caracas1914

Mitzi Gaynor was OK as Nellie, but I just find her acting and singing conventional at best. I think the film in some ways is a disaster, that weird color filtering for musical numbers, and I'm sorry, just can't get over the fact that Juanita Hall (Bloody Mary) who played the role on Broadway and even won the Tony for it, had her singing voice dubbed. I read somewhere ostensibly it was for legal reasons but still....If Rogers and Hammerstein still the rights to their material, how was she banned from singing it onscreen?

I couldn’t quite get Astrid. We are told what a wonderful, warm & chic individual she is, but how does she expect no strain in her marriage when she’s literally spending millions of dollars on shopping sprees,then trying to hide it from the husband?

It’s a beautiful film, and it conveys so much of “American” cultural values including rugged individualism and wanderlust , but you also get the all encompassing sense that the rug been pulled out from beneath so many of these senior baby boomer nomads, capitalism at its worse has betrayed them.

Abraham Riesman's True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee, the latest bio raises up once again who was responsible for Marvel's golden age of comic characters. Mr. Riesman falls on Jack Kirby's side of the ledger, seemingly giving him most of the credit for the Marvel "Creation". Interesting opinion on this from previous Marvel writer, editor Roy Thomas. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/roy-thomas-former-marvel-editor-pushes-back-on-new-stan-lee-biography-guest-column

Was pleasantly surprised on seeing for the the first time in years Katharine Hepurn's "Morning Glory." I had dismissed it in my mind as dated "THE theatre" hokum, and in many ways it is. Physically Hepburn is so unique, her face even then sharp and angular; an early scene in a theatrical waiting room she's sitting down next to another actress who is dressed to the nines and has the kewpie lips and almost round rouged face in vogue and the contrast is startling. Certain actors such as Hepburn, and say Louise Brooks, Greta Garbo (at least by her American film debut) , seemed to have had their look from the moment they first stepped in front of the camera, fully developed and formed. However the intensity of Hepburn in the role is fascinating to watch and as Adolph Menjou's character says "she's a nut" but you can't keep your eyes off her. Drunken scenes are are hard to pull off, because a lot of times there's a self-consciously "wink wink" shtick actors rely on, yet Hepburn has one were she's proclaiming herself a great actress and doing scenes from Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet and it somehow works, she is both embarrassing and compelling at the same time. I know many nonfans rag her for excessive mannerisms and we do have a different sensibility to what acting standards are these days, but I thought her scenes hold up surprisingly well.

Can't really disagree with most of what you said. What saves "The Women" somewhat is the cynical POV that while the film doesn't portray women in exactly a positive light, the men are actually portrayed just as bad if not worse. It's essentially "men are dogs" , so women have to cope with it as best you can. Not exactly enlightening, I grant you. Yet the zingers and repartee in the film wear down any resistance. The comic timing is impeccable by the cast. I did think the Paulette Goddard advice speech to Norma Shearer is different then the one by her mother , the one genuinely insufferable character played by Lucille Watson. The mother essentially tells Norma to shut up, grin and bear it and never confront her husband and to confide in no one. Seriously. Goddard's take is fairly risque, obviously implied, Norma needs to beat her rival sexually, not just be the placid complacent housewife. Again hardly putting the onus on the husband as it should be, but I just thought it was a different spin. For my money the character/actress who steals the show is Mary Boland as the numerously married Countess who always marries "for love", her lament "La publicitee!'" is priceless.

I think it’s obvious by now that Brady hatred/Jealousy only makes him stronger. Let it go. Of all the insane statistics with the man is this nugget: Since turning 40, Brady has reached 3 Super Bowls, winning 2 , was a SB MVP , was a regular season MVP, and this year including the playoffs threw for 50 TD’s. Since he’s playing next year, barring injury, he could conceivably have gotten into the Hall of Fame based on just the 40+ age phase of his career.

Contrast with Nadal's public stance: "We can't complain" https://au.sports.yahoo.com/australian-open-2021-rafa-nadal-sobering-reality-check-stars-041230621.html

I dunno, I get that the Chiefs/Mahomes are the favorites, (3 points sounds about right). However their Offensive Tackle Eric Fisher is out with an ACL and it looks like OT Swartz isn't returning for the Superb Bowl. so up in the trenches it will be interesting how the Buccaneers pass rush fares.

Well, looks like Bucaneers versus Chiefs. Ok, so let's see if at least 3 out of the 4 Offense/Defense Coordinators going to the Super Bowl end up as head coaches next year. Just saying.

Of course the irony is Rodgers will probably be the league MVP, but yeah, you don’t put the game in his hands. WTF? Sorry but the facts are Rodgers losing at home ( with pregame snow) is now 1-4 in NFC champ. games, losing 4 straight. As to the Bucaneers, well they’re winning with the big D, which last time I looked is key to winning champs. They should get AB back for the Super Bowl.too. I hate the word “legacy”, but yeah, for Rodgers it has to hurt. heheheheheh.

the secret: Avocado Ice Cream.

Poor Novak, "Woe Is Me" must be his middle name. "Victim" is definitely his last name.

Good God, Aaron Rodgers winning a 2nd SB would make him nigh unbearable. As it is, we know how "beloved" he is by so many of his ex teammates. Incredibly gifted Quarterback but alas also incredibly "gifted" as an asshole. .

Eagle's Doug Peterson: Dang, winning a SuperBowl and a couple of playoff spots gets you squat these days....

Does toughness of regular schedule translate to better results once playoffs come? I dunno, Just Playing 16 games, if you're not toughened up by the season end regardless. It would be interesting to have statistical data as to how the teams with the best record versus quality opponents do once the post season commences. Now I know before the season started the Ravens were projected to have the "easiest" schedule as opposed to the Patriots having the "toughest" https://www.giants.com/news/2020-nfl-schedule-release-strength-of-schedule-formula-how-it-works Did the actual results flip alot of that? I don't know, just curious.

So that means Diana and Steve went around for basically 5-10 minutes?

I'm torn: It seems that it's a huge advantage for the #1 team in each conference to get a week rest while everyone else dukes it out. OTOH, why shouldn't the best record have the advantage, since it reflects excellence over the entire season. Caveat on the WTF and Bucs game, didn't the last 7-9 playoff team pull off the upset in 2011 ? Not only did the Seattle Seahawks upset the NO Saints, but the Saints with Drew were the defending SB champs. That was a crazy year regardless as the wildcard NY Jets led by Mark Sanchez upset the 14-2 NE Patriots. However back to reality now, if the Bucs/Brady score a couple of TD's early just can't see Alex/WTF getting much offense going.

Mildly shocked they didn't try to insert a couple of Russian skaters just so Johnny could oh so confidently overenunciate their names.

So agree with that. Having said that, I did like the treatment of Steve Trevor in the first WW movie, in that it was his compassionate humanity and self sacrifice, his goodness, that attracted Dianna to him. (Well yeah, OK it didn't hurt he looked like Chris Pine). My bigger issue with this WW1984 movie was that it had been 75+ years since his death and Dianna had not moved on. When you add the Justice League movie it appears that 100 + years she is still pining for the man. It's a narrative dead end.

The masochistic "The Party's Over" gets me every time.

Mercy alive but it grates on me how Meryl Streep seemingly is offered every role between the ages of 35-75. It's not even a rant on her abilities, but the fact that no actress has a range that wide. For example , She is an OK singer, but she even gets first dibs on singing roles.

I've always thought the Holy Grail was Orson Welles' "The Magnificent Ambersons", which IMO is probably gone forever, Some claim a copy of the original uncut film was sent down by RKO to Orson Welles who was in Brazil; I just read there is yet another effort to try to find the excised footage. However back then they would burn all the excess footage found in their vaults/warehouses after awhile. The other lost movie frequently referenced is the silent 1924 film "Greed" by Eric Von Stronheim. Reputedly the first cut ran over 8 hours! Back to the Welles film, even a novice like me can tell where the movie was edited down but still, it's such a great work of art, oh well, coulda shoulda woulda.....

I've watched soo many foreign films in my life that CC on english speaking films doesn't phase me at all. As an American, it's especially helpful on British/English movies/shows where the accents make some dialogue indecipherable to my ears. Netflix shows so so many foreign TV series, let alone movies, that I would think CC isn't that distracting once you get used to it.

The Pre-Code 1933 "Babyface" starring Barbara Stanwyck was something else. The frank depiction of sex as a transactional exchange vis-a-vis men for her character to climb up the corporate ladder was so matter of fact. Spelled out so clearly her father allowed men to abuse her sexually from a young age, yet the emancipated Babyface isn't portrayed as a "victim" perse, nor some wicked wayward woman, but, so help me , someone who translates Nietzsche philosophy to exploiting men instead of being exploited. ( It's hilarious to learn they edited out all references to Nietzsche from the post Code version). Her relationship with Chico, portrayed by Theresa Harris, is unique as far as race relations in that time in films, in that it's established they are first and foremost, friends, even if the conventions of the time have Chico become her maid. A young John Wayne is one of the men she uses, and again, Stanwyck's character upward mobility is contrasted with the men who think they are using her, yet they let their emotions get in the way while Babyface leaves her feelings at the door. Sidenote: Didn't realize so many pre-Code films are *lost* in that the perceived racier bits were edited out in subsequent airings and some footage has not been recovered. It was serendipitous that they "found" the original Babyface.