by Sam Juliano
The full book design for Irish Jesus of Fairview has now been posted on social media and here at Wonders in the Dark. The white rectangle on the back cover of course is for the still to be designated bar code. Meanwhile my final stage editor Bill Kamberger is on the job. The book will not be published until late May, as the process will include three or four readings, and a close inspection. But we are getting there, and the plans include a hardcover edition at Barnes & Noble. I plan to make some progress this week on the third novel, Roses for Saoirse, but it is touch and go, because of the attention I need to devote to Irish Jesus in tandem with Bill.
Our annual Oscar party will be again be held on Sunday, March 12th at the Tiger Hose Firehouse in Fairview, after two years of cancellations because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Director Jay Giampietro will be there to document the proceedings with his movie camera.
The American Cinema polling will end this coming Friday, March 10th at 5:00 p.m. many thanks to those who have submitted their Top 40s and the fabulous commentary attached to some.
Lucille and I watched Creed and Marlowe this past week in local theaters. I wasn’t especially fond of either, for various reasons, though I guess the ‘same old, same old” Creed was slightly better.
Film writer extraordinaire Jim Clark will soon be publishing his latest essay, and it will focus on the new Polish film, EO, which is up for best International Feature.
Wishing everyone a wonderful week!
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Comment: Thank you for sharing, Sam. It will be an honor to present such a tremendous film on your wonderful platform. Valerie and I always love to hear your news and updates which are so exciting. We love the cover of your book. It will be great to get back to the Oscar Party!
The feelings are mutual my great friend! i am so thrilled to hear you and Valerie love the cover and are relishing the updates! Yes the party last night was so much fun and a return to the sorely missed social connections! Thank you so much!
I should mention–it will take me a few weeks to complete and for Valerie to proofread. And thank you again for assisting with some photos.
I completely understand, Jim! And I will indeed handle the photos for the essay! Looking forward to it!!!
Great cover, great title, Sam! You are living with purpose, and adding so much to our lives, my friend.
Yeah, yeah I know the black bear in “Cocaine Bear” is CGI and all, but I have a hard time with depictions of animal abuse and it’s likely this shit is played for laughs. Apparently millions think it’s rollicking good fun watching a normally passive bear lose its mind on drugs.
Caught up in Francophilia, if I ruled the world “The Fabelmans” would sweep the Oscars in all the major categories. And the only Slap I want to see this year is the one starring Isabelle Adjani and Lino Ventura (1974).
Thank you so very much Wendy, my great and esteemed friend! I am grateful for your kind assertion there, and I certainly have always felt that way about you and your fabulous artistry!!!
One of the few pleasures of the decennial S&S poll is reading individual critics’ ballots. Happy to see “Niagara,” certainly a canon outsider, on Kim Morgan’s list. It’s a universally known fact that a publicity still from the film was the inspiration for Warhol’s colossal, hugely influential silkscreen painting, “Marilyn Diptych,” created the year of Monroe’s suicide (I’m an Occam’s Razor kind of guy). All whipped cream and curves in “Niagara,” I don’t think Monroe ever looked more luscious on film, though she comes awfully close in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.” The film is a bright and sunlit three-strip Technicolor noir—not a speck of urban grime—that still manages to harrow an audience. And a thumping good pick for the poll.
Rather underwhelmed by the bleary “To Leslie.” Riseborough’s got game but the acting turns on the spigots so high that the film becomes a veritable Niagara of tears and snot. Poor, foolish, alcoholic Leslie (who is estranged from her adult son) is surrounded by a crowd of MAGA types as unpretty and forbidding as the West Texas moonscape they inhabit. Worth seeing, just don’t expect to be wowed by “the greatest performance ever put on film.” Miss Riseborough isn’t Falconetti as Joan or Garbo in “Camille.” Not yet, anyway.
I’m always nonplussed by the transformation of Broadway musicals into Hollywood films. For instance, why was Topol cast in “Fiddler” when Zero was standing right in front of Norman Jewison? Isn’t Mostel considered the template for the zillions of Tevyes that followed him? Anyway, a sincere goodbye to Chaim Topol. Always a pro, if not a divinely inspired one.
Mark my great friend, as always, I thoroughly enjoyed your commentary. Though I certainly agree with your pointed comparative assessment on Andrea Riseborough’s performance in TO LESLIE – and greatly respect your postion on it – the turn is still my absolute favorite of the five female lead who got nominated this year, and if I were voting she’s receive my vote. I also like the film more than you do, though it did NOT make my Top 10 (honorable mention is where I placed it) But yes, MAGA types about there in that hugely unappealing terrain! In a rare instance of complete disagreement with you, I always thought the much warmer, soulful and earthy CHAIM TOPOL was the better choice for Tevye that Zero, who only had the edge for HUMOR. But that role was dependent on more, and I have always argued that the Israeli actor was absolutely the correct choice for the film version. the matter is arguable of course, and you have plenty of others agreeing with you. Anyway, Mostel was very difficult to work with, and his demands made that union impossible from what I have heard. Wishing you a great week my friend! I did post on Topol’s death on FACEBOOK, and received many responses.
Happy birthday to Liza with a Z, smashing in Cabaret (I would’ve voted for Cicely T. but I don’t begrudge Liza’s win. “Positively a nun’s hands” has stuck with me for years. In fact, when I’m alone I hold up my hands, put them together, and repeat that line more often than I should). Also memorable in The Sterile Cuckoo (what an awful title), Arthur, and even A Matter of Time. She’ll outlive us all.
With the Oscars dead ahead here are some of the more egregious instances of Oscar getting it wrong, imo: John Wayne (not nominated) > Yul Brynner, Burt Reynolds > Robin Williams, Oliver Reed (The Devils, no nom) > Gene Hackman (a superb actor), Paul Newman and Dustin Hoffman > Ben Kingsley (another splendid actor), Chloe Sevigny (Boys Don’t Cry) > Angelina Jolie (Girl, Interrupted), Pam Grier > Helen Hunt, Anjelica Huston > Kathy Bates (a knockout in “Misery”), Richard Farnsworth (“The Straight Story”) > Kevin Spacey in the detestable “American Beauty,” and perhaps most flagrant of all, Judy Garland >>> Grace Kelly. One could point to countless other injustices but these are especially vexing.
Why did I watch “Party Monster,” a loathsome film about loathsome people? In Macaulay Culkin’s case commiseration grapples with contempt for his acting. Poor kid. Adulthood was the worst thing that could have happened to his film career. Sometimes I enjoy bad movies, but not this horror. (Leigh Bowery, who’s not acknowleged in “Party Monster,” was a trailblazer.)
Well, Sam, tonight I’ll be watching the awards orgy along with you and the movie-mad gang, and rooting for “The Fabelmans” and a Cate Blanchett or Michelle Yeoh/Michelle Williams (such a misunderstood performance) win. Mr. Farrell has my vote for reasons that go beyond his good acting—male star grace and pulchritude rarely seen these days. In this era of the androgyne (Chalamet, Butler), Farrell is a man.
Champagne on ice and away we go.
See shock artist L. Bowery give birth to the first baby born at “Wigstock” in selfsame movie (1995). Only for those with a cast-iron stomach.
This new and nauseating “All Quiet” has already won more awards than Milestone’s great original. This doesn’t augur well for Best Picture.
Mark, the Best Picture situation was always going to be EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE by leaps and bounds, as everyone under the sun has known for many weeks now, so you needn’t have worried. I adore the new ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (as I do all the other nominees in that International Film Feature category aside from Argentina 1985) but I do give the Milestone masterpiece the edge.
Whenever I see Kate Hudson I think of her wonderful performance in Almost Famous.
Mark, I hear ya, my friend! She was quite excellent in that film!!!!
J. Wells is hanging from a shower rod drinking lye.
Mark, LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!