I pulled out my Stuart McLean collection when I heard the news and read a few stories... found myself laughing at Galway, in which Dave tries to toilet train the family cat, and blinking back tears over Love Never Ends, which is about loss and remembrance. We've lost a great Canadian storyteller.
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As I said in an earlier post, I really liked this film. Sadly, it didn't fare so well at the box office but nevertheless, I enjoyed it immensely. The movie cocks a satirical eyebrow at Hollywood's pretensions of goodness and righteousness. Hardly anyone in the business is what they seem. For example DeeAnna Moran, Capitol's "wholesome" swimming star, is actually jaded, foul-mouthed, promiscuous, and pregnant with the baby of a married director (she thinks). Baird Whitlock, the studio's big star of their "serious" films like the Biblical epic Hail, Caesar! is a dim-witted fool who slept with a director to get his big break in Hollywood. There is so much artifice and pretense that it's not surprising that the communist cell- including singing/dancing star Burt Gurney- was able to operate, hidden in plain sight; the members were just putting on another false front, albeit one which is more sinister than most. Eddie Mannix, the "fixer" for Capitol, aids and abets in all the cover ups and concealments, but unlike most of the other characters actually feels bad about it. This explains his almost nightly visits to confess to his priest. He sits in the confessional and can't tell the priest what he's actually guilt-ridden over, so he keeps relating small, relatively inconsequential sins like hiding his cigarettes from his wife. The sins that really bother him remain unspoken and not dealt with, which is why Mannix returns again and again. So why doesn't he just confess and get it all off his chest? After all, the priest is sworn to confidentiality so couldn't reveal any of his secrets. I'm not Catholic so don't know a lot about their sacrament of confession, but I assume that it necessitates repentance. Repentance in the Christian sense doesn't just mean that you feel remorse for what you've done wrong; it also means that you determine not to behave in that way again. Eddie Mannix has no intention of changing his way of life- it's literally his job to participate in lies and cover ups- so he can't confess and repent with any degree of honesty. At the same time, we know that Mannix has a job offer which, if he accepted, would take him out of this stew of corruption and intrigue, let him spend more time with his family, and salve his raw conscience. Yet he doesn't take the job although it seems like a no-brainer. Why? I think that despite everything which Mannix knows about the dirty dealings behind the scenes in Hollywood, he still believes in the magic of the movies and is still enthralled by it. He can walk onto a movie set and know in his head that it is a pile of lumber and painted canvas, yet in his heart marvel at the beauty which can be created from these mundane things. The same applies to the people making these movies; Mannix knows better than anyone how flawed and corrupt they are yet, almost in spite of themselves, they are able to produce films capable of moving and firing the imaginations of their audience. Hobie Doyle, an actor in westerns, is a breath of fresh air- someone who has thus far avoided picking up the artifice and inflated ego so prevalent at Capitol. He is thrust out of his comfort zone- westerns- and into a movie of manners and class. It's not a natural fit, but Hobie is earnest and hardworking, and willing to do anything he's asked to do. The scene in which the fussy director, Laurence Laurentz, attempts to break Hobie of his western drawl is one of the funniest ones in the film. It's also reminiscent of the scene in Singin' In The Rain when Linda Lamont is trying to learn to speak her lines properly. The arranged date which Hobie goes on with Carlotta Valdez gives us further examples of his charm. At the movie premiere, he is at first disappointed when it becomes evident that his song in the film was cut short and replaced with a prat fall by the comedic character. But as the audience laughs in delight at the scene, Hobie smiles again, happy that they are enjoying the picture. Also, the date could have been a complete disaster as they don't know each other, but both Hobie and Carlotta are genuinely nice, practical people, and they have a good time despite the circumstances. I loved Hobie's first, honestly curious question to Carlotta (a Carmen Miranda type), "Is it hard to dance with all them bernanners on your head?" There's also a charming little moment later at the night club, when the two of them both start singing along with the band, simply enjoying the music and having a good time. In a way, Hobie is the most real person at Capitol, and it's not really surprising that, when Mannix finally breaks down and tells somebody about what's going on, it is Hobie he confides in. It's a good choice because, despite his "Aw, shucks" persona, Hobie is sharp and observant and actually gives Mannix advice which leads him to The Future's henchmen. It is also Hobie who sees the ransom briefcase and tracks down Baird Whitlock. All in all, he's a great character. So those are some of my thoughts on Hail, Caesar! In my next post, I'll discuss the real-life Hollywood dramas which the Coen brothers drew from when writing the screenplay, the truth about communism in 1950's Hollywood, and some final observations about this film. Related Posts:“All Heaven and Earth Flowered white obliterate... Snow...unceasing snow” ― Bashō Matsuo, Japanese Haiku Well, I'm home from work today; the entire province is shut down due to a blizzard. A lot of snow is coming down and the wind is so high that visibility is pretty much nil. I had assumed we would be closed; the Halifax Regional Municipality announced last night that all government offices would be closed and the transit buses and ferries were being shut down in anticipation of the storm, which hit in the early hours of the morning. Even so- not gonna lie- when my boss texted me with official notification of closure, I momentarily had that remembered thrill of childhood when, getting ready for school on a snowy morning, you heard the radio announcement that all schools in the district were closed. And that reminded me of this Rick Mercer rant: UPDATE: Family and friends all over the Maritimes have been puttting pictures on Facebook of the storm from their locations; one of my my brothers posted this one: Related Posts: One of my nephews has gotten into the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and showed me some pictures he drew, inspired by them... Hephaestus, the Greek god of fire and volcanoes, blacksmith for the rest of the gods: And Ares, Greek god of war: My nephew was impressed by the fact that I knew who these characters were and could talk with him about them. His level of admiration dropped considerably, however, when I admitted that I knew them from the original Greek myths and have never read the Percy Jackson books.
The show last night was really, really good. I went with two of my sisters, as I had given them- and myself- tickets for Christmas. The weather held off, mostly because it was too cold to snow. There's no parking at Neptune Theatre, so we had to park several streets away, and the walk up to the theatre was freezing. It was worth it, though. Songs Of The Silver Screen was a joyous romp through the years of movie music, starting in the 1930's and going right up to present day. Ms. Myatt sang most of the songs, although there was also a male quartet who sang a few, together or separately, or in duets with Myatt. She had a lovely voice, by the way. The instrumental ensemble was really talented as well, especially the pianist and trumpeter. The songs were interspersed with clips from movies and old news reels and with Ms. Myatt talking about the songs and their time period, relating interesting facts or why the song she was about to sing was important to her (she wrote the show). It was all very interesting, and alternately amusing and touchingly nostalgic as we traveled through the history of cinema and song. There was a great mix of songs- everything from Lullaby of Broadway to Purple Rain, from Cruella De Vil to Moon River. Right before the Intermission, Ms. Myatt did a medley of Bond themes which was really impressive as well. All in all, it was a wonderful evening of song and film, and really demonstrated how impossible it is to separate the two. *** When I got home and checked Facebook, someone had shared this picture of downtown Halifax. It's pretty much right where we were scurrying along the streets last night, though it was too cold to stop and admire the view. It is a lovely one, though; this is looking up George Street to the Old Town Clock, with just a glimpse of the Citadel behind it.
I'm going to this show this evening. It should be a good time; I just hope the weather holds up- we had a big snow storm last night, and there's another one forecast for tomorrow. Hopefully it holds off at least until late tonight. Baird Whitlock wakes up and finds himself in a luxury beach house in Malibu. His kidnappers are members of a communist cell called The Future. Most of the members are Hollywood writers who are embittered by the fact that the studios they write for make most of the profits on their creations. Hence their devotion to Communism... they dream of the day when, in a leftist Utopia, all of the studio owners' money will be taken from them and given to the deserving- writers. Whitlock, never the sharpest tool in the shed, is at first alarmed, then confused, and then fascinated by the rhetoric of these "brilliant" men. He is soon soaking in the doctrine of Communism, almost forgetting that he was kidnapped. Speaking of which, the $100,000 ransom which The Future is demanding is to fund their cause because, as we can see by the way they lounge about the mansion drinking cocktails, the struggle is real. Meanwhile, back in the world of dirty capitalism, Hobie is out on his Mannix-mandated date with Carlotta. They attend his movie premiere and then go to a nightclub. Fortunately, Carlotta is as nice and down-to-earth as Hobie, and they have a good time together. Tipped off by Mannix, both of the Thacker sisters show up to attempt to get the scoop on the "relationship" between Hobie and Carlotta. Then, as they sit at their table, Hobie glances over at another table and sees the suitcase which he had seen Mannix put the ransom in at his office. It is by the seat of Burt Gurney, all-American actor, who subsequently gets up and leaves, briefcase in hand. Hurriedly apologizing to Carlotta for ending their evening early, Hobie hops in a car and follows Gurney at a distance as he heads out of town. It turns out that the luxury beach house in which The Future is meeting belongs to Burt Gurney, who is their leader. Once he arrives with the ransom, he orders his followers to row him out to sea. Once they reach a certain point, a Russian submarine surfaces and Burt Gurney boards it, off to U.S.S.R. His adoring commie followers implore him to take the ransom money for the cause. As they reach to hand the case to Gurney, his dog jumps from the rowboat into Burt's arms, knocking the money out of his hands. The case falls between the boats, sinking into the depths. Without a word, Gurney and his dog descend into the submarine, which then submerges. The writers are left to row disconsolately back to shore. Meanwhile back at the beach house, Hobie has cautiously entered, not knowing what to expect. Whatever he was imagining, it was probably not Baird Whitlock cluelessly lounging about, still in costume, sipping a cocktail. Ignoring Baird's witless babbling about the precepts of communism, Hobie hustles him into the car and hurriedly drives away to get the star back to Mr. Mannix. While on the road, a bunch of police cars pass by them, sirens wailing, headed for the beach house. It turns out that Mannix had tracked down the extras who had drugged Whitlock and found out from them where Baird had been taken. Back at the studio the following morning, Baird is sitting in Mannix's office, cheerfully burbling about his experiences. He makes the mistake of approvingly repeating the communist talking points, denigrating Capitol pictures as capitalist elites. Dumb as a bag of hammers, he doesn't notice the storm clouds gathering on Mannix's face. Mannix slowly rises, comes from behind his desk, and jerks Baird out of his chair by his collar, slapping him across the face several times. He tells Whitlock that he'd better not badmouth the studio again, and that he's to get back to work on the movie. Whitlock is shocked, and afraid- despite being a tough guy, he's not used to physical violence- but seems to get a hold on himself when Mannix orders him to act like a movie star. In the end, all is well. DeeAnna Moran marries and her husband will adopt her baby. Mannix also manages to put an end to Thora Thacker's threatened expose on Baird Whitlock. It turns out that her source was Burt Gurney and Mannix points out that it wouldn't do her reputation any good to let it be known that she was fraternizing with a Russian defector. All the films are back in production, especially Hail, Caesar! and Eddie Mannix finally makes a decision about the alternate job offer. He turns it down. Related Posts: O.K., who decided to make February 8th National Kite Flying Day? Obviously it was no one who lives in northern climes, because this time of year no one voluntarily leaves the house unless they're swathed in multiple layers of winter wear. The site I checked about this recommended packing a lunch and heading for a local park with a kite to celebrate the event. There's just one problem with this suggestion: if anyone did that here, they'd be standing in a foot of snow and their kite would be covered in ice, because it's currently freezing rain out there. Oh, well... just the same, here's the Sherman brothers' infectious kite song from Mary Poppins: Also, here's the kite scene from Saving Mr. Banks, one of the best scenes in the film: Related Posts: It was 65 years ago yesterday that Princess Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth, Queen of the United Kingdom and its Commonwealth (which includes Canada). This anniversary is, apparently, called the Sapphire Jubilee... it's always so hard to remember what the traditional gifts are for these occasions. Elizabeth gave us a bit of a scare over Christmas, when she came down with a bad cold and was bedridden for some time, but is now back on her feet; she's always been a tough cookie. A couple of years ago when she surpassed Queen Victoria as the longest reigning monarch, I wrote a post (link below) detailing why I admire the Queen so I won't do that again. Instead I'll post a few of my favourite pictures of her. This is, I think, 1945. Instead of being evacuated from London during the Blitz, Elizabeth volunteered with the Auxiliary Territorial Service, working as a driver and mechanic. This is a photo of Queen Elizabeth cracking up as she walks by a guard and realizes that it's her husband, Prince Philip in disguise. And this is a picture of Elizabeth firing a machine gun, just because it's cool: Fun fact: while the Queen was laid up over Christmas, she apparently passed the time watching old Laurel and Hardy films, according to this article. Sixty five years and counting- long may she reign! Related Posts: |
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