“The Party of No Common Sense”

In a 7.20.22 Atlantic article titled “The Real Reason Democrats Are Losing Ground on Education,” Conor Friedersdorf reports that typical voters are not wildly supportive of equity and gender identity standards.

Friedersdorf based this conclusion of a poll conducted last May by The American Federation of Teachers. The poll is composed of responses from 1,758 likely voters. One of the poll’s findings is that voters are split on which party they trust more as far as education is concerned — 39% for Republicans, 38% for Democrats.

Democrats have lost ground on this issue because they’re all tied up in wokester theology, and average voters hate that shit.

Here’s a key paragraph from Friedersdorf’s article:

Whoopi’s Non-Existent “Fat Suit”

Earlier today The View;s Whoopi Goldberg corrected a Daily Beast film reporter (i.e., the Baltimore-based Kyndall Cunningham) for saying she wore a “distracting fat suit” in Till.

I saw Till yesterday afternoon, and I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that Whoopi looks seriously overweight. But not because of a fat suit. Whoopi’s shape is authentically her own.

“I have to say something because there was a young lady who writes for one of the magazines, and she was distracted by my fat suit in her review,” Goldberg said on Monday’s View. “Now, and I’m just going to say this. I don’t really care how you felt about the movie, but you should know that was not a fat suit.”

If a white male film critic had complained about Whoopi’s fictitious fat suit rather than Cunningham, he would be out of a job as we speak. If a white female critic had been the culprit, she would be in trouble but possibly still employed. Cunningham is safe due to being Black and a total wokester — political protection at its most thorough and fortified.

Goldberg to Cunningham: “I assume you don’t watch the show or you would have known that that was not a fat suit, but I just want to let you know that it’s okay not to be a fan of a movie, but you want to leave people’s looks out. So just comment on the acting, and if you have a question, ask somebody because I’m sure you didn’t mean to be demeaning.”

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Two Suffering Angels

The two suffering angels of the Best Actress race are Blonde‘s Ana de Armas and Till‘s Danielle Deadwyler. Both are based on real-life figures who lived 60-plus years ago — AdA’s Marilyn Monroe and Deadwyler’s Mamie Till.

It seems highly likely that both will be nominated but who knows? Perhaps voters will conclude that one suffering angel is enough.

Many dislike Blonde but everyone admires Ana de Armas’ lead performance — nobody’s blaming her for what they don’t like about Andrew Dominik‘s film. Methinks that many Academy members of color will vote to nominate Deadwyler as well as Michelle Yeoh, the likely Best Actress nominee from Everything Everywhere All At Once.

I can’t gauge who gives the most emotionally live-wire performance between them, but ethnic voters will probably regard them in a similar light (yay, team).

Who are the most likely contenders outside of these two or three? I’m presuming it’ll be The FablemansMichelle Williams, Cate Blanchett‘s Lydia Tar in Todd Field‘s TAR and Empire of Light‘s Olivia Colman.

That means, if I’m correct, that the following performances are looking at an uphill situation: The Woman King‘s Viola Davis, Babylon‘s Margot Robbie, She Said‘s Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan, Good Luck To You, Leo Grande‘s Emma Thompson, The Wonder‘s Florence Pugh.

In sum, the six hottest contenders are Danielle Deadwater, Ana de Armas, Michelle Yeoh, Michelle Williams, Cate Blanchett and Olivia Colman.

HE faves, in this order: Cate Blanchett, Olivia Colman, Danielle Deadwyler, Ana de Armas, Michelle Yeoh. I haven’t seen The Fablemans.

GDT Entering Horror Anthology Phase (Serling, Dahl, Karloff)

Guillermo del Toro Cabinet of Curiosities (Netflix, 10.25) is an eight-episode horror anthology series. It debuts between 10.25 and 10.28.

The only episode I’m strongly interested in is The Murmuring, directed and written by Jennifer Kent (The Babadook) with Guillermo taking a “story by” credit. Guillermo “storied” only one other episode — Guillermo Navarros Lot 36.

Of all the scary anthology series of the early to mid ’60s, who was your favorite moderator — The Twilight Zone‘s Rod Serling, Way Out‘s Roald Dahl or Thriller‘s Boris Karloff?

I wish someone would remake “The Cheaters,” my all-time favorite Thriller episode. Based on a short story by Robert Bloch. Music by Jerry Goldsmith.

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Confirmed — “Emancipation” in Early December

In the wake of Saturday’s surprise screening of Antoine Fuqua and Will Smith‘s Emancipation, Apple has announced that the Civil War-era drama will open in theatres on Friday, 12.2, and begin streaming on Friday, 12.9.

Smith slapping Chris Rock on the Oscar stage several months ago was “bad form,” obviously, but only in a performative or ceremonial sense. Superficially uncool but at the same time revelatory.

For what really happened was that Smith, after pretending to be Mr. Chuckly Happyvibe for over three decades, showed us who he really was deep down — an angry, abused dude from West Philadelphia who was ready for violence at a moment’s notice. And what’s wrong with that? It’s who he is, and he finally broke through and told us that. Don’t we value honesty and confession?

One significant revealing by the Emancipation teaser is that apart from the opening shot (green leaf, red blood), the suggestion is that the film is largely in black-and-white with faint hints of desaturated color.

“Underserved”?

I’m sorry that Bros flopped — perhaps an understandable thing from a Joe Popcorn perspective but a deeply wounding thing from the viewpoint of the Movie Godz, given the generally excellent craft levels — tight script construction, naturalistic acting, revelatory writing, etc.

All I can figure is that people know Billy Eichner from Billy on the Street and Parks and Recreation, and they just didn’t want to watch him in flagrante delicto.

Over the last 20-plus years Average Joes and Janes have gone through a sea-change in their attitudes about gay people, but generally speaking they don’t want to pay $16 at the megaplexes to watch certain bearded guys doing certain things bare-assed.

Last weekend Bros producer Judd Apatow told CNN’s Chris Wallace that the gay community has been “underserved.” Did he mean in terms of sex scenes featuring bearded guys or hunky good looking ones like Luke Macfarlane? No offense and due respect but given what happened last weekend, the gay community should probably get accustomed to being “underserved” in this regard.

It probably wouid have been more comprehensive to say to Wallace that over the last 20 or 30 years the gay community has been slavishly catered to by Hollywood six ways from Sunday, and particularly by way of emotional investments in films and TV series, general glamorizing, image enhancements and political alignments.

Apatow’s response to Wallace about his preference for “just funny”, or the stuff that many comedies put into their first halves, because he lives an overworked and over-stressed life…that was funny.

Apatow also mentioned how his two daughters, Maude and Iris, never let him soak in any sort of satisfaction when a civilian compliment comes along. When some random passerby praises Apatow for one of his comedies, say, “as soon as he’s out of earshot they’ll make fun of that person for, like, ten minutes.”

Time Passes Like The Wind

Hugs and condolences to fans, friends and colleagues of Sacheen Littlefeather, the proxy who famously rejected Marlon Brando’s Best Actor Oscar at the 1973 Oscar ceremony — the brooding actor’s response to the film industry’s historically demeaning depictions of Native Americans.

The cancer-afflicted Native American activist passed yesterday (10.2) at age 75. She departed only 15 days after a special Academy tribute on 9.17 that offered apologies for the dismissive treatment Littlefeather received in the wake of her 49-year-old Oscar appearance.