Film Buffa at the Movies: Von Erich brothers movie takes flight, the strike abides, and a great TV character returns
1,500 words of entertainment news. It's a cinema buffet. Bring tacos and start reading.
The biggest problem with following a sport, especially baseball, is that it can be so exacting and constant that it deflates your patience for other things. It also eats up so much damn time. For me, my first love will always be the movies. Long before I stepped into Busch Memorial Stadium, I visited at least three movie theaters as a kid. The imagination can dance around for a much longer time in a theater than in a ballpark
Unlike baseball, movies have a definitive end, and the run time is usually less than a baseball game. While sequels and continuations are possible, the finality of a movie experience or some television show precision can provide a convincing comfort. It’s not a comfort that’s temporary, like the team can lose tomorrow and ignite rage all over again.
When you see a good flick or show, it’s a unique experience that can become richer. After a few Cardinals-related posts, let’s pop the hood on Hollywood and see what’s cooking.
In a nutshell, nothing is happening. Actors and writers are still on strike, and an endgame isn’t in sight. Creatives want to be paid properly for the evolving state of entertainment distribution, as in streaming services expanding the reach of their work. It’s not just residuals or a check here and there for an old popular show; if the show or movie is on Netflix, then the streaming giant should be paying. That’s their likeness on the screen, so fucking pay them!
This battle between studio heads and the people who make their millions possible has been going on for decades, all the way back to the last legit strike in 1960. It’s fairly simple. If they want to release these projects at a lightning type speed and refuse to slow down, show the creatives proper compensation. Show them the money, because this quiet will only continue. The crutch of the disagreement is actors and writers being paid for their show streaming endlessly or for a certain period of time; studios have to understand that the old classy days of a single definitive movie night are over. It’s everything, everywhere, all the damn time.
Case in point: Mandy Moore kicked ass on NBC’s This Is Us. I don’t care if you watched and disliked, or watched and liked the show; if it’s on Netflix streaming, actors like Moore should be paid. She has said in recent weeks that her income for those residuals hang around the pennies zone. With all the work put in and makeup chair stints (prosthetics) from Moore, how can you not show her the money? It’s greed. Pure greed.
TV show fans can get greedy with great characters, such as Raylan Givens. After more than a decade away from the small screen, Timothy Olyphant’s U.S. Marshall is back on FX/Hulu’s Justified: City Primeval, chasing after bad guys. The bad guy in this new batch of episodes-for a show that ended in a near perfect spot-happens to be Boyd Holbrook’s Clement Mansell. The versatile actor makes for a fine antagonist, and that only brings out the best in Raylan.
Few, if any, actors in Hollywood cut a better cloth as a modern day cowboy than Olyphant, who has donned the gunslinger mentality in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood and Rango as well as the popular series. It’s Givens that the actor settles into so succinctly.
From the walk to the sly but not overwhelming southern accent to the simple fact that he could quickly draw pretty well, Givens brings all the strengths out of Olyphant—who seems to be having a blast in the role. His protagonist is at his best when Raylan is either mad as hell or on the war path for a bad guy like Mansell. Holbrook’s psychopath is a good flip from Walton Goggins’ Kentucky foe, injecting a Joker-like mentality of a craving for chaos.
If City Primeval, another entertaining adaptation from the Elmore Leonard novel series, has a weak spot, it’s unfortunately Vivian Olyphant. Timothy’s real life daughter embodies the same role on the show, but hasn’t risen above annoying teenager in its first three episodes. With a voice that sounds like nails on a chalkboard mixed with a paralyzed mouse, her Willa Givens exists on the show as the weakness in Raylan’s armor. Maybe there’s more to her character or some additional growth, but it hasn’t been seen yet.
It’s a solid show that’s still waiting for a sizzle factor. We shall see.
The Iron Claw is a movie wrestling fans from the 80s should keep an eye out for. If you don’t know about the exhilarating yet tragic story of the Von Erich brothers, this upcoming A24 feature will surely enlighten. Starring a beefed up and halfway unrecognizable Zac Efron and the white hot Jeremy Allen White, The Iron Claw will dive into the story of the brothers who became wrestling legends… before it came crashing down. A Greek tragedy fit for a flick.
Here’s a teaser image:
One of the brothers, Kerry, was nicknamed The Texas Tornado. When I was a kid, wrestling was more fanatical to me than Cards baseball. Tornado was an action figure that I collected and held onto for years; along with The Ultimate Warrior and The British Bulldog, Kerry’s creation was my favorite.
What few fully understand is how bad the drug use in the sport was at the time. Everybody was juicing, and the cocktail only started with steroids. But the Von Erichs were thought to be cursed due to a streak of accidental and suicidal deaths. Their downfall is legitimately the makings of a Greek tragedy, and extra juicy for a film adaptation. What happened to a remarkable wrestling family in the most odd and heartbreaking fashion should be left for the big screen.
The name of the movie comes from the legendary move put on by the father of the brothers, Fritz Von Erich, as he puts his hand on an opponent’s face and squeezes. To my amazing joy, Holt McCallany will play the dad.
Zac Efron and Jeremy Allen White star also star as Kevin and Kerry Von Erich, two of the four brothers pictured above. A24 is a studio that blends the indie with the mainstream, and they don’t miss often. This one debuts on Dec. 22. It’s a big swing, and sets the movie up directly in prime awards season.
What else? Let’s cut the reel, splice it with some shorter takes, and get on with the weekend. Today is the second straight day of 100-degree days in St. Louis, and this one absolutely cooked me. It’s fitness on another level, but that’s a gripe for another day.
~I will see Barbie. Reviews from friends and the general gut shot of the movie have turned my head enough. If it’s Free Day bolstered as a female-led film, I am down. There’s also Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling.
~Rescue Me cracked the code of mixing drama and comedy for real-life pathos long before Allen White on Hulu’s The Bear. Denis Leary’s passion project drove long on the tragedy of 9/11, but dug its hooks into the daily grind of firefighters and their hardships in combining a personal life with one that includes flames. It hurt, emotionally and hysterically at times--most often in the same episode. It’s my lullaby at night. Catch 30-45 minutes and drift to sleep.
~I’ll hold firm on Mission: Impossible-Dead Reckoning Part One. It’s fine, but a step down for the franchise. I am one of a handful of critics who think this, and I’m cool with that. Keep running, Mr. Cruise. Big fan, but not always as impressed as everyone else.
A final word about the strike. I want the writers and actors to get a good deal, one they can live comfortably with and raise families on. One of the biggest misconceptions is that all working actors are loaded. That’s very incorrect. They’re working just like me and you, most of them at least. The other ones can use their more well-known voices for good.
I’m fine with a hold in production, because the endgame should be worth it. Studios need to be working, and every shooting day lost is money out of their pocket. Pay the people who fill your art with words and faces, or enjoy quiet sound stages and flicks from the past.
Again, it’s all good here. I’m a clinical movie re-watcher, so pardon me while I catch up on the 4,024 releases I have missed since 2019.
Be good and stay dry, folks.