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France Enters Bizarre, Disturbing, Unpleasant “Titane” Into Oscar Race as Official Selection

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Now we’ll see just how hip the Motion Picture Academy is.

France has chosen their official entry for the 2022 Oscars and it’s “Titane” directed by Julia Ducournau. This is a bizarre, unpleasant, jarring, pretentious film but it did win the Cannes Film Festival.

Sacre bleu!

So far no one has gone to see “Titane” at the US Box office.

Here’s what happens: a girl gets metal plate put in her head after being in a car crash with her father. As a teen she’s a miserable sort of punk, lots of tattoos, etc. She has sex with a Cadillac– yes, a Cadillac– and becomes pregnant. She leaves home, and disguises herself as the long lost son of a fireman who wants to believe she is his missing son. She gives birth to a metallic creature.

I had an actual nightmare after watching “Titane.” It was not fun. We’ll see how this develops. The best film in a foreign language for 2022 anyway is Pedro Almodovar’s “Parallel Mothers.” And Paolo Sorrentino’s “Hand of God” is also a big contender. So maybe the French film people understood that and said, Who cares?

So far no word from Cadillac, which will no doubt deny paternity.

 

Watch Trailer for Season 11 of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” with Jon Hamm, Seth Rogen, and Returning Richard Lewis

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Thank god. Just in the nick of time, “Curb Your Enthusiasm” is back on October 24th with an 11th season. (20 years, but who’s counting?)

The trailer has Jon Hamm, Seth Rogen, all the regular players, and Richard Lewis, recuperated after illness. Cheryl Hines, Susie Essman, Jeff Garlin, JB Smoove are all here. And Richard Kind! And, of course, the inimitable Larry David.

“Curb” will follow “Succession” on HBO Sunday nights.

Nick Cannon’s Syndicated Talk Show Debuts with Just 400,000 Viewers, Bottom of the Pack

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Nick Cannon’s talk show finally emerged with ratings. And they were not great.

Cannon, host of “The Masked Singer,” brought in 400,000 viewers a day for his first week of broadcast. His show came in at the bottom of the talk show pack.

Cannon can learn how hard it is to find an audience from Drew Barrymore. In her second season, she still can’t muster more than 500,000 viewers.

Even Wendy Williams, on the air for years, only garners 600,000. And Williams is too ill to return to her show right now. If she can’t come back, some deal may be cooked for Cannon to take her stations and time slot.

But Cannon’s recent past supporting Louis Farrakhan and making anti-semitic statements won’t find him a large audience. He can’t even get ex wife Mariah Carey to be a guest.

Meantime, “Jeopardy!” was up to 5.5 million the week of October 3rd thanks to Matt Amodio’s run of winning games. But he has just one week of shows left. Then we’ll see what happens.

Not a Shock: As Reported Here First Adele Confirms “30” Album for November 19th

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I told you last week Adele’s “30” album was coming on November 19th.

Today she confirmed it.

Country Star Kacey Musgraves New Hit Album Rejected by Grammy Awards for Country Album of the Year Category

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It was only three years ago that Kacey Musgraves won Album of the Year and Country Album o the Year for “Golden Hour” at the Grammy Awards. Musgraves is a country star.

But now the Recording Academy has decided that the “Golden Hour” follow up album, “star crossed,” isn’t country sounding enough. They’ve rejected her application for nomination in the Country Album of the Year category.

Ouch!

The country music selection committee just didn’t like the kind of spacey gloss over some of Kacey’s vocals. So, out she goes. You’d think after all the troubles the Grammys have had in the last couple of years they would have just said let this pass. But no, why not kick up a storm? And with a female artist, to boot!

“Star Crossed,” meantime, is a big hit. And the Grammys are letting one song from the album compete as Country Song of the Year.

I’ve listened to the album and there are enough twangy country-sounding songs. How ridiculous. She’s a country artist.

Kacey’s manager isn’t happy. She wrote a letter of complaint to the Recording Academy.

Cindy Mabe wrote: “The idea that a handful of people including competitors, who would benefit from Kacey not being in the country category, are deciding what is country only exacerbates the problem. The system is broken and sadly not just for Kacey Musgraves but for our entire genre because of how these decisions are made for music’s biggest stage. Building roadblocks for artists who dare to fight the system is so dangerous and against everything I think the Grammy’s [sic] stand for. But that’s where we are today.”

Let’s hope the Academy reconsiders, and quickly.

TV: The Final Blow for Roseanne Barr Tonight as Widower Dan Marries Louise on “The Conners”

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It’s the final blow for Roseanne Barr tonight on The Conners.

Roseanne Conner, killed off at the beginning of Season 2 of the “Roseanne” spin off, really gets the ultimate diss in this new episode.

Roseanne’s widower, Dan, remarries, to Louise, played by Katy Sagal of “Married with Children” fame. Louise has become a popular character, and fully erased ol’ Roseanne once and for all.

Barr isn’t even profiting off the characters she created for the original series. She had to give that all up when she Tweeted racist comments at the end of Season 1. Then she doubled down on those comments by backing Donald Trump and basically losing her mind in public.

Roseanne was killed off at the start of the second season. This season, even more of her death was discussed, just in case we didn’t get it: she’s dead and not coming back.

Now with Louise’s ascension into the Conner household. Roseanne has been obliterated. Of course, “The Conners” ratings aren’t so great anymore since ABC moved the show from Tuesdays at 8 to Wednesdays at 9. This might be the last season of the spin off. If not, the end will come with Season 5 to be sure.

Review: Kendall Roy Burns It All Down in Nightmarish Opening of “Succession” Season 3

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Here’s a warning: don’t watch “Succession” Season 3 before you go to bed. You will definitely have nightmares.

I watched three in a row, in ‘succession’, last night and boy was I anxious.

The HBO hit is the family version of Showtime’s “Billions,” but with less fun and more angst. Where “Billions” is juicy and delicious, “Succession” is bitter and dry. It’s “Veep” written by Ibsen.

The Roy family is very much a reflection of Rupert Murdoch and his lovely adult children. Instead of News Corp they won Waystar, the largest family owned media conglomerate in the world. Logan Roy (Brian Cox) is Murdoch, or in this case, also King Lear. The four adult children are vying to succeed him. They are Kendall Roy, played by Emmy winner Jeremy Strong; Siobhan, whose nickname is, LOL, Shiv, the wonderful Sarah Snook; Kieran Culkin as Roman Roy; and Alan Ruck as the eldest, Conner Roy.

We also have cousin Greg, who takes a larger role this season in the person of Nicholas Braun; Shiv’s husband, Tom (Matthew MacFadyen); and the company’s lawyer, Gerri, the only person of reason, played by the impeccable J. Smith-Cameron.

At the end of Season 2, Logan’s misdeeds — which are many including lots of MeToo stuff — are revealed, secret papers are leaked to the SEC and FBI, Logan throws Kendall under the bus, and Kendall turns against the family.

And here are. The first three episodes are a psychological chess game that should be called Kill or Be Killed as everyone jockeys for position. These people are brutal. JR Ewing would not last a day with them. No one is happy, no one even smiles. They are calculating, ironic, avaricious, snarky, downright mean. The constant second guessing, positioning, re-positioning will leave you exhausted. If this is what goes on in the real Murdoch family, I feel sorry for them.

But then you have the acting, which is so strong it’s frightening. Strong just won an Emmy, and he will win again. Kendall is haunted, destroyed, a shell of a human being. He’s committing corporate and familial suicide. Or is he? Because what the writers telegraph constantly is that even when Kendall reaches his lowest point, he will always be welcomed back. And by the end of episode 3, season 3 his situation looks pretty bleak.

Everyone loves Sarah Snook as Shiv, and Kieran Culkin as Roman, the Lannister-esque siblings who are shiny and young and as vulnerable as they are destructive. But the key to Season 3 looks like it will be cousin Greg, who is not as stupid as he seems. And I’m crazy about Sanaa Lathan joining as Kendall’s wily Lisa Allred-Bloom type lawyer. In fact, many of Logan’s so called crimes, etc seem more like Harvey Weinstein’s than Rupert Murdoch’s. The writers have laid it on thick.

So off we go. After a nap and a drink I’ll ingest the next three episodes and report back. But we’re in for one hell of a ride this season. And Adrien Brody — who I reported first had joined the cast– hasn’t even shown up yet!

 

Trailer for the Beatles “Get Back”: It’s Going to Be Such a Comical Thing in 50 Years Time…They Broke Up Because Yoko Sat on an Amp”

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The trailer is here for Peter Jackson’s Beatles documentary about the making of Let it Be. The three part “Get Back” is meant to erase the memory of Michael Lindsay Hogg’s original 1970 movie that showed the Beatles in distress as they made the album and recorded the famous rooftop concert.

The trailer has a lot of great moments. But the best is Paul, in 1969, saying, “It’s such a comical thing…In 50 years time…They broke up because Yoko sat on an amp.”

And that’s exactly what happened. I guess this why Paul once wrote the famous line, “Many years from now.” He was prescient.

On Disney Plus November 25, 26, and 27.

James Bond’s Grandson, Dashiell Connery, 24, Coming Sunday to “NCIS Los Angeles” — with a “Ferris Bueller” Connection

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It’s hard to imagine two touchstones from our culture with less in common than James Bond and Ferris Bueller.

And yet, there is one degree between them.

Once upon a time, Jason Connery, son of the original 007 Sean Connery, married and had a child with Mia Sara. She was the beautiful girl who was part of the main trio with Matthew Broderick and Alan Ruck in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”

Now the child of Jason Connery and Mia Sara, Dashiell Connery, will make his debut this Sunday on “NCIS Los Angeles” playing a character named Jason Quinn.

This is Dash Connery’s second series credit this fall. He’s already appeared in the season premiere of “The Rookie.” Otherwise, he’s fresh in the Hollywood mix. Hey– in three more years he’ll be 27 and perfect for a “Young James Bond” series. Someone call Barbara Broccoli!

PS Where is Linda Hunt? The beloved 77 year old Oscar winner who plays Hetty was in the season premiere on Sunday but it looks like she’ll be making limited appearances this season.  She’s the main reason to watch this show! (For me, in reruns.)

 

L.A.’s Mark Taper Forum Will Still Open Season with Porn-ish “Slave Play” Despite Playwright’s Complaints

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The pornographic and not very good “Slave Play” will still open the season for the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles next winter.

Playwright Jeremy O. Harris said he wanted the production pulled because Center Theater Group, of which Mark Taper Forum is a part, didn’t have enough plays by women. He wanted gender parity.

“Slave Play” is a money maker for its producers for no other reason than there’s a lot of nudity and gratuitous sex talk. It did not win any Tony Awards, and for a good reason. It’s not at that level.

But when Harris yapped about pulling out of Los Angeles, his investors I’m sure were not thrilled. Neither was Center Theater Group

So CTG apparently hustled and worked out a deal to bring more productions by women and non binary playwrights. Now, Harris is appeased. What a relief. BTW the play that was always planned to comeafter Harris’s in the CTG schedule is written by a woman and directed by one, too. But why sweat the details?

CTG has posted a notice on their website that reads:

As the season is shaping up, we are excited about our plan to schedule the full Taper 22/23 Season next year with entirely women-identifying or non-binary playwrights and to also have it be a BIPOC majority season. We are focusing our Douglas 22/23 season on majority women-identifying or non-binary and BIPOC playwrights. We will continue our commitment to uplifting/building gender and racial equity within our production directors and artistic teams.

In addition to the work that will appear on our stages, our expanded New Play Development programs also further our commitment to gender and racial equity. We have been preparing to announce a new chapter for our Not a Moment, But a Movement initiative in which we will be commissioning six new plays by Black women-identifying or non-binary playwrights. This adds to our other current developmental programs including the current writer’s cohort which is comprised of 10 women-identifying, majority BIPOC playwrights, and 11 of our 16 current commissions are with women-identifying playwrights, 11 are also BIPOC playwrights.