Okay, so I haven't taken off yet, leaving in a couple hours, which means it's a perfect time to jot off a Capsule Review.

On Sunday, I saw an odd, interesting, enjoyable movie at the Writers Guild Theater which opens soon.  It’s called Can You Ever Forgive Me? with Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant.  The movie is based a memoir about a mid-level, down-on-her luck biographer who hits hard time, not helped by a very bristly personality, who starts forging letters from famous authors, like Dorothy Parker and Noel Coward.  Eventually she confides her actions to a flamboyant acquaintance who is one of the few people she can sort of tolerate. Though it’s often very funny, it’s most-definitely a drama.  McCarthy is extremely good in it as a sad, snarky misanthrope, and Grant joyously chews up the scenery as the grifter who helps out.  The film is wonderfully well-done, written by Nicole Holofcener (who wrote and directed the very recent The Land of Steady Habits) and Jeff Whitty, directed by Marielle Heller .  

I'm tempted not to post the trailer because, though it tells the story very well and presents the acting effectively, it gives a poor sense of the film.  This makes it look like a tense crime thriller -- in fact, as I said, it's often extremely funny is far more a character study of the woman and later, her relationship with her acquaintance.  Another example:  Jane Curtin does a very good job in a small role as the woman's editor -- she's thoughtful, very direct, but also a bit compassionate, their rapport being even somewhat amusing for its total honesty, however finally she's had enough of her client's utter ill-nature and lays things out bluntly.  The trailer used that scene, making her come across far-nastier and confrontational than she is throughout the movie. I looked for perhaps a full scene that would show the other layers of the film, but couldn't find one.  In the end, I figured that since it gets the story and craft right, I might as well go with it.  So, just know that for all that's well-done in the trailer,  and as dramatic as the movie is, it's also much sardonically funnier.

As I mentioned a month or so ago, I have a trip planned to Chicago, and will be taking the train there.  It will come as a shock to no one who reads these pages that I love trains.  In fact, I've taken this particular trip before, though it was several decades ago -- and I got a coach seat that time.  This trip will be with a roommette.

The coach seat turned out tremendous, as I wrote here a while back when I told the story.  (If you want to read the full version, you can find it here.   The short version is that I had an empty seat next to me for the first part of the trip, but then a passenger got on in Albuquerque, I think, with the seat reserved -- and she was an absolutely beautiful German girl, Katarine, who was working as an au pair in San Diego...and she was going to Chicago.  When she and I both got back to California, we stayed in touch and even got together, when she came up to Los Angeles to visit.  And no, I don't expect lightning to strike.  Another reason I got the roommette...)

I take off this evening, and have the elves taking care of the homestead, so things should keep running properly.  The "problem" is that there is no Wi-Fi on the train as it heads through the mountains, desert and Prairie.  So, I won't be able to post here along the way.  There might be Wi-Fi connections when we reach some big cities, like Albuquerque, and can pick up the signal at the stations where there's a longer stop than usual.  But I can't count on that, and don't expect it.  However -- I've prepared a bunch of pieces ahead of time, and the software here is supposed to allow me to schedule things in advance and have them posted throughout the journey, generally in the early morning and early evening.  We'll see.  Here's hoping. 

The first piece is schedule for around 6:15 PM, Los Angeles time, so you should have a pretty good idea if it works at that point.  But you will be the only ones, since I won't likely have a clue...

​More on the trip later, of course.  But for starters, here's my train, the Southwest Chief...

Though pretty much all of Randy Rainbow's song parodies have been treats, this one is especially a joy.  It's not that the production is so special -- though it's awfully good -- but the editing is vibrant, the lyrics are point, often very clever and quite funny, and the song itself is just one that makes most people smile, I think.  And in the end, he just has a great time here being withering -- not just with the song, but the interview beforehand.

​So, here he is with Melania Trump and how to "Just Be Best."

This is an absolute must-listen, but I’m going to send you over to Mark Evanier’s website, since he posted the video there yesterday.  First though, a bit of background here to put it all in perspective.
 
Though there's nothing Broadway about it, this is a song performed by Broadway star Kelli O’Hara, who has six Tony nominations for starring in such shows as South Pacific, Pajama Game and The Bridges of Madison County, as well as co-starring in The Light in the Piazza – and then winning for the recent revival of The King and I.  She's also gotten an Emmy nomination, been in some films and even performed at the Metropolitan Opera.

I really like Kelli O’Hara a lot.  Though I’ve never though comedy was her strength, or rough edges, but rather very structured and meticulous.  Indeed, she has quipped about being the longest-running ingenue on Broadway.  Those were simply the roles she got -- and to a certain degree still gets them.  Some of the reason may be that she played them so well (note the Tony nominations).  And also because that's simply how she always looked, like The Ingenue.  Some may be because of personality -- I've heard tales of her non-diva kindnesses and thoughtfulness.  But whatever the reasons, those in general have been her roles:  sweet, low-key, fresh-faced, innocent.
 
This video shows the range of her skills otherwise.  Including her slightly-less than G-rated side.  She performed it at "From Broadway with Love: A Benefit Concert for Orlando" at the Disney Theatre in July of 2016.
 
She’s so tremendous doing this that it’s easy to think it was a specialty number written for her somewhat inspired by her life.  I suspect she has such a fun time with it because parts do overlap with her life (though not from Georgia, she's from Oklahoma -- and, in fact, had the same music teacher there as Kristen Chenoweth), but as the storyline unravels it should be clear that it’s NOT autobiographical.
 
The hilarious words fly by, so if you want to follow-along while she sings you can find the lyrics here.  But half the fun is watching her dive into it without a net, so it’s probably best to check the words after, if you miss anything.
 
Actually, not just the words, but the whole performance flies by.  It starts at level 7 and goes up from there, for almost eight barreling minutes.  And seems to be having the time of her life not just singing but performing the bejeepers out of it.  It's a tour-de-force joy.
 
For the record, to give full credit, the song is written by her pianist, Dan Lipton.  So, her life might somewhat have given him a prompting to twist things a bit and write it.  Or not.  I assume that’s him on the video, but don’t know.

Anyway, this is the link to the video on Mark's site.  Know that when it starts to play, you can click "full-screen" icon at the bottom of the video.

As she says -- Hit it, boys...

There's a common response Trump gives when asked a tough question about a despotic leader -- he diverts the focus to similar problems elsewhere.  And the questioning ends there.

I first noticed it during the campaign when Chris Matthews asked him about Putin being a brutal dictator who murders his opponents and journalists.  His response was along the lines of, "Do you think we're so pure here, that people haven't been killed?"  And that was that, and the interview moved on.

It's happened repeatedly, and on Friday it happened yet again.  He was asked about the United States continuing to do business with Saudi Arabia which has a terrible record of human rights brutality.  And he responded basically, "There are many very bad countries we have done business with, very bad, that is a real problem."  And as always, the interview mov...

Wait, hold on, a minute -- let's go back to that previous matter about Putin and killing people.  It still galls me to no end that Chris Matthews accepted it and jumped to another subject.  For the life of me, it's just stunning that he didn't follow-up by asking, "Seriously?  What U.S. presidents do you know of who had citizens killed?  And murdered journalists?"  And not let Trump off the hook until he named one.  Just one.  And even if Trump lied and, let's say, said "Millard Fillmore," then Matthews should have followed-up with, "For the sake of argument, let's accept that for a moment, even though there's absolutely no evidence of it in existence -- that's one example you gave in 240 years of American history, so it clearly isn't a recurring pattern among U.S. presidents.  So, it raises the question:  do you think this was a 'Good Thing" he did, murdering citizens and journalists, or something utterly reprehensible that should be abhorred?"  And then after Trump mumbled some new diversion about Hillary, emails and Obama, Chris Matthews should have said, "We'll get to that, but returning to my original question, regardless of anyone else in the world, we know that Putin has had civilian opposition killed and has had journalists murdered, it's been well-documented.  What you do think about that, what do you think about Vladimir Putin having opponents and the press in his own country murdered?"

Which brings us back to the question on Friday about Saudi Arabia.  So, yes, follow-up with Trump that the U.S. has many dealings with "bad actors" on the world stage, as the expression goes.  And because of that, sir, sometimes we cut off relations with them, sometimes we go further and sanction them, sometimes we create an uncomfortable peace depending on the situation.  So -- with all that in mind, sir -- "How does this relate to Saudi Arabia, because that's the situation at hand.  Given all their human rights abuses, their murdering of thousands of citizens, their abuse of women, their possible involvement in 9/11, and now this probable brutal murder of a journalist...how should the United States deal with them??"

If a politician doesn't want to answer a question, we get that.  It's pretty standard.  But make them show that they don't want to answer it.  Don't give them a free pass.  Follow-up and hone in on what they actually said, and make them defend it if it's ludicrous, or make them explain how that relates to the question you actually asked.  We learned in grade school that two wrongs don't make a right.  So, just because someone else did something wrong, that's no answer to the question about someone else.

And going even further, after being questioned on Friday and having no way of not answering, Trump finally said that he will raise disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi with Saudi Arabia's King Salman.

And yes, I know that right now most everyone reading this has the almost verbatim thought.

"He said Saudi Arabia didn't do it.  And he was very emphatic.  And I believe him.  I know our intelligence services have said that Saudi Arabia likely did it but there are many questions.  No one knows.  Many people say it could have been someone else.  We just don't know.  And really, there's no reason they would have done it.  Or I mean, wouldn't have.  You know, there are only so many times you can ask someone.  And he said Saudi Arabia did not do this.  And he's a very good man, a very good man.  We do a lot of business with Saudi Arabia.  So, we'll have to see."

And when he says that, I just want at least one reporter -- actually, no, I want every reporter, though I'll settle for one -- to reply what most everything is thinking: "You said that exact same thing about Russia and Putin and every brutal dictator you seem to be doing personal business with. And everyone listening to you knows that, because it's all on tape, and everyone has seen it and heard it repeatedly.  And you let these brutal dictators off every time.  And in the end, that's what gives aid and comfort to them and journalists like Jamal Khashaggi get murdered because they know you will let them get away with it.  And it's why the other world leaders laughed at you in the U.N."

We know he lies.  We don't have to accept it. 

​Just follow-up.

Oh, to add our own follow-up.  Yes, everyone who had that same verbatim thought was, not shockingly -- correct. Because today, Trump told reporters that he spoke to the Saudi prince who said that he had absolutely no knowledge of the killing. "He didn’t really know," the adorably-trusting Trump said, adding almost charmingly, "Maybe, I don’t want to get into his mind, but it sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers -- I mean, who knows?’’

Hands, anyone?  Anywhere here know if it was "rogue killers" inside the Saudi Arabia consulate who sneaked in, killed a well-known journalist, dismembered him, and sneaked with his body parts without anyone noticing.

​Talking about "Going Rogue."  Even Sarah Palin would be proud...

​Just follow-up.

I went to First Man yesterday, I thought it was an extraordinarily well-made movie and very enjoyable.  It's not like most space movies, perhaps closest to The Real Stuff, though that was much more flamboyant and focused mostly on the training and circus atmosphere surrounding the early NASA program.  What's intriguing about the film is that it's very quiet and matter-of-fact about something that is not remotely matter-of-fact, all of which makes the story so relatable and gives the movie its emotion.  It's as much about the decade leading up to the moon landing, with the family hurdles, and so many of the astronauts living in the same neighborhood, their lives intertwining, and how everything impacts the training and emotions, as it is about the result of all that.  Indeed, without giving anything away, the last scene of the film almost encapsulate this sensibility. The script is written by Oscar-winner Josh Singer, who wrote Spotlight and The Post, and he gives this the same focused insight.  It was directed by Damien Chazelle, who did La-La Land and Whiplash, and his work here is tour-de-force, alongside production designer Nathan Crowley.  Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy star, and both do very good jobs -- none of the acting is "flamboyant," it's all part of the natural sense of the film, low-key and pointed.

Side note: contrary to what has gone down in history, Neil Armstrong has always asserted that he did NOT say, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."  Rather, he insists (as he did many times, including to James Hansen, who wrote the book, Moonshot, on which this movie is based) that he said, "That's one small step for A man..."  He says that otherwise, the quote doesn't make much sense, "man" being pretty much the same as "mankind."  This 2013 article in the Los Angeles Times here looks at the issue, and at some detailed studies that have been made of the audio tape and of linguistics, and some of these experts tend to conclude that he may well possibly have been right.)

Separate from all that, a few words on the manufactured "controversy" about them not showing the planting of the American flag on the moon, and how some on the far right think this is just Hollywood being arrogant and anti-American.  In fact, contrary to what you may have read -- they show the flag on the moon.  It's not prominent, but it's there, in a couple of shots, in fact.  And the American flag is seen throughout the movie.  And the worldwide reaction afterwards to America is highlighted.  All that don't do is have a scene when the flag is planted.  I can argue with that for artistic reasons, though I understand why structurally they felt that might not have worked in the emotion of the sequence, which was about the human reactions of them men actually setting foot on the moon.  (The filmmakers' explanation I thought was weak, though the result is fine.)  But this isn't even remotely avoiding America's achievement in going to the moon.  It's prominent throughout -- even in the moon scene.  In fact, when watching how incredibly enthusiastic the world is towards America after the landing (and I'm sure the movie uses real footage), it made me gnash my teeth and think, "(insert your favorite swear word here) Trump."

Rather than show the trailer, I've got three other videos instead, which I think better address what I've noted above.  This first is a look at the scene when a very reluctant Neil Armstrong talks to his his kids the night before the launch, at the visceral insistence of his wife.  It includes director Chazelle talking what they were going for.  Just know that the sequence is much more extensive than this, which is really just the end of it --

And this is a look at the tour-de-force work I mentioned with the production design.  This is just a surface overview, rather than the immersive impact of the results on screen.  Though you will easily note the American flag on the moon...
​

Finally, here's a nice interview with Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy -- along with Mark and Rick Armonstrong, the now grown-up sons who served as consultants on the film.  And you get somewhat of a sense of the human focus of the movie.  Along with some very funny reactions from the actors.

Oh, what the heck, you've sat through all this, so you deserve to see the trailer.  It's a difficult movie to market -- and I don't think they did a thoroughly effective job -- and while the trailer gets across the impressive production and much of the high dramatics, the movie (as I've noted) is far more quiet and personal.

And yes, I know that this is very long for a Capsule Review, but in fairness the "review" part is just the first paragraph

I first wrote here about the little-known show Snoopy!!!  The Musical back in 2013.  The stage show was a sort of sequel to the big off-Broadway hit, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, though with a different team of writers, having a wonderful score by Hal Hackady and Larry Grossman, which is near the equal of the gem that was the original -- and includes the now-classic "Just One Person," which has become seen as a "Muppet song."  I wrote about the show's background here, and last month posted a few more songs from it, among them some videos of an animated Peanuts TV special they did of a cut-down version of the musical.

I tracked down the full special, and figured why just post a random song or two.  Here's the whole, joyful thing.