Oscars 2019 verdict: lovely surprises can’t compensate for shock horrors | Peter Bradshaw – Film | The Guardian

David Lindsay: I was delighted that Green Book won. Here is a very different, condescending view, suggesting it was sentimental and slick.

“Oscars 2019 verdict: lovely surprises can’t compensate for shock horrors
The Academy voters got it right with gongs for Olivia Colman and Alfonso Cuarón, but Green Book and Bohemian Rhapsody have been sorely overrated

Peter Bradshaw

@PeterBradshaw1
Mon 25 Feb 2019 01.31 EST Last modified on Mon 25 Feb 2019 09.43 EST
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Must-see moments from the Oscars 2019: Spike Lee, Lady Gaga and Olivia Colman – video
In the end, there was enough good news – or news that made a certain sort of sense – for this not to be simply another exasperating Academy Awards pageant of mysteriously over-promoted nonsense. Olivia Colman already had the title of queen of all our hearts, and, just when it looked as if Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Favourite was going to go home with nothing at all, Colman added the Academy Award to her bulging silverware cabinet – and of course gave a speech of great charm and grace.

Her prize acceptance game this year has been off the chart: stylish, polished and with just enough pinch-me-I’m-dreaming astonishment to rival Helen Mirren’s triumphal awards season tour of 2007, when she was winning everything for her own queenly performance. Colman (Anne), Mirren (Elizabeth II), Dench (Elizabeth I) … Brits in crowns generally do it for the Academy.

Oscars save shocks for last with big wins for Green Book and Olivia Colman
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And there was justice in seeing Alfonso Cuarón picking up the best director, best cinematography and best foreign language Oscars for his magnificent artwork Roma. I have no problem with Spike Lee and his co-writers David Rabinowitz, Charlie Wachtel and Kevin Willmott picking up the award for best adapted screenplay for their fierce satire BlacKkKlansman. (Although I think I might have preferred to see Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty get it for Can You Ever Forgive Me?) The 2019 Oscar prize list was speckled with honourable wins.

2:11
Olivia Colman’s Oscars speech: ‘this is genuinely quite stressful!’ – video
But best picture for Green Book? (Best original screenplay, too, over The Favourite and Paul Schrader’s First Reformed.) The news of that win lands like a dead weight on Oscar night, increasing the inevitable disappointment and tristesse that settles on any awards ceremony in its closing minutes, as the unacknowledged frustration of the losers’ 80% silent majority seeps into the atmosphere. A friend of mine said that by the time this awards season was over, this film should have the word “REALLY?” added to its title. Green Book REALLY? becomes this year’s technical winner of the “best picture” accolade and surely now is added to the list that includes Crash, Chicago and Argo in the What Were They Thinking? categories.

Source: Oscars 2019 verdict: lovely surprises can’t compensate for shock horrors | Film | The Guardian

Oscars host Kevin Hart’s homophobia is no laughing matter | Benjamin Lee | Film | The Guardian

Oscars host Kevin Hart’s homophobia is no laughing matter
Benjamin Lee
Benjamin Lee
The comedian-actor has been chosen to take charge of next year’s awards ceremony but a history of hateful remarks suggest he’s not the man for the job

@benfraserlee
Wed 5 Dec 2018 16.52 EST Last modified on Thu 27 Dec 2018 09.26 EST
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Kevin Hart in 2015. Why, when the Academy is desperate to show a more inclusive side would Hart seem an appropriate host?
Kevin Hart in 2015. Why, when the Academy is desperate to show a more inclusive side would Hart seem an appropriate host? Photograph: Jason Merritt/Getty Images
At first glance, the Academy picking the ebullient and experienced comedian-actor Kevin Hart to host the 2019 Oscars seems like a smart pick.

The 39-year-old star of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Ride Along has quipped his way to becoming one of the most dependable box office stars working today with his films totalling over $3.5bn worldwide. His social media presence has also been a major key to his success with 34 million followers on Twitter and over 65 million on Instagram and with ratings for the ceremony continuing to spiral down, the Academy clearly hopes he’ll help draw viewers back in.

After two years of straight white host Jimmy Kimmel’s rather dull shtick and after an increased push to improve the diversity of voters, choosing an African American host is also a much-needed leap forward on stage.

But there’s one small catch.

Hart has a rather vile history of documented homophobia, ranging from offensive standup clangers to dumb interview statements to puerile tweets to a whole embarrassing film filled with it. In 2010 during his Seriously Funny standup special, Hart delivered an extended joke based on a fear of his three-year-old son Hendrix turning out gay.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/dec/05/oscars-host-kevin-hart-homophobia-is-no-laughing-matter

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One of my biggest fears is my son growing up and being gay. That’s a fear. Keep in mind, I’m not homophobic, I have nothing against gay people, be happy. Do what you want to do. But me, being a heterosexual male, if I can prevent my son from being gay, I will. Now with that being said, I don’t know if I handled my son’s first gay moment correctly. Every kid has a gay moment but when it happens, you’ve got to nip it in the bud!

Source: Oscars host Kevin Hart’s homophobia is no laughing matter | Benjamin Lee | Film | The Guardian

Felicity Jones is shy but relentless as Ruth Bader Ginsburg in ‘On the Basis of Sex’ | Mick LaSalle – Datebook – San Francisco Chronicle

David Lindsay: I have good news about the State of Our Union. Kathleen and I today celebrate our 5th year anniversary of relationship.
Also, we decided to skip Trump’s state of his union speech last night, and instead we went to see “On the Basis of Sex,” the fabulous and inspiring docudrama of how the Ginsbergs stole Christmas from the reactionary, keep the women in their place crowd, back in 1972, represented in the film by Sam Waterson. Furthermore, if you are near New Haven CT, the film will be at the Criterion New Haven for another week. Metacritic.com gave this film an aggregate 60, which was a crime. But their numbers are always suspect, since they are not generated by the critic, but by a reader at Metacritic. Scott of the NYT gave the film a rave review in my mind, and the reader scored the review as a 60! What is wrong with Metacritic.
There was a good piece in the NYT today about Trump’s lies last night, which I decided not to post. You don’t need to read it, but for reference, it is:
State of the Union Fact Check: What Trump Got Right and Wrong
President Trump appeared in front of a joint session of Congress for the annual address. Here is how his remarks stacked up against the facts.
https://www.nytimes.com/…/fact-check-state-of-the-union.htm…

Mick LaSalle December 22, 2018, San Francisco Chronicle

Like Ruth Bader Ginsburg herself, the movie about her life, “On the Basis of Sex,” sneaks up slowly, growing steadily in estimation, until a point is reached, not at the end but well into the proceedings, that it’s all downright inspiring. Here’s the story of a woman who not only shaped the journey of women in the second half of the 20th century, but whose life embodied that journey.That life translates well into the movie medium, in that Ginsburg’s story from her days at Harvard Law School through her appointment to the Supreme Court has the built-in narrative structure of a dramatic film. As in a rags-to-riches tale, Ginsburg starts off underestimated. She’s quiet, she’s little, and she’s female, and few will recognize her brilliance. She’s constantly blocked and put down and experiences doubts and disappointment, but she eventually emerges as a figure of fame and permanent importance.“On the Basis of Sex” makes you feel the cost it took to build this life, the years and years of work, in the face of almost monolithic resistance. Interestingly, and this feels intrinsically true, the movie shows that the obstacles Ginsburg faced often came from her closest male allies, who, after all, were steeped in the very same culture as her political foes. Ginsburg was at a disadvantage with these men, not only because she was a woman, but also because she was mild of temperament, not someone who could easily put herself forward. However, she did have the most significant advantage in her favor: She was smarter than everybody else.She had the further benefit of a supportive, understanding husband, whose outgoing personality complemented her watchful reserve. The old line that behind every great man is a great woman sometimes goes the other way, and so “On the Basis of Sex” is also the saga of an exceptional marital partnership.

Source: Felicity Jones is shy but relentless as Ruth Bader Ginsburg in ‘On the Basis of Sex’ | Datebook

Foxfire (play) – Wikipedia

Foxfire (play)
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Foxfire is a play with songs, book by Susan Cooper, Hume Cronyn, music by Jonathan Brielle (Holtzman) and lyrics by Susan Cooper, Hume Cronyn, and Jonathan Brielle. The show was based on the Foxfire books, about Appalachian culture and traditions in north Georgia and the struggle to keep the traditions alive. The 1982 Broadway production starred Jessica Tandy, who won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play and the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance. It costarred Hume Cronyn as well as Keith Carradine who played a country music performer selling out the old traditions to make a buck. Carradine sang most of the songs in the show and most notable were the close of Act 1, “My Feet Took T’ Walkin’.” It was later adapted as a TV movie, where Tandy played the same role and won an Emmy Award. Carradine was replaced with John Denver for the Hallmark movie. Other songs in the show included: “Sweet Talker,” “Dear Lord,” “Young Lady Take A Warning,” and “Red Ear.”

Source: Foxfire (play) – Wikipedia

The Broadway Shows to See Now – The New York Times

Same-Day Strategies

“TKTS TKTS, that discount-ticket mainstay of Times Square, also has outlets at Lincoln Center, at South Street Seaport and in downtown Brooklyn. The Times Square booth has the longest hours, but it’s the only location that sells same-day matinee tickets. (The other locations sell same-day evening but only next-day matinee tickets.) On the TKTS app, or online at tdf.org, you can see in real time which shows are on sale, and for how great a discount at each location. But that doesn’t mean there will be any seats left for the show you want by the time you get up to the window, and you have to buy them in person. The Times Square booth is the most crowded, especially right after it opens, when options are most plentiful. But new tickets are released all day, even as curtain time nears, so going later can be lucky, too. Want to see a play rather than a musical? At Times Square, there’s a dedicated window for that, and the line is shorter.

Rush Tickets

Many shows, though not the monster hits, offer same-day rush tickets at the box office for much less than full price. Some – including “Hello, Dolly!,” “Dear Evan Hansen” and “The Book of Mormon” – sell standing-room tickets if a show is sold out. Don’t count on these approaches, because availability varies – but it’s worth swinging by the theater to check. Conveniently, Playbill keeps a running online tab of individual shows’ policies on lotteries, rush tickets (sometimes just for students, often for everyone), standing room and other discounts.In-Person LotteriesSome shows (lately including “The Book of Mormon” and “Wicked”) have in-person lotteries, where you go to the theater at a designated time on the day of the performance and put your name into a drawing for the chance to buy cheap tickets. It’s more work on your end than a digital lottery, but these tickets can be substantially less expensive than those.”

How to Cut the Cord and Stream TV – Watching Guides – The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/guides/watching/tv-streaming-cut-the-cord?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=Moth-Visible&moduleDetail=inside-nyt-region-3&module=inside-nyt-region&region=inside-nyt-region&WT.nav=inside-nyt-region&redirect=true

“Television has changed remarkably over the past few years. It might be time for your viewing habits to change as well. Unless you enjoy paying more than $100 a month for a cable or satellite subscription you only half-use, you’re likely considering joining the growing ranks of consumers who have “cut the cord” and are now getting their favorite TV shows, movies and even live sports through the internet and streaming services. Making this change requires some preparation, though. Here’s a step-by-step guide to the cord-cutting process. And once you’re set up, hop on over to The New York Times’s site Watching for personalized movie and TV series recommendations.”

The Versatile and Resilient Amy Adams – The New York Times

“IN 2009, AFTER Amy Adams had been discovered and rediscovered, after she had been nominated for two Academy Awards and starred in an international hit, a very important paper self-importantly judged her a “late bloomer.”

“Cool,” Adams said recently. “At least I bloomed.” She laughed. How could she not? Being a movie star can be absurd. More than most roles, it can define a performer and brutally undermine her, affecting how she’s categorized, whether she’s forgiven or forgotten. If Adams has evaded the churn of celebrity culture, it’s partly because stardom came as it did. When “Enchanted” opened in 2007 she was 33, middle age in Hollywood years (especially for women). Wide-eyed and radiant, she looked like an ingénue, but in truth had been honing her craft and overcoming rejection for years. Stardom wasn’t a benediction, but something she had earned role by role.”

The piece ends:

“It’s important to talk about inequality,” Adams said. “But for me, where I feel most empowered is in educating myself and being, hopefully, a mentor for younger women. That’s more important. I offer any young actress I work with my phone number. I’ll tell them on set, ‘You don’t have to do that. You can say no.’ ” It seems like a modest gesture, but less so when you consider that the movie industry has long profited from female submission, from women acquiescing because their only choice is exploitation or unemployment. This is what makes women saying no powerful, and why it’s heartening that many are speaking up. Adams speaks up when she wants, how she wants, and she is saying yes — and no — on her own terms. These days, instead of telling her daughter “Don’t be bossy,” Adams asks her little girl who she is the boss of. “And she says, ‘Me.’ And I say, ‘That’s right. And you get to choose who you are.’ ”

David Lindsay: The first movie I saw Amy Adams in was Arrival, which was haunting, challenging and excellent.  I thought she deserved the Oscar for Best Actress that year over Emma Stone in La La Land.

I didn’t even recognize Amy Adams in American Hustle, or was that before. The point is that there were two different women. This is a good interview, if it gets me to want to see Enchanted, which was primarily for 11 year old girls.

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Attacked by Rotten Tomatoes – The New York Times

“LOS ANGELES — Hollywood had a horrible summer.Between the first weekend in May and Labor Day, a sequel-stuffed period that typically accounts for 40 percent of annual ticket sales, box office revenue in North America totaled $3.8 billion, a 15 percent decline from the same span last year. To find a slower summer, you would have to go back 20 years. Business has been so bad that America’s three biggest theater chains have lost roughly $4 billion in market value since May.
Ready for the truly alarming part? Hollywood is blaming a website: Rotten Tomatoes.”

David Lindsay Hamden, CT Pending Approval

I am a huge fan of the website Metacritic.com. It is extraordinary.
Since I abhor excessive violence and torture, I research new films carefully.
I saw Zero Dark Thrity after researching Metacritc, and am glad I saw the film. It was homework.
I look forward to an in depth analysis or comparison of Metacritc to Rotten Tomatoes.
This article is interesting, and it raises many questions, which are brought up by angry commenters. Ticket and popcorn prices are too high, intermissions too infrequent. Volumes are too high.The violence has gotten out of control. When I saw Dunkirk in Cincinnati, the day Inconvenient Sequel came out and was sold out, the theater showed a preview of a horror film about killing young women, called something like the Snowman Head murdering monster. It was grotesque, and I was deeply offended, that I was exposed to such images. I complained to the manager. There are plenty of reasons why I go carefully and infrequently to the movie theaters. Add to the list, excessive, gratuitous violence in the review trailers.
I posted on my blog, InconvenientNewsWorldwide.wordpress.com, a favorable review of Dunkirk. I agree with the NYT metacric score of 80. I did not enjoy the film, but found it gripping, and extremely useful history and homework. What an amazing historical drama. For those of us who love small yachts, it is a exhilarating story on more than one level.

Harry and Sidney: Soul Brothers – by Charles Blow – NYT

“Please allow me to divert my gaze for one day away from our national political darkness and toward two national rays of light.

Monday is Sidney Poitier’s 90th birthday. His best friend of 70 years, Harry Belafonte, turns 90 on March 1.This is an ode to and appreciation of the friendship — one of the most remarkable and resilient of our time — between two Hollywood royals.Poitier and Belafonte didn’t meet until they were 20 years old, and yet Belafonte still considered Poitier his first real friend in life. As Belafonte put it, he lived a “nomadic” life as a child, shuttling back and forth between New York and islands of the Caribbean with his mother as she searched for work. “I did not get rooted long enough to develop what many people have the joy of experiencing, and that is childhood friends.” ”

Lillies of the Field is one of my favorite movies of all time.

Here are some of the  top comments:

Socrates

is a trusted commenter Verona NJ 1 day ago

“I have always been a learner because I knew nothing.”
– Sidney Poitier

“I never had an occasion to question color, therefore, I only saw myself as what I was… a human being.”
– Sidney Poitier

“I’ve learned that I must find positive outlets for anger or it will destroy me. There is a certain anger: it reaches such intensity that to express it fully would require homicidal rage–self destructive, destroy the world rage–and its flame burns because the world is so unjust. I have to try to find a way to channel that anger to the positive, and the highest positive is forgiveness.”
― Sidney Poitier

“Bring it on. Dissent is central to any democracy.”
– Harry Belafonte

” You can cage the singer but not the song.”
– Harry Belafonte

“Artists are the gatekeepers of truth. We are civilization’s anchor. We are the compass for humanity’s conscience.”
– Harry Belafonte

“I just want to say how much we are indebted to my dear and abiding friend, Harry Belafonte, and to all the distinguished and famous artists and entertainers who have taken the time out from their prestigious schedules to be with us here in Montgomery, Alabama, as we march on the state capital tomorrow morning. I know that our thanks will go out to them and will abide them for years to come.”
– Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1965

America is a much richer place with our soul brothers than without them.

And we shall always overcome the milky white darkness that continues to stain our great country.

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soxared, 04-07-13

Crete, Illinois 1 day ago

I could scarcely get through your column, Mr. Blow, with my emotions intact.

I am a generation younger than both nonagenarians yet it seems that I have known them all my life. When listening to his great “Live at Carnegie Hall” in 1959, I thought that Harry Belafonte had achieved the impossible: he had broken through white America’s doubt and resistance and reluctance to accept the talent of people of color. He left his audience(s) mesmerized, entertained, enthralled. And never in his life did the great singer play the “shame” card; that was something that people carried with them and it wasn’t his problem. The outrage was always there (“Darlin’ Cora,” “Cotton Fields,” “John Henry”) but he never leveraged it as a guilt trip, a pettiness that would have undercut the innate nobility that described him.

Sidney Poitier achieved what Jackie Robinson did on the baseball field but with a far wider audience. Not everyone listened to baseball games in the 1940’s and 1950’s but everybody went to the movies. From his seminal role as Noah Cullen, shackled to Tony Curtis in “The Defiant Ones,” to his professional pinnacle as the itinerant Homer Smith in “Lilies of the Field,” Mr. Poitier was the cultural model for African-Americans my age (19 in 1963), cool; watchful. The shock of his Oscar remains, for neither I nor countless others expected an entrenched Hollywood to step out of its racist character and acknowledge his talent.

Gentlemen, well done, both! And God’s blessings upon you.

• 389 Recommended

Excerpt from The Search For Signs Of Intelligent Life In The Universe – Tina & Brandy – YouTube