Mamaw toward her life’s end, explaining herself to J.D., or, more specifically, J.D. to Bev, son to mother, about how he knows she ultimately loves him even as he had to get far away.
SHORT TAKES
Suggestions for TCM cablecasts
At least until the pandemic subsides Two Guys also want to encourage you to consider movies you might be interested in that don’t require subscriptions to Netflix, Amazon Prime, similar Internet platforms (we may well be stuck inside for longer than those 30-day-free-initial-offers), or premium-tier-cable-TV-fees. While there are a good number of video networks offering movies of various sorts (mostly broken up by commercials), one dependable source of fine cinematic programming is Turner Classic Movies (available in lots of basic-cable-packages) so I’ll be offering suggestions of possible choices for you running from Thursday afternoon of the current week (I usually get this blog posted by early Thursday mornings) on through Thursday morning of the following week. All times are U.S. Pacific Daylight so if you see something of interest please verify actual show time in your area for the day listed. These recommendations are my particular favorites (no matter when they’re on, although some of those early-day-ones might need to be recorded, watched later), but there’s considerably more to pick from you might like even better; feel free to explore their entire schedule here. You can also click the down arrow at the right of each listing for additional, useful info.
I’ll bet if you checked that entire schedule link just above you’d find other options of interest, but these are the only ones grabbing my attention at present. Please dig in further for other possibilities.
Saturday December 5, 2020
12:30 PM The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960) Romantic comedy & satire of corporate immorality as execs at a huge insurance company force a lower-echelon-guy, Bud Baxter (Jack Lemon), to use his place for affairs, including Personnel Director (Fred MacMurray) with Bud’s secret attraction (Shirley MacLaine), then complications arise. Won 5 Oscars—Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay (Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond), Art Direction-Black & White, Film Editing—plus nominated for 5 more.
5:00 PM The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 1941) Some claim this started the troubled-crime-tradition of film noir: Humphrey Bogart as Dashiell Hammett’s streetwise-private-eye, Sam Spade, whose life gets complicated when the takes on Brigid O’Shaughnessy (Mary Astor) as a client searching for the priceless “black bird.” A fabulous cast includes Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Elisha Cook Jr. Masterful “Hardboiled-detective” story with a sense of morality amongst greed.
7:00 PM The Thin Man (W.S. Van Dyke, 1934) Noted more for historical value (curiosity?) than significance but a pleasure to watch (also spawns 5 sequels) as socialites Nick and Nora Charles (William Powell, Myrna Loy)—often accompanied by their dog Asta—enjoy being detectives (in the Sherlock Holmes “sleuth” tradition, not The Maltese Falcon-hardboiled tradition, although Nick, Nora, and Sam all come from Dashiell Hammett novels) while downing numerous cocktails in the process.
Tuesday December 8, 2020
2:45 PM Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954) An injured, wheelchair-bound photographer (James Stewart) uses his telephoto lens to watch others in his apartment complex, thinks a man’s (Raymond Burr) murdered his wife so he gets a friend (Grace Kelly) to help him investigate. Widely regarded as one of Hitchcock’s best (despite its seeming-celebration of voyeurism, which earns it some criticism). Immediately proceeded at 12:30 PM on TCM by Hitchcock’s great thriller Dial M for Murder (1954).
Wednesday December 9, 2020
8:45 AM Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean, 1962) Oscar winner as Best Picture, Best Director (5 more) in this history-based-version of Brit T.E. Lawrence working with desert-dwelling Arabs against Ottoman Empire Turks in WW I, starring Peter O’Toole, Omar Sharif, Anthony Quinn, Alec Guinness, Claude Rains, José Ferrer, many others; monumental visuals calling for a decent-size widescreen format to see it on (no cell phones!) as well as time to spare because it runs for about 3½ hours
5:00 PM The Day the Earth Stood Still (Robert Wise, 1951) Low budget compared to 2008 remake (starring Keanu Reeves) but powerful in message as Klaatu, an alien from a technologically-sophisticated planet, comes to Earth in peace with a message to halt primitive-actions on our world to not endanger others with our new-found rockets and atomic weapons—our destruction will be the price for refusing to cooperate—but his warning goes unheeded due to our international squabbles so he arranges for a demonstration of intergalactic power to show what we face as he hides among humans hoping to better understand us. Source of the famous sci-fi-fi phrase “Klaatu barada nikto.”
Thursday December 10, 2020
8:15 AM Mourning Becomes Electra (Dudley Nichols, 1947) A first for me, a suggestion for a film I’ve never seen, but based on the material (from 1931 Eugene O’Neill play) and cast—Rosalind Russell (was assumed as Best Actress but didn't win), Michael Redgrave, Raymond Massey, Kirk Douglas—seems a worthwhile possibility especially because TCM shows the 159 min. British cut (original intention was almost 3 hours; American cut at 105 min. was seemingly a waste). Based in Greek tragedy, plenty of American post-Civil War misery for the Mannon family; sounds grim yet worthy.
If you’d like your own PDF of the rating/summary of this week's review, suggestions for TCM cablecasts, links to Two Guys info click this link to access then save, print, or whatever you need.
Other Cinema-Related Stuff: In rather quick fashion, here are some additional items that you might be interested in knowing more about: (1) 10 Native American actors who should have been nominated for Oscars; (2) Hollywood stars thank Sen. Schumer for trying to help movie theater owners; (3) Studios face tough choices in reaching audiences; (4) Can the 2021 Oscar awards be a live event?. As usual for now I’ll close out this section with Joni Mitchell’s "Big Yellow Taxi" (from her 1970 Ladies of the Canyon album)—because “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘till it’s gone”—and a reminder to search streaming/rental/purchase movie options at JustWatch.
Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:
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Here’s more information about Hillbilly Elegy:
https://www.netflix.com/title/81071970 (the usual limited Netflix official site)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdie74VZL3c (9:16 interview with actors Amy Adams,
Glenn Close, Gabriel Basso, Owen Asztalos, and director Ron Howard)
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hillbilly_elegy
https://www.metacritic.com/movie/hillbilly-elegy
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If we did talk, though, you’d easily see how my early-70s-age informs my references, Musical Metaphors, etc. in these reviews because I’m clearly a guy of the later 20th century, not so much the contemporary world. I’ve come to accept my ongoing situation, though, realizing we all (if fate allows) keep getting older, we just have to embrace it, as Joni Mitchell did so well in "The Circle Game," offering sage advice even when she was quite young herself.
By the way, if you’re ever at The Hotel California knock on my door—but you know what the check-out policy is so be prepared to stay for awhile (quite an eternal while, in fact). Ken
P.S. Just to show that I haven’t fully flushed Texas out of my system here’s an alternative destination for you, Home in a Texas Bar, with Gary P. Nunn and Jerry Jeff Walker. But wherever the rest of my body may be my heart’s always with my longtime-companion, lover, and wife, Nina Kindblad, so here’s our favorite shared song—Neil Young’s "Harvest Moon"
—from the performance we saw at the Desert Trip concerts in Indio, CA on October 15, 2016 (as a full moon was rising over the stadium) because “I’m still in love with you,” my dearest, a never-changing-reality even as the moon waxes and wanes over the months/years to come.
OUR POSTINGS PROBABLY LOOK BEST ON THE MOST CURRENT VERSIONS OF MAC OS AND THE SAFARI WEB BROWSER (although Google Chrome usually is decent also); OTHERWISE, BE FOREWARNED THE LAYOUT MAY SEEM MESSY AT TIMES.
Finally, for the data-oriented among you, Google stats say over the past month the total unique hits at this site were 5,856 (as always, we thank you for your ongoing support with hopes you’ll continue to be regular Two Guys in the Dark readers); below is a snapshot of where those responses have come from within the previous week (with appreciation for all those “Others” also who brought us to coverage on all 6 of the inhabited continents except Antarctica [we gotta get Wi-Fi to the penguins]):
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