Palm Springs plus Short Takes on suggestions for TCM cable offerings and other cinematic topics

Love Is Better … the 1000^th Time Around?

  

Reviews and 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 go negative.

 Palm Springs (Max Barbakow)   rated R

“Executive Summary” (no spoilers): To borrow a useful line from my review-concluding Musical Metaphor (to be explored much farther below): “If I had ever been here before I would probably know just what to do Don’t you?”  But this posting is semi-unexplored-territory for me due to the challenge BlogSpot has decided sometime this month they’re shifting entirely to new Blogger software, so in an attempt to face that reality before it becomes mandatory (“If I had ever been here before on another time around the wheel I would probably know just how to deal”—but I don’t, at least not yet) I’m posting this edition of the blog using the new structure to force myself to work with aspects of it I must now accept (3:04 AM, 7/16/2020—Yikes! There were more hurdles than I anticipated but hopefully got most of it under control); therefore, you’ll see some changes in the layout which are the best I can do with these “improvements.”  (Which Google admits are intended to make BlogSpot posts more accessible on smart phones—that's never been my goal [sorry, Millennials], much preferring how my text looks on a desktop computer, ancient sage that I am [72 and counting] with commentary ultimately intended for dinosaurs like me, especially those who’d prefer to read my entire blather rather than pay full price for a screening [even if it’s considerably less now for streaming] or who’d like some extensive (informed?) chatter to mull over after having actually seen what I’m reviewing rather than just those “can’t-give-anything-away” preview-reviews found in diverse forms of media on opening weekends.)  

 Thus, my decision to review only 1 movie this time to somewhat reduce whatever obstacles I might face with the new software (although I did see some other worthwhile stuff on my local PBS channel, Best Picture Oscar-winners All the King’s Men [Robert Rossen, 1949] and Chariots of Fire [Hugh Hudson, 1981], both of which I encourage you to pursue through whatever option you might consider—and, of course, I rambled on so much that my posting’s as long as it would have been had I added another review, but this movie’s premise is fascinating enough to keep me going, despite some concerns with it).  My solo choice is Palm Springs because it got solid (even exceptional) reviews, I enjoy the comic stylings of Andy Samberg, and the concept appeals to me, even though the comparisons to Groundhog Day are too obvious to ignore (which I gripe about some below).  Essentially, we’re back in the time-loop-conundrum where a young guy keeps waking up on the same day, when his (unfaithful) girlfriend’s BFF is to be married but he’s been through this routine so many times he generally shows little interest in anything except another can of beer; however, things take a different twist this specific-reception-night when he gets involved with the bride’s sister, unwittingly pulling her into his dilemma which she detests at first, then begins to accommodate herself to this new reality.  Also, in the Short Takes 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, ye tedious software!) along with my standard dose of industry-related-trivia.

Here’s the 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 $.  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, continue on if you prefer.

What Happens: Nyles (Andy Samberg) wakes up in the spacious bedroom he shares with girlfriend Misty (Meredith Hagner) in a large home in the desert near Palm Springs, CA where she’s a bridesmaid fo her best friend, Tala (Camila Mendes), set to marry Abe (Tyler Hoechlin) that afternoon, November 9 (date becomes crucial in context).  Mindy’s ready for quick sex before showering but Nyles has unexpected ED (context will clear that up later as well) so she’s off to the bathroom while he simply masturbates.  As the day goes on we see Nyles not much interested in anything except drinking another beer, floating in the pool (while drinking more beer); later, he’s at the reception in shorts and a red Hawaiian shirt (I’ve got several of those plus other colors of the rainbow even though I’ve attended only 2 weddings [first my nephew; then my friend, Barry Caine—who inadvertently inspired this blog] since my own in 1990 [where I wore a blue Hawaiian shirt and a white suit]), still in his nonchalant state when Tara’s sister, Sarah (Cristin Milioti), the maid of honor’s called on for a speech which she can’t deliver because she’s too drunk (her parents, Howard [Peter Gallagher] and Pia [Jacqueline Obradors] aren’t happy with her because she drinks too much, sleeps around easily; she’s not happy with herself due to a previous failed marriage) so Nyles jumps in, delivers a fine, heartwarming tribute to the new couple (Tara’s seen as practically a saint having donated bone marrow to save her younger brother some years ago), then later hits on Sarah whom he shares hedonistic tendencies with.  Soon they’re off in the desert, warming up for sex (after they peek through a window where Misty’s getting it on with another guy—thus, the earlier ED) when Nyles is suddenly shot with arrows fired by angry Roy (J.K. Simmons); wounded, he drags himself into a nearby, red-glowing cave with Sarah coming in after him even though he tells her not to.  Next morning—she assumes—Sarah wakes up to find events, dialogue, etc. of Nov. 9  reoccurring all around her so she confronts Nyles in the pool to know what’s going on.  He explains the cave’s thrown her into the same repeated-time-loop he’s been in for an undetermined (but extremely lengthy) form of purgatory from which there seems to be no escape because anytime he enters the cave, goes to sleep, loses consciousness, or dies he wakes up again on Nov. 9, being the only one aware of the loop—but Sarah’s now in it as well (as is Roy, whom Nyles met during some version of the wedding reception long ago, complaining about his life and marriage, seemingly wanting an escape.  After sharing some drugs, Nyles led Roy into the cave; however, this new initiate hates the situation so periodically he leaves his home, finds Nyles, kills him in some brutal fashion [yes, you survive death but not the prior suffering] so Nyles does whatever he can to have quick terminations).

 Sarah’s tries to escape the loop by suicide, takes uppers to stay awake so she can drive back to her home in Austin, TX, makes some secret altruistic gesture toward Tala, all to no avail so she decides to join Nyles in nihilistic romps on these repeated days, indulging in all sorts of fun (crashing a small airplane; planting, then throwing away, a small bomb in the wedding cake to the shocked-horror of the guests).  Finally, they’re in the desert one night after eating mushrooms (they watch a couple of Brontosauruses in the distance, seemingly a hallucination), then have sex, but when we see Sarah the next (OK, same) morning she’s in Abe’s bed; she’s in an affair with him unbeknownst to Tala, now feels horribly guilty but doesn’t tell Nyles; instead she focuses on getting him to work things out with Roy, driving erratically assuming the cop car behind them is driven by Roy (she’s right).  While he’s about to shoot Nyles, Sarah gets in his car, rams into him (injured but not dead, expires later after a painful ICU stay, then back in the loop); they’re immediately arrested by an actual motorcycle cop called in for backup.  While handcuffed, Nyles finally admits they’ve had sex many times before she came into loop-consciousness but now he’s truly attracted to her (despite his previous attitude of life as meaningless, hers that love’s not really possible).  Furious, she runs in front of a truck, wakes up the next day to tell Abe the affair’s over (not that he’ll remember, but it won’t matter because she’ll drive off every day before anyone knows she’s awake), goes to a local diner, spends the day(s) on the Internet learning about quantum physics (doesn’t come to the wedding or reception for many reruns), devises a plan to set off explosives in the cave to propel herself out of the loop (How? Beats me!), verifies it via a test on a goat, tells Nyles her plan, but he wants to stay in the loop with her (where all sorts of problems—Tala trips and busts some teeth, Nyles confronts Abe about his infidelity [a clue reveals the truth about him and Sarah]—disappear with the arrival of the next dawn).

 ⇒She’s ready to leave, though, so at that night’s reception she finally gives her own fine, heartfelt-speech (congratulated, as had been Nyles back at the movie’s beginning, by Nana Schlieffen [June Squibb] indicating she knows Sarah’s leaving [Is she in the loop too?  If so, how did she know about Sarah’s plan?]), heads for the cave, Nyles joins her at the last minute, ready for whatever happens including dying from the blast.  After the explosion we see them in a neighbor’s pool (Nyles often hung out there during the day because they were away somewhere), the family now returned on Nov. 10 so we know the escape plan worked.  As we get into the credits there’s a short scene of Roy talking to Nyles at the original Nov. 9 reception (I’ll explain below), saying Sarah told him about the escape plan; however, Nyles hasn’t met him yet, doesn’t know who he is (Roy’s the only one in the loop now so this version of Nyles hasn’t stumbled into that fateful cave), verifying to Roy escape is possible so he’ll now be able to enjoy the daily progression of his home life (he came to different understandings of existence after his ICU death), as he’s now content with his wife and twin boys.⇐

So What? In my posting last week I focused on The Truth (Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2019), where a famous-but-aging-French-movie-star (Catherine Deneuve) writes an autobiography which infuriates both her adult daughter and her long-time-manager, due to lies about the former, complete deletion of the later (in defense, she says its “my book”) so I linked my comments to lyrics from Jackson Browne’s "Fountain of Sorrow" with the line “It would be easier sometimes to change the past” (not that the singer thinks this is possible, it’s just a melancholy comment on how the present’s often so entangled due to what’s come before it seems impossible to find a clear path back into clarity, healing, recovery); this sentiment’s made more direct in a Joni Mitchell song, “The Circle Game,” I always use at the end of each posting (scroll way down there to see my rationale and to hear it if you like; I’m not repeating it here because I like to encourage readers to discover all that stuff that comes after the reviews and TCM suggestions) where she sings “We can’t return we can only look behind From where we came.”  However, a completely different attitude emerges in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “The Great Gatsby” (1925) where neighbor Nick says the past can’t be repeated to which Gatsby replies "‘Can’t repeat the past?’ he cried incredulously. ‘Why of course you can!’" as he intends to free his lost-love, Daisy, from her obnoxious husband, rekindle the flame he once had with her when, due to his lack of wealth vs. her substantial social standing, he had to pull away, find a means to build his fortune.  Well, if you know the book (if not, it should be high on your reading list) you know retrieving the past didn’t work out for Jay Gatsby but it becomes a seeming-life-sentence for Nyles who wakes up every morning in his bedroom with Misty, knows generally how the day’s going to evolve with the wedding and reception (depending on whatever he might do to change the course of events for that particular iteration before the usual reset happens as he awakens for the next do-over), so in his case you not only can repeat the past but you also can make some short-term-changes (which Nyles will remember but no one else will because they don’t realize they’re simply assigned players in his arbitrary-existence, at least until Roy, then Sarah, join this recycled-consciousness where they also know it’s all occurred before yet nothing any of them can do will prevent their fate: “Call it a night The party’s over And tomorrow starts The same old thing again” ("The Party's Over" from the 1967 album The Party’s Over and Other Great Willie Nelson Songs).

 This is a fascinating premise, although you’ve probably encountered it before maybe in Steven King’s novel 11/22/63 (2011) in which a man in the present enters a time portal attempting to prevent the JFK assassination, but his limitations are that every time he goes in he arrives on September 9, 1958 and must live in the past in real time until Nov. 1963; yet, if he goes back to his 2011 present (as if he never left) his newly-aged-years are a reality in his body (whereas Nyles hasn’t aged a day even though he’s apparently been trapped in his time cycle probably for years) but he does have the same situation of restarting from a specific moment in time, 1958 in his case, and erasing any changes he’d previously caused when he again goes back into the past (a fascinating read I highly recommend).  Nevertheless, probably where you know this time-loop-concept is from Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis, 1993) where Bill Murray plays cocky, cynical weatherman Phil Connors, sent to Punxsutawney, PA for the famous rodent’s appearance every February 2, with the prediction of more winter/early spring.  Unlike in Palm Springs, though, we see Phil’s original Feb. 2 after which he keeps waking up on that day to a clock radio blaring Sonny & Cher’s "I Got You Babe" (inserted here unnecessarily because it’s one of my wife, Nina’s, favorite songs; we even did karaoke of it once in a small restaurant with—thankfully—few patrons, late in the night); over endless-repetitions Phil becomes “a better man” (to steal a Jack Nicholson line from As Good As It Gets [James L. Brooks, 1997]), falls in love with Rita (Andie MacDowell), earns his way out of his repetitive-loop.  With Nyles we join him way into his ordeal which he’s countered by drinking lots of beer (with the reset it doesn’t seem to have impacted his gut, which ought to be in the 60-inch-range by now), having sex with everyone in the vicinity (some males included, for variety), resigned to never being able to escape this fate while his best daily hope is not being tortured to another awful death by Roy.

 The other movie I reviewed in my posting last week is the new Will Ferrell-Rachel McAdams comedy, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (David Dobkin), which I took to task a bit for sharing so many elements (including the structure of the title) with a previous Ferrell comedy, Talladega Nights: The Story of Ricky Bobby (Adam McKay) which would seem to give me good reason to do the same thing here with Palm Springs because the concept is so reminiscent of Groundhog Day, even as I'd be acknowledging the changes that make it more complex with the inclusion of a couple of other characters into the recurring wedding day/reception night (although every review I’ve read acknowledges that “borrowing” while still praising the Barbakow-Andy Siara [screenwriter]-version for its creative twists on the original concept; plausible argument, yet obvious rip-off nevertheless).  I do find the additional elements enjoyable, but there’s sure a lot of repetition to discount here: (1) Instead of a radio-wake-up-song Nyles is stirred awake each repeated day by Misty wanting to have quick sex with him before the wedding festivities; (2) Phil's a scoundrel at first, doing things to the townspeople to enhance his own pleasure before he begins his reformation whereas Nyles is a semi-drunken pleasure-seeker who has no sense of improving himself because he sees no point in it until he develops true feelings for Sarah (like Phil for Rita); (3) Neither movie has any attempt at an explanation for why these endless-loops occur to their protagonists, although Palm Springs does at least have a physical site (the red cave) which draws anyone who enters into the same loop but there’s not even speculation as to why this happens; (4) Both male protagonists in these movies are moved to improve themselves due to the attractive-decency of the women who ultimately become their partners.  (Although the truly-admirable-woman in Palm Springs is Tala, at least until Sarah devotes herself to knowledge-improvement rather than ongoing-daily-distractions, ultimately giving Nyles reason to follow her lead rather than just continue in their daily reverie—she, however, expresses concern if they can stay together after escaping the loop, that they’ll grow bored with each other, but I predict that would be more likely to happen if they stayed within their confined existence where they’d eventually run out of daily experiments because nothing around them would ever stay changed once either of them fell asleep or died, pushing both back into yet-another-reset.)

 That reminds me of a continuity-question: We see from the events that once Nyles and Sarah are together in the wedding-day-loop all it takes for a restart for both of them is either one losing consciousness, not just falling asleep, as evidenced by the reset when Sarah runs in front of a truck in the middle of the day.  However, how does Roy’s wakefulness/sleep enter into all this?  As Nyles tells us, we don’t always see Roy because he can make conscious decisions to change things around himself as well (at least for each day) so he doesn’t always come to the wedding to stalk Nyles as he increasingly grows happy with his marriage and family in Irvine (about 92 miles from Palm Springs), so does the daily reset only happen with the actions of Nyles or Sarah or does Roy have any control over it?  Further, if Roy’s only living one day at a time, then repeating it, how does he get his wife pregnant to have their young twins that quickly? Sure, he can get her pregnant on a given day, but that’s not supposed to carry over for her over 9 months to produce these kids, is it?  Plus, they have to grow into their present ages; maybe that was all in place before Roy went into the cave, but if so he sure came to appreciate his family much better after his painful-death-experience.

 ⇒And there’s that within-credits-final-scene where Roy realizes Nyles and Sarah have escaped the loop so he can too; I was confused by it at first, but this short video (7:28, with its own spoilers)—which finally helped me realize Nyles is at the reception in a suit and tie, not his usual casual shirt and shorts—helped me get it straight: Sarah sent Roy a message about her loop-escape-plan before she and Nyles attempted it; once they were out, Roy’s loop continued into another repeat; when he asks Nyles about the escape Nyles doesn’t even know him because they didn’t meet on the night of the original reception (before Nyles presumably went into the cave)—that came later on a Nyles repeat—so the Nyles in Roy’s repeat is now just like everyone else at the event, completely unaware of the time loop, confirming to Roy the escape happened; as this video indicates, that means Roy and Niles don’t enter the cave that first night they meet so Roy should be freed by the next morning as well.  Now, whether Nana was also aware of herself in the loop (as she bids goodbye to Sarah on escape night) and why, as the camera pans way up from Nyles and Sarah in the neighbor’s pool, do we again see those dinosaurs in the distance I have no explanation, but these little items make for nice-after-screening-amusement-and-discussion.⇐   Fun entertainment experiences like this (with a little poignancy thrown in) probably shouldn’t be analyzed too closely, but, yet … .  Ultimately, I liked Palm Springs despite its clear debt to Groundhog Day, don’t want to fault it too heavily over plot devices that could probably be racked up to the mysteries of quantum physics, and especially think it’s worth your while if you’re already a Hulu subscriber or want to slip in for a month under their free-trial-policy to see this and anything else interesting they might come up with in these next few weeks.

Bottom Line Final Comments: The CCAL’s very supportive (rightly so, in overall general terms, despite my specific nitpicking) on this efficiently-structured-movie (90 min.) with Rotten Tomatoes reviewers offering 92% positive responses while those at Metacritic come in with an extremely-encouraging 84% average score (tying for the second-highest score of anything both they and I have noted of 2020 releases—The Vast of Night [Andrew Patterson; review in our June 4, 2020 posting] being the other one at 84% [only Never Rarely Sometimes Maybe [Eliza Hittman; review in our April 9, 2020 posting], is higher at 92%]).  Without having read Mick LaSalle’s review in our local San Francisco Chronicle prior to watching Palm Springs, Nina immediately said its premise reminded her of what we’ve been experiencing for the past few months with our semi-shutdown where we only go out for medical or grocery needs or the very rare outdoor dinner (the latter now stopped again in our Alameda county home because of the recent surge in coronavirus cases), each day mostly flowing into the next with hardly any difference watching the same news of idiocy by the Trump administration, desperate pleas from notable medics to work more diligently to try to keep this pandemic under control; because I didn’t transcribe Nina’s statement I’ll just repeat LaSalle's: “In this way, ‘Palm Springs,’ which was conceived and filmed long before COVID-19, arrives at a time in which its audience is having something like the experience depicted in the movie. Not only are our days similar, but we’re experiencing the unexplainable cycles within that sameness. That is, we’re finding out firsthand that we can feel completely different — content and cozy or fearful and frustrated — on days that are otherwise identical.”  See, great minds do think alike (although in a good number of other circumstances I prefer Nina’s decisions to LaSalle’s).  Hulu’s also ecstatic about excellent streaming response to Palm Springs, a  record high for them.

 So, as it’s time for my endless-loop-of-commentary to finally offer you an escape, I’ll wrap up with my usual finishing-tactic of a Musical Metaphor to aurally provide a final comment on what’s come before.  My first consideration was Cyndi Lauper’s "Time After Time" (from her 1983 She’s So Unusual album; video’s a live 1984 performance [lyrics under the YouTube screen if you want to sing along])—which, if you can remember from so damn many paragraphs above is used in the trailer (Also in the movie?  I can’t remember.)—but given how many times around the wheel it took before Sarah and Nyles connected on anything but a “just wanna have fun”-level (to borrow another line from Ms. Lauper) I don’t really think “If you’re lost, you can look and you will find me […] If you fall, I will catch you, I’ll be waiting Time after time” adequately addresses what we encounter in Palm Springs.  Similarly, there’s "The Time Warp" (from The Rocky Horror Picture Show [Jim Sharman, 1975] soundtrack) which reflects Nyles’ attitude for most of this story: “With a bit of a mind flip You’re into the time slip And nothing can ever be the same […] But it’s the pelvic thrust That really drives you insane,” as he’s found himself in a similar predicament as the 3 characters in Jean-Paul Sartre’s play, No Exit (1944), where they’re in a plain room in Hell, unwilling to go through a door when it opens, afraid of what might await them beyond their confined-but-known-existence.  That tune seemed a bit limiting as well, considering how Palm Springs actually evolves, bringing me to my actual Metaphor choice, “Déjà Vu” by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (from their 1970 album named for this song) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCs6Tpd5sFQ in recognition of the “exit” strategy concocted by Sarah who takes it upon herself to find a solution to this seemingly-insurmountable-problem thereby giving Nyles the option of pushing past his “Let’s do the Time Warp again” mentality as she’s explored deeper understandings of their dilemma: “Feel like I’ve been here before And you know it does make me wonder What’s going on under the ground [in the red cave] Do you know? Don’t you wonder? What’s going on Down under you We have all been here before.”  We’ve all been there before, on Groundhog Day, but that earlier trip has its own virtues, which this one's building on.

 Palm Springs adds some new twists to the time-loop-concept, is quite entertaining (even if the cave’s mysterious existence is never attempted to be explained any more than we’re really expected to understand Sarah's conquest of quantum mechanics), and it's easily available for streaming on Hulu where (if you take note on your calendar) you can sign up now for a free month, then opt out if you remember that note (even if not, it’s only $5.99 a month with other interesting options likely to emerge so you’re saving a fortune compared to a month’s worth of our long-forgotten-movie-tickets).

               

SHORT TAKES 

                

Suggestions for TCM cablecasts

                 

 At least until the pandemic subsides Two Guys also want to encourage you to consider movies you might be interested that don't require subscriptions to Netflix, Amazon Prime, or similar Internet platforms (we may well be stuck inside 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 you could like better; feel free to peruse their entire schedule here.

Friday July 17, 2020

10:15 PM The Grapes of Wrath (John Ford, 1940) A masterwork of cinema despite being somewhat sanitized (especially the final scene in the film, even though it’s in a different part of the book) from John Steinbeck’s Pulitzer-Prize-winning-novel about the Oakie Joad family leaving a drought-ridden farm for a supposedly-better-life out west in California during the Great Depression.  Stars Henry Fonda but also great work from John Carradine, Jane Darwell, especially in the heart-breaking-but-inspirational scene as Tom leaves the family. Oscars for Best Director, Supporting Actress (Darwell).

Saturday July 18, 2020 

4:15 AM Brewster McCloud (Robert Altman, 1970) One of Altman’s quirky comedies about a young guy (Bud Cort) hiding out in the Houston Astrodome, building wings so he can fly, helped by Louise (Sally Kellerman) who may be a fallen angel, but soon he’s chased by police convinced he’s a serial killer.  No spoiler here on the ending but it has some resemblance to Fellini’s 8½ (with other movie references throughout).  Critical response is divided, definitely a film for me but not for all tastes.

8:00 PM The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 1941) Some claim this started the troubled-crime-tradition of film noir: Humphrey Bogart as Dashiell Hammett’s streetwise-private-eye, Sam Spade, whose life gets complicated when the takes on Brigid O’Shaughnessy (Mary Astor) as a client searching for the priceless “black bird.”  A fabulous cast includes Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Elisha Cook Jr.  Masterful ‘Hardboiled-detective” story with a sense of morality amongst greed.

Sunday July 19, 2020

2:15 PM Singin’ in the Rain (Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, 1952) Beloved-musical (a standard for achievement in its genre) starring Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O’Connor, Jean Hagen, and Cyd Charisse about Hollywood’s clumsy transition into sound movies, plus romance between a male star and a female newcomer with great potential; features the fabulous “Broadway Melody” sequence, one of the grandest of all MGM spectaculars, along with many songs from previous MGM musicals.

Monday July 20, 2020

4:45 AM Winter Light (Ingmar Bergman, 1963) Part of a soul-searing trilogy (Through a Glass Darkly, 1961; The Silence, 1963) dealing in some manner with the awful silence of God, questions about faith having no meaning in this story about a pastor (Gunnar Björnstrand), a troubled couple (Gunnel Lindblom, Max von Sydow) of his parishioners, and a teacher (Ingrid Thulin) who tries unsuccessfully to comfort the pastor; gloomy as hell but well worth it for the quality in this production.

8:00 AM Rebel Without a Cause (Nicholas Ray, 1955) Iconic James Dean role, a strong contender for best of his 3 powerful cinematic appearances (before his untimely death), as he plays a troubled teen whose independent streak just brings more difficulties from adults (including his parents) and a local gang, even as he tries to distance himself from his problems, escape from all of this hostility into a new life with his new friends (Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo), but further crises swirl around them.

11:45 AM Splendor in the Grass (Elia Kazan, 1961) Set in 1928 Kansas, this is the sad story of a teenager (Natalie Wood) who resists sex with her boyfriend (Warren Beatty) until marriage but in the meantime he has to deal with his scandalous sister (Barbara Loden), only for each of them to suffer various forms of anguish when the Depression hits, further increasing the ongoing drama (still plays as truly tragic, not corny, at least for me).  William Inge won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

Wednesday July 22, 2020

3:15 AM Zorba the Greek (Michael Cacoyannis, 1964) Lots of praise back then for Anthony Quinn as hedonistic-peasant-Zorba attempting to help British-raised-Basil (Alan Bates) revive a coal mine on family property in Crete (film shot there) which various complications—including deaths of other characters—lead to increasing problems; several Oscar nominations, won for Best Supporting Actress (Lila Kedrova), Best Art Direction (Black & White), Best Cinematography (Black & White).

4:45 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.

10:00 PM My Fair Lady (George Cukor, 1964) Exuberant musical, based on 1956 Lerner and Lowe stage hit (itself from George Bernard Shaw’s 1913 play Pygmalion); sing-a-long songs as smug Professor Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison) transforms Cockney flower-seller Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn) into the semblance of a royal. Winner of 8 Oscars: Best Picture, Director, Actor (Harrison), Art Direction-Color, Cinematography-Color, Costume Design-Color, Adapted Musical Score, Sound.

Thursday July 23, 2020

1:00 AM His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940) Adapted from Ben Hecht-Charles MacArthur play, The Front Page, this turns a sensationalistic-journalism-story into something with those aspects but also becomes a screwball comedy where now-divorced newspaper editor Walter Burns (Gary Grant) conspires to get ex-wife Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell) back (and on the payroll to cover a big story) despite her upcoming marriage to mild-mannered Ralph Bellamy. Famous rapid-fire dialogue.

5:00 AM It Happened One Night (Frank Capra, 1934) Hailed, sometimes as origin of screwball comedy, as a desperate-reporter (Clark Gable) chases a big story when an heiress (Claudette Colbert) elopes (Dad's mad), then disappears until Gable encounters her. 1 of 3 (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest [1975], The Silence of the Lambs [1991]) ever to win the top 5 Oscars: Best Picture, Director, Actor (Gable), Actress (Colbert), and Screenplay, Adapted in this case (Robert Riskin).

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 some other items to consider: (1) Christopher Nolan's Tenet likely to be delayed again (plus a short list of intended openings); (2) 2020 Telluride Film Festival cancelled; (3) New Jersey judge denies theaters' request for immediate reopening.  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 about searching for 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 Palm Springs:

https://www.hulu.com/movie/palm-springs-f70dfd4d-dbfb-46b8-abb3-136c841bba11?&cmp=13289&utm_source=google&utm_medium=SEM&utm_campaign=CM_SEM_PalmSprings&utm_term=%2Bpalm%20%2Bsprings%20%2Bmovie&gclsrc=aw.ds&&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIjMCs97bL6gIVDb7ACh2NCQtrEAAYASAAEgIuLfD_BwE (not much of an official site but it does lead you right to accessing the movie if you want)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxcXfLv9JLE (27:04 conversation with actors Andy Samberg, Cristin Milioti, J.K. Simmons, Meredith Hagner, Camila Mendes, and Peter Gallager)

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/palm_springs_2020

https://www.metacritic.com/movie/palm-springs

Please note that to Post a Comment below about our reviews you need to have either a Google account (which you can easily get at https://accounts.google.com/NewAccount  if you need to sign up) or other sign-in identification from the pull-down menu below before you preview or post.  You can also leave comments at our Facebook page, although you may have to somehow connect 

with us at that site in order to do it (most FB procedures are still a bit of a mystery to us old farts).

If you’d rather contact Ken directly rather than leaving a comment here please use my email address of kenburke409@gmail.com—type it directly if the link doesn't work.  (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-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 (quite awhile, in fact).  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 39,717 (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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