Blast from the Past review (1999)

Brendan Frasier plays a guy born in a 1962 bomb shelter to two parents who steps out into a world as a complete newbie. As a sheltered 35-year-old who's never had sex, let alone experienced the joy of interaction with a girl his own age, he's itching to find himself a lady when he gets out of the bunker. Viola, within a few minutes, he meets Alicia Silverstone, who happens to not just be pretty (something most audience members will agree on) but someone he has that extra spark of magical attraction.

Although, she sensibly has no interest in overeager strangers who approach her on the street, there's an tolerable series of deus-ex-machina to keep them latched together long enough for them to agree to work together selling his baseball cards and things take off from there.

Born Yesterday, Splash, My Stepmother is an Alien, and most recently Poor Things comprise a sub-genre of romantic films where there's a vast difference of social experience between a man and an extremely innocent woman. By today's standards, some vociferous critics might look upon these tropes as a casual condoning of grooming.

While I would caution those critics to read each of those films with an eye towards the climate they were made, it's important to note that a lot of romantic comedies came from a less squicky set of circumstances like Ball of Fire, It Happened One Night, and Roman Holiday where these were two consenting adults but their differences in social grace were explained through other factors like isolation from academia or isolation from wealth.

In a way, a film like Blast from the Past takes its cues from a more innocent time. Because Brendan Frasier recently won an Oscar for a singular high point in his career, it's easy to look at his career through rose-colored glasses. But, let's face it: He was mostly serviceable. Despite being in a couple prestige pictures by this point such as School Ties and Gods and Monsters, he a dependable pretty face, but that's not so far removed from the Cary Grants and Clark Gables when this genre was king. Not to say those actors weren't good, but they did their best work outside of the romantic comedy genre. 
 
Similar to Barbara Stanwyck, Ginger Rogers, and Katharine Hepburn in the golden era of this genre, it's the female lead who does most of the heavy lifting acting-wise. Similar to other 90s comedy leads like Rosie Perez and Marissa Tomei, the female lead is a no-nonsense type who's scarred by too many bad men to mince words in any opposite-sex interaction she's having.

Knowing that it's a romcom (what can I say, I watched the trailer), It's a foregone conclusion that a couple layers of her skin will be peeled to open up her heart. The question mark that drives the film, therefore is that we likely won't know how much of her veneer will be dropped within the realm of realism.

"Blast from the Past" is a pretty apt description for my feelings for this film. I'm writing this review in 2024 where films like this don't have much of a chance at being in the theater. However, the romantic comedies that I have watched through screening lately have tried too hard to be raunchy or find some kind of angle. This is a film that just floats on chemistry, a light touch directing wise, a high stakes premise, and a few choice scenes.

Ragtime (1981) review

Between his two Oscar wins for One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest and Amadeus, Milos Forman created this gem that has been criminally under-looked among period pieces of the 1980s.

The source novel intertwined icons of the era like Harry Houdini, Jacob Riis, Booker T Washington, and Sigmund Freud; lesser-known figures like Evelyn Keys and Stanford White who were intertwined in a scandal that captured national attention; and fictitious characters.

In the film, the focus shifts from Evelyn Keys (Elizabeth McGovern) to a radical brother of an upper-class family (Brad Dourif), to ragtime piano player Coleman Walker Jr. (Henry Rollins Jr.) whose encounter with a racist fire chief (Kenneth McMillan) pushes him over the edge to commit a terrorist attack. It's a great ensemble piece that pulls into and out of focus, with a number of interesting characters that meander into and out of the main story, and often create their own interesting tangents.

In particular, a character solely named Father (James Olson) is an interesting litmus test for our modern-day views on allyship. He disapproves of adopting Coleman's daughter (from their domestic help played by a then-unknown Debbie Allen) when he first discovers her, and he's clearly established as the yin to his enthusiastically revolutionary brother-in-law's yang, or his more compassionate wife. At the same time, he's never anything less than respectful to his black colleagues, and makes a leap of faith when it matters. Similar depth is given to a lot of the characters here, and that's what makes this film such a thought-provoking one.

Like Amadeus, the film is one of the most visually ornate films I've seen.

Palm Royale: An Anti-Hero for the Soapy Period Drama

 

Credit: Apple Studios

Kristen Wiig stars as social climber Maxine in this soapy melodrama about a woman’s attempt at being a social climber in the jet set age of the 1960s.

In the opening pre-credits scene, Maxine scales the wall of the prestigious Palm Royale country club and falls over the other side like a clumsy burglar. It’s an apt metaphor for a social climber who is willing to surrender any level of dignity for her prize.

In the first scene after the credits (which, sidenote, are award-worthy in their own right) Maxine slyly makes her way to the jet setters equivalent of a mean girls club to try to ingratiate herself into their conversation. Her genteel southern charm and agreement with everything they say marks her off as suspicious. 

After queen bee Evelyn (Allison Janney) spurns her encroachment, Maxine gets desperate enough to risk life and limb by crashing her car in front of mean girl Dinah (Leslie Bibb) just to get into a conversation with her. And this is the first episode alone. 

She’s clearly a desperate woman for social status. When Dinah asks her why she would want to be accepted into this club so badly, Maxine technically gives an answer but it’s never particularly satisfactory. This is a running motif: In-universe, the other characters are aware of how strange it is for Maxine to so desperately want to be part of a club that likely doesn’t want her so badly.

It’s eventually revealed that Maxine has some big financial stakes: She’s in debt, and her rich in-law hasn’t yet left her estate. But still, her obsession with high society is still left somewhat enigmatic to the viewer. It’s likely that the intention is to make Maxine’s motivations to be the series’ proverbial rosebud (to borrow a Citizen Kane reference).

What’s clear is that Maxine is not particularly sympathetic. Evelyn’s step-daughter Linda Shaw, who can see through high society’s flaws (although she might be a little too liberal for some audience tastes) might be more in line with reality and heroism. Maxine, on the other hand, is an anti-hero. Even if she never reaches the depths of the villains of Killing Eve, Breaking Bad, The Americans, or Boardwalk Empire, she is pretty singularly focused for grift among morals. 

The negative might be that the stakes will never reach that high in this arena of country club intrigue. The whole saga is framed by a gunshot (so maybe a total body count of one?) and Maxine’s goal is merely to be the head of the charity ball. Sure, there might be intrigue in the detours en route and how low the character will sink to, but the main route of conflict is only appealing to people who want the soap.

Maxine’s tunnel vision is also cringey in the manner of Laura Dern’s protagonist, Amy Jellicoe, in the wonderfully cringey show Enlightened. But again, Jellicoe, has bigger goals (corporate corruption) and pressures that wasn’t of her own making. Maxine’s crusade is basically against some gossipy housewives who won’t let her be part of their club.

Still, it’s hard to predict where this show will go to an extent and that makes it watchable. It’s also got an excellent period feel (the late 60s), and is careful not to overemphasize “hey this is a period show!” Ricky Martin and Laura Dern are also excellent in their supporting roles.