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Los Angeles Film Critics Give Best Picture to Small Axe, a Series of Five Films for TV Directed by Steve McQueen

Roger Friedman
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Los Angeles Film Critics Give Best Picture to Small Axe, a Series of Five Films for TV Directed by Steve McQueen

Steve McQueen’s “Small Axe” is a series of five films made for British television. So the Los Angeles Film Critics decided they were, together, the Best Film of 2020. Chloe Zhao’s “Nomadland,” the actual best film of the year, was their runner up.

Well, it’s going to be that kind of year for the critics groups in various cities. Yesterday we had the New York Film Critics anoint “First Cow,” a very small kind of depressing film as their Best Picture. And so it goes.

The LA Film Critics made pretty good choices in the acting departments: Chadwick Boseman is Best Actor and Glynn Turman as Best Supporting Actor in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” I told you those two were going to clean up. The NY Film Critics put Boseman in Supporting. Go figure.

Carey Mulligan in the fascinating and entertaining “Promising Young Woman” is enlivened choice as Best Actress. They went for Youn Yuh-jung in “Minari” for supporting actress.

This means that “Small Axe”– comprising five films– had no acting prizes. Yet it was Best Picture. Please. “Small Axe” isn’t even eligible for the Oscars.

The movie I thought the LA Critics would go for, “Mank,” yielded one award, for Production Design.

“Time” won Best Documentary, as I predicted, and will win the Oscar. It will be the second movie in a row produced by Barack and Michelle Obama to win the Oscar for Best Doc. No kidding.

Best Picture

Winner: SMALL AXE

Runner-up: NOMADLAND

Best Director

Winner: Chloe Zhao, NOMADLAND

Runner-up: Steve McQueen, SMALL AXE

Best Actress

Winner: Carey Mulligan, PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN

Runner-up: Viola Davis, MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM

Best Actor

Winner: Chadwick Boseman, MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM

Runner-up: Riz Ahmed, SOUND OF METAL

Best Documentary

Winner: TIME

Runner-up: COLLECTIVE

Best Screenplay

Winner: Emerald Fennell, PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN

Runner-up: Eliza Hittman, NEVER REALLY SOMETIMES ALWAYS

Best Animation

Winner: WOLFWALKERS

Runner-up: SOUL

Best Supporting Actress

Winner: Winner: Youn Yuh-jung, MINARI

Runner-up: Amanda Seyfried, MANK

Best Supporting Actor

Winner: Glynn Turman, MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM

Runner-up: Paul Raci, SOUND OF METAL

Editing

Winner: Yorgos Lamprinos, THE FATHER

Runner-up: Gabriel Rhodes, TIME

Best Production Design

Winner: Donald Graham Burt, MANK

Runner-up: Sergey Ivanov, BEANPOLE

Best Music/Score

Winner: SOUL

Runner-up: LOVERS ROCK

Best Cinematography

Winner: SMALL AXE, Shabier Kirchner

Runner-up: NOMADLAND, Joshua James Richards

Best Foreign-Language Film

Winner: BEANPOLE

Runner-up: MARTIN EDEN

The Douglas Edwards Experimental Film Award

Winner: John Gianvito’s HER SOCIALIST SMILE

New Generation Award

Winner: Radha Blank, THE 40-YEAR-OLD-VERSION

Career Achievement Award

Hou Hsiao-Hsien

Harry Belafonte

Legacy Award

Norman Lloyd

SNL: Alex Moffat, Most Underrated Cast Member, Takes on Joe Biden, Plus Maya Rudolph Is Player of the Season

Roger Friedman
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SNL: Alex Moffat, Most Underrated Cast Member, Takes on Joe Biden, Plus Maya Rudolph Is Player of the Season

Alex Moffat, the most underrated player on “Saturday Night Live,” took on Joe Biden last night with great success. Moffat is often in sketches with his comedy partner, Mikey Day, and sometimes turns up on Weekend Update as the WASPy yachting guy. He should keep doing Biden, even though I miss Jason Sudeikis!

Maya Rudolph’s return to “SNL” this season has been the greatest thing ever. Not just her Kamala Harris, but everything she does. Of course, her musical turns are wonderful. Her late mom, Minnie Ripperton, is smiling in heaven.

Kristen Wiig was a wonderful host, appearing in many sketches, always an original. Dua Lipa disappointed me. It seemed like she was lip synching. She’s over produced, even if she was singing live.

Colin Jost made it seem like the show wasn’t returning until after the Inauguration. Really? A month off? Maybe they can find Aidy Bryant and Cecily Strong during the break.

Jim Carrey Resigns from His Joe Biden Stint on “Saturday Night Live,” Please, Lorne Michaels, Bring Back Jason Sudeikis

Roger Friedman
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Jim Carrey Resigns from His Joe Biden Stint on “Saturday Night Live,” Please, Lorne Michaels, Bring Back Jason Sudeikis

Jim Carrey has resigned from “Saturday Night Live.” His Joe Biden impersonation was underwhelming and never caught on with the audience.

Mercifully, Carrey knows this was not working out. He’s a great talent. On to bigger and better things.

Please, Lorne Michaels, bring back Jason Sudeikis. He was the best Biden ever.

Sean Lennon on His Dad, John Lennon, and Defending Yoko: “I’ve never seen two people have more love and respect for each other than my parents”

Roger Friedman
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Sean Lennon on His Dad, John Lennon, and Defending Yoko: “I’ve never seen two people have more love and respect for each other than my parents”

Sean Lennon has come to Twitter to defend his mother, Yoko Ono, and to counter what he sees as the wrong idea about his late dad, John Lennon.

Sean is such a lovely guy, and I don’t blame him for putting the record straight. He also calls Paul McCartney’s “McCartney III” an instant classic.

Most importantly he says of his parents: “I’ve never seen two people have more love and respect for each other than my parents.”

It’s 2020, I can’t believe anyone is questioning John and Yoko’s love. They were human beings, they separated at one point. John had a relationship with May Pang. But Yoko deserves our respect. She’s also 87, and frail. Sean also deserves our respect as he cares for her.

NY Film Critics Circle Go for “First Cow,” Delroy Lindo, Put Chadwick Boseman in Supporting, Mark “Time” for Best Doc

Roger Friedman
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NY Film Critics Circle Go for “First Cow,” Delroy Lindo, Put Chadwick Boseman in Supporting, Mark “Time” for Best Doc

It’s an indie mix for the New York Film Critics Circle. They gave Best Director to Chloe Zhao for “Nomadland” but didn’t give that film Best Picture or Best Actress. They milked the little seen “First Cow” and gave it Best Picture instead. They put Chadwick Boseman in supporting when he was the lead of “Ma Rainey,” and gave Best Actress to Sidney Flanigan in “Never Rarely Sometimes Always.” OK, why not? Best Supporting Actress went to Maria Bakalova for “Borat 2” which is a creative idea. “Time,” an excellent documentary, won that category. “Time” is on Amazon Plus, so you have no excuse for not seeing it.

Best Film: First Cow

Best Director: Chloé Zhao for Nomadland

Best First Film: The 40-Year-Old Version

Best Actor: Delroy Lindo – Da 5 Bloods

Best Actress: Sidney Flanigan for Never Rarely Sometimes Always

Best Supporting Actor: Chadwick Boseman for Da 5 Bloods

Best Supporting Actress: Maria Bakalova – Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

Best Screenplay: Eliza Hittman for Never Rarely Sometimes Always

Best Cinematography: Small Axe (all films)

Best Foreign Language Film: Bacurau (Brazil)

Best Non-Fiction Film: Garrett Bradley’s Time

Best Animated Film: Wolfwalkers (Apple)

Special Awards: Kino Lorber, for their creation of Kino Marquee, a virtual cinema distribution service that was designed to help support movie theaters, not destroy them. Spike Lee for inspiring the New York community with his short film “New York New York” and for advocating for a better society through cinema.

Eric Clapton and Van Morrison’s Anti-Lockdown Song “Stand and Deliver” Compares COVID Measures to Actual Slavery

Roger Friedman
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Eric Clapton and Van Morrison’s Anti-Lockdown Song “Stand and Deliver” Compares COVID Measures to Actual Slavery

It gives me no pleasure to announce that two of my rock and roll heroes, Eric Clapton and Van Morrison, have released the stupidest political song ever recorded. “Stand and Deliver” is a sad reveal of these two men’s innate lack of education, intelligence, and intellectual capacity. What a shame that they opened their mouths and produced this crap. My father died this week of COVID related illness. I’ve lost dozens of friends and acquaintances. We have a friend now, she’s 42, she has an 11 year old son, one of our care givers, is in the hospital battling COVID now.

That these two idiots are so self absorbed not to realize they are rich and live in an isolated world already is shocking. They want to play gigs, poor babies, but they’ve never been to a supermarket or a drug store. Everything is done for them. So why should they related to people in the real world? They don’t even understand that John Prine and Hal Wilner, whom they each knew, died of COVID. So it’s a fucking night for a Moondance. Put on a mask.

And how about this racist verse? It’s not unexpected. Both Van and Eric have lived off of Robert Johnson’s music for their whole careers. Do they really think wearing a mask and being locked down makes you a slave? The African American population has been devastated by COVID. What doh-dohs. What idiots. As far as I’m concerned, their legacies are ruined.

Do you wanna be a free man
Or do you wanna be a slave?
Do you wanna be a free man
Or do you wanna be a slave?
Do you wanna wear these chains
Until you’re lying in the grave?

Stand and deliver
You let them put the fear on you
Stand and deliver
But not a word you heard was true
But if there’s nothing you can say
There may be nothing you can do

Do you wanna be a free man
Or do you wanna be a slave?
Do you wanna be a free man
Or do you wanna be a slave?
Do you wanna wear these chains
Until you’re lying in the grave?

I don’t wanna be a pauper
And I don’t wanna be a prince
I don’t wanna be a pauper
And I don’t wanna be a prince
I just wanna do my job
Playing the blues for friends

Magna Carta, Bill of Rights
The constitution, what’s it worth?
You know they’re gonna grind us down, ah
Until it really hurts
Is this a sovereign nation
Or just a police state?
You better look out, people
Before it gets too late

You wanna be your own driver
Or keep on flogging a dead horse?
You wanna be your own driver
Or keep on flogging a dead horse?
Do you wanna make it better
Or do you wanna make it worse?

Stand and deliver
You let them put the fear on you
Slow down the river
But not a word of it was true
If there’s nothing you can say
There may be nothing you can do

Stand and deliver
Stand and deliver
Dick Turpin wore a mask too

PS Dick Turpin, mentioned in the last line, was a romanticized English criminal from the 1700s. He wore a mask when he committed his crimes. If he’d taken off it now, he’d get COVID or give it to someone. Numbskulls.

Super Agent Richard Weitz’s Quarantunes with Daughter Demi Raised $800K Last Night for a Total Over $16 Million

Roger Friedman
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Super Agent Richard Weitz’s Quarantunes with Daughter Demi Raised $800K Last Night for a Total Over $16 Million

Thursday night’s Quarantunes with Richard and Demi Weitz raised $800,000 for UJA Federation. The evening honoring the Weitzes, who’ve raised over $16 million this year for a variety of charities, also honored music lawyer Doug Davis, who’s been so instrumental in putting these Zoom events– some with upwards of 600 people on them.

On Thursday they had 1,000 people on Zoom at the peak with this list of performers and guests: DJ Cassidy, Daveed Diggs, Jeffrey Ross, Shoshana Bean, Joe Torre, Javier Muñoz, Jarrod Spector, Erich Bergen, Lena Hall, Frankie Valli, Desmond Child, Lil Jon, Dan + Shay, Rev Run, Mandy Gonzalez, Rufus Wainwright, Deniece Williams, Sheila E., Jody Watley, Lisa Lisa, George Clinton, Bowlegged Lou, Jimmy Jam, Blair Underwood, Holly Robinson Peete, Reginald Hudlin, Deborah Cox, El DeBarge, Marc Shaiman, LL Cool J, Amos Lee, Marcus Mumford, Lukas Graham, and Randy Jackson with Journey.

I dipped in for a few minutes just to hear Clive Davis present his son Doug with the 2020 Music Visionary Award, an honor bestowed upon both him and his oldest son Fred years ago. “This is a very personal and very proud moment for me, as music has been my professional passion, but overall, it must take second spot to the priority of family.” Clive continued, “I am indeed bursting with pride on the continuing efforts and the recognition of my son’s professional and charitable achievements.”

“This UJA event really shows how the music business is a family affair,” said Doug in his acceptance remarks. Proud to share the honor with his father and brother, he said, “As a supporter of UJA for two decades, it’s meaningful for me to be able to step in at this time when this money is crucial to the immediate front-line needs during the pandemic.”

To bolster excitement and donations around his son’s honor, Clive auctioned off a personal meeting, as well a coveted invite to his pre-Grammy gala in 2021.

Clive also announced that his pre-Grammy gala this year would be virtual, of course. We will not be going to the Beverly Hilton ballroom. But we’ll be safely at home enjoying Clive’s annual mix of music and anecdotes, anticipating a return in 2022.

The sheer volume of what the Weitzes have accomplished is simply overwhelming. They’ve done it with such panache and enthusiasm, it’s remarkable. They’ve never flagged in their desire to help people, and to entertain. And that Demi is going places!

Report: So Far “Grey’s Anatomy” Hasn’t Been Able to Convince Any More Former Castmates to Return for Meredith’s Dreams

Roger Friedman
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Report: So Far “Grey’s Anatomy” Hasn’t Been Able to Convince Any More Former Castmates to Return for Meredith’s Dreams

This is pretty funny. Nellie Andreeva, the very good TV editor for Deadline.com, interviews “Grey’s Anatomy” showrunner every week about the drama. She always gets a scoop, and inadvertently has one tonight.

She asked Krista Vernoff if any more former cast members are scheduled to return for Meredith Grey’s beach dream sequences. (Meredith is in a coma from COVID, and so far Patrick Dempsey and TR Knight have returned after being killed off years ago.)

The answer from Vernoff: “The honest answer to that at this point is no, Nellie. I hope I have a different answer to that at some point soon.”

I did a spit- take when I read this response. So they got all into this coma thing with former cast members on the beach and now no one wants to do it? Sandra Oh? Katherine Heigl? Kate Burton? Justin Chambers? Eric Dane? No one? Kate Walsh? Well why not? They were treated so badly when they were let go, why would they come back? I don’t even know why Dempsey returned? The money for a guest shot isn’t so great. And who needs the publicity that badly?

Something tells me if Vernoff can’t find anymore beachcombers, Meredith Grey will awaken from her coma when the series picks up in a couple of months, brush off the sand, and get back to work!

PS Good work, Nellie!

Bruce Springsteen E Street Band “Saturday Night Live” with Timothee Chalamet Scores 72.5% Higher Than Last Year’s Episode, Same Week

Roger Friedman
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Bruce Springsteen E Street Band “Saturday Night Live” with Timothee Chalamet Scores 72.5% Higher Than Last Year’s Episode, Same Week

The fans came for Bruce Springsteen and were not disappointed.

The “SNL” broadcast last Saturday night for “SNL” put the show at 2nd for the fall season with a very big 6.9 million viewers. That’s up from 6.2 million the previous Saturday.

The high this fall was Dave Chappelle’s show the Saturday after the election, with 9.1 million viewers and perhaps Alec Baldwin’s final appearance as Donald Trump.

With Timothee Chalamet as co-host, the episode with Bruce and the E Street Band performing two songs was not only the 2nd highest of this season, but in keeping with “SNL” ratings this fall was about 2.9 million viewers higher than last fall’s average. In 2019, on the corresponding date, “SNL” had just 4 million viewers.

Jeffrey Epstein’s Pimp, Jean Luc Brunel: Arrested Escaping France, I Wrote About Him in 1991, and Diane Sawyer Profiled Him on “60 Minutes”

Roger Friedman
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0
Jeffrey Epstein’s Pimp, Jean Luc Brunel: Arrested Escaping France, I Wrote About Him in 1991, and Diane Sawyer Profiled Him on “60 Minutes”

Jean Luc Brunel was finally arrested today, according to reports, as he was trying to fly out of Paris for Senegal. Jeffrey Epstein’s pimp, as he is now known, has a long history of allegedly trafficking in young girls. It only took 30 years to get him.

I wrote about Brunel in the New York Observer in 1991. He was the “silent partner” of Faith Kates and Joel Wilkenfeld when they started Next Modeling Agency in New York after leaving a company called Spectrum Models demolished. The Observer has unfortunately wiped out its old online archives since Jared Kushner took over, but the physical clips of my story exist. I remember it all very well. Wilkenfeld had worked for Rena Rowan, then the wife of Sidney Kimmel– who had a fledgling film company. He bankrolled it. The money came from him owning Jones New York.

At the time a publicist had been hired to promote the Kates-Wilkenfeld venture, and asked me to interview them. When I started doing the reporting, it all came out. And I wasn’t the first to discover Brunel’s history or activities. He’d been profiled scathingly by Diane Sawyer in 1989 for “60 Minutes.” The late great Esther Kartiganer invited to me to the “60 Minutes” offices to view the tape. It was a great help for my story.

Kates and Wilkenfeld denied that they had anything to do with Brunel. But many people associated with them told stories of their deep alliance. This doesn’t mean that they were involved in Brunel’s misdeeds, and I’m not alleging anything besides being in business with him. I remember Kates’s little dog barking at me all through our interview. The dog knew everything. But some young models left the agency based on the stories they’d heard before even I got to this. Bebe Buell pulled her then young daughter, Liv Tyler, from Next immediately.

It’s amazing that Brunel has finally been arrested. I don’t know if statutes of limitation in New York make it impossible to prosecute him here. But the real story of modeling agencies has never really been told.

Here’s the Diane Sawyer clip.

 

 

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