The last portion of this recently-posted, English-market Amour trailer, lasting roughly 35 to 40 seconds, is brilliant. Especially the last 10 seconds or so. But you have to watch the whole thing. It only passes along a sequence that’s in Michael Haneke‘s film, but it does so in just the right way.

Am I a dispassionate pundit, weighing the relative merits and demerits of this and that film with a sense of fairness, restraint and balance? Uhm, nope. I have strong feelings yea and nay, and I let fly and play favorites during award season. It’s certainly no secret that I’m in the tank for Silver Linings Playbook, and that I’ve been setting up camp in this tank since Toronto. And so last night I co-hosted a special SLP screening along with director-producer JJ Abrams at Bad Robot in Santa Monica.

Invitation art styled by Dylan Wells.

Six or seven or eight HE readers attended along with Abrams, director Charles Shyer and various journalist pallies. Here are some reactions:

Variety‘s Jeff Sneider: “I just wanted to thank you and J.J. Abrams for hosting last night’s screening of Silver Linings Playbook at Bad Robot, which has one of the coolest offices I’ve ever seen. I could’ve spent all night admiring the artwork (both professional and amateur) lining the walls, as well as the numerous knick-knacks in the lobby.

“I thought David O. Russell did a great job with the movie, which was fantastic and is, in my mind, a sure-fire Best Picture nominee. Bradley Cooper displayed more range than I’d ever seen from him, and Jennifer Lawrence was a human stick of dynamite. But oddly enough, it was Robert De Niro who I came away most impressed with. I thought he was note-perfect, and I’m surprised he’s not being leading the Best Supporting Actor conversation. Perhaps he is in some circles, though Lawrence and to a lesser extent Cooper seem to have dominated the awards prospects for the film. I thought De Niro’s scenes with Cooper were messy and real and wonderful, clearly the result of developing some chemistry during Limitless.

“I loved the quirky tone of the script and how it could veer from funny to serious from one line to the next. I was also impressed with the editing, which did a nice job of conveying the manic energy of the characters. But aside from the movie itself, it was just nice to sit down in a comfortable screening room surrounded by like-minded movie lovers, some of whom I met during the pre-screening cocktail hour. J.J. and the rest of the Bad Robot staff were very gracious hosts, and it was a pleasure to share an evening with a carefully selected group of your friends and readers. Thanks again for having me.”

Director-writer Charles Shyer (Baby Boom, Father of the Bride, Affair of the Necklace, Alfie): “I don’t know where to begin. There was absolutely nothing predictable about this film…except of course, that the picture, the actors, the screenplay, and the direction are all going to be nominated for Oscars…and that most will win.”

HE reader “Lane”: “Silver Linings Playbook is a human dramedy that explodes with exuberance, pathos, and empathy. Some have described it as Capra-esque, and I agree, if Capra were making films for the ADD generation. Much has been said of Jennifer Lawrence, and yes, she’s fantastic, but this is Bradley Cooper‘s film. Like Jack Black did in Bernie, Cooper completely escapes into the role and is absolutely invested, convincing and on-target as Pat. A nomination is absolutely in order, and if the award was given for sheer emotional investment to a role, he would win.

“And it’s so fantastic to see Robert DeNiro back in form. There wasn’t an off moment for him. He nearly brought me to tears and it just shows what he is still capable of with great writing.

“The film plays at a breakneck speed, which wonderfully mirrors the psychological state of Cooper’s Pat Solitano. The second half starts to feel more ‘normal,’ but this also mirrors Pat’s psyche. Some have complained that the second half falls into more traditional ‘romantic comedy’ tropes. But I think they’re missing the point. It’s a fantastic use of editing and pacing that only enhances this emotionally and intellectually engaging piece.

“With so much going on, this is a character piece through and through, and it takes a talent as supreme as David O. Russell to rein it all in and feel methodical and complete. With its generous screenplay and performances, a deliberate and cohesive aesthetic, a rocking soundtrack, and a strong sense of empathy, Silver Linings Playbook is a crowd-pleasing gem.

(l. to r.) Once Upon A Time co-scripter Vladimir Cvetko, editor David Scott Smith, Graemme McGavin at Bad Robot complex following Monday night’s screening.

‘We don’t see this alchemy achieved very often or so well in today’s movies. Sorry, Argo — you’ve got nothing on SLP. With many deserving contenders this year, I’d be happy if Silver Linings Playbook took Best Picture. Tackling so many genres throughout his career, with a clear voice and vision, O. Russell has cemented himself as one of America’s best.”

L.A. Daily News critic/staffer Bob Strauss: “Silver Linings Playbook not only presents us with the best acting jobs of Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence‘s careers; Masanobu Takayanagi‘s cinematography is in perfect, jittery harmony with their characters’ volatile mannerisms. Who knew such an edgy style was even possible? Probably Russell, who’s chased this kind of look in several films but has never quite gotten it nailed this smooth and precisely.”

HE reader “Buster”: “SLP was challenging, which was good, but filled with unlikable characters and improbable situations, not quite as far-fetched as I Heart Huckabees but still in that wheelhouse of steaming hot psychobabble that likely comes from too many years of therapy. From this collection of clinically crazy characters, omniscient shrinks and shrieking parents came something completely unexpected and welcome.

“Particularly in the form of Jennifer Lawrence’s portrayal of Tiffany, a seriously ‘wounded bird” who deals with her dead husband by becoming a nymphomaniac, a woman with a heart of gold and a mouth that makes men melt.

“Jeffrey Wells has compared Lawrence to Shirley MacLaine‘s Fran Kubelik in The Apartment. I wouldn’t go nearly as far. MacLaine did a lot more with a lot less than Lawrence does here. Still, Lawrence is a joy to behold, and — apart from her physical attributes — knows how to make the most of a glance, a smile or other small gestures. Jeff seems right in giving her a near-lock on the Best Actress Oscar, at least as far as I can tell this far in the Academy sweepstakes.

“And I can see a slew of other nominations but few if any wins for the rest of the Silver Linings crew — Bradley Cooper in the lead role of an obsessed psycho, Robert DeNiro as his gambling fool of a father, and Jacki Weaver as his long-suffering mom. The movie zips along with rarely a dull moment, the music selections are mostly spot-on (although I occasionally wondered why a 1969 Stevie Wonder song pushed Cooper over the edge, yet he could dance effortlessly to a somewhat similar 1973 Wonder number, ‘Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing’).

“This is a movie you’ll recommend to your cinema-loving friends, but steer your dopey movie pals far away to something safe and fun like Skyfall or Argo. Because, like it or not, Silver Linings Playbook isn’t safe or fun — it’s actually pretty sick, but even with a slightly cop-out Hollywood ending, it’s also pretty smart.”

HE reader Jesse Crall: “In a crude fashion, I can divide David O. Russell‘s films into two categories: (a) Intense subjects handled with dark comedic flourishes and (b) more playful exercises twisted by surreal qualities. The Fighter, Three Kings and Spanking the Monkey fit the former, and Flirting With Disaster, I Heart Huckabees, and now Silver Linings Playbook fall into the latter — ostensible comedies that refuse to adhere to genre or tonal expectations.

“Silver Linings is the best comedy Russell’s ever directed. Like The Fighter, he takes a worn premise and turns it into a special viewing experience thanks to the careful manner through which he presents his subjects.

“Like Lincoln, Silver Linings arrives with a built-in ending, but while Spielberg and company opt for appropriate sepia tones and a reserved presentation, Russell lets his film unfold in a skewed manner unlike any mainstream comedy this year. Like the best works of Hal Ashby (Shampoo, Harold and Maude), Silver Linings embraces the capacity for high comedy and conflict that emerge through the genuine interactions between eccentric personalities.

Invitation styled by Mark Frenden.

“Among Russell’s comedies, it feels the most representative of honest relationships, lacking the philosophical satire of Huckabees or screwball elements of Flirting With Disaster. It understands its universe, finds the right place to jump in, and foregoes distracting embellishments for a poignant look at how even turbulence can produce the well-earned silver linings so earnestly sought by Bradley Cooper‘s Pat and Jennifer Lawrence‘s Tiffany.

“Despite its romcom plot, Silver Linings is shot in gray tones to match Philadelphia’s autumn skies. Extreme close-ups of faces inject the viewer into characters’ lives, sometimes intrusively to highlight their claustrophobic mental realms. A stand-out scene features Cooper thrashing through a late-night manic episode with frantic cuts scored to Zeppelin’s unwieldy rocker ‘What is and What Should Never Be,’ an unnerving scene that substantially enhances the path to the film’s eventual resolution.

“Lawrence, a grounded, sturdy force in the wilds of Winter’s Bone and The Hunger Games, ironically moves with feral qualities in the suburban settings of Silver Linings. Whip-smart, pissed off and sexually entangled, her unstable Tiffany matches the neuroses of Cooper’s Pat, a manic-depressive prone to enraged outbursts and sudden infusions of unrestrained enthusiasm. Both characters keep their bodies moving through jogging, though dance, through fighting…Cooper and Lawrence nail the physical demands of unfocused hyperactivity as well as honestly handling the emotional damage threading their characters’ choices.

“Russell’s script does them plenty of favors though, turning moments of high contention into unlikely reservoirs for comedic banter. Cooper’s demonstrated his ability to nail the Caustic Asshole roles but in Silver Linings, he delivers a touching portrait of fluctuating hopes battling against uncontrolled impulses.

“Robert De Niro stands out most among the supporting players, turning his decade-long infatuation with gruff fathers into his most satisfying portrayal yet as Pat Sr. He’s all tense shoulders and vein-popping anxiety brought on by a nasty trifecta of high-stakes gambling, a dangerous Eagles football obsession, and an inability to understand his son’s personal complications. His face and Cooper’s fill the screen when they interact in scenes often awkward or charged with uncertainties. Jackie Weaver, as Pat’s well-intentioned mother, offers a more stable counterbalance though her short stature sinks beneath the looming frustrations of the two Pats. Just as her men command the screen, Weaver’s Dolores shrinks thanks to Russell’s wise decisions to highlight her timidity through high angled shots.

“Silver Linings falls victim to placing the entire plot’s fortunes on the result of ‘The Big Event,’ in this case a same-day football bet and dance competition for which Tiffany solicits Pat as a partner. A subplot involving Pat Sr.’s financial straights doesn’t carry as much weight as his son’s romance and the Eagles references only pay off during a scene in which Lawrence confronts his bizarre game-day superstitions. Still, despite my knowing Silver Linings‘ conclusion a half an hour in, the film delivers a helluva time as we move toward the finish.

“Despite its genre, Silver Linings never descends into twee styling or cute contrivances. A deep chemistry between Cooper and Lawrence establishes itself within seconds of their meeting, playing off each other with acerbic wit, sweet dependence, and the physical exploits of dance, jogging, and cruel disputes, sometimes in the same sequence.

“Silver Linings Playbook again confirms Russell’s mastery of presentation, someone who looks beyond the supposed limitations of a plot by focusing instead on nuance. Precise details like Pat and Pat Sr’s matching necklaces, Pat’s oft-mentioned weight loss and desire to ‘get fit,’ or Tiffany’s donning black clothes and make-up all serve to make the characters unshakably familiar.

“Some critics have called Silver Linings a pleasant male fantasy thanks to the young Lawrence’s built body and her character’s penchant toward bed-hopping. These critics are making the mistake of shallow plot reading, ignoring the complexity behind Tiffany’s sexual exploits and failing to appreciate how moving her coupling with Pat becomes. Lawrence’s talent allows her to build a Tiffany that’s both mature and frightening in her capacity to alienate family and friends and a tactless ‘meet cute’ with Pat warps the notion of love at first site.”

In an 11.9 article for Jewish Daily Forward, Jonathan Rosenbaum takes exception to Janusz Kaminski‘s cinematography in Steven Spielberg‘s Lincoln. “The obvious effort…to be mythical in almost every shot is far more rhetorical and hectoring than John Ford (or Sergei Eisenstein, for that matter) ever was, especially in terms of the lighting, which sinks this movie’s interiors into the darkest gloom imaginable, the abject condition that James Agee once described as rigor artis.

“Surely Lincoln and his cohorts didn’t experience their everyday surroundings as if they were silhouettes in a pretentiously underlighted art movie, but this Lincoln and these cohorts do. It’s obvious that some form of symbolism in which darkness equals slavery and light equals emancipation is at work here — so that the light pouring through the window of Lincoln’s office just after the House of Representatives passes the 13th Amendment is made to seem like some sort of divine orgasm.”

Last night Judd Apatow sat down with Mike Nichols to “ask for for advice,” writes HE’s Manhattan correspondent Clayton Loulan. “That was how the Museum of Modern Art billed their conversation, at least, which was a promotion for This Is 40 under the aegis of MOMA’s “The Contenders” series. The room was full and the age of the crowd covered the spectrum. Here’s the mp3.

This Is 40 director-writer Judd Apatow, legendary helmer Mike Nichols on stage last night at the Museum of Modern Art — Monday, 11.12, 8:35 pm.

Apatow started off the evening by showing the first nine minutes of This Is 40 and then the discussion began. Topics ranged from Nichols discovering Dustin Hoffman for The Graduate to Greta Garbo inventing movie acting in George Cukor‘s Camille to HE’s discussion favorite, Lincoln. Nichols said he doesn’t believe that you can compare all of Spielberg’s films” — whatever that means — “but if you could, Lincoln would be his best. ” Wells insert: Nope.

“Apatow offered up witty remarks to a clip from Nichols’ Carnal Knowledge (“It’s funny to see that Jack Nicholson was ever at an age where he was excited about a hand job.”) and seemed genuinely awestruck after watching the ‘Sounds Of Silence’ montage from The Graduate (“You made that…no one else can say that.”)

“The conversation came to a close so that Judd could make it to another screening of 40, but Nichols stayed on stage a few extra minutes, accepting compliments and offering up more advice for those ready to listen.

“Nichols and Elaine May will be interviewed in the upcoming (early December) comedy issue of Vanity Fair, which is being guest-edited by Apatow.

Again, the mp3. “The mikes for the event were set ridiculously low, so turn those speakers up,” Loulan writes. “Apatow mentioned that we were the quietest audience he’d ever heard. There was a reason for that.”

I know what’s going on with the great Anna Karenina. I’m not stupid. It has a 69% Rotten Tomatoes rating — two-thirds admiring but with guys like David Edelstein, for one, calling it “as boldly original a miscalculation as any you’re likely to see.” I can hear the distant shouts of an unhappy mob as we few, we stalwart few, clean our flintlocks and await the inevitable. But at least Hitfix‘s Drew McWeeny is a thumbs-upper, and he states his case clearly.

Director Joe Wright “has taken one of the great novels of all time and working with one of the great voices in modern theater, Tom Stoppard, come up with something that honors the book but also refigures it in a way that illuminates the material to striking effect. Wright is once again working with his favorite leading lady, Keira Knightley, and this might be their most stylish, heightened effort yet. Wright and Stoppard have come up with an immediate way of making the book’s themes explicit, and how you respond to the film will depend largely on how you react to the device they’ve created.

“Seamus McGarvey‘s photography, the score by Dario Marianelli, the sumptuous production design by Sarah Greenwood…all of it plays into this overheated relationship, this all-consuming desire, and the film does a great job of conveying how that feels. Wright does everything he can to put us at the eye of this particular hurricane so we can feel it for ourselves. This isn’t about watching it with a dispassionate eye, but is instead about feeling what it’s like to get so caught up in passion that everything else fades away.

“To some degree, it is the way the story is told that wowed me more than the story itself,” McWeeny concludes. Wells insert: Exactly! It;s not the material as much as the brushstrokes. “The last third of the film loses some steam narratively, and it’s hard to make a wallow in self-pity feel as engrossing as the early embrace of the passion, but Wright manages to find grace notes even in that stretch. Overall, Wright continues to distinguish himself with this film, and it seems to me that he’s still just mastering his voice.”

Whoever attended last night’s semi-secretive Django Unchained screening in Culver City, all three hours’ worth, isn’t saying anything about it on Twitter. Or at least not on my screens. I’m all ears.

There was also a preview screening last night of Alfonso Cuaron‘s Gravity at a commercial plex in Sherman Oaks. (Probably the Arclight, I’m guessing.) An excellent source confides that “VFX were 95% completed, 3D and color grading still work in progress.” The 3D-converted, presumedly groundbreaking stuck-in-space drama, which costars George Clooney and Sandra Bullock, was bumped last May into a 2013 release date.

Two years ago I added Fox Home Video’s Elia Kazan Collection so I could enjoy pristine viewings of Boomerang!, Gentleman’s Agreement, Viva Zapata!, East of Eden, A Face In The Crowd and Wild River…but really because of Zapata and Face In The Crowd. Now there’s a new Fox Bluray set containing eight of the Collection titles, but I’m only interested in the second edition because it contains Zapata and the exquisite silver capturings of dp Joseph MacDonald (My Darling Clementine, Call Northside 777, How To Marry A Millionaire).

$44 and change for the delight of watching the young and even more vivid Marlon Brando, Joseph Wiseman and Anthony Quinn act together on Bluray for the first time? Yes. A little foolish, I admit. A little nutso. But I eat this shit up.

I finally saw Paolo and Vittorio Taviani‘s Ceasar Must Die over the weekend. About four hours ago I drove down to the Four Seasons to speak to them — an honor. The Tavianis, 81 and 83 respectively, are mythic. The first movie review I ever had published in New York City was a spring 1978 piece on the Taviani’s Padre Padrone for the Chelsea Clinton News.

Vittorio and Palo Taviani at the Four Seasons — Monday, 11.12, 12:55 pm.

Here’s the mp3 but it’s a little rough as the Tavianis don’t speak English and a translator was back-and-forthing.

Ceasar Must Die is a documentary (almost entirely, I mean) about Italian prisoners putting on a presentation of William Shakespeare‘s Julius Caesar. The idea is basically that guys who’ve known violence and savagery in their lives and are now paying for these sins are enlivened and emboldened and humbled and otherwise moved by the acting out of this famous melodrama.

I liked it. The scheme, the acting, the black-and-white photography. It’s clean and sharp and humane and itself moving. It’s the official Italian submission for Best Foreign-Language Film.

Caesar Must Die was the surprise winner of the Golden Bear at the last February’s Berlin International Film Festival . The Hollywood Reporter described the outcome as “a major upset,” and Der Spiegel said it was a “very conservative selection.”

Here’s how I put it nine months ago: “A jury led by Mike Leigh looked at the doc and apparently decided the following before making their announcement: ‘Giving the prize to the Taviani brothers is not just a vote of approval for their latest film but also a way of honoring their past works and particularly the cinema of the ’70s and ’80s. We will also be saluting creative endeavor by artists of advanced years, which is something we all need to honor and support because we’ll all be there before you know it. This award will also be perceived as a metaphorical renunciation of the lamentable tendencies of the present. So it will be the right thing to do all around, and when it’s done we can all go home and smile at ourselves in the bathroom mirror.'”

Time and again I’ll be sitting in a restaurant or bar and a young couple who shouldn’t be a couple will stroll in and sit down at a table, and I’ll be just stunned. The attractiveness disparity is almost mindblowing. He’s a jowly beefalo who hasn’t seen the inside of a gym in two or three years and she’s a svelte super-model with hazel eyes, flaring cheekbones and an obviously well-toned bod, and yet she’s apparently throwing it to this guy and gasping. And I’m sitting there going “what the eff?”

A couple of hours ago I was eating a salmon burger at Astroburger (which I always call Mojoburger) when another one of these oddball couples came in, and once again the old saying about “birds of a feather flock together” was out the window. The woman wasn’t quite Angelina Jolie-level hot, but she was definitely approaching that ballpark. And the guy looked like Ryan Gosling in Lars and the Real Girl.

How does this happen? It didn’t used to happen when I was in my 20s and ’30s. Women wouldn’t talk to beefalos in the ’70s and ’80s. There were no beefalos. Beefalos sure as hell never got to talk to hot women. You had to look at least moderately attractive to even have a chat with a hot girl. You sure as hell couldn’t look like you ate quatre-fromage pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner and threw down four to six 16 oz. cans of beer. And if she gave you the time of day you wouldn’t get very far unless you exuded the same level of coolness and attractiveness (inwardly and outwardly) to make any kind of progress.

All I can figure is that the guy at Mojoburger was a successful musician or something, but still. I realize that physical attractiveness has always been a component and that serious charm and seductiveness is in the mind and the wit and the laughter. Just ask Cyrano de Bergerac. All I know is that this is the first time in the history of the species in which guys who are way, way below the level of the girls they’re sitting with in terms of conventional hotness…these beefalo guys are making out like crazy these days.

I’m again pleading with the Oscar Punditocracy to pay a little less attention to what the Oscar nomination preferences of the guilds and the Academy might be, and to man up and embrace the eternal by emphasizing more of what’s in their own hearts and minds and dreams. To play it more like me, in short.

Some attention has to be paid to the Oscar campaigns, of course. Okay, vigilant attention. I obviously do that. My ad income is all about this attention. I’m a realist. But the lifeblood of columnists, commentators and reporters who annually eyeball the award season should first and foremost be exuberant, straight-from-the-heart celebrations of films that do “it” rather than “that.”

We all know what it feels like when a film that we’re seeing for the first time is doing “it.” There’s some kind of special alchemy thing that kicks in. Some kind of exceptional fast-river-current delivery and rarified emotional pollen mixed in with a universal energy field. We all know when we’re seeing and feeling “it”….a movie that’s happening, alive, crackling, expanding….flooding into our systems, doing something extra, turning our heads and saying “we’ve baked a cake with a little bit extra in the way of flavor or ingredients!”

It may be just a pear cake, okay, but it’s done in such a way that your taste buds are feeling a very special and particular excitement that you’ve never quite experienced in precisely the same way. And that makes it an “it” rather than a “that.”

I could name a 2012 “it” film and a lot of people would go “oh, God…again!” and put me down so here are a few others: Holy Motors, Beasts of the Southern Wild, The Master, Amour, Anna Karenina, Bernie, No.

A “that” film is one that is following or echoing a certain form or genre or relaxation, and in a way that makes you say to yourself “okay, this is doing that” rather than “wow, this is doing it!” A “that” film could be, let’s say, an exceptionally bright and well-modelled historical-political spin on a caper film. Or an expertly and very passionately composed adaptation of a hugely popular musical play from the ’80s. Or a dirge-like historical procedural about a Very Important Man trying to bring about a Very Important Thing. I understand the comforts of a “that” movie. It feels nice to have “that” in your head. But the ones that last over the years and the decades are the “it” flicks.

How often are “it” flicks recognized as the best of the year? Now and then. But a lot of times movies that SCREAM “that” at the top of their lungs, movies like The Artist and Chicago, are the ones that win in the end. And that’s depressing. That’s awful. The spirit dies. Taste of ashes. Jump off a bridge.

We all have to play the game, but the emphasis should be on the current and the exaltation that comes from scrupuloulsy ignoring what the less-hip crowd (i.e., less hip than people like us) thinks or likes. Eff those people. We know better! We are the champions, not them!

I wrote the following 15 months ago, or on 8.24.11: “Every year I ask what could be more worthless or contemptible in the eyes of any fim lover with the slightest trickle of blood in his or her veins than a group of online journos saying, ‘What we might personally think or feel about the year’s finest films is not our charge. We are here to read and evaluate the feelings and judgments of that crowd of people standing around in that other room….see them? Those older, nice-looking, well-dressed ones standing around and sipping wine and munching on tomato-and mozzarella bruschetta? Watching them is what we do. We sniff around, sense the mood, follow their lead, and totally pivot on their every word or derisive snort or burst of applause at Academy screenings.’

“If I could clap my hands three times and banish the concept of Gurus of Gold and Gold Derby Oscarologists from the minds of my online colleagues and competitors, I would clap my hands three times. (Even though I love Tom O’Neil and am a regular Gold Derby contributor.) For it is the task of Movie Catholics (which includes all monks and priests and followers of the faith) to stand up and lead at all costs.

And it is bad personal karma to put aside what every fibre of your being tells you is the ‘right’ thing to do in order to proclaim (and therefore help to semi-validate and cast a favorable light upon) the occasionally questionable sentiments and allegiances of others.

“And I mean especially if these temperature-gauging, tea-leaf readings contribute to a snowball mentality or growing assumption that a certain Best Picture contender has the heat. There is no question in my mind that to some extent the Gurus of Gold and the Gold Derby gang contributed to 2010’s and 2011’s Best Picture win by The King’s Speech by advancing the notion each and every week that it would probably take the prize.

“And that, if you don’t mind me saying so, is a terrible thing to live with. A stain upon our souls.

“How would you feel if you were 92 years old, let’s say, and on your death bed and looking back upon your professional Hollywood life and saying to yourself, ‘In my own small but possibly significant way, I probably helped to create a perception of groundswell momentum and inevitability that led to the Best Picture triumphs of The Greatest Show on Earth, Around The World in Eighty Days and Driving Miss Daisy“? How would you feel about that? Good?

“True Catholics are players on the field, not watchers from the stands. They need to convey their own passions as personally, ardently and persuasively as possible, and to give as little credence as possible to the alleged preferences of a politically-motivated, comfort-seeking, sentimentally-inclined and recently suspect industry group.”

It’s been pointed out time and again that the Academy had a reasonable, fair-minded history in their Best Picture preferences from the mid aughts to ’10 but then ldid an about-face in ’11 and, in a startling cave-in to British kowtowing and comforting gutty-wut sentiment, gave the Oscar to an admirable-but-far-from-good-enough contender. And the The Artist won last year. For the sake of our souls, capitulations of this sort must never happen again.

If I was a filmmaker worth interviewing and I was getting peppered by David Poland with those little bee-bee pellet questions….ping! ping! ping! ping! ping!…I think I would shut down pretty quickly and just turn hostile and snide and sullen. I hate those little ping-ping questions. You should just talk to people, I feel, and groove along and share observations about this or that, and then weave questions in as they come to mind. Look at Apatow’s face as he answers question after question. He’s being ping-pinged to death.

“The dance is, how can I do something very insightful but at the same time make it funny and make it amusing, and figure out what is the balance between comedy and drama?,” Apatow says about two-thirds of the way through. “How can I get as much drama [that is] required in the movie and still be allowed to be funny, and not have the humor step on the drama? You don’t want the comedy to be sweaty. You want it all to be organic. You don’t want it to be pushed. It has to really come out of these situations.

“But I am trying to make the movies really funny. And I do want the ability to stop and..y’know, take hunks of time to not be funny at all, and then you have to figure out how to get back to funny without being weird. There are people who have done this very well.Cameron Crowe, James. L Brooks and Neil Simon especially, in his plays. And i look to their work as examples of how to do it. They were always big inspirations for me.

Are you happy, satisfied…ping, ping, ping?

“I am generally pretty happy guy. As happy as a neurotic insecure hypervigilant man in an existential crisis can be at any moment. But yeah, I appreciate where I’m at…it’s been super fun.”

Being ping-pinged by Poland makes an interview feel “sweaty” and “pushed.”

Punch Drunk Love collaborators Paul Thomas Anderson and Adam Sandler took questions in front of an Aero crowd early this evening (Sunday). It was a nice friendly chit-chat. Sandler began things by interviewing Anderson, but soon they were both taking questions and it stayed that way for 40 minutes. Anderson didn’t say squat about The Master and wore a great-looking pair of shoes. He conveyed a certain ambivalence about the length of Magnolia (1999), saying he’d love to be able to cut 15 minutes out of it. The film screened after they finished.

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