Jane Heller

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author

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Movie Day: “Trumbo”

November 26, 2015

trumbo poster-1

Today was Thanksgiving and the day/night was jammed, but we squeezed in a morning showing of “Trumbo.” Was it worth getting up early? Not really.

The true story of Oscar winning screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, the movie has a fascinating tale to tell but seems to take forever doing it. We meet Trumbo and his family at their lavish ranch outside Hollywood where he’s the toast of the town, turning out scripts that earn him a lot of money and great acclaim within the industry. But we’re talking about the post-World War II Cold War when anyone even suspected of having Communist leanings was in danger of losing everything. Such is the case with Trumbo, a proud Communist who gets called before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and refuses to name names of other Communists in Hollywood. As a result, he’s blacklisted for 13 years – his name removed from his scripts, his only work written under pseudonyms for sympathetic producers, even when his films won Academy Awards (“Roman Holiday,” for example). How he and his family stayed afloat during his purgatory fills the screen for two hours. A lot of it is compelling and some of it feels like a mediocre TV biopic.

Bryan Cranston gives the character everything he has. The real Trumbo was said to be a larger-than-life type and Cranston plays him that way – over-the-top and almost cartoonish. Diane Lane as his wife is given woefully little to do but play his cheerleader and occasional scold. Helen Mirren is terrific as Hedda Hopper, the gossip columnist who’s determined to expose all Communists in Hollywood and make sure they never work again. And John Goodman is blustery fun as the schlock producer who hires Trumbo during his blacklist years.

This is a story that deserves to be known, not only for history’s sake but because it’s very timely in this climate where those who are judged to be “un-American” must be rooted out at all costs. It’s a cautionary tale  with implications beyond Hollywood, in other words – a tale of what can happen when “patriotism” runs amok.

 

Filed Under: Mainly Jane, Movies, Politics Tagged With: Bryan Cranston, Dalton Trumbo, Diane Lane, Hedda Hopper, Helen Mirren, John Goodman, Turbo movie

Movie Day: "Inside Llewyn Davis"

November 23, 2013

9.1.1

I love the Coen brothers’ movies, so I figured I’d be in for an entertaining, if quirky, couple of hours at today’s Cinema Society screening. “Inside Llewyn Davis” was just that – entertaining and quirky – but also superbly acted and interwoven with the sort of ’60s coffee-house, pre-Dylan folk music that’s long vanished from the music scene.

Set in New York City in 1961, Llewyn (Oscar Isaac) is a failed musician who’s sleeping on friends’ couches and wandering the streets and subways looking hapless in between the occasional gig. One friend (Justin Timberlake) is more successful and is married to a woman (Carey Mulligan) whom Llewyn may or may not have knocked up. Another friend is a professor at Columbia whose cat Llewyn mistakenly allows to escape its Upper West Side apartment. Llewyn is lost, emotionally detached from everything and everyone, except when he plays his guitar and sings and then he comes alive. The trouble is no one wants to hear him/pay him.

There’s a sequence involving a road trip with the always hilarious John Goodman, but this isn’t a particularly funny movie. It’s a character study of a man who strives for authenticity in his music and can’t find acceptance. I can’t say it was one of my favorite Coen Brothers films – it’s about a sad sack, after all, and the song lyrics are all gloom and doom – but the performances were uniformly great. In the Q&A after the screening with star Oscar Isaac and music producer T. Bone Burnett, we learned that all the singing was shot live – we’re talking about entire, three-minute songs, not snippets – and that Isaac had to learn real guitar picking for the role. Carey Mulligan, who seems to be able to pull off any sort of role that’s thrown at her, is utterly believable as a New York folkie (who knew she could sing).

Quite a few of my friends didn’t like the movie at all and while it’s true that the story doesn’t really go anywhere, as T. Bone Burnett pointed out, neither do folk songs. They start and end with the first verse, and so does “Inside Llewyn Davis.”

Filed Under: Mainly Jane, Movies, Music Tagged With: Carey Mulligan, Cinema Society, Inside Llewyn Davis, John Goodman, Justin Timberlake, Oscar Isaac, T. Bone Burnett

Movie Afternoon: "Flight"

November 15, 2012

 

I played hookey this afternoon and went to see Denzel Washington – knowing there would be scary scenes on an airplane and aware that my fear-of-flying self would go nuts. That’s how much I love Denzel as an actor (he’s not bad looking either).

He was as brilliant as always, only even more vulnerable than usual. As an alcoholic pilot wrestling with conscience and guilt, he showed a side I hadn’t seen before.

That said, I was less enthusiastic about the movie itself.

I found the love story a distraction rather than an interesting plot point or character reveal. I didn’t buy the ending at the NTSB hearing (I won’t spoil it). And there were at least two “Hey look – he’s drunk again” scenes that could have been cut. But the acting all around was first rate; Melissa Leo, John Goodman, Bruce Greenwood and Don Cheadle were all great.

Will Denzel get another Oscar nom? It’s a very tough field, but I hope so.

Filed Under: Mainly Jane, Movies Tagged With: Bruce Greenwood, Denzel Washington, Flight, John Goodman, Melissa Leo

Movie Day: "Argo"

November 10, 2012

There was good news and bad news about today’s special Cinema Society screening of “Argo.” The good news was that I really liked the movie. The bad news was that the reason we didn’t screen it earlier, before it was released, was because we were getting Ben Affleck for a Q&A and reception – and Ben had the flu and couldn’t be there. Everybody was disappointed, but apparently he’s planning to come up from LA as soon as he’s better and try again.

So. The movie.

What a riveting thriller. Even though it’s based on a true story and I knew how the events would turn out, it was so suspenseful that I had a knot in my stomach and got teary when it was over.

It’s the story of the covert and seemingly hair-brained operation to rescue six Americans during the Iran hostage crisis. A CIA “exfiltration” specialist named Tony Mendez (Affleck) comes up with a plan to convince the Iranians that he and the six Americans are merely scouting locations for a science fiction epic – all in order to get them out of the country safely.

Alan Arkin is hilarious as the Hollywood producer who goes along with the project. So is John Goodman, the makeup man and part-time operative pal of Mendez’s. Bryan Cranston plays Mendez’s boss at the CIA and delivers as always. Affleck somehow manages to star in the movie as well as direct and produce it, and he’s developed into a fine actor, if a little one-note.

Will “Argo” be nominated for Best Picture? Without a doubt. Is it more entertaining than, say, “Lincoln?” Absolutely. “Lincoln” has the prestige and Daniel Day-Lewis, but “Argo” is a whole lot more fun while it, too, teaches us about history.

 

Filed Under: Mainly Jane, Movies Tagged With: Alan Arkin, Argo, Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Cinema Society, John Goodman, Santa Barbara

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About Jane Heller

Jane Heller is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. Her fourteen breezy, witty novels of romantic comedy and suspense are now entertaining millions of readers around the world, along with her two books of nonfiction.

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