Jeff Wells

This morning I watched portions of the new Titanic 4K UHD Bluray (12.5), and I was seriously impressed by the super-sharp detail, enhanced compositions and generally exquisite fine-grain clarity.

My eyes recall very clearly what the film looked like 26 years ago (I saw it five or six times), and James Cameron‘s classic looks appreciably upgraded. It’s relatively rare for a 4K disc to deliver this kind of bump, but this one qualifies. The downside is that they’re charging $30 but I’m thinking I might pop for it.

@DemetriosPatsiaris (12.11): “As someone who worked on the 2011/2012 restoration/stereo conversion of Titanic, I can tell you that the raw scans looked very clean and well preserved. This UHD accurately reflects what was there, but better.”

@rmn070 (12.14): “Every review has given it a perfect score, and I can’t wait to get my hands on it. As nitpicky as it sounds but I’m pretty disappointed that the changes made in 2012 have been carried over. That original sunset would have looked glorious on 4K, but looks like it will stay in SD for the rest of time. Preservation purposes, you know?”

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“The N.Y. Times’ problem has metastasized from liberal bias to illiberal bias, from an inclination to favor one side of the national debate to an impulse to shut debate down altogether. All the empathy and humility in the world will not mean much against the pressures of intolerance and tribalism without an invaluable quality that Sulzberger did not emphasise: courage.” — from James Bennet‘s “When the New York Times Lost Its Way.” posted on 12.14.23 in 1843 magazine.

Bennet’s article is a rehash of what happened during the woke Times upheaval of mid July of 2020 (“Weiss Exits Over Woke Torquemada Brutality“), or roughly two months after the George Floyd riots that began in late May of 2020.

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“History is brutal, sad and full of wrongs. Was it unjust that even a single Arab family was forced to move upon the [1948] founding of the Jewish state? Yes. But it’s also not rare. Happening all through history, all over the world, and mostly what people do is make the best of it. Eventually everybody comes to an accomodation.”

“[But] it’s hard to negotiate when the other side’s position is ‘you all die and disappear.'”

Honest Ukraine question: We all know that the Ukraine-Russian war (which began in February 2022) almost certainly won’t with the complete rout of Russian forces. Putin’s willingness to sacrifice the lives of tens of thousands of Russian troops in a conflict that can’t end with Russia triumphing absolutely…the death and destruction toll is sickening. But how does it eventually end?

I’m sorry but this “Overtime” passage made me feel good and settled and among friends. It mnade me feel the exact opposite of how I usually feel when I consider 50% or 60% of the acrimonious denial brigade on HE any given day.

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On 12.8 Ava DuVernay‘s Origin, an instructional drama about a writer exploring the racial caste system in this country, opened theatrically.

I had instinctively decided against seeing it because I regard DuVernay first and foremost as an agenda filmmaker — she has racial scores to settle and is not open to cosmic light and happenstance, at least by my understanding of the term.

On 12.13 Variety‘s Clayton Davis lamented the apparent fact that Origin is getting the cold shoulder from award-season handicappers.

Last night The Hot Mike‘s John Rocha and Jeff Sneider discussed Origin and Clayton’s column. The discussion happens between the 70-minute and 82-minute mark.

HE opinion: Ava DuVernay was seriously damaged after A Wrinkle in Time and has never recovered. She’s made her own reputational bed, and people are pretty much persuaded that she’s an agenda-driven filmmaker who isn’t fully honest (which Selma wasn’t, and one can at least question When They See Us in terms of characterizing the Central Park Five as utterly blameless victims), and who basically makes Black-favoring instructionals which stack the deck or otherwise put her thumb on the scale against historical and present-day racism.

DuVernay is basically a professional-grade woke Black female filmmaker and a symbol of fighting the power. And if you don’t like her films then YOU’RE a racist. People know who she is, and that, I believe, is why they’re not giving Origin the time of day.

Ava is about valiantly fighting the wrongs and the psychological plagues of racism perpetrated by white shitheads, the only problem being that she’s into anti-white portraiture more than honesty. And the industry can smell another Ava harangue in Origin.

Friendo: “I think it’s significant that the REVERSE example — that is, one line uttered by a sympathetic WHITE character that maligned the integrity of blacks (eg., ‘Don’t trust anyone, especially black people’) — would NEVER be excused or brushed aside by the likes of Glen Runciter. Not in a million years.

“We have different rules of behavior for people based on skin tone. And the fact that more of us don’t see how culturally destructive this is…this is absolutely mind-boggling.

“I mean, where do the Glen Runciters of the world see this going eventually? Anyplace good?”

pic.twitter.com/WxyIYmzGOH— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) December 11, 2023

Back in the days of reserved–seat roadshow engagements of big-budget, prestige-level films during the ‘40s, 50s and 60s, theatres would sell glossy, cardboard-fortified booklets that had lots of high-end images and smelled of fresh publisher’s ink.

This is the Spartacus program they sold at the DeMille theatere (B’way at 47th) when it opened on 10.6.60 — a month before JFK’s election.

They charged at least 75 cents if not a buck for these souvenir programs -— in 2023 terms they were charging $7.50 to $10 a pop.

Last night I watched a little more than half of Sam Esmail’s Leave The World Behind (Netflix, now streaming).

As quietly creepy apocalyptic dramas go, I decided right away this is a lot better than M. Night Shyamalan’s Knock at the Cabin.

There’s no story tension to speak of, but all the spooky happenings (including the deer, the flamingoes, the smashing cars and the big tanker crashing into a beach) feel spacey and illogical and disconnected from any sort of scheme, rational or otherwise.

It’s more impressionistic (Bunuelian) than plotty, which is fine.

Mahershala Ali: “No one is in control…no one is pulling the strings…there is no going back to normal.”

I’d never seen Julia .Roberts in any sort of horror film…noteworthy.

The critics are mostly positive but Joe and Jane aren’t goin’ for it.

Barack and Michelle Obama exec produced, and my understanding is that Rumaan Alam’s 2020 source novel was inspired by Trump dystopia so you have to consider the political criticism angle.

12:45 am update: I’ve watched it to the end. Definitely a decent film.

Posted a day or two ago by “TC Rice“:

Since Charles Melton doesn’t deliver all that strongly or memorably in May December (he’s fine but calm down), I’ve been puzzling over why he’s been winning. My initial thought was that his half-Korean lineage had something to do with it (i.e., actors of color being naturally favored these days). Then I realized, “Oh, this is a woke sympathy vote for young victims of sexual assault…Melton is an award season stand-in for all the kids who’ve been abused.”

The scolding, archly judgmental tone of the narration in this “Take” essay is very invested in the HORRIBLE WRONGNESS of older woman-teenage boy relationships. The judgment isn’t wrong, of course, but the narration is hugely annoying. Legal boundaries must always be respected and minors should be left the hell alone under all circumstances but…

Yes, I’ve said this a few times but I felt lonely, largely ignored and sexually miserable in my mid teens. If the right foxy teacher had come along and taken me into her boudoir I would’ve wept with gratitude, and I’d have never ratted her out to my friends. I would been so thankful to God the Father that I would’ve become a lifelong Catholic.

Samy Burch‘s May December screenplay is being campaigned to win Best Original Screenplay right now over David Hemingson for The Holdovers or even Barbie. PLEASE.

Bill McCuddy informs that the new title of May December is May Never.

39 years ago John Simon (1925-2019) called the original Beverly Hills Cop (directed by Martin Brest, released in ’84) “a truly contemptible film.”

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (Netflix, sometime in ’24) is obviously a cynical paycheck project, and will almost certainly deliver none of the original juice. And the 62 year-old Murphy no longer looks like Axel — he looks like Sonny Liston.