THE TENDER BAR, WEST SIDE STORY, BEING THE RICARDOS, DON’T LOOK UP, THE MATRIX: RESURRECTION

ORIGINALLY POSTED December 21,2021

THE TENDER BAR  | Amazon Studios | Director: George Clooney |Screenplay: William Monahan

J.R. Moehringer’s is a Pulitzer-winning journalist, I had no clue about, who wrote his memoir, same titled “The Tender Bar” in 2005 – a sentimental personal history of his childhood growing up with an absentee father who he could hear on the radio as a Disk Jockey, but who made very few in-person appearances in Moehringer’s life. And the few times he did, were not fond memories. But Moehringer had a big, loud Long Island family, so when he and his mother (Lily Rabe) must move in with his grandparents (Christopher Lloyd & Sondra James), he thinks it’s fantastic to have so many people around; especially his blue-collar, well-read, uncle Charlie ( Ben Affleck), who is the heart of the movie. Uncle Charlie runs a local bar, where JR gets to hang out at an early age and forms a lasting relationship with this ultra male influence in his life and the other patrons of The Dickens Pub. 

“Clooney grew up in Kentucky with a stable dad and mom, but “I was the exact same age in 1973,” he says. “Music and smells can really take you back to a moment. When I read the script, the first thing I did was go to music. I’d pull up songs from that time; it really helps you remember where you were and how you thought.” READ MORE Variety

The lead played by young Moehringer (Daniel Ranieri) has a lot of pizazz, sooty eyelashes, really draws you in. Unfortunately, the older version of Moehringer (Tye Sheridan) looks and feels nothing like the kid version of himself and the transition is jarring.  However, the relationship he has with Uncle Charlie, remains the best parts of the film.

Ultimately, the Clooney directed The Tender Bar is a coming of age story of self-invention and has some nice moments, but I don’t see it as Oscar worthy.

T&T LAMB Rating: 3 outta 5

WEST SIDE STORY | 20th Century Studios | Director: Steven Spielberg | Screenplay: Tony Kushner

If you’re like me you thought why remake a classic? (West Side Story 1957: by Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim and Jerome Robbins) Well, to get it culturally correct, foremost. But also this 2021 version has more depth, while keeping traditional orchestrations. I expected the score would remain the same, but the songs are also played the way we love them from the original movie.

Steven Spielberg has never made a musical before, but this one looks and feels like the work of an Old Hollywood master. I had assumed he was going to set it in modern times, deal with today’s racial issues of immigration, but it’s just as effective still set in the late 50 – early 60’s, where young white Jets & Hispanic Sharks hate because they need to feel in control of something in the face of hopelessness stemming from poverty and the need to belong.

The Latinx characters come in all shades, so we hopefully won’t have the same backlash we had with “In The Heights” And surprisingly, there’s a lot of Spanish spoken throughout, with no subtitles. This is the first time I’ve ever seen this! And although, I felt sometimes I was missing crucial dialogue, it was good to have it feel authentic for those who live in households where Spanish and English is interchangeable.

The leads are perfect – Ansel Elgort as Tony, who knew he has a mellifluous voice! Rachel Zegler as María has a nearly operatic range and a face that could easily play The Virgin Mary. Ariana DeBose as Anita is an actress about to be a star, she’s pure fire! David Alvarez as Bernardo & Mike Faist as Riff, super good casting. And best of all, having the original Anita, Rita Moreno grace the movie in her own skin tone. She’s also a producer. And if you haven’t seen it yet, be sure to catch her Documentary “Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It”.

T&T LAMB Rating: 5 outta 5

BEING THE RICARDOS | Amazon Studios | Writer/Director Aaron Sorkin

Growing up, summer vacation mainly meant getting up late, eating sugar cereals and watching old sitcoms, shows now on that channel Antenna TV. One of our favorites to catch was I LOVE LUCY. I remember being doubled over with laughter at the Vitameatavegamin episode. And in general understood the chemistry between the 4 leads was outstanding.  In later years, when watching as an adult, some of the schemes Lucy would drag Ethel into, or would incur Ricky to yell, “Lucy, you have some s’plainin to do!” would make me cringe with a sense of anxiety. Senselessly wishing she wouldn’t take so many risks. Yet, still I enjoyed watching it because of the obvious quality of the show, the pacing, the physical antics, and of course just because Lucille Ball was endlessly watchable. 

Now having seen Aaron Sorkin‘s BEING THE RICARDOS, perhaps some of that anxiety I felt watching was due in part to what was really happening behind the scenes.  The movie opens with several issues facing Lucille Ball (Nicole Kidman) and Dezi Arnaz (Javier Bardem) at once. There’s a tabloid story of Desi’s infidelity. This is also the period where many in Hollywood were being Blacklisted as Communist, a career ending damnation. Turns out Lucille’s step-father was a card carrying Communist, which really means being very Left, but not Red. Ball checked a box on her first voting card out of deference to her step-father, changed parties later, but this info has come to light.  And the couple announces Lucy is pregnant, which throws the production schedule into chaos – especially when Desi announces that he intends for his wife’s condition to be written into the show, something he’s told the censors will never go for.

As all this plays out it’s also a regular work week on the set of “I Love Lucy” where Sorkin takes us through the table read, set production, wardrobe and rehearsals.  This is where we see Lucille Ball was a true creative, a perfectionist and an executive producer without the title. It’s also where we see the delicate balance of power between Lucy & Desi as a couple in business. And the frenemy dynamics between Lucy and Vivian Vance (Nina Arianda). Not to mention the animosity between Vance and her onscreen husband Fred – William Frawley ( J.K. Simmons) which was no secret.  However, the issues between the producer Jess Oppenheimer (Tony Hale) and writers Madelyn Pugh (Alia Shawkat) and Bob Carroll (Jake Lacy) and their relationships to Lucy & Desi, makes me wonder if most of it was Sorkin just adding dramatic effect.  Which works, but personally, I’d like to think in real life these show runners were a little more in-sync.

Casting choice controversy:  Bardem being Spanish, not Cuban to me means we need a bigger pool of famous Latinx actors to choose from – cause really who else were they gonna get to play Desi?  Yes, I’d have liked to have seen Debra Messing as Lucy too, but once the movie really gets rolling, I forgot about my misgivings, as both actors do an excellent job.

T&T LAMB rating: 4 outta 5

DON’T LOOK UP | Netflix | Writer/Director: Adam McKay

I haven’t seen very many good reviews for Adam McKay‘s apocryphal satire Don’t Look Up, but I’ve gotta say I was entertained by the movie throughout.  It may be a little on the nose, but McKay didn’t say he was trying to disguise his agenda. Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) is an under the radar Astronomer overseeing Doctorate candidate Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) who one evening while doing other research, discovers a huge comet heading straight towards earth.  After calling in Dr. Mindy, who calls in more prestigious Astronomers like Dr. Teddy Oglethorpe (Ron Morgan) to verify what they’re seeing is accurate; the three travel to the White House to alert the president, a female Trump of sorts, President Janie Orlean (Meryl Streep) (with a better, yet still un-presidential hairstyle)  The scientist try to outline the unavoidable earth-ending event and explain the short time table for action; but the President takes a pass and decides on a wait and see approach. She’s aided by her sycophant son (Jonah Hill) the Chief of Staff.  This whole things of course is a direct barb at the Trump Administration’s view on climate change. Obvious, yes, but still effective storytelling. Except for Hill who isn’t really bringing the funny on this one, try though he might.

The scientist then decide to leak the story to the press to try to warn the public about the impending doom, but of course this becomes a matter of social media fodder, memes, sexualizing and celebritizing the dweeby Dr. Mindy and making a mockery of sincere, no-nonsense Dibiasky, which the Comet derives its name.  We have a morning show couple, Brie (Cate Blanchett), the 2nd of her good character roles this awards season, she’s also got a meaty part in Nightmare Alley. And Jack (Tyler Perry) who somehow finds time to act in at least 1 or 2 things a year despite all his writing/producing/directing/studio owning duties.  It’s these hosts job to discuss the comet in a way that keeps it light and entertaining.  Brie also makes it her mission to bed the now desirable Dr. Mindy, turning him away from his faithful wife (Melanie Lynskey).

To round out the players there’s also a false teeth, falsely zen Tech giant (Mark Rylance) with the President’s ear who determines that the comet contains a gold mine of materials needed to make cellphones and other tech stuff.  This is another awards worthy performance by the Oscar winning Rylance.  Ultimately, we get to the ridiculous political divisiveness that is our country on almost every level. And I believe this would happen, there’s the liberal – Look Up it’s right in front of your face, let’s do a celebrity sing-a-thon. And the Conservative, Don’t Look Up because it’s not in our best financial interest camps.

Despite McKay’s political agenda, I feel the movie never takes itself too seriously. And yet for me, everyone’s actions and motives feel absolutely true to life.  It’s a departure from The Big Short and Vice in that there’s no cut-away asides or stop action moments of narration; those movies were about teaching us what happened, this one reflects a mirror on what is.  T&T LAMB rating: 4 outta 5

I also have a great Tinsel & Tine tie-in story for DON’T LOOK UP.  If you came here via the home page you may have seen a box for Roka Rocks! Merchandise. This is the storefront I helped my friend and Illustrator, Diane Roka build. By coincidence, we have a design called Taura Stinson. Diane happened to draw her singing back up in Philly a couple years ago, and when I saw the drawing, I thought it would make for a good t-shirt design, long before we ever thought of opening the storefront. Cut to Taura Stinson co-writing the lead, eponymous song on the #DontLookUp soundtrack, with Ariana Grande and Kid Cudi!  Prior to the release of the song/movie Stinson contacted us about our design asking if we could do a whole collection for her trademark #BelieveBecome.  Which we did and is on sale now!

The song JUST LOOK UP is written by @TauraStinson with Ariana Grande & Kid Cudi for @dontlookupfilm
Dir Adam Mckay. My review’s not up yet, but our ROKA ROCKS Stinson #BelieveBecome Collection is available!https://t.co/Onkt0smWlj pic.twitter.com/lVrlFDrTGs

— Tinsel & Tine (@tinseltine) December 12, 2021

THE MATRIX: RESURRECTIONS | Warner Bros| Directed/Written Lana Wachowski |Co-Writers: David Mitchell & Aleksandar Hemon

There are so few things that are truly groundbreaking and enter the consciousness of our society in a deep and lasting way. The Wachowski’s got to be at the center of a phenomenon when they brought us The Matrix in 1999. A sci-fi epic that made us question the reality of the world in which we live.  In the second installment The Matrix: Reloaded they expanded upon the concept that the world we know is a computer generated program, orchestrated by one architect, and that architect had a reason to introduce an anomaly into the system, and although I recently re-watched all 3 films of the franchise, getting prepared for Resurrections, I can’t recall what the reason was. Only of course, that anomaly is in the form of Thomas Anderson aka Neo or The One (Keanu Reeves).  We also learned that there are other programs that can manipulate the overall program for their own purposes, like the Merovingian (Lambert Wilson) and The Oracle (Gloria Foster and Mary Alice) and Neo’s nemesis Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving).  What I’ve never actually grasped is the connection between The Architect and The Machines that are in charge of the “real world” the dirty, space-like, mechanical, hidden place, where only a few red pill woke humans live. And why The Machines need humans to go about their daily lives in “The Matrix” in order to harness their energy.  I just kinda push all that to the back of my mind and enjoy the then innovative martial arts fight sequences and fantastically filmed stunts. And of course the characters and their connections. 

The Wachowski’s only wanted the series to be a trilogy, but as Resurrections is able to slyly add into the dialogue, Warner Bros, trying to mine old gold, would have found a way to make another Matrix with or without the Wachowski’s; so at least one sibling, Lana, jumped onboard.  But in my way of thinking, it is still a trilogy as The Matrix: Reloaded and The Matrix: Revolutions is just one long movie.  And now Resurrections ostensibly makes the trilogy complete. Particularly in that we did need more closure on the fate of Neo and Trinity (Carrie-Ann Moss) yes, we see her die and him sacrifice himself, but it just didn’t seem like that would be the end of their spirits.

Technically, Resurrections doesn’t break any new ground neither conceptually nor visually, but it is very satisfying. Both Reeves and Moss are aging beautifully, so there’s no jarring feeling of “damn, they got old”. Or over use of CGI de-aging, like they did in The Irishman. There is a scene however, where we’re shown the face Thomas Anderson shows to the world looks 20 years older than the face he sees in the mirror.  Another thing where I go, “wait, why?” And then push it to the back of my mind. The new players are very good.  Bugs (Jessica Henwick) is part of the new generation, a ship captain living in the new city of Zion, when she’s not plugged into The Matrix, tracking “the one” and avoiding agents.  The consciousness of Morpheus in the younger casing of actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, (Watchman), works for me. Yahya’s been in a number of other things I’ve seen, but it was seeing him from behind that quickly reminded me of where he first made an impression. And the embodiment of agent Smith in actor Jonathan Groff. He plays him less menacing and self-assured but equally obsessed with Neo. I think it makes sense that this would be a diluted version of Smith.  Very good having Jada Pinkett Smith‘s Niobe return only now as an ancient, crotchety, wary overlord. Basically, the movie provides a lot of fan service with focus on the love connection between Neo and Trinity, and again I say, works for me!

T&T LAMB rating: 4 outta 5