Q&A: Small Screens & Sex Workers

Since there were so many television centric questions in last week's "Ask Nathaniel" insert, I figured we'd have to give them their own Q&A post. We'll get to the movie questions on Tuesday. But for now let's handle all these questions involving smaller screens than we usually go for.

BENSUNCE: Like George Clooney, which current television actors would you see having a successful career on the big screen?

Expecting anyone to have Clooney-sized silver screen success after switching from the small screen is, well, a recipe for disappointment if not disaster. He's a 1%er. Most of the people I enjoy on TV now already had their movie shot and have gone small screen for better / bigger roles than they were getting at the movies. But the current small screen actors I think absolutely deserve and would ace major big screen opportunities are Christina Hendricks and Jon Hamm (Mad Men). On a riskier pipe dream note I hope Harry Shum Jr (Glee) gets at least one romantic comedy opportunity both because he's adorable and because Hollywood really needs to end their strange delusion that Asian men can't be romantic leads... or leads at all. 

SEAN D: If you were in charge of the Emmy awards how many nominations/wins would Buffy the Vampire Slayer have received?

I knew talking about Buffy earlier this month would get send us all spinning back in time to Sunnydale. It's always difficult to answer questions like this because so much of what should have been nominated and won in any given year in any given artform is contingent upon the competition that year. But I will say that I think Buffy's second, third and sixth seasons had no business whatsoever not being nominated for Best Drama Series and I think they should have won the Best Series Emmy at least once for Season 3. I'd probably have nominated the show itself for seasons 2 through 6 consecutively though I get why people have issues with seasons 4 through 6. But the standard lines of complaining about those seasons are wrongheaded ("it should have stayed in High School") and short sighted ("it got too depressing!"). In the first short season Buffy The Vampire Slayer was merely finding its footing and establishing its identity and the last season was a badly paced mess with a couple of wonderful moments but the rest is gold. As for writing Emmys, it's inexcusable that "The Body" and "Once More With Feeling" didn't have writing and directing nominations and in both cases you could make strong arguments for actual winged statues, too.

Shouldn't "Doppelgangland" have secured Alyson Hannigan an Emmy nod?For acting the show deserved the following nominations at least (Season #)

Actress, Drama
Sarah Michelle Gellar (2, 4, 6)
Supporting Actor, Drama
James Marsters (2), Anthony Stewart Head (6) 
Supporting Actress, Drama  
Allyson Hannigan (3,4), Emma Caulfield (5, 6)
Guest Actress, Drama 
Juliet Landau (2), Eliza Dushku (3)  
Guest Actor, Drama
Harry Groener (3) 

TOM M: Which recent film would make the leap to television and prove a MASH-ing success? And which television series has the bones to make a great film?

Crazy difficult question. The mediums are so different despite all the crossover these days. I don't know about M*A*S*H* level success ratios for anything but I would love love love or should I say I would ♥ a series based on I ♥ Huckabees that focused on the existential detectives Vivian (Lily Tomlin) and Bernard (Dustin Hoffman). I would fill my DVR with that nonsense and delete every other show taking up too much room. I could see a series based on Inception working fairly well and I think Scott Pilgrim vs. The World should have been a TV series to begin with.

Nathaniel's dream television series

MORE AFTER THE JUMP...

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Mr. Bimbo and all the Minor Muppet Magic

Robert here. The universe of the Muppets has always overwhelmed me. The idea of naming a favorite character or film eludes me as I love so many of them. The bigness of the Muppet world seems to great to pick any one item and place it above the rest. Yet one of the small things I think of and come back to again and again, when discussing why I love the Muppets is in fact very minor element from a film that's not very good (though my wife would argue vehemently that no combination of Muppets, pirates and Tim Curry could ever be bad).

 

Meet Mr. Bimbo.

 

Mr. Bimbo is the little man who lives in the index finger of Fozzie Bear's left hand. This is, of course, Fozzie Bear starring as the character Squire Trelawny in Muppet Treasure Island, a concept that didn't always work for the Muppets, in a film that works even less. But I love Mr. Bimbo. I think it's because Mr. Bimbo epitomizes all that is innocent and pure and completely anarchaically ludicrous about the Muppets. It's a gag that requires not so much complexity as devotion and Fozzie is up to the task. And it's a sign that in every Muppet movie, regardless of quailty, there's something redeeming. Whenever someone mentions Muppet Treasure Island (it happens more than you'd expect) I don't think of how the film was a disappointment, or a sign that the Muppets were running on empty. I think of Mr. Bimbo.

 

What's your favorite small thing in a Muppet movie? Perhaps it's a minor character or a line reading or something else entirely.

The Pig Wears Prada

The Pig Wears Prada... and probably has a huge dry cleaning billThree quick things this morning.

1) Guess who feels like a little piggy after Thanksgiving? I was doing okay until divvying up leftovers for guests and kept finding errant pieces of pie that just couldn't fit into tupperware that had to be eaten right then and there. By me. Couldn't let the whip cream go bad either.

poll by twiigs.com

2) Did anyone watch "A Very Gaga Thankgiving"?  Her voice sounded tremendous and the costumes were restrained elegant weirdness instead of standard not-ready-to-wear weirdness (points for mixing it up) but otherwise blech. Every song became a ballad (not every song should be a ballad) and almost no verse could be sung through without multiple stops for self-regarding monologues. The show felt like it lasted 3 hours and Gaga was jumping all kinds of sharks named Self-Seriousness and Absence of Perspective. Let us get this straight Gaga, you felt bullied at school because you a) had to sit at a table that wasn't the cool table off to side with your friends (ewww. who would ever want to eat with their friends?! Gross) and b) because people ridiculed your hair for being too beautiful? Unnhhnh.... 

3) For my weekly column @ Towleroad I've listed 10 great things about this particular Thanksgiving weekend and your movie options at home or at the multiplex. The Muppets got a general spot but after the fact I wished I'd mentioned that Miss Piggy looks hot in Prada but Emily Blunt's cameo only made me wish she'd find another role as worthy of her comic talents as the one she had in The Devil Wears Prada. 

Now it is time to eat breakfast. Breakfast called "Pie".

Distant Relatives: Make Way For Tomorrow and Away From Her

Robert here w/ Distant Relatives, exploring the connections between one classic and one contemporary film.

Like your dear old Ma and Pa

Since it's Thanksgiving week and many of us are spending time with family, an activity that pop culture tell us should leave us mostly frustrated and annoyed, I thought I'd present an entry that might get us thinking about our parents or grandparents. It's the film Errol Morris has dubbed "the most depressing movie ever made, providing reassurance that everything will definitely end badly" and one if its close descendants. Films about aging people are a rare breed. Hollywood doesn't much care for stories about anyone over the age of thirty-five. When on rare occassion it does, they're almost definitely stories about "old people" whose defining characteristic is that they're old. If they're romances, they're about old people coming together and finding love. There's a cute "even grandma can fall in love" sentiment to it that presents a happy ending. Nobody likes movies with sad endings.
 
Away From Her tells the story of Grant and Fiona (Gordon Pinsent and Julie Christie), a metropolitan couple, many years into a rocky though ultimately happy marraige. When Fiona is diagonised with Alzheimer's, their active and cultured existence is traded for one of long parting, nursing home visits, and the promise of a long hard trip into a black hole with no light on the other side. Make Way For Tomorrow follows Barkley and Lucy Cooper (Victor Moore and Beulah Bondi) an elderly couple who are split up to live among different children when their home is forclosed on. After time, their presence becomes a nuisance in their childrens' homes and their residences are jumbled again, Barkley all the way to California, Lucy to a retirement home, but not until they spend one final romantic afternoon together. And if that summary doesn't break your heart into a thousand little pieces, you should see the movies.

Such sweet sorrow

While it's understandable that no one want's to make a film about the end of a relationship at the end of life, it's interesting how much more effective it is than standard industry fare. The couples in Away From Her and Make Way For Tomorrow have real weight behind their relationships. They have a history and it shows. In movies where a young boy meets a young girl, there's no weight of time. The act in love has to be presented not as a process but as a moment, one that's magical but ethereal. But when boy loses girl, it doesn't always feel like that big of a deal. When Grant and Fiona and Barkley and Lucy lose each other, it really hurts. Tellingly, in both films, our characters present a positive attitude, though clearly it's a front. They talk often of how things turned out okay, or will, or could. They talk about how their situations are manageable, when they know better. In moments of honesty they find themselves hurt yet composed. Fiona tells Grant that if he doesn't go agreeably she may cry so hard she never stops. When told by her granddaughter to "face facts" Lucy explains that the only joy she gets anymore is pretending there aren't any facts to face.
 
Portraying them as dignified against insurmountable odds, you might get the idea that these films sentimentalize their characters of a certain age. You'd be wrong. All four of these people are flawed. Fiona is perhaps a bit too eager to transition to the nursing home against Grant's wishes, Grant too ambivalent toward the hurt he's caused Fiona in the past. Barkley is too much of a push-over, and Lucy pesters her children and granddaughter more that she should when she lives with them. It's true. You probably wouldn't want to live with her either. And while the film could easily paint the younger generation as villainous, it portrays a reality more complex than that.
 
It's fascinating that Away From Her feels no need to introduce children into the equation, where the children in Make Way For Tomorrow play a significant role. It's almost as if Make Way For Tomorrow is saying "these could be your parents one day," while Away From Her is saying "this could be you one day." Both films start their characters on the path to an unhappy ending, but avoid ending on any puncutation as definite or cliched as a death. Both films end on an elipses. You could infer a "be thankful for what you've got while you've got it" message, and indeed the lovers in these films are genuinely happy in each other's company until they're parted. But finding any such silver lining, any joyousness to take away from the experience would be futile. These are two brilliant films about how everything will definitely end badly. No wonder Hollywood doesn't make them like this.

 
Other Cinematic Relatives: Tokyo Story (1953), On Golden Pond (1981), Iris (2001)

Happy Turkey (and Muppets) Day

Marilyn Monroe and TurkeyWe've been watching the Macy's Parade while cleaning / cooking and there has literally yet to be a musical number from Broadway that's NOT movie-based as I type this. Should've live-blogged and talked Sister Act, Spider-Man, Priscilla, How To Succeed, Newsies and more... Broadway is basically movies on stage now, with a special emphasis on 1990s comedies.

Meanwhile at the multiplex, it won't just be turkeys slaughtered for today's festivities. In Hollywood's infinite wisdom, three showbiz-centric movies for adults must open simultaneously (The Artist, My Week With Marilyn, Hugo) and three movies children might like (Hugo, The Muppets, Arthur Christmas ...two of which are obviously for adults) must open in direct competition as well. There probably won't be enough dollars to go around which is sad because the same ticket buyer might well like all of those movies. On balance, this is an absurdly high quality crop, not one, well, turkey in the batch [Disclaimer: Arthur Christmas is the only one I haven't seen but I hear good things.] 

If all five of those newly released options weren't enough, Oscar maniacs can also sample The Descendants (expanding) and, in NY & LA, A Dangerous Method and Rampart. In case you haven't been keeping up and since we're hosting a big dinner, here are past thoughts...

THE ARTIST ~ review | all posts | best pic race | interviews soon
MY WEEK WITH MARILYN review | more Marilyn on the way
HUGO  ~ the filmmakers speak | work in progress thoughts |  all 
A DANGEROUS METHOD ~ several reviews from our team
RAMPART - all posts | best actor race 

As for THE MUPPETS... I didn't have time to review the new film before guests started arriving but I'd love to hear your thoughts. I found it quite uneven even within both of the narratives. The Muppet reunion brand relaunch is what I came to see and the nostalgia factor there worked like a charm. But individual scenes didn't always sparkle and I wanted more funny performances and less story beats. Meanwhile the musical comedy factor seemed to fall mostly to the Jason Segel / Amy Adams / "Walter" coming-of-age storyline which I liked much more than I was expecting to -- great sight gags in the beginning and Amy Adams could not be a better fit for the Muppet world -- until I didn't. By the time the three of them met The Muppets I was over it because... THE MUPPETS; stop distracting me from them! So my reaction was all over the place and far more colored by my own childhood fixations rather than the movie itself. But if you grew up loving The Muppets it's a total must-see. I recently rented the DVDs of the original series and it is crazy enjoyable -- like giddy-smile making -- just as we all remember. In fact, after watching three episodes back to back I think TV needs a relaunch of The Muppet Show more than the movies need the muppets. Variety shows are sort of back given the plethora of performance competitions but the variety has gone out of them as they are the same thing over and over again, whether that's contemporary pop karaoke or dancing.

One of the new songs "Life's a Happy Song" (Bret McKenzie --yay!) is a total charmer and should give the felt fuzzy group their fourth music-related Oscar nomination (the first three films all won one nomination in Song or Score categories.)

Do your Thanksgiving plans include movies? Have you seen The Muppets yet?