September 2019 – Reel Nerds Podcast

NYFF Coverage: The Irishman Review

It’s kind of unfair to compare this film to anything else going into theaters this year. Between being the first Italian Mob film Scorsese has made in over twenty years, and what seems to be impossible to cast, I feel a sense of guilt when comparing this film to the films released this year. It would be like if I went to Post Malone concert and had a good time, but the next night I went to a Rolling Stones reunion concert where David Bowie somehow was touring with them. It is hard to compare the two because even if they are on par with each other, one will inevitably feel more special.

The anxiety about this film has spread through the film community in an almost toxic way. With two aspects of the film being large red flags of concern, the first of which is the CGI and de-aging of main characters. I will say the first time we go from old to young Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci; it is a bit jarring. But as the film progresses, you kind of forget that it is even a thing. By the time that Al Pacino had entered the story, I was struggling to tell if what was CGI or just great make-up work. Which is a statement on how engaging the story is, where I just ended up getting lost what and who these characters are that I stopped caring about what their appearances were. I will say it is strange to see Robert De Niro and Bobby Cannavale in a scene together where Robert De Niro plays the much younger character. But that isn’t on the film per se and more so that I know for a fact that Robert De Niro is a much older guy.

The second issue was addressed in the previous point, and that being the fact that this film is almost four hours long. Which is long, and I recently have found mass displeasure for a long film. I saw this film at 8 PM and almost planned my eating and drinking schedule around it so that I wouldn’t have to use the bathroom during the absurd runtime. I will also say though, that Scorsese is easily in the top three greatest filmmakers working today, if not the number one. Maybe you disagree with that statement and think of another director as someone whose films you relate to more, whether that be Spielberg, Tarantino, or the Coen Brothers. All valid filmmakers to admire, but I will say straight up that Scorses is the only one of those that made an almost four-hour film breeze. Not only that but the film is packed full of themes and ideas that it makes the 3.5-hour long runtime feel warranted. Schindler’s List is a perfect film that feels long, The Hateful Eight feels long, this film never felt long. If Scorsese has a definitive talent, it isn’t violence, gangster movies, anti-heroes or anything like that. If Scorsese is good at one thing and one thing only, it’s pacing. And I feel like this film cements him as the best director to work with the idea of pacing since maybe King Vidor.

And although I sing high praise for the film, that isn’t to say that I think all will love this film — quite the contrary. Among the massive amounts of themes and philosophies explored in the film, one of them is centered around Male Friendship and the Power Dynamic between Men. One theory in cinema that I’ve rattled around for a few years is the idea of an audience and which the filmmaker is targeting. There are certain films that I believe specific demographics won’t be able to relate to or fully enjoy. Thee example that I typically bring up when discussing this is Marielle Heller’s Diary of a Teenage Girl. A film that is so specifically about the trials of a young girl growing into her sexuality that I had no way of relating to the film and subsequently did not enjoy the film. Is that film bad? No! By no means, I recommend it to my friends very frequently. It is a wonderfully made film. It just isn’t made for me. Which brings us back to The Irishman, a film that is made for masculine white guys, and preferably older masculine white guys.

Throughout the film, there are two people of color, and there are only two female characters for the most part. The two characters being Josephine Hoffa, played wonderfully by Welker White, and Peggy Sheeran played in part by Anna Paquin. Welker White has a fair amount of lines and has one pivotal and vitally scene, especially for a character listed probably ten lines down in the call sheet. And Anna Paquin’s role might be the most important in the film, but Anna Paquin has I think one line in the entire movie. And giving Paquin credit, she fucking nails that line. But I was hoping to see more of her. But as I slept on it, I began to think that maybe that line is all we needed. Afterall, Paquin’s character is emotionally damaged, and her silence speaks to that. Her choosing not to talk is the point and shows the shortcomings in De Niro’s character. Because although this film is made for older masculine white guys, the film is also a critique of their lifestyles.

Everything in this film is masterfully done. I feel like it would be treading water to go down the list of everything that is explored to a masterful degree. You can tell that everyone involved wanted to give the best product possible. And although the film will undoubtedly be a talking point when it comes out, I think the film is terrific, and I had a fantastic time with it.

Show Time: The Best Episodes of The Good Place … So Far

This week, NBC’s afterlife-based comedy The Good Place will begin its fourth and final season, and you better believe I will be watching every episode with my eyes glued to the screen. As I’ve mentioned on the podcast before, The Good Place (hereafter abbreviated as TGP) is probably #4 right now on my “Favorite TV Shows Of All Time” list, right after The Twilight Zone, 30 Rock and Parks & Rec. And, depending on how this fourth season goes, it might boost the show above Parks & Rec. But, we’ll see.

But, before we get into my list of Top 10 Episodes (so far), I want to do a quick overview of the show.

Season 1 was a good start, but at times felt a bit sitcom-y. Yes, the episodes always end on a great cliffhanger, which is one of the reasons I binge-watched the entire first season in a single day when I first discovered it on Netflix. But, there are a few instances where a given episode’s plot can feel a bit hackneyed. Episode 1.03 “Tahani Al-Jamil” is maybe the best example of this. The A-storyline focuses on Eleanor being fake-friends with Tahani and the B-storyline is about Michael and Janet trying to find Chidi a hobby while Janet’s settings keep changing. But, there are definite shining moments, which I’ll talk about more below.

Season 2 is where I feel the show really picked up. Without saying too much, because we’re technically not in spoiler territory yet, the audience and the characters are now fully aware of what this world is and how it works. I feel like this helps drive the character interactions and personal arcs in a new way, now that everyone is on the same page. And, of the three seasons we have so far, Season 2 is my favorite.

Season 3, I feel like, is the workhorse season. It seems that the writers had a lot of great ideas, and decided to do all of them in one season. This led to the characters going through three separate plot arcs within 13 episodes, which for a half-hour comedy seems a bit ridiculous. While I really like some of the decisions, there are a few directions the story took that I disliked. They were nothing too major, mind you, but there were things that I felt like hadn’t been built up properly that season. I think the problem is predicated on TGP’s premise as introduced in Season 2, which requires certain plot points and elements to keep repeating under different criteria. So, in this instance, I think the writers thought, “Well, you’ve already seen this plot x-number of times already, so we can take shortcuts now.” Yes, it makes sense within the context of the show, because we’ve already seen Plot A happen several times already, but it doesn’t feel organic within the context of the arc/season. Anyway, the point is, Season 3 is still good, but I don’t think it beats Season 2 in terms of overall quality.

While Season 1 has a lot of high points, it also has a lot of lower points. Seasons 2 and 3 are more consistent in their overall quality of episodes, but I think the structure of Season 2 allows it to breathe a lot more, whereas Season 3 gets a lot of things packed into it like a sardine can. To use another metaphor, Season 2 was a breezy 10k while Season 3 was an ultra-marathon. But, to be fair, I did binge-watch Seasons 1 and 2, but I watched Season 3 live while it was airing last year. So, that might have something to do with my feelings toward it.

So, now that we’ve got all that out of the way, on to the main event.

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD FOR TGP SEASONS 1-3. DO NOT READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE UNTIL YOU’VE CAUGHT UP ON THE SHOW!!!! SERIOUSLY.

Today, I’m going to be counting down my Top 10 episodes of The Good Place (S1-3). Once the series concludes in a few months and I’ve had a chance to digest the new season and look back over the series as a whole, I’ll revisit this list and compile an actual Top 10 Episodes of The Good Place.

But, just looking at Seasons 1-3, here are my Top 10 episodes thus far:

10. Episode 1.01 “Everything is Fine”

THE GOOD PLACE — “Everything Is Fine” Episode 101– Pictured: Kristen Bell as Eleanor — (Photo by: Justin Lubin/NBC)

What better place to start this list than at the beginning?

As far as pilots go for recent NBC comedies, this is perhaps the strongest entry. Parks & Rec, 30 Rock, The Office, Superstore … all of their pilots are rough, to say the least. Sure, all the right ingredients are there, but maybe the recipe hasn’t been solidified yet. And, I mean, c’mon. It’s a pilot. I don’t expect it to be perfect.

Unless it’s the pilot for The Good Place.

This introduction to the show is so well-done, it’s unbelievable. All the jokes land. The plot points and character revelations are perfectly paced, and it’s succinct in introducing us to these characters, their world, and the main conflict of the show all in the span of 22 minutes. It’s zany, wild, and unpredictable. Who would’ve thought we’d get a network television show with giant ladybugs, stampeding giraffes and people running around in striped University of Michigan outfits?

Also, who better to greet you as you arrive in the afterlife than Ted forkin’ Danson!

9. Episode 1.06 “What We Owe to Each Other”

THE GOOD PLACE — “What We Owe To Each Other” Episode 105 — Pictured: (l-r) Kristen Bell as Eleanor, Ted Danson as Michael — (Photo by: Justin Lubin/NBC)

One of the things I personally like about the show is the Michael/Eleanor dynamic. It reminds me a lot of The Doctor’s (from Doctor Who) interactions with his companions — especially Peter Capaldi’s 12th Doctor and Jenna Coleman’s Clara.

Here, while the B-plot involving Chidi, Tahani and Jason/Jianyu is “meh,” the A-storyline with Eleanor becoming Michael’s assistant and helping him to relax and have fun is one of my favorites. One key point in Michael’s S2 arc is his love of humanity, specifically the humans in his Good Place experiment. He seems to have a very special attachment to Eleanor in particular, and the fact that Ted Danson and Kristin Bell are real-life best friends helps to sell their characters’ friendship, including in this episode. Given what we know about Michael from S2 and S3, I wonder how much of his time doing “human things” with Eleanor here was acting, or whether he was actually enjoying himself. I think Michael’s always wanted to feel part of a group, and the fact that he’s so fascinated with humans has singled him out as a demon. So, it’s no surprise that — as we’ll talk about in a minute — he’d rather jump ship and be more ‘human’ than ‘demon,’ so to speak.

8. Episode 2.10 “Rhonda, Diana, Jake & Trent”

I’ve always really enjoyed this episode for a whole host of reasons, but I think the biggest one is how it shows us the completion of Michael’s arc with that final scene where he sacrifices himself to get Eleanor through the portal. Sure, he’s proven himself before this point, but I think this is where we see his transformation arc culminate. A mere seven episodes before this in 2.03 “Team Cockroach,” he was frustrated at the idea of having to team up with the humans and really only did it out of self-preservation. But, here, we see that he’s grown to love and care for them to the point where he’s willing to risk getting caught and being ‘retired’ for eternity — something he was desperately avoiding earlier in the season — to ensure that they’d have a chance to plead their case to The Judge. I remember seeing gif sets of that last scene on social media before I ever saw the show, and while it definitely spoiled that plot point, it also intrigued me enough to where I had to finally sit down and see what all the hullabaloo was about.

But, it also has a lot of other great character-based and humorous moments, sometimes simultaneously, like when Eleanor admits to Chidi that she read ahead. We also get to see Chidi creatively not-lying to the demons about who he is, Good Janet desperately trying to pull off being a Bad Janet, Jason saving the day with his Molotov cocktail-making skills, and the four humans masquerading as demons. Such a great episode! And, there’s a great background jokes. One is the weird jazz cover of “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer” that keeps playing on loop in the background of the party. And the other is, when the train reaches the station in The Bad Place, there’s a fake poster for a future Pirates of the Caribbean movie. They’re such great little details that the show’s creative team threw in there, and I love them!

7. Episode 1.07 “The Eternal Shriek”

One aspect of the show that I absolutely love is how morality and ethics are fundamental to the show. The entire premise is Eleanor, and eventually the other main characters, learning to be better people. This involves them learning to be less selfish and competitive, and more honest and self-aware. Overall, they’re learning to how the answer the question posed in Episode 1.06: “What do we owe to each other?”

The idea of honesty and the dangers of lying are the cornerstone of this particular episode, as we see Eleanor’s deception only creates increasingly bad situations for her and her friends. She allows Michael to believe he’s the problem in the neighborhood, but when she finds out that ‘retirement’ basically means eternal torture, she attempts to save Michael and herself by ‘killing’ Janet … or actually dragging Chidi along and having him inadvertently ‘kill’ Janet for her. We see that while she has good intentions of saving Michael, she’s also acting selfishly by trying to get Chidi to play along with Janet’s ‘murder’ because she doesn’t want to be found out. It’s only at the end, when she confesses to Michael, that we see real growth in her character.

The episode also introduces one of my favorite gags where we see Janet ‘being murdered.’ I also love Michael’s speech about all the human things he never got to do and seeing him actually eat a Saltine only to disappointingly throw it away. I don’t know why but the way Ted Danson throws that Saltine to the side gets me every time. It also ends on one of the best episode cliffhangers. Based on the show’s pilot, you might assume that the season finale is going to be Michael finding out that Eleanor doesn’t belong in the neighborhood, or Eleanor deciding to reveal it herself. But, because TGP writers’ room likes to go breakneck speed through stuff — sometimes to the show’s detriment, I would argue — we get this revelation midway through Season 1, which I thought was a really great choice. Of course, it plays into the whole thing that’s revealed in the S1 finale; but still, it’s a great way to keep the audience engaged by not allowing the show’s plot to tread water for too long.

6. Episode 3.09 “Janet(s)”

Holy motherforking shirtballs is D’Arcy Carden a talented actress! I had to put this episode on the list, even though it includes the two S3 plot points that I had the biggest problems with. Those are: the show nonchalantly killing the four humans again, and Eleanor and Chidi’s awkwardly executed romance.

Let me address these points first, briefly, and then I’ll talk about why this was the strongest episode of S3, despite the flaws. The first point is the lesser of the two. In the previous episode, the Soul Squad felt cornered by demons in a Canadian bar, and so, rather than continue to fight their way out of it, Janet decided that the best option was to kill the humans (again) by zapping them into her void. In my opinion, this was the equivalent of killing a spider by using a bomb. The squad in general and Janet specifically had been doing a pretty good job of fighting off the first round of demons. So why Janet in-show or the TGP writers IRL felt this was necessary is a bit ridiculous. From a writing standpoint, sure, this was how the humans get back into the afterlife and eventually conduct the experiment to show that humans can improve. But, the writers at least could’ve made it seem like a much more desperate situation than it actually was. Maybe, rather than a second wave of demons coming in, there could’ve been some device or power that would’ve automatically sent the humans to the Bad Place if Janet hadn’t intervened. The point being is that this episode really just glosses over the fact that the four humans died, which you’d think they’d have some kind of emotional reaction to — sad, remorseful, bittersweet, etc. In the pilot, Eleanor asked Chidi “Do you think anyone cared that I died?” but there’s nothing like that here. I know these versions of the characters have already been through a lot, but it still seems like something that wasn’t handled very well, all things considered.

Anyway, now for the Eleanor/Chidi romance. While I like these two as a couple, this iteration of the characters getting together felt forced and abrupt. In some ways, I agree with Chidi: just because another version of Chidi and another version of Eleanor were together doesn’t mean that their current versions need to be together, too. Chidi had been in a happy, long-term relationship with Simone that only ended because he found out about the afterlife. Chidi cares about Eleanor, sure, but it never felt like he was romantically interested in her. Again, he was with Simone, and the two of them had broken up only a few weeks before this episode takes place. And, then, Eleanor has an identity crisis caused by Chidi not reciprocating her feelings — which I could rant about for several minutes but I’ll digress — and it’s solved when he kisses her. And THEN when she asks him whether he did it because that’s how he really feels or because the world was ending, HE NEVER ANSWERS THE QUESTION!!! As I said, I liked the dynamic between these two in Seasons 1 and 2 when it felt more organic; but here, you can tell the writers were like “You’ve already seen these two get together and fall in love.” So, they hand-waved all the important steps in their budding romance, and went straight from “Chidi’s in love with Simone” to “Chidi’s in love with Eleanor” in the span of four episodes.

Anyway, we’re here to talk about why this episode is awesome. A lot of it is Carden’s performances as SIX SEPARATE CHARACTERS!!! But, it’s also the jokes that are related to this exact situation and how they land. Eleanor-Janet pretending to be Jason-Janet to trick Chidi-Janet into talking to her is great; the joke about how they “should all say white people things”; and the Neutral Janet’s “end of conversation” after everything are all wonderful. And, of course, the end of the episode pivots the season from its second arc of “the Soul Squad” to the third arc of “re-evaluating the afterlife’s point system.” We find out that no one has gotten into the Good Place in more than 500 years, and Michael and the entire crew sneak their way into the actual Good Place. Of course, they never make it into the Good Place proper, but it was still such a great cliffhanger, because that’s what these characters have been working toward since S2, at least. This episode was critical for setting up not only the final third of S3 but also the entire premise for S4, as far as we know right now, so it certainly deserves a place on the list.

5. Episode 1.13 “Michael’s Gambit”

This was the episode that really changed the whole show. Throughout Season 1, most of the comedy came from the fact that things were happening that weren’t supposed to in this idyllic afterlife. Eleanor was sent to The Good Place by mistake, seemingly, and the chaotic situations snowballed from there. Of course, here is when we find out that that was all part of Michael’s plan — both Michael the Architect and Michael Schur, the show’s creator. Schur wrote and planned the entire first season with this twist in mind, and told Ted Danson and Kristin Bell when they signed on. The other actors were clued in shortly before the table read for this episode, I believe, even after they had already filmed other episodes of the show. In fact, there were times when most of the people on set, aside from Schur, the writers, Danson, Bell and a few other executives, knew the truth. Many of the directors didn’t know. Many of the crew members, like the wardrobe and set design folks, didn’t know either until after filming had started.

Granted, I never watched Season 1 as it was airing, and I’m so thankful that *that* twist wasn’t ruined for me before I binge-watched it last April. I wonder how many people who tuned in when it was airing on NBC guessed or at least thought about whether The Good Place was really all that good. It works so well, because it’s something you never really saw coming; but once you know it, things kinda fall into place. That’s why Michael allowed all this chaos to happen in the neighborhood; that’s why he kept putting all the humans in situations where they would constantly be tortured. Even something as innocuous as trying to get Chidi to choose a hobby in Episode 1.03 was really just Michael torturing Chidi, because he knew Chidi hated having to choose between things.

Not only does this episode change the game, but it ends on another wonderful cliffhanger that basically guaranteed that the show was going to get another season, considering how high-quality TGP is. And, the bulk of it pretty much all takes place in Eleanor’s house, keeping the drama in close quarters and the stakes high.

As an aside, I highly recommend the official TGP podcast. In the podcast episode about “Michael’s Gambit,” they talk about the blocking, staging, and all the little minute details of how this was filmed. It’s really fascinating. For instance, I think it’s Schur who talks about how there’s a clown in the background of almost every shot when they’re in the house, because it was a way of conveying that it was all a mockery… something like that. It’s been a while since I listened to the episode, but those little nuggets always stick with me, and I often remember them as I’m rewatching episodes.

4. Episode 2.11 “The Burrito”

This is another episode in which we get to see just how far all our characters have come. Eleanor goes over all the ethical dilemmas of choosing to go to the Good Place without Jason and Tahani. Jason shows he has learned to calm down and focus because he knows his friends are counting on him. Tahani realizes that she’s capable of living a good life without needing validation from her parents about her choices. And Chidi… yeah, he hasn’t changed much. But, the others certainly have — especially Eleanor. Yes, she’s the only one who passed the test to make it into the Good Place, but IMO that doesn’t discount the strides that Tahani and Jason made even if they didn’t pass their tests.

Plus, we got Maya Rudolph as The Judge. While I think some of her later appearances in S3 are a little over-the-top, I love her in this episode. Also, the B-plot with Michael getting punished by Shawn and then Good Janet-posing-as-Bad Janet saving him is brilliant! The whole guest cast really nails it in this episode, as does the regular cast. And, as always, there’s plenty of comedy along with the comedic moments, the best of which is about the eponymous burrito. And, now, talking about “The Burrito” is really making me hungry…

3. Episode 2.02 “Dance Dance Resolution”

On the whole, this has to be one of the funnier TGP episodes so far. Watching that montage of Eleanor realizing the truth in these weird scenarios — holding balloons in a field of cacti, working on a farm with Chidi (as pictured above), walking around with a group of monks, seeing a clown gliding through her house — is absolutely perfect; as is the montage of all her various soulmates, including a golden retriever. But, somehow the montage of Michael continuing to reboot Janet is even funnier as Janet thinks of new ways to beg for her life — “If I’m gone who will take care of my birds?!” — and then falls over into the sand. Poor D’Arcy Carden! And then the montage of all the changing restaurant names and Jason figuring it out in one reboot is another cherry on top.

But, of course, this is another episode that turns the whole show’s premise (up to that point) on its head. Season 1 shows the initial trial with the humans figuring it out at the end; and the two-part Season 2 premiere shows them figuring it out much quicker thanks to Eleanor’s clue she’d left herself. So, like Michael, the audience was probably expecting that Season 2 would focus on a third reboot, now that everything’s been reset and there are no more clues. However, TGP throws that out at the end of the cold open! The show burns through several seasons’ worth of material in the span of a 10-minute montage. And, while I bemoaned some of the decisions made in S3, this is one instance where the writers going breakneck speed actually works. Yes, let’s burn through 800 reboots because we want to get to the more important story, which in S2’s case, is Michael’s arc. The showrunners have said that S2 is primarily Michael’s season, as it starts and ends with him, visually, and he has the most complete arc of any of the characters (at least, without getting reset). Thus, it makes sense that this episode ends with Michael coming to the humans out of desperation, because that’s the next step in the story that’s really important.

Creative decisions like this, as I said, are great because it keeps the plot moving, the characters developing and the audience engaged. No wonder I love this show in general, and this episode specifically, so much!

2. Episode 2.12 “Somewhere Else”

Another season finale makes the list, because of course it does. Gah, this is such a great episode. As much as I hated having to wait between Seasons 2 and 3, this was the perfect episode to keep me company during that long hiatus between April 2018 (when I first discovered the show and binge-watched Seasons 1 and 2) and that September when S3 started airing. I honestly feel like this could’ve been a series finale. We got all these great little beats — Eleanor and Tahani discussing their friendship, The Judge deciding to reboot the humans on Earth, Michael saving Eleanor from the shopping carts, Eleanor learning to be a better person and then back-sliding when it became too difficult, and watching Michael and Janet keeping an eye on how their four humans are doing.

And, of course, I absolutely love that scene in the bar with Michael and Eleanor. It might be my favorite in the entire show. Not only is it well-acted and well-paced, but the dialogue is so emotionally charged with all these things that Eleanor might not recognize but we do. Plus, WE GET TO SEE TED DANSON BEHIND A BAR AGAIN!!! I only vaguely remember watching reruns of Cheers as a kid, but even I freaked a little when I watched this episode for the first time. But, most of all, the entire conversation is centered on this moral/ethical discussion of what it means to be a good person, why people should pursue goodness, and what prevents them from doing so. The idea of moral dessert — that we should only do good things because it either 1) makes us feel good and/or 2) we get some kind of reward for it — is posed. TGP had indirectly tackled it before, but now confronts this idea head-on. And, as a viewer who loves these characters and the journeys they’ve been on up to this point in the show, hearing Michael quote Eleanor back to Eleanor about how and why she needs to act with virtue — seeing how she inspired him to be a better person (or demon, rather) — is so gratifying and meaningful. THIS is the kind of stuff I need on TV. And hearing him ask her the question “What do we owe to each other?” — which has become the show’s officially unofficial thesis question — almost makes me tear up as I re-watch the scene right now. Fork, this show is so good, you guys!!! Plus, her watching Chidi’s speech and then immediately flying to Australia to meet him was such a great way to end the episode and the season.

As I said, it was a long wait between Seasons 2 and 3, but these emotionally charged moments of both plot and character development was exactly what I needed to get me through it.

Honorable & “Dishonorable” Mentions

Image result for the good place season 2 derek

So, before I get to my #1 pick, I want to highlight a few really great episodes that didn’t make the list. They are, in chronological order:

Episode 1.12 “Mindy St. Claire”
Episode 2.03 “Team Cockroach”
Episode 2.06 “Janet & Michael”
Episode 3.04 “Jeremy Bearimy”
Episode 3.06 “A Fractured Inheritance”
Episode 3.07 “The Worst Possible Use of Free Will”
Episode 3.11 “Chidi Sees the Time-Knife”

These were all episodes that I really wanted to put on this list, but was unable to. “Team Cockroach” had been on here at one point, and I really wanted to include one more S3 episode, at least, but this show has too many good episodes to choose from. Ugh!

Now, while TGP is far and away better than most comedies currently on TV, especially network shows, that’s not to say it hasn’t had some ‘lesser’ episodes. Sure, even the worst of these is better than the best episodes of other shows, but that doesn’t mean they’re amazing by TGP standards. It basically boils down to a combination of not funny enough, not enough well-done character moments and too sitcom-y. So, I just quickly want to highlight a few ‘dishonorable’ mentions. They are, in chronological order:

Episode 1.03 “Tahani Al-Jamil”
Episode 1.10 “Chidi’s Choice”
Episode 1.11 “What’s My Motivation”
Episode 2.07 “Derek”
Episode 3.02 “The Brainy Bunch”
Episode 3.05 “The Ballad of Donkey Doug”

And now … The moment you’ve all been waiting for!

The best episode of The Good Place thus far is…

1. Episode 2.08 “Leap to Faith”

Image result for the good place leap to faith

If the criteria for best episode of TGP is a combination of successful jokes, character-building and plot developments, then I think this has to take the cake.

Not only do we get great moments like the Bad Place comedy roast, Janet acting ‘drunk,’ and Bad Janet DJ-ing the neighborhood’s destruction to “She Hates Me” and “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer” on repeat, but we are asked the question “Has Michael really changed?” The show’s plot has been so unpredictable up to this point, especially in S2, that I think — like the humans — I could easily see it going the other way. Michael was only behaving ethically because the humans had forced him to join their little study group, and he didn’t think there was a real way out for him otherwise. But, Tahani’s right, maybe him being offered his dream job is enough to make Michael turn on them. Of course, long-term the show benefits from Ted Danson’s character being a good guy, I think. But, as I said, it could easily have gone the other way. There’s some question in the audience’s mind, because we know what Eleanor knows. Michael was really trying. He had doubts. He had questions. He was trying to understand the ‘why’ BECAUSE it mattered to him. If he didn’t care, he wouldn’t have made the effort to ask Eleanor.

But, of course, it all works out in the end. Michael really is a good guy who was leaving them clues on how to escape the whole time. And while it doesn’t cement his arc like Episode 2.10 does, the revelation that he was working to help the humans escape the demons cements his status as a good guy. Plus, I love how the show re-used that ‘Bad Place’ music cue + camera zoom-in from Episode 1.13. The first time, it was to show that this angelic figure was actually a demon, whereas here, it’s to show that the demon is actually a savior. It’s a great reversal and the kind of little detail TGP regularly uses, which I really appreciate.

Additionally, I really love that bit in heist movies where you see the end result and then they walk you back and show you how the characters pulled it off. And, that was another well-executed part of this episode.

So, on the whole, I love seeing character development paying off, even if the characters make the same arc multiple times. (But, that’s okay; it fits within the show’s premise.) I love how unpredictable the plot can be and how it can progress so quickly to keep you interested. And, I love this cast, these characters, and the moral/ethical questions they continually ask us, such as, “What do we owe to each other?”

And now that we’ve reached the end of this incredibly long post, I’m going to borrow the sign-off from the official TGP podcast and say:

“GO DO SOMETHING GOOD.”

The Shamley Silhouette – Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Dueling Auteurs

“ Well… It’s not a ‘Hitchcock’ picture…”
-Alfred Hitchcock to Francois Truffat in regards to Rebecca during the Hitchcock/Truffaut interviews.

Good Evening…

Time will never change the eternal struggle of two ego’s butting heads over the direction of a story in any form. What is right for a picture is a struggle with any creative team attempting to realize its potential. At the forefront should be a strong voice that can command the path of the journey. Naturally, we experience those voices in different shapes and sizes and from various points of production. You can have the directors authority from the works of many recent artists such as Jordan Peele, Christopher Nolan, or Greta Gerwig. On the other side, you can have the guidance of a creative producer like Kevin Feigie, who steers the Marvel Studios ship with a touch so magical that its produces hit after hit. There is of course though, the productions that have the clashing of visions coming from two or more strong voices competing for dominance. The business of film today is such that, at least from the theatrical standpoint, the vision must fit the priorities of those who must guarantee the pictures financial success at all costs. We see such stories of battle usually when the picture fails and the fingers are pointed all across the room whether it’s the recent ‘Men In Black’ installment or the debacle with the ‘DC Cinematic Universe’. However, it’s always interesting to hear of a picture that was a success but the creative end behind the scenes was fraught with frustration and obsession. The goal is accomplished, but what is the cost of integrity and vision owed to the success. If you wish to see how far the obsession of a certain angle on good picture making can go, you need not look further then to see its prime example in history; David O. Selznick.

Selznick may be, from nearly every angle, the most successful producer and studio mogul in cinema history. There cannot be a denial that he produced some of the greatest and most successful motion pictures of all time, regardless of where opinion lies on each title. Selznick was a determined and detail driven man, not unlike Hitchcock himself. Starting as an assistant story editor at MGM (Metro- Goldwyn Mayer… you know… the one with Leo the Lion that doesn’t really exist unless a new Bond picture is out), he would work his way up the ranks. After breaking away from MGM to join Paramount, he then left paramount to become head of production at RKO Pictures (The one with the radio tower that you only see in Black and White on TCM). During his time at RKO, he flourished with hits such as ‘A Bill of Divorcement’, ‘Our Betters’, ‘Bird of Paradise’, and a little film with a giant ape known simply as ‘King Kong’. He eventually returned to MGM, where he ran a unit dedicated to prestige pictures that included such hits as ‘David Copperfield’, ‘Anna Karenina’, and ‘A Tale of Two Cities’. Yet despite all this momentum and achievement, Selznick was in the shadow of his father-in-law L.B. Mayer, the head of MGM. Wanting to set up shop for himself, he left MGM to form Selznick International Pictures. There, he would produce a picture that, adjusted for inflation, is still the highest grossing film of all time: ‘Gone With The Wind’. Amazingly, Selznick was able to have multiple fires burning on the stove; for as he was finishing up ‘Gone With The Wind’, he was seeing dailies of a picture that had just started shooting with Hitchcock at the helm…. ‘Rebecca’.

‘Rebecca’, based upon the celebrated novel by Daphne du Maurier, was a story that Hitchcock had wanted to acquire after he had read the treatment prior to its publishing courtesy of du Maurier’s brother. Prior to ‘Rebecca’, Hitchcock had previously dipped his toe into duMaurier’s world with an adaptation of her prior novel, ‘Jamaica Inn’. ‘Jamaica Inn’ would prove to be a frustrating experience, with its lead actor/ producer Charles Laughton causing constant interference to Hitchcock’s vision. Hitchcock later discovered that Selznick was in negotiations to secure the rights and even he knew that was money that was out of his league. All this time, Selzinck was keeping a close eye on Hitch’s work in Britain, and eventually extends him the invitation to America that he had been waiting for. In America there were greater technical possibilities, bigger budgets, and the chance to be where the majors played. A deal is eventually reached; with Hitch signing on to Selznick to direct not ‘Rebecca’, but a movie about the ill fated H.M.S. Titanic (cue Celine for a moment before you hear the record scratch). That particular venture never came to pass, even when Selznick had bought the humongous ship ‘Leviathan’ to use in the film. All that remained was that tale of an unforgettable presence that infects the estate of Manderley.

From the moment work began on ‘Rebecca’, so did the battle of auteurship between Hitch and Selznick. Hitchcock had been used to adaptations of popular novels, and had been accustomed to not sticking strictly to the source material. For him, the novel was a foundation for his interpretation that would not care an iota about staying faithful to the sources every detail. If you recall Chapter 3 on ‘Psycho’, Hitchcock carried this practice onward into the films that have established him as an iconic filmmaker. On the opposite spectrum is Selznick, who’s intuition for what the public wanted in their films was proven time and time again. ‘Gone With The Wind’ would further justify his claim to intuition, as the extremely faithful adaptation of that novel proved to be a lucrative path. Thus, Selznick was insistent that ‘Rebecca’ stay almost point for point as the novel read and give the audience a “picturization” of the acclaimed piece. Hitchcock already sees a warning sign as a creative and more or less plays ball with this decision, with his contributions coming from other decisions from the insistence of casting Joan Fontaine to the decision to age down Mrs. Danvers (portrayed spectacularly by Dame Judith Anderson). All amazingly working in tandem to tell the story of an unnamed young woman (Joan Fontaine) and her journey through the life of wedlock at Manderley estates, slowly learning of how much the first Mrs. De Winter had meant to its occupants.

Whatever the conflict within developing the story between Selznick’s vision and Hitchcock’s, neither would be able to get around the fact that they would have to alter the revelation of Maxim De Winter (Laurence Olivier) and his involvement in the death of the first Mrs. DeWinter. The novel portrays Maxim as having intentionally murdered Rebecca, whereas the film portrays it as an accident in order to keep Olivier’s character innocent and therefore justify him surviving into the end of the story with a clean and “moral” slate. Having no one of physical appearance portraying Rebecca, it allows Hitchcock to unravel her doom as the camera shows her path to death from what would have been Rebecca’s perspective. It’s one of the many things that do indeed give this the moniker of a Hitchcock picture, despite Mr. Hitchcock’s brush off in later interviews. Ultimately, ‘Rebecca’ does possess and utilize the Hitchcockian trait of keeping us in Fontaines point of view through much of the proceedings. The audience is just as confused and intrigued by the goings on in Manderley as Fontaine is, leaving us in the suspenseful web that is truly Hitchcockian, overall story be damned. More to that point, the film is constructed as intended by Hitchcock, thanks to his pre-planning and shooting for the edit. Hitchcock created his films as puzzles that would fit together perfectly in the editing room, which naturally drove Selznick up a wall when he discovered he could not simply re-edit Hitchcock’s work to his whims. Within that realm, Selznick learned that he could not simply control Hitchcock and that he could not always get his way. Case in point: Selznick’s original pitch for the final shot of ‘Rebecca’ was to have the smoke from the flames of the burning Manderley to form a giant “R” in the sky as the film faded out. Thankfully this did not come to pass, with Hitchcock going for the more subtle touch of revisiting a sleeve for Rebecca’s nightdress embroidered with the letter “R” burning up in the flames as the film concluded. Hitchcock was only able to achieve this because Selznick was conveniently distracted by putting the finishing touches on ‘Gone With The Wind’. In many ways, that anecdote would prove to be a premonition for Selznick’s eventual decline.

In the end, ‘Rebecca’ was a hit, a strange achievement of two clashing auteurs revealing a product that works for everyone in spite of that collision. It would go on to win Oscars for Best Picture (going to Selznick) and Best Cinematography (George Barnes), and today it still stands as one of the few Hitchcock films that truly bears the mark of two giants rather than just the Master of Suspense. It’s legacy today stands as a fascinating case of who’s vision shall dominate. To this very day, the clash between producer/studio and director is ever present, but rarely do they ever achieve a product that works and succeeds financially and with the audience. It is primarily because while Selznick’s trademark faithfulness to the source material and intuition on audience taste are present, you have a visionary such as Hitchcock utilizing his meticulous and specific construction to present the story in one way and one way only. As Hollywood and it’s business has changed, it is sadly much easier to alter and reconstruct a filmmakers vision through reshoots with different directors (as in the case of Justice League at Warner Brothers) or overhauling the edit with alternate coverage and alternate scripts (Men In Black: International).

‘Rebecca’ is an early experiment for how the business works in regards to the Studio/Director relationship and teaches both sides how to put their foot down. Though today; it does seem as if tables have turned since the auteur driven period of the American New Wave, coming back around full circle to those Golden Age Hollywood ways minus the interference of artistic voices such as Hitchcock and Selznick. For all the insanity and amphetamine driven obsession of Selznick (yes, he had regular shots of B-12 and amphetamines to stay awake), he was never one that lacked care for the story in an artistic form. The closest thing today that we have to someone like Selznick and his care is Kevin Fiegie, who drives the Marvel machine with the care of a fan of the source material (minus the whole amphetamine thing, thankfully that is not a factor here) and goes beyond Selznick’s ability by (according to most firsthand reports) cooperating and working in tandem with his directors. ‘Rebecca’ and its creation is an eternally relevant story in the regards of how moviemaking occurs, and shows us both the progress and simultaneous immovability of how that process is achieved. For the Hitchcock of it all, it is a clear message to filmmakers on how to pursue their creative vision in spite of the voices overhead that bark their vision out loud. If there is a positive outcome to all of it, it does show how those two forces can work together to create something spectacular.

Alas for Hitchcock and Selznick, there would be further and worse strife between the two. Hitchcock’s experience working with Selznick taught him much about how he would like to run the show without interference from the likes of a David O. Selznick. Post- ‘Rebecca’, Selznick proceeded to loan Hitchcock out to other studios where Hitchcock was to further learn how he wanted things to proceed once he broke free of Selznick. Their only other two works together were 1945’s ‘Spellbound’ and ‘1947’s ‘The Paradine Case’. Both would cause headaches on either side, and the end finally came when Hitch packed his bag and went on to form the eventually doomed Transatlantic Pictures. Hitchcock would bounce back though, and continue his career by making many of his most revered films between 1954 to 1964 with freedom from other studios that Selznick would never have provided. As for Selznick, he kept producing up till 1957, with none of his efforts achieving the heights of his earlier efforts. Even ‘Rebecca’ cannot fully be claimed by him thanks to Hitchcock and his enduring legacy. As it stands, no matter what film he made outside of his 1939 independent debut that has achieved a legacy, they would always remember him solely for that one picture. The fact remains though: he did care about stories in a way that is sorely needed from studio heads to this very day.

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Until next time, Good Night.

Show Time: The 10 Hottest Scenes in Cinema*

Grab your portable mini fans and spray bottles, folks. This article is going to be hotter than the last time your air conditioning unit broke; hotter than when you open up the oven door to grab your pizza when it’s done; hotter than walking down the Las Vegas strip on a July afternoon.

Trust me: you’re going to need an ice bath after this one, because I’m honoring the Top 10 Hottest Scenes in Cinema*.

You’re probably wondering: “Corinne, what’s with the asterisk?”

Well, a couple of things, really.

First, this list is subjective. The entries and their placement are my own opinions, but … c’mon. Once you read through it, you’re not going to be disagreeing with me. It’s entirely possible that there’s some steamy scenes in movies I’ve never seen… so if there’s anything I’ve neglected, feel free to bring it to my attention. Perhaps I’ll revisit the list, if I feel it’s warranted.

But, moreover, the asterisk really represents the qualifications for these entries — namely, that we’re playing by Bollywood rules, people. So there can be no kissing, no making out, no nothing! This is only G–rated stuff. Not to say a scene can’t be hot if the characters are kissing. There are plenty of examples I could give you from Casablanca to Notorious … but, sometimes the fact that they’re not kissing makes it even hotter, in my opinion.

It’s all that tension building up, and you’re rooting for these poor bastards to do something, literally anything, but they won’t because ~drama~ or something. Maybe they kiss later in the movie (and in most of these entries, they do). But, in these scenes, there’s something to be said for the chemistry between the actors, the dialogue, the pacing, the lighting, the mood — in short, everything — when the two love-struck dolts aren’t macking on each other. Again: tension-building.

So, without further ado, grab the nearest bottle of water and dump it on your head, because we’re diving right in with:

10. Charles follows Julia through the ship in Brideshead Revisited (2008)

This one is low on the list, to be sure, but it’s still enough to make you put a damp cloth on your forehead. (And, believe me, it’s low on the list for a reason.)

This sequence is almost the first scene in the movie, and really draws the audience into the mysterious and not-yet-revealed connection between these two. In the scene, Charles (played by Matthew Goode) is stewing in the mixed feelings of his recent success as a painter, which in some respects feels hollow to him. He’s aimlessly smoking a cigarette when he spots an attractive woman (whom we later find out is Julia, played by Hayley Atwell). There’s some unspoken connection between them; they make eye contact across a large room. She leaves. He follows her through the various parts of the cruise ship that they’re on. It ends with them standing in the doorway of her room, greeting each other for the first time in several years. And then we get probably an hours-long flashback-within-a-flashback sequence and find out how these two lovebirds met.

The pacing, the framing, the music, the set design and costumes, and performances all line up for a very memorable and intriguing scene that piques the audience’s curiosity while also demonstrating the unresolved tension between these two. And all without more than a line or two of dialogue.

9. “Let Me Teach You How to Dance” in Miss Potter

This is when we really start to get into the nitty-gritty of it all.

Miss Potter is adapted from the real-life story of author Beatrix Potter (played by Renee Zellweger), who doesn’t have much of a social life or any prospects in the way of love. But, she starts to form a connection with her up-and-coming publisher, Norman Warne (played by Ewan McGregor). The two spend a lot of time with each other, but always under the eye of Beatrix’s watchful chaperone. At a Christmas party, Beatrix invites Mr. Warne to her room to give him his present (calm down — it’s just a painting), her chaperone passes out from drinking too much, and he opens a music box playing the song “Let Me Teach You How to Dance.” And they proceed to … dance.

It’s all very innocent, but the fact that the man she loves is so close to her in such a intimate space and situation… she’s definitely blushing. And when you watch the scene, you’re like Kathy Geiss in 30 Rock cheering: “Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”

And then of course, he tries to take the opportunity to propose to her, and she’s totally unprepared but also so emotional. And, just when you’re starting to fan yourself, her killjoy mom walks in and interrupts them. So close! Still, it’s such an emotionally charged scene, because you’re rooting for these two dumb-dumbs to say how they feel, and… well, I won’t ruin how Miss Potter ends, but, they really needed to say how they felt! Let’s just put it that way.

8. The rainy porch scene in Mogambo

Even though it’s raining in this scene, somehow it’s hotter than the Sahara.

Victor (played by Clark Gable) is a big-game hunter in Africa, and has been hired by Mrs. Nordley (played by Grace Kelly) and her husband to take them on an expedition to find gorillas. Before the Nordleys arrive, we see Vick’s womanizing ways, but when Mrs. Nordley does appear on the scene, Vick falls for her — hard. (Who can blame him? It’s Grace Kelly, after all!) After rescuing her from a trap in the jungle, he’s escorting her back to the main house. A storm comes up, with the wind blowing like crazy. Mrs. Nordley has trouble walking, and Vick picks up her in his arms and carries her back. On the porch, not a single word is spoken between them, but again — unresolved tension. They’re starting to get feelings for each other, but neither wants to admit it. She walks to the door of her room, but stops. He follows her. She’s wearing a headscarf, and he snaps it off her head and puts it around her neck, still holding it in his hands. Her eyes get watery, and she goes into her room.

All the while, Ava Gardner’s character (who had been Vick’s flame earlier in the movie) has been standing on the porch the whole time, and this little exchange between the man she loves and his new flame visibly effects her. But, believe me, if she hadn’t had emotional stakes in this wordless exchange, she would’ve been stepping out into that rain as a way of cooling herself off, just like the rest of us.

7. “The Point of No Return” in The Phantom of the Opera

Say what you will about this as an adaptation of the hit stage musical, but this is scene in smokin’! It’s a good thing they didn’t add more torches to that stage, because this song couldn’t handle any more heat.

In case you’ve never seen it, this musical number is toward the end of the movie. Christine (played by Emmy Rossum), her fiance Raoul (played by Patrick Wilson) and the opera managers are trying to capture the Phantom (played by Gerard Butler) by putting on a production of the Phantom’s opera Don Juan, Triumphant. Christine takes the role of the leading lady and becomes the bait, hoping to lure the Phantom out into the open so the nearby police can capture him during the performance. The Phantom kills the lead actor and takes over the role of Don Juan just in time for this number, which is about Don Juan trying to seduce Christine’s character.

In the POTO stage musical, neither Christine nor the in-universe audience initially realizes it’s the Phantom, because the actor wears a very large cloak that hides his figure and his face. (We in the real world realize it’s the Phantom, because we recognize his voice.) Here, though, the logic doesn’t work the same way, as Christine knows it’s the Phantom the whole time and actually tips off Raoul and the managers to get ready. And somehow that makes it more engaging, and you can see where Christine seemingly starts to fall under the Phantom’s proverbial spell and Raoul is visibly distressed by how Christine seems to be giving into the charade.

And while YouTube essayist Lindsay Ellis makes fun of the random tango dancers in the background, I appreciate it, because it helps give the scene more energy and movement. In the stage version, the Phantom and Christine move around a lot more. In the movie, they just walk toward each other, away from each other, and then up a flight of stairs, and then toward each other again. Not really all that dynamic. But, the tango dancers help with that, along with adding to the ambiance and the tension.

And, while many POTO purists bemoan Butler being cast as the Phantom — and while I agree with them in some respects — his voice has a good timbre, and he has more sex appeal than someone like Michael Crawford (who originated the role on Broadway). The weird (and admittedly unhealthy) dynamic between Butler’s Phantom and Rossum’s Christine is built up to a climax at this point in the movie, and the chemistry between them absolutely works. In the stage musical, this number comes off as more creepy, in part thanks to the giant cloak that the Phantom wears as Don Juan that makes him look like a fat Ghost of Christmas Future. It’s hard to see that as sexy. However, here, director Joel Schumacher — love him or hate him (and I’m definitely more in the ‘hate him’ camp) — allows the Phantom and Christine to have a more honest and open musical number, which helps turns up the sexiness and tone down the creepiness.

6. A song and shelter from the rain in Twelfth Night

I think what we’ve learned so far is that, if you’re making a movie and you want a really hot scene, throw in some dancing or rain, because the latter makes the list again thanks to the 1996 film adaptation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.

After believing her brother to be dead and having been stranded in an enemy land — both of which are thanks to a shipwreck — Viola (played by Imogen Stubbs) decides to disguise herself as a man, and takes the name Cesario and becomes an assistant to Duke Orsino (played by Toby Stephens). Orsino, seeing that Cesario is a handsome youth, recruits him to ask Countess Olivia (played by Helena Bonham Carter) to marry Orsino. Cesario goes, and Olivia ends up falling for Cesario instead of Orsino. Around this point in the play, Orsino is trying to ask Cesario to return to Olivia’s mansion to plead Orsino’s case again, but Cesario — because she’s actually a woman and is in love with Orsino herself — doesn’t want to.

In this scene, Orsino and Cesario take refuge from a rainstorm in a barn, where they stumble across Olivia’s fool (played by Ben Kingsley), whom Orsino asks to play them a song. As the fool is singing, Orsino looks on at Cesario, who’s across the room and then walks over and puts his arm around Cesario’s shoulder. Cesario/Olivia looks a little uncomfortable at the idea of the man she loves putting his arm around her, but rolls with it. As he sings, the fool looks on, knowing exactly what’s going on between them. Orsino continues looking at Cesario, who is still unsure how to react and quickly keeps glancing over at him as well. Their faces move closer and closer to each other as the fool keeps singing; and, just as Cesario/Olivia and Orsino are about to kiss, the fool stops singing and awkwardly takes a swig of his drink in an “I didn’t see anything” sort of way.

The dialogue is from the original play, but the film takes creative liberties by changing the location, the dynamic between Cesario and Orsino, and the whole context of what’s happening. That’s the thing about adaptations! It really works here, because at the end of the play, when Cesario is revealed to be a woman, Orsino proposes to her. While their friendship had definitely been built up in the text, whether Orsino felt anything more for Cesario/Olivia beyond friend was never really addressed until after her identity is revealed. But, in this version, the film — and this scene in particular — shows us that Orsino had feelings for Cesario/Olivia beyond simple friendship, which he probably felt he had to repress for a multitude of reasons. And, of course, all that unresolved tension just works to make the scene blowtorch levels of hot!

Of course, all of these above entries are about as cold as a visit to the pool and an ice cream cone on a Sunday afternoon compared to these Top 5 melt-your-face-like-the-Ark-of-the-Covenant levels of heat!

5. The hand-touch scene in Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Oh, baby, you better believe that this scene made somebody swoon in the theater the first time they saw it. (Me. It was me. JK. I was close though.) And, again, we have an intimate conversation taking place as one of our poor lovestruck idiots is soaking wet and it’s pouring rain outside. Rian Johnson, girl, you know exactly what you’re doing!

For some of you reading this, you might be thinking: “What?! Rey and Kylo aren’t a ~thing~.” Kid, have I got several studio executives and actors’ comments, internet essays and fanposts for you to read. As I’ve said before, if you’re going to see The Rise of Skywalker, better be prepared for these fools to make out by the end!

I would like to point out — and I’m not the first to do so — that in The Force Awakens, Rey keeps telling Finn to let go of her hand. Yet, here, we see her willingly reach out to Kylo and allow him to touch hers.

And while basically the entirety of their scenes in The Last Jedi could be on this list — including the Praetorian guard fight and the ‘rule the galaxy with me’ proposal — I believe this scene is the culmination of Kylo/Ben and Rey’s relationship thus far, as it shows us the first instance they connected on a deeper level and saw the potential of their lives together. That’s why Rey is so willing to defend Kylo/Ben to Luke. That’s why Kylo is willing to kill Snoke — throwing away everything he’s ever known — to save Rey. Each of them so desperately wants the future they saw, but neither is willing to go over to the other’s side to get it. And, while their destinies seemed to have been intertwined since they met each other in TFA, here is where it goes from ‘intertwined’ to ‘inseparably bound together.’

And that’s only one part of why this scene is hotter than forest fire.

4. The dance scene in The Mask of Zorro

C’mon. You had to know this was coming, right? It is the lead art for this article, after all.

With this scene, everything is so palpable. The passion! The romance! You can feel the chemistry building between these two characters, even though they kinda-sorta just met. It’s enough to make you run into the backyard, turn on the hose, and spray yourself down.

Everything about this scene works — from the dance choreography and music to the costumes and performances. The pacing. The angles. There’s such energy to the scene that absolutely sucks you in, even though our couple doesn’t exchange a word until after the dance is over.

And, damn, if dance scenes aren’t like the easiest way to get some sexual tension and physical intimacy — but not too much — into your scene. If Antonio Banderas’ Alejandro/Zorro had been wearing his mask in this scene, we all would’ve swooned the first time we watched it. Thankfully, the screenwriter had pity on us and made sure this all took place when he’s in his ‘I’m a boring rich guy and totally not a vigilante’ persona.

3. The Laendler dance in The Sound of Music

Allow me to take a large gulp of cold water before I talk about this scene.

Yes, this scene. You all know exactly the one I’m talking about.

Maria is so innocently trying to teach the children how to do the dance, Captain Von Trapp steps in, and the two flawlessly go through the first minute or two of the dance… until… they’re so close together, basically in each other’s arms, and neither can take their eyes off the other. They stop. And, Maria’s all flustered, saying “I can’t remember the rest,” and visibly blushes, which others nearby point out to her. She makes an excuse: “I’m not used to dancing.”

Girl, you are not used to dancing with a guy as handsome as Captain Von Trapp, that’s what it is. You were in the convent like a week ago, and now the hottest guy on the block is doing the whole Held Gaze thing with you. How do you not plop down on your knee right there and propose to the man? (Oh, I guess, because it’s the early 20th century, and traditional gender roles are still very much a thing. Damn it!) And how did everyone present not go blind from overexposure to pure awesomeness?!

So, if you need to, I’d recommend you grab an ice pack now, because these next two entries are somehow even hotter than this one. (“Is that even possible, Corinne?” you ask. Yes. Yes, it is.)

2. The library scene in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982)

In rewatching this scene — purely as research for writing this article, of course — my reaction was similar to the babbling great-grandma from Rapsittie Street Kids.

This scene is so hot that, I had to pause half-way through, call an Uber to take me to the airport, book a round-trip ticket to Norway, find a guide who could take me to the coldest frozen tundra in the far north of the country, and then camp out there for a few weeks — because, holy hell, this scene is HOT!!!

Where do I even begin? How about the fact that they’re both so deeply in love with the other, but because of ~drama~ they’ve come to believe that the other one doesn’t love them and/or is untrustworthy. Or maybe it’s also that it’s a culmination of a lot of the movie’s plots and subplots that have been building up to this point. Or maybe it’s because Marguerite (played by Jane Seymour) finally tells her husband that her family is in trouble and she needs help, even though she doesn’t realize it’s him? She won’t trust Percy (played by Anthony Andrews) as her husband, but she will trust him as the Scarlet Pimpernel. Or when Percy tells her that he’s only a phantom, and she’s all: “You’re so real. I can feel your warmth even now.” You two. are. married!!! It’s like the perfect blend of drama, melodrama and romance!

It’s absolutely hilarious that she’s in love with her husband, and also sort of in love with the Scarlet Pimpernel, and doesn’t realize they’re one and the same. I also think it would’ve been hilarious if someone had walked in on this super-dramatic moment. Marguerite thinks she’s finally meeting this mysterious hero but can’t turn around to see his face, and Percy’s all walking up behind her and whispering, and they’re having this very serious and emotionally charged conversation. And then some dolt walks in like, “Oh, it’s the Blakeneys! What on earth are you kids up to?”

But then again, if someone had, it would’ve ruined not only the story but this scene. It’s bad enough that the clock chimes midnight in this ‘the fairy tale is over, Cinderella’ sort of way, and the two have to skedaddle out of the room separately in the hopes that neither will be found out.

Even so, the scene’s conclusion only adds to the tension, because while Percy has learned about Marguerite’s drama, Marguerite has yet to discover that Percy is the Scarlet Pimpernel, which is also a great scene, by the way. But, nothing beats this one.

Holy hell. Excuse me while I find the nearest icy lake, cut a hole in it and jump in before I talk about the No. 1 Hottest Scenes in Cinema*:

1. “Shall We Dance?” in The King & I

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No, that’s not a typo. That’s me, having a bout of heat stroke while rewatching this scene. But, fortunately, I know how to combat it: thinking about all the historical inaccuracies and probably racist / colonialist undertones of this telling of Anna Leonowens and the King of Siam.

Still, all those other entries feel so lukewarm compared to this, which is the cinematic equivalent of the surface of the sun in terms of hotness. And, as the comments on the official YouTube clip demonstrate, I’m not the only one who feels like I should’ve been covering my eyes during this scene, even though they’re both fully clothed.

I don’t know if you’re familiar with the term ‘eye sex,’ but that’s basically what’s going on here. We’ve seen it in some of these other entries, but this scene takes the cake!

I don’t want to dilute the absolute raw magnetism of these performers and the scene as a whole, but I do want to point out that — in addition to what happens in the musical number itself — perhaps one reason why it stands out in our minds is because this is the closest these two people were throughout the entire film. SPOILERS for The King & I, but these two don’t end up together. In fact, this scene is the last time they’re both happy and together. Shortly after this, ~drama~ occurs, and the movie ends with the king’s death. This is the one time they actually got to be a couple, and do ‘couple things’ like dance together. They spent most of their time bickering and arguing and trying to subtly one-up each other. There are a few moments of genuine chemistry and kindness, don’t get me wrong, and this is one of them.

Looking back over this list, only four of these couples are ‘together’ and living happily ever after by the end of their respective movies. (I’m not counting Rey and Kylo/Ben, because even if I think they could end up together in TROS, they aren’t together at the end of TLJ.) There’s a variety of reasons, but it mostly boils down to ‘one of them dies’ or ‘one of them was already in a relationship with someone else.’ Here, it’s the former, and again, perhaps one reason this scene is so iconic — in addition to the music, costumes, choreography, and performances — is because we see what they could’ve been together if ~drama~ hadn’t happened. But, then again, they really could never have been together to begin with, because of how different their cultures and expectations were. And, isn’t the whole idea of couple who loves each other passionately but can never be together one of the hottest tropes there is?

Still, at least we got one scene where they were not only happy and working in tandem, but one that must’ve scorched the film reel whenever they recorded it because this scene IS SO FUCKING HOT!!!!! GAHHAHAH!

*dies from internal combustion*

FADE TO BLACK.

THE END.

Catching the Miyazaki Classics (BONUS) – The Secret World of Arrietty

*The Secret World of Arrietty* is a 2010 film co-written by Hayao Miyazaki and directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi

Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, perhaps best known for his work with Studio Ghibli, has gained popularity around the world for his creative and imaginative animated feature films. While they were originally released in Japanese, all of them have been dubbed into English with prominent voice actors and Hollywood stars. Over the past few months, I’ve watched and reviewed the English-dub versions of each of Miyazaki’s 11 films as writer and director.

And now, as I discussed at the end of my CtMC series recap, this will be the first of three bonus posts to review the three films that Miyazaki wrote but didn’t direct. They are: Secrets of the Heart (1995); The Secret World of Arrietty (2010); and From Up On Poppy Hill (2011).

This time, I’ll be discussing The Secret World of Arrietty (2010).

Synopsis: Based on the book The Borrowers, Arrietty (voiced by Bridgit Mendler) and her parents are a family of tiny people who ‘borrow’ what they need from the “beans” (human beings) in whose house they live. Arrietty is a young teenager looking to learn the ways of the Borrowers, but her family’s way of life and their very existence is threatened when a new “bean” comes to live in the house and sees Arrietty.

Spoiler-free review: Granted, it’s been a week from when I watched the movie to now (as I’m writing this review), but it stands in my mind as a competently made film. There’s nothing about it that I felt was spectacular, but there’s nothing that was onerous, either. It feels very much like a standard Studio Ghibli film, which isn’t a bad thing. It means that you’ll have an enjoyable experience, and your kids will probably like it too. The voice cast is talented. I didn’t even recognize Will Arnett as Arrietty’s dad until about two-thirds of the way through the film, simply because his performance matches the tone so well. As Batman in the Lego movies, he’s over-the-top because that’s what’s demanded of the character; but here, he’s far less bombastic and much quieter and calmer, which is what’s required of this character. Amy Poehler and Carol Burnett also do a wonderful job, as do the two actors who play Arrietty and Shawn, who have to carry the bulk of the film. The characters are all charming; the animation is well-executed; and the music — even though it’s not Joe Hisaishi composing — is beautiful and catchy. I guess the one downside that I can recall is the pacing. It seems like the film slows down considerably in the second act, and even the first third has some scenes that go on a little too long. But, of course, the third act has high stakes and good conflict that keeps you engaged. But, again, it’s a good little movie, on the whole.

Letter grade: B

Full review and critique: (Warning: here be spoilers!)

Ultimately, this movie is about continuation and survival, both on a larger species level and on an individual level.

Arrietty and her family continually discuss whether they are the last Borrowers in existence, and — as we find out halfway through — they’re not. But, then the question becomes, can they survive long enough to get away from the house where they are threatened, find a new home, and continue to live and thrive. We get to see Arrietty meet another Borrower for the first time, who is a young man who seems to be interested in her. So, there’s the possibility that Spiller and Arrietty could get together when they’re older and have a family of their own. The film certainly gives you that impression. So, for the tiny people of the movie, the story focuses on not only Arrietty’s family and their survival, but the idea of whether the Borrower race will continue as a whole.

On the “bean” side, the story is about Shawn’s survival, as he’s preparing for a risky surgery. As we learn, Shawn’s entire reason to be at the house is to convalesce before his surgery. He’s very weak and sickly, and has trouble jogging for a little bit because of the strain on his heart. Obviously, he survives the surgery and goes on to live a happy life, and the film tells us that he gained strength and courage to undergo his surgery from his brief friendship with Arrietty. He saw how they fought to survive and live on their own terms, so he is inspired to do the same.

The film also touches on the concepts of independence and capability. Because of Shawn’s sickly disposition, his family tend to treat him like he’s a fragile doll that can’t be expected to do much beside lie in bed (that was bought accordingly as stated in this mattress buyers guide) all day. But, Shawn wants to help, and pushes himself to ensure that Arrietty and her family are safe. Likewise, Arrietty is coming into her own, learning to be a Borrower. She wants to prove to her parents and herself that she’s capable of successfully ‘borrowing,’ and of course, her plans hit a snag when Shawn sees her.

One more detail I want to highlight, briefly, is the two main times Shawn and Arrietty make physical contact. The first time — when he’s rescuing her after the crow flies into his window — he grabs her and continues to hold her in his hand. Yes, there are mitigating factors, but I believe that, at this point in the film, Shawn still has the childlike fascination with the Borrowers. He sees them as something more akin to toys or dolls. He believes he can interfere in their lives and treat them as he wills so long as he believes he’s doing it for their own good — like finding their house and giving them the dollhouse kitchen. Shawn eventually learns that the Borrowers are their own people, and not playthings. Thus, when he and Arrietty team up to help rescue her mom, Arrietty stands on his shoulder. She is no longer his inferior — his plaything — to be held in his hand. She is his equal — his partner.

I realize that Shawn has good intentions throughout the entire film, and given that he’s a boy who doesn’t have much else to occupy his time, it’s understandable that he would be fascinated with the Borrowers, just as his older relatives were before him. I don’t think he intentionally meant to disrupt the Borrowers’ lives or cause them distress, but he does. And that fact that he sees Arrietty prompts the family into finding a new place to live, which is only furthered after other things happen in the film’s second and third acts. But, his arc centers on seeing Arrietty as her own individual, who — though far smaller than him — is equally capable. And the two work together to form a lovely friendship that culminates in that scene where they say goodbye. And, as the narration tells us, Shawn certainly discovered the house where Arrietty and her family had moved to. But rather than trying to find them again, he apparently leaves them alone because his narration tells us that he never saw Arrietty after their goodbye at the fence. And, as meme says:

Image result for you know what that is growth meme

Overall, I think both adults and kids alike would enjoy this film. As I said, it’s a competent and well-made Studio Ghibli movie. Maybe it didn’t strike me as much, because it’s a more familiar story for Western audiences than something like From Up on Poppy Hill or Spirited Away. Hell, even Howl’s Moving Castle is a book by a British author, and so should feel fairly familiar to us Western audiences. But, I’d say Howl’s Moving Castle (the book) is relatively obscure. I’d never even heard about it until I saw the movie. Meanwhile, The Borrowers is fairly well-known book series, was adapted a few other times before Arrietty came out, and the whole ‘tiny people living alongside regular people’ thing is fairly common thanks to tales like Thumbelina. So, perhaps it didn’t strike me because it wasn’t a unique story in the way that Princess Mononoke is, or even a fairly creative and unique adaptation in the way that Ponyo is an adaptation of The Little Mermaid. But, still, it’s an enjoyable watch.

Month: September 2019