The dicks at AT&T are shutting down Filmstruck because it isn’t making enough money. Here’s the HE piece I’ve written about it, and here’s a change.org petition against ATT’s decision. If nothing is done Filmstruck will vaporize on 11.29.18. If you believe in fairies…

One of my fondest childhood memories (cliche!) is lying in bed at night and listening to not-so-distant freight and passenger trains clattering along, and especially to that whauugghh sound, that honky, drawn-out groan…one of the great all-time reminders that life pushes on and that endeavor and industry never sleep, which is generally comforting.

There’s a train track a few hundred feet from the condo where I’m staying in Wilton, Connecticut, and every night I hear that sound.

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An unoriginal observation, sharing it anyway: Harry Davenport (1866 – 1949) was perhaps the greatest old-guy character actor in Hollywood history. It was Bette Davis‘ view that Davenport was “without a doubt the greatest character actor of all time.”

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Hollywood Elsewhere and Blackfilm.com’s Wilson Morales did a chat earlier today. I tried to keep our discussion to 30 minutes, but it went 42. Largely because Wilson’s so easy to talk to. Whatever the topic, we always seem to fall into the old yappity-yap and the time just flies.

Here’s the mp3.

Wilson is a fascinating guy — split between his natural ability to step back and offer complex analysis of how this or that film may perform commercially or within the award-season bubble, and a streak of constant compulsive honesty.

I wish I could say that we stepped outside the box and explored unusual topics today, but I’m afraid we stuck to the usual-usual — new films (like Steven Caple, Jr.‘s Creed II, which pops on 11.21), Best Picture contenders, Mahershala Ali, the likeliest Best Actor and Best Actress nominees, etc.

Luca Guadagnino‘s Suspiria (Amazon, 10.26) has brought distress and left me glum and conflicted. I’m torn by my admiration and affection for a great filmmaker and a wonderful human being and my…well, my troubled responses to this strange detour film. It’s put me in a bad, self-doubting place, and as wimpy as this sounds I think my reactions to Suspiria are probably best left alone.

Am I chickening out? Yes, I am — sorry. But this is what happens when you know a guy who’s made a striking, complex film that’s put you in a weird place.

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AT&T, owner of WarnerMedia, Turner and Warner Bros. Digital Networks, is shutting down Filmstruck because it isn’t making enough money. I only just signed up for the service in mid-August, buying a full year’s subscription, and now it’s toast? Filmstruck will disappear on 11.29.18.

A Variety story, quoting a source familiar with AT&T’s strategy, is reporting that AT&T “is looking to eliminate peripheral projects that aren’t major producers of revenue.” Fucking weasels. Soulless corporate dicks. How about serving that portion of the public that really likes having pay services like Filmstruck and the Criterion Channel?

So how do I get my money back? Filmstruck’s farewell message says that “all current FilmStruck subscribers will receive an email with details about your account and the refund process as applicable. Please see the options below for more information or email the customer service team at help@filmstruck.com.”

Metro report, 11:06 am: “Police have arrested a 56 year-old Republican named Cesar Sayoc, Jr. on suspicion of being the MAGA bomber who sent 12 pipe bombs to Democrats and Donald Trump critics. Sayoc was taken into custody close to an auto parts store in Plantation, a suburb of Miami, around 10:30 Friday morning. He was traced by DNA evidence.

“Law enforcement officials were seen covering a white van close to the scene, which appears to be covered in photos of Donald Trump, and is reported to have at least one anti-Hillary Clinton sticker. That van was seen being loaded onto a police flatbed truck. Plantation is located in the congressional district of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, whose last name (misspelled) was listed on the packages.”

Incidentally: I’ll bet that on some level Sen. Corey Booker (D., New Jersey) felt left out yesterday when it appeared as if he hadn’t been sent a MAGA bomb package. Well, today he joined the club.

I’ve never heard of a ball-fetching cattle in all my years on this planet, and I’d certainly never seen one until this morning. This was posted less than month ago (9.26.18). I don’t usually share inane stuff but this stands out. Possibly a Charolais bovine, which is native to the Burgundy region of France?

How about a list of bad or dreary movies with brilliant titles? This is a thing, no? Titles that are so zestily inviting and perfectly catchy that you want to see them right away, but then the movie turns out to be an amateurish slog.

And I’m not thinking of, say, Surf Nazis Must Die — a Troma title that told you right off the bat that it was almost certainly cheap garbage. But Ilsa, She-Wolf of the S.S., a title from the mind of director-writer Don Edmonds or screenwriter Jonah Royston, turned a certain lock in the mind, unleashing all kinds of dopey B&D leather-pervo fantasies plus hints of wicked humor.

For years I loved this stupid title without having seen the film. Then I finally saw it on DVD in the late ’90s, and my whole Ilsa realm was shattered. The reviewers weren’t wrong when they called it dreary torture porn. But you still have to admire the title. And it did well enough to inspire four sequels — Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks, Ilsa, The Mad Butcher, Ilsa, Tigress of Siberia and Ilsa, the Wicked Warden.

I was going also going to ask for the reverse — a list of unusually good or even excellent films that were saddled with a curious, interest-killing title. But there aren’t very many of these — Edge of Tomorrow, Quantum of Solace, Under Capricorn, Chartreuse Caboose, etc.

I first looked at this President Trump tweet around 6 am, and it had a 3:14 am timestamp. Another Twitter user made note of the unusual hour. According to this White House schedule Trump was in D.C. last night. Now it has a 12:14 am timestamp, except he wasn’t in California last night. Plus another timestamp says it was posted “6h” ago,” and it’s now around 9:30 am eastern. I’m presuming that somehow a staffer managed to change the timestamp as the notion of Trump tweeting at 3:14 am suggests the behavior of an unruly insomniac. He’s apparently done this before, having tweeted something at 3:15 am on 9.17.18.

A couple of hours ago I flashed on a 10.26 Hollywood Reporter interview with Shoplifters costar Maya Maysuoka, who’s 23. The co-authors of the piece, Patrick Brzeski and Georg Szalai, don’t use the word “rising” but the headline does. That’s because she’s caught on with a certain strata of film-festival-attending critics and columnists, but primarily because she’s perky, dishy, button-cute, etc. If I wanted to be coarse I’d…naahh, forget it.

I missed Shoplifters when I was in Cannes last May, but the word of mouth was such that I was surprised when it won the Palme d’Or. (Nobody grabbed me by the lapels and said “you must see the Hirokazu Kore-eda…it’s awesome!”) I recently saw Shoplifters at the Hamptons Film Festival, and I have to say that while I found it a confident, first-rate expression of its own tattered, downtrodden, hand-to-mouth realm, I was only mildly stirred and frankly not blown away.

But I liked Maysuoka right off the bat. My reactions to her character and performance were not limited to “she’s hot,” but she made that kind of impression. Certain actresses have been exerting this effect for roughly a century. Naturally Brzeski and Szalai’s article doesn’t even glance in this direction. It would obviously be tedious to do so, but still.

Shoplifters costar Maya Maysuoka

WHE’s 4K Ultra HD Bluray of Stanley Kubrick‘s 2001: A Space Odyssey has been a long time coming, and has gone through some delays and odd changes along the way.

Last spring it was being prepared in the usual way, allegedly based on elements that would have rendered a visual look similar to the 2007 Bluray version. The original release date was 5.8.18.

Then Chris Nolan‘s non-restored version, infamously tinted teal and piss yellow, debuted in Cannes and opened in select U.S. theatres. It was soon after announced that the 4K disc would be based upon the Nolan version, and widespread depression was felt across the land. It was also announced that the release date of the Nolan-ized disc would be 10.30.18.

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