I'll tell ya where. A black and an Asian dude turn up at the 1:24 mark so let's not hear any shit talk about He's Just Not That Into You (New Line, 2.6.09) being some kind of white-ass, whiter-than-white heart of darkness romcom. 15 years ago, and it feels like a half-century. The makers of this film knew they should've blacked it up more, but they dropped the ball.
Login with Patreon to view this post
Yesterday New Yorker critic Richard Brody posted the following comparison between Barbie and 2001: A Space Odyssey (which Barbie briefly spoofed, of course, by aping the “Dawn of Man” sequence):
This is primarily a political tweet, of course. Brody is giving Barbie director Greta Gerwig a sympathetc fistbump after she was snubbed for a Best Director Oscar nomination last Tuesday.
I also think Brody likes to throw around eccentric, extreme opinions. Does he really, actually think Barbie is a “better” film than Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 mastepiece? Maybe, but I doubt it. I think he mainly wants the congnoscenti and the wokerati to consider that he might be the Albert Einstein of film critics…that he’s seeing things on a white-light, laser-beam level no one else has quite managed…that he’s some kind of Rasputin-like genius.
I understand that sometimes the best writing happens when you don’t think it through that much in advance. Just go with it, jump off a cliff and see where it all lands. But once you get into the afore-mentioned Rasputin provocation game (not a fact but a perception on my part) what you write becomes more performative than persuasive.
HE thinks it will be a better thing if American Fiction's Sterling K. Brown wins the Best Supporting Actor Oscar, and in so doing denies Barbie's Ryan Gosling his moment in the sun. Because the outraged reactions to Greta Gerwig not being nominated for Best Director have been excessive, and Gosling, I feel, needs to be disciplined for throwing fuel on the fire.
Login with Patreon to view this post
The vast majority of well-regarded films shot in frigid temperatures share a basic visual trait — snowscapes.
Thehighestrankingmembersofthisfraternityinclude Fargo,TheRevenant, TheHatefulEight, The Dead Zone, the ‘51 and ‘82 versions of The Thing, The Shining, Cliffhanger, Snowpiercer, Everest, Misery, SocietyoftheSnow and, last but not necessarily least, thecurrentlyunfolding True Detective: Night Country.
But there have been damn few shot in miserably cold climes that aren’t swamped in whiteness, and there may, in fact, be only two of these: Elia Kazan’s OnTheWaterfront (‘54) and William Freidkin’s TheFrenchConnection (‘71).
I’m not saying there aren’t more that qualify in this regard; I’m saying I can’t think of any.
I realize that only a morally bankrupt admirer of a director who behaved selfishly and hurtfully 45 years ago would even flirt with paying to see RomanPolanski’s WWII-era masterpiece, but…
When I was a young buck I had this primal thing for Jovanmuskcologne, which hit stores sometime in the mid ‘70s. The scent did something to me, and perhaps for me. I had this possibly bogus idea, you see, that occasional Jovan slap-ons might have upped my batting average, which was in the .350 to .400 range during the Ford, Carter and Reagan administrations.
Yesterday I bought a reduced-cost bottle of the stuff (CVS discount) and the scent just time-travelled me…whoooosh! Decades were erased in a flash. I was suddenly Marty McFly, driving my 1975 VW Fastback and wearing flared jeans and puka shells and Frye boots. Aromas are as good for time travel as Rod Taylor’s valour-seat, spinning-wheel device in George Pal’s TheTimeMachine (‘60).
From Doug Liman‘s 1.24.24 Deadline essay, in which he explains his decision to not attend Road House‘s SXSW premiere on March 8th:
“The action [in Road House] is ground-breaking. And Jake Gyllenhaal gives a career-defining performance in a role he was born to play.
“Alas, Amazon has no interest in supporting cinemas. Amazon will exclusively stream Road House on Amazon’s Prime. Amazon asked me and the film community to trust them and their public statements about supporting cinemas, and then they turned around and are using Road House to sell plumbing fixtures.
“That hurts the filmmakers and stars of Road House who don’t share in the upside of a hit movie on a streaming platform.
“And they deprive Jake Gyllenhaal — who gives a career-best performance — the opportunity to be recognized come award season. But the impact goes far beyond this one movie. This could be industry shaping for decades to come.”
HE to Liman: I’ve always loved Jake and I’ve loved many of your films (Swingers, Go, The Bourne Identity, Fair Game, Edge of Tomorrow, American Made), but there’s no way in hell Jake’s Road House performance will be part of the Best Actor discussion at the end of this year. You can’t play a Zen-minded bouncer in a Florida Keys bar and expect any kind of award-season attention…forget it, man.
For what it’s worth, I’d love to see Road House in a theatre.
I'll tell ya where. A black and an Asian dude turn up at the 1:24 mark so let's not hear any shit talk about He's Just Not That Into You (New Line, 2.6.09) being some kind of white-ass, whiter-than-white heart of darkness romcom. 15 years ago, and it feels like a half-century. The makers of this film knew they should've blacked it up more, but they dropped the ball.
Login with Patreon to view this post