Category: Pop Culture Page 10 of 74

Any trends or popular fads may be described, whether it would be something like the hula hoop or the pet rock or simply new slang.

“Another Body” Traces Deep-Fake Porno in Timely Documentary

By Connie Wilson

On September 29, 2023

In Editorial, Education, Movies, News, Pop Culture, Reviews, Science and Medicine

A timely issue for our time is the use of deep-fake video. It was one of the sticking points during the recent 148-day Hollywood entertainment strike. It is bound to rear its ugly head again during the 2024 presidential race. Porno videos with famous people’s faces super-imposed on the bodies of others are out there. In this documentary, it is a college student who makes the discovery that there is “Another Body,” represented as hers, circulating on the Internet. The supreme irony is that, in able to testify to the damage being done to victims like the fictional Taylor Klein, she had to “deep fake” her own testimony, (which made it all the way to the White House.)

In the timely documentary “Another Body,” directed by Sophie Compton and Reuben Hamlyn (co-written by Isabel Freeman), a college student discovers deep fakes represented as being Taylor, circulating online. Using video diaries, synthetic media, and 2D and 3D animation, the documentary takes you behind the scenes: who did this and why and how can it be stopped and rectified? :”I kept asking myself who would do this and why would they want to do this? I worry that they are going to do something more drastic? I believe that, in his mind, he is getting back at us for rejecting him.”

THE GOOD

I marveled at the expertise that the filmmakers showed in presenting this complicated story to us, using dummy-like automatons to represent the fictional “Mike” (the perpetrator that Taylor and friends track down over time.) It was very impressive in regard to its technical achievements.Bravo!

I empathized with statements like, “I’ve had to deal with all the consequences that he should have had to deal with. I’ve had to leave the fun group, but he hasn’t.” 9,500 porno sites with 14 million hits a month sounds like the death throes of a decadent society. Are sites like PornHub that “normal” in this country’s incel culture that this sort of thing is doubling every six months, as the film says? Do those who use such sites routinely end up on a roof with a gun, shooting at spectators at a Fourth of July Parade in Illinois? What-the-heck is going on? Yes, Trump is the poster boy for such bad behavior, but…really?

I also recognized that the misogyny that today’s women of the MeToo movement are not willing to put up with has been going on for decades. DJT is a throwback to those decades when it truly was “a man’s world” and, as he bragged on video, if you were male you could get away with just about anything, because that is what women were told they had to put up with in order to be “good” female citizens. Women were not supposed to “take a man’s job” and we were supposed to stay barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen, waiting on our man. R-i-i-i-g-h-t. So, I enjoyed seeing the new generation of women take on the male establishment. Maybe the good guys—err girls—will win, this time. I hope so. The request that she be respected for her professional achievements and viewed as “good” is not a pie-in-the-sky goal for the fictional Taylor of this tale; it is what women deserve, but have seldom achieved without a fight.

THE BAD

Like many other documentaries, this one could have been shorter. A half hour trim would not have taken away from the film, which became repetitive. Some of the interactions between Taylor and other victims could have been shortened.

Worst of all, the conclusion that Taylor draws near the end of the film is depressing: Sometimes the bad guys win.

52nd Nashville Film Festival Opens: September 28, 2023

By Connie Wilson

On September 29, 2023

In Movies, Pop Culture, Reviews

Gloria Gaynor

Opening Night of the 52nd Nashviille Film Festival featured the documentary “Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive” directed by Betsy Schechter. The 80-year-old Queen of Disco—only recipient ever of a Grammy for disco music—is far from done on the world’s stage. She may have peaked in the 70s with “Never Can Say Goodbye” and “I Will Survive,” but her recently released album of Gospel songs, “Testament, earned her a second Grammy, and she isn’t done yet.

Said Ms. Gaynor, born Gloria Fowles in Newark, New Jersey in 1943, “It’s been an incredible journey. I’m just grateful to have the opportunity.”

Born one of 7 children to a single mother in Newark, New Jersey, Gloria never had a father, lost her mother at 25, and her only sister was beaten to death while trying to stop an attack on another. Gloria’s own history with men was far from romantic, with two incidents of sexual abuse at ages 12 and 17, and a divorce from her husband at age 65. Gloria has no children, as her husband Linwood did not want any.

After a concert at the Beacon Theater in New York City in 1978, when Gloria tripped over a piece of equipment onstage and fell backwards, she woke up paralyzed from the waist down. She spent 3 months in the hospital and twenty years with serious back injuries, until, at age 75, Dr. Hooman Melamed performed an 18 hour surgery on Gloria, placing 12 rods in her spine to enable her to walk again. Gloria converted to Christianity in 1982 and would embark on an ambitious journey to record a gospel album, culminating in the award-winning “Testament” after a 2013 effort failed.

As her manager Stephanie Gold recounted, “Nobody wanted this album. Nobody.” So Gloria set out to underwrite the expense of the album herself and enlisted such heavy hitters as producer Chris Steven and Bart Millard (“Mercy Me) and Jason Crabb.

Gloria’s humility and gratitude shines through in her remarks and in her actions. Shown writing a song with Bart Millard, Gloria says, “He’s a prolific writer whereas I’m still just trying after 40 years.” (The result wins the Gospel Grammy)

Gloria’s desire to “keep on keeping on” shines through during the entire film. She admits that just chilling out does not appeal to her and says that performing only 40 to 50 shows a year, at age 80, is down from the 300 she performed here and abroad when married to Linwood Simon, who kept her working non-stop and succumbed to life in the fast lane that Gloria fought against. You can’t help but feel that this album (and another currently being planned) represent, to some extent, a “giving back” to others, as Gloria’s own career winds down. Several times she mentions her 1982 religious rebirth and her desire to help others. Her own backsliding when married to Linwood she defines as feeling that “my moral fiber was dwindling” and her recent albums of Gospel music seem a chance to reconnect with her roots and, in some ways, to repay. She mentions that God has the timing down and she felt he had given her a “wake-up call.”

Director Betsy Schecht and Gloria Gaynor at Opening Night of the 52nd Nashville Film Festival at the Belcourt Theatre.

The movie has a “feel good” quality to it, especially in the scenes where the studio musicians are performing together (something that Gloria said she had not experienced before during her recording of 19 albums), and the result sounds like a true testament to the talent and determination of the woman whose anthem “I Will Survive” has been voted the #2 Greatest Disco Song of All Time (VH1). Rolling Stone, in 2021, said that “I Will Survive” was #251 on a list of The Greatest Songs of All Time. It has inspired and comforted many a lover after a break-up, but also given hope to the LGBQT community and, in the case of the song’s writer, convinced him that he would live to fight another day when he had just been fired by Motown. The song was written by Dino Fekaris and Freddie Perren and was originally the “B” side of a British hit called “Substitute.” (“You’re going to put that on the B side? What are you—-nuts?” says Gaynor).

You get a feeling of affectionate warmth from the coming together of talents of today in service to Gloria’s vision of a Gospel Roots album. They all seem to creatively feed on one another during the live sessions shown. It is heartwarming to see iconic singers of the past partner with today’s singers, much as Tony Bennett did with Lady Gaga. The affection that the singers have for one another is obvious and both Bart Millard and Jason Crabb were present in person this night. (Also present in the lobby was Steve Cropper, the “Play It, Steve” of the Blues Brothers movie.)

Gloria Gaynor and Bart Millard (“Mercy Me”) on night of the 52nd Nashville Film Festival.

This is an inspiring and entertaining look at the career of a one-woman dynamo. It holds up very nicely against the recent Little Richard documentary and the one that focused on Donna Summer. In some ways it is a more dramatic story, when all of the travails that Gloria Gaynor has faced are depicted. She seems to embody the message “I Will Survive.”‘ With the recent sad passing of the legendary Tina Turner, it is heartwarming and encouraging to hear that Gloria Gaynor is alive and well and working on another new album in a genre that some thought she shouldn’t tackle.

To cite another famous lyric, Gloria Gaynor is “getting by with a little help from her friends.”

“Caterpillar” Documentary to Screen at Nashville Film Festival

By Connie Wilson

On September 24, 2023

In Health/Medicine, Movies, Pop Culture, Reviews, travel

This was a fascinating documentary about a new YouTube fad, changing one’s eye color, which is done, surgically, in India. It sounded very dicey, and, as it turns out, it is.

The documentary, written and directed by Liza Mandelup of the Parts & Labor film enterprise, followed the journey of Raymond David Taylor of Miami as he set off for India to have his brown eyes turned into a color described as “frost.”

It seems that there is a thriving cosmetic industry in Cairo, Mexico, Panama, and India and, of course, the recent deaths of two American citizens in Matamoros, Mexico, (we now know), was a trip for cosmetic surgery. A friend of mine flew to Costa Rica for dental work, so I’m surprised I had not heard of this latest vision fad, but I don’t spend much time watching videos on YouTube.

David had a very rough childhood, even getting kicked out of the house while young, at one point, and he (and most of the other patients) seem to think that “Changing me will change my outlook on life.” As David says, “If I feel sad one more day, I don’t know if I’m going to make it.”

“Caterpillar” to screen at Nashville Film Festival. (Raymond David Taylor).

He doesn’t have the money for the surgery, but a well-written letter to BrightOcular explaining his desire for the implants brings an offer from them to come have the cosmetic procedure for free, if he will let the company use his story and his photos for advertising purposes.

We then meet others on this medically unregulated journey, including Izzy, a woman from New Delhi, a young man from Japan, a male underwear model and a beautiful girl from Jamaica, but the focus is on David, which filmmaker/writer Mandelop explained was her attempt to initially start out with three main characters and trace their journeys, with one emerging as central to the story.

She described this engrossing film journey into eye surgery this way: “I wanted to visually convey it. I wanted to do something that people wouldn’t think was cinematic, like eye surgery, but make it cinematic. It became an emotional journey. David allowed me to make the film that I was craving.”

In the course of the journey, we meet David’s mother, who also suffered a rough, abusive life, but tried her best as a young single mother to care for her children on wages of $2.35 an hour. David’s mother and David don’t agree on a lot of things. She is okay with David’s being gay, but she says, “I cannot deal with that if you start cutting parts of your body off and adding stuff.” She adds that she thought he was a great female impersonator. Mom’s point-of-view is, “You’re stubborn. You don’t listen.” She adds, “You’re never satisfied with the way you look.” Others in the film describe the cosmetic procedure as “a bandaid to the past.” Most of the others have selected jade green as the color their brown eyes

It is a big blow to David when they do three patients’ surgeries simultaneously and, in the process, he is given jade green eye color by mistake, rather than frost. This will mean another eye surgery to fix the error.

If you are thinking, “This can’t be safe,” you’re right. It is only about four months post-surgery after David undergoes the procedure that he describes it as “the worst mistake of my life” when headaches and visual problems begin.

All of the prospective patients seem to want to transform to some ideal person they have created in their heads. When the subject of the film appeared before us in person, however, the audience got the feeling that the subject of “Caterpillar” has, in fact, bettered his life, moving back to Brooklyn and now working as an EMT. He explained his mother’s absence from the showing as his way of “avoiding drama.”

Director Liza Mandelup and David Raymond, subject of the SXSW documentary “Caterpillar”on Opening Night, March 10, 2023.

On the left, Director Liza Mandelup and Raymond David Taylor, subject of the SXSW documentary “Caterpillar”on SXSW Opening Night, March 10, 2023.

Some other patients, we learn, who did not heed the United States opthalmalogists’ warning about the damage the implants have done (or are doing) to their eyes ended up blind or partially blind. One former patient whom David tracks down after he begins encountering headaches and blurry vision said that he woke up after 5 years with blood on his cornea. “I had to remove them or go blind.”

The unfettered access to the surgery and the patients seems quite unusual. That is, until we learn that the leadership of BrightOcular is very circumspect. No one ever comes forward to represent BrightOcular or another entity called Spectra. These agencies exist and are offering this service and heavily advertising how it will “change your life” on social media, with beautiful pictures of patients like David. They are not as forthcoming about the negatives of the procedure. The Indian physician who says he, personally, would not undergo the procedure knows this is a very risky way to change one’s outlook on life and seems to convey that through his reticence to heartily endorse the procedure.

David bought into it with words like, “This is my new beginning. I’m changing,” or “Beauty matters. Beauty gets you through the door.

Musical selections like “Stand By Me” and “I Want to Dance With Somebody,” selected by Music Supervisor Melissa Chapman, merge with the early upbeat theme of positive change seamlessly and add much to the extremely well-done production.

Afterwards, the writer/director (Liza Mandelup) and David, the chief subject, answered questions about the inspiration for the film and its aftermath. Liza said she had been doing research on the apps that can change one’s appearance when she learned of this eye surgery. She sent the BrightOcular company an e-mail asking I f she could do a documentary about the process. They were very positive in their response and never really surfaced as an entity. Their leadership remains a mystery.

Writer-Director Liza Mandelup.

She cautions that David was one of the few patients who listened to the warnings from U.S. eye doctors, post-surgery, and had his implants removed fairly quickly. Others have faced the need to have cornea transplants and some have gone blind because they refused to give up the implants over a period of years. One patient, asked what she would be content with in regards to improving her appearance, answered, “What am I content with? Just more.”

Among the best compliments of the terrific job the filmmaker did with this riveting documentary was a woman who stood up in the back during the Q&A and said, in heavily accented English, “You mean this was a documentary? I thought it was a movie!”

59th Chicago International Film Festival to Run October 11-October 22, 2023

By Connie Wilson

On September 20, 2023

In Movies, News, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Pop Culture, Reviews

The Chicago International Film Festival’s 59^th iteration will screen at 8 locations in Chicago commencing October 11^th. In a preview of the full range of offerings on September 18^th at the AMC Newcity Theatres on North Clyburn Avenue.

Other venues where films will be screened this year include the historic Music Box Theater, the Chicago History Museum, the Gene Siskel Film Center, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago, and some other pop-up venues on the South and West sides of the city.

In other years, nearly all films have been shown at a central location, the AMC Theater on Illinois. I learned that I could make it from my condo to the venue in about fifteen minutes, but the cost of parking has exceeded the cost of tickets in recent years. It appears that the large AMC Theater may have priced itself out of the market. I was also told that they are renovating the theater (and removing many seats), which had been all the buzz before the pandemic hit, i.e., will the AMC go belly-up as a result of their ambitious upgrading plans and the costs of same at a bad time, historically. I was told that the AMC New City Theater had previously existed under a different owner and was snapped up by AMC.

While it took me over an hour to drive from the Field Museum to the North Clyburn Avenue location for a 6:30 p.m. meeting (i.e., during Rush Hour), I was able to park for free on the street and there are restaurants within the New City complex that could make killing time between films much easier. There weren’t many good places near the large AMC complex, and the good ones like P.J. O’Rourkes often closed.

I went back to the beginning of my Weekly Wilson blog and found reviews from 2007 on. I think I actually reviewed cinema offerings earlier than that, but not on my own blog. Now, of course, I publish here and on The Movie Blog.

Director Mimi Plauche and Sir Henry Branagh at the Music Box Theater on Opening Night of his film “Belfast.”

This year, the panels picking what we will be able to see reviewed 7,500 films before boiling it down to 57 offerings. There were 5,500 short films that were viewed to narrow the offering to 99 shorts. The films came in from 123 countries and the Opening Night film will be “We Grown Now,” directed by Minhal Baig and starring Jurnee Smollett as Dolores, the mother of a young Black boy in the Cabrini-Green Housing Project who must decide whether to stay or move away.

Tickets this year run $35 for Opening/Closing Nights, and $23 for Special Presentations. A general screening, if you are a member of Cinema Chicago, is $18 and $22 if you are not a Cinema Chicago member.

It is my fervent hope that the parking this year will be cheaper, as it had really gotten out of hand last year.

Nashville Film Festival Screens from September 28th to October 4th, 2023

By Connie Wilson

On September 16, 2023

In Local, Movies, News, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Pop Culture, Reviews, travel

Nashville Film Festival September 28th through October 4th, 2023.

The Nashville Film Festival commences September 28^th, and I will be there, in person, covering it. It runs from September 28^th until October 4^th. The Nashville Film Festival presents more than 125 film screenings, a selection of post-film Q&As and in-depth discussions with attending filmmakers.

NashFilm hosts events and programs that highlight the many aspects of filmmaking, including: a Screenwriting Competition (September 28-October 4); a Music Supervisors Program; the Creators Conference (film and music industry panels; and live music performances and new artist showcases throughout the week.

The festival opens with the documentary “I Will Survive,” from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Belcourt Theatre in Nashville. It is the story of the career and resurgence of Gloria Gaynor and Gaynor, plus director Betsy Schechter will be present at the post-party afterwards at Anzie Blue.

On Friday, in addition to composer Mark Isham (“Crash”) in conference, the short “The Hit Man” (18 minutes) with Richard Kind and Peter Riegert and Nancy Allen screens at the Rothschild Black Box Theatre. Later that night, “Another Body,” about a coed who finds fake nude photos of herself online, will show at the same theater.

Saturday, 9/30, a Joan Baez documentary (“I Am A Noise”) is up, along with a documentary entitled “The Disappearance of Sheri Hite.” (Sheri Hite wrote a groundbreaking book on female sexuality and then largely disappeared from public view.)

Sunday, October 1^st, I am looking forward to some documentary shorts, as well as David Straithorn in “Remember This.” David Strathairn portrays Jan Karski in this genre-defying true story of a reluctant World War II hero and Holocaust witness. After surviving the devastation of the Blitzkrieg, Karski swears allegiance to the Polish Underground and risks his life to carry the first eyewitness reports of war-torn Poland to the Western world, and ultimately, the Oval Office. Escaping a Gestapo prison, bearing witness to the despair of the Warsaw ghetto and confronted by the inhumanity of a death camp, Karski endures unspeakable mental anguish and physical torture to stand tall in the halls of power and speak the truth.

Monday, October 2^nd, brings a Minnie Pearl documentary, “Facing the Laughter” and a documentary entitled “The Tuba Thieves,” about real-life thefts of that instrument in California.

Tuesday, October 3^rd, is a day to do some streaming, with many options there.

Wednesday, October 4^th is closing night at the Belcourt, featuring the film “Foe” with Saiorse Ronan, with a closing night party at Exit/In. Earlier, there is a documentary entitled “Silver Dollar Road,” also at the Belcourt, From Academy-Award Nominee Raoul Peck, Silver Dollar Road follows the story of the Reels family as told by the matriarch Mamie Reels Ellison and her niece Kim Renee Duhon, two fierce and clear-eyed women bending to safeguard valiantly their ancestors’ land and their brothers and uncles Melvin and Licurtis, who were wrongfully imprisoned for eight years – the longest sentence for civil contempt in North Carolina history.

“No Labels” Third Party May Really Be A GOP-Ploy to Re-Elect Trump

By Connie Wilson

On August 28, 2023

In Editorial, Essays on Politics: Best Political Essays & Ideology, Local, News, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Politics, Pop Culture

“No Labels’ attacks are the kind of division the country needs less of right now, and it’s a betrayal of every moderate and every problem solver in Congress,” Rep. Brad Schneider said. | Samuel Corum/Getty Images

A group of House Democrats with ties to No Labels is turning on the centrist group after it attacked one of their founding members.

No Labels texted people who live in the district of Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), criticizing the congressman for scoffing at their idea for a unity presidential ticket and claiming it could result in Donald Trump’s return to the presidency.

The information (above) is something I sought out after listening to the Sunday, August 27th, episode of “Meet the Press.” During the waning moments of the show (which I always tape) there was a spirited debate between one of the founders of the No Labels movement and an individual responsible for a Democratic largely reader-written blog that is currently being sued by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., for reporting on some of his positions and appearances, “Daily Kos.” (Even RFK, Jr.’s family is upset that he is running, because of his tendency to embrace fringe theories.)

Since polls have found that somewhere around 65% to 75% of Americans do not want either of the leading candidates—Trump or Biden—to run, the No Labels group claimed to be attempting to field other candidates for President. Chief among those mentioned were Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) and Governor Chris Sununu. The spokesman on “Meet the Press” said that they would be interviewing candidates in March/April and making an announcement after that.

What the No Labels group claims it is doing is offering candidates to the public that they actually want to vote for.

What they may, actually, be trying to do is to act as a ‘spoiler’ group, assuring that no candidate gets to 270 Electoral College votes. That would send the choice of the president to the House of Representatives, which is currently GOP dominated. There hasn’t been a successful third party challenge of the magnitude of Teddy Roosevelt’s Bull Moose party for decades, although the next-closest attempt occurred when Ross Perot attempted the feat in 1996.

Perot ran an independent campaign in the 1992 U.S. presidential election and a third-party campaign in the 1996 U.S. presidential election as the nominee of the Reform Party, which was formed by grassroots supporters of Perot’s 1992 campaign. Although he failed to carry a single state in either election, both campaigns were among the strongest presidential showings by a third party or independent candidate in U.S. history (the most successful since Teddy Roosevelt’s Bull Moose party).

Former GOP stragegist and Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson argues that No Labels’ “centrist do-gooder” position is deeply misleading. “What could possibly go wrong?” he asks. “The thing that could go wrong is the election of Donald Trump.”

“Mother Jones” did a run-down of who is financially behind “No Labels” here: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/06/no-labels-exposed-heres-a-list-of-donors-funding-its-effort-to-disrupt-the-2024-race/

Tuesday Weld Turns 80 Today: August 27, 2023

By Connie Wilson

On August 27, 2023

In Editorial, Local, Movies, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Pop Culture

Tuesday Weld with Richard Janssen of “The Fugitive.”

If you are a child of the 60s, you will remember Tuesday Weld.

The blonde bombshell combined an innocent, virginal blonde beauty with a sexuality that made her Stanley Kubrick’s first choice to play “Lolita.” (She turned the part down, saying, “I don’t have to play it. I was Lolita.”)

You have to admire a woman who changed her name, legally, to Tuesday when she was only 16 years old and, when asked what drove her from Hollywood, responded, “I think it was a Buick.”

Tuesday had some outstanding roles, although it was always her appearance that preceded her, in the same way that Michelle Pfieffer’s blonde good looks have made her into a line in a Bruno Mars song.

Her childhood was not a happy one. Born in 1943, she became her family’s sole breadwinner when her father died at age 49 in 1947 just before Tuesday’s fourth birthday. Her mother, Yosene Balfour Ker, daughter of the artist and Life illustrator William Balfour Ker, was Lathrop Weld’s fourth and last wife.

Mother Yosene put Tuesday into modeling and she soon began her career as an actress. Tuesday began drinking heavily at ages 9 and 10 and had a breakdown at age nine. Mommy didn’t think that Tuesday needed therapy and life went on pretty much as before, with Tuesday’s first suicide attempt at age twelve. Later, Tuesday expressed a great deal of hostility towards her mother and said she only felt free when her mother had passed. In fact, she began telling people that her mother was dead literally decades before she had actually died.

Most of her life, Tuesday was preyed upon by older men. One of the most famous of her laiasons with the actor John Ireland, who was then in his forties, while she was underage. Over the years, she had romances with Al Pacino,^[29] David Steinberg,^[30] Mikhail Baryshnikov^[31] (whose previous girlfriend, Jessica Lange, had been Weld’s best friend),^[32] Omar Sharif,^[33] Richard Gere^[34] and Ryan O’Neal.

Tuesday Weld in 1960.

Career

Weld attracted attention as the favored, out-of-control Katherine in Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977) – packing into her short screen time an orgy, a divorce, a lot of alcohol, and two abortions – and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress;^[20] later she appeared in Who’ll Stop the Rain (1978) opposite Nick Nolte; and the ensemble satire Serial (1980).

She said she preferred television. “What I dig about TV is the pace”, she said. “Two weeks for even a heavy part – great. Too much thinking about a role is a disaster for me. I mean, let’s do it, let’s get it done.”^[25]

She played the lead in the TV films A Question of Guilt (1978), in which she plays a woman accused of murdering her children, Mother and Daughter: The Loving War (1980), a remake of Madame X (1981), and a new version of The Rainmaker (1982).

In feature films, Weld had a good supporting role in Michael Mann‘s acclaimed 1981 film Thief, opposite James Caan. She played Al Pacino‘s wife in Author! Author! (1982) and co-starred with Donald Sutherland in the TV film The Winter of Our Discontent (1983). This performance earned her an Emmy nomination.

In 1984, she appeared in Sergio Leone‘s gangster epic Once Upon a Time in America, playing a jeweler’s secretary, who is in on a plan to steal a shipment of diamonds. During the robbery, her character goads Robert De Niro‘s character, David “Noodles” Aaronson, into “raping” her with her complicity. She later meets up with the gang from the robbery, and becomes the moll of James Woods‘ character Max Bercovicz. Disturbed by what she sees as Max’s delusional, even suicidal, ambitions, she convinces Noodles to betray Max to the police. The performance earned Weld a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actress of 1984.

On TV, Weld was in Scorned and Swindled (1984), Circle of Violence (1986) and Something in Common (1986). She had a supporting role in Heartbreak Hotel (1988).

Later career

Weld was reunited with Anthony Perkins in an episode of Mistress of Suspense (1990).

In 1993, she played a police officer’s neurotic wife in Falling Down, starring Michael Douglas and Robert Duvall. She had small supporting roles in Feeling Minnesota (1996), Investigating Sex (2001), and Chelsea Walls (2001).

Personal life

Weld was married three times. She was married to screenwriter Claude Harz from October 23, 1965, until their divorce on February 18, 1971. They had a daughter, Natasha, born on August 26, 1966. Weld was awarded custody of Natasha in the divorce and $100 a month in child support payments.^[26]

She married British actor, musician and comedian Dudley Moore on September 20, 1975. On February 26, 1976, they had a son, Patrick. The couple divorced in 1980, with Weld receiving a $200,000 settlement plus $3,000 monthly alimony for the next 4 years and an additional $2,500 a month in child support.^[27]

On October 18, 1985, she married Israeli concert violinist and conductor Pinchas Zukerman, becoming stepmother to his daughters Arianna and Natalia. The couple divorced in 1998. In court papers, Zukerman quoted Weld as saying, “Why do I need to go to another concert when I’ve heard the piece before?” and “I can’t stand the backstage scene. I don’t want to hear another note.”^[28]

Weld sold her beach house in Montauk, New York, in the late 2000s and moved to Carbondale, Colorado. In 2018, she left Colorado and bought a $1.8 million home in the Hollywood Hills.^[36]

Montauk house

Weld and then-husband Zukerman purchased 74 Surfside Ave in 1990 from the estate of Norman Kean, who produced the long-running Broadway show Oh! Calcutta! and who killed himself and his actress wife Gwyda Donhowe in their Manhattan apartment in 1988.^[37] Although the Montauk residence was not a crime scene, Weld later struggled to find a buyer for the property due to its murder-suicide connection. Listed in 2006, it sat on the market for three years before selling at a reduced price of $6.75 million in 2009 and is now rented.^[38][39] Weld bought a “tiny condo” there in 2021 for $335,000.^[40]

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1956	Rock, Rock, Rock	Dori Graham
1958	Rally ‘Round the Flag, Boys!	Comfort Goodpasture
1959	The Five Pennies	Dorothy Nichols, age 12 to 14
1960	Because They’re Young	Anne Gregor
	Sex Kittens Go to College	Jody
	High Time	Joy Elder
	The Private Lives of Adam and Eve	Vangie Harper
1961	Return to Peyton Place	Selena Cross
1961	Wild in the Country	Noreen Braxton
1962	Bachelor Flat	Libby Bushmill/Libby Smith
1963	Soldier in the Rain	Bobby Jo Pepperdine
1965	I’ll Take Sweden	JoJo Holcomb
1965	The Cincinnati Kid	Christian Rudd
1966	Lord Love a Duck	Barbara Ann Greene
1968	Pretty Poison	Sue Ann Stepanek
1970	I Walk the Line	Alma McCain
1971	A Safe Place	Susan/Noah
1972	Play It as It Lays	Maria Wyeth Lang	Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1974	Reflections of Murder	Vicky
1977	Looking for Mr. Goodbar	Katherine	Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
1978	Who’ll Stop the Rain	Marge Converse
1980	Serial	Kate Linville Holroyd
1981	Thief	Jessie
1982	Author! Author!	Gloria Travalian
1984	Once Upon a Time in America	Carol	Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1988	Heartbreak Hotel	Marie Wolfe
1993	Falling Down	Amanda Prendergast
1996	Feeling Minnesota	Nora Clayton
2001	Investigating Sex	Sasha Faldo
2001	Chelsea Walls	Greta

Television

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1959	The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet	Connie/Cathy	3 episodes
	The Red Skelton Hour	Starlet	Episode: “Appleby: The Big Producer”
	77 Sunset Strip	Barrie Connell	Episode: “Secret Island”
1959-62	The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis	Thalia Menninger	Series regular (season 1) Guest star (seasons 3-4)
1960	77 Sunset Strip	Kitten Lang	Episode: “Condor’s Lair”
	The Millionaire	Beth Boland	Episode: “Millionaire Katherine Boland”
	The Tab Hunter Show	Ginny	Episode: “The Doll in the Bathtub”
	Dick Powell’s Zane Grey Theatre	Beth Lawson	Episode: “The Mormons”
1961	Follow the Sun	Barbara Beaumont	Episode: “The Highest Wall”
1961	Bus Stop	Cherie	Episode: “Cherie”
1962	Adventures in Paradise	Gloria Dannora	Episode: “The Velvet Trap”
	Naked City	Ora Mae Youngham	Episode: “A Case Study of Two Savages”
	Route 66	Miriam Moore	Episode: “Love Is a Skinny Kid”
	Ben Casey	Melanie Gardner	Episode: “When You See an Evil Man”
1964	Mr. Broadway	Emily	Episode: “An Eye on Emily”
1964	The Fugitive	Mattie Braydon	Episode: “Dark Corner”
1967	The Crucible	Abigail Williams	Television film
1968	Cimarron Strip	Heller	Episode: “Heller”
1975	F. Scott Fitzgerald in Hollywood	Zelda Fitzgerald	Television film
1978	A Question of Guilt	Doris Winters	Television film
1980	Mother and Daughter: The Loving War	Lillie Lloyd McCann	Television film
1981	Madame X	Holly Richardson	Television film
1982	The Rainmaker	Lizzie	Television film CableACE Award for Actress in a Theatrical or Non-Musical Program
1983	The Winter of our Discontent	Margie Young-Hunt	Television film Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
1984	Scorned and Swindled	Sharon Clark	Television film
1986	Circle of Violence	Georgia Benfield	Television film
1986	Something in Common	Shelly Grant	Television film
1990	Chillers	Jessica	Episode: “Something You Have to Live With”

“Retribution” Is Yet Another Liam Neeson Action Movie (With A Lot Less Action)

By Connie Wilson

On August 25, 2023

In Movies, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Pop Culture, Reviews

Liam Neeson (“Taken”) has made another action movie (at the age of 71) but there isn’t much action required of him, other than driving a car and peering into the side mirror a lot.

The movie is a remake (the third) of the Dani de la Torreia film “El Desopascido” (2015). It is a bit of a “Speed” rip-off, in that businessman Matt Turner is trapped in his car, with his two children, by an unknown assailant who contacts him via cell phone and warns him that, if he or the kids try to get out of the car or he doesn’t drive as instructed, the vehicle will blow up.

There is a bomb planted beneath the seats and if Neeson or his son or daughter get out of the car, the change in pressure will automatically detonate the hidden bomb. To prove that he isn’t fooling around, the anonymous criminal blows up a car with a hapless couple inside, so that Neeson can realize he is serious. It also turns out that it is so that Neeson’s car is seen by the authorities in the vicinity where the first explosion occurs and they will begin targeting and chasing him, assuming he is to blame for all the carnage.

From there on, it is pretty much Liam Neeson driving around and doing whatever the anonymous voice on the phone tells him to do, even after both of his car doors have been removed. (A passerby tells the hapless driver this, speaking in German.) I was somewhat confused by the melange of languages. It appears that Liam and family are full-time residents of Germany (Berlin, specifically) but they don’t seem to speak the language. Yet they seem to understand televsion in the native tongue and there is no real explanation of why none of the Turner clan is bi-lingual. (Weird).

Neeson is not having a good day, as he learns during the ordeal that his wife (Embeth Davidtz, with whom Neeson worked in “Schindler’s List”) is having a meeting with a divorce attorney. Plus, his two children are mouthy and pretty annoying, especially early on. Lilly Aspell, who played the young “Wonder Woman” in that film (2017), plays his daughter, Emily Turner, and Jack Champion (“Avatar: The Way of Water,” 2022) portrays the teen-aged Zach Turner.They are typical in being addicted to their cell phones, but their hostile reactions to most requests (“Get in the car.” “Give me your cell phone.”) make them less-than-likeable.

At one point I turned to my spouse and said, “At what point did Matt lose control of his children.” It was not a remark without foundation. We are given only the slightest of clues about why Heather Turner (Matt’s wife) might be talking to a divorce attorney, but one of the main reasons seems to be that he is a workaholic and frequently leaves her holding the parenting bag, even if he was alerted in advance that he needed to pitch in that day.. At one point, the script has Liam Neeson say, “I’ve had better days,” which caused me to laugh out loud.

I also thought some of the other scripted lines were excessively formulaic and bore little relationship to what was happening onscreen. One example: “You don’t run from a challenge. You take it on.” [Well, maybe not if the challenge is keeping your car from blowing up while your two children are trapped inside with you.]

There was a scene where we learn that there is no cell phone signal in a large Berlin tunnel. I thought this meant that the bomb could not, then, be triggered. Our discussion of this plot point did give some credibility to the thought that removing Liam Neeson’s body weight from the driver’s side of the Mercedes would cause the vehicle to explode because of the “pressure plate” mentioned early on.

I smiled when the Black investigator, played by Noma Dumazweme, told the hassled businessman that the police had interrupted the cell service. She tells him that it is the first time that cell phone service was interrupted to Berlin since 1945. The only problem with that factoid is that there were no cell phones at all in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, or the 1970s. It is true that the cell phone was invented in 1973, but it was not readily available to the public until 1983. Liam’s tearing out of the signal-less underground highway tunnel with bezillion Polizei arrayed in front of him, while telling the policewoman that HE would find the culprit if they (the police) could not (and shouting “Tell your men to stand down” which she had no time at all to do) was batshit crazy.

I should mention the presence of Matthew Modine as Liam Neeson’s business partner in an investment firm. Initially, I felt this fine actor (“Full Metal Jacket” 1987) was being totally under-utilized, as he appeared only in cell phone conversations sent to Neeson’s car that were business-related. As the plot progressed, his role increased. I was happy to see that he got more screentime. (I also noticed that Matthew Modinne’s teeth are far better than Liam Neeson’s).

Here was another random formulaic line, as scripted by Alberto Marina and Christopher Salmanpour: “This was all inevitable.” Really?

Nothing that happened seemed “inevitable.” The chase scenes where Liam successfully navigates literally multitudes of police cars that are arrayed to stop him were implausible in the extreme. There have been movies with good car chase scenes (“Bullitt,” “To Live and Die in L.A.,” “The French Connection”) but this was not one of them.

This movie was directed by Nimrod Antal, who was previously involved in directing “Machete” and “Predators.” At some point, he must have known that even audiences that have been suspending belief to watch Liam Neeson go to great lengths to defend or rescue his family members for years in mediocre movies were going to find Neeson’s driving through road blocks that must have been designed by a mentally deficient police sergeant would not play successfully in Peoria (or anywhere else). It will, however, soon be streaming on a streaming service near you. Possibly right now on YouTube.

I actually enjoyed the “twist” at the end, for several reasons. The acting was acceptable, even if the script did not hold water. There were some impressive explosions at various points. Many stunt people got work in the streets of Berlin. (My son works for a company headquartered in Berlin, so I enjoyed the tour of the city.)

The thing that gave me pause as I watched what could well be one of Liam Neeson’s last outings as an action hero was the realization that we’ve lost two great ones in this genre this year: Bruce Willis and, potentially, Liam Neeson. I am not encouraged that the new crop of action movie performers is up to snuff, especially since a trailer ran for another “Expendables” film with Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Jason Statham and 50 Cent. (50 Cent, in particular, was nearly impossible to understand.)

Music for “Retribution” by Harry Gregson-Williams

Cinematography by Flavrio Martinez Labiano.

GOP Debate Is Fox News Love Fest

By Connie Wilson

On August 23, 2023

In Editorial, Essays on Politics: Best Political Essays & Ideology, Interviews, Local, News, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Politics, Pop Culture

So, I’ve been watching the Republican debate. (Just shoot me now.)

First, on a positive note, the woman singing the “Star Spangled Banner” was outstanding.

Second, Ron DeSantis did not answer a single question asked of him. He simply answered something completely unrelated every time.

Chris Christie, bearer of truth, saluted Mike Pence’s actions on January 6^th and reminded us that Trump is a flawed candidate.

Vivek Vivaswamy: The man refused to admit that climate change is real and does not support Ukraine or Israel, among other faux pas. He is young, yes, so perhaps that can be his excuse, but his pledge to pardon Trump was bad and most of what he said was fairly ignorant of the facts.

Nikki Haley got in a plea for abortion rulings being between a woman and her family and doctors and seemed

one of the saner members of the group.

So far, Christie and Haley and Hutchinson seemed the most stable. Pence seemed overly reliant on his religious convictions and also seemed very disgusted by the Indian candidate’s brash smile and ignorance of the facts. Hutchinson had some good moments. DeSantis seemed angry and defiant

We attempted to find out if the Trump interview was airing anywhere that it could be watched, but that did not seem to be the case. I went out on Twitter (now “X”) and looked around, but didn’t find much there except claims that Trump had put an end to Fox News, which is a debatable statement.

BEE GONE: A POLITICAL PARABLE

DeSantis is now talking about how he kept Florida’s schools open. He fails to mention that Florida had more deaths than any other state. He is now attacking critical race theory and gender education and sounds like an angry, opinionated Know-It-All.

The two quietest candidates are the Black candidate (Tim Scott) and the Governor of North Dakota, Ron Berglum.

Viviswamy is talking about ending teachers’ unions and re-establishing Civics as a subject everyone should have to pass. He’s now attacking the “epidemic of fatherlessness” and singing the praises of the nuclear family (shades of Ron Reagan). Doug Burglum (Governor of North Dakota) is talking about education differing state by state, which seems apropos of nothing. He is now touting how he built a company from scratch. Also, that he grew up in a town of 300 people. Not sure how those two accomplishments make you the right candidate for President of the United States, but okay. He wants to get rid of the Department of Education.

The Lightning Round is on and Chris Christie just got the UFO question. It is causing some humor in the ranks.

There is a concerted effort to attack Teachers’ Unions, which seems ill-advised. Apparently, we underpaid teachers are the only group not deserving of representation in our jobs.

The Round-Up at the End:

Governor Ron Berglum: blah, blah, blah. Nothing memorable.

Asa Hutchinson: “The solution is new leadership that can bring bold ideas to America.” Citing Reagan. Critical of Trump.

Senator Tim Scott: South Carolina Senator. Brought up “mired in poverty.” (used that phrase a lot), Talked about his mother working 16 hour days. Making accountability a thing. Wants Iowans to caucus for him.

Chris Christie: “The only way that’s going to happen is if we beat Joe Biden.” Beat a Democratic incumbent. Stands for the truth. 8 years in NJ as governor being cited. “I’m the one who can win this race and if you give me the chance, I will restore our country by winning it.”

Nikki Haley: Mentioning her husband going off to war. (She is the former South Carolina Governor) “If they are willing to protect us from there, we should be able to protect us from here.” Pro law enforcement. Make sure we have an America that is strong and proud.

VP Mike Pence – Joe Biden has weakened America at home and abroad. Afghanistan. Energy. Border. “I know we can bring the nation back.” The GOP owes the American public a choice. “I have faith in the American people. God is not done with America yet.”

Vivek Ramaswamy – “We are really all just the same.” This is our moment to revive our national spirit. Pro fossil fuel. Nuclear family promotion. Pro Constitution, but doesn’t mention how pardoning Trump would be completely counter to that.

Ron DeSantis: Ended fairly strong, but sounded angry.

During the “Hannity Live from the Spin Room in Wisconsin” Reince Preibus and Kelley Anne Conway held forth and basically praised Trump. Nobody wanted to address the elephant in the room (91 criminal indictments). Hannity has just revealed that his mom was a prison guard. Why does this not surprise me? (He said his mom always thought he’d end up inside the prison; same comment).

Ramaswamy is now libeling and slandering both Joe and Hunter Biden in the spin room interview. (Said they were “selling off” America to foreign countries, when evidence indicates that we have seen more of that from the 4 Trump years, with the sweet Saudi Arabia deal with Jared Kushner.)

Senator Tim Scott, talking to Hannity. Scott says he felt really good and wanted to tell people that America could do for them what it did for him. He is talking about 3 million new jobs, for reasons that are not clear, since he never mentioned this during the debate. He is supporting gas and coal, despite all of us sweltering in 115 degree heat because of the overuse of fossil fuel and global warming. Hannity is talking about the expense of a gallon of gas, rather than the fact that climate change brought on by fossil fuels has put us in a pot of hot water that is nearing the boiling point. Hannity is promoting the idea of the DOJ persecuting the likes of Trump. Scott says the first thing he would do is fire Merrick Garland. While I think that Merrick Garland has been entirely too wishy-washy and perhaps should be fired for that, he certainly is not responsible for the faltering confidence in the justice and in the Supreme Court. In fact, Merrick Garland should have been Obama’s appointment to the Supreme Court, but for Mitch McConnell’s campaign to keep Obama from being allowed to appoint a Supreme Court justice, like every other President in history.

Trump Is Ineligible to Be President, Say Legal Scholars

By Connie Wilson

On August 22, 2023

In Editorial, Education, Essays on Politics: Best Political Essays & Ideology, Local, News, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Politics, Pop Culture

According to a recent publication by two Constitutional scholars, Donald J. Trump is ineligible to be President of the United States, because of the Constitutional prohibition under Section 3 of the 14th amendment, which bars anyone from elected office who has “engaged in” or “given aid or comfort” to an “insurrection or rebellion.”

The scholars—William Baude of the University of Chicago and Michael Stokes Paulsen of the University of St. Thomas—argue in a law review article that Trump’s attempted coup d’etat “automatically” disqualifies him. The scholars say that “every official, state or federal, who oversees elections has the authority to bar Trump from the ballot.

Baude and Paulsen are not Biden-loving partisans, according to Matt Ford in “The New Republic.” They belong to the Federalist Society, the powerful right wing organization that helped stock the Supreme Court with conservatives.

Section 3 addressed the problem of Southern states sending Confederate official to Washington D.C. after the Civil War. The terms “insurrection” and “rebellion” should apply to “only the most serious of uprisings against the government.”

Baude and Paulsen’s “powerfully argued” case reaches the “obvious conclusion” that Trump tried mightily in several extra-legal ways to overturn an election he had clearly lost. Thus, he “engaged in insurrection and rebellion and gave aid and comfort to other who did the same.”

Legally, the argument is “very compelling,” said Zack Beauchamp in “Vox.” However, MAGA Republicans might well react with violence to a Supreme Court that might agree with Article 14, Section 3, making January 6th into a prelude to more disaster.