tick…tick…BOOM!

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A composer/writer in New York City during the 80s struggles with The Big Questions.

It was time for the Saturday Zoom Movie, and CoyoteRambles needed to watch this to interview one of the filmmakers the next day; we were happy to oblige him!

This is a very good movie in many ways: it’s a good snapshot of a time and place, showing what it was like to be there and then. Andrew Garfield was amazing in this movie, and now I have to go back and watch his run of Spider-Man movies (I kind of missed him between Tobey Maguire and Tom Holland). And it’s a biopic; it’s fictionalized and turned into a musical version of events, but is (as far as I have read) pretty true to life….and the main character, Jonathan Larson, went on to write Rent, one of the best known musicals of recent years.

On the other hand, Mr. Otter and I don’t like Rent, so I was hesitant to see a movie about the guy who created it…but it was really good.

Go see it, the acting and musical numbers alone are worth your time.

Man of the World

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William Powell is using a scandal sheet to blackmail men to pay him to keep stories about them unpublished…his schemes go awry when he meets Carole Lombard and promises to go straight…but of course it’s not that easy…

This was one of a boxed set of five Carole Lombard movies that Mr. Otter and I watched one week…this one was pretty good, although William Powell was less charming and more scummy than usual.

Not bad, but not memorable.

The Eternals

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A bunch of powerful immortal beings were put on earth to watch for The Bad Guys and fight them when they show up.

I am really conflicted about this movie.

It’s part of the MCU, which I mostly love- I love the characters, the scope, and the interconnectedness. The phase we’re in (5, I think) is more about magic and mental powers, and also the Multiverse, which gives the moviemakers scope to do pretty much what they want to…and unlike the last phase, most of the main characters of the movies are not appearing in other movies.

So that’s fine.

But I still have problems with this movie.

Let me start out by saying that my first impression was WTF IS GOING ON HERE? I literally had to see it a second time for all the moving parts to make sense; this is a complicated, not to say overcomplicated plot, with a whole cast of characters that the moviegoer who has not read the comics (me) has no clue who they are or what they are doing. So they each have to be introduced and given their moment to show their stuff. Then the plot twists and turns like a twisty turny thing, with a lot of ‘this happened in the past’ and ‘this will happen in the future’ and ‘I made you and you will do what I say’ and infighting and bickering among the group and oh my, it was a lot to take in. But I did really enjoy it, and it was a good movie.

My real problem with this movie is (and it was addressed during the movie itself) if these superpowered beings have been on earth literally forever, where were they when Thanos tried to destroy it, and during the Blip and all of that Avenger stuff? Captain Marvel, when asked the same question, pointed out that she is the guardian of a whole lot of worlds, not just Earth, which does make sense…but the Eternals were literally there to guard Earth, even if not for the reason they thought they were doing it…and as much as I liked this movie, that really didn’t work for me.

Having all that overlap between Marvel worlds and characters, and then picking a bunch who seem like they should have been involved in that scenario right up to their prettily-costumed behinds and saying, but this wasn’t in their orders so they just ignored it…is not good writing, and makes no sense.

On the other hand, as far as I can tell (and I peeked at the MCU phase lists for what’s coming out in the next few years) there is no sequel planned for this one, so maybe my objections are moot and it won’t matter.

For what it’s worth, if you forget about it being part of the MCU, this was an awesome and enjoyable movie, with many good characters and hella plot twists. Even though you may have to see it twice to really get why everything is happening!

The Madwoman of Chaillot

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From the play La Folle de Chaillot by Jean Giraudoux

A very old-fashioned countess takes on the destructive industrialists of the modern world with the help of various eccentric people.

I have loved this movie since I was a young Otter. I made time for it every time it came on TV (back in the days when the Television Gods ruled what you watched, and if it wasn’t scheduled to be on television, you couldn’t see it…) I had not watched in, maybe, 40 years (yes, this Otter is old.) but when I realized that it was on one of the streaming services, I chose it for our Saturday Night Zoom Movie group.

And…it was fun. I like Katherine Hepburn, and she was awesome as the Countess who does not approve of the modern world and is attempting to keep the businessmen from destroying the part of town she lives in in quest of oil lying below the streets. One of the businessmen is Serious Honey Yul Brynner (with hair!) There is more slapstick than I remembered, campy late 60s slapstick, but it was fun watching Hepburn and her coterie take on The Bad Guys and win.

A charming evening’s entertainment.

Quo Vadis

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From the novel of the same name by Henryk Sienkiewicz.

A Roman general falls in love with a Christian slave and is eventually converted, all against the backdrop of Nero’s Rome.

I was traveling, as is my wont, and was listening to a great audiobook series from the Teaching Company about movies that take place in Ancient Rome and their historical accuracy; the presenter was a Classics professor, and he was funny and had a lot of interesting things to say, both about the movies and about the whole ‘Roman Spectacle’ genre of movies. This was one of the films he talked about; it started the whole genre in 1951.

I read the book many many years ago as a young Otter, and still remember that it was a thunderin’ good read…this movie? not as much, although it wasn’t bad…

Robert Taylor is the Roman commander, and it’s a toss-up whether he or a block of wood would be a more compelling hero…he’s very handsome, but rather stiff and unemotional. Deborah Kerr is beautiful and awesome as the Christian slave Lygia, but the cake is completely taken, eaten and owned by Peter Ustinov as Nero; not only is Ustinov an Otter Family Favorite Actor, but this role is campy and awful. Scenery is chewed with gusto.

This movie has huge sets, scenes with hundreds if not thousands of actors, chariot races, Rome burning, and lots of overacting. What’s not to like?

But read the book as well, it was great.

Orlando

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From the novel of the same name by Virginia Woolf

A young man is commanded by Elizabeth I never to grow old…and doesn’t.

My book group read this, and it was pretty good; I certainly liked it better than the only other Woolf book I had read to that time, To The Lighthouse. So I said to Mr. Otter, we both really liked the movie when it came out, let’s watch it again!

And we did…and it was still good. Not as stellar as I had remembered, but certainly enjoyable.

Orlando, given the gift of long life and youth, is on a self-narrated quest for poetry and love. The tale is told with humor, especially when he goes on a voyage and returns as a woman, having decided that that may be the reason he can’t find true love.

There are some nice observations about male and female roles (especially in the second half of the movie, which is much more enjoyable than the first because of Orlando’s comments about being female) and beautiful settings.

This is charming and interesting, and lightly amusing. A fun movie for an evening with someone you love!

The Painted Veil (2006)

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From the novel of the same name by Somerset Maugham

A doctor takes his unfaithful wife to a cholera outbreak in China.

My book group read this and it was OUTSTANDING. The characters, descriptions, events all masterfully written, what a wonderful book.

I chose the 1934 version of this for our Saturday Zoom Movie night, and when my turn to pick rolled around again, we watched the remake. And it was good, but like the previous one, suffered from rewriting.

This was really good in so many ways; Ed Norton makes a good obsessed researcher, and Naomi Watts is a good choice for Kitty, the vain socialite who marries him. And I love Liev Schrieber, what a good choice he is for Kitty’s lover Townsend!

This movie sticks closer to the book in most ways; the big difference is at the end, when Kitty returns to London, there is a scene between her and Townsend that is a modern woman-empowering rewrite of the book; it’s not bad, but it completely changes her character and her choices. Not sure I’m happy with that…but it’s still a very good movie.

Why don’t you read the book, and then come over and we’ll watch it again and discuss the ending?

The Painted Veil (1934)

Internet Movie Database Movie Reviews

From the novel of the same name by Somerset Maugham

A doctor forces his unfaithful wife to come to a city in China where there is a cholera outbreak.

My book group read this, and it was so good. The characters, the descriptions, and the story were just beautifully written, and I couldn’t put it down. So of course I wanted to see the movie, and when it was my turn to pick on Zoom Movie night with Mr. Otter and CoyoteRambles, we watched this.

So firstly, it’s a GARBO movie. You can’t miss that because the titles, all the freakin’ titles for the WHOLE MOVIE, appear below the giant word GARBO that stays there during the whole title crawl. You can see on the dvd cover above, the same thing. Oh, so Greta Garbo is in this? That’s nice…

But yes, she was that big a star back then. All it took was her name on ANYTHING (and she didn’t make a whole lot of movies, only 32 before she retired and became a professional Garbo-promoter) and people would flock to see it. Now, she was a great actress, but to me, ninety years later, promoting a movie by hyping one cast member seems kind of silly (and it’s still done, and it’s still silly) since it take so many people to make a movie good…especially the WRITER, who never gets enough credit.

Anyway. I digress.

This was a pretty good adaptation of the novel, except that the Hays Code was starting to take effect, which (I assume) is why they completely changed the ending; it’s not bad, and if I hadn’t read the book I would be happy with it…but her character is so much more interesting in the book, and she has so many more layers, that the story here was kind of disappointing. All the actors were good, the film was well made, the writing was good…but, as so often happens, just not nearly as good as the book.

Go read it, then watch this and make up your own mind! The Otter’s betting that you’ll agree.

Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison

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From the novel of the same name by Charles Shaw.

A marine and a nun are stranded on an island in WWII after it’s evacuated, and are still there when the Japanese come and occupy it.

This was one of the films we watched on our New Year’s Day Moviefest 2020 (theme: John Huston.)

This was really good! Robert Mitchum (who, I think, has just won promotion to Serious Honey) is perfect for the part of the guy who is trying to do his job and save his country but is falling for this woman he cannot be in love with; Deborah Kerr is a total hottie and very good for the part of the nun who is practical and not at all dainty and girlish, and the growing relationship between them, and the question of where it can/will go, gives as much tension to the movie as the Japanese occupation and their attempts to block that.

Highly recommended, very enjoyable.

Emma

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From the novel of the same name by Jane Austen

I recently listened to this on Audiobook; I had read it years ago, but literally couldn’t remember any of the plot other than that she’s a wannabe matchmaker. And in listening to it, I found out why I remembered so little of it…I really didn’t like it. Emma is annoying, very little actually happens, and I found it pretty hard going…if I weren’t driving so much that I’m virtually living in my car at this period in my life, I might not have finished it.

But the previews looked good, and Bill Nighy (an Otter Family Favorite Actor) was in it, so Mr. Otter and I hied us down to the movie house to see it.

And, well. It was a good adaptation, but it’s a book that is seriously improved by editing. The actors were good (and Bill Nighy was totally wasted- anyone could have played the role of her father as rewritten for this movie). I didn’t like Emma any more in the movie than the book, but it was well written.

But still. Compared to Pride and Prejudice, or Sense and Sensibility, or Persuasion, this story is just kind of lame. No sparkling characters or situations that make you turn pages to find out what is going to happen or wonderful dialogue…mostly it’s a spoiled rich girl learning her lesson, and class snobbery in the country.

And the score (which, if you actually notice it, that’s a bad thing) went from delicate early 19th century instrumental to rustic choruses singing pastoral and church songs…which was really distracting, and I guess was supposed to show the class contrast? didn’t work for either of us.

Watch it if you’re an Austen fan, or like movies of this period, or want to see pretty scenery and costumes…but otherwise? meh.