He was Spartacus

The THR obit. He was 103, if you can believe that. One of the last of the old Hollywood legends.

——————-
Films with Kirk Douglas:
A Letter to Three Wives
Lust for Life
Spartacus 

Five precedents for the proposed changes to the Hollywood Walk of Fame

...Los Angeles City Councilman Mitch O’Farrell unveiled a 90-page concept Thursday [January 30] aimed at creating a less gritty, more welcoming atmosphere for the millions of tourists who visit the Walk of Fame each year. 

The initial proposal draws inspiration from world-class streets across the world, including the Avenue des Champs-Elysees in Paris. That could be achieved in Hollywood, too, the plan says, with wider sidewalks, more shade trees, more space for sidewalk dining — and far less space for drivers.

I haven’t been to Los Angeles. I hope to go one day; the Hollywood Walk of Fame is one of the must-see attractions of the city, a glittering tribute to the men and women who shaped the American film industry. Because I’ve never been there, though, it never occurred to me that for all its glamour and prestige, it’s still part of a street, like any other in LA—two of them, in this case: Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street. And like many big city streets in America, it has been engineered with driving private vehicles in mind over everything else.

This proposal to traffic-calm the WOF area and make it more pedestrian-friendly reminds me more than a little of when Times Square underwent a similar change, over a decade ago. It was considered radical at the time, but the end result slowed vehicle traffic and made walking and biking through the area safer and more pleasant, which was a boon to the local businesses. It didn’t take much, either—just paint and some extra chairs.

I believe the same is possible for the WOF area, but there will likely be those who object, who believe it’ll have an adverse effect on traffic and will drive away business. There always are. So let’s look at what Councilman O’Farrell’s plan entails and see how it works in other cities.

Links of prey

I don’t have a whole lot to say this month for once—except, of course, to remind you the Butlers & Maids Blogathon is later this month and there’s still time to join Paddy and me for it if you want. Leave a comment here or tweet me at @ratzo318 and you’ll be set.

Let’s get straight to this month’s links:

Ivan on the supernatural soap opera Dark Shadows.

Virginie visits an Audrey Hepburn exhibit in Amsterdam.

Aurora collects a bagful of Cary Grant appearances on the radio.

Ruth tells of how Edgar Rice Burroughs called out Hollywood in a novel.

Hollywood’s Walk of Fame may become more pedestrian-friendly.

More about the Parasite mini-series for HBO.

A Jewish critic on Jojo Rabbit.

Adam Sandler and the Safdie Brothers reunite for this short film set in Times Square.

Jojo Rabbit versus Ernst Lubitsch’s To Be or Not To Be.

Leonard Maltin will be feted at this year’s TCM Film Festival.

Comedy is dealt another mortal wound as Hank Azaria caves in to the PC Police and gives up voicing the character Apu on The Simpsons.

When the city of Hollywood hooked up with Los Angeles.

What is the most expensive horror movie prop of all time?

Jojo Rabbit

Jojo Rabbit
seen @ Kew Gardens Cinemas, Kew Gardens, Queens, NY

Last month I had said I didn’t find Knives Out as funny as other people did and I questioned whether seeing it with an audience made a difference or not. Now I’ve seen another comedy film, Jojo Rabbit, a movie I found hilarious, as did the audience I saw it with—one woman behind me was laughing her head off for most of the movie—and irony of ironies, the first time I looked it up online after seeing it, I encountered all these reviews saying how unfunny it is. (Its overall Rotten Tomatoes score, however, is a “certified fresh” 80, which is very positive.)

Granted, director Taika Waititi, who also adapted the screenplay from the book Caging Skies, walks a tightrope, attempting to find humor in a story taking place in Nazi Germany with Adolf Hitler (sort of) as a supporting character. I was reminded of the 2018 Cold War comedy The Death of Stalin, which also balanced humor with the realities of life within a fascist regime—and, of course, older comedies like Life is Beautiful, The Producers, To Be or Not To Be and The Great Dictator.

Jojo deals with a young Hitler Youth recruit, one so devoted to the Nazi cause he imagines Hitler himself as his best friend, and what happens when he learns his mother is secretly hiding a Jew in their house. Why is the movie funny? For one thing, the dialogue feels almost contemporary, which is incongruous with the time and place. The Nazi characters are depicted broadly; the situations they’re put in ridiculous. Hitler especially, played by director Waititi, is practically a cartoon—and yet there are moments that remind you these are Nazis and if you’re a dissenter, or a Jew, you trifle with them at your risk. And there’s an overall message of tolerance that’s heartfelt and welcome, particularly in this time where anti-Semitism is making a comeback.

The child actor, Roman Griffin Davis, carries the bulk of the movie. He gives Jojo a naive fanaticism that almost makes him endearing. Jojo doesn’t quite measure up to his peers, most of whom bully him, but he’ll do anything to be a true soldier like his absent father, off fighting in the war. His idealized version of Hitler acts as a kind of surrogate father, but none of this is as frightening as it sounds because of the goofy tone of the movie.

And then Jojo discovers the teenage Jewish girl and things change for him; that which he’s believed in all his life about German superiority is called into question. It was good to see Thomasin McKenzie from Leave No Trace again; she plays the Jewish girl and I think she’s even better here.

Jojo is pretty different from Knives; both are satirical, but to different degrees, and Jojo, by nature of its subject matter, is more risqué and “out there.” Did that make it easier to laugh at? Could be. Knives was an ensemble; we saw the story through different perspectives, some of which were funnier than others and all of whom were adults. Jojo is told from the angle of a ten-year-old with a very specific worldview, one we wouldn’t normally laugh at, but here it’s purposely exaggerated to a bizarre extent.

Laughing helped us, the audience, approach the premise more easily, whereas with Knives, there was no trepidation of the premise to overcome. It was easier to accept at face value, and while it was entertaining, I don’t think I felt the need to laugh as much as I did with Jojo. From the first scene and the opening credits—yes, this was a rare film with opening credits, set to the tune of the Beatles’ “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” in German—it gave us permission to laugh at it... and we did. Knives wasn’t quite like that, at least not for me, but that’s okay.

Parasite

Parasite
seen @ Kew Gardens Cinemas, Kew Gardens, Queens, NY

When I began WSW over nine years ago (!), I was more up on new releases than I am now. You could say I believed it was part of my responsibility as a film blogger. Hanging around classic film bloggers over time made me think otherwise, and now I no longer pay as close attention to things like who’s getting cast in what movie, what project a given director is eyeing, or what the weekend box office take for the latest franchise movie was.

So when I saw that this foreign movie I had only recently heard of called Parasite was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, it took me completely by surprise—but if I had been following the Oscar race year-round, like I used to, chances are I could’ve seen it coming. This was the Palme d’Or winner at Cannes. It has a score of 99 at Rotten Tomatoes. It won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film and has been nominated for a ton of other awards around the world.

This film is a huge hit. I had thought the Academy was being enlightened and progressive by nominating it for its top honor, and they kind of are, but I think in this case, it might have been simply too big for them to ignore.

Still getting used to the name Bong Joon Ho, the director and co-writer (I keep saying “Boon Jong” instead). He’s been around awhile—months ago I saw his SF movie Snowpiercer on Netflix. I thought about doing a post on it, but never did. No real reason.

I’ve watched quite a few movies on Netflix I haven’t blogged about. That might be another way WSW has evolved: used to be I felt I needed constant content to stay visible, so I would blog four to six times a week, on everything I saw, but a pace like that was unsustainable for me. Some bloggers can do it. I can’t.

Snowpiercer had Western stars like Chris Evans and Tilda Swinton in it (a sign of how well known he is already), but Parasite was made in his native South Korea, with Korean actors. The premise is original and delightfully subversive: a dirt-poor, unemployed family figures out a way to infiltrate the household of a rich family by posing as strangers and secretly getting the established staff out, one by one, which leads to different problems. There are plans for an HBO miniseries that will expand the original story further.

Once I figured out the basic premise, I really got into the story. It’s funny in places, and the climax is a gory bloodbath, so it’s hard to classify this movie. I’ve seen it described both as a black comedy and a thriller; I lean more toward the latter but really, it’s its own thing. The class struggle is obviously a major theme, but it’s not like it preaches. Every character is unsympathetic to one degree or another, and the friction between the two families produces the movie’s memorable moments. I’m reminded of the work of Luis Bunuel, or to a lesser extent, Mike Leigh, crossed with Tarantino. I’d have to see more of Bong’s work to know whether or not this is typical of him.

Not much more to say. Good acting, good set design—the contrast between the families’ homes is sharp—great screenplay, obviously, good score. This is everything you would want in a movie.

It’s all about Oscar

For Best Picture:

Ford v Ferrari
The Irishman 
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Little Women
Marriage Story
1917
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood 
Parasite 

The rest.

Wow, I missed the boat on a lot of movies this year, didn’t I?

When I say I can’t see every Oscar-caliber new release that comes out every year, I’m not just playing around. I really can’t—and I no longer try. It’s too stressful, too expensive, and some movies just don’t interest me, at least at first. Plus, in recent years, I’ve lost interest in the whole Oscar horse race anyway—but I can’t deny the Oscar imprimatur on a film is worth something.

Especially these days. I’m still not used to this new Academy, that takes indie movies like Jojo Rabbit and foreign films like Parasite seriously in the Best Picture race instead of going for the usual awards bait every year. It’s exciting, and makes for a more interesting race, to be sure.

That said, my money is still on 1917 for the top prize. A thrilling story with breathtaking cinematography and assured direction by Sam Mendes, who should get Best Director too, it deserves to be the last film standing—though that’s now conditional on whether or not I see the ones I haven’t seen yet.

In the acting races: Antonio Banderas getting a Best Actor nod for a foreign language role isn’t terribly surprising; every once in awhile such roles break through, and the Academy loves Pedro Almodovar... Harriet was a film I was on the fence about whether to see it or not; nice to see newcomer Cynthia Erivo get the call for Best Actress... Hanks in Supporting Actor? The Academy actually gauged his role in Neighborhood correctly? Amazing... ScarJo in Lead and Supporting. Could she win both?... Yay Adam Driver; I kinda hope he wins Best Actor. Yay Saoirse Ronan; maybe she should keep making movies with Greta Gerwig. Yay Anthony Hopkins and Kathy Bates, even though I didn’t see their movies. I just like them.

No Adam Sandler or Eddie Murphy for Best Actor, boo hoo. Whatever. That would’ve gotten a serious amount of buzz... I thought Noah Baumbach deserved a Director nod for Marriage Story, but at least his original screenplay is in the mix, as is Rian Johnson’s for Knives Out. That’s good... Kinda surprised Gerwig wasn’t caught up in all the love for Little Women... Really disappointed in the lack of love for Rocketman in general and Taron Egerton for Best Actor. I genuinely thought he had a legitimate shot because he was terrific... I had thought 1917 would easily take the two sound categories, but I think Ford v Ferrari will provide some stiff competition there... If The Lion King wins Visual Effects, that would be bittersweet indeed since its FX house, MPC, recently closed its doors... And no love for Cats? Awww...

Which films might I try to see? I believe The Two Popes is on Netflix. I remember seeing the trailer for it, but it didn’t interest me at the time... Little Women is still playing in theaters; I know Virginia saw it with Ann last weekend. I didn’t think anything new could be said about this story; I had already seen the Hepburn and the Ryder versions. Guess I was wrong... Parasite might still be playing in the city, a movie I had never even heard of until a few weeks ago... I hope Jojo Rabbit gets re-released. I remember reading a capsule description of it and initially  thinking it was silly.

Uncut Gems

Uncut Gems
seen @ Kew Gardens Cinemas, Kew Gardens, Queens NY

Adam Sandler, like many comedians before him, wants to be taken seriously as an Actor. That’s okay by me; I like seeing actors of all stripes try new things. They should. Sometimes when a comedian switches to drama, though, they never switch back, and that disappoints me, but it’s their career, after all, to go in whatever direction they choose.

I was never a huge Sandler fan. I think the only comedy of his I can honestly say I liked was The Wedding Singer, which had Drew Barrymore in it too. His comedy music is pretty good, though—and his Hanukkah song kicks ass.

Sandler has ventured into dramatic films before. I never saw Spanglish, but I did see Punch-Drunk Love, a romance with Emily Watson (no relation), directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. I was lukewarm to it at the time, but now I’m thinking perhaps I should revisit it. Still, I doubt any of his past work prepared us for Uncut Gems, his latest film, which has people mentioning his name and Oscar in the same breath—and who could’ve predicted that?

Full disclosure: I saw this film on January 2, still recovering from New Year’s Eve. Not that I had a hangover—the drinks at the bar Virginia and me and our friends were in were way too expensive for more than one beer—but I didn’t get home until sometime after three. At the theater my sleep cycle was still off, plus the beginnings of a cold stirred. Bottom line: it’s possible I was in the wrong frame of mind to watch any movie...

...much less one like this. Sandler plays a New York jeweler addicted to gambling, particularly on NBA basketball. There’s a subplot about an Ethiopian rock with all sorts of precious jewels embedded in it that attracts the attention of a Boston Celtics star, there’s Sandler having an affair with his co-worker, there’s some leg-breakers Sandler owes money to—and the dialogue comes and goes at a rapid clip, with Altmanesque overlapping, and Sandler being very manic and high-strung, schmoozing with everyone he talks to in a sleazy and profane fashion.

On Twitter, I compared Sandler’s performance to Dustin Hoffman, which I still stand by. He’s got a little Pacino mixed in as well. This is a movie which could have been made in the 70s: its milieu, its character-driven plot, its antihero lead all scream “New Hollywood” era. In fact, Scorsese is an executive producer on Gems. That said, the whole thing gave me a headache. Sandler, good as he was, felt shrill and one-note after awhile, though I’m not sure if that was because of where my head was at or not—and I’m in no great hurry to see the movie again.

Garnett (left) was convincing in his supporting role. Don’t know
if he had any prior acting experience, but I doubt he had to stretch.

Gems was directed and co-written (with Ronald Bronstein) by brothers Josh & Benny Safdie, indie filmmakers who had done some stuff before this. Sandler’s character Howard is a Shylock, but the Safdies immerse the film in Jewish culture; it’s a big aspect of its identity. Mostly, though, it’s New York hustle: Howard haggling with NBA star Kevin Garnett (as himself) over the Ethiopian rock, Howard haggling with the goons over money, Howard haggling with his wife and his lover, and all at a go-go pace.

Like I said, I may not have been in the right mood to see such a movie, but at the least I can appreciate its craft. The score was good, so was the cinematography, and this was Sandler in a different context, if nothing else. How much you’ll like this depends on how you feel about Sandler. I never hated him, but a little always went a long way with him. In Gems, he is the movie, he dominates it, and you may not be willing to spend two hours with him in a non-comedic manner. It’s enough to give you tsuris, know what I mean, bubbeleh?