This blog is sporadically maintained by freelance journalist Orrin Konheim (he regularly writes at http://www.patreon.com/okjournalist) who has been professionally published in over three dozen publications. Orrin was a kid who watched too much TV growing up but didn't discover the joy of film writing until 2003 when he posted his first IMDB user review and got hooked. Orrin runs adult education zoom courses on how to be published, as well as a film of the month club
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.
Out of about 46 movies I saw this year, this list was surprisingly easy to make owing to the fact that there are some great movies I saw that I can’t remember a stand-out scene from months later. Not every film here is among my favorites but I have a clear memory of the scene and continue to look back on these film moments fondly.
Borat 2-Rudy Giuliani gets caught with his pants down
Perhaps as an effort to differentiate himself as one of the good guys, Sasha Baron Cohen opted for more staged scenes than trickery with his subjects that could be construed as mean-spirited. One walloping exception? Rudy Giuliani, one of the most hated politicians of 2020, got caught in a compromising position. It was authentic, true to what we’d come to expect of Giuliani, hilarious and damn cathartic.
2.Trial of the Chicago Seven-The List of Fallen
Sorkin’s latest courtroom drama represents a drastic improvement in self-constraint for the bombastic screen writer. Rather than deliver a big soliloquy to close out this nonsensical court case, the Chicago Seven fights nonsense with the perfect counterdose of nonsense. As a closing statement, Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne) reads a list of names of fallen soldiers rather than save his neck for a lighter sentence. In reality, the list of names was read throughout the trial but it’s an acceptable break from history
3. 7500-Lifeboat ethics pushed to the limit
With Trial of the Chicago Seven, Project Power and this tightly scripted thriller, JGL batted three for three and elevated a typical genre picture to a visceral film about the difficulty of lifeboat ethics at certain points. Gordon-Levitt plays a pilot who has to face down the demands of a hijacked plane and decide between placating terrorists or letting his pregnant girlfriend perish.
4.Palm Springs-Montage of Hijinks
Palm Springs spoke to where I was this year as it spoke to the fun you can have out of static circumstances (yes, I’m talking to you Covid). Andy Samberg has always been more goofball than actor but it was a joy to which Christine Milioti go toe for toe with him on such fun adventures like stealing a plane and upstaging the bride at a wedding by pretending to be Russian spies.
5. Project Power-Surviving a Bullet to the face
Never underestimate the potential for a good action scene when you have a clever enough concept. In Project Power, a street drug enables the user to have superpowers for exactly one minute. An undercover cop (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) takes the drug that gives him bulletproof abilities and sets the timer on his watch down from 60 before pursuing a couple of enhanced criminals. When a trigger-happy perp shoots him, he falls to the ground right as his superpower expires and the bullet bounces off his face. Behind the scenes, Gordon-Levitt endured having his face air blasted.
6.Promising Young Woman-“What are you doing?”
If there’s a case for screenwriter Emerald Fennell to get the Oscar (which she won), it’s her knack for throwing twist after twist that shakes up the direction of the story all over the tonal spectrum. None is as killer as the first one where Carey Mulligan’s character, Cassie, looks as if she’s about to be raped before she turns the tables on her assaulter. All Cassie needs to do to establish control of the situation is to add a dash of inflection to her voice.
7.Seberg-A Sincere Apology Too Late
Several films this year entailed roughly the same plot: Marginalized historic figures (most often black) in the mid-20th Century being horrifically conspired against by powerful institutional forces comprised mostly of white men in suits that are governed by wrong-headed beliefs. United States vs Billie Holiday, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Trial of the Chicago 7, Seberg and (from what I hear) Judas and the Black Messiah make up this list. Additionally, they all have an upright figure caught in the middle who’s morally conflicted about it. I wouldn’t call Seberg the best of these films. However, the covert conversation between G-Man Jack Solomon (Jack O’Connell) and actress Jean Seberg (Kristen Stewart) at an anonymous hotel bar where he issues a fruitless apology (her life has already been ruined) is certainly a poignant scene.
8. Trial of the Chicago 7-Quote of the Year
Yes, Aaron Sorkin gets blabby as stated earlier but a good courtroom drama needs great dialogue. The characters are lightning quick in expressing their thoughts in ways that the screenwriters get some leeway with since these are characters who have been schooled on how to best use the spoken word. Anyway, this is a doozy:
Judge Julius Hoffman: Mr. Kunstler, I have lived a a very long time, sir, and you’re the first person ever to suggest that I have discriminated against a black man!
Leonard Weinglass: Then let the record show that I am the second.
9.The Father-Antony shows a little more kindness to Laura
Just as a film based around a first-person look at dementia is constructed like an enigma, so is Antony. He’s charming one minute and fiercely defensive the next and at one point he’s downright cruel to his new nurse (Imogen Poots). The next day, the two meet for their first session and it’s a sweet moment of connection combined with a deserved apology. This scene also sets up a casting shift later on as Poots is replaced by Olivia Williams.
10. Tenet-Crashing a plane into an airplane hanger
Making no compromises in terms of stunts or production, Christopher Nolan ran up a bill of over $200 million (his second most expensive film) and had the misfortune of having it released during the pandemic. Poor guy. If he’s willing to crash a freaking plane into an airplane hangar for our enjoyment, I’ll give him a slot in the top ten.
11. Troop Zero-Two old comrades share a cigarette
This Southern-fried tragi-dramedy of a spunky girl’s (McKenna Grace) dream to enter a Girl Scout contest and win contact with astronauts isn’t about a triumph of the underdog or the joy of achieving your dreams. It’s a bittersweet slice-of-life drip about the noble struggle in almost making it. Viola Davis plays a beleaguered legal assistant, Miss Rayleen, to Grace’s father who begrudgingly takes over troop leader duties when no one else will take the job and she finds herself dealing with a rigged playing field by a scout administrator (Miss Massey, Allison Janney) who happens to be a childhood friend. A certain amount of racism or classicism is coming into play over what’s holding the pair back but this isn’t a film about the evil of racism as it is just a portrait of what is. At the end of the film, the two colleagues share a cigarette and Miss Massey tells her she should go off to law school implying that she knows life’s unfair in this town and there’s a place where she’ll be more appreciated.
12. Bill and Ted Face the Music-Bill and Ted create the most elaborate avant-garde song yet
One of the best gags of this much-anticipated laugh fest is seeing Bill and Ted going “bigger is better” with an increasingly elaborate song for Missy’s wedding dance. It starts with the traditional guitar and drum set-up before jumping into steel drums, throat singing, bagpipes, and poorly played jazz trumpet while the newlyweds have to figure out how to dance to this atonal arrhythmic mess. Eventually, Ted’s dad pulls the plug on the atonal mess which is a shame because I wanted to know where the song went next. Fun fact, Keanu Reeves learned to play the bagpipes for this scene.
13. My Octopus Teacher-Our eight-legged friend survives shark attack #2
Whether the octopus or shark survives is all part of the food chain — either one goes hungry or one becomes dinner — but this documentary created an unshakable bond between the octopus and audience at the expense of his predator. After losing a couple limbs in round one, the octopus swung around and latched himself onto the shark’s back when it came for him in the second round.
14. I Care a Lot-Two enemies agree to a compromise
For much of its running time, I Care a Lot is a brutally insensitive film that asks us to root for a heroine who commits the horrific act of elder abuse. Her only saving grace is that she’s going up against the mob but it’s a pretty close call who’s worse. I’ve rarely seen a film save itself in the past few minutes, however. When the two bad guys form an alliance at the end, the film morphs from being a misguided fable to a black comedy in which everyone has blood on their hands.
15. Prom-The “Love Thy Neighbor” number
Thank god for the against-type casting for this Broadway adaptation which saw James Corden play the flamboyant gay Midwesterner and Andrew Rannell (a gay actor who often gets cast that way) playing a non-descript Julliard graduate who shines as one of the film’s side characters. His “You Pick and Choose” number shows off Rannell’s effortless showmanship as he dances around a mall food court in a musical number that’s reminiscent of a modern day flash mob (they all take place at malls, don’t they?). His number echoes what most biblical scholars already know: That any condemnations of divorce, homosexuality, or marriage out of wedlock are pretty selective readings of the Christian bible.
Honorable Mention:
Blow the Man Down-Margo Martindale faces down three of her peers who object to her vice
Borat 2-Borat convincing Tutar that every women with a driver’s license they encounter is secretly a man
Borat 2-Borat’s encounter with a Holocaust survivor
The Dig-Lily James and Johnny Flynn get it amidst the psychological ruins
The Dig-Carey Mulligan goes to bat for Ralph Fiennes
Hillbilliy Elegy-Amy Adams cutting through the hospital on roller skates
Kajillionaire-Gina Rodriguez taking Evan Rachel Wood up on her offer of $1000 to say “I love you” and whisking her away from her abusive parents
I’m Thinking of Ending Things-Cut to a janitor who might or might not be Jesse Plemons
News of the World-Tom Hanks’s unusual ammunition
Palm Springs-Andy Sambergs cuts through the dance floor with perfect precision en route to impressing Cristin Milioti
Promising Young Woman-Cassie’s posthumous fail-safe mechanism
Soul-Our first view of the Great Beyond in its multi-chromatic splendor
Unhinged-Russell Crowe making mincemeat of Jimmi Simpson at a diner counter
United States verse Billie Holiday-“God Bless the Child”
I just noticed this pattern as i was strolling through some best picture winners. They usually feature either great supporting roles, breakout actors in supporting roles, or actors in supporting roles before they broke-out:
Titanic: pre-Fantastic Four Ioan Gufford (if i spelt his name wrong, i don't care) pre-Alias Viktor Garber Kathy Bates
Shakespeare in Love: pre-Love Actually Colin Firth pre-Vera Drake Imadela Staunton pre-In the Bedroom Tom Wilkinson
American Beauty: pre-Star Trek: Enterprise Scott Bakula pre-Seabiscuit Chris Cooper pre-Ghost World Thora Birch pre-West Wing Allison Janey pre-O.C. Peter Gallagher
Gladiator: pre-In America Djimon Hotsou pre-Walk the Line Joaquin Pheonix in a breakout role
A Beautiful Mind: pre-Rent Anthony Rapp pre-Sweet Home Alabama Josh Lukas perrenial character actor Adam Goldberg Judd Hirsch Ed Harris pre-Wimbledon Paul Bettany in a Breakout Role
Chicago: pre-Talladega Nights John C Riley in a Breakout Role Lucy Lui Christine Barinski Queen Latifah
Lord of the Rings: pre-Pirates Orlando Bloom (sort of) pre-Hidalgo Virgo Mortgensen in a breakout role Sean Astin Christopher Lee Cate Blanchett Mirando Otto Ian McKellan
Million Dollar Baby: bucks the trend
Crash: Ryan Phillipe Thandie Newton pre-Hustle and Flow (by 3 months) Terrence Howard Jennifer Esposito Sandra Bullock Matt Dillon Don Cheadle Chris "Ludacris" Bridges in a breakout role
Departed: Anthony Anderson, Vera Farminga, Ray Winstone and Mark Wahlberg will break out onto a new level of stardom, I predict In addition, Martin Sheen and Alec Baldwin inhabit great small roles in this movie
Million Dollar Baby is the only one which bucks the trend, which is odd because Golden Globe winner of that year Aviator fits that trend better with a supporting cast that include: Wilhem DeFoe, Jude Law, Gwen Stefani, Kate Beckinsdale, Cate Blanchett, John C. Riley, Ian Holm, Alec Baldwin and Alan Alda
