The Moving Picture Blog

Remebering my friend Bill Albright

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Leydon) — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 20:09:00 +0000

Just got word this morning that Bill Albright, my best buddy from my old days at The Houston Post (1982-1995), passed away a couple days ago. For more than a decade, we sat literally face to face in the Arts & Entertainment area of the newsroom — he was the theater critic, I covered film — and I often joked that I saw more of him than most of my blood relatives (including my father) during this time. We swapped stories, made rude comments and shared gossip about various individuals (who always had it coming), and occasionally admitted to each other how ridiculously fortunate we were to get paid for doing what we loved.

After the Post shut down, we remained in touch, through sporadic lunches — though not nearly as many as I should have made time to share with him — and much more frequent emails. He was my go-to guy whenever I needed to ask a question about theater, opera and/or classical music, and would ask me about what movies he should check out on streaming platforms. He was a big guy, and could cast an intimidating glare that would shatter reinforced concrete, but he was a big ol’ softie at heart. In the last email I received from him, dated Feb. 17, he shared his response to the most recent film he had watched: “The old Wuthering Heights. Sniff.” I had no trouble at all imagining him getting teary-eyed as he watched the spirits of Heathcliff and Cathy reunite at last.

A week or two before that, he shared this comment: “Abraham Lincoln said watching Melania was the worst experience he’s ever had in a theater.” My response: “You bad.” His rejoinder: “And proud of it.”

My favorite Bill story: Way back when Operation Desert Shield was just about to escalate into Desert Storm, an editor a named Ernie Williamson (also gone but not forgotten) wandered over to our desks to talk about the situation, and his own Vietnam experiences. I admitted that I had managed to get a 4F exemption while I was in college — and I will tell you only enough of the story so that the punchline makes sense. While I was attending LSUNO (now known as University of New Orleans), a young woman I was casually dating at the time told me she was pregnant, and I was the father, so I helped her obtain a then-illegal abortion. I found out later that she had lied – my gun shoots blanks. At the time, though, I was still a reasonably good Catholic, and the experience shook me so badly that the campus shrink wrote a letter to the draft board stating I was in no mental shape to serve in the military.

I ended the story this way: “So I guess I’m the only person you’ll ever meet who dodged the draft by fucking.”

Beat.

“Well,” Bill noted dryly, “fucking a woman.”

Ernie nearly doubled over with laughter. I nearly fell out of my seat laughing. But Bill only flashed a wicked smile. Because, hey, he was a bad, bad boy.

It’s been way too long since Bill and I had lunch, and I was hoping to remedy that when I returned from SXSW later this month. You always think you’ll have enough time. But sometimes — too many times, really — you don’t.

Remembering Rod Steiger (1925-2002)

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Leydon) — Tue, 15 Apr 2025 04:05:00 +0000

On the centennial of Rod Steiger’s birth — he was born April 14, 1925 in Westhampton, New York — I am reminded of bits and pieces of conversations we had over a period of years, at various film festivals and a handful of movie junkets. Please don’t misunderstand: I am not claiming we were close friends, or even nodding acquaintances. But as I look over notes and tearsheets, I see where he where, quite often, he was quite candid and self-revelatory.

In 1991, he frankly discussed with me how, after his Oscar win for In the Heat of the Night (1967), he battled against a deep, debilitating depression spurred partly by other health issues. He snapped out it, or at least managed to control it, when his doctors finally prescribed the right medication. By that time, though, he found himself facing embarrassing questions about his career tailspin. So he did something that, in the early 1980s, folks rarely did: He spoke out loud about the chronic condition that had immobilized him.

“My agent and everybody else screamed at me,” Steiger said. “But I said, ‘Listen, depression is a disease, just like alcoholism, just like other things. And we’ve got to get away from this thing where people think it’s insanity or something.’

“In fact, I would like to see — and I’m not joking about this — I would like to see a Depressives Anonymous, like Alcoholics Anonymous works, so a depressive person could call up and meet another group. Because the whole strength of a group like that is the sharing of pain, instead of carrying it all by yourself. And when you meet other people with the same problem, your self-pity level drops. You don't feel so sorry for yourself, or feel like God's double-crossed you.”

At the time, Steiger was in Houston was in H-Town to receive a lifetime achievement award at the WorldFest/Houston Film Festival, where he also promoted a darkly comical dramedy called Guilty as Charged, in which he authoritatively played a well-to-do vigilante who executed malefactors who had heretofore escaped justice with his very own electric chair.

“You could call it a delayed return, I guess,” Steiger said of his professional renaissance. “But I was sick for almost 10 years, and my career slowed down quite a bit. So I’m fighting to get myself re-established with a generation of executives who are about 33 years old, who came into the business while I was sick.

“You know, I have a lunch with them, and they say, ‘Well, have you ever played a Southerner?’ And I say, ‘Well, did you see In the Heat of the Night?’ And they say, ‘No.’ So I have to swallow my pride and remind them, you know.

“But, look — I always say that I belong to one of the smallest minorities. I’m a person who makes a living at something he loves to do and maintains his self-respect. That's as close to a definition of success that I can think of.

“I don't care if you’re a plumber or a poet or a shoemaker. If you’re doing something you love to do, and you've got a clean bed, clean food — and then, if you’re extra lucky and get somebody who has some affection for you — then you should shut your mouth. You’ve got no complaints.”

Well, maybe just a few now and then.

Over lunch at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival, he copped to making what he viewed with 20/20 hindsight as “bad business decisions.” He passed on the lead role in Patton, fearing the film would glorify war. Had he played the part “half as well as George C. Scott,” he figured he might have been offered the lead in The Godfather.

And then there were the movies he did accept, but later regretted.

“I think to be an actor,” he said, “you have to be a little bit of a masochist. Because you’re putting your mistakes on view. Your mistakes are made in public, they’re not only seen by people at the office. They're seen by the entire world, eventually. When you do something that isn’t good, that's a mistake on your part — it’s too late, that picture goes out.”

Worse, it keeps returning, thanks to what Steiger called “the recurring cancer” of television.

“What I mean by that is, you do a terrible picture — like I did a terrible picture with Diana Dors, rest her soul, called The Unholy Wife. It was a bad picture. But then I did a picture that was pretty good, called The Pawnbroker.

“So, you’re walking down the street five years later. Somebody says, ‘Hey, you’re on television tonight.’ You say, ‘Oh, The Pawnbroker?’ And they say, ‘No — The Unholy Wife.’

“See, it’s back — the cancer is back. You thought you were finished with this picture, you thought, ‘Thank God, it’s over, no one will ever see my mistakes anymore.’ But no, there it is. And you have to live with that again.”

And yet, a man with movies like The Big Knife, On the Waterfront, Doctor Zhivago, The Pawnbroker, In the Heat of the Night, No Way to Treat a Lady, Duck, You Sucker! and so many others to his credit really didn’t have much to complain about. And Rod Steiger knew it.

“You know, young people always ask me how they can begin a career, because they’d like to act. But I always tell them it’s not enough to like to be an actor. You must need to be an actor. You must have to be an actor. It will make you better as a human being to be an actor. You cannot do anything else.

“I mean, I would like to be Picasso. But I’m not.”

But will it really be the Final Reckoning for Mission: Impossible?

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Leydon) — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 15:51:00 +0000

As you can tell by this listicle I prepared (and have repeatedly update) for Variety, I have thoroughly enjoyed (almost) all of the Mission: Impossible movies starring Tom Cruise. And I certainly am looking forward to the May 23 release of Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning. But I can’t help thinking: This can’t really be the end. Can it?

The Brutalist, Conclave Top List of Houston Film Critics Society Awards

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Leydon) — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 18:52:00 +0000

The Brutalist – director Brady Corbet’s Golden Globe-winning examination of post-World War II America – leads the pack with nine nominations, including Best Picture, for the 18th annual awards from the Houston Film Critics Society. (In the interest of full disclosure: I am a founding and voting member of this organization.) Closely following with eight nominations, including Best Picture: Conclave, the critically acclaimed papal thriller starring Ralph Fiennes.

Three films are nominated in six categories including Best Picture: Sean Baker’s outrageous comedy Anora, director Denis Villeneuve’s continuation of Paul Atreides’ ascension to power in Dune: Part Two, and Jon M. Chu’s film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical Wicked.

Other films competing for Best Picture are A Complete Unknown, an overview of Bob Dylan's early career; Nickel Boys, based on Colson Whitehead’s novel; A Real Pain, Jesse Eisenberg’s study of a complex relationship between cousins; Sing Sing, a tribute to the impact of creative arts on prison life; and The Substance, a satirical view of the challenges of aging.

“2024 was such an odd cinema year and yet the range of our nominees continues to remind us that art, commerce, and the diversity of both is what allows film to thrive,” says HFCS president Travis Leamons. “If you would have told me body horror [The Substance] could be as beloved as a Bob Dylan biopic at the start of the year, I’d say you’re mad. But leave it to our members to keep audiences informed about what movies can say. The fact we can recognize small character stories, giant studio spectacle, and a thriller where papal guidance is suggested is exciting.”

All winners will be announced by the Society on Jan. 14, 2025.

An annual highlight of the HFCS awards is the presentation of the Texas Independent Film Award honoring outstanding films made in the Lone Star State. This year’s nominees explore a complex relationship between a forgotten music star and a delivery driver in Deliveries from Eva; a former YouTube star trying to find her place in an unfriendly world in The Ego Death of Queen Cecilia; a rapper’s journey into himself and his music in Lost Soulz; the inside story of Houston’s storied 101 KLOL in Runaway Radio; and the impact of the city’s Black music scene in When Houston Had the Blues.

Here is a full list of nominees for the 18th annual Houston Film Critics Society Awards.

Best Picture

Anora

The Brutalist

A Complete Unknown

Conclave

Dune: Part Two

Nickel Boys

A Real Pain

Sing Sing

The Substance

Wicked

Best Director

Anora, Sean Baker

The Brutalist, Brady Corbet

Conclave, Edward Berger

Dune: Part Two, Denis Villeneuve

The Substance, Coralie Fargeat

Wicked, Jon M. Chu

Best Actor – Leading Role

Adrien Brody, The Brutalist

Colman Domingo, Sing Sing

Hugh Grant, Heretic

Ralph Fiennes, Conclave

Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown

Best Actress – Leading Role

Angelina Jolie, Maria

Cynthia Erivo, Wicked

Demi Moore, The Substance

Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths

Mikey Madison, Anora

Best Actor – Supporting Role

Edward Norton, A Complete Unknown

Guy Pearce, The Brutalist

Jeremy Strong, The Apprentice

Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain

Yura Borisov, Anora

Best Actress – Supporting Role

Ariana Grande, Wicked

Felicity Jones, The Brutalist

Isabella Rossellini, Conclave

Margaret Qualley, The Substance

Zoë Saldaña, Emilia Perez

Best Screenplay

Anora, Sean Baker

The Brutalist, Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold

Conclave, Peter Straughan

Nickel Boys, RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes

A Real Pain, Jesse Eisenberg

Sing Sing, Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar

Best Animated Feature

Flow

Inside Out 2

Memoir of a Snail

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

The Wild Robot

Best Cinematography

The Brutalist, Lol Crawley

Conclave, Stéphane Fontaine

Dune: Part Two, Greig Fraser

Nickel Boys, Jomo Fray

Nosferatu, Jarin Blaschke

Best Documentary

Daughters

No Other Land

The Remarkable Life of Ibelin

Sugarcane

Union

Will & Harper

Best Foreign Language Feature

All We Imagine As Light

Emilia Pérez

The Seed of the Sacred Fig

I’m Still Here

Kneecap

Best Original Score

The Brutalist, Daniel Blumberg

Challengers, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Conclave, Volker Bertelmann

Dune: Part Two, Hans Zimmer

Emilia Pérez, Clément Ducol

The Wild Robot, Kris Bowers

Best Original Song

Challengers, Compress / Repress

Emilia Pérez, El Mal

Sing Sing, Like a Bird

The Wild Robot, Kiss the Sky

Will & Harper, Harper and Will Go West

Best Visual Effects

Alien: Romulus

Dune: Part Two

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

Nosferatu

Twisters

Wicked

Best Stunt Coordination Team

Deadpool & Wolverine

Dune: Part Two

The Fall Guy

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Gladiator II

Best Ensemble Cast

Anora

The Brutalist

Conclave

Saturday Night

Sing Sing

Wicked

Texas Independent Film Award

Deliveries from Eva

The Ego Death of Queen Cecilia

Lost Soulz

Runaway Radio

When Houston Had the Blues

Happy 129th Birthday to Cinema!

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Leydon) — Sun, 29 Dec 2024 00:59:00 +0000

On December 28, 1895, cinema in projected form was presented for the first time to a paying audience by two French brothers, Auguste and Louis Lumiere (pictured above), owners of a photographic studio in Lyons. They went to Paris to demonstrate their cinématographe -- the name they'd given their combination camera and projector -- by showcasing short films they had shot with their hand-cranked innovation.

According to legend: At the Grand Café at 14 Boulevard des Capucines, a man stood outside the building all day on December 28, handing out programs to passers-by. But cold weather kept many people from stopping. As a result, only 33 tickets were sold for the first show.

When the lights went down that evening in a makeshift theater in the basement of the Grand Café, a white screen was lit up with a photographic projection showing the doors of the Lumiere factory in Lyon. Without warning, the factory doors were flung open, releasing a stream of workers... and, wonder of wonders, everything moved. The audience was stunned.

This first film was entitled La sortie de l'usine Lumière à Lyon (Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory). Ten more short scenes followed, each reel roughly 17 meters in length, including Baby's Dinner (kinda-sorta the first home movie by proud parents, later echoed by Spike Lee in Lumiere & Company) and The Sprinkler Sprinkled (arguably the first slapstick comedy, involving a man, his garden hose and a practical joker).

Within a week, with no advertising but word of mouth, more than 2,000 spectators visited the Grand Café each day, each paying the admission price of one franc. The crowds were so huge, police had to be called in to maintain order. The age of cinema had begun. Vive le cinema.

Poor Things Named Best Picture of 2023 by Houston Film Critics Society

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Leydon) — Tue, 23 Jan 2024 01:08:00 +0000

The Houston Film Critics Society has given Poor Things, Yorgos Lanthimos’ flamboyant fable about a scientifically revivified woman’s search for her identity, top honors in the organization’s 17^th annual awards.

In addition to choosing the critically acclaimed film as Best Picture of 2023, HFCS also named Emma Stone the year’s Best Actress, and honored the movie’s visual effects.\

“In a year full of established directors making new works at a time when audiences rediscovered the joy of going to a cinema,” says Travis Leamons, president of the organization, “our critics favored the weird above all others.”

The Holdovers garnered two awards for acting — one for Paul Giamatti as a teacher examining the impact of isolation, and Da'Vine Joy Randolph as a voice of truth during the instructor’s search. Christopher Nolan was named Best Director for the epic biography Oppenheimer, which also was cited for its cinematography.

Claiming the award for Best Ensemble Cast: The actors in Killers of the Flower Moon – including Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Lily Gladstone. Chocolate Lizards, a look at a failed actor in Buffalo Gap, won the Texas Independent Film Award for the best movie made in the Lone Star State.

Here's a complete list of 2023 Houston Film Critics Society Award Winners.

Best Picture: Poor Things

Best Director: Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer

Best Actor, Leading Role: Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers

Best Actress, Leading Role: Emma Stone, Poor Things

Best Actor, Supporting Role: Ryan Gosling, Barbie

Best Actress, Supporting Role: Da'Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers

Best Screenplay: Cord Jefferson, American Fiction

Best Animated Feature: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Best Cinematography: Hoyte Van Hoytema, Oppenheimer

Best Documentary Feature: Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

Best Foreign Language Feature: The Zone of Interest

Best Original Score: Robbie Robertson, Killers of the Flower Moon

Best Original Song: “I’m Just Ken,” Barbie

Best Visual Effects: Poor Things

Best Stunt Coordination Team: John Wick: Chapter 4

Best Ensemble Cast: Killers of the Flower Moon

Texas Independent Film Award: Chocolate Lizards

(In the interest of full disclosure: I am a founding and voting member of The Houston Film Critics Society. And while I don’t always agree with my colleagues, I cannot say I am not proud of their willingness to swim against the tide in many categories.)

Barbie and Oppenheimer Lead Nominees for Houston Film Critics Society Awards.

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Leydon) — Tue, 09 Jan 2024 22:12:00 +0000

The double-barrel cultural phenomenon known as Barbenheimer — Greta Gerwin’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer — loomed large in the list of nominees announced Tuesday for the 17^th annual awards from the Houston Film Critics Society (HFCS).

Greta Gerwig’s comic fantasy leads all films with 10 nominations, followed closely with nine nominations for Nolan’s epic biography of the physicist who changed the world. Killers of the Flower Moon, Martin Scorsese’s exploration of the Osage County murders, and Poor Things, Yorgos Lanthimos’ outrageous look at a woman’s search for identity – each received eight nominations. All four are nominated for Best Picture of 2023.

Other films competing for the top prize include American Fiction, a seriocomic examination of Black literature and identity; Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, a girl’s journey adjusting to a new community; The Color Purple, the film adaptation of the Broadway musical from Alice Walker’s novel; Godzilla Minus One, an homage to traditions of sci-fi thrillers; The Holdovers, a touching visit to personal and academic challenges in the 1970s; and Past Lives, a heartbreaking celebration of a distant friendship.

“In a year where audiences rediscovered the magic of returning to theaters, filmmakers were more than happy to deliver some incredible cinema that will be hard to top next year,” says HFCS president Travis Leamons. “For 2023, the films and talent we recognize as a collective organization remind us why while the business of movies have changed, the magic of cinema still charms.”

(In the interest of full disclosure: Yours truly is a founding and voting member of the Houston Film Critics Society.)

Contenders for the Texas Independent Film Award, honoring the best of film made in the Lone Star State, are Bolivar, a young woman’s journey to recover from her mother’s death; Breaking the Code, the work and life of artist Vernon Fisher of Fort Worth; Chocolate Lizards, a failed actor’s next steps in Buffalo Gap; I’ll Be There, people searching for connection in the midst of chaos; and A Town Called Victoria, citizens confronting how they learn to hate.

Winners of the 2023 Houston Film Critics Society awards will be announced Jan. 22. Here is a complete list of nominees.

Best Picture

American Fiction

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.

Barbie

The Color Purple

Godzilla Minus One

The Holdovers

Killers of the Flower Moon

Oppenheimer

Past Lives

Poor Things

Best Director

Greta Gerwig, Barbie

Yorgos Lanthimos, Poor Things

Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer

Alexander Payne, The Holdovers

Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon

Best Actor – Leading Role

Leonardo DiCaprio, Killers of the Flower Moon

Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers

Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer

Andrew Scott, All of Us Strangers

Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction

Best Actress – Leading Role

Fantasia Barrino, The Color Purple

Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon

Greta Lee, Past Lives

Margot Robbie, Barbie

Emma Stone, Poor Things

Best Actor – Supporting Role

Robert De Niro, Killers of the Flower Moon

Robert Downey Jr., Oppenheimer

Ryan Gosling, Barbie

Mark Ruffalo, Poor Things

Dominic Sessa, The Holdovers

Best Actress – Supporting Role

Emily Blunt, Oppenheimer

Danielle Brooks, The Color Purple

Rachel McAdams, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.

Rosamund Pike, Saltburn

Da'Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers

Best Screenplay

American Fiction, Cord Jefferson

Barbie, Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach

The Holdovers, David Hemingson

Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan

Past Lives, Celine Song

Poor Things, Tony McNamara

Best Animated Film

The Boy and the Heron

Nimona

Robot Dreams

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

Best Cinematography

Barbie, Rodrigo Prieto

Killers of the Flower Moon, Rodrigo Prieto

Oppenheimer, Hoyte Van Hoytema

Poor Things, Robbie Ryan

Saltburn, Linus Sandgren

Best Documentary Feature

American Symphony

Beyond Utopia

The Eternal Memory

Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

20 Days in Mariupol

Best Foreign Language Feature

Anatomy of a Fall

Godzilla Minus One

Perfect Days

Society of the Snow

The Zone of Interest

Best Original Score

The Boy and the Heron, Joe Hisaishi

Killers of the Flower Moon, Robbie Robertson

Oppenheimer, Ludwig Göransson

Poor Things, Jerskin Fendrix

Spider-Man, Across the Spider-Verse: Daniel Pemberton

Best Original Song

“Dance the Night” from Barbie

“I'm Just Ken” from Barbie

“Keep It Movin'” from The Color Purple

“Meet in the Middle” from Flora and Son

“What Was I Made For?” from Barbie

Best Visual Effects

The Creator

Godzilla Minus One

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

Poor Things

Best Stunt Coordination Team

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

The Iron Claw

John Wick: Chapter 4

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

Polite Society

Best Ensemble Cast

Barbie

The Holdovers

The Iron Claw

Killers of the Flower Moon

Oppenheimer

Texas Independent Film

Bolivar

Breaking the Code

Chocolate Lizards

I’ll Be There

A Town Called Victoria

The Dead is my favorite John Huston movie

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Leydon) — Sat, 05 Aug 2023 05:41:00 +0000

Why is The Dead my favorite John Huston film? Well, I could direct you to my original review of Huston's adaptation of the classic James Joyce story. Or I could just show you the final scene. Back in the day: I cried so hard at the end of this movie, two colleagues had to help me out of the theater. No kidding.

Celebrating Ward Bond’s birthday with... Hitler — Dead or Alive

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Leydon) — Sun, 09 Apr 2023 23:00:00 +0000

On this date in 1903, actor Ward Bond was born in Benkelman, Nebraska. And I think it would be a nifty idea to celebrate the occasion by watching Hitler — Dead or Alive, an ultra-low-budget 1942 B-movie starring Bond as an ex-con who tries to collect a bounty on Adolf Hitler. No, I'm not making that up.

Back when I taught a college course focused on war movies, I often screened the final minutes of this obscure oddity, to give students an inkling of American attitudes during the early days of US involvement in World War II. Because even though the movie was an unabashedly cheesy Poverty Row production -- it dared to be a fantasy-fulfilling slice of cheese: At the end of the flick, Hitler is shot by Nazis who don't recognize him after Bond and his buddies shave off Der Führer's mustache. Again: I'm not making that up. Start looking around the 1:04 point in this video, and you'll see what I mean.

When I saw Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, and marveled at the movie's climactic killing of Der Führer, I couldn't help thinking of Hitler -- Dead or Alive. But I swear: I didn't know Tarantino actually was a fan the '42 film until he spilled the beans to Playboy in a 2003 interview:

When it came to Inglourious Basterds, there was a movie done in 1942, Hitler —Dead or Alive. It was just as America had entered the war. A rich guy offers a million-dollar bounty on Hitler’s life. Three gangsters come up with a plan to kill Hitler. They parachute into Berlin and work their way to where Hitler is. It’s a wacky movie that goes from being serious to very funny. The gangsters get Hitler, and when they start beating the fuck out of him, it is just so enjoyable. They shave his mustache off, cut off that lock of hair and take his shit off so he looks like a regular guy. The Nazis show up, and Hitler, who doesn’t look like Hitler anymore, is like, “Hey, it’s me!” And they beat the shit out of him. I thought, Wow, this is fucking hysterical.

Yes, it is. Who would have guessed that a hardline conservative like Ward Bond actually was Antifa?

Flashback: Ethan Hawke and Me at 2011 Houston Cinema Arts Festival

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Leydon) — Thu, 19 Jan 2023 02:25:00 +0000

I honest to God did not know until just a few minutes ago that a complete version of this existed on video: My 2011 Q&A with Ethan Hawke at the Houston Cinema Arts Festival, where he received a lifetime achievement award. At first, Hawke is introduced by Richard Linklater, and graciously accepts the prize, in concert with a screening of "The Woman in the Fifth." We start chatting around the 11:25 mark. He's very funny, and very forthcoming. And I have a lot more hair than I do now. (Sorry: You will have to click the link, because I am unable to embed.)

Let the Revels Begin: Houston Film Critics Society Announces Nominations for Annual Awards

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Leydon) — Sun, 08 Jan 2023 20:10:00 +0000

The Houston Film Critics Society — of which I am a founding/voting member — has released the list of nominations for the annual HFCS Awards. Winners will be announced Feb. 18 at the Midtown Arts & Theater Center Houston (MATCH).

And yes: I am very happy to see so many nominations for RRR.

Best Picture

The Banshees of Inisherin

Elvis

Everything Everywhere All at Once

The Fabelmans

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio

RRR

Tár

Till

Top Gun: Maverick

Women Talking

Best Director

The Banshees of Inisherin

Elvis

Everything Everywhere All at Once

The Fabelmans

Tár

Women Talking

Best Actor – Leading Role

Austin Butler, Elvis

Tom Cruise, Top Gun: Maverick

Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin

Brendan Fraser, The Whale

Jeremy Pope, The Inspection

Best Actress – Leading Role

Cate Blanchett, Tár

Viola Davis, The Woman King

Danielle Deadwyler, Till

Emma Thompson, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande

Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Best Actor – Supporting Role

Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin

Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin

Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Mark Rylance, Bones and All

Ben Whishaw, Women Talking

Best Actress – Supporting Role

Jesse Buckley, Women Talking

Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin

Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Janelle Monáe, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Best Screenplay

The Banshees of Inisherin

Everything Everywhere All at Once

The Fabelmans

Tár

Women Talking

Best Animated Feature

Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

Turning Red

Best Cinematography

Avatar: The Way of Water

Babylon

Nope

The Fabelmans

Top Gun: Maverick

Best Documentary

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

Bad Axe

Fire of Love

Good Night Oppy

Navalny

Best Foreign Language Feature

All Quiet on the Western Front

Argentina, 1985

Close

Decision to Leave

RRR

Best Original Score

Babylon

The Banshees of Inisherin

Empire of Light

The Fabelmans

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

Women Talking

Best Original Song

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, “Lift Me Up”

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, “Ciao Papa”

RRR, “Naatu Naatu”

Till, “Stand Up”

Top Gun: Maverick, “Hold My Hand”

Best Visual Effects

Avatar: The Way of Water

The Batman

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

RRR

Top Gun: Maverick

Best Stunt Coordination Team

The Batman

Everything Everywhere All at Once

RRR

Top Gun: Maverick

The Woman King

Best Ensemble Cast

The Banshees of Inisherin

Everything Everywhere All at Once

The Fabelmans

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Women Talking

Texas Independent Film Award

Acid Test

Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood

Conception

Deep in the Heart: A Texas Wildlife Story

Facing Nolan

Jean-Luc Godard? Jack Palance wasn’t impressed.

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Leydon) — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 03:56:00 +0000

So there I was in my hometown of New Orleans in 1991, attending the junket for City Slickers and seated at a table with Jack Palance. I wanted to ask a question I figured that he hadn’t been asked a zillion times before, so I tossed him this one: What was it like to work with Jean-Luc Godard in the 1963 international co-production Contempt?

Palance smiled at me — indeed, almost winked at me — and replied.

“Godard, I thought, was a good filmmaker, but he was so… Well, I remember, we had a question about a scene that we were doing, and I thought maybe there was something I should be doing, and he said, blatantly, ‘You know, of course, that I am considered one of the great filmmakers today.’ And I said, ‘No, I didn’t know that. Why don’t you tell me about it?’ And so he goes on like this.

“He was one of those guys, one of those directors — I’ve worked with a few of them, and my God, they’re infuriating! Because suddenly he’s walking out there, and he’s throwing things, saying, ‘And then you will do this! And then you will do that!’ And you stop and say, ‘Hey! I'm not going to do what you’re showing me anyway. So don’t show me!’

“See, he was doing that with all the actors. Like, ‘And now, I think if you touch the glass on the table…’ And you know you’re not going to touch the glass after he’s shown you something like that.”

And yet, for all that, Palance said Contempt had its funny moments. Sort of.

“I think one of the most memorable things for me in that film was doing a scene with Brigitte Bardot. We were in that red car, a little red car, and we had a scene where she and I just drive away. We’re going off to something. No dialogue. And we’re set up somewhere in Italy, and Godard’s got his camera way over there. He’s sitting on a box, hunched over, and he wore a hat, looking like a very, very artistic picture of a director.

“And so, we start to drive. We drove by, and we could hear his voice saying, ‘All right, we will do an encore. We will do it again, please.’ So you come back — there’s no explanation of what went wrong — and you do it again. And then you do it again. And do it seven, eight times — just driving by the camera, nothing else. And nobody says, ‘Faster,’ or ‘You're looking at the wrong direction,’ or some goddamn thing.

“So, as we got back this time, I said to Bridget, ‘Look, if he says we’re going to do it again, you and I are going to lunch.’ And as we drove by, we heard the voice saying, ‘Tell them we will do it again’ — well, we just kept driving.

“It’s true. We went off into the mountains, had a nice lunch, came back — and so help me God, he had not moved! He was sitting there, and as we approached, he said, ‘Tell them we will do it again!’

“And that was Jean-Luc Godard…”

Must-See TV for Me: Netflix’s Clusterf**k: Woodstock ‘99

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Leydon) — Wed, 20 Jul 2022 17:25:00 +0000

Yes, I will be watching when Netflix premieres the docuseries Clusterf**k: Woodstock ’99 on Aug. 3. My son probably will be watching, too. Because, well, back in 1999, we were there. And on the final evening, I was very sacred.

Something about abortion

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Leydon) — Wed, 04 May 2022 03:54:00 +0000

I have posted this before, and if you don't care to read it again, I won't be offended if you scroll by.

While I was in college, a girl I was dating told me she was pregnant — and that I had to be the father. This was in the early 1970s, the pre-Roe era, when abortion was illegal in most places – especially in New Orleans, one of the most Catholic cities in America, where we were living at the time. Still, with relatively little difficulty, we found out about a legit doctor in town who routinely performed abortions for $200. I borrowed the money, and the problem was solved. 

Years later, I discovered, well, there’s no lead in my pencil, and I could not have been the father. I should have suspected something was amiss when the girl more or less vanished from my life soon after the procedure. But I never blamed the girl, because at the time I was so traumatized by the episode that the campus shrink wrote me a letter to bring to my draft board, saying I should never be in the military. (Believe it or not: I actually got my draft notice the day of the abortion.) I would joke afterwards that I probably was the only person you’d ever meet who beat the draft by fucking. But a gay friend corrected me: “Well, by fucking a WOMAN, maybe.” LOL. 

Now I look back, however, and I suspect — no, make that, I KNOW — that no Supreme Court ruling, no law passed by a state legislature,  will ever completely end abortions, or prevent doctors from performing them.  All you have to do is know the right people, and have enough money. If you don’t, however, you really are fucked.  And that shouldn't happen to anyone.

First Look: Alex Winter’s The YouTube Effect

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Leydon) — Wed, 20 Apr 2022 18:30:00 +0000

In his other life, actor Alex Winter of Bill and Ted fame is an accomplished documentarian. Among his credits: Downloaded (2013), a fascinating study of Napster and the filesharing revolution; Deep Web (2015), an illuminating overview of the Internet’s non-indexed substratum, with special attention paid to the (alleged) Silk Road mastermind Ross Ulbricht; and Zappa (2020), the definitive cinematic biography of maverick musician and Mothers of Invention founder Frank Zappa.

And now Winter has a new one: The YouTube Effect, which will have its world premiere June 11 at New York’s prestigious Tribeca Film Festival.

What’s it all about? According to the PR announcement:

“The feature documentary takes viewers on a timely and gripping journey inside the cloistered world of YouTube and its parent company Google; investigating YouTube's rise from humble beginnings in the attic of a pizzeria to its explosion onto the world stage, becoming the largest media platform in history and sparking a cultural revolution, while creating massive controversy in the age of disinformation. In the fourth quarter of 2021 alone, YouTube brought in 8.6 billion dollars in advertising revenue, a 25 percent increase in its year to year results. While traditional media is struggling, YouTube is thriving.

“The You Tube Eﬀect examines how the platform has become a lightning rod for online radicalization, surveillance, algorithmic capitalism, the proliferation of misinformation, and of course, influencers and cat videos.

“The feature doc is thrilling, shocking and hilarious, but always highly compelling, and above all, entertaining. YouTube is a world populated by some of the most brilliant minds in tech, business, media and politics, as well as pranksters, trolls and conspiracy theorists. The YouTube Effect gives viewers exclusive access to all of the key players.”

And speaking of cat videos on YouTube:

Chris Rock: “That was the greatest night in the history of television.”

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Leydon) — Mon, 28 Mar 2022 05:01:00 +0000

Well, certainly in the Top Ten.

The Power of the Dog Takes a Big Bite Out of the Houston Film Critics Awards

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Leydon) — Wed, 19 Jan 2022 22:49:00 +0000

This just in: The Power of the Dog, Jane Campion’s sweeping study of family dynamics set against a background of the American West, has swept the top honors given this year by the Houston Film Critics Society. (Full disclosure: I am a founding — and voting — member of this group.)

In addition naming Dog the Best Picture of 2021, HFCS has honored Campion for Best Director and Screenplay; Benedict Cumberbatch as Best Actor; and Kodi Smit-McPhee as Best Supporting Actor.

But wait, there’s more: In the Original Score category, Jonny Greenwood’s score for Campion’s drama tied with Hans Zimmer’s score for Dune.

“As a year of uncertainty in movies concludes,” HFCS president Doug Harris said while announcing winners of the organization’s 15th annual awards, “one sure thing is how quality and creativity create screen magic at any time. No matter how we savor film, creative movies that portray people confronting challenge and change will continue to find an audience that appreciates them.”

Among the other winners: Jessica Chastain was voted Best Actress for recreating Tammy Faye Baker in The Eyes of Tammy Faye, while Ann Dowd was rewarded with the Best Supporting Actress prize for her heart-wrenching portrayal of a grieving mother in Mass. That film also received the first HFCS award for Best Ensemble Cast.

The winner of the Texas Independent Film Award – for the best film made in Texas – is Sean Baker’s Red Rocket, which was filmed in and around Texas City, Kemah, and Galveston. The HFC’s Cinematic Achievement Award, given to the person, enterprise, or Texas-based operation that the group feels has contributed the most to film culture in Texas, goes to Well Go USA. Releases in 2021 by this Plano-based company included Escape from Mogadishu and Raging Fire.

“Each year,” Harris said, “the Society presents our awards after thoroughly reviewing the year’s films. We select our nominees in December before casting final votes early in the new year. As professional journalists who believe in the power of film, we are thrilled with the range and substance of this year’s winners.”

Here is a full list of winners for the 15th annual Houston Film Critics Society Awards.

Picture: The Power of the Dog.

Director: Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog.

Actor: Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog.

Actress: Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye.

Supporting Actor: Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog.

Supporting Actress: Ann Dowd, Mass.

Screenplay: Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog.

Cinematography: Greig Fraser, Dune.

Animated Feature: The Mitchells vs. the Machines.

Original Score: (tie) Hans Zimmer, Dune; Jonny Greenwood, The Power of the Dog.

Original Song: “Wherever I Fall – Part I,” Cyrano: music by Bryce Dessner and Asron Dessner; lyrics by Matt Berninger and Carin Besser .

Foreign Language Film: Drive My Car.

Documentary Feature: Summer of Soul.

Texas Independent Film Award: Red Rocket.

Visual Effects: Dune: Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor, and Gerd Nefzer.

Stunt Coordination Team: No Time to Die.

Ensemble Cast: Mass: Reed Birney, Ann Dowd, Jason Isaacs, and Martha Plimpton; Breeda Wool, Michelle N. Carter, Campbell Spoor, Kagen Albright, Michael White.

Cinematic Achievement Award: Well Go USA.

Ten Reasons Why I Won't Miss 2021

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Leydon) — Sat, 01 Jan 2022 02:38:00 +0000

Why I won’t miss 2021:

Had to battle prostate cancer again.

Dealt with a month-plus scare when it looked like I might also have lung cancer.

Pipes froze and burst in my attic during February Freeze, causing water damage throughout my house.

Spent over two months living alone in Extended Stay while waiting for insurance adjuster's estimate, searching for a contractor, and getting repair work done.

Anne stayed with our son and his girlfriend with our cat; I needed to stay where I had reliable WiFi for writing, Zoom interviewing, and long-distance teaching.

Needed to have my doctor up the dosage of my antidepressants.

Even with the drugs, I had anxiety attacks -- many, but far from all, attributable to the ongoing COVID pandemic -- that caused me to bust multiple deadlines and sorely test the patience of my incredibly patient editors.

While at Extended Stay, I tripped one night on my way back from the bathroom. Wrenched my arm while breaking my fall, but it could have been worse: One inch or so further to the right, and I would have banged my head on a dresser and likely killed myself.

Had to comfort my son when his and his girlfriend’s dog died of old age while his girlfriend was out of town.

Never forgot for a moment during ANY of this the hard lesson I learned during my formative years as a welfare worker: There were MANY people who were having a MUCH worse time than me. God bless and keep them – and me – during a (hopefully) better and COVID-free 2022.

In Response to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's Bush League Shenanigans

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Leydon) — Sun, 17 Oct 2021 01:12:00 +0000

In the interest of full disclosure: I am a member of the Critics Choice Association, so I cannot claim to be at all objective in this matter. However, since I share the sentiments of CCA CEO Joey Berlin — and have his permission to reprint this message sent to me and other members of the organization today — here goes.

And by the way: Views expressed are not necessarily those of any other publication or organization with which I am affiliated.

Also: Go to hell, Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Go directly to hell. Do not pass Go. Do not collect any TV network money.

To the Membership,

Perhaps you saw the Friday afternoon news dump from the scandal-ridden Hollywood Foreign Press Association announcing that it plans to present Golden Globe awards on the very day that we will be presenting the 27th annual Critics Choice Awards at the historic Fairmont Century Plaza. This comes despite the fact that we announced the date of our show back in May — and the fact that we had been presenting our awards on the second Sunday in January for several years running (not counting last year, when COVID pushed everyone back a couple of months).

The purpose of this memo is to reassure every CCA member that our 27th annual Critics Choice Awards show is going to be our biggest and best yet and can only be helped by this hostile announcement from the new leadership of this other group. If it is appropriate, I encourage you to share the gist of this message with your viewers, listeners, readers and followers, the louder the better. Our friends in the industry understand all of the above, but it would be wonderful if the greater public did, too.

I believe this desperate move by the HFPA to try and undercut the Critics Choice Awards and the tremendous support we are receiving from all the major studios, networks and streamers is...really good for us! For years we’ve been trying to draw the comparison between the tainted HFPA and the legitimate Critics Choice Association — which has five times as many members and no stink. Our awards are the considered judgment of almost 500 active critics and entertainment reporters who cover film and television and collectively reach virtually every entertainment consumer in the US and Canada every day. While the CCA proudly lists and displays pictures of all its members on our website, the HFPA has long hidden its tiny membership. Only now is it attempting to come clean after having been very publicly disgraced for its prejudice, its crassness, and it's highly questionable business practices. So, yes, let's make those comparisons!

In fact, in their desperate search for new legitimate members, some of you have been approached about joining them. From their perspective, that makes sense. After all, CCA members are already vetted and proved to be respected working critics and journalists.

From our perspective, we do feel bad for those HFPA members who are legitimate members of the foreign press and are suffering from the fact that so many companies have chosen to stop working with them. We are even more sympathetic with the many members of the foreign press who have been unwelcome in the HFPA for decades, despite the fact that their collective reach is probably greater than the 80-some odd members of the HFPA who blackballed them when they sought membership. This is why the CCA created its new International Branch, to accredit important and influential members of the foreign entertainment press who had been unable to join HFPA.

And please note that while that other group is entirely about their one big television show (and dispensing the riches it has generated), the CCA has long been a diverse and inclusive organization that is true to our mission all year long - to help audiences find the good stuff, and to help the people who make the good stuff find their audiences. That's why we are presenting the Critics Choice Documentary Awards on November 14, and why we are hosting the Celebration of Black Cinema & Television on December 6 and the Celebration of Latino Cinema on December 9, as well as our other Critics Choice events.

Onward and upward!

Joey Berlin

CEO CCA

Zooming with Mye Hoang — Director of the A-Meow-Sing Documentary Cat Daddies

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Leydon) — Sat, 09 Oct 2021 03:24:00 +0000

Call it Kedi — American Style, and you won’t be far off the mark.

Cat Daddies, Mye Hoang’s irresistibly appealing documentary, is so insightfully observed, beautifully crafted and warmly empathetic that even normally feline-averse viewers will want to sing its praises and hold it close to their hearts.

Not unlike Kedi, Ceyda Torun’s splendidly graceful 2016 film about the multifaceted feline population of Istanbul, Cat Daddies will be pure catnip for anyone who can’t get their fill of their favorite four-legged friends on YouTube and Instagram. In sharp contrast to Kedi, however, Hoang’s documentary is less about the fiercely independent critters themselves than the bonds that form between men (and, sometimes, the women in their lives) and the cats who deign to be their comrades.

Hoang, a Dallas-born, Los Angeles-based producer and director, turns her camera on a diverse array of guys, ranging from a cross-country trucker to a homeless New Yorker to a movie stuntman whose romance with a stuntwoman is sparked by their shared love of cats. Much of the movie is light, even celebratory, as it pushes back against stereotypes of various sorts, and shows how companionship with cats can be therapeutic, inspirational — and in at least one case, high remunerable.

However: Cat Daddies was filmed largely over the course of 2020, a year when COVID-19, California wildfires, and other disasters amped stress levels, all of which Hoang duly acknowledges — sometimes as as subtle allusions, sometimes as front-and-center threats — in many of the multiple narratives she interweaves throughout her film. It’s a tricky balancing act, but she pulls it off with wit, intelligence, and compassion.

As Hoang says in her director’s statement:

“We all know the stereotype of the crazy cat lady. And many of us have that friend, the one with the Instagram feed dedicated exclusively to cats. Self-described ‘Crazy Cat People’ are a force to be reckoned with — a community that’s here to stay and has only grown stronger in the age of social media.

“I watched over the course of a few years as my husband [filmmaker Dave Boyle] transformed into a bona fide crazy cat person after we adopted our first cat. However, something else changed inside him — something deeper. He seemed to grow into a softer, more patient and compassionate person. This inspired me to find more men who had undergone a similar transformation, and document their stories.

“As I dug deeper on ‘Cat Instagram,’ I discovered dozens of men who seemed to be living their best life with their feline companions. Their stories ran the gamut — from firefighters in South Carolina who unapologetically dote on their ‘fire cat,’ to an unhoused immigrant on the streets of New York who always puts the needs of his cat above his own. Many of the subjects are the very embodiment of the traditional definition of ‘manliness’ — the aforementioned firemen, a stuntman, a truck driver. All of them unapologetically dote on their beloved pets in a way that I found very touching.

“I see Cat Daddies as both a collective portrait as well as a time capsule, documenting a challenging year in which people desperately needed hope, relief, and companionship. It may not convert everyone to love cats, but I hope seeing images of men caring for these little creatures wins over a few skeptics and becomes a catalyst for compassionate change.”

Cat Daddies will premiere this weekend at the Dallas International Film Festival, followed by screenings at the Newport Film Festival and the Tallgrass Film Festival. Here is my Zoom interview with Mye Hoang.

The Harder They Fall is a wild, wild Western

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Leydon) — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 20:36:00 +0000

The Harder They Fall puts the wild back into the Wild West.

Imagine a dream team collaboration of Sergio Leone, John Woo and Spike Lee, and you’re ready for director Jeymes Samuel’s audaciously stylized and brazenly entertaining western, an exhilarating mashup of New School hip-hop swagger, Old West revenge melodrama, heist-movie double- and triple-crossing, and Spaghetti Western visual and narrative tropes. After its Wednesday premiere as the opening night presentation of the prestigious BFI London Film Festival, this sensational shoot-‘em-up will be available Oct. 22 in select theaters — arguably the ideal place to fully savor and enthusiastically share such a rock-the-house concoction — and Nov. 3 on Netflix.

You can read the rest of my rave over at the Cowboys & Indians website.

Remembering Jean-Paul Belmondo in Les Miserables

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Leydon) — Mon, 06 Sep 2021 16:13:00 +0000

In the wake of the great Jean-Paul Belmondo’s death at age 88, most tributes, I am sure, will emphasize — justly — his iconic performances in Jean-Luc Godard’s French New Wave landmark Breathless (1960), Philippe De Broca’s seriocomic adventure That Man from Rio (1964), Jacques Deray’s stylish gangster drama Borsalino (1960), and several other classics.

But the Belmondo performance I treasure most is the one in my favorite Belmondo movie: Claude Lelouch’s 1995 masterpiece Les Miserables. As I wrote decades ago:

“Claude Lelouch's audacious and exciting epic is neither a film version of the long-running musical nor a traditional adaptation of Victor Hugo’s classic novel. Rather, it is a sweeping and sensationally passionate drama that succeeds brilliantly on its own merits as a celebration of storytelling (and, of course, moviemaking) as inspiration and illumination.

“A magnificently ravaged Jean-Paul Belmondo plays Henri Fortin, an ordinary man whose life spans an extraordinary period in French history: Born at the turn of the century, he lives long enough to endure the cruelties of the Nazi occupation. Rootless and illiterate, he is introduced to Les Miserables at an early age — in a silent movie! — and embraces Jean Valjean as his hero, mentor and alter ego. So much so, in fact, that Henri agrees to help a Jewish family escape from Paris, setting into motion a fateful series of betrayals, reconciliations, reversals of fortune and triumphs of the spirit.

“There are images in Les Miserables that are as hauntingly beautiful as any in the history of cinema. And there are entire sequences that are nothing short of astonishing. Lelouch is one of the few contemporary filmmakers who remains capable of the grand romantic gestures that made many of us fall in love with movies in the first place.”

Unfortunately, the last time I checked, Lelouch’s Les Miserables is not currently available on DVD or Blu-Ray in the United States. (I have a Laserdisc, gifted by a colleague.) Don’t know if this is the result of rights issues, or what. But as another tribute to Jean-Paul Belmondo, maybe someone could rectify that situation?

Flashback: Virginia Madsen on Candyman

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Leydon) — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 00:28:00 +0000

From the archives of The Moving Picture Show.

October 26, 1992 | The good news is, Virginia Madsen got to go back to her native Chicago to shoot scenes for her new movie, Candyman.

The bad news was, those scenes were shot in and around Cabrini-Green, a housing project once known to locals as “Little Hell.”

“When they told me that’s where we’d be working,” Madsen said a few days ago in a telephone interview, “that scared me more than knowing I would do a scene with live bees all over me.

“And I'm allergic to bee venom, so that should tell you something.”

Just a few days ago, USA Today ran a front-page story on Cabrini-Green, graphically describing the urban blight as “arguably the nation’s most notorious public housing project… a 70-acre, 7,000-person ‘city’ of isolation and despair.”

The “rubble-strewn, graffiti-covered war zone” is just a few blocks “from the some of the richest downtown real estate in the USA.” But as far as most Chicagoans are concerned, Madsen said, the place might as well be on another planet, or in some lower circle of hell.

“They have other notorious housing projects there,” said Madsen, a 31-year-old actress whose credits include The Hot Spot, Slamdance and Highlander II. “But Cabrini is staring everyone in the face, because it’s literally three blocks from the Gold Coast. And it never should have been built, it’s way too big, it looks like a prison. And there’s never been anything done to make life better there. So it’s just got a terrible history — and a terrible present day as well.

“While I was growing up there, I never went near the place. And the dialogue you hear in the film — like, 'Yeah, I don't even want to drive by there!' – that’s all very true.’

All of which enhanced the scariness of the fiction that is Candyman, a high-voltage shocker based on a short story by horror master Clive Barker (Hellraiser). Writer-director Bernard Rose (Paperhouse) took Baker’s story, “The Forbidden,” and transported the plot from Liverpool to Chicago. But he preserved Barker’s basic premise: The Bogeyman is alive and well and willing to make personal appearances.

Madsen gives her finest screen performance to date as Helen Lyle, a University of Chicago doctoral candidate in search of “modern urban folklore.” Unfortunately, she finds just what she's looking for in Candyman (Tony Todd), a legendary hook-handed killer who’s claiming a very real body count in Cabrini-Green.

Who is Candyman? The vengeful spirit of a handsome black artist who was killed by a mob of racist white thugs in 1890. He pops up whenever anyone, black or white, is foolish enough to say his name aloud five times while looking in a mirror.

Helen inadvertently summons him during her research. Candyman takes one look at the beautiful blond academic, and offers to make their relationship a permanent one.

And that, Madsen said, is why she thinks of Candyman as “a gothic love story,” not a mad-slasher movie.

“I think it would be different if Tony Todd’s character were a monster. But he’s not a monster — he’s a phantom. He is like Dracula, a romantic phantom. He’s beautiful, he's seductive, he wants you to join him in immortality.”

Laughing, she added: “Yes, he does have this thing where he likes to disembowel people. But all lovers have some little annoying thing about them, some bad habit — don't they?”

The Candyman crew spent a week filming in Cabrini-Green. (The rest of the picture was shot on L.A. soundstages.) Not a very long location shoot, to be sure, but long enough for Madsen to realize there are far more frightening things in this life than movie monsters.

“The most frightening thing about a place like Cabrini-Green is the bleakness,” she said. “It makes you feel so terribly ignorant, that you know absolutely nothing about these people. And you couldn’t even begin to understand what it's like for a kid to grow up there.

“And since we were there in winter, it gets dark very early, around 4 o'clock. Well, let me tell you: After 3:30, people disappear. They stay inside. And you can feel the vibes starting.”

Still, even in the midst of such despair, you can sometimes find hope. While doing research for Candyman, writer-director Rose met Henrietta Thompson, a Cabrini-Green resident who offered her services as consultant. She quickly became the real-life model for one of Rose’s characters, Anne-Marie McCoy (played by actress Vanessa Williams), a single mother struggling against the odds to be a good provider and an upright citizen.

“A character like Anne-Marie is a really important character,” Madsen said, “because that’s what 90 percent of the people who live there are like. It’s a very small percentage of people that really rule that place. There are three different gangs that rule various territories. And the middle, neutral ground is the only free zone.

“You know, we’re not doing the right thing by these people. And you can make all the speeches in the world about, ‘Well, why don't they just pull themselves up by their bootstraps?’ But, you know, a lot of them, that’s exactly what they are doing. That's why they’re still alive. They’ve been pulling themselves up by their bootstraps all their lives.”

Flashback Review: Candyman (1992)

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Leydon) — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 23:37:00 +0000

From the archives of The Moving Picture Show.

October 16, 1992 | Candyman is unique among mad-slasher monster melodramas, in that it has a brain in its head as well as blood on its hands. There’s enough full-bore gore to satisfy genre fans, but not so much that it obliterates the movie’s flashes of savage wit and crafty intelligence.

Written and directed by British filmmaker Bernard Rose, who offered subtler, scarier thrills in Paperhouse, Candyman is based on ”The Forbidden,” a short story by horror master Clive Barker. The setting has been changed from Liverpool to Chicago, but the story’s basic premise — the bogeyman is alive and well — has been retained.

Virginia Madsen, an actress heretofore best known for playing femmes fatale and assorted other hot babes, gives her most impressive screen performance to date as Helen Lyle, a doctoral candidate in search of “modern urban folklore.”

The good news is, she finds exactly what she’s looking for in the Cabrini Green public housing projects, where a legendary hook-handed killer is claiming a very real body count. The bad news is, Candyman, as the dread fellow is known, wants to add Helen to his hit list.

One of the more pleasant surprises in Candyman is that, unlike many far more prestigious movies, it is up-front and evenhanded in its approach to inner-city racial tensions. Not all of the low-income black residents of Cabrini Green are gang members or drug dealers. Indeed, most of them are honest, hardworking people trying to get by despite the presence of gangs, dealers and a hook-handed killer in their midst.

Candyman himself, played with lordly malevolence by Tony Todd, is an educated black man who became a monster only after his violent death at the hands of a racist mob.

The movie is a bit fuzzy, to put it politely, when it comes to explaining exactly how this transformation occurred. For that matter, it’s never made very clear just why Candyman appears each time anyone, black or white, says his name aloud five times while looking in a mirror. But, hey, this is a monster movie based on a Clive Barker story, not a docudrama based on Helen Lyle’s thesis.

Candyman becomes increasingly less logical and much bloodier as it races toward its climax. But the scary stuff is very scary, and Philip Glass’ high-toned gloom-and-doom musical score makes it all the more spooky.

Flashback Review: Joe Versus the Volcano (1990)

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Leydon) — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 21:14:00 +0000

From the archives of The Moving Picture Show.

March 9, 1990 | If, as the poet noted, most men lead lives of quiet desperation, then Joe Banks (Tom Hanks) truly is an exceptional fellow: His desperately unhappy life is as noisy and dirty as it is oppressively, soul-killingly bleak.

Joe works as an assistant catalogue clerk for American Panascope, a company that claims hundreds of thousands of “satisfied customers” for its chief product, petroleum jelly. In his grim, gray office in the factory headquarters, the fluorescent lighting is relentlessly irritating, the air circulation is stiflingly poor, and the coffee is unspeakable sludge. His boss is a stony-faced despot who gruffly dismisses Joe’s complaints of poor health: “After childhood, nobody feels good. It’s a fact of life.”

One day, when his shakes and headaches are even worse than usual, Joe visits a doctor. And that’s when he gets some good and bad news. The good news is, none of Joe’s varied symptoms is a sign of serious illness. The bad news is, an intense examination reveals Joe has something called a “brain cloud,” a malady entirely unforeseen and inevitably fatal.

Joe, ashen-faced and amazed, tries to make sense of the diagnosis: “I’m not sick, except for this terminal disease.” The doctor, played with just the slightest shading of lunacy by a straight-faced Robert Stack, nods sagely. “Your brain will fail,” he tells Joe, “followed shortly by your body.”

Most men would be hopelessly distraught, maybe even suicidal, after hearing such news. But, once again, Joe is an exceptional fellow: He accepts the diagnostic death sentence as the start of his personal liberation. And that liberation in turn is the propelling force behind Joe Versus The Volcano, an epic comedy of goofiness triumphant and nuttiness unbound.

This fine madness is the masterwork of John Patrick Shanley, the esteemed playwright (Danny and the Deep Blue Sea) and Oscar-winning scriptwriter (Moonstruck) who makes his film directing debut with the first great movie comedy of the ‘90s.

There are hints of Metropolis to the Germanic expressionism of the early scenes, and touches of Joseph Campbell to the extended myth-spinning that leads Joe on a quest to live like a king before he dies like a man. And here, there and everywhere, there are bits and pieces of Arthur, The Odyssey and The Wizard of Oz.

More often than anything else, however, there is the imprint of John Patrick Shanley, a writer with a perfect-pitch ear for comically off-kilter dialogue, and an indefatigable gift for inventing full-bodied, vitally contradictory characters.

Shanley’s last effort as a scriptwriter, The January Man, was a shaggy-dog story posing, unsuccessfully, as a cops-and-killer thriller, though the comic elements almost redeemed it. Joe Versus The Volcano wisely avoids all genre conventions and restrictions — it doesn’t try to be anything other than what it is. And what that is, is so exhilaratingly absurd, so outrageously inspired, it is a tonic guaranteed to lift even the most crestfallen spirits. Even Joe might have laughed at it after a particularly lousy day at the office.

As Joe, Tom Hanks gives a beautifully precise and grandly funny reactive performance, responding to the eccentrics and oddities around him with equal measures of excitement, amusement and anxious befuddlement. Hanks is an extremely generous actor throughout, instinctively withdrawing to his corner of the screen whenever a co-star or a cameo player has a moment of glory.

Not long after Joe has his fateful medical exam, he’s approached by an overwhelmingly vivacious businessman, Graynamore, played with delightfully crackpot zest by Lloyd Bridges. Graynamore has a meticulously logical, financially alluring and altogether ridiculous proposition: Since Joe is going to die anyway, why doesn’t he do Graynamore a favor, and help the superstitious natives of a remote South Seas island, by jumping into an active volcano?

But wait, here’s the beauty part: Graynamore will pay all of Joe’s expenses, give Joe unrestricted use of gold-plated credit cards, offer Joe first-class travel and accommodations until he reaches the island of Waponi Woo. (“The name means ‘Little island with a big volcano.’”) Once he arrives, the Waponi tribesmen will treat Joe like visiting royalty — and be really, really grateful that Joe, and not one of them, will make the big leap to appease the angry, lava-spouting god.

Graynamore, who figures to gain mineral rights to the island by providing a human sacrifice, makes a splendidly energetic pitch. Joe considers it for a few seconds, and says, in the matter-of-fact tone of someone agreeing to accompany friends to a ballgame, “Aw right, I’ll do it.” Hanks is generous, yes indeed, but he can swipe back an entire scene with a single line.

Shanley is every bit as generous, spreading the funny stuff around to everyone in the cast. Meg Ryan gets more than her fair share, but that’s because she plays three different roles: DeDe, a mousy secretary who briefly basks in the glow of Joe’s new-found verve; Angelica, Graynamore’s glossily affected daughter, a would-be artist and half-hearted libertine; and Patricia, Angelica’s disapproving half-sister, the heroine who eventually tries to woo Joe away from his date with the volcano.

Ryan artfully rearranges the equation of sexiness, silliness and sensibility for each woman, so that each adds up to a very specific characterization. If When Harry Met Sally. . . made her a star, then Joe Versus The Volcano will keep Ryan in orbit.

In addition to Stack and Bridges, the wonderful supporting cast includes Ossie Davis as a chauffeur who’s reluctant to offer educated guesses about the meaning of life; Dan Hedaya as Joe’s preternaturally sour boss; and Barry McGovern, an Irish stage actor, as an intensely solicitous salesman who says luggage “is the central preoccupation of my life.” A good thing, too, since the trunks he recommends to Joe come in very handy.

Joe Versus The Volcano is a fairy tale in the old-fashioned Hollywood tradition, informed by a subversively absurdist sensibility. Shanley and production designer Bo Welch (Beetlejuice) have created their strange new worlds on studio sound stages, so that everything — shipwrecks, tropical islands, a glorious moonrise at sea — is flagrantly artificial, and altogether magical.

The Waponi Woo natives are among Shanley’s most inspired inventions: Tribesmen who guzzle orange soda, count Hebrews, Druids and Polynesians among their mixed ancestors, and greet visitors to their island with a hearty rendition of “Havah Nagila!”

Joe Versus The Volcano is so audacious in its daffiness, you may have to see it twice. The first time, you might not believe anything could possibly be that funny.