I could listen all day to vocal-free instrumental tracks. The instrumental version of Steve Miller‘s “Big Ole Jet Airliner” is, no exaggeration, heavenly. Ditto the instrumental track for the Beatles‘ “I’m Looking Through You.” Maybe it’s because I was in a couple of bands and I’m into the beauty of just the right chord changes strummed just the right way and at just the right time and…I don’t know, the whole glorious jangly-jangly of it all.

The across-the-board worshipping of the late Stan Lee and the corresponding corporate Marvel-ization of mainstream motion picture fare cannot be separated. Deny it or not, but these two things have happened due to an outgrowth of mass infantilization and the increasing influence of fanboy culture, which has been happening since the explosion of wide-release, teenage-catering entertainments (Jaws, Star Wars) in the mid ’70s.

It is therefore allowable for Bill Maher to have written what he wrote this morning about the Stan Lee effect. Just shut up and take it. We’re supposed to be be okay with differing opinions in our country so act that way.

“The guy who created Spider-Man and the Hulk has died, and America is in mourning,” Maher wrote. “Deep, deep mourning for a man who inspired millions to, I don’t know, watch a movie, I guess.

“Someone on Reddit posted, ‘I’m so incredibly grateful I lived in a world that included Stan Lee.’ Personally, I’m grateful I lived in a world that included oxygen and trees, but to each his own. Now, I have nothing against comic books — I read them now and then when I was a kid and I was all out of Hardy Boys. But the assumption everyone had back then, both the adults and the kids, was that comics were for kids, and when you grew up you moved on to big-boy books without the pictures.

“But then twenty years or so ago, something happened — adults decided they didn’t have to give up kid stuff. And so they pretended comic books were actually sophisticated literature. And because America has over 4,500 colleges — which means we need more professors than we have smart people — some dumb people got to be professors by writing theses with titles like ‘Otherness and Heterodoxy in the Silver Surfer‘. And now when adults are forced to do grown-up things like buy auto insurance, they call it ‘adulting’ and act like it’s some giant struggle.

“I’m not saying we’ve necessarily gotten stupider. The average Joe is smarter in a lot of ways than he was in, say, the 1940s, when a big night out was a Three Stooges short and a Carmen Miranda musical. The problem is, we’re using our smarts on stupid stuff. I don’t think it’s a huge stretch to suggest that Donald Trump could only get elected in a country that thinks comic books are important.”

HE context entry #1: Remember what Watchmen creator Alan Moore said nine years ago, to wit: “The average age of the audience now for comics, and this has been the case since the late 1980s, probably is late thirties to early fifties — which tends to support the idea that these things are not being bought by children. They’re being bought in many cases by hopeless nostalgics or, putting the worst construction on it, perhaps cases of arrested development who are not prepared to let their childhoods go, no matter how trite the adventures of their various heroes and idols.”

One, he doesn’t have that X-factor snap, that fizzy-chemistry thing. Two, he reminds me of Gary Lockwood in 2001: A Space Odyssey, and voters have always been more inclined to support candidates who remind them of Keir Dullea. And three, you can’t pronounce “Swalwell” trippingly on the tongue. “Walwell” would be bad enough, but the addition of an “s” forces your teeth, lips and tongue to go into contortions.

From Max Boot‘s “Did Matthew Whitaker Compromise the Mueller Investigation?,” posted by Washington Post on 11.15:

“Whitaker can do great damage even if he does nothing more than read all of Mueller’s files — as he now will have the right to do — and share that information with the White House. Sure, he would be risking impeachment or even prosecution for obstruction of justice, but Whitaker is not someone who has exactly exemplified devotion to the rule of law: He believes that Marbury v. Madison, the seminal 1803 case establishing legal review of legislation, was wrongly decided, and he has said that only Christians should serve as judges.

“There is already cause for concern that Whitaker may have tipped off the White House. On Thursday, Trump tweeted, ‘The inner workings of the Mueller investigation are a total mess. They have found no collusion and have gone absolutely nuts. They are screaming and shouting at people, horribly threatening them to come up with the answers they want. They are a disgrace to our Nation.’

“Trump has never used the phrase ‘inner workings’ before. Maybe he was just spouting off. Maybe he was reacting to information shared with him by witnesses Mueller has interrogated. Or maybe he has suddenly gained a vantage point on the ‘inner workings of the Mueller investigation’ that he did not have before Whitaker’s appointment.

“In this hour of peril for our democracy, it is imperative that Congress rush to the ramparts. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) refuses to move legislation that would protect Mueller. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) has belatedly said he would refuse to support judicial confirmations until that legislation is brought to the floor, but his threat will not be effective unless he is joined by at least one other Republican. Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) actually introduced legislation to protect Mueller, but now he doesn’t see the need for it and even says Whitaker doesn’t need to recuse himself.

“Studios To Push For Early Home Release in 2019.” So read the headline of a Brent Lang Variety piece that was posted earlier today. In other words, sooner or later day-and-date home streaming of new films will be a common option.

Setting the right price will obviously be a key factor (I’m guessing it’ll be $25 or $30 for either a single day’s access or a 12-hour window) but when it happens, something crucial in the American movie experience will begin to dissipate. And the ultimate effect will be, I believe, devastating.

[Click through to full story on HE-plus]

The blood naturally runs cold when you hear the “c” word, but when it comes to skin cancers 95% of the time it’s not a huge issue, and certainly not what anyone would call a threatening one. But the thing I’m dealing with — basel cell carcinoma with a little hint of squamous cell carcinoma — will involve a little down time on 12.4 so I may as well come clean and talk about what a careless, oblivious asshole I’ve been and how I got myself into this mess.

Well, not a “mess” but, you know, a kind of pain-in-the-ass situation.

[Click through to full story on HE-plus]

Filmstruck will die as planned on 11.29, but the Criterion Collection will become a stand-alone streaming service in spring 2019. I guess the petition had an impact after all. So I’ll get my money back soon and then I’ll re-invest it in the Criterion Channel…right?

From the release: “The Criterion Channel will be picking up where the old service left off — (a) programming director spotlights, (b) actor retrospectives featuring major Hollywood and international classics, and (c) hard-to-find discoveries from around the world, complete with special features like commentaries, behind-the-scenes footage, and original documentaries.

“Our library will also be available through WarnerMedia’s new consumer platform when it launches late next year, so once both services are live, Criterion fans will have even more ways to find the films they love.

“We will be starting from scratch with no subscribers, so we’ll need all the help we can get. The most valuable thing you can do to help now is go to Criterion.com/channel and sign up to be a Charter Subscriber, then tell your friends to sign up too. We need everyone who was a FilmStruck subscriber or who’s been tweeting and signing petitions and writing letters to come out and to sign up for the new service. We can’t do it without you!”

I’m very sad and sorry about the passing of William Goldman, whom I respected enormously as a screenwriter and book author, and whom I actually knew on a personal basis.

We were hardly “close” — we never talked about the difficulty of writing or women problems or anything personal. But I felt that I genuinely knew Bill as a human being, at least to some degree. I always felt settled and relaxed in his presence. And he seemed to have a certain regard for me also. At least to the extent that he took me to lunch four or five times, and always at the same elegant Upper East Side eatery that was near his apartment.

I felt profoundly honored that the writer of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Hot Rock (one of my all-time favorite ’70s films), Marathon Man and All The President’s Men read and admired my column. I once told myself “Jesus, I’ve gotta be doing something right if Goldman likes what I’m doing.”

We began our occasional correspondence (a phone call now and then, back-and-forth emails when something had happened) sometime in the early to mid ’90s, or when I was writing and reporting for Entertainment Weekly and the L.A. Times Syndicate. But we didn’t actually sit down and break bread until ’06 or ’07, or after Goldman became a regular Hollywood Elsewhere reader.

The only time our relationship hit a ditch was when I told Goldman that I didn’t much care for Hearts of Atlantis (’01), the Anthony Hopkins film based on a Stephen King novel. He didn’t speak to me for several months after that.

He always called me “Jeffrey” — never Jeff. He invited me up to his place once, and I remember there was a kind of shrine to Butch Cassidy as you walked through the main door. And who could blame him?

The last time I saw Goldman was at a press luncheon at 21, maybe six or seven years ago. He was sitting at a table with Joan Didion. The room was noisy and chattery and it was hard to say anything that mattered, but I belted out a hale and hearty “hey, Bill!” He looked at me with a slight smile and a slight nod. And that was it. We didn’t correspond again. And I’m sorry about that.

There’s a DVD documentary about Gunga Din, and Goldman’s commentary about that 1939 film is so eloquent when he explains why some people are so moved by that film, and particularly by the “stupid courage” shown at the very end by Sam Jaffe‘s titular character.

Famous quote: “I [don’t] like my writing. I wrote a movie called Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and I wrote a novel called The Princess Bride and those are the only two things I’ve ever written, not that I’m proud of, but that I can look at without humiliation.”

Why did the Spirit Awards nominations ignore Melissa McCarthy‘s quaking, straight-from-within, note-perfect performance in Will You Ever Forgive Me?? Seriously — whats up with that? Are they nuts?

Best Feature: Eighth Grade, First Reformed, If Beale Street Could Talk, Leave No Trace, You Were Never Really Here. HE fave: tie between First Reformed and You Were Never Really Here. Will win: First Reformed.

Best Director: Debra Granik, Leave No Trace; Barry Jenkins, If Beale Street Could Talk; Tamara Jenkins, Private Life; Lynne Ramsay, You Were Never Really Here; Paul Schrader, First Reformed. HE fave: Paul Schrader. Will win: Paul Schrader.

Best First Feature: Hereditary, Sorry to Bother You, The Tale, We The Animals, Wildlife. HE fave: Tie between Hereditary and We The Animals.

Best Female Lead: Glenn Close, The Wife; Toni Collette, Hereditary, Elsie Fisher, Eighth Grade; Regina Hall, Support The Girls; Helena Howard, Madeline’s Madeline; Carey Mulligan, Wildlife. HE fave: Four-way tie between Melisaa McCarthy not nominated but should have been), Glenn Close, Toni Collette and Carey Mulligan. Will win: Glenn Close.

Best Male Lead: John Cho, Searching; Daveed Diggs, Blindspotting; Ethan Hawke, First Reformed; Christian Malheiros, Socrates; Joaquin Phoenix, You Were Never Really Here. HE fave: Ethan Hawke. Will win: Ethan Hawke.

Best Supporting Female: Kayli Carter, Private Life; Tyne Daly, A Bread Factory; Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk; Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie, Leave No Trace; J. Smith-Cameron, Nancy. HE fave: Kayli Carter. Will win: Regina King.

Best Supporting Male: Raúl Castillo, We the Animals, Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman, Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Josh Hamilton, Eighth Grade; John David Washington, Monsters and Men. HE fave: Richard E. Grant. Will win: Richard E. Grant.

Best Screenplay: Richard Glatzer (Writer/Story By), Rebecca Lenkiewicz & Wash Westmoreland, Colette; Nicole Holofcener & Jeff Whitty, Can You Ever Forgive Me?; Tamara Jenkins, Private Life; Boots Riley, Sorry to Bother You; Paul Schrader, First Reformed. HE fave: Tie between First Reformed and Can You Ever Forgive Me?. Will win: First Reformed.

It hit me yesterday that Josie Rourke, who made her bigtime feature directing debut with Mary, Queen of Scots, has been absent from the Hollywood realm since Mary opened in late ’18. There are reasons for that, of course. One is that people like me were nearly driven to tears by Mary, an overbearing exercise in woke presentism.

“It Hurts To Watch This Film,” posted on 11.16.18: Josie Rourke‘s Mary, Queen of Scots is a slog and a drag — a hard-to-follow, sometimes infuriating attempt to make a 16th Century tale of conflict between willful cousins (the titular, flinty Mary vs. Queen Elizabeth of England) into something relevant to the convulsive culture of 2018.

I found it a slog because I didn’t give a flying fuck about anyone, and because the damp air (which wafted out from the screen) and chilly-looking Scottish exteriors made me want to wrap myself in scarves and sweaters. Why would anyone want to live in Scotland in the first place? It’s all fog and peat and stone castles. I just wanted to build a fire and huddle.

I spent the entire 124-minute running time trying to understand why I hated this film almost immediately. Have you ever walked into a crowded room and decided on the spot that you really don’t care for the vibe of a certain person standing near the punch bowl? It was like that. Within minutes I was seething with irritation. There were several factors, I gradually realized.

I felt alienated by Rourke’s attempt to impose a woke social atmosphere upon 16th Century Scotland and England — by applying a strong women-vs.-sexist pig narrative and going with multicultural casting choices. I’m not saying it’s invalid to adopt this approach (knock yourselves out), but I did find it numbing to sit through.

Early on I was telling myself I need to see Charles Jerrot‘s same-titled 1971 version with Vanessa Redgrave and Glenda Jackson. I don’t recall this film at all, but I was muttering to myself that it has to be better than the newbie…it HAS to be.

I resented having to wade through the thick Scottish accents, and realized early on that I’d have to wait for a subtitled screener to understand all of the plot intrigues. It’s one of those historical flicks in which nothing is fully clear until you go to Wikipedia and read the actual histories.

I admired Saoirse Ronan‘s feisty performance as the titular character (she’s always good) but hated the blatant “acting” by the secondary characters. Every actor explicitly conveys how their character is feeling about what’s going on — whether they’re pleased, unhappy, sad, suspicious, unsettled or whatever — and after 15 minutes of this I was ready to scream. Please, assholes…stop “acting”!

I felt especially hostile to James McArdle‘s performance as the Earl of Moray, Mary’s resentful half-brother. My second most despised performance was Jack Lowden‘s as Lord Darnley — he preens, he poses, he goes down on Mary, etc.

Beau Willimon‘s screenplay is overly complex and labyrnthian — I gave up trying to follow all the twists, turns and betrayals, especially toward the end.

A Trump-appointed federal judge has ordered the White House to restore the press credentials of Jim Acosta of CNN. Obviously a huge win for journalism in a mano e mano, balls-to-the-wall confrontation with a totalitarian brute. The decision from Judge Timothy J. Kelly may be appealed by Trump lawyers, but they know it’s a losing brief. CNN argued that Acosta’s free speech and due process rights were violated when Trump had his “hard pass’ revoked; Trump attorneys replied that President Cheeto should have the option to bar any White House journalist he chooses (i.e., pisses him off) in order to guard against overly aggressive questioning.

Yesterday afternoon, as I was slowly making my way through a snow-and-ice storm in Fairfield County, the Wall Street Journal’s Tripp Mickle and Erin Schwartzel reported that Apple is teaming with A24 to make “independent” features. Tweeted by Washington Post entertainment guy Steven Zeitchik: “A24-Apple is about as smart as entertainment partnerships get. Apple just found a fast-track into the prestige-film game, and A24 has another financial backstop in case its hedge-fund backers go cold. Something for everybody.” If and when the Apple-A24 partnership generates an Oscar-worthy film, HE trusts that somebody at Apple will advise engaging with opinionated, longstanding, elite-eyeball sites (i.e., URLs that producers, directors and studio guys actually read) during Oscar season. Just a thought.