I’m trying to figure out how Lesley Gore‘s “You Don’t Own Me” ties in with Jeremy Allen White doing gay pull-ups on a lower Manhattan rooftop. The ad is saved by the very last bit…flopping on the couch, doves fluttering off, the camera arcs northward.
Jeff Wells
Surrounded by Babies
HE’s favorite local workspace, the Wilton Library, is closing two hours early this evening because of wet weather…good heavens! For it’s not only raining but windy outside…batten down the hatches!…mommy!
What are wind and rain? Nothing…nothing at all. Wear a hoodie, carry an umbrella. It’s not like we’re in Act One of the sepia-colored The Wizard of Oz and a twister is coming our way. Tomorrow it’ll be dry and fair skies.
This isn’t about rain, of course. This is about a lack of intestinal fortitude among the local 50-plus administrative class. Where are the men?
Do Millennials & Zoomers Feel Anything for “The Wild Bunch”?
I have a feeling that Sam Peckinpah’s 1969 western classic is closer to the hearts of boomers and GenXers, and that under-40s are kinda “meh” if not altogether disinterested. Too sexist (all the women are depicted as disloyal and whore-ish), too violent (especially for Zoomer candy-asses), too fatalistic and end-of-the-roadish. At least it’s not racist.
“Simply the finest film ever produced between these American shores. The masterpiece of masterpieces. Film achieves its highest calling: art, incitement, revelation, challenge, elegy, physical redemption of reality that sets a bar no one else, including Peckinpah, ever reached. Yeah. I kinda like it.” — Steven Gaydos, 8.27.19.
Ditto: When The Wild Bunch opened it was regarded as the last revisionist wheeze of a genre that had peaked in the ’50s and was surely on its last legs. It was also seen, disparagingly, as a kind of gimmick film that used ultra-violence and slow-mo death ballets to goose the formula.
Now it’s regarded as one of the best traditional, right-down-the-middle westerns ever made. This kind of writing, acting and pacing will never return or be reborn. Lightning in a bottle.
“What Citizen Kane was to movie lovers in 1941, The Wild Bunch was to cineastes in 1969,” Michael Sragow wrote, adding that Peckinpah had “produced an American movie that equals or surpasses the best of Kurosawa: the Gotterdammerung of Westerns”.
“After a reporter from the Reader’s Digest got up to ask ‘Why was this film even made? I stood up and called it a masterpiece; I felt, then and now, that The Wild Bunch is one of the great defining moments of modern movies.” — from 9.29.02 article by Roger Ebert.
Vincent Canby on William Holden‘s performance as Pike Bishop, from 6.26.69 N.Y. Times review: “After years of giving bored performances in boring movies, Holden comes back gallantly in The Wild Bunch. He looks older and tired, but he has style, both as a man and as a movie character who persists in doing what he’s always done, not because he really wants the money but because there’s simply nothing else to do.”
Edmond O’Brien: “They? Why they is the plain and fancy ‘they’…that’s who they is. Caught ya, didn’t they? Tied a tin can to your tails. Led you in and waltzed you out again. Oh, my, what a bunch! Big tough ones, eh? Here you are with a handful of holes, a thumb up your ass and big grin to pass the time of day with.”
Symphonies of Scent
Posted on 2.16.17: Paris is probably the greatest aroma town I’ve ever sunk into. A feast wherever you go — Montmarte, Oberkampf, Montparnasse, Passy. The Seine at night, outdoor markets (especially in the pre-dawn hours), the aroma of sauces and pasta dishes coming from cafes, warm breads, scooter and bus exhaust, strong cigarettes, strong coffee, Middle Eastern food stands (onions, sliced meats, spices), gelato shops, etc.
And the only way to really savor these aromas, obviously, is to do so in the open air and preferably on a scooter or motorcycle so you can enjoy them in rapid succession. It’s the only way to travel over there, certainly in the warmer months. I’ve never felt so intensely alive and unbothered as during my annual Paris scooter roam-arounds.
Posted on 3.16.15:
“When I let my cat Zak outside in the morning, the first thing he does is hop onto the fence and raise his head slightly and just smell the world. He’s revelling in the sampling of each and every aroma swirling around, sniffing and sniffing again, everything he can taste. I was thinking this morning how delighted and fulfilled he seemed, and how maybe I should do a little more of this myself. Take a moment and sample as many scents as possible.
“The problem with so much of Los Angeles today, of course, is that too much of it has been smothered by massive shopping malls and buildings and parking lots, and dominated by the faint aromas (if you want to call them that) of asphalt, plastic, trash bins, concrete, sheetrock and car and truck exhaust — which doesn’t smell like very much of anything.
Was Mike Nichols A Bad Guy?
Satirizing an alleged Native American tribal tradition…no one would dare shoot a scene like this today.
“We are coming towards a great reckoning of our past. The more that these stories can be told in a truthful way, the more it can be a healing process.” — Lily Gladstone quoted in U.K Vogue.
The Mysteries of Streaming
Gather round the campfire, kids, and listen to another Fast Charlie horror story, with the primary villain being (who else?) Vertical Distribution.
It appears that Fast Charlie, which opened theatrically a month ago (12.8.23) and began on-demand streaming at the same time, is being pirated to death, at a considerable scale.
The piracy is happening, it appears, because Vertical apparently failed to aggressively enable the practice of torrent poisoning, which suppresses and/or blocks the sharing of torrent files by pirates.
As of three nights ago over 3000 “feeder” sites were offering pirated copies of Fast Charlie. The entire film, I’m told, can be downloaded within five to six minutes.
Serious distributors protect their films with appropriate measures. Not long ago Poor Things was being offered at dozens of torrent sites, I’m told, but torrent poisoning corrected this situation and now it’s all but nonexistent in the pirate realm.
It appears that Vertical has demonstrated an indifference to standard streaming distribution protocols, at least as far as guarding against piracy is concerned.
I’m told that Vertical sent unencrypted cinema DCPs to U.S. theatres, thereby allowing pirates to get a head start on illegal copies.
A MUSO report states that Fast Charlie is currently being illegally viewed around 28 thousand times daily, and 1.67 million pirate downloads have happened over the last 39 days.
Distributors start the ball rolling by sending files to legit streamers prior to a given release date.
Distributors also have to aggressively enable the practice of torrent poisoning, which suppresses and/or blocks the sharing of torrent files by pirates.
I know that pirating is a two-step, feed-and-eat process. “Seeders” are thieves who have the complete file and are sharing it with others. The health and speed of a torrent largely depends on the number of “seeders“, as more seeders typically mean faster and more reliable downloads.
The feeders or “leechers” are Average Joes downloading the file. Once a leecher has the complete file and begins to share with others, they transition into seeders.
For what it’s worth, HE has only streamed pirated films twice — Woody Allen’s A Rainy Day in Manhattan and Roman Polanski’s An Officer and a Spy.
I Didn’t Like “The Bear” Last Year
…so I bailed and haven’t returned. I’ve been told Season #2 is much better and I should give it another go. Congrats to Jeremy Allen White, for what it’s worth.
I was respectful of Anatomy of a Fall but never a huge fan. Too long, no real tension in the matter of Sandra Huller‘s possible guilt, hated the little kid Congrats all the same to Justine Triet.
Note to The Bear‘s Ayo Edebari and everyone else on the planet: “Never say ‘oh my God!'”
Oscar Poker: Award Trends, Forecasts (NSFC, Golden Globes)
Herewith the second Oscar Poker podcast of ’24. National Society of Film Critics Calls. The N.Y. Times vs. Taylor Swift. I’m a Cannibal, You’re a Cannibal. Random Golden Globe Predictions. What is life without a little suspense?
Again, the link.
Return of Charles Melton!
With the exception of having handed their Best Supporting Actress trophy to The Holdovers‘ Da’Vine Joy Randolph and having honored Ferrari‘s Penelope Cruz with first-runner-up status, the National Society of Film Critics has voted in a somewhat curious, Planet Neptune sort of way….like the Branch Davidian Spirit Awards.
Celine Song‘s Past Lives has taken the Best Picture prize (51 points)…Scott Feinberg may or may not be rejoicing, but he’s certainly feeling comfortable right now…he and his woke sewing circle friends / Runners-up: THE ZONE OF INTEREST (49 points), OPPENHEIMER (44 points)
Best Director: Jonathan Glazer, THE ZONE OF INTEREST (65 points), Todd Haynes, MAY DECEMBER (42 points), Christopher Nolan, OPPENHEIMER (41 points)
Lily Gladstone didn’t win for Best Actress…fine. But neither did HE’s favorite contender, Poor Things Emma Stone (booo). Instead Anatomy of a Fall“s Sandra Huller has taken the prize. HE is down with this. Huller is a grade-A actress.
Best Screenplay: Samy Burch, MAY DECEMBER (53 points) / Runners-up: Celine Song, PAST LIVES (50 points); David Hemingson, THE HOLDOVERS (36 points)
Best Supporting Actor: Charles Melton, MAY DECEMBER (51 points) / Runners-up: Robert Downey, Jr., OPPENHEIMER, and Ryan Gosling, BARBIE (31 points, tie)
Best Actor: Andrew Scott, ALL OF US STRANGERS (52 points) / Runners-up: Jeffrey Wright, AMERICAN FICTION (39 points), Cillian Murphy, OPPENHEIMER (29 points)
Best Cinematography: Rodrigo Prieto, KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON (55 points); Łukasz Żal, THE ZONE OF INTEREST (45 points), Hoyte van Hoytema, OPPENHEIMER (44 points).
Best Supporting Actress: Da’Vine Joy Randolph, THE HOLDOVERS (58 points), Penélope Cruz, FERRARI (32 points), Rachel McAdams, ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET. (23 points)
Best Actress: Sandra Hüller, ANATOMY OF A FALL and THE ZONE OF INTEREST (61 points); Emma Stone, POOR THINGS (56 points); Lily Gladstone, KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON (44 points)
N.Y. Times Essay Prods Taylor Swift To Come Out
From a 1.4.24 N.Y. Times guest essay by Anna Marks, titled “Look What We Made Taylor Swift Do“:
“Whether she is conscious of it or not, Taylor Swift signals to queer people — in the language we use to communicate with one another — that she has some affinity for queer identity. There are some queer people who would say that through this sort of signaling, she has already come out, at least to us.
“But what about coming out in a language the rest of the public will understand?
“The difference between any person coming out and a celebrity doing so is the difference between a toy mallet and a sledgehammer. It’s reasonable for celebrities to be reticent; by coming out, they potentially invite death threats, a dogged tabloid press that will track their lovers instead of their beards, the excavation of their past lives, a torrent of public criticism and the implosion of their careers.
“In a culture of compulsory heterosexuality, to stop lying — by omission or otherwise — is to risk everything.
“American culture still expects that stars are cis and straight until they confess themselves guilty. So when our culture imagines a celebrity’s coming out, it expects an Ellen-style announcement that will submerge the past life in phoenix fire and rebirth the celebrity in a new image. In an ideal culture, wearing a bracelet that says ‘PROUD’, waving a pride flag onstage, placing a rainbow in album artwork or suggestively answering fan questions on Instagram would be enough. But our current reality expects a supernova.”
Question #1: When was the last time that a famous person was all-but-outed on the N.Y. Times editorial page?
Question #2: Even if Mark’s piece is unsubstantiated conjecture, and I have no way of knowing either way, her Times essay sets a new standard for invasive journalism. Can anyone imagine a gay activist calling out a closeted male celebrity in the same way? Shouldn’t closeted people (if indeed they are closeted) be left the hell alone?
Question #3: If you were Travis Kelce, how would you be feeling right now? What would be going through your head? Would you be shrugging it off with a chuckle? Or would you be saying to yourself “WHAT THE LIVING FUCK?”
Finally Uncorks One
If you can overlook the phlegmy voice, soft diction and under-powered delivery, President Joe Biden‘s Valley Forge speech was a keeper. He had waited and hemmed and hawed for months on end, but then he finally stood up and hoisted Donald Trump on his own spear. It was about damn time.