‘The Judge’ features Oscar caliber work by Duvall, Downey Jr.

October 10, 2014
By Steve Crum
The Judge is the best movie of 2014, so far. Plus—without a doubt—both Robert Duvall and Robert Downey Jr. are likely to be nominated for Best Actor Oscars. That boldly said, it is still early October. Since movie studios release the bulk of their Academy Award contenders in November and December, The Judge is sure to have serious competition.
To be honest, like the multitude of viewers, I have been watching TV ad after TV ad promoting The Judge, and perceived it to be a predictable drama. Father and son are estranged, and reluctantly team to overcome a crisis. No spoiler here since such is shown in the trailer. Indeed the film’s weakness lies in its cliché premise. We have seen it many times before: family members are at odds, but end up in loving embrace. Conflict resolution time. That is not exactly how The Judge goes, but the general direction is correct. 
However, huge positives kick in. What we have are two bullheaded central characters, Judge Joseph Palmer and Henry Palmer, brilliantly played by Robert Duvall and Robert Downey Jr. Decades ago, son Henry (aka Hank) left his Carlinville, Indiana hometown for the big city to pursue what developed into a successful career as a criminal attorney. Henry’s marriage produced a young daughter, nicely played by Sarah Lancaster. His father, aka Joe aka Judge, continued his local judgeship. Henry’s brothers still live in Carlinville: Glen (Vincent D’Onofrio) and Dale (Jeremy Strong). 
There is also Judge’s wife, whom we never see. At the outset of the film, she has died, bringing Henry back home for the first time in many years. That essentially sets the plot, well written by Nick Schenk and Bill Dubuque.
A tragic circumstance occurs following the funeral, directly involving Judge Palmer. A local lawyer (portrayed by Dax Shepard) is not qualified to handle the judge’s defense, so Henry steps in. Then there is the high pressure, appropriately named prosector, Dwight Dickham (Billy Bob Thornton). Then there are Henry’s times spent outside of court with former girlfriend Samantha (Vera Farmiga). 
The movie really ignites during the off-trial sequences, particularly telling and stressful scenes between Henry and his father. There are some great takes involving the three brothers as well. D’Onofrio is definitely Oscar worthy for Best Supporting. Farmiga’s bittersweet performance should receive accolades as well. What a great ensemble cast led by the terrific Duvall, arguably the best motion picture actor of our time, who anchors the film. 
The Judge is tragic, funny, frustrating, and heartbreaking. For director David Dobkin, best known for fluff flicks like Wedding Crashers and Fred Claus, The Judge is a major career redirection. He handles it well. 
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GRADE on an A to F Scale: A-
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The trailer to The Judge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBvK6ni97W8
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Ants are irritating, but being terrorized by Mant was no picnic

October 4, 2014
By Steve Crum
Shades of William Castle! Make that booby trapped shades. Castle, the king of gimmicky 1950’s and ‘60s horror movies, always went for the audience’s jugular in both promoting and filming his flicks. Matinee, directed by Joe Dante (Gremlins), is a homage to the late William Castle. Released 21 years ago, Matinee stars John Goodman as Lawrence Woolsey, whose latest B-grade schlockfest, Mant!, is about to premiere in Key West, Florida.  Woolsey drives to town in his convertible accompanied by his girlfriend, Ruth Corday (Cathy Moriarty), who co-stars in his movie. She will also participate in the film’s presentation. 
Like William Castle, Lawrence Woolsey devises scenarios to help both lure the audience into buying tickets and give added entertainment during the film’s showing. During the movie’s opening, Ruth is dressed as a nurse, and sits in the lobby to aide anyone fainting or having a heart attack during Mant! viewing. Woolsey, like Castle did in The Tingler, has wired theater seats located up front with an electrical charge that will be turned on during particularly horrifying sequences, causing audience members to scream and leap up. 
The premiere occurs during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October of 1962, which serves as dramatic backdrop for what is otherwise a hilarious comedy packed with sight gags and inside jokes. Among the inside jokes are bit roles by Robert Cornthwaite, Kevin McCarthy, and William Schallert, actors associated with horror films of that era. 
Matinee is really a film within a film. We see producer-promoter Woolsey hyping and presenting his movie, Mant! We also see a great deal of the movie itself while it is being shown. But wait, there’s more!
The Backstory 
A couple of weeks before Matinee opened in Kansas City, in mid-January 1993, I played hooky from my regular job to attend—what else—a matinee Matinee screening held at the Crown Center Theatre in midtown K. C., Missouri. I called in sick that day, confident that no one would ever know I was anywhere but resting in bed at home.  There were only a dozen film critics in the audience, so no sweat. 
Wrong.
During the latter part of the movie-within-a-movie when the ant-headed man monster picks up the screaming on-screen nurse in his arms, Woolsey has his “live” nurse, who is seated on the theater’s front row, grabbed and picked up by an actor dressed in the Mant costume. She screams and is carried out of the room at the same time. Is that clear enough to envision? (See the movie.) 
So…as I and my fellow critics are watching this filmed fracas, a real, live woman dressed as a nurse, seated on the front row of OUR viewing room, is accosted by the same-costumed Mant creature, who picks her up and carries her out while she screams bloody murder. The two run up the aisle by which I am sitting.  They are followed by someone else Universal Pictures publicity has hired to videotape the event, including our reactions! In other words, I am among those being taped for possible showing on the local evening news. My incognito status is blown. 
Therefore, I became part of a movie-within-a-movie, within-a-movie, within-a-movie. Triple play, and I was fouled. 

 

I never saw the video shot at the screening, and do not know if it was shown locally. If it was, I never heard anything about it from anyone, including my boss. Maybe only Universal executives viewed it. Regardless, I am pretty sure I blocked my face with a notebook. I cannot remember. Seeing Mant in person clouds one’s mind. 
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Enjoy both the 1993 trailer to Matinee + the mock-up trailer to Mant!:

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THE KANSAS CITY JOLSON STORY…Part I: Jolson, Palmer & Jolson

September 28, 2014

By Steve Crum

The Jolson Story (Columbia Pictures, 1946) includes dialogue which speaks of Al Jolson’s desire to perform to a live, nationwide audience. A particularly telling scene in the musical biography occurs when Jolie’s Winter Garden Theater extravaganza, Robinson Crusoe Jr., is completing a two year run, and “still sockaroo.” Jolson alone (implied in the movie–with no evident input from the brothers Shubert) decides to take his Broadway hit on tour across America. Producer Tom Baron (Bill Goodwin) is exasperated at Jolson’s plan, as he speaks to Jolson’s manager, Steve Martin (William Demarest):

 

Baron: “Take a big Broadway show like this on tour? Drag it all over the country–into tank towns? Al’s out of his mind! It’s never been done!”

 

Martin soon explains Jolson’s motive: “It’s a brand new audience, he says…millions of ‘em, people who never saw a Broadway show and never heard him sing….”  

 

Moments later, cut to a locomotive barreling down the track, and then to Mama Yoelson (Tamara Shayne) turning pages of her theatrical scrapbook of newspaper stories from around the country heralding her son Asa’s national tour. (The Kansas City Times is included.) Throughout this sequence, Jolson’s robust voice gives out with his traveling music: Toot Toot Tootsie (Goo’ Bye).
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Sure The Jolson Story, like most movie biographies, mixes fact with fiction, so it is doubtful whether Jolson alone made the decision to tour. Nonetheless, Al Jolson did perform his Broadway shows in virtually every major city in the United States. He was certainly used to touring, something he had done since 1898, in the days of his brief stint with the Walter L. Main Circus. He continued touring when he performed with the Victoria Burlesquers, on through vaudeville, Dockstader’s Minstrels, and finally with his legendary Broadway musicals. 
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Much has been said, rightfully so, about Al Jolson’s home theater, The Winter Garden in New York City. Kansas City (Missouri) was but one of dozens of cities Jolson played to during tours that stretched over 25 years. It was a true labor of Jolie love to spend hours that turned into weeks at the Kansas City, Missouri Main Library, pouring over yellowed Kansas City Star and Kansas City Times newspapers stored on microfilm. (Incidentally, at that time there were two newspapers published by the same firm; The Times was the morning edition, and The Star, the evening edition.) Thanks to Herb Goldman’s magnificent biography, Jolson: The Legend Comes to Life, I was able to pinpoint exact dates of Jolson’s shows in KC. It made my search much easier.

 

What surprises I found! There were, of course, the straight news stories of whatever Jolson show was either coming or currently playing. Then there were the reviews, the revealing and opinionated reviews. In some cases, it was like witnessing an actual Jolson performance. Jolson is often quoted while on stage, and bits of physical business are described. Jolson is also quoted off stage in personal interviews. I found cartoon caricatures of Jolson, photos of Jolson, ads of Jolson. Local record stores promoted Jolson 78’s in ads specifically capitalizing on his being in town. Jolie overload took place, so I had to stop and take some deep breath breaks throughout my exploration. Truly Socko!

 

Please throw a pity party for me since my eyes suffered as I retyped each and every story to make it easier to read. I had to use a magnifying glass to pour over each word. The microfilm copies had been erratically photocopied with some paragraphs missing sentence portions in creases, as well as blurred or smeared lettering. I had to second guess some of the words since they were virtually missing. In a few cases, I was forced to leave out a section due to incoherent lettering.  

 

The eye strain was worth it since the end result is a historical document of Al Jolson’s performances in Middle America during the early part of the Twentieth Century. I hope you are as thrilled and excited about this find as I was and still am.  

 

Even though Jolson never built his house in Kansas City, as Mama Yoelson suggested in The Jolson Story, he definitely built and upheld his reputation in KC as “The World’s Greatest Entertainer.” He loved Kansas City audiences, and KC loved Al Jolson.
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KC JOLSON SHOWS + A HEADLINE


1905–JOLSON, PALMER, AND JOLSON


1908–LEW DOCKSTADER MINSTRELS


1910–SINGLE VAUDEVILLE ACT


1912–THE WHIRL OF SOCIETY


1914–THE HONEYMOON EXPRESS


1915–DANCING AROUND


1917–ROBINSON CRUSOE JR.


1920 & 1921–SINBAD


1923 & 1924–BOMBO


1927–BIG BOY


1932–THE WONDER BAR


1950–”THE MAMMY SINGER” DIES
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JOLSON, PALMER & JOLSON

Published Oct. 29, 1905, this small display ad is the earliest reference to Al Jolson performing in Kansas City I could find. Jolson, Palmer and Jolson toured the vaudeville circuit from Oct. 31, 1904- Nov. 11, 1905. Their last five dates of the tour, Nov. 20-30, were without Al’s brother Harry, who had quit the act. That left Al alone, supporting Joe Palmer. The ad ran the day before Jolson, Palmer, and Jolson played KC (Oct. 30-Nov. 4) at the Orpheum Theater. After their next stop in New Orleans, the act would be renamed Palmer and Jolson. 

 

Fifth on the vaudeville bill, sandwiched between Susie Fisher, The Phenomenal Baritone (?) and a horizontal bar act, Jolson, Palmer & Jolson are billed as “A Little of Everything.” Unfortunately, no other information about their act was published locally. 

[Next, Part II: Jolson and Dockstader’s Minstrels hit KC]

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Denzel morphs into killing machine in unintentionally funny ‘The Equalizer’

September 26, 2014
By Steve Crum
Denzel Washington in a superhero flick—the last of this summer yet? Holy Unexpected, Bats-in-the-Belfry Man! While Mr. Washington and director Antoine Fuqua successfully teamed 13 years ago for Training Day (Denzel won the Best Actor Oscar), the result of this reunion in The Equalizer is unintentionally laughable. Please realize it is not intentionally a superhero movie either. In it, Denzel is mild mannered Robert McCall, a well liked building supplies employee who has a dark side to the extreme. 
We don’t know much about his past, but he is now a quiet, unassuming bachelor who lives alone and enjoys reading. The classics he peruses range from H. G. Wells’ The Invisible Man to Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. He strongly (and strangely) identifies with the books, which adds to the bizarreness of his psyche. 
“You gotta be who you are,” McCall advises Teri (Chloe Grace Moretz), a young, beleaguered hooker he befriends. Practicing his preaching, McCall is indeed a man who takes on insurmountable odds (The Old Man and the Sea) while “invisibly” lurking from the shadows. This sophomoric symbolism comes to us via the film’s screenwriter, Richard Wenk. 
When McCall exits those shadows, he does so bringing wrath via hellacious slaughter on his enemies. It is during his terroristic phases that we get the hint McCall has obviously been trained as an assassin. He is also a very meticulous guy who sets his stopwatch before the rampage begins, evidently trying to beat his old record. 
Cut to a closeup of his eye twitching and mouth pursing, as he surveys the surroundings from his viewpoint like a still camera clicking away at warp speed. Immediately he morphs into “The Equalizer,” even though he is never called such. He wears no costume, just street clothes. His weapons include his Ninja-like maneuvers, and whatever objects are on the shelf or coffee table nearby. He even turns adversaries’ guns and knives back on them. The guy is a marvel. Call him Captain Marvel, in fact. But no, that name has been taken. 
McCall’s eye-twitching metamorphosis is triggered by emotional response, in defense of himself or a friend. Honestly, it is reminiscent of Bruce Banner becoming enraged and turning into The Hulk. Maybe the movie going public will be caught up in all the histrionics. I found it hilariously hokey. At 131 minutes, it at least 45 minutes too long. Okay, 131 minutes too long. 
Vastly unlike its namesake 1985-89 TV series, starring Edward Woodward, this Equalizer is state-of-the-art violent. Like the TV show, however, our hero (in the original, a detective) takes on needy souls in physical danger. 
There are several violent confrontations, each accompanied by an ear piercing rap soundtrack by Eminem and associates. Without giving away too much, let me say I have never seen power tools, right off the store rack, used so effectively against Russian mafia thugs. 
It is enough to start one’s eye twitching. 
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GRADE on an A-F scale: D-
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Funny, bittersweet ‘This Is Where I Leave You’ features talented cast

September 19, 2014
By Steve Crum
Although this is a comedy-drama about a dysfunctional family gathering in homage to the departed patriarch, the likable and very smart This Is Where I Leave You is not another screaming, cursing, hair-pulling, non-comedic August: Osage County. Thank goodness. Granted there is some yelling, f-bombing and punching, but in the final count, This is a comedy overall. Jane Fonda’s participation as the matriarch might hint at an On Golden Pond spin. Again, This is Where I Leave You is not that either, despite revealing moments of tenderness and family love.
Then what is This? What we have is a talent graced adult comedy with the premise of a funeral reuniting everyone back to the family home. Previous comedies have used a funeral as the plot crux. Both the 2007 and 2010 versions of Death at a Funeral come to mind. In This case, the Altman Family happens to be Jewish, so widow Hillary Altman, played by a buxom-enhanced Jane Fonda, demands that her far less than orthodox Jewish children honor their father’s final request by observing Shiva. Mama Hillary insists, “I want all my kids under one roof again!”
The tradition involves periods of meditative reflection while living together for seven days. That means no work and no play. Reluctantly the clan agrees, but end up using cell phones to connect with work. They also sneak out of the house to drink and socialize downtown and elsewhere. All the sneaking in and out constitute much of the laughs…and some drama, by the way. In addition to the four grown siblings, their significant others are part of the mix. 
Director Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum) takes Jonathan Tropper’s crisp screenplay (based on his book) and finely paces the principals through a maze of funny sequences while balancing the dramatics surrounding new and old relationships. Judd Altman (Jason Bateman) has just broken up with his wife over her infidelity; Tina Fey’s Wendy is a long married mom whose husband is increasingly distant; and Adam Driver’s Phillip, the youngest of the bunch, has brought his latest girlfriend  along. They have their problems too. Then there is Paul (Corey Stoll), married to the depressed Alice (Kathryn Hahn). Both are obsessed with getting pregnant since so far—for years—that has not happened. 
Put them all together and they spell Mom…and it turns out she has her own family secret. By the way, Hillary is a psychologist who has written a best selling guide to raising children. As the movie progresses, that irony increases. 
This Is Where I Leave You is a funny, bittersweet dramedy that connects, in large part due to a superb cast. This is Tina Fey’s best work to date, particularly because it taps into her dramatic talents. Jason Bateman is really the center of the story, and anchors it well. Driver is a gifted young actor who continues to impress. Stoll and Hahn are fine too. 
Worthy of praise are Ben Schwartz as “Boner,” the family’s young and frequently immature rabbi, Timothy Olyphant as a brain damaged neighbor, and Rose Byrne as Phillip’s high school girlfriend. 
Incidentally, several laughs are attained through Fonda’s boobs, which were artfully enlarged for the movie. Those crazy special effects guys.
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GRADE on an A-F scale: A-
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