Day: July 3, 2022

President Bartlet repeats what most Elvis Presley biographers have written — he was a major cultural earthquake and lightning personified during Phase #1 (‘54 to Army induction in ‘58), his greedy-ass manager kept him from growing as an artist by going strictly for the dough, and he wasn’t much of an actor.

Between allegedly positive responses at a recent East Coast test screening (as reported by Jordan Ruimy) and the likelihood of debuting at Telluride ’22, She Said (Universal, 11.18), a Spotlight-resembling investigative journalism drama about the Harvey Weinstein sexual predator offenses, is looking like a Best Picture Oscar contender…right?

Or is it perhaps a bit less of a #MeToo-ish All The President Men and more of a Bombshell, Part II?

Not to mention possible Best Actress noms for costars Zoe Kazan (playing N.Y. Times reporter Jodi Kantor) and Carey Mulligan (as Times reporter Megan Twohey)….who knows? But it has the right aura, the right timeliness.

That said, Andre Braugher‘s performance as N.Y. Times exec editor Dean Baquet is, I suspect, unlikely to inspire the kind of reverence that greeted Jason Robards‘ performance as Ben Bradlee in Akan Pakula‘s All The President’s Men. For Baquet’s support of Kantor and Twohey’s reporting on Weinstein has since been overshadowed by his unleashing the forces of purist woke terror (1619 and BLM absolutism, Nikole Hannah-Jones, the absurd firing of Donald McNeil Jr.) in the Times newsroom and greenlighting the kind of harsh woke-scolding environment that led to Bari Weiss‘s resignation.

Apart from becoming a Scientology fanatic, it’s fair to say that the last 40-odd years of Tom Cruise‘s life and career have panned out hugely, exceptionally and phenomenally.

It’s just that the idea of Joel Goodson being five years away from the classic retirement age of 65 makes me feel that the locomotive pace of life is moving…well, a bit faster than I’d prefer. I know, I know…60 is the new 50 but still.

For me, Cruise turning 60 is roughly at par with McCartney turning 80. Anyone who was around when Risky Business opened knows what I’m talking about, and I don’t want to hear from any scolds.

HE’s 15 Richest, Best Crafted, Most Compellingly Performed Tom Cruise Films (in this order and excluding all of his high-powered, robo-bunny formula action franchise films): Jerry Maguire, Collateral, Risky Business, The Firm, Born on the Fourth of July, Rain Man, Jack Reacher, American Made, The Color of Money, Tropic Thunder, A Few Good Men, Edge of Tomorrow, Losin’ It, Interview with the Vampire, Magnolia.

HE’s 14 Least Favorite Cruise Films (excluding all of his high-powered, robo-bunny formula action franchise films): Cocktail, Far and Away, Legend, Days of Thunder, Eyes Wide Shut (very well made, compulsive watchable but finally a curiously chilly experience), Minority Report (irritating Kaminsky bleachy-gray color scheme), Vanilla Sky, The Last Samurai, War of the Worlds (good film with atrocious ending), The Mummy, Knight and Day, Valkyrie, Lions for Lambs, The Outsiders.

I can’t remember how I feel about Rock of Ages.

When I was 15 or thereabouts my mother drove her three kids down to Washington, D.C. Stroll around, see the sights, absorb the governmental atmosphere. Motoring from Westfield, N.J. to the nation’s capitol and back again took about eight hours; I seem to recall flopping in some modest motel in a D.C. suburb.

At some point in the late afternoon my sister and I were both suddenly anxious about attending to #1. We were in the car and my mother was having trouble figuring where to drop us off (hotel, restaurant, anywhere). At one point we drove by a large fountain in Dupont Circle with water shooting out from 15 or 20 spigots, and my mom said “oh, God…a bad thing to contemplate in this situation…don’t look at it.” I recall glancing at her with irritation and thinking “Jesus, that’s an annoying thing to say, and certainly not funny.” But here I am recalling this decades later. The things that linger in the mind

9:25 pm: This morning I wrote 150 words about there being no rational basis for doubting the testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson. Somehow they were accidentally obliterated. But she’s the real deal — a hero — the new John Dean.