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in a just-posted Rolling Stone interview, Bruce Springsteen has called Donald Trump a “moron.” Yo, Bruce — you don’t wanna go out on a limb! Here’s a fuller quote: “The republic is under siege by a moron. Without overstating it, it’s a tragedy for our democracy.

“When you start talking about elections being rigged, you’re pushing people beyond democratic governance. And it’s a very, very dangerous thing to do. Once you let those genies out of the bottle, they don’t go back in so easy, if they go back in at all. The ideas he’s moving to the mainstream are all very dangerous ideas — white nationalism and the alt-right movement. The outrageous things that he’s done — not immediately disavowing David Duke? These are things that are obviously beyond the pale for any previous political candidate. [In another era] it would sink your candidacy immediately.”

Asked by interviewer Brian Hiatt if Springsteen is feeling “a lack of enthusiasm for Hillary,” the 67 year-old singer said, “No, I like Hillary. I think she would be a very, very good president.”

A couple of hours ago Gold Derby‘s Chris Beachum reported that Paramount has committed to a December release date for Martin Scorsese‘s Silence, a religious persecution period drama set in 17th Century Japan. “While [a specific release] date is not set in stone, we’ve had enough of a confirmation that it will indeed be released in December,” Beachum wrote. I immediately wrote Paramount for specifics — true or not, what date if true, how many theatres? If Beachum is correct, I’m guessing Silence will have a NY-and-LA opening in early to mid December, and that it’ll screen for critics either just before or just after Thanksgiving.

Disney marketing is throwing a debate-watching party on Monday night in West Hollywood. The idea is to remind attendees (i.e., mostly keyboard-tappers like myself) of the echoes between the social/political currents in Disney’s Zootopia, which is eyeballing an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature, and the first official face-off between Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump. There won’t be any filmmakers or executives attending, just some Disney p.r. guys. Just a nice place to hang while catching the debate. No interviews, no pressure.

I didn’t beat a path to see Mel Gibson and Jean-Francois Richet‘s Blood Father because it felt like too much of a rage-driven exploitation retread — a grizzled, tattooed dad with a criminal past protects an alienated, errant daughter from drug dealers. I figured it might be another Get The Gringo, which no one paid attention to. Yes, it managed an 88% Rotten Tomatoes rating when it opened on 8.12, but I still resisted. I figured at least some of the critics were giving Gibson a sympathy pass or paying tribute to the charismatic big-bucks hotshot he used to be.

Well, I was wrong. I finally watched Blood Father last night (it’s streaming on Amazon prior to the 10.11 Bluray debut), and damned if isn’t a highly efficient action-exploitation flick, like something Don Siegel might have made in his prime. It’s tight and well-layered, the writing is character-driven and flavorful and often amusing, the action is grounded and realistic (credit Richet, who directed those excellent, similarly grounded Mesrine flicks from ’08) and the performances deliver well above the usual for this kind of fare, especially in Gibson’s case.

It just works all around and never feels cheap or sloppy or self-mocking. It was clearly assembled by pros who were committed to making something smart and extra-punchy.

Some critic called it “a small gem…a good old-fashioned chase picture, thickened with pulp.” But that makes it sound like it’s mainly an adrenaline flick for the animals. Which it is to some extent, but Blood Father (which is based on a 2006 Peter Craig novel) is also a first-rate character study of a classic bad hombre (ex-con, rage monster, former alcoholic) trying to walk the straight and narrow as well as a mildly affecting father-daughter relationship thing.

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Like lemmings, you and your pallies will pay to see Antoine Fuqua‘s The Magnificent Seven starting tonight. Despite the fact that you know it more or less blows, as indicated by the 63% and 54% ratings on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, respectively.

“When a lazy wank-off flick like The Magnificent Seven comes along and makes you feel drained and nauseous, people like Denzel Washington and feature writer Lewis Beale say ‘hey, relax…it’s just a movie!’ But there’s no relaxing when a film is flagrantly empty except in terms of the photography (Mauro Fiore‘s lensing is first-rate), and has nothing in the way of cleverness or fresh attitude up its sleeve.” — posted on 9.11.16.

“It is written in the Hollywood playbook that the personalities and speaking styles of action-film heroes have to be wry, cocky, self-amused. So completely confident about their badassery that nothing rattles them. No edge, no anxiety. Pretty much every threat is an opportunity for casual dispatch, gun-twirling and deadpan one-liners.” — “The Smug Brothers,” posted on 7.18.16.

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For all his character’s hostility, vulgarity and slovenliness, Billy Bob Thornton has great looking hair in Bad Santa 2 (Broad Green, 11.23).  Finely unkempt, exquisitely barbered, uncombed but perfectly styled — it’s the kind of haircut only rich guys can afford. Billy Bob’s hair is the same length and color as Elizabeth Warren‘s, but the style is more uptown. This is what I love about Hollywood films — they keep you in a lulled state of mind by making sure that the actors, regardless of the ethical or moral constitution of the people they’re portraying, always look good in certain ways. On top of which Billy Bob gets to ram it to Christina Hendricks in a back alley.

During last night’s Gold Derby party I spoke to La La Land composer Justin Hurwitz, who’s a longtime friend and collaborator of director Damien Chazelle. Hurwitz also composed the score of Chazelle’s Whiplash (’14) as well as Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench (’09), a musical that resembles La La Land in some ways, and which served as a kind of early training exercise. I enjoyed the fact that La La Land‘s most recognizable songs– “City of Stars” and “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” — are heard a couple of times each, and that this repetition allows the melodies to sink into your system. As you might expect, Hurwitz is a cool, friendly guy. GD’s Tom O’Neil and I were telling him that La La Land is far and away the favorite film of the blogaroonies. The test will come when it opens commercially, of course, and especially when the schlubby-dubbies in the Academy and guilds have a look-see. It’s all well and good for a film to be championed by the blogaroonies and film festival elites, but the 60-and-older crankies and slowboats have to go for it also.

La La Land composer Justin Hurwitz — apologies for the low light but that’s part of the charm of Eveleigh, the Sunset Strip restaurant that hosted last night’s Gold Derby party.

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In a just-posted NBC/Wall Street Journal poll more people say Donald Trump is more honest and trustworthy than Hillary Clinton, 41% to 31%. What the respondents are saying, I think, is that however stupid or ignorant Trump’s statements may be, he’s more candid and blunt-spoken. He edits himself less. Hillary is more knowledgable and rational but she always sounds like she’s being less upfront — she edits herself heavily, seems to rarely speak from the gut. Honestly? I agree with this. Trump is more honest in terms of not editing himself and carelessly shooting from the hip, but he’s a monster. In general terms Clinton is leading Trump 43% to 37%.

I hate Zach Galfianakis but he handled things pretty well in this “Between Two Ferns” chat with Hillary Clinton. His impudence burns the fabric. President Obama’s chat was wittier, but the hostility levels are better with Hillary. She’s a good sport (“I’m really sorry I agreed to do this.”) Doing this was an okay move.

HE respects Kathy Miller, the now-removed chair for Donald Trump‘s Mahoning County campaign, for brazenly laying her ignorant beliefs on the line — no ifs, ands or buts. In so doing she reminded those who haven’t been paying attention where most Trump voters are coming from in terms of racial/domestic matters.

The Trump campaign has gotten her to resign, but not before she said (a) there was “no racism” before President Obama’s administration, (b) Black Lives Matter is “a stupid waste of time”, (c) lower voter turnout among African Americans could be related to “the way they’re raised”, and (d) “If you’re black and you haven’t been successful in the last 50 years, it’s your own fault…you’ve had the same schools everybody else went to, benefits to go to college that white kids didn’t have…you had all the advantages and didn’t take advantage of it [so] it’s not our fault, certainly.”

Miller’s remarks were captured on video in a 9.22 Guardian piece by Paul lewis and Silkverstone.

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