Thank you. You summed that up better than I could have. Black Narcissus is so surreal and inventive that it still feels modern and forward thinking.

The Shia stuff is believable, but none of that explains why Florence has seemingly distanced herself from the entire project, including its director.

What she says makes sense. Wilde has been very diplomatic regarding him, even sympathetic. Shia should have just let it go. 

Shame on me. I had always known Mia Goth only in relation to Shia. But after seeing Pearl, the comparisons to Shelly Duvall make sense. She has a wonderfully quirky and magnetic presence on film. Wouldn’t it be cool if she could snag an Oscar nomination for this? I’d love to see a performance like this steal some…

People continually ask how Shia continues to get work, but aside from maybe one or two exceptions, he actually has a decent track record for his on-set work ethic, from his child actor days right up to Pieces of a Woman -before the Twigs allegations - with Vanessa Kirby praising his dedication, etc. Its his personal…

And recovery is not a straight line, or neat and tidy. This notion of ‘He said last time he was trying to change, and he was lying. He’s a liar!’ It doesn’t work that way. Shia is a fascinating case because he lets it all out. He doesn’t have a filter, so every episode, every failed attempt at recovery is there for…

I don’t either. I’m wondering if having the dad in his life again has re-established the dynamic of abusive father-son: ‘I never hit you, you just bumped into walls a lot. I was always there for you.’

‘I mean if you have claimed to be “working on bettering yourself” for like a decade and not only has no one seen any evidence of you being better but you also keep being shitty...I think it’s fair for people to start being skeptical of your claims to be bettering yourself.’

For what it’s worth: compulsive lying, constantly shifting narratives, contradictory accounts, narcissistic/self-loathing tendencies, burning bridges, alienating everyone around you etc... are all textbook indicators of childhood trauma and abuse. And Shia ticks off every single one, and more.

I can do better than that: I like that ‘Photograph’ song better than anything from M&S. At least the guy sounds like he actually had those life experiences. One reviewer wrote that with Mumford, their lyrics seem to reflect a life read about than actually lived. That sums them up for me. It’s all for effect.

I’m usually turned off by that kind of gleeful derision toward one band or artist and enjoy finding something worthy in any kind of music, but am more turned off by a band who is sucking up a lot of the air with, subjectively speaking, of course, music lacking musicality and depth. You can learn to play an instrument,…

Yes, often this is true. Case in point, Coldplay. But while a band like Coldplay may be derided for the type of music they play, and popularity, it really is just a matter of taste and who happens to be a punching bag for whatever reasons. Like them or not, or whether they’re your cup of tea or not, they have melodies…

I think he could do more than go The Rock route....at least from I saw in the Red Road. 

Nah, they knew each other as kids, similar backgrounds - affluent, religious etc...

She is so underrated, but I think that has more to do with the fact that she never sought attention at the time or after the fact. It was an experience and she moved on. But she was always great.

Anybody old enough to remember the original SNL incarnation. She was brilliant, and remains my all-time favorite cast member. 

True, even Jane Curtain had her fond memories. I would imagine that one-on-one, there was some camaraderie. But it was always strange to me that Newman just completely disappeared. I mean, she was in practically every skit during that era. Curtain and Newman were, in many ways, the bedrock of that show, but neither…

The misogyny was apparently toxic back then. Not sure what the climate is now, but while the original SNL was seen as irreverent, politically liberal etc, it was very much a boys club, more like frat-boy’s club. Every female that came out of that era, Curtin, Newman, Gilda, were treated like second-class citizens and…

I generally don’t go for the He-Man Hunk type, but I first became aware of Momoa in a Sundance series from a few years ago, The Red Road. This was before I knew about his role in Game of Thrones. He had short hair, very handsome and played a ‘normal person’, one of those soulful, misunderstood ‘bad boy from the wrong…

‘A guy wears jeans and a t-shirt and strums a guitar...’