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Screen & Stage - Random Reviews 

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This blog will feature a random selection of various movies, stage productions, concerts and other performing arts playing in local venues around the city and occasionally farther afield. i.e. Stratford & Shaw Festivals. And hopefully some live & direct from NYC Broadway and London’s West End. (Well, everyone has to dream a bit, don’t they?)

These will be reviews and comments – personal opinion based on my love of movies, film and theatre from years and years of viewing experience.

I am not a ‘critic’ as we have come to know the term. Critics are often so pretentious and petty that it is simply no fun to read their drivel. (“Look how much I know!”)  When I think of a ‘critic’ I always think of Ellsworth Toohey, one of the characters in Ayn Rand’s classic novel “The Fountainhead”. Toohey is a theatre critic for a New York newspaper in the 1930’s (when critics had much more power). He and his friend have just left the premier of a Broadway play which is total nonsensical pretentious crap. Horrible. His friend says: “I guess you are going to skewer that one”. Toohey stops, thinks for a moment and says:” No, I am going to make it a hit”.

So he writes a glowing review of this “fabulous existential, esoteric” drama by a young writer who is destined for greatness. It does indeed become a hit, sold out for months. People leave the theatre raving about it. One theatre-goer is heard to tell her friend: “It must be a work of genius, brilliance…. because I didn’t understand a word of it.”

Uh huh. Oh and one last thing. Everyone has a right to his or her opinion. Right? As well, everyone has the right to be wrong. I figure if you disagree with me, you are simply exercising that right. Ah ha ha ha ha…..

See you At The Movies. Or Theatre. Or Concert. Get out there and experience the performing arts. See these events are they were meant to be seen – on the silver Screen 60 feet high or a live performance on Stage. Not on your smartphone.

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 National Theatre Live

"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"

 

What better way to start this blog than with a review of a combined film and stage play. Cineplex at Yonge-Dundas Square is home to the stunning National Theatre Live (NTL) productions - London's West End theatre is filmed live & direct and presented on movie screens around the globe. Wonderful opportunity to see classic and classical theatre in your hometown theatre.

Tennessee Williams "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" is one of the great dramas of the 20th Century. Most people have seen the film with Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman (fairly sanitized for the general public). This production (performed at London's Young Vic) featuring British actors Sienna Miller as Maggie the Cat and Jack O'Connell as the conflicted Brick, a newly-minted "drinking man"is a stunning example of minimilistic theatre; a bare stage so your attention is focused completely on the actors. Colm Meany is a big, blustering Big Daddy (although we have seen him play this role in most of his film appearances.) All the cast are note perfect - special accolades to Sienna Miller and Jack O'Connell for their piercing portrayals of this battling couple and kudos to their fearless stage nudity which only adds to the realism of the drama. The playwright peels off the layers of family frustrations and tension ("mendacity") that have been seething for years just beneath the surface of civilized artifice. Williams lived for years as a gay man in a society that never truly accepted him and his writing reflects the tensions and anger he felt for 'normal' society, a la Edward Albee ("Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe")

The director made a bit of a misstep in attempting to update the play to our current society with cell phones and iPads simply because the views of the 21st Century re: homosexuality have changed somewhat; today entire families attend the annual Pride Parade whereas in Williams time it was a major taboo. But that is really just a quibble in a riveting drama. NTL often has a repeat performance later in the year. Check the Cineplex website for details.

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"Westworld" - Season II 

The second season of the incredibly thought-provoking and mind-bending "Westworld" launched last night on HBO (The Movie Network). When we last left our 'fun' theme park, the robotic creations of Doctor Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins) were finally starting to discover their own conscious thoughts and the decision-making process which runs very contrary to their scientific masters at Westworld. And they are extremely pissed off. Creators Johnathon Nolan and J.J. Abrams have used the original material of Michael Crichton (book and movie) as a jumping off point for this amazing show. Acting honours go to everyone - Hopkins (of course), Jeffrey Wright, Evan Rachel Wood, Thandie Newton, Jimmi Simpson, Ed Harris, and etc.... This is a very cerebral, chilly and chilling drama; a cautionary tale for our times, similar to Nolan's last venture into TV - the compelling "Person of Interest".

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 "The Young Pope"

Another compelling HBO (The Movie Network) drama - "The Young Pope" is one of my all-time favorite TV series. Created/directed/produced by Italian Cinematographer Paolo Sorrentino, this is a truly mesmerizing look at religion and belief through the eyes of the young Pope Lenny Belardo as the newly-chosen Pope Pius XIII (Jude Law). No one knows how he was elected - no one admits to voting for him yet everyone did. To the consternation of all the cardinals and Vatican bureaucrats. Because this pope does not play nice. He refuses to allow his photo to be taken or have his image used on any of the Vatican merchandising, In fact, he refuses to appear in public. His philosophy is that Catholics must believe on their own without a physical entity they can equate with their God.

His reasoning? "Who is the most influential writer of the 20th Century?" J.D. Salinger. "Who is the most influential artist?" Banksy. No one know what they look like. People only have their work, they know nothing about the person. Sorrentino blends surrealism (the opening credits set you up for that) with reality in the most sumptuous, stunning settings and scenery you have ever experienced in a television series. Jude Law is destined for an Emmy. Supporting actors include Diane Keaton, Jame Cromwell, and a slew of Italian and French actors who faces you may recognize - Silvio Orlando, Javier Camara, Cecile De France, Ludivine Sagnier, etc. I am just hoping for a second season of this fascinating show. I am not even Roman Catholic but it doesn't matter about your religious affiliation. If any. This is simply a fascinating study of belief and religion.