Any trends or popular fads may be described, whether it would be something like the hula hoop or the pet rock or simply new slang.
The daughter and I did a Road Trip for my Birthday Month: Indianapolis, Indiana, for the Rolling Stones Zip Code Tour. In addition, her friend (Jesse Keys) got us VIP passes up front and met us (at our Uber car) with a golf cart, saving me a 5-mile walk after my July 1s leg surgery (squamous cell cancer).
It was a TREMENDOUS show: 3 full hours. 50,000 cheering fans. Here are a few pictures.
Thanks, Stacey!
My father had Alzheimer’s disease. He knew he was losing his memory as early as his 65th birthday, and he took me aside to tell me that he was divesting of all trusts where he was the trustee and trying to “get out from under” all obligations, because he was losing his memory.
When I tried to pooh pooh his concerns, telling him that all older adults lose a step or two in terms of memory, he was insistent that this was more serious. “I can feel it inside my head, Con. I know it’s more than that.”
Not long after, he went to the post office in the family auto, went inside to get his mail and walked home, leaving his car running in the street outside, keys still in it. The postmaster called our house and said, “Uh…John. Your car is outside. You left it running and it ran out of gas. Maybe you can come get it?”
I remember when I drove my mother and my father to the Mayo Clinic to the emergency room, because my father’s colon cancer was getting worse and he had no pain pills nor any medication for sleeping through the night. He was getting up in the night and falling and he broke his ribs, a painful (and unnecessary) injury
When we got to the Mayo Clinic, I was told to drive my ailing father directly to the emergency room, which I did. The scenes with Glen Campbell being asked, “Who’s the president, Glen?” “What day is it, Glen?” and other such mundane questions, instantly took me back.
Alzheimer’s is a brutal disease. Ultimately, the patient no longer has the ability to understand things that are said to him or here. Language ability can become profoundly impaired. Patients can forget family members and not recognize them. Somehow, that musical skill if it’s activate can help the brain globally if it is activated in Glen Campbell’s case.
New research suggests that turmeric can have some benefits for slowing the progression of Alzheimers so I guess it can’t hurt to try.
They’re giving Glen Campbell Arracept which is causing him to become horny, apparently. (My dad was given Arracept, and that was 1986.)
His wife says: Depending on how you look at it, perhaps there’s an “up” side to Alzheimers (she says he is after her 4x a day after they double his Arracept.)
(I remember that my dad took Arracept. He said it made him feel “fuzzy.” He didn’t like the feeling at all. He also tried to “joke” his way out of questions which he couldn’t answer, like, “Who was our first President, John?”
Statistic mentioned: 115 million Alzheimers patients around the globe.
Last year, $140 billion was spent on Alzheimers in the U.S.
$600 billion will be needed by the time all baby boomers retire. The (D) Senator from Massachusetts is championing the governmental effort to get more funds for Alzheimers research.
May 12, 2012, Campbell played at the Library of Congress. Bill Clinton is talking about his knowledge of Glen Campbell as being from Delight, Arkansas, which is near Hope, where Clinton grew up. Clinton urged more dollars for bio-medical research. “This tour of his may be more of his enduring legacy than all the music he made.”
The film shows him playing the Hollywood Bowl and Boston and the Ryman in Nashville.
Words of one song his daughter sings: “Daddy don’t you worry: I’ll do the remembering.”
Cal, Shannon and Ashley are the 3 children he had with Wife #4.
“This was a man with a mind like a steel trap and he couldn’t remember my name,” says his longtime bus driver.
Bruce Springsteen talks about his grandfather dying of it.
Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers lost his father at 70 from Alzheimers.
Brad Paisley’s grandmother and great grandmother both had it.
Kathy Mattea (musician) said her mother regressed and thought she was a young girl again.
Glen’s wife, Kim: “I don’t want to see him stop being an individual. I don’t want to see him degenerating. I don’t want to see Glen in that condition. I think it’s better to die from something else.”
Brad Paisley would like someone to “find that gene and turn it off before I’m 70,” (he’s now 40) as he has a high probability of inheriting the gene.
Glen’s long-term memory is great, but his short-term memory is what is degenerating. He remembers things from way back, as did my own dear departed father.
Kelli Campbell is another daughter (old) and Debby Campbell-Cloyd is another (older). They look to be at least in their forties or fifties.
There is a scene where Glen has something wrong with his teeth. He won’t go to the dentist and is belligerent about it. “I’m telling you, Man.” He is acting very loud and belligerent about something stuck in his teeth and is using a large knife to try to pick it out.
Campbell is shown in bed before a show he is to do at Carnegie Hall. He looks absolutely exhausted (Concert #113).
The Art Institute of Chicago had him come perform. He had a really hard time performing anything at that dinner.
His wife, Kim: “This is not a fun illness. It’s a challenging illness to deal with every moment of their lives. He can’t find the bathroom in his own house.”
His wife says, “Every day is a challenge for me.” She describes it as “intensely sad. Generally, he clings to me. I’m his safety blanket. He wants me around all the time.” (This was like my mother and my dad).
They (patients) become paranoid and begin to think that people are stealing from them. Glen becomes convinced that his best friend is stealing his golf clubs. (My dad became convinced that he was being held prisoner against his will, Also, some become delusional and see things, which my dad also did, although he was on heavy-duty pain medication for colon cancer, so the pink snakes he saw on the baseboard of his bedroom might have been from pain medication.
(Nov., 2012): After Chicago, the frequency of bad shows began to increase. They wanted to go out on a high note. “We’ve reached a point where he’s not capable of doing it.”
His wife: “That tour was crazy when he was offstage because he didn’t want to stay in the hotel room. He went around the hotel pressing everybody’s doorbells because he thought they were elevator buttons.”
By the time they got to Napa (the last show) they knew they had to stop the tour (it was Show #151). His son said, “It’s too bad he doesn’t even know it’s his last show ever.”
His daughter (Ashley) testified before Congress to try to get more funds for Alzheimers’ research and more-or-less broke down while testifying.
This was a good documentary, but it hit very close to home, for me, as I watched Glen Campbell try to joke his way through questions he can’t answer.
James Keach, Stacey Keach’s brother, directed the documentary and Jane Seymour, his wife, is listed as a producer. Three of Campbell’s children (2 boys and his daughter) back him up onstage and mention of Campbell’s prominence as a member of the famous “Wrecking Crew” that played on records by almost all big groups (including the Beach Boys) is mentioned. Having just seen the Wrecking Crew represented in the film “Love & Mercy” about Brian Wilson, it was an interesting and important documentary that makes you hope you have Tony Bennett’s genes and not Glen Campbell’s.
As part of a KDP promotion, the third book in the Hellfire & Damnation series will be reduced in price to 99 cents on June 27, June 28 (in other words, tomorrow, Saturday, and the next day, Sunday) and again on July 4, 5 and 6.
The third installment in the short story series organized around Dante’s “Inferno” and the 9 Circles of Hell, you can read more about the entire series and see trailers at www.HellfireAndDamnationTheBook.com.
Ben Folds (formerly of the Ben Folds Five) performed with the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra on June 6th at the Chicago Theater.
As he has done since an enthused audience member shouted out, “Rock this bitch!”, Folds composed an original composition with the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra members.
We were in the 7th row, almost exactly where this video was shot, and it is truly amazing to watch creativity in action.
Here is the film:
“San Andreas,” the film about San Francisco and a lot of the rest of California falling apart during a 9.6 “largest-in-recorded-history” earthquake, makes you want to move away from the Bay area if you live there. [Full disclosure: I once went through a small earthquake while a student at Berkeley. It was a weird feeling to find that the ground under your feet was moving. I remember bracing myself in a doorway until the shaking of the very earth beneath my feet stopped.]
“San Andreas” is a film in the grand tradition of such disaster films as “Earthquake” and “Towering Inferno.” I once took a busload of students to the Cinema Showcase in Milan to see both of those on a double bill; it was dubbed the “Shake & Bake Special.”
I also just saw “Mad Max: Fury Road” (Charlize Theron, Tom Hardy) and I can reliably report that each film reduces the script to almost no lines of dialogue while non-stop action (some of it implausible) is run by the audience. It’s almost as though Hollywood believes that the attention span of the average theater-goer these days is that of the average gnat and has decided to cater to an audience (usually younger) that can barely concentrate on anything for more than 5 minutes. (And certainly not without getting out their cell phones to text something to someone.)
“Mad Max” may get the edge for having the craziest set design, but the C.G. (computer graphics) team that has simulated a record-shattering earthquake followed by a “Perfect Storm” like tsunami, gets points for visually stunning us with those images. I wrote down some of the names of the special effects whizzes who helped make this earthquake movie and, after I had listed hy drau lx, Method Studios, CineSite, Atomic Fiction, Soho VFX, and Image Engine, I was surprised to learn that most of the film was shot in Australia. (Abbey Road studios is also given credit for the score and British Columbia gets a shout-out.)
For acting, I’d have to give the nod to “San Andreas'” crew, as the rationale for anything that happened in “Mad Max: Fury Road” was lost in the incomprehensibly thick accents of the first 30 minutes and the total craziness of the entire concept. At least in “San Andreas” we understand that, like Brad Pitt in “World War Z,” The Rock wants, most of all, to save his family from a natural disaster.
To that end, we learn that The Rock knows how to hot-wire a car, drive a mean speedboat, pilot both a helicopter and a regular airplane, parachute from a plane he is abandoning in the air, swim quite capably when required, and can also bring people back from the dead. I was going to say “Leap tall buildings in a single bound” but that’s a different hero.
When my husband and I were in Las Vegas recently, listening to a time share presentation, the attractive young girl who led us through the Hilton shared with us the information that her husband is “The Rock’s” stunt double (and she did some stunt work in film, as well). If this is true, that man certainly got a workout in “San Andreas,” which is loaded with stunts and CG effects.
Dr. Lawrence Graver, the scientist at California Institute of Technology who has been warning about a major earthquake event for years, is played by the always-convincing Paul Giametti. Carla Giugino (“Night at the Museum”) who plays the Rock’s about-to-be ex-wife is fine in her part. The twenty-ish daughter, played by Alexandra Daddario, is good—although she looks NOTHING like either one of the actors playing her parents. The annoying British brothers could have been crushed under a car in the parking garage who help the damsel in constant distress could have been crushed in the parking garage with no noticeable loss to the movie—especially the actor playing Ben Taylor (Hugo Johnstone-Burt), British accent and all. His younger brother, Ollie (Art Parkinson), is no less annoying, but the family dynamic that drives Dwayne Johnson’s heroic rescue attempts will keep you rooting for the home team (pun intended).
I would have cast Ioan Gruffudd (who plays mogul Daniel Riddick) as the love interest for the well-stacked Alexandra, but he is relegated to looking good (great hair!) in his private plane and his huge buildings (“The Gate”), right up until he turns into a cowardly cad. (I did wonder: how did the character played by Carla Gugino ever meet a millionaire mogul like Daniel Riddick? Young unmarried girls want to know!) At first, I honestly thought that Daniel Riddick was going for help for the hapless Alexandra. Later, he is portrayed as a cad, over and over, to the point of outright laughter, almost. To say he is not missed when his character arc ends is putting it mildly.
Two other actresses in the cast deserve mention. Archie Punjabi, who has capably played the investigator character Kalinda on “The Good Wife” until recently, turns up as a TV newswoman named Serena. The role of Daniel Riddick’s ex-wife Susan is played by singer/actress Kylie Minogue, who takes the wrong staircase in her attempts to escape the catastrophe when it strikes.
This New Line/Village Roadshow/Ratpac-Dune Entertainment offering was as entertaining as “Mad Max: Fury Road,” although you have to give a nod to the “real” stunts that were pulled off in the latter. Even though I took Earth Science in college and learned about upthrusting and down faulting, I have no idea if the statistics and historic facts cited in the movie are true or false. Is it true that the worst earthquake in history was a 9.5 in Valdiva off the coast of Chile that lasted for eleven minutes? Is there even a place called “Valdiva”? Did the earthquake in Anchorage, Alaska in 1964 really measure 9.1 on the Richter Scale? Did a tsunami really level Hilo, Hawaii, 8,000 miles away from a big earthquake? Was that big previous earthquake really the equivalent of 10 million atom bombs? Is Iran capable of leashing this earthquake power?
I kept remembering Naomi Watts in her 2012 tsunami movie “The Impossible,” for which she earned an Academy Award nomination. I remembered how her exposure to the water in the Thailand tsunami made her cuts and scrapes horribly infected, whereas Ben Taylor (Hugo Johnstone-Burt) has a large piece of glass stuck in his upper thigh (which would probably have severed the femoral artery and killed him) but walks around and swims around as though it is merely a twisted ankle with no noticeable long-term problems.
I know none of these answers, but would refer you to Carlton Cuse, the unknown director who also co-wrote the script.
Meanwhile, here are a couple of observations: the opening sequence is a testimony as to why young people should not text and drive. The young girl in the car is listening to Taylor Swift when she texts and crashes. It’s an object lesson. (“Let that be a lesson to you!”)
Lines that I enjoyed: When the question is asked “Who should we call?” as the crack earthquake-tracking team at Cal Tech is realizing the severity and seriousness of the situation, my spouse leaned over and said, “Ghostbusters!”
When “The Rock” and his lady land in whatever the name of the baseball park is in San Francisco (I’m so old that it was Candlestick, when I attended a game at that San Francisco ballpark in 1965), they parachute in, land on the playing field, and The Rock says, “It’s been a while since I got you to second base.”
I’d say that if you are so hyped up on video game action that you are one silly millimeter away from being diagnosed with attention deficit disorder (with hyperactivity), you will enjoy both “San Andreas” AND “Mad Max: Fury Road” but I have to warn you that I nearly went deaf in Chicago from the volume of the soundtrack at the Icon on Roosevelt Road. I’ve also been warned NOT to bother with 3D
http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yftHosO0eUo
for “San Andreas” as some who saw it in 3D said the color was washed out.
So, now you know, if you’re thinking of taking in either of the two new films in town in the near future.
Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen are friends who have taken their friendship and celebrity on the road for an evening of gossip and commentary. Since both are mega-stars in their respective fields, the Chicago Theater was sold out, and the entertainers did not disappoint.
The two interviewed each other and interspersed their comments with film clips. I knew very little about Andy Cohen, since I do not watch his “Real Housewives” series, and that was a disadvantage as the evening wore on and numerous women lined up to ask the less-serious Andy about his shows. One woman asked: “Which is the dumbest housewife?” but Cohen chose not to diss that one.
Some brief biographical information was conveyed through film and commentary, and I learned that when Anderson Cooper’s 23-year-old brother, Carter, committed suicide (Anderson was 21) he jumped from the 14th floor ledge of Gloria Vanderbilt’s Manhattan penthouse while she watched. This, said Cooper, has informed everything he has done in life since. He indicated that perhaps he likes to be where tragedy has struck to see how others deal with it and survive.
Another bit of gossip concerned Gloria (Vanderbilt’s) hooking up with Marlon Brando, something that Carol Matthau (wife of Walter) arranged back when Brando was in his prime. As he put Gloria in a cab in the morning, he said, “You have Japanese skin.” (Whatever that means.) This was Brando in his prime and sexy days, Cooper stressed.
Another interesting story concerned the gentleman that does a cheek swab and then traces one’s lineage. He discovered that the Cooper side of the family had a great great grandfather who had owned slaves and had, in fact, been hacked to death by one of his slaves, using a hoe. (Ben Affleck recently called and asked that this information be omitted from his geneology report.)
The evening was a hit for fans of either gentleman, gays, and fans of the real Housewives of wherever. The only real housewife I had ever heard of was Theresa Guidici because she went to jail. After that, Nene Leaks was another I knew had been on one of his shows, because she appeared on “The Celebrity Apprentice” and, also, briefly on “The New Normal.”
I enjoyed the evening, as I knew I would, and the event was sold out.
Wisconsin’s Big Ten team knocked off the unbeaten Kentucky Wildcats in a frenzied finish that saw the Wisconsin Badgers emerge as the ultimate winners who will face Duke for the national NCAA championship on Monday, April 6th.
As we were in Cancun, the bar of the Royal Sands represented a cross section of fans from both Kentucky and Wisconsin, but I’d have to give the nod to the Wisconsin fans, who came with their red and white shirts and cheered noisily throughout.
Enjoyed the game.
The Oscar season is (finally) over for another year and, for all of you who had neither the time nor the inclination to (a) read the book on which a film was based or (b) watch the movie when it came out, I am going to fill you in on the “differences” from written word to visual image for some of the Big Ones This Year. In some cases, I’ll be primarily mentioning some of the controversies that erupted and probably killed the film’s chances for a coveted gold statue, prior to the awarding of the Best Film of the Year honors to “Birdman.” “Birdman” will not appear anywhere on this list because it was original material developed for the screen and not adapted from a novel.
There is at least one notable exception this year that I thought should have appeared as a Best Picture nominee and should have earned Chicago’s own Gillian Flynn a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination, and that was “Gone Girl.” I’m including that film and “Unbroken” and “Inherent Vice,” all films which did have some play at Oscar-time, but were not up for Best Picture (they were nominated in some smaller categories). I’m also bummed that “The Drop” didn’t get anything, and I admit that I liked the soapy “The Fault In Our Stars,” which will probably win some MTV awards coming up soon.
Here are the films, in alphabetical order: “American Sniper;” “Foxcatcher;” “Gone Girl;” “Inherent Vice;” “Selma;” “Still Alice;” “The Imitation Game;” “The Theory of Everything;” “Unbroken” and “Wild.”
1) “American Sniper:” The 2012 memoir that Chris Kyle wrote with Scott McEwen and Jim DeFelice was a nonfiction hit about a Navy SEAL who was lauded as the deadliest sniper in U.S. military history during his 4 tours of duty in Iraq.
Movie: Adapted by Jason Hall and directed by Clint Eastwood, it starred Bradley Cooper, who gained 30 or 40 pounds to more closely resemble Chris Kyle, and Sienna Miller as his wife. It was nominated for Best Picture honors and Cooper also got a nod.
Differences/Similarities: As in the book, the film opens in 2003. It details Kyle’s first kill as a sniper, but the decision to shoot is his, not an order from a higher-up. The intitial target is a woman, not a small boy. After Kyle was killed at a shooting range in 2013 in Texas, conversations with Kyle’s widow, Taya (Miller) led screenwritr Hall to add more emotional content based on her collaboration. The film implies that Hall was 30 upon becoming a SEAL; he was actually not quite 25 in 1999. Initially, the Navy rejected him because of a pin in hs arm, which is not mentioned.
2) “Foxcatcher:” The movie is based on the story of the wrestling Schulz brothers, one of whom is murdered by the wealthy DuPont heir portrayed by Steve Carrell in a very different turn from such films as “The 40-Year-Old Virgin.” Carrell’s make-up and dental prosthesis were even Oscar-nominated, losing to “The Grand Budapest Hotel.” Mark Ruffalo also scored a nomination as the murdered Schulz brother, but lost to Eddie Redmayne. Director Bennett Miller crafted a lengthy film that could have used some judicious editing, but the Big Buzz come Oscar time was the Twitter outburst of the surviving Schulz brother (played by Channing Tatum in a real tour de force performance), who objected to the homo-erotic subtext he felt Miller had included in the film and denounced him for “promises made,but broken.” This definitely was not good timing during a run-up to the Oscars.
3) “Gone Girl:” I’m reading this one right now, but I am aware that the 2012 novel by Gillian Flynn about a young woman who mysteriously disappears, putting her husband (Ben Affleck) under scrutiny as the prime suspect, had differences because my husband read it first and clued me in. David Fincher (of Gwynneth Paltrow’s head in a box in “7”) kept the rapid pace of the book and most of the book’s twists and turns were retained, probably because the author, herself, was writing the adaptation.
So, what was added or eliminated?
There is less detail in the film about Amy’s bizarre upbringing as “Amazing Amy.” A trip to Hannibal, Missouri, is eliminated. There is no ugly break-up scene between Nick and his mistress. Nick’s father is given a much smaller role in the film than in the book and Amy’s parents are background figures. Some characters didn’t make the cut at all, like an alleged stalker of Amy’s, the mother of boyfriend Desi (Neil Patrick Harris) and Rebecca, the blogger. Nick’s violent and obsessive tendencies are downplayed in the film version and the couple do not pen dueling memoirs, as they did in the book. Another critic mentioned that the family cat seemed to get more play on film. I adapted my science fiction novel “Out of Time” for the screen and won an award from “Writer’s Digest” for it, and, therefore, was duly impressed with Flynn’s screenwriter’s adaptation.
4) “Inherent Vice:” This 2009 novel by Thomas Pynchon is set in 1970 Los Angeles and Doc Sportello is searching for ex-flame Shasta’s married boyfriend, who is a billionaire real estate mogul. The book was adapted and directed by Paul Thomas Anderon and stars Joaquin Phoenix in another of his bizarre roles (“Remember ‘The Master’?)
The psychedelic stylings of Sportello (Phoenix) remain. Plot is not really Anderson’s biggest concern, apparently, but remaining faithful to the tone and characters of the book is. Tariq Khalil is a character who loses in the adaptation, while Fabian Fazzo, Fritz Drybeam and Doc’s parents are cut from the film entirely. In fact, Anderson created an entirely new ending for the movie, which I will not reveal, in case you haven’t seen it.
5) “Selma:” This bio-pic remained faithful to most of the key points of the MLK march, but certain characters were combined and, according to key workers in LBJ’s administration, the entire conflict set up between King and Johnson over the timing of the march was bogus. While there is an allusion to Martin Luther King’s alleged trysts with other women, that particular character point was glossed over in one brief scene with wife Coretta where MLK more-or-less admits to extramarital dalliances, but says they meant nothing. It was fairly common knowledge at the time that J. Edgar Hoover had bugged King and had evidence of some of these shenanigans, but the film wants to rise above such seamy topics, just as, during JFK’s time in the White House, little was said or written about the president’s own character failings in that area. (Ah, the times, how they have changed!) There is no question that British actor David Oyelowo evokes King passionately and Carmen Ejogo as his wife was also very good. Ava DuVernay was supposed to become the first African-American female director to be nominated for an Oscar for the Paul Webb-written film, but that didn’t happen and many offended parties were boycotting the Oscar ceremony because of it—although the memory of “Twelve Years A Slave” winning as Best Picture the prior year surely faded fast.
6) “Still Alice,” which I saw in Des Moines the night before the Oscar ceremony, was as big a downer as one would anticipate from the important subject matter of early Alzheimer’s onset in a highly intelligent woman who is a college professor. Julianne Moore played the lead in the 2007 novel by Lisa Genova that was adapted and directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland.
Similarities/differences: The film is set in New York City, rather than in Boston. Professor Alice Howland (Moore) teaches at Columbia in the film. Her husband John’s (Alec Baldwin) new job opportunity is presented as being at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. In the book it was in New York. I remember thinking, as we watched the film, “Moving to be near the Mayo Clinic would be the best thing to do in her situation.” In the book, Alice writes her future self a letter on her computer, but in the movie it’s a video. The key relationships remain the same, with Lydia (Kristen Stewart), her rebellious actress daughter, given the most screen time. A patient support group bit the dust and so did the graduation ceremony of one of Alice’s students in the book.
7) “The Imitation Game,” based on the book “Alan Turing: The Enigma” is a 1983 biography by Andrew Hodges. Hodges revised the book in 2000, adding more than 200 pages after classified information was released in the 1990’s and my niece, Emma, a student at the Rochester Institute of Technology in computer science, told me they had to study Turing in her classes. The movie was adapted by Graham Moore and directed by Morton Tyldum into a script that actually works in the same way that “The King’s Speech” worked. Benedict Cumberbatch gave one of the very best performances of the year and of his career and Keira Knightley as Joan Clarke, the only woman to work with the puzzle-solvers at Bletchley Park, supported nicely.
Similarities/differenes: The movie leaves out Turing’s main collaborator in breaking the Nazi code, Enigma: Gordon Welchman. Joan Clarke (Knightley) did not secure her place by figuring out a crossword puzzle, but it is true that she and Turing were briefly engaged. Turing did fall in love with a boyhood schoolmate named Christopher Morcom, but it is not true that he then named the fledgling computer Christopher. Two pivotal figures in the film—Stewart Menzies (Mark Strong) and John Cairncross (Allen Leech) are not mentioned in the book at all. Detective Nock who arrests Turing on charges of homosexual behavior in the film is invented and does not appear in the book.
8) “The Theory of Everything:” The book was “Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen,” a 2008 memoir by Jane Hawking, which followed on the heels of a harsher 1999 book by Wife Number One entitled “Music to Move the Stars: A Life with Stephen.”
Adapted by Anthony McCarten and directed by James Marsh, the film scored an Oscar for Eddie Redmayne, and deservedly so, but Felicity Jones , who was also nominated, gave one of the strongest female performances of the year. If she weren’t so young, I think she would have (and possibly should have) won. There were so many in the list(s) above who were shortchanged, including Channing Tatum for his role in “Foxcatcher” (also playing against type) and, in “Whiplash,” Miles Teller, whose role as the young drummer was every bit as good as Oscar-winning J.K. Simmons’ Mr. Fletcher.
Similarities/Differences: The courtship of Stephen and Jane is streamlined in the film. The two began dating after his diagnosis, but in the movie they are engaged. His personality is portrayed as less abrasive in the film as opposed to the book. The couple’s views on religion are played out as banter. The role of the 2nd Mrs. Hawkings—who was his nurse—is reduced, but the dramatic tracheotomy scene is given more screentime and the circumstances of it are changed from the book.
9) “Unbroken:”: Angelina Jolie’s directorial adaptation of “Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption” is from a 2010 biography by Laura Hillenbrand that was a best-seller for over 3 years. It chronicles the real-life adventures of Italian immigrant Louie Zamperini, who had a troubled childhood but went on to become an Olympian, survived more days at sea than nearly anyone (47) and was a prisoner of war after being shot down (he was a bombadier in WWII). Joel and Ethan Coen adapted the screenplay with help from Richard LaGravenese and William Nicholson and newcomer Jack O’Connell played Louie.
Similarities/Differences: The movie focused on the 47 days adrift at sea and the nearly 2 years in a Japanese prison camp with a sadistic guard nicknamed “the Bird.” The book went on to outline how Zamperini failed to qualify for the 1948 Olympics, battled to overcome both PTSD and alcoholism, and became a born-again Christian.
Most of that after-the-war stuff did not make the cut.
For me, watching the film, I thoroughly enjoyed the aerial scenes (Oscar nominations for those) and the drifting at sea part, but the “let’s beat Louie up again” part in the Japanese POW camp became a bit too repetitively sadistic for me. It’s why I quit watching “The Walking Dead,” so call me an emotional softie, but I did think that Angelina showed us something with this one, whereas her directing of the story of the beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl, (where she both directed and played his wife, Marianne,) was notable only for one fine scene where she breaks down in tears when alone.
I read that Angelina was heavily influenced by the storytelling technique of Clint Eastwood, who believes in getting it done. (“The real baby is sick? Grab the doll, Bradley!”) If this film is any indication, Jolie has improved markedly since her first film.
Then again, with collaborators like the Coen Brothers and Richard LaGravenese (who appeared at the Chicago Film Festival with his all-musical movie “The Last Five Years” which, like the “Cop Rock” TV show that Steven Bochco tried years ago, had NO spoken dialogue and all the dialogue was sung (Emma Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan did the honors), who can go wrong? LaGravenese, who has worked as actor, director, producer, writer and all-purpose go-to guy with 20 credits for writing, 7 for directing, 5 for producing and 2 as an actor, announced to all of us in the crowd at the AMC Theater in Chicago that it was projects like his all-singing-no-dialogue musical that kept him going, creatively. However, it is probably writing for films like “Unbroken” that keeps him solvent.
10) “Wild:” This trek across the Pacific Crest Trail, adapted from the 2012 Cheryl Strayed memoir “Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail” was about as interesting as you would expect a movie about a woman out hiking to be. Ms. Strayed hiked 1,100 miles after her mother’s death when grief, drugs and sex derailed her life. She trudged along through California and Oregon. The book was adapted by Nick Hornby and the film was directed by Jean-Marc Vallee with Reese Witherspoon providing the star power, for which she won an Oscar nomination.
Similarities/differences: The opening and closing scenes are the same as the book’s. Mostly, the movie sticks to the book, while consolidating a few characters. Strayed spends more time hiking with others in the book. Only Bobbie, Cheryl’s mother (well played by Laura Dern, who also played Shailene Woodley’s mother in “The Fault In Our Stars” earlier this year) is really highlighted, with some mention of her younger brother, Leif (Keene McRae). Her stepfather Eddie and her older sister Karen were cut entirely from the film BUT, the filmmakers—perhaps realizing they had a real snoozer on their hands here (I kept checking my watch to see how much longer before this thing was over)—added a scene in an alley where Strayed has sex with two men. (!)
The long-suffering ex-husband of the film should get a medal and you would have to beat me with a stick to make me watch this movie again, while I DID just go see “Whiplash,” “The Imitation Game,” “The Theory of Everything” and “American Sniper” over.
My spouse does not get to see things in September and October at film festival gatherings as a member of the press, and I go to see them when they are in general release, if merited.
If you like hiking and movies where they tease you that “Ooooh. Something might happen in this movie NOW—and then it doesn’t !”, then you’ll enjoy “Wild.” If you are planning to hike across a desert some time soon and want to know the correct way to blow up a tent or other technical matters of that sort, by all means, go and take notes.
If you were hoping for excitement and/or something actually happening other than a self-indulgent narcissistic film about “finding one’s self” (I’ve lost 2 parents, too; it didn’t drive me to drugs, excessive sex or hiking through a desert, but maybe I should consider it; I did consider the drinking part after sitting through this) then this is the film for you.
“Hellfire & Damnation III,” the 3rd installment in the short story series organized around Dante’s “Inferno” and the 9 Circles of Hell, is going on virtual tour beginning March 3rd. This third installment consists of 9 stories that illustrate the 9 Circles of Hell,a few illustrations, and a cover by Vincent Chong, winner of the World Fantasy Award for Best Artist of 2013 and 5-time recipient of the British Fantasy Award for Best Artist. Vincent also did the cover for Hellfire & Damnation II and was shortlisted for a Hugo Award in 2013 and for a British Science Fiction Association Award as Best Artist.
The stops on the tour are as follows:
Teddy Rose Book Reviews Plus – March 13 – Giveaway
Xmas Reads – March 16, Interview & Giveaway
Amber Stults – Reviewer and Writer – March 19, Review & Excerpt
Lisa’s Writopia – March 20 – Review
Indie Review Behind the Scenes – March 20 – Live Radio Interview at 6 p.m.CST
Cassandra M’s Place – March 23 – Review & Giveaway
What U Talking About Willis? – March 25 – Review & Excerpt
Pinky’s Favorite Reads – March 31 – Interview & Excerpt-
Truly Simply Pink – April 1 – Review & Excerpt
fuonlyknew – April 10 – Review, Excerpt & Giveaway
Deal Sharing Aunt – April 14 – Review
Not Now…Mommy’s Reading – April 28th – Review, Interview & Giveaway
Another Oscar year over.
The traveling trophy this year came home to East Moline, with my 17 (should have been 18) correct picks out of 24 possibilities. It was fairly impressive that all 4 contestants (Craig Wilson, Pam & John Rhodes and me) scored in double digits, as a similar competition sponsored by my son in Chicago netted some abyssmal scores from a few (Ahem). However, son Scott picked 19 correct of the 24, which, considering none of us had seen some of the more esoteric categories, is pretty impressive.
Now, some comments on the show itself.
The predominant colors on the Red Carpet seemed to be (logically enough), red…and white. There were a few other colors, including the lovely Anna Kendrick’s dress in coral (one of the best) and the impressive number that Scarlett Johanssen sported.
But what was up with the hair? Patricia Arquette (who was the front-runner all along) showed up with a “do” that made her look like she had just stepped out of the shower. Likewise, the long pony tail, reminiscent of Ariana Grande, that Jennifer Lopez wore was ho hum and the lower-on-the-neck ponytail that Dakota Johnson sported just looked way too casual for the event and the dresses. And then there was Scarlett Johnssen’s shaved side of head look, after she decked out in a green dress that was to die for. There has also been a huge flap over the dreadlocks sported by one actress, which Fashion Police star Juliana Rancic dissed.
Neil Patrick Harris:
I’m revising my opinion of Neil Patrick Harris….downward. No, it’s not just because this year’s viewership was the worst in years and the entire night seemed lackluster (with the exception of the truly wonderful “Sound of Music” medley from Lady Gaga and Jennifer Hudson’s song). It’s also because I saw NPH in “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” on Broadway and was underwhelmed. He won the Tony for it, so I was perhaps expecting too much. I really didn’t think the play or Neil Patrick Harris in it was that great; my opinion was confirmed when the woman sitting next to me got up and left early.
I wondered about some of the ad libs (“treason” and “She had to have balls to wear that dress” in particular) that Harris threw out there, and I thought his much-vaunted song-and-dance ability was wasted. He did a very credible job hosting the Tonys, so someone erred in just giving him the lame joke about his predictions in a glass case. Plus, as none other than David Morrell noted, some in the audience and/or at home perhaps found Harris showing up in nothing but his tighty whiteys crass for such an upscale crowd, (even if it was referencing a scene from the night’s Best Picture winner, “Birdman.”)
I was not a huge fan of “Birdman,” except for the acting. Nor of “Boyhood.” If you are interested in some of the truly ENJOYABLE and entertaining movies of the year, see my previous post on same.
The night AFTER the Oscars we watched the Oscar-winning documentary “CITIZENFOUR,” which was the story of Edward Snowden’s release of classified documents. I had read the story in its entirety in “Rolling Stone” and it was presented there better. I saw 3 (of 5) documentaries, and this one was definitely my least favorite, although I recognize the fact that its World Headline Topic was Big News and “Finding vivian Maier,” the documentary about the Chicago nanny who took many black-and-white photographs, stored them in a storage locker and then died, broke and alone, so that others discovered her talent (and developed the photos, which she did not have the money to do) hen they purchased the contents of that storage locker, was just the longest-running show at the Chicago History Museum.
There was a very poignant follow-up to this interesting documentary, which is that the city of Chicago or Cook County now wants in on the Vivian Maier action ($) since she supposedly died intestate and had no living heirs. In an article entitled “Claiming Vivian Maier” (Chicago Tribune, Jan. 25, 2015) the entire sordid tale unfolds, with the comment that the City Fathers are intent upon tying up ownership of Vivian Maier’s photographs for years. This would seem to fly in the face of capitalizing on the fact that the documentary on Vivian was just nominated for an Oscar. (Talk about striking while the iron is cold!)
The article by Jason Jeisner reveals that Rogers Park artist Jeffrey Goldstein abruptly sold 17,500 prints of Maier’s work to a Canadian gallery owner. Stephen Bulger of Toronto, who bought the prints, has been forced to put them on ice in storage until the dispute clears the Illinois courts.
Anne Zakaras and Chicago silver gelatin printers Ron Gordon and Sandra Steinbrecher (Gordon came out of retirement to help restore the hundreds of images) say they feel tremendous sadness to have it all end this way. “Everybody loses,” said Gordon. “Vivian loses too. She goes back in the box.”
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