Annette Funicello was the darling of the original Mouseketeers

April 9, 2013 9:26 AM MST 

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Annette Funicello as "Annette McCloud" is new in town and is invited to a party.

Walt Disney

Annette Funicello was the popular "Mouseketeer" whose career continued with over 20 films and television appearances after her childhood TV roles. Her passing on April 8 was sad news for babyboomers who had grown up with her. Diane Disney Miller posted a personal letter on the Walt Disney Museum blog with a poem written by Byron that she feels could have been written about Annette.

Walt Disney

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Walt Disney

What made Funicello so endearing to the public was her wholesome and beautiful good looks, her demeanor, her ability to stand up to her boyfriends in her films, and her perpetual cheer in life. She lived her life almost as the person in her films, sticking up for herself, helping others, making others happy. There were never stories of a different persona behind Annette. She was genuine on screen, as in life.

The original Mouseketeers of the Mickey Mouse Club were only on the air from 1955 to 1960 but their faces are immortal for those who watched the popular TV show. They could all dance and sing and each had a unique personality. One of the best things about the program was that it was educational but the commercials and merchandising that were used to pay for it were not lucrative enough, which was exactly why Disney and ABC could not hammer out a deal and later cancelled it. However, the show did help in part to finance Disneyland.

Annette was the darling of them all. She seemed taller than most of them and was a big sister to the younger ones like, Cubby O'Brien and Karen Pendelton. 

The Mouseketeers continued up through 1997 with new children such as Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears who are big stars now, so it goes to show what Disney magic can do.

In interviews in the 90s's Funicello said her eternal friend was Mickey Mouse. Even if Annette retired from entertainment due to her long illness with MS, her passing yesterday evokes one of the newspaper cartoons at the Walt Disney Museum in San Franciscoshowing Mickey crying when Walt Disney passed away in 1966. This cartoon could just as well apply to Annette as one of Mickey's ardent champions.

Listen to an interview of Annette Funicello starting April 10, 10 pm Pacific time in the Movie Magazine Listening Room, a San Francisco based streaming radio program for 20 seasons nationally. The interview will be on there for a week for national and international audiences.

Romanian drama 'Beyond the Hills' sets lesbian characters back years

March 15, 2013 8:16 AM MST 

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Beyond the Hills

Wildbunch

Beyond the Hills

Rating:

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The award for one of the most backward portraits of lesbians in recent film history would have to go to "Beyond the Hills" opening in San Francisco March 15. The film is set in a Romanian convent where a young woman comes to visit her past lover after working in Germany. They had plans to live together and Alina (Cristina Flutur) was even saving up to buy land for a home. But Voichita (Cosmina Stratan) decides she doesn't want to leave the monastery with her and Alina flips out.

Wildbunch

The "Father" and "Mother" as they are called of the monastery do a "pray in", chaining Alina to a wooden board in a bizarre sort of exorcism. The treatment raised the eyes and ears of critics in the recent Cannes Film Festival and it was considered a front-runner for the Palme d’Or. You could either love it or hate it. The film is an indictment on the religious and medical persecution of "hysterical" women, who usually have some background that qualifies them to be "hysterical", as in this case.

The actresses in the film, Cristina Flutur and Cosmina Stratan, shared the award for best actress but the consensus of the critics is that this was not an exceptional Cannes festival year.

Director Christian Mungiu won the best screenplay for the film and this must have been because of the cinematography that adorns this barren story.

To create a lesbian couple where only one of the two is willing to admit it, and the other in the worst throws of unrequited love keeps hurling herself at a religious fanatic, her former girlfriend, is a screenplay nightmare considering all the inroads that have been made about lesbian characters in recent years. It would be well to avoid Romanian monasteries for the adventuresome lesbian of today. Run for the hills! There are no good female role models in the film either, where nuns try to remedy the two girls and get Alina to calm down and pray to God to be relieved of same sex love. All rely on the priest who is the father figure of the convent and who tries to be a father to the wayward lesbians amidst his Christian colony.

Not even the jury of the Queer Palm felt this picture of a closeted lesbian and a victimized love addict was strong enough to motivate an award in opposition to the ideas of the official jury. Take note that jury decisions at film festivals are arbitrary but the Cannes awards for this film were eye-opening.

'Silver Linings Playbook' gives Jennifer Lawrence her first Oscar

By Moira Sullivan

When Jennifer Lawrence was asked to be on the Actor’s Studio she declined claiming she has no 'method' of acting.  She has played strong women in 'Winter’s Bone' and 'The Hunger Games', and now in 'Silver Linings Playbook'. Since declining to be interrogated by the caustic James Lipton she may inspire many young actors who haven't had a formal acting, singing and dancing education from the minute they were born.  There are some like Lawrence who are creative souls that are born to act.

At 22 Lawrence has made uncanny remarks that reveal introspection and wisdom. Her take on life is refreshing and her sense of humor is endearing. At the Oscar backstage press conference she remarked in gest that journalists, all issued with numbers, were taking turns making fun at her, such as if she worried that success had come too soon. "I do now", she answered clearly taken aback by the question.
In a recent interview she reveals she doesn't like to talk about herself, and that it is not healthy to do this all the time. At home she may wear the same clothes three days in a row. She also feels the penetrating eyes of the paparazzi and knows her personal freedom has been clipped. It is a bit scary to see what the fashion designers and photographers are doing with her much like Kristen Stewart where she is asked to pose as personas such as for Dior that are very much unlike the person she appears to be in her interviews. Will fame change Jennifer Lawrence? It probably will if she doesn't have good people looking out for her. This brings to mind the truthfulness of the comments of Jodie Foster at the Golden Globes who said there was a camera in her face from an early age.

"Silver Linings Playbook" directed by David O Russell is moving and engaging. Two misfits who are taking medication for depression - Tiffany (Lawrence) and  Pat (Bradley Cooper) meet while jogging. Pat has been issued a restraining order towards his girlfriend and now lives at home with his parents. Down the street lives Tiffany, the widow of a local who took out her grief by sleeping with the male and female staff at her job and was consequently fired.  Tiffany promises to get a letter to Pat's girlfriend but wants something in return -  that Pat enter a dance contest with her.

The yin and yang of the film with complementary opposites is fairly simplistic and geared for a general audience. Dance will help make Pat feel but his father played by Robert De Niro, likes to bet on football games. He has been banned from games since he fights but wants his son to go to games for him and improve his betting odds with his neighbor. It is not hard to figure out the roots of Pat's depression growing up with this father.

Russell puts Tiffany center stage and the clever young woman suggests a bet to see if the Eagles can beat the cowboys and that she and Pat will get a score of 5 from the judges at the dance competition.
Lawrence was promoted for the Oscar by Harvey Weinstein and as she admitted at the Golden Globes she asked him "who she needed to kill" for the part. It is clear that producers push their talent for awards which increases their box office receipts. It's not altogether fair to Lawrence who shows incredible acting acumen in the film and is the lynchpin to all the other characters, even outshining Bradley Cooper.

With this award, unlike Anne Hathaway's fifteen minutes of screen space in "Les Misérables"that brought her a supporting actress Oscar, Lawrence is destined for great parts. Hopefully she won't be pigeonholed into playing women with mental problems as the result of the award, which often happens with an Oscar winning performance. One need only look to Meryl Streep to realize that it doesn't have to go this way, and one of the reasons why she is so highly regarded in the motion picture industry. "The Hunger Games" will continue and Lawrence knows what will happen here, but she is such a talented, insightful and resourceful actress that her future roles will be very exciting to follow.  The world needs more young women like Jennifer Lawrence and her Oscar is also a nod to all of us for choosing someone like her to represent our ideas about life.

© 2013 - Moira Sullivan - Date: 02/26/13

Jodie Foster's Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award speech was brilliant

January 15, 2013 3:20 PM MST 

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Jodie Foster at the Golden Globes awards Jan. 13

HFPA

"I already did my coming out about a thousand years ago", said Jodie Foster at the 70th Golden Globes Jan.13. 

HFPA

Foster's powerful speech and upbeat message has received the praise and respect of countless fans, celebrities and members of the LGBT community around the world. It was a courageous special event during one of the most distinguished moments of the career of an actor and director in the company of peers. Foster acknowledged "her family" of children, friends, and colleagues at the Golden Globes as the broadcast was telecast around the world. She was among her supporters. She was proud of her life, of her work, of her children and of her relationship with ex-partner Cydney Bernard who were all sitting at her table. She appeared high spirited, joyous and visibly animated and announced she was "single".

“There is no way I could stand here without acknowledging one of the deepest loves of my life, my heroic co-parent, my ex-partner in love but righteous soul sister in life, my confessor, ski buddy, consigliere, most beloved, BFF of 20 years Cydney Bernard, thank you Cyd. I am so proud of our modern family, our amazing sons Charlie and Kit who are my reason to breathe, and to evolve, my blood and soul. And boys, in case you didn’t know it, this song, all of this. This song is for you.” 

Since then, there has also been a bit of criticism by LGBT activists and a bit of misogyny going on about Foster's speech. Viewpoints within the LGBT community are overwhelmingly positive, but unfortunately include a transparent and unwritten protocol that is being flaunted as truth: one must come out publicly if one is a public figure. 

Foster's Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Award speech has been criticized as "meandering", "unfocused", "overemotional", and "narcissistic and self-loving", which are typical comments made when women speak out. And having spoken out, Foster has been criticized for not speaking out before about her relationship, for lying, for shouting out the need for privacy and then coming out, or even that she spoke out at all. Foster has for so long been such a powerful female icon, that it is baffling that when she speaks out about herself it's been so negated.

Some of the grumbling brings to mind the reaction six years ago to the Dixie Chicks when they spoke out against the war in Iraq. They were told to "shut up and sing". Gay journalist Andrew Sullivan ("Daily Beast") claims "virtually every coming out these days is low-key, simple and no-drama" and that Foster has now "stopped lying". Sullivan trivializes her declaration and her delay after "others far less powerful had made the sacrifice to make that possible". In so doing, Sullivan equally picks apart her timing: "she waited for the safest moment of all - winning a well-deserved Lifetime Achievement Award". Gay film and television actor Wilson Cruz had a similar opinion and went as far to write "f--- you" to Foster within social media channels. Here's a question to the two from Jodie Foster speaking to Robert DeNiro in 'Taxi Driver": "Didn't you ever hear of women's lib?" 

That Foster revealed as much as she did to the world was inspirational. It wasn't a rehearsed speech or a polished delivery. There was a balance of vulnerability and outspokenness. The Cecil B DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment is a milestone achievement and it symbolizes a turning point in Foster's life at age 50. She is the second youngest actor to receive the award after 47 years of acting. Judy Garland was the first at 39, who started performing at two and was 47 when she passed away.

It is not surprising that Foster hesitated to speak publicly about her life given the criticism from LGBT activists who question her right to privacy and why she has not come out before. The comments at the same time also convey congratulations, albeit insincere, to the hard working, two-time Oscar winning actress. Those awards were not criticized when she did not come out publicly but the attempt to trivialize her Lifetime Achievement award is abundantly clear in the smaller, more intimate setting of the Globes, which is all the more disappointing. There is a difference between activism and personal integrity. Both command respect.

Whenever and however Jodie Foster 'came out', it was audaciously luminous. For her, it was long ago that she told her friends and colleagues. For us who don't even know her, it was worth the wait. She came out all over the world on prime time TV. Who does that? She was brilliant!

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler Reinvent the Golden Globes

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler

Thank you Hollywood Foreign Press for choosing Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as emcees of the 70th Golden Globes! The "Saturday Night Live" veterans put the Globes on a roll from the start.

“Kathryn Bigelow’s nominated tonight. I haven’t really been following the controversy over "Zero Dark Thirty", but when it comes to torture, I trust the lady who spent three years married to James Cameron,” intimated Poehler.
The remark went around the room in cascades of astonishment and amusement.

Then there were those other standout moments:

"JLaw", quipped presenter Will Ferrell with Kerstin Wiig about best actress in a comedy Jennifer Lawrence. In a hilarious clearly unrehearsed skit, the duo took us through their experience of the films in the category they were presenting.
On Lawrence and memorable lines from her role in “Silver Linings Playbook”, Ferrell and Wiig were as equally impressed with her as the other nominees:
"That's my cookbook!" "You get out of here",  "And she means it!" emphasized the duo.
Jennifer Lawrence acknowledged in her acceptance speech:

Jennifer Lawrence

"Oh what does this say? I beat Meryl". Lawrence in effect was referencing "First Wives Club," the classic 1996 comedy on female bonding starring Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler and Diane Keaton.
"Harvey: Thank you for killing whoever you had to kill to get me up here",  Lawrence exclaimed.
"To my brothers: I wouldn't have made it up here if you haven't been mean to me".
Well chosen words for the 22 year old actress. Go JLaw!  - a  beguiling actress with unexpected candor.

Back up at bat was Tina Fey on Anne Hathaway, best supporting actress in a motion picture:
“Anne Hathaway, you gave a stunning performance in "Les Miserables" (best musical). I have not seen someone so totally alone and abandoned like that since you were on stage with James Franco at the Oscars.”
Hathaway particularly singled out fellow nominee Sally Fields who she applauded for resisting typecasting in roles from “The Flying Nun” to “Norma Rae”, to ‘Mrs. Gump’  to ‘Mary Todd Lincoln’.
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone joked about their English language skills.
Stallone to Arnold: “You've been here how long? It's amazing”.

The Austrian drama “Amour”, was the winner for best foreign language film and director Michael Haneke thanked Arnold:
“I never thought to get an award in Hollywood by an Austrian", Haneke admitted. He also praised his actors Jean Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva and declared that “the Golden Globe is for those fantastic actors”.

Claire Danes won best actress in a television series for "Homeland", her fourth Globe.
“Wow!" I have to thank the HFP for being so insanely supportive of me”,  Danes gushed.
“I want to thank the other women in this category who are so brilliant and have contributed to making television this rich place with really dynamic, complex, bold, female characters."

Add to that list the characters in “Girls” created by 26 year old Lena Dunham who won best actress in a television series. The HBO series is about  20 year old women in New York based on Dunham's own life experience.

Jodie Foster

The true star of the Golden Globes this year was Jodie Foster who won the Cecil B. Demille Award. Robert Downey Jr presented her tribute, teasing that as presenter he was as important as the honoree.  Foster acknowledged Mel Gibson as one of her dearest friends and revealed that she is now single and grateful to her ex-partner Cydney Bernard of 20 years, co-parent to her two children. The 'coming out' announcement is the first on a global level.

Jodie Foster in 'Taxi Driver'

Foster has been in the business 47 years and just turned 50. It would appear from her speech like she won't be on the screen much and wants to change direction, though backstage afterwards she stressed that she has no intention of quitting acting. A compilation of clips from her films included her Oscar nominated supporting role as a 12 year old. In a scene with Robert DeNiro in Taxi Driver (1976) Foster inquires, "Didn't you ever hear of women's lib?"
Though not as eloquent as her previous Oscar speeches,  Foster's Cecil B Demille award was a moving experience, all the more because of her decision to speak about who she is in a public setting. Even to her mother, Foster told her she loved her. hoping it would sink in.  She still wants her privacy and after being in the business since she was three, she deserves it. But the level of sharing that Foster did last night was something special for all of her fans and admirers around the world. It was a rare moment for Foster and a gift to us all.
As the evening wore on, more and more references were made to the free flowing spirits in the room, and comments were frequently censored for national television.

Jessica Chastain

Jessica Chastain was more than gracious in her acceptance speech as best actress in a motion picture drama, especially when paying tribute to Kathryn Bigelow, whom she felt embodied her character Maya in "Zero Dark Thirty". Bigelow is the only woman to win an Oscar for director and her body of work consistently shows her ability to challenge and explore the terrain with great parts for women.
“You said that filmmaking for you is not about breaking gender roles but when you make a film that allows your characters to disobey the conventions of Hollywood, you’ve done more for women in cinema that you take credit for".
Another incredibly generous and compassionate winner with a beautiful acceptance speech was Daniel Day- Lewis, best actor in a motion picture drama for "Lincoln". The British actor reasoned that if Bill Clinton came to speak for "Lincoln" why not Queen Elizabeth making a last pitch for "Skyfall". (Adele won a Globe for the theme song of the latest James Bond film). Day-Lewis praised his "humble master" director Steven Spielberg in the role he will remember all of his life.
In the end, an overwhelmed Ben Affleck won the best director award for "Argo" that was voted the best motion picture of the year.
“Holy Cow, what an incredible company to be in", remarked director Mark Adams whose film "Brave" won the best animated feature. The comment  sums up the upbeat and entertaining Golden Globes this year, a pageant where the contestants seem to feel and display more freedom than they do at the Academy Awards, coming up on February 24.

Tina Fe and Amy Poehler had just the exemplary kind of talent, acumen and appeal that put the room into such great mood that everyone who climbed the steps put out their best. This is the mark of a brilliant awards show. It was an evening in which women were especially in the spotlight and the promise of continual and versatile, powerful roles from veterans Jodie Foster to Maggie Smith to newbies Lena Dunham and Jennifer Lawrence.

Lena Dunhan and cast of "Girls".

'The Hobbit : An Unexpected Journey' is not a film for girls

December 17, 2012 2:00 AM MST 

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The making of The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey

Warner Bros

The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey

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"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey", whether in 2D or 3D, on screen or on the pages of Tolkien's novels, is an epic for boys. The film opens in San Francisco this week. If you are a girl sitting in the audience it's an alienating experience. Most of the 13 dwarves are grotesque looking but the makers threw in a few attractive younger ones to soften the blow. The dwarves have all the excesses of ugly manhood: warts, unattractive bald spots, running snot, pot bellies, and all the horrible behaviors: grunting, overeating, drinking to excess and spilling liquids and crumbs on scraggly beards. 

Warner Bros

This is a long film with lots of chase scenes and fight scenes given the age requirement of 21. Vengeance is on the minds of the dwarves. They have had their home stolen from them, and Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), the Hobbit from Middle Earth who truly loves his home, is going to help get it back for them. This is a good deed, and Bilbo makes up for the hideousness of all the CGI dwarves, trolls, necromancers, goblins and fat snarling wargs. 

There is one woman with a speaking part, and we are used to her by now in so many films that without even blinking you know it's going to be ...Cate Blanchett as the elf royal Galadriel who can communicate telepathically with Gandolf (Ian McKellen). Otherwise there are a few women who are mute flute players and of course servers and some frumpy hobbit women in long shots. If you lack anything to identify with you can at least take in the beautiful scenery of the film made in New Zealand - the green valleys, rugged foothills, dark mountains capped by snow and the elements. Mother Nature is there after all.

After yet another nearly all male cast of inflated spectacular claim, the only "unexpected journey" was an epic that doesn't speak to women because there is not much to identify with.The latest Middle Earth epic is a 21st century adaptation of 'The Hobbit' (1937), as are the two other planned sequels or rather prequels to 'The Lord of the Rings'. Tolkien's hobbit and dwarf women may be marginal, but far worse are the moviemakers of today who consider women in the audience invisible, or inseparable from the mass.This new 'adaptation' from Tolkien novels does not attract young girls today unless you are willing to identify with dwarf men, a giant wizard and all the largely male foes.

Don't blame this on the book. Hobbits are related to 'men', the younger children of Ilúvatar together with the elves, and dwarves are the older children of Ilúvatar. There were mothers, and sisters, aunts and grandmothers. There is the elf queen Galadriel who was the only woman make it into Jackson's adaptation. The dwarf 'men' wanted their women to be hidden in the mountain halls in order to protect them. When dwarf women did travel, they were disguised as 'men'. Moreover, as dwarves, the women had beards. Were any of the scriptwriters interested in this queer connection for today's audiences? 

There were also Hobbit women. Bilbo's parents were Belladonna Took and Bungo Baggins, One of the well-known Hobbit women is Lobelia Sackville-Baggins and there is Dís, named for the Norse goddess Hjrodis, goddess of the sword. Dís was the daughter of King Thráin II and sister of Thorin and Frerin. There is also Rose Cotton, wife of Samwise Gamgee. Together they had a daughter named Elanor, who after Samwise's death became the "keeper" of the "Red Book of March", the story of Middle Earth written by Bilbo Baggins. There are far more women in Middle Earth than we realize, but Jackson made them invisible. 

According to Kristy Guevara-Flanagan who looks at this phenomena in WONDERWOMEN! The Untold Story of American Superheroines, only 3% of the decisions to cast women in film are made by women. So a film that does not feature any women is planned for a specific target audience that won't mind that. Tolkien's novels have been criticized for their clearly insignificant women characters, but given the time period of the late 1930's this is certainly more understandable than why today's producers would make a blockbuster largely targeted for 21+ men. 

Director Peter Jackson has made a testosterone roller coaster ride. It does feel like three hours, since there is one obstacle after another and little time to recover in between. For the uninitiated it seems like there is just one obstacle left after so many. But that is not the case. Alas, there will two more epic installments through 2014. 

Will they get their gold back? Is it worth two more films to find out?