Ridley Scott speaking to Deadline’s Michael Fleming about a portion of a chat with Clint Eastwood:
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Beware Clayton’s Anti-Bardem, Ethnic-Identity Tirade
Variety’s Clayton Davis is shaking his woke turkey feathers at Javier Bardem’s Desi Arnaz portrayal in Being The Ricardos. Bardem’s big shortcoming, Davis feels, is his Spanish ancestry, which is an OUTRAGE because Arnaz was Cuban. Joe and Jane Popcorn (not to mention your average Academy and SAG member) don’t and won’t give a shit, but Clayton has a solemn duty to raise high the woke, ethnic-identity, social-casting-justice flag. (Thanks to Jordan Ruimy for the nudge.)
Fassbender Resurgence?
Most anyone will tell you that Michael Fassbender started to slip into some kind of career withdrawal or even eclipse mode around three years ago, give or take. Whatever happened to Next Goal Wins, the Taika Watiti flick in which Fassy plays Thomas Rongen, a real-life soccer coach? I only know that he was hot for a few years (‘08 to ‘13), and then I went cold on him and the candle flickered, and now he’s shooting David Fincher’s The Killer in Paris. Maybe it’s comeback time.
Finally Watching “Passing” Today
But in the meantime, consider this verdict from Smart Critic Friendo: “Most overpraised movie of the millennium. For all the obvious reasons.”
Joaquin Phoenix Discussion
Friendo to HE: “C’mon C’mon was so mediocre. I can’t get over critics digging this Mike Mills film.”
HE to Friendo: “I’ve never been much of a Mills fan. That Santa Barbara movie with Greta Gerwig was kind of a drag. 20th Century Friendos….Women, I mean. 20th Century Women.”
Friendo to HE: “I’m no fan either.”
HE to Friendo: “Smooth and mellow Joaquin doesn’t wash. I don’t want to hang with a nice, sensitive, caring father figure played by that fucking guy. To me Joaquin is a twitchy, flakey, cigarette–smoking weirdo. I can’t accept him as a kind, gentle, soft-caressing fellow.”
Friendo to HE: “I wrote this: ‘As much as I’ve championed Phoenix as one of the great living actors, it pains me to say that he’s miscast here. The actor tries to, for once, embody a ‘normal’ character but it just doesn’t work. He’s best at playing unstable eccentrics rather than any kind of subdued, big-city schlub a la Mark Ruffalo.”
Bad Old Days
Amazon previously offered Otto Preminger‘s Advise and Consent (’62) as an HD streamer, but no longer. Which means that someone (Kino Lorber?) is preparing a Bluray release.
Don Murray‘s closeted gay character, Sen. Brig Anderson of Utah, winds up killing himself over a gay blackmail attempt, which tells you how plugged-up the original 1959 Allen Drury book was.
“This was the first commercial film to include a scene in a gay bar, and I have to admit that even today the vibe is a bit much. (It reminds me of a Palm Springs gay bar I accidentally walked into once, and the smell of strong cologne was almost suffocating.) The first gay film that I really enjoyed and relaxed with was William Friedkin‘s The Boys In The Band (’70), but I’ve mentioned that once or twice.
Steve Hayes (“Tired Old Queen at the Movies”) delivers a savvy assessment:
Daniel Waters’ “Howl”
I took one look at this snap of screenwriter Daniel Waters and immediately thought of Francis Bacon‘s screaming pope paintings. And I thought “this could be a horror film character…a subdued, stay-at-home house dad who fancies himself as a gourmet chef, and suddenly he loses his mind,” etc. Just remove the spatula and replace it with a butcher knife or meat cleaver.
