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’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they go negative. However, due to COVID concerns I’m mostly addressing streaming options with limited visits to theaters, where I don’t think I’ve missed much anyway, though better options may be on the horizon.(Note: Anything in bold blue [some will look almost purple] is a link to something more in the review.)
Here’s the trailer:
(Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge its size;
activate the same button or use “esc” keyboard key to return to normal.)
There are no plot spoilers here because it’s all public knowledge anyway.
Recently in these postings I’ve looked at streaming documentaries about celebrities I admire so I hope you’re not getting bored with such reviews, because here we go again, this time with a great presence on American TV (plus some successful movies), Mary Tyler Moore. This film gives us an active blend of clips from throughout her career, starting in the 1950s playing the Happy Hotpoint pixie dancing around kitchen appliances in commercials on ABC TV’s The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (“adventure” often no more than Ozzie going to the garage with his sons and their friends for a room-temperature-Coke) to much later years with such fare as TV movies of PBS’ The Gin Game (Arvin Brown, 2003 [with Dick Van Dyke]), and CBS’ The Dick Van Dyke Show Revisited (Ken Whittengham, 2004), a few appearances on That ‘70s Show (2006) and Hot in Cleveland (2011-’13), with off-screen-life stretching from December 29, 1936 to January 25, 2017 (died of cardiopulmonary arrest resulting from pneumonia; struggled with diabetes, which nearly blinded her, ever since 1969).
Begins in a 1966 interview with David Susskind where she challenges his categorization of Laura Petrie as too fictionally-satisfied to be taken as a real woman (she gets likewise-flack in 1975 in a Gloria Steinem speech about her Mary Richards character and other women in popular media). Then concise details about growing up Irish Catholic in a Jewish Brooklyn neighborhood, distance from her alcoholic mother, her early love of dancing in an attempt to impress her father, family’s move to Hollywood, her slow start to an entertainment career (didn’t get older daughter role on ABC/CBS TV’s The Danny Thomas Show [said her nose was too small to be his relative], cast as the receptionist on CBS/NBC TV’s Richard Diamond, Private Detective [1957-’59] but in addition to her voice only parts of her body were shown, resulting in pay of $85 per episode; she wanted a raise, got fired). Things got better when she took a chance on an audition for Carl Reiner to be Laura Petrie on CBS TV’s The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-‘66), where she honed her comic skills with help from Reiner and Lucille Ball, owner of production company Desilu (Moore won Primetime Emmys in 1964, 1966 for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Series). After that show ended, she signed for a 5-picture-deal with Universal Studios, soon had a conflict when she wanted to be on Broadway in Thoroughly Modern Millie, got her release by dropping control over the films so she ended up in a cluster of bombs (she was in a cinematic version of … Millie [George Roy Hill, 1967] which got good reviews; also supposed to be in a stage musical revamp of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, but when Edward Albee was brought in to direct, the show didn't open after terrible notices in previews).
Things picked up for her soon after with being the lead in CBS TV’s The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-‘77), which was produced by her company, MTM Enterprises, run by Mary and her second husband, Grant Tinker (previous marriage to Richard Meeker Jr. right after high school ended in 1962). This huge success got her 3 more of those Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Emmys (1973, ’74, ’76) plus an Actress of the Year – Series Emmy also in 1974, as well as providing an alternative (despite Steinem’s opinion) to TV women either married or frantically looking for a mate, with TV Mary pursuing a career at a fictional TV station in Minneapolis (although in the original pilot she was supposed to be divorced, a clear taboo in those days). After the show’s run, she and Tinker divorced, Moore back to NYC stage for the lead in Whose Life Is It, Anyway? which got great reviews, but she began to drink too much for years, finally went to the Betty Ford Center to dry out. Next up was the role of the troubled mother in the film Ordinary People (Robert Redford, 1980) which got a cluster of Oscars: Best Picture, Redford as director, Timothy Hutton as Best Supporting Actor, Alvin Sargent as Best Adapted Screenplay writer, with Moore nominated as the Best Actress.*
*In writing my review of Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie I noted Ordinary People because Fox lost that role to Hutton, but I mistakenly said Moore won for Best Actress (I’ve since corrected that posting). Interestingly, she lost to Sissy Spacek in Coal Miner’s Daughter (Michael Apted), the only movie I’ve ever attended a critics’ press junket/preview screening of (in L.A.’s Century City) where I got to interview Spacek, Loretta Lynn, Apted, Tommy Lee Jones, Levon Helm, Beverly D’Angelo, and others; it was an amazing experience, topped off with a private concert by Lynn, Spacek, Helm at a Sunset Strip nightclub (lots of free food and booze as well). Nice work if you can get it. (Fortunately, I liked the movie, truthfully gave it a good review in my stint as a critic on a Dallas FM radio station.)
It wasn’t all sunshine, lollipops, and roses for Moore, though, as along with those divorces she also lost her younger sister, Elizabeth, at 21 from overdoses, her younger brother John at 47 from kidney cancer, then her son Richard, 24, died in 1980 due to an accident with a gun (just after Ordinary People debuted, playing a woman whose son died), but things got better for her personally in 1982 when she returned to NYC from a trip to Rome with her mother. Mom got sick, was cared for by Dr. Robert Levine who, despite being 18 years younger than Mary, started a relationship with her, leading to marriage in 1983. Brief mentions are made of her life and career (including philanthropic work) up to the present of her departure from us, with a focus on her later illnesses, eventual death.
No, she couldn’t always turn her own world “on with a smile” like she did for her major TV characters, but she certainly gave a lot of happiness to those who saw her on various screens and stages (she also picked up a final Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Special for Lifetime cable TV’s movie Stolen Babies [Eric Laneuville,1993]). If you’re a fan of Ms. Moore you should easily be pleased with this doc as it contains so many notable clips from her career, many interviews with her over the years, tributes from those who knew and worked with her. Even if you’re young enough to not be all that familiar with her many accomplishments I think this film will still appeal as it demonstrates why her public self was so beloved, why her private self was much more complex, why through her determination she was destined to “make it after all.” The CCAC generally agrees, with Rotten Tomatoes positive reviews at 96% (however, just based on 20 of them) while the Metacritic average score is 66% (never overestimate those grumps); you can catch it in cablecast on HBO or stream on their renamed Max platform for free if you’re a subscriber or pay as low as $10 for a month for access (gets you everything else they offer also; no kickback to Two Guys). For my usual review-wrap-up of a Musical Metaphor I’ll use the Mary Tyler Moore Show opening credits song at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s8qWXqm2bI as it speaks so well to Moore’s life and career, with the latter emphasized by changes made from the unsuccessful pilot version of the song (“You might just make it after all”; damn, show more confidence in her, please!)—the whole pilot was properly retooled also—although it does metaphorically represent the former aspect of her complicated life. Still, a 2-hr.-doc can only cover so much so if you want more you can consult this link (there's a good bit of info on her much-more-conservative-sociopolitical-stances than what I'd prefer, but what difference does that make?) as well as this mini-essay about the film.
(somewhat) SHORT TAKES (relatively speaking)
The Mother (Niki Caro) rated R 117 min.
Here’s the trailer:
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 just aren’t that tech-savvy). To help any of you who want 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: (Now I’m back to the usual format I use with fictional presentations, unlike documentaries where these arbitrary subsections don’t work so well in my ramblings.) There’s a hell of a lot of plot crammed into this movie, so if I don’t cover enough of it for your needs, you can go to this site for considerably more details. Basically, it’s about a former U.S. military woman, only known as “The Mother” (Jennifer Lopez), who arranges an arms smuggling deal between 2 of her lovers, ex-member of the British Army’s Special Air Service, Capt. Adrian Lovell (Joseph Fiennes) and arms dealer Hector Alvarez (Gael Garcia Bernal)—one of them’s the father of the fetus she’s carrying, but we never learn who; she's pulled in by the FBI, but during the interrogation led by Agent William Cruise (Omari Hardwick), Lovell and his thugs attack, kill all but Cruise and The Mother (although Lovell wounds her), Mother manages to use her skills to save Cruise’s life, then sets off a homemade-bomb killing Lovell’s men as he escapes. Cruise gets the woman to a hospital where the baby’s delivered but taken away from her for the child’s safety (knowing Lovell will surely be back), put into secret foster care, then Mother heads to a remote cabin in Alaska where she stays in hiding for 12 years, getting only the demanded annual photo of her daughter, Zoe (Lucy Paez as a tween).
A crisis arises when Cruise informs Mother that Alvarez’s men are about to kidnap the kid in the Midwest, so they go there to protect the girl. They manage to kill several of the kidnappers, but Zoe’s captured anyway, so Mother and Cruise head to Havana looking for answers, locate the girl at Alvarez’s home where they rescue her after killing all of the guards, Mother kills Alvarez. Zoe become convinced Mother is her biological Mom, but the woman won’t admit it (yet), lets Cruise take her back to the adoptive parents; however, Lovell intercepts them. Mother and Zoe escape, angered Lovell kills Cruise. ⇒Mother takes Zoe to the Alaska cabin, teaches her some survival skills, but Mother learns Lovell and thugs are on the way. Mother manages to kill all the thugs, then faces off with Lovell, Zoe with a rifle high above them; she fires, they fall over a small, snow-covered cliff, Mother’s knocked out, Zoe runs to her but Lovell grabs the kid, starts to drive off, Mother comes to, shoots and misses with her first shot, kills Lovell with her second. Mother takes Zoe back to her adoptive home, continues to watch her somewhat indirectly, but they’re now aware of each other.⇐
So What? I suppose if Mary Richards could appropriate the standard mid-20th-century male media (as well as social, for the most part) role of pursuing a career rather than a spouse and children then it’s only appropriate that Jennifer Lopez’s character in the early-21st-centurey can appropriate the role so well established by Liam Neeson in his Taken series (Pierre Morel, 2008; Olivier Megaton, 2012, 2014) where a man with a “very particular set of skills” goes about rescuing abducted family members or salvaging his own reputation. If that’s what you want to see in a dose of escapist entertainment (as well as many people getting killed, but, at least, not in a gruesome fashion [mostly they just get shot and fall down—I just saw worse on an old episode of PBS TV’s Midsomer Murders {1997-present} where one [!] of the killers in this episode beats another guy to a bloody pulp with some large instrument {shovel, sledge hammer, I forget} with the victim already poking around inside an empty grave]), then you get all you’ve asked for with The Mother. Given the OCCU dismissal (more on that just below), I wasn’t all that anxious to see it anyway, but the previous work of the more-known-members of the cast intrigued me, it’s recently been the most-watched-movie on Netflix streaming (says Variety), and—with my beloved-but-horribly-understaffed/under-supported Oakland Athletics baseballers in the midst last weekend of what became an 0-11 losing skid (part of their 12-46 awful record so far this miserable season)—I was in the mood for seeing some kind of revenge, no matter how fictional. (The A's finally bounced back this week, winning 2 of 3 from the National League’s Eastern Division leader Atlanta Braves [who now have a couple of the A’s former top players due to tightwad-management’s teardown of the home team as they continue to pursue relocation to Las Vegas], but the long-range-likelihood for this A's season is pretty dismal.)
Just from the standpoint of an outnumbered (yet, apparently rarely outmatched) hero taking on a deadly challenge, surviving by sheer determination, this movie was mildly entertaining enough but certainly no more. (My more-discerning-wife, Nina, was utterly-disgusted with it, complaining it’s all about death scenes with no character development [I certainly can’t disagree, but then she centers herself with meditation and yoga; I clean cat boxes and keep my local Beverages and More in steady business.]) But, if you can be satisfied with a bunch of violent (but predetermined-outcome) action scenes along with just seeing the noted stars acting consistently within their roles, you might find The Mother to be an acceptable dose of distracted entertainment; if not, I think you’d actually find more substance in the sitcom world of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, available to stream for free for subscribers (or 1-month-free-curiosity-seekers) to those Amazon Prime Video and Hulu platforms.
Bottom Line Final Comments: In a somewhat-perverse-marketing decision this movie was released on Netflix streaming (even if you’re not a subscriber you can sign up for just 1 month for their lowest price of $6.99, watch whatever else they have) on the Mother’s Day weekend, May 12-14, 2023, so I guess if there are any well-trained-killer-mothers out there they might have enjoyed it immensely, others of more passive tastes probably not so much. As noted above, the OCCU was not supportive: RT positive reviews at a mere 42%, the MC average score is, surprisingly, a bit higher at 45%, with neither of them offering much encouragement to seek out this movie, but maybe it would have somewhat better appeal for some of you. On a lark, due to this guy being named Austin Burke (so he could be me, as I was born, lived for years in Austin, TX) I watched his video review (6:39) where he acknowledges some value but basically sees many reasons to dismiss most aspects of the movie so you might find his explorations to be interesting insights. As for someone who can manage to find truly supportive comments about The Mother, you can turn to Noel Murray of the Los Angeles Times, who says: “[…] from scene to scene, Lopez and Caro do fill these broad outlines with real feeling, bringing a personal touch to old pulp stereotypes.” Really, do they?
Then, if I turn to some critics I’ve been aware of for years, though, what I find is silly-support from TIME’s Stephanie Zacharek: “Lopez can get away with things that other mere mortals can’t, and if you approach it in the right spirit, The Mother could be ridiculously good fun. It needs to be watched with the largest group of J.Lo fans you can assemble, ideally people who know artfully applied highlighter when they see it in the wild. Forget automatic weapons; it’s the Beauty Blender that gets the job done.” Less supportive is Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times: “I’m not going to spoil the epilogue in the slick but trashy and quite dumb Jennifer Lopez action movie ‘The Mother,’ but I will say it’s so insanely off the rails, so bat-bleep crazy that I almost want you to watch 'The Mother' just so you’ll know what I’m talking about. [¶] Almost.” Well, by now I think you get the idea about this movie so pursue it—or not—as you see fit. What I saw fit to finish with in my Musical Metaphor is Paul Simon’s “Mother and Child Reunion” (on his 1972 Paul Simon album) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_52QR3TptY where lyrics such as “No, I would not give you false hope / On this strange and mournful day / But the mother and child reunion / Is only a motion away” speak directly to me about what transpires in such a constantly-moving-motion picture.
Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:
(1) A summer movie guide of 40 titles; (2) Martin Scorsese visits Pope Francis, announces a new Jesus film (I doubt he said much about his previous one, The Last Temptation of Christ [1988], although this Pope seems largely open-minded); Last week's streaming champs, TV and movies.
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