Babyteeth plus Short Takes on I See You, suggestions for TCM cable offerings, and other cinematic topics

“Riders on the Storm”

(song from The Doors [1971 L.A Woman album] chosen to lead things off with allusions to aspects of both reviews below: “Into this world we’re thrown […] Girl you gotta love your man Take him by the hand Make him understand” for Babyteeth; “There’s a killer on the road His brain is squirmin’ like a toad […] If you give this man a ride, sweet family will die Killer on the road,” parts of I See You)

Reviews and Other Comments by Ken Burke

I invite you to join me on a regular basis to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I’ll refer to as either the CCAL (Collective Critics at Large) when they’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they're negative. 

 But before we get down to business, I’d like to note my most regular reader, my wife Nina Kindblad (in terms of feedback I’m aware of because even faithful-contributor Richard Parker doesn’t chime in on every posting [close, though] whereas Nina always has something to say about all of them [mostly to me, sometimes in the way-at-the-end Comments], including catching my typos so those of you who come later to reading my chatter get the benefit of her sharp eye whereas early-readers literally get the worm in terms of occasional garbled attempts on my part to catch every mistake at 2am on Thursdays as the posting process drags on ... and on), and I share other connections besides Two Guys in the Dark because as of this week we’ve been married for 30 years, known each other for 3 years before that.  We’ve had to work through some (relatively minor, I hope she agrees) difficulties at times during those decades but overall it’s been (and will continue to be) a chance meeting at a Paul Simon concert evolved into a marvelous friendship/companionship/ intertwining of our “hearts and bones” (to borrow a line from a Simon song I won’t link you to because it’s ultimately about his failed marriage to Carrie Fisher; instead, I’ll dedicate "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her" [from the 1966 Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme album] to Nina, my everlasting love [not Emily, whomever she may be; Simon says she's just a generic metaphor, not one of my review-ending Musical Metaphors]), the best result of a relationship I could ever hope for.  The photo’s from our optimistic-attempt to finally eat at a restaurant again after months-long-lockdown (keeping social distance from others, wearing masks except when eating of course) at the Blue Agave Club in Pleasanton, CA; assuming we’re still healthy in coming weeks we plan for many more lovely anniversaries as we glide, seeking the best, into this planet’s evolving, unknown future.

                  

                  Babyteeth (Shannon Murphy)   rated MA-17

“Executive Summary” (no spoilers): As usual, streaming-options abound for me to watch, then report back to you while the moviehouses-shutdown continues (yes, there are a couple of drive-ins in my area, but I’d have to travel an hour one way to get to either of them, wait until about 9pm before it’d be dark enough for a show to start, bring my own refreshments, listen to the soundtrack on a small battery-powered-radio [my car radio cuts off soon after killing the engine and I’m not going to waste gas or pollute the air for anyone parked close to me by running the damn thing for 2 hours, nor would I be likely to stay for a second feature]), so I’ve followed the CCAL (successfully) on their recommendations for what to pick from among those many choices to focus on Babyteeth, set in Australia, about a teenage girl struggling with a heavy dose of cancer who further complicates her life (as well as those of her just-about-overwhelmed-parents) when she suddenly falls madly in love with a local drug dealer, a guy a bit older which is another aspect of his existence the parents aren’t crazy about.  That’s all I can say to stay out of the spoiler zone, although if you want to save the $6.99 it costs to rent this on Amazon Prime you can read my full details below; I’d encourage you to pay up and watch uninformed, though, as this is the sort of story that defines the best intentions/results of independent filmmaking, pulling no punches about the severity of Milla’s illness nor the interpersonal-traumas her situation produces for all concerned (also on a few U.S. screens for the last couple of weeks).  CCAL response to I See You(had very limited international release in late 2019/spring 2020) wasn’t as strong but the premise intrigued me anyway so I’ve covered in briefly in Short Takes as it starts out like a more-expected-haunted-community-story, then shifts into the realm of pure psychological horror without ever getting gory, just extremely tense.  Also in that section I’ll offer suggestions for some choices on the Turner Classic Movies channel (but too much extra text for line-justified-layout like you see here [Related Links stuff at each posting’s end is similarly-ragged], at least to be done by this burned-out-BlogSpot-drone—oh, you tedious software!) along with my standard dose of industry-related-trivia.

Here’s the Babyteeth trailer:

                   (Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge it; activate 

                   that same button or use the “esc” keyboard key to return to normal size.)

If you can abide plot spoilers read on, but this blog’s intended for those who’ve seen the film or want to save some bucks.  So, to help any of you who want to learn more details yet avoid important plot-reveals I’ll identify any give-away sentences/sentence-clusters like this: 

⇒The first and last words will be noted with arrows and red.⇐ OK, now continue on if you prefer.

What Happens: In a way, this film’s presented almost like a book as each scene opens with a superimposed title alluding to what we’ll see; of course, you can’t always easily understand the meanings of these “chapter” titles (I’d be curious to know if these breakdowns in the film relate to how chapters are determined on a DVD; maybe someday in the distant future—doubtful!—I’ll rent a disc of this film to find out) as they indicate the actions of scenes so you’d have to either remember what these headings said or—given you’ll likely only be able to see Babyteeth via streaming—you could just reverse to the scene start to refresh yourself if you really care about it that much.  (I don’t advise this with Amazon Prime, though, because their rewind/fast-forward modes go so rapidly it’s hard to know what you’re seeing, when to stop, etc.; in trying to just verify one little detail when we watched Babyteeth, Nina and I had to just finally accept, after several lurches back and forth, the closest we were going to get to the couple of minutes we wanted to see again was 20 min. into the past-narrative so we watched the long lead-up to our [insignificant] query again; that’s why when I don’t fully catch something while streaming [simultaneously watching, taking notes] I don’t always go back for verification [which does give me a tiny sense of being in a theater again where I can’t rewind anyway].)  It’s a bitter book, though, as it’s about a girl, Milla Finlay (Eliza Scanlen), in her mid-teens dealing with cancer (which isn’t discussed much directly but implied clearly throughout) who creates further tension for her parents by being annoyed at times with their constant concern for her, especially when she develops an intense attraction to Moses (Toby Wallace), a local drug dealer about 8 years her senior (a spread of more notable significance when those involved are at that young age, as her parents—Anna [Essie Davis] and Henry [Ben Mendelsohn]—are well aware).  

 Milla meets hunky, near-nude Moses by chance when she decides not to board a city train with her friends then strikes up a conversation with him just before he grabs the next one, quickly learns he’s currently homeless (evicted), gives him $50 in return for a clumsy, shaggy haircut (the parents aren’t thrilled, but she’s soon bald anyway, often wears a greenish/blue-wig [color seems to change based on lighting; mostly looks green as you see in the photos accompanying this review] to classes—Catholic, judging by the uniform), then wants him around on a regular basis which Anna and Henry attempt to tolerate even as they see no upside to their daughter’s infatuation.  (By the way, she also has a younger brother, Isaac [Zach Grech], but he’s not a key player here.)  Other aspects of family life enhancing what we know of the Finlays are: Milla attends an all-girls-school but seems to have few friends there except Jenny (Andrea Demetriades), she’s also a violinist whose teacher’s not impressed with her progress; Anna suffers from insomnia, is usually full of antidepressants so her responses to anything aren’t predictable, but at birth Milla was pulled out with forceps likely not doing either female much good; Henry’s professional advice is often discounted, as when he asks pregnant neighbor Toby (Emily Barclay) not to smoke, she refuses based on arcane Internet blather.

 Like it or not, Moses shows up at the Finlay home (a place where complications are slowly, regularly revealed such as when we learn the violin teacher, Gidon [Eugene Gilfedder], was attracted years ago to Anna but lost her to Henry, complicating what should be a neutral relationship with Milla) where Milla asks Moses to take her to the school formal (Anna has a nausea attack, is opposed to her daughter going to this big, possibly-overwhelming social event), Moses leaves, Milla slips away to find him that night, he says he has to work but goes with her anyway to a party he knows about where a woman kisses him, looks at Milla, asks if he’s babysitting.  Milla talks with another cancer-struggler, dances with some guy, drinks some vodka, Moses takes her away as she vomits.  ⇒At this point the plot events quicken: Milla’s in the hospital with a chest infection; Anna’s now off all of her pills; Gidon wants Anna to play a violin-piano duet with him but she refuses; Toby invites Henry in for tea then they kiss before he leaves; Henry wants Moses to stay at their home for Milla’s sake so Mr. Hot Stuff sleeps on the couch while Anna sleeps with Milla who now has a lump under her arm; Moses (by the way, not his real name, which I think was something like Trey Morrow) goes to see his ex and son but she sends him away so he returns to a big Finlay family celebration where Milla and Anna perform a duet; Milla wants Moses to suffocate her (ironic in our age of “I can’t breathe”) but he refuses at first, then does it, stops, she catches her breath and spits out a baby tooth, they kiss and go to sleep; when he wakes up the next morning she’s dead which hits Anna especially hard.  This seems to be the end of the film, but it’s followed by some home-movie-like-shots of the Finlays and Moses at the beach where first Henry, then Milla are taking photos.⇐

So What? If you haven’t seen a good teenager-stricken-by-cancer-film since The Fault in Our Stars (Josh Boone, 2014; review in our June 12, 2014 posting [please be tolerant of those horrible layouts and running-on-to-eternity-paragraphs of early Two Guys offerings])—a big winner at the 2014 Teen Choice Awards, Young Hollywood Awards, and the MTV Movie Awards—I think you’ll find this new Australian film to be quite worthwhile, even as it goes in an even darker direction than The Fault … .  If nothing else, it’s interesting because you don’t know what it’s about at times; for instance, when we first meet Henry and Anna we surmise he’s a psychiatrist, she’s his client, but as the session seems to be done she hops up on his desk so they can have sex which is interrupted by a phone call he answers, annoying her.  When we realize later they’re married we might be inclined to respect his attention to the call given he has a profession to maintain (whether she’s actually a patient of his I can’t say) or we might understand her frustration because with their attention to Milla (not always appreciated, let alone accepted) maybe opportunities for lovemaking at home don’t come around too often.  (At a session with another client, Henry abruptly leaves to go help neighbor Toby change a lightbulb, shocks himself in the process.)  Mostly the film’s attention, though, is on Milla, her justifiable anger at the medical-circumstance-card she’s been dealt by unfeeling-fate, her determination to get some passion into her life with Moses (although there’s no promised land he’s likely to lead her to), along with the sadness we easily feel for the daily struggles she must endure (Nina says maybe this is “more of a girl’s movie,” a viable comment, but it was also moving to me [who’s about as far from girlhood as you can get]).  In case you’re still wondering by now, the film’s title refers to the oddity of Milla still having some of her baby teeth (which should have been pushed or pulled out years ago), indicating her uniqueness within the community of characters we’re introduced to as well as the difficulty her medical condition leaves her with, in attempting to mature into full adulthood, although the loosening of her (last?) baby tooth at the end may well imply that she was now ready to start making that transition if only fate would allow her to.

Bottom Line Final Comments: The CCAL had no trouble supporting Babyteeth with Rotten Tomatoes giving it 93% positive reviews (of 79 cited) while the folks at Metacritc came up with a 76% average score.  (For MC that's “Generally favorable reviews” [more specifics on both review-accumulation-sites much farther below in the Related Links section, as with I See You in the next review too] because it’s hard to even get into the 80s-percentile with them as evidenced by the responses of critics surveyed by MC for this film with 20 positive and only 3 had mixed reactions; working with RT’s procedure, that would have given Babyteeth 87% positive responses, but at MC each review is assigned a specific number [in many cases I don’t know how their staff determines such a result if those original reviews aren’t numerically-grounded to begin with, as in 4 of 4 {100%} or 3.5 of 5 {70%}]; thus, at RT you just have to be seen as more supportive than not, which easily leads to much higher percentages of acceptance whereas MC’s numerical-determinations pull many of their results into the 70s-range at best while RT’s numbers soar, so with MC it’s not just a factor of only 3 mixed reactions, it’s also a situation of the numbers assigned to the 20 positive reviews which will ultimately determine a film’s final average.)  The story’s sensitive portrayal of Milla’s problems has gotten a lot of praise (screenplay’s by Rita Kalnejais, who wrote the play this film’s adapted from), just as has the emotional depth Scanlen brings to her role.  If you or anyone you’re close to has ever struggled with cancer, Babyteeth may be a bit hard to watch; on the other hand, it might offer some avenues toward healing from the pain of such a cruel situation as well as helping those of us without direct-cancer-wounds better understand how this vicious disease impacts not only the direct victim but also all who are close to her/him.   (In addition to streaming it's playing a little in the U.S. now—6 venues last week—but bringing in only a mere $4,000 so far.)

 You might know from previous Two Guys postings (or you’re about to learn now) how I prefer to end a review with a Musical Metaphor which speaks to the film under analysis from the perspective of the aural arts (to complement what surely must be understood as my fantastic contribution to the literary arts; thank you for your applause!), but what came to me immediately this time is a direct tip-off to my sanctioned spoiler info so I’m likely not keeping anything from you about this story’s conclusion except the involved details; nevertheless, I’ll continue on here to use Daryl Hall and John Oates’ “She’s Gone” (from their 1973 Abandoned Luncheonette album) at https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=bnVXIUyshng (a 1976 performance) which could easily reflect the feelings of the other main Babyteeth characters: "She’s gone, she’s gone Oh I, oh I I better learn how to face it She’s gone and she’s gone Oh I, oh I I’d pay the devil to replace her She’s gone and she’s gone Oh I What went wrong?”  But while she was still with us, Milla provided plenty to remember her by, thus I'll encourage you to fork over that $6.99 rental (on Amazon Prime or other platforms you'd prefer). 

             

SHORT TAKES (spoilers also appear here)

                     I See You (Adam Randall, 2019)   rated R

While early events might imply a supernatural disturbance in this community the narrative instead settles into a combination of psychological horror and Oscar-winner Parasite as mysterious occurrences within a home are actually the work of intruders while a parallel plot focuses on the disappearance in the area of young boys until it's all connected.  

Here’s the trailer:

      Before reading any further, I’ll ask you to refer to the plot spoilers warning far above.

(Useful photos for this movie were in short supply so I decided to go with a poster.)

 You might easily stumble across 2 other recent movies with the same title (and others similarly named) so if you’re choosing to rent ($2.99 on Amazon Prime, many other platforms; free if you’re a Prime subscriber or use their 30-day-free-trial) be sure you’re getting the one directed by Randall, starring Helen Hunt.  Once there you’ll find a narrative with some mysterious-happenings in the Harper home (Mom Jackie [Hunt], Dad Greg [Jon Tenney], teenage son Connor [Judah Lewis]) as various items disappear while another plot thread’s about a missing 10-year-old-boy—Greg’s the lead police detective on this case—reminiscent of previous disappearances ending in a conviction years ago.  The other problem in the Harper home: Jackie’s had an affair with Todd (Sam Trammell), so father and son are sour on her; Todd comes to visit, we vaguely see him killed in the basement with Jackie and Greg later burying him in the woods, worried Connor did it.  Connor, meanwhile, finds Internet footage of “phrogging”—intruders secretly sharing a house for awhile as a challenge—as is happening here so we’re getting into Oscar’s most-recent-Best Picture-territory of Parasite (Bong Joon-ho, 2019; review in our October 31, 2019 posting) as Mindy (Libe Barer) and Alec (Owen Teague)—who does a lot of attacking wearing a frog mask—take up residence, her just for the thrill of it, him with more devious intentions.  In an extended flashback we see the “phroggers” living in the attic, then later Mindy witnesses Greg killing Todd in the basement, she goes to Alec for aid; he's angry, pushes her down some stairs—knocking her out—stashes her in Greg’s car (Why?). 

 ⇒Greg drives to the woods, wanders off (Again, why?), Mindy comes to, finds an old trailer where Greg has young boys captive; she tries to free them but he overpowers her, takes her back home where he shoots her as Alec attacks with an ax, gets the gun, shoots Greg whose police partner arrives, wounds Alec, but as it all comes together (Alec off in an ambulance) we get a flashback of Greg encountering Alec as a young boy so he must also have been a victim of Greg’s horrors but somehow escaped.⇐  It gets more gruesome as it goes on; however, the plot’s intriguing, overall it’s a nice diversion from our current news—the CCAL’s also marginally-supportive with RT at 76% positive reviews, MC a 65% average score (just 8 reviews, though, so you might check back later); it’s had a brief-theatrical-life (United Arab Emirates, Dec. 2019; Portugal, March 2020; Netherlands, May 2020) generating about $588,000 total receipts.  I found it interesting enough, Nina liked it even more, while the Musical Metaphor that came to me is about my reaction to Greg with Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “The Smell” (from their 1977 Street Survivors album) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hib4n9RmFrQ (poor video but a solid 1977 live performance), which is, admittedly, about drug/alcohol abuse (plaguing the band at the time; ironically, on Oct. 20, 1977, just 3 days after the album’s release, 3 in the band were killed in a plane crash [including co-songwriter/lead singer Ronnie Van Zant], others were injured) but “the smell of death surrounds you” is how I think about Greg and his warped-lifestyle, just like grim-reality-saturated-irony took its toll on those musicians.

            

Suggestions for TCM cablecasts

              

At least until the pandemic subsides Two Guys also want to encourage you to consider movies you might be interested in that don’t require subscriptions to Netflix, Amazon Prime, similar Internet platforms (we may well be stuck inside for longer than those 30-day free initial offers), or premium-tier-cable-TV-fees.  While there are a good number of video networks offering movies of various sorts (mostly broken up by commercials), one dependable source of fine cinematic programming is Turner Classic Movies (available in lots of basic-cable-packages) so I’ll be offering suggestions of possible choices for you running from Thursday afternoon of the current week (given that I usually get this blog posted by early Thursday mornings) on through Thursday morning of the following week.  All times are U.S. Eastern Daylight so if you see something of interest please verify actual show time in your area for the day listed.  These recommendations are my particular favorites (no matter when they’re on, although some early-day-ones might need to be recorded, watched later), but there’s considerably more to pick from on TCM; feel free to peruse their entire schedule here.

Thursday July 2, 2020

4:30 PM A Hard Day’s Night (Richard Lester, 1964) Beatles’ big-screen-debut based loosely on their actual Beatlemania lives as world-sensation-rock-musicians now burst upon the scene. While a bit exaggerated in terms of what the Fab Four’s offstage lives were like, the performances accurately mirror the fan fanaticism of the time, while the overall movie incorporates some French New Wave-inspired looseness with visual approaches, meandering plot lines taking it to a notably higher level.

Friday July 3, 2020

3:30 PM She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (John Ford, 1949) Quite a cluster here of famous Ford westerns.  In this one (part of a trilogy with Fort Apache [1948], Rio Grande [1950]) John Wayne stars as a U.S. Cavalry Captain attempting to prevent an all-out war with local Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians rebelling against life on the reservation after Custer’s Little Big Horn defeat. Won Oscar for Best Color Cinematography, set, as many of Ford’s westerns, in the Navajo reservation.

8:00 PM My Darling Clementine (John Ford, 1946) A hallmark of the westerns genre, about the famous (somewhat-fictionalized) gunfight at the OK Corral with Marshall Wyatt Earp (Henry Fonda), Doc Holliday (Victor Mature) and Earp’s brothers taking on the Clanton gang, Linda Darnell as Doc’s somewhat-love interest, Cathy Downs as Clementine, shifting from Doc to Wyatt.  Verifies western movie myth as frontier vs. civilization, a foundational understanding of USA’s self-understanding.

10:00 PM The Searchers (John Ford, 1956) Widely-regarded as one of the best westerns as well as part of the long deconstruction of the genre, this focuses on a Civil War Rebel vet (John Wayne) with a hatred for Indians especially because they kidnapped his niece as a child, killed other relatives; he’s on a quest to bring her home but adolescent Debbie (Natalie Wood) wants to stay with Chief Scar: further trouble, intolerance, and deaths as neither side has any need for the other.

Saturday July 4, 2020

12:15 AM Stagecoach (John Ford, 1939) Brought the genre up to a more adult level with themes of East vs. West values, letter vs. spirit of the law, a story elevating John Wayne to the realm of major star (but Claire Trevor, as Dallas the prostitute, got top billing). Wayne’s an escaped (framed) jailbird out to avenge dishonor to his family (Indians aren’t treated well here either). Also stars Andy Devine, John Carradine, Thomas Mitchell (Oscar, Best Supporting Actor); Oscar for Best Music Scoring.

6:00 AM An American in Paris (Vincente Minnelli, 1951) All-time great musical about a painter in Paris (Gene Kelley), his neighbor (Oscar Levant), and the woman he loves (Leslie Caron), ends with a spectacular ballet set to Gershwin’s An American in Paris. Nominated for 8 Oscars, won for Best Picture, Story and Screenplay, Art Direction-Color, Cinematography-Color, Costume Design-Color, Scoring of a Musical Picture, plus an Honorary Oscar to Kelly for cinematic versatility, multi-talents. 

8:00 PM The Music Man (Morton DaCosta, 1962) My musicals preference is for the spectacular 
(An American in Paris) or of the Modern subgenre (Cabaret)—note the Minnelli connection—but this one’s so exuberant it’s hard not to take "note." Based on a successful Broadway play, it’s about conman “Professor” Harold Hill (Robert Preston) setting up an Iowa town for a big payday but finds love instead. It was nominated for 6 Oscars, won for Best Musical Score (Adaptation or Treatment).

Sunday July 5, 2020

6:00 PM Strangers on a Train (Alfred Hitchcock, 1951) Acclaimed thriller where tennis star Guy Haines (Farley Granger) wants to be rid of his promiscuous wife, marry someone else, so he arranges with Bruno Antony (Robert Walker) to kill her in exchange for Guy killing Bruno’s father, given neither has motive for such crimes so they won’t be suspected. Bruno completes his end of the deal, but Guy hesitates to do the same so Bruno continues to put blackmail pressure on him.

Monday June 29, 2020

5:15 AM The Red Balloon (Albert Lamorisse, 1956) This little gem (which runs only 35 minutes) is a fantasy about a boy (Pascal Lamorisse) who encounters a helium-filled balloon which seems to have a consciousness of its own, following him around wherever he might go in his Belleville neighborhood of Paris.  Although the plot turns serious at the end (with religious/metaphysical overtones, even if about balloons) it’s mostly a delightful, colorful, whimsical travelogue. 

Tuesday June 30, 2020

12:15 PM The Philadelphia Story George Cukor, 1940) A screwball comedy standard (from a very popular play, also starred Katharine Hepburn) with Cary Grant as the ex-husband of Hepburn who’s set to remarry when her ex shows up along with journalist James Stewart. Potential bride Hepburn finds herself re-attracted to Grant, also intrigued by Stewart as the triangle (as well as the would-be groom) continues right to the end. Oscars for Best Actor (Stewart) and Best Adapted Screenplay.

4:15 PM Gaslight (George Cukor, 1944) Origin of “gaslighting,” now used to sow confusion for nefarious political purposes. An opera star (Ingrid Bergman) marries a man (Charles Boyer) whose true intention is to find precious jewels hidden in their attic (among stored belongings of her aunt, murdered for the loot); he convinces his wife she’s going insane so she’ll be put away. Nominated for 7 Oscars, won for Best Actress (Bergman), Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White.

Wednesday July 8, 2020

6:30 AM House of Wax (Andre DeToth, 1953) Another of my deviations from high-quality choices into the realm of camp, with this horror-crime movie famous for its Vincent Price starring role as a sculptor with a wax museum who avenges himself on his various enemies with a grotesque twist to the plot. Originally shot for the early ‘50s 3-D craze it may look a bit odd now shown in 2-D video. 

10:00 PM Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks, 1938) Like The Philadelphia Story, a quintessential screwball comedy with Cary Grant as an easily-befuddled paleontologist on the verge of finishing a Brontosaurus skeleton and marrying a prim woman we know isn’t a right match especially after he meets a flighty heiress (Katharine Hepburn) who continually gets him in increasingly-embarrassing situations even as romance develops between them. Only movie I can recall featuring 2 leopards.

Thursday July 9, 2020

12:00 AM A Night at the Opera (Sam Wood, 1935) One of the most famous of Marx Brothers movies (just Groucho, Harpo, and Chico; Zeppo left the act) but. as their first with MGM, tamer than earlier work at Paramount so now the plot’s somewhat more coherent plus there are several musical numbers (including opera) added. Essentially, it’s about an ocean liner trip from Italy to the U.S. (features the famous overcrowded-stateroom-scene) so an aspiring singer can become a big star.

1:45 AM The Producers (Mel Brooks, 1967) First version, later adapted to a successful Broadway musical (spawning another movie).  Flimflam artist/stage producer Zero Mostel, nervous accountant Gene Wilder seek riches by getting too many investors for a show doomed to fail, Springtime for Hitler by ex-Nazi Kenneth Mars, starring wacky hippie Dick Shawn. But, it’s seen as satire, becomes a hit. Excellent balance keeps this as hilarious, not repulsive; Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

3:30 AM Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (Frank Capra, 1936) Sincere but unsophisticated small-towner Longfellow Deeds (Gray Cooper) inherits a fortune, is set up to lose it by a scheming attorney, used by a reporter (Jean Arthur) to advance her career until she falls in love. Deeds uses his money to give away small farms to homeless families so the lawyer tries to have him declared mentally incompetent. If you know Capra (won the Oscar for Best Director), you know that won’t happen.

If you’d like your own PDF of ratings/summaries of this week's reviews, suggestions for TCM cablecasts, links to Two Guys info click this link to access then save, print, or whatever you need.

Other Cinema-Related Stuff: Here are a few other items: (1) HBO Max brings back Gone With the Wind adding disclaimers about slavery; (2) Christopher Nolan's Tenet now set for release on August 12, 2020; (3) AMC Theaters reopening delayed until July 30, 2020 for 450 of its venues, with the rest of the 600+ held back until early August (also contains a map of theater closure status in each state); (4) Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences invites 891 new members (surprisingly, not including me) which would push total membership up to 9,412, a good number of the new ones being women, people of color, international—a complete list of the invitees is included in the article.  As usual for now I’ll close out this section with Joni Mitchell’s "Big Yellow Taxi" (from her 1970 Ladies of the Canyon album)—because “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘till it’s gone”—and a reminder you can search streaming/rental/purchase movie options at JustWatch.

Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:

We encourage you to visit the summary of Two Guys reviews for our past posts.*  Overall notations for this blog—including Internet formatting craziness beyond our control—may be found at our Two Guys in the Dark homepage.  If you’d like to Like us on Facebook please visit our Facebook page. We appreciate your support whenever and however you can offer it!

*Please ignore previous warnings about a “dead link” to our Summary page because the problems’ been manually fixed so that all postings since July 11, 2013 now have the proper functioning link.

Here’s more information about Babyteeth:

https://www.babyteeth.movie/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdZmrWatbXA (41:43 interview with director Shannon Murphy and actors Eliza Scanlen, Toby Wallace)

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/babyteeth

https://www.metacritic.com/movie/babyteeth

Here’s more information about I See You:

https://www.paramountmovies.com/movies/i-see-you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mIiBAv8xz0 (5:09 a couple of young women watch and react to the trailer [above in this posting with the review], not to the actual movie; this is about all I could find in terms of an extension on I See You but it’s almost useless, sort of like a not-as-interesting version of SNL’s “Wayne’s World”)

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/i_see_you_2019 

https://www.metacritic.com/movie/i-see-you

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If you’d rather contact Ken directly rather than leaving a comment here please use my email address of kenburke409@gmail.com.  (But if you truly have too much time on your hands you might want to explore some even-longer-and-more-obtuse-than-my-film-reviews—if that even seems possible—academic articles about various cinematic topics at my website, 

https://kenburke.academia.edu, which could really give you something to talk to me about.)

If we did talk, though, you’d easily see how my early-70s-age informs my references, Musical Metaphors, etc. in these reviews because I’m clearly a guy of the later 20^th century, not so much the contemporary world.  I’ve come to accept my ongoing situation, though, realizing we all (if fate allows) keep getting older, we just have to embrace it, as Joni Mitchell did so well in "The Circle Game," offering sage advice even when she was quite young herself.

By the way, if you’re ever at The Hotel California knock on my door—but you know what the check out policy is so be prepared to stay for awhile. Ken

P.S.  Just to show that I haven’t fully flushed Texas out of my system here’s an alternative destination for you, Home in a Texas Bar, with Gary P. Nunn and Jerry Jeff Walker.  But wherever the rest of my body may be my heart’s always with my longtime-companion, lover, and wife, Nina Kindblad, so here’s our favorite shared song—Neil Young’s "Harvest Moon"

—from the performance we saw at the Desert Trip concerts in Indio, CA on October 15, 2016 (as a full moon was rising over the stadium) because “I’m still in love with you,” my dearest, a never-changing-reality even as the moon waxes and wanes over the months/years to come.

            

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Finally, for the data-oriented among you, Google stats say over the past month the total unique hits for us were 39,732 (as always, we thank all of you for your support—especially our mysterious fans in the “Unknown Region” [and Google makes maps?]—with our hopes you’ll continue to be regular readers); below is a snapshot of where those responses have come from within the previous week:

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