Ghost of Innocence

The Awakening (2011) is another ghost story, not very scary but exciting, with a twist that I am going to spoil.

It takes place in England after the Great War - so many had died that it is a country of ghosts. It starts with a seance, but Rebecca Hall soon reveals herself to be a debunker of spiritualists, and the seance to be a hoax. This is all neatly done, and it looks like Hall is going to be great fun, with a swashbuckling sense of drama and righteous hatred of frauds - yet a sensitivity that leaves her exhausted after each debunking. Now that this case is closed, she just wants to rest, but Dominic West (Punisher: War Zone's Jigsaw) has another mission for her. A boys' school out in the country is purportedly haunted, one boy has died mysteriously, and the rest of the boys are on edge. West applies a little psychological pressure, and she goes up against her will.

She is met by the housekeeper, Imelda Staunton (Delores Umbridge), who is a big fan of hers. The boys are scared, the teachers are rotters, and there's a menacing gamekeeper. She even senses the presence of a ghost.

The school is one of those stately English piles, very reminiscent of the house in The Innocents (but it isn't). There is even a lake, where a mysterious force tries to drown Hall. (I think I remember that scene from The Innocents.) I liked this atmosphere a lot. Now comes the Spoilers:

First of all, the school isn't haunted. A combination of pranks, bullying, and asthma killed the boy. So our heroine gets to debunk another mystery. The boys and teachers all go home for holidays, except for the housekeeper, Dominic West and a boy, Isaac Hempstead Wight, who has no family to go to (the War, I guess). They bond over Hall's childhood in Africa, but when she mentions him to West, he tells her that all the boys went home - he's a ghost.

Furthermore, Hall was not brought up in Africa - she was brought up in the very building that now houses this school! Staunton was her housekeeper when she was a child, when horrible things happened to her that scarred her for life. She has repressed the memory and didn't recognize the building at all. That's why Staunton wanted to bring her back - to bring peace to the ghosts in the house and to her ghosts.

There's one plot twist I usually hate - when a revelation takes everything you know and just tosses it away. When done well, it makes you re-evaluate what has come before, but even then it seems like a cheat. But when you go beyond unreliable narrator, and just say, we were lying, all that stuff doesn't matter, it's really this stuff, I tend to throw up my hands. For this, I wasn't thrilled, but kind of didn't mind - because I wasn't that invested in the plot.

In conclusion, not too scary, very atmospheric.

Who are the Chesterfield Kings?

After the last musical stinker we watched, we used Chesterfield Kings: Where is the Chesterfield King? (2001) as a palette cleanser. It was much more to our liking. First, it was cheap, loud, and stupid. Also, the music was better.

First, who are the Chesterfield Kings? We didn't know either until Netflix started pushing this movie on us, but they are a psychedelic garage band from the 1980s psych-rock revival. Somewhere along the line, they decided to make an aggressively low-budget black and white sci-fi movie. It looks like it was made by an Ed Wood wannabe, and I mean that in the nicest way possible. It features aliens from outer space who plan to subjugate the world by replacing the Chesterfield Kings' drummer. The alien has a weak understanding of English and the human world that he hides with his catch phrase "Yes, I understand."

The Kings all seem to live in this trashy apartment with a magic door that can open anywhere in the world. One day Mark Lindsay (lead singer for Paul Revere and the Raiders) walks through the magic door and they do a number together. When their drummer disappears, they go through the door to search for him in London, Tokyo, Holland, etc (via what looks like home movies they made on tour). But most of the time they hang out in the apartment and read Donald Duck comics and talk about how they should be rehearsing.

And they actually don't talk about it, they shout. My guess is that, because they can't act, the director (?) told them just to shout! Their personalities don't really come across much - are they friendly like the Monkees? Surly like the Ramones? Ironic like the Beatles? I would say, stupid, and maybe add shouty.

The movie is mostly fun although it gets a little boring here and there. The music is great though. Mostly it's hard-edged psychedelia, like Their Satanic Majesties Request. But one of the band has a dream with a full-on Beach Boys rip-off song, so that's not all they can do. In fact, my main complaint about the Kings' sound is that it comes too close to parody. This could have been a Spinal Tap movie, but I'm pretty sure they are sincere. After all, they got Mark Lindsay to cameo.

And their gear - they have a Vox Continental organ, a Rickenbach 12-string and a turquoise Vox Mark III teardrop guitar. Can't get much more psychedelic than that.

Judy, Judy, Judy

A Date with Judy (1948) is another musical, starring teenaged songbird Jane Powell, but more importantly, teenage glamour girl Elizabeth Taylor.

It's set in the semi-real town of Santa Barbara. Taylor is the spoiled daughter of the town's wealthiest businessman, Leon Ames. Powell is the daughter of also wealthy, but down-to-earth Wallace Beery. After a tour of the town hosted by Mr. Voice-Over, we go to the rehearsals for the big dance. Jane is singing her song ("Most Unusual Day") while her boyfriend Oogie is leading the orchestra. Oogie is played by Scotty Beckett, who Mystery Science Theater 3000 fans will recognize as "Winky" from the Rocky Jones serials. Taylor, playing Oogie's sister, is a domineering snob who pushes Powell around. Oogie gets sore, but Powell defends her friend, causing him to break their date for the dance that night.

Despondent, Powell goes to the soda shop, where she meets Robert Stack, the college man who is working as a soda jerk for the summer. She gets him to agree to take her to the dance, making all her friends jealous and getting Taylor interested. In fact, when Powell gets up to sing a number, Taylor takes Stack for a spin around the floor.

Then Xavier Cugat shows up, with Carmen Miranda! This perks things up a bit. Powell's mother wants to rhumba, but Wallace Beery won't have it (because he doesn't know how). This sets up the B plot - Beery secretly hires Carmen to teach him to rhumba, and Powell thinks he's having an affair with her.

Let's see, am I missing anything? Right, the C plot - Leon Ames never has any time for his kids Elizabeth Taylor and Winky (I mean Oogie), and they are sad but very wealthy.

A Date with Judy was long running radio show, and I might have even seen the TV show. If I didn't, I saw something like it, where an excitable teenaged girl got some crazy idea in her head and took it too far, until finally just dropping it because she's so kooky. In this movie, she is ready to fight Taylor for Stack, but when it turns out Stack kind of prefers Taylor, even though she's a spoiled brat, Powell just gives them her blessing and goes back to Oogie. It's "kooky" all right, but kind of my favorite part. Even though Taylor's character is an evil bitch to Powell, all is forgiven, because they are friends.

I’m sorry to say that the music is not as good as it could be. I love Powell’s strong, pure soprano, but the songs aren’t much. “Strictly on the Corny Side” isn’t just corny, it’s embarrassing. Carmen’s songs are better, except “Cooking with Gas”, where she mangles a mouthful of jitterbug slang.  Oh well, we get her dancing with Cugie, and that’s something.

He is Spartacus!

I’ve been planning to watch That Thing You Do! (1996) for a while. Maybe Netflix suggested it after we watched Grace of My Heart - they kind of fit together, both exploring the 60s pop music scene.

It stars Tom Everett Scott, looking very much like this movie’s director, Tom Hanks. He lives in a small Pennsylvania town in the mid-60s, working in his father’s appliance store, dating Charlize Theron (looking very Tuesday Weld), and playing drums in the basement to jazz records. One day, some kids he knows need a drummer - the big battle of the bands is that night and their drummer (Giovanni Ribisi) broke his arm. They have a song they think is a hit - “That Thing You Do” - a slow ballad. When they get to the gig, Scott starts playing it uptempo and the band is forced to come along. And the crowd goes wild.

Let me just mention the band. The “leader”, singer and songwriter, is Johnathon Schaech, just a touch on the dark and brooding side. The bass player has no name in the script, just “T.B. Player” in the credits. He is played by Ethan Embry, looking somewhat Jim Parsons. But the best character is the guitarist, Steven Zahn. He’s the perfect small-town goofball, never taking anything seriously, especially the chance of fame and fortune.

Because that’s what is on order. There’s one more unofficial member - Liv Tyler as Schaech’s girlfriend and band mascot/mother. She named the band the “One-ders”, which everyone else pronounces “O’Needers”. They get talent scouted, go on the county fair circuit, and suddenly, they are in Los Angeles, with a new manager, Tom Hanks.

Then it all falls apart. Schaech acts like a prima donna and quits, and breaks up with Tyler. That leaves the band in breach of contract, dissolved with that one hit - the One-Hit Wonders. Still, Scott has gotten a late-night DJ gig from Clint Howard, and now he can profess his love for Tyler. It all works out for everyone in the end.

I've left out most of the funny stuff, including Kevin Pollak as an obnoxious DJ, the girl group singer that Player gets to bed, the beach blanket movie the Wonders play in, and Scott's meeting with his jazz idol, and the waitress who was trying to pull him before he got distracted. Also, a ton of goofy comments from Zahn, and Scott's catch-phrase "I am Spartacus!"

But who cares about all that? What about the music? First - you hear "That Thing You Do?" in part or full about a dozen times. And it's pretty good. I thought it might be a Marshall Crenshaw composition (which is high praise), but it was written by Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne. Hanks and Schlesinger wrote most of the music for this, and it's all pretty great. I can't honestly sign any of it now. But I never got tired of hearing any of it, and wanted more of a lot of it.

Maybe I liked this because I lived through it (I'm a little younger, but I had my dreams). Maybe it's just a good movie.

Cruzing

Even though I have pretty much given up on animation, we decided to give Coco (2017) a try. We found it worthy.

Coco is a Pixar animation set in a small Mexican town. It stars Miguel, the son of a family of cobblers who have a taboo against music. It seems his great-great-grandmother was deserted by her musician husband. But Miguel loves music, especially the great Ernesto de la Cruz, born in the same town. On the Day of the Dead, he wants to compete in the music contest in town, but he doesn’t have a guitar. But he notices in a picture on the family altar, ofrenda, of his great-great-grandmother, there is a man with her, ripped out of the photo, but his guitar is plainly del Cruz’s. He is a descendant of the great man! So he breaks into de la Cruz’s crypt and steals his guitar to use in the contest.

But once he’s done this, he is transported to the land of the dead. His ancestors who have photos on the altar of a loved one get to visit earth, but since he took his great-great’s photo, she is stuck. And Miguel himself will be stuck in the land of the dead if he can’t get the blessing of a relative. His deceased grandmother is willing, but only if he gives up music. So he goes to seek the blessing of Ernesto de la Cruz.

On the way, he meets Hector, a scruffy skeleton with no living relatives who remember him - so he is caught trying to sneak into Earth dressed as Frida Kahlo. It turns out that Hector played with de la Cruz, and offers to get Miguel close to him. In exchange, he wants Miguel to get Hector’s daughter to put his photo on her ofrenda.

The look of this movie is wonderful, from the small town to the land of the dead. The spirits of the dead are skeletons with sugar skull heads, and the land of the dead is an immense, sprawling, piled-up, twinkling city. That was about my favorite part. Unfortunately, the music, which should have been stand-out, was my least favorite part. It seemed like it was written by someone who had heard Mexican music, but wasn’t particularly fond of it.

So that’s my review: good story, great visuals, weak songs. So, two out of three. Not bad.

New Wrinkle

Before I talk about Ava DuVernay’s A Wrinkle in Time (2018), I want to mention how much I love Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time. I must have read it when I was 12 or 13, and I remember it well - it really spoke to the bookish, SF loving kid I was (and mostly still am). I had very similar feelings about the movie.

It stars 15-year-old Storm Reid, as Meg Murray, a bookish girl of mixed race. Her father, Chris Pine, was a brilliant astrophysicist who nurtured her love of science, but had disappeared about a year ago. This left her with her mother, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, a brilliant microbiologist, and her odd (but brilliant) younger brother, Charles Wallace (Deric McCabe). Because of her missing father, Meg is bullied at school. Charles Wallace stands up for her, but since he is weird, that only makes things worse. But popular cute guy Calvin (Levi Miller) befriends her, because she seems interesting.

One night, a strange, freaky woman who calls herself Mrs. Whatsit (Reese Witherspoon) appears in Meg’s house. Although Charles Wallace claims he invited her, they throw her out. The next day, Charles Wallace takes Meg and Calvin to a spooky house, where a witch lives - no, correction, a Mrs. Who (Mindy Kaling). Yes, there is a short “Who’s on first?” routine. Mrs. Who speaks only in quotations - I particularly like “The foot feels the foot when it steps on the ground” that she misattributes to the Buddha.

Mrs. Whatsit and Mrs. Which introduce them to Mrs. Which, Oprah Winfrey, manifesting as a 20-foot tall shining being. They them all “tesser” (travel by tesseract) to the planet Uriel in search of Meg and Charles Wallace’s father.

I’ll interrupt the plot discussion to talk about the casting - a lot of ink (or electrons) has been spilled about the racial makeup of the cast. Chris Pine, European ancestry, of course, and Mbatha-Raw, African, making it natural that Reid, mixed race is cast as their daughter Meg. Charles Wallace, who is adopted is played by a boy of European ancestry. And Mrs. Who, Whatsit, and Which are European, Indian, and African ancestry. In my opinion, this is fine. I had no picture in my mind about the race of Meg or her family. (Maybe a redhead? Don’t know if that’s in the book or just me.) And the Mrs. are, of course, extradimensional beings, so human races are bit beside the point. And Reid makes a great Meg, radiating sorrow, confusion, and intelligence, as well as love for her family and friends. The only cast member I found less than exciting was Levi Miller, the “normal” boy who shows up to be potential romantic interest. And he’s supposed to be kind of dull, I think.

Anyways, we get to go to beautiful planets and ride on plant-based dragons (kinda) and find the evil behind the plot - Camazotz, a planet sized mind with nothing but ego, selfishness, and conformity as a soul. It has trapped Dr. Murray, and will tempt Charles Wallace, using his unique genius as a weakness. But it all turns out fine.

The ending solidified my feelings about this movie. When the family comes back together, it is filmed as epic - a giant, lens-flaring, transcendent event. The film technique is somewhat naive (the special effects throughout are lovely, but maybe not as sophisticated as some movies), but it’s interesting that this event, an emotional climax, is treated like a crazy action scene might be in another movie. Maybe this is childish, but it should be a kid’s movie. As an adult kid, I liked it.

Witches Brew

The Witches (1990) is on our queue because I thought Anjelica Huston was going to be in Death Becomes Her. When I realized what the confusion was, I queued this up. This is a completely different movie.

Directed by Nicholas Rong, it is based on a novel by Roald Dahl. It is about a boy, Jasen Fisher, who goes to live with his grandmother (Mai Zetterling) when his parents die (told you it was Roald Dahl). She’s a lovely old lady who tells him stories about witches, how they long to kill all children, how they are monsters under their human masks and how children smell like dog droppings to them.

When she falls ill, they go to a Cornwall hotel to recover. The hotel is run by Rowan Atkinson, doing a combination Mr. Bean and Basil Fawlty. Young Jasen meets a chubby boy raiding the pastries and makes friends. But then he discovers that Anjelica Huston is chairing a meeting of all the witches in the world at that very hotel. They plan to use a potion to turn all the children into mice - and they start  with Jasen’s chubby friend.

Most of the fun in the movie is in the Dahlian silliness, and also the Jim Henson mouse puppets and witch makeup. Huston’s gloriously evil witch is great, of course, but sadly doesn’t get the screen time she deserves. All in all, I suspect I would have loved this if I’d seen it as a child, but of course, I was in my 30s when it came out. So I can only say I enjoyed it.