Last night I finally saw Nat Faxon and Jim Rash‘s Downhill (Searchlight, 2.14.20), which is a fairly straightforward remake of Rubin Ostlund‘s Force Majeure (’14). Downhill is almost a half-hour shorter than the ’14 version, but otherwise I found it better than decent — adult, well measured, emotionally frank, well acted and cunningly written. (Faxon and Rash shared screenplay credit with Jesse Armstrong.)

It’s not a burn, it’s not about a “black and white situation” (as one of the less perceptive characters puts it) and it provides ample food for thought and discussion.

Both films conclude that a father running from an impending disaster (i.e., a huge avalanche) without trying to save or protect his wife and kids is a bad look. Which of course it is. Both films condemn the dad in question (Will Ferrell in the newbie, Johannes Bah Kuhnke in Ostlund’s version) and more or less agree with the furious wives (Julia Louis Dreyfus, Lisa Loven Kongsli) that dad should have (a) super-heroically yanked the wife and kids out of their seats and hauled them inside in a blink of an eye or (b) hugged them before the avalanche hit so they could all suffocate together.

Hollywood Elsewhere says “yes, it’s ignoble for a dad to run for cover without thinking of his wife or kids,” but I also believe that instinct takes over when death is suddenly hovering. I also feel that Dreyfus and the two kids acted like toadstools by just sitting there on the outdoor deck and hoping for the best.

Question for Dreyfus and sons: A huge terrifying avalanche is getting closer and closer and you just sit there? You have legs and leg muscles at your disposal, no?. A massive wall of death is about to terminate your future and your reaction is “oh, look at that…nothing to do except watch and wait and hope for the best”?

Both films film basically ask “who are we deep down?” They both suggest that some of the noble qualities we all try to project aren’t necessarily there. But Rash and Faxon’s film also says “hey, we’re all imperfect and yes, some of us will react instinctually when facing possible imminent death. So maybe take a breath and don’t be so viciously judgmental, and maybe consider the fact that tomorrow is promised to no one so just live and let live.”

I was especially taken by Downhill‘s spot-on philosophical ending (i.e., “all we have is today”). Seriously, it really works. I came to scoff at this film (due to the less-than-ecstatic Sundance buzz) but came away converted.

I’ll be attending a discussion this evening of Sam Wasson‘s “The Big Goodbye,” of which I’ve read a little more than half. Burbank’s Buena Vista Branch Library, 300 N. Buena Vista St., starting at 7 pm. Wasson and Chinatown assistant director Howard W. Koch, Jr. will riff on that special early to mid ’70s fermentation that was alive and kicking at Paramount and Warner Bros., and is represented in the book by Roman Polanski’s 1974 classic. Glory days.

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Dense, complex and bursting with stylistic pizazz, the trailer for Wes Anderson‘s The French Dispatch (Searchlight, 7.24) conveys some of what the film is about. What it’s mostly about, basically, are visual compositions of fine flavor and aesthetic precision. In color and black and white, and in aspect ratios of 1.37:1 and 2.39:1 a la The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Also in the vein of Budapest, it’s about a distinctive institution that peaked in the mid 20th Century and then fell into ruin or hard times. To quote my own Budapest Hotel review, it’s “a valentine to old-world European atmosphere and ways and cultural climes that began to breath their last about…what, a half-century ago if not earlier.”

Story-wise, Dispatch is an American journalism film, oddly set in a second-tier French city of the ’50s and ’60s, except nobody seems to speak much French. It’s an homage to a New Yorker-ish publication, but with a Midwestern heart-of-America mindset. It tells three stories of headstrong American journalists reporting and writing about three big stories, one of them having to do with the French New Left uprising of May ’68. Otherwise the historical context…well, I’m working on that. Timothy Chalamet‘s Phil Spector hair is a stand-out.

Wiki boilerplate: “The film has been described as “a love letter to journalists set at an outpost of an American newspaper in a fictional 20th-century French city”, centering on three storylines. It brings to life a collection of tales published in the eponymous The French Dispatch. The film is inspired by Anderson’s love of The New Yorker, and some characters and events in the film are based on real-life equivalents from the magazine. One of the three storylines centers on the May ’68 student occupation protests, with Timothee Chalamet and Lyna Khoudri‘s characters being two of the student protesters.

Speaking in April 2019, Anderson said, “The story is not easy to explain, [It’s about an] American journalist based in France” — Bill Murray‘s Arthur Howitzer Jr., the editor of The French Dispatch, based on Harold Ross, the co-founder of The New Yorker — “who creates his magazine. It is more a portrait of this man, of this journalist who fights to write what he wants to write. It’s not a movie about freedom of the press, but when you talk about reporters you also talk about what’s going on in the real world.”

Obviously locked for the 2020 Cannes Film Festival.

Just a few weeks ago, doddering Joe Biden was the Big Daddy, the nationwide poll leader, the safe guy and the presumptive Democratic nominee who could beat Donald Trump.

Tonight Biden came in a weak fifth in New Hampshire. Some African American voters will stick with him in the South Carolina primary, I’m sure, but the heat is clearly off. He’s all but finished and black voters are clueless as to which way to turn. Will they switch their loyalty to Michael Bloomberg? That’s what an MSNBC commentator said an hour ago.

Longtime Biden supporter (texted at 5:28 pm): “I’m moving to Bloomberg.” Jersey City guy: “Amy Klobuchar is the buzzy name. She might lay claim to some of the Biden fallout vote.”

Andrew Yang, Tom Steyer, Michael Bennet…they’re dropping like flies. And by the way, Elizabeth Warren is looking almost as weak as Biden. How long can she last?

38 years ago I attended a New York press junket roundtable for Richard Brooks‘ Wrong Is Right. The location was either the old Mayflower Hotel or Tavern on the Green. Brooks and Sean Connery were the junket headliners, but Robert Conrad (who played “General Wombat” in the film) got a lot of attention also.

The good-natured Conrad, 46, sat down at my table, and after a few minutes of the usual junket chit-chat I asked one of my non-softball questions. Conrad seemed to perk up slightly and then, wearing a slight grin, said, “You must be Jeff Wells!”

I confirmed this fact with aplomb but inwardly I was going “what the fuck?” One of the publicists must have pulled Conrad aside and whispered “there’s a guy over there who always asks nervy questions…he’s okay but watch out for him.” Never before in my professional life had I been “made” like that, especially from a name-brand actor.

Conrad was a huge TV actor in the ’60s and ’70s, and then he more or less became Rick Dalton for the rest of his acting career, which wound down around 20 years ago.

Conrad’s two biggest ’60s scores were Hawaiian Eye (’59 to ’63, playing “Tom Lopaka”)) and especially The Wild Wild West (’65 to ’69). He played the tough-guy lead (“Pappy Boyington”) in another hit series, Baa Baa Black Sheep, which ran from ’76 to ’78.

What did I see in my mind when I heard he’d passed last Sunday (2.9), at age 84? Those legendary Ever-ready battery commercials, which happened in the late ’70s.

Post-impeachment, the Bloated Beast is getting bolder in his sociopathic maneuverings.

“In a highly unusual move, senior Justice Department officials” — i.e., Attorney General Barr doing President Trump‘s bidding — “intervened to overrule front-line prosecutors and will recommend a more lenient sentence for Roger J. Stone Jr., convicted last year of impeding investigators in a bid to protect Trump, a senior department official said Tuesday.

In response all four of the government prosecutors on the case — lead prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky plus Jonathan Kravis, Adam Jed and Michael Marando — have withdrawn from the case.

Trump butted in after Zelinsky asked a judge late Monday to sentence Stone to seven to nine years in the slam for trying to sabotage a congressional investigation that threatened Trump. Trump had tweeted that the recommendation was “horrible and very unfair,” and now he’s told Barr to reverse the recommendation. Every time Trump pulls some kind of rank dictator move, people say “it can’t get any more corrupt than this.” And then he outdoes himself.

Craig Zobel, Nick Cuse and Damon Lindelof‘s The Hunt, which was yanked late last summer after the El Paso and Dayton shootings, is opening after all. Universal will release Blumhouse Productions’ political satire (i.e., elite libtards hunting deplorables for sport) on March 13.

What pisses me off is that there was a press screening yesterday and I wasn’t invited. Okay, I wrote once that “I hate all things Lindelof” but isn’t that water under the bridge?

In any event the culture has moved beyond The Hunt — things are a bit uglier now. Or more ambitious, as it were.

On 1.15 I read a Paul Schrader Facebook post about a theoretical film about a plot to kill President Donald Trump. He was thinking about assigning students to cook up a plot, but was wondering out loud if his students would get into trouble if they researched it. What Schrader was saying, of course, is that there’s a part of him that would like to see Trump get iced, just as there was a part of Travis Bickle that wanted to shoot Sen. Charles Palpatine.

I have to be honest — I wouldn’t be heartbroken if The Beast went down.

The Hunt was originally scheduled for release on 9.27.19, but Universal pulled the trailers and marketing materials following two mass shootings that killed 31 people in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, on 8.3 and 8,.4., respectively. The subsequent decision to yank it wasn’t unexpected.

The satire probably would’ve underperformed anyway — it didn’t look all that appealing. It’s just unfortunate that Universal made the call a day after President Trump complained about it (i.e., “Hollywood is really terrible…they’re treating conservatives very unfairly”).

Noam Chomsky on 2.7.20: “‘Miracle’ may be a little strong, but [Bernie being elected] would be a very difficult task. The liberal media attacks on Sanders are already shocking. Once the Republicans get started on him it’ll be even worse.”

Chomsky two months ago: “The chances that Sanders win the nomination are not great,. If Bernie gets the nomination, the attacks will be wild. The Republican propaganda machine going after him…Jewish, atheist, “wants to kill all the whites” and on and on. The chance that he could get elected are pretty small. But if does get elected — a miracle — he won’t have Congress. How are you gonna win Congress? The U.S. electoral system is specially structured so that the reactionary elements have an overwhelming advantage.”

Incidentally: Larry David channelling Bernie Sanders on SNL last weekend.

The USA as many of us have known it will be set on the road to ruin tonight. Because a Bernie Sanders victory in New Hampshire (followed by a Bernie-Biden victory in South Carolina on 2.19 — thanks, POCs!) will seriously harm the sensible-liberal-moderate Pete Buttigieg brand, which is the only brand that can beat Trump in November, and therefore a Trump victory will be locked down because Bernie can’t beat him.

Typewriter Joe might be able to defeat The Beast, but after tonight he’ll be all but finished. Michael Bloomberg is the only hope right now because you know he’ll keep spending and pushing — he’s indefatigable. But I’m really not kidding. The transformation of the US of A (as many of us have known it) into Trump Nation between January ’21 and January ’25 will be ruinous beyond words. And the journey begins tonight.

If Pete can nudge aside Bernie in N.H. (which he probably can’t manage), there’s at least a chance. But he won’t. All hail the spirit and precedent of Jeremy Corbyn and Gregg Stillson! The bad guys have this! And I’m not just talking about Bernie bruhs and Trump-worshipping bumblefucks, but also Khmer Rouge wokesters and cancel culture fanatics. Together they comprise a perfect storm of catastrophe.

If Bloomberg can’t manage the next-to-impossible, the only way out is for Trump to drop dead of a heart attack or a stroke. Or for fate to (ahem) otherwise intervene. Who would be honestly sorry to see that animal breathe his last?

I was initially excited to hear of ZeroZeroZero (Amazon Prime, 3.6), a cocaine-trafficking miniseries costarring Andrea Riseborough, Dane DeHaan and Gabriel Byrne. Mainly because Stefano Sollima, ace helmer of Sicario: Day of the Soldado, is a creative contributor. Then I read further and realized he’s only one of the directors. Two others are Janus Metz (Borg vs. McEnroe, True Detective) and Pablo Trapero (The Clan, White Elephant).

Boilerplate: “Brought to you by the Gomorrah guys, ZeroZeroZero follows the lives of several individuals and cartel members who are involved in a worldwide, multibillion-dollar drug-smuggling ring that stretches from Italy to Mexico and the United States.”

I’ve never seen Elem Klimov‘s Come and See (’85), which is commonly regarded as one of the most searing antiwar films ever made. So I’m naturally looking forward to Janus Films’ theatrical restoration of this Russian-made film, which was Klimov’s last. It will play at Manhattan’s Film Forum between 2.21 and 3.3. I’d naturally like to see it in Los Angeles, but it doesn’t seem to have a local booking.

With a new 2K restoration you’d also presume that a Criterion Bluray would be in the pipeline, but I can’t find hide nor hair. I’ve done some basic searches…zip. A publicist friend says it’s viewable via TCM On Demand — haven’t been able to find it there either. I’m sure this is all my fault, and not that of distributor Janus Films.

All I know is that I’ve been repeatedly admonished by Tatyana for not seeing it, and the reprimands aren’t going to stop until I do.

I don’t remember very much about The Last Tycoon (’76) except that it stunk. Okay, maybe that’s a little harsh but but it certainly seemed inert. Robert DeNiro was almost comically miscast as coolly arrogant studio exec Monroe Stahr, whom original author F. Scott Fitzgerald had based upon legendary MGM exec Irving Thalberg.

De Niro played Thalberg as a relatively uncultured New York street guy (i.e., Travis Bickle wearing nice suits) with those Lower-East-Side Italian vowels of his. The real-deal Thalberg came from Brooklyn and never attended college, but I’ve always read he was a man of discipline and exactitude — a classy gent with a highly concentrated mind. I didn’t believe DeNiro’s “Travis” Thalberg for an instant. That idiot grin of his was pure loony Bickle. For what it’s worth I enjoyed the two or three scenes that De Niro shares with Jack Nicholson, who plays a commie union leader.

How could a film directed by Elia Kazan, based on a 1941 Fitzgerald novel, adapted by Harold Pinter, produced by Sam Spiegel, scored by Maurice Jarre and shot by Victor J. Kemper…how could a movie made by such an ace-level team turn out badly? But it did. It just sat there.

The Last Tycoon was DeNiro’s first shortfaller. He’d previously made five excellent films (Bang The Drum Slowly, Mean Streets, The Godfather, Part II, Taxi Driver, 1900). After Tycoon he starred in another failure (Scorsese’s New York, New York) but then rebounded with The Deer Hunter, Raging Bull, True Confessions, The King of Comedy, Once Upon A Time in America and Falling in Love.