Sunday Morning Aftermath

by

My first post-PGA awards thought: “The emotional bounty aside, the competently-made CODA isn’t winning on its own cinematic merits. It’s winning because it’s the anti-Power of the Dog.”

Awards Daily‘s Sasha Stone agrees that last night’s CODA win “is about Power of the Dog in as much as people didn’t want to feel obligated to vote for a movie they didn’t like.”

But mainly, she says, the CODA win is about the same Oscar default impulse that’s been running the table for the last five or six years — virtue-signaling coupled with the word “first.”

First movie about a black gay man (Moonlight), first movie by a woman of color (Nomadland), first international movie by director of color (Parasite), first movie with a predominantly deaf cast (CODA), first sexually-informed, #MeToo-ish romantic drama between a mousey woman and a fishman (The Shape of Water).

Posted many months ago…last August and in early February ’21…

Posted on 2.3.21: Sian Heder ‘s much-adored, Sundance award-showered CODA (Apple +, 8.13) is moderately appealing and nicely made for the most part. Understand, however, that it’s an “audience movie” — aimed at folks who like feel-good stories with heart, humor, romance and charm.

It’s about a shy Gloucester high-school girl named Ruby (Emilia Jones) with a decent if less than phenomenal singing voice. She’d rather attend Boston’s Berklee College of Music than work for her deaf family’s fishing business, we’re told. The film is about the hurdles and complications that she has to deal with in order to realize this dream.

CODA is one of those “real people struggling with life’s changes and challenges” flicks, but given the fishing-off-the-Massachusetts-coast aspect it’s fair to say it’s no Manchester By The Sea — trust me. It’s a wee bit simplistic and schticky and formulaic -— okay, more than a bit — and contains a fair amount of “acting.”

Read more

“CODA” Takes PGA Zanuck Award

by

And that, finally and absolutely, almost certainly signifies the end of the road, Best Picture-wise, for The Power of the Dog. Hyuuuge sigh of relief.

Read more

Repulsion Around The Corner

by

I can smell it, sense it. And I will therefore wait for streaming. I don’t care how well made X is — my inclination is to steer clear for the time being, even though it’s probably a much better film than The Lost City.

“…And You Know You’re Right”

by

There’s something I never paid attention to in the famous “you’re not a loser, Eddie, you’re a winner” scene from The Hustler. The “something” is this: traffic noise nearly floods this scene.

Director Robert Rossen could have shot in some remote woodsy area or in upper Central Park, but he chose to shoot near a highway of some kind. I’m guessing the Henry Hudson Parkway, somewhere near the 80s or 90s. They couldn’t be more than 40 or 50 feet from it — listen to those cars and motorbikes whirring by.

I think Rossen chose this spot because…I don’t know why. Perhaps he wanted to say that there’s no peace in New York City for some people…no calm, no havens, no real cover or seclusion. The clutter and clamor never leave you alone.

Oh, and Newman addressing Jackie Gleason‘s Minnesota Fats over and over as “fat man” doesn’t seem right by today’s standards. Gleason was somewhere between portly and hefty, but his girth is nothing compared to your typical 21st Century Jabba. Lost City costar Da’Vine Joy Randolph is twice Gleason’s size.

Wiki excerpt: “According to Bobby Darin‘s agent, Martin Baum, Paul Newman‘s agent turned down the part of Fast Eddie. Newman was unavailable to being committed to star opposite Elizabeth Taylor in Two for the Seesaw. Rossen offered Darin the part after seeing him on The Mike Wallace Interview.

“When Taylor was forced to drop out of Seesaw because of shooting overruns on Cleopatra, Newman was freed up to take the role, which he accepted after reading just half of the script. No one associated with the production officially notified Darin or his representatives that he had been replaced; they found out from a member of the public at a charity horse race.”

Musical Approach Could Have Saved “Power of the Dog”

by

An hour ago Erik Anderson posted a genius tweet…a tweet that, if conceptually heeded two or three years ago, could’ve saved Jane Campion‘s The Power of the Dog from itself. If that morose and tiresome melodrama had been made into a grand musical tragedy, and if a 12-years-younger version of Madonna had played Kirsten Dunst‘s role of Rose, the alcoholic newlywed with a gay, covertly homicidal son, it could have been something. Really. I’m not being facetious. Especially, I’m thinking, if it had been made Evita-style, as a sung-through musical.

Read more

What Ails Young American Males?

by

There are many things, I’m sure, that are lamentable or neurotic or fucked up about 40-and-under dudes in this country. But here’s one of them. Some designer out there designed these hellish slip-ons, and I can guarantee there are hundreds…okay, scores of dudes out there who are wearing them as we speak. Just strolling around and giggling with their idiot friends and making the world a much darker place by way of footwear. If I was an absolute ruler, a Ming-the-merciless of style and fashion, I would put out orders for police to arrest and detain anyone caught wearing these godforsaken things.

Penelope Cruz! Penelope Cruz! Penelope Cruz!

by

I like Jessica Chastain, I loved her in Zero Dark Thirty, and I certainly respect the herculean effort that went into the making and performing of The Eyes of Tammy Faye. But Best Actress cannot and should never be a Best Makeup thing…c’mon. It should be about strength, craft, pieces of a heart and the depth of a soul.

Will Ya Listen To These Stooges?

by

No, not those who believe that the Lia Thomas example is deeply unfair to female sports competitors and is really hurting the women’s sports industry. I mean the college-age robots who are using the term “transphobic” to describe people who have a problem with the lanky, man-sized Thomas defeating her female swimming competitors. Play the video and listen to these toadies. They’re so invested in progressive trans talking points, they’ve rejected the concept of basic competitive fairness.