Gojira Whips Nolan’s Ass

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The more I think about The Oydssey, the more bummed out I feel. The financial success and critical acclaim it has enjoyed isn’t quite as depressing as the ridiculous hoo-hah that greeted Everything Everywhere All At Once, but it’s in that general ballpark.

Comforting agreement: “Of all the criticisms leveled at Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey (apart from the one I have, which is that the entire movie is a frigging mess), the most resonant, to me, was the complaint that Nolan had made a mistake by leaving the Greek gods out of the story.

“Nolan certainly showed that you could make a version of Homer minus the gods; but he didn’t necessarily show that it could be done without losing a crucial dimension. Besides, if you can’t see gods at a movie of The Odyssey, where in God’s name are you going to see them?

“The answer is at a Japanese monster movie — more thrilling, by leagues, than The Odyssey — where the monsters possess an ominous majesty that’s not of this world, even as they’re in the middle of laying waste to it.”

Deepest, Saddest, Most Revealing Stallone Interview…Ever

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Lulu Garcia-Navarro’s 9.26 N.Y. Times interview with Sylvester Stallone is, no exaggeration, mind-blowing. It’s one of the most open-hearted, pain-excavating, soul-baring Hollywood celebrity conversations I’ve ever listened to.

And you know what? This is not just a promotional interview for Stallone’s “Steps: A Memoir” (William Morrow, 9.26), but also an historical emotional undertow torpedo that will enhance Peter Farrelly‘s I Play Rocky when it opens on 11.6.

I came to know Stallone a bit between the mid ’80s and early ’90s, and I’m telling you that none of what he says to Garcia-Navarro in this amazing interview was even vaguely detectable back in the old days. This is truly riveting stuff here. It’s heartbreaking.

I worked under Stallone in ’85 and ’86 when I was employed as a writer/publicist for Bobby Zarem and Dick Delson, who had formed a p.r. partnership and had landed Stallone as their star client.

So I knew Stallone’s vibe, hung in his orbit, watched him train, visited his Pacific Palisades home once or twice, did what I was told. But there wasn’t a lot of openness from the guy. He was guarded, sullen. When I was over at his place one evening I noticed an original Francis Bacon painting hanging in his foyer, and I said with some excitement, “Whoa, Francis Bacon!” Stallone’s total reply: “You got it.”

In ’92 I interviewed Stallone on the Italian Cliffhanger set (i.e., Cortina d’ampezzo) for the N.Y. Times. And a couple of years earlier I’d helped bring industry attention to a pair of screenplays that led to two of his better projects — Peter Lenkov‘s Demolition Man (’93) and Alexandra Seros‘ The Specialist (’94).

Posted on 6.26.26: Sly Stallone Starred in Two Truly Good Films — Rocky and First Blood. And three pretty good ones — Judge Dredd, Antz (i.e., voice-acted) and Creed. Okay, you can add Cop Land. And Thom Zimny‘s Sly is a straight-shooting, above-average doc. Seven in all. But that’s it. All the rest are compromised.

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Widow Bot Contemplates Six-Year Anniversary Blues

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I’ve no doubt that “Debbie N. of North Stamford” is a bot because no mature, thinking, perceptive woman would ask an online community if they have any ideas how she could best cope with the sixth anniversary of her husband’s sad passing.

Being 90% certain that “Debbie” is a cynical actor, I posted the following early this morning:

Six years since a loved one’s death and you’re STILL anguished and weak in the knees on this melancholy anniversary? You’re STILL saying “whoa, this is a really tough one”?

One year after his passing — hurts, hard to cope with. Two years later — pain still lingers. Three years later — a bit easier to handle although memories still haunt and hover. But you’re still having a hard time after six years?

There’s a classic Zen saying, to be used whenever something shocking or traumatic occurs. Are you ready to hear it? The saying is “Okay…THAT happened.”

Because painful as it initially was, the traumatic six-year-old thing happened, and after 72 months of meditation there’s only one thing to say…THAT’S THAT.

Have you ever seen Moonstruck? The heartsick Nic Cage says “I love you” to Cher, and her response is to slap him across the chops and say “snap out of it!”

If you could somehow speak to your late husband and tell him that you’re STILL all torn up on the sixth anniversary of his death, he would say the following:

“I’m deeply touched, my nearest and dearest and loveliest, by what you’re going through — I miss our earth years also and am sorry as well, even though cosmic spirits don’t grapple with earthly emotions as a rule — but there’s another valuable Zen saying. It’s called ‘BE HERE NOW.’

“I’m sure you don’t need me or anyone else to remind you but I’m dead and you’re alive and pulsing on God’s good green earth. You’re in a good place — rich, robust, tumescent. Embrace it. Do this, I’m begging you. Because one day you’ll be an eternal cosmic spirit yourself.”

Annual anniversaries are over-rated.

I Don’t Do This Often

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…but if I notice a masked-up person inside an enclosed space (movie theatre, grocery/deli store, subway or MetroNorth car, bar/restaurant), I’ll occasionally think about going up to them and asking “so how’s the pandemic coming along?” Or “just out of curiosity, but do you wear your mask when you’re walking solo on a sidewalk or driving alone in your car?” Or “do you wear that mask while sleeping in your bedroom or on the couch in your living room?”

Have I ever actually gone up to a masked warrior and asked “so how’s the pandemic coming along?” No, I haven’t. But I’d like to summon the courage to do this. Because I kinda hate them.

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Nanny State

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In Fjord (Neon, 10.9), director-writer Cristian Mungiu’s decision to make the Gheorghiu clan (Sebastian Stan’s Mihai and Renate Reinsve’s Lisbet plus five kids) into devout Christians allows wokester critics to turn the movie into a fake either-or contest.

It allows wokesters to ask “what’s worse, an ardently concerned government that occasionally overreaches…or a family of conservative Christian homophobes?”

If the family wasn’t Christian, Fjord would have forced us to focus on the film’s true theme: that the woke nanny-state does not value — and in many ways wants to wreck — the traditional family.

Fjord is threatening to the woke mob because (Christian family aside) it’s an attack on the progressive nanny-state, and the woke femmebot consciousness behind it. That’s why Fjord is so relevant to what’s going on now in the U.S.

What touches off the storm is the fact that the overzealous authorities are driven to “protect” Vanessa Ceban’s Elia Gheorghiu — and the fact that Mihai confesses to having hit her lightly on the rump, something a non-Christian father could have done. The Christian thing therefore does come into play. But it’s not what touches off the whole situation.

I’m just sensing that the wokesters are going to watch this movie and say, “Unfair — we’re not anti-Christian bigots.” Which is a fair-minded response. The problem with wokesters isn’t that they’re anti-Christian bigots. It’s that they’re controlling fascists obsessed with turning everyone into “victims”.

That’s what these bastards do to Elia in Fjord. They make her into a “victim” who needs their “protection.” To the point that they would actually strip these children away from their family. That’s the fundamental obscenity of your generic wokester POV — not anti-Christian bigotry.

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“The Hounds Trust Thee Not”

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Werwulf (Focus Features, 12.25) is a Robert Eggers film, all right. Obviously a high-quality, heavy-atmosphere thing. Set in 14th-century England and entirely spoken in Middle English. Three of the old Nosferatu gang — Lily-Rose Depp, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Willem Dafoe — are back for more. HE automatically swoons at the sight of any film shot and projected at 1.37:1.

“There wulf! There castle!”

One Tree Limb Goes Down

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…and over 700 Wiltonians, myself among them, are obliged to suffer. Thank fortune my local Starbucks is unaffected…electric power, fast wifi, cappuccinos.

But also speaking of Starbucks, one of my all-time favorite Manhattan sipping locations, B’way and 71st (2045 B’way, just south of the 72nd Street IRT station), has been shuttered. I’ve been tapping out HE items in that Starbucks for at least a couple of decades. It’s like an old friend has suddenly died.

Come Again?

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When word started to circulate last spring or early summer about Peter Farrelly’s I Play Rocky, Sylvester “once upon a midnight dreary” Stallone was quoted saying he hadn’t been consulted or had even heard about the Amazon MGM release (opening on 11.6) before reading about it online.

Well, not quite.

A 9.26 Variety interview piece with I Play Rocky star Anthony Ippolito, who not only portrays Stallone to a T but is an absolute dead ringer for the 29-year-old actor in 1975-76, says he Zoom-chatted a few times with the now 80-year-old superstar before the Farrelly film began shooting last year.

Ippolito to People magazine:

Sorry But This Is Funny

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Kamala Harris is lame and dangerous:

Trans:

@gala.fr #naomiwatts #gucci #tiktokfashion #mfw ♬ PAPARAZZI x SAY IT RIGHT – ALTÉGO

HE backyard around 6:30 pm this evening:

Robert Mitchum’s features are immediately recognizable, but the brunette to Mitchum’s immediate right doesn’t even faintly resemble Jane Greer. Why then did Warner Archive marketing choose this curious illustration? Answer: Either the persons concerned have never seen Out Of The Past or they’re figuring that Average Joe 4K physical media buyers couldn’t care less.

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