On 2.23.21 HE noticed a FYC ad for The Father that suggested Anthony Hopkins‘ character was a clever, debonair sort, perhaps a tad unscrupulous or caddish but never without a rapier retort when his daughter, played by Olivia Colman, questioned his thinking, morals or behavior, even though her attitude was always one of amusement. Now, in ads for the 6.11 British opening of Florian Zeller’s film, the Sly Fox is back. Except this time around Colman appears delighted by her dad’s rascally ways. No more sighing, eye-rolling or tearful regrets of any kind — eccentric old dad is simply irresistable. A scoundrel, but she can’t help herself!
So with Los Angeles opening up (restaurants, movie theatres, shopping malls) and on the day that President Biden and the CDC announced that masks are no longer required for fully vaccinated adults (indoors and outside), Bill Maher, who’s been fully vaccinated, tests positive for COVID. This Friday’s show has been cancelled. Bizarre on Maher’s part (reportedly asymptomatic), and over-cautious on HBO’s, it seems. They can’t do another show or two from Maher’s Bel Air home, like they did last year?
Leslie Jones to “Just for Variety“‘s Marc Malkin (5.12): “When [the COVID vaccines] first came out I was like, ‘I’m not taking that shit.’ They’re just going to come up with a potion and we’re supposed to take that shit? I was like, ‘I’m going to wait until the last batch and then maybe somebody could talk me into it.’
“But then Jones spoke to her aunt’s friend, a biologist working in COVID research. “She was like, ‘This is very serious…please get vaccinated.’ But Jones still wasn’t ready until she was asked to host the MTV Movie & TV Awards, airing live from Los Angeles on 5.16: “I was like, ‘I gotta be sage so let me just go bite the bullet.’”
In other words, if serendipity and self–interest hadn’t intervened — if Jones hadn’t spoken to her aunt’s biologist friend and hadn’t landed a MTV Awards hosting gig — she might still be a vaccine hold-out. America ravaged by 583,000 COVID deaths, a life-saving vaccine finally comes along and in certain quarters the response is “no way!” Brilliant.
When the COVID vaccines began to be available earlier this year, I was like ‘how can I get that shit? I wanna get jabbed and quick…where do I sign up and how do I do it?” My first injection happened on 2.23, the second on 3.16.
Posted on 11.20.07: I’d love to get into Denzel Washington‘s The Great Debaters, which I saw this evening, but it’s early yet. Discussions and terms await. But it’s essential to mention Nate Parker, who plays one of three African-American debaters (the other two played by Jurnee Smollett and Denzel Whitaker) from Wiley College in 1935 who wound up debating the Harvard University team, under the guidance of Washington’s Melvin B. Tolson.
Nate Parker
I’ve never seen Parker before, but he’s got it. Charismatic, good-looking…a “tan” Paul Newman (as Newman was in The Young Philadelphians) who looks people in the eye cool and steady, and perhaps has a slight weakness for women.
Parker has only been in the game since ’04. He’s acted only on TV and in crappy movies so far. (I missed his supporting performance in Pride, the swim-team sports movie with Terrence Howard and Bernie Mac that opened last March.) Worse, his next two are low-rent exploitation films — Tunnel Rats (directed by — yipes! — Uwe Boll) and Felon. The Great Debaters is Parker’s first and only A-level effort. He needs to build on it and move in another direction, or in five years he’ll be Dorian Harewood. It’s his call.
All I know is, Parker has a quality, a presence, a vibe. He could be another Denzel. A small group I spoke with after tonight’s screening agreed on this point, or at least that he’s Newman-esque. It’ll be intriguing to see what happens.
Unable to recall or even investigate where this remote horse ranch in the Belizean jungle was located, or the name of the couple who ran it. The guy was from Texas — I remember that much. And the howler monkeys in the high trees. And the fact that we went swimming in a lake, and under a waterfall. Fall of ’90, 30 and 1/2 years ago.
I love listening to Oliver Stone expound on any subject — everything he says is human, honest, heartfelt, perceptive. But I couldn’t listen at the beginning of this chat with Washington Post film critic Ann Hornaday because he couldn’t get the framing right. His phone wouldn’t hold position and kept tipping upwards. And he’s sitting too far back. Oliver finally got it after four or five minutes.
Chilly, calculating eyes are fairly common in any social business environment. Some peepers may radiate inner warmth or sincerity, of course, but many don’t. I personally don’t think you can really “read” anyone’s eyes unless you have close proximity. And yet Christian Bale once (allegedly) claimed he could sense coldness or emptiness behind Tom Cruise‘s eyes. So if Bale went there, it’s fair to ask the HE community who else seems to have a certain robotic vacancy behind the eyes.
Not discerning or shrewd eyes — that’s something else. I mean eyes that block and tell you nothing.
“Everyone reflexively smiles when they meet people socially. Some smile slightly, some a little too much but often with the same glazed eyes. Not much sincerity offered or expected. Mostly. Their teeth are gleaming but their eyes are scanning you like a Manhattan detective, trying to assess your nature or strengths or potential threat levels in the space of two or three seconds.
“I felt this when I met CAA honcho Mike Ovitz in ’88 — he had the eyes of a timber wolf. The eyes of MPAA president Jack Valenti, whom I met in ’84 at the Sportsmen’s Lodge, weren’t as feral but he was definitely sizing me up.” — posted on 9.25.16.
“You got cop’s eyes” — Julie Harris to Paul Newman in Jack Smight‘s Harper (’66).
“I walked with him, right beside him, back into the hotel. And his eyes rested upon mine a couple of times. He didn’t know me well, only slightly. And his eyes were absolutely cold, always…really cold gray. The smile was in the [eye] crinkles and in the mouth and the big teeth, but the eyes always remained, I always thought, very cold and calculating.” — Robert MacNeil on JFK on 11.22.63, 2:10 to 2:31, emmytvlegends.org.
You don’t have to agree with, much less admire, a politician or activist to acknowledge that they showed courage by sticking to their principles under fire.
