Journo pally: “I had never seen Michelangelo Antonioni‘s Zabriskie Point (’70) so I recently recorded it off TCM. Just finished watching it. Is this the worst film ever made by a major director? If not, what is?”

HE reply: “It has some interesting moments but yeah, it’s not a good film. It’s certainly Antonioni’s worst, and it definitely knee-capped his career. For the first time in his career he was riding high in the U.S. with Blow-Up in late ’66 and ’67, and then three years later, wham…dead meat.

“And I don’t mean that in commercial terms. Throughout the ’60s the Antonioni brand meant high-end art cinema of an exceptional caste. His films were onto something else. You could feel it, sense it. But Zabriskie Point blew that mystique out of the water. Then he got it back with The Passenger in ’75, at least in terms of that final shot.

“You know what Antonioni’s deal is. He wanted to keep things oblique. He concentrated on undercurrents by way of images, textures, quietness, empty spaces. He was never a purveyor of driving, fast-forward narratives. He was never been into overt emotion. Time and again he hinted at decaying, dissolute values and corrupt attitudes. In Zabriskie he tried to capture the chaos and nihilism of the late ’60s, but he didn’t want to be didactic or even somewhat specific about issues.

New Year’s Eve is commonly known among service industry types as “amateur night.” Meaning that people who don’t go out or even drink much are suddenly out on the town, and for the most part spreading the noxious atmosphere of forced gaiety. People of character do one of three things on New Year’s Eve: (a) attend a smallish party with friends or hit a nice restaurant — anything but a loud, noisy gathering of any kind; (b) find some secluded spot with a great view of a big city or valley and just settle into the idea of watching distant fireworks and listening to the sounds of far-off honking and whoo-whooing; or (c) hit the hay before midnight.

HE’s annual New Year’s Eve posting:

“I’d say ‘Happy New Year’ to everyone, but…all right, ‘Happy New Year.’ But I’ve always hated those words. Nothing’s ‘happy’ by way of hope. Happy is discovered, earned, lucked into. At best, people are content or…you know, joyously turned on for the moment or laughing or telling a funny story or a good joke. Placated, relaxed, enthused, generous of heart…but ‘happy’? Clams are happy. There’s only the hum. Either you hear it or you don’t.

Posted in 2010: “Nothing fills me with such spiritual satisfaction as my annual naysaying of this idiotic celebration of absolutely nothing.

“I love clinking glasses with cool people at cool parties as much as anyone else, but celebrating renewal by way of the hands of a clock and especially in the company of party animals making a big whoop-dee-doo has always felt like a huge humiliation.

“Only idiots believe in the idea of a of a midnight renewal. Renewal is a constant. Every minute marks the potential start of something beautiful and cleansing, and perhaps even transforming. So why hang back and celebrate a rite that denies this 24/7 theology, and in a kind of idiot-monkey way with party hats and noisemakers?

HBO has moved up the debut of Fisher Stevens and Alexis Bloom‘s Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, an intimate, un-sugarcoated portrait of the mother and daughter bond between the late Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher. The doc will now debut eight days hence — on Saturday, 1.7, at 8 pm. It had previously been slated for a March debut but the deaths of Reynolds and Fisher, which happened roughly 30 hours apart earlier this week, changed the landscape. I would’ve made the same decision if I was running HBO. I saw Bright Lights in Cannes last May — it’s touching, wise, well-judged. And honest.

On Sunday, 12.25, or roughly a day and half before poor Carrie Fisher died, I posted what appeared to be at least semi-persuasive evidence that Fisher might have sharpened and improved some of her dialogue in The Empire Strikes Back. Given her later success as a valued Hollywood script doctor, especially after Postcards From The Edge (’90), this seemed plausible. Well, it turns out that the red-ink jottings may have been made my Empire director Irvin Kershner. This is what Comicbook.com’s Lucas Siegel reported on 12.26, at least. Two days ago Dailydot.com’s Michelle Jaworski concurred that the changes weren’t made by Fisher, although she made no mention of Kershner. Obviously I should have caught this earlier.

Three days ago I posted one of my Spielberg bash pieces on Facebook. I didn’t post it here on Hollywood Elsewhere because I’m sick of getting kicked around.

But then I read something in the Facebook comment thread that blew me away. It was written by Mark Eifert, to wit: “If Spielberg was a challenging filmmaker he’d make a Saving Private Ryan-type thing but about the Gaza Strip from the point of view of the Palestinians. He could get the money to do it, but I’m not standing on one foot waiting for this to happen.”

Hello? This is a perfect idea for Spielberg — a story about a team of struggling anti-Israeli commandos on some kind of terror mission that doesn’t work out or which ends in failure, but we get to learn about the Palestinian commandos and what they’re all about deep down (their families, their hopes and fears) as well as the Israelis looking to intercept and destroy them.

If he were to direct something like this and do it well, Spielberg could almost redeem himself in one fell swoop. Alas, it’s not in him. Well, maybe it is but I would be flabbergasted if he did something like this. The guy who directed Schindler’s List almost certainly doesn’t have the balls to make a film that would humanize Israel’s enemies.

Hidden Figures‘ Kevin Costner speaking with Variety‘s Kris Tapley about Dances With Wolves:

“There was an undertone out there that was ugly. It was ‘Kevin’s Gate,’ like, ‘What’s he doing out there? This movie is a disaster.’ I didn’t know where that had come from. I know this: I had to turn down The Hunt for Red October because I had promised I would do Dances, and some people thought me saying no to Hunt for Red October was [because] I needed more money.

“It wasn’t more money. I had already postponed Dances for a year and I wasn’t going to do it now. I had all my things in place. In fact, if anything, it caused me a lot of pain because there was more money offered on Hunt for Red October than I had ever seen in my life. So I was doing the dumb thing. I was putting up my money and leaving behind the biggest check I had ever seen.”

When Dances won Best Picture along with six other Oscars, “It was like ‘I got my money back!,” Costner recalls. “I got my house back!’”

Jeffrey Wells to David O. Russell: “It’s cool that you’ll be co-presenting Lion with Lee Daniels at [an event next week]. I’m a limited fan. I love the beginning section with the kid lost and alone and not knowing what to do, and of course the finale definitely works.

“But just between you, me and the walls…do you really and truly like the Dev Patel middle portion in Australia with Nicole Kidman and Rooney Mara, etc.? I hated that part of it. I hate that sensitive hurting look on Patel’s face…’I don’t feel whole, I don’t really know who I am, I’m adopted, I have to find my home,’ etc. I didn’t give a shit about any of that. I didn’t care about Patel or his relationship with Rooney…none of it. I almost walked out.

“Then Dev finally makes his way back to India and finds the village and reunites with his mom….THAT part works. So it’s that plus the kid in the beginning with a dead middle section.

“I realize that Joe and Jane Popcorn love this film (it won the Audience Award in Toronto), but it doesn’t seem like the kind of thing that you, the crazy-brilliant David O. Russell, would really be into. But whatever. What do I know?”

That Neil Armstrong biopic that Damien Chazelle has been talking about directing for over two years is a definite go project. First Man (based on the same-titled James Hansen biography) will begin shooting sometime in early ’17 with Ryan Gosling portraying the legendary Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon.

Armstrong was also regarded as one of the dullest famous guys who ever lived. I’m not suggesting that First Man will be that. Chazelle is too inventive to let that happen. His recreation of the 7.20.69 Apollo 11 moon landing will be worth the price in itself. It was reported eight years ago that the book would be adapted by Nicole Perlman, but Chazelle’s film will be based on a script by Josh Singer(Spotlight, The Fifth Estate).

A 9.24.14 Slashfilm story mentioned that First Man “has been bouncing around Hollywood for over a decade. At one point, Warner Bros. had it set up for Clint Eastwood to produce and direct.”

Here’s something I wrote when Armstrong died in late August of 2012:

“Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon and allegedly one of the dullest guys to ever do something momentous, died today at age 82. Let’s offer due respect for his and NASA’s brilliant achievement and for Armstrong being the super-reliable and resourceful pilot that his colleagues always spoke of.

I’m not sure that Gene Wilder‘s “be careful what you wish for…you may get it” advice [after the jump] is sinking in very much. Most people would he happy to get this hot girl or that great-looking house. If the relationship doesn’t work out or if the house loses its lustre and you wind up selling it or whatever…so what? Most people would say “get the girl” or “buy the house” or both, and worry about the details later. As I listened to Wilder, I thought of something Keith David‘s “King” character said to Charlie Sheen‘s “Chris Taylor” in Platoon: “You gotta be rich in the first place to think like that.”

Variety‘s Peter Debruge has written a Debbie Reynolds tribute piece. He partly focuses on the seminal influence of Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen‘s Singin’ In The Rain (’52), in which Reynolds costarred at age 19. Underappreciated when it came out in 1952, Rain is “easily the most delightful Hollywood-plays-itself movie ever made, thanks in no small part to the purity of Reynolds’ performance,” Debruge says, and “one of the great screen musicals of all time.”

No argument from this horse. I “like” and respect Singin’ In The Rain as far as it goes. God knows, the lore of the damn thing has been pounded into my head my whole life. Which is one reason why I own that remastered 60th anniversary Singin’ in the Rain Bluray, which comes with spirited commentary from Reynolds and costar Donald O’Connor, among others.

I nearly popped this Bluray into my Oppo last night in honor of Reynolds’ passing, but I couldn’t quite do it. A little voice told me “wait…maybe not.” The reason for this reticence, I remembered this morning, was expressed four and a half years ago in a piece called “Rain Fatigue”:

“The older I get, the harder it is to really enjoy Singin’ in the Rain,” I began. “I can still appreciate what’s ‘classic’ and ‘joyous’ about it. The problem is that it feels — has always felt — forced and a bit clenched.

Debbie Reynolds, the 84 year-old actress and musical legend who was the mother of the just-departed Carrie Fisher, died this afternoon after being hit with a stroke around 1 pm. It doesn’t feel like a stretch to imagine that the stress brought on by her daughter’s passing might have been a contributing factor.

Debbie’s breakout performance in 1952’s Singin’ In The Rain (shot when she was only 19, which was also Carrie’s age when she made Star Wars: A New Hope) is her most referenced. Her biggest subsequent films were The Catered Affair (’56), Tammy and the Bachelor (’57), How the West Was Won (1963), The Unsinkable Molly Brown (’64), Divorce American Style (’67) and Albert Brooks‘ Mother (’96), and In & Out (1997). Ms. Reynolds became the Jennifer Aniston of the early ’60s when her husband, pop singer Eddie Fisher, left her for Elizabeth Taylor, who in turn became that era’s Angelina Jolie. Reynolds was also a popular nightclub and concert performer until relatively recently.

A superb, warts-and-all portrait of Debbie and Carrie’s recent joys and travails is contained in Alexis Bloom and Fisher Stevens‘ Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, which will air three months hence on HBO. 2016 — the killer that keeps on killing.