When you meet someone famous and widely admired, there’s only one way to play it, and that’s the low-key HE way…like you’re talking to a trusted mechanic about replacing a muffler.
I’m sorry but people who go “ooh! ooh!” are bad news.
“Oooh! Ooooh!”…how much will the muffler job cost? Oooh! I’ve dreamt about mufflers all my life…”oooh!”
From Facebook comment thread reactions to Paul Schrader’s negative assessment of TheBikeriders.
This is it…this is the problem.
If Louis Gossett Jr.s’ Jeriba Shigan, a reptilian “drac” in Wolfgang Petersen‘s Enemy Mine (’85), was to attend a screening of The Bikeriders and watch it start to finish, he would raise his webbed hands after it ended and say, “That was a baalluuhderluhderluhderluhd moovie!”
It’s long been my opinion that Hanoi is one of the greatest cities anywhere, and certainly one of the most affordable. Magnificent food. A wonderful teeming energy. The gentlest people. Bicycles and scooters. Lush country regions just outside of town.
…on front or back cover of 4K Chinatown Bluray jacket. Not even in fine type. Naturally.
Is it normal for Paramount Presente Bluray jackets to omit any mention of directors? In the below comment thread HE reader “Cine Bum” reports thqt he “checked some random ‘Paramount Presents’ titles and the director is mentioned in every single summary and/or special features section.”
Last night Bill Maher lamented…okay, fumed over…the wimpishness of U.S distributors who are afraid to distribute Ali Abbasi‘s The Apprentice out of concern that Donald Trump might sue them or otherwise make their lives miserable.
“It looks great,” said Maher. “This is Trump’s origin story under the tutelage of Roy Cohn.”
It “looks” great? Just recently the film’s producers showed The Apprentice to N.Y Times columnist Michelle Goldberg. Why didn’t Maher ask to see it himself? IF he’d watched Abbasi’s film start to finish his opinion would obviously carry more authority.
Maher: “It’s being released in Japan, Canada, the U.K., Germany, [but] no one here will touch it. This bothers me so much.”
“This is MY industry, you fucking pussies. Find a way to release this movie.”
“First [Trump] intimidates the Congresspeople, then he intimidates juries, and now he’s intimidating THIS town? Oy.”
Deadline‘S Tom Tapp: “The state of play earlier this month was that multiple parties remained interested in the film domestically, and there was confidence a deal will get done, probably this month.
I can’t find the YouTube clip that contains Maher’s Apprentice opinions.
This is my third Donald Sutherland post in the wake of his death, but it’s really worth watching for the portion that begins around 9:15. Sutherland and Anderson Cooper are watching the young-daughter-has-drowned scene from Don’t Look Now, and Sutherland’s reaction…just watch it.
…at a nearby Shell Station around 9:15 am this morning. The mechanic and I were talking about an engine leak needing to be fixed; he told me to come back on Tuesday, 6.25 at 9 am. I was in a hurry to take care of something else so I jumped into the car and drove off.
Alas, the gas nozzle and the black hose were still attached…bong, bang, clap.
I told the attendant (a slender Indian guy) what had happened and he immediately frowned and sternly wagged his finger and told me I would have to pay a $160repairfee. I would have paid $40 or $50 but I said “sorry, Jose but no way” on the $160. I went back to the mechanic and profusely apologized for what had happened, and he said “don’t worry, we’ll take care of it.”
The Indian guy was glaring daggers. If looks could kill…
I’m sure that people drive off with a gas nozzle in their tanks all the time. I’m sure that the gas pump designers have made sure that the gas hose pops out easily when this happens. This must be a regular occurrence…dozens of times each day on a nationwide basis.
“Vudu’s 4K Chinatown,” posted on 8.3.19 or nearly five years ago: Last night I watched a 4K UHD version of Chinatown on Vudu. I could tell right away it’s not a fresh re-harvesting from the best celluloid elements. JackNicholson’s hair looks too inky at times. And the bandage on his nose looks too white, too bleachy.
But it’s quite beautiful for the most part. It certainly looks better than the most recent Chinatown Bluray. The sharpness, the textures, the stronger colors. But then I’m a plebe about this stuff.
HE to restoration guy: “I’m presuming you’re not impressed. Because it’s probably just a tweaking of the last harvest. But maybe I’m wrong. Know anything about it?” I then sent him the below attached photos for samples.
Restoration guy to HE: “This is pretty bad. It’s all about data throughout. And this doesn’t seem to have it. I watched a 4K DCP Chinatown last Tuesday. It’s gorgeous. The studio did a terrific job, especially with color, which is warm. And it looked nothing like these images.”
HE to restoration guy: “Wait…you watched a 4K Chinatown DCP? It was shown to ticket buyers? Why did they create this? They must be intending to issue a 4K Bluray in 2024, to celebrate the 50th anniversary. Just like Sony’s intention to wait until 2022 to issue a 4K Lawrence of Arabia Bluray, even though Grover Crisp’s 8K scan was harvested…what, back in ‘15 or thereabouts?”
HE to restoration guy: “I’m nonetheless telling you that as much as you may disapprove of Vudu’s 4K version of Chinatown, it really does feel like an improvement over the 1080p Bluray. It delivers a bump effect…’wow, this looks better in some respects.’ True, the images look waxy and Jack’s dark hair looks inky. It looks superficially enhanced, yes, but it’s a nice cheap high.”
Pablo Larrain really needs to disengage from his cinematic obsession with bothered, conflicted, high-profile women.
First it was Jackie (’16), which starred Nathalie Portman as JFK’s widow — a film that I honestly didn’t care for. Five years later came Spencer (’21), a weird fantasy-laden psychodrama in which Kristen Stewart played Diana Spencer. And now comes Maria, a portrait of Maria Callas (AngelinaJolie) in the ’70s, directed by Larraín and written by Steven Knight.
Maria will probably debut in Venice and then play the Telluride Film Festival immediately after.
HE admired Jolie’s performance in A Mighty Heart, but turning her kids against their dad, Brad Pitt, to the point that a couple of them are looking to legally ditch the Pitt name… that’s just shitty. Abusive alcoholics who’ve gone sober and have cleaned up their act deserve a little slack, a little forgiveness. So if it’s okay HE’s basic attitude is “eff Jolie.” Which also means, for the time being, eff Maria unless it’s blazingly good or, you know, extra-special wowser.