Reverend's Preview: Black is in at AFI Fest

The American Film Institute's now annual (and free, thanks to presenting sponsor Audi and other supporters) festival AFI Fest kicked off last night in Hollywood with the world premiere of Edward Zwick's Love & Other Drugs. Alas, critics were denied admission to the rom com starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway, reunited for the first time since Brokeback Mountain five years ago. However, I look forward to attending several other fest screenings between now and November 11 and I've already gotten an advance look at its closing film, the imperfect but still terrific Black Swan (more on that one below).

Despite advance reports that Jake and Anne both show plenty of skin in Love & Other Drugs, there is more GLBT interest behind the scenes of various AFI Fest offerings than on the screen, although Black Swan and Heartbeats, the second film by I Killed My Mother writer-director Xavier Dolan, are notable exceptions to this. The current buzz is that Colin Firth, who lost the Best Actor Oscar last year for his gay turn in A Single Man but headlines festival entry The King's Speech, is virtually a lock to win the golden guy this year. Similarly, Natalie Portman, who gives an amazing performance as a psychotic ballerina with lesbian longings in Black Swan, and GLBT fave Nicole Kidman, as a mother grieving the death of her young child in Rabbit Hole (screening this Sunday), are running neck-and-neck for Best Actress among Academy Award prognosticators.

Rabbit Hole, by the way, is directed by John Cameron Mitchell of Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Shortbus fame. Other noteworthy filmmakers debuting movies at AFI Fest include John Sayles (Amigo); Werner Herzog (Cave of Forgotten Dreams, in 3D no less); George Hickenlooper (Casino Jack), who unexpectedly passed away just last week; and actor Diego Luna of Y tu Mamá También fame making his directorial debut (Abel). If they don't represent enough star power behind the camera, David Lynch is serving as the festival's first-ever Guest Artistic Director. Lynch will be presenting a selection of personal favorites, among them the sexually charged classics Sunset Boulevard, Lolita and Rear Window.

Despite having polarized critics and audiences — understandably so — at this year's Cannes Film Festival, I highly recommend Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan to more adventurous filmgoers. Aronofsky is one of the best and most intelligent directors working today, as evidenced by his previous films Pi, Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain and The Wrestler. His "psychosexual" take on gay composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky's classic ballet Swan Lake, starring Portman, has already gotten his leading lady into hot water with her orthodox Jewish father, according to recent news reports. Portman doesn't appear nude in the film, but does have a heated masturbation scene and gets hot 'n heavy with both Vincent Cassel, who plays her demanding choreographer, and company rival Mila Kunis.

The cast of Black Swan, which also includes Barbara Hershey, is excellent, with the exception of a miscast Winona Ryder. I couldn't buy Ryder as an aging prima donna in her brief scenes and it doesn't help that, unlike Portman, we never see Ryder dance. I was riveted by Portman, though, who makes an award-worthy impression that is underscored by her spectacular, increasingly passionate dancing (choreographed by Benjamin Millepied, who also plays the Prince in the Swan Lake scenes). Matthew Libatique's photography and Andrew Weisblum's keep-the-audience-on-the-edge editing are also excellent. The film is scarier than I anticipated and, while some of its "Boo, gotcha!" moments are predictable, at least a couple of them made me jump out of my seat. The Nutcracker, it ain't! Black Swan is scheduled to open in theaters nationwide beginning December 3.

Click here for more information about AFI Fest, running now through November 11, or to attempt to secure any remaining free screening tickets.

Preview by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Orange County and Long Beach Blade.

Toon Talk: Toy Stories & Tall Tales

Soon after premiering this past summer to rave reviews and blockbuster box office, it was clear that Toy Story 3 was something special. Rare indeed is a motion picture trilogy that proved to be so emotionally rich and with such consistent quality throughout each of its chapters. It was also quickly apparent that Toy Story 3 was a grade-A tear-jerker, much more so for adults than its supposed “target audience” of children. In fact, one could easily say that the 3 in the title is the minimum amount of times one will cry while watching it.

And now you can let the tears flow unashamedly in the comfort of your own home with the release this week of Toy Story 3 on Disney DVD and Blu-ray. And, as with most Pixar releases, they were sure to fill this toy box to the brim all sorts of entertaining and informative extras ...

Also available this week on Disney DVD and Blu-ray is Cars Toon: Mater’s Tall Tales, a collection of hilarious animated shorts starring everyone’s favorite rusty ol’ tow truck. The set includes nine cartoons (including two new ones) that find Mater spinning a yarn about his past (not entirely factual) exploits to his befuddled BFF Lightning McQueen ...

Click here to continue reading my Toon Talk reviews of the new Toy Story 3 and Cars Toon: Mater's Tall Tales DVDs at LaughingPlace.com.

Reel Thoughts Interview: Viva Chita!

Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero probably wouldn’t fit on a Broadway marquee, but the name Chita Rivera has appeared in lights on the Great White Way so many times, it’s a wonder there isn’t a theater named after her by now. Even the slightest glance at the seventy-seven year-old’s résumé reveals that she has originated several of the most enduring musical characters of all time. The legendary dancer/singer is coming to Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts for one night only this Saturday to headline La Gran Fiesta, their celebration of Hispanic and Latin culture.

Born in Washington DC to a Puerto Rican father and a Scottish and Italian mother, Rivera didn’t start out to be the world-class dancer that she became. She was a self-admitted tomboy whose mother put her into the respected Jones-Hayward School of Ballet at age eleven to tone down her rough and tumble ways. At fifteen, she was invited to New York to audition for George Balanchine’s School of American Ballet, leading to a career that has spanned over half a century.

Rivera is responsible for creating the roles of Anita in West Side Story, Rosie in Bye Bye Birdie, Velma Kelly in Chicago, Aurora in Kiss of the Spider Woman and Claire in The Visit, one of Kander and Ebb’s final shows. She is a strong supporter of gay rights, and appeared in 1994’s Stonewall 25: Voices of Pride and Protest.

I spoke to Rivera right after she returned home to New York after performing in Puerto Rico. She was gracious and excited to return to the Valley, where she has friends who she enjoys visiting.

NC: How would you describe your new show, My Broadway?
CR: I’ve really been so lucky all these years, so I’ve put together conversation and music and movement to communicate with the audience, to bring my experience, my Broadway, to Arizona.

NC: You’ve been part of so many iconic Broadway shows, including West Side Story. Any memories?
CR: When I went in to audition vocally for West Side Story, Anita Ellis (a famous New York singer who dubbed Rita Hayworth in Gilda and who was also the sister of Larry Kert, West Side Story’s original Tony) went in right before me, and I went. “Uh-oh, there it goes! I guess I won’t get it”, because she was a fabulous singer.

NC: You got the role, though, and ended up finding love in the cast as well (with fellow dancer Tony Mordente).
CR: (Laughing) That’s pretty funny, because in rehearsals, we were told we were not to even speak to “the Jets”; I mean, you wouldn’t get caught smiling at one of them, so we never had any sort of relationships at all with them, and what did I do? I went and married one of them! I didn’t just talk to him, I married him and had his baby, so (my daughter) Lisa says, “I’m half Jet and half Shark.”

NC: When you see how Chicago is running forever, inspired by your original production, how does that make you feel?
CR: It’s just wild. It just goes to show that you can never figure anything out. Tony Walton’s sets in our production were to die for, the costumes were full-blown imaginative, the guys wore stockings and high heels... it was really theater. And you just have to laugh because you can’t control the way life goes. Now this production that’s been running forever and probably will run forever — which is great, the music is brilliant — is like a postage stamp compared to our production.

NC: How has your attitude about a dancer’s life changed over your career?
CR: I say in my show, “Just keep moving.” Don’t count, whatever you do, just let your spirit do the living. Most people think when you get to a certain age, you’re old. Well, it doesn’t have to be that way; it depends on you.

NC: So many people admire you and the career you’ve achieved.
CR: That really is the best part of it all. To have some kid come up and say, “I’ve always wanted to dance,” because that’s how I felt about (mentor and famous ballerina) Maria Tallchief. It’s a wonderful feeling to know that you’re doing something right. I’ve always said, “Keep good company” and my company has been Fred Ebb and John Kander, Gower Champion and Liza Minnelli, all the greats.

NC: I was interested to read the advice that your teacher Doris Jones gave you, being an African-American business owner in the forties, “Stay in your lane,” and “Don't worry about the long bodies and blond ponytails lining up next to you for the auditions; be who you are!”
CR: Miss Jones was wonderful to me, because I hadn’t been out in the world, and didn’t know what was out there. She told me to “follow your own spirit, your own self.” So I tell the kids that.

NC: I wondered what your advice is for young people who are struggling with being different, especially given the news of bullying deaths in the news.
CR: The Arts, thank God... that’s why we really have to keep the Arts (in schools). The Arts allow us to experiment with our thoughts and our own person and to get to know ourselves and use our imagination. I think that being different is divine.

One of my favorite shows was Kiss of the Spider Woman, because it’s a show about two men who are completely different and they’re forced to be in this tiny cage only big enough for one in jail, and they get to know one another and get to appreciate their differences. Finally, eventually, they, in the truest form of the words, get to understand each other and fall in love. And it never would have happened if they hadn’t been forced together. So I tell the kids, “You are the only thing you’ve got, and you have got to get to know ‘you’ and be proud of ‘you’. And don’t let anyone ever tell you anything else.”

But you have to find out who your best friends are, who to hang out with; I was lucky because I had the business. I’m so upset about this bullying, because we’ve been living the whole thing with boy dancers and gay men (with whom I’ve worked)... that’s our life, so we’re very familiar with that kind of ignorance and stupidity. So we just have to support each other, and please God, let these kids get to understand themselves and like themselves. It’s hard when you’re young; you don’t think you’re going to accomplish anything or be an example for anyone. There are far more people out there who will love you than will reject you. Have faith that they’re out there.

NC: That’s great. That’s why you’ve been such a bright light on Broadway all these years.
CR: You know, I think that’s what we all have to be, because we all have our light... you used the right word for me. I love the light and I always go toward the light. If you live looking for the light, using your own light and not being ashamed of anything, it’s a much brighter feeling than living in the dark.

Chita Rivera: My Broadway will be performed this Saturday, November 6, at the Scottsdale Center for the Arts. Click here for more information and tickets.

Interview by Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Phoenix's Echo Magazine.

Monthly Wallpaper - November 2010: Evil Women

With names like de Vil and Ratched, you know you're in the presence of some Evil Women. That's right, these (in)famous femme fatales and more are gracing the Movie Dearest Calendar Wallpaper for the month of November.

Don't worry though, if you can make it to Thanksgiving, you can borrow a carving knife for the turkey from Annie Wilkes or Alex Forrest.

All you have to do is click on the picture above to enlarge it, then simply right click your mouse and select "Set as Background". (You can also save it to your computer and set it up from there if you prefer.) The size is 1024 x 768, but you can modify it if needed in your own photo-editing program.