Jeffrey Wells

…except for the riffs about Poor Things (#2) and Fallen Leaves (#5). Putting Past Lives in the #1 position represents a break from reality that is almost surreal. Nobody feels this way….stop it.

In May ‘22 “Paramount Presents” released a 4K Bluray of John Ford’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (‘62) that didn’t pass muster. Restoration guru Robert Harris called it technically flawed (de-grained with an overlay of fake amoeba swirls). Three months hence (3.5.24) a remastered 4K disc (sans amoeba) will go on sale.

HE reminder: The last name of John Ireland’s “Cherry Valance” in Red River (‘48) is pronounced Val-ANCE while the surname of Lee Marvin’s arch-villain in TMWSLV is pronounced VAL-unce. Exact same spelling.

Bad 4K Valance:

Good 4K Valance (3.5.24):

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Snaps of last night’s post-Holdovers screening soirée at Hollywood hills home of director-screenwriter Sacha Gervasi (Anvil!) and producer Jessica de Rothschild — hosted by Colleen Camp and attended by Best Actor frontrunner Paul Giamatti, helmer Alexander Payne, costar Dominic Sessa, Dustin Hoffman (Megalopolis), producer Mark Johnson, director Phillip Noyce (Fast Charlie), Orlando Bloom and other industry lah-lahs.

My first thought was “oh, poor Dean Baquet” in She Said (‘22). Tough break. Too young. Startling and quite sad.

“Meditations,” Book 3, page 20:

Right after my first IMAX viewing at AMC Lincoln Square…on or about 7.21.23:

I owe my recovery to (a) taking prednisone immediately when it started, and (b) strong genes from my mother’s side of the family (i.e,, half-German, half-English)

9 days ago::

Today:

….if you love and care for your kids or your pets. That’s your rote kind of good…the natural, vaguely banal, no-sweat easy kind. Jospeh Goebbels loved his daughters, Hildegard and Helga, until he poisoned them on 5.1.45.

>p>

“We knew a [movie villain] of old by his Black Hat or his Black Moustache; and today by his white skin.” — a passage from David Manet’s “Everywhere An Oink–Oink.”

From Mark Athikatis’s Washington Post 12.7.23 review:

A just-released Wall Street Journal presidential preference poll has Nikki Haley running 17 points ahead of President Biden — 51% to 34%. That’s not a huge margin but the thundering rumble of mighty horses.

The Beast is also beating Gurgly Joe, but only by 47% to 43%. Biden and DeSantis are running even, 45% to 45%.

THR’s Scott Feinberg surely understands in the depths of his soul that he’s deeply disappointed (angered?) the Movie Godz by placing the three most admired, exciting and deserving Best Picture contenders — Poor Things, Maestro, The Holdovers — in the #5, #7 and #8 slots in his latest Oscar prediction column.

I realize that Variety’s Clayton Davis doesn’t approve, but American Fiction, as much as I adore the first 45 to 50 minutes and agree that it’s among the year’s finest, is not happening as a frontrunner. Pundit-wise it simply hasn’t caught on like some of us thought it might..

Take away the guilt + identity factors and nobody really loves Killers of the Flower Moon — it’s a long hair shirt movie with a tiresome lead character. And Barbie has been showered with more than enough accolades, thanks.

The latest Gold Derby rankings are more accurate.

Jordan Ruimy: “GD-wise I honestly think The Holdovers should be #3. Ahead of Poor Things. Joe and Jane LOVE The Holdovers. Every non-critic I speak to cannot stop raving about it.”