MEDIOCRE NEW MOVIE: THE FABLEMANS

Father and son: Paul Dano and Gabriel LaBelle

THE FABLEMANS (2022). Director: Steven Spielberg. 

In 1952 young Sammy Fableman (Mateo Zoryan) lives in Arizona with his sisters, mother Mitzi (Michelle Williams of Shutter Island) and father Burt (Paul Dano of The Batman). Practically living with them is "Uncle" Bennie (Seth Rogan), who is Burt's best friend. As Sammy becomes a teen (Gabriel LaBelle), he makes amateur films with his boy scout troop that impress and excite his family and the townspeople. Footage of a camping trip that his father asks him to put together also reveals a disturbing secret. Apparently Mitzi and Bennie are in love. Sammy has to deal with this, his emerging hormones, anti-Semitism at school after he moves, and his first love affair with a girl named Monica (Chloe East). 

Mitzi sees the footage shot of her and "Uncle" Bennie

The Fablemans is based on Spielberg's own childhood, and while his parents did divorce, I don't know how much of the triangle situation with "Uncle" Bennie is fact or faction. Frankly, it's the only halfway dramatic development in this film that I confess I found rather boring at times. I also confess that despite some good movies and box office successes (along with a few bombs), I was never that carried away with the semi-literate Spielberg or thought he was really in the front rank of filmmakers. (Two of his films that I think are especially good, however, are The War of the Worlds and Duel.)  

Little Sammy (Mateo Zoryan) and his train set

The Fablemans is perhaps supposed to be some kind of love valentine to the movies, but in that case I wish Spielberg had made a masterpiece, which this isn't. The acting is excellent -- Judd Hirsch enlivens the movie for the few minutes he's on-screen --  which is why you probably keep watching even when things get slow. Without a word of dialogue Michelle Williams is wonderful as she watches the footage of her and Bennie that Sammy excised from his video about the camping trip and explains why he has been so angry with her. It's a wonderful sequence, but there aren't enough of them in this movie. (All the high school business of bullying and young love has been seen a thousand times before and been done better besides.) As in most modern films, The Fablemans is so scared of being a soap opera that it minimizes the drama -- I mean this whole triangle situation, while it may be a trifle cliched, is rather explosive, but this only simmers without ever coming to a boil.

In the screenplay co-writers Spielberg and the equally over-rated Tony Kushner try to come up with powerful scenes, but they seem much too contrived, such as when a high school bully (a talented fellow named Sam Rechner) who appears in Sammy's movie breaks down and cries. Subtlety is all well and good -- if that is even what it is -- but the movie fails to really confront issues, it just meanders along until a silly conclusion when Sammy meets director John Ford. Then it's over. Ho hum. 

Verdict: We'll have to wait for an unlikely sequel -- this was not a box office hit -- to see the more interesting moments in Spielberg's career. **1/2. 

ROUND UP OF NEW AND RECENT FILMS PART TEN

Brendan Fraser

THE WHALE (2022). Director: Darren Aronofsky. Brendan Fraser stars as Charlie, a gay man who has been slowly killing himself through food since the suicide of his partner. He has a teenage daughter from his earlier marriage and tries to bond with her before it's too late. Along the way he interacts with his late partner's sister, his ex-wife, and a young religious man who wants to "save" him. Based on a stage play, this goes behind the scenes of a morbidly obese person and answers the question of how and why they got that way. This is a fairly interesting if imperfect film, with the daughter being nearly too obnoxious to take, and Fraser's Oscar-winning performance, while good, perhaps too dependent on a fat suit and prosthetics. Rob Simonsen's musical score seems to be doing most of the work. **1/2.  

Tai Gabrielle

UNCHARTED (2022). Director: Ruben Fleischer. Another movie inspired by a video game, this teams Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg trying to find a treasure collected by Magellan even as Antonio Banderas tries to stop them. Tai Gabrielle makes an impression as a ruthless assassin working for Banderas. The players are game, there are some exciting scenes and stunt work, but the whole project is just so overfamiliar and ultimately forgettable. **1/2. 

Dennis Quaid and Bradley Cooper

THE WORDS (2012), Written and directed by Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal. Bradley Cooper appropriates an old man's manuscript as his own and becomes rich and famous, but what happens when the truth comes out? Besides being very well-acted -- the cast also includes Dennis Quaid, Jeremy Irons, Ron Rifkin and others -- the film boasts cinematography by Antonio Calvache and a score by Marcelo Zarvos. Despite all this, The Words is not entirely satisfying and many viewers were not that happy with the ending. **3/4. 

Lady Gaga

A STAR IS BORN (2018), Directed by Bradley Cooper. This is not so much a remake of the Janet Gaynor or Judy Garland versions of the venerable story, but of the Barbra Streisand version with the characters being singers instead of actors. Bradley Cooper as the older addict whose career is going to pieces, and Lady Gaga as the younger wannabee who accepts his help and achieves stardom, are both good but not spectacular. Rafi Gavron scores as a reptilian manager and there are good turns from Sam Elliott as Cooper's brother and Andrew Dice Clay as Gaga's father. 

Bradley Cooper

In addition to "Shallow" there are some good tunes in the movie, well-performed by the leads, especially Gaga. Just as Garland is transformed in her version of the story, Gaga is turned from a more original performer into a tiresome, sexed-up clone of Madonna, but not enough is done with this aspect of the story. A scene when Gaga wins a Grammy doesn't have a drunken Cooper accidentally hitting her but rather peeing in his pants! Ultimately, this version, although slickly done in some ways, lacks any emotional resonance, and you really don't care about any of the characters. Two former co-stars of Cooper's, all of whom appeared on the TV show Alias, are in the film: Greg Grunberg as a driver and Ron Rifkin as a counselor. Missing is Michael Vartan, another Alias alumnus, who I always thought was much more compelling and attractive than the somewhat over-rated and average-looking Cooper. **1/2. 

WEIRD NEW MOVIE: THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN

Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN (2022). Written and directed by Martin McDonagh. 

In 1923 on the dreary if beautiful island of Inisherin off the Irish coast, a crisis develops between two long-time friends and drinking buddies. Colm (Brendan Gleeson of Troy) starts shunning Padraic (Colin Farrell of Fright Night) and finally tells him, in essence, that life is too short and Padraic is too dull. Colm wants to concentrate on his music and also wants his former friend to just leave him alone. Padraic has few enough friends as it is, although he has a good relationship with his sister, Siobhan (Kerry Condon). Padriac is also friends, sort of, with young Dominic (Barry Keoghan), who is considered the village idiot but is smarter than he seems. He is not only beaten by his father, the village policeman (Gary Lydon), but possibly molested as well. Things take a dark turn when Colm makes it clear that if Padraic keeps bothering him he will literally cut off his fingers one by one, a vow he intends to keep. 

Barry Keoghan as the sad Dominic

Well first let's look at the good things about Banshees. It is stunningly photographed by Ben Davis, it is extremely well-acted by the entire cast (four of whom were nominated for Oscars), and one has to say that it is certainly different. It's also generally absorbing, can be quite funny, and has a degree of suspense and fascination, with some interesting characters (most of whom, however, are under-developed). On the debit side, the movie and its situations are kind of unreal, and as the story progresses it perhaps becomes too strange to take seriously. One of the main characters is clearly mentally-unbalanced, but this is barely addressed, even as certain situations are ignored in the medical sense. Banshees is typical of so many modern movies and TV shows that things happen less because they are realistic but more for shock value. There are good lines and sobering developments but no real resolution. A scene between Colm and a priest at confession is very amusing but again, not at all real. The potshots at the cop, who is admittedly an awful person, also seem more trendy and political than anything else. 

Verdict: A slice of life that has interesting elements but in the long run seems a bit phony and contrived. **3/4. 

A FRONT ROW SEAT Nancy Olson Livingstone

A FRONT ROW SEAT: An Intimate Look at Broadway, Hollywood, and the Age of Glamour. Nancy Olson Livingstone. University Press of Kentucky; 2022. 

Books written by second and third tier celebrities have to rely on a lot of name-dropping to create reader interest, and Livingstone certainly does a lot of that. She can be forgiven because she did, after all, have a good part in the famous Sunset Boulevard (as Nancy Olson) and was married to lyricist Alan Jay Lerner of Lerner and Loewe fame (My Fair Lady, Brigadoon, etc.). So the lady has plenty of anecdotes to share, including her impressions of the Beatles, whom she met through her second husband, record executive Alan Livingstone. However, she really doesn't go into much detail about Sunset Boulevard or any of her other movies, which include such Disney films as Pollyanna and The Absent-Minded Professor. She seems to be more interested in telling how JFK made passes at her and taking pot shots at Joan Crawford. Her anecdotes about Arthur Laurents and closet queen Moss Hart are not so much homophobic as naive and dated. However, she admirably exposes the anti-Semitism of the period. This overlong tome could have been reduced by a quarter if all of Livingstone's detailed descriptions of the clothing she wore were excised. Initially interesting, I eventually found the book rather tedious. 

Verdict: Some interesting passages to be sure, but hardly essential reading. **1/2. 

ANNOYING NEW MOVIE: TAR

TAR (2022). Written and directed by Todd Field. 

NOTE: This review gives away important plot points. 

Lydia Tar (Cate Blanchett) has risen far in the field of classical music as both composer and conductor, and now leads the Berlin Symphony. In that city she lives with her wife, Sharon (Nina Hoss), and their adorable daughter, Petra (Mila Bogojevic). Lydia at first seems to be an altogether admirable figure, but the film hints that she may have serious personality flaws or worse. Eventually she is accused of "grooming" young women, using her position for exploitation, and causing a student's suicide. Lydia's life begins to unravel as she's "canceled" ... 

Let's get one thing out of the way immediately. Although it may be wrong to judge a film on what it isn't as opposed to what it is, in this case it's impossible not to do so. Writer-director Todd Field, presumably a straight male, could have written a positive study of a gay woman who rises to the top of her profession against odds and is then unfairly singled out by those who are jealous of her or whom she's ticked off. But Tar -- although it tries unsuccessfully to be subtle about it --  pretty much makes it clear that Lydia is a sexual predator, a tiresome old and homophobic stereotype. The movie distances itself from her misdeeds in an attempt to create thought-provoking confusion in the viewer, which it certainly does. At one point Lydia refers to herself as a "u-haul lesbian" and Cate Blanchett deepens her voice to almost sound like a man, although she never quite comes off as "butch" as she may have intended. More stereotyping. 

Nina Hoss and Cate Blanchett

But let's look at other elements of the movie. The acting is quite good, and for much of the film's length it emerges as a compelling study of a fascinating person. Very late in the movie the accusations start, but the film never really deals with them head on. Perhaps Field did worry about turning his heroine into a predator who acts like many men do when they achieve or are handed power over others, but if that was the case (based on reaction to the film he shouldn't have worried) he simply should have adjusted the script. It is Blanchett who makes Lydia almost three-dimensional, not Field's script. The film is quite long, and although I was happily pulled along for quite awhile, eventually tedium began to set in as I realized Tar was going to sidestep issues and just focus on the heroine's utter debasement. 

Does Tar really deal with cancel culture? In one sense it does, as Lydia is stripped of her job, title, marriage before there's any trial (as far as we know, at least, as in the final quarter the film jumps from event to event with some scenes only lasting half a minute). There's also an early scene at Julliard when a student tells how he can't get behind white European male composers such as Bach because they don't fit into his 21st century ideologies, which is absurd. Lydia rightly challenges him, but in a contrived scene he storms off and calls her a bitch when her behavior is not nasty nor does she put the young man down in any concrete fashion. Later on someone edits this encounter at Julliard to make Lydia come off much worse than she really did, but this is just dropped in and then completely dropped. 

There are other interesting characters in the film such as cellist Olga (Sophie Kauer), whom Lydia seems attracted to; Lydia's assistant Francesca (Noemie Merlant), who ultimately betrays her; and Sebastian (Allan Corduner), Lydia's conducting associate who thinks he's being replaced by Francesca. I was intrigued by the fact that many reviewers of the film made Lydia seem much worse than she is actually portrayed. She is not nasty to the Julliard student; she is loving to her daughter; she does use her position to influence decisions regarding the orchestra, but that hardly makes her a villain. It's almost as if, being told by the filmmaker that Lydia is a bad girl, they have to see evil in everything she does. And let's face it, even nowadays there are people who will see Lydia as evil simply because she's an out and proud lesbian. 

Cate Blanchett also starred in a much more pro-lesbian movie entitled Carol, which scrupulously avoided stereotyping and was all the better for it. At that time Blanchett gave interviews in which she seemed almost contemptuous of gay people who "shout it from the rooftops." So I'm not surprised she had no trouble with this script. Tar presents its long, long end credits at the very beginning of the movie, backed up by some rather awful vocalizing. Most people will fast forward over that. Tar would probably benefit from re-editing, trimming, putting back some scenes that may have been left on the cutting room floor, and possibly rethinking the entire last quarter. I know that Field and company will argue that Lydia is just a study of one lesbian, not the entire gay community, but it's so ironic that just when Hollywood figures promised to present more positive depictions of minority characters, including gay people, Tar presents one of the most negative gay stereotypes to come along in quite a while. But then Hollywood recently has a history of championing "gay" movies such as Call Me By Your Name and Moonlight that are not that pro-gay if at all. 

Verdict: Initially interesting, this meanders too much and is shockingly reactionary when it comes to LGBT characters. **1/4. 

OK NEW MOVIE: ELVIS

Austin Butler as Elvis

ELVIS (2022). Director: Baz Luhrmann. 

"Every dream I ever dreamed has come true a hundred times." -- Elvis.

Influenced by black musicians, Elvis Presley (Austin Butler) rises from obscurity to become one of the most famous men in the world, his career as singer and actor guided by "Colonel Tom Parker" (Tom Hanks), a mysterious figure who turns out to be ripping him off and making bad decisions due to a secret he has. Elvis' devotion to his fans and his love of performing cause problems in his marriage to Priscilla (Olivia DeJonge), and he may have more trouble breaking away from the Colonel than he thinks. 

Tom Hanks as the alleged colonel

There is only one way to take Elvis and that is as a tribute to a very influential and talented performer. That's really the only way the movie works as it is far too superficial to work as a biopic. Director Baz Luhrmann throws images at the viewer as in a rock video, and there is some creativity in the way the film is presented, although the overly busy style is initially off-putting. Austin Butler is a terrific Elvis impersonator -- although the real Presley has a better voice --  but if you're hoping to find a more in-depth look at Presley the Man you'll be disappointed. I'm not sure what to make of Tom Hanks, who affects a kind of Dutch accent that Parker actually did not have in real life (interviews with the man attest to this -- didn't Hanks do his research?) Other than that Hanks' performance is okay but it often seems little more than a stunt. 

Priscilla (Olvia DeJonge) with Elvis

Elvis is more interested in spectacle and presenting an overview of Elvis' life and career than anything else so there aren't that many truly dramatic scenes -- one of them, which is well played, has Elvis firing his manager, the colonel, while performing on stage in Las Vegas. The movie spends all of two minutes on Elvis' film career, which is strange as he did give some fine performances in early movies and even the later campy flicks had their highlights. Elvis recreates the singer's last performance singing Unchained Melody -- I believe halfway through the scene the real Elvis is substituted for Butler. The ending is undeniably moving, and Elvis fans will undoubtedly find themselves choking up. 

Verdict: Not really a  great biopic but admirable as a tribute to Elvis. ***.  

GOOD NEW MOVIE: THE BATMAN (2022)

The Batman in a contemplative mood

THE BATMAN (2022). Director: Matt Reeves. 

In a Gotham City wracked by corruption and vice, the determined Batman tracks down a serial killer whose victims include the mayor. That's the essentials of the plot of this movie, which turns out to be far better and more entertaining than I would have imagined. Effectively directed by Matt Reeves, The Batman boasts a terrific look -- thanks to cinematographer Greig Fraser and some excellent art direction -- and despite a few variations manages to get into the spirt of the comic books. Michael Giacchino has also contributed a creepy score that adds immeasurably to the picture.

Pattinson as Bruce Wayne

And then there's Robert Pattinson, who plays the Batman and Bruce Wayne and is incredibly intense in the part. One could argue that Pattinson makes absolutely no distinction between Bats and Bruce -- in the comics Wayne did his best to act like a frivolous playboy to keep people from suspecting the truth -- but The Batman makes it clear that Batman is the real person and Bruce is the phony identity. In any case, Pattinson's performance works beautifully. In this movie Batman is so grim that he often scares the very people that he's just saved (as often happened in the comics). 

Pattinson with Zoe Kravitz

There are other good performances as well. Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle (Catwoman); Andy Serkis as Alfred the butler; Paul Dano (of Prisoners) as the Riddler; Jeffrey Wright (of Casino Royale) as Lt. James Gordon; and John Turturro as Carmine Falcone. Colin Farrell makes a weird, unrecognizable Penguin. The film has a deliberate pace -- and one too many anti-climaxes -- but it held my attention, and I have to say I was delighted to see not a trace of camp. Matt Reeves also directed Cloverfield. 

Verdict: The Dark Knight done right. *** 1/4. 

GOM WILL BE BACK

I'm still not over my vacation -- which was wonderful -- but GREAT OLD MOVIES will be back later this month! 

THE QUEEN OF TECHNICOLOR: MARIA MONTEZ IN HOLLYWOOD

THE QUEEN OF TECHNICOLOR: MARIA MONTEZ IN HOLLYWOOD. Tom Zimmerman. University Press of Kentucky; 2022. NOTE: This review based on uncorrected galleys. 

Born in the Dominican Republic to a well-heeled family, Maria Montez married a much-older man whom she up and left flat after seven years to pursue her dreams of a career as an actress -- this despite having no discernable talent. Montez lived off a wealthy man's yacht for months, then during her stay in Manhattan managed to secure Bob Hope's agent "Doc" Schnurr. based solely on her looks. She was attractive but had to be carefully photographed, as her features could come off as heavy and unflattering. In general she looks much better in her technicolor movies than she does in still photographs. 

Montez made up so many stories about herself that no one believed her when she claimed to be engaged to a fighter pilot in the British air force -- people assumed he was a fictional entity -- but the man actually existed and did have a relationship with Montez, although they may or may not have been engaged. 

One critic wrote that Montez had "the regality of an
usherette." Once she began actually starring in movies (for a big but still second-string studio, Universal) Montez wanted to be "taken seriously." Her chief attribute when it came to thesping was radiating a haughty superiority, but she was no Hepburn. Refusing to appear in a western that she thought was too similar to her other films, Montez went on suspension even as Yvonne De Carlo replaced her and was groomed, in fact, to be her replacement at the studio. Universal eventually offered her a bone, the lead role in Tangier, but the picture was considered a stinker and those certain qualities that Montez exhibited in her earlier films were missing -- as Zimmerman puts it, she was merely "ordinary." She parted company with Universal and moved to France with her new husband Jean-Pierre Aumont and the two appeared in the terrible Siren of Atlantis. Zimmerman suggests that Montez showed some genuine acting ability in her later independent films, but she was still trading in on her trademark haughtiness. Montez  died in her bathtub at age 39.

Maria

The Queen of Technicolor is not always well-organized, with the earlier chapters jumping back and forth in time and covering the same material more than once as if the book needed to be padded. A chapter on Montez' home front activities during WW2 seems to go on forever. The book improves with the later chapters, but occasionally reads like a fan boy's career study instead of a serious bio, although  Zimmerman has, admirably, done a lot of research. Was Montez a heartless opportunist who got breaks in Hollywood that should have gone to much more talented people, or should she be admired as someone who tenaciously went after her goal and succeeded for a time, although now she is basically a half-forgotten Hollywood footnote? You can decide. In any case, her Arabian Nights is a genuinely good movie. 

Verdict:  For obsessive Maria Montez fans primarily, but also an interesting slice of Hollywood life. ***. 

NEW PROJECTS

 Polishing up some exciting new projects. GREAT OLD MOVIES will return in July, if not sooner! 

AGE OF CAGE

AGE OF CAGE: Four Decades of Hollywood Through One Singular Career. Keith Phipps. Henry Holt; 2022. 

Author Phipps makes it clear right from the beginning that this is not a biography of actor Nicolas Cage. Certainly there is plenty of material in both the man's career and occasionally chaotic private life to turn out a full bio, but instead Phipps has chosen to do a career study, describing the changes in Hollywood and the film industry over the years that impacted on Cage's career, and when he went with the flow or bucked the trends. Whatever you think of Cage -- nowadays many people see him as a name to avoid when it's listed in the cast -- he had some major successes, an Oscar for Leaving Las Vegas, made some odd but forthright choices (such as the voice he affected in Peggy Sue Got Married), and is generally considered an intense and talented thespian who has given some very interesting performances. Cage's marriages, divorces, and tax and financial troubles are briefly mentioned, but not covered in detail, as the book focuses exclusively on the work. Phipps examines all of Cage's output, from major films to direct-to-video releases, and discusses which ones are worth your attention. Cage is the nephew of Francis Ford Coppola, but he changed his name when charges of nepotism got too frenzied (the name change hardly worked). Cage is a big comic book fan who wanted to play Superman, but for multiple reasons it never happened. 

Verdict: Whether you're a fan of Cage or not, this is a breezy, entertaining and well-written look at the ups and downs of an interesting Hollywood career. ***. 

GREAT OLD MOVIES

Special projects have caught up with me temporarily.  GREAT OLD MOVIES will return in May 2022, if not before. 

For those who subscribe by email the posts come with the wrong, outdated email attached at the very bottom. I'm working to correct this. In the meantime you can contact me anytime at wmschoell@gmail.com. 

Thanks!

William Schoell

POSTHUMOUS

POSTHUMOUS. 

My latest thriller, for people who love movies, celebrities, psychos, and suspense fiction, is entitled POSTHUMOUS. Below is a description. It's available in hardcover, trade paperback, and inexpensive kindle editions on amazon.

"Anna Corrigan, the daughter of the late movie star and entertainer Mavis Edwards, has spent years trying to deal with the emotional fall out from the decades she spent with her often difficult and neurotic mother. Anna attends her sister Estelle's singing showcase at a tiny supper club uptown, where she encounters some of her mother's "friends" from the past. These include a crooked business manager named Louie Mayhew; her old co-star Jerry Giddings, who has fallen on hard times; her bitchy rival Marjorie Easterbrook; choreographer “Busy” Borroway, an unrepentant child molester who numbered Mavis Edwards among his victims; and George Kelker, a director who refused to hire Mavis Edwards for an important production many years before. George is only the first of these individuals to be horribly murdered by a crazed female intruder who, Kelker's wife insists, looks just like Mavis Edwards! There had always been nutty stories in the tabloids about Mavis Edwards being alive and hidden in a sanitarium and with all these reports of a crazy lady who resembles her beginning to surface, Anna wonders if it could possibly be true. But as the murders continue and Anna finds her life unraveling, she learns that the truth is far more terrible than she could ever even imagine."

"POSTHUMOUS is a movie lover's thriller, dissecting one impossible star's neurotic behavior and the effect it has even years later on her children."

Is "Mavis Edwards" meant to be Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Judy Garland, or someone else? Read the book to find out!  

DESTROYING LIVES AND CAREERS WITHOUT EVEN A HEARING

Chris Noth and Kevin Spacey

Gifted, Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey is accused of almost molesting someone at a drunken bash many years ago and all of a sudden he is fired off his show, House of Cards, his performance in a movie is digitally over-written by another actor, and he is persona non grata in Hollywood.

Chris Noth, star of Law and Order, Sex and the City, and others is accused of drunken, inappropriate behavior decades ago and is also dropped from his latest TV series, dropped by his agency, turned on by his wife and former co-stars (who throw him under the bus) and becomes persona non grata in Hollywood.

All of this happened without either gentleman even being given a chance to defend themselves. (Spacey has since been acquitted in one trial and I don't believe there are any criminal charges against him any more.)

Yes, we know guys can act like pigs, especially under the influence of alcohol and drugs, But I've no doubt the "victims" were also under the influence and their memories, after many, many years, are undoubtedly hazy. But in the long run it doesn't matter who's right or who's wrong.

Whatever happened to Innocent Until Proven Guilty? 

Neither of these gentlemen have been accused of out and out rape, which would certainly make them unsympathetic, to say the least, if they were guilty. Spacey was excoriated less for what he may have done at a party (or for allegedly groping other "victims") than for coming out years too late just after the charges went public, meaning he was attacked by both gays and homophobes. (And make no mistake -- a large part of what happened to him has to do with homophobia.)

Chris Noth helped some gal get an acting gig on Law and Order: Criminal Intent, but apparently she didn't turn into the next Lady Gaga so somebody has to pay. Noth has become a victim of the originally well-intentioned me-too movement, which has blown up to include virtually any man who even looks at a woman the wrong way. (Former governor Andrew Cuomo was certainly a victim of this.)

Should people be held accountable for alleged sloppy drunken behavior decades later, have their lives and careers utterly destroyed, simply on somebody's say-so, someone who may have an ax to grind, rent to pay, grievances to air, someone who needs both attention and cash, some redress to the "wrongs" they've suffered because their careers didn't amount to cat shit? The alleged victims may claim in lawsuits -- the whole reason for the accusations in the first place -- that their lives were destroyed, but somehow I don't think so. That's just legalese for let's-jack-up-the-bounty.

The horrible thing is this can happen to anyone. Yes, anyone can be accused of supposedly doing something many, many years in the past and before they even have a chance to answer the charges, suddenly their careers are over! There is no fair hearing, no trial, no nothing. To say this is unfair is an understatement. I'm not saying that people shouldn't be held accountable for their actions, but let's not just throw someone into the garbage bin a literal second later!

I hope there are producers out there who will hire both Spacey and Noth for their projects, because it all has to do with talent and not with private lives and unsubstantiated accusations. I've never met either gentleman -- perhaps they are both arrogant and unlikable (another reason for the accusations) --but that doesn't mean they should be wiped out by possibly false and exaggerated allegations.