Nobody cares about Carol Reed‘s Outcast of the Islands, a 1952 adaptation of Joseph Conrad‘s novel with Trevor Howard in the lead role of Willem, a man who surrenders his dignity and civility for the love of a native woman. It’s a forgotten film and nobody cares at all. Except, I’m thinking, possibly those obsessive … Read more
Tough super-delegate math for Hillary Clinton, another even-steven Pennsylvania poll (the third in this vein), and Barack Obama leading Clinton 56 to 33 in North Carolina. But it would be disingenuous of me not to applaud Clinton for (according to Drudge) reportedly calling on Bush to boycott the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony.
An “amazing gathering of film luminaries” are attending a weekend of mourning in and around London for the late director Anthony Minghella. A three-hour Catholic service was held this afternoon St. Thomas More church in Swiss Cottage, a suburb of London. Elegant and heartfelt words were spoken about Minghella by Talented Mr. Ripley costars Matt … Read more
I was a little shocked by a 4.2 Public Policy Polling survey that has Barack Obama edging Hillary Clinton among likely Pennsylvania Democratic voters by 45% to 43%. I thought the big hope for the Obama team was to lose to Clinton in the Keystone State by 10 percentage points or less. I called PPP’s … Read more
ABC News entertainment writer Marcus Baram has profiled Stanley Weiser‘s W screenplay, which Oliver Stone will begin shooting later this month, in some detail. At the end of the piece he quotes Bush’s former press secretary Ari Fleisher (who denies, amazingly, that Bush used salty language), myself and University of North Carolina at Wilmington history … Read more
I’d love to be in the room when the Democratic Party bigwigs — Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, Al Gore, Bill Richardson, Chris Dodd, etc. — finally find the backbone to stand up to Billary in a conference or hotel room somewhere and tell them, no wavering and no backtalk, that the race is over. Shut … Read more
In the view of two knowledgable guys interviewed by AP reporter David Germain, Heath Ledger‘s death will — sadly, ironically — be a kind of boon to the fortunes of The Dark Knight (Warner Bros., 7.18). Germain states that Chris Nolan‘s film “has already emerged as arguably the biggest movie featuring a posthumous role in … Read more
Three mildly interesting things have just happened in the Democratic primary race — one today, two yesterday. First, a Public Policy poll released earlier this afternoon found that Barack Obama had regained a sizable lead over Hillary Clinton among North Carolina voters, 55 to 34 percentage points. He leads 80% to 14% among black voters … Read more
“In my home state of Pennsylvania Hillary has a nearly 20 point lead,” writes HE reader George Bolanis. ” We were expecting an HRC win but that margin is crazy. You know the deal of the Pennsytucky factor in the central part of the state. But even in the metro areas she seems to have … Read more
Thank God the last Clinton-Obama debate is about to happen. 12 minutes from now. A few days and no more listening to that raspy cackly witch-voice. No more looking into those cold steely eyes, or having to discern the real calculation behind those repulsively phony emotional offerings. I realize Barack has to act cool and … Read more
This is it, the absolute ethical nadir of the Hillary Clinton campaign so far. To my mind sending out that 2006 photo of Barack Obama dressed in Somali garb during a visit to that country is scummy and reprehensible almost beyond measure. It is a a classic race-baiting tactic obviously aimed at latently racist rubes … Read more
“Mrs. Clinton is losing this thing,” says Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan in a 2.8 piece called “Can Mrs. Clinton Lose?” “It’s not one big primary, it’s a rolling loss, a daily one, an inch-by-inch deflation. The trends and indices are not in her favor. “She is having trouble raising big money, she’s funding … Read more