I’ve been saying this for years, but Zoomers are such a drag. Many of us revel in our loathing for them. The world has become a grimmer, more intimidating, far less beautiful and enjoyable place since Generation Z came of age. Not all of them, just the ayeholes.

I’m not saying all Zoomers are “bad” people, but a huge percentage seem like joyless mutants…a generation of fanatical Strelnikovs and DEI obsessives…identity politics, non-binary, ghastly clothing, trans obsesssions, they/them, cisgender, out of shape or obese, puberty blockers, gender dysphoria, hating on J. K. Rowling, identity music, sexual abstinence….if we were living in ancient Roman times and I was a king-shit emperor, I would feed these jokers to the lions in the Colisseum.

Just watch this Echo Chamberlain essay — “Gen Z: The Worst Generation.” It’s totally spot-on.

And you can’t trust the fanboys, of course. And that includes the sometimes too friendly or obliging Jeff Sneider. And I wouldn’t trust David Ehrlich either. None of them are really and truly straight-from-the-shoulder, let-the-chips-fall types.

You can, however, trust sourpusses like myself. If HE really and truly tumbles for George Miller’s latest wasteland saga, fine. But wait until Cannes for that to happen or not.

Congrats to New Yorker critic Justin Chang for having won a Pulitzer Prize for film criticism. But if you ask me his 10.26.23 pan of Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers was cheap and petty — a woke gangster hit job. Justin is a bright fellow and an excellent writer, but this swan-song review was a disqualifier, plain and simple.

Posted on 3.24.13: The Sapphires is an Aboriginal Dreamgirls…set in 1968, smaller-scaled and flavored/punctuated with rural Australia and war-torn Vietnam. Less flash and razzle-dazzle, no strobe lights and more emotionally restrained than Dreamgirls plus no Beyonce, Jamie Foxx or Eddie Murphy…but with the robust, note-perfect O’Dowd and ripe, live-wire performances from Deborah Mailman, Jessica Mauboy, Shari Sebbens and Miranda Tapsell — great singers, attractive and emotionally pronounced in every scene.

“A healthy portion is cool, snappy, rousing, well-cut and enormously likable. (And dancable.) That would be the first 40%, when the true-life tale of an Aboriginal Supremes-like group assembled and took shape in Australia in 1968. This 40-minute section, trust me, is definitely worth the price.

“But the main reason the film delivers overall is Chris O’Dowd‘s performance as Dave, a charmingly scuzzy boozer and Motown fanatic who steers the four girl singers (Deborah Mailman, Jessica Mauboy, Shari Sebbens, Miranda Tapsell) away from country and towards soul music, and then takes them to Vietnam to entertain U.S. troops.

“Dowd’s manner and personality are a total kick — an absolute hands-down winner and the best reason to see The Sapphires, even when it turns sketchy in the last half or so.

“I was saying to myself during the first 10 or 15 minutes, ‘Whoa, this is pretty good…not as high-throttle razzmatzzy as Dreamgirls but I like it better.’ And then it kept on going and hitting the marks for the most part. Blair is a talented director who knows how to cut and groove and put on a show. [Even during the parts] when it’s not really working The Sapphires at least keeps the ball in the air with reasonable agility and sass. The analogy, come to think, isn’t really Dreamgirls as much as Hustle and Flow and The Commitments, at least during those first 40 minutes.

“The soul classics are delightful throughout. The music put me in a good mood right away and kept me there.

“The script is by Aboriginal actor-writer Tony Briggs and Keith Thompson, and based on Brigg’s 2004 stage play, which was based on his mom’s true story (as the closing credits infom).”