Jeffrey Wells

The great Gene Hackman retired 19 years ago at age 74. Obviously he’s a recipient of rugged genes and has taken good care of himself. (Still driving, still shuffling around town.). We all understand that fat-asses and french-fry eaters don’t last into their 90s as a rule, but Hackman is reminding us anyway. That said, I’ll be ordering a Greek salad + french fries later today. (Not kidding.)

I was all set to revel and luxuriate in the attitude of a nice Daniels-hating contrarian or at least a skeptic of some kind, but no…THR’s Scott Feinberg throws a chickenshit Daniels lover at me…a nerd from the short films and animation branch…just what we needed, Scott! Keep it coming!

Kathryn Bigelow‘s Zero Dark Thirty is an immensely satisfying real-world, fact-based thriller and easily one of the greatest films of the 21st Century…a touchstone that everyone has to see and re-see and think about often.

I’ve seen it a good six or seven times, and I could easily watch it again tonight with pleasure. I admire it so much that a part of me wants to purchase the 4K version, even though I know it’s not that much of a bump from the 1080p Bluray.

And I really get infuriated when I run into people who bring up the torture content as something that undermines the basic quality of the film (it doesn’t in the slightest) or who say they found it somehow boring or uninvolving.

From Todd McCarthy‘s Hollywood Reporter enthusiastic review: “Whether you call it well informed speculative history, docu-drama recreation or very stripped down suspense filmmaking, Zero Dark Thirty matches form and content to pretty terrific ends.

“And yet [pic] will be tough for some viewers to take, not only for its early scenes of torture, including water boarding but due to its denial of conventional emotionalism and non-gung ho approach to cathartic revenge-taking.

McCarthy’s suspicion is that ZDT‘s “rigorous, unsparing approach will inspire genuine enthusiasm among the serious, hardcore film crowd more than with the wider public.”

“Even though it runs more than two-and-a-half hours, Zero Dark Thirty is so pared to essentials that even politics are eliminated,” McCarthy goes on. “There’s essentially no Bush or Cheney, no Iraq War, no Obama announcing the success of the May 2, 2011 raid on Bin Laden’s in-plain-sight Pakistani compound. [And yet] the film’s power steadily and relentlessly builds over its long course, to a point that is terrifically imposing and unshakable.”

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My deep thundering depression over the seeming Oscar omnipotence of Everything Everywhere All At Once has come down to this:

With EEAAO having been nominated for no fewer than 11 Oscars, HE will celebrate any time it fails to win in this or that category. I’ll take anything.

We know for sure it will win three — Best Picture, Best Actress (Michelle Yeoh) and Best Supporting Actor (Ke Huy Quan), and…it pains me to say that I’m more or less resigned to the terrible folly of the Daniels winning Best Director. And in my cynical heart of hearts I’m acknowledging that the identity–driven sweep mentality will probably result in one or two more.

But maybe the grand EEAAO tally can be held to five or six? Things feel so grim in HE Land now…words fail. And yet there are shards of hope…if this contemptible and infuriating film fails to sweep the table…no more than six!…that’ll put at least some color back in my cheeks.

Except for English and history, my high-school grades were low and my SAT scores were mediocre. I was basically glum-minded and lacking in ambition, but at the same time quietly horrified and appalled that my shitty scholastic performance would be casting a dark shadow for years to come, at least in the matter of college admissions.

It was a difficult, unfair, punitive system. I felt oppressed by it. Seriously bummed. I didn’t develop any fire in the belly about movie journalism until my mid 20s, which is when my life began to turn around. But until that point…

And yet today the concept of scholastic merit and proving your mettle with good grades has been almost completely jettisoned, certainly as far as high-school and college-age POCs are concerned. Which is why Asian-American parents are irate at equity policies — because their kids seem to always earn good grades

Francis Coppola’s Twixt, which I saw but can barely remember (sorry), was generally regarded as underwhelming horror film when it opened in 2011. But marketing-wise, the title was the main bugaboo.

The Wiki page says the original title was Twixt Now and Sunrise. An “authentic cut” version popped on Bluray on 2.28.23, and the title has added a B-apostrophe. It’s now called B’Twixt Now and Sunrise. Whatever.

I admire Coppola’s brass and obstinacy in continuing to tinker with this failed project. Lesser men would’ve thrown up their hands and walked away.

…what I know about the mindset of Stalinist wokesters and how they’ve injected fear and intimidation into the common creative bloodstream and have thereby helped bring about the all-but-total-collapse of the mainstream Hollywood industrial entertainment complex (i.e., the industry that used to occasionally make super-cool films) and the utter superfluousness of Oscar culture…if you knew what I know about the pernicious effects of David Ehrlich-ism you would definitely be whining about the all-but-certain coronation of Everything Everywhere All At Once…trust me.

If I was in Daniel Ellsberg’s situation, which I feel very sad and sympathetic about even though we all have to go sometime, I would find a nice friendly heroin dealer and start using a few weeks (but not too many weeks) down the road. Because what difference would it make? Plus he’d feel just like Jesus’s son.

Political columnist Stewart Alsop died of cancer in ‘74. Consider this passage from his Wiki page: