Paul Mescal as Weak-Ass William Shakespeare...My Heart Sinks
April 24, 2025
Ethical "Pitt" Pothole Turns Me Off
April 23, 2025
"It's Really Good To Know..."
April 22, 2025
…for standing by AmericanFiction through thick and thin. The enthusiasm for therespectablebutnotgreat AnatomyofaFall has eluded me for months. I had resigned myself to a PastLives nomination…fine. And Maestro got nominated along with Bradley Cooper!
Another surprise nomination…no real enthusiasm for his Rustin performance…pretty much ignored by handicappers…doesn’t add up but fine. Congrats to all.
Whom noone expected to be nominated for Best Supporting Actor. A very pronounced, amusing, take-it-or-leave-it performance. Charles Melton dismissed. Sorry about Dominic Sessa but I never expected that to happen.
Director Norman Jewison lived a long, rich and productive life…97 years worth. But I have to be honest and say that that only three of his films really hit the spot for me — The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (’66), In the Heat of the Night (’67) and Moonstruck (’87).
It’s not easy to make even a mediocre film, and it’s quite the achievement to hit one out of the park. Jewison did this three times — stiff salute, full respect, good fellow.
Otherwise I could never even watch Fiddler on the Roof (’71). I was bored by The Cincinnati Kid (’65). I liked the split-screen gimmick and the sexually suggestive chess game in The Thomas Crown Affair (’68) but otherwise meh.
Jesus Christ Superstar (’73) was okay for a single viewing. I’ve never re-watched Rollerball (’75), F.I.S.T. (’78), …And Justice for All (’79), Best Friends (’82), A Soldier’s Story (’84), and Agnes of God (’85).
Jewison’s ’90s films (Other People’s Money, Only You, The Hurricane, The Statement) never did anything to me or for me. I’m sorry but they didn’t.
Last weekend Sutton (26 months) made it through her first full-length movie in a movie theatre — Wonka. When Jett was two he watched LawrenceofArabia (i.e., “camels”) at least two or three times; ditto E.T., TheExtra–Terrestrial (i.e., “E.T. home”).
Bill McCuddy: “Tuesday morning’s Academy nomination are going to lean into Maestro more than you think.”
HEtoMcCuddy: “Carey Mulligan will be nominated, of course. Anything above and beyond will be surprising but welcome. I’ve been a devoutworshipperfromtheget–go, but so many people have a bug up their ass about it. “
“Not happening…way too laid back…zero narrative urgency,” I was muttering from the get-go. Basically the sixth episode of White Lotus Thai SERIOUSLY disappoints. Puttering around, way too slow. Things inch along but it’s all “woozy guilty lying aftermath to the big party night” stuff. Glacial pace…waiting, waiting. I was told...
I finally saw Walter Salles' I'm Still Here two days ago in Ojai. It's obviously an absorbing, very well-crafted, fact-based poltical drama, and yes, Fernanda Torres carries the whole thing on her shoulders. Superb actress. Fully deserving of her Best Actress nomination. But as good as it basically is...
After three-plus-years of delay and fiddling around, Bernard McMahon's Becoming Led Zeppelin, an obsequious 2021 doc about the early glory days of arguably the greatest metal-rock band of all time, is opening in IMAX today in roughly 200 theaters. Sony Pictures Classics is distributing. All I can say is, it...
To my great surprise and delight, Christy Hall's Daddio, which I was remiss in not seeing during last year's Telluride Film Festival, is a truly first-rate two-hander -- a pure-dialogue, character-revealing, heart-to-heart talkfest that knows what it's doing and ends sublimely. Yes, it all happens inside a Yellow Cab on...
7:45 pm: Okay, the initial light-hearted section (repartee, wedding, hospital, afterlife Joey Pants, healthy diet) was enjoyable, but Jesus, when and how did Martin Lawrence become Oliver Hardy? He’s funny in that bug-eyed, space-cadet way… 7:55 pm: And now it’s all cartel bad guys, ice-cold vibes, hard bullets, bad business,...