Page 29 - ARUBA TODAY

A29
PEOPLE & ARTS Wednesday 12 June 2019

Spencer lends some humanity to campy revenge fantasy

By JOCELYN NOVECK cer humanizes and im- Sue Ann comes in.
Associated Press proves pretty much every The lady walking by the
Teenage brains. Alcohol. movie she’s in. liquor store SEEMS cool.
Driver’s licenses. Put them The Oscar-winning actress A vet’s assistant by day,
together and what you is the only reason to see working for Dr. Brooks (Al-
get, inevitably, are a whole “Ma,” and she’s clearly lison Janney, predictably
bunch of bad decisions — having a grand old campy hilarious, even when just
in real life and in movies. time playing Sue Ann, an asking Sue Ann to answer
It’s not a new lesson, but unstable middle-aged the phone), she seems to
it’s the most coherent one woman who clearly hasn’t, the kids to be a godsend.
in “Ma ,” a middling high um, graduated from de- She apparently lives alone
school horror revenge fan- cades of resentment to- and has a great basement
tasy (if that’s a thing) star- ward the cool-kid bullies where she invites them to
ring Octavia Spencer. Oh, who mistreated her in high drink and party as they
here’s the other: That Spen- school. To be fair, she has a This image released by Universal Pictures shows Octavia please. She has a few rules,
Spencer in a scene from “Ma.” though. The most important
Associated Press is they can NEVER (never,
right to be angry. Like, re- nondescript old hometown, ever) go upstairs. That’s Sue
ally angry. U-Haul in tow. Maggie’s the Ann’s private space.
Spencer is directed here by new kid in high school — And so, nobody goes up-
longtime friend Tate Tay- never fun — and starting stairs, everybody stays safe
lor, who also helmed “The on a Friday, no less. It helps, and they all live happily
Help,” for which she won though, that she looks like ever after.
her Oscar. When Taylor pre- a supermodel and a young KIDDING!!
sented her with the idea of Nastassja Kinski (didn’t we These are teenagers, re-
a horror film, he has said, all, in high school?) member? They keep on
Spencer noted that black We try to ignore the rather partying even after Ma,
characters tend to die in obvious “Dead End” sign kinda sorta joking, pulls a
the first 15 minutes of most near their modest new gun on one boy and forc-
horror films. To which Taylor home. Diana gets a wait- es him to strip. They keep
replied that not only would ress job at the local casino, coming back even when
Sue Ann not die at the be- and Maggie, after maybe Ma reveals herself to be
ginning, but she’d get to kill four minutes of loneliness, desperately needy, hungry
a lot of people, too. And so makes friends with the cool for attention and clearly
she does. kids. Doing so requires sus- unbalanced.
But we’re getting ahead pending her better judg- Because hey, she has a
of ourselves. We begin as ment and getting in a van basement! And booze!
young Maggie (Diana Sil- to go drink by the dirty And she dances the Ro-
vers) and her now-single rockpile outside town. (Fun bot! “Now you know where
mom Diana (Juliette Lewis) times!) But first they need the party is,” she says. Yep,
are moving back to Mom’s the alcohol. That’s where they nod.q

Court agrees to listen to Led

Zeppelin in ‘Stairway’ appeal

Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) —
“Stairway to Heaven” will
get another hearing, this
time to a packed house.
A panel of 11 judges from
the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals agreed Monday
to hear Led Zeppelin’s ap-
peal in a copyright lawsuit
alleging the group stole its
1971 rock epic from an ob-
scure 1960s instrumental. In this Oct. 9, 2012 file photo, Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page,
In a 2016 trial that included left, and singer Robert Plant appear at a news conference
testimony from Led Zep- ahead of the worldwide theatrical release of “Celebration Day,”
pelin guitarist Jimmy Page a concert film of their 2007 London O2 arena reunion show, in
and singer Robert Plant, a New York.
jury found that “Stairway Associated Press
to Heaven” did not signifi- Circuit ruled that the judge dividual elements of a song
cantly resemble the song at the trial had failed to ad- such as its notes or scale
“Taurus,” written by the vise the jury properly, and may not qualify for copy-
late Randy Wolfe and per- ordered a new trial . The right protection, because
formed by his band Spirit. judges unanimously found a combination of those el-
But in September, a three- that the trial judge was ements may qualify if they
judge panel from the 9th wrong to tell jurors that in- are sufficiently original. q