Thumbnails Jun 18

by Tony Medley

Always at the Carlyle (10/10): Writer/director/producer Matthew Miele tells the story of Manhattan’s legendary hotel, The Carlyle. You might have heard of it. It’s where Woody Allen plays the clarinet. It’s where Bobby Short held forth for decades. It’s where Princess Diana always stayed when she came to New York. And it’s where her son and his wife, Prince Henry and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and their children are staying when they visit. I can’t imagine anyone not being enchanted. Fascinating and funny, it’s a film that captures the magic of life in New York City, a fitting companion to Miele’s Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf’s. I hated to see it end.

Solo: A Star Wars Story (9/10): Director Ron Howard breathes new life into a franchise that had grown tired and repetitive, telling the backstory of Han Solo; an action-packed film with a talented cast, good acting, and terrific pace that never lets up.

Overboard (5/10): This is a mediocre remake that switches the genders of the original roles.  It might appeal to children and maybe to people too young to remember the original that rose above its own mediocrity by the charismatic star, Goldie Hawn. But for those of us who remember Goldie working with her real life lover Kurt Russell, this is a disappointment.

Life of the Party (2/10): Written by Melissa McCarthy and directed by her husband and co-writer Ben Falcone, it strains to barely achieve the shallowness of their prior two efforts. It is low class, glorifying excessive drinking, drug use, sexual promiscuity, justifying mindless revenge, and is singularly unfunny. McCarthy is a competent comedic actress when she has both good material and a good director. She should stick to acting and leave the writing and directing to people who have those talents.

Book Club (2/10 for Men; 5/10 for Women): This Is the Ultimate Chick Flick and I am not really qualified to judge how it will be received by women. I thought the hackneyed slice of life dialogue throughout unremittingly banal and an enormous drag. My female assistant, on the other hand, said that this is exactly the way women speak with one another and loved it. If that’s true, then the commonly accepted idea that women are more mature than men is questionable. First time director Bill Holderman claims he was putting together a movie about women in their 60s. So he cast octogenarian Jane Fonda, two septuagenarians, Candice Bergen and Diane Keaton, and only one woman in her 60s, Mary Steenburgen. Some claim that these four are capable actresses, but they all fell flat in these roles. Whether that's due to the directing or the writing or the acting by the four is hard to determine, probably a combination of all three. The only performances that rang true  were those of two men, Don Johnson, who plays Fonda’s old lover, and Andy Garcia, who falls for Keaton. I have to trust my assistant, so I’m giving this a higher rating for women. Most men could find it hard to stomach.

Deadpool 2 (1/10): Like the original Deadpool (2016, which has earned $783,112,979 as of May 14 on a budget of $48 million), this satirizes the imbecilic superhero movies. Alas, like those it lampoons, this is aimed at the intellectual sophistication of a 14 year old boy, even though its language and despicable, irresponsible violence make it R rated. Oh, there are some inside jokes, lots of them, about movies and music, and other things. Ryan Reynolds again plays the wise-cracking superhero. But just because it mocks codswallop, does not mean it is not itself codswallop.