Parents and Children: Intense Dynamics
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) if they agree with me or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) if they choose to disagree.
Opening Chatter (no spoilers): I’m still avoiding going out to theaters due to the ongoing presence of COVID-Omicron, but streaming’s catching up with what I missed from late last fall (although the prices aren’t any better than if I were at a big-screen-venue) so I’m able to offer you commentary on 2 excellent presentations this week. One is King Richard, a biopic of the Williams family of tennis fame, focused more on Dad Richard (Will Smith), though, as he applies his long-standing-plan to get his young girls, Venus and Serena, into world-class-shape although we witness just a few years of their pre-teen/early teenage lives rather than when they became the superstars we now know them to be; you can get all the details here from the Internet, but I'll still use a Spoiler alert in case you don't want to know just yet. (This is still in a few theaters but mostly is available on many streaming platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, etc., all for a $19.99 rental.) In the Short Takes section I’ll explore C'mon C'mon, another story about a “parent” (actually an uncle) and his “child” (nephew), this one fully fictional as a country-hoping radio journalist (Joaquin Phoenix) agrees to take care of his sister’s kid while she helps her estranged-husband with his mental problems, although Uncle finds out that this version of parenthood is much more demanding, unpredictable than he’d ever imagined (this one came out on the same November date as King Richard but now just exists on streaming; generally same platforms as noted above, definitely same rental price). Also in that 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, ye tedious software!) along with my standard dose of industry-related-trivia.
Here’s the trailer for King Richard:
(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 $ (as well as recognizing those readers like me who aren’t that tech-savvy)—to help any of you who’d like to learn more details yet avoid these all-important plot-reveals I’ll identify any give-away sentences/sentence-clusters with colors plus arrows:
⇒The first and last words will be noted with arrows and red.⇐ OK, now continue on if you prefer.
What Happens: In late 1980s Compton, CA (a city just south of L.A., a harsh environment for raising kids as shown powerfully in Boyz n the Hood [John Singleton, 1991]) we find Richard Williams (Will Smith) now married to Oracene “Brandy” Price (Aunjanue Ellis)—both had been married before (although it’s not so clear in this movie)—with their 3 step-daughters (from Brandy’s previous marriage before widowhood), (Ye)Tunde Price (Mikayla LaShae Bartholomew), Lyndrea Price (Layla Crawford), and Isha Price (Danielle Lawson), mixed in with their own daughters, Venus (Saniyya Sidney) Williams, born in 1980, and, youngest of the bunch, Serena Williams (Demi Singleton), born in 1981. Where he got the idea we’re not clear nor did Richard have that much tennis experience (although [from an outside source, not this script] he took lessons from a man, “Old Whiskey,” in his hometown of Shreveport, LA, but his main, scarring experiences there were based on the overt racism of the place which encouraged him to find other ways of “fighting back” rather than physical confrontation which usually led to him just getting beaten up), but even before Venus and Serena were born he wrote an 85-page plan for them to become world-class-tennis-stars (even though he had no idea of what talent they might possess, but as presented here he seems totally confident he can teach them all they need to know). So, when they’re mere little girls he’s already got them hustling as hard as they can on Compton’s inadequate courts, no means of getting them better equipment or training with his meager salary as a security guard or his wife’s as a nurse.
All of Richard's plans might have ended anyway as one night he’s leaving a court with his girls when the eldest, Tunde (16), gets sass from a guy (Roc [?], but I find no cast listing for him; maybe I’m wrong) and his 4 thug buddies; when Richard tells them to stay away from his daughter, he gets overpowered, beaten up, threatened with a gun to his head so later that night he tracks this gang to a liquor store, pulls out his own gun, but before he can do anything Roc’s killed in a quick drive-by shooting, which seems to shake Richard back into a sense of reality within his harsh environment (oddly enough, with no explanation, Roc’s cohorts, who never saw Richard with his pistol, later become occasional-protectors of the family). His next move is to venture into an upscale tennis club where Paul Cohen (Tony Goldwyn) is coaching stars John McEnroe (Christopher Walllinger) and Pete Sampras (Chase Del Rey). Persistent Richard finally convinces Cohen to watch his girls in action, Cohen’s impressed, agrees to coach Venus for free (Serena’s upset about that; Brandy eases her distress by coaching Serena on her own, giving us the impression both parents have tennis skills we never get any explanation about, even though the results clearly manifest themselves in the advancing skills of their daughters). Despite Richard’s constant interruptions during training, Paul gets Venus into Juniors tournaments where she’s successful (Serena slips into one, wins as well), much to the chagrin of the wealthy White parents who seem troubled by this upstart, although their defeated daughters are more gracious; Richard, though, is concerned Venus will be taken advantage of, pushed too hard too fast by potential agents so he pulls her out of this circuit, “fires” Cohen (a clumsy term, given he wasn’t getting paid), and constantly preaches “Don’t brag!” to his daughters: demonstrate superiority but don’t get egotistical about it (advice he could better apply to himself too).
In 1990, another famous coach takes it upon himself to come into their lives at Richard's urging when Rick Macci (Jon Bernthal) comes to CA to see the girls play; impressed with their potential, he agrees to Richard’s outlandish demands that the whole family’s to be moved to Rick’s compound in West Palm Beach, FL (even provides a mobile home so they can drive there) where they’re given luxurious housing with basic needs taken care of while the girls train, although Richard remains insistent they not participate in Junior tournaments, instead giving equal time to their school studies so they’ll become more-well-rounded-women, not just driven athletes like Rick’s pupil, Jennifer Capriati (Jessica Wacnik)—famous but already burned-out, arrested for drug-possession—with frequent clashes between Richard and Rick over this strategy as Venus and Brandy agree with Rick.
⇒Richard finally relents, allows Venus to turn pro in order to enter the Bank of the West Classic in Oakland, CA, 1994. (It was held at the Oakland Alameda Coliseum [normally home of baseball’s Oakland Athletics]; Venus would later win that tournament in 2000, 2002 [runner-up 6 other times], while Serena triumphed in 2011, 2012, 2014. I was in Oakland at the time [still live close-by now], teaching at Mills College, but didn’t pay all that much attention in 1994 because I rarely follow tennis except at the Olympics, yet I’ve certainly been impressed anytime since then I’ve seen either Williams sister in action on TV.) Venus starts out very well but is thrown out of sync in her match with eventual champ Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (Marcela Zacarías), as this seasoned-star suddenly takes an enormously-long restroom break, then comes back to win. Venus, although supported by her family, is dejected until she leaves the arena to find a mob of adoring fans waiting, with even the associated downer of her family convincing her before the tournament to turn down a $3 million offer from Nike (off the table after the matches) pepped up again by other offers now coming in.⇐ Pre-credits graphics tell us a year later (at age 15) she accepted an offer from Reebok for $12 million, later won the prestigious Wimbledon tournament 5 times, became the first African-American woman ranked #1 in the world in the Open Era (1968-present); Serena soon turned pro as well, has won 23 Grand Slam tournaments so far, with many considering her to be the greatest player in tennis history.
So What? Considering the astounding careers on tennis courts by the famous Williams sisters (just as Richard predicted, even when the girls were so young he had little evidence yet to back it up)—Venus has won 7 Grand Slam singles titles (tied for 12th on the All-Time list) and 4 Olympic gold medals; Serena’s won 23 Grand Slam singles titles (just 1 behind Margaret Court on that All-Time list) along with her own 4 Olympic Golds; together the sisters have won 14 Grand Slam doubles (unbeaten in Grand Slam finals—you can get many more details on Venus and Selena if you wish)—I have to wonder a bit why we only get to see them as emerging-child-stars while the focus is on their stubborn father, whose faith in his girls has certainly paid off but it’s an open question as to whether his rigid views on preparation for their professional lives would have led to just as much success if they’d motored their ways through the Junior circuit rather than being held back until mid-teenage-years (as noted, though, I know virtually nothing about tennis so don’t spend much time on my speculations; certainly their enormous talent’s been demonstrated consistently since the mid-‘90s so it’s an easy argument to make that father knew best where these superb women are concerned).
Further, we’re restricted in what we know of Richard regarding his marriage before meeting widow Brandy, then his 3rd marriage after they divorced in 2002, how his life’s been compromised by strokes since 2016, so if the focus is to be on this hard-driving-Dad, we don’t get a very full picture even with such a lengthy-running-time. Still, had these filmmakers attempted to build a story around the adult versions of Venus and Serena I’m sure it would have been near-impossible to find actors who could emulate their unique styles even for a few shots on the court (in King … Ayan Broomfield was a body double for some scenes of Venus in competition)—besides that, if I really wanted to get a good look at how these Williams sisters dominated tennis courts over the last 3 decades (a reign of success now coming to an expected end as age, injuries, opponents about as young as they were when they first became so dominant are closing the door on additional major victories) I could just go to YouTube, put in "Venus Williams tennis matches" (or "Serena Williams tennis matches") to find plenty to help me more fully appreciate the enduring champions they became (for that matter, I could also watch actual Richard Williams [31:32] talk about his life, based on his 2014 memoir [with Bart Davis], Black and White: The Way I See It) battered by racism as well as his attempts to change that horrid script via plans for his daughters but, I admit, I find Will Smith more enjoyable to listen to even in what is, at times, one of the least-likeable-roles he’s ever been asked to portray even as he’s masterful with it, just as his acting cohorts are successful in bringing to life all of these actual people.
So, rather than bemoan what isn’t presented in King Richard (sounds like Shakespeare), I’ll accept this isn’t intended as an attempt to chronicle the lives of the adult queens of the court nor even the full story of irascible-but-well-intended-Dad, but instead it’s (as explored in the lengthy interview as the second item in Related Links below connected to this movie, with the actual Williams sisters plus many of the cast/crew of … Richard) about how this family functions, how they hang together during their challenges (including when their Compton neighbor calls police/social services on the parents for no reason except she doesn’t like how controlling Richard is with all his daughters [to keep them off the mean streets of their city, as he bluntly tells the inquisitors who then quickly leave]), how his “plan” ultimately seems to work out (even if he’s consistently self-praising about it), so that the relatable theme of “family” is what drives this movie (just as how in the non-fiction book I’m now reading, Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli; The Epic Story of the Making of The Godfather [Mark Seal, 2021], I find that “family” argument is what finally convinced the honchos at Paramount Pictures to go forward with adapting Mario Puzo’s best-selling-novel as questionable-choice-director Francis Ford Coppola insisted, not as conflicts littered with dead bodies but, instead, the difficult process of building a dynasty), finally encouraging me to skate past what I might see as flaws in King Richard, embrace what may well be one of my Top 10 of 2021 (still in deep consideration, awaiting the option of seeing a few final contenders), and honor it with all 4 stars I now feel it rightly deserves.
Bottom Line Final Comments: As with C’mon C’mon (explored in the next review, just below), King Richard opened in theaters on November 19, 2021 where domestically (U.S.-Canada) it’s grossed $14.9 million so far during its run, with a current global total of $32.2 million, although for those us preferring to do our viewing at home during this ongoing-pandemic it was also available for free back then to subscribers of HBO Max. Why I didn’t see it in that manner I now have no idea because it would have been free to me; instead, with my decision to not currently go to theaters anyway and, even if I did decide to wander in, the available venues are down to a meager 55 (from a high of 3,302) with the only one in my area being 50 miles away in San Jose, CA, I now get to pay $19.99 for a rental on Apple TV+ or several other streaming platforms (including Amazon Prime Video; see JustWatch for options), although that’s about what I’d pay for 2 senior, late-afternoon-matinee tickets, so I guess it all evens out in the end, plus with this long running time at home I can stop the stream (while I go to the bathroom to accommodate another one) whenever I might need to.
Returning briefly to C’mon C’mon before we get fully into it, if you wonder why I picked King Richard for the spotlight review here while assigning the other one to the realm of Short Takes even though I’ve given them both 4 stars while the CCAL responses are even a bit higher for C’mon C’mon—although they’re certainly solid enough for King Richard with Rotten Tomatoes critics offering 90% positive reviews, the folks over at Metacritic giving it a 76% average score (encouraging enough by their standards; more details about these critics-collectives regarding anything I ever review always found in Related Links far below)—it’s because you might see a couple of major awards going the way of … Richard because the Screen Actors Guild has nominated Smith for their Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role, along with the whole group for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture (their equivalent of Oscar’s Best Picture) and the Writers Guild of America gives it a nomination for Original Screenplay, but C’mon C’mon got nothing from these groups, whose choices often are repeated by Oscar voters, with their nominations for who’s competing in their various categories to be announced next Tuesday, February 8, 2022 (awards on March 27, 2022) so before then I’ve have to make my decisions on my Top 10 of 2021 (essentially, my Best Picture noms) along with my Top 5 in the Acting and Screenwriting areas (at least tentatively, as there are a few likely contenders I still haven’t seen as they’re now only in theaters, so I'll hope either a COVID-decline or streaming options help me out prior to end-of-March-Oscar-night).
If you’re a regular reader of this blog (if not, it’s never too late; I'll keep the light on), you know I finish off each review with a Musical Metaphor to comment in some manner (insightful [as best I ever get there] or silly [more likely]) on what’s gone before; for King Richard it’s “We Are the Champions” by dynamic Freddie Mercury and Queen (from their 1977 News of the World album) at https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=FP808MiJUcM, their powerful 1985 Live Aid performance at London’s Wembley Stadium, fitting enough for me because of Venus Williams’ previously-noted-successes at London’s somewhat-nearby-(relatively-speaking) Wimbledon courts (her 5 victories make her 8th on that All-Time list), although Serena won that tournament 7 times (as did Stefi Graf, while Martina Navratilova won it 9 times). Further, I see connections in the lyrics to both Richard (“I’ve paid my dues / Time after time / I’ve done my sentence / But committed no crime”) and his remarkable daughters (“We are the champions, my friends / And we’ll keep on fighting ‘til the end […] we are the champions / of the world”) as well as connections to the images of a cheering crowd fully appreciating what a talented singer or athlete can bring to a significant occasion. You may have to consider spending 20 bucks on this movie (as well as for C’mon C’mon), but, if you could, please do.
SHORT TAKES (spoilers also appear here)
C’mon C’mon (Mike Mills, 2021) rated R 110 min.
A radio journalist (Joaquin Phoenix) is involved in a cross-country project interviewing kids when his estranged sister calls to ask his help in watching her son in L.A. while she goes to Oakland to aid the separated-from-her husband with his medical mental troubles; soon uncle and nephew are in NYC and New Orleans as the job progresses, this long-term bachelor trying to adjust to quasi-fatherhood.
Here’s the trailer:
Before reading any further, I’ll ask you to refer to the plot spoilers warning far above.
Johnny (Joaquin Phoenix) is a NYC radio journalist (seemingly with NPR or some similar network) involved with his production partners Roxanne (Molly Webster) and Fernando (Jaboukie Young-White) in interviewing kids around the country (we start in Detroit) on their attitudes toward life and what the future holds for them (actual kids, they give honest responses, overall they're hopefully optimistic) when his estranged sister, Viv (Gaby Hoffman)—they had a falling-out a year ago over care for their dying Mom (Deborah Strang, seen in flashbacks), him more emotional, her more clinical—calls to tell him she needs his help in coming to L.A. to watch after her 9-year-old-son, Jesse (Woody Norman), because she needs to go to Oakland to help separated-from-her husband, Paul (Scoot McNairy), with his ongoing mental problems. Johnny agrees, finds his nephew’s quite creative (has a routine of playing an orphan among other interests) and inquisitive as they initially get along well. After a few days his job’s calling him back to NYC so Johnny convinces reluctant Viv to let him take Jesse along, help with the audio interviews. As soon as they arrive, though, Jesse starts pushing his uncle for more info on what’s up with Paul, why there’s tension between Johnny and VIv, etc. (Here's director-screenwriter Mills narrating a detailed anatomy of a scene about this [3:36].)
It doesn’t come easy for Johnny, but (with the help of phone calls to Viv) peace is restored between “substitute father” (absent-Paul’s been a bit of a mess for quite awhile yet tried to be engaged with Jesse as best he could) and “son,” eventually leading to the next recording session in New Orleans, ⇒ultimately joined by Viv as Paul makes improvements back home (although that initial news leads Jesse to temporarily run away through a huge park, try to hide in fear of what to expect next from untrustworthy-Dad). Reconciliations in place, Mom and son return to L.A., Johnny’s back to NYC but sends Jesse a recorded recollection of their time together⇐ (we get the sense that Johnny records many of his thoughts, remembrances, insights in a sort of verbal diary for future recall; we also get a lot of quick flashback scenes helping us better understand current events in this story). You could say C’mon C’mon is a straightforward (or “simple” if it doesn’t grab you all that much) presentation as nothing surprising, shocking, nor truly disturbing occurs (although Jesse’s occasional antics unnerve Johnny quite a bit at times), which was shot chronologically so it even has a bit of a documentary feel if not for the presence of well-known-lead-actors, but that simplicity is its power as we see how a gentle man tries to find meaning in his lonely life through the insights of children (he had a lover he still thinks about from long ago, but she’s long gone), then learns how difficult it is to be in constant interaction with a strong-willed-child of his own, just as we get a solid sense of how Jesse’s not sure what to think of the odd world around him given his unclear-separation from inconsistent-father-Paul.
Further, this role continues to show Phoenix’s extensive acting range whether he’s terrifying as in Gladiator (Ridley Scott, 2000, Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominee) or Joker (Todd Phillips, 2019, Best Actor Oscar winner; review in our October 9, 2019 posting), sympathetically-flawed as Johnny Cash in Walk the Line (James Mangod, 2005, Best Actor Oscar nominee) or just Johnny in this current film, enigmatic as in The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2012, Best Actor Oscar nominee; review in our September 27, 2012 posting [please excuse this blog's early-days word-heavy, needs-more-photos layout]). He successfully throws himself fully into all of it (including his supposed-meltdowns/transition to being a rapper starting in 2008, actually all a big act for the mockumentary I'm Still Here [Casey Affleck, 2010]). C’mon C’mon (title’s based on a recording Jesse makes toward the end of this story; not quite sure about the purpose of ongoing scenes of either Johnny or Viv reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz [L. Frank Baum, 1900] to the kid at bedtime) was released theatrically on November 19, 2021, had modest success with a $1.9 million gross domestically, $2.2 million worldwide; now it streams on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, other platforms for a $19.99 rental fee. The CCAL joins me in recommending it, with an RT cluster of 94% positive reviews, an 82% MC average score (Must-See status for them); it’s not nominated for any major Guild awards (yet), but the National Board of Review did pick it as one of their Top 10 Independent Films while the San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (I'm not a member) awarded it Best Original Screenplay.
To close out, for a Musical Metaphor I’m drawn to Paul Simon’s “Kodachrome” (from his 1973 There Goes Rhymin’ Simon album) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6TERVMCUhI (live in 2012, London again) because in the original version he says “everything looks worse in black and white” (although often in concerts he says “better,” but not in this clip) which led me to think this achromatic-approach to cinematography used so effectively in C’mon C’mon (as well as my so-far-until-I-see-something-better-grand-#1-Film of 2021, The Tragedy of Macbeth [Joel Coen, 2021; review in our posting]) isn’t “worse,” because color imagery often “Makes you think all the world’s a sunny day,” glossing over life’s necessary-to-face-realities, obscuring many of them with distractingly-beautiful-hues (“those nice bright colors […] the greens of summers”), so I sorta think Simon was a bit coy when he wrote these lyrics (if not, he should have been, says your non-multiple-Grammy-winning-film critic, so of course I’m right) which follows exactly into how Mills uses this cinematographic-style, focusing not on the film’s scenic locations but instead on the intimate connections between uncle and nephew, the true purpose of the story. I also get the sense Uncle Johnny can relate to the ideas of “all the crap [he] learned in high school,” as well as how “all the girls he knew” could never “match [his] sweet imagination.” Maybe I’m projecting too much, but I think Johnny (and eventually Jesse) would see a lot more depth to this song (just as I assume Simon did) than these flippant words imply.
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 for U.S. Pacific zone 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.
(Yes, I know, I get more carried away with some of these descriptions than I do with others but, trust me, they’re all well worth your consideration, for those various reasons that I’ve noted or elaborated.)
Friday February 4, 2022
3:15 PM Key Largo (John Huston, 1948) Here’s another crucial gangster story, more in the film noir realm as exiled gangster Johnny Rocco (Edward G. Robinson, alluding to his earlier Rico role in Little Caesar [1931]) is smuggled back into the country during a Florida hurricane where he and his gang take hotel occupants Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore hostage. Claire Trevor as Rocco’s desperate-for-a-drink-moll, Gaye Dawn, won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar.
Sunday February 6, 2022
11:00 AM It Happened One Night (Frank Capra, 1934) Hailed, sometimes as the origin of screwball comedy, as a desperate-reporter (Clark Gable) chases a big story when an heiress (Claudette Colbert) elopes (Dad’s mad), then disappears until Gable encounters her. 1 of 3 (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest [1975], The Silence of the Lambs [1991]) ever to win the top 5 Oscars: Best Picture, Director, Actor (Gable), Actress (Colbert), and Screenplay, Adapted in this case (Robert Riskin).
5:00 PM Lilies of the Field (Ralph Nelson, 1963) Sidney Poitier is a wandering laborer who agrees to help a group of European nuns, led by Mother Maria Marthe (Lilia Skala) living in the Arizona desert, but pay’s delayed as he takes on new tasks, culminating in building a chapel for them, with help from nearby folks. Nominated for 5 Oscars (including Best Picture, Supporting Actress [Skala], Adapted Screenplay [James Poe]), won Best Actor for Poitier (a first for an African-American in this category).
Tuesday February 1, 2022
11:30 AM The Seventh Seal (Ingmar Bergman, 1957) A Bergman masterpiece, allegory of a dour medieval knight (Max von Sydow) returned from the Crusades playing chess with Death to stave off the inevitable, searching for a hint of God, encountering others who travel with him toward home. Thoughtful, mournful, ultimately gratifying in its complex explorations of the awful silence of God.
7:15 PM 12 Angry Men (Sidney Lumet, 1957) Jury deliberation drama where a young man (seemingly Hispanic) accused of killing his father seems a slam-dunk for guilty by this group of White men until Juror 8 (Henry Fonda) wants to discuss it further, angering some of the others but he insists on more dialogue. Based on a TV play, this is a single-set, real-time-flow story becoming increasingly claustrophobic. Marvelous acting by all actors as tensions mount, evidence is more tightly examined: Fonda, Martin Balsam, John Fiedler, Lee J. Cobb, E.G. Marshall, Jack Klugman, Edward Binns, Jack Warden, Joseph Sweeney, Ed Begley, George Voskovec, Robert Webber. Nominated for the Oscars as Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay but won none.
Wednesday February 9, 2022
8:30 PM Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980) Biopic of middleweight sometimes-champ Jake LaMotta (Robert De Niro), his brother Joey (Joe Pesci), Jake’s wife Vickie (Cathy Moriatry), with a focus on Jake’s brutal ability in the ring tempered by self-destructive jealousies in his private life; final scene’s a great example of a brilliant actor portraying a poor actor character, the rest is fabulous but hard to watch at times. Won Oscars for Best Actor (De Niro), Film Editing (Thelma Schoonmaker), nominated for 6 more: Best Picture (a crime it didn’t win this one), Director, Supporting Actor (Pesci), Supporting Actress (Moriarty), Cinematography, Sound (could easily have taken these others also).
If you’d like your own PDF of ratings/summaries of this week's reviews, 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: These extra items: (1) Producers Guild of America Best Picture nominees; (2) Variety's Oscar nominations predictions; (3) Questions about potential Oscar nominees. 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 that you can search streaming/rental/purchase movie options at JustWatch.
Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:
We encourage you to visit the Summary of Two Guys Reviews for our past posts.* Overall notations for this blog—including Internet formatting craziness beyond our control—may be found at our Two Guys in the Dark homepage. If you’d like to Like us on Facebook please visit our Facebook page. We appreciate your support whenever and however you can offer it!
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AND … at least until the Oscars for 2020’s releases have been awarded on Sunday, March 27, 2022 we’re also going to include reminders in each posting of very informative links where you can get updated tallies of which films have been nominated for and/or received various awards and which ones made various individual critic’s Top 10 lists. You may find the diversity among the various awards competitions and the various critics hard to reconcile at times—not to mention the often-significant-gap between critics’ choices and competitive-award-winners (which pales when they’re compared to the even-more-noticeable-gap between specific award winners and big box-office-grosses you might want to monitor here—but as that less-than-enthusiastic-patron-of-the-arts, Plato, noted in The Symposium (385-380 BC)—roughly translated, depending on how accurate you wish the actual quote to be—“Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder,” so your choices for success are as valid as any of these others, especially if you offer some rationale for your decisions (unlike any awards voters who blindly fill out ballots, sometimes—damn it!—for films they’ve never seen).
Here’s more information about King Richard:
https://www.kingrichardfilm.net
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNJSi4T3axU (41:08 interview with director Reinaldo Marcus Green, screenwriter Zach Baylin, executive producer Isha Price, producers Tim White, Trevor White, actors Will Smith, Tony Goldwyn, Demi Singleton, Saniyya Sydney, Aunjanue Ellis, Jon Bernthal,
and tennis legends/executive producers of this movie Venus and Serena Williams [ad interrupts at 17:25])
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/king_richard
https://www.metacritic.com/movie/king-richard
Here’s more information about C’mon C’mon:
https://a24films.com/films/cmon-cmon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkhWd2nRvzo (17:33 interview with director Mike Mills
and actors Joaquin Phoenix, Molly Webster)
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cmon_cmon
https://www.metacritic.com/movie/cmon-cmon
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If you’d rather contact Ken directly rather than leaving a comment here please use my email address of kenburke409@gmail.com—type it directly if the link doesn’t work. (But if you truly have too much time on your hands you might want to explore some even-longer-and-more-obtuse-than-my-film-reviews-academic-articles about various cinematic topics at my website, https://kenburke.academia.edu, which could really give you something to talk to me about.)
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, but maybe while there you’ll get a chance to meet Eagles co-founder Glenn Frey, RIP). 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. But, just as we can raunchy at times (in private of course) Neil and his backing band, Promise of the Real, on that same night also did a lengthy, fantastic version of "Cowgirl in the Sand"
(19:06) which I’d also like to commit to this blog’s always-ending-tunes; I never get tired of listening to it, then and now (one of my idle dreams is to play guitar even half this good).
But, while I’m at it, I should also include another of my top favorites, from the night before
at Desert Trip, the Rolling Stones’ "Gimme Shelter" (Wow!), a song always “just a shot
away” in my memory (along with my memory of the great drummer, Charlie Watts; RIP).
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