How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (2008) **

Thanks to the stellar cast this is an entertaining rom-com but the lead character is hard to root for and a lot of the jokes fall flat.

2018 In Review: Music

**** Essex Green, The - Hardly Electronic
*** Albert Hammond Jr. - Francis Trouble
*** Amy Rigby - The Old Guys
*** Beths, The - Future Me Hates Me
*** Bird Streets - Bird Streets
*** Brian Jonestown Massacre, The - Something Else
*** Charlatans, The - Totally Eclipsing
*** Chills, The - Snow Bound
*** Courtney Barnett - Tell Me How You Really Feel
*** Elvis Costello - Look Now
*** Gretchen's Wheel - Black Box Theory
*** KT Tunstall - Wax
*** Laura Veirs - The Lookout
*** Lemon Twigs, The - Go To School
*** Liminanas, The - Shadow People
*** Metric - Art Of Doubt
*** Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson - Apart
*** Richard Thompson - 13 Rivers
*** Tres Oui - Poised To Flourish
*** We Are Scientists - Megaplex
*** Wild Nothing - Indigo
*** Decemberists, The - Traveling On EP
*** Django Django - Winter's Beach EP
** Alex Chilton and Peter Holsapple -The Death Of Rock
** Antarctigo Vespucci - Love In The Time Of Email
** Beach House - 7
** Belle & Sebastian - How To Solve Our Human Problems
** Breeders, The - All Nerve
** Charlotte Gainsbourg - Take 2
** Frontperson - Frontrunner
** Great Lakes - Dreaming Too Close To The Edge
** Hinds - I Don't Run
** Inara George - Dearest Everybody
** Johnny Marr - Call The Comet
** Kate Nash - Yesterday Was Forever
** Kooks, The - Let's Go Sunshine
** Pavlov's Dog - Prodigal Dreamer
** Pinkshinyultrablast - Miserable Miracles
** Sam Phillips - World on Sticks
** Shins, The - The Worms Heart
** Superchunk - What a Time to Be Alive
** Eleanor Friedberger - Rebound
** Jeff Tweedy - Warm
** Neko Case - Hell-On
** Rays - You Can Get There From Here

2018 In Review: Movies

**** The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs
**** Roma
*** A Quiet Place
*** Annihilation
*** The Favourite
*** First Reformed
*** Isle Of Dogs
*** Mamma Mia! Her We Go Again
*** The Other Side Of The Wind
*** Unsane
*** Widows
** Crazy Rich Asians
** I Feel Pretty
** Incredibles 2
** Mowgli: Legend Of The Jungle
** The Spy Who Dumped Me
** You Were Never Really Here
* Bohemian Rhapsody
* Ready Player One
* The Nutcracker And The Four Realms
* The Old Man And The Gun

The Favourite (2018) ***

Not as twisted (or direct) as his previous films, but entertaining and well made.

Roma (2018) ****

Directorial tour-de-force about an upper class family coming apart in early '70's Mexico City. Lots of long one take sequences which boggle the mind as to how they were accomplished.

The Other Side of the Wind (2018) ***

Can be interpreted in many ways, but this final Orson Welles picture is as ambitious as any previous. Lots to admire, lots to think about.

Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018) **

Well made but succumbs to the tired Hollywood script "beats" and ends up quite like another film.

First Reformed (2017) ***

Nicely directed character study that takes a turn. Beautiful, minimalist production design and a very good performance by Mr. Hawke.

Performance (1970) **

I paid attention but couldn't figure out the point. Enjoyed the actors and the cinematography though.

Brief Encounter (TV Movie 1974) **

Superbly shot drama with Ms. Loren never lovelier.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) ****

Superbly crafted anthology film featuring the trademark Coens' humor, irony and detail. Well played by a great cast.

You Were Never Really Here (2017) **

Gritty and violent neo-noir has some interesting moments and admirable narrative restraint. Joaquin Phoenix holds it together.

Watching the Detectives (2007) **

A case of low expectations being rewarded, the flick is enjoyable thanks to the able cast and quick pace. Formulaic rom-com.

Stephen Hillenburg Dead: SpongeBob Squarepants’ Creator Was 57 – Variety

Hillenburg graduated from Humboldt State University in 1984 with a bachelor’s degree in Natural Resource Planning and Interpretation, with an emphasis on marine resources. He then became a marine biology teacher at the Orange County Marine Institute (now the Ocean Institute) in Dana Point, California. This interest, combined with his artistic talent and love of the sea and its creatures, led him to write and illustrate stories as teaching tools with characters that would later become the denizens of SpongeBob’s home, Bikini Bottom.

One of the best television shows ever made. Expertly crafted, tightly written, absurdly imaginative, humane and hilarious.

Widows (2018) ***

Nifty noir-heist-thriller is well paced and chock full of stars. Once the setup is complete, the second half takes off.

Nicolas Roeg, director of Don't Look Now and Walkabout, dies aged 90 | Film | The Guardian

Having risen through the ranks and devised his own, unique film language, Roeg held firm convictions in cinema as a distinct art form. “Movies are not scripts – movies are films,” he said in a 2006 interview. “They’re not books, they’re not the theatre. It’s a completely different discipline, it exists on its own. I would say that the beauty of it is, it’s not the theatre, it’s not done over again. It’s done in bits and pieces. Things are happening which you can’t get again.”

Purple Noon (1960) ***

Well directed Highsmith thriller with a knockout ending. Beautiful people in beautiful places doing not very nice things.

Jeremiah Johnson (1972) ***

Exceptional flick marred by an obnoxiously intrusive score. Pollack's most beautifully shot and composed film.

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018) *

Bad CGI fest masquerading as fantasy. Unfortunate because the art direction is pretty good.

Camille Paglia:It’s Time for a New Map of the Gender World - Quillette

My substitute for religion is art, which I have expanded to include all of popular culture. But when art is reduced to politics, as has been programmatically done in academe for 40 years, its spiritual dimension is gone. It is coarsely reductive to claim that value in the history of art is always determined by the power plays of a self-referential social elite. I take Marxist social analysis seriously: Arnold Hauser’s Marxist, multi-volume A Social History of Art (1951) was a major influence on me in graduate school. However, Hauser honored art and never condescended to it. A society that respects neither religion nor art cannot be called a civilization.

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) *

Laughably cliched and simple minded biopic of Queen, focusing on the trials and tribulations of Mr. Mercury who was quite the annoying diva.

Personal Best (1982) **

So-so sports flick, notable for using some actual athletes in major roles (very well) and manages to avoid a few relationship cliches but not all unfortunately. Nice shots of SLO in the 70's, and it's interesting to see what premier athletes looked like back then (NOT bulked up).

Hall Of Fame Slugger Willie McCovey Dies At Age 80 : NPR

McCovey was nicknamed "Stretch" because his height at 6-foot-4. Left-handed throwing made him a natural at first base. He was best known for his 521 career home runs, 18 of which were grand slams — the most by any player who spent his career exclusively in the National League. McCovey was the National League's home run leader three times and RBI king twice in his 22-season career. He played 13 of those years on the Giants with teammate Willie Mays and together they formed one of the most powerful hitting duos in baseball history.

He hit one of the longest home runs I've ever seen into the high upper deck of right field in Busch Stadium II. Always thrilling to watch him at bat.

Under the Volcano (1984) **

Huston can be TOO literal in his adaptations and this time it doesn't come together. Great cast, beautiful pictures, evocative production.

Third Finger, Left Hand (1940) **

Droll rom-com more interesting for the glimpse into the mores of pre-war, almost post Depression New Yorkers.

The Old Man & the Gun (2018) *

Even for a Redford fan, the sheer volume and intensities of the close ups is overwhelming. Yet, except for him there isn't much to write home about here. Very disappointing.

Demon Seed (1977) **

Features a superlative performance by the luminous Ms. Christie, but the rest of the picture is kind of silly.

The Immortal Story (TV Movie 1968) **

Beautifully shot, a bit too languorously paced, an intellectual exercise that never fully becomes real, which is kind of the point of the narrative.

Othello (1951) ***

Able to surmount the apparent production difficulties, the performances and production design carry the day. Imaginatively directed by Welles.

Men Are Not Gods (1936) **

Interesting look at the incredibly misogynistic mores of pre-war Britain. The title should have an addendum "...But They Sure Think They Are."

Napoleon Dynamite (2004) ***

Some hilarious, spot on scenes and a terrific overall capturing of the high school experience. Amazing performance by Jon Heder in the lead. Some of the eccentricities feel a bit forced.

Another Woman (1988) ****

Sharply written, well acted, always visually interesting with a lot of attention to detail. One of Woody's best.

Geoff Emerick, Beatles Chief Recording Engineer, Dies at 72 – Variety

Emerick was a Grammy Award winner for his work on “Sgt. Pepper’s” and “Abbey Road” as well as Paul McCartney and Wings’ “Band on the Run.” He is credited on albums by Elvis Costello (“Imperial Bedroom”), Badfinger, Supertramp, Cheap Trick and America, among many others.

Tremendous talent, tremendous impact on people's lives.

The Quiet Earth (1985) ***

Some similarities to other last-man-on-earth flicks but eschews the zombies/vampires/mutants route and sticks to the harder science angle.

Forget Nature Versus Nurture. Nature Has Won - Quillette

In Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are Robert Plomin makes the case that genetic differences cause most variation in psychological traits – things like personality and cognitive abilities. The way your parents raise you, the schools you attend – they don’t have much effect on those traits. Children are similar to their parents, but that similarity is due to shared genetics, rather than shared family environment.

Obviously the thoughts in your head, the facts you know, are not the same as your great-great-grand-father’s – we learn those things. But how easily you learn those facts, how well you remember them, how optimistic or pessimistic you are – those are largely set by your genes. Almost every psychological trait has significant heritability, even political leanings. To a significant degree, you’re either born a little Liberal or else a little Conservative, to quote Gilbert and Sullivan.

And to the extent that your personality is not set by your genes, it’s apparently influenced by poorly-understood random factors, rather than your upbringing or social circumstances.

Believe (Some) Women - Quillette

As the revelations concerning Asia Argento – one of Ronan Farrow’s key sources in his Weinstein story who was recently accused of sexually assaulting a teenage boy have also demonstrated, the reality is that the world is a complicated place. Perhaps Argento is both a victim and an abuser. Perhaps Farrow was a good mother to two of her children and a bad one to others. Although many will find Allen and Previn’s relationship wildly inappropriate and distasteful, the affair has plainly resulted in a stable and abiding marriage. Ultimately, dividing the world into victims and villains, as #MeToo demands of us, fails to take into account the complexities of human nature. And the trouble is that it’s a much more difficult concept to believe.

Unsane (2018) ***

Extremely well crafted thriller from Mr. Soderbergh rises above its stalker genre trappings.

Oculus (2013) **

Well produced horror flick with a nifty script that doesn't cop out.

Night Nurse (1931) **

Interesting look at Depression era medical mores and practices.

Sweet Bird of Youth (1962) **

Southern fried melodrama, typical Williams fare, with a great cast and some great lines.

Resistance Means More Than Voting | by Garry Wills | NYR Daily | The New York Review of Books

Obama said that people who “secretly aren’t following the president’s orders” are not defending democracy: “These people are not elected. They’re not accountable.”

Interesting, and telling, that Obama seems to consider elections the sole means of accountability. So elected officials are the only persons who may affect change. And if they torture, commit war crimes, perpetrate massive financial fraud and theft, run illegal assassination programs, the only way to hold them accountable is vote them out. And once voted out, they are punished as much as can be. We know that's what Obama believes because that is exactly what happened during his terms.

Loving Vincent (2017) **

The sequences of the paintings coming to life is great. The rest not so much.

Ismael's Ghosts (2017) *

A colossal waste of two fine actresses in a film with about 45 minutes worth of a good story mangled up with another 80 minutes of confusion.

Cinema Verite (TV Movie 2011) **

There's reality and there's "reality" and sometimes they cross paths. Well done docudrama about the original "reality" show. Ms. Lane shines (as usual).

Dagon (2001) **

Fun, well made (on a shoestring budget) Lovecraft horror flick.

Barbara Harris - Biography - IMDb

[on appearing in Family Plot (1976)] Alfred Hitchcock was a wonderful man. He always wanted emotionless people in his movies. There was a scene in our film, where Karen Black was acting, acting, acting -- all that Lee Strasberg human-struggle stuff. And it took her so long to get those tears going, and Mr. Hitchcock turned to the cameraman and said, "We will just photograph the actors' feet in this scene." He wanted a beautiful woman who wasn't showing her life's history in a scene.

Paris Can Wait (2016) ***

Lovely trip through the French countryside with the luminous Diane Lane. No romcom cliches but lots of great food, wine, sights.

The Spy in Black (1939) **

Unusual spy thriller has you rooting for the bad guy almost to the end. (Lots of similarities to Eye of the Needle.) Early Powell shows his gifts with visuals.

Crazy Rich Asians (2018) **

Fairy tale romcom dialed up to 11. Nonstop cotton candy for the emotions. Lots of pretty people in pretty places.

Ready Player One (2018) *

Supremely crafted YA dreck made more so by Mr. Spielberg's annoying habit of spelling out every last detail and nuance to the audience. Scenes of live action and CGI are seamless, and the sequence replicating The Shining is fun.

Researchers find a way to mimic clinical trials using genetics - MIT Technology Review

They noted that epidemiology has an admirable track record in identifying the causes of infectious diseases from AIDS to Zika, in part because hypotheses can be tested in laboratories and in the field, and because governments have been easily convinced to do such tests. But chronic conditions like heart disease and cancer present an entirely different challenge. Epidemiology can provide correlations between diet, lifestyle, and disease, but that’s all it does. It generates hypotheses about possible causes, and little more than that. What concerned Davey Smith and Ebrahim was that epidemiologists had taken to jumping the scientific gun: they were advising people how to live and eat on the basis of mere hypotheses, without doing the rigorous (and very expensive) trials that might determine whether they were right.

Annihilation (2018) ***

Thinking person's sci-fi with a few more layers than most.

Ghost World (2001) ***

Well made depiction of the post high school teen, 1990's version. Funny and thoughtful.

Hollywood Ending (2002) **

Hollywood satire misses the mark which is like missing the side of a barn. Disappointing.

The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) **

Noirs tend to be convoluted but this takes the cake. It's well made but probably too faithful to the source material as the plot is not credible and the film is too long.

Personal Shopper (2016) **

A mishmash of genres that never makes sense and only serves as a Kristen Stewart showcase. Which is not such a bad thing.

Passport to Pimlico (1949) *

It was probably hilarious at the time and the place, but 70 years later it is an artifact of post-war Britain at best.

Please Give (2010) ***

A terrific Catherine Keener anchors this solid character driven film.

The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018) **

Amusing attempt at an action comedy, never really succeeds at either. Saved from disaster by Ms. McKinnon.

Dreamchild (1985) *

It's only 94 minutes but seems much longer. Not worth the time.

Columbus (2017) **

Subtle (a little too subtle) look at two lives going in different directions intersecting in a mid-western town known for its architectural sights. Some nice visuals.

Oliver Twist (1948) ***

Mr. Lean displays his masterful visual acumen, casting eye and pacing, and when he lays off the heavy-handed music the results are riveting.

Her (2013) ***

Well-made, thoughtful near future story about the human desperation for companionship. Well, some humans anyway.

Touch of Evil (1958) ***

A flawed masterpiece of interesting, oddball choices and some terrific bit parts. Mr. Heston playing a Mexican sticks out like a sore thumb but without him the picture doesn't get made. Orson tries his best and throws everything he has into it and nearly succeeds.

The Wind in the Willows Isn't Really a Children's Book | Literary Hub

But for the most part, the book is about a group of well-off, leisured English gentlemen. Even more importantly, the book hardly ever addresses itself to an audience of children: as Humphrey Carpenter put it, “The Wind in the Willows has nothing to do with childhood or children, except that it can be enjoyed by the young.”

Yuval Noah Harari: ‘The idea of free information is extremely dangerous’ | Culture | The Guardian

You say if you want good information, pay good money for it. The Silicon Valley adage is information wants to be free, and to some extent the online newspaper industry has followed that. Is that wise?

The idea of free information is extremely dangerous when it comes to the news industry. If there’s so much free information out there, how do you get people’s attention? This becomes the real commodity. At present there is an incentive in order to get your attention – and then sell it to advertisers and politicians and so forth – to create more and more sensational stories, irrespective of truth or relevance. Some of the fake news comes from manipulation by Russian hackers but much of it is simply because of the wrong incentive structure. There is no penalty for creating a sensational story that is not true. We’re willing to pay for high quality food and clothes and cars, so why not high quality information?

Actually, there ARE penalties for publishing fake news, or there used to be. Fraud used to be a punishable crime but prosecutors have stopped even attempting to uphold such laws. Even so, there is no guarantee that paying for something equates to high quality. That is an incredibly naive misunderstanding of human nature. Since human beings created newspapers they have published sensational, untrue stories. Harari (a historian???) needs to google "yellow journalism" for a start.

Kathleen Turner, In Conversation

What do you think about the approach of actors like Dustin Hoffman or Daniel Day-Lewis, who famously do all this intense in-character preparation in order to play a role?
In Crimes of Passion I was playing a designer by day, $50 whore on Hollywood Boulevard by night. Do you think I was going to hang out with whores on Hollywood Boulevard and find out what the fuck that was like? I have an imagination, you know. My belief is that all the information I need is in the script. And if it’s not, then it’s not a good enough script.

Robert Redford Retiring From Acting Officially, Actor Confirms – /Film

Robert Redford is going out with a bang. Because what better way to cap off a 58-year career that contains some of the all-time classic roles and movies in cinema history? But it’s a bang that he’s been planning for quite a while now, since he first announced his intention to retire back in 2016. Now Redford can officially announce that he’s retiring from acting following his final role in the aptly titled drama, The Old Man & The Gun.

Quite the body of work for this almost always interesting actor/movie star.

The Breaking Point (1950) ***

Tough, gritty noir may not have star power but it has fine actors and no nonsense direction.

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018) ***

Enjoyably ludicrous flick filled with great songs and beautiful people in a beautiful part of the world obviously having a great time.

Farewell, My Lovely (1975) **

Fairly faithful to the Chandler novel with some aspects that were not essential being kept (the overt racism of the times) and others that were pretty important to Chandler (corruption of the medical profession) being changed. I like Mitchum as Marlowe but in his prime. Here he's close to 60 and looks older.

A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III (2012) **

Design and cinematography carry the picture whose main character is not likable in the least and that's crucial to the story. Mr. Coppola has a cinematic eye and can write dialogue, and the flick has a breezy stylized feel to it.

To Remember, the Brain Must Actively Forget | Quanta Magazine

As Davis and Zhong argued in their jointly written 2017 review, all those findings suggested that cellular processes mediated by dopamine and Rac1 constantly erode newly formed memories. “From this perspective,” they wrote, “forgetting as mediated by intrinsic forgetting mechanisms may be the default state of the brain; intrinsic forgetting may operate chronically at a low level to slowly remove each newly acquired memory, although its strength may be regulated by internal or external factors.”

A Quiet Place (2018) ***

Nifty thriller that relies on cinematic techniques instead of overt exposition to clue you in. Plot contrivances are kept to a minimum and you barely notice the holes. Well done.

Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994) ***

Well made, faithful adaptation of the novel. Cruise is ok but not the Lestat I had in mind while reading it. Lushly photographed.

The Comedians (1967) **

Typical Greene story, way too long and with too many critical but uninspired performances.

Don’t Throw Away Your Cell Phone

Are companies engineering their products to break?

I spent four and a half years in mainland China and witnessed scientists paid by major corporations to make sure that the thing that you buy breaks within days or weeks of the warranty’s end. I watched as they intentionally inserted lower-quality capacitors rather than standard ones on the motherboard, because this one is going to last this exact amount of time and not a month more. My grandmother has her toaster that she got as a wedding gift. She’s 87 years old and still uses that toaster. Why at age 33, have I gone through seven toasters?

IASC: The Hedgehog Review - Volume 20, No. 2 (Summer 2018) - What Is It Like to Be a Man? -

And no wonder many of us have failed to see grabby men as a serious social problem for women, when an American boyhood consists of little else but unorganized combat drills, unwanted invasions of personal territory. It’s all grabs, punches, towel flicks, fake homoerotic aggression, threats of unspecified but grim—and, as one ages—increasingly sexualized violence. One night in my teenage years, as I was clocking out of my shift at McDonald’s, a guy flicked my balls, decisively and painfully. We weren’t on bad terms. It was a greeting.

Incredibles 2 (2018) **

Still tops with the animation, but it's now just another superhero flick, overlong and surprisingly talky.

Queen Christina (1933) **

Garbo looks and is great, but the flick is not well written nor cast. Some nice scenes.

The Blood on Satan's Claw (1971) *

Nicely shot "folk horror" flick about satanic cult in Merrie Olde Englande but it's not very horrific and kind of dull, except for the lovely Ms. Hayden.

The Nightcomers (1971) *

Hard to imagine what the film makers were going for here but what they end up with is just bad. Poorly cast, directed, written.

The Formula (1980) **

European locales and George C. are the only interesting aspects of this sorry flick featuring one of the worst and goofiest Brando bit parts.

The Big Sleep (1978) **

Philip Marlowe in London is an interesting premise but Mitchum turns in a lackluster performance and the supporting cast is uninteresting with the exception of Ms. Clark. The director seems too concerned that all the plot pieces fit and viewers are kept informed as to who killed who and why with the result being a lack of atmosphere.

Brooklyn (2015) **

Old fashioned weepie, completely unbelievable, yet almost moving at the end. The magic of movies!

While the City Sleeps (1956) *

Strange hybrid of psycho killer on the loose and office politics infighting never appears believable or even interesting.

David Lynch: ‘You gotta be selfish. It's a terrible thing’ | Film | The Guardian

I ask Lynch how he manages to inspire such loyalty, despite such strict rationing of human contact – from his collaborators, friends, even his exes. He drops his cigarette on the floor and stubs it out with a boot before answering. “I like to have some people around. If I was totally alone I think I’d get funny, and not in a humorous way.”

As a father and husband he has often been absent, he concedes. “You gotta be selfish. And it’s a terrible thing. I never really wanted to get married, never really wanted to have children. One thing leads to another and there it is.”

That sounds like regret, until he elaborates. “I did what I had to do. There could have been more work done. There are always so many interruptions.”

Macao (1952) **

Pretty nifty little noir, thanks to the stars, despite the fact that the making of the picture was a more interesting story.

Ugetsu (1953) **

Nicely produced morality tale from 16th century Japan. Too simplistic, but some lovely black and white images.

Carol (2015) ***

Two terrific leads overpower so-so production.

The Entertainer (1960) **

Lord Larry is good as usual in an unusual role and that keeps it interesting. That and the kitschy seaside milieu right before The Fab Four changed everything for England.

Nanogirl Michelle Dickinson: Is banning plastic bags bad for the environment? - NZ Herald

Surprisingly, although trees may seem more natural than crude oil, converting hardwood into paper requires a resource-heavy pulping process that uses large amounts of water, energy and chemicals, which can emit toxic and hazardous chemicals into air and water. This was confirmed in a report by the US Department of Energy.

Based on current calculations, the environmental impact of one single-use plastic bag equals five uses of a thicker LDPE plastic bag, four uses of a paper bag, 14 uses of a polypropylene non-woven bag (the reusable ones you can buy at the supermarket today) and 173 uses for a cotton reusable bag.

The global warming impact is not the only factor that determines how environmentally friendly each bag option is. Photos of turtles eating plastic bags are a strong advertisement for how littered our oceans are.

Government research studies in the US and Australia found that single-use plastic bags only account for around 1 per cent of the litter found. Closer to home, a Sustainable Coastlines Queen St drain survey found cigarette packaging, beverage bottles and food containers to be the biggest challenges when it comes to litter.

Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967) **

Distractedly color-corrected with amber (golden reflections, get it?) and featuring some to-the-edge-of-parody performances from the leads, this sort of contrived story can work in a novel but not here. I understand Huston thought a lot of this picture but it's just not believable.

Red-Headed Woman (1932) **

Some witty banter and a welcome pre-Code ending (bad behavior ends up paying) notwithstanding, this is not an enjoyable watch since the guys are so feckless and Harlow so unrelentingly ambitious, fatigue sets in.

It (2017) *

A perfect example of a contemporary Hollywood film: a near complete lack of imagination and too damn long! Newcomer Sophia Lillis is a real find though.

A SON SPEAKS OUT By Moses Farrow

To the actors who have worked with my father and have voiced regret for doing so: You have rushed to join the chorus of condemnation based on a discredited accusation for fear of not being on the “right” side of a major social movement. But rather than accept the hysteria of Twitter mobs, mindlessly repeating a story examined and discredited 25 years ago, please consider what I have to say. After all, I was there – in the house, in the room – and I know both my father and mother and what each is capable of a whole lot better than you.

To my sister Dylan: Like you, I believe in the power of speaking out. I have broken my silence about the abuse inflicted by our mother. My healing began only after getting away from her. And what she has done to you is unbearable. I wish you peace, and the wisdom to understand that devoting your life to helping our mother destroy our father’s reputation is unlikely to bring you closure in any kind of lasting way.

Finally, to my mother: One thing you always said you appreciated about me was my ability to listen. I listened to you for years and held your truth above all others. You once said to me, “It’s not healthy to hold onto anger.” Yet here we are, 26 years later. I’m guessing your next step will be to launch a campaign to discredit me for speaking out. I know it comes with the territory. And it’s a burden I am willing to bear.

But, after all this time, enough is enough. You and I both know the truth. And it’s time for this retribution to end.

The Last of Sheila (1973) ***

Clever whodunit with a beautiful all-star cast and a proper mid-70's vibe, but cheaply shot and produced.

Battle of the Sexes (2017) ***

Well acted with good period production design. Recaptures some of the feel of the time which is all you can hope for with most bio-pics.

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970) **

It looks great but the lack of any substance behind the fantasy images mutes the overall effect.

Intermezzo (1936) **

Overacted weepy notable for being able to hear Ms. Bergman in her native Swedish.