Screen Test

                                            Gene Hackman in “Unforgiven.”  Warner Bros. photo via IMDb.com. It goes without saying that the most touching – and most real – part of most movie award shows is the In Memoriam segment. The recent death of Gene Hackmen along with his wife Betsy Arakawa marked another star going dark in the night sky. Hackman will be remembered, among the year's other great and tender losses, when the Academy Awards return Sunday, live on ABC and Hulu, beginning at 4 p.m. Hollywood time. I used to watch the beautiful people at the Oscars, trying to keep count of how many of them I had met, shared a few minutes with, maybe a handshake, on rare occasions a hug. Quite a few, actually. But over years, then decades, the migration began. Gradually, more and more of those gorgeous striders on the red carpet were young strangers. And more and more of the ...

Giving voice to a teenager's emotions in “Inside Out 2” are Lewis Black , Tony Hale, Liza Lapiria,   Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Maya Hawke,  Paul Walter Hauser and Ayo Edebiri.  https://www.imdb.com/video/vi2360002073/?ref_=ext_shr_em   Trailer and  Photo by Pixar/PIXAR - © 2024 Disney/Pixar via IMDb.com.  Last time we checked in with a little girl named Riley, she was dealing with the trauma of her family's move from Minnesota to San Francisco. That was “Inside Out,” Pixar Studios' ingenious translation of billions of biochemical reactions in her brain into a wacky cartoon. It was brilliant, it was funny, it was touching. And everyone in your family, no matter how young or old, could find something to enjoy in it. At a control panel in her brain – not unlike the set in the old TV version of “Star Trek” – emotions ranging from Joy (Amy Poehler) through Sadness (Phyllis Smith) to Anger (Lewis Black) – took turns managing how Riley (Kensington Tallman) ...

Ralph Fiennes in “Conclave.”  https://www.imdb.com/video/vi4004497689/?ref_=ext_shr_em     Photo and trailer © 2/Courtesy of Focus Features. LLC via IMDb.com  I was working on this blog when the fires started.  Days later, the devil winds continue to spark inconceivable heartbreak across Los Angeles.  The fear and trauma of the fires will linger with Angelinos perhaps forever, and be with the rest of us long into this new year. The fire's cost, when the reckoning comes, will be measured in currency more precious than the billions and billions of dollars needed to rebuild. So many of the victims work in the film industry, the industry itself is collateral damage. Even though the Hawaii Film Critics Society prizes will be announced in this space soon, film awards season is in limbo. The announcement of Academy Award nominations has been postponed. Who knows if they will even happen now?  But I was working on this blog when the fire started. Several more ...

  Sony Pictures poster and trailer via IMDb.com.  https://www.imdb.com/video/vi7128601/?ref_=ext_shr_em   History’s a mystery. The more biopics and period pieces I see this award season, the more I come to that unsettling conclusion. The only way we can look to the past is through the window of the present. The more we seek  Then , the more we run into  Now . As philosopher Sam Harris has pointed out, when you look through a window you catch a faint reflection of your face.  Some say we make up memories fresh, each and every time we have one. “ A Complete Unknown,” the biopic of Bob Dylan's early years in Greenwich Village, triggers musical memories for people of my generation with mythical, mystical reverberations. For people even ten years younger, not so much. Apart from Timothée Chalamet fans, they don't share our quasi-religious fervor about seeing the film. It can wait for Netflix. Another cinematic time capsule this season is “Saturday Night,” a thor...

  Mikey Madison and Mark Eydelshteyn say Viva Las Vegas in “Anora.” © Neon photo and trailer via IMDb.com.  https://www.imdb.com/video/vi4145202713/?ref_=ext_shr_em   “Anora,” a screwball romantic comedy about a lap dancer who marries the son of a Russian oligarch has been likened to a “Pretty Woman” Cinderella story – only with less fairy tale and more raunch. Lots more raunch. In fact, the “Pretty Woman” comparison ends about halfway through the story. From then on, it's more reminiscent of zany Keystone Cops chases from the early days of silent moviemaking. Only now there's sound, the characters drive Escalades and Mercedeses and speak Russian.  More precisely, yell obscene epithets in Russian. Coney Island sex worker Anora – she prefers the name Ani (Mikey Madison) – can speak Russian. And yell obscene epithets in either language.  Madison's awesome performance – sexy, streetwise, explosive, hilarious … and quite lovable – along with writer/director Sean Bak...

Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg in “A Real Pain.”  © 2024 SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES photo and trailer via IMDb.com  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21823606/?ref_=ext_shr_em   “A Real Pain” is a real pleasure. It's brilliantly and touchingly written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg, who also stars. Its four Golden Globe nominations include best comedy, along with acting and writing nods to Eisenberg and another acting nomination for Kieran Culkan. He's in the supporting category, but really is the star of the show. Just because it's a comedy, don't expect many belly laughs. Holocaust tourism isn't exactly a rich vein of comedy material. Instead it's an almost surreal concept … it would be theater of the absurd, if its reality weren't so g*d-damned awful. But filmmaker Eisenberg comes at the subject with such a genuine aching, such a probing curiosity and such emotional honesty, that a rich deep dive into human goodness fills the screen. And if it doesn't make y...