Sunday, May 31, 2020

Christo 1935-2020


Saturday, May 30, 2020

The Eddy 2020












Finished watching the eight part miniseries on Netflix last night call “The Eddy”. Set in a run down large jazz club in Paris I had mixed feelings about it. Some of it is forced and predictable with its run down plot that includes all the usual devices one would expect from a show about jazz and the musicians who play it. The main men behind it are Damien Chazelle and Alan Poul with writing credit going to Jack Thorne who fills it with so much stress and angst that I nearly laughed at some of it.  The plot thins and thicks off and on but the original music is nice, although I would have preferred some classics thrown into the mix, but I can’t fault them for this. The cast is large and is by and large quite good especially the great Andre Holland as the once famous musician and co-owner of the club, who has a lot on his plate including his pain in the ass but gorgeous teen daughter who comes to live with him, played by Amandla Stenberg ,there were times that I wanted to strangle her. Also on board is Joanna Kulig as the chanteuse of the club and is in danger of being type cast in this sort of role. She also cast her considerable talents in the terrific “Cold War”, which has some thin connections to this series . The show’s eight episodes focus on some of the individual members of the band along with several non band characters. There are dirty deals, drugs (of course) a gay character (of course) and a few murders and nasty types. The running thread is the over used plot device of family usually of the dysfunctional kind, and the show is loaded with them. Mothers fighting with daughters and  sons, brothers fighting with sisters, fathers taking on daughters and on and on. Still it has nice atmosphere, Holland’s eyes and Kulig’s open toe heels,  so I can say sure check it out especially good for the coming long hot summer.




Friday, May 29, 2020

The Pajama Game 1957






Love and labor problems in a pajama factory, and as Godard called it  “the first left-wing operetta. Bright and shinny and easily one of the best movie musical adaptations of a hit Broadway show to come out of Hollywood.  Lifted intact with most of  the original cast from the show, with the main exception of one, and that one was a huge asset named Doris Day who replaced Janice Page. Day plays the head of the grievance committee at Sleep-Tite pajama factory where she toils in bright colorful outfits, she is perfection as Babe Williams with her beautiful voice and indelible screen presence and that 50’s butch hairdo of hers, which by the way I loved.  This was a star. I should say right here and now that she was my favorite “star” as a kid and young teen. I had huge scrapbooks on her, many of her LPs, and saw every movie she did, including this one that I saw at 10 at Radio City Music Hall. The memory of that Day lingers.  The musical and the audiences were lucky in many ways.  One big asset (besides Day) is its well remembered songs written and composed by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross some of which become big pop favorites and standards including “Steam Heat”. Wonderfully performed at a labor rally by the great Carol Haney and 2 male dancers which is pure Bob Fosse down to the male attire they wear. This was Fosse’s first broadway musical that he choreographed and happily his achievement is well documented in this film. Another standout is the out of doors picnic number “Once A Year Day” that is exuberant and again shows off the great talents of  Fosse and Haney along with the large chorus of dancers and singers. It pretty much pops off the screen. I can’t think of another musical up to that time, and maybe even afterwards that used an actual outdoor setting for a musical number, certainly not as brilliantly as this one. Haney won a Tony for this show, and sadly she died young but we do have this film as a lasting testament to her enormous talent. The show is also notable for giving Shirley MacLaine her big break when as Haney’s stand in she had to go on for her one night, and Hal Wallis who was in the audience, signed MacLaine up, the rest they say is movie history.  Also terrific is “Hey There” which is sung by John Raitt who plays the new superintendent of the factory and later on in a sad redux by Day. Their romance bumps and all is the stuff of musicals and is well handled here.  Vividly designed with imaginative set design especially  the factory itself which looks like a conceptual art installation what with all the neon lit signage noting staircases, restrooms and offices. Also top notch are the bright pastel colored costumes and the rich color saturated cinematography shot by the great Harry Stradling.  The film was co-directed by George Abbott and Stanley Donen who was known for his collaborating with others most notably with Gene Kelly for “On The Town”,  “Singing In The Rain” and “It’s Always Fair Weather” and again in 1958 with George Abbott for Damn Yankees. The wonderful supporting cast includes the great  Barbara Nichols, Reta Shaw and  Eddie Foy Jr. One of the best films of 1957.

Thursday, May 28, 2020

Irm Hermann 1942-2020



Fuck damn shit. One of my favorite actresses has passed. and the fuck with the fat orange face still walks this earth. sick of this already.

Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Oddball Magazine From May 3

Larry Kramer 1935-2020


Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Richard Anuszkiewicz 1930-2020




Tuesday, May 19, 2020

Sliver of Stone

Found this on line. Had no idea I was included. The perils of on line publications. Anyway Its from November 2018

https://sliverofstonemagazine.com/ira-joel-haber-sunday-collage/?fbclid=IwAR1iAs7IvXw1WweV5mtmXARe0SnN6WosZpGdIgEXw_IuLbBmwmt7rRvEWvw

New work on paper. Mixed with clay. May 2020


Susan Rothenberg 1945-2020





Monday, May 18, 2020

Michel Piccoli 1925-2020





Saturday, May 16, 2020

Lynn Shelton 1965-2020


Thursday, May 14, 2020

American Crime. 2015-2017. Netflix Three Seasons









Strong stuff. I find it amazing that this series originally aired on ABC considering the frankness and language that flies off the screen and punches you in the face. I think it was cleaned up somewhat for the bible belt but running and streaming on Netflix, its boiling hot liquid thrown in our faces. I could call it a trilogy since it is made up of three separate complete stories and stars a group of actors that kinda makes up a repertory cast. Most of the actors appear in all three stories, and three of the actresses who star are among our very best and they are simply wonderful. Felicity Huffman, Regina King and Lili Taylor play sisters, wives and moms who are stretched and torn to the breaking point with their families and children, and right off the bat I will have to say that it would be a shame if Huffman’s brilliant career was thrown down the toilet for her foolish actions of last year involving her daughter and college admissions. Actually her story could easily be dramatized for this series. The stories are about addiction, violence towards women and children and how the justice system fails many of us. The stories are about children who are tossed away, who are abused and violated by adults and also by each other with each story having a layer of racial intolerance. The stories are about adults who are abusive to immigrants and migrant workers. One is about young closeted gay students who are victimized by the system and each other, and one is about a young couple, one who is brutally murdered and the other who is put into a coma where death and life come and go and whose secret life comes undone in the glare of the light and one is about the terrible things that happen to workers both in the vegetable and fruit fields and motels of America where they are taken advantage of. There is nothing really new or original here, but they are told with compelling writing and acting and are filled with terrific actors and actresses including Timothy Hutton, Penelope Ann Miller (how good it is to see her), Hope Davis, Sandra Oh and Cherry Jones. Besides Laura Linney I can think of no other actress who shows coldness and calculated nastiness better than Cherry, who by the way nearly ran me over on her bike on Hudson Street many years ago. She apologized. Also of note are two young actors, new to me who are also terrific.  Joey Pollari who plays one of the closeted gay high school students and Connor Jesup who appears in two episodes. Both are heartbreaking and beautiful. Highly recommended especially for the fine performances.           

Monday, May 11, 2020

Jerry Stiller 1927-2020


Sunday, May 10, 2020

Richard Sala 1955-2020

Terrible news, the marvelous comic book graphic novel artist Richard Sala has passed at a too young age. I didn't know him but he was a fb friend and always loved his work. He was also very knowledgeable about all things horror including pulp novels and movies. A shame. I am disgusted with all the wonderful people we have lost of late and that fat orange pile of shit still walks this earth. unfair





Saturday, May 09, 2020

Little Richard 1932-2020




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