Day: October 20, 2016

I haven’t seen Carl Reiner‘s Where’s Poppa? in a long while, but I have a feeling it’s not going to play as well as it did during the Nixon administration. Mainly because it pushed angry New York Jewish family humor (mockery of dementia, the loathing of one’s mother, big moustaches, family man getting mugged in Central Park by black guys), and some of this stuff is probably going to seem less nervy. 

Name three hit comedies besides Dr. Strangelove that are still pretty funny and three that aren’t. Aged like wine: Bringing Up Baby, The Twentieth Century, The Awful Truth. Aged poorly: Almost any sex comedy made in the early ’60s (Lover Come Back, Man’s Favorite Sport, The Honeymoon Machine, Period of Adjustment).

If you’re going for mirth and wit at a white-tie dinner, it’s better to aim “in” rather than “out”…right? No direct punches, a light touch, etc. Because Donald Trump ignored this rule he got his ass booed tonight. But the Melania plagiarism joke worked.

This 30-second teaser for Vikram Gandhi‘s Barry (Netflix, 12.16), a modest but sharply etched character study of young Barry Obama‘s undergrad years between ’81 and ’83, rubs me the wrong way. It suggests that this small-scale, 104-minute film wallows in hagiography, and it really doesn’t. Yes, it focuses on Obama’s junior and senior years at NYC’s Columbia University when he was studying political science and grappling with his half-white, half-black identity. But Barry doesn’t foretell anything. It’s a “who am I?” flick about conflict, racism (both the benevolent and hostile kinds), hesitancy and uncertainty start to finish. It’s well acted (especially by Devon Terrell in the lead role), carefully made, nicely layered and observing of many small details.

I’m not understanding the 43% Rotten Tomatoes rating for Michael Moore in TrumpLand, which I saw this morning. It’s not earth-shaking or astonishing or even startling, but what do you expect from a 70-minute political comedy performance Moore gave only the weekend before last? (It was filmed on Friday, 10.7 and Saturday, 10.8, in Wilmington, Ohio.)

Critics want Moore to do his classic schtick, to keep going with his lefty-confrontationalist routine. They liked Bowling for Columbine, Sicko, Capitalism: A Love Story and Farenheit 911, and they want that streak to continue. And they don’t want the softer, friendlier, more up-spirited Moore of Where To Invade Next? and now Michael Moore in Trumpland, neither of which have much in the way of satirical teeth.

Except Moore is just as malleable and susceptible to growth spurts as the next guy, and he doesn’t seem to believe in looking back any more than Bob Dylan does.

The views in Michael Moore in TrumpLand are sharp and perceptive, but the film is mainly about…okay, fear at first but mainly warmth and mirth and mutual understandings. With that title you might think Moore would ridicule Donald Trump top to bottom, but his shortcomings — fish in a barrel – are barely alluded to. And Moore has nothing dismissive to say about Trumpsters. Naturally.  Where would that get him?

But he does go all in for Hillary Clinton, even to the point of supposing she may be a secret liberal humanist who’s just waiting to take the oath of office before revealing her true colors. Hillary may suddenly become FDR during his first 100 days, Moore is saying, by pushing a “whoa, where did this come from?” social agenda (Bernie-like, anti-corporate).

Moore imagines that this secret-Hillary thing may line up with the saga of Pope Francis, a cautious, moderate fellow when he was a cardinal in Argentina, but who surprised everyone by flying liberal humanist colors when he moved to Rome.

I found Michael Moore in Trumpland reasonably engaging as far as it went. I certainly didn’t dislike it or feel provoked or irritated in any way. It’s fine. Moore has always been my idea of a brilliant communicator and a clever charmer, and I really quite enjoyed watching what appeared to be a good number of gray-haired Trump supporters really listening and seeming to get what Moore was on about, and even allowing their emotions to surface from time to time.

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The 2016 Gotham Award nominees were announced this morning, and I’ll tell you right now that Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea will almost certainly win four of the awards — Best Feature, Best Actor (Casey Affleck), Best Screenplay (Lonergan) and Breakthrough Actor (Lucas Hedges). The ceremony will happen on Monday, 11.28 at Cipriani Wall Street.

Here are the nominations — HE’s predicted wins are in boldface caps:

Best Feature: Certain Women (d: Kelly Reichardt, IFC Films); Everybody Wants Some! (d: Richard Linklater, Paramount Pictures); MANCHESTER BY THE SEA (d: Kenneth Lonergan, Amazon/Roadside); Moonlight (d: Barry Jenkins, A24); Paterson (d: Jim Jarmusch, Amazon).

Best Documentary: Cameraperson (d: Kirsten Johnson, Janus Films); I Am Not Your Negro (d: Raoul Peck, Magnolia Pictures); O.J.: MADE IN AMERICA (d: Ezra Edelman, director, ESPN Films); Tower (D: Keith Maitland, Kino Lorber, Independent Lens); Weiner (d: Josh Kriegman, Elyse Steinberg, Sundance Selects and Showtime Documentary Films). QUALIFIER: If Edelman’s doc doesn’t win, Weiner might take it.

Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award: ROBERT EGGERS for The Witch (A24); Anna Rose Holmer for The Fits (Oscilloscope Laboratories); Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert for Swiss Army Man (A24); Trey Edward Shults for Krisha (A24); Richard Tanne for Southside with You (Roadside Attractions/Miramax). QUALIFIER: If Eggers doesn’t win, the Swiss Army guys might.

Best Screenplay: Hell or High Water, Taylor Sheridan (CBS Films); Love & Friendship, Whit Stillman (Amazon Studios); Manchester by the Sea, KENNETH LONERGAN (Amazon); Moonlight, Story by Tarell Alvin McCraney; Screenplay by Barry Jenkins (A24); Paterson, Jim Jarmusch (Amazon Studios). QUALIFIER: Lonergan’s screenplay could lose to Sheridan’s Hell or High Water.

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Last night’s debate went pretty well, I thought. Hillary Clinton was cool, measured, on-point; Donald Trump was restrained for the first 20 or 25 minutes, as usual, and then turned blustery and spiteful. He didn’t actually say he wouldn’t respect the outcome of the election, but that’s how almost everyone is processing it. Trump’s end-game is not winning the election (of course) but continuing to stir the pot of belligerency in order to keep the deplorables riled and pumped and pining for Trump TV. The bottom line is that Donald has never been that quick or disciplined or even interested in being all that knowledgable. You know who is? Donald Trump, Jr., who delivered some spin after the debate ended. His on-camera patter is sharp, fast and feisty. Like Ivanka, he’s better than his father at this game.

It's appalling that a presidential nominee of a major party is undermining the pillar of our democracy—just because he hates losing. pic.twitter.com/ZQhoighCAl

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 20, 2016

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