Tag Archives: Lily Tomlin

1993 Films, Andie MacDowell, Anne Archer, Best Feature- Independent Spirit Award Winners, Drama, Frances McDormand, Fred Ward, Independent, Independent Drama, Jack Lemmon, Jeff Goldblum, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Julianne Moore, Lili Taylor, Lily Tomlin, Lyle Lovett, Madeleine Stowe, Matthew Modine, Robert Altman, Robert Downey Jr., Tim Robbins

Short Cuts-1993

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Short Cuts-1993

Director Robert Altman

Starring Tim Robbins, Julianne Moore, Lily Tomlin

Scott’s Review #1,400

Reviewed September 20, 2023

Grade: A

I am such a fan of acclaimed director Robert Altman because he typically features an enormous cast with richly composed characters all serving a story purpose. Frequently, with much character development and investment.

Short Cuts (1993) is a latter-day Altman offering set in Los Angeles, California, the City of Angels that is nearly as good as my all-time favorite of his, Nashville made in 1975.

Similarities burst to the screen with twenty-two principal characters to Nashville’s twenty-four. Their lives frequently intersect and the fun is peeling back the layers of their lives and discovering who is connected to whom.

Comparisons to 1992’s The Player (also Altman) and 1999’s Magnolia, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson can also be made for obvious Los Angeles setting reasons.

But, Magnolia is much weirder than Short Cuts.

The irony is that most characters are anything but angels as they suffer from insecurities, deaths, infidelity, and various shenanigans as they attempt to get through California life amid an earthquake and a fleet of helicopters spraying for medflies.

Altman based the film on the nine short stories and a poem by Raymond Carver.

Some of the tales include a waitress Doreen (Lily) who is married to an alcoholic limo driver (Tom Waits) who accidentally runs into a boy with her car. Soon after walking away, the child lapses into a coma. While at the hospital, the boy’s grandfather (Jack Lemmon) tells his son, Howard (Bruce Davison), about his past affairs.

Meanwhile, a baker (Lyle Lovett) starts harassing the family when they fail to pick up the boy’s birthday cake.

Dr. Ralph Wyman (Matthew Modine) and his wife, Marian (Moore), meet Stuart Kane (Fred Ward), an unemployed salesman, and Claire Kane (Anne Archer), a party clown, at a cello concert.

They impulsively decide to have a Sunday dinner date. seemingly having nothing in common.

Meanwhile, Marian’s sister, Sherri (Madeleine Stowe), is married to a cheating cop named Gene (Tim Robbins), who is having an affair with Betty Weathers (Frances McDormand), while Betty is divorcing one of the helicopter pilots, Stormy (Peter Gallagher).

There are other stories and connections to round out the fabulous cast.

The juicy and dramatic storylines play out like a terrific story arc on Days of Our Lives or As the World Turns with some needed comedic elements to balance things out.

Anyone who knows Altman will salivate with the name recognition among the cast most notably Tomlin and Robbins. Actors frequently chomped at the bit to appear knowing that he was an actor’s director.

This means he allowed his cast open range to create dialogue appropriate for their characters.

There’s no better example than when Jack Lemmon tells a story in the film. His improv and free dialogue are a dream to watch and a lesson in good and natural acting.

Despite the enormous cast everyone has something of quality to do. Nobody is languishing on the back burner with throwaway scenes or unimportant activities. All characters connect to others in some way.

Fans who fancy Los Angeles both in film and in real life with its bursting sunshine and cheery perception will revel in the down and dirty sub texture of Short Cuts.

The fun is getting there.

Some characters are wealthy but most struggle with day-to-day routine so the film contains a harsh realism. They try to find some shreds of happiness wherever they can get them.

Like real life which is part of the mastery of Short Cuts. The audience can relate to the characters because we all know people like them which makes the film a beautiful and treasured experience.

Or some may even be like us. The writing is brilliant and the characters are true to form.

One day I’ll create a list of my Top Ten Robert Altman films and I bet Short Cuts (1993) lands in the Top Five.

Oscar Nominations: Best Director-Robert Altman

Independent Spirit Award Nominations: 3 wins-Best Feature (won), Best Director-Robert Altman (won), Best Screenplay (won), Best Supporting Actress-Julianne Moore

2006 Films, Comedy, Independent, Independent Comedy, John C. Reilly, Kevin Kline, Lily Tomlin, Lindsay Lohan, Maya Rudolph, Meryl Streep, Robert Altman, Tommy Lee Jones, Virginia Madsen, Woody Harrelson

A Prairie Home Companion-2006

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A Prairie Home Companion-2006

Director Robert Altman

Starring Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Woody Harrelson, Lily Tomlin

Scott’s Review #1,033

Reviewed June 16, 2020

Grade: B

The final film by legendary and influential director Robert Altman is not his greatest work. If I were to compare A Prairie Home Companion (2006) to another of Altman’s pictures it would be Nashville (1975) both having grassroots entertainment similarities.

The latter combines satire amid a political rally in a southern city while the former celebrates behind-the-scenes events at a long-running radio show in Minneapolis.

Difficult to criticize anything a genius does, my expectation was much more than was given.

The film plods along with little excitement or juiciness ever happening so the experience is to enjoy the standard Altman fixtures like a huge cast, overlapping dialogue, and witty chatter.

A melancholy effort since no new material will ever be released by the cinema great, but a chance to celebrate his achievements all the same.

Set in present times, events take place in Saint Paul, Minnesota, a chilly city in the United States mid-west. A long-running live radio variety show, A Prairie Home Companion, prepares for its final broadcast.

The radio station’s new parent company has scheduled the show’s home, the storied Fitzgerald Theater, for demolition and dispatched “the Axeman” (Tommy Lee Jones) to judge whether to save the show. Prospects are grim as radio shows are deemed a thing of the past and irrelevant.

The many radio stars revel and reminisce in memories as they prepare for cancellation.

Led by the singing Johnson Girls, Yolanda (Meryl Streep) and sister Rhonda (Lily Tomlin), and daughter Lola (Lindsay Lohan) who are most prominent, other characters include cowboy duo Dusty (Woody Harrelson) and Lefty (John C. Reilly); pregnant PA Molly (Maya Rudolph) and the show’s creator and host, Garrison Keillor.

A spirit known as “Dangerous Woman” (Virginia Madsen) also joins the group.

Star power is not the issue here and it pleasing is to witness a bevy of A-list Hollywood stars duke it out for screen-time. Anyone possessing knowledge of Altman knows that he was an actor’s director, meaning he let his actors truly shine and interpret what the motivations of the characters were.

Garrison Keillor, who wrote the piece, follows Altman’s lead in this area letting the cast try and bring to life what is on the written page.

Unfortunately, they fail.

While meandering greatly, A Prairie Home Companion has an earthy and humanistic theater troupe quality. The stars of the radio show are like family and cling to each other for moral support during uncertainty.

This feels nice to the viewer as common compassion is endearing, many of the individuals have spent decades together. Their stories and experiences resonate warmly, and one can’t help but be sucked into their lives.

The problem with this is that the stories go on and on and quickly seem pointless. There is little doubt whether the show will close. While the people are enamoring nothing much really happens in the film and it becomes a bore.

The character interactions lack any energy and do not carry the film in any direction. They merely are what they are.

I can appreciate a slow build if there eventually is a payoff. A Prairie Home Companion (2006) never achieves full-throttle or hits the gas pedal so the film exists but doesn’t shine.

With masterpieces such as The Long Goodbye (1973), Nashville (1975), and 3 Women (1977) my expectations were soaring so that may be a part of my letdown.

Prairie Home is not included in my go-to catalog of Altman greats and would teeter at the bottom of a master ranking of his films.

Independent Spirit Award Nominations: Best Director-Robert Altman

2018 Films, Animated, Best Animated Feature Oscar Winners, Chris Pine, Kathryn Hahn, Liev Schreiber, Lily Tomlin, Mahershala Ali, Super Hero, Zoë Kravitz

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse-2018

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Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse-2018

Director-Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, Bob Persichetti

Voices-Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Lily Tomlin

Scott’s Review #881

Reviewed March 30, 2019

Grade: B+

There have been many film versions of Spider-Man.

To my recollection, the first series came in three installments and was directed by Sam Raimi: Spider-Man (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004), and Spider-Man 3 (2007) with Toby Maguire in the title role. These were the good, old, days.

Andrew Garfield took over in 2012 and 2014 to mixed reviews before the super-hero was merged into Captain America and The Avengers films as well as one or two additional solo outings. This is where I lose track.

Finally, through all the incarnations comes the very first computer-animated film based on the Marvel Comics character.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) was an enormous box-office success as well as a critical success winning the coveted Best Animated Feature Oscar. My choice would have been for the dark and sarcastic Isle of Dogs, but the former has impressive merits and grand animation that are astounding to the eyes.

Towards the climax, the film teeters into the familiar and predictable territory from a story perspective though admittedly the super-hero and animated genre is not my most cherished.

Miles Morales is a Brooklyn teenager, bright, energetic, and likened to your average city kid. His father, Jefferson Davis, is a muscled policeman who is no fan of Spider-Man, the heroic masked man who prevents city crime outshining the cops daily.

While close to his father, Miles is much more connected to his uncle, Aaron Davis, despite his father and uncle having a distant relationship.

When Miles is bitten by a hungry spider he immediately begins exhibiting Spider-Man-like abilities and stumbles upon others with similar stories.

The teen meets super-villain Wilson Frisk, (a not-so-subtle Donald Trump parody if ever I saw one) who is intent on accessing a parallel universe to retrieve his deceased wife and son. Events involving a USB drive and the “real” Spider-Man, Peter Parker, also living in a parallel universe come into play.

The overly complex story is not the best part of the experience and I began losing interest in the how’s and why’s especially when compared to the escapist and marvelous super-cool animations.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse deserves some great praise for making the film’s central character ethnically mixed (Hispanic and Black), never done before in franchise history.

This diversity, evident in Black Panther (2018) is all the rage now in the super-hero genre along with gender equality in a once deemed “guy’s movie” slogan.

This is a delight to witness with hopefully even more of a slant towards richer diversity. Are Asian, gay, or physically impaired character’s coming next?

The film looks amazing with creative and slick modern animation and graphics across the board that never wavers throughout the entire nearly two-hour running time, lengthy for an animated feature.

Styled and bright the film’s most brazen appeal is with its colors and shapes and sizes. The metropolitan New York City is a treat to witness as the creators not only focus on Manhattan, but on Queens and Brooklyn, boroughs were too often forgotten in favor of the glitz and bustle of Manhattan.

The clever re-titling of FedEx trucks to Red Ex is worthy of mention.

With a glitzy look, fast-paced action, and interesting villains, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) is an impressive feat and a deep-dive into the possibilities of incorporating more of the super-hero and animated genres.

This is around the corner due to the critical, audience, and awards notice that surrounds this film. If only the story contained more twists and turns and less standard genre-pleasing qualities, the possibilities would be endless.

Oscar Nominations: Best Animated Feature Film (won)

2010 Films, Bill Maher, Brad Garrett, Documentary, Don Rickles, Garry Shandling, Joan Rivers, Kathy Griffin, Lily Tomlin, Melissa Rivers

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work-2010

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Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work-2010

Director Ricki Stern, Anne Sundberg

Starring Joan Rivers, Melissa Rivers

Scott’s Review #563

Reviewed December 26, 2016

Grade: A

I found Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (2010) to be a great documentary.

For fans of Joan Rivers, the film is a treat, but for people unfamiliar with her, it is an amazing journey into her personal life, and we see her at her most vulnerable.

At the time of this documentary, she was a very busy seventy-seven-year-old entertainer. The film exceeds as it shows not only her stage persona, and quick wit, but a more intimate, personal side to the woman.

According to Rivers, the documentary makers were allowed free reign of what made the final cut, with no approval from Rivers.

Joan Rivers must be the hardest working, driven, seventy-seven-year-old alive. Not only is she the foul-mouthed, hysterical comedienne most know her as, but she also has an insecure, sensitive side that few see.

Moments of this documentary are hysterical, others are heartbreaking.

As she is mocked in a crappy club in the mid-west by a man offended by her jokes, Rivers lashes out at the man and later shows a sense of regret as she speaks to the camera.

The documentary is set up as a year in the life of Joan Rivers mixed in with her forty-plus years in showbiz, how she got her start, breaks, etc. We experience the pain she felt when her husband committed suicide, forcing her to take almost any job as a way to pay her bills.

This is a documentary that reveals much, much more than the public sees her as. It is an intimate portrayal of a courageous woman that few wholly see.

I loved it.

2015 Films, Comedy, Drama, Independent, Independent Comedy, Independent Drama, Judy Greer, Julia Garner, Laverne Cox, Lily Tomlin, Marcia Gay Harden, Paul Weitz, Sam Elliott

Grandma-2015

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Grandma-2015

Director Paul Weitz

Starring Lily Tomlin, Marcia Gay Harden

Scott’s Review #275

Grandma_Movie_Poster

Reviewed September 21, 2015

Grade: B+

Grandma (2015) is clearly and deservedly, a showcase for the talented and interesting legendary Hollywood actress Lily Tomlin.

Years (twenty-seven to be precise) since she has had a starring turn in a film, the role of Grandma is custom-made for Tomlin, with the character’s sarcasm, wit, and downright bluntness emerging to the forefront.

The film is labeled a comedy/drama, which it is. It’s themed around a heavy topic of abortion and runs the risk of offending pro-life individuals, as the film undoubtedly contains a pro-choice slant.

Ellie (Tomlin) is a poet and former college professor in her seventies living in California. She is a lesbian and is mourning the recent death of her long-time partner. She has recently been dating a lovely young woman named Olivia (played by Judy Greer), whom she unceremoniously, and cruelly dumps, referring to Olivia as little more than a footnote in her life.

Afterward, Ellie breaks down in tears of guilt while showering.

One day her granddaughter, Sage, (her daughter Judy being the product of a one-night stand), appears on her doorstep asking for money for an abortion. Having just paid off her debts and destroyed her credit cards, Ellie is therefore broke.

The duo embarks on a quest for cash, and race against time to make the appointment in time for the scheduled procedure.

The film belongs to Tomlin but is enhanced by excellent supporting turns, specifically by Marcia Gay Harden as daughter Judy, and veteran actor Sam Elliot, as Ellie’s former flame Karl, to cite examples.

Judy and Ellie have experienced a tumultuous relationship their entire lives while Karl harbors resentment for Ellie for long-ago aborting their child. Harden is thrilling as a borderline, one-dimensional bitch character.

She is driven, angry, and self-centered, and it is mentioned that she has gone through numerous administrative assistants in her high-level corporate role.

I have not seen Harden in a role quite like this before. As unsympathetic as the character is, one cannot help wondering if Ellie’s mothering skills may have made Judy turn out this way.

Karl on the other hand is sympathetic. He is still wounded from his ages-ago relationship with Ellie and may still hold a flame for her, as unlikely a romance between them would be.

The film is darker than expected and is not the syrupy, mainstream, family story one might expect from the fuzzy one-word title.

Still, Tomlin’s cantankerous, sarcasm kept me in stitches and perfectly balanced the tough subject matter displayed in Grandma.

The relationships between the main characters are complex and tough to watch as they argue, swear, and insult each other.

Love is mixed in but complexities arise due to the controversial subject matter. The history of and, in many cases, painful memories are dredged up between characters.

Impressively, Grandma is not a film that debates the hot-button issue of abortion as one might assume. Sage never really considers keeping her baby and will have the procedure done as quickly as possible.  Ellie and Judy never try to persuade Sage to keep the child nor does Sage seriously contemplate keeping the baby.

The only instance of a pro-life perspective is when two ridiculous characters- a young mother and her ten-year-old daughter- suggest Sage not kill her baby. When Ellie steps in the young girl punches her in the face. Is this intended as comic relief or to make these characters appear as buffoons?

These characters are laughable.

The father of Sage’s baby is unsympathetic and a very minor blip on the radar. My theory is that the film chooses to go this route intentionally to avoid a debate over the abortion issue.

A debate is not the point, but the relationships between the characters are.

The scenes involving Ellie becoming irritated and sarcastic are priceless, successfully utilizing Tomlin. As she hilariously goes from situation to situation in an attempt to earn the $600 for Sage she resorts to various means as diverse as selling books, giving a kiss, or collecting an old debt.

This is the main draw of the witty little film, Grandma (2015).

1975 Films, Best Film of the Year, Drama, Elliott Gould, Geraldine Chaplin, Jeff Goldblum, Julie Christie, Karen Black, Keith Carradine, Lily Tomlin, Ned Beatty, Robert Altman, Ronee Blakley, Satire, Scott Glenn, Scott's Top 100 Films, Shelley Duvall

Nashville-1975

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Nashville-1975

Director Robert Altman

Starring Lily Tomlin, Keith Carradine, Karen Black

Top 100 Films #7

Scott’s Review #47

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Reviewed June 19, 2014

Grade: A

Nashville (1975)  is a brilliant film.

I have found that with each subsequent viewing, it creeps higher and higher on my list of favorite movies of all time.

The style is unique (largely improvised) and epitomizes creative freedom in the film during the 1970s.

Director Robert Altman lets his actors express themselves, even allowing them to write their songs, the dialogue overlaps at times, which results in a natural feeling as the viewer watches the cast of twenty-four principles intersect over five days at a political rally/country music festival.

It is pure Robert Altman at his finest.

Nashville is a satire of the political arena of the early 1970s and the Vietnam conflict and politicians, specifically.

The film certainly questions and challenges the government with an ironic patriotic setting (Nashville).

The country music industry was in an uproar upon the initial release of the film. It is a layered film that can be discussed and appreciated and every character is cared about.

I cannot adequately describe the multitude of nuances in each scene that are noticed over time.

Each character- even some with limited screen time is important to the story as are the political elements- the questions of wars, policies, etc. abound.

The chaotic bits and individual storylines come together at the end and many background happenings are incredibly interesting to watch and take note of throughout each viewing.

With each experience, the audience will notice more and more. I certainly do.

Lily Tomlin, for example, plays Linnea, a haggard mother of deaf children with a supportive husband, a woman who on the surface is heroic, yet she is a complex character; she is bored with her life and falls in love with a young musician despite the guilt and repercussions.

The musician in question is Tom Frank, played by Keith Carradine. Handsome, and self-absorbed, he arrives in Nashville to dump his bandmates in hopes of a solo career and beds many willing females.

He also lashes out at a soldier at the airport, saying, “Kill anyone lately?”

Despite his unlikeable character, Carradine gives one of the most beautiful performances in the film when he sings “I’m Easy”.

Several of the female characters assume he is singing the song for them, but who is he truly singing it for…if anyone?

Another character to analyze is Barbara Jean, played by Ronee Blakley. A frail yet very successful country singer, she is in and out of hospitals as she frets about her replacement singer stealing her thunder.

Her insecurities rise to the surface.

Insecurity is a common theme among the characters. Many of them are either unsure, afraid, or not confident about their musical talent, their relationships, or even themselves.

These are only three examples of the twenty-four richly layered characters- some ambitious, some falling apart, others meandering through life.

Many songs throughout were created by the actors themselves.

Nashville (1975) is storytelling and filmmaking at its best. A creation by Altman that is deservedly admired, revered, and heralded as a major influence.

It is studied in film schools as it should be.

Oscar Nominations: 1 win-Best Picture, Best Director-Robert Altman, Best Supporting Actress-Ronee Blakley, Lily Tomlin, Best Original Song-“I’m Easy” (won)