Yes, another period drama that explores the dispute between proponents of alternating vs. direct current.

The coming of Michael Almereyda‘s Tesla (IFC Films, 8.21) reminds me that I never saw the director’s cut version of Alfonso Gomez-Rejon‘s The Current War. I admired and half-liked the original War when I caught it at the 2017 Toronto Film Festival.

Especially the Cinerama-like cinematography by Chung-hoon Chung.

With Ethan Hawke playing the titular role, Tesla costars Eve Hewson, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Jim Gaffigan and Kyle MacLachlan.

Tesla‘s Rotten Tomatoes rating is 92% while The Current War is rocking a 60% score.

I visited the Nikola Tesla museum in Budapest four years ago.

Earlier today in a segment about surging COVID infections, CNN’s Brianna Keilar disputed Donald Trump‘s claim that the pandemic infections only seems to be getting worse because of increased testing. But not in the usual way. Keilar called Trump’s rationale “total crap.” I adore the fact that CNN management is comfortable with a news anchor addressing the usual lies and distortions in such a manner. Blunt, salty language…no beating around the bush. Here’s the mp3.

The Keiler quip starts around the 38 second mark:

Telluride News associate editor Suzanne Cheavens has reported about a July 9th meeting of the San Miguel Board of County Commissioners, which was mostly concerned with COVID-19 issues. It’s a fairly humdrum story, but then paragraph #13 comes along and suddenly you can feel the energy.

Cheavens writes that the “word” among Telluride officials is that the school district has declined to allow the 2020 Telluride Film Festival (if it actually happens) to use school facilities for screenings. That means that the Palm and Galaxy theatres will be off-limits during the Labor Day gathering.

Cheavans excerpt: “I have more questions and concerns that I have broached with [festival organizers],” said county public health director Grace Franklin. “The schools determined it’s not safe to be operating in any of those venues. It’s off the table.”

I’ve also been told (but have not heard directly) that the Werner Herzog theatre, the largest and grandest of all Telluride venues, may also be off-limits due to health concerns.

I had understood that Telluride’s Town Council would meet and make some important decisions about TFF on Wednesday, July 15th. But Telluride blogger Michael Patterson (“Michael’s Telluride Film Blog“) says this “doesn’t appear” to be correct. The Parks Committee “does have a meeting scheduled in Telluride on 7.15,” he says, “but the Town Council will not meet until Tuesday, 7.21.”

Take it with a grain.

This morning Farren Nehme (@selfstyledsiren) posted a portion of this Lee Remick interview. It was to promote Mistral’s Daughter, a 1984 TV miniseries. The Nebraska-based interviewer (KOLN/KGIN-TV) asks horrific questions while exuding a revoltingly unctuous manner. Why did they cast you and Jack Lemmon for Days of Wine and Roses instead of Piper Laurie and Cliff Robertson, who did an excellent job in the TV version? Elia Kazan‘s Wild River was a flop. With Richard Burton dead, do you think his excessive drinking was a factor?

Spike Lee‘s Da 5 Bloods (Netflix) is the top vote-getter in a Best of 2020 critics poll from World of Reel‘s Jordan Ruimy. Lee’s memory-filled Vietnam drama edged out Eliza Hittman’s Never Rarely Sometimes Always and Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man in second and third place.

Was the nation’s recent cultural and political uprising (George Floyd protests, Black Lives Matter, a repressive response on Donald Trump‘s part) a factor in critics supporting Lee’s film, especially given Lee’s artful, montage-like editing that blends past and present turmoils? That’s my suspicion but you tell me.

Da 5 Bloods has a 92% Rotten Tomatoes rating compared to a 53% audience score. The film has a 6.6 rating on the IMDB.

Over 100 “film critics, journalists, bloggers and entertainment reporters” participated in the World of Reel poll. Lee’s war film tallied 48 votes, Never Rarely Sometimes Always got 42 votes, and The Invisible Man earned 37.

The other favorites are Bad Education (#4, 30 votes), The Assistant (#5, 30 votes), First Cow (#6, 30 votes), Bacurau (#7, 29 votes), The Vast of Night (#8, 26), Shirley (#9, 25 votes), Emma (#10, 16 votes), Vitalina Varela (#11, 11 votes), Beanpole (#12, 11 votes) and The King of Staten Island (#13, 11 votes)

Here’s a poll-focused discussion between Jordan and myself, recorded yesterday morning.

“HE’s Best of 2020 So Fqr” (posted on 7.9.20): Roman Polanski‘s J’Accuse (aka An Officer and a Spy), Judd Apatow and Pete Davidson‘s The King of Staten Island, Ladj Ly‘s Les Miserables, Rod Lurie‘s The Outpost, Diao Yinan‘s The Wild Goose Lake, Cory Finley and Mike Makowski‘s Bad Education, Gavin O’Connor and Ben Affleck‘s The Way Back, Spike Lee‘s Da 5 Bloods, Eliza Hittman’s Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Ken Loach‘s Sorry We Missed You, Leigh Whannell‘s The Invisible Man, Kelly Reichardt‘s First Cow.

Last March I wrote that J’Accuse, which may never be released here due to #MeToo and #TimesUp but which I finally saw that month, “has been crafted with absolute surgical genius…a lucid and exacting and spot-on retelling of an infamous episode of racial prejudice…a sublime atmospheric and textural recapturing of 1890s ‘belle epoque’ Paris, and such a meticulous, hugely engrossing reconstruction of the Dreyfus affair…a tale told lucidly…clue by clue, layer by layer. Pretty much a perfect film.”

Again, the mp3.

In 2008 you could say “being a white guy, I’m vaguely appalled by white supporters of John McCain” without it being, you know, a “problem.” You could say this, I mean, without necessarily being labeled a cultural felon because of your English-German ancestry. Remember those days?

These days a white guy saying “yo, I’m a white guy” is like saying “yo, I recently completed a twelve-year prison sentence for robbery and manslaughter but I didn’t even shoot the guy.”

Out of the blue, into the black. Hugs, condolences to family, friends, colleagues and fans.

Danny Wolf‘s Skin: A History of Nudity in Movies will stream via Quiver Distribution on 8.18. It seems intelligent enough.

Almost exactly a year ago I suggested that Elvis Presley‘s grandson, Benjamin Keough, could “theoretically” play his late grandfather in Baz Luhrman‘s in-preparation biopic about the relationship between Presley and Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks). “I’ve no idea if Keough can act or sing or anything,” I wrote, but he’s “nearly a dead ringer” for Elvis, and would seem like the right choice “in terms of genetic follow-through.”

A half-hour ago TMZ reported that Keough, the 27 year-old son of Lisa Marie Presley and musician Danny Keough as well as the brother of Riley Keough, “has died of an apparent suicide.”

TMZ: “Law enforcement sources tell us Ben appears to have died Sunday in Calabasas from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. [The deceased’s] grandparents are Elvis and Priscilla Presley.”

TMZ follow-up (3:57 PM Pacific): Lisa’s “is completely heartbroken, inconsolable and beyond devastated,” said her manager Roger Widynowski, “but is trying to stay strong for her 11 year old twins and her oldest daughter Riley. She adored that boy. He was the love of her life.”

The truth is that David Poland‘s Libya or Iraq string-em-up fantasy sounds…well, I shouldn’t say. But I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to feeling a slight ping of emotional pleasure from imagining this scenario. Let’s lay it on the table. These people are despicable villains, and Trump’s COVID negligence and ignorance has — be honest — hastened the needless deaths of tens of thousands. And he’s clearly inflamed the racial divide climate in this country.

HE: I hate how the Khmer Rouge has kicked me out out of what used to be lefty conversation circles. Or, you know, pushed me into sensible left-centrism by way of twitter mob action. I’ve regarded myself as a flaming lefty all my life, but no longer. Not with cancel-culture wing nuts calling the shots.

Friendo: So many people tell me they’re feeling the same way. A friend turned me on to Ben Shapiro, who’s been written off as a crazed rightie but his latest podcast episode is so good – he compiles interviews he’s had over time with Rogan, Peterson, Harris — they call it the “dark web” of independent thinkers. I don’t agree with him 100% but it’s so refreshing to hear people talk about real stuff. It’s no wonder he’s so popular.

HE: I can’t go there. Shapiro speaks frankly but is also a flat-out conservative who’s given elbow-bumps to Trump. That’s a bridge too far. Not this horse.