Day: April 8, 2013

I was invited by Sony publicity to a special midday preview of footage from Neil Blomkamp‘s Elysium (Sony, 8.9). I rsvp’ed right away to the emailed invite but when I clicked through on my iPhone it led to an image of some dorky moron that told me to tilt the phone, blah blah. I’ve no patience with apps that don’t reveal information simply and instantly so I ignored it after that. I drove down to Sony Studios at 11:30 am today only to be told that the event was being held at Hollywood’s Arclight. Terrific.

I hate iPhone apps that don’t do what they’re supposed to do. “Why didn’t you guys just put the basic information on the initial email instead of asking people to click through on some slow-moving app that doesn’t work?”, I asked when I realized my error. Then I got philosophical about it. Today’s event just didn’t have my name on it — that’s all.

Synopsis: “In the year 2159 two classes of people exist: the very wealthy who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. Secretary Rhodes (Jodie Foster), a hard line government official will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws and preserve the luxurious lifestyle of the citizens of Elysium. That doesn’t stop the people of Earth from trying to get in, by any means they can. When unlucky Max (Matt Damon) is backed into a corner, he agrees to take on a daunting mission that if successful will not only save his life, but could bring equality to these polarized worlds.”

A week ago a Behind The Candelabra teaser went up. Here’s the first full-boat trailer for Steven Soderbergh‘s biopic, which HBO will premiere on 5.26. It doesn’t matter if Matt Damon sounds like Scott Thorson, but it does matter what Michael Douglas‘s Liberace sounds like. Liberace spoke with a certain sing-songy tone and a hint of a lisp — like a typical glammy gay guy of the ’50s and ’60s. It doesn’t sound as if Douglas is making much of an attempt in that regard.

Here’s hoping again that Behind The Candelabra turns up at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off exactly five weeks from now.

Thorson played Liberace’s Rolls Royce chauffeur in his Las Vegas stage show. Liberace mentions him about halfway through the clip:

It’s hard to think of any actress-celebrity who seemed to represent the vapidly self-absorbed, pre-progressive-social-consciousness era of the ’50s and early ’60s more profoundly than Annette Funicello, the ex-Mousketeer and AIP Beach Blanket Bingo queen who has died at age 70. I guess Shelley Fabares and Connie Francis were just as “bad” in this regard, and I guess you can’t really “blame” Funicello for projecting all that puerility and making all those AIP beach movies with Frankie Avalon.

I’m not talking about Ms. Funicello herself, of course, but what she performed and sold as a “brand.” Put on the headphones and listen to “Tall Paul“, and then marvel at how Funicello’s mentality co-existed in the ’50s and ’60s with that of, say, Joni Mitchell‘s. Funicello projected such naivete and a lack of any kind of fire. Francis, at least, could sing “and I like it fine” in the plastic-pop hit “Stupid Cupid“, but even that, I suspect, was beyond Funicello’s reach.

That aside I’m sorry for the sadness being felt right now by Funicello’s friends, family, loved ones.

This just in from Block-Korenbrot, passing along a note from her children Gina, Jacky and Jason: “We are so sorry to lose mother. She is no longer suffering anymore and is now dancing in heaven. We love and will miss her terribly.”

You can recite all those Iron Lady incantations until you’re blue in the face. For me one of the most revealing Margaret Thatcher quotes is her allusion to Francis Bacon as “that man who paints those dreadful pictures.” That, to me, almost says it all. Any person who has made it in a tough world has a little Maggie Thatcher in him/her, and on that level I feel a certain kinship and respect. But let’s not get carried away with that.

Where would Thatcher’s reputation be without Meryl Streep?

The Real McCoy brought a lot of pain into a lot of people’s lives. Ask the Brits who lived through her time at 10 Downing Street. Ask Elvis Costello. You can argue that pain is inevitable in life and that too many Brits were slacking off and throwing down pints at the pub before she came along. You can argue that what truly matters in life is mustering the toughness and discipline to meet the challenges. But the bottom line is that Ms. Thatcher was an essentially heartless social Darwinian who, like Ronald Reagan, believed in stroking the elite.

It’s not the clothing…well, yes, it’s the clothing, of course, but it’s the atmosphere inside Bergdorf Goodman‘s that people particularly love. It feels incredibly flush, pampered, protected, perfect. But I hate it when sales people grin almost lasciviously at me and say, “Can I help you?” Or, much worse, when they stand nearby as I try something on. I always turn to them and smile and say, “Sorry but I think this is between me and the jacket.”

Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf’s opens via eOne on May 3rd.

You don’t have to be empty to love shopping or browsing at Bergdorf’s, but some of the worst wealthy people in the world can be found there every day. Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorfs and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee — an ideal pairing at Quentin Tarantino‘s Beverly Cinema.

“If you clothes are not at that place, they have no future. There’s no future, those clothes. Sorry.” — Isaac Mizrahi.

“I had hoped that even on such a subject as [gay relationships and marriage], where passions run high, the internet was a forum where ideas could be freely discussed without descending into name-calling. I believe that is what it could be, but it depends on all of us behaving, even behind our aliases, in a humane, intelligent and open way.” — Final paragraph in Jeremy Irons’ mea culpa following his father-son incest comment during a recent Huffington Post interview.

Substitute “drive” for “live” and Ron Howard‘s Rush (Universal, 9.20) is saying you always need to go for the gusto even if it’s risky or dangerous. You have to accept that death is just around the corner. Presumably the film is a more varied smorgasbord but the trailer seems almost queer for death and wipe-outs as Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brough pursue their adrenalin highs.

Peter Morgan‘s script is about the 1976 Formula One season and the rivalry between drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda. “After a catastrophic crash[3] at the 1976 German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring that could have killed him, Formula One driver Niki Lauda (Bruhl) returns to face his rival James Hunt (Hemsworth) in their pursuit of the 1976 World Championship at Fuji in Japan,” the synopsis says.

The word “rush” obviously sells itself but it lacks dynamic snap with Premium Rush out last year and that narco drama Rush from 20-odd years ago.

I’m presuming that sex with race-track groupies or girlfriends is probably intense and gasping and world-class. Every race-car film starting with Grand Prix and Le Mans has more or less told us that.