HE has a thing about Pedro Pascal also…hard to put my finger on “why?” but he’s definitely one of those guys who rankles on some level…perhaps not as aggressively as Mescal.
Month: January 2024
Sleet, Icy Rain
Finally some actual inclement weather. Took long enough. For the first time since cold weather began a few weeks ago I have my black leather gloves stuffed into my motorcycle jacket pockets.
Gaming The Oscar System
This morning I was sharing a view that Apple’s Lily Gladstone team made a tactical mistake by not running her in supporting, and the person I was text-chatting with said the following:
“You’re assuming that Gladstone’s primary objective is to win. It’s possible, on the other hand, that she wants to be regarded as a leading lady moving forward, and that [her Best Actress campaign] better positions her for that.”
If so, I replied, that’s an understandable strategy.
In other words, perhaps Gladstone is gaming the Oscar system in the same way that The Favorite‘s Olivia Colman gamed the system when she ran for Best Actress despite having obviously played a supporting role (i.e., Queen Anne).
Don’t Assault Us With Facts
Two-thirds of the Iowa Republicans who caucused last night seriously believe that Joe Biden was not legitimately elected and that Donald Trump was rooked out of being re-elected.
In other words, two thirds of Iowa Republicans are in denial so deep that’ll probably never climb out of it. Total rabbit-hole wackazoid.
The flip side is that one-third of Iowa Republicans believe that Trump would not be fit to be President if convicted of the Jan. 6th charge (or the Georgia case or the documents case). Which translates into national vote and electoral college tallies that would fall short in the national election next November.
Sundance Refrain For Last Six Years
On 1.15.24 Variety‘s Owen Gleiberman politely inquired about whether the Sundance Film Festival has surrendered the danger factor in its film selections. (Answer: Of course it has.)
Today (1.16.24) World of Reel‘s Jordan Ruimy, in a piece linking to Gleiberman’s column, observed the same thing.
A year ago (1.29.23) former IndieWire editor/columnist Eric Kohn sniffed around and reported the same shit.
Boiled down, they all concluded that potential threats of wokester condemnation had so terrorized filmmakers that they don’t want to take chances. They wouldn’t dare.
And yes, HE said the same thing in a two-year-old HE piece titled “Yes, Virginia…Sensitive Gargoyles Have Ruined Sundance” (12.27.21).
$40 for 4K “McCabe” Disc?
…which can’t possibly offer a significant bump over Criterion’s 2016 Bluray version. Thanks but no thanks.
Not Interested
Ten minutes into last night’s opening episode of True Detective: Night Country, I was shaking my head, faintly groaning and muttering “nope…me no like.”
Set in the fictional village of Ennis, a grubby blue-collar hellhole in northern Alaska (but filmed in Iceland), it’s about a murder mystery (eight missing scientists) mixed with spooky horror jolts (a human tongue lying on a linoleum floor, a barefoot hippie wacko standing in a snowstorm) or, if you prefer, gulpy, uh-oh, nightmarish pan-flash stuff.
And I didn’t care…sorry. I was frowning. I actually watched episode #1 twice…well, nearly. But good God and Lordy Lordy. I hated the grimness and the gloom, the atmosphere of working-class gunk and chilly vibes, fleurescent lighting and the constant downer vibes…lemme out.
Miserable Me: “Who could stand living in this godawful one-horse town?”
I didn’t like any characters except for Jodie Foster’s “Danvers”, an aloof, flinty, sourpuss chief of police who’s no fan of the Beatles. I didn’t care for Kali Reis’s “Angeline Navarro”…didn’t like her sulking, sullen attitude or her cheek studs. There’s a young, good-looking cop (Finn Bennett) I took a shine to, but within a short while, as noted, I was sinking into a puddle of despair.
My spirit surged slightly when Reis came upon a CG polar bear on Main Street, but then we go in for the close-up and OF COURSE the bear is a bit scary due to a missing left eye. As soon as I saw that gnarly black eye socket I said to myself, “Fuck this show.”
Apple Gremlins vs. Hawks’ “Thing”
Received this morning from a friend: “How long since you’ve seen Howard Hawks’ The Thing? (And yeah, he directed it. Of COURSE he did). But here’s the thing: The streaming versions available through Apple and Amazon are fucking CROPPED from their original aspect ratio of 1:37:1 to, I think, 1:78:1. Delightful!”
Screen captures of Apple streaming version:
Screen captures of The Thing Bluray images, taken from the Sony 4K 65-incher:
To Tell The Truth
Posted early this morning: “And your advice is that I should now trim my rhetorical sails lest I cast a certain kind of shade upon the Stone campaign? Because I’m some sort of Darth Vader figure or something?
“Well, I yam what I yam — a straight shooter, a dealer of straight cards, no two-faced political games. Come what may, but at this stage of the game I’m certainly not going to shift gears and do some kind of Phase Two two-step.”
Posted today (1.15.24) by Awards Daily‘s Sasha Stone:
“It is worth noting that since 2018, only one Critics Choice winner has gone on to win the Oscar, and that’s Jessica Chastain for The Eyes of Tammy Faye, who won the SAG in what was an unpredictable, topsy-turvy year. That puts all eyes on the SAG Awards to decide the winner.
“Then again, Glenn Close also won the SAG before losing to Olivia Colman.
“Ultimately, this race will be decided, I think, by how strongly voters feel about two things. Making history with Lily Gladstone, getting that standing ovation and that wave of love and support from the Osage community, or their passion for Emma Stone’s performance. And that will come down to how much they like these movies. Vibrant, weird and funny vs. deep, reflective, a somber reckoning of our past.
“What might also come into play is that Emma Stone has already won an Oscar, whereas Lily Gladstone has yet to be nominated.”
“Dont Hang Back With The Evangelicals”
In our horrid world of 2024, who could be fairly described as brutish? How about the Trump-worshipping Evangelicals in Iowa?