The LITTLE MERMAID. A TOUR DE FORCE

 

Run don’t walk to see The Little Mermaid a remake of the 1989 animated film. It is based on a Hans Christian Andersen story and is a musical that doesn’t quit, with CGI dancing urchins and sirens and of course, a beautiful mermaid played by Halle Bailey.  The Little Mermaid keeps a smile on your face and your foot tapping. The acting is terrific, as is the script.  For once we have a good combination of acting and writing and singing that all make for a good feeling when you leave. It is about a little mermaid who longs to be a human and of course her dreams come true.  How it comes about is the theme of the film. Rather than spoil the story just see it.  But when Ariel, the little mermaid, first sees humans and land through her new eyes of a human who develops legs, I was reminded of how I felt when I became sober. Everything looked so fresh, new, enchanting and it was as though I had never seen nature before.  This is what sobriety did for me.  I identified with the little mermaid.  As a mermaid, she was raised to hate humans, but she fell in love with a prince, and he fell in love with her, and they lived happily ever after.  If you want the details, see the film and magic before your eyes. Melissa McCarthy portrays a Seamonster and the prince is played by Jonah Hauer King.  While the king of the underworld and the mermaids father, King Triton, is portrayed by Javier Bardem.  Rob Marshall directed  without losing I’ll beat. If you want to leave a film with your head held high and gratitude for having seen a couple fall in love while you fall in love with the film, see The Little Mermaid.

The Little Mermaid. A dream and a movie come true.

 

Run don’t walk to see The Little Mermaid a remake of the 1989 animated film. It is based on a Hans Christian Andersen story and is a musical that doesn’t quit, with CGI dancing urchins and sirens and of course, a beautiful mermaid played by Halle Bailey.  The Little Mermaid keeps a smile on your face and your foot tapping. The acting is terrific, as is the script.  For once we have a good combination of acting and writing and singing that all m

ake for a good feeling when you leave. It is about a little mermaid who longs to be a human and of course, her dreams come true.  How it comes about is the theme of the film. Rather than spoil the story just see it.  But when Ariel, the little mermaid, first sees humans and land through her new eyes of a human who developed legs, I was reminded of how I felt when I became sober. Everything looked so fresh, new, enchanting and it was as though I had never seen nature before.  This is what sobriety did for me, and I identified with the little mermaid.  As a mermaid, she was raised to hate humans, but she fell in love with a prince, and he fell in love with her, and they lived happily ever after.  If you want the details, see the film and magic before your eyes. Melissa McCarthy portrays a Seamonster and the prince is played by Jonah Haver King.  While the king of the underworld and the mermaid's father, King Triton is portrayed by Javier Bardem.  Rob Marshall directed without losing I’ll beat. If you want to leave a film with your head held high and gratitude for having seen a couple fall in love while you fall in love with the film, see The Little Mermaid.

ABOUT MY FATHER

 

About My Father stars two-time Oscar winner, Robert De Niro, who steals the film, and frankly, there would be no film without him.  The script written by Sebastian Maniscalco, is filled with forced laughter and a boring plot. De Niro plays an old-school, Italian father, whose son Sebastian longs to be engaged to the mega, wealthy daughter of a hotel magnet. The parents of the daughter are played by Kim Cattrall from Sex and the City and Bill Collins and while the acting is adequate, it is a writing that is pathetic. The audience seemed to like it, and it could be a hit, but for me, it was one bad joke after another.  It is held together by De Niro, who is simply marvelous.  So it’s worth watching just to see him. He plays the old-school, Italian father, who doesn’t want to let his son go and leave Chicago to live in Washington with his about-to-be fiancee played by Leslie Bibb, but it is really about a collision of values and that’s the best part of About My Father.  You see a poor, steadfast hairdresser, De Niro, who has real values juxtaposed against the hoity-toity family his son wants to marry into who may have a lot of money, but they have shallow beliefs.  So I see why De Niro agreed to star in the film because it was a good part for him, but it is not a good film. De Niro needs money. He needs alimony for his ex-wife. He has seven children including an infant with a new woman whom he must also support, therefore at 79 he's working his butt off.  This is obviously a film he did for money but it was a good part and he is good in it. It is worth seeing About My Father just to see him.  But if you're not a De Niro fan, I would forget it.

 BOOK CLUB--THE FIRST CHAPTER

Book Club--The First Chapter works. Finally a film about gutsy women, but Italy is its star.  Stunning photography of Venice and Rome’s splendor   Four beautiful women celebrate their senior years and make them fun, sexy, and raucous. It's worth seeing Jane Fonda, who can steal a scene when she wants to, Candice Bergen, whose acting is perhaps the best, Mary Steenbergen who has a natural delivery which is incomparable, and Diane Keaton who is her usual charming self with her usual hat and usual glasses, and la de da manner, but I wish she would stop hiding her natural beauty behind props.  Nevertheless these women work together and their unity makes a strong film when the writing doesn’t make it silly and forced  Writing is weak in spots especially in the dull beginning. 

Once the women arrive in Italy, the film begins to sail.  Don Johnson has a small part but, of course, is competent, and handsome, but wearing makeup that is reminiscent of Donald Trump. Too much bronzer, baby, too much!   Andy Garcia, Craig T. Nelson, and Giancarlo Giannini are the backdrop for these women with balls who command these men with their assertiveness and cunning.  This feminist dominance is the great strength of Book Club, The First Chapter.  It is about women who do not need men, but appreciate male charms when it is convenient for them, but do not need a stud to feel whole. This is not just another silly girlie comedy like the horrific 80 for Brady, but a serious romantic comedy about the importance of independent women. The ending which is predictable is the asterisk addressing this point as the film could almost be the biography of Jane Fonda, but due to the stellar direction of Bill Holderman, this film works!

Hugh Quarshie, the black male star whom I had never heard of, almost steals the show when he sings Gloria at an Italian dinner for the women bachelorettes. He is handsome beyond belief and sings with genuine sensuality.  We must see more of him. 

Sometimes Fonda’s acting is a bit carved out or stiff.  But when she lets herself go she sails above all the others. The writing is the problem.  Sometimes corny, but when it is funny, it is funny. Book Club The First Chapter is a film the world needs to see.  It addresses marriage and its folly juxtaposed against marriage and it’s joy  I recommend the film. And  God bless Jane Fonda who at 85 is walking and moving like a goddess though she has had cancer, hip surgery, knee surgery and we all know about her facial surgery because she’s so honest and bless her for it. She is a warrior and this film is about warrior women! Do try to see it!

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