The Golden Globes are Toast

I think this is one of my least favorite subjects to tackle as I am a purveyor of movies and all things involved with them.  And anything that smacks of politicization of an industry that I think can do a world of good, makes for a lessening of the overall product.  I do not want to politicize the award shows that exist.  I want them to remain models of something we aspire to, or root for, and not something we look up at and say, "Oh no! Here we go again.  Another Richard Gere, Michael Moore, Meryl Streep, (you fill in the blank) diatribe."

If I wanted to sit here and say what I thought of a Reality Television Star whose biggest claim to fame was two words,"you're fired," I could certainly take up a space to say what I think of America now that it's orange.  Or is that just the spray tan that seems to be everywhere these days?  But we have chosen who we have chosen.  And I am not going argue what the definition of the word hacked is, or about the definition of the word "is" for that matter.  We have way more important matters.  And when we are caught up in the minutia, I am sure that we are missing the bigger picture somehow.  We no longer notice that there is a big booming voice behind the curtain that is misdirecting our attention. Oz has gotten away with it, and we have let him.

But let's analyze what is going on with the award shows.  First, everyone has the freedom to be able to speak their mind.  Of course we do put some limitations on speech.  But an award show is not one of those places, unless you consider the time constraints that they put on to limit people going on endlessly while accepting their self congratulatory award.  (For those of you who thought that some other body was voting for their work and not the filmmakers themselves I am sorry to disabuse you of that thought.  It's the equivalent of Trump industries giving Donald Trump the executive of the year award.  Don't you feel how "huge" all these Hollywood stars and starlets are now?)  So these people definitely have a right to be heard.  And, from their perspective, they are doing a public service because they have a loud megaphone wherein to give these proclamations.  And I do not begrudge them that right.

The question isn't whether they do, or they can.  Because obviously they can, and they did.  The question becomes whether they should do such a thing.  I guess it depends on where you are coming from.  From a marketing perspective there has to be a tipping point at which lamenting half the population of a country will make box office receipts dwindle and movie producers stand on the edge of buildings contemplating whether the fall will kill them instantly or not.  But they have been able to survive til now, so why shouldn't they continue doing what they are doing?  Unfortunately, box office receipts in real dollars, except for feel good movies, kids movies and blockbusters, seems to have taken a decided dip.  And the more films that they make that are slanted to a perspective that denigrates half the people, the more they will see this trend continue.  They still have a right to an opinion.  Just like I would want them to respect me that I sincerely believed that something or someone was taking us down a dark and dangerous path, I will respect them for these beliefs. I respect their ability to espouse them whenever and wherever they wish, and the fact that they seem to sincerely believe in that opinion is laudable.

I think where they go off the rails is that some of them have taken to threatening to remove themselves from the business until Trump resigns in some misguided belief that they have enough community power to force the president to resign.  First, it's as if these people have never heard of the term out of site, out of mind.  Show business people, perhaps more than in any other industry imaginable, are people who crave attention in some way or another.  One could argue that reality TV stars crave it even more.  (Yes that is a veiled reference to Senior Orange.) But these people would not last 10 minutes out of the spotlight. It's possible that this was all a ruse by mostly out of work actors who craved the spotlight now.  (Yes I'm thinking of you Rosie O'Donnell.) How do they think they could survive without public recognition for any length of time.  Second, there is money involved.  Hollywood people are investment people just like anyone else.  There will always be someone to take the place of these actors, just as there were always people ready to replace in the NFL, the NBA and the MLB.  Maybe these people would be exactly like them, and they would be not quite as good replacements.  But then again, Hollywood of yesteryear used to thrive on paying and training B actors who would eventually develop their craft enough to become A list actors.  You don't think that a least a few of these new people wouldn't supplant or surpass some of these current "stars?" Finally, what makes them think that their community of people who greatly impact the rest of the nation.  If by some strange magic they were able to convince investors not to make any money these four years, who would be hurt?  Oh that's right . . . all the jobs would be coming from the residents of California encouraging possibly more people to leave the state for lack of ability to make money.  They would be hurting the very constituencies who supported their beliefs and politicians in the first place.

But then again maybe this does some good.  I suppose this does help with drought relief if it forces many people to move out of state.  And as for these award shows . . . I suppose there wouldn't be any if there were no one to act in these movies.  This would mean there would be no award shows for them to have a platform to say this stuff.  Maybe they should go ahead and just do it.

These Award Shows are completely toast.

The Toasty Critic

The Toasty Critic Takes a Vacation

Good morning to all of you film lovers.  I will probably just go through a run down of films that I have seen lately, with maybe some snippets of brief reviews of them.  I have taken a long break.  And I understand that this is something I did not intend on doing.  Sometimes life throws curves at us that we do not realize are happening to us until they are already upon us.  Suffice it to say, I have had some family issues that have come to my attention and needed to get back to those first.  They aren't completely over, but I am going to resolve to be more active this year and hopefully get this blog off the ground.  So here I am.  And I am back.

Films that I have watched recently.  I realize that some of these are already on DVD.

Kubo and the Two Strings - From the Makers of Boxtrolls, Coraline and Paranorman, it is a beautiful film of a child who can magically manipulate his world.  The stop motion animation is beautiful as are the characters.  And the lead character tells his tales through Origami, which may be self-congratulatory, but it works like Preston Sturges Sullivan's Travels.  There is a beauty in their art and they don't mind the world seeing it. With the voices of Matthew McConaughey, Charlize Theron and Ralph Fiennes. This film is perfectly toasty.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - Sometimes you face a movie that seems so daunting that youa re nor sure whether or not you can discuss it without receiving a ton of hate mail, or a ton of praise. Or sometimes you receive both. What I am going to say is that the film is well worth watching and as most critics who have liked it agree, the last act is incredibly rewarding. Just be prepared for your child, especially if your child is younger, to be shocked at the outcome of the movie, even though Episode IV should have given you a big clue as to what was going to happen here. There are two different CGI characters who are surprising. I will not spoil the last one. But the first one I will saw that I was disappointed by the CGI representation of Peter Cushing. They couldn't convey the presence he held in A New Hope.  And graphics made it look like he was literally the Walking Dead.  Maybe the Walking Dead should take notes here. This film is mostly toasty.

Finding Dory - Pixar knows how to tell a story for certain. And they are very good at connecting to an audiences emotions. Spoiler alert : The part that I found the most touching is when Dory was going from being lost as a young fish, to an adolescent fish and then to an adult fish.  And the mantra just keep swimming takes on a whole level of pain when you hear it.  There are just so many different ways that this portion of the film resonated with me.  It is definitely worth a watch.  And I will always love Pixar after the way that even the movie Up connected with my daughter when she was only 3 years old.  What I will say is that while there are moments of true beauty in this film, I fell like some of the heart of it all was missing. I don't know why. I don't have a good answer.  Ellen Degeneres and Albert Brooks reprise their roles.  Ed O'Neil as a cranky septopus (have to watch to find out), Eugene Levy and Diane Keaton also have roles.  This film is lukewarm toast.

Sing - I am of a mixed mind about this film.  There is a part of me that just loves this film.  There are some great touching moments with the characters.  When Johnny connects with his dad about his love for music and singing, and you can see his father's pride.  The hilarious inventiveness of Rosita the pi, and mom of countless piglets, is wonderful.  The desire to be true to your art with Ash the Porcupine.  And Meena the Elephant has to overcome her shyness by just singing.  I have to admit that I just enjoyed it from beginning to end.  But now I hate myself because it makes me feel like I should be watching the Voice, or any of those other singing talent programs.  I hate reality TV.  And for that I feel like Sing makes me want to take a long bath.  This film is mostly toasty.

I was thinking there would be more. And hopefully after I get a look at some of the other films that are out there, especially as this is awards season, I will have something more substantial to review. Hope all of you are having a wonderful 2017 so far And keep it toasty out there . . . even in the rain.