“Lady & The Tramp” Wrapping Soon in Savannah

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A live-action CG-hybrid version of Lady and the Tramp was shooting in the Chippewa Square region of Savannah yesterday. The Disney production, which is calling itself Goodbye Stranger for some reason, had de-aged the area with the surrounding streets covered in soil. I noticed a dog-catcher wagon parked near the northern fence. Filming began on 9.10 and is expected to end on 11.7, or a week from today. The voice actors are Tessa Thompson (Lady), Justin Theroux (Tramp), Janelle Monae, Ashley Jensen, Benedict Wong, Sam Elliott, Kiersey Clemons.

HE to a couple of heavyish, middle-aged production guys standing around: “What’s the show? Is it…?”
Employee #1: “It’s not a show — it’s a movie.”
Employee #2: “An animated movie.”
HE: “Well, whenever something is shooting in New York or Los Angeles they call it a ‘show.'”
Employee #2: “It’s called Goodbye Stranger.”
HE: “I heard it was Lady and the Tramp.”
Employee #1: “For now it’s Goodbye Stranger.”
HE: “Okay.”

Final Comparison

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Despite clear evidence to the contrary, a couple of readers were still insisting a couple of days ago that WHE’s forthcoming 4K 2001: A Space Odyssey Bluray (11.20) is based upon the unrestored Chris Nolan nostalgia version that played in theatres last summer. That dog doesn’t hunt any more. Because it’s really, obviously not.

I agree that the Nolan authorship seemed apparent last June when WHE publicists told the world that the 4K version had been “built on the work done for the new 70mm prints” (i.e., Nolan’s yellow and teal-tinted version that premiered in Cannes). Then they double-confirmed this by releasing a 4K disc trailer that contained the dreaded yellowish-teal tinting. But somewhere along the road WHE honcho Ned Price got cold feet and decided to deliver a 4K Bluray that would present Stanley Kubrick‘s classic as it actually looked when it opened in 1968. Go figure.

The evidence is indisputable in these Discovery-tunnel comparison shots — one from the Nolan, the other from the 4K.


“Yellow peril” Nolan version.

From Bill Hunt’s pixel-capturing of 4K disc.

Bring The Ugly

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Make no mistake — President Trump is just as responsible for last weekend’s synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh as if he pulled the trigger himself. He might have similarly licked the stamps for Cesar Sayoc as he prepared his manila MAGAbomb envelopes for the post office. Six days ago Trump more or less goaded Gregory Bush to try and shoot up a predominantly black Louisville church — when Bush couldn’t get in he shot and killed two African Americans at a supermarket.

There’s simply no way to credibly deny that Trump isn’t the orchestrator, ringleader and rank spiritual father of all this hate and horror. And I guess given this state of affairs, I’m a little disappointed that only a thousand people gathered this afternoon near the Tree of Life synagogue as Donald, Melania, Ivanka and Jared visited the synagogue to pay their respects and blah blah. Seems like an insufficient response to an obviously odious political charade.

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Hollywood Halloween

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Below is a shot of Indiewire film honcho Eric Kohn (black suit, shades) and a group of Halloween revelers in standard Kubrick-tribute garb (The Shining, Eyes Wide Shut, Full Metal Jacket, etc.). I’m more into jack-o-lantern minimalism — for the last couple of years I’ve worn a simple leather face mask that I bought in Venice, Italy.

But if I wanted to wear a serious Kubrick-inspired outfit and if I had the time and the extra scratch, I would waltz around Savannah as either (a) Peter Sellers‘ President Merkin Muffley in Dr. Strangelove (bald head cap, glasses, gray suit and tie with three-pointed handkerchief), (b) Sellers’ Dr. Strangelove himself (wheelchair, glasses, light brown upswept hair, shiny black glove on right hand) or (c) Kirk Douglas‘ Colonel Dax in Paths of Glory (French officer military outfits, steel helmet, knee-high boots, metal whistle around neck).


Kohn and the gang.

Peter Sellers as Dr. Strangelove

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Full Submission, Same Deal

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Last night I saw all of Karyn Kusama‘s Destroyer (Annapurna, 12.25) — the whole 123-minute package. And I felt just as dismayed and under-nourished as I did after catching the first 90 minutes worth in Telluride (“Pains of Hell,” 9.1.18).

I was kicked, beaten up, spat upon and slapped around for walking out before my Telluride screening ended, but my assessment this morning is exactly the same. It’s still a nihilistic, dispiriting renegade-cop noir that is mainly about how Nicole Kidman‘s burnt-out-zombie makeup.

It’s stylistically impressive — Kusama does well by the rules and expectations of the urban cop genre — but pretentious and labored, and at least 20 minutes too long.

Kidman plays Erin Bell, a wasted, walking-dead Los Angeles detective trying to settle some bad business and save her daughter from a life of crime and misery. And I’m sorry but the verdict is the same — she gives a fully-invested performance but at least 75% of Kidman’s dialogue disappears into the ether because she whispers it in a kind of raspy, breathy, throat-cancer tone of voice.

Every so often I would hear a word or make out a phrase, but the only way I’m going to fully understand what Bell was saying is when I watch Destroyer with subtitles. And no, it’s not my hearing. It’s Kusama telling Kidman “go ahead, do the raspy, whispery thing…I like it.”

Okay, the ending is reasonably satisfying — it ties the story together by linking back to the opening scene. I said to myself “okay, not bad…a decent way to wrap things up.”

Last night’s Savannah Film Festival screening happened at the SCAD Trustees theatre on Broughton. I left with a sense of completion and satisfaction. For I am perceptive enough to recognize a problematic film without seeing it all the way to the end. The 90 minutes that I experienced in Telluride were not and are not substantially different than the full-boat version that I saw last night.

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Asinine Rogen-Cronkite Casting Goes South

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On 10.26 Collider‘s Jeff Sneider tweeted that “Seth Rogen is no longer playing Walter Cronkite” in David Gordon Green‘s Newsflash, a drama about the reporting of JFK’s assassination on 11.22.63. The project, based on a script by Ben Jacoby, was first announced around 10 months ago.

Question to God as well as HE readership: Has there ever been a dumber, more completely idiotic casting decision than the idea of Seth Rogen being the right guy to play Walter effing Cronkite? Rogen doesn’t look or sound remotely like the Real McCoy, doesn’t have the voice, and could never deliver the stodgy newsroom attitude and the diligent, old-school-commentator vibe…forget it. Plus he’s at least ten years too young.

Had it happened, this would be have been the worst casting since Leonardo DiCaprio was chosen by Clint Eastwood to play J. Edgar Hoover.

What are some of the other whoppingly absurd casting calls of the 21st Century? Include the 20th if you want.

Incidentally: If someone has a PDF of Jacoby’s script, please send it along.

20 Years Ago Today (Sort Of)

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Eight months ago I mentioned that my 20-year anniversary as an online columnist was approaching, and then I forgot to mention it when the day occured (roughly 10.10.18). So I’m celebrating today with a bike ride in Forsyth Park — no champagne, 20 days late. Those who believe in the HE narrative (or, if you will, the yellow-sneaker HE fairy) could, if they’re so inclined, join the throng by signing up for HE-plus. A birthday-cake cheer as I blow out the candles. Purely optional.

It’s understood that I get stuff wrong all the time. Sometimes I make factual errors, overstate things, resort to inelegant phrasing, etc. But I always correct these boners within hours so all is forgiven. What should I do to increase the chances that I’ll be in business for the next 20 years? And don’t give me that “online columnists will be extinct in 20 years” bullshit. Or that I’ll be too withered or scattered to bang out interesting riffs. Be constructive. 11:25 am update: No responses — cool. Then I’m pretty much doing it right. Thanks!

[Click through to full story on HE-plus]

Yokel Factor

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Even in mellow, cultured, sophisticated Savannah, a blue city in a purple state, bumblefuck sentiments pop through here and there.