SM Memories

Sort of social media…this, from YouTube, where dead accounts linger for ages.

Thank you for your service, kunc. Hicks & Zizek as two-thirds of your roster? (stands, applauds)

Catch Me If You Kachoo

The guy downstairs - who has lived there for several years - is clearly unaware how loudly & dramatically he sneezes…or is playing a very long, very weird con.

Lazy Post

I suppose "up a river with a sturdy work ethic" didn't flow as well.

2024 Hat Tip - Revisited

It’s rare that I shift so sharply/so quickly on the films I thought were the best of a year (sorry…favorites). I went through the exercise of re-evaluating all my lists from the last 20+ years, and was a bit shocked at the number of changes I ended up making.

2024, however, was sharply adjusted. A new top film: I wasn’t even aware of the existence of Sountrack to a Coup d’Etat until mid-February, but it was such a remarkable viewing experience, it was an immediate and easy placement.

Gone were a handful of strong films that with just a little time simply didn’t feel worthy of the list any longer.

And added in very late: Guadagnino’s Queer, which I felt sure would not do it for me, but I was rapt from the first frames. (Maybe Craig’s best work to date?)

So, here is the updated list.

SM Memories

Aaaaand one last one from Threads.

Walken, Tappin'

I've never understood why someone hasn't put together a film about an aging soft-shoe man played by Christopher Walken. Seems to me like the easiest pitch.

SM Memories

When I left Threads, which admittedly was one of the less invasive and more satisfying social media experiences, I took a reminder of a few of my favorite posts that were not my own artwork (and happened to take place within a very small window…I guess I was having a good month). The Bowie was silly, to be sure. But I’m a tad proud of the rest.

Sons of the Neon Night: The Film That Never Manifests

Still waiting, and even with Cannes reviews that were less than kind, I remain hopeful the film will be satisfying. New posters have been out there for awhile…and here they are.

…and my favorite:

R.I.P. Harris Yulin

I know, I said I would ease up on the death reports…but damn it, Harris Yulin has left us. And the man was just too good to ignore.

In 2005 he had a brief role in the Michael Keaton drama Game 6, as an actor struggling with his lines because of a brain condition. It’s such a small piece of the film’s overall story, but Yulin is staggering. (The image below is shoddy quality, clipped-from-a trailer on YouTube because I couldn’t find anything sufficient online for the film, and for that I apologize.)

I always liked Yulin’s big scene in Scarface as the dirty cop, Bernstein: sitting quietly, arms crossed, he watches as Tony Montana confronts and kills Frank. Tony then turns on Bernstein, who remains relatively calm even after being shot in the gut. His final line is angrily barked “FUCK you” before being shot a second time. (The scene is closed out exquisitely with Arnaldo Santana’s sweaty relief at being given a reprieve, and offered a job.)

Yulin was a stage actor first, starting in 1963, with his first film role as Wyatt Earp in 1971’s Doc, a supremely dusty western co-starring Stacy Keach and Faye Dunaway. Another overlooked gem.

R.I.P. Mara Corday

One of my earliest science-fiction experiences was 1955’s Tarantula, which co-starred Leo G. Carroll and Mara Corday. Corday passed away earlier this year.

Clint Eastwood plays a very small role in Tarantula as a pilot. According to Wikipedia:

“A few years after her husband's death in 1974, Corday's old friend Eastwood offered her a chance to return to films with a role in his 1977 film The Gauntlet. She also had a brief but significant role in Sudden Impact (1983), where she played the waitress who dumped sugar into the coffee of Det. Harry Callahan in that film's iconic “Go ahead, make my day” sequence. She acted with Eastwood again in his 1989 film Pink Cadillac, as well as in her last film, 1990's The Rookie.”

TARANTULA, 1955

R.I.P. Marcel Ophuls

The only reason in 1977 that 13-year-old Steve knew the name Marcel Ophuls - and was aware of the existence of a documentary titled The Sorrow and the Pity - was thanks to Annie Hall, arguably Woody Allen’s best film.

Ophuls died yesterday at the age of 97. I hope he found the McLuhan scene amusing.

ANNIE HALL, 1977

I know...

It’s starting to look like an obituary site. Sorry. After the end-of-year stuff, I kind of let things slide a bit. But now, everything is about loss. I’ll try to get back on track, promise.

TO BE CONTINUED…

(WESTERN, 2017, dir. Valeska Grisebach)

R.I.P. Ted Kotcheff

“Journeyman” should not be seen as a slight. Ted Kotcheff worked in film and TV for four decades, and in that time, he made Uncommon Valor (1983), a nostalgic, emotional favorite; First Blood (1982), a film that has grown in my estimation with each passing decade as a great example of not only whip-smart action but post-Vietnam cinema; and what I would argue is the man’s masterpiece - yet only his fourth directorial effort - 1971’s Wake in Fright.

R.I.P. Val Kilmer

Val Kilmer’s death is particularly sad, not just because - from a sturdy overall career - you could claim a handful of his performances are timeless, but in the years since illness diverted his path, he managed to commit to film a loving salute to one character, and an engrossing document on his entire life.

And sure, I know everyone has been copying and pasting images from Tombstone and Heat today…I get it. His work in those two films is top-tier stuff. But let’s go back to the start.

I mean, just imagine starting your film career with these four films…

Top Secret! (1984)

Real Genius (1985)

Top Gun (1986)

Willow (1988)

R.I.P. Bruce Glover

Bruce Glover was one of those actors I didn’t see a lot during my lifetime, but when I did he was a memorable presence on screen. Whether in smaller supporting roles (Chinatown, or much later in Ghost World) or as a heavy (with or without tongue firmly planted in cheek, as in Diamonds Are Forever), he was always a pleasure to watch work.

Addendum to the End-um.

So, in January I stopped watching films to sum up my 2024 list, yet since that day I’ve seen a number of other missed 2024 films that blew me away. I feel they are worth mentioning here:

-Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat (2024, dir. Johan Grimonprez)

As dense as it is energizing, as beautiful as it is powerful, this jazz-based documentary about Patrice Lumumba is a remarkable work, immediately leaping to the top of my 2024 list.

-Mars Express (2023, dir. Jeremie Perin)

An animated science fiction detective conspiracy thriller - set on Mars - flips so many satisfactory triggers for me that I’m shocked I didn’t know about it sooner. Action and humor and pathos from unexpected sources, it’s a terrific piece of work.

-Heretic (2024, dirs. Scott Beck & Bryan Woods)

What I thought was going to be another overhyped elevated horror flick turned out to be immensely smart and unsettling, with another latter-career performance by Hugh Grant. So damned good.

-A Complete Unknown 92024, dir. James Mangold)

This beat all my expectations, and destroyed all my concerns. I was on a terrific high from start to finish. The first Chalamet performance I’ve really been wowed by; and Mangold maintains his record as one of the most reliable directors around.