For more than three years, as my father’s Parkinson’s got worse and my visits to Florida to help take care of him became more regular and more challenging, I began writing a eulogy for him in my head. I had all the words and all the stories queued up and ready to go.
And then, when he actually passed away last week, and I had to put fingers to keyboard, I didn’t know what to say.
Maybe you’ve heard, but the movie adaptation of the long-running Broadway musical Wicked hits theaters later this month, starring Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda. It looks fantastic.
As of this posting, I have not seen the movie. (Womp womp.) But here’s a fun fact: Back in the day, when she was starring as Elphaba in Wicked on Broadway, I interviewed Idina Menzel. The interview took place more than 20 years ago, in March 2004, before Menzel won the Tony award for the role. (And before Frozen, and before John Travolta called her “Adele Dazeem”, and before everything else that happened after she left the show.)
The article was the cover story of the May 2004 issue of Continental — yes, the inflight magazine of Continental Airlines. Menzel and I spoke over the phone, but I did go to New York shortly thereafter to see her in the show. And then, after Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth bewitched me in their iconic roles (the latter played Glinda), I went backstage to hang out with Ms. Elphaba in her dressing room — after she’d showered and washed off all the green makeup, of course.
Unfortunately, these were the days before iPhones, otherwise I’d probably have photographic proof of this. Oh well.
Another fun fact: Six years later, in 2010, I interviewed Chenoweth, as well. (Again, over the phone.) It was when she was starring in the first-ever Broadway revival of Promises, Promises. During our conversation, I asked Chenoweth why she thought Wicked had touched such a chord in so many people. “There is in every one of us a little bit of Elphaba and a little bit of Glinda,” she explained. “Elphaba, who is green and is immediately outcast because of that, actually has quite a tough little exterior but is not so tough on the inside. Glinda is pretty on the outside, but what drives her? Insecurity. And then she grows into heartbreak. The show is about love and forgiveness and friendship, and those are the reasons why it has become a classic. Nothing makes me prouder than to have been a part of something like that.”
Anyway, I know you aren’t reading this post to learn more about me. You want to read my article about Menzel. So here it is, in its entirety. Enjoy!
Today is October 7, 2024, one year since the worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. On that day, people in Israel — innocent, unsuspecting people of all ages and many nationalities — were killed, kidnapped, raped, assaulted, and more by the terrorist organization Hamas.
Here we are in August, the dog days of summer. If you’ve already seen big movies like Deadpool & Wolverine (entertaining fan service, minus a plot), you may be looking for something else to watch while you enjoy some air conditioning.
Two new releases promise entertainment, but only one of them delivers. Here are my reviews of Sing Sing and The Instigators.
We’re nearing the end of the second quarter, so here’s a roundup of all the new movies I’ve seen in the last three months — including a few I didn’t formally review when they were initially released — in reverse chronological order of when I saw them. How I saw them (in a theater or via streaming) is also noted.
One thing that always confuses me about modern-day movies is why characters choose to take cabs when Uber and Lyft exist. Especially when the character is a savvy city dweller who’s clearly comfortable with their iPhone. It just doesn’t seem realistic.
But as the new film Daddio illustrates, there can be value in hitching a ride in a car where the driver and passenger know nothing about each other, not even the other’s name, and everything is left more to fate. Writer/director Christy Hall certainly uses that anonymity to her advantage as the film’s two characters find comfort in a stranger and open up to each other during a late-night yellow-cab ride from JFK airport to midtown Manhattan.
There’s no new Mission: Impossible movie this summer, but that’s alright, because in its place, we have the absolutely delightful new film Thelma, in which June Squibb (Nebraska) plays a senior citizen out for revenge after she gets scammed out of $10,000.
Inspired by writer/director Josh Margolin’s relationship with his own grandmother, Thelma introduces us to the kind 94-year-old title character, whose relationship with her slacker grandson, Daniel (Fred Hechinger, Eighth Grade), is as sweet as they come. Thelma has been a widow for two years now, and Daniel visits her daily at her home in Encino, California, to check in, to show her how to use her computer, and to watch movies. But he’s worried about his grandmother — so much so that every time he leaves her, Daniel has to talk Thelma into wearing a bracelet that tracks her location, just in case something happens to her.
Meanwhile, Thelma’s daughter Gail (Parker Posey) and son-in-law Alan (Clark Gregg) think maybe it’s time for Thelma to move into an assisted-living facility and not be on her own.
Watching The Bikeriders, it’s hard to know what writer/director Jeff Nichols had in mind.
The film’s first third is kind of like an unintentionally comedic take on Goodfellas, with Nichols introducing us to a crew of bikers, each with one wacky nickname after another. There’s Cockroach, Funny Sonny, Big Jack, Wahoo … you get the idea. Meanwhile, while classic 1960s tunes play on the soundtrack, Jodie Comer’s Kathy sets up the story in what may be the heaviest Midwestern accent you’ll ever hear — or maybe it just seems that way because nobody else in the film is using one.
It’s the mid-1960s, and Kathy is telling us about a gang in Chicago called the Vandals, which is led by Johnny (Tom Hardy, The Dark Knight Rises), whose second-in-command, Benny (Austin Butler), Kathy falls for instantly. And who could blame her? As portrayed by Butler, Benny is the coolest one in any of the rooms. Good looking, soft-spoken … the strong, silent type.
If you’ve ever thought to yourself: Julia Louis-Dreyfus should make a movie about death, then have I got a film for you.
In Tuesday, the erstwhile Elaine Benes plays Zora, a single mother whose teenage daughter, Tuesday (Lola Petticrew), is on the verge of dying of a terminal illness. When Death arrives in the form of a size-shifting, talking macaw (yes, really), Zora begrudgingly learns to let go and accept her daughter’s fate — but not before going on an emotional journey the likes of which I couldn’t spoil even if I wanted to.
Martin's Musings 