I avoided watching this Marvel trailer yesterday; today I gave in. I’d rather watch a self-referencing Marvel comedy than a movie that that deals with this central figure (Tatiana Maslany as a female Hulk lawyer) more or less straight. A nine-episode Disney series, She-Hulk: Attorney-At-Law pops on 8.17.22.
“Devils” Nostalgia
It’s taken me nine and 1/2 years to finally get around to buying Richard Crouse‘s “Raising Hell: Ken Russell and the Unmaking of The Devils,” which was published on 1.1.12. It’s now in my Kindle archive. I’ve seen this 1971 film six or seven times. I own a British DVD of the restored 117-minute version, but where’s the Bluray version? Why hasn’t Criterion released one?
From Josh Stillman’s 10.1.12 EW review: “The story of 1971’s The Devils‘ is an unpleasant one. Based on Aldous Huxley’s book The Devils of Loudun’ and a play by John Whiting, the film details an episode of alleged demonic possessions and exorcisms — and the innocent priest who was executed for heresy — in 17th-century France. And that’s just the plot line.
“The real story of The Devils took place behind the camera, in the movie’s production process and its reception among censors, critics, and audiences. The intensity of the shoot cost director Ken Russell his marriage and tested the nerves of its stars, British screen legends Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave.
“Later, after facing numerous cuts from the British Board of Film Censors for material deemed inappropriate (or, according to the Catholic Church, blasphemous), The Devils received an abysmal response from critics, was banned in several countries, and basically vanished for three decades.
“In recent years, though, the movie’s seen a bit of a resurgence. Fan sites are popping up and bootleg copies with fewer cuts have surfaced (Russell lamented that a fully uncensored version simply doesn’t exist); critics, for their part, have begun to see the film in a different light, hailing it as a provocative masterpiece in league with A Clockwork Orange.”
Clean Capturing of 1963 Videotape
Most kinescopes of live TV look awful. The first 35 seconds of this 1963 Candid Camera segment, in which a 27 or 28 year-old Woody Allen introduces a boss-and-secretary dictation gag, is from videotape, and the clarity is astounding. The bit itself is…well, not bad.
You Tube commenter: “I love this lady. She’s got good style. Reminds me a little of Amy Winehouse.”
Modest Puzzlement
On 5.16 I noted with some alarm that Austin Butler is doing his own singing in Baz Luhrmann‘s Elvis. I based this reaction on the posting of a musical preview of Butler singing “If I Can Dream”, which had been posted that same day.
“Butler doesn’t sound like the Real McCoy,” I wrote. “Lacking that unique vocal signature (smooth tones, purry phrasing, Memphis inflections), Butler is just another Elvis imitator.”
A journalist friendo has written to explain that “Butler’s singing is only for the younger Elvis. Baz explained all that at the CinemaCon presentation with Butler on stage and it is evident in the film.”
HE reply: “If you say so, okay. But of course, the younger Elvis (mid ‘50s) sounded like Elvis of the ‘60s and ‘70s, being the same person with the same larynx and vocal chords and whatnot. So it’s mystifying.”
Turn Down Day
Except for a Romy Schneider doc early this evening, HE is seeing almost nothing today. Entirely due to the horrors of the system, which is responding better now but was partly impossible on Monday and Tuesday and completely uncooperative early this morning.
But Thursday will be a serious day — Kyrill Serebrennikov‘s Zhena Chaikovskogo at 8:30 am, James Gray‘s Armageddon Time at 6:30 pm, and Jerzy Skolimowski‘s EO at 10:15 pm.
As I’m not a member of the infamous “”James Gray cabal” and because I’ve spoken to a friend who caught a research screening of Armageddon Time, I’m considering a re-think by attending Alexandre Moix‘s Patrick Dewaere, Mon Heros at 7:15 pm.
Fantastic!
12:15 pm update: The system has suddenly begun functioning. Over the last hour or so I’ve able to fill my Saturday and Sunday calendars for the most part. The trick seems to be to avoid trying to access the system in the early morning.
Trouble In Mind, Ethan Coen‘s doc about Jerry Lee Lewis, is unavailable. Under the old system this wouldn’t have happened.
Earlier: This is why journalists travel thousands of miles to Cannes…so we can get shut down by moronic or overwhelmed software coding when we try to log in for updates at 7:10 am…a sense of humor is necessary in such situations. [Posted on Wednesday, 5.18 at 7:35 am.]
Zombie Farce Is A Tough Sit
Michael Hazanavicius’ Final Cut (aka Coupez! aka Z) is a kind of Noises Off -like farce blended with zombie hellzapoppin’ blended with Tom DeCillo’s Living in Oblivion (‘95). Allegedly a nearly line-by-line remake of Shin’ichirō Ueda’s zom-com One Cut of the Dead (‘17), I found it thin, exhausting, odious and unfunny. And a tiny bit sad. I didn’t hate it, but my basic attitude was a combination of “who cares?” and “lemme outta here.”
And that’s all I have to say for now as it’s midnight and I’m bushed.
Kennedy’s Dishonest “Solo” Comment
In a sprawling Vanity Fair piece about the forthcoming Obi Wan Kenobi series (Disney +, 5.27), Anthony Breznican devotes a paragraph to the Solo calamity of 2018:
“Solo explored Han Solo’s younger years, with Alden Ehrenreich taking on the role of the smuggler originated by Harrison Ford. The film has its admirers, but it made less at the box office than any other live-action Star Wars movie. Solo’s swagger may be too singular for another actor to replicate.
“‘There should be moments along the way when you learn things,’ says Kennedy. ‘Now it does seem so abundantly clear that we can’t do that.’
“Kennedy would’ve been fine if she’d cast Ansel Elgort. Elgort was an obvious choice to everyone in the galaxy except Kennedy and Steven Spielberg.
Instead she chose Alden Ehrenreich, a too-short, charisma-challenged, completely miscast actor who had to be professionally coached in a seemingly desperate effort to capture the insouciant vibe and commanding physicality of young Ford.
Posted on 4.17.18: “Alden Ehrenreich was almost certainly chosen to play the rogue-ish Han Solo by producer Kathy Kennedy because she felt obliged to kiss the ring of her longtime boss Steven Spielberg.
“The famed director discovered Ehrenreich in 2003, when the 28-year-old actor was 14, after seeing him in a Bat Mitzvah video at a party. Spielberg’s endorsement eventually led to Ehrenreich getting an agent, landing gigs on TV series like Supernatural and CSI, and being cast as Vincent Gallo‘s younger brother in Francis Coppola‘s Tetro (’09).
“So when you’re watching Solo a few weeks hence and asking yourself how the producers could have possibly decided that the too-short, beady-eyed Ehrenreich could fill Harrison Ford‘s shoes in a way that audiences would totally accept (instead of hiring Baby Driver‘s Ansel Elgort, the obvious choice), remember that Aldenreich was primarily chosen as a deferential gesture to big bossman Beardo.”
Shattering, Shuddering, Sex-Positive Orgasms
Yesterday an official trailer surfaced for Sophie Hyde‘s Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, a Searchlight/Hulu release costarring Emma Thompson, Daryl McCormack and Isabella Laughland. The three-hander begins streaming on Hulu on 6.17.
“Nine Thoughts About Leo Grande and Naked Emma,” posted on 1.26.22:
Thought #1: Last night Hollywood Elsewhere sat through Sophie Hyde‘s Good Luck To You, Leo Grande, and I was more or less okay with it, minor issues aside. It’s a reasonably engaging two-hander about a 55-year-old woman (Emma Thompson‘s “Nancy Stokes”, who doesn’t look 50ish as much as her actual age, which is 62) and a handsome young sex worker (Daryl McCormack‘s Leo Grande”). The widowed Nancy has led a rather sex-less and certainly orgasm-free life, and she’s hired Leo in order to sample the real thing.
The film (97 minutes) is basically three sexual and very personal encounters in a hotel room, and one in a hotel bar. (Or something like that.)
It’s an intimate, occasionally amusing, open-hearted exploration of an older woman’s sexuality and what a transformational thing good sex can be (nothing wrong with that!), along with the gradually building rapport between Nancy and Leo. It’s smoothly and nimbly performed, especially by Thompson.
Back In The High Life Again
The Old Man, an FX thriller series debuting on 6.16.22, “was two-thirds of the way into shooting when production shut down in mid-March 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Production resumed in the fall with three episodes remaining to film, but was halted in October 2020 when star and executive producer Jeff Bridges was diagnosed with lymphoma and left to undergo cancer treatment.
“The show stayed in production for a short period after Bridges’ diagnosis in order to shoot scenes from the remaining episodes that do not feature Bridges’ character. In September 2021, Bridges announced his cancer was in remission. Production ultimately resumed in February 2022.”
Progressives Have Chugged Non-Binary Kool-Aid
In the realm of gender identity and not Presidential politics, Matt Walsh is my idea of a sensible conservative. He’s been very heavily and logically focused on the refusal of many progressives to acknowledge basic gender biology. We all understand there are gender variations among the trans community (which represents roughly one half of one percent of humans) but c’mon, man…we all understand what men and women are.
During confirmation hearings Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said she couldn’t define what a woman is because she’s “not a biologist.” As much as I admire Jackson I recoiled the instant she said that — millions did, I imagine. Jackson said this, I gather, because she knew it would be dangerous to answer honestly. She knew that progressive loons would get their backs up.
Simply put: “Typically, women have two X chromosomes (as opposed to men’s XY chromosones). Between puberty and menopause they’re naturally capable of pregnancy and giving birth. Female anatomy is primarily distinguished from male anatomy by the female reproductive system, which includes ovaries, fallopian tubes, uterus, vagina and vulva.
“Plus the adult female pelvis is wider, the hips broader, and the breasts larger than that of adult males. Women have significantly less facial and other body hair, have a higher body fat composition, and are on average shorter and less muscular than men.”
Rubenesque Tips The Scales
Female friendo: This Sports Illustrated thing was news on Twitter yesterday
HE: I don’t agree with Jordan Petersen. I think that big-curve Rubenesque bodies are (or at least can be) mildly hot.
Female friendo: I don’t think she looks that bad.
HE: She has the body that Marilyn Monroe had in Some Like It Hot. Okay, Monroe was slightly thinner but close.
Female friendo: Yeah, it’s proportional. There’s no denying it’s a sexy photo. Not grotesque. In general I agree that the fat acceptance movement is insanity but this particular photo doesn’t exactly prove that point.
HE: Petersen can say she’s “not beautiful” — that’s just an opinion. He’s not evil for saying this. But I like zaftig and, to some extent, Rubenesque women. But there’s a line in which Rubenesque tips over into overweight, and then fat, and then obese, and then morbidly obese.
