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BETTY WHITE WAS A LIVING LINK TO BUSTER KEATON

Leonard Maltin
6067

Like millions of others, I am mourning the passing of actress, animal activist and all-round purveyor of good cheer Betty White. Yes, I can verify that she was as nice in person as she seemed to be on television. She was also a pioneer in the video medium, starting in 1949 and continuing for the next five decades. She even wrote a book about her experiences called Here We Go Again. While plugging its publication on a local morning show here in Los Angeles she was asked to name the most memorable people she’d ever worked with in TV. To my astonishment the first person she cited was Buster Keaton, whom she’d encountered in the earliest days of L.A. television. I couldn’t let this rest, so I…

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LICORICE PIZZA: VALLEY HIGH

In Theaters Leonard Maltin Movie Reviews
7089

Paul Thomas Anderson grew up in the suburban L.A. sprawl known as the San Fernando Valley and has set several of his films there (notably Boogie Nights, Magnolia and Punch Drunk Love). His latest is a flashback to 1973, a kaleidoscopic series of vignettes involving a high-school hustler (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman’s son Cooper) and an “older woman” (Alana Haim) who engage in a series of comedic misadventures together. There is no obvious storyline. The filmmaker immerses us in a particular time and place he loves that enables him to drop names that may have no meaning to most of his audience (like the once-swanky restaurant Tail O’ the Cock, or the title establishment, a fondly remembered used-record shop) as he spins his entertaining tall-tale. Hoffman is…

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PARALLEL MOTHERS: ALMODÓVAR’S LATEST

In Theaters Leonard Maltin Movie Reviews
4417

Pedro Almodóvar is a master stylist and storyteller. As a longtime fan I am glad he is so prolific, because if one of his films doesn’t meet my (high) expectations I console myself with the knowledge that there is another one in the works. In less skillful hands, the ingredients of Parallel Mothers might result in a soap opera that would invite quibbles over credibility. But Almodóvar’s characters have inner lives; we empathize with them and that makes them real. Penélope Cruz plays a successful photographer who gives birth to a child without committing to a longterm relationship with the father. She befriends a younger woman who shares her hospital room immediately following the birth, and the two promise to stay in touch. Cruz cannot know that…

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BEING THE RICARDOS: IN BLACK & WHITE AND COLOR

In Theaters Leonard Maltin Movie Reviews
9087

I’m not a fan of show-business biopics, on the whole. Too often the leading actors can’t capture what made the stars they’re playing so special. Others succumb to overly familiar Hollywood storytelling tropes. Being the Ricardos is a rare exception because of two key participants: Nicole Kidman and writer-director Aaron Sorkin. Kidman has said this was the toughest character she ever attempted to play, and it’s easy to see why. Millions of us know and, yes, love Lucille Ball. She manages to bring the actress and the woman she played so indelibly to vivid life. I “buy” her as Lucille Ball as well as her alter ego, Lucy Ricardo. She is as convincing as Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly were in Stan and Ollie, and that’s an…

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NIGHTMARE ALLEY: FILM NOIR PERFECTION

In Theaters Leonard Maltin Movie Reviews
6097

Some filmmakers get so caught up in the look and feel of their films that they lose their grip on the storytelling. Others know how to tell a good story but don’t have the money or the clout to hire great teammates to help them realize their vision. With Nightmare Alley, Guillermo del Toro has deftly balanced both demands and crafted an exceptionally good movie that stands as one of the year’s best. William Lindsay Gresham’s bleak, provocative novel has been filmed before, in 1947 with Tyrone Power in the starring role. It was a fluke for mainstream Hollywood, a downbeat movie which gave its handsome leading man something to sink his teeth into. Bradley Cooper also has good looks but has proven himself as actor of…

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THE TENDER BAR: CYNICS NEED NOT APPLY

In Theaters Leonard Maltin Movie Reviews
4977

The Tender Bar is based on a memoir by J.E. Moehringer, adapted by the screenwriter of The Departed and Kingdom of Heaven, William Monaghan. It’s a rose-colored remembrance of his youth and transition to adulthood, with an absentee father (whose voice he hears on the radio), a crusty but soft-hearted grandfather (Christopher Lloyd), and a loving, ever-present mother (Lily Rabe). The father-figure in his life is his amiable Uncle Charlie, a bartender (Ben Affleck) who dispenses sound, working-class wisdom on a regular basis. The wide-eyed boy named JR is played by newcomer Daniel Ranieri, a “find” who effortlessly commands the screen without a hint of coyness. He learns the meaning of unconditional love from his mom and grudgingly comes to accept the fact that his…

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WEST SIDE STORY…AGAIN

In Theaters Leonard Maltin Movie Reviews
8766

Was anyone hankering for a new film adaptation of West Side Story? Did this venerable musical need refreshing? I honestly don’t think so. The multi-Oscar-winning 1961 movie is unquestionably dated, but it is a product of its time and the prevailing mindset in Hollywood. It was also a smash hit with the public. Having outsized talents like Steven Spielberg and playwright Tony Kushner at the helm helped ease this production into being without vocal opposition. Hiring the indomitable Rita Moreno to appear in a newly-fashioned supporting role didn’t hurt. She is also credited as an executive producer. And, barely one week before his demise, lyricist Stephen Sondheim gave the new interpretation his ringing endorsement. So who am I to complain? The movie starts well, in a paraphrase…

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