Devs (2020)

There are some really beautiful things happening in Alex Garland's miniseries Devs. What it has to say about humanity is kind of profound. How it gets there though is a rather heady theoretical physics sci-fi lesson. And I didn't really follow it all the way through. I barely understood enough to get the ending. The show overall is extremely slow. I don't think they really needed 8 episodes. Kenton is really absolutely necessary to the core plot; he's more of a distraction. The acting is also really robotic, probably intentionally so. Nick Offerman is certainly cast against type in a dramatic role; it's didn't quite work for me just because we know Ron Swanson and I can't dissociate him from that character.  It's all really unsettling--the sound design, the set, the giant statue of Amaya that never really plays a part but to show how weird this place is.

Hadestown (Broadway)

I was very impressed by Hadestown. It's a beautiful production. I love Orpheus and Eurydice and it's a pretty straight retelling. But the Tonys performance didn't really inspire me to want to buy tickets. I think it was a poor representation of the show. They probably sang the most hummable number, but it's far from the best, as I'm sure Sondheim could tell you. Great music doesn't have to be memorable; it is incredibly moving nonetheless. I loved the 7-piece orchestra on stage including fiddle, cello, bass, drums, trombone/glockenspiel, piano/accordion, and guitar. They play jazz, New Orleans style. There is a funny equating of the underworld and New Orleans and hell and jazz. Persephone is dressed in her best Mardi Gras outfit. I don't love the coal mining costumes, but they work in context. And at the end of Act I when the set transforms, I was blown away.

The cast was phenomenal. Eva Noblezada as Eurydice and Patrick Page as the deep-bass-voiced Hades stand out. Page's voice is hypnotically good. Unfortunately, Andre de Shields was not performing so we had an understudy who made the character of Hermes his own. He's not as old, maybe saunters a little less. I thought Jewelle Blackman as Persephone was also fantastic. I don't know how she compares to Amber Gray, but I'm very happy for her getting the promotion from Fate to Persephone. She knocks it out of the park. I'm not really a fan of Reeve Carney (but I also feel kind of bad that he's the only one that didn't get a Tony nomination). His singing is fine, but he plays a very awkward Orpheus. It's definitely a choice. He plays guitar, not exactly a lyre.

The first act felt really long. I think it's because there were several songs that felt like Act I finales. The actual Act I finale was actually not that climactic. And for much of the first act, probably the first forty minutes or so, everyone is on stage, perpetually acting, never exiting. Even Hades, sits on the balcony, back facing the audience. The play actually starts without warning when everyone rushes onto the stage to take their places. The second act is stronger in my opinion. It's just breathtaking. There are some plot points that are a little vague. It's not really clear what choice Eurydice has to make, because we're not familiar with what happens when you die. You "take a train" (the horn is a recurring motif, I guess the River Styx isn't as sonic) to the Underworld, but what if she didn't sign the contract, then what? What is the benefit of working for Hades? And what work are they doing exactly? And what is this Wall they keep singing about? Does Hell have Walls? The Wall as a metaphor for the Southern border works presciently though. It is a hellscape delusion that walls make us free.

Moulin Rouge! (Broadway)

I think Moulin Rouge the stage musical is fine, not quite as good as the movie. What makes the movie so special is its drug-addled frenetic editing, which doesn't really translate to the stage. The medleys are still there, cutting together one line here, one line there--that still works and has a disorienting effect. They updated the songs, and it's all the better for it. I think the best scene musically is Crazy/Rolling in the Deep cause who does heartbreak better than Adele? I don't love jukebox musicals in general but recognizable songs are fun. I think where the play suffers is in the plot, which is pretty thin and basically abandoned at the end. I read the synopsis online afterwards and I don't know if I missed something or if it was implied through song-and-dance or if they flat out didn't finish the plot but we're sort of left hanging. The ending actually does a bit of a Mamma Mia finale jubilantly singing the hits--so much for a tragic ending. The theater is decked out in red lights, a rotating windmill and a giant elephant on the wings. Unfortunately, the scenes "in" the elephant aren't actually in an elephant. I think that was a missed opportunity. The set in the movie (including the miniatures) are so theatrically staged that I think this sort of disappoints. Overall, maybe the production isn't sexy enough? Isn't seedy enough? It doesn't have the edge of Cabaret for instance; it's more sanitized for family-friendly entertainment. In the movie there are copious scenes in which Satine and Christian steal away, but there are just a couple in the abbreviated plot points. I thought Natalie Mendoza was a pretty good Satine, taking over from Karen Olivo. I do not remember her being in Annette at all. Caught Aaron Tveit in his final week. He won a Tony for this role but with the caveat that there were no other nominees.
 

94th Academy Awards (2022)

There is much to be outraged over this year's Oscars. The Academy seems to misunderstand who the Oscars are for. ABC may be partly to blame there. They're chasing ratings, and in their quest for the ever elusive audience, they cut 8 awards from the live ceremony, severely disrespecting the behind-the-scenes work that goes into the magic of movie making. Actually, this will make no difference to the general audience who won't tune in anyways. And it will make all the difference to the loyal cinephiles who await the Oscars like the Super Bowl. They somehow managed to find time to sing We Don't Talk About Bruno, which isn't even nominated, and do a tribute to The Godfather but can't present all the awards (and why isn't Van Morrison singing his nominated song from Belfast)? The truth of the matter is that we like the long, boring Oscars. We like the inside Hollywood-ness of it, ratings be damned. Expanding the Best Picture category was supposed to make room for "popular movies" but the good voters of the Academy justly rejected that notion and instead has gravitated toward more internationa smaller, quality fare (see: Parasite and Drive My Car). The Academy hit back by presenting a Twitter-voted award for popular movie; god only knows what will win that. Again, not that it matters. Americans have spoken with their wallets. They want to watch Marvel and Netflix. They're not interested in the quality cinema worthy of awards. They're not coming back. And we shouldn't pander to them. The Oscars aren't for them. The logo of MGM reads Ars gratia artis, Art for art's sake. The relevancy of awards is not about money or ratings, but the art of the craft.

Tyler's Top 10:

1. Spencer
2. C'mon C'mon
3. The Rescue
4. CODA
5. West Side Story
6. King Richard
   
7. Licorice Pizza
8. In the Heights
9. The Mitchells vs. The Machines
10. Drive My Car

Honorable mentions: Cruella, A Hero, tick, tick...Boom!, The Hand of God, Zola, The Green Knight, Parallel Mothers, Dune, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, The Worst Person in the World, In the Same Breath, I'm Your Man, The Harder They Fall

Best Picture (prediction):

1. CODA
2. Power of the Dog
3. Belfast
4. Drive My Car
5. Dune
6. West Side Story
7. King Richard
8. Licorice Pizza
9. Don't Look Up
10. Nightmare Alley

Best Director:
Will Win: Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
Should Win: Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Drive My Car

Best Actress:
Will Win: Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Should Win: Kristen Stewart, Spencer

Best Actor:
Will Win/Should Win: Will Smith, King Richard
Honorable Mention: Andrew Garfield, tick, tick...Boom!

Best Supporting Actress:
Will Win/Should Win: Ariana Debose, West Side Story
Honorable Mention: Aunjanue Ellis, King Richard

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Will Win: CODA
Should Win: the infamously unadaptable Dune, or Drive My Car melding three short stories together

Best Original Screenplay:
Will Win: Belfast
Should Win: Licorice Pizza

Best Cinematography:
Will Win/Should Win: West Side Story

Best Costume Design:
Will Win/Should Win: Cruella

Best Film Editing:
Will Win: Dune
Should Win: tick, tick...Boom!

Best Makeup and Hairstyling:
Will Win: The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Should Win: Dune

Best Production Design:
Will Win/Should Win: Dune

Best Score:
Will Win: Dune
Should Win: The Power of the Dog

Best Original Song:
Will Win: Dos Oruguitas, Encanto
Should Win: Be Alive, King Richard
Biggest Snub of the Night: We Don't Talk About Bruno, Encanto

Best Sound:
Will Win/Should Win: Dune

Best Visual Effects:
Will Win/Should Win: Dune

Best Animated Feature:
Will Win: Encanto
Should Win: The Mitchells vs the Machines

Best Documentary Feature:
Will Win/Should Win: Summer of Soul
Other Biggest Snub of the Night: The Rescue

Best International Film:
Will Win/Should Win: Drive My Car (Japan)

Best Animated Short:
Will Win: Robin Robin
Should Win: The Windshield Wiper

Best Documentary Short:
Will Win/Should Win: The Queen of Basketball

Best Live Action Short:
Will Win: The Long Goodbye
Should Win: Please Hold

Update: I scored 20/23. Not bad, but I lost our pool to Helena, who went 22/23, missing only the dreaded Animated Short category, the same one I missed in 2014. Of course, all anyone talked about was Will Smith and Chris Rock.It was a bad look for everybody. Definitely the most buzzed about Oscars of all time. That's what they were going for, right?

Intimate Apparel (2022) (Off-Broadway)

I've never been to the theater downstairs at Lincoln Center Theater. It's very small, 75% in the round; with a turntable for a stage, every seat in full view and we were in the second row. This co-production with the Metropolitan Opera of Intimate Apparel is an operatic adaptation of Lynn Nottage's play. The score is sparse, just two pianos, elevated on both sides of the stage. The music is not particularly memorable. It was a bit too contemporary for me, lacking in melody and harmony. George maybe gets a bit of melody but not much. The music meanders, going nowhere, as opera often does. The plot recalls Cyrano de Bergerac, in which love letters are ghostwritten by someone else. The plot sort of skips over how George comes to know Esther. In 1905, you don't exactly have catfishing through the psot, but that's kind of the idea. It's a sumptuous production nonetheless for such a small theater. The period costumes are really great.

We Are Who We Are (2021)

Man these kids are annoying as hell, but I guess that's sort of the point. The first handful of episodes get filed under the kids-behaving-badly Euphoria genre. But Luca Guadagnino's style is such that it's filmed in an interesting and loving way. He recreated his own military base set to film on; there is definitely a message in there about Donald Trump and race and the military abroad. There was way more gratuitous nudity than I was expecting. And one episode verges on child porn. But getting past those episodes, the last two are excellent. There was a lot of Bologna nostalgia in the last episode. They filmed on location, and I recognized all the places. I love that they call San Luca the most beautiful place in the world, cause it's extraordinary and picturesque. I love that Guadagnino filmed mundane everyday places that I recognize too, like Piazza 8 Agosto, Bologna Centrale, that little window with the canal, etc. Take me back!

Hawkeye (2021)

Jeremy Renner finally gets his due. Is a 300 minute miniseries more prestigious than a feature film nowadays? Maybe. I think he probably got a longer end of the stick than Scarjo did with Black Widow. In the grand scheme of the Marvel Universe, this is probably not that important, but I think that's what's so refreshing about it compared to the complex Loki. They can go small. What they created is a Christmas movie, or an extended Christmas episode. It's designed just to make you smile and it does the trick. Christmas in New York is magical, isn't it? Hailee Steinfeld is fabulous as Kate Bishop, the rare Hawkeye fan who was inspired to pick up archery and becomes something of a hero in her own right. There is a deaf played by Alaqua Cox. Following the success of The Sound of Metal and CODA, it was a pleasant surprise to see a deaf character thriving in the hearing world, and multiple hearing characters signing to her, entering her world, handicapping themselves for her benefit. There is also a pretty good gag (prediction?) about a Marvel musical. Maybe they forgot about the Spiderman musical. The song and choreography are painfully accurate; I can see it transitioning to Broadway for real and succeeding.