Licorice Pizza, American Underdog

For years, I’ve been hoping that Paul Thomas Anderson would turn away from art-house auteur fare, with its shapeless storylines, twisted characters, and exasperating ambiguity. Picture PTA directing Fast Times at Ridgemont High and you’ll grasp the vibe of Licorice Pizza, a 133-minute rom-com in the early-1970s San Fernando Valley interspersed with various SoCal oddballs the youngsters meet while they’re trying to decide whether to start a romance. Licorice Pizza  anti-beauty, indie arrogance even delivers—I can hardly believe I’m typing these words about a PTA film—a big, satisfying smile at the end. The film takes its title from a Seventies Southern California record-store chain. Cooper Hoffman plays a 15-year-old high-school student named Gary Valentine who opens the movie by pestering a 25-year-old photographer’s assistant he meets while waiting in line for his yearbook photo. Alana Kane, is played with low-key appeal by another rookie actor, Alana Haim, for whom Anderson has directed music videos. She intermittently slaps him in the chops or flirts with other guys, but she also keeps hanging around him. Who wouldn’t? The kid’s going places. In his drive to appear smart, Anderson treats each sequence elliptically: Gary’s run-in with Lucille Ball; his TV-interview effrontery with Art Linkletter; Alana’s encounter with William Holden (Sean Penn), Sam Peckinpah (Tom Waits) figures; her defiant trick on Jon Peters (Bradley Cooper) and brief venture into political work (Benny Safdie as a local pol). Anderson’s nearly cinema-destroying impudence contrasts with Tarantino’s fan-boy romanticism in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Anderson’s quite ugly aesthetic presumes superiority over the more conventional La La Land yet misses the emotional, life-affirming richness of the former. Despite lively episodes of assorted unresolved interactions, Licorice Pizza’s entertainment value finally gets vague. Gary and Alana's story feels unfinished. Anderson’s role model—Floyd Mutrux—used marvelous ’70s quotidian narratives (Aloha Bobby and Rose, American Hot Wax) and endowed his characters with wonder, using all the elements of beauty in a film artist’s arsenal. Source: www.nationalreview.com

Until the end of “Licorice Pizza,” Alana is in doubt about her relationship with Gary. But a subtle incident leaves behind a major impact on her decision that even clears the air of doubt too. While on a dinner with councilman Joel Wachs, she realizes that with all the men she had been with so far, it was never about her, instead of about them, their desires, their wants, and their public image. But Gary was the only person who never pretended that he cared because, in reality, he actually did.  Alana gets an epiphany of sorts when she finds out Joel Wachs was just calling her to avoid the suspicion that was being raised about him being a gay person. She has a brief conversation with Mathew, Wach’s lover, and for the first time, she lifts the veil and gets clarity. She is done with accommodating the idea of that perfect life and those feigned emotions because no matter how hard she tried, she failed to fit into it. She stops being pretentious and, for the first time, considers Gary as somebody with whom she could be herself. Gary, too realizes that he was done beating around the bush and that he needs to tell Alana how much she means to him. Finally, they meet, removing the ambiguity that smogged their relationship and welcoming each other in their respective lives for a happily ever after, maybe. “Licorice Pizza” leaves you with a cozy and warm feeling that might be said to be a tad bit optimistic but never deceives you by showing the characters in an idealistic light or devoid of any flaws. Source: dmtalkies.com

“American Underdog” is a winner. No single person can attempt to do the impossible; few souls understood that more than Kurt Warner. He was the guy who went from stocking shelves at a grocery store to winning the Super Bowl MVP award. But the good thing about “American Underdog,” the new film based on Warner’s rise to NFL stardom, is that it focuses on the love story with Brenda that helped bolster that Cinderella tale. Played by Zachary Levi and Anna Paquin, Kurt and Brenda faced many adversities and hardships before he took over for the injured Trent Green in what turned out to be a storybook season back in 1999.  While the football scenes are aplenty and slickly filmed, the spectacular debut with the Rams is more of a climax here. So, stop worrying about whether or not Levi can throw a spiral, and just take this as an old school romance with some sports thrown in. Levi and Paquin fit well into their roles, which helps the movie considerably. If you mess up these two roles, “American Underdog” sinks. They share some chemistry, offering moviegoers a small peek at the life these two built out of misfortune and some luck. 

We learn to love them as people first before the national sports power couple they eventually became–just like Kurt learned to love Brenda’s family before marrying her. Levi’s best scenes aren’t on a football field; they’re at home with Brenda’s (and eventually his) son, Zack. This is where the playing field shifts to more the actor’s natural strengths. There’s a gentleness to Levi’s giant here that balances out the life and sports hardships he faced. A key scene involving the Warners’ car breaking down in the middle of a snow storm, with Kurt walking for miles to get gas and return, reaches an epic scale. Levi and Paquin are too old to play the characters at this phase of their lives (Levi is 41, Paquin is 38), but their chemistry is excellent and they're both exceptional actors, so it's not hard to get past all that. The best thing about the film is its refusal to move according to the prescribed rhythms of the standard-issue sports picture. From start to finish, it prefers to focus on what's happening off-field. It returns to the gridiron only when it's time to set up the next career milestone, and the milestones are only important inasmuch as they affect the lives of Kurt, Brenda, and Zack. "American Underdog" is about a couple moving through the years and getting to know each other and look out for each other. This approach might be unique among sports films. In real life, after Kurt Warner was cut from the Packers' training camp in 1994, he got a job working the night shift as a night stock clerk at a local Hy-Vee grocery store, in addition to his work as an assistant coach at Northern Iowa. Warner's future wife Brenda Carney's parents were killed in 1996 when their Mountain View, Arkansas home was destroyed by a tornado. Warner and Brenda married on October 11, 1997, at the St. John American Lutheran Church, the same place where the service for Brenda's parents was held. Warner was still hoping to get an NFL tryout, but with that possibility appearing dim and the long hours at Hy-Vee for minimum wage taking their toll, Warner begins his Arena Football League career. After marrying Brenda, Warner officially adopted her two children from her first marriage; they have since added five children of their own. Source: rogerebert.com 

Oscar Nominations 2022

Jane Campion's “The Power of the Dog,” a revisionist Western that uses a careworn genre to examine toxic masculinity, dominated the Academy Awards on Tuesday with 12 nods. It was followed closely behind by “Dune,” a sprawling adaptation of a popular sci-fi novel that was once believed to be unfilmable, which defied naysayers to earn 10 Oscar nominations. “West Side Story,” Steven Spielberg’s ravishing take on a beloved musical, and “Belfast,” Kenneth Branagh’s semi-autobiographical, coming-of-age story, each received 7 nominations. All four of those films are up for best picture, joining a race that includes “Don’t Look Up,” “Drive My Car,” “King Richard,” “Licorice Pizza” and “Nightmare Alley.” 

Guillermo Del Toro's neo-noir “Nightmare Alley” has received 4 Oscar nods. “West Side Story,” “Belfast” and “Nightmare Alley” were among the many films that failed to convert critical raves into ticket sales. Oscar voters largely steered clear of more populist choices. “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” which has become one of the rare post-pandemic blockbusters, was overlooked in the best picture category. Its omission is bad news for the Oscar producers given that the telecast usually gets a rating boost when a popular film is up for major awards, something that happened when “Lord of the Rings: Return of the King” and “Titanic” dominated the race. 

Spielberg now ranks alongside Billy Wilder and behind Martin Scorsese’s nine nominations and William Wyler’s 12 nods in the category. Best actor is a race between Hollywood heavyweights Denzel Washington (“The Tragedy of MacBeth”) and Will Smith (“King Richard”), along with respected veterans such as Javier Bardem (“Being the Ricardos”), Andrew Garfield (“Tick, Tick … Boom!”) and Benedict Cumberbatch (“The Power of the Dog”).  Best actress will be a contest between Penelope Cruz, Jessica Chastain (“The Eyes of Tammy Faye”), Nicole Kidman (“Being the Ricardos”) and Kristen Stewart (“Spencer”). The 94th annual Academy Awards will be on March 27 at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre. The in-person ceremony will be televised on ABC. For the first time in three years, the Oscars will have a host in 2022, Craig Erwich, president of ABC Entertainment and Hulu Originals, announced in January. Variety later learned that multiple hosts will likely take the stage, however no official names have been revealed yet. Source: variety.com

Standards of Masculinity, The Last Duel, Matt Damon and Good Will Hunting

Women who are in a relationship with men and feel that their partner has a fragile masculinity are likely to change their behavior, a new study suggests. For instance, the more women perceive their partner’s sense of masculinity as fragile, the more likely they are to fake orgasms. Furthermore, the more women perceived their partner’s manhood as precarious, the more anxiety they felt and the more likely it is for couple communication to deteriorate. Lead author Jessica Jordan of the University of South Florida said: “One of my colleagues, a collaborator on this study, first raised the idea of studying if men who are insecure in their masculinity are less likely to solicit sexual feedback from their female partners. I immediately thought, “It doesn’t matter if they do, women are not going to give honest feedback if they think their partner’s masculinity is easily threatened.” “If a woman is concerned about inadvertently threatening her partner’s manhood, that could lead to a breakdown of communication,” Jordan explains. A following study on 196 women found that when women felt their partner had a fragile manhood, they were less likely to provide honest sexual communication. A third study on 157 women found that women who made more money than their partners were twice as likely to fake orgasms. However, Jordan says we shouldn’t point the blame on either men or women, and this type of behavior is understandable, though problematic. If men are not made aware that their behavior is creating a problem for their partners, it is hard to address the core issue. “When society creates an impossible standard of masculinity to maintain,” says Jordan, “nobody wins.” The study was published in the January issue of the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science. Source: neurosciencenews.com

The first chapter of The Last Duel centered on Jean follows a hero type who might’ve appeared in a classical text. He’s an idealistic warrior devoted to what is morally right and what “should be,” but it becomes evident in subsequent chapters that he’s neither a politician nor particularly adept socially. However, his face shows the scars of many victorious battles. It’s Matt Damon’s best performance in years, and one cannot help but see Jean as a kind of redneck stereotype by the third chapter. His devotion to duty and tradition reads as naively patriotic, particularly after his exploits earn him a knighthood. By Jacques’ chapter, we see that others deem Jean temperamental, a laughing stock, even. Jean sees Jacques as villainous and vindictive and Marguerite as devoted and proud of his accomplishments.  When she tells Jean what happened with Jacques, his reaction: “Can this man do nothing but evil to me?” Jean declares, viewing the incident as yet another personal slight against his manhood. Meanwhile, Marguerite’s sex life becomes a matter for the courts. An inquisitor drills her about whether she experiences the “little death” with her husband in bed, which, big surprise, Jean’s approach to lovemaking cannot produce. She lies and confirms that Jean brings her to orgasm, knowing that the era’s men believed that conception requires pleasure and rape cannot lead to pregnancy. “This is science,” affirms the inquisitor. Source: deepfocusreviews.com

Matt Damon, along with Don Cheadle, David Pressman, аnd Jerry Weintraub, іs one оf thе founders оf Not оn Our Watch Project, аn organization that focuses global attention аnd resources to stop аnd prevent mass atrocities such аs the Darfur war. Damon іs also а brand-ambassador оf ONEXONE: a philanthropic foundation which is working for supporting, preserving, аnd improving thе lives оf children at home іn Canada, thе United States, аnd around thе world. Damon is also one of the co-founders of nonprofits Water.org & Water Equity. 

In Good Will Hunting, both Sean and Chuckie are actual protectors of Will (Matt Damon). Sean is  completely obvious as he helps steer Will into and through his psychological miasma. Chuckie is the one member of Will’s clan who has enough depth of perception to spur Will on to a broader horizon, so when he shows up, knocks on Will’s door and Will isn’t there, Chuckie is happy. Due to past abuses when he was just a kid, Will has a rage inside born of his many foster home experiences including the man who beat him (we actually catch a fleeting image of this tyrant climbing the stairs literally in shadows to wail on young Will). So until Will can confront and embrace those dark memories and associations from his troubled past he will always be ruled by them and his rage. Nor will he feel worthy of love, which is what drives Skylar away in the first place. It’s only after she goes and he has his breakthrough with Sean, compounded by the offer of a job on behalf of the U.S. government, it all congeals into the choice Will makes: To drive off to California to be with Skylar. Source: goingtothestory.com 

American researchers Jean Twenge, Ryne Sherman and Brooke Wells published an article in the Archives of Sexual Behavior showing that Americans were having sex on average nine fewer times per year in the early 2010s compared to the late 1990s – a 15% drop from 62 times a year to just 53. The researchers argued the drops may be due to increasing levels of unhappiness. Western societies in particular have seen a mental health epidemic in the past few decades, primarily depression and anxiety disorders. There is a strong correlation between depressive symptoms and reduction in sexual activity and desire. Research connects these mental health epidemics with the increasingly insecure nature of modern life, particularly for younger generations. It is this generation that has shown the highest drops in sexual activity, with research from Jean Twenge showing millennials are reporting having fewer sexual encounters than either Generation X or the baby boomers did at the same age. A mixture of work, insecurity and technology is leading us all to feel slightly less aroused. Drops in sexual activity could be argued, therefore, to reflect the nature of modern life. This phenomenon is a mixture of insecurity and technology. Tackling the sexual decline will require dealing with the very causes of the mental health crisis facing Western worlds–a crisis that is underpinned by losses of communal and social spaces. Source: www.bbc.com