Welcome to WeeklyWilson.com, where author/film critic Connie (Corcoran) Wilson avoids totally losing her marbles in semi-retirement by writing about film (see the Chicago Film Festival reviews and SXSW), politics and books----her own books and those of other people. You'll also find her diverging frequently to share humorous (or not-so-humorous) anecdotes and concerns. Try it! You'll like it!
“Write When You Get Work”, written and directed by Stacey Cochran (on right) had its World Premiere at SXSW. It is a romantic caper of thievery, money, and access, shot on Super16 in New York.
When the film opens, we see Finn Wittrock and Rachel Keller in a passionate embrace at the beach. The chemistry is so hot that it might melt the ice in yourdrink. It is 9 years before the main plot, and this couple are not only gorgeous, but obviously deeply in love with one another.
Stacy Cochran, Writer-Director of “Write When You Get Work” and co-star Andrew Schulz in Austin at SXSW. (Photo by Connie Wilson for WeeklyWilson.com and TheMovieBlog.com)
However, Jonny Collins (Finn Wittrock) is a bad boy who is never going to stop being a bad boy. He gets his lady love into all sorts of trouble when they are young. (“Four convictions in one year as a minor!” says her employer at a private school that has hired her, Guy Brinckerhoff (Scott Cohen).
Rachel Keller, a St. Paul, MN, native who appeared in the 2014 “Fargo” TV series is trying to go straight. She has gotten her life together, and she is not in any mood to have it wrecked again by Jonny, who reappears in her life and seems unwilling to stop showing up.
Finn Wittrock, who appeared as a psychotic clown Dandy Mott from 2014-2016 on “American Horror Story” is a Julliard graduate who hopes that theater work will continue to find him. He says he “caught the acting bug from my dad,” who is an actor and voice teacher. Although only 5′ 9″, he is a handsome, charismatic leading man and his pairing with Rachel Keller was wonderful.
Stacy Cochran, Writer/Director of “Write When You Get Work.” (Photo by Connie Wilson for WeeklyWilson.com and TheMovieBlog.com)
Playing Jonny Collins’ best friend, Sticker, otherwise named Mitchell Mullen Vegas was Andrew Schulz, who showed up at SXSW. He is a producer and actor known for “Sneaky Pete” (2015). The plot is propelled forward by the fact that Sticker is married to an African American policewoman and they have a darling little girl who is about ready to start pre-school.
Much of the story centers on how getting into the “right” pre-school is uber important in New York City. The figure $35,000 is thrown out for the cost of one student to attend the prestigious Luscinia School, which Rachel Keller’s character has recently joined as its Director of Admissions.
The film had a very nice “twist” ending which I won’t ruin for you. It’s a nice film and a pleasant surprise. See it if you get the chance.
“Galveston,” based on the novel by Nic Pizzolatto, World Premiered here last Saturday (March 10th). Although I was assigned Red Carpet duties for “Galveston” and Ben Foster, its star, was supposed to attend, along with Elle Fanning, it would have meant missing out on an interview with the screenwriters for “A Quiet Place.” I saw it at the end of the festival, instead, without Ben Foster or Elle Fanning.
The brief plot summary for “Galveston”: “After surviving a set-up by his criminal boss (Beau Bridges), a hitman rescues a young prostitute and flees with her to Galveston, Texas, where the two find strength in each other as dangerous pursuers and the shadows of their pasts follow close behind.”
The novel the film was based on (“Galveston”) was written by Nic Pozaletti, novelist-turned-screenwriter who wrote 22 episodes of television’s “True Detective” series. Directed by Melanie Laurent, she also scripted it, and it wasn’t as strong as the source material. Producer was 74-year-old Jean Doumanian, better known for producing many of Woody Allen’s best-known films, [before he sued her over “The Jade Scorpion,” when she announced that he had 2 days to find alternative financing and Allen said she had been skimming]. [Interestingly, Doumanian also had a brief, troubled tenure running “Saturday Night Live” in 1980-1981 before Lorne Michaels returned. The credits for “Galveston” read “Jean Doumanian Productions, in association with Storm Outside.” Low Spark films appears as the company that helmed this and, later, when a motel used in the production is named Emerald Shores Motel, it is noteworthy that the company mentioned is Emerald Shores LLC. It is also true that the Motel’s desk woman, Nanee Covington, is well played by C.K. McFarland.]
THE GOOD
Ben Foster (Pinterest)
Nobody can put sheer intensity and emotion onscreen better than Ben Foster, the Fairfield, Iowa, native who has studied Transcendental Meditation since the age of 4. Foster dropped out of high school in his freshman year and flew to Los Angeles, based on the strength of an audition tape, to be cast at 16 in a TV show called “Flash Forward.” He never looked back and came to the attention of the public, in general. for his superb work in “Hostage” with Bruce Willis, playing a character named Marshall “Mars” Krupcheck, in 2005.
By that point, I was watching him portray Russell Corwin on “Six Feet Under” (2003-2005) and admiring his acting intensity. Of this quality, he has said, “That is source, that is art, that is spirituality. And meditation is a way to defy fear andexperience that source.” It seems to have served him well. He has racked up some impressive roles in films like “The Messenger” in 2009, opposite Woody Harrelson, portraying Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery, whose task it is to tell soldiers’ families that their loved one has died in combat. Before that, there was Charlie Prince in “3:10 to Yuma” in 2007 and “Alpha Dog” as Jake Magursky in 2006.
Foster, selected in surveys when very young as an actor to watch, has said, “The heat around young actors burns out. Natural ability and magnetism only get you so far. The rest is hard work.”
Foster’s co-star in “Galveston,” Elle Fanning, is another young actress who knows all about starting young. Fanning began working on film as the younger version of her older sister, Dakota, at the age of 3, in “Taken” and “I Am Sam.”
Only 19 now, she was just as intense as Foster in her scenes as a young girl from Orange, Georgia, trying to escape a troubled past that included sexual abuse by her stepfather that results in a child, Tiffany (played as a child by Tinsley & Anniston Price and also by Lili Bernhart as a 23-year-old). She upped her game because Foster brought out the best in her, perhaps.
The acting in this film is over-the-top good.
THE BAD
The plot , script and direction: not so much.
The overall tone and setting of gritty reality was done well, and the costume design by Lynette Meyer to portray Elle as a trashy young thing was excellent, although to dismiss her character of “Rocky” as “a prostitute” is to shortchange that character. She is more an innocent with no other way to support herself than a true professional lady of the evening.
Rocky (Raquel/Fanning) shows up in the plot when Roy Cady (Ben Foster) is sent to rob a house which, in reality, is a set-up by his evil boss (who runs a laundromat), Stan Pithco (played by a decidedly portly andgreasy Beau Bridges). When Roy manages to survive the hit, he notices a pretty girl in a red dress tied to a chair. Almost on impulse, Roy cuts her loose and takes her with him— not as a hostage, but more as an act of mercy.
The script, in fact, spells this out in dialogue between Fanning and Foster, when she asks why he is kidnapping her. He responds, “I saved you. Be clear on that.” Later, Foster goes to the wall for the young girl and her sister/daughter (think “Chinatown”), telling the now-grown-up Tiffany, “All this time I was your friend. You weren’t abandoned.”
There is a story line that involves Cady’s incorrect assumption that he is dying of lung cancer, his drinking (“You look like hell and you smell like it, too”) and his altruistic act(s) in defense of “Rocky”, whose real name is Raquel Arceneaux (Elle Fanning). Never do we get the impression that the 40-year-old and the 19-year-old are sexually involved, (although they do have one memorable date that might have led down that path, had the path been slightly longer.)
There are storms and rain and approaching hurricanes throughout the film (think Shakespeare) and the end made very little sense, except as it evoked a literary novel. By the denouement, the entire film will leave you marveling at the acting while feeling like you really need a stiff drink to recover from the many godawful things that have just happened to the characters.
VERDICT
I enjoy watching Ben Foster work. He has the same ability that Michael Shannon has to completely dominate the screen with his intensity.Elle Fanning also has come a long way from previous films. She did a stand-out job opposite Foster. Maybe his excellence brought out the best in her?
I originally selected this film for Red Carpet duties because I met Foster once before, in Chicago, when he appeared there with “The Messenger” in 2009. He is nothing if not intense, but he is also a good interview and not at all like the almost psychopathic types he occasionally inhabits onscreen. Then the opportunity for interviewing the screenwriters from “A Quiet Place” loomed, in conflict with those duties, so I finally caught the film today at its last showing, and I’ve given you Elle Fanning’s comments (above).
Perhaps Foster will mellow even more as his daughter with Laura Prepon (“The Hero”) approaches one year old this August, and his years (2014 and 2015) with Robin Wright (Penn), 14 years his senior, fade into oblivion.
See “Galveston” for the acting, but don’t try to make too much sense of the ending, nor of the scenes with Roy’s former African-American girlfriend, Lorraine (Adepero Oduye), which could have been omitted completely without harming the plot.
This is a French person’s script and take on life in the South (shot in Savannah, Georgia and elsewhere in Georgia with many references to Austin, where Pizzolatto was once a bartender). That could account for some of what I found unsatisfactory about the film. My roommate was a French major in college, so, one year at the Chicago Film Festival (she accompanied me), we watched nothing but films that were in French with English subtitles. Fun for her. For me? Not so much. [ If you’ve watched many French films, you’ll know what I mean.] I think the movie might have been better served in the Director/Writer area by utilizing a more-experienced U.S. director of either gender .
“Final Portrait” is Stanley Tucci’s writing/directing tour de force, the sixth such venture for him. Tucci is a veteran character actor whom we have seen in many movies since 1985, including one Oscar-nominated role as the killer in “The Lovely Bones” and his continuing role in “The Hunger Games” as the colorful Caesar Flickerman.
He was to have been on the Red Carpet for “Final Portrait” on March 9th at the Stateside Theater in Austin, Texas, at SXSW, but only Armie Hammer, the film’s co-star appeared. Fresh off of “Call Me By Your Name,” some interviewers asked him about his high profile in Hollywood at this time. He praised the great work ethic of co-star Geoffrey Rush (whom I met in Chicago at the premiere of 2013’s “The Book Thief.”)
Armie Hammer and wife at the Red Carpet for Final Portrait, Stanley Tucci’s film. (Photo by Connie Wilson).
The cast included co-star (and Oscar winner) Geoffrey Rush, Clemence Poesy, Tony Shalhoub, and Sylvie Testud. It is the story of the touching and offbeat friendship between world-renowned artist Alberto Giacometti and American writer and art-lover James Lord. It is based on Lord’s memoir.
We waited in the small lobby of the old Stateside Theater for quite some time until, finally, I tried to sneak in and be seated. I was told that they “weren’t quite ready” setting up. Later, we learned that 2 projectors had gone down. A young man was seen carrying a laptop into the theater, in the hopes that the film could be streamed.
“Final Portrait” Red Carpet at SXSW. (Photo by Connie Wilson for WeeklyWilson & The Movie Blog).
Stanley Tucci, who did not show this night, is married to Felicity Blunt, the older sister of Emily Blunt. His first wife died of cancer in 2009 and Tucci and Felicity got engaged in 2011 and were married in 2012. It was Emily who introduced Tucci to Felicity when Emily and Stanley were co-starring in “The Devil Wears Prada.”
Since Emily Blunt’s movie with her husband John Krasinski was premiering right next door at the Paramount at the same time, and it was unclear whether “Final Portrait” was really going to be shown, I made an executive decision to go see “A Quiet Place.”
For me, the thought of creatures that might kill you if you make a sound was more intriguing than Alberto Giacometti. I think I made the right decision, as “A Quiet Place” was one of the best movies I’ve seen in ages. Still, had Tucci shown up, it would have almost been like a family gathering, as his sister-in-law appeared on the screen next door, where she defended her family in a harrowing dystopian world.
Scottish bicyclist tries to qualify for the Tour de France after a 2-year ban, at age 37.
Two documentaries showing at SXSW deal with the difficulty of being an athlete and hanging it up (i.e., retiring). Those two are “Time Trial” by Finlay Pretsel of Scotland and “Ali & Cavett: The Tale of the Tapes,” directed by Robert S. Bader. Cavett is 81 now and traveled to Austin with the documentary.
Scottish director Pretsel shot film of Scottish bicyclist David Millar’s final attempt to qualify for the Tour de France after a 2-year suspension for doping. It was shot, colorfully, from the point-of-view of the cyclist. We learn that Millar got his first road bike at 15 and, while he only wanted one win at the Tour, he has competed there 12 times.
Robert Bader, director of “Ali & Cavett: The Tale of the Tapes.
Millar won in 2003, but was later shown to have used drugs. He was banned for 2 years for using EPC. He has felt himself a cheat since that time and this is a story of redemption.
Millar’s trial is Pelleton, a tough gig and, ultimately, Millar is cut from the tour by Charlie, the team leader, and we see him shedding tears in a moment of extreme vulnerability. I, for one, felt he had the look of a haunted man, and I wondered if Lance Davenport looks this way when you meet him.
The director of the bicycling documentary said, “I feel like I’ve had this in the back of my mind for many years. The only UK cyclist in the Tour de France—the best Scottish cyclist ever.” He did share with us that he considered the film to be capturing “this bizarre sport in a microcosm” and that the rest of the crew that Millar rode for and with was not that supportive.
At the end of the colorful documentary, Pretsel was to take questions, but he was down the hall watching “Heredity” so the bicyclist, himself, got up and said, “Oh, well, I can talk about the film.” He was 37 when they shot the documentary and is 41 now. It was very late this night; Millar had the haunted look of a man who could benefit from counseling as he said, “I’m a very twisted human being.”He added, “I wish there was a film that existed of me winning.”
When I asked what he plans to do now, at 41, his cycling career over, he said, “I hope to do things that are worth telling stories about.”
Muhammad Ali & Dick Cavett: The Tale of the Tapes
In the Dick Cavett/Muhammad Ali tapes we also see a champion—-the only fighter to ever to win the Heavyweight Championship crown three times—who is loathe to stop fighting when he should. Cassius Clay’s early history is portrayed, and then the documentary moves on to the friendship between Ali and Cavett that developed because, as Ali said, “You’re the only one who ever asks me on when I lose.”
After one particularly brutal beating, Ali’s cheeks are as round and bulbous as a chipmunk’s. He is a gracious loser, giving credit to the fighters who have bested him. He calls Cavett his “main man” and the two are shown at Ali’s training camp, where, at one point, Cavett even dons green trunks and dances around in the ring.
There is also a notable tape where Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali are both on Cavett’s show together and they literally pick him up, physically. All-in-all, the appearances, shown together like this, are like a time capsule of the sixties and the turbulent era of the Vietnam War, which Ali opposed. When Ali converted to Islam and would not fight in Vietnam, he was stripped of his title and lost years of his fighting career, after which he was no longer “floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee.” I saw him on campus at the University of Iowa when he was not allowed to fight, and the Union was jammed with students like me who had come to hear what this icon had to say.
Both films treat the difficulty of a pro athlete adjusting to hanging it up forever. However, regular human beings also have to hang up their cleats at some point, in terms of giving up their day jobs, jobs which have also defined them. The thing that helps make it more palatable for a professional bicyclist or a professional fighter has to be the tremendous paychecks some made during their heyday, not to mention the adulation of the crowds, which we see in both documentaries.
The downside is that a sport like boxing can doom those retired from it to diseases like Parkinson’s Disease, which Ali suffered from during the rest of his life. The film is a powerful argument for more stringent protection for athletes in all contact sports. The image of Ali lighting the Olympic torch, arm shaking visibly from the effects of the debilitating disease, is both touching and historic.
I’d recommend the Ali/Cavett documentary to anyone who was alive in the sixties and remembers them, or to anyone who wants to learn what was happening in this country during that turbulent era.
AUSTIN, TX – MARCH 09: Director/Executive Producer/Writer/Actor John Krasinski attends the ‘A Quiet Place’ Premiere 2018 SXSW Conference and Festivals at Paramount Theatre on March 9, 2018 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Rick Kern/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)
I’m here at SXSW Film Festival (for the 3rd year) and the Opening Night film, “A Quiet Place,” written by two Hitchcock-loving Bettendorf, Iowa, 34-year-old filmmakers, (with some contributions from Director and Star John Krasinski of “The Office” fame), is wowing the critics and the crowds.
I was fortunate enough to grab a few minutes to speak to Scott Beck and Bryan Woods about this big-budget Paramount film the day after it premiered. It is not difficult to see how these two young Iowa graduates, who have been collaborating since junior high school (and throughout college at the University of Iowa) have helped create a suspenseful thriller that is destined to become a classic. It’s the start of something big, career-wise. Their next film “Haunt,” currently in post-production, is one they both wrote and directed.
AUSTIN, TX – MARCH 09: Emily Blunt and Director/Executive Producer/Writer/Actor John Krasinski attend the ‘A Quiet Place’ Premiere 2018 SXSW Conference and Festivals at Paramount Theatre on March 9, 2018 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Rick Kern/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)
The filmmakers were articulate, congenial, diplomatic and enthused about the audience’s 100% Rotten Tomatoes response to their film about a family of four that must remain totally silent in order to keep some scary underground-dwelling creatures from killing them. They’ve survived in a dystopian world (no further explanation) where any loud noise will bring these “things” down on the family of Krasinski, his wife Emily Blunt, their deaf teen-aged daughter Millie (played by a lovely young actress, Millicent Simmons, who is deaf in real life), a son of about 10 and a younger boy who looks just about ready for kindergarten in a normal world.
But, when the film opens, they are not in a “normal” world, but are searching for drugs in a ruined drugstore, where the youngest of the brood finds a noisy toy that he’d really like to keep. You know this bodes ill for the family, which has resorted to using sign language to communicate, has sound-proofed their dwelling and has an extensive camera and light set-up to try to protect themselves from the blind, armored creatures in an attempt to try to stay alive. There is also a tower that the father (Krasinski) lights a fire atop at night. We see two other fires in the distance, so we know there are at least a few other survivors. The set design and special effects are extraordinary, reminding of the “Alien” days, (when we finally see this threat—which isn’t for a long time). Marco Beltrami’s score is great and–most importantly—the acting from all is terrific.
(Left to Right) Scott Beck, Connie Wilson and Bryan Woods at SXSW (Austin, TX) on March 10, 2018.
The log line for the film is: “A family lives an isolated existence in utter silence, for fear of an unknown threat that follows and attacks at any sound.” That is an original premise that has not been done before. It leads to one of the most spare scripts in Hollywood history. Not only do the actors seldom speak (they sign or whisper or mouth the words), we don’t get to “see” the monster(s) until quite late in the film. And they are “Alien-” quality when we do.
There is not one “down” or boring scene, always the goal for a screenwriter, but difficult to achieve. No unnecessary exposition or wordy speeches. Just good old-fashioned Hitchcockian suspense from a screenwriting team that mentions “Vertigo” as one of their favorite movies and have been making films since they were six years old.
AUSTIN, TX – MARCH 09: Writers Bryan Woods and Scott Beck attend the ‘A Quiet Place’ Premiere 2018 SXSW Conference and Festivals at Paramount Theatre on March 9, 2018 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Rick Kern/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)
I met up with them at a Starbucks the day after the film and wrote a piece giving the local ties to the Quad Cities of Iowa, which appears above this one. To achieve that, I had to embarrass myself and climb over about 8 other movie-goers in my row to go to the microphone during the Q&A. Where, exactly, were these two talented young men? Fortunately, my willingness to go that extra mile led to a brief but informative meeting the very next day.
The film’s extraordinary quality is leading to this recommendation: if you like suspenseful, well-acted, well-directed films, beautifully-shot films where you care about the characters and root for them to escape, even against overwhelming odds, you’re going to love this movie.
Bryan Woods (left) and Scott Beck at SXSW in Austin (TX) on March 10, 2018.
Most of those present on Opening Night did, and the remark I heard made most often in the lobby following it was, “This was so much better than last year’s Opening Movie.”
Last year’s opening film was Terrence Malick’s “Song by Song” with Ryan Gosling, Michael Fassbender, Natalie Portman and some other “A”-list talent. Perhaps Malick should have hired Beck & Woods to script the thing, as that renowned filmmaker’s work, which was often wonderful, was not well-received because of its meandering storyline.
AUSTIN, TX – MARCH 09: (L-R) Actors Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe and director John Krasinski attend the Opening Night Screening and World Premiere of ‘A Quiet Place’ during the 2018 SXSW Film Festival on March 9, 2018 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Rick Kern/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)
The film opens wide in the U.S. on April 6th and, yes, it IS that good. Take it from someone who’s been reviewing film for 47 straight years.
Emily Blunt in “A Quiet Place,” the Opening Night Film at the 25th SXSW Film Festival, which is now SXSW Festival and Conference(s).
How in the world did two young men from Bettendorf, Iowa, wind up scripting the Opening Night film of one of the most prestigious film festivals and conferences in the country, SXSW, with a blockbuster film (“A Quiet Place”) from Paramount Studios? I asked the pair exactly that question in an interview conducted at a local Starbucks the morning after their film triumphed at the SXSW Opening Night Premiere on Friday, March 9th, 2018.
(Left to Right) Scott Beck, Connie Wilson and Bryan Woods at SXSW (Austin, TX) on March 10, 2018.
The two filmmakers, thirty-four year old Scott Beck (the redhead) and hischildhood friend Bryan Woods have been making movies “since we were six years old.”
They told me this in Austin, Texas, the day after their film, “A Quiet Place,” (starring and directed by JohnKrasinski of “The Office” and his actress wife Emily Blunt) wowed audiences at its Paramount Opening Night. Both have been interested in film since they were very young, butit was junior high school at Bettendorf Middle School that paired the dynamic duo.
Scott Beck is the son of Ken and Linda Beck of Bettendorf, and Bryan Woods (the redhead) is the son of Dennis and Lynn Woods of Bettendorf, although Scott’s IMDB profile notes that he was born in Denver, Colorado, on October 22, 1984, while Bryan was born in Davenport on September 14, 1984.
Before meeting at Bettendorf Middle School, Bryan attended Armstrong Elementary, while Scott went to Mark Twain Elementary. Each gave credit to teachers they had at Bettendorf Middle School (“We were just kind of allowed to do it”), naming Ethel Hagemann of the Tech area of their middle school and Roger Wilming, who, said Scott, “really connected and bonded with his students.”
After high school, they attended and graduated from the University of Iowa. Scott described taking a lot of writing courses as an undergrad. He said the criticism he received in those classes was helpful, noting, “Every now and then you can distill it. Critical feedback is helpful.” Scott also noted that, speaking diplomatically, in the world of Hollywood “You have to learn to back your opinion up with evidence. Within the politics of the industry you have to make sure that whatever your vision is, you can work with the producers and director.” During his college career, Scott continued his interest in film He placed in the 2004 Project Greenlight Top 50 director’s competition, sponsored by Miramax and Bravo and was a finalist in the MTV Best Film on Campus competition in November of 2004. He won MTV’s Best Film on Campus competition in December of 2005 (his junior year), resulting in a development deal with MTV Films. In the intervening 13 years, Scott wrote “Nightlight” (2015).
AUSTIN, TX – MARCH 09: Writers Bryan Woods and Scott Beck attend the ‘A Quiet Place’ Premiere 2018 SXSW Conference and Festivals at Paramount Theatre on March 9, 2018 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Rick Kern/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)
Bryan Woods was born on September 14, 1984 in Davenport, Iowa, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for The Bride Wore Blood (2006), Yearbook (2002) and Her Summer (2004).He placed in the 2004 Project Greenlight Top 50 director’s competition sponsored by Miramax and Bravo, was a finalist in the MTV Best Film on Campus competition in November of 2004 and also won MTV’s Best Film on Campus competition in December of 2005, which resulted in the development deal for “Beck and Woods” (as Krasinski referred to them from the stage).
What kind of movies did they admire, as they were growing up?
Favorites were Alfred Hitchcock, especially “Vertigo” for Bryan. He said, “I love how mysterious and gorgeous “Vertigo” is. It’s about obsession and that’s something Hitchcock knew a lot about.” Scott singled out Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg and more recent directors like Paul Thomas Anderson and added, “I like stories that conceptualize,” mentioning films that focus on artificial intelligence.
It was tough finding the two to interview them in person. Although they were on the Red Carpet, [as shown in the photos with the SXSW backdrop], it wasn’t listed that they would be present, and I could not initially find the correct representative for them, even after calling the SXSW press office. The failure to honor those who created nearly the entire concept (Krasinski also contributed and gets a writing credit) is not atypical in Hollywood. Max Allan Collins described his difficulty in getting enough tickets for him and his family to attend the Oscars when he had written “Road to Perdition,” which was up that year. As Rodney Dangerfield might put it, “Writers don’t get no respect.”
After the showing of “A Quiet Place” film, I went to the microphone and announced to the assembled audience, “I’m from Bettendorf, Iowa, (the crowd whooped loudly and shouted “Yay,Bettendorf”) and I’ve come a long way to interview Beck and Woods, but I can’t find them. Will you meet me in the lobby after this is over?” To be brutally honest, my former business (Sylvan Learning Center #3301) was located in Bettendorf, while I reside in East Moline. But Scott’s bio says he was born in Denver and Bryan’s says he was born in Davenport, so it was a bit misleading, but it got a big shout-out to Bettendorf from the crowd. I found the two and their P.R. representative and I conducted a whirlwind interview Saturday morning, as they were scheduled elsewhere almost immediately.
Their film was extremely well done. It is an original concept, which I will write about in a separate review when the film’s release date nears. The spare film dialogue was top-notch. It is definitely one of the films with the least dialogue ever, because of the nature of its plot.
Bryan Woods (left) and Scott Beck at SXSW in Austin (TX) on March 10, 2018.
As I left the theater I heard more than one filmgoer say, “This was so much better than last year’s film.” Last year’s film was Terrance Malick’s “Song by Song” with Ryan Gosling, Michael Fassbender, Natalie Portman and a host of “A” list celebrities. Word from the front was not good. I ended up attending Sam Elliot’s “The Hero” instead, but not until I waited 2 hours in the rain, sat on a cactus while lounging on a planter near the entrance (by accident, of course), and hired a rickshaw driver to transport me from the Paramount Theater to the Zach Theater.
The word about THIS film: there is not a single “dull” moment onscreen. I’m predicting it will take off like a rocket, helping “Beck and Woods” receive even more (deserved) recognition.
The two are currently in post production on “Haunt,” a script which they both wrote and will direct.
When I asked how their parents were handling the news that their sons may well become the next Steven Spielberg after “A Quiet Place” (Spielberg is premiering a film here tomorrow, “Ready Player One,” that was literally announced at the last minute), both said, “They’ve been so supportive all along. They’ll be at our New York City Premiere on April 2nd.”
Well-deserved congratulations to two former Quad City natives making it in the big leagues. I hope we meet again.
The World Before Your Feet from Jeremy Workmen, follows an unemployed civil engineer, Matt Green, 37, around New York City as he walks over 8,000 miles in 6 years, traveling every street, park, and space in the five boroughs. Matt is a civil engineer who up and quit his job to walk in 2009.
It’s an interesting, if odd, way to spend time. But for Matt Green, who did the walking, he is the modern-day equivalent of Forrest Gump. Matt started his nearly OCD walking mania with a cross-country jaunt of a mere 3,500 miles, walking from Rockaway, New Jersey to Rockaway, Oregon in 2010. It took him five months.
Turns out it takes a lot longer to walk every street, alley, park, cemetery and green space in the Big Apple. Calling it “a cool way to be in a place and still moving,” Green says that he enjoys “the simple things in the middle of the country.” One other man mentioned in the documentary, Bill Helmreich, a Professor of Sociology at City College in New York City, walked all the streets of NYC, which was 6,000 miles, but Matt bested him by including all of the parks and cemeteries and green spaces, clocking in at over 8,000 miles of walking. His walk was rich with history and adventure and he was primarily greeted with friendly faces and was never mugged.
THE GOOD
If you are going to visit New York City any time soon or any time, period, this look at every possible part of the Big Apple is interesting. It will give you the added benefit of learning a lot about the history of the city.
Matt is a self-taught historian who enjoys finding out about the world before his feet that he visits. We learn, for instance, about the Vanderbilt Motor Parkway, probably the first highway for motor cars, and about the Audabon Theater, where Malcolm X was shot and killed. There is even a small street memorial to the Eric Garner death—the “I can’t breathe” victim who died while being arrested. And, in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, we see the grave of the first soldier from Brooklyn killed in the Civil War, a 12-year old drummer boy who was killed during a training exercise.
We also get to hear some wisdom from Matt Green that we might take to heart. He quit his job as a civil engineer in 2009 and hasn’t had a job, other than cat-sitting since. (“I don’t really miss it,” he says, of not having a permanent place of his own.) He doesn’t own an apartment and gets by on about $15 a day by couch-surfing and cat-sitting.
Matt says, “There are some people out there who do things for reasons that other people just can’t understand.” He adds, slyly, “I don’t know anyone like that.” His goal, he says, is to do the thing, not to finish. “It’s a mission. A personal quest…It’s helped me find satisfaction in the basic things of life that are free.”
When we search for motives that may have propelled him into this nomadic life style, we need look no further than the near-fatal brain bleed his younger brother in Chicago (Jonathan) endured, and the accident he suffered when hit by a car while bike-riding. When asked if he is “independently wealthy,” he replies, “No, I’m independently homeless.” Says Matt: “Either you love it or you put it off till the future, and you don’t know if the future is gonna’ be there.”
THE BAD
Although we meet both of Matt’s parents during the film, and they seem very normal, as does his Midwestern home, we meet two women he was serious about whom he ultimately did not marry. In one case, Carolyn Brooklyn-Small said the wedding invitations were all ready to go on October 7, 2007, and then they just did not go through with it. Another pretty girl describes Matt’s aversion to the movies as a turn-off that broke them up as a couple. Matt is 37 and he has no family of his own and seems too dedicated to walking to think about forming one.
The film was a bit too long. About 75 minutes in, I was ready to stop, but the film continued to 92 minute. I think the failing was me, not the film’s; I was watching it on a computer screen.
THE SCORE
The old time-y piano music (an original score from Tom Rosenthal) with contributions from Carly Comando fits the documentary perfectly.
It’s Black History Month and time for Black Panther, the film.
February is the month with the fewest days, but African-Americans rise to the occasion by celebrating the achievements of their ancestors.
This film is more fit for the occasion because it is the only film in the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) to feature a predominately African American cast, an African American director, and great role models for African American children. T’Challa of Wakanda, aka The Black Panther ,made his debut back in 2016 in the heavily hero populated film Captain America: Civil War.
Now his awesomeness has his own film. It’s not just a blockbuster film. It’s a movie that’ll feed the culture, the culture being everything that African Americans stand for. Most films either feature African Americans as slaves, maids, or as silly creatures. This is a film where they got the culture right tying the roots of the film s back to African origins. This film goes beyond the comic book movie cliches of fantasy, explosions, science experiments gone wrong, love triangles, or training montages.
Creed’s director Ryan Coogler who was snubbed at many awards ceremonies. He set the film in the fictional country of Wakanda, a hidden kingdom in Africa, one of the most secretive and technologically advanced countries in the MCU mainly because of its reserves of the world’s most useful but rare metal, vibranium.
Aside from setting the film in Africa, Coogler and Chadwick Boseman considered what they could do to make Wakanda and its people more authentic.
One thing about Marvel is that their stable of characters is diverse. The revolutionary Stan Lee, creator of Black Panther, said, “He’s an interesting character that is going to be such a different a things for the audience to see on screen.”
T’Challa was last seen in Captain America: Civil War giving the business to everyone that stood in his way but also coming to grips with his father’s death and the knowledge that he has to assume leadership of his country. That is what makes him such a complex character . That is why Black Panther is on a whole other level. He’s not just a hero. He’s a leader of many.
Boseman who has portrayed many African American heroes on screen in the past, will not be alone in this step forward for African Americans in cinema. Michael B. Jordan, Daniel Kaluuya, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Angela Bassett and Forest Whitaker are among many others who are helping carry the weight of this film.
Important Messages
It is not just the names that make the movie stand out. It is the message the film is sending. One message is that women of color are fully capable. The women of Wakanda explained what makes the country so special. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly Angela Bassett explained that “It’s a nation that respects and reveres women. They think of us not just as Queens but as the Queen Mother. Mother is the nurturer and the first teacher. That position is embraced. She’s not someone who is off to the side.”
The film is already sold out in pre-order tickets. Advance reviews are positive. The cultural appreciation is on point. This is the movie that Marvel fans have been waiting for like dinner on Thanksgiving Day.
Black Panther definitely has a lot to bring to the table. I hope everyone is ready for the release February 16th.
Nominations for the 2018 Academy Awards on March 4th were just announced and, to no one’s surprise, the Best Picture nominees are:
“Call Me By Your Name”
“Darkest Hour”
“Dunkirk”
“Get Out”
“Lady Bird”
“Phantom Thread”
“The Post”
“The Shape of Water”
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
I confess to having missed one out of that list, which I plan to rectify in the upcoming weeks before the March 4th ceremony. The one I have not seen is “Phantom Thread,” but it is playing near me at the Lamar Boulevard Alamo Drafthouse and contains what is rumored to be the last performance by Daniel Day Lewis, who announced that he was going to stop acting. (Of course, Cher announced her final tour how many times?)
I heard Richard Roper, the film critic for the Chicago Sun Times, say on WGN radio that “Three Billboards” has the inside track now for Best Picture. It is about an empowered woman seeking justice for her daughter’s rape and murder. Empowerment and women’s rights being all the rage now with the “Me, Too!” movement, he could be right. It is a darkly original well-written script directed by its writer, Martin McDonagh (“Seven Psychopaths,” “In Bruges”). Frances McDormand (married to a Coen Brother and star of the original “Fargo”) is always a force to be reckoned with and she certainly is in this film.
The cast for “Three Billboards” is uniformly great, including Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson, both of whom were nominated for Best Supporting Actor. I saw “Three Billboards” twice, once in Chicago at the film festival and once when I took my husband to it, because I knew he would enjoy it. It was a true original and I think my assessment on The Movie Blog.com at the time was “original and bad-ass,” both of which still apply. At the time, I was being chastised for ranking movies too high (I only go tomovies that I think are going to be good, if possible). I had to find a “bad” thing to point out about the film, I commented that Frances McDormand’s character was unremittingly negative, to the point that it was difficult to “humanize” her, even though an attempt was made in a scene with a deer, and that, in real life, many of her actions would have gotten her arrested and thrown in jail. I also did not like the ending as much as the rest of the film. I wonder now if the plan was, even then, to potentially have a sequel?
If I were to rank order these films in terms of how much I enjoyed them, rather than alphabetically, as above (“Phantom Thread” excepted, of course), the rank order, for me, would be:
#1: “The Shape of Water”
#2: “Lady Bird”
#3: “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
#4: “Get Out!”
#5: “The Post”
#6: “Darkest Hour”
#7: “Dunkirk”
#8: “Call Me By Your Name”
I’m a former HWA (Horror Writers’ Association) member and that means that the idea of the monster getting the girl appealed to me (“The Shape of Water”). When you read my detailed review of the film elsewhere on this blog, you, too, will appreciate the achievement that “The Shape of Water” represents. It was the closing film of the 53rd Chicago International Film Festival and I was blown away when I read through all of the press notes about how much care and effort went into making it. It truly deserves its record number of nominations (13, the most) and I would love to see it win as Best Picture of the Year. I also remember meeting Guillermo del Toro at a previous Chicago International Film Festival, when he was being given a special award, and a nicer man you cannot find.
Because of my connection to writing horror, I was also very happy to see “Get Out!”, directed by one-half of the Key & Peele comedy team, make it onto the list. It was truly a good film and the lead actor, Daniel Kaluuya was great in the lead part and got a nomination for Best Actor. I particularly enjoyed the Golden Globes opening, when host Seth Meyer described the film as being “a black man finds himself surrounded by a group of rich white people who don’t want to grow old.” Then, in alarm, Meyer looked at Kaluuya in the audience of Hollywood actors and actresses and said, “Oh, no! GET OUT!”
“Lady Bird” is another well-written script. It has the distinction of being a film written by and about women by Greta Gerwig in her directorial debut. It was clever, capturing the essence of the mother/daughter relationship growing up, and much of it was based on Gerwig’s own upbringing in Santa Barbara, California, although she denies being much like Saiorse Ronan’s character of Lady Bird, when she was a teenager. (Saiorse Ronan received a nomination for Best Actress and Laurie Metcalf received a Best Supporting Actress nod playing her mother.)
I took a close friend (who also has a daughter) to the film, telling her it had a good chance of being nominated for Best Picture, and we both enjoyed it (for the secondtime, in my case). Laurie Metcalf is great in her part as the mother and Tracy Letts, a Chicago native and the playwright responsible for “August: Osage County”, came to our screening. He is perfect as the father (who always gets to be“the good guy”), although, in real life, he admitted he had no children. (Something I read he wasrectifying right now.) It would be nice to see a small film triumph, but I’m thinking the fine acting in it and the screenplay has a better chance of getting the kudos.
Timothy Chalamet
Interesting side note: Timothy Chalamet, who is nominated as Best Lead Actor for “Call Me By Your Name” also has a part in “Lady Bird.”
Michael Stuhlbarg: Dr. Robert Hoffstetler (aka, Dmitri) in “The Shape of Water.”
His double play may only be surpassed by Michael Stuhlbarg, whom I met and chatted with on “The Shape of Water” Red Carpet in Chicago. He portrays Chalamet’s father in “Call Me By Your Name,” has a role as a Russian scientist in “The Shape of Water,” and played the owner of the New York Times(Abe Saperstein) in “The Post,” so he is in three of the nine nominated films.
Quite the coup for this versatile actor, who shared with us that his next project was supposed to be playing Gore Vidal’s long-time homosexual partner opposite Kevin Spacey in a bio-pic. (One wonders what has happened to that planned picture now that Kevin Spacey seems to be persona non grata in Hollywood?)
(L to R) Michael Stuhlbarg, Michael Shannon and Cinema Chicago founder Michael Kutza in Chicago after the screening of “The Shape of Water.”
This picture was taken just as Michael Kutza (founder of Cinema Chicago 53 years ago) said to the two Michaels onstage, “Why doesn’t Spacey just come out of the closet and admit he’s gay?” Both of the actors cracked up laughing. At the time, it was a fairly brave remark, as Spacey had not fallen out of favor and the proverbial s*** had not hit the fan.
Gary Oldman
(Anthony Harvey for Getty Images)
Since it seems a foregone conclusion that Gary Oldman will (finally) get the Best Actor statuette for his outstanding portrayal of Winston Churchill in “The DarkestHour” I’d like to add that the film is actually very good, as well. It’s not just a case of a good acting job in an otherwise ho-hum film. Oldman truly deserves this honor, after so many, many good roles, and I would be surprised if any of the other actors in the category (Timothee Chalamet, Daniel Day-Lewis, Daniel Kaluuya, Denzel Washington) give him any real competition for the gold statuette.
Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill in “Darkest Hour”
I would also be surprised if the make-up artists (Kazuhiro Rsuji, DavidMalinowski and Lucy Sibbick) for “The Darkest Hour” didn’t cart off the award for Best Make-up and Hair, since their competition is “Victoria and Abdul” and “Wonder.”)
LEAD ACTRESS
Sally Hawkins as mute cleaning woman Elisa Esposito in “The Shape of Water.”
The nominees are Sally Hawkins (“The Shape of Water”); Frances McDormand (“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”); Margot Robbie (“I, Tonya”); Saoirse Ronan (“Lady Bird”); and Meryl Streep(“The Post”). Streep has just announced she will join the cast of “Big Little Lies” next season, playing the mother of Alexander Skaarsgard.
THE SNUBS
This brings me to the snub of both Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks for “The Post.” Maybe the Academy just feels they have been honored enough, but this was a truly fine and enjoyable film, and an important one in these times, since it deals with attempts to suppress the free press and focuses on the publication of the Pentagon Papers. I was also sad to see that Ridley Scott’s re-shoot of “All theMoney in the World” got short shrift and that Jeremy Renner’s turn as Corey Lambert in “Wind River” didn’t get a closer look, but I think it was released too early. The Academy seems to have a short memory for films that aren’t released closer to the date of the actual ceremony.
Right now, all the momentum is definitely with “Three Billboards” and Frances McDormand, but I am an admirer of “The Shape of Water.” If I may remind viewers, however, Sally Hawkins (previously known for playing themeek sister of Oscar-winning Cate Blanchett in Woody Allen’s 2013 film “Blue Jasmine”) had to play her role without speaking, as she portrays a woman who is mute. All of the actresses I saw were good (haven’t yet seen “I, Tonya” performanceyet) but, for my money, having to play your role completely without words makes Hawkins’ task that much harder and her achievement that much greater. I wouldn’t mind seeing Frances McDormand win because women’s empowerment is today’s buzzword, but I’d really like to see Sally Hawkins be recognized for such a fine job, working under adverse conditions.
SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Richard Jenkins
Sam Rockwell
This category is one of the most difficult to predict. The nominees were Willem Dafoe (“The Florida Project”); Woody Harrelson (“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”), Richard Jenkins (“The Shape of Water”), Christopher Plummer (“All the Money in the World”) and Sam Rockwell (“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”).
First, let me say that having two actors from the same film (“Three Billboards) nominated for that film is always detrimental to one of them, but Rockwell, who has labored long and hard in the indie film field, has carted off SAG and Golden Globe honors already and certainly has a quirky, comic role that deserves recognition. But so do the others. Woody is equally good as the long-suffering and fatally ill Sheriff of Ebbing, Missouri. Christopher Plummer, playing J. Paul Getty in the had-to-be-shot-over-from-scratch “All the Money in the World,” is an old pro who does a great job for Ridley Scott, replacing the disgraced Kevin Spacey. The entire film was great and Ridley Scott, who pulled off an impossible task, at the ripe old age of 80, deserved more nominations for this film. Some said Michelle Williamswould get a nomination as Best Actress for her role as the mother of the kidnapped grandson of J. Paul Getty, but she did not. I’d really like to see Richard Jenkins win, because he has been so good for so long (played the deadundertaker father in television’s “Six Feet Under“), but has never received the recognition he is due. It also would not bother me to see Christopher Plummer, a veteran actor, get the nod. Having said all that, it seems this is Rockwell’s year. Saw “The Florida Project.” The child actors—especially Brooklynn Prince as Moonnee—-were impressive, but it was not Willem Dafoe’s finest hour or strongest part in a storied career.
SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Saiorse Ronan in “Lady Bird”
Nominees are Mary J. Blige (“Mudbound”); Allison Janney (“I, Tonya”), Lesley Manville (“Phantom Thread”), Laurie Metcalf (“Lady Bird”) and Octavia Spencer (“The Shape of Water”). I have not yet seen either Allison Janney, Lesley Manville, or Mary J. Blige, but I’m a big fan of Steppenwolf product Laurie Metcalf, better known to TV audiences as RoseAnne’s television sister. She was terrific as the Mom in “Lady Bird” but somewhat snubbed at earlier awards shows, in favor of Allison Janney, who plays Tonya Harding’s mother. It was interesting to learn that, although both Letts and Metcalf came out of Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater, they had never shared a stage before “Lady Bird.”
DIRECTORS:
Guillermo del Toro
Nominees are Christopher Nolan for “Dunkirk;” Jordan Peele for “Get Out”; Grets Gerwig for “Lady Bird”; Paul Thomas Anderson for “Phantom Thread”; and “The Shape of Water” for Guillermo del Toro. Again, notable snubs to Ridley Scott for “All the Money in the World” and to Steven Spielberg for “The Post.” My heart is with “The Shape of Water.” It was quite the achievement; read the review posted here earlier.
Playwrght/actor (“August: Osage County”) Tracy Letts, at the showing of “Lady Bird” in Chicago.
Without mentioning ALL the categories, I’d like to see “Abacus: Small Enough toJail”triumph for Steve James and Kartemquin Films in the documentary category. They are headquartered in Chicago (40 years and counting) and this is their second nomination for an Oscar this year, along with “Edith & Eddie” in the Best Documentary Short Subject category. I’d also like to see “The Square” win for Best Foreign Film, “In the Fade” (which I also saw) from Germany seemed to have the inside track, but was another notable snub.
ODD FACTS:
Another interesting odd fact concerns the Best Actor/Best Supporting Actress categories where the one-time former husband/wife team of Gary Oldman (for “Darkest Hour”) and Lesley Manville (for “Phantom Thread”) were both nominated. Oldman has been married 5 times. Lesley Manville was his first wife, whom he married in 1987. He left her in 1989, 3 months after their son, Alfie, was born. In 1990 he married his most famous wife, Uma Thurman but that only lasted two years. He also had a drunk driving arrest in 1991 while out with Kiefer Sutherland (his blood alcohol was 2x the legal limit in California) and has made numerous unfortunate statements that caused him (somesay) to be blacklisted in Hollywood for a while. (One was a “diss” of the Golden Globes, which, this year, he seemed genuinely thankful to receive for playing Churchill). His most recent wife is writer and art curator Gisele Schmidt, whom he married in September of 2017, so Oldman will be a newly-wed with about 6 months of matrimonial bliss to his credit in his fifth marriage by the time the awards are televised. Met him during a Chicago showing of “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” in 2012, for which he was also nominated as Best Actor.
My good friend Mary Gerace took part in the Chicago Women’s March yesterday and has prepared this report on the signs that TV didn’t show us.
“After marching from Columbus and Congress to Michigan Avenue, I stepped up on the sidewalk to do some serious sign reading; I then did the same on Jackson Blvd. These were memorable:
I’ve seen better cabinets at Ikea
2018 We shall overcomb!
And you thought we were mad last year
So, Trump who?
Prevent Truth Decay
Super Callous Fragile Sexist Racist Nazi Potus (Must be of a certain age to get it, I’d say; Mary Poppins would approve.)
Witchhunt: I’m a witch and I’m hunting you
Respect Existence or Expect Resistance
The power of the people is stronger than the people in power! We Decide
Does this ass (drawing of Trump) make my country look smaller?
(Under photos of Trump, Pence, Ryan and McConnell) Do these asses make my sign look fat?
(Drawing of the White House) Sex offenders CANNOT live in government housing!
If HILLARY were PRESIDENT we’d all be at BRUNCH
EMERGENCY ALERT: Threat to democracy – Inbound to Mar-a-Lago – Seek immediate impeachment -This is not a drill
Without Hermione, Harry would have died in Book One
Remove the Malicious Mango
Out with the Dope, In with the Hope
Snowflakes turn into avalanches
It takes a snowflake to start an avalanche
I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change; I am changing the things I cannot accept.
Vote with heart because they don’t have one
White people renovating houses, Congressional edition
My mom is pissed!!!
If you’re not terrified, you’re not paying attention
If you’re not angry, you’re not paying attention
Too depressed to be funny!
The reasons why I march will not fit on just one sign
Global warming is not a liberal conspiracy
Make America Hate Again! Oh, you thought he meant GREAT? Well, you know how he tends to say one thing and do the exact opposite. He’s very presidential like that.
Norway, please help us!
Keep your tweets off my rights
Girls just want to have FUNdamental human rights
Grab them by the Ballot Box
Grab ’em by the Mid-Terms
Grab him by the Putin
New Public Trust Poll: Trump 24% Gas Station Sushi 26%
So sex offenders can’t live within 1000 feet of a park or school but Trump lives in the White House?
(Drawing of Trump) I don’t always use mouthwash but when I do it’s Fleet
I will not go quietly back to the 1950s
REsisters
So bad, even introverts are here
(Photo of Robert Mueller) Make America Great Again
Vaginas brought you into the world; Vaginas will vote you out
We aren’t going anywhere except to the polls
RIP GOP
Trump Shutdown: Nice deal, Donny
(Photos of Trump and Kim Jong-un) The Moron Terror
I didn’t see my favorite sign from last year this time, but here it is:
For me, the thought of creatures that might kill you if you make a sound was more intriguing than Alberto Giacometti. I think I made the right decision, as “A Quiet Place” was one of the best movies I’ve seen in ages. Still, had Tucci shown up, it would have almost been like a family gathering, as his sister-in-law appeared on the screen next door, where she defended her family in a harrowing dystopian world.
Emily Blunt in “A Quiet Place,” the Opening Night Film at the 25th SXSW Film Festival, which is now 
