Stranger Things Day wrapped up with this video filmed at the retail pop-up store in Los Angeles, featuring the adorable Randy Havens (he plays Scott Clarke in the series).
Dexter: New Blood premiered last night on Showtime. Star Michael C. Hall and showrunner Clyde Phillips, who left the original series after its spectacular fourth season, have promised to atone for the series finale (yes, it really is that bad). The bottom line for me, I will always be here for Dexter Morgan; Hall’s portrayal of the serial killer has been riveting from the start, even when the storylines were a mess. Anyway, the first episode of New Blood didn’t blow me away, but I still enjoyed being back in Dexter’s world.
Hall as Dexter Morgan
Hall with Jack Alcott as Dexter’s son Harrison
Joni Mitchell – born Roberta Joan Anderson – celebrated her seventy-eighth birthday yesterday. Mitchell is one of the most influential artists in the history of popular music, inspiring songwriters of ALL genres, from Bob Dylan to Bonnie Raitt, Prince to Björk, Tool to Taylor Swift. Mitchell is also a painter, and did the artwork for most of her album covers. Her 1971 masterpiece, Blue, is quite simply one of the greatest albums ever made – by any artist, in any genre.
ABBA has released Voyage, their first album in forty years, and it is lovely.
The Wicked movie is finally happening! The adaptation will be directed by Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians); Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo will star as Glinda and Elphaba, respectively.
Ariana Grande
Cynthia Erivo
The trailer for the Station Eleven limited series reminded me that I’d never gotten around to reading the book. Now I’ve broken my COVID-era rule about avoiding post-apocalyptic pandemic material, but it’s incredibly well-written.
Days of Our Lives premiered on this day in 1965. Set in fictional Salem, Illinois, Days charts the lives and loves of the Brady and Horton families. I watched Days for many years after being turned on to it by my college roomie/bestie Shari; we’d schedule our classes around it when we could. My final semester in college, a group of friends and I would meet every Friday to eat lunch at noon, watch Days at one and then head to the bar at two. It was a simpler time. Days had a broader pop-culture moment in the mid-90’s when Friends character Joey Tribbiani got a job playing neurosurgeon Dr. Drake Ramoray on the show. Joey was fired for smack-talking the Days writers (Drake took a fall down an elevator shaft) but he returned several years later and played Dr. Ramoray for the remainder of Friends‘ run.
Joey’s Drake Ramoray returned to Days after receiving a brain transplant, which is no more absurd than most of the storylines on the actual show.
Alfre Woodard is celebrating her birthday today. Adept at drama and comedy, Woodard is one of my favorite actors, giving brilliant performance after brilliant performance. The winner of four Emmys, a Golden Globe and three Screen Actors Guild Awards, Woodard has also been nominated for one Oscar, for 1983’s Cross Creek (she should have been nominated for PassionFish and Clemency, too).
With Miss Evers’ Boys co-star Laurence Fishburne
Passion Fish
Crooklyn
Clemency
Alex Trebek died one year ago today after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
Minnie Riperton was born on this day in 1947. A singer-songwriter, Riperton was known for her four-octave voice, her bonkers whistle register, and the #1 smash hit “Lovin’ You” from her 1974 album PerfectAngel. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 1976, Riperton continued to record and tour; she died on July 12, 1979 at the age of just thirty-one.
Riperton with her family: husband Richard Rudolph, daughter Maya and son Marc
Mutiny on the Bounty was released on this day in 1935. Starring Charles Laughton and Clark Gable, Mutiny was the highest-grossing film of the year and won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
This post contains some of my season four theories, which – if I turn out to be correct – could constitute spoilers. You’ve been warned.
Today is the fourth annual Stranger Things Day, and Netflix gave me ALMOST everything I was hoping for.
Why do we celebrate Stranger Things Day on November 6th? Because November 6, 1983 is the date Will goes missing in the series opener, “The Vanishing of Will Byers”. The first Stranger Things Day was observed in 2018; the show’s social media accounts shared a clip from the set of then-filming season three, with cast members wishing everyone a happy Stranger Things Day. Each year, Netflix gives us goodies to commemorate the event; this year, we hit the goody jackpot.
We kicked things off with the fourth (and final) teaser, released at 10 AM (all times listed are EDT).
The voiceover is Eleven writing a letter to Mike. El, living in California with the Byers family and making things sound much cheerier than they actually are, has plans to spend her spring break with Mike. But since this is Stranger Things, we already know this will *not* be the best spring break ever.
At noon, we got a peek at the first season four poster (all of the show’s art work has been done – brilliantly – by Kyle Lambert). This poster depicts locations and events from the three previous seasons, and front and center – adjacent to the junkyard, the pool and Starcourt Mall – is the Creel house. More on this in a minute.
At 2 PM, Netflix dropped the episode titles:
The Hellfire Club
Vecna’s Curse
The Monster and the Superhero
Dear Billy
The Nina Project
The Dive
The Massacre at Hawkins Lab
Papa
The Piggyback
Disappointingly, this trailer doesn’t contain an actual release date (like I said, I got ALMOST everything I wanted). Summer 2021 is all we have – for now. Hopefully, we’ll see a full trailer in the spring with the release date.
A few notes/questions on the episode titles:
“The Hellfire Club”, a reference to the exclusive, high-society gentlemen’s clubs of 18th-century Great Britain, is the name of Hawkins High School’s Dungeons & Dragons club.
“Dear Billy” clearly refers to Billy Hargrove, Max’s late step-brother who sacrificed himself to the Mind Flayer at the end of season three in order to save Eleven’s life. Billy’s portrayer, Dacre Montgomery, was seen on the season four set, but how will Billy appear? Did he somehow survive? Is he a doppelgänger? Is it a flashback? Or perhaps some sort of alternate timeline?
“Papa” is obviously Matthew Modine’s Dr. Brenner. We already knew that Brenner was “Papa” to at least ten other children besides Eleven (we met Eight/Kali in season two). Based on a teaser released in May, it looks like we’ll meet at least some of those other children in season four. The creep factor of the children saying “Good morning, Papa” in unison is off the charts.
“The Piggyback” is the title I’m most intrigued by. Back in season two, I entertained a hypothesis that only the powers of all the children (Eleven, Eight and at least nine others) combined would be enough to take down the Mind Flayer. So I’m wondering if “The Piggyback” refers to their powers piggybacking on each other. The title could also be a reference to time travel, which the show has strongly hinted at, particularly with all the season three references to Back to the Future (nothing on Stranger Things is accidental). Or, it could obviously be something else entirely. I guess we’ll find out next summer.
Here’s what we know so far – for sure – about season four:
The Byers family, including Eleven, are living in California. The Wheeler family, Steve, Dustin, Lucas, Max and Robin are all still living in Hawkins. Steve and Robin are working at the video store.
Hopper is being held at a Russian prison (he is conspicuously absent in the teaser that dropped today, but we know this from the first teaser – released all the way back in February 2020, before production on season four shut down due to the pandemic).
Pennhurst Mental Hospital, mentioned briefly in season one, will be a major location.
Guest starring this season is horror legend Robert England, who will play Victor Creel, a patient at Pennhurst.
Another new location for season four is the aforementioned Creel house. From what I’ve pieced together, Victor is most likely the father seen in the third teaser that was released on September 25. My guess? The demogorgon kills Victor’s family; he is accused of the crime and offers up a story too fantastical to be believed. Convicted and ruled criminally insane, Creel is sent to Pennhurst. In 1986, Dustin and the gang seem to be trying to find evidence in the abandoned house, perhaps to help exonerate Creel? Speaking of Dustin, Gaten Matarazzo’s Sherlock Holmes impression gives me all the feels.
Brett Gelman, who plays Murray Bauman, has been promoted to series regular.
There are three more new series regulars: Jamie Campbell Bower will play Peter Ballard, an orderly at Pennhurst who will presumably interact with Victor Creel; Eduardo Franco will portray Argyle, a Spicoli-esque stoner who is Jonathan Byers’ best friend (I adore the idea of introverted Jonathan being friends with a dude like this); and Joseph Quinn will play Eddie Munson, the leader of Hawkins’ Hellfire Club.
“Remember, remember the Fifth of November.” It’s Guy Fawkes Day, which is a UK holiday; if you’re stateside, you could always celebrate by watching V for Vendetta (it’s available for streaming on HBO Max). For more information on the “Gunpowder Plot” that inspired the holiday, click here:
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted the class of 2021 last weekend. Honorees included The Go-Go’s, Tina Turner, Foo Fighters and LL Cool J. The full ceremony will be available to stream on HBO Max November 20th.
The Go-Go’s (seriously, how much ass do these women still kick?)
Foo Fighters
LL Cool J
The Nat King Cole Show debuted on NBC on this day in 1956; it was the first network television show hosted by an African-American. Ratings were low, and a national sponsor was never found. Cole ended the program himself in December, 1957; when asked about the lack of sponsorship, Cole replied “Madison Avenue is afraid of the dark”.
Gram Parsons (born Ingram Cecil Connor III) would have turned seventy-five today. Parsons, who popularized a country-rock-folk hybrid he referred to as “Cosmic American Music”, is one of the most influential American singer-songwriters of all time. He was an instrumental creative force behind Sweetheart of the Rodeo, the seminal 1968 album by The Byrds, and he co-founded The Flying Burrito Brothers with fellow Byrd Chris Hillman. He recorded two solo albums, the second of which – Grievous Angel – came out four months after his death (from a lethal combination of morphine and alcohol) at the age of just twenty-six.
Jon-Erik Hexum was born on this day in 1957. A model and actor, Hexum’s star was on the rise thanks to lead roles in two television series: Voyagers, a show I LOVED, and Cover Up, which debuted on CBS in the fall of 1984. During a break in filming Cover Up‘s eighth episode, Hexum began playing what he thought was a harmless game of Russian roulette with a .44 Magnum prop gun. Hexum, believing he had removed all six blanks from the gun, pulled the trigger; the wadding from the blank fractured a quarter-sized piece of his skull and propelled it into his brain, causing massive hemorrhaging. Hexum was taken to Beverly Hills Medical Center and underwent emergency surgery, but he never regained consciousness. He was pronounced brain-dead on October 18th and removed from life support; he was twenty-six years old.
With Voyagers co-star Meeno Peluce
The Harder They Fall premiered on Netflix today. Starring Idris Elba, Regina King and LaKeith Stanfield (among others), the film is a revenge-Western/action hybrid, and it looks ridiculously entertaining.
Regina King saying, “My boss? Clearly, you don’t know me.” is <chef’s kiss>
And last but not least, happy birthday to Jonny Greenwood, who turns fifty today! Legendary multi-instrumentalist for Radiohead, Greenwood is also an accomplished film composer, and a personal favorite of mine. Welcome to Club 50, Jonny!
Greenwood, second from right, with his Radiohead bandmates
Greenwood’s gorgeous, Oscar-nominated score for Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread
In the early hours of Halloween morning, 1993, River Phoenix died of “acute multiple drug intoxication”. At the age of just twenty-three, Phoenix was poised to be one of the greatest actors of his generation. Phoenix began performing as a child and made his first film appearance in 1985’s Explorers. Three years and five films later, he received his first (and only) Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, for Running on Empty. On the night of his death, after apparently getting high on heroin, Phoenix showed up at the Viper Room, the Hollywood club co-owned by his friend Johnny Depp. After he arrived at the club, some cocaine was passed around. The combination of heroin and cocaine – referred to as a speedball – proved lethal; Phoenix began convulsing and eventually lost conciousness. He was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and pronounced dead at 1:51 am.
Phoenix, second from right, with Stand By Me co-stars Wil Wheaton, Corey Feldman and Jerry O’Connell
Running on Empty
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
On October 31, 1981, Donald Pleasence hosted Saturday Night Live with musical guest Fear. It…didn’t go well. The band played that evening at the request of fan John Belushi. Before their three-song set was over, slam-dancers were destroying the set; a producer cut the segment short and Fear were subsequently banned from the show.
Adam Schlesinger was born on this day in 1967. Oscar- and Tony-nominated, Grammy- and Emmy-winning songwriter, record producer and multi-instrumentalist, co-founder of power pop icons Fountains of Wayne (as well as Ivy and Tinted Windows), Schlesinger also wrote songs for films like That Thing You Do! and Josie & The Pussycats, and television series like Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Sadly, Schlesinger died on April 1, 2020, of COVID-19 complications; he was fifty-two years old.
Schlesinger, far left, with Fountains of Wayne
Schlesinger, right, with Jack Dolgen and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend star/creator Rachel Bloom.
Schlesinger’s masterpiece, the Oscar-nominated title track from That Thing You Do!
“Creep” by TLC was released on this day in 1994; the song would become the group’s first #1 hit.
John Candy was born on this day in 1950. Co-star of some of the most iconic films of the eighties and nineties, including Stripes, Splash, Spaceballs and JFK, Candy rose to fame as a member of the Toronto troupe of Second City and its television sketch comedy offshoot, SCTV. My favorite Candy role? Del Griffith, shower curtain ring salesman. Candy died of a heart attack on March 4, 1994, at the age of forty-three.
Candy in the iconic Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Two of my biggest late-80s crushes, Adam Horovitz and Larry Mullen Jr., are celebrating their fifty-fifth and sixtieth birthdays today, and now I feel very, very old.
I am in the midst of my first annual “Twelve Nights of Halloween” celebration. Halloween is my favorite holiday – y’all can have your Christmas and your Thanksgiving and your Easter, but leave me the season of tricks, treats, thrills, chills, bonfires, corn mazes and horror movies. I typically spend a couple of nights watching scary and/or sci-fi movies and television, but this year, I’ve decided to try something a little different. Because I want to revisit some familiar favorites (Stranger Things, Poltergeist) AND experience some new-to-me media (Hush, The Hunger), I’m spreading it out over twelve nights. You can keep your leaping lords, your milking maids and your swimming swans; I’ll take the things that go bump in the night.
Poltergeist
I have some pretty specific rules about what types of horror I will – and won’t – watch. I will always say yes to monster stories (Alien, A Quiet Place, Jaws), serial killer thrillers (The Silence of the Lambs, Seven, Zodiac), horror-comedies (Tremors, Gremlins, Shaun of the Dead), and psychological horror (The Shining, basically anything directed by Alfred Hitchcock). I will always say no to demonic possessions, torture porn, and splatter/gore. Other subgenres are case-by-case: I typically enjoy ghost stories and I typically don’t care for body horror. If I’m not sure about something, I’ll err on the side of caution and skip it; I don’t need another reason to lay awake at night.
Zodiac
Of course, Halloween-themed media doesn’t have to be horror; whether Halloween episodes of your favorite sitcoms, Halloween-themed baking competitions, animation or a Tim Burton movie marathon, there’s a little something for everyone.
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Here’s a peek at my “Twelve Nights of Halloween” watchlist (asterisks indicate a first-time viewing for me):
Double feature: Poltergeist and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Heather O’Rourke and the most terrifying clown doll of all time
E.T., pretending to be Gertie in a ghost costume, is intrigued by a kid’s Yoda costume.
While Poltergeist might seem like the more obvious choice for Halloween, the holiday is an important plot point in E.T. And these films make a natural double feature for me: the two opened just a week apart in June of 1982, both feature otherworldly beings upending a suburban family’s lives, and both were developed by Steven Spielberg (the level of Spielberg’s involvement in the production of Poltergeist has been hotly debated for almost four decades). It’s hard to overstate the impact this pair of films have had on me, and I doubt I will ever tire of them.
You can stream Poltergeist on HBO Max; E.T. is available on Peacock.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Tim Curry as Frank N Furter, the “sweet transvestite from transexual Transylvania”
What can I say? I grew up in the era of the Rocky Horror midnight movie phenomenon. A tribute to the sci-fi and horror “B movies” of the 1950s and ’60s, Rocky Horror is a horror/comedy/musical hybrid that’s campy as hell and absurdly entertaining. The film was panned by critics upon its initial release in 1975 and struggled to find an audience. But on April 1, 1976, Rocky Horror had its first midnight screening at the Waverly Theater in Greenwich Village, and a cult hit was born. The Rocky Horror Picture Show has the longest theatrical run (forty-five years and counting) of any film in history, but you don’t need a midnight showing to see it – you can stream it on Hulu or Amazon Prime.
“It’s just a jump to the left/And then a step to the ri-i-i-i-i-ight”
Hush*
Since finishing Midnight Mass a week ago, I’m interested in experiencing more of Mike Flanagan’s work. Many of his projects seem too scary for me, so I’m wading in cautiously, beginning with 2016’s Hush. Starring Flanagan’s frequent collaborator – and spouse – Kate Siegel, Hush is the story of a deaf writer named Maddie who has retreated to a remote house in the woods to work on her novel. And since nothing good ever happens at a remote house in the woods, Maddie soon finds herself being stalked by a masked killer. Clocking in at just eighty-one minutes, Hush is barely longer than a television episode, so finding a spot on my schedule for it should be easy (but I’ll probably watch it during daylight hours).
Hush is available for streaming on Netflix.
Stranger Things and Firestarter
Stranger Things‘ Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown)
Firestarter‘s Charlie McGee (Drew Barrymore)
At the heart of both stories is an extraordinary – and extraordinarily gifted – girl being hunted by government baddies. Stranger Things was pitched as “What if Steven Spielberg directed a Stephen King movie?”, and Firestarter was clearly a huge influence on the Duffers. The CIA-sanctioned human experiments, the children born with special powers, the use of the ITC Benguiat font, even the dreamy, synth-driven soundtracks (Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein are obviously Tangerine Dream fans): the reverence for Firestarter is everywhere in Stranger Things.
The original cover for the Firestarter novel was one of several 1980s King books to feature the ITC Benguiat font, used to create the Stranger Things logo
This poster for Stranger Things was an homage to Firestarter
Stranger Things is available to stream on Netflix; Firestarter is on HBO Max.
The Hunger*
A Twitter friend rewatched The Hunger last week and I commented that I’d never seen it, so I decided to remedy that. Generally speaking, vampire stuff isn’t my favorite, but there are exceptions – The Lost Boys, for example. The Hunger was Tony Scott’s directorial debut, so I know it will be visually striking. Plus, David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve are the absolute fucking coolest looking vampires I’ve ever seen. I’m setting my expectations low so I can just sit back, enjoy and wonder how they could fit this much hotness into one movie.
You can stream The Hunger on HBO Max.
Double feature: The Shining and Doctor Sleep*
The Shining is an undisputed masterpiece of horror (though Stephen King famously hated it). Doctor Sleep, based on King’s follow-up novel, finds a grown-up Dan Torrance (Ewan McGregor) recovering from alcohol addiction, working as a hospice orderly (Dan uses his ability to “shine” to comfort dying patients), and attempting to quell his childhood demons. Like Hush, Doctor Sleep was directed by Mike Flanagan and features members of his acting troupe Henry Thomas and Robert Longstreet. Doctor Sleep even contains snippets of The Shining, as Dan returns to the Overlook Hotel and relives the horrors that occurred there. Released in 2019, Doctor Sleep is on the list of “things I just haven’t gotten around to yet”; Halloween seems the perfect opportunity to cross it off my list.
The Shining is available on HBO Max; Doctor Sleep isn’t included with any subscriptions, but you can rent it on Amazon.
Muppets Haunted Mansion*
BECAUSE MUPPETS.
Muppets Haunted Mansion is available to stream on Disney+.
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Jack Skellington
Though the film has the word “Christmas” in the title, The Nightmare Before Christmas has always been a celebration of Halloween for me. Our hero, Jack Skellington, is the “pumpkin king” of Halloween Town. Jack has grown weary of Halloween, so when he stumbles upon Christmas Town, he decides Halloween Town will celebrate Christmas this year instead. Featuring Henry Selick’s brilliant stop-motion animation, voices by such greats as Chris Sarandon, Catherine O’Hara and William Hickey, and music by Danny Elfman, The Nightmare Before Christmas is a delight from beginning to end. Fun fact: The Nightmare BeforeChristmas was the first animated feature film to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects (Jurassic Park took home the prize).
You can stream The Nightmare Before Christmas on Disney+.
“The Slutty Pumpkin” (How I Met Your Mother), “The One with the Halloween Party” (Friends) and “Employee Transfer” (The Office)
Every year, Ted wears his “hanging chad” costume and attends the same rooftop party in the hopes that a woman he met in 2001, known only as “The Slutty Pumpkin”, will recognize him. And this year, Marshall and Lily intend to win MacLaren’s costume contest with their adorable (and weirdly hot) pirate/parrot couples costume. This early episode epitomizes so many of the characters’ defining traits – Ted’s desperation to find love, Marshall and Lily’s insistence on being the world’s cutest couple and Robin’s reluctance to be part of a couple at all.
How I Met Your Mother is available to stream on Hulu.
The only overtly Halloween episode of Friends came in the eighth season when Monica and Chandler decide to throw a Halloween costume party. Highlights include Ross’s “Spudnik” costume, which the gang agrees looks like space doody, and Chandler’s pink bunny (selected by Monica because The Velveteen Rabbit was Chandler’s favorite childhood book). The episode loses points for the icky subplot where Phoebe finds herself attracted to her sister’s fiance (played by Sean Penn) but I love Joey’s Chandler costume.
You can stream Friends on HBO Max.
The Office has several notable Halloween episodes, but the cold open for season five episode “Employee Transfer” – where Creed, Kevin and Dwight all show up as Heath Ledger’s version of The Joker – is pure Office gold.
Runner-up: Season nine episode “Here Comes Treble”, in which Dwight gets his head stuck in a pumpkin.
Duran Duran released a new album today, titled Future Past. The band’s latest clip is “Anniversary” (their self-titled debut was released in 1981). The lads still sound great, and this party looked like an absolute blast!
Peter Scolari passed away today from cancer at the age of 66. Scolari was well-known to television fans for Bosom Buddies (co-starring Tom Hanks) and Newhart, for which Scolari earned three Emmy nominations.
Scolari as Michael Harris on Newhart
Scolari worked with Hanks again in 2012, in the late Nora Ephron’s play Lucky Guy
The Last Picture Show, adapted from Larry McMurtry’s novel of the same name and directed by Peter Bogdanovich, was released fifty years ago today. The film went on to receive eight Academy Award nominations; it won two Oscars, Best Supporting Actor (Ben Johnson) and Best Supporting Actress (Cloris Leachman).
Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges and Cybill Shepherd
Ben Johnson
Cloris Leachman
Yesterday would have been Carrie Fisher’s 65th birthday, and people were rightfully honoring the legend on social media. YouTube reminded me of the existence of this clip of Fisher roasting George Lucas at his AFI Lifetime Achievement Award ceremony. What an absolute boss.
Joan Fontaine was born on this day in 1917. The only person to win an Oscar for acting in an Alfred Hitchcock film (Suspicion), Fontaine was also the younger sister of Olivia de Havilland. The two were a mere fifteen months apart, and allegedly had a pretty severe case of sibling rivalry: de Havilland, having found success in Hollywood and not wanting to share the spotlight, encouraged her sister to change her name (Fontaine was their stepdad’s name) and Joan married one of Olivia’s ex-boyfriends. But the two are best remembered for their respective acting careers, and they remain the only siblings to win leading-role Oscars (de Havilland won two, for To Each His Own and The Heiress).
Fontaine with Suspicion co-star Cary Grant
Fontaine and de Havilland at a party in 1967
And finally, happy 69th birthday to Jeff Goldblum!
Today I learned that one of my favorite novels of the past few years, Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Daisy Jones & The Six, is being adapted into a limited series for Amazon. Produced by Reese Witherspoon, who selected the novel for her book club back in 2018, the series will star the lovely Riley Keough as Daisy and Sam Claflin (Finnick Odair in the Hunger Games film series) as Billy, Daisy’s bandmate and sometime lover (as the saying goes, it’s complicated). No word on whether the actors will do their own singing, but Keough certainly has the pedigree – she’s the eldest grandchild of Elvis Presley (her mom is Lisa Marie). No release date yet, but filming just began last month, so we’re looking at 2022.
Riley Keough
West Side Story premiered in New York City sixty years ago today. Based on the 1957 Broadway musical (which drew its inspiration from Romeo and Juliet), the film starred Richard Beymer and Natalie Wood as star-crossed lovers Tony and Maria, who belong to rival gangs Jets and Sharks (Maria’s brother Bernardo is the leader of the Sharks). The film would become the year’s highest grossing movie AND win the Oscar for Best Picture (a rare feat that’s only occured four times in the past forty years*), and is considered one of the greatest movie musicals of all time.
* For the record: Rain Man (1988), Forrest Gump (1994), Titanic (1997) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).
I finished watching Netflix’s Midnight Mass last night, and I have so many feelings. Mike Flanagan has created a visually stunning rumination on life and death and the perils of religious zealotry. The sprawling cast – including Kate Siegel, Zach Gilford, Annabeth Gish, Henry Thomas, Rahul Kohli and future Emmy winners Hamish Linklater and Samantha Sloyan – brings Flanagan’s exquisite script to life. The ending (no spoilers here) left me shattered. If you’ve already watched Midnight Mass, please read this wonderful essay written by my Twitter friend Gena Radcliffe. If you haven’t watched it, what are you waiting for?
Today is composer Howard Shore’s 75th birthday. Shore was the musical director of Saturday Night Live for its first eleven years (and wrote the original theme song) and has scored more than eighty feature films, including Big, The Silence of the Lambs, Seven, That Thing You Do!, Doubt and Spotlight. Shore won three Oscars for his work on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings series.
Chuck Berry was born on this day in 1926. A singer, songwriter, guitarist and musical pioneer, Berry helped developed rhythm & blues into rock & roll, earning him the nickname “The Father of Rock and Roll”. In 1986, Berry was part of the inaugural Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class, which included James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and Elvis Presley. Berry continued to perform live into his eighties; he died on March 18, 2017 at the age of 90.
Arleen Sorkin was born on October 14, 1955. Best known as Days of Our Lives‘ Calliope Jones, Sorkin was the inspiration for – and the voice of – Harley Quinn in Batman: The Animated Series.
With John de Lancie as Eugene and Calliope on Days of Our Lives
Harley Quinn
Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead was released on October 15, 1981, and a franchise (including two sequels and a reboot, a television series, comic books and video games) was born. Bruce Campbell’s Ash Williams is quite possibly the greatest horror movie character ever created.
The Evil Dead
Starz’ Ash vs Evil Dead
Fight Club was released on October 15, 1999, after a polarizing debut at the 56th Venice International Film Festival. Based on Chuck Palahniuk’s novel, Fight Club was reviled by both the execs at 20th Century Fox and critics; the box office numbers were so-so, but the film found its audience on home media. Today, Fight Club is considered a cult classic and one of the defining films of the Gen-X era.
Netflix dropped new horror episodes of The Movies That Made Us this week, including Halloween, Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street. If you, like me, are a fan of behind-the-scenes glimpses into the film world, I highly recommend this delightful series (other episodes include Die Hard, Pretty Woman, Back to the Future and Ghostbusters).
Speaking of iconic horror movies, Jamie Lee Curtis dressed as her mother’s Psycho character (complete with bloody shower curtain) for the Halloween Kills premiere this week:
On October 15, 2017, Harvey Weinstein was expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences due to mounting allegations of sexual assault and harassment. An emergency meeting of the Academy’s Board of Governors – which included Hollywood bigwigs like Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Whoopi Goldberg – voted “well in excess of the required two-thirds majority” to remove Weinstein.
Some of Weinstein’s accusers, including Rosanna Arquette, Angelina Jolie, Heather Graham, Ashley Judd and Mira Sorvino
While researching a future post today, I realized that not only did “Purple Rain” (or literally any other song from Purple Rain) not win Best Original Song in 1984, it WASN’T EVEN NOMINATED. Prince did win the award for Best Song Score, but the fact that none of the individual songs were nominated is incomprehensible. And yes, “I Just Called to Say I Love You” really is that terrible.
That Thing You Do! was released twenty-five years ago this week. A charming and exuberant tale of the one-hit Wonders, That Thing You Do! is a perfect little gem of a movie and one of my personal faves.
That Thing You Do! was Tom Hanks’s directorial debut; he also wrote the screenplay and several of the film’s songs (more on the soundtrack in a bit), and co-stars in a decidedly supporting role, as The Wonders’ manager Mr. White. The film’s main star is Tom Everett Scott (who bears more than a passing resemblance to a young Hanks) in the role of Guy Patterson. Guy works in his dad’s appliance store by day and practices the drums by night. When a local band (Johnathon Schaech, Ethan Embry and Steve Zahn, who’s never met a scene he couldn’t steal) needs a temporary drummer for a talent show, Guy is asked to fill in. The band has yet to decide on a name, and they settle on The Oneders (pronounced “Wonders”‘ – Schaech’s Jimmy is a big fan of wordplay). Guy learns the band’s song, a ballad called “That Thing You Do”, but when the lads take the stage at the talent show, Guy’s nerves take over and the song becomes an uptempo number. Jimmy is pissed but the crowd goes wild, and The Oneders take first place.
Yes, that’s an absurdly young Charlize Theron as Guy’s disinterested girlfriend Tina
The band is asked to play at Villapiano’s, a pizza joint located by the airport. After a gig one night, Guy suggests the band make a record, and says he has a relative in the music business (his Uncle Bob records church music).
The band gains the attention of a local music manager, Phil Horace, who promises to get their song on the radio. In my favorite scene, Horace delivers, and the gang ends up at Patterson’s, dancing and celebrating. It is two minutes of pure joy, and I can’t get enough of it; my mom and I saw That Thing You Do! in the theater, and we could barely keep our butts in our seats.
Horace turns over manager duties to Hanks’ Mr. White, who offers the band a contract with Playtone Records and a spot on Playtone’s “Galaxy of Stars” tour, performing at state fairs across the Midwest (and wisely insists they change the spelling of the band’s name to The Wonders). Jimmy’s girlfriend Faye (played by the luminous Liv Tyler) is invited along as the band’s costume mistress.
Eventually, the band ends up in Hollywood, where they sit for radio interviews, co-star in the movie Weekend at Party Pier as Cap’n Geech & The Shrimp Shack Shooters and make an appearance on The Hollywood Television Showcase. The following day, the band is due in the studio to begin recording, but Lenny and TB Player are nowhere to be found (the former is in Vegas for a quickie wedding, the latter is at Disneyland with a group of Marines, whose ranks he’s joining at the end of the summer) and Jimmy quits the band after learning that his contract allows the record company to dictate what the band records. The Wonders, who have the #7 hit in the country, are abruptly defunct – the ultimate one-hit-wonder.
Hanks, whose burgeoning interest in the Apollo space program began when he starred in Apollo 13 the previous year and would culminate two years later with HBO’s masterpiece miniseries From theEarth to the Moon, makes several astronaut references in the film. To begin with, several characters are named after NASA crew members; for example, The Wonders’ lead singer James “Jimmy” Mattingly and guitarist Leonard “Lenny” Haise are named for Apollo astronauts Ken Mattingly and Fred Haise. There’s also a scene in the Hollywood Television Showcase sequence where host Troy Chesterfield (Peter Scolari, Hanks’s Bosom Buddies co-star) interacts with Gus Grissom (Bryan Cranston!). And finally, several of the film’s cast members would go on to co-star in From theEarth to the Moon, including Zahn, Cranston, Chris Isaak, Clint Howard, Chris Ellis, Kevin Pollak and Mrs. Hanks herself, Rita Wilson.
Now, about that soundtrack. The main event is the title track, The Wonders’ one hit. Written by Adam Schlesinger, the late, great bassist and songwriter for Fountains of Wayne, the song is beyond catchy (which is precisely the point). Fun fact: the producers put out an industry-wide notice looking for a ’60s pop song called “That Thing You Do”. They received more than 300 submissions, with Schlesinger’s tune being the favorite. Deservedly, Schlesinger was nominated for an Oscar (the film’s sole nod) and a Golden Globe (he lost both awards to Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber for “You Must Love Me” from Evita). The song was also a hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #41 (the album itself reached #21 on the Billboard 200).
Other songs on the album include the Bacharach-esque “My World is Over”, sung by diva Diane Dane; the surf rock “Voyage Around the Moon” by The Saturn 5; “Hold My Hand, Hold My Heart” by the Supremes-ish Chantrellines; and “Shrimp Shack” by the aforementioned Cap’n Geech & the Shrimp Shack Shooters. All of the songs are credited to the fictitious artists from the movie.
While it didn’t make much money in its initial release ($35 million globally on a $26 million budget), That Thing You Do! found a passionate audience on home video. Recent cast reunions (including a virtual watch party hosted by Rolling Stone in 2020) have thrilled the film’s fans on social media. The film remains a timeless (ahem) wonder that’s as delightful now as it was twenty-five years ago.
Songs in the Key of Life, Stevie Wonder’s transcendent double album, was released on this day in 1976. Generally regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time, Songs in the Key of Life almost didn’t happen. In 1974, Wonder planned to retire from recording and emigrate to Ghana; plans were made for a farewell concert. But Wonder had a change of heart and re-signed with Motown in August 1975 (his contract was for seven albums, seven years and $37 million – a record at the time – and gave Wonder complete creative control). Anticipation was high for the album, and Wonder more than delivered; Songs in the Key of Life was a critical and commercial smash. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard Album Chart, and stayed there for thirteen consecutive weeks (it was dethroned by Hotel California on January 15, 1977). It was the second best-selling album of 1977 behind Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours. It earned Wonder his third Album of the Year Grammy in four years (Paul Simon, accepting the award for 1975’s Still Crazy After All These Years, jokingly thanked Wonder for not releasing an album that year). Prince called it the best album ever made. It is, in short, a masterpiece.
The upcoming Paul Thomas Anderson movie has a brand new trailer. Licorice Pizza (which takes its name from a now-defunct L.A.-area record store chain) stars Cooper Hoffman (offspring of the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman) and musician Alana Haim, and returns PTA to the San Fernando Valley of his youth. The trailer, set to David Bowie’s “Life on Mars?”, is spectacular; I simply could not be more excited for the release of this film, which will apparently premiere only in theaters.
Olivia Newton-John’s “Physical” was released on this day in 1981. It went on to become the top selling single of the DECADE. As a result of the cheesetastic video (it’s about exercise, wink wink), leg warmers and headbands became fashion staples.
Actor JT Walsh was born on this day in 1943. One of the greatest character actors of the 80s and 90s, Walsh got his start in theater and appeared in the original Broadway cast of David Mamet’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Glengarry Glen Ross. Walsh didn’t appear in a feature film until 1983, the year he turned forty; he made more than fifty movies in less than fifteen years. Walsh, a heavy smoker, died of a heart attack on February 27, 1998; he was just fifty-four years old.
Good Morning, Vietnam
A Few Good Men
Hoffa
Nixon
Pleasantville
Legendary R&B singer-songwriter Ben E. King was born on this day in 1938. King, a member of the vocal group The Drifters (“Save the Last Dance for Me”), is best known as the singer and co-writer of “Stand By Me”. The song, inspired by an early 20th-century gospel hymn (which itself was inspired by the Book of Psalms), was a top ten hit in both 1961 and 1986, when it was featured in the film of the same name. King died in 2015 at the age of 76, following a brief illness.
PB & Julie + Julie C. Trivia 