“7 Days to Vegas” – World Premiere

In the wonderful world of Poker you can’t even trust your friends.

If you’ve ever wondered about how much cheating goes on in the gaming industry, this movie will certainly enlighten you.

This is not the first high stakes gambling movie ever made. Maybe you remember “The Sting”, “Rounders” or “The Cincinatti Kid.” But I must say, having just viewed the world premiere of “Walk to Vegas”at the 30th Palm Springs International Film Festival, it is certainly one of the most intriguing and one of the funniest I’ve ever seen. It was refreshingly different.

These eccentric people will go to ~~almost~~ any length for money.

Inspired by a true story about Hollywood big shots who will bet on anything, “Walk to Vegas” is about a friendly poker game with colorful, questionable characters which winds up turning into a walk from Los Angeles to Las Vegas for a $5 million bet.

This independent movie by the Van Patten brothers (James and Vincent) was filmed right here in Palm Springs. Multi-talented Vince Van Patten, an ex-child star, former tour professional tennis player, and commentator for the World Poker Tour…wrote, starred and produced this captivating film. His real life wife, the stunning Eileen Davidson, also stars as his wife in the film and helped produced it.

Real life actor & poker player Jennifer Tilly has a cameo as herself in one of the scenes. I’ve always loved Jennifer Tilly in anything I’ve seen her in. She was amazing in Bullets Over Broadway – one of my favorite Woody Allen films. In this role she plays herself authentically (I assume, not knowing her personally). Anyway…

The energy of the sold-out crowd in the theatre was remarkable compared to other screenings I’ve attended. The audience certainly showed their appreciation. Many of the cast members were in attendance and got up on stage for a Q&A after the screening. It was superb.

Side note: turns out the father of one of my friends from Los Angeles is also one of the producers of this movie. Small world!

Bravo!

Film Reviews

“The Upside”

Part of the Palm Springs International Film Festival, “The Upside” is a heartfelt comedy starring Brian Cranston (from Breaking Bad).

I’m not going to dissect this scene by scene, because sometimes you just need to laugh. This comedy/tragedy did the trick.

I didn’t realize at first that it is a remake of a French film called “The Intouchables” from the Weinstein company which was an International success, shown here in 2013. It was one of the most successful French films in the history of French cinema. Otherwise, I might not have chosen to see “The Upside” because I don’t understand the need to make Americanized copies or adaptations of original foreign films that have proven to be excellent. One example: I loved “La Cage aux Folles”, the 1978 Franco-Italian comedy. Later in 1996, “The Birdcage” was a remake directed by Mike Nichols and starring Robin Williams. In most cases I find the original to be the best version. But since they continue to recreate these films reasonably well and with an excellent English speaking cast…

“The Upside” stars Brian Cranston as a wealthy yet very cynical quadriplegia who is looking to hire a full time caretaker. When he decides to hire a fast talking parolee, the fun begins. Kevin Hart (who may or may not host the 2019 Oscars – it’s still up for debate) plays a down on his luck, wise-cracking guy trying to prove to his parole officer that he’s looking for work. I would say this is an unlikely pairing except for the fact that it is based on a true story and confirms the fact that opposites do indeed attract.

Nicole Kidman plays a humdrum assistant. For such an amazing actress, this part does not do her justice.

Julianna Margulies has a small part as potential love interest which comes to an embarrasingly unfortunate ending in a restaurant.

Overall, this movie was entertaining and the characters were excellently portrayed. It brought many laughs. Sometimes I think that’s enough.

A little trivia: this was the first film production for Malia Obama, daughter of Barack & Michelle Obama. She worked as an intern for The Weinstein Company during filming.

Originally to be distributed by The Weinstein Company in March 2018, the film was shelved and sold off following Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations. It was eventually bought by STX Entertainment and Lantern Entertainment, who then scheduled it to be released in the United States on January 11, 2019.

Film Reviews

“The Wife”

“Don’t portray me as a victim. I’m much more interesting than that” – Glenn Close in “The Wife”

“The Wife” was the first movie I chose to see at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. There are over 200 movies and I’m only interested in seeing a handful (or two). My process is to first skim through the titles of all the films, see if I recognize any of the actors in the film, although it’s not a major deciding factor on whether I will go see it or not, then read synopsis of shortlisted ones I think I’m interested in and finally…hope I made the right choices.

“The Wife” was a good choice. The title appealed to me instantly, even before I knew what the movie was about. You realize there has to be more behind a title that is as powerful as it is undermining.

With the film already playing in major cinemas, the fact that Glenn Close is up for another Oscar nomination and was here in person to talk about the movie, the character and other juicy tidbits were only icing on the cake.

Many of you may already know the storyline by now. In a nutshell: Joseph Castleman, the husband played by Jonathan Pryce wins the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature. But Joan, his wife (the wife) is not totally satisfied. As the story unfolds we discover her secret. But it is her reticence and her facial expressions in closeups that unveil her true feelings. It’s all about the closeups: they are the most revealing and “Glenn Closeup” is a genius at displaying her emotion… ever so subtle. You come to realize quickly why she is nominated for an Oscar.

This film has some similarities to another movie I recently saw at the Vancouver International Film Festival called Collette with Keira Knightley. In the sense that both are intelligent, strong women who take a back seat to their writer husbands and let them have all the glory while they do all the necessary work to get them to where they are. Clearly the writing motif is key.

What is also fascinating in this story is that the Nobel Prize people gave the go ahead to re-create an exact replica of what goes on behind the scenes when someone gets the prize. It gives you more than a glimpse into the proceedings, some of which are grand, some of which are unbelievably nutty.

The Word according to Glenn:

In the backflash scenes, young Joan Castleman is perfectly played by Annie Starke who also happens to be Close’s daughter in real life. She is very rightly proud of her daughter’s portrayal and did not want to be a part of her creative process, preferring to let Annie have her own space, not once coming into contact with her on set.

The movie took 14 years to complete, of which the last five she was a part of. Being independent filmmakers, they could not come up with the funding. Finally the money to put it all together came from across the sea in places like Sweden and England, but not America.

She was previously nominated six times for an Academy Award in: The World According to Garp, The Big Chill, The Natural, Fatal Attraction, Dangerous Liaisons and Albert Nobbs. She said not to feel bad if she doesn’t win this time around – why ruin her track record.

She’s a bit naturally reserved preferring to read a book over partying. But when she did the Big Chill she was coerced by co-star Mary Kay Place into partying in the room which Jeff Goldblum and Kevin Kline shared and causing a bit of a ruckus. The girls played pranks like buying and hanging really large underwear & bras in the rooms of Jeff Goldblum and Kevin Kline by the fan so it would start to blow as soon as they turned it on. Stuff like that. Stuff you wouldn’t perceive Glenn Close with being a part of.

Close had a Canadian boyfriend during filming of The Big Chill who invented a game which everyone played to pass the time on set – a lot. It was called “Trivial Pursuit.” Heard of it?

In a nutshell… I really enjoyed this movie, thought all the performances were top-notch and have been thinking about playing TRIVIAL PURSUIT again.

Film Reviews

Film: Colette

You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm

I don’t know what I enjoyed most about this film. The story, the setting or the exquisite costumes.

For those not familiar, Colette was a French novelist nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948. Keira Knightley gives the performance of her professional career as Sidonie-Gabrielle Collette in her earlier years as she turned Paris upside-down with her life and work.

As a writer, performer and a feminist, Colette attracted controversy and lived life to the fullest.

You may think that you know nothing of Colette’s writings but many of her works are well known around the world. The film “Gigi” starring Audrey Hepburn was adapted from Colette’s book of the same name and several of her writings have been adapted for the stage and screen.

She was a fascinating woman, married at the age of 20 to a writer and music critic of whom it was said he was a “literary charlatan and degenerate”. Whilst married to Henry Gauthier-Villars she wrote her first books (Claudine series) using his nom de plume “Willy”. The books scandalized France – and made the pair plenty of money.

She was the first woman to be given a state funeral in France before being laid to rest in 1954 at the Père Lachaise Cemetery (the same cemetery I once visited where Oscar Wilde is also laid to rest).

Brief synopsis:

Co-starring a perfectly cast Dominic West as Colette’s libertine first husband, the charming rogue and writer known only as “Willy” who took credit for Colette’s first four novels while sharing a lover with her, Westmoreland’s biopic traces the writer-actor’s life from her provincial upbringing to her halcyon days causing an uproar in the salons and vaudeville theatres of Paris. The core of the film, however, is her fraught relationship with Willy and how the constraints and slights she faced ended up engendering a writing career that made her one of France’s most beloved artists. This is a heady, champagne cocktail of a film made all the more delightful by Knightley’s bravura turn.

Our perfect companions never have fewer than four feet – Colette

Source: VIFF & The Good Life France

Visit Viff.org to see more intriguing films until October 12th

Film Reviews

Film: The Happy Prince

The world is a stage but the play is badly cast – Oscar Wilde

Poet and Playwright Oscar Wilde is famous for many reasons. I’m most familiar with his whimsical satire of Victorian society The Importance of Being Earnest – a classic about love, deception and mistaken identity. A great character study… perfectly cast.

And I saw his lipstick covered tomb at the renowned Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France.

Other than that, I learned a lot more when viewing the special presentation of THE HAPPY PRINCE at the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) yesterday.

No man is rich enough to buy back his past – Oscar Wilde

Actor Rupert Everett gives a simply remarkable performance as Wilde. He also impressively wrote and directed this powerfully empathetic account of the last years of the legendary Irish writer.

A short synopsis:

After spending two years in prison for his homosexuality—”gross indecency” was the official conviction—Wilde exiled himself to Paris, where he continued his self-destructive lifestyle while living in penury. Buoyed only by occasional contact with old friends Reggie Turner (Colin Firth) and Robbie Ross (Edwin Thomas), and with his wife (Emily Watson) and two sons far away, he’s a desperately lonely man who assuages his pain with alcohol, drugs and a succession of young men. Everett was born to play Wilde, and his open, deeply felt film both honours his idol and conveys the essence of a man who, deprived of the things that make life worth living, maintained his ironic sense of humour until the end.

I can resist everything except temptation – Oscar Wilde

More exciting cinema until October 12^th at:

Viff.org

Film Reviews

Documentary: ANTHROPOCENE – The Human Epoch

A masterful collaboration by documentarians Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier.

A world class documentary that is equally stunning and disturbing. Surreal and sobering. The mind boggling cinematography by legendary photographer Edward Burtynsky was the stunning part. The disturbing part was everything else. It showcases to great effect our unprecedented impact on planet Earth to date.

And there was a lot to be captured. And there is a lot to be fearful for. And there is a lot to change…if we still can.

Concentric Circles Forming In Still Water

A short synopsis: scenes of almost inconceivable scale such as monolithic machines hell-bent on terraforming their surroundings, land-fill sites staffed by thousands, heaps of elephant tusks piled high and set aflame, concrete seawalls lining China’s coastline, on and on. Only some of the things humans are responsible for that endanger and change the structure of the planet.

I knew it wouldn’t be a feel-good film. But it was a necessary one. Which brings me to this famous quote:

More films until the 12th at: https://viff.org/

Film Reviews

PSIFF: The Last Movie Star

The closing choice to end the Palm Springs International Film Festival was a movie about faded fame and growing old.It was also a movie about a small town film festival awarding a lifetime achievement award to an over-the-hill beloved ex movie star.

An overall great character study with an ageing Burt Reynolds in the starring role and a precociously under dressed, depressed, complex young woman perfectly played by Ariel Winter (Modern Family). An almost unrecognizable Chevy Chase plays Sonny, friend to Vic Edwards (Reynolds character) who urges him to go to Knoxville, Tennessee to collect his award.

I loved this movie by Adam Rifkin (in attendance) who said that Burt Reynolds was his childhood idol. He wrote the movie specifically for Burt and sent the script to his agent saying that if he decided not to do it, he would not make it period. He got a call the very next day from Burt Reynolds. Reynolds said that if the script was sent to him ten years ago the answer would be “no” but at this stage in his life he was ready. I loved that he spliced film clips from Reynolds old movies like Deliverance & Smoky and the Bandit alongside what he looks like now. It’s quite bittersweet to witness the differences between now and then.

And it’s a movie that makes you think about life in general. Not just that of an ex-famous movie star. It has all the necessary elements for audience appeal. Humor, feel-good, sadness, regret, choices. Some of the scenes brought tears to my eyes. It was completely human and utterly charming.

What woman did not fall for the charms of Burt Reynolds in his glory days? What a hunk he was with personality to top it all off. Handsome, funny, talented with substance. I mean just look at the women he used to date from Sally Field (the one who got away) to Dinah Shore. How time flies.

I found this film to be a refreshing and honest look at life. I highly recommend seeing it when it comes to a theatre near you sometime this year. Especially if you like (or used to like) Burt Reynolds.

Then. It was a centrefold from Cosmopolitan Magazine. Yes, I had it!

Tomorrow: Best of Fest. If you’re in the Palm Springs area you will want to check this out: https://www.psfilmfest.org/2018-ps-film-festival/films/best-of-the-fest

Film Reviews

Documentary: Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood

As you may know I’m in Palm Springs where the International Film Festival (PSIFF) is still in full swing until it ends on the 15^th.

As you may also know I very unfortunately had to miss a whole bunch of great story telling due to some kind of awful virus I picked up. So for my second movie only since arriving here on December 31^st, just beginning to feel myself again, I chose a documentary. Documentaries are some of my favorite story telling because of the truth involved.

Also, this one was directed by Matt Tyrnauer who directed the phenomenal documentary feature Valentino: The Last Emperor (2009), which was short listed for an Oscar Nomination in 2010. He’s also a special correspondent for Vanity Fair Magazine. He was in attendance as was his subject, Scotty Bowers, a now 94 year old man with a carefree attitude and great smile. And one amazing story. Oh do tell…

After returning from Marine Corps combat during World War II, this handsome young man arrived in Los Angeles and started pumping gas and pimping (for lack of a better word although he’d prefer to say he ran an introduction service) at 5777 Hollywood Blvd. The gas station is no longer, but the memories are.

As Bowers tells it, an overture from a seemingly unlikely customer, the tweedy gentlemanly actor Walter Pidgeon, led to Hollywood connections with some of the biggest names at the time. Names I won’t repeat here (you’ll have to see it yourself). Scotty got some of his pals into the act and pretty soon the Richfield station was flooded with customers looking for a quick trick. The town pump.

Well this is old Hollywood news, is it not? I mean Hollywood has a history and we’ve heard the stories before (yawn, yawn). Well….not exactly…like this. Trust me when I tell you there’ll be some new and eye raising reveals. Really!

And then you’ve got to ask yourself “why am I here?” I mean in the sense of being in a sold-out audience room full of voyeurs like yourself finding out personal information on people you’ve only heard about going back years before your time. With a little bit of embarrassment for being party to it. But then relishing the wicked information told through Scotty’s adventures.

As the story delves into his tortured past we can’t help but wonder if Scotty was making his own escape from reality.

The story is told extremely well, it flowed perfectly with just the right amount of interviews, humor involved and naughty intrigue. A perfect afternoon escape with a man who makes no apologies for his choices – having been the discreet pleasure pleaser of the past to both sexes. Until aids came around to claim the life of Rock Hudson and he decided to shut it down. As he put it “I enjoyed helping others.”

And in the manufactured Hollywood of yesteryear there was definitely a time and place for Scotty’s services and that of his posse. Full Service indeed and Full Steam Ahead!

For tickets (while available):

https://www.psfilmfest.org/2018-ps-film-festival

Film Reviews

Art/Culture/History: “The Post”

OPENING NIGHT – Palm Springs International Film Festival 2018 (PSIFF)

There is a saying about relationships in Washington: If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog. – Katharine Graham

The feature film began with a panel discussion with the key players on the stage of Palm Springs High School.

Katharine Graham for those of you unfamiliar, was America’s first female Fortune 500 CEO. As the renowned publisher of ‘The Washington Post,’ she guided the newspaper to national prominence, most notably when it published The Pentagon Papers and reported on the Watergate scandal.

Meryl Streep stars as Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham and Tom Hanks as editor Ben Bradlee in Steven Spielberg’s gripping true life drama behind the publication of the Pentagon Papers in Nixon’s White House. This history making movie at the time of an incensed, vindictive president meant risking careers and the future of the newspaper.

A cover-up that spanned four U.S. Presidents pushed the country’s first female newspaper publisher and a hard-driving editor to join an unprecedented battle between journalist and government.

Decades of government lies which led the U.S. into the mire of the Vietnam War were lifted from top secret files. The risk of publishing them was greater than great.

Words to live by:

It’s hard to remake decisions and even harder to rethink nondecisions. Sometimes you don’t really decide, you just move forward, and that is what I did—moved forward blindly and mindlessly into a new and unknown life.

A long time ago I had to decide whether to be a lady who lunched or a women who worked. – Katharine Graham, Personal History

The festival runs until January 15th. Check out the film and events lineup here:

https://www.psfilmfest.org/2018-ps-film-festival

Film Reviews

VIFF: Borg Vs McEnroe

The Perfect Match

The game of Tennis is somewhat compared to the game of Life

When you commit a fault, you are given another chance to get it right.

If you make the same mistake again (double fault) you pay for it.

When you have an advantage, it’s up to you to make use of it. If you don’t, someone else will.

Any point in the match can be a turning point.

Every new game begins with “love all”

All of us make our own unforced errors (we all have our imperfections). That doesn’t stop us from trying.

We always want to ace it. This movie did.

I’m normally not so into sports movies but this one is about one of, if not the, greatest tennis match of all time. The 1980 Wimbledon Men’s Finals between cool Swede Björn Borg and hot tempered New Yorker John McEnroe. It was a stimulating battle of opposite personalities.

Borg was the top tennis player in the world, dominating the sport both on and off the court. He had already won four Wimbledon championships in a row and this would be a record-breaking fifth.

McEnroe, considered among the greatest in the history of the sport, was famous for his shot-making skills, as well as his confrontational on-court behaviour.

The players are incredibly acted out by Shia LaBeouf (McEnroe) and Sverrir Gudnason (Borg). It delves in and out of how they first started out in the game and the enormous pressures put upon them. You realize they have more in common than what is initially perceived.

In the end I found myself rooting for both of them.

Last two days for screenings. Get your tickets here: https://www.viff.org/

Category: Film Reviews

“7 Days to Vegas” – World Premiere

In the wonderful world of Poker you can’t even trust your friends.

“The Upside”

“The Wife”

Film: Colette

Film: The Happy Prince

A short synopsis:

Documentary: ANTHROPOCENE – The Human Epoch

PSIFF: The Last Movie Star

The closing choice to end the Palm Springs International Film Festival was a movie about faded fame and growing old.It was also a movie about a small town film festival awarding a lifetime achievement award to an over-the-hill beloved ex movie star.

Documentary: Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood

Art/Culture/History: “The Post”

VIFF: Borg Vs McEnroe

The Perfect Match

The game of Tennis is somewhat compared to the game of Life