Day: September 24, 2020

A couple of days ago screenwriter Daniel Waters asked followers to post four or five films that they deeply admire or feel guilty-pleasure pangs for, but which are generally regarded as insufficiently loved.

Five films, in short, that the hoi polloi never seemed to care very much for (or never knew much about or have forgotten) but which you privately swear by.

Five years ago I posted a list of HE’s 160 greatest all-time films , but none apply here because each is loved and respected. We’re talking lone-wolf, off-in-the-corner films. So here are five…make it six picks:

Sandra Nettlebeck‘s Mostly Martha (’01). Probably the greatest sensual foodie + unlikely love affair flick I’ve ever seen. Martina Gedeck and Sergio Castellitto‘s lead performances are perfection. Scott Hicks‘ No Reservations, an American remake costarring Catherine Zeta Jones and Aaron Eckhart, missed the mark.

John Flynn‘s The Outfit (’73). A classic hard-boiled revenge film, lean and blunt and crafted in the tradition of Point Blank. Outside of noir cultists and film bums, few have paid much attention. Robert Duvall, Karen Black, Joe Don Baker, Joanna Cassidy and Robert Ryan.

Bob Rafelson‘s Stay Hungry (’76). Love, character, destiny, Southern culture and body-building. Charming, low-key, funny. Arguably contains the most winning Arnold Schwarzenegger performance ever. Definitely my all-time favorite Jeff Bridges film. Sally Field, R.G. Armstrong, Robert Englund, Helena Kallianiotes.

Frank Perry and Thomas McGuane‘s Rancho Deluxe (’75). Another Jeff Bridges film about destiny and character, this time by way of Montana cattle rustling. Harry Dean Stanton and Richard Bright played Curt and Burt, and of course their names are a running gag. Not a lot of narrative urgency, but that’s also the charm of it.

Lamont Johnson‘s The Last American Hero (’73). One of the best redneck flicks ever. Yes, Bridges again. The story of racecar driver Junior Johnson, called Elroy Jackson in the film. Based on Tom Wolfe‘s Esquire piece titled “The Last American Hero Is Junior Johnson…Yes!”.

Susanne Bier‘s Things We Lost In The Fire (’07). My all-time favorite film about drug addiction, containing my favorite Benicio del Toro performance. Fans were few and far between when it opened in ’07, but I was instantly sold. Alone but hooked,

Out of Hollywood Elsewhere’s 10 projected Best Picture Oscar contenders, I’ve seen exactly four — Chloe Zhao‘s Nomadland, Aaron Sorkin‘s The Trial of the Chicago 7, Florian Zeller‘s The Father and Chris Nolan‘s Tenet. The other six are in the wings. I’ve heard that David Fincher‘s Mank is totally masterful and bucks-up approved, and I will be trusting in that assessment until I see it and make my own. So far the standings for the Best Director Oscar contenders…check back with me later. But it looks right now like Nomadland‘s Frances McDormand and The Father‘s Anthony Hopkins are in the top slots for Best Actress and Best Actor, respectively.

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“He cannot pitch and roll with what people may think about him…this humiliation that he feels but can’t bear to feel…there’s a great sadness in that, for me. There’s something internally wrong with the guy, and you’re saddened by that. The fact that he can’t ignore slights, is sorta nuts. He’s a keyboard warrior coward.” — The Mooch.

Imagine actually choosing to stay in a gaudy, Las Vegas-styled hotel on the Sunset Strip…a modern stopover for young dipshits, ablaze with nocturnal, motion-flow blue lighting. I’m speaking of the Pendry Hotel (corner of Sunset and North Olive), which is a different idea and structure than the Pendry residences.

I was friendly to some extent with production designer Richard Sylbert, whose location choices for Chinatown were the stuff of legend, and I’m telling you he’d be appalled by this place. It’s rancid, soul-less.

“A legal career is but a means to an end, and that end is building the Kingdom of God.” — presumed Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.

“Building” the kingdom of God? What, the same way a construction team might build a 12-unit condo in Orlando? The last time I checked “the kingdom of God” began to build itself X number of eons ago and will continue this building for X number of eons hence, regardless of any notions of good or evil or “do unto others” or any of that jazz. The kingdom of God is not a theological projection or a moral proposition but an infinite realm of ever-expanding micro-cellular creation by way of intelligent (or at the very least unified) design.

The staunchly Catholic Barrett, on the other hand, believes that God is some kind of benevolent, all-seeing, magnificently moral being who roots for the good guys (i.e., the Christians) down on planet Earth, but at the same time has an iron-clad rule about not stepping into the situation too aggressively.

Like any good Catholic, Barrett respects this hands-off, absentee landlord, “it’s up to humans to do the heavy lifting” policy, but at the same time believes that God is on her side and will be pulling for her confirmation, if and when she’s nominated, and that once on the court he wants her to implement His Moral Vision for life on our poisoned planet. She will be, in short, His loyal agent — the servant of his bidding.

In short, Amy Coney Barrett is a religious fanatic.

The origin of the above quote, by the way, appears to be an essay titled “The Purpose and Vocation of the Catholic Lawyer,” written by Rich Garnett and posted on mirrorofjusticeblogs on 5.2.12.

Susanne Bier is the director of The Undoing, an HBO miniseries based on Jean Hanff Korelitz‘s “You Should Have Known“, apparently a “deeds of evil duplicitous husband are traumatically revealed to strong-willed but deluded wife” airport novel for women.

Bier’s The Night Manager miniseries was respected and well received, and she was, I felt, in a truly excellent feature groove during the aughts (Open Hearts, Brothers, After the Wedding, Things We Lost in the Fire, In a Better World). But this new project feels like trouble. The trailer suggests a difficult sit.

Amazon boilerplate with Kidman and Grant’s names inserted: “The somewhat arrogant Grace (Nicole Kidman), a tough-talking marriage counselor, has written a book for wives, ‘You Should Have Known”, to kinda sorta blame them for not recognizing things about their husbands. You know the saying ‘physician, heal thyself”? You can see where this novel is going.

“What Grace didn’t know about her own husband Mike (Hugh Grant) is the stuff of this long, drawn-out novel. Grace never suspected that Mike, an esteemed pediatric oncologist, could be a liar. Or worse. For someone who scorned women for not realizing their husbands lied and held secrets, Grace was about as clueless as a popsicle, maybe more so.”

Orange Plague + Melania visited Ruth Ginsburg Bader‘s flag-draped coffin this morning at the top of the Supreme Court steps. The camera catches sight of Melania at 3:27. And then The Beast. The crowd at the bottom of the steps doesn’t react to Trump’s presence until 4:18, at which point the negative chanting begins (“honor her wish!”, “vote him out!”). It’s obvious that Trump has heard their chants — turning his head slightly, stiffening, shifting his weight. The First Couple turns and leaves around 5:07.

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