I mean I’m just grateful to hear a Presidential speech containing words formed into sentences
Follow
Glenn Kenny
@Glenn__Kenny
Film stuff , , . Author of “Made Men: The Story of ‘Goodfellas’.” Coming soon: “The World is Yours: The Story of ‘Scarface.’”
Glenn Kenny’s Tweets
I've never really cared about the Oscars. But now I do. Because I'd like to keep seeing Kevin Feige denied something that he really wants, until the day I die.
“Silence of the Lambs” remake in which Kevin Feige send Tom Holland to visit Harvey Weinstein in prison to pry his Oscar campaign secrets out of him
Mandy Moore just delivered the kindest “up yours” to Ryan Adams on The Today Show. “Curious that one would do an interview about it without making amends privately,” nice
I saw someone on this site say “MCU directors have feelings” and it made me wonder how James Gunn and Bradley Cooper felt about the state of the writer who created that raccoon
Hannah Gadsby adopting the Ricky Gervais “Are you triggered luv? Am I triggering you” strategy because it’s all she’s got
It's been a bit of a challenge keeping this under my, um, hat for so long but now that has announced the title, I can puff out my chest a little and announce that I wrote the booklet essay for "Miller's Crossing." And I'm very happy with the piece.
Here's a suggestion: in solidarity with Asghar Farhadi, cancel the Oscars. Refuse to "entertain" under these conditions.
Replying to
I grew up working class — my dad drove a bread truck, how do you like that? — only my family weren’t complete animals, as you seem to think working class people are.
The thing I hate most in criticism or reviewing or whatever you call it is when writers assume the role of the Creative Freedom Police.
I reviewed "21 Bridges," which Chadwick Boseman starred in and co-produced, when it came out, and talked about how his powerful performance gave the movie an unusual dimension. It's worth seeking out. (The movie that is. You don't NEED to read my review!)
"Shutter Island," ten years on.
“And smiles as the puppets dance/IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING”
Replying to
“Goodfellas” wasn’t even that big a hit, and Henry Hill got a better quality of life benefit from it than Bill Mantlo did from “Guardians of the Galaxy.” But go ahead and kid yourselves about the kind of people we’re dealing with here.
Way to go Today Show staff for not being able to scare up A SINGLE PICTURE of Brian Tyree Henry
He BEGGED you people! He BEGGED you! SPECIFICALLY, not to like THOSE TWO FILMS. He BEGGED YOU
Dude just fix the goddamn subway
Quote Tweet
“We pulled Trump off Twitter … yet we are allowing music displaying of guns, violence.”
— NYC Mayor Eric Adams (D), after his son sent him drill rap videos, says he will try to get the videos banned from social media.
When “North by Northwest” came out in 1959, what you might consider a surprisingly large number of people were offended by its ostensibly sacrilegious treatment of — yup, Mount Rushmore, which the movie correctly depicted as the most gigantic piece of kitsch ever concocted.
Ryan Murphy is what happens when you think you’re Fassbinder but you are really not even Joel Schumacher
Love Jeff Bridges. As many of you know for a long time he’d document his sets with a wide-gauge camera and let Premiere design photo features around them. We’d pay him and he’d donate the fee to charity. I got to do caption editing sometimes. A prince. I’m rooting for him, hard.
A few words on Paul Sorvino:
Replying to
There are only two people in an outdoor scene. The spatial unity is provided by THE WORLD AROUND THEM
Claire Denis is right. The work of an assistant director has zip to do with mentoring, being a protege, learning at the feet of a master, any of that. Film journalists ought to spend more time on film sets.
Just watched “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.” A picture that ought to be watched by a lot more people, I reckon.
Finally saw “The French Dispatch” and was pleasantly surprised to see a delightful, imaginative, sprightly and moving comedy rather than the appalling crime against humanity I’ve been reading about here.
A few words about Ray Liotta and his signature role as Henry Hill in "Goodfellas."
Replying to
“No studio dares utter the word ‘no’ to him.”
Serious question, “thecriticmag:” It’s unlikely that you have a fact checker, but do you even have an editor? Or does Sean Egan have some dirt on you, that compels you to publish his fictional night thoughts?
“The name is Bond...Junk Bond.”
As an alcoholic with almost nine years of sobriety, I can say two things unequivocally:
1) Everything I did while drunk, even blackout drunk, was something I and I alone was responsible for.
2) It’s not my decision as to whether those actions are in any way “disqualifying.”
A downstairs neighbor said to me "Things look bad for your buddy Armie Hammer" and I shrieked "MY WHAT" like Fred Schneider or something
1) 8mm home movies and “Be My Baby,” “Mean Streets
2) Ben lip-synchs “In Dreams,” “Blue Velvet
3) Weightlessness and Bach, “Solaris” (1972)
Three movie moments that made a direct, palpable connection to my un/subconsciousness. What are some of yours?
Replying to
Third: it’s sad when your career is only beginning and you already think like a hack.
His name was Michael Curtiz, and a close reading of Alan Rode's biography of the man suggests that under certain circumstances he would have murdered Taiki Waititi without batting an eye.
Olivia Newton-John provided the AM radio soundtrack to my adolescence, which makes it odd to be reminded she was only a decade my senior. My friend Joe used to mess with the lyrics of one of her hits: “Please mister please/don’t play ‘At 17.” Because that was a sad song too.
Some Dude™ on CNN just said "The White House needs to put out the straight story." Whatever, as long as it's a Blu-ray. I was hoping for a Criterion edition myself.
I watched “Last Picture Show” all the way through this morning and MAN the “sex scenes have no place in cinema” crowd will suffer a collective stroke if it ever gets around to checking this one out.
The "married her brother" insinuations and the beyond-Nuremberg "send her back" chant are definitive "at long last have you no sense of decency" moments. And they won't move the needle a bit. We are very far down the hole with no real bottom in sight.
I’m not a rapaciously ambitious person, but I’ve long harbored a slight curiosity to know what it would be like to see a book I wrote sitting in the stacks of a Barnes and Noble, say. Yesterday I found out. It feels great!
Well I did not expect to be working with my friends at so soon after my “Miller’s Crossing” essay, but I’m delighted to be able to tell you I’ve written a piece for their 4K edition of “Raging Bull.” Like the mamalook of the year.
Pitch: Why are we celebrating “The Godfather,” a movie that made icons out of evildoers, while snubbing “No Way Home,” which celebrates heroism in multiple dimensions? My fee here will be $5 a word, serious inquiries only
Replying to
“Babylon” was greenlit by a studio that believed it could get a return on its investment. And now has signed a first-look deal with its director. I’ll never tell anyone NOT to see a given movie. But don’t ask me to mourn a meretricious piece of priggery failing to connect.
How many times will I have to say: “Babylon” is not a “polarizing” film. “Babylon” is a bad film. Made by a bad film director.
And here it is...
Quote Tweet
It was thirty years ago when one of the all time great films was released. "Goodfellas" was a watershed moment for American gangster movies. This week, a new book is out, detailing the dramatic making of the film. @jeffglor has more:
I don’t even agree with Coppola, at least entirely. But what’s anyone gonna do? He’s 80. Hollywood itself has tried to “cancel” him a dozen times. If you don’t think you’re gonna like the answer, maybe don’t ask the question.
Replying to
I wonder if a certain sector of people has gotten more stupid over time, or if they have always been this stupid , and through social media now have the ability to announce their stupidity at highly amplified levels…
“In the movie Isabella Moner plays a rebellious teen. I want to know what is the most rebellious thing any of you did as a teenager.” A Today Show personality just asked this of a group that includes Mark Wahlberg.
I interviewed Christopher Lee in late 1994. He recalled his great friendship with the recently departed Peter Cushing and how they entertained each other between takes: by doing Looney Tunes routine. To demonstrate, Lee gave me a taste of his Foghorn Leghorn impersonation.
Replying to
“Ari Aster could make better films if he submitted to discipline from me, a Variety staffer.”
Goddamn bad news this morning. RIP to a master of cinema and a legend. Dean Stockwell.
The first movie that comes to mind when you think of a swimming pool is __________.
Quote Tweet
The first movie that comes to mind when you think of a swimming pool is __________. twitter.com/tnyfrontrow/st…
OMG I’m Onion Famous
In 2016 I interviewed Anna Karina, which is a lovely thing to have done. I hope my piece honored her multi-faceted wonderfulness in some small way. Here it is. Rest in peace.
Sinead O’Conner will be remembered for many things. And one should be that in a time when albums mattered, she made one of the most staggering debut LPs ever.
“Mandy” is an incredible movie that sometimes felt downloaded from my consciousness—some dark vision now made material...a galvanic experience. You could call it Pulp Tarkovsky.
What’s lost in the huffing about Scorsese’s sacrilege is acknowledgement of the way these pics are manufactured. When recounting Marvel’s approach, Lucrecia Martel was told “Don’t worry about the action scenes.” They want prestige directors but don’t want them to make the movie.
Knowing it’s utterly impossible to summarize a career and a life like Peter Bogdanovich’s given a few hours and 1,500 words, I took a whack at the job anyway, for : google.com/amp/s/decider.
Watched "Amadeus" for the first time in a long time the other day. Its rep as a stodgy bougie biopic is undeserved. There's some remarkably dynamic filmmaking here and I may teach the "Requiem" "collaboration" scene next semester. It's brilliant.
I once had an hour and twenty minute conversation with Bob Rafelson about why he was declining my request to interview him. RIP to a VERY real one.
A friend told me of a screening of “King Lear” at which Mailer, during the Q&A, called Godard “the second worst human being” he’d ever dealt with. Asked about who was the first, he underwhelmingly cited a New Jersey used car dealer.
The escalating discourses on “Star is Born” & “First Man” go past what each given film is, eager to pick apart what it is not. And how it fails to do what any particular individual critic believes it should do, by not lining up with an agenda that critic want to be aligned with.
What is the technical term for the feeling of absolute confidence that the thing you haven't watched, which certain people are comparing to "Dr. Strangelove," in fact bears absolutely no resemblance to "Dr. Strangelove?"
Replying to
Second: Antonioni, Ford, pretty much any Japanese director who’s not Kurosawa.
They’re real (albeit partially uncorrected — the last page proofs were signed off on yesterday)
MCU fanatics getting mad at Coppola: so what? They have no standing as aestheticians, historians, cinephiles, anything. Their brain stems are attached to a corporate parasite. Their complaints have no merit. Ignore them.
In 2014 I moderated a junket Q&A for “The Gambler” in which Michael K. Williams participated. He spoke frankly to the press about addiction and sobriety. Afterwards, we had a substantial private conversation about recovery. I took him as an inspiration and always rooted for him.
In the middle of “Twin Peaks: The Return” and whether or not it’s television or cinema or what, it absolutely is Great Art. And deeply compassionate art too.
Someone ought to pull T.J. Miller aside, then, calmly and slowly, tell him the story of David Caruso.
"RIse of Skywalker" is a movie that will take weeks, perhaps months, for me to process, because it's going to be weeks, perhaps months, before I see it.
The whitest song? “Sweet Caroline” is not even close. Have all of Ye forgotten “Afternoon Delight?”
Happy birthday to me
I have turned sixty-three
What on earth have I been doing
Happy birthday to me
Geezer
Quote Tweet
I had to talk to Scorsese about a year ago, to get some stuff straight for a essay. On Zoom I asked how he was doing, and he said, "I'm swimming! Swimming upstream! If I make it to 80 I'll be okay!" He made it to 80. I think he's got a few more picture in him.
For , a few words — not definitive, I am aware of what I chose not to address — about “Oppenheimer,” “Hiroshima, mon amour” and the perils of depiction:
The Slate piece, and particular its riff on “Moonlight,” reminded me of these evergreen sentiments from the late great Harold Ramis
My book, "Made Men: The Story of 'Goodfellas'" is available for pre-order...today! I'm including the B&N link first, because they've got the spiffy cover image in place. Official pub date is Sept. 15. I think it's good! I think you will too!
