March-April Edition: What Am I Watching: Miracle Workers, Superstore, Tales from the Loop, etc

Shows I'm watching live:

1 Miracle Workers: Dark Ages (TBS). The first season was an extremely clever show from Simon Rich (Man Seeking Woman) who is an extraordinarily witty outside-the-box writer. It involved three angels (No offense, but I’m not counting Lolly Adefope’s character as part of the team, more of a last-minute convert) who are trying to work around the fact that God (Steve Buscemi) is an idiot. An errant decision of his dooms the planet Earth and the seven-episode season revolved around a two day clock. "Miracle Workers Dark Ages" uses the same sense of humor and cast but it's a completely different scenario.

Not only does the second season lack the stakes of a doomsday scenario, there’s a potential-squandering lack of direction here. Alexandra (Geraldine Viswanathan) wants to avoid the profession of her father (Steve Buscemi) Edward Shitshoveler. Within the first three episodes she leaves the profession twice only to land back at square one like a Road Runner cartoon. The next episode involves the difficulty of her brother (Jon Bass) in making friends and then there’s an episode that’s an allegory about dealing with political nut jobs at the Thanksgiving table that’s a little thin. It’s only in the last two or three episodes that an arc forms. Still, there are plenty of jokes that land and the characters are very likable. With the creative team behind this, I’m confident that this can be a great third season with a reset button.

Source: Time Magazine

2. Nora from Queens (Comedy Central)  The star vehicle for Awkwafina is about an immature late 20-something who has a really strong personality. Watching this makes me wonder how "The Farewell" could be considered a success when it squandered such a great comic talent.

Her comic personality is primarily one of childlike impatience and over-eagerness to spread her brand of fun to strangers, but she has a lot of gears she can go to. The central question of the show (it’s about a 27-year-old living at home and taxing her dad’s lifestyle) is about how to adult on your own terms. Also of note, Jennifer Eposito rocks an eccentric wardrobe and personality and shines in general as a love interest for Awkwafina’s father.

3. Superstore (NBC)-Business as usual. America Ferrera's Amy Sosa as the boss makes the show much better.

Credit: TV Line

4.Zoey's Infinite Playlist (NBC)-Jane Levy is a young computer coder who just got a promotion as a manager to a team of programmers including her best friend who has a crush on her (Skyler Astin, Pitch Perfect) and an engaged programmer she has a crush on. She also has misfortune at home because her dad (Peter Gallagher) had a stroke and is possibly terminally ill. Her chaotic home and work life are thrown for a curve when she discovers that she has the unique power to hear other people's emotions in song and that apparently the universe won't leave her alone unless she helps the people singing with their life problems. 

The show has a great cast with Mary Steenburgen as Zoey's mom and Lauren Graham as her boss. It's kind of ironic because 95% of Peter Gallagher's screentime is just sitting in a chair. Poor Peter.

The show isn't amazing and the love triangle is highly predictable (and problematic...Zoey's pretty casually ok with breaking up a marriage) but it's certainly watchable and like any musical, when the choreography and music works, it increases the rewatchability. 

6. Tales from the Loop (Amazon)-The show resembles "Wayward Pines" or "Castle Rock" in that it's a mysterious New England town [Correction: It's in Ohio, but seems very New Englandish and is actually based on concept art from Sweden] with conspiracies or scientific anomalies (in the case of the former or "Once Upon a Time") to uncover. It's mostly serialized with a "Twilight Zone" element. 

The show moves on a new level of slow and requires a conscious downshifting of gears on the part of the viewer to take it in. There's enough time to take in the scenes but there's a lot of dead space that isn''t necessary. Still, it can be chalked up to an apt stylistic choice.

"Twilight Zone"-type shows like this work through an Earth-shattering twist at the end that inverts your perception of what you thought you know and hopefully sparks a deep thought or two. The leisurely stroll of the show prevents such a dramatic twist. In the first episode, the twist occurs about halfway through the episode which is a major pacing mistake that causes the epilogue to drag on to mind-numbing lengths.

The second episode (in which two teens from different socio-economic backgrounds switch bodies) is a little more clever about misdirection but then all of a sudden a robot shows up which is neither here nor there. The main question of the plot was how the kids would react to their new lives (Answer: one of them would use it to take advantage of the other). Again, the epilogue is an answer to a question that the viewer never asked.

Slow shows take a while to click and the third episode seems to be where things fall into place. It builds on previous installment and there are multiple twists that are well-timed and build on top of one another. The third episode (two kids decide to make a forbidden romance a reality through the stopping of time) finally starts to get the hang of it.

7. Good Girls (NBC)-The first season and change had the problem of Rio being too powerful and Beth not having enough leverage. I say this often but tragedy has less of a place for my appetite in TV than in film: To watch the same character be beaten up over and over can be highly dispiriting whereas to see someone make the wrong choice and have them pay for it in a two-hour span is a fine bit of poetry. "Good Girls" started to get good when Beth started to figure out Rio and play as his equal.

For some reason, I fell off viewing this show and planned to catch up but it became more daunting as the increasing number of Season 3 episodes meant I would have to invest more hours. A week ago, I started randomly watching (because of the "Zoey's Playlist"lead-in) and found the show to be nice and easy to jump back into. The Beth vs Rio interplay is still there and grounded in a sense of healthy reality and there is sufficient side plot fodder for Annie and Ruby.

Megalist: All movies over the last 20 years which starred 3 Oscar Winners or More

I've started to notice that the formula for a good movie is to have two stars in it. Very not often do you see films investing beyond that unless it's a mega-ensemble film like Bobby, Murder on the Orient Express or something along those lines. 

I did one of those megalists where I made the criteria films with three Oscar winning actors in the cast excluding Oscar recipients (although honorary recipients are just as worthy, and I will die along those lists). This is not a 100% accurate measure of stardom, and I included people before they won the Oscar or in films for which they won their Oscar (i.e. Shakespeare in Love, A Beautiful Mind) so Larry Crowne (which has a small role for Rami Malek) is essentially a two-star film with a break out star. Lastly worth nothing, a handful of Oscar winners (Judi Dench, Jon Voight, Jim Broadbent, Christopher Plummer, Chris Cooper) are not particularly selective with their roles and don't demand (or maybe simply aren't afforded) top roles, so they normally squeeze into casts in all sorts of places.

Still it's (slightly) interesting to read.

1998:

Shakespeare in Love: Gwyneth Paltrow*, Colin Firth, Geoffery Rush, Judi Dench*
Great Expectations: Gwyneth Paltrow, Anne Bancroft, Robert DeNiro, Chris Coooper

Enemy of the State: Will Smith, Gene Hackman, Jon Voight, Regina King, Jason Robards

Primary Colors: Emma Thompson, Kathy Bates, Allison Janney

Antz: Gene Hackman, Anne Bancroft, Christopher Walken

One True Thing: Meryl Streep, Rene Zellweger, William Hurt

Big Lebowski: Jeff Bridges, Julianne Moore, Phillip Seymour Hoffman

A Thin Red Line: Sean Penn, George Clooney, Adrian Brody
Meet Joe Black: Anthony Hopkins, Brad, Marcia Gay Harden

Midsummer Nights Dream: Kevin Kline, Sam Rockwell, Christian Bale
Elizabeth: Cate Blanchett, John Gielgud, Geoffery Rush

1999:

Talented Mr Ripley: Gwyneth Paltrow, Cate Blanchett, Phillip Seymour Hoffman

American Beauty: Kevin Spacey,* Chris Cooper, Allison Janney

Cider House Rules: Michael Caine*, Charlize Theron, JK Simmons, Kieran Culkin

Insider: Russell Crowe, Al Pacino, Christopher Plummer
Magnolia: Julianne Moore, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Jason Robards

Tea with Moussilini: Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Cher

Music of the Heart: Meryl Streep, Chloris Leachman, Kieran Culkin
Any Given Sunday: Al Pacino, Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, Charlton Heston

8 MM: Nicolas Cage, Robert Duvall, Joaquin Phoenix

2000:

Traffic: Michael Douglas, Benicio del Toro*, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Viola Davis
Quills: Geoffery Rush, Kate Winslet, Michael Caine, Joaquin Phoenix

Finding Forrester: Sean Connery, F. Murray Abraham, Anna Paquin

Almost Famous: Frances McDormand, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Anna Paquin

Nurse Betty: Rene Zellweger, Morgan Freeman, Allison Janney

Men of Honor: Cuba Gooding Jr, Robert DeNiro, Charlize Theron

Requiem for a Dream: Ellen Burstyn, Jennifer Connelly, Jared Leto
Gone in 60 Seconds: Nicholas Cage, Angelina Jolie, Robert Duvall
Dr T and the Women: Helen Hunt, Laura Dern, Lee Grant

Legend of Bagger Vance: Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jack Lemmon

Wonderboys: Michael Douglas, Frances McDormand, Robert Downey Jr.

2001:

Royal Tenenbaums: Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Gwyneth Paltrow

Shipping News: Kevin Spacey, Julianne Moore, Judi Dench

Beautiful Mind: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly*, Christopher Plummer

Ocean’s 11: George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Casey Affleck, Brad Pitt

Miss Congeniality: Sandra Bullock, Michael Caine, Regina King

Iris: Judi Dench, Jim Broadbent*, Kate Winslet

Hannibal: Julianne Moore, Anthony Hopkins, Gary Oldman
Bridget Jones Diary: Rene Zellweger, Colin Firth, Jim Broadbent

I Am Sam: Sean Penn, Dianne Weist, Laura Dern, Mary Steenburgen
America's Sweethearts: Julia Roberts, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Christopher Walken
Captain Corelli's Mandolin: Penelope Cruz, Nicolas Cage, Christian Bale
The Pledge: Jack Nicholson, Benicio del Toro, Helen Mirren

2002:

Adaptation: Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper*, Tilda Swinton

Hours: Nicole Kidman*, Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep, Allison Janney

Catch Me If You Can: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken

Gangs of New York: Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, Jim Broadbent

Insomnia: Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Hillary Swank

Banger Sisters: Goldie Hawn, Susan Sarandon, Geoffery Rush

Nicholas Nickelby: Anne Hathaway, Christopher Plummer, Jim Broadbent

Panic Room: Jodi Foster, Forrest Whitaker, Jared Leto
Moonlight Mile: Dustin Hoffman, Susan Sarandon, Holly Hunter

Spiderman: Cliff Robertson, JK Simmons, Octavia Spencer

2003:

Cold Mountain: Nicole Kidman, Rene Zellweger*, Natalie Portman, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Cillian Murphy

21 Grams: Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Melissa Leo

Legally Blonde 2: Reese Witherspoon, Sally Field, Regina King

Mystic River: Sean Penn*, Tim Robbins*, Marcia Gay Harden

Runaway Jury: Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman, Rachel Weisz

Intolerable Cruelty: George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Geoffery Rush

Something’s Gotta Give: Jack Nicholson, Dianne Keaton, Frances McDormand

Gothika: Halle Berry, Penelope Cruz, Robert Downey Jr. 

2004:

Ocean’s 12: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Julia Roberts, Casey Affleck
Alexander: Anthony Hopkins, Angelina Jolie, Christopher Plummer, Jared Leto
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow: Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Marlon Brando

Finding Neverland: Kate Winslet, Dustin Hoffman, Julie Christie

National Treasure: Nicolas Cage, Jon Voight, Christopher Plummer

Manchurian Candidate: Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, Jon Voight
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason: Rene Zellweger, Jim Broadbent, Colin Firth

The Village: Adrien Brody, William Hurt, Joaquin Phoenix

The Terminal: Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Zoey Saldana

2005:

Batman Begins: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman

Bewitched: Nicole Kidman, Michael Caine, Shirley MacLaine

Miss Congeniality 2: Sandra Bullock, Michael Caine, Regina King
North Country: Charlize Theron, Francis McDormand, Sissy Spacek

Syriana: George Clooney*, Chris Cooper, William Hurt, Christopher Plummer, Viola Davis

Robots: Halle Berry, Robin Williams, Dianne Weisz, Jim Broadbent

[Empire Falls: Helen Hunt, Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward]

2006:

Good Shepard: Angelina Jolie, Robert DeNiro, Eddie Redmayne, Joe Pesci, William Hurt

Prairie Home Companion: Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Tommy Lee Jones

Superman Returns: Kevin Spacey, Eva Marie Saint, Marlon Brando

All the King’s Men: Sean Penn, Anthony Hopkins, Kate Winslet

Inside Man: Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster, Christopher Plummer

Ant Bully: Meryl Streep, Nicholas Cage, Julia Roberts, Regina King

2007:

I’m Not There: Cate Blanchett, Chrstian Bale, Heath Ledger, Julianne Moore

National Treasure 2: Nicolas Cage, Jon Voight, Helen Mirren

Elizabeth the Golden Age: Cate Blanchett, Geoffery Rush, Eddie Redmayne

Darjeeling Limited: Adrianne Brody, Anjelica Huston, Natalie Portman

American Gangster: Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Cuba Gooding Jr

Charlie Wilson’s War: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Phillip Seymour Hoffman

In the Valley of Elah: Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, Susan Sarandon

Ocean’s 13: Al Pacino, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck
Assassination of Jesse James: Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Sam Rockwell

Hot Fuzz: Olivia Colman, Jim Broadbent, Brad Pitt

2008:

Four Christmases: Reese Witherspoon, Robert Duvall, Mary Steenburgen, Sissy Spacek, Jon Voight

Dark Knight: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger*, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy

Burn After Reading: Frances McDormand, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton, JK Simmons

Revolutionary Road: Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCpario, Kathy Bates

Doubt: Meryl Streep, Viola Davis, Phillip Seymour Hoffman

Iron Man: Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges
Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton

Righteous Kill: Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Melissa Leo

Tropic Thunder: Robert Downey Jr, Matthew McConaughey, Jon Voight

2009:
Nine: Daniel Day-Lewis, Nicole Kidman, Sophia Loren, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench

Brothers Bloom: Adrian Brody, Rachel Weisz, Maxmillan Schell

Men Who Stare at Goats: Kevin Spacey, George Clooney, Jeff Bridges

Everybody’s Fine: Robert DeNiro, Sam Rockwell, Melissa Leo

State of Play: Russell Crowe, Helen Mirren, Viola Davis

Soloist: Jamie Foxx, Robert Downey Jr,  Octavia Spencer

2010:

Valentine’s Day: Anne Hathaway, Jamie Fox, Shirley MacLaine, Kathy Bates, Julia Roberts

Red: Helen Mirren, Anthony Hopkins, Ernest Borgnine, Richard Dreyfuss

Inception: Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Caine, Marion Cotillard, Cillian Murphy

Little Fockers: Dustin Hoffman, Robert DeNiro, Barbara Streisand

Conviction: Hillary Swank, Melissa Leo, Sam Rockwell

Eat Pray Love: Julia Roberts, Viola Davis, Javier Bardem

Iron Man 2: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Sam Rockwell

2011:

The Help: Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer*, Allison Janney, Sissy Spacek, Mary Steenburgen, Jessica Chastain

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: Sandra Bullock, Tom Hanks, Viola Davis
New Year's Eve: Robert DeNiro, Halle Berry, Hillary Swank 

Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides: Penelope Cruz, Geoffery Rush, Judi Dench

Carnage: Jodi Foster, Kate Winslet, Christophe Waltz

Midnight in Paris: Marion Cotillard, Adrian Brody, Kathy Bates

Crazy Stupid Love: Emma Stone, Julianne Moore, Marisa Tomei

The Ides of March: George Clooney, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Tomei

Larry Crowne: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Rami Malek

Iron Lady: Meryl Streep*, Jim Broadbent, Olivia Colman
Contagion: Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Marion Cotillard

Tree of Life: Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain, Sean Penn

Cars 2: Michael Caine, Vanessa Redgrave, Whoopi Goldberg

King Fu Panda 2: Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Gary Oldman, Michelle Yeoh

2012:

Dark Knight Rises: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Anne Hathaway, Gary Oldman, Marion Cotillard, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman

Django Unchained: Jamie Foxx, Christophe Waltz*, Leonardo DiCaprio

Lincoln: Daniel Day-Lewis*, Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones

Amazing Spiderman: Emma Stone, Sally Field, Chris Cooper

Les Miserables: Anne Hathaway*, Russell Crowe, Eddie Redmayne

The Company You Keep: Julie Christie, Susan Sarandon, Chris Cooper
The Master: Joaquin Phoenix, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Laura Dern

2013:

Last Vegas: Roberto De Niro, Michael Douglas, Mary Steenburgen, Kevin Kline, Morgan Freeman

The Butler: Forrest Whitaker, Jane Fonda, Robin Williams, Cuba Gooding Jr, Vanessa Redgrave

American Hustle: Christian Bale, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert DeNiro

Wolf of Wall Street: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jean DuJardin, Matthew McConaughey

Stand Up Guys:  Christopher Walken, Alan Arkin, Al Pacino
Red 2: Helen Mirren, Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones
The Big Wedding: Robin Willliams, Robert DeNiro, Susan Sarandon, Dianne Keaton
The Counselor: Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz

August Osage County: Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Chris Cooper

Movie 43: Emma Stone, Kate Winslet, Kieran Culkin

2014:

Interstellar: Matthew McConaughey, Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway, Casey Affleck, Ellen Burstyn, Michael Caine

Grand Budapest Hotel: F. Murray Abraham, Tilda Swinton, Adrian Brody

Night at the Museum 2:  Robin Williams, Rami Malek, Ben Kingsley

X-Men Days of Future Past: Jennifer Lawrence, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin

Hunger Games Mockingjay 1: Jennifer Lawrence, Julianne Moore, Phillip Seymour Hoffman,            Amazing Spiderman 2: Emma Stone, Sally Field, Chris Cooper

Noah: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Anthony Hopkins
Monuments Men: George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Jean DuJardin

The Homesman: Tommy Lee Jones, Hillary Swank, Meryl Streep

Inherent Vice: Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Benicio del Toro

2015:
Youth: Michael Caine, Jane Fonda, Rachel Weisz

Big Short: Christain Bale, Marissa Tomei, Melissa Leo, Brad Pitt

Hunger Games Mockingjay 2: Jennifer Lawrence, Julianne Moore, Phillip Seymour Hoffman

Magic in the Moonlight: Colin Firth, Emma Stone, Marcia Gay Harden

2016:

Bridget Jones Baby: Rene Zellweger, Jim Broadbent, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson

Hail Caesar: George Clooney, Francis McDormand, Tilda Swinton

Jungle Book: Ben Kinglsey, Lupita Nyongo, Chrisopher Walken

Suicide Squad: Jared Leto, Will Smith, Viola Davis

Knight of Cups: Christain Bale, Cate Blanchett, Natalie Portman

Captain America Civil War: Robert Downey Jr, William Hurt, Marissa Tomei

2017:

Murder on the Orient Express: Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Olivia Colman

Kingsman 2: Julianne Moore, Colin Firth, Halle Berry, Jeff Bridges

Tulip Fever: Alicia Vickander, Christophe Waltz, Judi Dench

Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Men Tell No Tales: Javier Bardem, Geoffrey Rush, Penelope Cruz

2018:

Mamma Mia 2: Meryl Streep, Colin Firth, Cher

Book Club: Mary Steenburgen, Dianne Keaton, Jane Fonda, Richard Dreyfuss
The Favourite: Olivia Colman*, Rachel Weisz, Emma Stone

Black Panther: Forest Whitaker, Lupita N'yonga, Juliette Whitaker
Avengers Infinity War: Benicio del Toro, Gwyneth Paltrow, William Hurt, Brie Larson

Ocean's 8: Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway

Widows: Robert Duvall, Viola Davis, Dan Kaluuya

2019:

Little Women-Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, Laura Dern
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood-Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Al Pacino, Mikey Madison

Avengers Endgame: Tilda Swinton, Michael Douglas, Marisa Tomei, William Hurt, Natalie Portman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Robert Downey Jr

Addams Family: Charlize Theron, Allison Janney, Mikey Madison

Irishman: Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, Al Pacino, Anna Paquin

2020:

Prom-Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Ariana DeBose

Dolittle-Emma Thompson, Rami Malek, Octavia Spencer, Marion Cotillard, Jim Broadbent

Little Things-Denzel Washington, Jared Leto, Rami Malek

The quintessential Florida film: Sunshine State

The Quintessential Florida film: Sunshine State

Since Ponce de Leon came to Florida looking for his fountain of youth, the state of Florida has historically been a land of opportunity with vastly different groups of dream seekers -- the tourist industry, Russian arms dealers, Cuban emigres, Latino power players, Northeastern snowbirds, adherents of the philosophy/religion of Jimmy Buffet -- intersecting to make a vast socio-economic web that includes the moderately dysfunctional government we often read about.

There are a lot of great examples of Florida films covering all those different views of Floridian life: Off the top of my head, there's the dysfunctional urban landscape of Miami in Barry Sonnenfeld's adaptation of the Dave Barry book "Big Trouble," the mob film "Scarface" (few know that Al Capone ran much of his Chicago mob operations from Florida), the portrait of Florida as an lavish 50's vacation spot for snowboards in "Some Like it Hot" and "Palm Beach Story," Miami as a happening singles scene in "Hitch," and the more backwater view of Florida as a small-town haven of eccentric characters in "Because of Winn Dixie."

Rather than pick and choose any one specific version of Florida for the quintessential Florida film, I've chosen "Sunshine State" because it includes the intersection of multiple Floridian versions in one Altmanesque whirlwind.

The underrated gem by John Sayles flew under the radar when it was released in 2002 but it's worth a second look. Starring an ensemble that includes Mary Steenburgen, Edie Falco, Angela Bassett, Timothy Hutton, Alan King, James McDaniel, and Jane Alexander, the film centers around seaside town whose tranquil existence is threatened by an enroaching real estate developer.

Florida is largely a state where real estate development is the rule of the land. The city of Miami, for example, is no longer home to the Miami Dolphins, Miami Beach, University of Miami, Key Biscayne, or even Miami airport. As seen below, all those places broke off from the main city proper as the municipalities became dominated by gated communities and developments that encouraged voters to need the city less. Miami, in fact, survived a vote to dissolve the city entirely in 1997.

Steenburgen stars as a chamber of commerce head and overanxious real estate developer who is trying so hard to sell her latest development she doesn't even notice that her husband (King) is suicidal. In my years of local reporting, I have come across these Chamber of Commerce types and these jobs typically require very perky people who speak about where they live like it's shangri-la.

The only reason there isn't enough sprawl to connect the East and West coasts of Florida is through the tireless work of wetland preservationists (what ultimately dooms this real estate venture). The Everglades saved through the championing of Majority Stoneman Douglas who now has a number of streets, statues, and parks named after her in South Florida.

Bassett stars as former town pariah Desiree Perry who got pregnant by the local football star (McDaniel) before he made it big and is now returning to her hometown. She's deciding on behalf of her family whether to sell the land or preserve the special piece of her town. The theme here is Florida being a dream for so many conflicting groups of people is represented here. For Bassett's character and her neighbors, the town represented the opportunity for blacks to have their little piece of the beach. The town also highlights the pockets of poverty found in many a Florida coastal town.

Lastly, we have Edie Falco as Marley Temple who represents the state's evolving tourist industry. Temple, a sixth generation Floridian, used to be a mermaid in one of the seaside attractions that lined the highways before the corporate megaliths of Sea World and Disney World took over. What Temple is referencing, when she talks about her past life as a mermaid, is a real tourist attraction: The mermaids at Weeki Wachi Springs.

 

This is also a Florida thing, as the mermaid shows or the alligator shows that still populate the land today pose all sorts of questions as to how to promote nature, myth, and how not to step on past or future waves of progress in the tourist industry.  

Falco is now an owner of the family motel who's sick of where she's living. Her tryst with a landscape architect hired (Timothy Hutton) by the prospective land developer. It's a metaphor for the past Florida going the way of the future.

As a tapestry of intersecting lives, Sunshine State works as a great scene piece that has aged well and will likely continue to be relevant.

Melvin and Howard (1980) Review

The actual story the film is based on: In 1968, four years before reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes died, he was reported to have had an encounter with a good-natured blue collar worker, Howard Dummar. Dummar picked up Hughes when he was stranded on the side of a Las Vegas road and gave him a ride to Las Vegas. When Hughes died,he bequeathed money to Dummar as a reward for his good deed. Unfortunately, Hughes' estate and the Nevada courts found Hughes' story too unbelievable to be true and Dummar never got the money.

The movie itself is well-intentioned and it truly has interesting characters. An actor I've never heard of before in my life, Paul Le Mat, plays Dumar with an innocent "aw shucks" attitude that endears him to the audience and strengthens our opinion of him as the rightful heir. He lets himself get easily seduced by an older female customer when he's delivering milk and when the woman who turns out to be his second wife makes suggestive innuendo at him, he says in a flabbergasted tone "Bonnie, aren't you a Mormon girl?"

His first wife Linda, who was the focus of my attention on this film based on the fact that the only thing I knew about the film was that it was Mary Steenburgen's Academy-award winning role, was also an interesting character: underneath the guise of her provocative clothing and desire to be a dancer (be it exotic or tap), she's equally innocent and oblivious to the world around her.

Except for the one scene in which Bonnie seduces Howard, she's woefully underdeveloped and there's very little reason to be happy to see her and Howard at the end of the film together. The film wants us to feel that the tragedy that is hitting Howard is hitting Bonnie' as well, since she's his wife. Because of the way marriages were coming and going in Howard's life and the initial chemistry between Linda and Howard, I was kind of hoping that Bonnie was just a temporary road stop en route back to Linda. Never mind that in REAL LIFE, Howard and Linda didn't get back together, the story never made me see Bonnie as anything more than some impulsive farmgirl in need of a man. The chemistry or story arc between the two needed to be strengthened up front.

Another woefully underdeveloped relationship was that between Melvin and Howard which is what someone might get the impression the film is about, considering it's the title of the film. The story, or the most interesting part of it, was all about Melvin's inheritance of Howard's money, and that only came back in the last 20 minutes of the film as a sort of epilogue to the story of Melvin's unsuccessful marriage to Linda. Some reviews said that the story was about the myth American dream of the American dream unearthed as Melvin's story was a backwards version of Howard's story. To me, however, it seemed like there needed to be at least some allusion to Howard Hughes- a reminder that he was in the story in any capacity at all - between the first ten minutes and the last twenty.

While I understand the film is a classic, to me, the film never really knew what it was about: A man's failed on-again off-again marriage, an almost complete portrait of a man who would go on to become a footnote in history, or the story of a man's controversial claim to inheritance.

Ode to Working Actors

Today I browsed through a very interesting book on casting from Barnes and Noble. I read the entire first chapter and I learned that there were essentially 6 types of categories of actors according to these casting directors who wrote the book. You can drop down in categories if you haven’t done significant enough work in a while. The authors note that the following categories apply for movies. A successful TV star like Amanda Byrnes, Topher Grace and Wilmer Valderama, Frankie Muniz or George Clooney when he was just starting out in the movie business, is much lower on the ladder:

1. Unknowns-Pretty much nobodies, they could be fresh out of college

2. Working Actors-These are guys that highly astute film buffs, fans of a certain niche (like Star Trek fans might be more familiar with Armin Shimerman than the general public, for example, or fans of Mr. Show might know Bob Oderink and David Cross) might know of. They find steady work and pop up in a lot of films as character actors and you’ll often recognize their faces before recognizing their names.

3. Names-People know their names

4. Stars-People know their names and they must add clout to a film

5. A-Listers-If one of these people like Harrison Ford or George Clooney or Rene Zellweger signs onto a film, than it’s enough to get the film greenlit

6. A Plus Listers-Not only will their name attached to a film project equal a green light but they are almost guaranteed to make you money. To be an A-plus lister, it’s not just about acting but usually you or your agents have a keen eye for good material as most of your films are big hits (i.e. Will Smith, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Russell Crowe, Mel Gibson although it will be interesting how his anti-Semitic tirade will affect things). Surprisingly enough, the three most bankable actors statistically are Will Smith, Tom Cruise and Mike Meyers. With Austin Powers and Shrek, Meyers has a very high average, although that might be a misleading statistic since it’s easier to be bankable if you’re doing a lot of sequels.

Examples of working actors:

-Anthony Heald (Boston Public, X-Men 3, 8 Milimeter)

-Virginia Madsen before her Oscar nomination, Mercedes Reuhl (she actually won an Oscar in the early 90’s but she fills out mostly guest star roles)

-James Cromwell-I’d call him borderline. He was in Babe, played the villain in LA Confidential and played the president in Sum of All Fears, but do more than 3 out of 10 people on the street know him by name?

-James Rebhorn-This guy always plays the bad guy from Dave to Scent of a Woman to the last episode of Sienfeld as the prosecutor

-Speaking of people who played the president, Bill Pulliam

-Johnothan Pryce (A Bond Villain, Evita, back in the 80s he was actually a star)

-Sean Bean (The Island, Goldeneye, Troy)

-Jonothan McBraye (Guest spots on Arrested Development, 30 Rock, Talladega Nights)

-Kathy Baker (All the King’s Men, a guest spot on Star Trek, Boston Public)

-Teri Polo (depending on how many people are intimately familiar with the cast list for Meet the Fockers, she was on an unsuccessful season of TV with I’m with Her and was the female love interest in Aspen Extreme)

-Alan Tyduck (I’m sorry if I spelt his name wrong, highlights include Serenity and Dodgeball)

-Noah Taylor (Life Aquatic, The New World, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)

-Bud Cort (MASH, Life Aquatic)

-Rene Auberjoinis (MASH, McCabe and Mrs Miller, guest spots on Frasier as his mentor, Star Trek, Boston Legal)

-Saul Rubineck (guest spots on Frasier as Daphne’s fiancée Donnie, Unforgiven, For Love or Money, I Love Trouble, Dick)

-Kevin Pollack (who looks a lot like Saul Rubineck, The Aristocrats, The Whole Nine Yards)

-Alan Ruck (Cheaper by the Dozen, Spin City, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off)

-Paula Marshall (A show called Cupid, a guest spot on Sienfeld, Cheaper by the Dozen)

-Laura Knightlighter (Guest shots on Will and Grace and Friends, bit roles in Down with Love, Shallow Hall, Kicking and Screaming, Anchorman, a short stint on SNL)

-J.B. Smoove (Mr. Deeds, guest spots on Conan O’Brien and Saturday Night Live)

-Jerry Minor (SNL, Trigger Happy TV, Arrested Development)

-Nicky Tate (Out of Sight, Full Frontal, Boston Public)

-Ethan Suplee before the 2^nd season of My Name is Earl (Cold Mountain, My Name is Earl, Boy Meets World)

-Alex Bornstein (Family Guy, Kicking and Screaming, Mad TV)

-Elizabeth Banks (Seabiscuit, 40-Year Old Virgin, recurring role on Scrubs)

-Craig Anton (Short stints on Mad TV, 3^rd Rock from the Sun, and the game show I’ve Got a Secret)

-Luis Gusman (Traffic, Count of Monte Christo, Luis*)

*In 2000, Luis was part of an ill-fated attempt to turn a working actor into a TV star with a show called “Luis” which the producers told TV guide would hopefully be a success because “everyone knows who Luis is, even if they don’t know him by name. They’ve seen him in Traffic,” but al, as that didn’t work out as planned. This if anything exemplified the rules concerning working actors and names

-Mary McCormack (Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, Full Frontal)

-Jack Black was a fairly invisible working actor in the 90’s before segwaying into full-blown star in Shallow Hal. Look for him in The Jackal, Enemy of the State, Waterworld, Dead Man’s Walking and even an episode of Touched by an Angel. When you look at those movies, you have to think that the directors of those films are kicking themselves in the back for not giving him more lines or utilizing his comic talents when they had the chance

-Judy Greer (Elizabethtown, 13 Going on 30, Adaptation, guest spots on Arrested Development and Just Shoot Me)

-I’m still inclined to include Patricia Clarkson in this category but only marginially. She probably had one of the lowest profile and lowest grossing films in the last decade to have produced a best acting nomination in Pieces of April. She’s also been in Far From Heaven, Frasier, All the King’s Men, Good Night and Good Luck and the Station Agent

-Ian Holm (although around 2004 he was in danger of leaving that category) with Lord of the Rings, Garden State and Aviator

Best places to find quality working actors:

-Christopher Guest films are a very unusual phenomena in that they entirely star working actors. They are led by that what’s-her-name-again woman from Home Alone (Catherine O’Hara), that guy who played the dad in American Pie (Eugene Levy), the guy who falls for Elaine in Seinfeld (Bob Balaban), the girl who plays Joey’s agent in his 2 season sitcom (Jennifer Coolidge), the phony record company executive from Josie and the Pussycats (Parker Posey), the guy who played Lenny in Laverne and Shirley (Michael McKean), the guy who voices Principal Skinner in the Simpsons (Harry Shearer), and the station boss from Anchorman (Fred Willard). Seriously, I know Christopher Guest fans (of which I am proudly one) are going to eat me out for this, but these guys would have so few roles without Christopher Guest and never have the opportunity at their current states of fame to have such large parts in movies. When guys like Fred Willard and Eugene Levy bestow praise on Christopher Guest as the best comic filmmaker in Hollywood and profess there’s nothing in Hollywood like him, let’s consider that for Willard and Levy, there’s nothing in Hollywood that would even give them more than a small character role in a big budget film. I’m not saying that Guest isn’t funny or innovative, but keep in mind when hearing some of the praise bestowed among Guest. The Christopher Guest brand, however, is truly an anomaly within present day Hollywood.

-Some shows like Will and Grace, Friends and Arrested Development (which did it better than the previous 2) shamelessly recruit guest stars to boost the ratings but Frasier seems to have featured all the best working actors in Hollywood: Virginia Madsen, Mercedes Ruehl, Laura Linney, Patricia Clarkson, Rita Wilson, and Amy Brenneman all played Frasier’s girlfriends. Saul Rubineck played Donnie’s husband and Daphne's brother was played by Anthony LaPaglia.

-Sienfeld also used up pretty much every attractive woman in Hollywood over the course of 10 seasons including a pre-“Lois and Clark” Teri Hatcher, a pre-“Sex and the City” Kristen Davis, Paula Marshall and A.J. Langer among many, many others.

-In my opinion, once you get on SNL you’re bumped up to the name category relatively quickly (unless you’re on for a very short time like Laura Knightlighter or Jerry Minor). Having your name announced week after week in the opening credits familiarizes you to the American public, plus upon graduation from the ranks of SNL, you’re usually awarded with your very own movie based on a theme character and even if it’s terrible like Night at the Roxbury or Superstar, you still get your name out there. However, Mad TV being much more low-profile doesn’t grant you that entrance into recognition. Therefore, many good comic actors and actresses have still remained under the radar despite working pretty exhaustively on securing guest roles and whatever else: Nicole Sullivan (King of Queens), Will Sasso (Less than Perfect), Mo Collins (Arrested Development), Michael McDonald (bit roles in Austin Powers and Spin City), Alex Bornstein (Kicking and Screaming, Family Guy), Phil Lamarr (Futurama), David Herman (Kicking and Screaming, Office Space and guest spots on Family Guy)

-The Oscars are also a very easy way to jump up immediately from working actor to name category: Virginia Madsen (Highlander, guest roles on Frasier, CSI: Miami, Star Trek: Voyager), Catherine Keener, Djimon Hotsou (previously in Amistad and Gladiator), Benicio del Toro (Liscence to Kill), Shoreh Aghdoshloo, Rachel Weicz (Enemy at the Gates, The Mummy, About a Boy), Toni Collette (Muriel’s Wedding), and Michael Clarke Duncan. All of the people listed above (although it’s too soon to tell with Catherine Keener) have enjoyed much better careers after their oscar nominations.

I think because you have a place in history with that oscar nomination and someone reads your name in an envelope in front of one of the largest TV audiences of the year along with possibly the best 15 seconds of your acting career, it’s safe to say you’re pretty much always a name from then on.

-At the same time, oscar winners and oscar nominees can easily find themselves back in the working actor category if they don’t follow up on that one great performance or it’s been a while. It’s a close call because she is married to Ted Danson but to audiences of today who know her from Joan of Arcadia and Sunshine State, Mary Steenburgen might be a working actor. Mercedes Ruehl is pretty much in the working category, and the same would go for Armhin Muehler-Stahl who got an oscar nomination for playing Geoffery Rush’s father in Shine. Still, these actors would never be nobodies, and I’m not even sure that casting directors would treat them like working actors. I think they’d always get a certain minimal treatment of reverence with casting opportunities for having an oscar nomination

-Lastly I’d like to point out my observation that some of the biggest cult followings of today happen to be those of working actors who have stayed in that category well into their careers: John C. Riley, Paul Giamatti, Peter Sargasaand, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman have incredibly large fan bases among film literate people and inspiring actors. My theory on this is that you feel a certain ownership for knowing about these actors’ talents before the rest of the country does