don’t sleep on Broadway Danny Rose. i could see it as easily being put at number 1.
3 Likes
She was great in that. Woody must be close to 90 at this point. One of my great cinematic loves was Annie Hall (and Chinatown) and now both have been sullied because of their directors. Men behaving badly is not new but finding out about it is what happens now (which I support just musing about it). Probably go back in time to most male authors, painters, actors and directors and there would be disturbing stories galore.
Anyway, I did love Woody’s films and his funny nervous angst and great urban stories were a huge part of my young and older adulthood. And Mia and Diane Keaton were two of my favorite woody muses.
3 Likes
People are complicated. Talented people can also be nasty, selfish, or otherwise awful people. Lord knows I’ve run into MANY in my time, especially connected to the entertainment industries.
Polanski and Allen, well, we know about them. Neil Gaiman apparently had his own issues, despite being outwardly the ‘right’ sort of celebrity. J. Kenji Lopez-Alt got himself into AA and is apparently getting divorced, and apparently has a sort of shitty online rep (who knew?) What punishment, if any, is warranted by each of these sins?
Do we distinguish between people who are jerks in service of/in concert with their jobs? i.e. Dave Chappelle making shitty trans jokes in his act, vs. J. K. Rowling, who says similarly shitty things, but never put them in Harry Potter’s mouth (but DID write them intoher Cormorant Strike novels). What about Neil Gaiman or Louis C. K., whose WORK was generally well received, but who used their fame and power over others poorly.
Chinatown is a masterpiece AND Polanski is a shitty person.
Kenji’s pizza recipe is great, AND I suspect I might not want to be friends with the guy.
All of those things are true and don’t contradict each other. How people draw their own lines is however feels right to them. You want to boycott Potter-dom because Rowling’s a whackjob? I understand and approve. Still eat at Chik-Fil-A and watch Chappelle Show reruns? Whatever works for you. I certainly won’t be throwing any stones from my own highly glazed abode.
Personally, I always loved Sleeper (Keaton) and Bananas (Louise Lasser!) as my exemplars of early Allen. Probably because they’re among the goofiest of premises and had laughs even a pre-teen could understand. I associate Farrow with his more ‘mature’ films, like Zelig and Shadows and Fog (which I think is underrated, personally).
6 Likes
Yes, we all draw our own lines. I don’t have much of any issue with Allen given the circumstances, but def with Polanski, and/yet I still appreciate some of their œuvre.
I greatly enjoyed The Chapelle show, which was well over a decade before DC decided to put several feet in his mouth, repeatedly — made easier by the fact that I haven’t heard a funny thing out of his mouth for about as long. I used to positively love Louis C.K., who now might as well be dead to me.
I’d not heard about Kenji’s alcoholism, yet would never dream of mentioning him even in the same paragraph as that POS Gaiman.
PS: Oh, and I could never listen to nor cover any MJ songs ever again. I was stunned one was included in the Grammy’s.
1 Like
We watched Painted Lady from 1997, starring Helen Mirren, last night. I don’t know why I didn’t see it when it came out back then.
1 Like
I’ve enjoyed the CB Strike books and I love the tv show (watched 3rd episode of Ink Black Heart last night) and they found such great actors to play the main characters. JK stuff is bizarre and I don’t agree with her, but the men assaulting women and getting away with it bothers me more. And yet I still love Chinatown. Woody’s weirdness is hard to entangle but old men taking up with much younger women is a tale as old as time. (I looked him up and he’s 90 in November!)
Singapore Sling (1990) - dir. Nikos Nikolaidis
How to describe this infamous film?
It is an absurdist horror/comedy art film that occasionally veers into splatter punk and soft-core porn territory. It’s as if John Waters decided to make 1944’s Laura as inspired by Peter Greenaway’s The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover.
We have an incestuous mother/daughter pair in a BDSM relationship, and an injured detective(?) named Singapore Sling being held prisoner by them and really anything beyond that kind of defies description. There’s a few murders, slapstick comedy, and direct quotes and references to Preminger’s noir classic, sometimes treating the film as a quasi-sequel or spin off.
A quote from the director, courtesy of the Wikipedia entry:
Director Nikos Nikolaidis said the following about this film’s reception during an interview: “When I was shooting Singapore Sling , I was under the impression that I was making a comedy with elements taken from Ancient Greek Tragedy… Later, when some European and American critics characterized it as ‘one of the most disturbing films of all times,’ I started to feel that something was wrong with me. Then, when British censors banned its release in England, I finally realized that something is wrong with all of us.”
Yeah. That about covers it.
Seek this out at your own discretion. I can’t say I advise it. The photography is excellent and the film very much creates its own reality. Whether you want to be part of that reality or not is entirely subjective.
I’m going to put this one, much like Saló, on that list of “I’ve seen it once. That’s quite enough, thank you.”
It’s not without merit. But it’s not necessary viewing by, well, anyone, really.
1 Like
Just started watching The Åre Murders on Netflix, so far, so good. Love me a good Scandi thriller.
1 Like
Was anyone around watching the Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday, February 9,1964? We had horrible reception on our B&W, but it was memorable. Can you believe it was 60 years ago?
2 Likes
There will never be another event like this. The monoculture is 100% over.
Only the Superb Owls have maintained stable ratings since the internet started to kill broadcast and cable.
I was, I could never understand the screaming, still can’t.
Neither could The Beatles. It’s why they stopped touring. They couldn’t hear themselves over the crowd.
Anyone else watching?
1 Like
Triple feature at casa lingua last night bc weekend 
We started with the very strange, yet also very intriguing Abruptio, an adult puppet horror movie (I said it was strange!) about…well, here’s the synopsis:
Les Hackel is a guy down on his luck who wakes to find an explosive device has been implanted in his neck.
That doesn’t even scratch the surface, but I don’t want to give anything away for those of you who might enjoy the ride. We did. Sorta. Jordan Peele and Robert Englund voice a couple of characters.
Next up, a Quebequois flique en Français about a bunch of dudes and one sex worker spending a weekend at a cabin in the woods. This was also as weird as it was unpredictable.
Lastly, for our beddy-bye brain candy, the latest Amy Schumer movie Kinda Pregnant. Had its fun moments, but certainly isn’t required watching, i.e. your typical romcom with the prerequisite happy ending 
2 Likes
Thank you sharing – I have a tough time filtering through BritBox and Acorn, so it’s great when someone posts a recommendation!
2 Likes
Wild Cards on Amazon. It’s a terrible, sitcom-y detective show pairing a hot detective with a hot criminal to solve cases, and therefore it is an excellent waste of time to have on in the background while doing other things 
3 Likes
You’re welcome!
I think I might have started watching because it was “curated” for me, after I finished Vera and maybe The Sticky, but I think it’s the lead actress Wunmi Mosaku that kept me watching. I haven’t watched “this sort of thing” in quite some time.
2 Likes
You reminded me I was watching a great new series on one of these with a fantastic female lead as the DI. But it’s weekly episodes, and I forgot.
2 Likes
Inspector Ellis
2 Likes
Amandaland on BBC
Really enjoying this!
3 Likes
