“The failures of my generation are the opportunities of yours.” Fantastic Four (2015)

26 August 2015

[Image Source: Wikipedia]

I’m an ornery pain. I’m the only person in America (or possibly the world) who didn’t like Frozen, yet I adored notorious flops The Lone Ranger and John Carter. I find prestige Oscar-winners like Crash or Birdman overrated messes, but I can watch Xanadu in an endless loop. (Though even I admit Xanadu stretches the acceptable limits of “guilty pleasure.”) When most of humanity flocks to something or flees from it, I’m always headed in the opposite direction. Hell, I even kinda liked Jonah Hex. You probably should just stop reading … now.

And it is with this context that we come to Chronicle-director Josh Trank’s reboot of Fantastic Four, admittedly a film that we, as a downward spiraling culture, did not need, given that the “First Family of Marvel Comics” already hit the silver screen twice in the past ten years in a pair of much campier, candy-colored offerings.

I suppose, given all of the hyperventilating sky-is-falling press over this late summer entry, I expected this new Fantastic Four to be a laugh-out-loud howler of a train wreck, not unlike that last Transformers movie (a movie I might add that nobody liked but still made a billion dollars). It wasn’t … at least not to me and the two other people in last night’s screening room.

I was pleasantly surprised that I actually, sort of, enjoyed myself. Word of warning: it is a very somber affair, but with zero gravitas and even less fun. However, the smart play Josh Trank makes (that is, before he completely disavowed his work on the flick in a Twitter rant a few weeks back) is in staging his film in a creepy, David Cronenberg-lite horror universe, where, say, being turned into a man on fire or a man made of rubber or a man made of orange rocks or a woman who can’t see her own hand is not necessarily a whimsical day at the park. It’s a logical approach, and Trank has cast his film with some of the best young talents in Hollywood, all acquitting themselves nicely.

Yet, it’s not the glib August superhero escapist fare anyone expected in a post-Guardians of the Galaxy moment, not does it have the courage to be full-blown creep-fest either, so Fantastic Four just sort of floats dormant in some audience-confounding, foggy nether realm. In short, I liked the movie’s tone directionally and the cast in concept and the unrealized potential best, which is strange praise indeed.

Playing the titular heroes are Whiplash‘s Miles Teller (“Reed Richards”), House of Cards‘ Kate Mara (‘Susan Storm”), Fruitvale Station‘s Michael B. Jordan (“Johnny Storm”), and Turn‘s Jamie Bell (“Ben Grimm”). The cast’s standout, Bell has a criminal dearth of screen-time, but, in his few stoic minutes, he sets a beautifully glowering tone of disaffected youth that propels and enriches what passes for character development in the movie’s relatively brisk running time.

All that said, much of the film is a drag, but, for some reason, I found its dreary sensibility and general mopiness compelling. Nope, we did not need yet another origin story of these heroes, but that’s what we get. This time instead of rocketing into space, our intrepid foursome explore another dimension (where they gain their amazing abilities … er … deformities) while attending the Baxter Institute, a kind of Hogwarts for Science Geeks in Midtown Manhattan.

By far, the weakest part of the film is its villain Victor Von Doom, a Draco Malfoy without the charm or the pretty platinum hair. In the comics (goofy name notwithstanding), this is a character who can be so fascinating with his Oedipal complex, inferiority complex, God complex, and all around prissy pissiness. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why filmmakers haven’t figured out he is the proto-Darth Vader and deserves a film of his very own. Ah well. At this rate, between Toby Kebbell’s not-ready-for-The-CW posturing in this iteration and Julian McMahon’s pretty boy voguing in the prior films, we will be lucky if we see Dr. Doom selling mouthwash and toothpaste during Saturday morning cartoons.

The film is nothing but 90 minutes of set-up, which would be fine if there was a payoff, but the proceedings completely fall apart in the final act, a clutch of computer-generated nonsense in the “other dimension,” the “otherness” being some billowing clouds, a lot of steam, and goofy floating rocks. Our heroes have to stop Doom from blowing up our world or throwing us all into a black hole or giving us gas from cheap popcorn … or something. Wait, what was this movie about again?

And that’s a shame, because until the film’s final moments, I actually dug it. Maybe Fantastic Four will find a second life as a pleasant, dreary televised diversion on rainy Sunday afternoons, and maybe (one day) someone will finally give this classic family of four-color misfits the smart but zippy movie treatment they deserve. Or not.

Early in Fantastic Four, Reg E. Cathey – playing Franklin Richards, the stony-faced scientist father of Susan and Johnny Storm – rumbles ominously, “The failures of my generation are the opportunities of yours.” And, dammit, the Fantastic Four film franchise is giving us nothing but opportunities. Sigh.

____________________________

Reel Roy Reviews 2

Reel Roy Reviews is now TWO books! You can purchase your copies by clicking here (print and digital)In addition to online ordering at Amazon or from the publisher Open Books, the first book is currently is being carried by Bookbound, Common Language Bookstore, and Crazy Wisdom Bookstore and Tea Room in Ann Arbor, Michigan and by Green Brain Comics in Dearborn, Michigan. My mom Susie Duncan Sexton’s Secrets of an Old Typewriter series is also available on Amazon and at Bookbound and Common Language.

“You know, you are going to lose us the right to vote!” Trainwreck

24 August 2015

16 Comments

[Image Source: Wikipedia]

I finally saw Trainwreck. I’m probably the last person in America to see it. I’m so glad I did.

It’s not a perfect film. I think Amy Schumer, the film’s lead and screenwriter, is a brilliant sketch artist with a sharp POV that is so dead center and incisive that it seems skewed, if not downright avant garde, in a world strangled by artifice and hypocritical self-satisfaction.

As a satirist, Schumer typically works in bite-size toxic nuggets, and her first feature film script meanders (not that unusual for a Judd Apatow-directed flick – see 40-Year-Old Virgin or Knocked Up). Unsurprisingly, the strongest punches come from the frequent sidebars with broadly drawn characters like Amy’s addled viper of a boss (an unrecognizable and genius Tilda Swinton, zinging every big-haired, proud anti-feminist walking the planet).

Schumer is at her best in commentary mode, contrasting her wide-eyed cynicism with the empty-headed happiness of a society that blithely has no idea how sexist, racist, homophobic, ageist, and just plain dumb it can actually be.

So, the trick of planting her in the middle of a summer romantic comedy confection like this is keeping that tart, chewy Schumer nougat at the airy center. The film stumbles in its early scenes, working just a bit too hard at the Apatow-brand of gross-out-with-a-heart-of-gold shenanigans. We get it. Schumer is not Meg Ryan (thank heavens!) – she drinks, she screws, she takes drugs, she has a glorious jackass of a father (Colin Quinn, brilliantly channeling the dark side of every borough in Manhattan as a philandering papa whose MS derailed his high-life but not before he imploded his happy marriage/family). She works hard and she plays hard as a writer for the kind of men’s magazine that would make Hugh Hefner blanch.

In other words, she’s the character Will Ferrell used to play in these productions … or worse Seth Rogen did.

Yet, the canniness of the film is in how it questions that frat boy cliche, defying gender convention and blessedly, by the second and third acts, revealing the human underneath the costume – the whip-smart, emotionally-raw Amy who lives out loud in defiance of a culture that loves its cheerleaders.

Amy hates sports and cheerleaders and anything remotely associated with either, which prompts Swinton’s character to (of course) assign her a profile on an up-and-coming sports medicine/orthopedic surgeon Aaron Connors (played by a winning Bill Hader). At one point in the film, Schumer sneers at the group of gyrating Knick Girls in front of her, “You know, you are going to lose us the right to vote!”

As Amy and Aaron connect as people and as friends, they (no shock) fall in love, much to Amy’s consternation. The humanity of the film rests in Schumer/Hader’s dynamic. They are so believable, so gentle, so kind, and so spiky together, thereby grounding a film that otherwise would fall apart as a loose collection of (albeit very funny) character bits.

Hader’s character just happens to be besties with NBA star LeBron James who ends up being the stealth comic genius in the madcap proceedings. (Seriously, between James and WWE’s John Cena, playing Amy’s heartsick, kicked-to-the-curb boy-toy, who’d a thunk some of the funniest bits would be offered by two pro-athletes? Not this guy. Color me surprised.)

The film insinuates itself in a good way. The onscreen relationship between Schumer and Hader is so scruffily relatable (but still frothy fun) that it, well, sneaks up on you. The film (and Schumer) seem to be challenging you to care, and, by gum, you really do.

However, there are the typical final act complications that always seem to ensue in these kinds of films; though, in this case, they aren’t as ridiculous as Hollywood tends to dictate. And the final reunion of our intrepid couple, while quite adorkable, undermines a bit of Schumer’s central conceit that she is an everyperson who doesn’t need to bend to anyone’s constrained view of gender roles. Sadly, the ending feels tacked on, like a focus group told the filmmakers, “We want to feel goooood! Can’t you just make us happy?!”

Well, I know what makes me happy and that’s seeing Schumer turn the stereotypical romantic comedy on its head and for about 75% of Trainwreck she does. I’ll take those odds.

____________________________

Reel Roy Reviews 2

“Sometimes I don’t want to let it go.” Idina Menzel at Detroit’s Fox Theatre – PLUS, my mom Susie Duncan Sexton on Patty’s Page tv show

23 August 2015

8 Comments

“No Day But Today”

For a bit of time now, I’ve had a love/hate relationship with Idina Menzel, she of the soaring vocals that are such a shot of adrenaline in beloved (overrated?) musicals like Rent and Wicked. The first time I saw her perform Wicked‘s signature tune “Defying Gravity” on the Tony Awards (10+ years ago), I got chills and my eyes welled up from the underdog-makes-good vitriol in her delivery. She was the best thing – the much-needed battery acid – in Chris Columbus’ misguided candy-coated film version of Rent. Her sporadic appearances on Glee – as the brilliantly cast mother of All About (Baby) Eve Rachel Berry (Lea Michelle) – were spiky, oddball fun, notably their peculiar duet of Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face.”

However, “Let It Go” (the ubiquitous ditty from Disney’s Frozen) seemed like an underwritten redux of “Defying Gravity” (not her fault of course), and the whole “Adele Dazeem” debacle just got more cloying and unfunny with each passing day (again not her issue … exactly). And the “brand” of Menzel – not unlike that of Wicked co-star Kristin Chenoweth or, for that matter, Audra McDonald or the queen mother of kewpie doll divas Bernadette Peters – suffers from a “gee, aren’t I darling” humblebrag self-absorption and a disingenuous projection of “how did I get here?!” humility that belies the ragingly talented, driven loon lurking underneath.

“Don’t Rain On My Parade”

Blessedly, Menzel’s show last night at Detroit’s Fox Theatre (more or less) stripped away that glossy artifice and laid bare the broken soul with the big voice. It was a revelation.

In her between-song patter, Menzel offered a rambling treatise on her befuddlingly amazing 18-month ride, with epic highs like the runaway success of Frozen and performing on the Oscars and devastating lows like her divorce from Taye Diggs (whom she never mentioned by name). Lest you think she was milking all of this life experience in some kind of self-serving “Oprah” confessional, that was not the vibe at all. Her chatter was too loopy, too heartfelt, too, well, lost to be anything but that of a desperate soul searching for an anchor in a swirling moment of intense success and loss.

“River”

She channeled this personal crisis into a fascinatingly raw (and dare I say schizophrenic) array of song choices. Yes, the favorites were all present: “Defying Gravity,” “The Wizard and I,” “For Good” (for which she dropped the mic and used the Fox Theatre’s legendary acoustics to chilling effect), all from Wicked; “Take Me or Leave Me” (which she used as an opportunity to winningly share the stage with many hyperventilating Idina-groupies in the audience) and “No Day But Today” from Rent; and, of course, show-closing “Let It Go,” again sharing the mic with all the wannabe “Elsa”s in the audience (weirdly/delightfully interpolating the song with Red Hot Chili Peppers’ funky classic “Give It Away”?!?!).

The Wicked tunes especially seemed to get a perfunctory, hastened treatment, as if Menzel is as tired of them as we are. She seemed anxious to get to the caustic musical nuggets at the heart of her show, gleefully dropping many f-bombs along the way, hoisting a middle finger to the Disney empire (and all the blue-dressed dollies) that allowed her to mount such an extensive summer tour in the first place. That’s my kind of diva (and I hate that word).

“Defying Gravity”

She delivered expected Broadway bon-bons like Funny Girl‘s “Don’t Rain on my Parade” and an Ethel Merman tribute medley (Annie Get Your Gun, Gypsy) with powerhouse vocals and a salty element of sad understanding, as if trying to say, “We women have been treated like crap forever, no matter how talented we are. Knock it off!”

The deepest heartache was telegraphed during a one-two punch of the crystalline elegance of Joni Mitchell’s “River” and what could only be described as a “hooker medley” of Cole Porter’s “Love for Sale” and The Police’s “Roxanne.” Both numbers were electrifying, eliciting a hushed awe from the audience. “River” with its repeated chorus of “I wish I had a river I could skate away on” seemed to serve as Menzel’s central thesis. In her introductory remarks to “Love for Sale/Roxanne,” she mentioned a fearsome theatre professor who excoriated her about her performance of the Porter tune, challenging “Do you even know what that song is about?!?!” She wanted us to know – especially juxtaposed with her earlier performance of “There’s No Business Like Show Business” – that, yes, Mr. Man, she does know that the song is about. It was sheer theatrical brilliance.

Fox Theatre

She performed a number of original works, none of which alas quite held up to the other material, but the punk rock passion with which she delivered the tunes revealed an alternate reality where Idina might have been another Alanis, instead of a wannabe Barbra. She offered If/Then‘s 11 o’clock number of “Always Starting Over” as a fiery yawp over the Sisyphean nature of daily living. Her take on Radiohead’s 90s classic “Creep” was a dizzyingly effective blend of Broadway bombast and grunge existentialism. I would love to have that performance on a permanent loop in my head.

John and Roy

At one point in the show, Menzel joked that, while she’s appreciative of her recent success, “sometimes I just don’t want to let it go.” Some days she just wants to stay in her bed and let the world run its course while she tries to figure out which end is up. Her candor and her authenticity were much appreciated, and, along with her prodigious use of the f-word, just the eye-opening experience all those baby Elsa princesses in the audience needed to hear. I, for one, can’t wait to see what happens next.

____________________________

BONUS! Enjoy part 1 of my mom Susie Duncan Sexton‘s two-part interview with delightful Patty Hunter on her Patty’s Page TV program. Also in the house are journalist and advocate Terry Doran and my dad Don Sexton. It’s a free-wheeling and fun discussion of politics, small-town living, animal rights (and, yes, pig wrestling), writing, and other insights and adventures. Enjoy! Click here to view.

____________________________

Reel Roy Reviews 2

the essential is to excite the spectators. If that means playing hamlet on a flying trapeze or in an aquarium, you do it. – orson welles

10 August 2015

2 Comments

Thanks, Beth, for the shout out to our wacky show!

I didn't have my glasses on....

‘l laughed, i cried, i peed.’ – b. k.

had such a great night in the park

enjoying live theater

picnic-ing and laughing

while watching

fellow wp blogger,

http://reelroyreviews.com

roy sexton (aka ‘officer lockstock’)

and his merry band of castmates

sing and dance their hearts out

in this fabulous and clever musical

Urinetown is a satirical comedy musical from 2001, with music by Mark Hollmann, lyrics by Hollmann and Greg Kotis, and book by Kotis. It makes fun of capitalism, social irresponsibility, populism, bureaucracy, corporate mismanagement, and musical theatre itself.

—-

help support local theater

and have a great night in the process

only one weekend left

presented by our local non profit theater company

dedicated to bringing affordable quality entertainment to the community

get your tickets now

West Park, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Last Weekend Showtimes:
Thu Aug 13- Sat. Aug 15 | 7:00PM

—

http://www.pennyseats.org

‘We believe no…

View original post 54 more words

Animal Tales available as ebook and in paperback

3 August 2015

6 Comments

My mom Susie Duncan Sexton – http://www.susieduncansexton.com – contributes an essay as well as the cover art here!

NEA Big Read-Dearborn

Call of the Wild Dearborn: Animal Tales–a community anthology featuring animal stories, poems, and essays written by over 100 authors, many of whom have close ties to Dearborn–is now also available as an ebook!

Ebook copies are $8.99 each and are available for purchase at Smashwords.com or on Amazon.com as a “Kindle Edition.”

Paperback copies are $20 each and are still available for purchase at Createspace.com.

Proceeds help support Dearborn Public Library and its educational programming.

View original post

Urinetown reviewed! “Enjoyable two hours out in the park with fine singers, actors and dancers and an amusing, satirical musical comedy”

3 August 2015

8 Comments

Ensemble

WOW! What a fantastic opening weekend for Urinetown – capacity crowds, wonderful feedback, marvelous coverage, and an amazing review from Bridgette Redman for Encore Michigan – click here to read.

Here is an excerpt …

“Director Lauren M. London has her work cut out for her with the space. There is a moat between the bandshell where the orchestra plays and the main staging area where most of the action takes place. She has no choice but to let some of her actors be seen before the arrive on stage as they have a bit of a hike to get to the stage, but she manages that well and creates compelling stage pictures so that you’re not looking off to the sides.

Maika Van Oosterhout and Roy Sexton

“Roy Sexton plays Officer Lockstock, the narrator for the evening. He kicks off the musical with a speech that prepares the audience for what they can expect—an evening of satire and parody. Little Sally (Paige Martin) joins him in his early exposition and they frequently break the fourth wall to outright talk about the musical. Both are skilled in their roles. Sexton narrates with aplomb, moving in and out easily of narrator and police officer. Martin is loveable and innocent, asking naïve questions that Sexton answers magnanimously. She has great physicality, doing cartwheels and splits and interacting with the teddy bear she carries with her. She believably creates a child much younger than her actual age.

Ensemble

“Linda Rabin Hammell brings character and spice to the role of Penelope Pennywise. She’s peppery as the custodian of Public Facility #9, insisting that everyone pay the proper fee else not get to pee. Her voice is perfect for the role.

“Brendan Kelly makes a handsome lead as Bobby Strong, the revolutionary leader who follows his heart. He’s earnest and heroic, with a strong singing voice that carries him through his many songs. …

Sarah Ann Leahy, David Kiley, and Roy Sexton

“Playing opposite Kelly was Maika Van Oosterhout as Hope Cladwell. Hers was a fun role and she carried it off with style and grace. Her eyes were constantly wide, portraying an innocence and naîveté that fit the part well. She was especially amusing dancing while bound and gagged in a chair.

“There were no weak members in the ensemble either. Each of them had their own characteristics, making them individuals while still fulfilling the part of an ensemble. They were giving to each other and changed quickly between roles when doubled. They did an especially good job as the town’s poor who desperately needed to pee in the first act and in the second were revolutionaries that were brash and frightened.

Maika Van Oosterhout and Brendan Kelly

“The singing, under the musical direction of Richard Alder, was impressive, as was the pit band that performed the music to accompany it. There were complicated harmonies throughout and upbeat songs that often belied what they were singing about. …

“Victoria Gilbert’s choreography was most often amusing and always fit with the character of the show. Bridget Bly deserves a callout for her costumes. She provided good contrast between the UGC employees and the run-down poor of the city. She also made it possible to switch in and out of costumes, sometimes right on stage.”

Read the complete post here …

Roy Sexton

AND a subset of the cast (including yours truly) appeared Friday on Rebecca Hardin’s charming WCBN radio show Hot in Here. The audio is here, and you can read about the special collaboration that prompted the broadcast here. Be sure to check out Hot in Here‘s page (here) if you want to hear me epically mangle the “Cop Song” from Urinetown. Plus, I say words like “crap,” “damn,” and “tinkle” on the air … probably why it took them a while to post it! 🙂 You will also hear our director and president Lauren London say really smart things about art and theatre and Ann Arbor as well as the mellifluous tones of fellow cast members Brendan Kelly, Maika Van Oosterhout, and Paige Martin, accompanied by our wonderful music director Richard Alder (BTW, a great article about Richard appeared in the latest Detroit Jewish News – see below).

Sarah Ann Leahy, Brendan Kelly, and Roy Sexton

Last but not least, a special thanks to the friends who made this opening weekend so special with their attendance (and apologies to anyone I missed): John Mola, Rachel Green, Kyle Lawson, Jim Lynch, Nick Oliverio, Brent Stansfield, Zach London, Sharon Steig, Ashley Kryscynski, Heidi Fisher, Matt Cameron, Kelly Cameron, Anne Cattermole Levy, Artun Kircali, Leanne Young, Ivan Procopovich, Robin Skiba Myler, Laura Sagolla, Barbara Davenport, Roxane Raffin Chan and Kevin and friends and family, Magda and Dan Johnson, Rachel Urist, Jen Esch and friends, Angie Choe and Sean, Roberta and Richard London and family, Jason Gilbert, Ivan Procopovich, Christopher Taylor, Eva Rosenwald, Narda Wishka, Kristy McDonald and Thatcher. Two more weekends (Thursday, Friday, Saturday performances, all 7 pm) – get your tickets at www.pennyseats.org before they’re all gone!

Photos (above) by Ivan Procopovich

____________________________

Reel Roy Reviews 2

Reel Roy Reviews

…to the chagrin of true arbiters of taste

Monthly Archives: August 2015

“The failures of my generation are the opportunities of yours.” Fantastic Four (2015)

“You know, you are going to lose us the right to vote!” Trainwreck

“Sometimes I don’t want to let it go.” Idina Menzel at Detroit’s Fox Theatre – PLUS, my mom Susie Duncan Sexton on Patty’s Page tv show

the essential is to excite the spectators. If that means playing hamlet on a flying trapeze or in an aquarium, you do it. – orson welles

Animal Tales available as ebook and in paperback

Urinetown reviewed! “Enjoyable two hours out in the park with fine singers, actors and dancers and an amusing, satirical musical comedy”

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: