Celebrate Lincoln’s Birthday with Great Family Films

Posted on February 12, 2022 at 6:00 am

Happy birthday, Abraham Lincoln!

Celebrate the birthday of our 16th President with some of the classic movies about his life. Reportedly, he has been portrayed more on screen than any other real-life character. I was honored to be invited to participate in the 272-word project from the Abraham Lincoln Library in Springfield, Illinois. Each of us was asked to contribute an essay that was, like the Gettysburg Address, just 272 words. Here’s mine:

Two score and six years after the death of Abraham Lincoln, he was first portrayed in the brand-new medium of film. 102 years and over 300 films later, Lincoln has appeared on screen more than any other historical figure and more than any other character except for Sherlock Holmes. In 2013 alone there were three feature films about Abraham Lincoln, one with an Oscar-winning performance by Daniel Day-Lewis, directed by Steven Spielberg. In another one, he was a vampire slayer. He has been portrayed by Henry Fonda (John Ford’s “Young Mr. Lincoln,” Raymond Massey (“Abe Lincoln in Illinois”), Walter Huston (D.W. Griffith’s “Abraham Lincoln”), and Bing Crosby – in blackface (“Holiday Inn”). The movies have shown us Lincoln defending clients, mourning Ann Rutledge, courting Mary Todd, and serving as President. We have also seen him traveling through time with a couple of California teenagers in “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” and granting amnesty to Shirley Temple’s Confederate family in “The Littlest Rebel.”

Lincoln is appealingly iconic as a movie character, instantly recognizable as a symbol of America’s most cherished notion of ourselves: unpretentious but aspiring for a better world and able to find both the humor and integrity in troubled times. In every film appearance, even the silliest and most outlandish, he reminds us, as he did in The Gettysburg Address, of what is most essential in the American character: the search for justice.

PS My husband and I waited for two hours outdoors on a frozen January 1 to view the Emancipation Proclamation on its 150th anniversary. When I saw it, I wept. A security guard whispered, “I know how you feel.”

The Steven Spielberg epic, Lincoln is based on Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin, with Oscar-winner Daniel Day-Lewis.

Young Mr. Lincoln Directed by John Ford and starring Henry Fonda, this is an appealing look at Lincoln’s early law practice and his tragic romance with Ann Rutledge. Particularly exciting and moving are the scenes in the courtroom as Lincoln defends two brothers charged with murder. Both have refused to talk about what happened, each thinking he is protecting the other, and Lincoln has to find a way to prove their innocence.

Abe Lincoln in Illinois Raymond Massey in his signature role plays Lincoln from his days as a rail-splitter to his law practice and his debates with Stephen Douglas. Ruth Gordon plays his wife, Mary.

Gore Vidal’s Lincoln Sam Waterston and Mary Tyler Moore star in this miniseries that focuses on Lincoln’s political strategies and personal struggles.

Sandburg’s Lincoln Hal Holbrook plays Lincoln in this miniseries based on the biography by poet Carl Sandberg.

The History Channel has both a documentary and a miniseries about Lincoln.

I’m a huge fan of the Lincoln Museum in Springfield, Illinois. So is Conan O’Brien.

Behind the Scenes — Hotel Transylvania: Transformania

Posted on January 12, 2022 at 8:00 am

The fourth “Hotel Transylvania” is my favorite of the series. There are some new voices, with Brian Hull taking over for Adam Sandler as Drac, Brad Abrell filling in for Kevin James as Frankenstein, and Keegan-Michael Key as The Mummy, replacing CeeLo Green.

The first three films were centered on the difficulty Drac, a vampire (Hull), had in accepting Johnny (Andy Samberg), the human who married his daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez). In this movie, there’s a switch. Johnny wants to become a monster and gets Van Helsing (Jim Gaffigan) to turn a transforming ray on him. So, the human becomes a monster and, through a malfunction, the ray gets turned on the monsters — the Invisible Man (David Spade), Murray the Mummy (Key), Wayne the wolfman (Steve Buscemi), Frankenstein (Abrell) and his Bride, Eunice (Fran Drescher). They become human, so we get to see what the Invisible Man, the Wolfman, and the Mummy really look like and how they respond when they don’t have their special powers. But Mavis has to find a way to get Johnny back to his human self before it is too late.

In a virtual press event, the actors talked about becoming “monsterfricationized” (Samberg’s term) and the freedom of animation. “I loved the new design,” Samberg said, “Burning Man back-packer meets Godzilla, a dream come true for me.” Spade said his character is “a bit of a scene-stealer” and a “goofy ding-dong who hangs out with the monsters.” He said the animators originally wanted the surprise to be how handsome his character was, but he urged them to make him funny-looking. “It’s a cartoon! It should be funny.”

Key was surprised by what his always-wrapped character looked like under it all. “I expected him to be bigger, with one revolution of wraps.” His favorite thing was the way his character was “really working the jowls,” which gave him a different idea about the voice. He loved the concept of not having any limitations. The look of the characters is so exaggerated that you can do anything, like when you’re a kid and playing with other kids. You get to channel all that abandon and it’s only not frowned upon; it’s encouraged.”

Drescher and Gomez urged the audience not to worry about pressure to fit in. Gomez advised taking a break from social media and focusing on a small group of real friends. Drescher said “compassion should be your compass.”

“You pretty much know they want you to go huge and insane, and then they’re going to go further with the animation,” Samberg said, and the others agreed that they enjoyed never being asked to tone it down.

Gomez said “it’s been wonderful to grow with this character. She’s tough and she’s always worrying, and that matches my personality well. I know what it’s like to have differences between family members and it is nice that we’re touching on a real thing in such a crazy way.”

Drescher loves physical comedy and the way it is even bigger in animation. “You can so so much because it’s a make-believe world. You can contort the how far can we physically take these characters to do funny and surprising things.”

Samberg said he did not expect the first movie to inspire three sequels, but he is delighted. “They’re so infused with joy and positivity. Everyone grew up loving this classic monsters and it’s a new spin on it. That’s why it endured.”

Key appreciates the combination of imagination, humor, and character. “An adult can be laughing at a hard joke in this film, but the way all the relationships play out, it’s well-observed and very relatable.”

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Coming Soon: El Deafo!

Posted on January 7, 2022 at 10:00 am

Coming to AppleTV+, based on the best-selling book and real-life story, the new animated series “El Deafo” is the story of a girl who is hearing-impaired and the inner superhero she channels.

Tribute: Betty White

Posted on January 1, 2022 at 12:37 am

It was a privilege to write a tribute to the wonderful Betty White for rogerebert.com. An excerpt:

White’s utter fearlessness as a performer was grounded in the delight she took in delighting others, especially if she could shock them just enough to make them laugh. She had unbounded enthusiasm, she loved a challenge, and she never worried about whether the character she was playing was likeable. Whether appearing as herself or in character, she always enjoyed the unexpected twist, especially if it was insulting or raunchy. When more than half a million members of a 2012 Facebook group successfully petitioned to have her host “Saturday Night Live,” her opening monologue let them know she did not take herself – or them – seriously. “When I first heard about the campaign to get me to host ‘Saturday Night Live,’ I didn’t know what Facebook was, and now that I do know what it is, I have to say it sounds like a huge waste of time.” That appearance won her an Emmy, one of five, with 21 nominations going back to 1951.

From CBS Sunday Morning:

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The Best Movies of 2021 — And the Worst!

Posted on December 30, 2021 at 10:03 am

I see no need to limit myself to a top ten or to try to rank the very different movies that I most loved (or hated) this year. So here is my list of the best and worst movies I saw in 2021. I did not expect to have four black and white movies on my list, but all were outstanding and gorgeously filmed. And as always I am especially happy to include a number of films from first-time writers, directors, and actors who made unforgettable debuts this year. The final item on my alphabetical list includes both newcomers and two of the most accomplished and lauded filmmakers in Hollywood.

Best

Belfast — Sir Kenneth Branagh’s loving autobiographical film about his family when he was 8 and the Troubles were getting more intense in Northern Ireland.
The Card Counter — Oscar Isaac and Tiffany Haddish are brilliant in this story of a veteran struggling with PTSD and devastating guilt who makes a living at casinos.
C’mon C’mon — The best depiction of the constant terror, exhilaration, exhaustion, and overpowering love of being a parent, with a career-best performance by Joaquin Phoenix, matched by Woody Norman as the child he has to care for while his mother is away.
Coda — A heartwarming story of the hearing daughter of Deaf parents who wants to sing but feels obligated to help in her family’s business, with a luminous performances by Emilia Jones.
Come From Away — The heartwarming hit Broadway musical about the small Canadian town that took in the frightened international passengers from planes re-routed on 9/11 is filmed as a stage play.

Count Me In — Rock and roll drummers tell their stories in one of the most joyous documentaries of the year.
Cyrano — Peter Dinklage stars as the classic character who writes letters to the woman he loves on behalf of the handsome soldier she thinks she loves in this beautifully performed musical based the same classic play that inspired Steve Martin’s “Roxanne.”
Don’t Look Up — The most savage satire since “Dr. Strangelove” has an all-star cast: Meryl Streep, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Timothee Chalamet, Jonah Hill, Rob Morgan, Mark Rylance, Ariana Grande, Cate Blanchett, and Tyler Perry in a wild story about science vs. anti-science and our ability to recognize and solve problems. Stay through the credits for two extra scenes.
Encanto — A girl who thinks she is the only one without magical powers in her family learns that only she has what it takes to save the day in this animated Disney musical with songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda.
The Green Knight — Don’t expect to understand it all or know what it means, but do expect to be enthralled by this classic story of a callow nobleman (well-played by the ever-talented Dev Patel) on a mysterious quest.
In the Heights — Lin-Manuel Miranda’s award-winning musical before “Hamilton” about his neighborhood is brought to the screen with joyful and touching music and dance.

Mass — Two couples meet in a church basement to talk about the tragedy that connects them. One couple are the parents of a child killed in a school shooting. The other are the parents of the shooter, who also died that day. Four brilliant actors and first-time writer/director Fran Kranz’s outstanding work make this film deeply moving and even hopeful.
Nine Days — Winston Duke and Zazie Beetz head a superb cast in first-time writer/director Edson Oda’s stirring film about souls hoping for the infinite privilege of being born into lives on Earth. The most powerful ending scene of the year.

The Outside Story — I loved every minute of this film from another first-time writer/director, Casimir Nozkowski. A somewhat reclusive video editor who creates memorial tributes for Turner Classic Movies is locked out of his apartment. Brian Tyree Henry is perfect in the role, and each encounter he has — from the person he blames for his break-up to the girl who lends him a charger and the cop who is writing a ticket — is a perfectly constructed and performed gem. They may seem random but they all come together at the end.
Passing — Actor Rebecca Hall is also a first-time writer-director in this exquisitely filmed story of two Black women, once friends, who meet after a long separation as one learns that the other has been passing as white, married to a racist white man. Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga, and Andre Holland give performances of quiet delicacy that enhance the emotional power of the story.
Raya and the Last Dragon — A brave girl goes in search of a dragon (Awkafina, in the best voice performance of the year) in this exciting and heartwarming animated adventure.
Schmigadoon — It’s a series, not a movie, but I could not leave out this hilarious love letter to classic Broadway musicals with an all-star cast led by Cecily Strong and Keegan-Michael Key, with Ariana DeBose (Anita in “West Side Story”), Kristin Chenoweth, Alan Cumming, Ariana DeBose, Ann Harada, Jane Krakowski, and Aaron Tveit.

Summer of Soul — Pure joy, and a powerful lesson in history and how it is told. Questlove assembled footage that had been sitting in a basement for half a century into the year’s best documentary, about a series of concerts in Harlem in 1969 featuring everyone from Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, the Staples Singers, the Fifth Dimension, to Mahalia Jackson.
The Tender Bar — An uneven film, based on the autobiography of a man whose lessons in masculinity came from the denizens of the local bar, is grounded in Ben Affleck’s best performance in years.
tick…tick…Boom! — Lin-Manuel Miranda directed Andrew Garfield in a story based on the early work of Jonathan Larson, who wrote “Rent” and died the day before it opened. Garfield was awarded the Best Actor prize from the Washington DC film critics for his outstanding performance.
The Tragedy of Macbeth — Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand play Shakespeare’s most murderous couple, directed by Joel Coen, with stunning black and white cinematography and an outstanding cast.
West Side Story — Screenwriter Tony Kushner and director Steven Spielberg have taken one of the best-known and most-awarded works and made it even more powerful. Ariana DeBose as Anita, Mike Feist as Riff, and Rita Moreno, who won an Oscar for her role as Anita in the original film, in a new role here, give performances that capture the most intimate details and the most powerful emotions.

Worst

The Little Things — I had to invoke my famous Gothika rule for this dumb serial killer story that works well for the first half and then goes completely bonkers.
Tom and Jerry — Why make a live action Tom and Jerry movie? And why make the non-animated part so boring?
Stillwater — Gothika rule again. The premise came from the true story of an American student imprisoned in Europe for murdering her roommate but the nonsensical storyline did not.
Lady of the Manor I gave a zero star review to this terrible film that combines wasting the talented cast with a disgusting white savior theme.
The King’s Man — The first two films were cheeky fun. This prequel is a dumb, dull, dud.
Shiva Baby — Yes, it turned up on a lot of “ten best” lists this year. But I hate cringe comedy and found this movie filled with appalling caricatures of its Jewish characters, with the exception of the always-terrific Molly Gordon.

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