movies Archives - Page 21 of 117 - Ramblin' with Roger

Christopher Reeve would have been 70

Paralysis Research

Lots of people have mused why Christopher Reeve, born September 25, 1952, was the perfect Superman. Part of it is that perfect early scene:
Supes: Easy miss, I’ve got you
Lois Lane states: You–you’ve got me? Who’s got you?
And it’s that little chuckle that I loved.

But also, he was my favorite Clark Kent. If you don’t accept Clark as distinct, it’s difficult to buy the secret identity of the superhero. I saw the first two films, and even though the second film is a lesser effort, it was not the failure of the actor in the lead. Here was his workout regimen.

I didn’t see him in much else. Remains of the Day (1993) and Noises Off (1992) I liked. Also Somewhere in Time (1980), during which Jane Seymour says she and Christopher Reeve were “falling in love.”

Then, “on May 27, 1995, the actor injured his spinal cord after falling off his horse in an equestrian competition… The blow left him paralyzed from the neck down and forever in a wheelchair. Reeve was only 42 years old. The doctors took away any hope of improvement, assuring him that it was ‘impossible’ to recover movement…

“As The New York Times revealed, if the actor had fallen one centimeter further to the left, he would have died on the spot. If he had done so to the right, he would most likely walk out with less than a concussion.

“Reeve reappeared in public at the 1996 Oscar Awards, a surprise remembered as one of the most exciting moments in the history of the awards.” I’m very sure I got a lot verklempt at that moment. Christopher quipped, “What you may not know is that I left New York in September and just arrived in Los Angeles this morning [March 25, 1996].”

The Foundation

The above paragraphs were from a piece on the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, a nonprofit founded in 1999.

Even before then, both Christopher and Dana were involved with activism. “In the years following his injury, Christopher did more to promote research on spinal cord injury and other neurological disorders than any other person before or since.”

As the AmeriDisability page notes: “Originally created in 1982 in response to the injury of Henry Stifel, the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation – first conceived as the Stifel Paralysis Research Foundation, a community-driven nonprofit dedicated to curing spinal cord injury (SCI) – marks its 40th anniversary (2022). Over the last four decades, the Reeve Foundation has evolved to become the premier national, paralysis-focused nonprofit organization working to address a dual care-cure mission – providing free, comprehensive resources to help those impacted by SCI and paralysis as it advances the most promising scientific advances toward cures.”

Check out the Give.org page.

The most recent Charity Navigator listing for the Foundation gives it a “score is 87.31, earning it a 3-Star rating. Donors can ‘Give with Confidence’ to this charity.” Note that “this score represents Form 990 data from 2019, the latest year published by the IRS,” because the agency “is significantly delayed in processing nonprofits’ annual tax filings.”

Passing

In 1998, Reeve produced and starred in Rear Window. It is, of course, a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s great 1954 film. “He was nominated for a Golden Globe and won a Screen Actors Guild Award for his performance.” Of course, it doesn’t compare with the original. But one scene actually terrified me. When the villain disconnected the Reeve character’s breathing tube, it was impossible for me to separate the role from the guy playing it.

On October 9, 2004, Reeve went into cardiac arrest after receiving an antibiotic for an infection. He fell into a coma and was taken to a hospital in Mount Kisco, New York. He died on October 10 at the age of 52, quite possibly as the result of an adverse reaction to a drug, something he had experienced in the past.

Dana Reeve married Christopher in 1992. Less than a year after his death, Dana announced that she had been diagnosed with lung cancer. “She had never smoked but in her early career often sang in smoky bars and hotel lobbies.” She died on March 6, 2006, at the age of 44, at NYC’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

But their work lives on.

Movie – Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song

September Cohen

When we were in the Berkshires last week, my wife recommended that we go to the Images Cinema in downtown Williamstown, MA, to see the documentary Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song. She knew this would be the type of film I would be interested in seeing. I didn’t even know of its existence.

It is, the New York Times called “a definitive exploration of [the] singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen as seen through the prism of his internationally renowned hymn.”

It starts off with the poet and perhaps dilatant songwriter too shy to go out on stage. His then-new friend, Judy Collins, who had just covered his song Suzanne, went out on stage with him. He developed some confidence in performing, but developed some bad, though not uncommon, habits.

Leonard and his producer created an album containing Hallelujah and other good songs. In 1984, his label, Columbia, initially rejected it! (Yet they released an overdone album produced by Phil Spector.) The path of the song, involving perhaps 150 verses, Bob Dylan, John Cale, Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright, and far too many versions from American Idol and similar programs, is a fascinating tale.

Then in his seventies, Leonard has a musical resurgence. I have two albums of his from the 2010s, which I enjoy. He died in 2016 at the age of 82.

Rarities

“Approved for production by Leonard Cohen just before his 80th birthday in 2014, the film accesses a wealth of never-before-seen archival materials from the Cohen Trust, including Cohen’s personal notebooks, journals and photographs, performance footage, and extremely rare audio recordings and interviews.” The film’s copyright is 2021, but the release date was July 15, 2022.

At some point, Leonard considered changing his first name to September. It’s not only his birth month, but it is also the month that Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur often fall. I was particularly fascinated with him negotiating with his religious beliefs.

As luck would have it, Kelly has already written an essay about the song and has linked it to a Cohen version of Hallelujah.

The documentary is recommended if you can find it.

Sunday Stealing: Staying Up Late

The color of my blow dryer

The Sunday Stealing prompt Staying Up Late has some interesting questions, plus some “really?” ones.

But before that, I want to note that I’m thankful that a relative is finally home after a week or so in the hospital and then far too long in a physical rehab center. The service was… uneven. Then some state evaluators showed up on the scene a couple of weeks ago. Suddenly, the patients were asked if certain protocols were being followed.

More importantly, home equipment that seemed to have been the victims of supply chain shortages for months suddenly became available and was delivered to the home. A case worker was assigned, as was a visiting nurse.

Frankly, it wasn’t anything WE did. But SOMEONE kvetched to the powers that be, and the situation for everyone at the facility improved rapidly.

***

Do you have any Pepto-Bismol in your house?

No. The liquid was awful. The tablets aren’t as bad.

Do you have a favorite flavor of vodka?

Does vodka have flavors? Yes, I know it does. I mean, no, I don’t get into flavored vodka. That’s what grapefruit juice or orange juice is for.

Is your backyard big enough to fit a trampoline? …and then some.

Depth-wise, probably. But one might jump into power lines and tree branches. Width-wise, the chance is great that one would bounce into the fence or over the fence into my neighbor’s pool or patio, which would hurt.

When was the last time you had eggs?

I have eggs all of the time, possibly this very day. In an omelet, fried, scrambled, poached, deviled. It was the first food I made when I was seven or eight.

How often do you blow dry your hair, and what color is your blow dryer?

Have you SEEN my hair or the lack thereof?

Stay Up Late

Have you ever gone to bed later than three AM?

Yes. When I was going to college, the bars closed at 4 a.m. I wasn’t up a lot for that, but a few times. The most recent time I stayed up that late was on June 13/14, when I stayed up all night when my daughter and I went to Carnegie Hall

Have you been to a surprise party before?

There was a stretch of about two decades that I regularly planned surprise parties. I had this college friend named Candid Yam who was freaking out about turning 20. We were working on a newsletter together. But that night, the other co-editor and I actually finished it early while CY’s friend was distracted with a (real) tale of woe. CY returns, sad that they’d have to go back to work. Nope, SURPRISE!

I’ve been surprised a few times myself, including just before my 19th birthday.

What is your least favorite month?

I suppose February, which, for a short month, seems to go on forever.

Have you ever gone to see a movie the day it came out?

I’ve gone to two movie premieres. 1983: Twilight Zone: The Movie at the Crest Theatre in Binghamton, NY. Why Binghamton? Because Rod Serling, the creator of the television show, grew up in a small upstate city. He had died in 1975, but his favorite teacher, Helen Foley, was there. WAY back in 2005, I wrote about my convergence with Rod and Helen.

1986: Howard The Duck. The premiere was sponsored by FantaCo, the Albany, NY, comic book store I worked at. We did not know how poorly it would be received.

I may have gone to one or two movies on opening night, but they’re not coming to me.

You can believe it because it’s the truth

Do you like movies/books about drugs, and why or why not?

I saw the very absurd Reefer Madness (1936) when I was in college. Talk about a contact high. It inspired me to write a truly terrible song called (Marijuana) The Assassin of Youth, which I have shared with VERY few people.

Do you have scrap paper by your computer desk?

Of course. That’s where I figure out Wordle options.

Have you ever kept a bag from a store because you liked it?

Probably.

Was the last thing you drank carbonated?

No, plain water. I do drink carbonated beverages occasionally.

Do you own any yellow clothing?

No, all my apparel is very courageous.

Last person you argued with?

Likely, my wife, though I have no idea about what.

A long movie quiz: Sunday Stealing

Truth and Reconciliation

Here’s a long movie quiz from Sunday Stealing, or so it was described. I should note that any answers to the superlative questions should be taken with a grain of salt. I wrote the first film in the category I thought of, except for Casablanca, which is my favorite classic movie.

1. Best movie you saw during the last year. CODA
2. The most underrated movie. Cinderella Man, a boxing movie with Russell Crowe
3. Favorite love story in a movie. Love, Actually
4. The most surprising plot twist or ending. Sorry To Bother You
5. A movie that makes you really happy. Hidden Figures

6. A movie that makes you sad. Manchester By The Sea
7. Favorite made-for-TV movie. Brian’s Song.
8. A movie you’ve seen countless times. The Wizard Of Oz, once in a theater!
9. A movie with the best soundtrack. West Side Story
10. Favorite classic movie. Casablanca

REALLY hate

11. A movie that you hate. The Leech Woman
12. A movie that changed your opinion about something. Long Night’s Journey Into Day (2000), “four stories of Apartheid in South Africa, as seen through the eyes of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission”
13. A character you can relate to the most. Almost any character played by Jack Lemmon, but especially in The China Syndrome (1979) and Missing (1982)
14. A movie that is a guilty pleasure. Animal House. I can watch this from the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor to the end anytime.
15. Favorite movie based on a book/comic. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

16. A movie that disappointed you the most. The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
17. A movie from your favorite actor/actress. You Can Count On Me (Mark Ruffalo, 2000)
18. Favorite movie from your favorite director. Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder)
19 .Favorite action movie. Speed (1994), which is the first movie I ever saw with my now-wife.
20. A movie you wish more people would have seen. The Grand Budapest Hotel

21. Favorite documentary. Summer of Soul
22. Favorite animation. Toy Story 2
23. Most hilarious movie you’ve ever seen. Young Frankenstein
24. A movie that you wish you had seen in a theater. Dr. Strangelove
25. Your favorite movie of all time. Annie Hall, maybe; I haven’t watched it this century

Potential Royale with Cheese movies

I’ve never seen Air Force One

Royale with cheese

My blogger buddy Chuck Miller has created this series about movies called Royale with Cheese. It’s films that EVERYBODY has seen, but he had not until, finally, he did. It’s named after a line from Pulp Fiction, the 1994 movie he watched in 2011.

What reminded me of this was the passing of Wolfgang Petersen. On the CBS morning show, the announcer said that “Everybody is saying, ‘Get off my plane'” as they showed a clip from Air Force One. Well, I wasn’t because I’ve never seen that movie, directed by Petersen.

It’s odd. From 1979, when I was dating a cinephile, to 2003, the year before my daughter was born, I saw LOTS of films. Indeed, I watched every single movie nominated for a major Oscar award (movie, actor, actress, director, and the two screenplays) that came out in 1997 except Ulee’s Gold with Peter Fonda.

So I’m going to make a list of films that came out between 1970, right before I graduated from high school, and 2019, just before the pandemic, that I managed to miss. I won’t pick movies I didn’t/don’t want to see for whatever reason.

Some films

Here are the qualifiers from the Top Lifetime Adjusted Grosses from Box Office Mojo.

Avatar (2009)
Incredibles 2 (2018) – I really liked the first film
The Lion King (2018) – I was curious whether it’d be any good
The Dark Knight (2008) – I have the graphic novel
Wonder Woman (2017) – my wife and daughter saw it, but I was busy
Aquaman (2018) – for a guy who used to work in a comic book store, I’m not faring well with these DC adaptations

Independence Day (1996) – the biggest film of that year
Inception (2010)
The Hangover (2009) – or the sequels
Maleficent (2014)
Shrek Forever After (2010) – but I saw the first two movies

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
Ocean’s Eleven (2001) or its sequels, although I did see Ocean’s Eight
Elf (2003) – in honor of James Caan’s passing, I may need to see it this Christmas season
Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)

Lilo and Stitch (2002)
Ready Player One (2018)
Minority Report (2002)
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006) – although I did see the sequel
On Golden Pond (1981) – Henry and Jane Fonda

So, opinionated people – this means you, Greg Burgas – suggest which ones of these ought I to check out first? And you are not limited to this roster of films or my cinematic timeframe.