Posts tagged Christina Kirk
Love is Strange “Downer Movie”
Oct 6th
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
LOVE IS STRANGE stars John Lithgow and Alfred Molina as two gay men who have been living together for years and have been partners for even longer than that, and it is about what happens to them after they can finally get officially married.
The movie begins with the wedding ceremony for Ben and George, which is held outdoors in New York City and attended by their families and friends.
At the reception afterwards, held in the roomy apartment that Ben and George own together, Kate, played by Marisa Tomei, who is married to Elliot, Ban’s nephew, makes a toast and says, “May this marriage last forever and beyond.”
Well, unfortunately, their official marriage causes problems for Ben and George, because George, who teaches music at a Catholic school, loses his job, and their loss of income forces them to sell their apartment and move out.
So, while they are looking for another apartment, Ben moves in with Elliot and Kate, where he sleeps on the bottom bunk in the bedroom of their teenage son, Joey, which causes privacy problems with Joey and his friend Vlad.
George moves in with two policemen friends of theirs, who are also gay, and he sleeps on the couch in their living room.
Now, Kate is a novelist who works at home, Ben likes to talk, and he doesn’t realize at first that his talking to Kate is interrupting her concentration and getting on her nerves.
As Ben tells George, “Sometimes when you live with people, you know them better than you care to.”
Ben is a painter, but when Kate suggests that he do some painting to keep him busy, he tells her that he can’t work if someone else is around, because he can’t concentrate.
George is also having difficulties with his new living arrangement sleeping on the couch, because the policemen have a lot of parties and a lot of friends over for activities that don’t interest George at all.
Now, you might get the impression that this sounds like a pretty depressing movie, and you would be right.
Even though other incidents break up the main complication of Ben and George looking for a new place to live, and even though something lucky happens for them, it gets even more depressing.
LOVE IS STRANGE is a downer movie.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
Love is Strange – Movie Trailer
Oct 1st
After nearly four decades together, Ben (John Lithgow) and George (Alfred Molina) finally tie the knot in an idyllic wedding ceremony in lower Manhattan. But when George loses his job soon after, the couple must sell their apartment and – victims of the relentless New York City real estate market – temporarily live apart until they can find an affordable new home. While George moves in with two cops (Cheyenne Jackson and Manny Perez) who live down stairs, Ben lands in Brooklyn with his nephew (Darren Burrows), his wife (Marisa Tomei), and their temperamental teenage son (Charlie Tahan), with whom Ben shares a bedroom. While struggling with the pain of separation, Ben and George are further challenged by the intergenerational tensions and capricious family dynamics of their new living arrangements.
“Taking Woodstock” It’s the Dream, Man
Sep 3rd
It’s the Dream, Man
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
TAKING WOODSTOCK is Ang Lee’s latest film and is based on the book, TAKING WOODSTOCK: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert, and a Life, by Elliot Tiber, who was one of the main reasons that the legendary concert happened.
In fact, the film is a comedy and is more about Elliot and his relationship with his parents than it is about the concert itself.
If you are old enough to remember when Woodstock happened or if you were one of the 400,000 who were there, the film brings back strong emotions and even tears. What is more, you cannot take it all in with just one viewing.
On the other hand, if you were born after Woodstock occurred beginning August 15, 1969, you might unreasonably and incorrectly dismiss the film as just another self-indulgence of Baby Boomers instead of the masterpiece it is about the more aptly called Woodstock generation.
Elliot has moved back home in upstate New York to live with his parents in their run-down El Monaco Motel, which is over $5,000 in arrears on their mortgage.
Fortunately, however, Elliot is president of the local Chamber of Commerce, which is in charge of granting permits for concerts, and Elliot is known for the summer “concerts” he puts on at the motel with recorded music, but he says, “This year I’m going to try to have a live quartet.”
When Elliot learns that a nearby town has canceled plans to host a music festival, he gets in touch with the promoters and offers the motel as head-quarters and his own festival permit as all the permission the promoters need.
Sure, there are problems, but Elliot and the promoters, who have already sold 100,000 tickets to the concert, manage to overcome them, and the rest, as they say, is musical, cultural, and revolutionary history.
The film uses the split-screen technique made famous in the 1970 Oscar- winning documentary WOODSTOCK, and even though this film doesn’t concentrate on the music the way the documentary does, it is still an enjoyable experience.
It is truly a creative masterpiece.
As someone said, “It’s the dream, Man. We all could use a little Woodstock in our lives now.”
TAKING WOODSTOCK brings to mind another expression in the news a lot lately:
“And the dream shall never die.”
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
