Golden Globes Reaction; Oscar Films Update

Oppenheimer was the big winner at the 86th annual Golden Globes Awards, winning five awards including Best Picture--Drama, Best Actor in a Drama (Cillian Murphy), Supporting Actor (Robert Downey, Jr.), Director (Christopher Nolan), and Score. The GGs were duller than usual with an unfunny host (Jo Koy, who spent too much time blaming his bad jokes and delivery on the writers) and an unsuccessful attempt to be more serious. The GGs had always been a big ratings grabber because the attending celebs had access to free booze and tended to let their hair down. But this year, the awards were given a reboot. Dick Clark Productions bought out and disbanded the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, reorganized the electorate to hopefully reflect more diversity and avoid the scandals of the past (such as awarding Pia Zadora an award because her millionaire husband gave the membership some expensive gifts.)

Barbie won the new, made-up category of Cinema and Box Office Achievement, so that Poor Things could triumph in the Comedy Picture category.

Side note: Evidently there was yet ANOTHER award ceremony the night before the GGs in Tinseltown. The Astra Awards presented by the Hollywood Creative Alliance honored Barbie with 8 wins. Oppenheimer got 4. The Hollywood Creative Alliance was founded in 2016 as the Los Angeles Online Film Critics Society and renamed in 2019 to Hollywood Critics Association. In 2023, the organization changed its name a second time, and rebranded its awards as the Astra Awards. These accolades are not to be confused with the Critics Choice Awards, the SAGs, or the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. And what about the Golden Sattelites? Do they still exist?

Nat'l Society of Film Crix Names Past Lives Best Pic

Tae Yoo and Greta Lee in Past Lives,
the NSFC's choice for Best Film.
Credit: A24

The National Society of Film Critics when their usual, off-the-beaten-path way and chose the small independent film Past Lives as Best Picture over blockbusters such as Oppenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon and Barbie. The group, consisting of more than 60 film critics from across the country, met in NYC and LA on Jan. 6 for their 58th annual voting session to chose the outstanding achievements in cinema. They often pick unusual or unexpected choices for their top prize such as Ingmar Bergman's Persona, Shame, and Scenes from a Marriage,  Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow-Up, Costa-Gravas' Z and Mike Leigh's Life Is Sweet and Topsy Turvy. The organization was formed in 1966 by Hollis Alpert of the Saturday Review, Pauline Kael of the New Yorker, Joe Morgenstern of Newsweek, and Richard Schickel of Life magazine.

B'way Update: Sunset Confirmed, Smash Workshop

Tom Francis and Nicole Scherzinger in
the London revival of Sunset Boulevard,
set for Broadway sometime in 2024.
Credit: Marc Brenner

It's confirmed. In a previous blog, I reported the rumor the minimalist revival of Sunset Boulevard which is about to close in London, will transfer to Broadway. A somewhat vaguely worded press release announced that the show is indeed making the transatlantic leap sometime during this year. Former lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls Nicole Scherzinger will repeat her star performance as Norma Desmond, along with Tom Francis as Joe Gillis, Grace Hodgett-Young as Betty Schaeffer, and David Thaxton as Max Von Mayerling. No specific dates or a theater were reported in the press release. Johnny Olensinski of the New York Post reports the likely venue will be the St. James where Monty Python's Spamalot is currently playing and the opening will be in the fall of 2024.

Olensinki also reports that six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald will possibly become the sixth Mama Rose on Broadway in an upcoming production of Gypsy. 

Book Review: Manhattan Beach

(Found for free in library box outside of a church near our house.) I enjoyed Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad, Look at Me and Emerald City, so when I found a free copy of Manhattan Beach, I snatched it up. As with her previous works, this is a well-written, engrossing story, also extremely well-researched about the period (the Depression and WWII). But I had trouble caring about the three protagonists and figuring out Egan's theme or message to the reader. Is it the shifting nature of identity? Anna, the female diver, her father Eddie, a small-time semi-hood, and his boss Dexter, a big -time hood, all have to take on different guises when necessity or opportunity prevails. They each must take extreme measures to survive and maybe that's Egan's message about America in this era. Economic disaster and war drastically alter the lives of all.

The stories intertwine and the final resolution was satisfying as far as the father and daughter go, but without revealing too much, Dexter just drops out of the picture and his story is not resolved. Also I didn't get the reasons why Eddie and Dexter meet similar fates.

But Egan does get the evocation of New York in the 1930s and '40s right. The social morays and standards which dictate the characters' choices are clear. I also liked the supporting characters Brianne, Anna's hard-bitten but practical aunt, and Nell, Anna's worldly girlfriend, as well as Dexter's depressed desperate sister-in-law. A mixed bag.

Holiday Catch-Up on Oscar Films, Part 2

We continue with the holiday catch-up on potential Oscar-nominated and other award-winning films.

Frederick Wiseman's 
Les Menus Plaisirs--Les Troisgros

Les Menus Plaisirs--Les Troisgros: The day after Christmas, I went to Film Forum for Frederick Wiseman's latest masterpiece Les Menus Plaisir--Les Troisgros. I knew it was four hours long and that would probably be the only chance I would have to see it. This 44th doc from the 93-year-old legendary filmmaker did not make the Oscar shortlist for Best Documentary Feature, but was named Best Nonfiction Film by the New York Film Critics Circle and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Why did Oscar snub this fascinating portrait of a Michelin 3-star restaurant? Maybe it was the length?

I admit there were moments when I dozed off, but the overall effect was overwhelming, detailing every aspect of the three family-owned restaurants in the south of France. We watch the chefs buying produce at the local market, discussing whether or not to include rhubarb in the asparagus and whether the sauce should have shaved or whole almonds, preparation in the kitchen, lunch service at 350 Euros a head, visits to cheese caves, cattle ranches, and vegetable farms. In the past few years, I've been enraptured by Wiseman's take on the British Museum, Boston City Hall, the New York Public Library system and my own neighborhood of Jackson Heights. This film adds to the collection of comprehensive portrait of institutes.

B'way Update: Year-End Rumors; Best Play Tony Contenders

Will Stereophonic move to the Golden?
Credit: Chelcie Parry

The calendar for the 2023-24 Broadway and Off-Broadway season appears to be set, but there could be a few additions before the Tony deadline of April 25. There are rumors that Stereophonic, David Adjmi's well-reviewed, three-hour play about a rock group not unlike Fleetwood Mac recording an album vital to their careers, which recently closed at Playwrights Horizons, may move into the Golden Theater. Playwrights has coyly announced that if you had missed the show, exciting news was on the way. This could mean a Broadway transfer, but it could also mean the release of a CD with Will Butler's songs from the play. 

Another rumor puts forth the possibility of the current minimalist London revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard starring Nicole Scherzinger (former lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls) moving to Broadway, perhaps in November 2024. The musical version of Billy Wilder's classic film of faded silent film Norma Desmond was last seen on Broadway in 2017 with Glenn Close recreating her Tony-winning performance from the 1995 production.

Nicole Scherzinger in
the London Sunset Boulevard
Credit: Marc Brenner

Holiday Catch-Up on Oscar Films

The holiday season has come to mean something much more important than celebrating goodwill and exchanging gifts--catching up on potential Oscar nominated films so I will have seen as many as possible on the big night, March 10, 2024. Since the last entry on this topic, I managed to see three more potential nominees and rewatched Maestro on Netflix.

Julianne Moore and Charles Melton in
May December

May December: Previous Oscar winners Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore look to nab Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress slots for this bizarre indie which falls between comedy and drama (the Golden Globes has classified it a comedy). But newcomer Charles Melton has emerged as the front-runner for Best Supporting Actor, having won the New York Film Critics Circle and several other critics' group. BTW, have you noticed that almost every city and geographical area in the country now has its own movie critics' group, each bestowing its own set of awards? It used to be just New York and Los Angeles, now it's everywhere including the East Podunk Film Critics Circle and the Dead Cactus, Arizona Movie Reviewers and Fly Swatter Collectors Group.