Nolan, Bening & Foster Aside
…the AARP guys are suffering, no offense, from a taste deficiency. “Taste is a result of a thousand distastes.” — Francois Truffaut.

Mia Farrow’s Best Performances?
Can’t decide which performance is better, although I’ve always leaned toward Tina Vitale, her cynical New Jersey moll behind the shades, in the latter film, which opened almost exactly 40 years ago (1.27.84).
The Purple Rose of Cairo opened just over 13 months later, on 3.1.85.
Less than a year later came Hannah and Her Sisters (2.7.86), in which Farrow also dramatically stood out (alongside Oscar-winner Dianne Wiest).

Perhaps Audiences Could Oblige In Some Way?

HE has a thing about Pedro Pascal also…hard to put my finger on “why?” but he’s definitely one of those guys who rankles on some level…perhaps not as aggressively as Mescal.
Sleet, Icy Rain
Finally some actual inclement weather. Took long enough. For the first time since cold weather began a few weeks ago I have my black leather gloves stuffed into my motorcycle jacket pockets.

Gaming The Oscar System
This morning I was sharing a view that Apple’s Lily Gladstone team made a tactical mistake by not running her in supporting, and the person I was text-chatting with said the following:
“You’re assuming that Gladstone’s primary objective is to win. It’s possible, on the other hand, that she wants to be regarded as a leading lady moving forward, and that [her Best Actress campaign] better positions her for that.”
If so, I replied, that’s an understandable strategy.
In other words, perhaps Gladstone is gaming the Oscar system in the same way that The Favorite‘s Olivia Colman gamed the system when she ran for Best Actress despite having obviously played a supporting role (i.e., Queen Anne).

Don’t Assault Us With Facts
Two-thirds of the Iowa Republicans who caucused last night seriously believe that Joe Biden was not legitimately elected and that Donald Trump was rooked out of being re-elected.
In other words, two thirds of Iowa Republicans are in denial so deep that’ll probably never climb out of it. Total rabbit-hole wackazoid.
The flip side is that one-third of Iowa Republicans believe that Trump would not be fit to be President if convicted of the Jan. 6th charge (or the Georgia case or the documents case). Which translates into national vote and electoral college tallies that would fall short in the national election next November.

Sundance Refrain For Last Six Years
On 1.15.24 Variety‘s Owen Gleiberman politely inquired about whether the Sundance Film Festival has surrendered the danger factor in its film selections. (Answer: Of course it has.)
Today (1.16.24) World of Reel‘s Jordan Ruimy, in a piece linking to Gleiberman’s column, observed the same thing.
A year ago (1.29.23) former IndieWire editor/columnist Eric Kohn sniffed around and reported the same shit.
Boiled down, they all concluded that potential threats of wokester condemnation had so terrorized filmmakers that they don’t want to take chances. They wouldn’t dare.
And yes, HE said the same thing in a two-year-old HE piece titled “Yes, Virginia…Sensitive Gargoyles Have Ruined Sundance” (12.27.21).


$40 for 4K “McCabe” Disc?






