Just a few weeks ago, doddering Joe Biden was the Big Daddy, the nationwide poll leader, the safe guy and the presumptive Democratic nominee who could beat Donald Trump.
Tonight Biden came in a weak fifth in New Hampshire. Some African American voters will stick with him in the South Carolina primary, I’m sure, but the heat is clearly off. He’s all but finished and black voters are clueless as to which way to turn. Will they switch their loyalty to Michael Bloomberg? That’s what an MSNBC commentator said an hour ago.
Longtime Biden supporter (texted at 5:28 pm): “I’m moving to Bloomberg.” Jersey City guy: “Amy Klobuchar is the buzzy name. She might lay claim to some of the Biden fallout vote.”
Andrew Yang, Tom Steyer, Michael Bennet…they’re dropping like flies. And by the way, Elizabeth Warren is looking almost as weak as Biden. How long can she last?
38 years ago I attended a New York press junket roundtable for Richard Brooks‘ Wrong Is Right. The location was either the old Mayflower Hotel or Tavern on the Green. Brooks and Sean Connery were the junket headliners, but Robert Conrad (who played “General Wombat” in the film) got a lot of attention also.
The good-natured Conrad, 46, sat down at my table, and after a few minutes of the usual junket chit-chat I asked one of my non-softball questions. Conrad seemed to perk up slightly and then, wearing a slight grin, said, “You must be Jeff Wells!”
I confirmed this fact with aplomb but inwardly I was going “what the fuck?” One of the publicists must have pulled Conrad aside and whispered “there’s a guy over there who always asks nervy questions…he’s okay but watch out for him.” Never before in my professional life had I been “made” like that, especially from a name-brand actor.
Conrad was a huge TV actor in the ’60s and ’70s, and then he more or less became Rick Dalton for the rest of his acting career, which wound down around 20 years ago.
Conrad’s two biggest ’60s scores were Hawaiian Eye (’59 to ’63, playing “Tom Lopaka”)) and especially The Wild Wild West (’65 to ’69). He played the tough-guy lead (“Pappy Boyington”) in another hit series, Baa Baa Black Sheep, which ran from ’76 to ’78.
What did I see in my mind when I heard he’d passed last Sunday (2.9), at age 84? Those legendary Ever-ready battery commercials, which happened in the late ’70s.
Post-impeachment, the Bloated Beast is getting bolder in his sociopathic maneuverings.
“In a highly unusual move, senior Justice Department officials” — i.e., Attorney General Barr doing President Trump‘s bidding — “intervened to overrule front-line prosecutors and will recommend a more lenient sentence for Roger J. Stone Jr., convicted last year of impeding investigators in a bid to protect Trump, a senior department official said Tuesday.
In response all four of the government prosecutors on the case — lead prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky plus Jonathan Kravis, Adam Jed and Michael Marando — have withdrawn from the case.
Trump butted in after Zelinsky asked a judge late Monday to sentence Stone to seven to nine years in the slam for trying to sabotage a congressional investigation that threatened Trump. Trump had tweeted that the recommendation was “horrible and very unfair,” and now he’s told Barr to reverse the recommendation. Every time Trump pulls some kind of rank dictator move, people say “it can’t get any more corrupt than this.” And then he outdoes himself.
Craig Zobel, Nick Cuse and Damon Lindelof‘s The Hunt, which was yanked late last summer after the El Paso and Dayton shootings, is opening after all. Universal will release Blumhouse Productions’ political satire (i.e., elite libtards hunting deplorables for sport) on March 13.
What pisses me off is that there was a press screening yesterday and I wasn’t invited. Okay, I wrote once that “I hate all things Lindelof” but isn’t that water under the bridge?
In any event the culture has moved beyond The Hunt — things are a bit uglier now. Or more ambitious, as it were.
On 1.15 I read a Paul Schrader Facebook post about a theoretical film about a plot to kill President Donald Trump. He was thinking about assigning students to cook up a plot, but was wondering out loud if his students would get into trouble if they researched it. What Schrader was saying, of course, is that there’s a part of him that would like to see Trump get iced, just as there was a part of Travis Bickle that wanted to shoot Sen. Charles Palpatine.
I have to be honest — I wouldn’t be heartbroken if The Beast went down.
The Hunt was originally scheduled for release on 9.27.19, but Universal pulled the trailers and marketing materials following two mass shootings that killed 31 people in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, on 8.3 and 8,.4., respectively. The subsequent decision to yank it wasn’t unexpected.
The satire probably would’ve underperformed anyway — it didn’t look all that appealing. It’s just unfortunate that Universal made the call a day after President Trump complained about it (i.e., “Hollywood is really terrible…they’re treating conservatives very unfairly”).
Noam Chomsky on 2.7.20: “‘Miracle’ may be a little strong, but [Bernie being elected] would be a very difficult task. The liberal media attacks on Sanders are already shocking. Once the Republicans get started on him it’ll be even worse.”
Chomsky two months ago: “The chances that Sanders win the nomination are not great,. If Bernie gets the nomination, the attacks will be wild. The Republican propaganda machine going after him…Jewish, atheist, “wants to kill all the whites” and on and on. The chance that he could get elected are pretty small. But if does get elected — a miracle — he won’t have Congress. How are you gonna win Congress? The U.S. electoral system is specially structured so that the reactionary elements have an overwhelming advantage.”
The USA as many of us have known it will be set on the road to ruin tonight. Because a Bernie Sanders victory in New Hampshire (followed by a Bernie-Biden victory in South Carolina on 2.19 — thanks, POCs!) will seriously harm the sensible-liberal-moderate Pete Buttigieg brand, which is the only brand that can beat Trump in November, and therefore a Trump victory will be locked down because Bernie can’t beat him.
Typewriter Joe might be able to defeat The Beast, but after tonight he’ll be all but finished. Michael Bloomberg is the only hope right now because you know he’ll keep spending and pushing — he’s indefatigable. But I’m really not kidding. The transformation of the US of A (as many of us have known it) into Trump Nation between January ’21 and January ’25 will be ruinous beyond words. And the journey begins tonight.
If Pete can nudge aside Bernie in N.H. (which he probably can’t manage), there’s at least a chance. But he won’t. All hail the spirit and precedent of Jeremy Corbyn and Gregg Stillson! The bad guys have this! And I’m not just talking about Bernie bruhs and Trump-worshipping bumblefucks, but also Khmer Rouge wokesters and cancel culture fanatics. Together they comprise a perfect storm of catastrophe.
If Bloomberg can’t manage the next-to-impossible, the only way out is for Trump to drop dead of a heart attack or a stroke. Or for fate to (ahem) otherwise intervene. Who would be honestly sorry to see that animal breathe his last?
I was initially excited to hear of ZeroZeroZero (Amazon Prime, 3.6), a cocaine-trafficking miniseries costarring Andrea Riseborough, Dane DeHaan and Gabriel Byrne. Mainly because Stefano Sollima, ace helmer of Sicario: Day of the Soldado, is a creative contributor. Then I read further and realized he’s only one of the directors. Two others are Janus Metz (Borg vs. McEnroe, True Detective) and Pablo Trapero (The Clan, White Elephant).
Boilerplate: “Brought to you by the Gomorrah guys, ZeroZeroZero follows the lives of several individuals and cartel members who are involved in a worldwide, multibillion-dollar drug-smuggling ring that stretches from Italy to Mexico and the United States.”
With a new 2K restoration you’d also presume that a Criterion Bluray would be in the pipeline, but I can’t find hide nor hair. I’ve done some basic searches…zip. A publicist friend says it’s viewable via TCM On Demand — haven’t been able to find it there either. I’m sure this is all my fault, and not that of distributor Janus Films.
All I know is that I’ve been repeatedly admonished by Tatyana for not seeing it, and the reprimands aren’t going to stop until I do.
I don’t remember very much about The Last Tycoon (’76) except that it stunk. Okay, maybe that’s a little harsh but but it certainly seemed inert. Robert DeNiro was almost comically miscast as coolly arrogant studio exec Monroe Stahr, whom original author F. Scott Fitzgerald had based upon legendary MGM exec Irving Thalberg.
De Niro played Thalberg as a relatively uncultured New York street guy (i.e., Travis Bickle wearing nice suits) with those Lower-East-Side Italian vowels of his. The real-deal Thalberg came from Brooklyn and never attended college, but I’ve always read he was a man of discipline and exactitude — a classy gent with a highly concentrated mind. I didn’t believe DeNiro’s “Travis” Thalberg for an instant. That idiot grin of his was pure loony Bickle. For what it’s worth I enjoyed the two or three scenes that De Niro shares with Jack Nicholson, who plays a commie union leader.
How could a film directed by Elia Kazan, based on a 1941 Fitzgerald novel, adapted by Harold Pinter, produced by Sam Spiegel, scored by Maurice Jarre and shot by Victor J. Kemper…how could a movie made by such an ace-level team turn out badly? But it did. It just sat there.
The Last Tycoon was DeNiro’s first shortfaller. He’d previously made five excellent films (Bang The Drum Slowly, Mean Streets, The Godfather, Part II, Taxi Driver, 1900). After Tycoon he starred in another failure (Scorsese’s New York, New York) but then rebounded with The Deer Hunter, Raging Bull, True Confessions, The King of Comedy, Once Upon A Time in America and Falling in Love.
At 4 pm yesterday afternoon Tatyana and I arrived at West Hollywood’s Soho House for Neon’s Parasite party (telecast viewing + after-party). The cheering was ecstatic after all four Parasite wins, of course, but especially when the historic Best Picture win was announced by Jane Fonda. Excellent vibe, scrumptious food, free drinks, great wifi, not overly crowded, plenty of flat screens and electrical wall outlets.
Thanks to Lea Yardum and Colleen Camp for their generous hospitality and efficiency.
The show ended around 8:15 pm, give or take. I packed up the two computers, and we began to roam around. Soho House is quite a large and sprawling place, as some of you know. Views of WeHo and Beverly Hills to die for, etc. Plus that dramatic grand staircase. Plus several guests smoking in the outdoor balcony area. (Who smokes?) We decided to pack it in around 10:10 pm — six hours felt like enough. In the sheltered ground-level parking lot there was a huge crowd waiting to enter as we departed.
A friend who arrived late reports that Bong Joon-ho and Team Parasite (actors, producers) made their triumphant entrance around 12:45 am, and that the reception was “truly mad.” They came up the staircase to exuberant cheers and hugs, and then paraded around the party holding the four Oscars aloft, and received more whoops and cheers on the small stage in the main dining room (i.e., where the bar is).
If Bernie Sanders wins the Democratic nomination, our deranged and grotesque authoritarian crime-boss president will almost certainly be re-elected, and this country will be saddled with a political and cultural tragedy of increasing proportions.
This is not theory, not maybe — it’s real. How can Democrats be so rock stupid as to not see the tragedy that’s currently unfolding and taking shape? The republic is splitting, cracking apart. The end of civic sanity and reason is nigh. And it’s like we’re all covered in a kind of slow-motion glue.
The untested Sanders (a virtual babe in the woods on the national stage) is electoral death. He won’t just get knifed and bloodied by the Trump smear machine — he’ll probably get creamed a la Jeremy Corbyn and George McGovern.
Can anything prevent this nightmare? Not if African-American voters have anything to say about it, and of course they will starting with the South Carolina primary.
Pete Buttigieg recently connected with moderate suburban Iowans, and could theoretically do the same countrywide in the general. But AAs (particularly your older-demo homophobes) are apparently determined to sit on their hands rather than support him. (One more time — thanks, guys!) And of course Bernie bruhs and other progressives hate Pete’s guts. Except Pete or someone like him — a sensible, practical-minded, non-scary moderate liberal or left-centrist — represents the only shot at beating Trump. Who else could become the prime banner-carrier for this kind of approach at this point? Biden, Warren and Klobuchar are too low in the polls — they have no serious heat. Ditto Bloomberg and Steyer. It’s down to Pete v. Bernie, except Bernie is more or less Corbyn.
Filed on Sunday, 2.9 by London Times correspondent Josh Glancy: “At a ‘politics and eggs’ event on Friday morning in Manchester, New Hampshire, Bernie Sanders faced a friendly crowd, who applauded his familiar spiel about the ills of Wall Street, Donald Trump and big pharma. But one voter, Lenny Glynn, had a question.
“’There’s a lot of people in this room that share your anger, your anxiety and your rage,’ Glynn said. ‘But there’s a question in a lot of our minds. Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the British Labour Party, who is very similar ideologically and politically to you, just took them to the worst defeat they’ve had in half a century. How can you assure us that you would not face the same onslaught?”
N.Y. Times columnist Frank Bruni, filed on 2.8: “You can analyze Sanders and assess his prospects in terms of how liberal many of his positions are: the end of private health insurance, the dismantling of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, free tuition at public colleges regardless of a student’s economic circumstances. By that yardstick he’s Corbyn, and, in my view, a hell of a general-election risk.”
Tip of the hat to Collider‘s Scott Mantz for being 91.67% correct in his Gold Derby balliot, and particularly for having won a $40 bet from Collider‘s Jeff Sneider over last night’s Parasite triumph. Below is a 1.29 Collider chit-chat between Mantz, Sneider and Perri Nemiroff. Start at 6:15.
Perri Nemiroff: “I do think that the top two on many of the ballots are going to be 1917 and Parasite. There’s little to no criticism on those compared to some of the others…” Jeff Sneider: “You’ve gotta be crazy! ‘Little to no criticism about Parasite‘? You’re wrong. That’s a fact — you’re wrong.” Nemiroff “In the voting community. I know you didn’t like it as much as most.” Scott Mantz: “But most did.” Nemiroff “Especially when you compare the critics of Parasite to the criticism we’ve seen about some of the other films. They’re much more divisive and..” Jeff Sneider: “What film had the most criticism last year? What film?” Scott Mantz: “Green Book.” Sneider: “Did it win Best Picture?” Mantz: “Yes.”
Sneider: “Scott, you just said you think Bong’s gonna win Best Director?” Mantz: “Yes.” Sneider: “And you think Parasite‘s gonna win Best Picture? Mantz: “Yes.” Sneider: “And you think it’s gonna win Best International Feature?” Mantz: “Of course! Sneider: “So you’re just going all in on Parasite? Mantz: “I’m all in.” Nemiroff: “That’s a dangerous guesstimate.” Sneider: “I would bet you any amount of money it’s not gonna win all three of these awards.”
[$20 is wagered; later on it’s doubled to $40]
Nemiroff: “You’re in so much trouble now. Sneider: “A bad bet.” Nemiroff: “Parasite could be Best Picture or Best Director in addition to Best Int’l Features, but it’s not gonna win all three.”
