RIP Lauren Bacall

by Tony Dayoub

"I remember my oldest son, Steve, saying to me once, 'I don't ever remember seeing you with an apron on.' And I thought, 'That's right, honey, you did not.' That was his concept of what a mother should be."

- the once shy, quiet Betty Joan Perske, who made her mark in the world as the hard-talking, politically active, outspoken, alluring actress, Lauren Bacall

Recommended Films - The Big Sleep, Harper, Murder on the Orient Express, Misery, Dogville, Birth

And an even better list of titles I haven't seen but should - To Have and Have Not, Dark Passage, Key Largo, Young Man with a Horn, How to Marry a Millionaire, The Cobweb, Written on the Wind, Designing Woman, Sex and the Single Girl, The Shootist, The Fan, The Mirror Has Two Faces, Manderlay, The Walker

Robin Williams

by Tony Dayoub

"If you watch it backwards, it has a plot."

- Robin Williams describing 1980's Popeye and, in
retrospect, a profoundly revelatory description of his own life.

Robin Williams made me laugh since I was a kid. The first time I saw him he appeared as Mork from Ork on Happy Days. How or why an alien would ever even cameo on an otherwise fairly realistic nostalgia show set in Eisenhower's 50s never even crossed my mind because Williams' rat-a-tat-tat style of humor was so absurd, so surprising and, of course, so hilarious, that it didn't really matter. The shock of seeing his brand of edgy, improvisational humor on a family-oriented network sitcom felt akin to someone throwing a confetti bomb into a crowded theater. It's an explosive prank that is ultimately harmless. But it was memorable... and powerful enough to get Williams his own TV show, Mork and Mindy.

Movie Review: The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014)

by Tony Dayoub

Neither the lush, poetic expression of everything its target audience of foodies and mature movie-lovers might hope for nor the cloying, overripe romance other critics accuse it of resembling as they all gleefully pile on, The Hundred-Foot Journey is a pleasant diversion from the excess provided by the usual summer blockbusters. That our screening was preceded by a taped message from producers Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey hinting how much they want you to really, really like it, signaled that the movie would try very hard to be inoffensive, a kind of paradox if you think about it. The selection of Lasse Hallström as director, the man behind such vanilla fare as Chocolat and Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, all but underscores that the movie will be devoid of surprises. Predictable as it might be, though, The Hundred-Foot Journey does possess some charm, emanating mostly from its offbeat cast and its surprisingly frank approach to racism in the otherwise alluring French countryside.

Movie Review: Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

by Tony Dayoub

Nearly every instance of a Guardians of the Galaxy trailer shown for the past six months at multiplexes nationwide is immediately followed by the same whispers. "Who are those guys?" "Have you ever heard of these superheroes?" "Are they related to the Avengers?" Don't beat yourself up if you've never heard of the Guardians. Even the most diehard geek only has a passing familiarity with these characters. Marvel Studios, well aware of this, takes this as an opportunity to cut itself loose from comic book continuity, giving director James Gunn a considerable amount of creative license to come up with a bouncy, hilarious bauble, an almost $200 million near-throwaway that also happens to be one of the best cinematic adventures of the year.