Justin Chang‘s review of Wuthering Heights posted four or five days ago. In the final paragraph he reaffirms his belief in woke presentism — in this instance diverse casting in centuries-old British settings. “Over the years, the question of Heathcliff’s ethnicity has generated no shortage of debate,” Chang writes. “He is described in the book … Read more
Sincere message to all the Facebook friendos who’ve been sending along good wishes…it’s always nice when this happens. Message from ex-Manhattan girlfriend, received this morning: “Happy XX Birthday. I’ve actually kinda forgotten how old you are and even, for that matter, where you geographically might be now. But wherever that is, I hope you’re well … Read more
Jimmy Kimmel will resume his late-night ABC talk show tomorrow night (Tuesday, 9.23), a Disney statement has announced. Perhaps Disney’s decision had more to do with trying to arrest the Disney-subscriber-bleeding and less to do with Disney honcho Bob Iger showing a little moxie…you tell me. Kimmel was suspended last week after making an odd, … Read more
At long last, a reasonably decent trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson‘s One Battle After Another (Warner Bros., 9.26) has finally surfaced. The first reaction to Leonardo DiCaprio‘s Bob Ferguson character — a grizzled, anti-government leftie blowhard — is that he’s overly verbal about everything, and that Leo seems to be half-improvising his dialogue. Obviously a … Read more
Rahm Emanuel is understandably antsy about defying the fanatical Stalinist wokeys by saying a man can’t be a woman, but you know what? I for one understand and believe that certain men can and do become “women”, so to speak. Because of what they feel in their hearts. They just can’t compete against biofemales in … Read more
…was 15 years ago. It happened at a downtown post-screening after-party — we’d all just seen Dunham’s semi-autobiographical Tiny Furniture — in the fall of 2010. I was a huge instant admirer, of course. The honestly dreary vibe struck me as genuine. The 5’3” Dunham was 24 at the time. In my review [see below] … Read more
Almost everything was awful in ‘20, ‘21 and early ‘22…peak wokeism + the pandemic…the dreariest and darkest years of our lives. One of the lowest, most despairing episodes in my industry-covering life was watching the beyond-awful Union Station Soderbergh Oscars — people still shudder at this memory, an epochal event that convinced the moviegoing public … Read more
Last night I re-watched my Criterion Bluray of Albert Brooks‘ Lost in America, and I wish I could say I had a good time. Alas, the viewing didn’t quite work because this 1985 film is too well remembered. I knew all the dialogue before it was spoken, verbatim: “I chose an orange tile, burnt orange”…”And … Read more
The “Free the Menendez Brothers” wokeys believed that that alleged sexual abuse of Erik Menendez by his murdered father Jose Menendez…the wokeys and their chief advocates, former Los Angeles district attorney George Gascon along with Kim Kardashian and Monsters producer Ryan Murphy, should have changed the game. The wokeys were basically saying the brothers probably … Read more
Quentin Tarantino, 60, has said that The Movie Critic will be his last directing effort because he doesn’t want to succumb to a gradual decline period, which tends to happen, he believes, when directors get into their 60s. Yes, Alfred Hitchcock went into a slow decline after The Birds (Marnie is abundant proof of that) … Read more
“Inside the ‘Blood Sport’ of Oscars Campaigns,” a N.Y. Times piece by Irina Aleksander, appeared this morning at 10:55 am. It covers a realm that HE is deeply familiar with, but rather than post a sweeping assessment here are four or five stand-out portions of the article, and in most instances my reactions to same: … Read more
The Oscars have been withering on the vine for the last six or seven years due to woke politics and are pretty much all but toast, but in the view of the Los Angeles Times editorial board and an editorial they posted on 12.27, they’re not toasty enough. “Let’s really stick a fork in this … Read more