Behold the coming of Cocaine Bear; the case against reanimating dead actors; the Sight and Sound list is out today, pitting Vertigo vs. Citizen Kane vs. every other movie ever for the title of greatest film of all time. All in today’s Movie News Rundown.
Sight and Sound: The magazine will release its once-a-decade list of the 100 greatest films of all time later today. The last list, released in 2012, named Vertigo the greatest film of all, replacing Citizen Kane at the top for the first time. What will lead this decade? I feel like White Chicks is due. We’re about an hour away from finding out who wins. Prepare to spend the next several weeks reading think pieces about this.
1-800-HOT-NITE: We haven’t done a podcast in a while, so why not check out our interview with Nick Richey, the terrifically fascinating director of 1-800-HOT-NITE? The film is a coming-of-age story in which Cobra Kai breakout Dallas Dupree Young plays a kid — based on Nick Richey — whose parents are busted in a drug raid. He flees into a night of fistfights, first kisses, and getting robbed by guys who wrap a snake around his shoulders to steal his paper-route money. The reptile thing really happened to Nick, as he explains in the podcast. It’s available on Apple, Spotify, and here:
Or: You can enjoy our print version of the interview, which still has the reptile robbery story.
Let the Dead Actors Rest: Variety has an intriguing op-ed arguing that movies should please stop reanimating dead actors through A.I. It holds off on the most obvious arguments — disrespectful, ghoulish – to make the interesting case that we don’t want dead actors stealing jobs from live ones. “Acting has always been an extremely competitive profession, making it consequential who breaks through,” the article reads in part. “This is in part why some bemoan that so many actors are the children of famous Hollywood directors and stars. AI-generated thespians exacerbate the challenge by stealing career opportunities from aspiring actors.”
May I Editorialize: Are the writers really arguing that robot ghosts can’t do the work of living humans? Because if so, that’s robotist and necrophobic. But seriously, it’s interesting how much shared ground there is in the real Variety article and this joke Onion op-ed headlined “It’s Ageist to Suggest a Corpse Can’t Be a Great Leader.” Through the weirdness of A.I. it’s totally possible that we might someday try to digitally revive a great politician… if we ever find one. [Bows, leaves stage. SILENCE… followed by RAPTUROUS APPLAUSE.]
But Seriously, Again: Let’s celebrate great moviemakers while they’re still very much with us. Like Ridley Scott, for example, who turned 85 yesterday.
Let’s Also Celebrate: Elizabeth Banks, director of Cocaine Bear. This looks incredible! And the folks over at EW promise it’s at least a little bit true. Shouldn’t Sight and Sound maybe hold the voting this year until we’ve all had a chance to see the whole thing?
Main image: Ya boy Cocaine Bear, star of Cocaine Bear.
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