John Simon - Rest in Peace.

Just learned that my favorite film critic of the 1970s and 1980s died on November 29, 2019.  Per the NYT's (mean-spirited) Obituary:

John Simon, one of the nation’s most erudite, vitriolic and vilified culture critics, who illuminated and savaged a remarkable range of plays, films, literature and art works and their creators for more than a half-century, died on Sunday in Valhalla, N.Y. He was 94.

Born in Yugoslavia and educated at Harvard, Mr. Simon was an imperious arbiter who, unlike daily press critics, foraged widely over fields of culture and entertainment at will, devouring the Lilliputians with relish. He regarded television as trash and most Hollywood films as superficial. His formula for an ultimate triumph on Broadway: “A loud, vulgar musical about Jewish Negroes.”

Many readers delighted in what they considered Mr. Simon’s lofty and uncompromising tastes, and especially in his wicked judgments, which fell like hard rain on icons of culture: popular authors, Hollywood stars, rock and rap musicians, abstract artists and their defenders in critics’ circles, for whom he expressed contempt.

He generally admired Impressionist painters but castigated abstract art. “Why should I consider something art if I, a non-artist, could do it just as well?  Or if a small child or chimpanzee could do it too?

At the New York Film Festival in 1973, the actress Sylvia Miles dumped a plate of food on his head after he described her in print as a “party girl and gate-crasher.”

“This incident was so welcomed by the Simon-hating press that the anecdote has been much retold,” Mr. Simon recalled. “She herself has retold it a thousand times. And this steak tartare has since metamorphosed into every known dish from lasagna to chop suey. It’s been so many things that you could feed the starving orphans of India or China with it.”

Adam's Rib (1949)

Plot: Two Lawyers engage in a "Battle of the Sexes" over a women on trial for shooting her husband.
Stars: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, David Wayne, Judy Holliday, Jean Hagan, Tom Ewell
Best Quote: Hepburn: And it felt not only that you meant it, but as though you felt you had a right to. I can tell.
Tracy: What've you got back there? Radar equipment?

This is the best Tracy-Hepburn comedy in terms of their chemistry together and the supporting cast.  The two are completely relaxed and believable as a loving couple torn apart by an attempted murder trial.  Unlike Desk Set, Pat & Mike, or Without Love, Tracy is not playing a "character" (from a play or otherwise) but has a role tailored to his personality. Meanwhile, Hepburn's character is more warm and even-tempered than usual. 

And the supporting actors: Hagen, Holiday, and Ewell are wonderful.  They're the funniest things in the movie. Particularly enjoyable were Hagen's transparent lies, and Ewell's conceited Caveman act.   

The only lemon in the supporting cast is David Wayne

Who gives an uncertain, uneven performance. In the first half, he seems to be going for "wacky Gay neighbor". In the 2nd half,  frustrated romeo. So, which is it?  Further, his character is supposed to be a standard Comic trope.  The "family friend" who charms the wife, but annoys and arouses jealousy in the husband. And when the "cad" oversteps his bounds, we're supposed to cheer when the husband puts him in his place.  However, Wayne doesn't really fill the bill - he's just too annoying and young (6 years younger than Hepburn) to be a threat. 

Another problem? Dull patches in both direction/script. 

Most of these dead spots occur in the last 30 minutes after Holiday, Ewell, and Hagen move off-screen,  and the trial grinds on. Examples:

• Tracy refuses to talk to Hepburn and she follows him around demanding he speak.  This scene is slackly directed and goes on far too long
• Hepburn calls a female Scientist, shop foreman, and lady wrestler to the stand in show Women can do anything. This may have been edgy/interesting back in 1949, but today its dullsville.
• Tracy fumbles his lines during his final statement to the jury. Not funny - Tracy was likable but he's no Bob Hope.
• Worst of all, the movie should have ended after Tracy punches out Wayne. Maybe with some sort of funny line and  a Hepburn-Tracy embrace. Instead it drags on for another seven minutes, as Hepburn-Tracy visit a CPA. Tracy tears up, and Hepburn forgives him - and takes him back. Later we learn that Tracy can cry on cue and manipulate his spouse. See, men are just like women. The End.  This mild joke isn't worth seven minutes!

Summary:  Overall, the 2nd best Tracy-Hepburn Comedy next to Woman of the Year. Very good for the first 65 minutes, not as good for the last 35. 

Move Over, Darling (1963)

Plot:  A remake of My Favorite Wife.  A woman returns from a Desert Isle to find her Husband remarried.
Stars: Doris Day, James Garner, Polly Bergen, Thelma Ritter, Don Knotts, Edgar Buchanan, Chuck Conners
Best Quote:  Nicholas:[Muttering] My wife is alive. My wife is alive. My wife is alive.
Seymour: So's mine, buddy. That's why I drink!

Whether you prefer Move over Darling or My Favorite Wife is simply a matter of taste, since they have the same story and many of the same scenes. But its not an exact copy, since Doris Day, at the height of her Box Office stardom, dominates the remake.

 Not only does Doris sing two songs, the writers add new scenes  to show off her dramatic/comic skills.  Nobody did comedic indignation or frustration better than Day and so she gets trapped in a car wash and battles a Telephone operator. Overall, the humor is broader then the original. Garner, as usual, has excellent chemistry with her, while Ritter, Buchanan, and Don Knotts outdo their 1940 supporting counterparts. However, the Randolph Scott role  (now Conners) is reduced to a cameo.

Summary:  My Favorite Wife turned into a pleasant Doris Day Vehicle.  Slickly made without a wasted moment.  Not in the same class as Pillow Talk, but better then most of Day's comedies.

Note:  This was a re-shot version of Somethings Got to Give cast with Marilyn Monroe and Dean Martin. After Monroe's death, Dean Martin left the picture, and Garner and Day took over.  John McGiver, Wally Cox, and Phil Silvers were replaced by Edgar Buchanan, Don Knotts, and John Astin. After seeing the brief 37 minute "outtake" it has more  of a "big movie" feel to it then Move Over.  However, I'm skeptical that Monroe had the right comedic skills (verbal wit) for the role.

Star Wars: Never trust the critics

The Rise of Skywalker 
Critics -  54% - Positive
Public -  86%

The Last Jedi
Critics -  91% - Positive
Public -  43%

The Force Awakens
Critics -  93% - Positive
Public -  86%

The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

What I liked:

• C-3PO plays the Hero - and there's plenty of R2D2 and BB
• Adam Driver has grown into the role - Daisy Ridley is great
• Stunning visuals, and mostly well-done action scenes. Love the Sith world
• Marvelous John Williams score
• Ian McDiarmid is back as Palpatine. Great voice! 
• The 7 foot slug - thank God he's on our side -plus Admiral Ackbar Jnr. 
• Luke's Ghost acts like the "old Luke"
• No more Old Lady Admirals with secrets 
• Final scene with Rey is awesome.

Things I didn't like:

• Until the last act, plot is just a endless series of chases, fights, and escapes as our 3 heroes (Rey, Finn, and Poe) go searching for the MacGuffin 
• Story makes little sense and has no connection to Episode VIII. Why is Palpatine still alive? What happened to the First order? Why are Kylo and Rey constantly talking and fighting? 
• Final act is recycled. Once again, the Good Guys have to destroy Death Stars. And we end with another simultaneous confrontation with the Emperor and a star-ship battle.
• The Palpitine Confrontation is a copy of Return of the Jedi,  Rey = Luke,  Kylo =  Darth Vadar,  Zombie Palpatine = Live Palpatine
• Rey is now a comic-book superhero. She can heal mortal wounds, destroy star-ships with her light saber and halt others in mid-air. Along with: sending objects instantaneously through space, coming back from the "dead" and beating everyone in combat. 
• Dead no longer means dead. There are no rules/limits. Palpatine at one point, stops thousands of Space ships in mid-battle. So, why does he need a death star? Luke's ghost raises his old spacecraft from the Sea. And Kylo brings Rey back from "the dead" - after himself being "Killed" and thrown down a 100 foot shaft.
• Leia is creepy. Cary Fischer has been dead for 3 years, but Leia is still commanding the Resistance and training Rey. Eventually, Leia dies onscreen - but whole thing is too weird.
• Poe and Finn are given little to do except shout "Rey" a lot, and engage in badly written banter. There's zero character development, and they have little chemistry or warmth with each other.    
• Final battle gets silly with horses charging about on the deck of a Star-ship destroyer. 
• Dull Harrison Ford shows up - he should just retire.