DailyView: Day 211, Movie 298

This was my second Beatles inspired DailyView today in honor of the new Disney + documentary by Peter Jackson, The Beatles: Get Back (which was tremendous). Unfortunately, neither of the DailyView entries were up to par.

That certainly goes for teh Beatles juke box musical, Across the Universe.

When Jude (Jim Sturgess) left Liverpool to travel to America in search of his absent father, he met the rambunctious Max (Joe Anderson) and his lovely sister Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood). The trio were carefree and happily singing Beatles songs, until Max is drafted to head to the Vietnam War.

There are many problems with this musical, but the music is not one of them. The Beatles songs are great and if you just listen to them, you might enjoy yourself. Of course, if you just listen to them, you may as well play the CD instead.

So much of the plot and a bunch of characters are involved here simply to get Beatles songs into the film. Many of them make no sense in the overall story of the movie and are there just to say they are there. Bono of U2 showed up just to sing The Benefit of Mr. Kite. I believe that is the total of his appearance.

Characters are introduced with names that tell you they are going to have a song around them. There was a Prudence (T.V. Carpio), Lucy, Jude and JoJo (Martin Luther).

If this was intended as simply an extended music video with the different Beatles songs, I could deal with it. However, they are pretending that this is a feature film and that should have some kind of compelling… or at least understandable story. Across the Universe does not. Across the Universe tries to tie all of the 1960s unrest and major events with Beatles songs when they should have tied them to a story.

DailyView: Day 211, Movie 297

I am preparing to watch the first installment of the new Beatles documentary from Peter Jackson on Disney +, Beatles: Get Back. It looks to be an epic doc, with the first installment clocking in at over 2 and a half hours. I am saving that for after lunch today, so to prep for the show, I looked for something Beatles for the DailyView today. Time wise, Across the Universe did not fit (maybe tonight), but I found another documentary on Amazon Prime called The Beatles: Up Close and Personal that fit much better into the schedule.

Sadly, I did not enjoy this documentary very much.

Make no mistake, there are some great uses of the Beatles’ classic music. That was easily the best part of the doc.

However, the rest of the doc just felt like it was stories that were being told by the hangers-on.

Pete Best, one of the original drummers with the Beatles before being replaced with Ringo Starr, did a lot of the heavy lifting on the storytelling, and his constant reference to him being a Beatle felt wrong. He used a lot of “we” and “us” in the tales, and the doc does not seem to realize that Pete Best was not in any of the clips of the Beatles playing because he was out of the band by then.

The most interesting part of the doc was retelling about when Pete Best was released from the Beatles.

This felt like a group of people desperately trying to cash in on the success of the Beatles. It is reportedly unauthorized. I sure hope Get Back is better than this one.

DailyView: Day 209, Movie 295

Heading over to Hulu for the DailyView this evening, I came across a movie from 2019 that I did not go to see in the theater. I remember when Where’d You Go, Bernadette was in the theaters. It was a movie that I was always considering going to see, but it was one of those films that was getting pushed aside for other new releases or never worked in the schedule.

Cate Blanchett is one of the great actresses of our time and she is front and center with the character of Bernadette Fox, an artistic architect who moved with her family to Seattle after a major career tragedy which sent her over the edge.

Bernadette had a remarkable relationship with her daughter, Bee (Emma Nelson), despite struggling with her relationship with any other human beings. This was also causing issues with her husband, Elgie (Billy Crudup), who had buried himself deeply in his work.

Her escalating negative behaviors began to worry Elgie and a promised family vacation to Antarctica elevated those behaviors even more.

The performances in Where’ You Go, Bernadette were very solid. Of course, Cate Blanchett is always exquisite and she amplifies any material she is given. The young Emma Nelson was very good as well, not losing step opposite her famous co-star. Bill Crudup does well too, though he may be a bit of a step down. The feuding neighbor Audrey was played by Kristin Wiig, but there is not enough with her. She seemed to play a big role in the first part of the film, but nothing in the second part.

This is a bit of the trouble with the movie. It felt like several different themes and tones floating around the story, and the characters were not completely consistent. At times the film did not seem to know what it wanted to be. It also seemed to diminish mental illness, which was used to explain some of Bernadette’s behaviors.

This film is an adaptation of a novel by Maria Semple, which I have not read, so much of the criticism about how it does not adapt the book well is foreign to me. Director Richard Linklater shoots some solid work, especially the scenes in Antarctica.

I enjoyed this movie despite its flaws, mainly because I enjoyed the characters and the performances. It may not be the best film around, but it was a decent watch.

DailyView: Day 208, Movie 294

Another busy day so I had to dip into the Charlie Chaplin vault to pull out another silent short to complete the DailyView. Today, it was a film on YouTube called The Fireman from 1916.

Charlie is a fireman this time, whose chief (Eric Campbell) made an arrangement with the father (Lloyd Bacon) of a beautiful daughter (Edna Purviance) to allow his house to burn down so he could collect the insurance money. In return, the father agreed to let the chief marry his daughter.

As other fires break out in the city, the firemen finally answer the call, thanks to Chaplin.

Turned out that the father set his house on fire without knowing that his daughter was upstairs. Chaplin scaled the outside of the building to save her, showing one of the more impressive stunts of the time.

Honestly, while I have typically enjoyed the Charlie Chaplin short films during this DailyView, this one was kind of boring. I loved the stunt of climbing the building, but I had checked out of the film in the first 15 minutes or so. The slapstick did not do it for me.

This was an early film in Charlie Chaplin’s career and many people seemed to love it. However, after seeing a bunch of the other ones first, The Fireman felt too much the same.

DailyView: Day 207, Movie 293

Not sure why this did not pop up on Netflix during the October run of horror movies I was doing, because this is far superior than several of the films that I did during that month of the DailyView.

Let Me In is a remake of a Swedish film, Let the Right One In, written and directed by Matt Reeves. It was another film that was never on my radar in 2010, despite being critically acclaimed during that time frame.

Let Me In stars Chloë Grace Moretz, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Richard Jennings in a new take on vampire movies.

Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee) was a lonely, sad and bullied teen who lived alone with his mother. When Abby (Chloë Grace Moretz) moved into his building with her father (Richard Jennings), Owen bonded with her, unable at first to see the strangeness happening around him.

As attacks begin to pick up, a detective (Elias Koteas) started to get close to the truth, especially after Abby’s father was involved in a car crash trying to get blood for her.

Owen is fascinated by Abby and her confidence helped him to stand up to the main bully (Dylan Minnette) that had been tormenting him.

The relationship between Owen and Abby is special and both young actors brought the goods to these roles. Their early sweetness helped to solidify their friendship for later when all hell breaks loose.

I will say that it seemed to me that Kodi Smit-McPhee had a growth spurt during filming because I swear he went from a little kid to a giant during the runtime. It might just be my perception of how he was shot, but he seemed to suddenly be all legs.

Let Me In was a wonderful horror movie with a new and different relationship at the heart of it. It worked very well and I am glad it popped up on Netflix.

DailyView: Day 206, Movie 292

After watching the wonderful tick, tick…Boom this morning about Jonathan Larson, the creator of the iconic Broadway show, Rent, I was inspired to make the 2005 film version of Rent the DailyView for today.

According to IMDB, Rent “is the film version of the Pulitzer and Tony Award winning musical about Bohemians in the East Village of New York City struggling with life, love and AIDS, and the impacts they have on America.”

The cast included Rosario Dawson, Idina Menzel, Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Jesse L. Martin, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Taye Diggs and Tracie Thoms. Six of these actors reprised their roles in the film from the Broadway play, three of whom received Tony nominations.

Starting positively, the film’s music is sensational. The score and the musical aspects of Rent jump off the screen and grab the audience. The massive hit ‘Seasons of Love” starts off the film and is used throughout in a fantastic manner. Though that was the only song that I recognized from the soundtrack, the music is absolutely gripping and special.

The story has several elements of tragedy to it and emotionally works in moments. However, the characters are not developed past the surface which undermines the power of some of the emotions. Some of the characters feel as if they are doing things just because the story wants them to. It does not feel like reasonable choices. Instead, it feels like a series of scenes strung together to fill the time and connect the songs.

Not having seen the stage musical this film was based on, I cannot compare them to see if the play does a better job creating these characters. With so many actors reprising their roles among the Bohemians, you would think they would have a real handle on why their characters do what they do. It just did not transfer to me.

Great music. Not great story telling.

DailyView: Day 205, Movie 291

During the pandemic when we were isolated at home with little else to do, I started a watch of the Studio Ghibli films. I had purchased a DVD set of the whole group of shows, but it was a little skippy at times. I was enjoying the watch for the most part. After I arrived at Spirited Away though I lost my inspiration because it was so good, I just did not find it as vital to continue on after this.

Enter HBO Max. The streaming service had the entire catalog of Studio Ghibli films available to stream without any of the DVD troubles. Because of this, I decided to add some of the Studio Ghibli films to the DailyView. I chose to start with The Secret World of Arrietty.

Based on a novel called The Borrowers by Mary Norton, The Secret World of Arrietty was directed by the debuting Hiromasa Yonebayashi and was written by the iconic Hayao Miyazaki.

Arrietty was a Borrower, a group of tiny people just taller than a tree leaf, who would “borrow” items from the larger humans that they would not miss. It was said that if any Borrower was seen by a human, they needed to leave their home and find a new place to live because the human’s curiosity would never be satisfied.

On her way home one day, Arrietty was seen by the human boy, Shō, who was staying for the summer with his great aunt, Sadako. Shō was weak and frail as he had a heart defect and was preparing for surgery soon. He spotted Arrietty, who was on a “borrow” mission with her father Pod. She was stealing a sugar cube. When she realized that Shō had seen her, Arrietty dropped the sugar cube and she and her father left as quickly as they could.

Shō found the sugar cube and laid out another one as a replacement to hopefully show Arrietty that he was friendly. She was confused by the offering which seemed to be opposite what her parents had been saying about the humans. She went to see Shō several times, eventually befriending the boy.

The unlikely friendship is put to the test when the housemaid Haru realized what was happening and discovered Arrietty’s mother borrowing from the doll house that had been designed years ago as a hopeful present for the little people.

As always with Studio Ghibli, the animation is gorgeous. The hand drawing is so precise and intricate in every scene that the accomplishment is off the charts. There is a beauty contained in the artistry of this animation that many other animation studios just can never hope to reach.

I had a English voice cast and it was a significant group, including Will Arnett, Amy Poehler, Bridgit Mendler, David Henrie and EYG Hall of Famer Carol Burnett.

The Secret World of Arrietty was a beautiful story of friendship and being able to put aside differences for the betterment of everyone.

DailyView: Day 204, Movie 290

Sherlock Holmes is called in to help the war effort of World War II in Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror, one of the classic Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes series of films from the 1940s, the first produced by Universal Pictures.

Nazis always make great villains, and it was a real life concern at the time of this movie’s release. The Voice of Terror was the name of a broadcast sent over the radio broadcast, claiming responsibilities for acts of terror being perpetrated by Third Reich saboteurs against Britain.

In desperation, Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and his trusty doctor sidekick Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) were called in by the “Inner Circle” in an attempt to do something about the broadcasts.

As with all of these Sherlock Holmes films, Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce are solid in their roles and provide an excellent pair. This film moves Holmes and Watson ahead in time, into more of a present day situation of the 1940s instead of the late 19th century/early 20th century as it had been before.

These have all been solid and fun so far.

DailyView: Day 203, Movie 289

Tonight’s DailyView is taking us into the world of Disney + for a 1947 package film from Disney that featured two animated films. During the forties (in particular during the war), Disney produced these package films to save money. Fun and Fancy Free included two animated shorts connected by Pinocchio’s Jiminy Cricket.

Film number one in the package was entitled “Bongo” and it included the narration of Dinah Shore. Bongo, based on a tale by Sinclair Lewis, tells the story of a circus bear cub who wanted to be free from his situation. Escaping from the train, Bongo found himself in the wilderness, facing the dangers and uncertainty of a bear cub who had never been outside the circus.

Bongo meets a female bear cub named Lulubelle and instantly fall in love. However, with Bongo unable to understand a custom of bears in the wild, loses her to a brutish rival. Thankfully, Bongo comes across a song and dance routine that explained the very confusing ritual, whihc was when bears are in love, they express it with a slap.

Who knew?

Bongo was unremarkable. The Dinah Shore narration and songs felt lacking and there was just not the energy one would expect in a Disney animation.

Film number two is much more classic Disney fare than Bongo. “Mickey and the Beanstalk” placed Disney’s three main characters: Mickey Mouse (voiced by Walt Disney, himself), Donald Duck and Goofy in the iconic fairy tale, Jack and the Beanstalk.

This version was narrated by Edgar Bergen with his ventriloquist dummies, Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd in a live action section mixed with the animated tale. Jiminy Cricket was involved in this as well. Bergen was telling the story to child actress Luana Patten’s birthday party.

Seeing Mickey, Goofy and Donald together in the classic fairy tale is fun and certainly has more going for it than Bongo did.

Kids might enjoy Bongo more than I did, but you can’t go wrong with the Disney triumphant trio.

DailyView: Day 202, Movie 288

The iconic director Alfred Hitchcock claimed that “Shadow of a Doubt” was his favorite movie in his list of classic films. I had never seen this black and white noir before and I do love Hitchcock, so I was looking forward to adding this to the list of DailyView.

Charlotte “Charlie” Newton (Teresa Wright) was becoming tired of her boring life in the small town in which she lived. So when her beloved Uncle Charlie Oakley (Joseph Cotten) announced that he was coming for a visit, she was thrilled that her namesake was joining them. Little did she know that Uncle Charlie was bringing more with him than she expected.

When two men, Jack (Macdonald Carey) and Joseph (Henry Travers), come to town interested in Uncle Charlie, Miss Charlie starts to doubt the sincerity of her uncle’s story and life.

Alfred Hitchcock is a master of suspense and building tension throughout a movie and he does so brilliantly with Shadow of a Doubt. The audience is aware of Uncle Charlie’s background early in the film, although there is still a question of exactly what he had done. We could see the shenanigans he was pulling on his family members who clearly adored him, making them much easier to manipulate. Who wants to see the worst in someone you love?

With Miss Charlie slowly putting the pieces together, even after refusing to believe what Jack had told her, you could see how the secret was tormenting the young woman, making her uncertain about what she could do.

The conclusion of the film was great and satisfying. The story was well constructed and took steps that continued to build to the eventual end. The scenes with the stairs and the car in the garage were exceptional, clouding what the expectations were for what was going to happen.

The performances were solid, especially from Joseph Cotten as the dark and brooding Uncle Charlie. It was fun to see Macdonald Carey, whom I knew for decades as Dr. Tom Horton on Days of out Lives, in a role that was different from what I was used to from him. Patricia Collinge, Hume Cronyn, Wallace Ford, and Edna May Wonacott all had important roles in the ensemble and they all provided memorable moments.

Hitchcock may have flashier and more well-known films in his oeuvre, but Shadow of a Doubt is certainly one to consider as one of his sleepers.

DailyView: Day 201, Movie 287

I remember when the trailers for this movie was coming out and I was interested in seeing it. However, Top Five, the film written and directed by Chris Rock, never came to any theater in my general area and then it disappeared. Earlier during the DailyView, I was looking for a copy of this to watch, and I was not able to find it then either.

Finally, I was able to find it on Vudu today so I rented it and got a chance to watch it. It was very funny and was a deep character drama with some intriguing characters.

Andre Allen (Chris Rock) was a former stand up comedian who had a huge franchise film series that was incredibly popular. Andre wanted to be taken seriously and wanted to be away from the fandom of that movie series. He made a much more serious film and was on promotion for it before he would head off and get married to Bravo reality star Erica Long (Gabrielle Union).

During one of his days of promoting the film, he was joined by New York Times writer, Chelsea Brown (Rosario Dawson), who brought an honesty to the interview that appealed to Andre.

Top Five is raucous, at times obscene, very funny film with some top notch dialogue. Chris Rock and Rosario Dawson have great chemistry and are fantastic together.

There is an amazing cast involved including Cedric the Entertainer (involved in one of the most lewd scenes in the film), Leslie Jones, Kevin Hart, J.B. Smoove, Anders Holm, Kevin Barnett, Ben Vereen, Whoopi Goldberg, Jerry Seinfeld, Adam Sandberg, Michael Che, Sheri Shepherd, Tracy Morgan, Taraji P. Henson, DMX, Gabourey Sidibe and Charlie Rose.

Top Five was absolutely worth the wait. It was a really fun movie and, although there may have been a few of the scenes that made me uncomfortable and they used the N-word a whole bunch, it was funny and surprisingly deep.

DailyView: Day 201, Movie 286

Sick day. So I am able to lounge around on the couch and try to feel better. Unfortunately, the film I chose to help that along was The Black Dalhia.

The Black Dahlia is a 2006 film noir centered around the infamous murder case of Elizabeth Short in the 1940s. Former boxers Dwight “Bucky” Bleichert (Josh Hartnett) and Lee Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart) are now policemen who wind up assigned to the Dahlia case. Lee becomes obsessed with the case, to the fear of his girlfriend Kay Lake (Scarlett Johansson), while Bucky becomes involved with Madeleine Linscott (Hilary Swank), who has a tie to the victim.

The film has a definite feel of a 1940s noir, and looks great. However, the story itself is needlessly confusing and tosses away some great actors in some miscast roles. I am still not 100% sure what Scarlett Johansson was doing in this movie.

The Black Dahlia started with a whole different storyline that felt very foreign to what the plot of the film was. Character motivations were inconsistent and confused at best and totally nonsensical at the worst.

Who knew one of the most sensational murders of the 20th century could turn out a film this boring?

DailyView: Day 200, Movie 285

The third film today on day 200 of the DailyView is an old Hollywood classic, The Philadelphia Story starring Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn and Jimmy Stewart and produced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz.

The film started off with a break up, as C.K. Dexter Haven (Cary Grant) was storming out of the house, followed by an equally angry Tracy Lord (Katharine Hepburn). She broke his golf club and he pushed her to the ground. It was clear that their marriage was on the rocks.

Flashing forward, Tracy was engaged to George Kittredge (John Howard) and scheduled to have a large wedding. Spy Magazine publisher Sidney Kidd (Henry Daniell) wanted the story so he sent writer Macaulay “Mike” Connor (Jimmy Stewart) and photographer Liz Imbrie (Ruth Hussey) to the Lord home pretending to be friends of the absentee brother. They were to get the story of the marriage and any other specific morsels they could find.

C.K. Dexter helped get the pair into the house and he hung around to see what other trouble he could cause.

I have to say, I was supposed to be rooting for C.K. Dexter Haven but when he shoved Tracy to the ground, I immediately took a dislike to him. There was an implication that he “socked” her (as said by the little sister) and so I pictured an abusive husband, especially since he was portrayed as a drunk. After this, C.K. was supposed to have sobered up, but I still never saw any reason to cheer for him outside of the fact that he was Cary Grant.

Katharine Hepburn was a very confused character, never being sure exactly what she felt or what she should do. People around her were always telling her that she carried herself like a goddess or that she saw herself above others and all of that played against her confidence.

The film had plenty of comedic elements to it, and the finale is played with a lot of unexpectedness. I like Jimmy Stewart quite a bit and I enjoyed his character here too. There was too much use of alcohol to push the plot ahead, but 1940 was a different time for sure.

The Philadelphia Story was enjoyable, but the romantic relationships were a little shaky. It had some messaging about class as well, but it slid aside for the main plot.

DailyView: Day 200, Movie 284

Awakenings was a movie that I was aware of, but that I had never seen before which I find odd, being such a fan of the late, great Robin Williams. My guess is that, since this was such a departure of a role for Williams when it first was released, I was not ready to watch it. There was none of the typical Robin Williams chaotic energy that we were so used to in Awakenings so I did not watch it and it was one that sort of slipped away over the decades since.

This was really a film that showed the range of the actors, Robin Williams. He was more than Mork. He was more than Captain My Captain. He was an actor that could stand beside Robert DeNiro and not lose a step.

Awakenings was directed by Penny Marshall and featured both Robin Williams and Robert DeNiro in a true story of a doctor hired as a clinical physician at a local hospital in the Bronx where most of the patients were unresponsive and semi-catatonic. Dr. Malcolm Sayer (Williams) began to notice certain hints that made him believe that the patients were still inside these unresponsive shells and that there was a way to bring them back.

Convincing the head doctor (John Heard) was not easy, but Dr. Sayer was able to get approved the use of the experimental drug, usually used for Parkinson’s patients, on one patient, Leonard Lowe (Robert DeNiro). The drug led to the revival of Leonard from his 30-year catatonia and brought him back to life, a metaphorical ‘awakening.’

Williams and DeNiro are the backbone to this movie. Both are amazing performances with DeNiro scoring an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.

There are many emotions scattered throughout the movie as we see more of the patients at the hospital awake after taking the drug and seeing how their lives were now in a world that was very different than when they originally caught their disease.

The movie shows just how important it is to cherish life and the time given to you. Life is too short and it will go by in a blink of an eye and you must take every opportunity to make your time worthwhile. This theme is ripe throughout the script and the characters in the hospital.

This was Penny Marshall’s middle film in her best period of her directorial career. Big came in 1988, Awakenings in 1990, and A League of Their Own in 1992. RIP Penny.

Awakenings is an emotional tearjerker and shows off the acting skills of two of our generations finest actors. If youhave not had a chance to see this, I would absolutely recommend that you do.