Jinnistan wrote:

crumbsroom wrote:

Possibly my favourite performance in the movie.

I never can resist pointing out the well-known fact that Robbie Robertson's microphone was switched off, and the magnificent backing harmonies are from Manuel and Helm instead.  Unfortunately, Richard Manuel got very little camera time in the film.  But Robertson got in a great solo, including that little 'dice shake' move.

In fairness to some of those editorial decisions, Manuel seems to barely get through his handful of moments where he's talking and not half collapsed on a couch. Who knows if this was completely emblematic of his state during all of the interviews, but it's not hard to imagine he wasn't giving Scorsese a lot of usable material.

Conversely, even though he's a showboat in a silk scarf, the camera loves Robertson. I find him magnetic and slightly nauseating in equal measure.

And I just assume Hudson preferred not to bother much with the whole process.

I do wish there was more Helm and Danko though. They shine in their moments.


 

She was the best.

Tony Roberts, best known for his Woddy Allen appearances (Play It Again Sam, Annie Hall, Stardust Memories, Hannah and Her Sisters, etc.).  I'll always remember his as Serpico's DA buddy though.

When Comac McCarthy died, I said the last remaining Great American Author was Thomas Pynchon.  And, well, that wasn't quite true because I forgot that Tom Robbins was still alive.  But now it's more true because Tom Robbins, at 92, has passed on to the Blue Bardo Beyond.

I haven't read some of Robbins' final work (his last book was a memoir from 2014), but his first six novels, up to and including Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas, is as good a case to place him among the greatest of his already great generation of American authors.  And, like most of the creative pioneers who shaped the Boomer cultural landscape, Robbins was not a Boomer but rather a member of the so-called "Silent Generation", an ill-conceived moniker for a generation noted for both its creative accomplishments and lack of navel-gazing narcissism and sense of cultural entitlement.  The funeral pyres are becoming like fireflies.
 

One of the last great "casualty" artists of the '60s, Fay made two cult LPs and promptly disappeared, only emerging 40 years later, after considerable underground cache, to release additional new music over the past decade.




 

Gene Hackman.
And his wife?
And his dog?
 

R.I.P. to one of my favourite actors.

David Johansen

https://people.com/david-johansen-dead-new-york-dolls-singer-dies-at-75-11679388

Inspired by some of Rock's Gene Hackman viewings, I think it's an interesting question to consider - What are the Best Not-Great Gene Hackman films?

I mean, we all know the true greats anyway - French Connection, The Conversation, Night Moves, The Unforgiven, The Royal Tenebaums.  No, to understand the man's true genius, which films did he still put it the GOAT effort despite clearly being another paycheck.  I'll go with ten of my (minor) faves.

Uncommon Valor
Under Suspicion
Power
Heist
Bat 21
The Domino Principle
The Package
Crimson Tide
Narrow Margin
Absolute Power
 

George Lowe, voice actor behind the iconic Space Ghost....no, not the real Space Ghost, but the rebooted talk show host incarnation from what is still the greatest and flagship creation from Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, Space Ghost Coast To Coast.  Lesser souls like Eric Andre and Scott Aukerman have only dreamed of the intergalactic glory of Coast To Coast's dry ironic domination, fueled by Lowe's imperial refusal to take guff from inferior fools.  Unfortunately, Lowe's booming baritone finally split his aorta at 67.

There would not have been an Adult Swim without the success of Coast To Coast, and that might mean much less today, long after Adult Swim has abandoned their classic aesthetic of low-fi recycled Gen X cartoon nostalgia (indeed, long after they abandoned cartoons at all), but it did usher in a solid few years - its original run from '94-'99, and Adult Swim from '01-'06 - of excellent programming.

In one of Lowe's few "in person" appearances, at the red carpet for the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Movie (which itself would mark the sharp decline in Adult Swim quality), this event was, well, nothing short of a shitshow.  But as a testament to the classiest of comedic performers, it is the shitshows in which they thrive.