Three months ago, I posted the trailer of a movie I hadn't heard of and knew nothing about, called Green Book, simply because I was so taken by the trailer.  At the time, I ended the piece by writing, "I have no idea, of course, how the full movie will be, but I can't wait to see it."

Last night, I saw it.  Yes, I know this is election day, and other things are on most people's minds.  But I bring up the movie now because...well, it's better than I was hoping.  Actually, in fairness, that's not really correct -- more proper is to say that it's significantly better than I was hoping.  And that's coming from a starting point of having said three months ago, "I can't wait to see it."

The film is inspired by a true story about a New York City bouncer at the Copacabana night club who is hired to drive brilliant black jazz pianist Don Shirley on his tour through the deep South in 1962.  The title comes from the guidebook that would let black people know where they could eat and sleep, or get gas when traveling through the South in the days before Civil Rights. It stars Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali (who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in Moonlight), and they're both absolutely terrific, in complete opposite ways -- the former throwing caution to the wind (gaining 45 pounds for the role), the other profoundly restrained, yet both full of deep emotion, showing how they each impacted one another's lives.  It's surprising directed (and superbly so) by Peter Farrelly. -- the surprise being that he is one of the two Farrelly Brothers, who made such "stupid comedies" as Dumb and Dumber; There's Something About Mary; Me, Myself and Irene, Kingpin, Shallow Hal and more.  And exquisitely written by Farrelly, Brian Currie, and Nick Vallelonga...who is the real-life son of the character played by Viggo Mortensen.  Three months ago I wrote that I'm sure many reviews will refer to it as "Driving Mr. Daisy," which is somewhat apt, but the story takes its own left turn down a little-used road. It's a serious, thoughtful drama, but often very funny, with the humor coming from the characters, not jokes.  It takes a while to set up the film, both in New York and the early part of their trip on the road -- though to be very clear, it's not slow at all during that period, but terrific -- however then there are some plot turns, and it kicks into high gear, richer, more serious, more thoughtful and more joyful.

There's much more than I'd like to say, but this is a Capsule Review, so I'll leave it at that.

What I'll add is about the screening at the Writers Guild, which had a Q&A afterwards by the three writers.  It not only got sustained applause throughout the credits, but also is one of the two or three films I've ever seen at the Guild where the writers got a standing ovation when they showed up for the questions afterwards.  Nick Vallelonga said that he'd wanted to make the film since he was 15, and got the approval and support to do so years later from his father and Don Shirley, who stayed friends for 50 years -- though the musician had the one condition that it not be made until after he died, which he did in 2013, just months from when Tony Vallelonga himself passed away.  His son has no idea why Shirley set that condition, for his own reasons.  The film is based on hours of interviews that son had with father, and then later confirmed all the tales with Don Shirley, which overlapped closely, though from different perspectives.  In fact, it's that relationship which shaped the movie -- the filmmakers said they chose not to put the racism upfront, but (though it's very much there and often viscerally) instead deal with the two characters as its core.  One funny moment -- when talking about the title of the movie, Nick Vallelonga said his original title was Love Letters to Dolores.  At that moment, Peter Farrelly turned to the audience and said, "But I wanted guys to see it."

The trailer does the movie justice.  With one caveat -- the film is even better.

On this episode of 3rd & Fairfax, the official podcast of the Writers Guild of America, ​Moon Zappa interviews  Drew Goddard about his new film Bad Times at the El Royale, which he wrote and directed.  His other work including writing the screenplays for The Martian and World War Z, as well as writing and directing, The Cabin in the Woods.
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A few weeks ago, I wrote a Capsule Review here about the upcoming movie, Can You Ever Forgive Me? starring Melissa McCarthy as a sad, snarky misanthrope, based on a true story, which I liked very much.  At the end, though, I noted --

"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."

I did, however, end up posting the trailer, and, no, it didn't give a good sense of the film.  Last night, however, I saw a :30-second TV ad which, though it didn't give a substantive idea of the story, it gives a far-better sense of the film's mix of drama, threat and humor.

The Mystery Guest on this episode of What's My Line? is one of the all-time great silent movie comedians, but probably the least-known of the legends, Harold Lloyd.  This comes from 1953, and his segment starts at the 18:30 mark if you want to jump to it.  There's a particularly funny moment, but one of the panelists ponders a guess, and the whole thing is warm and affectionate.

Certain songs enter the public lexicon and after a while people forget where it is that they actually came from.  One of those that pops into mind is "My Kind of Town (Chicago Is)".  It's sort of the taken its place along side of the other city anthem "Chicago" (That Toddlin' Town) and to many people they may even be from the same era.  In fact, "My Kind of Town," rather than being written during the Roaring 20s or a bit later was written in 1964 and comes from a move, Robin and the 7 Hoods, which was a sort of Rat Pack musical with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and also Bing Crosby, among others  In fact, "My Kind of Town" was nominated for Best Original Song, though it lost out to "Chim Chim Cheree" from Mary Poppins.  It was written by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen.

I love Sammy Cahn's work, and he had an absolutely wonderful one-man (in a way...) show called Words & Music that he toured the country with, and I think it even played on Broadway.  (The "in a way" part is that he had three singers to help out on certain numbers throughout the evening.)  The one quibble I had with it is that whenever he came to another city, he would change the words from "Chicago" to wherever he was -- and tweak the words to fit that "town."  I'd been waiting the whole show to hear "My Kind of Town (Chicago Is)" and it was such a letdown to hear it about Los Angeles.  Ack.

No, it's about Chicago.  That's like changing, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" to "I Left My Heart in in Tallahassee" just because he playing there and trying to suck up to the audience.  This not only is about Chicago, it has a context.  And that context is that the gangster Robbo who's turned benevolent has just been found not guilty of trumped-up charges, left the courthouse and been greeted by an overjoyed crowd.  

​Which is when he sings this.  (This video quality isn't great -- but the song is.)

Okay, this should be the last of the pre-scheduled articles that I wrote before leaving on my train trip from Los Angeles to Chicago.  That's because we're scheduled to arrive at Union Station around 3 PM this afternoon.  And I thought it would be most-especially appropriate to post the famous, final sequence from the aforementioned movie, Silver Streak.  

As I noted, this is the same train that the movie is based on.  In reality it's called the Southwest Chief.  (At the time of the movie, the route was for the Super Chief.)  What's happening here in the movie is that the brakes have been cut on the train, and Gene Wilder, Jill Clayburgh, Richard Pryor and Pullman porter Scatman Crothers are still on board as it hurtles towards the station.

Here's hoping that my arrival is smoother.  And that it doesn't give any ideas to the elves taking care of the homestead how they should treat the place.

While it's pretty clear that most of that's not actually Union Station in Chicago, since destroying the elegant, classic architecture wouldn't have been considered good form, the demolished stand-in is intercut with some moments of the real thing.  (Though we do see more of it in earlier sequences of the film, setting up this finale.)  However, it's been used in countless movies, perhaps best known for the "Potemkin Odessa Steps" homage in The Untouchables, when they have the shoot-out to pick-up Al Capone's bookkeeper.  And also in The Sting. (Oddly, if memory serves, it's the scene when Redford and Newman's characters watch Doyle Lonnegan getting on board in New York, before they themselves get on to start their scam of him.)

But here's what the real Union Station looks like from a couple of photos I've taken in the past.

And here are those steps, which should probably look familiar.
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Oh, what the heck.  Here's that scene from ​The Untouchables.

Continuing with our pre-scheduled pieces that I wrote before taking off on my train journey to Chicago, as you read this I should be somewhere in the Southwest, heading towards Albuquerque, I think.  Hopefully the elves back at the homestead are making sure these go out properly.  But relying on them is never a sure thing...

The train appropriately enough is called the Southwest Chief, but this run used to be the famous Super Chief -- and that's the train that the 1976 movie, Silver Streak, was based on -- starring Gene Wilder, Jill Clayburgh and Richard Pryor.  You'll no doubt recall that the story begins with Wilder boarding the train in Los Angeles and taking it to its memorable conclusion crashing into Union Station in Chicago.  As whimsy would have it, that's exactly the route I'm taking...though hopefully without the "crashing into Union Station in Chicago" part.

Here's an eight-minute featurette on the making of that film.

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.

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...
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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