Three and a half months have passed since Criterion announced its decision to issue its On The Waterfront Bluray (streeting on 2.19, or about three weeks hence) in three separate aspect ratios — 1.33, 1.66 and 1.85. And I’m still trying to understand how this doesn’t undermine if not discredit Bob Furmanek‘s advocacy of 1.85 … Read more
New tracking shows Ridley Scott‘s Robin Hood, which opens in 18 days, averaging a 38 definite interest — 43 from under-25 males, 42 over-25 males, 28 under-25 females and 38 over-25 females. It’s also averaging a 7 first choice — a figure that clearly needs to increase over the next two weeks. I’m not looking … Read more
Friendo: “There’s a silver lining in the Biden debate catastrophe. “If the debate had happened after the Democratic Convention, we’d be toast. But now, 18 weeks before the 11.5.24 election, the debate about whether Biden can be replaced can actually happen.” HE to Friendo: “Yes, and good for that. But Biden should have bailed last … Read more
I’m not saying that exploratory, real-world, adult-level filmmaking has disappeared altogether. It pops up on rare occasions — Parallel Mothers, King Richard, The Lost Daughter, Drive My Car, The Worst Person in the World, Riders of Justice, Zola, Licorice Pizza, The Card Counter. It just seems that so many films are woke instructionals — movies … Read more
Even apart from the woke bullshit, the basic economic model of Hollywood — you spend this much on a movie, it’s got to make the money back — has broken down because of the economics of the streamers. Which, some would argue, not only takes the thrill out of things, to put it mildly, but … Read more
He’s gone — I deep-sixed him last night. I couldn’t stand his ass. Every single thing he posted accused me not being woke enough or being deficient or indifferent. The straws accumulated and accumulated and finally the camel’s back snapped. Sure, he might return under a new comment-thread avatar, and if he does I’ll cross … Read more
Friendo: “I can’t believe how much the political climate described in Albert Marrin‘s “A Time of Fear: America in the Era of Red Scares and Cold War” is like right now. “The only difference is that it’s all totally flipped. The fear of Communism and Communist association has become the fear of racism or racist … Read more
In a Promising Young Woman thread, I noted this morning that ’20 and early ’21 have been an especially weak year for the kind of rich undercurrent award-season films that less–than–woke, middle–class people (including X–factor types like myself) tend to respond to and pay to see. For since wokeness began to take hold in ’18 … Read more
It would be a positive thing, I feel, if this country could somehow adopt the Bernie Sanders program by gradually shifting into a kind of Denmark- or Finland-styled socialism — i.e, a benevolent system in which corporations and the obscenely rich would be taxed at higher, Dwight D. Eisenhower-level rates while at the same time … Read more
I thought I’d post this back-and-forth between myself and Bob Furmanek, which happened yesterday morning (or Monday, 1.28). It shows the difference between the mentality of a neutral-attitude, data-chip statistician vs. that of an emotional film lover like myself. Never the twain shall meet. It’s interesting because Furmanek has been a noted provider of meticulous … Read more
I have to shut down for two or three hours, but I’m looking for thoughts and/or arguments about Failure to Launch star Matthew McConaughey. I’m cooking up a piece about the poor guy called “Dead Man Walking.” It’s my belief that McConaughey is a somewhat historic figure in that he’s one of the very few … Read more
I’m thinking about writing a Hollywood book about the deranged and hysterical media war against Peter Farrelly’s Green Book (‘18), but also about something bigger and broader — how the Green Book maelstrom launched the not-fully-concluded era of the woke baddie-waddies —- the censorious, ultra-sensitive identity fanatics who all but suffocated the film business during the … Read more