Cyrano Sings

**********************There be spoilers here*********************************** 

The play, Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmund Rostand was written in 1897. I've seen a number of versions of the play with different actors playing the role. José Ferre, Steve Martin, Kevin Kline, and probably the best of them Gérard Depardieu have all tackled versions of the great wit Cyrano. I even took my own stab at the Cyrano makeup when I was studying makeup in college.

If you don't know the play, what follows here is a fairly simplified version of the play. So, if you already know the play, skip to the review. 

Cyrano who is usually portrayed with an incredibly large nose is one of the greatest wits, poets, musicians, and swordsmen in all of Seventeenth-Century France. It is the age of powdered wigs and foppish men. Cyrano de Bergerac is a member of the Paris guard called the Gascon Company of Cadets who are the first line of defense for the city. Having grown up with a little prospect, a career in the military seemed like one of the few ways the romantic artist could survive. He loves the arts so much that he even chases an actor who he finds offensive to the theater from the stage. He also is madly and deeply in love with Roxane who is his long-time friend. The problem is he believes that because of his malformed nose, Roxane could never love him. So, Cyrano believes that he must love Roxane from afar. 

Add to this that the Count de Guiche, one of the most powerful men in Paris, has decided that Roxane must be his, and he will take her as his wife. Meanwhile, Roxane has seen a new recruit to the Paris Guard, Christian de Neuvillette, and fallen in love at first sight with the handsome guard. They are all, in short, a product of their society. Guiche sees the world in terms of his own power, Roxane the brilliant, manipulative, and yet, vain girl who is supposed to marry for the position, Christian a shallow youth, and Cyrano the poet warrior who has few options and outlets for his gifts. They are fascinating and complex characters. 

Roxane enlists Cyrano to help her with her newfound love to have Christian write her and woo her. The problem is that Christian, while a pretty good fighter, is not particularly adept in matters of the heart and is also not the brightest person. She also asks Cyrano to help her with de Guiche. De Guiche has also become Cyrano's enemy because one of the fops in his entourage had forced Cyrano to kill him in a duel. To meet and fulfill Roxane's desire, Cyrano uses his skills to woo Roxane for Christian by writing letters and signing them in Christian's name. All the while, Cyrano helps to fight off de Guiche's advances to Roxanne while defending his own life from the attempts by assassins sent by de Guiche. 

Finally, in perhaps one of the more unique scenes in theatre history, Roxane is wooed by Christian who stands just visible in the shadows as Cyrano hiding next to him speaks the romantic words that proves Roxane has loved the right man, even though she has no idea that the man is Cyrano. These words cause Roxane to call Christian to her balcony. Through trickery, a priest who has been sent by de Guiche is used to marry Roxane and Christian. De Guiche discovers the marriage and arranges to send that night the Paris guard to the front of a war between France and Spain. 

At the front, the Gascon Company of Cadets is cut off from supplies and is freezing and starving. Staying true to Roxane, Cyrano sends letters every day to Roxane at great personal risk. Christian finally discovers this and demands that Cyrano tell Roxane the truth of his love and let the chips fall where they may. Alas in a final push ordered by the King through de Guiche the guard are sent into what is essentially a suicide attack. Christian is mortally wounded and Cyrano, who is also wounded in the battle, places his last letter on Christian's body so Roxane will find it when her husband's body is returned to Paris.

Fifteen years pass and Roxane in mourning has gone to live in a nunnery. She is visited every week by her constant friend Cyrano who tells her all the latest Paris gossip using humor to cheer her up. She has never shown Cyrano the final letter from Christian. On his final trip, one of de Guiche's assassins finally succeeds in wounding Cyrano by dropping a brick or log depending on the translation from a building on Cyrano's head. Even though he is mortally wounded, Cyrano refuses to not see Roxane. Sitting with his hat on and hiding the head wound from Roxane, Cyrano gives Roxane the gossip of Paris and then requests to read the final letter. She relents and allows Cyrano to read the letter that he pretends to have never seen before. He reads the letter aloud, but it soon becomes obvious that Cyrano is reciting the letter from memory and not as a first reading.  It is at this moment that Roxane realizes the truth and realizes that the man she has loved for so many years is Cyrano de Bergerac. It is too late, with this final admission, Cyrano continues to deny that he wrote the letters wanting to keep Roxane's vision of Christian alive for her. Cyrano soon dies from his wound surrounded by Roxane and a few friends who tell her of how Cyrano was wounded. The romantic comedy has suddenly turned tragic. The play ends with Cyrano dying in the arms of his love.

The play, which is classified as a romantic comedy is a condemnation of the class system and the shallowness of a society that worships power and outer beauty rather than intelligence, art, and internal beauty, particularly in the upper class. It is built around the themes of art, love, and vanity especially when love is confused with infatuation because of mere physical beauty. It is a heart-rending love story.

The review of the movie:

Cyrano stars Peter Dinklage as Cyrano, Haley Bennett as Roxane, Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Christian, and Ben Mendelson as de Guiche. It is a simplified adaptation of the play and it does change some of the original play. It was inspired by musical versions of the play. It does remain true to the main plotline and themes of the original play. It is beautifully shot with accurate period costumes. I did enjoy the movie and was properly moved by its portrayal of the tragic love Cyrano.

The dance numbers are artistic and a little odd but somehow, they work for the movie. The music is one of its weakest points. While the lyrics of the songs are often powerful and moving, the score lacks variety often being a variation on the same tune over and over. Still, it works but there aren't really any songs you will find yourself humming later. 

I really don't know much about many of the actors in the movie. Harrison does an okay in his portrayal of Christian. Mendelson, who I know from his time as the alien Talos from Marvel movies, Rogue One and Ready Player One actually manages to make de Guiche a more multidimensional character than the two-dimensional villain that the character is usually played as in most adaptations. With the growth of de Guiche as a person in the war, a change is made to the way in which Cyrano dies since his death by assassin really no longer makes sense. The time between Christian's death and Cyrano's death is also shortened.

I do wish Bennett was a stronger Roxane.  It's not that she doesn't do well in the role, it is just that she just doesn't have anywhere near the presence that Dinklage's Cyrano has. She is overpowered by Dinklage's skill. On the plus side, the balcony scene where Cyrano speaks for Christian is quite moving. Roxane is also played in such a way that her love of physical beauty rather than inner becomes much clearer. 

Peter Dinklage was a force to be reckoned with long before he became a household name in Game of Thrones. If you haven't seen The Station Agent, you will get an idea of the breadth of talent he has. Eliminating the nose and instead relying on Dinklage's stature really works for Cyrano. Dinklage uses his size masterfully in fight scenes and his soulful eyes brim with his love of Roxane. Peter Dinklage has an amazing film presence. Few actors have his presence on film. His skills are such that his acting makes you almost ache for Cyrano's forlorn love of Roxane. It is this skill that carries the movie. 

Despite its flaws, Cyrano remains true, albeit simplified, to Rostand's play and is well worth the watch. Cyrano is currently available for on-demand streaming. 

 

The Batman Returns to Roots

**************What follows contains only minor spoilers.*************

The Batman is a different kind of Batman movie. If Ben Affleck is the older Batman, then Robert Pattinson is the younger Batman who is still finding himself. As the movie opens, we learn that Batman has been around for two years. He is trying to make a difference in Gotham City but it seems that he has had little more impact than to strike fear into the criminal element of the city. He is, in fact, called not Batman but The Vengeance. This is not particularly a spoiler because it is discovered in the first few moments of the movie. 

The Batman harkens back to the original idea behind the masked vigilante. He is one of the world's greatest detectives. It reminds us that Batman started out in Detective Comics in 1939 which is where DC Comics actually takes its name. This version of Batman still carries the idea that he will not use a gun. Although it is true that Batman originally used guns because he was basically a rip-off of The Shadow, by the time Batman #1 appeared on the shelves in 1940, he was developing his own mythos which included the fact that he didn't use guns. 

In short, The Batman returns to his roots, not as a superhero, but as a detective in a noir story. He is dealing with political corruption and crime bosses and his villains are from there. He must solve a dark and horrible series of murders that will uproot the very world he believed to exist. His villains are not the comic book, over-the-top prancing characters like the Penguin who wears a top hat, smokes a cigarette in an overly long filter, and carries an umbrella. The Penguin (Colin Farrell) is a member of the criminal underworld and former righthand of a now convicted and jailed crime boss. He must also deal with a crime boss and drug lord, Carmine Falcone (John Turturro).

Into this mix is thrown a psychopath calling himself Riddler (Paul Dano). This version of the Riddler is not some antic-driven, prancing Jim Carrey but a died-in-the-wool serial killer. He is not a derby-wearing, dressed in green question mark-covered suits, but a complex and brilliant killer. 

Added to this is Selena Kyle, Cat Woman (Zoë Kravitz). Selena is a more complicated character than in previous versions. She, too, has come from the criminal underworld. But she, like Batman, is a broken human who is seeking her place in the world. She is played by Kravitz in such a way that we understand why she is drawn to a character like Batman. 

Finally, is one of the main and often most under-utilized characters in Batman movie lore, Alfred (Andy Serkis). Only the series Gotham tried to use this version of Alfred. Since Bruce Wayne has lost his parents, Alfred trains him to protect himself. He is the reason Batman exists to a certain degree. He is more than the kindly tall and skinny butler. There is also the plus that in The Batman there is no scene depicting the iconic death of the Waynes. It seems the director/writer, Matt Reeves, finally gets that almost everyone knows how Thomas and Martha Wayne died. 

The more I think about The Batman, the better I like it. It is a complex and character-driven movie. It harkens back to the 1970s film noir mysteries. It is so much more than the shows where a crime happens and Batman shows up and beats up all the criminals. He investigates, he thinks, he interacts with the only cop he trusts, Lt. James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright), who is not yes Commissioner Gordon but a policeman who wants to stop the corruption too. Batman gets things wrong and the solution is not some neatly wrapped solution. The Batman is a dark and gritty film about a great detective who must become more. 

 

The Eternals: A Wee Bit Slow

********* There be spoilers here. You have been warned. ************

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The Eternals has a lot to set up. It is the movie that introduces the next level or Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It also introduces a boatload of characters. There are ten Earth Eternals to start. Ready? Too Bad. They are Thena, weapons warrior (Angelina Jolie); Ikarus, all-powerful (Richard Madden); Sersi, matter shifter (Gemma Chan); Ajak, leader and healer (Salma Hayek); Gilgamesh, physical fighter and strongest (Don Lee); Druig, mind control (Barry Keoghan); Kingo, projectiles (Kumail Nanjiani); Sprite, trickster (Lia McHugh); Makkari, speedster (Lauren Ridloff); and Phastos, engineer and weapons specialist (Brian Tyree Henry). Now you know.

In addition to these 10, there are the Celestials and Sersi’s boyfriend Dane Whitman (Kit Harington) who is destined to become the Black Knight. There is the comic relief and Kingo's human sidekick, Karun (Harish Patel). There are also two characters Pip the Troll (Patton Oswald) and Eros of Titan or Starfox (Harry Styles) who is Thanos younger brother introduced in the mid-credits, and the voice of the new Blade (Mahershala Ali) in the final after-credits scene There, now you know and have a handy reference guide.

I hate lists, but it had to be done.

I don't know much about the Eternals in the comics. I do know, from my brief research on the web, is that three of the male characters from the comics have been gender-swapped, the comics were created by Jack Kirby who along with Stan Lee created the Fantastic Four, X-Men, Thor, the Hulk, and Ironman. He then moved over to DC and while most of his creations there were largely unsuccessful, one of the villains he created became a mainstay of DC, Darkseid. There is actually little known about the Kingo character except in the comics he is a master swordsman. Now you know what I know of the comics.

On to the Plot…

The Celestials, god-like beings that created and continue to create worlds and civilizations, have sent the Eternals to a number of worlds to battle the evil enemies of life, the Deviants. Having defeated these creatures, the Eternals continue to live on the planet to protect it from further attacks of the Deviants. Other than that, Eternals are forbidden to interfere in all other conflicts which is a handy way to explain why they didn’t interfere when Thanos wiped out half the universe. Earth’s Eternals have been here for thousands of years. Even though they can die in battle or of unnatural causes, they are still called Eternals probably since Sorta Eternals just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

On modern-day Earth, the Deviants have returned and one of them kills the Eternals’ leader Ajak. The Eternals must reunite to fight these new Deviants. Ajak has chosen Sersi as her successor by sending the orb that allows her to communicate with her Celestial, Arishem. What Ajak has kept a secret is that Earth is the home to one of the Celestial seeds which will eventually, once Earth reaches enough thinking humans to power it, emerge as a new Celestial. This will, of course, destroy the Earth and kill everyone. So, the Eternals, because they love the uniqueness of Earth, decide they must stop this emergence of a new Celestial, while they continue to fight the Deviants. There are some other twists, turns, and deaths along the way. It also marks the appearance of two special superheroes. One is a member of the LGBQ+ community, and the other has a physical handicap.

And now the review…

The problem with the movie is pacing. While the movie has some great action sequences and some really funny gags like Karun’s ever-smaller cameras and the hint that twinkies have been stored on the ship for perhaps centuries, it tends to plod. It just doesn’t have the bounce that most Marvel films have.

I am pretty willing to forgive the movie an excuse for the slower pace. They do have a great deal for the audience to understand. Unlike the first phase of the Marvel movies, they could take their time to build individuals of the Avengers. The Eternals are not individual superheroes. All exist as a single group so the approach to this introduction to phase 2 had to deal with having all these characters at once. This makes it very difficult for the audience to connect to individual characters like they had with Ironman or Thor. Audience members though may still find connections with characters whose tender protection of others like Gilgamesh or Phastos, or they may enjoy the humor of Kingo and his alter ego Bollywood lifestyle. Still, the movie needs better pacing to hold the audience’s attention.

I liked The Eternals well enough. While it does not have the strength of other Marvel films, it does set up the next phase which will probably include a more “space” oriented theme. Even the credit scenes add direct connections to the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise with the appearance of characters like Pip the Troll and Starfox both of whom have been known to hang in the Guardians’ universe in the comics as well as the introduction of the Black Knight and Blade who are also being added to the MCU in Phase 2. The next three scheduled Marvel films should be solid enough since they are all relying on established characters like Doctor Strange, Antman, and Guardians, as well as Spiderman. Hopefully, Eternals II if there is one, will be able to fix the problems now that the audience is set up for it. 

Hey! It's Bond...James Bond

 Okay, I have not blogged in quite some time, but a few... very few... okay, one has asked for the occasional blog and my occasional opinion of various things esp. movies, and tv. So, I will do a modicum of blogs, and the first in quite a while, as requested by a few... very few...okay one,  is No Time to Die the latest addition to the James Bond, 007 franchise. 

***What follows will have a few spoilers or maybe several spoilers. You have been warned.***

The plot of No Time to Die is a typical Bond movie plot. An evil madman Lyutsifer Safin, played by Rami Malek, has stolen what was supposed to be the perfect assassin nanobot virus. The virus was created by the short-sighted off-the-books orders of M (Ralph Fiennes). Bond is brought back from his retirement by CIA buddy Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) to recapture the scientist Valdo Obruchev (David Dencik). On his quest to stop the now corrupted nanobot virus, Bond fights Safin's henchman Primo "Cyclops" (Dali Benssalah) aided by the lovely and deadly Paloma (Ana de Armas) and his replacement 007 Nomi (Lashana Lynch). Bond must do all this while protecting the love of his life Madeline (Léa Seydoux) and her daughter, Mathilda.

  No Time to Die is Daniel Craig's last outing as Ian Fleming's James Bond, 007. I for one will be sad to see him go. Description-wise, Craig is actually pretty far from Ian Fleming's original description of the British super spy. According to Wikipedia, Flemming described Bond: "slim build; a 3 in (76 mm) long, thin vertical scar on his right cheek; blue-grey eyes; a "cruel" mouth; short, black hair, a comma of which rests on his forehead. Bond frequently dressed as Fleming would've in such as short sleeve shirts and suit coats. Bond was a hard drinker and seemed "cold" and cruel. These traits were, however, traits that Craig incorporated into his Bond. So despite his physical difference from Bond, his character's behavior seems to be accurate. We also know that Fleming was influenced by the actors who played Bond. After Sean Connery became Bond, Flemming introduced a Scottish father for Bond in Doctor No, which was the first novel written after Connery's introduction. I must also admit that I would be hard-pressed to choose whether Connery or Craig was my favorite portrayal of the spy. 

So we come to the last time Daniel Craig will play Bond, No Time to Die. I wish I could say that this was the best of the Craig Bonds, but it isn't. It's still a Bond movie with all the usual tropes of every Bond film. Pretty and deadly women, a strange and mysterious villain, Q's wondrous gadgets, Bond's cars, shaken martinis not stirred, a henchman with a unique feature (this time it's a bionic eye), a traitorous member within his own ranks, and the chases.

While there was no shortage of chases in the movie, the best one comes at the beginning of the movie with Bond taking a wild motorcycle ride and ending with Bond's Gatling-stile guns shooting from his car. Later chase scenes really weren't as creative as the opening and tended to use the same stunt over and over. The chases were still exciting though, just not steadily more creative. 

The premise too was not particularly new. Bond has retired, again. Bond has fallen in love, again. Bond believes he has been betrayed by his new love. Bond is forced back into the life he left behind, again. Most of Bond's former colleagues thought he was dead, again. The twist to all this is that Bond's new love had not betrayed him and still loved him, so after 5 years, Bond must face his greatest foe, a mysterious villain who in one fell swoop arranges the complete destruction of the evil nemesis Spectre, even killing the locked away leader, Blofeld (Christoph Waltz). 

The problems with this movie I have are not just it's lack of originality. After 27 Bond movies, the tropes and formula are pretty well established. When I go to a Bond movie, I know exactly what I will get. My problem is two fold with No Time To Die. 

My first is the Rami Malek villain, Safin. Safin is a very creepy bad guy. Bond villains are almost always driven by two things, greed and/or world domination. Safin is driven by revenge, except the revenge doesn't really make sense beyond a certain point. His entire family was killed by Spectre. By stealing the assassin, Safin uses the technology to kill all of Spectre. This makes does make sense. What doesn't and isn't really explained in the movie is Safin's obsession with with Madeline, who was the daughter of the Spectre agent that killed his family and Safin's deciding to use his technology by corrupting it to wipe out entire groups of people and their families that had nothing to do with the death of his family. The deaths if he succeeds would result in the deaths of millions. There is no motivation for this other than Safin is a psychopath who views the deaths as making him a god and a hero. He then almost escapes only to release Madeline and her daughter Mathilda to return and try to kill Bond who he seems to admire. If that makes sense to you, I'm glad you figured it out. I didn't get it.

My second - and here comes major spoilers - is the death of Bond.  It was bad enough to kill off the first M and then Felix. My concern actually has to do more with the rumors floating around the franchise than the death of an icon that should have NEVER BEEN PERMITED! Bond is Bond. The reason people keep coming to see the movies is James Bond 007 and his adventures. The death is moving and well done a, but it is so very wrong. There is the rumor that the series will be rebooted by making 007 in the next movie a woman and so, Bond had to die as did a number of other staples of the franchise like Felix. I am not saying that a woman cannot play a super spy. I am saying that 007 and James Bond are one and the same thing and killing off an icon so the movies can get a new paint job is wrong. I hope the rumor on this is wrong, but if it does prove to be true, I would be surprised if the franchise would survive such an event. I live in hope that the death of Daniel Craig's Bond is to make room and reboot for a new James Bond.

Did I like the move? Yes. Does it have problems? High points of the movie include Bond having a daughter and a love that isn't killed off. Honestly, I am surprised there aren't a bunch more little Bonds roaming the world. Bond's CIA partner Paloma is an incredibly fun character that I would like to have seen more of her.   I don't think No Time to Die will go down as the best of the Bond movies, but Craig most likely will go down as one of the great Bonds. 

Choose Your Battles

Warner Animation announced that new iterations of Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam would no longer carry guns on the reboot of Looney Toons on HBO Max. This effectively adds the cartoons to the culture war.

My first thought is that this is political correctness gone awry.

And then I saw the outrage on social media. Really? Elmer Fudd's right to bear arms? With all that is going on from coronavirus to BLM to voter suppression to unemployment to...
And this is what you're outraged about?

1. Cartoons are not real.
2. Cartoons do not have Constitutional rights because cartoons are not REAL!
3. See # 1 and #2 and repeat until you understand because CARTOONS ARE NOT REAL.

Choose your battles carefully.

Adding the But...

If you start a sentence to defend someone with, "I know he's a liar but...", you are defending a liar.

If you start a sentence to defend your vote with, "I know he's a bad man but...", you are defending a bad man. 

If you start a sentence to defend a flag with, "You can unfriend me if you want, but...", you are defending something that you know is wrong.

If you start a sentence to defend a point of view with, "I am not a racist, but...", you are at the least about to defend racism or at most a racist.

If a politician starts a sentence with, "I've known him/her to be a good friend, but...", he/she is about to trash his/her "good friend."

Using "but" may make you feel safer in a terrible belief, "but" it does not alter the fact that it is still a terrible belief. You are defending, attacking, protecting something that is clearly indefensible. 

There is simply no buts about it.

No Names Needed

I will just leave this here. 

A while back there was a discussion on TV about how social sites have added to our own narcissism, which is not the same as the personality disorder listed below. But it is true, to a degree, that social sites and their anonymity offers many the opportunity to believe their expertise is actually more than it is. There are also many folks who post divisive memes and statements that they would never do in person. I know a few folks who seemingly have completely different personalities online than they do in the real world. So while you may have one or two of these symptoms, you probably don't qualify as a full-blown narcissist. Sadly, if you do, you probably won't realize it.

I will let you draw your own conclusions if this reminds you of anyone. I remind you, I have listed no names of any specific person. 

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From the Mayo Clinic (you can also find these same or similarly stated symptoms listed on any number of web sites.) 

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/narcissistic-personality-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20366662

Like

https://www.psychologytoday.com/conditions/narcissistic-personality-disorder

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disorder

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/9741.php

"Narcissistic personality disorder is indicated by five or more of the following symptoms:

• Exaggerates own importance
• Is preoccupied with fantasies of success, power, beauty, intelligence or ideal romance
• Believes he or she is special and can only be understood by other special people or institutions
• Requires constant attention and admiration from others
• Has unreasonable expectations of favorable treatment
• Takes advantage of others to reach his or her own goals
• Disregards the feelings of others, lacks empathy
• Is often envious of others or believes other people are envious of him or her
• Shows arrogant behaviors and attitudes

At the same time, people with narcissistic personality disorder have trouble handling anything they perceive as criticism, and they can:

• Become impatient or angry when they don't receive special treatment
• Have significant interpersonal problems and easily feel slighted
• React with rage or contempt and try to belittle the other person to make themselves appear superior
• Have difficulty regulating emotions and behavior
• Experience major problems dealing with stress and adapting to change
• Feel depressed and moody because they fall short of perfection
• Have secret feelings of insecurity, shame, vulnerability, and humiliation

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I am not a doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist, or mental health counselor...and yet...I get the feeling I've seen all of these symptoms and behaviors in someone...if I could just remember who...