The Birdcage. 1996 United Artists.
Starring: Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman, Dianne Wiest, Dan Futterman, Calista Flockhart, Hank Azaria
Director: Mike Nichols
Buy The Birdcage at your favorite pet store.
Hold hands, you lovebirds! Val Goldman (Futterman) and Barbara Keeley (Flockhart) are engaged, and they want their families to meet. Problem is, their families couldn't be any more different.
Val's dad is Armand Goldman (Williams), the owner of a gay club called The Birdcage. His partner is Albert (Lane), who makes regular appearances at The Birdcage as the drag queen "Starina". Armand and Albert share the house with a housekeeeper named Agador (Azaria), who is even more outrageously flamboyant than Albert! On the other hand, Barbara's father is an ultraconservative Republican Ohio Senator Kevin Keeley (Hackman), a co-founder of the right wing "Coalition for Moral Order", and he's up for re-election. Barbara lies to her folks, saying that Armand is from Greece, and that Albert is both a woman and a housewife, even saying their last name is Coleman to hide their Jewish background.
Senator Keeley receives a phone call that his colleague and co-founder of the Coalition for Moral Order, Senator Jackson, is found dead in the bed of an underage black prostitute, which naturally becomes a media sensation. Louise Keeley (Wiest) proposes that she and her husband to meet the "Colemans" as a diversion to save Kevin's political career. Besides, wouldn't Barbara marrying into a "traditional, wholesome" family give the Senator excellent PR material?
Barbara phones Val about the lies she's told her parents, and Val finally talks Armand into going along with the farce. The house is redecorated in a more "heterosexual" manner, and Armand talks Val's biological mother Katherine (Christine Baranski) into taking part in the facade, which she agrees to.
Unfortunately, it could very well be Albert and Agador being forced to play roles that they were never meant to play that could bring this charade crashing down...
Great movie! Highly recommended.
Besides, how many times can you think of where another actor (Nathan Lane) steals the show from Robin Williams?
Showing posts with label mike nichols. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mike nichols. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Monday, December 22, 2008
Catch-22
Catch-22. 1970 Paramount Pictures & Filmways, Inc.
Starring: Alan Arkin, Martin Balsam, Richard Benjamin, Norman Fell, Art Garfunkel, Jack Gilford, Bob Newhart, Anthony Perkins, Paula Prentiss, Martin Sheen, Jon Voight, Orson Welles
Director: Mike Nichols
Buy Catch-22 at Amazon.
Mike Nichols directed this film adaption of Joseph Heller's novel of the same name. It was overshadowed at the box office in 1970 by Robert Altman's M*A*S*H, but it still boasts an impressive cast of talent. In addition to his role, Buck Henry also helped Nichols write the screenplay.
Captain John J. Yossarian (Arkin) is a USAAF B-25 bombardier. He and the other members of his squadron are stationed on the island Pianosa in the Mediterranean Sea during World War II. Yossarian is also desperately trying to avoid combat duty, and finds out that no matter how instable he acts, the Army Air Corps trumps him at every turn. His superiors and peers all seem to be genuinely insane, or utterly incompetent, and they all seem very happy to function under irrational orders.
Two examples of the other personnel at the base are Lieutenant Milo Minderbinder (Voight), the mess officer at the base who is obsessed with expanding his "Syndicate", trading goods on the black market, and somehow running a giant business while serving in the military. Bob Newhart plays Captain Major Major Major, who is quickly promoted to Major, making him Major Major Major Major. Upon his promotion, he becomes a recluse, signing false names to paperwork requiring his signature, and entering his office by crawling along a ditch before jumping through a window.
Yossarian finally confronts his personal catch-22: Everyone knows the war is crazy, and only crazy men can be relieved of duty. But if you are sane enough to do crazy things to get out of fighting, it only displays that you are perfectly aware that the war is crazy, and therefore, you must be fit enough to serve. You'll have to keep fighting. Knowing that, he flees the base at the end of the movie and paddles away in a life raft.
Catch-22 is a truly bizarre, but funny film, and one that might need to be viewed more than once to be truly appreciated. Highly recommended.
Starring: Alan Arkin, Martin Balsam, Richard Benjamin, Norman Fell, Art Garfunkel, Jack Gilford, Bob Newhart, Anthony Perkins, Paula Prentiss, Martin Sheen, Jon Voight, Orson Welles
Director: Mike Nichols
Buy Catch-22 at Amazon.
Mike Nichols directed this film adaption of Joseph Heller's novel of the same name. It was overshadowed at the box office in 1970 by Robert Altman's M*A*S*H, but it still boasts an impressive cast of talent. In addition to his role, Buck Henry also helped Nichols write the screenplay.
Captain John J. Yossarian (Arkin) is a USAAF B-25 bombardier. He and the other members of his squadron are stationed on the island Pianosa in the Mediterranean Sea during World War II. Yossarian is also desperately trying to avoid combat duty, and finds out that no matter how instable he acts, the Army Air Corps trumps him at every turn. His superiors and peers all seem to be genuinely insane, or utterly incompetent, and they all seem very happy to function under irrational orders.
Two examples of the other personnel at the base are Lieutenant Milo Minderbinder (Voight), the mess officer at the base who is obsessed with expanding his "Syndicate", trading goods on the black market, and somehow running a giant business while serving in the military. Bob Newhart plays Captain Major Major Major, who is quickly promoted to Major, making him Major Major Major Major. Upon his promotion, he becomes a recluse, signing false names to paperwork requiring his signature, and entering his office by crawling along a ditch before jumping through a window.
Yossarian finally confronts his personal catch-22: Everyone knows the war is crazy, and only crazy men can be relieved of duty. But if you are sane enough to do crazy things to get out of fighting, it only displays that you are perfectly aware that the war is crazy, and therefore, you must be fit enough to serve. You'll have to keep fighting. Knowing that, he flees the base at the end of the movie and paddles away in a life raft.
Catch-22 is a truly bizarre, but funny film, and one that might need to be viewed more than once to be truly appreciated. Highly recommended.
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