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The Very Special ‘SNL 40’ Special

February 16, 2015 in Reviews, TV Matters

Last night’s “Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special” wasn’t the best of times. It wasn’t the worst of times, either–though, at various points during the three-and-a-half-hour show, it felt like the longest of times. For a program already teeming with forty years of talent, an awful lot of celebrity guests were booked; Steve Martin’s opening monologue was so jam-packed with star walk-ons (from Tom Hanks to Melissa McCarthy) that it resembled a “We Are the World” broadcast. But for one evening at least, long-simmering feuds and resentments were laid aside and – despite a few missteps – a fun time was had by all. Here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Sisterhood Is Powerful “Weekend Update”
Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, and Jane Curtin took over anchor duties, and they did not disappoint. Curtin had the best line: “I used to be the only pretty blonde reading fake news. Now there’s a whole station devoted to that.” And cue Fox News logo. Less successful was Emma Stone’s reprisal of the late Gilda Radner’s Roseanne Roseannadanna; imitation isn’t always the highest form of flattery. Also a little too close to the bone: McCarthy as the late Chris Farley’s motivational speaker Matt Foley. Yikes. Continue Reading →

‘The Last Five Years’ Hurts So Good

February 13, 2015 in Film Matters, Reviews

“The Last Five Years” may not be for people who don’t like musicals — it is almost entirely sung– but it does cover psychologically complex material that is a far cry from the typical Hollywood tuner. About the stormy relationship between Cathy (Anna Kendrick), a struggling stage actress, and Jamie (Jeremy Jordan), a successful young novelist, it grapples with a question rarely posed on screen or in polite company: Can romances work between two people who prize their artistic ambitions as much as each other?

It’s an uncomfortable question, especially because it calls on the carpet the reality that, even now, most marriages only can handle one alpha if they’re to succeed. The fact that the question is set to music makes it easier to absorb and also more immediate. There’s an emotional accessibility (naysayers might call it ‘sentimentality’) to musicals that, to date, is unparalleled. And aided by wonderful melodies, the unusual combination of material and medium in “The Last Five Years” did prove a great, if short-lived, success off-Broadway. Adapted to screen by director/screenwriter Richard LaGravenese, it is also startlingly good. Continue Reading →

‘The Humbling’ of Video on Demand

February 7, 2015 in Book Matters, Film Matters, Reviews

The term “straight to video” used to be the kiss of death for any film; for a while, “straight-to-video-on-demand” became the twenty-first-century equivalent. Sometime in the last five years, though, streaming video content became a legitimate movie distribution platform, one ensuring that more obscure content – documentaries, indies, foreign films – reached wider audiences than ever before, albeit with less pomp and circumstance. So to say that “The Humbling” is a straight-to-video-on-demand movie isn’t exactly an insult.

It also isn’t exactly true, since it concurrently opened in a scattering of theaters across the country late last month. But the fact remains that, though this film boasts a pedigree so impeccable it’d make a blue blood weep – Oscar winner Al Pacino stars, Oscar winner Barry Levinson directs, and Oscar nominee Buck Henry co-writes this adaptation of Pulitzer (and National Book Award) winner Philip Roth’s 2009 eponymous novel – its lukewarm theatrical reception was almost a foregone conclusion. You might wonder: What’s the catch? Continue Reading →

"All, everything I understand, I understand only because I love."
― Leo Tolstoy