Audrey Diwan‘s Happening (’21) is the second best film I’ve ever seen about the trauma of an unwanted pregnancy and an abortion. (The best is Cristian Mungiu‘s 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, released 16 years ago.) Diwan and cowriter Rebecca Zlotowski has been lensing a lesbian Emmanuelle, which may turn up in Cannes next May.

Emmanuelle was a steamy hetero franchise in the ’70s and early ’80s with Sylvia Kristel in the lead role.

French actress Naomie Merlant, who has played heavy-breathing gay characters in Portrait Of A Woman on Fire and TAR, is the titular character in Diwan’s newbie. Naomi Watts,,Will Sharpe and Anthony Wong costar.

Jimi Hendrix: “There ain’t no straight stuff nowhere except for that Glenn Powell-Sydney Sweeney romcom, and Sweeney is kinda funny lookin’.”

I don’t agree with any of these “best” calls. What these films are is “not half bad in an interesting, arresting way.“

I finally half-liked Munich when I re-watched it a year ago.

Pale Rider is basically Shane as a ghost.

Magnolia is essentially a morose middle-class thing enlivened by Tom Cruise, the third-act musical sequence and the frog finale.

Casino is watchable, but is gradually asphyxiated by Sharon Stone’s noxious self-destruction and Robert DeNiro’s nonsensical attraction to her. And then Joe Pesci and his brother are beaten to death and buried alive in a cornfield.

For me Kathryn Bigelow caught glorious fire as a director when she made The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty. Then she got tangled up in the mania of exposing horrible historical truths (i.e., evil white cops murdering victims of color) in Detroit, and the air just whooshed out of the balloon.

In late January a restored 4K version of Roman Polanski Oscar-winning The Pianist will have a seven-day run at the Film Forum (1.26 thru 2.1). This will surely be followed by subsequent big-city bookings and a 4K Bluray.

This means something, methinks.

In the wake of the triumphant reviews and Cesar awards that greeted Polanski’s J’Accuse in Europe two years ago, I was told by reps for Bluray distribs and streamers that they wouldn’t dare stream Polanski’s historical thriller over fears of #MeToo protests, etc. Which seemed especially cowardly on their part and profoundly heinous on the part of Polanski’s detractors. The mere streaming of one of Polanski’s greatest films from the privacy of your own home…what kind of rabid fanaticism would forbid even this?

But the Pianist restoration suggests the winds are shifting.

…a presumptive Best Picture nominee was the recipient of this much eye-rolling, disdain and fatigue on Facebook threads?

Back in the late Bill Clinton era.

To me anyway. In Saltburn, I mean. I’m sorry but when I came upon this photo…bingo. The gremlin vibe. In every scene he’s the evil leprechaun ogre you need to keep tabs on. A Bond villain waiting in the wings.

As the son of the real-life William W. Wonka, my opinion on the film is all that matters, and I do declare that WONKA stunk. It’s the Butterfinger of blockbusters. Put that in your pockolate! I prefer my chocolate DARK, thanks… pic.twitter.com/s1mExqaJSP

— Jeff Sneider (@TheInSneider) December 16, 2023

Oscar Poker had been moribund for two weekends, sidelined by tech issues and whatnot. Obviously time to record again, and so Jeff and Sasha went to town on a rainy Sunday afternoon. And here it is.

Points hit:

How the Oscars lost their brand.

All hail Adam Carolla’s spot-on analysis about sports vs. award season and politics.

Leave the World Behind – a Netflix movie exec produced by the Obamas, and whether or not that’s creatively upfront of agenda-driven.

Having freedom of mind as opposed to being “in the bubble.”

Complimenting Jeff for not being an Oscar whore.

Jeff’s ongoing annoyances with Lily Gladstone and Barry Keoghan.

The Best Picture standouts, according to Jeff — Poor Things, Maestro, The Holdovers

The Boys in the Boat is an “old-fashioned” but very well-made and deeply likable film.

How Barbenheimer signified the return of “traditionalism”.

The 4K Titanic Bluray is great.

Was Joan Baez molested by her dad? What is she trying to say?

Therapy is ruining everything.

How erasing boundaries led to helicotper parenting in the 90s, which led to “safetyism.”

Why is Todd Haynes’ May December so popular with woke-bubble critics?

Again, the link.