When I think of the 40-ish Dean Stockwell, I think of his flitty weirdo-pervo characters. Like the mascara-wearing creepo-pervo he played in David Lynch‘s Blue Velvet (’86), and the mobster he played in Jonathan Demme‘s Married to the Mob (’88), for which he landed a Best Supporting Actor nom.

But the strongest currents in Stockwell’s career were stirred by his boyhood and young-man roles, specifically the son-of-Gregory Peck in Gentleman’s Agreement (’47) and the lead in Joseph Losey‘s The Boy With The Green Hair (’48), and then, as he got into his mid ’20s, Richard Fleischer‘s Compulsion (’59), Jack Cardiff‘s Sons and Lovers (’60) and Sidney Lumet‘s Long Day’s Journey Into Night (’62).

I’m sorry but Quantum Leap doesn’t even come to mind.

One thing I didn’t know is that Stockwell designed the legendary jacket cover photo of Neil Young‘s “American Stars ‘n Bars” (1976).

Stockwell died two days ago in New Mexico. He was 85. I’m very sorry but then again he led a full life…fuller than most.

…that no one and I mean no one will have the nerve to ask during this evening’s post-screening q & a.

Thanks There’s no disputing that Beanie Feldstein‘s performance as Monica Lewinsky (particularly that look of shock and intimidation and primal fear) is fully present, and obviously skillful and affecting.

But for a miniseries in which the makeup department used every trick in the book to make the actors look as much as possible like the character they were playing (especially in the matter of Sarah Paulson‘s Linda Tripp), they were given a hopeless task when it came to Beanie. I’ve seen all seven episodes thus far, and her lack of resemblance has thrown me each and every time. Why then?

The apparent idea was to emphasize Beanie/Monica’s victim status…the huge gulf between mousey little Beanie and Clive Owen‘s silky Bill Clinton…doubling-down on Clinton’s opportunism and sexual exploitation. But if a gifted actor with at least a slight physical resemblance to Lewinsky had been cast, the miniseries would have been that much better.

So in the forthcoming Midnight Run remake/sequel, which will presumably blow chunks because lightning generally refuses to strike twice in the same place, Regina Hall will presumably play the lead or female equivalent of Robert De Niro‘s “Jack Walsh” character. No word on who will play Charles Grodin‘s mob-accountant role.

De Niro and Jane Rosenthal will “produce” (i.e., pocket a paycheck) for Tribeca. Jesse Collins is also collecting a check via Jesse Collins Entertainment. Hall will also collect a producer’s fee under her RH Negative label. Universal’s Sara Scott (no fee, just salary) will oversee on behalf of the studio.

I didn’t mean to say “Midnight Run with Black Chicks.” I meant to say “Midnight Run with a female bounty hunter of color plus an actress of color doing her best at resuscitating the late Charles Grodin.”

With a sizable percentage of Rotten Tomatoes ticket buyers giving Spencer a thumbs-down, an inevitable shadow is cast upon Kristen Stewart‘s Best Actress campaign. I’m not saying that the film’s lack of popularity invalidates Stewart’s Oscar hopes, but it certainly doesn’t help. If the schmoes say no, how long can the handicappers and Gold Derby shills and smiling gladhanders keep the fires burning? What say ye, Scott Mantz and Perry Nemiroff?

“Why didn’t the Eternals intervene when Ultron tried to destroy the world, or when Thanos was about to wipe out half the universe, you ask? Apparently they’re only allowed to take action when the deviants are involved.”

Or why, HE asks, didn’t they step in during the Nazi holocaust to try and save a few million Jews from horrible death? Or during the mass murders of Cambodian citizens in the mid to late ’70? Part of the answer is that the Eternals believe that tragedies are teaching experiences, and that people grow after experiencing them. Apparently they’re only allowed to take action when the deviants are involved.

But really, how worthless are the Eternals in a general sense?

So this tough guy named Chris Knittel (ex-military for 11 years, currently trying to be an actor) announced on Facebook that he’d heard “mixed things” about Chloe Zhao‘s Eternals (i.e., had read that it’s the lowest-rated Marvel film of all time) and therefore announced it’s “time to see it for myself.” And Facebook decided that this post was “spam” and took it down.

Chris tapped out these words yesterday as the show was about to start. Obviously the slapdown is an algorithim thing but still…the word “mixed” is considered spammy?

So what did he think of Eternals? “I liked it,” Chris says. “Pretty epic movie…great actors, good comedy….I think the adverse reactions were about people’s expectations being so high, being from an Oscar-winning director and all, people’s expectations were extremely high…this movie did a great job with the different characters…they all had their different dynamics.”

Chris’s favorite film of the year so far is Edson Ota‘s Nine Days (Sony Pictures Classics, 9.30). It costarred Winston Duke, Zazie Beetz and Benedict Wong. Currently renting on Amazon for $5.99.

21 Gold Derby forecasters have stated preferences in the race for Best Actress Oscar. The overwhelming favorite is Kristen Stewart‘s performance as Diana, Princess of Wales in Spencer, and so she’s sitting atop 13 lists.

Except the most deserving recipient for the ’21 and ’22 Best Actress Oscar is Penelope Cruz in Pedro’s Parallel Mothers — theres no question about this, none whatsoever.

How many GD smarties have Cruz at the top of their lists? Two — Variety‘s Tim Gray and Queerty’s Michael Musto. There should be more. Cruz’s performance is incontestably fuller, richer, tethered to common experience than Stewart’s. Comparing the two isn’t allowed — entirely different leagues.

Stewart’s submission to Spencer‘s concept — Diana was half-mad, besieged by visions and nightmares, lost in her own head — is total and therefore admirable; you could even call what she does mesmerizing. (being a stickler, I can’t apply that term.) But she’s mainly being favored because critics and public alike are still Diana-struck (they all want to curtsy and bow) and because Spencer declares that the royal family members were bloodless ghouls, and this synchs with current wokester views.

Plus there’s Stewart’s LGBTQ profile and her two-decade career besides (plugging away since 2002’s Panic Room, only 31 years old).

Nagging problem: A few brave critics who’ve seen Pablo Larrain’s film have honestly shared what they feel about it. The fact is that Spencer is an oppressive and smothering thing to sit through. It literally gives you a kind of headache. This doesn’t seem to bother Stewart’s supporters, but in the old days (i.e., before 2015) if a movie really stunk then the Oscar chances of this or that performer in said film would be negatively affected. Not so much any more, or so it would seem.

Stewart is a respected actor. She’s been in a few half-decent films (Welcome to the Rileys, Clouds of Sils Maria, The Runaways, Cafe Society) and also made a lot of stinkers. Spencer is one of them. How many truly awesome, artistically approved knockout films has Stewart made in her life? Exactly one — Olivier Assayas‘ Personal Shopper.

13 for Kristen Stewart. 3 for Lady Gaga. 2 for Olivia Colman, 2 for Penelope Cruz, 1 for Jessica Chastain.

I’m reading about “Bad News: How Woke Media Is Undermining Democracy” (Encounter, 10.26), a just-published book by Newsweek opinion editor Batya Ungar-Sargon.

It got my attention because roughly the same thing has been happening in the film industry for the last five or six years. I summarized the situation twice this year — on 9.9.21, and on 3.22.21.

Amazon synopsis: “Something is wrong with American journalism. Long before ‘fake news’ became the calling card of the right, Americans had lost faith in their news media. But lately, the feeling that something is off has become impossible to ignore.

“That’s because the majority of our mainstream news is no longer just liberal; it’s woke. Today’s newsrooms are propagating radical ideas that were fringe as recently as a decade ago, including ‘antiracism,’ intersectionality, open borders and critical race theory. How did this come to be?

“The moral panic around race, encouraged by today’s elite newsrooms, does little more than consolidate the power of liberal elites and protect their economic interests. And in abandoning the working class by creating a culture war around identity, our national media is undermining American democracy. ‘Bad News’ explains how this happened, why it happened, and the dangers posed by this development if it continues unchecked.”

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