I had a chance to interview Marc Anthony about playing Hector Lavoe last week. I think I freaked him out a little when I pointed out that the year he released his first salsa album, "Otra Nota" was the same year that Hector Lavoe died (1993).
He apparently had never thought of that before. Of course, after more than 10 years of interviews, Marc is used to me asking out-of-left-field questions!
I did the best I could with the 3 and 1/2 minutes I was given.
Click here to watch.
I just watched "Melinda and Melinda" on HBO On Demand and loved it. I was surprised to see the poor reviews of it on rottentomatoes.com. The tomatometer it at around 50%.
The movie opens with two playwrights and their friends at a Manhattan restaurant discussing whether the essence of life is comic or tragic.
One of the friends at the table says, "Look, let me tell you a story and you tell me, is it material for a comedy or a tragedy?"
The friend begins to tell a story about a woman named Melinda who barges in on a dinner party one night.
The comedy writer says the story has the makings of a good romantic comedy, but the other playwright sees tragic implications and begins to tell the story from his point of view.
The story comes to life with Rhada Mitchell playing Melinda, the uninvited guest. She's lost custody of her kids in a bitter divorce and has come to stay with her friend, the hostess of the dinner party.
The comedic writer interrupts the story, then retells it after shuffling the characters and the details around. Mitchell also plays Melinda in the comedic version of the story, but against a different cast if characters.
The rest of the film moves back and forth between the two stories and commentary by the playwrights and their friends.
When I watched the movie, I was deconstructing it (no Woody pun intended) the entire time which is what made it fun -- trying to figure out which were the parallel characters and looking for the details that linked the two stories.
But, what I liked about the film, critic Andrew Sarris called a "conceptual disaster on Mr. Allen's part." Jonathan Rosenbaum in the Chicago Reader wrote, "I couldn't buy that two supposedly sophisticated theater people could be so simplemenided about what defines comedy and tragedy. I also couldn't belive in most of the characters including either version of Melinda."
The movie's tag line sums up its point: "Life can be a comedy or a tragedy, it all depends on how you look at it."
The message is similar to Mickey's (Woody Allen) at the end of "Hannah and Her Sisters."
What if there's no God, and you
only go around once and that's it?
Well, you know, don't you want to
be part of the experience? You
know, what the hell, it-i-it's not
all a drag. And I'm thinking to
myself, geez, I should stop ruining
my life...
Although I believe there is a God, I like the sentiment of that speech because it points out how very often we're the source of our own distress, especially when we let our inner kvetch machine get the better of us. (I did way too much of that this week and it didn't help me feel any better!)
So, quit agonizing and start seeing the humor in things. (Go see "Scoop," Woody's latest!)
If you love movies, don't miss the documentary BOFFO Tinsletown's Bombs and Blockbusters airing on HBO this month. It's about the business of making films and features interviews with Hollywood's elite directors, filmmakers, executvies and actors including George Clooney, Jodie Foster, Sherry Lansing, Richard Dreyfuss, Peter Bogdanovich and Morgan Freeman.
It's interesting how much of a film's success or failure is based on the intangible, how sometimes an accident on the set can make film history, or how even though a film has all the right ingredients it can be a miserable failure.
Several of the people interviewed for "Boffo" quoted screenwriter Bill Goldman who said "nobody knows anything" in reference to how difficult it is to predict a film's success.
From now on, I'm certainly going to think twice before I write about an upcoming film.
If you want to learn some movie lingo, check out the glossary on HBO's web site about the film.
Back in the days before Tivo and VCRs I used to wait eagerly for the annual showing of "The Wizard of Oz" on television. The movie is so deeply embedded in my consciousness that now when I watch it as an adult I find myself quoting practically the whole script from memory.
I remember being awed as a kid by the notion of Dorothy having her eyes dyed to match her dress -- who knew that someday you could actually do that with the help of colored contact lenses?
When I watch "The Wizard of Oz" now I end up crying like a baby (see previous post on mascara). I think it's because I'm inspired by the movie's message that we're all capable of courage, wisdom, and kindness -- we just don't realize we have those qualities within ourselves.
Is there no place like home? Well, a lot of people waste so m uch time focusing on the external and material that they take the simple things like family, friends and home for granted.
As the Wizard tells the Tin Man: "A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others."
Turner Classic Movies will be airing "The Wizard of Oz" again tomorrow, July 4, at 6:00 p.m. ET.
For more information on the history of "The Wizard of Oz" check out the wonderful online exhibit from the Library of Congress.
If you like your film criticism Muppet-style, I've got good news! The cranky old geezers Statler and Hilton from The Muppet show are back in the balcony, this time for Movies.com. They're joined by a cast of crazy characters like Rowlf the Dog, The Swedish Chef, and the theater rats. Log in to see a Woody Allen super-fan obsess over Match Point (it's a drama! it's in ENGLAND!)
Second time around college student living in New York City
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