Tom Hanks, Matthew Rhys and Chris Cooper in the Marielle Heller movie ‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood’

As the calendar says that we enter fall for another year, the feeling of warmth and glow that I gather from movies that mirror a similar warm sentiment brings me to today’s movie. Directed by Marielle Heller, the movie A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019) brings nostalgia and warmth to biographical drama, while done in a way that honors the Fred Rogers sensibilities that Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood (1968-2001) brought to television many years ago.

(From left, the historical Fred Rogers and Tom Hanks as Fred Rogers in support of the Marielle Heller movie A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood).

The movie A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood opens with the traditional setting of a Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood episode by introducing Fred Rogers, as portrayed by Tom Hanks, returning home to change his shoes, put on a new sweater and introduce the audience to the central lesson on coping with feelings that will be the central story that helps share the essence of what the Mister Rogers program was. This approach would introduce us to Lloyd Vogel, an Esquire magazine writer known for cynicism in what he writes.

(From left, Christine Lahti as Ellen and Matthew Rhys as Lloyd Vogel in the Marielle Heller movie A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood).

Matthew Rhys portrayed Lloyd Vogel, who is married to his attorney and the mother of his son. Susan Kelechi Watson portrayed Andrea Lloyd, with three babies portraying Gavin Vogel, the couple’s son. Lloyd’s editor for Esquire magazine, Ellen as portrayed by Christine Lahti, assigns him to write a piece on Fred Rogers. Thus, we are introduced to the emotional lessons that will sustain the biographical drama unfolding with the movie.

(From left, Chris Cooper as Jerry Vogel and Enrico Colantoni as Bill Isler in the Marielle Heller movie A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood).

We learn with a little backstory that Lloyd has experienced hard feelings with his father ever since the death of Lloyd’s mother, who was the first wife to Jerry Vogel. Jerry Vogel, as portrayed by Chris Cooper, didn’t particularly cope with the illness, death and aftermath of his wife’s death particularly well. The residual hard feelings boiled over at the wedding of Lorraine Vogel to her husband, Todd. Tammy Blanchard and Noah Harpster portrayed Lorraine and Todd, respectively.

(From left, Susan Kelechi Watson as Andrea Vogel and Maryann Plunkett as Joanne Rogers in the Marielle Heller movie A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood).

Jerry’s presence at the wedding, along with much history before and after the events that occurred there, led Andrea to intervene with her husband and father-in-law for the well-being of the family. The unresolved feelings that lingered introduced some of the magic of storytelling that revealed the strength of the example that Fred Rogers, with the assistance of his wife, Joanne Rogers and his producer, Bill Isler. A reconciliation and resolution to past pain was the order of the day, with an article by Lloyd without cynicism landing in Esquire magazine. Enrico Colantoni and Maryann Plunkett portrayed Bill Isler and Joanne Rogers, respectively.

(From left, Susan Kelechi Watson as Andrea Vogel, Matthew Rhys as Lloyd Vogel, Jordan Harsh, Naomi Harsh or Zoey Harsh as Gavin Vogel, Wendy Makkena as Dorothy Vogel, Tammy Blanchard as Lorraine Vogel and Noah Harpster as Todd in the Marielle Heller movie A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood).

The story told in the movie A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood felt like a warm, comfortable blanket. The nostalgia of the experience combined with the emotional healing underneath the message dramatized the better nature of what the franchise of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood had to offer. The creativity of this approach in helping land the special place that the movie has for people landed well. I give A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood as directed by Marielle Heller 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Wednesday, September 21, 2022

The Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio documentary ‘George Carlin’s American Dream’

The HBO documentary of comedian George Carlin aired in two episodes this past weekend. George Carlin’s American Dream (2022) offered a fuller look into the man, his career and his life than I ever had seen and read before, attracting commentary from contemporary and subsequent comedians, family, and industry colleagues both directly and through archive. The use of Carlin‘s own writings and archive footage were also used. Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio directed and produced the documentary.

(From left, comedy partners Jack Burns and George Carlin).

“In the 1960s, George Carlin enters the scene as a straightlaced stand-up, but soon gains notoriety for his fearless countercultural comedy,” as quoted from HBO here. Jack Burns was an early partner for this straightlaced period from their radio days in Fort Worth, Texas, as we saw in Part 1 of George Carlin’s American Dream. It is during this period that Carlin meets and marries Brenda Carlin (Hosbrook), whom he meets in Dayton, Ohio. The couple had one child, a daughter named Kelly Carlin-McCall.

(From left, first wife Brenda Carlin (Hosbrook), daughter Kelly Carlin-McCall, and George Carlin).

The partnership with Burns lasted a couple of years, through radio and early television appearances from audition tapes in Hollywood, California. The two worked at a television station while working their craft in coffee houses at night, later moving onto television variety shows. Guest appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Jack Paar and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for Carlin, who eventually broke from Burns, were a part of this period. This phase of Carlin‘s career lasted through the late 1960s, was relatively profitable compared to the period that followed, and ended in a straightlaced fashion around the end of the decade, despite continued guest hosting of Carson‘s The Tonight Show.

(George Carlin after transitioning from a more straightlaced presentation).

The first major transition of George Carlin‘s comedy into a more countercultural comedy began approximately in 1970. The transition began with the first episode of the documentary, with the remainder of the comedian’s life and comedy addressed with Part 2. “Fellow comics reflect on George Carlin‘s later years and how his prescient political commentary continues to resonate today,” as quoted from HBO here. We get further into the background of Carlin the man, moving beyond the complex relations with his deceased and abusive father, his controlling mother, and his abused brother. We see the complexity of the relations with Carlin‘s first wife and daughter, and subsequent marriage to Sally Wade.

(From left, George Carlin and second wife Sally Wade).

George Carlin‘s career took a major turn when he began using cocaine and his first wife began drinking when losing a connection to helping her husband’s career, like she had at the beginning of their marriage. The use of language became much more pointed and anti-authority. Record albums recorded in the 1970s proved helpful financially, yet complexities did not. The Seven Dirty Words routine, which changed legal history more than a decade after Lenny Bruce was arrested in Chicago, Illinois for swearing in his routine, would offer indecency guidelines. Carlin would become the first guest host of NBC‘s Saturday Night Live in this period, something he would repeat in 1984 after his 1981 A Place for My Stuff album and his 1982 Carlin at Carnegie television special. The 1990s and 2000s would see shifts into increasingly political subjects, including about abortion, race, people as individuals rather than in groups, and in frustration with how decisions were made and the lack of perceived influence over large scale life individual people really have.

(George Carlin quote about the American Dream).

George Carlin’s American Dream provides a deeper dive into the career and life underpinning the man than I have provided here. The insight into the cultural force that the man’s thoughts and feelings were, culturally, as well as offering a sense for the flawed man that existed underneath offer an insight that were shown with a comprehensive quality that in fact was quality. The bridging of the messaging from Carlin‘s past into today was also an achievement, both for the man and the documentary. I give the documentary George Carlin’s American Dream as directed by Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio 4.25-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Wednesday, May 25, 2022