Brief Thoughts Before the Tony Awards

Since I do live in New York City, I try my best to see as many Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway shows as I can, albeit at a discount usually. This year, I think I did relatively well especially with regards to this year's Tony nominees, which is why I'm excited about Sunday's award show. Plus it also seems that unlike the last few years, many of the categories are nail-biters in terms of which show or which actor will win. Regardless the Tony Awards are always a hoot to watch with performances from the musical nominees and usually game hosts, this time with the fabulous Alan Cumming and Kristen Chenoweth.

So let's talk musicals! The Best Musical category is probably the most contentious this year. An American in Paris and Fun Home lead all nominees with 12 nods each while Something Rotten! has 10 and The Visit has 5 (and the legendary Chita Rivera). I've seen and loved Fun Home and Something Rotten! and hope one of them wins it. Something Rotten! in particular, which I've seen twice, has been an addictive earworm and its musical performance is the one I'm most looking forward to on the big night. As for Best Musical Revival (won the past two years by two musicals I've obsessed over aka Pippin and Hedwig and the Angry Inch), the sumptuous production of The King and I looks to prevail over On The Town and On the Twentieth Century. With high demand for the other two, I was only able to see On the Town which was fine more than great for me despite a few truly fun numbers.

In terms of acting, I think everyone is again holding their breath to see if Kelli O'Hara can finally win her first Tony especially with the love they've shown for her show giving The King and I 9 nominations. With that said, it's yet another brutal line-up for Lead Actress in a Musical consisting of two actresses from the top two nominated shows and two legends in Chenoweth and Rivera. Lead Actor is equally competitive with any of the five men nominated looking likely to pick up the trophy. In the Featured categories, it'll be interesting if there'll be some vote-splitting happening with Something Rotten!, An American in Paris, and Fun Home all with multiple nominees. The latter especially has three in Featured Musical Actress!

Like every year, my track record for plays are abysmal. Unlike last year though, I did manage to see something that was not only Tony nominated, but seems to be the front-runner i.e. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. With 6 nominations, that atypical play (a West End awards-winning hit) looks to go head to head with Wolf Hall for Best Play, which leads all plays with 8 nods. As for Best Play Revival, many seem to think the Bradley Cooper-starrer The Elephant Man will edge out the Carey Mulligan-starrer Skylight, neither of which I've seen so who knows?

Both actors, Cooper and Mulligan, then seem likely to win their first Tony Awards for Best Lead in a Play, but that's far from a lock. Cooper will have to contend with Curious Incident's Alex Sharp and Wolf Hall's Ben Miles while Mulligan's biggest competition is the Queen herself, Helen Mirren, in a role that has already won her heaps of awards. Just as a quick aside, yay for my TV favorites Elisabeth Moss and Ruth Wilson getting nominated here, but boo for no love for Jake Gyllenhaal (who was in Constellations with Wilson which I regret not seeing). Since I haven't seen many plays and don't know much about their roles, I have nothing to say with regards to the Featured Actors only to root for names I do recognize like Allesandro Nivola, Annaleigh Ashford, Patricia Clarkson, and Julie White.

Of course, I'm sure a lot of people are already thinking about next year's Tony Awards. Hamilton. Hamilton. Hamilton. I foolishly missed it when it played Off-Broadway this year, but you better believe I'll be seeing this before next year's Tonys!

What a girl had to do to get arrested....

This post is part of Nathaniel's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" series in which the participants must post a single image from a movie he or she deems as the "best shot" for any particular reason.

Dick Tracy is a 1990s film based on the famous comic strip character of the same name. The movie's aesthetic is heavily influenced by comics and it's certainly why it's still a film many remember and talk about. I mean it's not because of the plot, which was flimsy and a bit all over the place. But who cares? It's pretty! Right at the beginning these two wide shots show off the brilliant art direction and were close to being my pick for best shot.

And then Madonna. Before seeing the film for this series, I thought I had actually seen it already when I was younger. But I definitely didn't, because if I did I wouldn't have been shocked when Madonna showed up. I loved her in this. Her natural charisma and talent was a match-made in heaven with the femme fatale blond bombshell character she plays in the film. And to be honest, the camera loves her. For example, in my pick for best shot...

Best Shot

Yes, it's Madonna and Child. Both are the two recent forces complicating the main protagonist's life and it's great Warren Beatty the director decided to go for this shot as a way to underline that. And while the kid is in red, all eyes are on Madonna, however, in all of her confidently sexy glory. And just because I really couldn't get enough of her in the film, I have one more shot of her...

It's actually THE final shot of her Breathless Mahoney performing in the movie and her energy is electric. It's worth to note that this is happening during the big climactic shootout and everyone else in the club are running for cover. She doesn't stop performing and it's fabulous.

Sarah Michelle Gellar Reunites With Old Castmates! Huzzah!

If you're a Sarah Michelle Gellar fan (and who isn't?) and especially if you enjoyed her previous roles as Buffy Summers and Kathryn Merteuil, then this week was just wonderful.

First, Gellar posted on her social media this adorable photo with her previous Buffy co-star Alyson Hannigan. Willow and Buffy reunited! Now that Joss Whedon is seemingly done with comic book superheroes for now, can we talk about a reunion special perhaps taking place adjacent to Sunnydale?

.@alydenisof and @AlexisDenisof Thanks for such an awesome party and my new #Giraffe You are the #CraftMaster pic.twitter.com/XHVD9AgUBj

— Sarah Michelle (@SarahMGellar) May 23, 2015

But then Gellar wasn't done with reunions! Just a few days ago, she posted this photo on her Instagram alongside her previous Cruel Intentions co-stars Reese Witherspoon and Selma Blair eliciting a super gay gasp and squeal from me!

Oh it's happening!!! #CruelIntentions .....the later years. @reesewitherspoon @therealselmablair #CruelIntentions

A photo posted by Sarah Michelle (@sarahmgellar) on May 28, 2015 at 8:11pm PDT

And then to find out they were actually together to see a Cruel Intentions musical was just too much. She and Blair then knocked me out by re-enacting their infamous kiss. More details and photos here.

I wonder which previous co-star she'll hang out next.

Three oldest and best friends...

This post is part of Nathaniel's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" series in which the participants must post a single image from a movie he or she deems as the "best shot" for any particular reason.

To celebrate the centennial of the great Orson Welles, three films of his were assigned (Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, and The Lady from Shanghai). I picked his second film The Magnificent Ambersons about a wealthy family dealing with personal changes/drama in their lives during the turn of the century. In the heart of the film is a starcrossed romance of a man trying to woo again an old love and a woman who keeps appeasing her selfish son by not giving into her true feelings. My pick for my favorite shot features these these two...

This shot doesn't really have read Wellesesque (or would that be Wellesian?), but I love it because of Agnes Moorehead, who plays Fanny, shown here on the right as the jealous third wheel. Her jealousy just reads so clearly here on her face and posture. Not to mention how great it is to juxtapose her displeasure with the other two looking lovingly into each other's eyes completely and utterly oblivious to Fanny and her feelings. Fanny's misplaced belief that she should be with Eugene and not Isabel essentially drives the action of the film as she stokes the fire of suspicion and disapproval of Isabel's already selfish son by telling him there might be something inappropriate happening between his mother and her new gentleman caller (his father, Isabel's husband had recently died).

Wished I had more time to re-watch and do a closer analysis of this shot or another shot, for example one of the many indoor shots. Welles penchant and skill for interior shots is already plenty evident in this early work. But alas this was a "see once, write a quick post on it, and then go on vacation" type of deal.

Why don't you speak?

This post is part of Nathaniel's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" series in which the participants must post a single image from a movie he or she deems as the "best shot" for any particular reason.

Bright Star is one of those films I feel I should love more, but just don't. I saw it in theaters when it came out and while I thought it looked gorgeous and the performances were uniformly excellent, it left me a bit cold. I chalked it up to my unfamiliarity with John Keats as well as Jane Campion's understated style. A recent re-watch confirmed my initial feelings despite my increased love for Ben Whishaw during the past few years as well as being a fan of Campion's recent work on television.

And yet picking a "best shot" proved almost impossible because of the film's unquestionable beauty. So I'll just briefly talk about four of my favorites shots with my eventual pick in the end.

I mentioned Campion's subdued style, but this dissolve shot is simultaneously understated and bold. It must have been tempting to put many of Keats words literally on screen, but the film waits for this moment when Fanny misses Keats so much that it makes sense for her to visualize him while she reads his words.

All of the actors are great, but Whishaw is the film's MVP for me--naturally sad, effortlessly romantic, and quietly intense. In this shot, his longing and frustrations are palpable with the love of his life so close and yet still out-of-reach.

This shot is a very close runner-up since it displays so many things I really liked about the film--the costumes, the flowers, the use of light, the touching, her penchant to be proactive, his penchant to let her.

Best Shot

My best shot comes from one of my favorite scenes (probably my favorite) in the film. In a film with mostly subdued feelings, this particular scene is electric with emotions, mostly from Whishaw, who leaves behind understated Keats for this glorious moment of unbridled passion. Abbie Cornish also plays Fanny uncharacteristically here choosing to remain mostly silent instead. In the meantime, Brown, comically and villainously played by Paul Schneider, is in top form. I could've picked any shot from this scene, but I chose this one, because I love that all of their faces are obscured. It's as if they all just couldn't look one other from all of the deep emotions they're all feeling in this moment.

We're in this together...

This post is part of Nathaniel's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" series in which the participants must post a single image from a movie he or she deems as the "best shot" for any particular reason.

This week the film chosen was Nine to Five starring Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, and, in her film debut, Dolly Parton. It's a film I had always wanted to see, but I just never got around to seeing it until a couple days ago.

From the opening sequence, I was hooked. Parton's popular song playing to a montage of women getting ready and going to work put me in the right mood to enjoy this wonderful tale of three women working together to put their "sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot" boss in his place. From his first scene, it's quite evident how awful their boss is condescendingly telling Violet (Tomlin) and Judy (Fonda) how important teamwork is in the workplace and how unfortunate it is that "as girls" never got the chance via sports to experience this evidently manly (and thus essential) thing that would help them succeed in life. Little does he know, teamwork will be his downfall as the three seemingly different ladies end up bonding together over their mutual frustrations with their boss and eventually teaming up to make his life hell. Their initial moments of bonding are delightful as we see all three commiserating over some cocktails in a bar and then having a "ladies pot party" at Doralee's (Parton) place. Both scenes gave me two runner-up best shots, the first in the bar because I love its composition and the second in Doralee's house because I enjoyed how happy they all looked.

My eventual pick for best shot still features all three ladies, because I do love all of the shots with all three of them in the frame...

Best Shot

All three are in a power position, standing straight and confident with their arms crossed, like how men are encouraged to stand and how women are discouraged in the same manner. Plot-wise this is the point in the film where they find their ace in the hole to deal with their despicable boss. Granted, the film then takes its various twists and turns since this isn't even halfway through the film, but for this one moment they're on top and it's fabulous. Fast-forward to the very end of the film where expectantly they do come out on top and (again filmed in the same frame) decked in red, white, and blue, they celebrate their hard-fought win... as a team.

Matt Bomer XXL

This new character poster for Magic Mike XXL featuring Matt Bomer hit the internet yesterday and good golly, I've lasciviously enjoyed it since I laid my eyes on it. So count me in when this movie opens in July 1st. I'm only human.

One of these days, I'm gonna get organiz-ized...

This post is part of Nathaniel's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" series in which the participants must post a single image from a movie he or she deems as the "best shot" for any particular reason.

The main character in Taxi Driver Travis Bickle is a character that is constantly on the edge of self-destruction living in a city he literally sees as hell on earth. Becoming a taxi driver is one of the ways he tries to handle his situation enabling him to isolate himself from the city and its occupants while at the same time still being vigilant. His very short-lived relationship with Betsy, an angel amidst the filthy mess, is another attempt to cope the best way he can.

Of course, that relationship doesn't work out and soon after that his presumed safe haven inside his cab is rocked by an unnerving moment with a passenger (played by director Martin Scorsese) who tells him that he's going to kill the woman, his wife, they're watching. Fearing the "bad ideas" in his head after these experiences, Travis goes to a cabbie friend of his for advice who tells him that once "you do a thing, that's what you are." All of this then leads up to the turning point of the film, nearly halfway through the movie, which then features my pick for best shot...

The first appearance of the Organiz-ized poster is mostly why I picked this shot, because not only does it tie into his brief happy moment with Betsy earlier in the film, but also to the latter half of the film when his quest to get "organized" devolves into something truly messy. It's also a quiet, contemplative moment for Travis writing in his diary about the need for a change after his harrowing experiences I noted above. This is the turning point in the film when he decides to cope by turning himself into an avenger of sorts through discipline and violence. It then becomes, to me, the last moment prior to him being pushed to the edge.

Paid off my boys and I'm closed...

This post is part of Nathaniel's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" series in which the participants must post a single image from a movie he or she deems as the "best shot" for any particular reason.

If more Westerns were like Johnny Guitar, I probably would've seen a lot more films in the genre. Alas, Johnny Guitar is atypical in its camp and more especially in giving two of its best roles to women, specifically Joan Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge. Crawford plays Vienna, an enterprising saloon owner, who faces the ire of the locals who consider her an undesirable outsider. McCambridge's character Emma is an old-time rival of Vienna who seems hell-bent in fueling the fire (and literally does later in the film) of suspicion on Vienna and anyone who associates with her. Their back-and-forth animosity and sniping are my favorite parts of the film even if McCambridge's Emma is a little too one-dimensional in her hysterical villainy.

With that said, McCambridge really gives it her all, with her facial expressions and body language, as evident by all of the above shots of (mostly) her, all of which I strongly considered for my best shot. The one at the bottom left especially where she's flanked by her mourning attire wearing posse is such a striking shot.

But my best shot is from the exact same sequence since after all who is the posse and Emma looking at but a smirking Vienna in all her piano-playing glory...

Best Shot

There were many different iterations of this shot. Some slightly closer, a few further away. Her head would sometimes be turned away, etc. Any and all of those shots would be a fine pick since the things that make this a great shot are constant in this sequence. First, there's that wonderful white dress of hers which is juxtaposed beautifully with the rock and earthy background (a gorgeous production detail on its own) as well as the all-black-wearing lynch mob she's addressing. Her makeup, posture, attitude, and line deliveries do the rest as she hilariously takes her enemies to task seemingly without a care in the world. It's a power play through and through and one that fits so perfectly with this role in this film played by this particular actress.

So now that we got that out of the way, I have an actual serious question. Can anyone tell me why this film was titled Johnny Guitar and not Vienna of the West or something? The photo at the very top of the post would be my pick for the image to go with the new and improved title. Right?

And the winner is...

This post is part of Nathaniel's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" series in which the participants must post a single image from a movie he or she deems as the "best shot" for any particular reason.

The beating, bleeding heart of Mommie Dearest is the complicated and abusive relationship between Joan Crawford and her daughter Christina whose autobiography the film was adapted from. Faye Dunaway and Mara Hobel have great chemistry with each other playing mother and young daughter respectively. Both were nominated for Razzie Awards with Dunaway winning Worst Actress and while I could see why Dunaway's over-the-top performance may have elicited this reaction from some, Hobel seemed to really capture well both the innocence and its loss living with such an overbearing mother.

So my picks for favorite shot gravitated to the two of them together in frame. An early contender was the shot above from the beginning of the film during Christina's lavish birthday party. It's the first time we see a non-baby Christina interacting with her mother and it's quite clearly the honeymoon period of their relationship. Matching dresses and smiles all around. The shot I picked is a quick one showing Joan's hilarious reaction to the camera man telling them that the grass stain on Christina's dress should be cleaned. It's then the first time the audience sees Joan disapproving something related to her lovely daughter.

My next favorite shot is that beautifully composed sequence of Joan walking in on Christina imitating her in front of a mirror. Joan reacts quite negatively to this and proceeds to yell at her daughter whilst dramatically cutting her hair. It's harrowing and disturbing and the pained looks on the actresses faces repeated in the three-way mirror amplify the scary moment as you can see below.

But my pick for best shot is the complete opposite of that shot. It's the night of the Academy Awards and Joan, nominated for Mildred Pierce, stays at home. When it's time for her category, she holds tightly to an equally nervous Christina. When she's declared the winner, both are sincerely elated and their ecstatic reaction is my best shot:

Best Shot

Perhaps the fact that it's so unrepresentative of the film and their relationship as a whole is why I picked this moment of true happiness for both as my favorite shot. Certainly, it's all downhill from this moment on with the infamous "No wire hangers" sequence to directly follow this scene and the mother-daughter relationship crumbling even more soon after that when Christina is sent away to boarding school. So yeah, I'm a sucker for the happy moments. Now, bring me the axe!