"A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood"

We saw the long awaited "A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood" earlier this week, and we were not disappointed.  As no doubt everyone knows by now, the movie stars Tom Hanks as Fred Rogers, and Hanks is, as he usually is, terrific in the role.  What people may not realize is that this is not a biopic about Fred Rogers.  Nor is it, as my friend Maryellen has pointed out on a Facebook post, a movie to which you would bring your little children in hopes of  them becoming avid viewers of "Mister Rogers Neighborhood".   

It does, rather, tell a very specific story about about writer Tom Junod (identified as "Lloyd Vogel" in the movie, and wonderfully played by Matthew Rhys), who is assigned to interview Fred Rogers by Esquire Magazine for a piece on Heroes.  The hard-bitten and jaded writer, who is experiencing some familial relationship problems of his own, falls under the spell of Rogers' universal lessons of kindness and the unique person-ness (a world that I just made up) that resides in each and everyone of us.  In seeing the effect that Fred Rodgers has had on this one specific person, we also see how he as affected every single person with whom he came in contact, either in person or through "Mister Rogers Neighborhood".  

In a country and a world where kindness seems to be in short, very short, supply, "A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood" gives us a  lesson on what it is to be kind.  That alone makes seeing this movie important and worth seeing.

Director Marielle Heller has made a movie that will no doubt garner multiple Oscar nominations.  She made a decision to shrink the screen to a 4-by-3 aspect ratio whenever the movie depicts the Rogers television show, which is really cool, and the use of miniatures to depict not only Mister Rogers Neighborhood, but the cities of Pittsburgh and New York, are wonderfully whimsical.  This should get Oscar noms for both Heller and for the production designers.  Rhys and Hanks should pull down nominations as well, although Hanks' nomination might very well come in the Supporting Actor category.

This movie gets Three and one-half Stars from The Grandstander.

One comment about Tom Hanks, and it is not an original thought from me.  Have you noticed how Hanks seems to now be portraying only real people in his films these days?  Fred Rogers, Ben Bradlee, Sully Sullenberger, the guy who  negotiated for the spies in "Bridge of Spies"?  Not sure what this means, but it just seems interesting.  Whatever the role, Tom Hanks is no doubt the Actor of Our Times, much like James Stewart and Spencer Tracy were in another time.

"Won't You Be My Neighbor?"

Today we took in the new and highly acclaimed documentary about the late Fred Rogers, and what can I say?  It was terrific and timely reminder of what is really needed in the world today.

An ordained Presbyterian minister, Fred Rogers made the caring of children his ministry and he used public television as his "church".  Another minister interviewed for the documentary said that while Fred never wore a collar, he was without doubt the most effective minister that he had ever encountered.  When you see the movie and hear what Mr. Rogers said - and his words are still powerful fifteen years after his death - you become aware that his message means more than just about anything that you see and hear from the influence makers of 2018.

I cannot recommend this film highly enough.  It gets a full Four Stars from The Grandstander.

Those who know me know of Marilyn's and my association with The Highmark Caring Place.  What people may not know is that Fred Rogers was an early advocate and a co-founder of The Caring Place. He served as Honorary Chairman of the Caring Foundation and spokesman from its inception in 1985 until his death in 2003.  Again, those who know me know how I feel about the Caring Place and seeing this movie today makes us doubly proud to be associated, however tangentially, with an institution that was so closely associated with Fred Rogers.  

This quote from Fred Rogers is prominently displayed on the walls of all four Caring Place locations, and it is worth sharing:

"It is only natural that we and our children find many things hard to talk about.

But anything human is mentionable and anything mentionable can be manageable.

The mentioning can be difficult, and the managing too, but both can be done if we're surrounded by love and trust."

Sunday Morning Thoughts (Sports, An Absent Friend, and Mr. Rogers)

We are a little more than an hour away from kickoff of the Championship Game of the World Cup....oh, excuse me, the FIFA World Cup....between France and Croatia.  At the outset of the tourney, I predicted that a team from Europe would win the whole shebang, so, I believe I had that.  I also decided that I would place my rooting interest in France due to the fact that (a) the USA failed to qualify, and (b) because of the wonderful time we had in France on our vacation in May.

So, Vive Le France, and I predict that we shall all be doing  a Victor Laszlo impersonation and singing "Le Marseillaise" when France wins it all later this afternoon.

As always, watch, but don't bet.

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On his radio show last Sunday, Pirates GM Neal Huntington admitted that the Pirates were not playing well, and that, depending on how it went between then and the All-Star break, he might be forced to reevaluate the team and consider moving assets.  Translation: It will be time to dump high salaried players by any means possible and get younger and cheaper players.  No mention if they would be better players necessarily, but that sure would be a happy by-product of such a purge.

In what has to be NH's worst nightmare, the Bucs then proceeded to win seven of their next eight games, and a win today will mean a five game sweep of the Brewers, who were a first place team when they arrived in Pittsburgh on Thursday (they are now in second place).

Truth is, Huntington has to proceed with the fire sale.  The results of this past eight game sample do not negate the mediocrity that had been the hallmark of the team for the greater part of the season.  Still, NH will face severe criticism if it is perceived that he is trading away pieces from a "winning" team, which the Pirates are not.  He will face criticism if he stands pat as well.  He is almost in a no-win situation, a corner into which he has been painted by his penny-pinching bosses and by his own condescending attitude towards his paying customers.

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I would highly recommend the Opinion piece on the late Fred Rogers that appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette  this morning.  I'll even save you the trouble of looking it up.  Here it is:

http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/Op-Ed/2018/07/15/Rev-Fred-Rogers-minister-to-children/stories/201807150023

Would that there be another Mr. Rogers in our midst today.

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To An Absent Friend 

Len Chappell

1942-2018

A wire service obituary for basketball player Len Chappell, who died earlier in the week at the age of 77, appears in the  Post-Gazette this morning.  Chappell was an All-American at Wake Forest, a two time ACC Player of the Year, a first round draft pick if the Syracuse Nationals of the NBA, a one time NBA All-Star, and he had a journeyman ten year NBA career playing with nine different teams.

What that wire service obit didn't mention (or perhaps the PG omitted it in the editing process or the real possibility that no one at the PG had ever heard of Chappell before the death notice came over the wires) was that Chappell was a Western PA guy, hailing form Portage PA in Cambria County.

RIP Len Chappell.