Stan recommended a movie to catch now that it's on streaming.
MOVING ON is a must-see and first-rate film
I don't think there was a movie I wanted to see more this year than MOVING ON. So, of course, it had a limited release and was apparently not interested in playing in my area. Today, it's on sale at AMAZON. I think it's $12.99 or $14.99. I don't remember because I wasn't that concerned about the price. I wanted to see this movie and I bought it.
It's a great
movie, everything I could have hoped for. It's a dark comedy. A woman
has just passed away. She was married to Malcolm McDowell. Jane Fonda
and Lily Tomlin were her best friends (Lily was also her lover).
Malcolm is not a nice person and neither Jane or Lily are fond of him.
Jane shows up at the funeral -- we're talking the first ten minutes --
and tells him she's going to kill him.
The rest of the film is addressing why she wants to do that and will she do that.
Lily
Tomlin is amazing. This is the actress, please remember, who made even
Miss Jane come alive in THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES. When given a real
script, she can do even more (see NASHVILLE, THE LATE SHOW, THE
INCREDIBLE SHRINKING WOMAN, 9 TO 5, SHORT CUTS, ALL OF ME and many
more). She is amazing.
And
yet . . . she may be upstaged. Jane Fonda burrows into her character.
The eye brows seem different but that's not all. She's playing a
completely vulnerable character -- someone who doesn't want to bother
anyone (not even her grandkids to get them to say hello to her). It's a
character role and she digs so deep into it. The character's a little
out of focus -- not Jane's performance, the character herself. And so
when she does seize on something, like killing Malcolm, she zooms in on
it.
This is a great
film. The actors pull you in -- along with Lily and Jane, Richard
Roundtree deserves applause and so does a woman who Lily's insulted that
tells Lily off.
Paul Welz
previously worked with Lily on GRANDMA and she should have been
nominated for an Academy Award there. She's just as good here. But
Jane is a masterpiece. She should be nominated for Best Actress. This
is a character like none she's played before and she nails it.
She's
having a strong year with 80 FOR BRADY, MOVING ON and, up next, BOOK
CLUB II. But even if it was just MOVING ON, she has accomplished
something.
I can't get over
the character she's created. It's so real and so different and reminds
you that she's one of the finest film actresses our country has ever
produced.
Make a point to check out MOVING ON.
Going out with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"