There’s something about this clip from Full Metal Jacket that is very strange and almost alien-like, or at the very least un-reflective of life on the planet earth. Give up? The entire company is singing on-key — they’re hitting each and every note correctly, and they’re adhering to a steady tempo. Which never, ever happens when any group at a restaurant or party sings “happy birthday.” As I reported last week.

Yes, the image is cropped at 1.37:1, but that’s fine around these parts. As Christmas is a time of great affirmation and rejoicing, there are few things that give me a better feeling than the thought of the dwindling 1.85 fascist crowd (Bob Furmanek, Peter Abbruzzese, et. al.) suffering heart palpitations when they see a boxy image like this one.

Yesterday Mike Streeter, a New York-based HE follower, tweeted about “Silence walkouts…ahoy!” It happened, he said, during the first show of the day (11:40 am) at the Regal Union Square 14 — “At least 7 that I counted that didn’t come back.” The mini-exodus began sometime after the halfway mark, he reported.

This morning I noticed a comment about a Silence screening from James Mandell in a Rod Lurie Facebook thread, to wit: “Unbearable. Morose, cruel, relentless, sodden. Had to take a break about two thirds in, stepped outside and found a half-dozen other audience members calculating how much more of the film there was. Was at a SAG/critic screening. By the end, a third of the theater (the crowd was at capacity when it began) was empty.”

Has anyone else noticed this? I ask this question not to bury the film (a trying but highly respectable effort), but simply in hopes of determining how widespread, if at all, the walkout syndrome might be.

I’ve seen and reviewed Silence, of course. It’s a bear to sit through, for sure, but I felt curiously touched at the end, as if a tiny candle inside my chest has been lighted by a thought. Here’s how I explained it on 12.10:

Immediately after catching Alfonso Cuaron‘s Children of Men in mid-November 2006, I called it the year’s best. So did many others. But it wasn’t long because the skeptics and the longfaces were calling it too downish and probably fated to lose money. This same crowd will always chime in whenever a stunningly audacious film comes along with an underlying attitude that isn’t peppy or buoyant enough. Did someone say “solemn”? Children of Men was easily the the most thrilling film of that year, if for nothing else than those three uncut action takes that became instant classics.

In an 11.20.06 HE piece called “Children = Guernica,” I wrote the following:

“While many critics were impressed by Children of Men‘s virtuosity and bravado,” writes Hollywood Reporter/Risky Biz blogger columnist Anne Thompson, “the industry types were seeing a downer film that’s going to lose money. The movie is a brilliant exercise in style, but it’s another grim dystopian look at our future — like Blade Runner or Fahrenheit 451 — that simply cost too much money.”

Wells to thoughtful industry types: (a) Yeah, it’s “grim” but, as you well know, only in a general milieu-ish way; (b) It’s mostly an action-driven chase movie, the story has a clear “maybe things aren’t so bad after all” theme, and the finale is all about relief, reverence and shelter from the storm; (c) When a movie is photographed with as much genius as Children of Men and is so thrillingly well-done, it can’t be called downerish unless you’re a total moron because the whole thing is so exhilarating to sit through.

“Going to Children of Men and calling it a ‘downer’ is like standing in front of Pablo Picasso‘s “Guernica” and complaining that it’s not colorful enough (i.e., Pablo painted it in grays, blacks and whites).

I watched the new Laughing Policeman Bluray last night. The finale is after the jump. Answer me this: You’re Walter Matthau, a San Francisco detective, and you’re on a city bus with a guy you suspect of having massacred several people on a city bus at the beginning of the film, and he may be about to do the same thing. You’ve got your gun in your hand, but you’re just sitting there as the guy is sitting in the rear and up to God knows what. And yet just as the bad guy stands up with an automatic weapon and is about to fire, you’re not even looking in his direction. Thank God for the young Bruce Dern (37 or 38 at the time) and his lightning reflexes.

Update: Carrie Fisher‘s brother has told a reporter that she’s currently in ICU and that her condition is “not stable” following a serious heart attack suffered earlier today. Previously: TMZ is reporting that following a heart attack aboard a London-to-LAX flight, Carrie Fisher was “unresponsive” when they landed. The situation occurred 15 minutes before the plane touched down on the tarmac.  Witnesses have reportedly said that Fisher appeared unconscious as she was rushed through the terminal. Her eyes were closed and she had an oxygen mask on her face.

Morten Tyldum and Jon Spaihts‘ Passengers, which cost $110 million to produce, opened Wednesday with a lousy $4.1 million. Divide that figure by 3478 screens and you’ve got an average of $1181, which feels light.

TheWrap reported today that Passengers “grossed another $3.23 million on Thursday, having earned $7.3 million so far. [The film] is tracking for a $26 million three-day weekend and $39 million five-day gross.”

Passengers has a 32% Rotten Tomatoes rating and a “B” CinemaScore, and cost around $110 million to produce sans marketing costs.

Deadline‘s Anthony D’Allesandro: “In regards to Passengers, I’m told that should the movie gross $45 to $50 milllion in its first six days that should be fine, but anything under that would be tough sledding. At this point in time, there are several sources who aren’t impressed with the first day figure [of $4 million]. We really need to let the weekend play out through to see where Christmas takes us. It is a six day-weekend.”

Reactions to Passengers from the HE community? What are the views of the ethics of Chris Pratt waking up Jennifer Lawrence, etc.? “Wake me up, wee-yoo…”

Thanks to Variety‘s Jacob Bryant for highlighting 40 of the coming year’s “most anticipated” films. Roughly 70% of these appear to be the usual formulaic, corporate, CG-fortified, franchise-fantasy crap, of course, but that’s entertainment! Seriously, if you want a list of 2017 films with a better-than-reasonable chance of being actually watchable and perhaps even good, consider HE’s List of 65. And the list isn’t quite finished at this stage — the real tally is closer to 70.

Yesterday I received and watched Twilight Time‘s Bluray of John Huston‘s Moby Dick (’56). It delivers an excellent simulation of the appearance of the original release prints — not desaturated but the result of three-strip color prints blended with a black-and-white negative. To my eyes the 1080p image delivers the most striking, well-finessed attempt to imitate what the film looked like to first-run audiences a half-century ago.

The Bluray doesn’t provide an actual recreation of the color process created by Huston and dp Oswald Morris, but it makes Moby Dick look as good as it’s ever going to look in this regard. Call it largely satisfying, and that ain’t hay.

Moby Dick‘s color process was restored by Greg Kimble over an eight-month period. The Bluray contains a nice supplemental essay, A Bleached Whale: Recreating the Unique Color of Moby Dick.

Here’s a portion of a 12.3.15 piece that I ran about Kino DVD version:

“It’s a good time to reconsider the fascinating color scheme — subdued grayish sepia tones mixed with a steely black-and-white flavoring — created by Huston and Morris. This special process wasn’t created in the negative but in the release prints, and only those who caught the original run of the film in theatres saw the precise intended look.

“There have been attempts to simulate this appearance, but the Real McCoy visuals were a different, more distinct animal. I saw about three or four minutes worth of an original Moby Dick release print at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn theatre sometime in the early to mid ’90s, and I’m telling you there was something spooky about them. I was riveted by how striking and other-worldly the color looked — something that wasn’t really ‘color’ as much a mood painting that came from someone’s (or some lab’s) drizzly damp November soul.

“I’d love to visually convey to HE readers what the 1956 release prints of Moby Dick really looked like — that wonderful silvery overlay, distinctive but muted and mixed with grayish color. But with luscious black levels.

Why is the highly perceptive Michael Musto predicting Manchester By The Sea to win the Best Picture Oscar, and not the blogaroo-adored La La Land? Because “there’s nothing there” inside La La Land, Musto claims — thematically it’s merely saying “follow your dreams” — while Manchester is made of the same family-rooted, finely-wrought stuff that led Ordinary People (’80) to a Best Picture win. Those who feel Manchester is too gloomy will probably do what they can to pooh-pooh this prediction, but the combination of both Musto and Indiewire‘s Anne Thompson betting on Manchester means something. HE position: As one who adores La La Land, I would be delighted if it wins the Best Picture Oscar. But honestly? I love and respect Manchester a bit more.

Director Joe Dante recently forwarded my 12.20 riff about the curious absence of William Cameron Menzies‘ Invaders From Mars (’53) to rights holder Wade Williams. Dante posted Williams’ reply a few hours ago in the comment thread, and Williams has forcefully explained that the rights-squatter allegations are a bad rap or a thin beef, or both.

The basic reveals are that (a) over the last 12 months Williams has had “offers” on Invaders From Mars from Criterion, Kino, Arrow, Twilight Time, Olive and Shout Factory but “none have come through” (whatever that means), and (b) Williams nonetheless believes that “after the first of the year we will either restore [Invaders From Mars] or a new licensee will come forth.”

Williams’ email to Dante: “Invaders From Mars has been available from licensee Image Entertainment for nearly a decade,and before that via Rhino, Englewood Entertainment, Nostalgia Merchants, Starlog Video and the usual pirates.

“Image had access to the negative, separations, trailer and Cinecolor prints. The Image license just expired last January and they had a six-month sell off period. The film has only recently reverted back to me.

“Since last December I have had offers on Mars and other titles from major distributors — Criterion, Kino, Arrow, Twilight Time, Olive and Shout Factory. None came thru. I am not personally set up to manufacture, restore/rescan and distribute DVD’s at this time.  I am selling off the leftover ‘overstock’ from Image on Ebay.

“The YouTube/Amazon piracy of uploaders have dampened the desire for classic films on every level worldwide and discourages any worthwhile distributor from investing in new masters for new releases.

“I have attempted for many years to explain why a mint-perfect release on Mars is a problem and I will say it one more time.

Based on conversations with Oscar voters, Indiewire‘s Anne Thompson suspects that Manchester By The Sea might be the stronger Best Picture contender than La La Land. She also believes that La La Land‘s failure to win a Best Ensemble SAG nomination might turn out to be a significant uh-oh. (She’s not the only one.) She also sees Natalie Portman‘s BFCA Best Actress as possible cause for concern among Emma Stone‘s handlers. (On the other hand Stone has lately been surging with critics groups, not just winning a Best Actress award from the Utah critics but also from critics in Detroit and Phoenix, which also indicates that the Isabelle Huppert steamroller effect has come to a halt.) At the same time Thompson believes that 20th Century Women‘s Annette Bening is pretty much locked for a Best Actress nomination.

Movie actors either magnetize, neutralize or leave you cold. Charlie Hunnam has always made me feel…not that much. I didn’t even notice him in Cold Mountain (’03) and Children of Men (’06). He popped through to some extent, I guess, in Guillermo del Toro‘s Pacific Rim (’13) and Crimson Peak (’15), but I was still left wondering what it was that Hunnam supposedly had. I didn’t feel anything special, whatever it was.

Then I caught his performance as legendary explorer Percy Fawcett in James Gray‘s The Lost City of Z, maybe nine or ten weeks ago at the New York Film Festival, and I said to myself, “Okay, that’s it…I really don’t like this guy…I don’t like his voice, his hair, his stiff manner of speech, the absence of magnetism, the deadness in his eyes.”

I began saying this to myself around the 25-minute mark. At the same time I was starting to feel concerned about how much longer The Lost City of Z would last. I looked at my watch….Jesus God, almost another two hours! 

I was sitting in a rear-center seat in Alice Tully Hall, and for some wimpish reason I didn’t want to get up and risk stepping on 15 or 16 pairs of feet on the way out so I figured, “Stop it..be a man and stick this out…you can do it.”

I made it to the end but it was brutal, dawg. By the time The Lost City of Z I had concluded that I really, really don’t want to watch another movie with Hunnam in the lead.

An obsessive who wound up tramping through the Brazilian jungle on seven different expeditions in order to find a lost civilization, the 58 year-old Fawcett disappeared on the final trek, which ended sometime in late May of 1925. The Lost City of Z is about Fawcett’s numerous jungle explorations, which began in ’06 and ended, as noted, some 19 years later.

I’ve never watched a film about exploring exotic realms that has had less energy, less excitement, less of a pulse. I was just watching the damn thing and hoping against hope that Hunnam would be killed by a native spear or a wild animal or by falling off a cliff into raging rapids. I knew he wouldn’t die until the end of the film, but I wanted blood all the same. I started imagining ways to kill him. Anything to take my mind off the film.

Variety‘s Owen Gleiberman has called Gray’s film “Apocalypse Now meets Masterpiece Theatre,” except there’s no Kurtz and certainly no payoff at the end. It’s not exactly torture to sit through, but it’s pretty close to that. 

If you’ve read this column for any length of time you know about the “James Gray cabal,” and that these guys will pretty much worship anything Gray does. I swear to God there’s something wrong with these cabal guys but let’s not get hung up on this one point.

Gray’s film is based upon a 2009 book of the same name by David Grann. Maybe that’s the best way to go — read Grann’s book and then wade through the film. All I can say for sure is that I was dead fucking bored.