Three days ago Guy Trebay posted a N.Y Times “Critics Notebook” piece called “Naked Came the Strangers.” Without delving too much into the ins and outs of the article (which is subtitled “How our nudes have changed in the last 50 years”), please consider a portion of the seventh paragraph. “In 1969, Americans were, it … Read more
With the 80-year-old Gone With The Wind more or less culturally discredited for its unfortunate racial content and D.W. Griffith‘s The Birth of A Nation all but erased from common memory for its horrid depictions of the KKK amid other racial affronts, it’s not entirely surprising that the reputation of Lillian Gish, the star of … Read more
Those Green Book dissers I wrote about three days ago need to review a History vs. Hollywood entry that compares the plot of Peter Farrelly‘s film to what actually happened between Don Shirley and Tony Lip 56 years ago. Seriously, jerk-offs…take three minutes and read it. It won’t kill you.
Earlier this evening Jessica Chastain asked film crickets on Twitter what advice they might have for a woman looking to break into this devotional calling or difficult racket or however you want to describe it. She got the usual responses — knock on doors, start your own blog, submit pieces to established publications, network your … Read more
One of the funniest SNL routines from 1979 was “Bend Over, Chuck Berry,” a homophobic but somewhat funny spoof of disco and the Village People in which Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Bill Murray and Garrett Morris, dressed in Village People garb, sang the satiric song. I’ve tried to find a YouTube clip of this routine … Read more
Gene Siskel: “You have to summon the courage to say what you honestly feel [about a film]. And that’s not easy. There’s a whole new world called political correctness going on, and that is death to a critic, to participate in that. Wanting be liked is another…forget even the world of political correctness. Wanting to … Read more
Three days ago BBC Culture posted the results of a poll of 62 international film critics who’d been asked to name the 100 Greatest American Films of all time. The BBC’s description of this group (a) doesn’t mention online voices and (b) explains that “some of the critics we invited to participate are film reviewers … Read more
My Sundance pan of Nate Parker‘s The Birth of a Nation was posted nine and three-quarter years ago — 1.25.16. Within an hour or so many confidantes wrote me or pulled me aside and said “why are you opening yourself up to charges or racism? Nate Parker is an industry hero and you post this? … Read more
Four days ago (9.17) I mentioned that I had seen Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin‘s Splitsville (Neon, now playing), a freestyle, marital infidelity, fuck-everything-and-everyone sitcom. I didn’t exactly “like” it because the schlubby-looking, bordering-on-homely Covino and Marvin play the two sexually active male leads, and that’s a stopper right there. Especially with their significant … Read more
The word around the campfire is that Gregg Araki‘s I Want Your Sex, an erotically provocative “thriller” of some sort (although I can pretty much guarantee that “thriller” doesn’t apply…not in the sense that most of us understand the term…not from Araki)…the buzz says that Araki’s film will play in Cannes next month, although not … 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
I’m feeling very affected by this. Seven-year-old Drew Barrymore reminds me a bit of Sutton, who’s just turned three. I love that Carson spent the first 60-plus seconds settling her nerves about having fallen and soothing any slight embarrassment she might have been feeling. A good interviewer always shows respect and restraint, but allows feelings … Read more