Months of Meryl: Marvin's Room (1996)

John and Matthew are watching every single live-action film starring Meryl Streep. 

 

#24 —Lee, a frazzled single mom and aspiring hairdresser who reunites with her ailing sister.

JOHN: Marvin’s Room begins with a slow outward zoom of assorted pill bottles and other medical paraphernalia scored to whimsically upbeat music that immediately establishes the film’s split personality between dysfunctional family comedy and sentimental illness drama. We soon learn that the titular Marvin is the bedridden and near-death father of Bessie (Diane Keaton) and brother of Ruth (Gwen Verdon), three members of a looney Floridian family. No sooner than Marvin’s illness and medical routine is introduced, Bessie is herself diagnosed with leukemia by Dr. Robert De Niro (who also produced the film). He recommends that Bessie's family members be tested for a possible bone marrow transplant. This diagnosis is the film’s engine, reuniting her with her sister Lee (Meryl Streep) and nephews Hank (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Charlie (Hal Scardino), bridging a twenty year gap between this estranged family...

Click to read more ...

Rosemary's Baby Pt 1: Tannis, anyone?

50th Anniversary Three-Part Mini-Series
Occasionally we'll take a movie and baton pass it around the team and really dive in. If you missed past installments we've gone long and deep on Rebecca, Silence of the Lambs, Thelma & Louise, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, and A League of Their Own. Now... Rosemary's Baby - Editor

Part 1 by Seán McGovern

I'm delighted to take you through Part 1 of Rosemary's Baby, a terrifying personal favourite. 

00:01 William Castle, who in the pantheon of horror was basically a schlock-jock, produced the film but according to Mia Farrow, Castle was at one point going to direct. What would the outcome of that have been? Potentially not the paranoid horror we revere today but maybe something more gimmicky. William Castle was portrayed by John Waters in Ryan Murphy's Feud: Bette & Joan, and if that's not a fitting tribute I don't know what is.

01:00 In these short two minutes of opening credits are also the names of some of the twentieth century's best character actors: Ruth Gordon, Charles Grodin and Ralph Bellamy. The theme melody is la-la-la'ed by Mia Farrow herself, giving that girlish tone a chill that you'll also be humming all day...

Click to read more ...

Ask Nathaniel

Time for another Q&A. Shall we?

Remember that the question is more likely to be answered if it wouldn't require a 1000 word essay to answer or a massive list. For next week's installment, questions about 1994 or LGBT cinema are especially welcome (though not mandatory) as we approach the Smackdown and as we move through Pride month. 

Have at it in the comments. 

Beauty Break: To Chris Evans on his 37th Birthday

by Nathaniel R

A very happy 37th birthday today to one of Hollywood's true good guys, Chris Evans. In addition to making the perfect superhero onscreen, he's a progressive feminist and all around role model offscreen. His only sin that we can recall is that one time he threatened to retire from acting when his run as Captain America ends (in 2019 *gulp*). But his recent stint on Broadway in Lobby Hero suggests to us that he might not give up on that particular craft so quickly. 

He's wonderful and also, obviously, an all-time looker. Much balm for sore eyes after the jump...

Click to read more ...

Soundtracking: "Love, Simon"

by Chris Feil

Love, Simon is chasing the ghost of John Hughes, a brand of uplift where teen woes are packaged conventionally and without condescension for maximum warm fuzzies. Naturally that package must include an anthemic sound, music that connects with the generation it depicts and becomes part of the fabric of what we remember about the film. But if Love, Simon is supposed to be a gay alternative on Hughesian comedy, does the sound also have its gay twist?

Simon’s signature sound comes from Jack Antonoff and his band Bleachers, bookending the film. Instead of the singular force of Simple Minds’ “Don’t You Forget About Me” as Hughes employed in The Breakfast Club, it’s more like the film uses Antonoff as the artist to hang its headphones on instead of one song. He’s a straight musician, but Bleachers is fairly embraced by the queer teen set - at least the kind that the film depicts. Though in an age where Troye Sivan can produce hit bops about bottoming, is that really enough for the film to define itself musically?

Click to read more ...