This sort of thing always tests relationships that are grounded in commercial filmmaking, creativity and collaboration. This isn’t my business and I’m not a gossip columnist, but if I were Noah Baumbach I might be feeling….what, a bit twitchy about this? Not necessarily “resentful” but not, shall we say, entirely at peace. By the way: I never realized that Baumbach’s brilliant Greenberg (’10), which delivers a very particular kind of neurotic morose humor and which is known for being something of a bust, grossed more than the two Baumbach-Gerwig collaborations, Frances Ha (’13) and Mistress America (’15), the latter being a crackerjack modern-day farce a la His Girl Friday.

Sunday night will be my first married New Year’s Eve since…Jesus, since ’90. My inclination has always been to stay the hell away from New Year’s Eve celebrations unless, you know, I’ve been invited to a private soiree of some kind, and even then I’m not without reluctance.

From a 12.30.16 piece called “Rookie Revelers”, which conveyed the same thing I say every year: “New Year’s Eve is commonly known among service industry types as ‘amateur night.’ Meaning that people who don’t go out or even drink much are suddenly out on the town, and for the most part spreading the noxious atmosphere of forced gaiety.

“People of character do one of three things on New Year’s Eve: (a) attend a smallish party with friends or hit a nice restaurant — anything but a loud, noisy gathering of any kind; (b) find some secluded spot with a great view of a big city or valley and just settle into the idea of watching distant fireworks and listening to the sounds of far-off honking and whoo-whooing; and/or (c) hit the hay by 1 or 1:30 am, tops.”

Filmmaker friend: Happy new year, man! And many cinematic feasts to come!
HE: Back at you…cheers! Are you a quiet, stay-home-by-the-fire guy on New Year’s Eve, sipping a cup of tea and maybe reading or watching a film? You just don’t seem like a party animal type. I’m sure not.
Filmmaker friend: I am in Mexico, travelling through small rural communities, really. I will be with the kids and my high school pal on New Year’s Eve, and will probably call [a pair of filmmaking friends] and that’s the night!
HE: Sounds good. Auld acquaintance.
Filmmaker friend: I am quite a hermit. Always have been.

I was under an impression that Paramount had decided not to run FYC ads for Alexander Payne‘s Downsizing, given the underwhelming response from critics and (from what I hear) industry audiences. But now they’re running ads on behalf of costar Hong Chau, who’s been nominated for Best Supporting Actress by the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, the HFPA (Golden Globe awards) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). Hollywood Elsewhere, which has run many FYC Paramount ads in years past, would’ve liked to have been in on this. Was I…what, punished for describing her character as “spirited, peg-legged and often hard to understand”? That doesn’t mean an Academy or SAG member couldn’t legitimately say “I liked her performance enough to nominate it.” Hollywood Elsewhere believes in striking performances!

This silent version of Chris Nolan‘s Dunkirk was made by an unnamed guy behind “Like Stories Of Old.” It strikes me as a bit less of a recreation of a silent-era short based on Dunkirk, and a bit more of an attempt to almost parody herky-jerky silent film action and the editing rhythms of the ’20s dramas. What’s the music from? Some highly-regarded film.

Roger Ebert once wrote that “the great movies enlarge us, they civilize us, they make us more decent people.” I’d like everyone reading this to stop what they’re doing for ten seconds, take a breath and ask themselves the following two questions: (a) “Has there ever been a Marvel or a D.C. Comics film that made you feel enlarged, more civilized and more decent after it was over?” and (b) “what 2017 films truly made you feel as Ebert described?”

As much as I adored Lady Bird and have often showered praise, I can’t honestly say that I felt enlarged by it. I didn’t feel the least bit more decent or civilized after seeing Get Out, I can tell you that. Ditto Sean Baker‘s The Florida Project, which affected me in a neighborhoody, human-friendly way but didn’t exactly gobsmack me. Ditto the commendable Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri — a well written, well performed thing that didn’t quite knock me down — and Michael Showalter’s The Big Sick, which I loved from the get-go and is easily among the year’s best.

But I did feel enlarged and civilized by Luca Guadagnino‘s Call Me My Your Name, Darren Aronofsky‘s mother!, Chris Nolan‘s Dunkirk, Olivier Assayas‘ Personal Shopper, Cristian Mungiu‘s Graduation, Matt Reeves‘ War For The Planet of the Apes, Andrey Zvyagintsev‘s Loveless, David Lowery‘s A Ghost Story and by Jake Gyllenhaal‘s performance in David Gordon Green‘s Stronger.

I couldn’t get worked up yesterday about the passing of one of showbiz’s toughest, spunkiest, hardest-working troupers. Where’s the heartache in Rose Marie having lived a rich 91 and 1/3 years? That said, I want to see that newish documentary (trailered after the jump) about her. Sidenote: When Maximilian Schell made his 1984 doc about Marlene Dietrich, the legendary 83 year-old star refused to be photographed, presumably for reasons of vanity. I think she had the right idea.

The N.Y. Times and director Floria Sigismondi have posted ten short “frightening” films starring six well-hyped, widely-praised award contenders plus four other fine actors who aren’t really in the conversation. The best efforts, far and away, are “The Mannequin” with Saoirse Ronan and “The Demon Child” with The Florida Project‘s Brooklyn Prince. My third, fourth and fifth favorites are “The Damned” with Jake Gyllenhaal, “The Cannibal” with Timothee Chalamet and “The Possessed” with Nicole Kidman. I didn’t care for “The Psycho Killer” because Daniel Kaluuya smokes a cigarette — a cheap actor’s crutch. Again, the link.

“This oh-so-serious, hysteria-tinged drama, which is impossible to write about without spoilers, plays as if it might have come from Yorgos Lanthimos’ bin of discarded ideas. A prestige cast including Eva Green, Charlotte Rampling and Charles Dance will entice distributors to take a look, but the post-screening take-away is definitely not happiness or excitement, but rather something that could be described by other ‘e’ words — such as excruciating and embarrassing.

“Even if audiences find themselves able to remain in their seats until the end of Euphoria (men, especially, fled the TIFF press and industry screening in droves), the catharsis feels fake and unearned. Moreover, the film lacks the warmth and respect for all of of its characters displayed in [director Lisa] Langseth’s previous work.” — from Alissa Simon‘s Variety review of Euphoria, posted from Toronto on 9.8.17.

No, I don’t believe that “Disney is bracing themselves for the Han Solo movie to bomb,” as Screengeek’s Simon Andrews reported five days ago, citing “a source close to the film’s production.” (I don’t think producers or Disney execs would admit this to themselves, much less whisper it to confidantes.) And I don’t believe “they’re essentially writing Solo off,” that “the script is unworkable” and that “it’s going to be a car crash.” I think this is unreliable trash talk.

Possibly bogus Solo ad art that came out of Russia.

But I do believe and was saying six months ago that Alden Ehrenreich is the wrong guy to play the young Han Solo, and that the film, however it turns out, won’t get much charisma bounce from his performance. “A seemingly joyless, small-shouldered guy who lacks a sense of physical dominance (Aldenreich is five inches shorter than the 6’2” Ford) and whose stock-in-trade is a kind of glum, screwed-down seriousness,” I wrote last June.

I don’t know when the Solo trailer is going to pop, but it would have made sense to attach it to The Last Jedi, no? If it’s not debuting before the 12.31.17, it’ll almost certainly appear sometime in January.

“What Steven Spielberg is really up to in The Post is preparing us for what lies ahead, possibly in 2018. The movie implicitly asks: If the war in Vietnam called for the Pentagon Papers, what does the situation today call for?

“As of now, we’re talking about two potential catastrophes: (1) the firing of Robert Mueller, which if it occurs over the next several months, with a Republican Congress in place, would provoke a constitutional crisis in which the essential meaning of American checks and balances will be hanging in the balance; and (2) the potential for the hostility between Trump and Kim Jong-un, the ruler of North Korea, to boil over into a nuclear conflagration.

“Faced with the prospect of either of those circumstances, what are the forces of American media going to do then? Publish some leaked memos?” Wells interjection: Or release the pee-pee tape? Back to Gleiberman: Or are they going to look for, and discover, a way to report on — and influence — what’s happening that transcends what their modus operandi has been up until now? Maybe the issue of the president’s mental health needs to be placed front and center in a way that’s only just beginning to happen. Maybe liberal journalists need to think of forging a revolutionary new alliance with Republican lawmakers, or America’s military leaders, to ferret out how privately aghast many of them are at the president they’ve now slithered into bed with.

“Obviously, I’m not implying I have the answer; no one does. But the point is that extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. And that, rather than boomer nostalgia for a golden oldie of ’70s journalism, is the real message of The Post” — from “Why The Post Backlash Misses the Movie’s Real Message,” posted by Variety‘s Owen Gleiberman earlier today.

Hollywood Elsewhere has been attending the Fox Searchlight viewing and after-party at the Golden Globe awards for…what, four or five years? It’s always been held at a special temporary Fox pavilion tent adjacent to the Beverly Hilton, but this year it’s happening on a Beverly Hilton rooftop terrace, which I’m told is “much” smaller, and so guest lists are being trimmed. Yeah, I’ve been bumped along with other “press guests” and even some Fox staffers.

The party is held in honor of Fox Searchlight (which is having a big nomination year with Three Billboards and The Shape of Water), 20th Century Fox (All The Money in the World), Fox Broadcasting, FX, Fox Int’l, Hulu and other divisions. The Amazon guys are back in the Stardust penthouse again, and Focus Features (Phantom Thread, Darkest Hour) is having a GG party in the vicinity.

I’ve studied the FS viewing-party crowds over the past few years, and I’ve never recognized anyone. A lot of 20somethings, Fox staffers plus friends from ad and talent agencies, etc.

Why would the Fox family decide to hold their party in a smaller space when they’re enjoying a banner year in terms of nominations? To save money?

Despite the crunch I have a sneaking suspicion that many of the usual press suspects — Kris Tapley, Pete Hammond, Anne Thompson, Sharon Waxman, Steve Pond, Eric Kohn, Scott Feinberg, Kyle Buchanan, Tom O’Neil, Rebecca Keegan — will somehow attend the Fox thing anyway.