Trudging Through Another Day

SNL Recap

One of my favorite movie quotes is Peter O’Toole’s line from My Favorite Year. “I’m not an actor, I’m a movie star!” That’s a concept I think about a lot. There are the extremes - David Strathairn is an actor, Dwayne Johnson is a movie star. Most people lean more towards one category or another, but the true rarities are those who are both 100% actor AND 100% movie star. Think Leonardo DiCaprio or Emma Stone. Better yet, being that his centennial was last weekend, think of who was arguably the single greatest example of that notion, Paul Newman. Or think Timothee Chalamet, who if he has not yet reached that level, is well on his way to doing so.

He pulled double duty as host and musical guest this week, on the heels of his turn as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown. In his monologue he teased that he was going to perform lesser known Dylan songs, and he was not kidding. He pulled out some deep cuts, accompanied by James Blake. For his first performance - introduced by Adam Sandler - he performed a medley of Outlaw Blues and Three Angels, and his second one was Tomorrow Is a Long Time. As for the actual quality of those performances, I will be charitable and say that as a singer he makes for a fine actor. Chalamet said he wasn’t sure if allowing him to sing meant that the show was being nice to him or playing a mean prank. I’ll say they were being nice, but please don’t do this again when the next film bio of a Traveling Wilbury hits theaters.

As for his day job, he built the monologue around the fact that although oft nominated, so far he has failed to actually win a major award and he has therefore needed to perfect the Award Show Face. You know, freeze a smile whilst hiding the inevitable disappointment. He wanted to use this opportunity to read the acceptance speech that he had long ago prepared, so he asked an audience member to open up an envelope to “reveal” a winner. Unfortunately for Chalamet, it was Kenan’s name in the envelope, so he was forced to yet again listen to another actor give an acceptance speech.

Adam Sandler wasn’t the only big name cameo this week. In the cold open, set during the signing of the Declaration Of Independence, Lin-Manuel Miranda stepped out of the shadows to deliver his newest Alexander Hamilton rap. (I’ll refrain from getting all “um actually” by stating that Hamilton was not a signer of the Declaration, but I suppose that’s exactly what I just did.) As soon as he rapped a line about America not wanting a king, the action froze and JAJ stepped on stage as NAME REDACTED and riffed for several minutes as the cast remained in freeze frame throughout. I have mixed feelings; it’s good that we have a decent impression of that man instead of the old Alec Baldwin nonsense, but all this does is remind us that we have to put up with another 4 years of this BS.

For Top Sketch Of the Week I choose the barista sketch. A coffee shop is training new baristas and one of their tasks is to come up with good coffee related puns for the sidewalk chalkboard. The bosses (Heidi & Mikey) like Devon’s choices, but respond to Ashley’s with dead silence. “Is everything OK at home?” Chalamet goes into full Def Comedy Jam mode, not even bothering to include any coffee references. Well done.

There were 2 separate commercial parodies this week, both of which were funny. There was a promo for a medical group that solves the issue of younger men neglecting to get their regular check ups by fooling them into thinking they are guests on a podcast. A part of me fears that the show is going to start using podcasts as an easy sketch premise the way they do with game shows, but for now it still feels fresh. And then there was the Oedipal Arrangements sketch, a fruit basket for adult men who have, um, feelings for their mothers. Son Michael hand feeds his mother Heidi a pineapple slice, and later on cuckold dad Mikey can only watch as they walk towards the bedroom.

I will award Employee Of the Week to Andrew. He did a strong turn as the podcaster/doctor, and his Update piece was equally strong. He introduced his new ventriloquism act, with the dummy depicting his father. He used the puppet to allow the dad to tell him how proud he is, even as he states that Andrew is only the 17th most famous member of the current cast.

Lightning round time - the show got weird, if not all that funny, in the last half hour. Most of the cast got to dress up as dogs and act silly in the dog park sketch. There were some nice moments - Kenan constantly vomiting, eating the vomit only to vomit again, Andrew expressing dominance because he climbed on a park bench all by himself, Ego as a cat sitting on the side watching - but it didn’t add up to a satisfying whole. Even sillier was the sketch in which Chalamet’s doctor revived his girlfriend’s 97 year old grandmother (Sarah) who had just fallen unconscious by farting in her open mouth.

SNL will be in reruns for the next few weeks. It won’t return until the big 50th anniversary gala on February 16. NBC has not yet begun to announce the guest list, but think back to how star studded the 40th was; this one figures to be even bigger. (If Andy Kaufman doesn’t come back for this, then I will finally be convinced that he didn’t fake his death after all.) In the meantime, there is plenty of SNL related content to tackle, beginning with the series of documentaries currently streaming on Peacock. I’ll begin running through those on Friday.

The Next Five Years

As the 2025 Baseball Hall Of Fame season wraps up, it’s time for the annual reminder that there is no better analyst of the Hall than Jay Jaffe. Earlier this week he posted his annual look ahead towards future ballots and offered his predictions on the induction classes for the next 5 years. Always a good read.

The Oscar Mulligan - 2001

Best Picture: A Beautiful Mind

Other Nominees: Gosford Park, In the Bedroom, The Lord Of the Rings: The Fellowship Of the Ring, Moulin Rouge!

2001 is a tricky year, because there is an obvious standout and yet… Because all 3 films in the Lord Of the Rings trilogy were shot simultaneously, conventional wisdom at the time was that Academy voters were waiting for the final movie to honor the complete trilogy. That is exactly what happened in 2003; The Return Of the King dominated the awards. Should that same theory hold for a hypothetical revote?

A Beautiful Mind is a classic example of an Oscar film. There’s nothing wrong with it, however after I saw it my reaction was “good movie” but there was nothing spectacular about it, and history has shown it to be yet another Best Picture winner that people rarely rewatch or even talk about all that much. I’ll give more respect to 2 other nominees. Gosford Park was a lovely coda in the career of the great Robert Altman, showing that his formula was malleable enough that it even worked in an Upstairs, Downstairs type of atmosphere. And In the Bedroom was an emotionally devastating story that also served as a key component in the People Owe Marisa Tomei An Apology Tour. Anyone who questioned her My Cousin Vinny Oscar needs to take a look at her strong work in this one.

Which leaves the final decision between two choices. I am a huge fan of the LOTR movies, and I always find it a challenge to decide which of the 3 I like best. Each has its strengths and weaknesses. Fellowship can’t help but feel like a largely introductory piece. Lots of exposition, lots of time getting to know who everyone is and how they connect to each other. There is also a sense of brightness hovering over the movie; the characters have little idea how dark things are going to get. And as long as I’m using hindsight in making these selections, the technological advancements seen in the second and third movies blow this one away.

When it comes to Moulin Rouge! I need to state that I am not much of a fan of Baz Luhrmann. Too often he chooses style over substance, and the hyperkinetic camerawork in his movies make things seem like they were shot by a squirrel with ADHD. The constant, unnecessary camera motions in Romeo + Juliet were so distracting that I could not enjoy it.

To be fair, this technique feels a lot more appropriate in Moulin Rouge! The characters spend half of the movie in absinthe fueled fever dreams, so a sense of incoherence is part of the atmosphere. Same with the anachronistic music choices; it’s great to hear contemporary songs recontextualized in a period piece. And you won’t find many better examples of pure movie stardom than with Nicole Kidman in this film. She dominates the screen at every moment.

As I have said many times over the course of this project, one of the primary questions I like to answer is - has the movie had a lasting impact? Moulin Rouge! clearly has; it has inspired a long running Broadway musical. So, even though I personally prefer LOTR, I’m basically doing the same thing that Academy members did more than 20 years ago. Rather than simply hand the trophy to Lord Of the Rings movies year after year, I choose to delay honoring Peter Jackson’s opus for at least one year. Moulin Rouge! is the 2001 champion.

Where We Are Now

I am trying my best to avoid discussing politics over here; real life is such a nightmare that we need to find respites from the dystopia wherever we can. I prefer to save my venting for Bluesky. Still, fewer than 10 days into the new administration, it’s already even more nightmarish than his first term was, and egg prices have not gone down. We have long passed the constitutional crisis stage, we are in full blown constitutional catastrophe. One thing that always bugs me is that as much as many of these people claim to be Christian, they rarely act in a Christian manner. If they are as religious as they say they are, they must realize they will have to face their maker one day. That meeting will not be a pleasant one. And don’t get me started on Democratic leadership. I’m tired of hearing empty platitudes; I want assurance that they recognize the crisis and are willing to fight. If not, get out of the way and let the next generation take charge.

Closing Laughs

Sorry to end on such a heavy note, but we such is life. Thanks everyone for tuning in today, and I’ll see you again on Friday.