Maybe I’m stupid but I thought The Affair was in the habit of airing new episodes on Sunday. I just turned on Showtime to watch episode 8 only to be confronted with episode 7 again, which I saw a week ago (Sunday, 11.23). An Episode 8 page says it airs next Sunday (12.7) Why did they skip a week? I noticed tonight, by the way, that I’ve become very accustomed to Fiona Apple‘s “The Container,” which plays over the opening credits.

N.Y. Times reporters Brooks Barnes and Michael Cieply have posted a story about the Sony hacking, which may or may not be related to North Korea’s ire over The Interview, a forthcoming Sony comedy co-directed, co-written by and co-starring Seth Rogen. The story contains three interesting paragraphs:

Tweeted by Seth Rogen on 11.24.

#1: “One person with knowledge of the situation said a Hollywood executive from a company other than Sony had contacted Homeland Security to suggest that the attack might be related to a piracy investigation involving a movie that was not even made by Sony. But the department was not mobilized as a result of the query.”

Repeating: “A somber, colorful period drama…Peter Weir-ish, handsomely shot, assured direction…what’s not to like? Four years after the slaughter of Australian soldiers in Gallipoli, an Australian farmer (Russell Crowe) travels to Istanbul to discover the fate of his sons who may have been killed in battle. On top of which Crowe apparently falls in love (i.e., has it off) with Olga Kurylenko, playing a Turkish woman owns the hotel in which he stays. Directed by Crowe, written by Andrew Anastasios and Andrew Knight. Cinematography by Andrew Lesnie, the Lord of the Rings/Hobbit dp who won an Oscar in ’02 for The Fellowship of the Ring. Opening in Australia and New Zealand on 12.26.14. The only dicey thing is the title.”

Wells to Cinefamily: “As a longtime fan of Robert Downey, Sr., I was hoping to cover your fundraiser screening of the restored Greaser’s Palace, to be hosted by Paul Thomas Anderson, on Saturday, December 6th. I would be happy to pay $100 in order to do this, but the sign says SOLD OUT. Can you let me slip in? Not a tragedy if you can’t.” Cinefamily’s Downey series runs from 12.5 through 12.8. Minor anecdote: I once starred in a cruddy little short film [after the jump] in which I stole the flasher-raincoat gag from Downey’s Putney Swope.

Beginning with its debut at the Telluride Film Festival three months ago, The Imitation Game has consistently played well among upmarket mainstreamers. It was much more popular at Telluride than Birdman, due in large part, I suspect, to female fans of Benedict Cumberbatch. And now it’s tallied the second-highest per-screen average of the year in limited release, earning $482 grand in just four New York and Los Angeles screens since Friday. A Variety report mentions that big per-screen averages are sometimes “met with indifference when they expanded beyond urban areas,” but I don’t see that happening here. Game plays right to the sweet spot of urban, well-educated over-35 types, and I think that this commercial success will counter-balance quibbling reviews and carry it aloft into serious Oscar contention. Opinions from those who saw it this weekend? How much independent male support will manifest on top of the “Cumberbitches“?

The first punch-up begins at 2:25. The big finale starts around 6:35.

Alan Parker‘s Mississippi Burning gets an awful lot wrong about the way things really were in Mississippi in 1964. I’ve read, for example, that African Americans did a lot more than sing hymns and watch their churches burn. We all know that Parker and screenwriter Chris Gerolmo mangled the history of the FBI’s hunt for the killers of three Civil Rights workers (Michael Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman). Their coup de grace was having the FBI agent heroes, played by Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe, turn into Dirty Harry-style vigilantes in Act Three, bringing the guilty yokels to justice by playing rough games and faking them out. Pauline Kael called it “a Charles Bronson movie.”

And I’ve never cared that much. Very few have, I suspect. I’ve always had a soft spot for Mississippi Burning for various reasons — the polish of it, Hackman’s performance (particularly his scenes with Frances McDormand), Peter Biziou‘s cinematography, Gerry Hambling‘s editing, the percussive rumble of Trevor Jones‘ music, da coolness. But especially Parker and Gerolmo’s bullshit plot. Because the lies they came up with are emotionally satisfying, and that’s always the bottom line.

It’s only speculation with no proof, but it’s an instant urban legend that has launched and will probably remain in the blogosphere until proved incorrect. I’m speaking of reports that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un (or some North Korean guys doing his bidding) may have arranged for Chinese hackers to hack into Sony Pictures Entertainment’s web network five days ago and gum things up beyond belief. Nobody knows anything but the possibility is being looked into. The theory is that North Korea may have trojan-ed Sony’s network as payback for The Interview (Columbia, 12.25), the upcoming Seth Rogen-James Franco comedy about a CIA plot to assassinate Kim Jong-Un. North Korean propaganda outlets have threatened “merciless retaliation” against the U.S. and other concerns if the film is released.

Cedric Jimenez‘s The Connection “is a Gallic take on the French Connection-related, Marseille-based heroin drug trade, [and yet it] doesn’t even start its narrative until years after William Friedkin‘s 1971 classic hit cinemas. Beginning in 1975, it pits Jean Dujardin and Gilles Lellouche against each other as a real-life Marseille judge and an elusive kingpin, distilling actual events into a procedural epic whose complicated narrative is propelled by visceral action sequences and an unusually thrilling soundtrack. The big-budget film should be a hit in its native land (where it opens on 12.3), while considerable theatrical appeal in English-language territories is boosted by both its art house-approved cast and the thematic tie-in to Friedkin’s evergreen cop film.” — from John DeFore‘s Hollywood Reporter review, filed from the Toronto Film Festival on 9.10.14.

Two nights ago a week-long Nastassja Kinski film series began under the auspices of the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Last night (11.28) they screened James Toback‘s Exposed (’83), in which Kinski costarred with Rudolf Nureyev and Harvey Keitel. (It also featured model Janice Dickinson, who recent came out as one of Bill Cosby‘s victims.) As a Paris-based terrorist named Rivas, Keitel delivers a memorable riff (in a scene with Kinski) about what he considers good-life essentials: “I’ll tell you what I want. Good food. Women. Good cigars. Good beds with fresh sheets Hot showers in Hilton hotels. New shoes. Poker. Blackjack. Dancing. Clint Eastwood westerns. And you. I knew from looking at your face.”

Rudolf Nureyev, Nastassja Kinski in James Toback’s Exposed.

Toback told me this morning that a major critic said at the time that “only Toback would have written dialogue as arcane as that for an international terrorist.” In fact the line was taken directly from an interview with the real Carlos, Toback said. Everything verbatim except Clint.

Most award-season handicappers believe there’s a relationship between presumed Best Picture favorites among Academy and guild members and the critical rankings provided by Metacritic, Rotten Tomatoes and the Broadcast Film Critics Association. You can debate the importance of the latter three sources, but if there’s any cause-and-effect things suddenly don’t look as good for The Imitation Game and The Theory of Everything, which of course are similar British-flavored dramas about troubled eccentric geniuses.

Award Daily‘s Sasha Stone has posted a ranking of the leading Best Picture contenders by Metacritic, Rotten Tomatoes and BFCA criteria, and the Bobbsey twins are ranked eighth and ninth. Eighth-ranked Theory has a 72% and 83% ratings on Metacriitc/RT, and ninth-place Game has been rated 71% and 85% on the two aggregate-tabluation sites. That means they might be nominated but probably can’t win. The top three likely winners by this system are (in this order) Boyhood, Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel.