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Nicole Kidman tackles risky but interesting projects. The burning question is how many box-office flops can her career withstand?
This picture paints a picture of an unchanging Middle East. It is a biopic of photographer Gertrude Bell, and a very fascinating one at that.
The sands are alive with the sight of Gertrude. Kidman looks great in this, playing a much younger character. Next thing we know she'll be playing Queen of the Jungle.
This actress is still a screen queen still despite box-office receipts, however. James Franco is her co-star. Quality drama!
I can distinctly recommend watching this flick. Unfortunate it didn't get wider distribution. After all, sand worked for Matt Damon; why not for Nicole?
What a relief to discover Fifty Shades of Black is a spoof and not a sequel! Thank the Lord! And it's very funny.
The Wayens brought this on and it's lovable bologna at its best. I watched in on dvd promo and was mildly impressed. I got a few laughs from it, though I hesitate to call it hilarious.
John Waters has shown us that on-screen sex can be funny and this movie only confirms it. It helps if you've watched tv's In Living Color or have seen their previous screen comedies.
Marlon Wayen stars in this spoof of Grey's sado-masochistic theme. It even manages to spoof Magic Mike. Funny in fits but hardly a future classic.
Future generations may not even get the cultural reference or spoof. Still worthy of a few guffaws!
Raquel Welch gives her most wrenching performance as a roller derby queen and single mother of two kids in Kansas City Bomber. While meant to be a straightforward, serious film, it is probably best enjoyed as camp.
It was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Raquel's co-star Helena Kalliataniotes, which was a kind of a slap to Ms Welch, who I think is excellent in this. But nobody wanted to take this brunette beauty seriously. Perhaps her beauty eclipsed her talent.
Still, this is a riveting flick. Very 70s. The ever-handsome Kevin McCarthy (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) is also in this as the team manager.
Kansas City Bomber is a film with loads of talent, drama and tension. Distinctly on Buddy B's highly recommended list.
The jazz background score by Don Ellis adds to the gritty quality of this film. Now on video from MGM.
Nobody should meet the cruel end that Sharon Tate did at only 26. She was a victim of the Manson gang's "Helter Skelter" murder spree, being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her birthday was January 24th.
Tate was 8 months pregnant when she was murdered. She was married to director Roman Polanski at the time.
Sharon became a major gay idol when she co-starred with Patty Duke and Barbara Parkins in the camp classic Valley of the Dolls. "Toooony! Toooony!
I adored her in The Fearless Vampire Killers or Pardon Me but Your Teeth Are in My Neck. She could obviously handle serious and comedic roles alike. And she fell in love with her director.
After his wife's death, Polanski directed the very dark and bloody (though brilliant) screen version of Macbeth to try to exorcise himself of his experience.
Sharon Tate is a true beauty gone too young, too soon. If she were alive today, I wonder what she'd look like in her early 70s. I somehow think she'd age gracefully over the years.
She made a film, 12 + 1, with Orson Wells, released shortly after her death.
I heard a young starlet bandy about the term "reinventing" herself and it made me ponder what that actually means anymore.
Seriously, we all reinvent ourselves throughout our lives. But she didn't mean it in that sense. She meant taking on a persona.
I speak to you as Buddy Beaverhausen, so I suppose I've "reinvented" myself by the above standard. As Buddy B, I can hide behind a snarky persona that's actually very cathartic.
Bette Midler reinvented herself as The Divine Miss M, but it was the genuine Bette who grew, evolved and, then, doffed her persona when it was no longer necessary.
The late David Bowie was Ziggy Stardust but he quickly found that persona no longer suited his needs as an artist.
I suppose we all mature and move on, as will the interviewed actress if she's lucky to have long enough of a career in Tinseltown -- itself a reinvention of L.A. to make it sound all the more glamorous.
Please share your thoughts on "reinventing" yourself and what that term means to you. Meanwhile, we all move on, changing as we go. Hopefully.
Who remembers when, high atop Rockefeller Plaza, there was cabaret at the very classy Rainbows and Stars in The Rainbow Room.
Dress code was very strict. For men, it was jacket and tie and dress pants.
I have a very clear memory of going there around this time of year in '96 -- well before my blog -- to see a show of girl group greats. It was a very large large room but it was packed.
Darlene Love, Merry Clayton and Marianne Faithfull made an odd trio but that's part of what made it so wonderful. Faithfull good-naturedly poked fun at her ravaged voice.
The show had little patter but a plethora of wonderful songs. It ran January 16th through February 3rd of 1996. I remember the stage was a high dais set in front of the windows overlooking Manhattan. It snowed the night my friend John and I attended, providing a beautiful backdrop.
"He's a Rebel," "Gimme Shelter" and "Broken English" were all on the song list that night. There were at least 20 other numbers.
It was really a marvelous night to remember. And I do... so well! Right down to the shrimp cocktail and cosmos.
The next time I was at The Rainbow Room was at an office party in summer. Beautiful view and great food.
Bring back Rainbow & Stars! Cabaret is back big-time and we could use your elegance.
Snowbound isn't so bad when you've got food and some great videos on hand.
I settled in with two of my fave films from my childhood. Both star Tony Randall and Barbara Eden and both are family-friendly.
The Brass Bottle is about a genie. Ms Eden is not the genie in this film made ahead of her I Dream of Jeannie tv show. That role is assayed by Burl Ives. This 1964 film also features the late, great character actor Harry Andrews.
Randall and Eden have very good chemistry to help boost this fantasy/ rom-com. It should keep kids entertained even today. On Universal's Vault Series video.
But George Pal's 7 Faces of Dr Lao is really a gem and an all-time favorite. Many years later, as an adult, I read the book it's based on: Charles Finney's Circus of Dr Lao. Although I do not consider Randall's performance as an Asian man offensive, I'd be hard-pressed to say it's politically correct by today's standards.
Ms Eden plays a young, repressed librarian in a small mid-western town. She is brunette! But, at the fantastical circus, the Greek god pan frees her from her inhibitions with a magical flute.
The film is full of great character actors, especially the hunky John Ericson (Honey West), Noah Berry Jr., Arthur O'Connell and Minerva Urecal (tv's Tugboat Annie). Great special f/x by Jim Danforth! On video from Warner Bos.' Archive Collection. Also from 1964.
A must-see for adults and children alike. Would make a great tv series with a great dramatic or comedic episode each week. Is George Takei interested?
Hard to believe "West End Girls" just turned 30 years old! Time flies!
As the Pet Shop Boys have matured, so has their music in substance and style.
It was welcome news that, on this anniversary, the enduring PSBs have announced the release of a new album. It's titled Super and the advance word is exactly that.
I grew up, in my adulthood, with Pet Shop Boys as part of the soundtrack of my life. I have seen them live, notably at Radio City Music Hall, and they never disappoint.
You can pre-order on Amazon & iTunes. Super is officially released on April 1st.
After a relatively mild winter, Mother Nature socked it to us with a blizzard, doing a job on us.
So, at least for us living in the Northeast and Middle Atlantic, here is a picture at left of what it looked like in Bay Ridge this morning.
The snow plows do a really good job on the streets here. Still, it's hard to keep them clean and safe when the snow is so relentless. We haven't experienced a snowstorm like this in a while.
The snow is predicted to keep up until around midnight. At least the kids are enjoying the snow, making snowballs and playing in it. My windows are so covered in snow today, I can't really see outside, though I'm impressed with the amount of snow on my windowsills.
Thank God the downstairs deli is open! I remember a blizzard in the 1990s, when I was living in Park Slope, and I actually climbed over mountains of snow to get to the nearby deli for a cup of coffee. (My own brews never taste as good as when somebody else makes it.)
I doubt the mail will get here, though they might surprise us again. Thank God, our power is fine.
Look, please don't drive if you can help it. Stay in, rest up! Because, crazy as it is, next week we head back into the 40s and all this will melt into history.
While the snowstorm has grounded me for the day, I finally pulled out my copy of John Schlesinger's Day of the Locust (1975), starring Donald Sutherland and the late Karen Black.
Day of the Locust, along with West's Miss Lonelyhearts, were required in an English course I took entitled "Antiheroes in Literature."
I loved West's subtle sense of the bizarre. That quality is ver much evident in Schlesinger's film adaptation.
Sutherland gives a brilliant performance as a dangerously sexually repressed man Burgess Meredith was Oscar nominated in his supporting role, as was Conrad L. Hall for his lush Technicolor cinematography. William Atherton (Hindenburg, Ghost Busters) was a hot property at the time and I always enjoyed him as an actor and as eye candy. Bob Esty's late creative partner, Paul Jabara, performs "Hot Voodoo" in drag during a key sequence.
Still, Ms Black is riveting as the I'll-do-anything-to-be-famous actress. Great flick for a snowy night in NYC! I originally saw this in the theaters, on the upper eastside. I went back twice, wanting more.
What divine hokum this is! Now officially on dvd from Universal Classics. It's a camp classic for sure.
Maria Montez is reported to have said, "Sometimes I look in the mirror and think I am the most beautiful woman I have ever seen!"
This Dominican's beauty and ego took her far in Hollywood's exotic South Seas mini-epics.
Cobra Woman is, in my opinion, one of the all-time great camp classics. I love it when Montez declares, "I am the rrrrrightful rrrrrrruler of dees island paradise!" or "Geef me da cobra jewells!"
Montez's Cobra Dance is a must see! What a klutzy dance it is as she hilariously strikes a pose, vogues and points out peasant women to be sacrificed to the volcano. Ah, yes, the volcano figures largely into the climax.
Jon Hall and Sabu co-star. When you see Montez walking through the L.A. Botanical Gardens as part of her tropical island, you're assured this is top-notch tacky!
Favorite dialogue: Sabu: So you're the boss here? Queen: No, I'm only the queen.
Even my straight brother commented on the outrageousness of all the headpieces in this flick!
Must be seen to be believed. I first saw this on tv, then at St Marks Cinemas on the screen in the '80s. Brilliant Technicolor!
When I was a child, my mom loved to sing me lullabies, stroking my hair, until I fell asleep, beside her, in my bed.
Had she not left us too young in 2011, her birthday would be February 18. She was an Aquarian. Yes, she loved to swim!
She had a lovely, lilting voice that was very comforting as I snuggled to her bosom as she sang.
"When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" and "Danny Boy" were favorites of hers, as was "How Much Is that Doggie in the Window?" She eventually bought the last title for me on a 45 rpm.
"Sunshine Cake," "Good Ship Lollipop," "Swing on a Star," "Animal Crackers in My Soup" were all part of repertoire. She grew up during the Great Depression, weened on Shirley Temple. She even had a Shirley Temple doll.
All her songs were had positive and inspired me to be part of who I am today.
Truth is the film CBS-tv doesn't want you to see. To that end, the network refused any advertising of this film and did their best to suppress its release. So the scandal only goes on.
Truth is a film with an outstanding cast and great talent. It is highly professional on all technical accounts. It is a film that may remind some of All the President's Men, which was about Watergate. This film is about Dan Rather (Redford) and his 2004 6o Minutes expose on George W. Bush's military career. It cost him and his producer Mary Mapes (Blanchett) their jobs.
Topher Grace, Dennis Quaid and Stacy Keach are in this. Great casting!
Released by Sony Pictures and, interestingly, shot in Australia, the producers had no idea about the forces they'd be up against to release this film about what ultimately became known as "Rathergate." It is a completely accurate account of events, based on Mary Mapes' book, Truth & Duty.
Barely even released in the USA, this is obviously the film America doesn't want you to see either. Do yourself a favor and rent or download it on video. A must-see for lovers of serious, thoughtful film drama. Directed by James Vanderbilt.
Reportedly, Manhattan's Ziegfeld Theatre is about to close. This is very sad as it's been a wonderful venue to see musicals and action films on a very large screen.
I guess it is a very large house to fill on a consistent basis. It has been open since 1969 at this location.
I find the closing of this historic venue very disheartening. I hope it could be turned into a legitimate theater for plays, though more likely it will be torn down for more Manhattan real estate.
Actually, this is not the original Ziegfeld. That was built by Florenz Ziegfeld himself but not on this same site.
Still, I have such great memories of this movie palace. I saw Dreamgirls, Into the Woods and Hairspray there. I saw The River Wild (perhaps Meryl Streep's worst movie) and threw a hissy fit in the lobby when the concession counter hadn't made coffee yet. Hey, I get grouchy without my caffeine fix.
It also had a well-attended classic musicals night with films like West Side Story and Gigi on big-screen! And Hedda Lettuce's Mommie Dearest tributes, always to full houses.
German director Roland Emmerich, who directed Independence Day and that awful '98 Godzilla remake, takes on Stonewall with his usual heavy-handed approach. Not a good thing when a movie about the start of the LGBT rights movement manages to piss off its LGBT audiences worldwide. Popular activist-blogger Joe My God called for a petition of this fiasco.
Met with such hostile reception and poor reviews, the film folded quickly at theaters on limited release. I was hoping to see it at Chelsea Cinemas in Manhattan when it was released, but the theater quickly dropped it like a hot potato.
I pre-ordered the dvd from Amazon in mid-November and it arrived yesterday. I must say it is, indeed, just awful. How Jonathan Rhys Myers and Ron Perlman got involved in this mess is anyone's guess. I hope they walked away with big paychecks.
Stonewall bar on Christopher Street in Manhattan is still around, still going strong and still a gay bar, now even presenting live entertainment. It is legendary and its longevity is such a comfort. The riot happened in '69, the night after Judy Garland died, the summer after I graduated high school. It was summer, it was hot and the patrons just were not taking any more abuse.
But this movie rendition of Stonewall has a bad script, clumsy direction and camerawork, and trivializes events. Better you should spend your time watching the 1995 British film of the same name.
Happy 70th birthday to Dolly Parton, wishing her many more!
Ms Parton has re-invented herself throughout her career but has kept it going for decades, which is no easy feat in the recording business. She is a star of concert stages, tv and film,
Dolly Parton, always a full figure girl, is one of the best known solo artists in the world. There is an enire theme park, Dollywood, built around her. She penned the score to Broadway's 9 to 5: The Musical.
She is a great humanitarian who has given generously to charities, is an outspoken supporter of the LGBT community and such a positive force and a beacon of light. Her personal life has always been just that; a bit of a mystery to this day.
Dolly has always been best represented by her songs Here are some of my favorites:
Very Phil Spector influenced; from the '60s:
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Big pop cross-over hit by Barry Weil & Cynthia Mann:
1958's film, Terror in a Texas Town, is a film noir western starring Sterling Hayden. He's a big Swede who swaggers here with his harpoon -- that he ultimately brings to the climactic gunfight.
Of course, the phallic symbolism is undeniable. I think the whole movie was made with a campy, knowing smirk, though acted completely straight-faced throughout.
Sebastian Cabot is in this. The whole thing is a hoot, though dramatically intense at a compressed 81 minutes. Well worth the time.
Of course there is a female love interest despite plenty of homoerotic symbolism. A Freudian field day!
I think you'll find this movie very intense, highly dramatic and worthy of your attention. Now available on dvd through Amazon.
The Revenant is a macho action flick that's Oscar-bound. Nice cinematography, tedious film.
Somehow, I felt like I did watching The Martian. Bored and that I would never, ever want to endure sitting through it again.
Totally gratuitous and hard to believe plot twists are thrown into this trail mix to try to keep things interesting. They just kept me yawning all the harder.
I'd rather watch paint dry than watch this movie once more. I felt absolutely emotionally detached throughout and never drawn into the story for a moment. This was completely not up my alley. Everything about it was piss poor except, as I mentioned, the camerawork.
DiCaprio and Matt Damon (for Martian) seem to be odds-on favorites for Best Actor this year at the Academy Awards, unfortunately. I pray for an upset with Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl.
This novel is waaay tacky but also fun as it ingeniously graftss a flesh-eating zombie storyline through the Jane Austin classic. The movie version arrives at theaters February 4th.
The whole thing is an intentional laugh riot but clever as hell.
My friend, Michael Whalen, tipped me off to this book years ago. It was published in 2009.
This mash-up is mirthful. Its purpose is only to give you pleasure in its artful crudeness.
I see the film version is to be played straight-faced, which is the only way to do this, really. Recommended reading from Book Nook!
My close friends Tracey & Merv and her sister Jen, with her husband Art, all came from Connecticut to visit Kevin & I. We ate at Ommonia Cafe where I had a Greek omelette (eggs, sauce, black olives, feta)! Everyone's meal looked outrageous. The bloody marys were great as was the gossip at our table! Great service!
Luckily, we had good weather despite early predictions of rainstorms.
Hope you enjoy these pictures of our time together.
The Ritz is a gay cinema classic that should appeal to just about everybody.
Based on the Broadway hit by Terrence McNally, it stars Rita Moreno (who originated this role on Broadway) as Googie Gomez, a third-rate Bette Midler-like singer at a men's bathhouse. Treat Williams is also a treat in his original stage stage role.
The Ritz is a fictitious club based on the Continental Baths. Jack Weston, Jerry Stiller, Kaye Ballard and F. Murray Abraham are also in this.
Moreno is absolutely fabulous as an under-talented lounge act and she looks great in her role.
Directed by Richard Lester.
The movie was, of course, released prior to the AIDS crisis, which then kind of made it old hat. It's available now on dvd very recommended. Should be rediscovered.
The Academy Awards were announced yesterday. 2015 was a strong year at the movies so there are plenty of worthy nominees and surprises.
Of the nominated films, here are some of my picks based on what I have seen:
Best Film: Brooklyn.
Best Actor: Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl.
Best Actress: Cate Winslet, Carol.
Best Supporting Actor: Mark Ryylance, Bridge of Spies.
Best Supporting Actress: Rooney Mara, Carol.
Best Director: George Miller: Mad Max: Fury Road.
Best Costume Design: Cinderella.
Best Original Song: "Witing's on the Wall" from Spectre.
I expect to be out at an Oscar party next month to watch the ceremony and celebrate.
A highly competitive and fierce competition this year, a wonderful one for films.
Please share your Oscar votes with me here!
Looking forward to the 88th Oscars presentation for 2016 on Sunday, February 28th,
Faye Dunaway turns 75 today. Spin that around in The Windmills of Your Mind! I wonder if Rutanya Alda sent her a birthday card.
No matter your opinion of Ms D, there's no denying she's been one of the most glamorous and enduring stars of our generation. She was so beautiful in Bonnie & Clyde and The Thomas Crown Affair.
She certainly has done more than her fair share of camp classics, most notably Mommie Dearest, but also The Eyes of Laura Mars, The Towering Inferno, Barfly, The Wicked Lady and Supergirl amongst others. Her performances started becoming more and more over-the-top starting with Chinatown and then onto Network and so on. She can chew up her scenery with the best of them.
She portrayed both Eva Perone and Aimee Semple McPherson on network mini-series. Faye was born Dorothy Faye Dunaway in Bascom, Florida. The name Dorothy doesn't suit her, does it? I mean, she seems much more like a Faye! She certainly has a large following of the Friends of Dorothy as her fans, however.
After refusing to ever discuss Mommie Dearest, she is now promising to publish a behind-the-scenes tell-all about making it.
So, Happy Birthday to Faye Dunaway, Hollywood Royalty!
I've always admired actress Illeana Doulas at the movies. Some may not know she is Melvin Douglas' granddaughter, so she is from Hollywood royalty.
She was in my very home in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, at a New Year's Eve party to which I was invited but could not attend. This was well before I moved here from Manhattan. She was a guest of our friend, Marcus and the party was in my friend Kevin's apartment.
I was especially smitten with Ms Douglas, at the movies, in the 1996 film directed by Allison Anders, Grace of My Heart. So I was as pleased as punch to read her recent memoir, I Blame Dennis Hopper: and a Life I Lived in and out of the Movies, now in hardcover from Deckle Edge and -- of course -- on Kindle. Available at Barnes & Noble and other fine bookstores, and on Amazon.com and audio cd.
Douglas devotes an entire chapter, gratefully, to her starring role in Grace of My Heart. This Allison Anders film is one of my favorites from the 1990s. Douglas has only positive things to say about Ms Anders, though she speaks candidly throughout her book -- really a collection of personal essays -- about others, so there's no shortage of gossip in these pages.
I Blame Dennis Hopper was released in Novemberand takes its title from the fact that Illeana's parents were inspired to move to a hippie commune from their comfortable upper-middle class home, and that's where Illeana was raised. She talks about her longtime romantic relationship with Martin Scorsese and about working with Robert DeNiro. She is a wonderful name-dropper, discussing her meetings with other celebrities, like Marlon Brando and Peter Sellers.
I highly recommend this tell-all, probably the best book of its kind since Grace Jones' memoirs.
Buddy Beaverhausen: What ultimately compelled you to write about your relationship with Ms Lansing?
AH: It was on my mind a very long time, so I had to get it out of my system, I wanted to share with everybody what a lovely human being Joi was. And I wanted to write a warning about the complications caused by plastic surgery and, especially silicone injections.
BB: Staying beautiful exacts a price on one's health, yes?
AH: Yes. I myself had a double mastectomy from injections and they were removed. But it's still an issue. They're using silicone now in faces to fill in wrinkles and to make cheek bones fuller... breasts and buttocks for enlargement. The problem with injected silicone is that it moves. You can have it in one place and it can migrate to another area leaving permanent lumps in your face. Priscilla Presley came out a few years ago talking about the problems she had after going to a "pumping party" where silicone was injected into her face. She's had problems since it was done. It can be disfiguring. Joi had it in her breasts and I believe that the silicone injections and the use of prescribed estrogen, when she didn't need it, contributed to her death from breast and ovarian cancer.
BB: How have you stayed looking so good over the years?
AH: Why, thank you! I try to stay on a healthy diet and get some exercise.
BB: Was it difficult or painful for you to write this memoir?
AH: Yes, terribly difficult but I knew I had to push ahead with it. It felt very cathartic after I finished.
BB: Did you have a ghost writer help you?
AH: No. I wrote it all myself and from my recollections. It was too personal for me to share that with anyone else.
BB: Is there anything you'd like to tell us about Joi that's not in the book?
AH: No, I think I got it all down, really. I just hope I conveyed everything clearly to my readers.
BB: Anything you'd like to say particularly to our LGBT readers?
AH: Well, of course, read my book as it's about a lesbian relationship in the days before the Stonewall riots and gay liberation. And the LGBT community -- especially the transgendered -- new to know about the affects of silicone implants, injections, and of plastic surgery.
BB: As an "out" lesbian yourself, have you found happiness in a relationship since Joi's passing?
AH: Not currently but any woman I might have a relationship with someone whomwould need to understand from the start that I am open to meeting someone and hoping to beat the odds by having two great loves in my life.
BB: You are a fairly passionate animal rights supporter, aren't you?
AH: Oh, very much so! I'm totally anti-fur. We're here to co-habit the planet with other creatures. I'm concerned about animals facing extinction, and about the ecology and global warming. It's all related.
BB: I see you currently live in Palm Springs, CA. Were you born there?
AH: No, I'm from L.A. and had a very happy childhood growing up. I now make my home Palm Springs. So I'm a California girl. Have you ever been to Palm Springs?
BB: Yes. It's beautiful. A friend moved there in the '90s and I visited on occasion. How's the weather right now?
AH: Sunny, warm,, but the nights get a bit chilly this time of year. Come out and visit! It has a large LGBT community.
BB: Any plans to come to NYC to promote your book?
AH; Not right now but God willing, this interview might help get me there if it gets attention.
BB: Any last shout outs to your readers and fans?
AH: Please read my book. It's a very personal memoir I think you'll enjoy. And please heed its warnings about implants and plastic surgery on your health.
BB: Thank you so much, Alexis, for this interview!
AH: And thank you, Charles! It was wonderful speaking with you.
Another of our true entertainment icons has left the planet. David Bowie, age 69, has died of liver cancer it has been reported.
At first, I thought this would turn out be another Internet hoax but, sadly, it's true. Bowie, whose real name was David Robert Jones, died of cancer, at age 69, in New York City yesterday.
I was very much into the glitter-rock scene when the album Diamond Dogs was released. I went with my lover at the time and we emulated Bowie's androgynous persona when we went to see him perform at Madison Square Garden, full of glam-rock fans, during the Diamond Dogs Tour. It was a packed stadium! A new star had arrived.
But Bowie quickly showed us he could clean up and be a perfect gentleman. His appearance on Bing Crosby's tv Christmas special was a revelation as he crooned harmony with Bing in the now-classic rendition of "Little Drummer Boy." I was back dancing to David in the discos with releases like "Let's Dance" and "Putting Out Fire with Gasoline" (the latter from the remake of the movie Cat People). He also became a staple with his videos in the '80s and '90s on MTV.
Bowie had been ill with liver cancer for the best part of two years, and finally succumbed. He left us with a long legacy of music and acting performances -- in movies like Nick Roeg's The Man Who Fell to Earth and, notably, on Broadway in The Elephant Man.
As far as biopics go, overall, I didn't find Steve Jobs such a hot commodity. And I have an Apple!
It is, however, well acted by Michael Fassbender in the title role, Kate Winslet, Jeff Daniels and Seth Rogen.
I found this interesting but hardly captivating. When it comes to bio-dramas, it's no Love Me or Leave Me, that's for sure. It did, however, win Kate Winslet a Best Actress Award at tonight's Golden Globe as well as one for its screenplay by Aaron Sorkin, and seems headed for the Academy Awards as well. It could turn into a box-office hit yet.
However, it felt very by-the-numbers to me. Some reporters have even said this is more fiction than fact. I think it really depends on how interested you are in your technology, frankly.
The acting and directing are all very strong. but the Jobs character, as portrayed, seems like a jerk and this movie just didn't engage me.
I saw The Gay Deceivers in 1969, the year I graduated high school and just prior to the Stonewall riots. Of course, the film was quickly reviled by the LGBT community for its depiction of gay men. I don't recall there being any age restrictions on this movie at the time that I saw it at Paterson, NJ's US theater when I was 17.
It was directed by Bruce Kessler who went on to do the campy action feature Get Christie Love.
The film is certainly no more offensive to me than 2007's I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry starring Adam Sandler and that King of Queens guy, and maybe even less so.
The color cinematography by Dick Gouner (ahem!) is absolutely fabulous. In fact, the entire production is steadfast and fun. The film, now on dvd, is just over 90 minutes and moves at a brisk, comedic pace.
After I graduated h.s. in 1969, I traveled to California. I got lost in L.A. and hitchhiked on the freeway. I got a lift from a group of gay men on their way to a party who asked if I were gay. At the time, I didn't understand my own sexuality and turned down the invite. I have to say the men in the car were not much less florid, during the time, than the Deceivers characters. And they were young and sexy.
The plot involves two guys pretending to be gay to avoid military recruitment at the time. You may be surprised by the outcome. It's very funny, tucking away political correctness, and deserves a new discovery on video.
Who can bring back the feel of Old Hollywood better than director Todd Haynes and actress Cate Blanchett? The movie Carol answers that rather rhetorical question.
Typically, Haynes' production lavishes great period detail on this film, much as he did in Far from Heaven (also set in the 1950s) and his epic HBO mini-series Mildred Pierce with Kate Winslet in the title role.
After seeing Cate in Disney's Cinderella -- as the evil stepmom -- and now in Carol, I think she is becoming our new Joan Crawford.
Carol is nominated for several Golden Globes (airing tomorrow night) and I expect it to get Oscar nominations soon as well. It has been a strong year for films, I'm happy to report, so the competition in 2016 will be very fierce.
Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo} co-stars with Blanchett and also shines in it. Again, Todd Haynes does a great job of showing how gay life was before Stonewall. Based on a novel by the author of The Talented Mr Ripley and Strangers on a Train, Patricia Highsmith, called The Price of Salt,. Riveting movie that I highly recommend to everyone, beautifully done all around!
Theaters have found a new audience, thankfully, with an older crowd who like to go out to a good movie now and then. It's not all geared to the kiddie crowd and has lured many more mature patrons back to movie houses.
The trend seems to have started with 5 Flights Up last year, starring Diane Keaton and Morgan Freeman.
Ben Kingsley and the ever-divine Patricia Clarkson team up in Learning to Drive, a wonderful film released late last summer that I highly recommend about an attractive older woman and Ben Kingsley of Gandhi back in ethnic disguise as her instructor.
Richard Gere is a perennial and does one of his finest performance jobs in the deeply affecting Time Out of Mind, a 2015 release about a NYC homeless man of a certain age that also stars the wonderful Ben Vereen. An absolute must-see for all ages.
A Walk in the Woods stars Robert Redford, Nick Nolte and Emma Thompson in a bromance comedy that's not all fluff. And Michael Keaton continues on a comeback roll co-starring in Spotlight, based on a true story about the press uncovering a scandal within the Catholic Church. It also stars Mark Ruffalo and is highly worthy of your time.
Yes, movies recommended for mature audiences -- but not only that demographic -- are back. Baby boomers are still a big audience at theaters. Movie-makers are now clearly seeking out a niche market for the older crowd, and isn't that wonderfully refreshing?
As I'm a Brooklynite and half Irish by heritage, I especially enjoyed watching Brooklyn, a recent film release.
My great-grandmother came to America by boat during the potato famine in Ireland. So, for me, this was a great re-imagining of the trans-Atlantic experience.
Directed by John Crowley, the movie stars Saoirse Ronan as the Irish lass who comes to the USA. Her adventures seem very realistic. Nick Hornby wrote the script from a novel by Colm Tolbin and it is superb.
Ms Ronan's character lands here and falls in love with an Italian boy, News from home takes her away from him, so there is the plot tension. New York City's great "melting pot" is profiled, and it's part of what made it so fantastic.
Great-grandma from Ireland with two daughters & grand-daughters
My great-grandma (grandmother's mom) lived with us when I was very young. She died at age 100. She told us that when she arrived from Ireland at the turn of the century, she had never seen an African-American. So when a worker at Grand Central kindly helped her with her bags, she stared at him and said "Mister, I think you were out in the sun too long!" He just laughed and told her that this was the normal shade of his skin. She apologized but realized she was somewhere very different indeed.
Highly recommended as a timeless love story. Don't miss this one! An expertly done modern classic.
The latest Star Wars movie is fun at moments, has plenty of action, but didn't leave me with a lot of emotional impact all and all.
Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill and Peter Meyhew as Chewbacca are all aboard, along with the newcomers, so it's a fun ride and most entertaining. But, really, can't there be peace in the universe?
Star Wars ~ The Force Awakens is quite predictable but a good popcorn flick. It features a fierce new female hero. Yet it's all fairly predictable and by-the-numbers. It has nothing really new to offer and actually felt like an updated mash-up of the first three films.
It is, however, briskly paced and action packed.
So, just go out, put your feet up and give in to The Force, even if it's no big shakes.
ps: Happy to read about Carrie Fisher responding Forcefully to her body shamers criticizing her appearance in this film. Did you hear that Bill O'Reilly? Lord knows nobody stays young forever... not even in a galaxy far, far away!
In this revionist but very interesting spin on on the Mary Shelley Gothic classic, Victor Frankenstein, Daniel Radcliffe plays Igor, whose point of view the story is told. I must say Mr Radcliffe chooses the most interesting and challenging projects nowadays.
So, back to the mad lab once again! It distinctly takes its influences from Hammer and Universal films.
James McAvoy plays Victor Frankenstein. Good chemistry between these fine actors. Dark and disturbing at times but that's Gothica for you. Mark Landis' screenplay is excellent.
"You know this story," says Igor right at the start. "A crack of lightning, a mad genius, an unholy creation!" And monsters are born. Resulting in the famous monster, herein played by the great Charles Dance.
At a fairly economic running time, it's well worth you time.
The dawning of the equal rights movement for women is detailed in the movie Suffragette.
While well-received critically, this film is a box-office flop, despite the fact the Meryl Streep and Helena Bonham-Carter are in it.
With nice period detail, the film is about the dawn of the feminist movement. Sadly, it opened mid-December among stiff competition.
In Disney's Mary Poppins, the suffragette movement was made to look like something for dilettante, upper middle-class housewives, but this film tells a quite different story. Distinctly not the Disney version.
This is, in every way, a modern day women's picture, expertly made and I heartily recommend it to my readers ~~ men and women alike.
Ms Douglas was 82. She was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where she also died of pancreatic cancer. She was best known for her role as the beautiful and bodacious Ellie May on tv's The Beverly Hillbillies.
I feel so many of many of my childhood faves are leaving us. So sorry to hear about her passage. She was a beautiful woman inside and out.
She co-starred as Johnny with Elvis as Frankie in the film Frankie & Johnny.
RIP, Ellie May.
Loved her in The Twilight Zone episode. Clip below.
In the late 1970s - early '80s, I ventured from cabaret performances to directing and writing films. Post-Nuclear Lust was my second effort and distinguished by the fact that it didn't have any drag queens in it. Real --- but very dramatic -- women starred.
The film was shot on Super-8 film during an emergence of punk, New Wave, underground filmmaking in the wake of the success of Scott and Beth B. Even John Waters didn't start in 35mm, and he was my idol.
My stars were my friends & family members who had no formal acting training.... though that only made the film better, I believe. They turned in perfect melodramatic work that was perfect. I directed everyone to play it straight even though we all knew it was high camp.
At the time, there was a demolished factory site in my home town of Paterson, NJ that we shot some scenes in and parts of Soho and the Meat Packing district were demolished at the time, awaiting reconstruction. We shot amongst the ruins.
Tracey Lott turned in a fabulous performance as the film's arch-villain. Her husband was played by my cousin Walt, to whom she was married at the time. They were Baked Alaska Films' Taylor and Burton! And, indeed, I based the characters Lulu and Iggy on George and Martha, in fact.
Gary Popkin, Azous Zar (my brother), Sledge Hammar, Randy Pesch (our flesh-eating mutant), Jane Blackstein, Pearl Buttons and my late sister-in-law Rita as Lolita Presley were also cast in this. It was a fun shoot.
Lulu with her female co-stars
The first film I made, prior to P-NL, was Paranoid Delusion, starring Daphnetta and Parti Mintz, blending '60s girl groups with psycho-horror films. My third -- and most successful -- effort was Delirium about a cosmetics saleslady framed wrongfully for a murder. I swear this film was ripped off and made for the big screen as Mortal Thoughts with Demi Moore and Glenne Headley. My final film was Blond Libido starring Parti Mintz. We had some big screenings in small venues, notably the old The Dive in Chelsea.
The Bad Seed started as a novel by William March. The horror story about a child who is a psycho serial killer was then adapted as a successful play by Maxwell Anderson.
In 1956, it became a hit film (after being a Broadway smash) by Mervyn Leroy. It's on dvd from Warner Brothers and is the first video I watched in the new year.
Patty McCormack is the child, Rhoda Renmark. She is a Nazi-like blonde with her pigtails, prefiguring the Children of the Damned. Her mom is portrayed by Nancy Kelly, who is very theatrical. Patty said she was drunk most of the time through the shooting.
The film has become a camp classic. The censors at the time insisted on a new ending as well as a ridiculous afterward. Still, the film was a tremendous hit and garnered several Oscar nominations. Ellen Heckart and Henry Jones practically steal this movie.
This is absolutely a must-see film. I first saw this on tv. My mom did not approve. Maybe she was afraid it would give me ideas. Highly recommended!
It's always very sad to start a new year with an obit of a beloved celebrity. Natalie Cole went to a higher plane yesterday, leaving us on New Year's Eve as we celebrated with champagne and fireworks.
Natalie was, of course, the daughter of the legendary Nat "King" Cole. She grew up in an affluent part of L.A. with brothers and one sister, along with their mom and dad.
I knew some female impressionists who could do a mean Natalie Cole, girlfriends, let me tell you! That means she was a diva, an LGBT favorite, and a smoking hot vocalist and Grammy winner. Her songs ranged from r&b to ballads to disco/ club music.
I don't know what the hell kind of a dress she is wearing in the picture at right, but you certainly couldn't miss that one! I would not have wanted to be seated next to her that night.
The media called her the "new Aretha Franklin," which Ms Franklin didn't appreciate, of course. And so a feud between the two divas began.
She pioneered the new trend of doing duets with dead celebrities when she sang with her dad on the best-selling album Unforgettable. He also left us too soon.
She is best known for the songs "This Will Be" and "I've Got Love On My Mind." However, the two singles below are my faves.
