“Don’t ever go against the family”
(Quote’s based on a scene from The Godfather [Francis Ford Coppola, 1972]) but it actually comes from a Seinfeld parody, which also references some other scenes from that landmark crime film.)
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.
An American Pickle (Brandon Trost)
rated PG-13
Opening Chatter (no spoilers): Reading articles from Variety (some of them noted in Other Cinema-Related Stuff very far below) I find movie theaters are now open again in some form throughout most of the U.S. but not here in California so I’m still putting my attention to what I've found interesting in streaming options (of which there are many more than the few I’ve reviewed, just as there used to be lots of “meh” [in my opinion] choices playing in theaters so I tried to be just as selective then, the reason why I rarely rate/critique anything of less than 3 stars-value). This week I’m focusing my main review on An American Pickle where Seth Rogen plays the dual roles of a Polish man immigrated to Brooklyn in 1919, falls into a pickle vat, becomes a victim of brine-induced suspended animation for a century, then is revived to be joined with his only relative, his great-grandson (also played by Rogen). It’s a combination of absurd comedy, satire, and Jewish consciousness that’s enjoyable but predictable once the whole situation’s clearly in place. In the Short Takes section I’ll give you a condensed look at Made in Italy where an estranged father and son (played by well-connected actual father and son Liam Neeson, Michéal Richardson) spar over selling their dilapidated Tuscan villa so the son can buy the art gallery he manages prior to his about-to-be ex-wife’s family selling the place to someone else. The former’s on HBO Max (free if you’re an HBO subscriber or use their 1-month-trial offer), the latter’s on AT&T video-on-demand (among other platforms) for an $8.00 rental. 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, tedious software!) along with the standard dosage of industry-related-trivia.
Here’s the trailer for An American Pickle:
(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 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: According to voiceover narration from our main character, Herschel Greenbaum (Seth Rogen), this story starts in the 1919 Polish town of Schlupsk (fictional—the town, that is; I can vouch for Poland being real having traveled across a good bit of it a few years ago) where Herschel's a ditch digger (whose shovels keep breaking), meets and marries the love of his life, Sarah (Sarah Snook)—both of them dirt-poor with modest ambitions (she just wants to be rich enough to buy her own gravestone, he wants to taste seltzer water)—but they have to immigrate to Brooklyn, NY after the Russian Cossacks reduce their town to rubble. Herschel finds a job at a Jewish pickle factory killing rats (he gets a nickel for every 10 he clobbers with a mallet), saves enough to buy 2 cemetery plots, then disappears for 100 years when he accidently falls into a pickle vat, lies unconscious but unaging in the brine while the place is condemned, shut down. In 2019 it’s opened up again, he suddenly rises out of the vat, finds himself disoriented in a world he barely recognizes (although he’s a bit of a media sensation), grieves for the death of his wife (and child, born before Herschel’s “pickeling”), then meets his only living relative, his great-grandson, Ben (also Rogen), with both the same age although Great-Grandpa’s easily recognized by his dated clothing, bushy beard. Ben, a freelance app developer trying to sell his Boop Bop creation—gives a ratings of a business’ ethical-accomplishments for the benefit of social-justice-customers—lets Herschel live with him in his small Brooklyn apartment, tells him what he knows of the other family generations, but hesitates going to the cemetery to visit the graves because he’s not a practicing Jew, is still saddened by his parents death in a car wreck (a theme shared with Made in Italy reviewed below). Herschel’s dumbfounded by that, yet tries to accept Ben's decisions, so off they go to visit the dead.
When they arrive, though, they find the Greenbaum graves in a small, unkempt plot under a couple of freeway overpasses with a Russian vodka billboard just above; Herschel’s incensed, gets into a fight with a couple of billboard workers, both Greenbaums are arrested for assault so Ben’s hopes for app-funding are quashed as he now has a criminal record, leading Ben to break from Herschel who goes into the pickle business to raise the $200,000 Ben estimates it would take to buy, then destroy the billboard. At first Herschel’s product is a roaring, artisan, social-media success until the Health Dept. demands a license, taxes, and production processes that don’t involve cucumbers from dumpsters (commercial ones were too expensive for him, as he found out in an upscale grocery 👆), water from rain gutters. Yet, Herschel rebounds using dozens of college interns to sell his product (somehow non-toxic now) so he’s a financial/media triumph, buying and destroying the billboard, frustrating Ben to no end. Nevertheless, Ben gets even when he convinces Herschel to use Twitter.
With his intern Clara’s (Molly Evensen) help, Herschel posts a lot of offensive stuff (reflecting the attitudes of his century-old-culture) which initially turns his supporters against him until he’s suddenly praised again as a free-speech-advocate, leading to a public debate in an auditorium with a woman; oddly, his patriarchal attitudes toward her are surprisingly-embraced by the crowd (even the women) until a mysterious person in the back asks about Christianity prompting a response that Mary was a prostitute so followers of Jesus are deluded, causing an immediate public outcry against Herschel. ⇒His fortunes worsen (as before, his pickles are thrown away) when the government can’t find his ancient immigration papers so they intend to deport him to Poland whereupon he prevails on Ben to help him slip into Canada. While on their journey they first begin to reconcile, then Ben admits he’s the one who called the Health Dept. and asked the Christianity question out of deep jealousy so they argue again over Herschel’s ire of Ben putting his app-success ahead of caring about his family heritage (another link to Made in Italy, as you’ll soon see—but only if you read the spoiler part down there also), after which they run from border guards with Herschel stealing Ben’s backpack allowing him to dress like his descendant, use a portable razor to shave off his beard, then Ben’s absurdly arrested as Herschel. At the deportation trial the prosecution ridicules the defense argument about who Ben actually is so he’s sent to Warsaw where he wanders into a synagogue, recovering his lost-religious-connections. When Herschel discovers Boop Bop is Ben’s nicknames for his parents he reconsiders, goes to Poland to recover Ben, they bond again, agree to join into the pickle business with their status as reformed criminals a useful marketing ploy in today’s sociopolitical climate.⇐ Our tale wraps up as the credits roll with these generationally-separated-relatives watching Yentl (Barbra Streisand, 1983) on TV, sharing chattering quips about it.
So What? There are aspects here that appeal to me: (1) Rogen’s ability to create one-at-a-time-takes of dialogue (including improv) with himself as the other character later added into the scene (using seamless-digital-technology); (2) the whole concept of how a member of a much older generation would react to suddenly being in the modern world, attempting to relate to a distant (in terms of time) relative who’s the same age as he is although they have little in common; (3) the whole Being There (Hal Ashby, 1980) concept of a person just saying what they understand about themselves and their situation, then being interpreted by media analysts and the public as presenting brilliant insights the speaker’s not even aware of (although this part seems blatantly-borrowed from that earlier comic masterpiece); (4) the satire more direct to this movie about how offensive statements can be rationalized as promoting freedom of speech (as Donald Trump’s supporters often do, even when he says/does things his Congressional cronies would easily have condemned if uttered by a Democrat) or how simmering anti-Semitism roars up when Herschel's dismissive of Christianity. Together, those elements brought my initial "OK, so what?" response up from 2½ stars to 3, but I’m still reluctant to embrace An American Pickle any further than this because—much like my similar feelings toward Made in Italy (as you well know by now, explored below)—once the premise of this narrative’s been established it just plays out in such a predictable manner (for the most part) I was surprised when it was over about how it's garnered as much critical support as it has (more details on that in this review’s next section). I do think Rogen does an admirable job of acting/reacting with himself (he discusses the process some in the second item in Related Links connected to this movie, far below), but overall it plays like a cluster of Saturday Night Live sketches strung together or a less-extensive-temporal-version of the ancient vs. present social mismatches explored by Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks in their “2000 Year Old Man” comedy routines (I also have a small sense of elements repeated from Woody Allen’s Love and Death [1975] that parodied various recognizable aspects of Russian history, culture, philosophy, literature, and film [also borrowing from Bergman for that last part]). ... Pickle is still nicely enjoyable, but maybe more so for others than me.
(👆Here's another example of me fighting with BlogSpot software, failing to get this photo to match size with others in the posting after numerous tries. Frustrating! Well, at least it lines up correctly. 😊)
Bottom Line Final Comments: Others who enjoyed it better than I did certainly include those within the CCAL at Rotten Tomatoes who gave it a 73% positive response in their reviews while those at Metacritic are more aligned with me as they posted a 58% average score (my 3 stars of 5 = 60%). However, my local most-known-member of this collective, Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle, raises a more-serious-objection than I did, scolding this project a bit for its minimal focus on what Herschel learns of what he missed during his unintended-hibernation, particularly—for such a devout Jew—no mention of the Holocaust: “In ‘An American Pickle,’ not only does no one ever tell Herschel, but at one point, Herschel and Ben visit the old neighborhood in Poland and find it relatively unchanged. [¶] Of course, that’s a weird criticism of a comedy — why didn’t you mention the Holocaust? Obviously, that would be a comedy killer. But ‘American Pickle’ is just serious enough to make us take the situation seriously.” I agree; this topic (as well as Poland’s contemporary swing to rightwing-nationalism) would be a downer included in this otherwise goofy social satire, but it does bring up the relevant point of constructing a version of time-travel, then ignoring much of what the traveler skipped in the process so while such an especially-serious-topic would need to push this current story well beyond its current 90 min. structure for accommodation, it would also introduce a somber tone hard to recover from—I doubt there are too many variations on “Springtime for Hitler and Germany” (from The Producers [Mel Brooks, 1967; Susan Stroman, 2005]) that can be tolerated. LaSalle, though, does end on a useful point: “[Herschel] is, in a sense, what we picture when we imagine our ancestors — that without quite knowing it, or quite ever seeing it, they were working very hard on their noblest task, to bring us into being.” Quite insightful (without inciting a full-blown-ostracization, as with Herschel’s increasingly-antagonistic-opinions), I must say.
I’ll also join LaSalle in ending my review (not as concisely as he does, of course) but with my usual bow-out-tactic of a Musical Metaphor to add a final level of commentary, although this time I’ll blend in 2 of them because each of these songs are clearly about romantic situations (or lack thereof) which are of no relevance to this movie’s plot (once Sarah’s quickly out of the picture [so to speak] there’s no love life for either of these Greenbaums) but these tunes do contain other aspects that allude to Herschel’s situation. First, we have Ben showing his ancestor how Alexa works, as the interactive device plays “Stay”* for him (from Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs on their 1961 album named for the song) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1Z_hskvz1M where the initial feeling from Ben toward his great-grandfather is to embrace the presence of the “older” man (in temporal terms, not chronological ones as they’re parallel in age): “Oh, won’t you stay Just a little bit longer Please let me hear You say that you will.” That feeling returns by the end of this story (I assume they’ll both actually grow old together, become successful pickle entrepreneurs, maybe find mates again—or for the first time for Ben as we know little of his life except what we see in this short segment shown on screen), but for much of the running time there’s running resentment on Ben’s part for Herschel having ruined his app-plans with the unexpected arrest record so for that angle of the story I’ll turn to the Rolling Stones’ “Out of Time” (from their 1966 Aftermath album in the UK with a shorter version on Flowers in the US in 1967) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXP1MSF wMnc: “You don’t know what’s going on You’ve been away for far too long […] You are left out Out of there without a doubt ‘Cause baby, baby, baby, you’re out of time,” which Herschel surely is, unapologetic about it, though; nevertheless, it's a source of recurring problems. If you’re interested in exploring this Greenbaums’ situation with the Rogens you’ll find An American Pickle streaming on HBO Max, which is free if you subscribe to HBO on cable TV or for a month’s free trial, but after that it’s $15 monthly so annotate your calendar with a reminder if you need to tune in, drop out (right on).
*This song’s so catchy I couldn’t resist also providing you with a couple of additional listens, to The Four Seasons' version (from their 1963 album Ain’t That a Shame and 11 Others) and this extended one from Jackson Browne (on his 1977 album Running on Empty, where he pairs it with “The Load Out,” notably changes the lyrics, turns the whole thing into the perfect final-encore-song about a rock band’s [and their roadies] lives after the concert’s over as they’re all on to the next gig wherever it might be, like Herschel would reinvent himself whenever his pickled-fortunes rose or fell).
(intended as) SHORT TAKES (but a bit more)
(spoilers also appear here)
A father, once a noted painter, and his art gallery-manager-son (played by actual father/son actors Liam Neeson, Michéal Richardson), still mourn—and bicker—in their different ways the tragic loss of the woman who was wife/mother to them (as Natasha Richardson was in real life) died in a horrid car wreck; the son needs to sell their dilapidated Tuscan villa to buy his gallery, Dad’s not fully ready.
Here’s the trailer:
Before reading further, please refer to the plot spoilers warning detailed far above.
In London, 23-year-old Jack Foster (Michéal Richardson) is getting divorced from Ruth (Yolanda Kettle) when he learns the art gallery he manages—owned by her parents—will soon be sold, leaving him with no wife or job; his only hope of getting enough cash to buy the place is to convince his estranged father, Robert (Liam Neeson), to sell the villa in Tuscany (central Italy) they share ownership of after the death 15 years ago in a car wreck of mother/wife Raffaella (Helena Antonio, seen in photos and paintings—Robert was a well-known-artist until her death, hasn’t exhibited since then), even though they’ve had little contact of late. Jack goes to Dad’s cluttered studio, finds him in the process of Jennifer (Claire Dyson) storming out (him calling her “Jessica” doesn’t help much). Robert agrees to go to Italy with Jack to sell the villa (although he doesn’t yet know about the divorce; father and son mostly talk in distracted or confrontational tones, due to Jack’s ongoing-anger about Dad never engaging him about the loss of Mom). When they arrive at their countryside estate they find the place in shambles (Robert’s done nothing toward its upkeep), although, on the positive side, the water works; however, the negatives are enhanced by a weasel who’s taken up residence. Real-estate-agent Kate (Lindsay Duncan)—English, herself divorced after her husband said no to children until it was too late for her, then got his secretary pregnant—says it’s more likely to sell after renovation but Jack’s got only a month before the gallery’s gone so, after more squabbles with Robert, Jack goes into the nearby town, meets a local restaurant owner, Natalia (Valeria Bielllo)—she’s divorced too, shares custody of young daughter Anna (Costanza Amati); seems difficult for anyone in this movie to stay married. After it’s known the Fosters own the historic villa from a local family various neighbors pitch in to help, so soon the place is showable by Kate, although Robert’s sentimental attachment to the place is making him less inclined to sell (largely became a recluse after his wife’s death—stopped painting anything of significance, couldn’t drive a car, sent Jack to boarding school so he’d be less reminded of Mom’s loss [that tactic sure backfired])
Not surprisingly, romance blooms between Jack and Natalia (Robert and Kate mildly spark as well), the Foster men try to impress her with a nice dinner (even though neither of them can cook much) so Jack gets pasta from a local shop (turns out to have been made by expert-chef Natalia, so they all get a good laugh), but he backs off when he thinks she’s still too connected to her ex. ⇒Jack finds a previously-unknown-room (to him), stocked with a lot of his childhood stuff, drawings and painting of Raffaella; Robert comes in, confesses he was preoccupied with a painting on a day little Jack wandered into town, didn’t want to lose his light so his wife drove in to get the kid, was killed on the way back; Robert’s never gotten over the guilt. Father and son connect a bit but then diverge when Dad chases away an arrogant potential buyer (Kate doesn’t blame Robert; however, Jack does).⇐
⇒The Foster men return to London; Robert sells his home there (he’s off to Italy), but when Jack takes his half to Ruth she says the gallery’s not for sale after all, yet she’s willing to take his signed divorce papers. Jack heads for Tuscany to rebuild a life with Dad—and Natalia, when he’s clear her ex is around only for shared-parenting, then works with Kate to start a local gallery, first showcasing Robert’s work.⇐ While we don’t see what becomes of those father-and-son-romances following final fadeout we can easily imagine the next steps without needing to see a sequel* to this warmhearted but ultimately predicable story with the chief interest seeing on screen the reactions of Liam and actual offspring Micheál to a plot about a father and son mourning the beloved woman taken from them in a horrid accident (as was wife/mother Natasha Richardson in a 2009 skiing mishap). Their anger, sorrow, and regret comes across as genuine emotion, giving added depth to Made in Italy which also has the consistently-charming-appeal of Tuscan landscape (although I wish we’d gotten a bit more into the dinners at Natalia’s restaurant, given how delicious I find well-prepared Italian food, even if I’m just looking instead of being able to fully indulge), but—as with An American Pickle—once the premise is fully established it’s just all too clear where the storyline will travel, maybe because we know these father and son actors are devotedly-connected in real life so it would be almost heretical if their characters continued to be at odds; likewise, while running an art gallery in London would have its perks (the opening scene of a show there featured some interesting objects), the refusal to sell after Jack put so much effort into raising the cash to buy the place just makes it all the better for him not to even share a country-of-residence with chilly Ruth (especially during a London winter [which I’ve experienced]) when sunny Italy beckons (OK, sometimes Florence gets winter snow too, but there’s still the food … the food!). Overall, though I was more impressed than the OCCU with RT only at 52% positive reviews, MC with a miserly 45% average score (sourpusses!), so it works a bit better for me than for most of them. Playing in 111 domestic theaters it pulled in about $34 thousand (overseas is much better, for a global total of $107.3 thousand), but you’re more likely to find it on several streaming platforms: the easiest for me was AT&T’s U-Verse on Demand for an $8.00 rental.
*Now if only this narrative decision to leave future developments to the audience’s imagination had been employed by previous filmmakers (and greedy studios), the cinematic landscape wouldn’t have been polluted with unnecessary sequels such as Exorcist II: The Heretic (John Boorman, 1977) and The Two Jakes (Jack Nicholson, 1990)—a poor reply to lauded Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974).
While Made in Italy has its long moments of tensions, recriminations, bad memories (and that angry weasel in the kitchen) it’s ultimately about the power of love so what could I pick for a Musical Metaphor but Dean Martin’s 1953 signature song, “That’s Amore,” (written by Harry Warren, Jack Brooks; found on the 1955 version of the Dean Martin Sings album) at https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=HbTvKUttFXI (even though this song’s specifically set in Naples, south from Tuscany) because, wherever you are, “When you dance down the street with a cloud at your feet You’re in love.” Of course, I guess you could also say, if finding unwanted critters in your long-abandoned house, “When an eel bites your heel And you know how it feels That’s a moray” (look it up if need be). OK, I’m done (clearly), maybe after too much wine and brine*; I’ll try to dry out better next time.
*In this realm of final thoughts, though, I wonder if the staff at Metacritic are a little pickled because that 45% average score (noted above) is based on 11 reviews (not a great sample so you might want to check back later to see if there are more—additional details on RT and MC for both movies in Related Links farther below) whose individual numbers (assigned by MC staffers) add up to 543, which divided by 11 = 49%, so you might consider future results from them to be taken with a sip of salty brine. What's not to be questioned, though, is the deep sorrow felt by characters in both movies reviewed here, so in final tribute to all the losses contained in these stories (and in memory of those who've departed from friends of mine or in honor of those still happily with the rest of us, thanking our lucky stars we haven't lost them yet—so this is also in grateful acknowledgement of the continuation with my marvelous wife of 30 years, Nina Kindblad) I'll leave you with maybe the greatest love song ever, The Beatles' "In My Life" (from their 1965 album Rubber Soul) for all who say "In my life I'll love you more," whether you'll still with us or are a marvelous, if sorrowful, memory.
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. Eastern 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 better; feel free to explore their entire schedule here. You can also click on that + sign at the right of each listing to get additional, useful info.
Thursday August 13, 2020
8:00 PM Grand Hotel (Edmund Goulding, 1932) Adapted from a Broadway play, early Sound Era spectacular, set in Berlin with many MGM stars: Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore, Lewis Stone, Jean Hersholt. Chief among the plot lines is the romance between Garbo, a fading ballerina and J. Barrymore, a suave jewel thief with ambitious plans, tragic results. Won Best Picture Oscar, only film to do so without getting another nomination.
Saturday August 15, 2020
8:00 PM An American in Paris (Vincente Minnelli, 1951) All-time great musical about a painter in Paris (Gene Kelley), his neighbor (Oscar Levant), and the woman he loves (Leslie Caron), ends with a spectacular ballet set to Gershwin’s An American in Paris. Nominated for 8 Oscars, won for Best Picture, Story and Screenplay, Art Direction-Color, Cinematography-Color, Costume Design-Color, Scoring of a Musical Picture, plus an Honorary Oscar to Kelly for cinematic versatility, multi-talents.
Sunday August 16, 2020
10:00 AM Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks, 1938) Quintessential screwball comedy: Cary Grant as an easily-befuddled paleontologist on the verge of finishing a Brontosaurus skeleton and marrying a prim woman we know isn’t a right match especially after he meets a flighty heiress (Katharine Hepburn) who gets him in increasingly-embarrassing situations even as romance develops between them. Only movie I can recall featuring 2 leopards. Somewhat remade as What's Up Doc? (1972).
11:45 AM His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940) Adapted from Ben Hecht-Charles MacArthur play, The Front Page, this turns a sensationalistic-journalism-story into something with those aspects but also becomes a screwball comedy where now-divorced newspaper editor Walter Burns (Gary Grant) conspires to get ex-wife Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell) back (and on the payroll to cover a big story) despite her upcoming marriage to mild-mannered Ralph Bellamy. Famous rapid-fire dialogue.
Tuesday August 18, 2020
3:45 PM Splendor in the Grass (Elia Kazan, 1961) Set in 1928 Kansas, this is the sad story of a teenager (Natalie Wood) who resists sex with her boyfriend (Warren Beatty) until marriage but in the meantime he has to deal with his scandalous sister (Barbara Loden), only for each of them to suffer various forms of anguish when the Depression hits, further increasing the ongoing drama (still plays as truly tragic, not corny, at least for me). William Inge won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
6:00 PM Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967) Great example of American film beyond the boundaries of the old Studio System with Depression Era-outlaws played by Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway (Gene Hackman, Estelle Parsons, Michael J. Pollard also in the gang). Romanticized version of history as robbers are Robin Hood-antiheros in their day, represent anti-establishment values for ‘60s audiences; shocking bloody ending. Parsons won Best Supporting Actress Oscar;
the film also got another one for Best Cinematography. Excellent use of Flatt and Scruggs music.
8:00 PM Reds (Warren Beatty, 1981) Docudrama of journalist John Reed (Beatty) who chronicled the Russian Revolution, his writer-lover Louise Bryant (Diane Keaton), their friend playwright Eugene O’Neill (Jack Nicholson), Communist-sympathizer Emma Goldman (Maureen Stapleton) through various disputes, involvements in great issues of early 20th-century, with "witness" talk from real people of the times. Oscars for Best Director, Supporting Actress (Stapleton), Cinematography.
Wednesday August 19, 2020
2:00 AM McCabe and Mrs. Miller (Robert Altman, 1971) Beatty again, this time as a gambler who goes west to the mining town of Presbyterian Church (named for a structure barely in use) where he establishes a brothel to be run by his lover (Julie Christie). Town becomes prosperous, a big mining company wants to buy his business but he refuses to sell, becomes the target of 3 bounty hunters whom he ultimately decides he must kill or be killed. Grand use of a few Leonard Cohen songs.
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: Here are other items of possible interest: (1) Nearly half the world's cinemas have reopened (including in 43 U.S. states under various restrictions); (2) Proposal to eliminate gender distinctions for acting awards; (3) Judge ends the "Paramount" antitrust rules that kept studios from owning theaters, the ruling that helped end the Golden Age of Hollywood, beginning in 1948; (4) AMC Theaters claim to have survived "the Corona Crisis" (other chains not so optimistic); (5) When theaters do reopen will they still sell concessions? 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 you can search for streaming/rental/purchase movie options at JustWatch.
Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:
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Here’s more information about An American Pickle:
https://www.hbomax.com/feature/urn:hbo:feature:GXyIYDACdyMNlkwEAAAAE (sparse official site)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSglCciAXo0 (10:07 interview with actor Seth Rogen
[ad breaks in at about 3:00, or at least it did for me])
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/an_american_pickle
https://www.metacritic.com/movie/an-american-pickle
Here’s more information about Made in Italy:
https://www.ifcfilms.com/films/made-in-italy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeLy1o5uG0E (6:09 interview with actors Liam Neeson and Michéal Richardson)
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/made_in_italy_2020
https://www.metacritic.com/movie/made-in-italy/critic-reviews
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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.
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