Day: October 22, 2021

No family-friendly media outlet will speculate about how and when Brian Laundrie died. What’s the most likely scenario? A few weeks ago I speculated that Laundrie might wade into a river with the hope of being eaten by a crocodile, but that’s way too gruesome. Then again his remains were allegedly submerged in water for some time.

In the space of a few short weeks Laundrie, who apparently strangled his fiance Gabby Petito somewhere in Wyoming last August, became one of the most despised killers in U.S. history. But give him this. He was apparently so consumed with guilt that he took his life, or allowed a crocodile to take it for him.

This at least indicates that he wasn’t a total sociopath, that he understood morality and knew that he’d done a terrible thing.

The apparent fact that Laundrie killed himself, in short, means that he was capable, in the final analysis, of thinking and acting morally.

Posted on 9.27.21:

The name of the Rust armorer who may be primarily responsible for failing to make certain that the Colt pistol fired yesterday by Alec Baldwin was “cold” and therefore not loaded, has been named in a search warrant affidavit that’s been obtained by Santa Fe Reporter ‘s Jeff Proctor.

In the story Proctor states that while the name of Rust’s assistant director and armorer are included in the affadavit, “SFR is not identifying them because neither has been accused or charged with a crime.”

A 10.21 Daily Mail story suggests that the armorer may be (or may have been) female.

Indiewire’s Chris Lindahl has reported that he also has the name of the armorer, having obtained Thursday’s call sheet. But mum’s the word.

Friendo: “We’re not going to get an honest take on Eternals, are we?”

HE to Friendo: “Not until a straight shooter sees it…someone who isn’t a member of the Marvel choir or the ‘Chloe Zhao can do no wrong’ kiss-ass diversity club…someone like myself, I mean.”

Until it is reported there was an element of anger or aggression in yesterday’s accidental killing of Halyana Hutchins on the set of Rust, reporters and twitter wolves need to get stop trying to heartlessly link this tragedy to Alec Baldwin‘s reputation as Mr. Temperamental.

The poor guy is totally destroyed about this, but to the best of my knowledge what happened yesterday afternoon was purely a technical accident. It’s on the non-IATSE propmaster or armorer, whose name has not been released.

Jordan Ruimy: “Apparently the armorer [i.e., the gun person, different that the propmaster] went off set between takes and shot live rounds out of the Colt .45. The armorer apparently forgot to clear the weapon, so there was still a live round chambered. This is absolutely fucking unacceptable. The armorer is the one who should be held accountable.”

The Daily Mail is reporting that the armorer may be female, by the way.

I am now the proud owner of my very own R*O*T matchbook. Sent from England, arrived yesterday.

I intend to carry the matchbook in a show of solidarity against the anti-North by Northwest exhibit at “woke house” — i.e., the Academy museum. If you’re a late ‘50s Manhattan advertising man, announcing that “rot” is your personal trademark conveys a certain ironic cool. Only someone who’s supremely confident and at peace with himself could admit to having a putrid, decaying, shriveled-up essence.

Jeff Sneider is much more into proletariat popcorn movies than myself. Many times I’ve rolled my eyes at films he’s enjoyed. Sneider was the guy sitting right behind me during a Fox lot Jojo Rabbit screening and laughing his ass off — it was all I could do to not turn around and hiss “what the fuck, Jeff?” So his dismissal of Dune means more than my own.

DUNE: Another beautiful blockbuster bore. A totally dissatisfying 2.5-hr STAR WARS movie sans lightsabers. Cast did nothing for me aside from Oscar Isaac. Someone has GOT to convince Villeneuve to return to Prisoners-Sicario territory. And people want a PART 2 to this snoozefest? pic.twitter.com/p0WQ4EBXOl

— Jeff Sneider (@TheInSneider) October 22, 2021

Here’s a portion of yesterday’s paywalled riff about Pedro Almodovar’s Parallel Mothers:

One of the things I adore about this Sony Pictures Classics release (12.24.21) is that it respects a basic biological fact, a fact that Hollywood has only occasionally acknowledged — the bedrock genetic reality of family resemblance.

By the same token George Clooney ‘s The Tender Bar (Amazon, 12.17) has a problem with this, at least as far as the casting of young Daniel Ranieri is concerned. Clooney would have us believe that Ranieri, who seems to be descended from a (take your best guess) Sicilian or Lebanese or Egyptian heritage, is going to grow up to be Tye Sheridan — obviously a non-starter.

Clooney could be saying to his audience, “I know the kid doesn’t look like Lily Rabe or Max Martini but there’s this whole woke and diversity thing going on now, and we have to play ball with that.”

Pedro’s film sits on the opposite side of the canyon — it not only respects family resemblance, but uses it as a plot point.

Without giving away too much of the story, Penélope Cruz is Janis, a Madrid-residing photographer who becomes pregnant by Arturo (Israel Elejalde), a kind of biologist-anthropologist who’s doing forensic studies of the skeletons of victims who were disappeared by the Franco regime.

Their affair has been on the sly as Arturo is married to a woman who’s struggling with cancer. Anyway, the baby (a daughter) arrives and one day Arturo drops by. The instant he lays eyes on her you can tell he’s a bit taken aback. Arturo senses that something might be wrong as he sees nothing of himself in the child’s features.

We can see this also — it’s obvious.

This struck me as a revelation. Parallel Mothers is a movie that actually acknowledges that kids look like their parents (or occasionally like their grandparents)…imagine! Only rarely will U.S.-made films allow for this, and certainly not in present-tense Clooneyville.