Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

I was promised a recession.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Let there be snark.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

“woke” is the new caravan.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

We still have time to mess this up!

The words do not have to be perfect.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Tell Us What You Really Think, Rex.

Tell Us What You Really Think, Rex.

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I don’t think Rex Reed is going to see Mother:

From the idiotic drug-addict hokum Requiem for a Dream to the overrated, overwrought and over-hyped Black Swan, which I called “a lavishly staged Repulsion in toe shoes,” the films of wack job Darren Aronofsky have shown a dark passion for exploring twisted souls in torment. But nothing he’s done before to poison the ozone layer prepared me for mother!, an exercise in torture and hysteria so over the top that I didn’t know whether to scream or laugh out loud. Stealing ideas from Polanski, Fellini and Kubrick, he’s jerrybuilt an absurd Freudian nightmare that is more wet dream than bad dream, with the subtlety of a chainsaw.

It gets better from there.

Reader Interactions

68Comments

  3. 3.

    Mnemosyne

    Meh. Rex Reed is one of those critics who makes a point of hating everything. It makes sense, since that’s what his forte is as a writer, but no one who co-starred in Myra Breckinridge gets to mount his high horse about other people’s pretentious movies.

    (I’m not joking about him being a co-star. Follow the link.)

  5. 5.

    Baud

    OT. From GOS on that Red Sox racism banner.

    The actual protesters who hung the banner denied any connection to Boston Antifa in an interview with CSNNE. And the people behind the social media pages do not actually believe the things they say — because they are a pair of anti-leftist pranksters from Oregon who started Boston Antifa as a parody of actual anti-fascist groups.

    Brandon and Alexis, whose Antifa characters “Dustin” and “Quinn” opine on subjects like how fidget spinners can trigger PTSD in hurricane victims, said as much last April in an interview with right-wing media personality Gavin McInnes.

  6. 6.

    trollhattan

    “Why do reviewers not understand the wry comedy of ‘mother!’?”

    I’m watching for that review.

  8. 8.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I’ve seen a lot of bad press for this movie, which kind of bums me out cause I like the cast and haven’t seen a good horror movie in a long time

    in other matters: Anyone know if alarms are going off outside the liberal blogosphere?

    Steve Marmel‏Verified account @ Marmel
    Wait:
    Graham/Cassidy gives insurance companies the right to raise your premiums the minute you get sick?
    If so, monstrous.

    Topher SpiroVerified account @ TopherSpiro
    ? This is a bombshell (hat tip): insurers can mark up premiums WHENEVER THEY WANT…EVEN AFTER YOU ENROLLED…IF YOU OR YOUR KID GET SICK ⚠️

  13. 13.

    efgoldman

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    insurers can mark up premiums WHENEVER THEY WANT…

    Between this, and the punishing blue Medicaid states under Little Linsay’s amendment, the RWNJs in the senate apparently are larding up this sack of pig shit with every shitty thing they can think of; I’d guess their plan is to “compromise” by dropping things one by one in markup until they get to more or less clean repeal.

  15. 15.

    donnah

    Jeremy Jahns is a young movie reviewer on youtube and my son and I trust him on reviews. He had a tough time in his initial review of Mother because he doesn’t do spoilers until after a film is released, then he does a full review. In his “preview” he said that this is not a horror film, nor is it meant to be a thriller. He said the commercial previews mischaracterize it.

    He said that if you’re familiar with this director then you might like the movie, but he said it’s a giant metaphor and he isn’t sure it’s a movie for everyone. He said the acting is excellent, but there are scenes that made him uncomfortable.

    I probably will skip this one.

  17. 17.

    Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)

    One on my friends wrote TEN, which was made into a Lifetime movie that’s on tonight. It’s a retelling of Christie’s “And Then There Were None,” in which ten teenagers go to a family’s beach house while the parents are out of town and start dropping like flies. The writer is in shock that this is actually happening.

  19. 19.

    Pharniel

    MovieBob basically said this was the hardest movie for him to watch, and if you knew something harder he didn’t want to know.

    He also said it does exactly what the director wants to do.

    It’s not for me, so I won’t see it, but it’ll be interesting to see the Movies with Mikey that eventually comes out for this one.

  20. 20.

    Lalophobia

    @Major Major Major Major:
    Seriously, watch Satoshi Kon movies instead. I have my problems with them, but I’ve always found them to be worth watching. Black Swan was kind of interesting to me just because I’m a sucker for a look at the Madonna/Whore Complex, but the movie didn’t have much else going for it for me and I just generally don’t like Darren Aronofsky that much.

    mother! was spoiled for me and given the contents of the spoilers I’m really glad it was. Yuck. Sounds both too gross and too pretentious for my tastes.

  22. 22.

    Roger Moore

    @efgoldman:

    I’d guess their plan is to “compromise” by dropping things one by one in markup until they get to more or less clean repeal.

    What is this markup of which you speak? Is that part of the mythical “regular order”? I thought the new “regular order” was whatever Mitch McConnell says it is.

  23. 23.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Considering all the complains about CGI spectacle movies I would think Reed would view “an exercise in torture and hysteria so over the top that I didn’t know whether to scream or laugh out loud” as a step up.

  31. 31.

    Yutsano

    @Major Major Major Major: I have seen some suggestion this is directly related to the Medicare for All bill being introduced. That “analysis” makes me tear my hair out. They’re trying to save themselves with Dolt45’s base and have virtually nothing to show for this fiscal year on their promises. And they’ve had this promise for seven years and are still failing on it. Let them.

  32. 32.

    Suzanne

    @trollhattan:

    I couldn’t handle Shireen’s fate

    Oh God. This was the one moment in the show that I absolutely could not watch, even through my fingers. The rape scenes got a lot of criticism, most of which I think was overwrought, considering the atmosphere of violence in the entire show. But this was the moment that was completely beyond for me (even if it was plausible character development). So, so horrible.

  33. 33.

    ThresherK

    @Raven: Heehee.

    Before the Internet: I had an inkling that Spousal Ms ThresherK was the one for me when I grabbed four Ripping Yarns VHSs at a video store, sight unseen, and she roared as much as I did.

  37. 37.

    PsiFighter37

    I really liked Requiem for a Dream and Pi, but Aronofsky’s not for everyone, and some of his films (like ‘The Fountain’) seem compelling but simply don’t work. Not sure if I’ll see his latest entree unless it makes it onto an airplane (which is where I end up watching movies nowadays).

  39. 39.

    mainmata

    @SiubhanDuinne: Me too. I thought he would have been at least 110 and dead. Turns out he is only 78 and obviously still working. I think it’s his old-fashioned name.

  40. 40.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @efgoldman:
    I don’t understand how they plan to pass this, and if they don’t plan to pass it, why they’re bothering. There are three Republican Senators who won’t vote for Medicaid cuts, period, Paul probably won’t vote for anything that uniquely punishes Kentucky without giving him his ‘full repeal’ triumph, and I know there were more who wouldn’t vote for anything that kills the pre-existing condition protection. It’s like they’re trying to pack everything they know they can’t pass into one bill. Yes, we need to deluge them with angry phone calls and keep them afraid, but what is even their game plan here?

  42. 42.

    Citizen Alan

    I lost all respect for and interest in Rex Reed when he gave a review of “Cabin in the Woods” that strongly implied that he either slept through most of the movie or didn’t attend it at all and just made up a review from the trailers. His review indicated that he completely failed to understand the basic premise of the movie. It was on par with watching Citizen Kane, going to the bathroom during the scene where young Charlie is playing with his sled, and then complaining that the last scene came out of nowhere and didn’t make any sense at all.

  44. 44.

    trollhattan

    @Suzanne:
    Right? And now Melisandre’s shame seems limited to “Welp, that didn’t work so now I got nothin’.” Wasn’t sure I could continue with the show.

  45. 45.

    Ruckus

    @Frankensteinbeck:
    They don’t need to pass it and probably don’t actually want to. They just need to have someone to blame for not passing repeal of the ACA and they get votes and money so that they can have another chance. I think they put up a bill they know that they will never get enough votes for so they don’t have to vote on straight appeal. Keep clogging the system with stuff like this so that they don’t have to be responsible for doing what their constituents think they want.

  48. 48.

    Lalophobia

    @Major Major Major Major: Actually, Paprika was based on a book. And it’s one of the rare cases where the movie was widely judged as better than the book, mostly because the latter was much more homophobic. My main problem with it is the conflict between Paprika and Chiba seems to come out of nowhere at the last minute, but otherwise it’s a very compelling film.

    @Suzanne: To be fair, it seems that one of the biggest problems people had with some of the rape scenes is that they were added in and weren’t in the books. Which is weird when the books were full of other nasty things that didn’t make it into the show. This is actually the case with Shireen as well. If she’s getting burned in the books it hasn’t happened yet.

  49. 49.

    PsiFighter37

    @Raven: I enjoyed the movie more for the underlying message being conveyed. It’s been a long time since I watched it, so I don’t remember the exact ways in which Jared Leto’s character was shooting up during the movie. All I remember is he lost his arm at the end.

  51. 51.

    efgoldman

    @Citizen Alan:

    that strongly implied that he either slept through most of the movie or didn’t attend it at all and just made up a review

    We know for a fact that a major paper critic wrote a review without ever having attended the concert.
    His tickets were never pickled up, and his seats stayed empty

  53. 53.

    DesertFriar

    @Mnemosyne:

    I’ll second that Last Exit to Brooklyn is a deeply depressing novel. The thing that makes it so depressing is that it is so believable. You can believe that the characters could behave like that in real life. That’s the depressing part.

  57. 57.

    Lalophobia

    @Major Major Major Major: I’m just saying that Satoshi Kon wasn’t the originator of the idea, is all. That doesn’t make his work on the film any less incredible, nor does it make Nolan’s copying any less blatant or annoying.

  59. 59.

    kindness

    When I see the commercials for Mother! it makes me think I’d feel like I did when I saw The Shining the first time. Not sure what’s going on and scared as hell. Not a fan of getting scared movies really. But who could say no to Jack Nicholson?

  60. 60.

    Ruckus

    @Major Major Major Major:
    It works in a backhanded sort of way. They get to fool their supporters with bullshit, which is all they have in any event, but they don’t have to tell them that. They get to tell their money bags and voters they tried and give their voters what they need, without giving them what they want.

  61. 61.

    eemom

    @Citizen Alan:

    I’ve read a number of reviews by mainstream critics that misrepresented major plot developments of the subject film. It used to surprise and distress me, but now that the entire world is going to shit it’s not much of a priority.

    Also, I too thought Rex Reed was long gone, he having been around in my long gone youth.

    Surely Judith Crist, at least, is gone….? Pauline Kael? ?

  62. 62.

    Another Scott

    @Frankensteinbeck: The Politico story from earlier in the week seems to indicate that lots of things might be going on behind the scenes:

    The bill faces long odds: Even some of its GOP backers say it would be almost impossible to get a massive rewrite of the health care system through the Senate within 17 days, or before the expiration of fast-track procedural powers Republicans hope to use to bypass the threat of a Democratic filibuster.

    President Donald Trump praised the lawmakers for continuing to work on Obamacare repeal, citing the “complete nightmare” the law is for Americans. But he didn’t indicate whether he would press lawmakers to support the measure. “I sincerely hope that Senators Graham and Cassidy have found a way to address the Obamacare crisis,” he said in a statement.

    Graham called on Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and Senate GOP leaders to help them gather 50 votes. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who brought up several repeal measures in July only to see all of them fail, has said he’d bring up any Obamacare repeal bill that has enough Republican support. McConnell on Tuesday refused to choose between the repeal bill or a bipartisan measure being drafted by GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander and Democratic Sen. Patty Murray.

    Graham said Trump, Pence and McConnell should put all of their effort into lobbying Republican lawmakers to back the bill.

    “The idea that the Republican Party has done its best to repeal and replace Obamacare is a joke,” the South Carolina Republican said.

    The $1.2 trillion bill, H.R. 1628 (115), which has been at the CBO for about one week, according to the senators, would provide states with block grants instead of Obamacare’s tax credits, Medicaid expansion and cost-sharing payments. It would also repeal Obamacare’s individual and employer mandates and the medical device tax.

    In general, Republicans favor giving the states a “block grant” of funding to create their own health care systems. The repeal bill attempts to equalize health care spending by the federal government to states.

    Some states, particularly high-cost places such as Massachusetts, are bound to be worse off under the measure than less expensive parts of the country.

    It’s unclear if the CBO would even have time to score the bill before the end of the month. It would also have to go before the Senate parliamentarian to ensure that it complies with the rules of the expedited procedure, called reconciliation.

    In addition, some conservatives have been cool to the legislation because it keeps many Obamacare taxes and doesn’t do enough to undo the law. The message from the bill’s authors on Wednesday was that they had to do something.

    “This is our last shot,” Johnson said. “I will never let perfect be the enemy of good. … This is far better than Obamacare.”

    [ “We have to do something! This is something, so we must do it!!1” ]

    Johnson said he would hold a hearing on the plan by Sept. 30 in the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that he leads if the HELP and Finance committees that share jurisdiction over health issues don’t.

    (Emphasis added.)

    “Regular order? What’s that?”

    I don’t trust public statements from the GOP enough to think that they can’t pass this if they want.

    But what about this Alexander – Murray bill? Could this all be a head-fake to pass it instead? I don’t see anything after early August about it.

    McConnell apparently is in on Graham-Cassidy and asked the CBO to hurry up, but that piece says there are still ways it could die (including Democratic death-by-a-thousand-amendments in vote-a-rama).

    Experts on Twitter are screaming (e.g. Topher Spiro retweeted on LOLGOP) that G-C is intended to force massive cuts down the road (no doubt with a big helping of tax cuts along the way).

    What will happen with G-C? I dunno, but we can’t take any chances.

    WHTFTESD.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  64. 64.

    Roger Moore

    @Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):

    I saw commentary on that saying that Lord of the Flies was explicitly about hyper masculinity, so an all female cast made no sense unless they decided to cooperate.

    I think you could make it work if you took the basic premise- kids stuck on an island and their attempt to form a viable society descends into horrid violence- but flipped it by having it fail in some way that’s distinctly the way girls are awful to each other. It’s not as if groups of teenage girls are noted for getting along without any friction.

  65. 65.

    Bobby Thomson

    I don’t think Rex Reed is going to see Mother:

    Cole, what does this mean, exactly? He reviewed the movie already. (And for the “Rex doesn’t see the movies anyway” crowd, he didn’t say “I don’t think Rex Reed saw Mother.”)

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