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Movie review: Maestro

Bradley Cooper

I really wanted to see the film Maestro. It is about one of my favorite cultural icons, Leonard Bernstein, who I wrote about in 2018.

The movie was playing at the Spectrum Theatre in Albany. As it turned out, it was for only ONE WEEK before it landed on Netflix. My wife and I were going to go on Saturday, then Tuesday, but life got in the way. I saw it on Thursday’s last day in a theater (a/k/a yesterday).

Bradley Cooper recently earned two Golden Globe nominations for this film, one for Best Director – Motion Picture and a second for Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama. The biopic was also nominated for Best Motion Picture – Drama. Carey Mulligan earned a nomination for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama.

Yet, while I appreciated Cooper’s effort – as one of the two dozen patrons at my 3:30 showing noted, Cooper engaged in a labor of love – his Bernstein felt clinical, at arm’s length much of the time. As Maxwell Rabb of the Chicago Reader mused, “Cooper’s second film offers a discordant narrative—a blend of compelling moments with flat notes.”

Hannah Brown from the Jerusalem Post noted, “The script” – by Cooper and Josh Singer – “isn’t bad so much as wrong… barely giving a sense of why Bernstein was such an iconic figure on the American cultural landscape, and focusing on some of the blandest and least interesting aspects of his life.”

THE highlight

Likely, the best thing in the movie is Lenny’s conducting the Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony at Ely Cathedral. Cooper spent a lot of time getting Bernstein’s joy just right. Indeed, I enjoyed the film more from that point forward.

Carey Mulligan was a revelation as Lenny’s wife, Felicia Montealegre Cohn. She was sometimes a muse, often a protector of their children, and she tolerated his infidelities but only to a point.

As this article noted, “Maestro jumps between different periods, using black and white and color to depict the contrasting dynamics of Bernstein and Felicia‘s relationship. The intentional use of different aspect ratios in the film symbolizes the differences in their relationship between the two periods.”

I didn’t love Maestro. Still, I’m interested in how others view it. It received an 80% positive score from the critics and 83% from the audience.

Movies I’ve seen more than once in theaters

Le Roi de cœur

There are only a handful of movies I’ve seen more than once in theaters. These are chronologically by the second time I saw the film.

Midnight Cowboy (1969). Why? Because I had different combinations of friends who wanted to see it. I believe I watched it four times in a little over a year. My favorite part has to be the possibly improvised “I’m walking here!” which I have used on occasion.

Everybody’s Talkin’ – Harry Nillson

Woodstock (1970). A group of my friends saw it, and then, because they didn’t chase you out of the theater in those days, we watched it again. I recall the light projecting to the screen when Sly and The Family Stone performed was purple.

Soul Sacrifice– Santana

Help! (1965) I saw this when it first came out. In college, I saw all four Beatles movies – A Hard Day’s Night, Help, Yellow Submarine, and Let It Be – on the same day.

Ticket To Ride – The Beatles

Le Roi de cœur (King of Hearts – 1966) played approximately annually at a movie theater in New Paltz. “During World War I, a British private [Alan Bates], sent ahead to a French town to scout for enemy presence, is mistaken for a King by the colorful patients of an insane asylum.” I saw it at least thrice, only partly because of Geneviève Bujold.

The theatrical trailer

“Damn dirty apes!”

Planet Of The Apes (1968) – Once again, I was watching all of the movies of a franchise, in this case, all five of the PotA that came out from 1968-1973, after having seen the original when it first came out. At a drive-in in 1974; I fell asleep during the fifth one.

Clip

Annie Hall (1977) – There are a couple of things about the character of Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) which is true of me. One is that I hate going to a movie late because I fear missing something. (Additionally, my night vision is terrible in finding a seat after the lights go out.)

It’s also true that I have internal conversations with myself and wish I could pull Marshall McLuhan out from the crowd to dispel some fallacy.

Seems Like Old Times – Diane Keaton

Sunday Stealing: it’s almost Christmas

Billboard

waiting.christmas The topic for Sunday Stealing is the December 25 holiday, probably because it’s almost Christmas. I note there are 12 questions, one for the drummers, one for the pipers…

1. What is the best Christmas gift you’ve ever received?

It might have been a subscription to Billboard magazine that my then-girlfriend, now late friend, bought for me in the 1980s. It was rather pricey, and it was not really of great interest to her, but she loved me. When I was in high school, I was a library page. I read the magazine before putting it away in the basement.

Or maybe it was the first Hess truck that my wife bought for me in the early 2000s and every year since. I am almost encircled by them right now.

2. What is the worst Christmas gift you’ve ever received?

At work, we had a gift exchange. One bozo filled up a container with random screws and nails.

3. Do you have a favorite Christmas song?

I have LOTS of favorite Christmas songs. Check my upcoming posts and yesterday’s. I’ll pick What Christmas Means To Me by Stevie Wonder or Coventry Carol by Alison Moyet. But I have many holiday albums, religious and secular.

4. Does your family have any favorite holiday traditions?

It has morphed over time. We used to go to my in-laws. It seems recently, and certainly since COVID, it’s been rather haphazard. This is also true, BTW, of Thanksgiving.

5. What is your favorite Christmas snack?

Eggnog and amaretto.

6. Did you believe in Santa growing up?

I believe in Santa now, more than ever.

7. How early do you start decorating?

Once again, it is haphazard. It can be from early December to a day or two before Christmas Eve.

8. Are you an early or last-minute shopper?

In years past, I was ahead of the curve. There was a medieval faire in October, and I always bought something for my wife, but it’s defunct. So, this year, WAY behind.

9. Would you rather give or receive gifts?

With that duality, then receive because I tend to agonize over the correct gift to give. That said, this is a lovely story of giving. There was also a local item about a guy paying for the $2,000 for the Toys for Tots that a local charity had been collecting.

Cinema

10. What’s your favorite Christmas movie?

I’m not sure I have one. It’s A Wonderful Life is a lot better than I thought it would be. Scrooged was interesting in parts. I’ve recorded Elf because I’ve never seen it. Rotten Tomatoes has made a list of the best movies, and they have The Holdovers on it. I’ll say that. Of the old-time ones, possibly Miracle on 34th Street, because I’m a sucker for a courtroom drama.

11. What is one of your Christmas memories?

I wrote about a few of them here. 1966: Christmas was on a Sunday. I delivered the paper six evenings a week, back in the olden days when there WERE afternoon papers, and then on Sunday morning, back in Binghamton, NY. My father, who NEVER helped me with my route because it was MY job, not his – not that I ever asked him – got up (or maybe stayed up) to help me deliver that thick newspaper to my customers on Clinton Street, Front Street, and McDonald Avenue. That meant a lot to me, but I doubt I ever said so.

12. Do you open any presents on Christmas Eve?

Sometimes.

Movie review: The Holdovers

Directed by Alexander Payne

It’s almost winter break at a prestigious boys’ prep school in 1970. Most of the kids are going home, but five are the holdovers, unable to get away for the break. Thus, the name of the film.

A faculty member has to tend to them. One is assigned but gets out of the gig. The task then devolves to the demanding teacher of ancient civilizations, Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti), who almost no one likes.

Then, the five teens are offered a way out, but only four can take advantage, leaving the bright but troubled Angus Tully (Dominick Sessa) stuck with Paul and the cook Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), deep in her own issues.

I liked this movie a lot: the characters, all broken in some manner, often change unexpectedly. One of the telling aspects is that I had seen the trailer for the movie a half dozen times. Those scenes, as shown in the movie, are actually funnier. Yet, there is serious character development.

The dialogue by David Heminson is delightful, especially Paul’s: “I find the world a bitter and complicated place – and it seems to feel the same way about me.”

Da’Vine Joy Randolph is the breakout star here. Vanity Fair, in noting the 25 best performances of 2023, says, “In Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers, Randolph proves her ability to settle in for a character-driven story that’s stripped of distraction and focused solely on her skills as an actor. As Mary, a school cafeteria administrator… Randolph captures maternal pain while never allowing the grief to feel clichéd. Whenever she’s onscreen, you can’t take your eyes off her layered, nuanced performance in this moving dramedy. “

Well-received

Several reviews use the sentence, “Paul Giamatti gives his best performance since Sideways,” the 2004 film that Payne also directed. The new movie received 96% positive reviews from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, while 91% of the audience concurred.

I suppose The Holdovers might become, in its weird way, a holiday classic, especially for anyone, in the words of one critic, “who has known the oppressive weight of Christmas loneliness.”

One critic complained, “It’s impossible not to notice how many scenes limp along, how many have nothing to do with the previous one, and how many fizzle out.” I didn’t think that was happening. I sensed that the story gave the viewer the idea that the relationship, especially between Paul and Angus, had gone as far as possible, but then, another layer would be revealed.

My wife and I saw The Holdovers at our Landmark Theatre, Spectrum 8, on December 2 in one of the larger theaters that was about half full.

Million Dollar Quartet Christmas

The Gilded Age

In the jukebox musical Million Dollar Quartet Christmas, which my wife and I saw at Capital Rep in Albany on November 25, “Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley come together again to celebrate the most wonderful time of the year.” In this timeframe, Elvis (Luke Monday) has left Sun Records and its owner, Sam Phillips (Rob Morrison) for hits on RCA Records and Hollywood stardom. He’s there with his girlfriend Dyanne (Taylor Aronson).

Johnny (Matt Cusack) has signed with Columbia Records and experienced some country hits but not much crossover. Carl Perkins (Jeremy Sevelovitz) had a massive hit with Blue Suede Shoes, but his career was derailed by a car accident. Jerry Lee Lewis (Billy Rude) is still in the Sun stable, aching for chance of stardom.

If you’ve seen the famous photo of the Million Dollar Quartet, there was a woman sitting on the piano, Elvis’ girlfriend at the time, Marilyn Evans. It’s highly unlikely that she was as vivacious and flirty as Dyanne was, or that she was one of the singers.

Concert

None of this matters overly much. The bones of the story are largely accurate. Moreover, the musicians were fantastic. Cusack found the timbre of Cash’s voice. Monday could move like Presley. The real Perkins would be awed by Sevelovitz’s tremendous guitar work. But Rude embodied Lewis, from his manic piano playing to the youthful arrogance. Aronson’s Dyanne had a lovely voice.

The play was quite serviceable, with some clever quips. (The Day Tripper riff made sense, given the dialogue; I laughed out loud.) It is a ssequel to Million Dollar Quartet, which my wife and I saw at Proctors Theatre in January 2013. (This is why I have a blog.)

It’s a brief program, 45 minutes, then a 15-minute intermission, then another 45 minutes, the last 15 minutes or so which was a mini-concert. It was quite suitable for a holiday show.

It’s playing through December 24.

My church was a TV star

There was a watch party for the first episode of Season 2 of The Gilded Age at my church on October 29. That’s because “It’s Easter Sunday 1883… Featured amid the holiday flowers and strolling crowds are three landmark Capital Region churches. First Presbyterian Church at Willett and State streets teams up with St. Peter’s Episcopal Church at 107 State St. to stand in for St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in 19th-century Manhattan…

“‘It was very cool to see. They were in our building for three weeks. They used our assembly hall as a green room,’ said the Rev. Dr. Miriam Lawrence Leupold, co-pastor of First Presbyterian Church.

“State Street and Washington Park appear in the opening episode as the setting for the Easter parade. It starts off the eight-episode season’s continuing clash between new and old money in Gilded Age New York City over competing opera houses. Julian Fellowes is the creator of ‘The Gilded Age.'”

It’s a show on Max, which I don’t have a subscription for. Though our church’s star turn was over in the first ten minutes, the episode itself was very compelling, especially when dealing with labor issues. I’ve always enjoyed the work of Christine Baranski and Cynthia Nixon, the latter of whom I once voted for governor.

Taylor’s version

In late October, I went to see the film Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour. It was disappointing but it’s my own fault. I went to see it at the Spectrum, a Landmark theater not geared towards the hype three weeks after it opened.

So thee were a total of three of us in the theater, two women in their 20s, and me. They had “only” seen it once before because they’d been busy.

As someone not immersed in Swiftian music, I was impressed how her albums, her Eras, changed. I wasn’t crazy about Reputation, which I learned later has an interesting backstory. But I liked the story songs of folklore. I also enjoyed some of her very early work, with her at the piano.

I agree with this review: “Overall, The Eras Tour concert film is an enjoyable and entertaining experience for any music fan, but it will especially be a blast for Taylor Swift’s fans. It is a well-made film that captures the essence and excitement of Swift’s live shows. The film has good camera work, editing, and sound design that make the viewer feel like they are part of the concert.”

But I’m still not a Swiftie.

The price of tickets were $19.89 (she was born in 1989, which I knew), but since I’m a senior, it was only $13.13, 13 being TS’s lucky number (which I somehow missed.)