KEVIN CONWAY R.I.P.

I first knew Kevin in NYC in the 1970s. After I moved to L.A. in '82, I often ran into him at events there. He could be as abrasive and confrontational as I could, which I always attributed in part to our Irish heritage. But he was a terrific actor, and I'm glad I had the chance to work with him on an episode of JAG not too long before I moved back East and as far as I can remember never saw him in person again. Condolences to his family, friends, and fans.

BOOKSMART & OFFICIAL SECRETS

BOOKSMART is a high school comedy in the tradition with a few new twists. The leads are Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein. The latter has gotten most of the attention from critics and others, partly because she's Jonah Hill's sister, but mostly because she gives a great performance in what is usually the sidekick role. But Dever's performance as an attractive and smart but insecure introverted lesbian was the most impressive to me. A well done little movie that deserved some nominations, and I wonder if it had been directed by a man rather than Olivia Wilde if it might have gotten some.

 Keira Knghtly can do no wrong as an actress in my opinion. She's always mesmerizing to watch and as committed to her roles as any movie actor. But she is sometimes miscast only because of her hard to disguise model good looks, as in OFFICIAL SECRETS, where the real woman the story is about looked more like Florence Pugh, who would have brought a more obvious authenticity that only Knightly's acting talent allowed her to at times achieve. There's a lot of the usual terrific Brit acting in this flick. The story is meant to be inspiring, and definitely has its moments, but overall it's mostly a quiet display of the kinds of courage those impeachment witnesses modeled in the Congressional hearings for which they are now paying the price for.

MY OTHER FAMILY

Minka, Noah, Shaiya, Jeanne, and Sue not too long ago

LITTLE WOMEN

I chose to go out to the movies tonight to see LITTLE WOMEN. Before it was even over, I was thinking the reason Greta Gerwig didn't get nominated for Best Director could only be sexism, because it is among the three or four best directed films of 2019. I was worried when I heard Gerwig had deconstructed the narrative timeline of the book, but she did it so brilliantly it truly heightened my engagement with the film and the emotions it kept generating in me.

I laughed, I cried, I felt fear and hope and joy and moved and inspired. The cast was so good everyone in it deserves high praise, but Saoirse Ronan especially, once again proving she is among the greats of our time, of all time. Meryl Streep was a delight to watch work, and Chris Cooper in only a few scenes in the movie did more with only a few lines, or even none, and equally few gestures, than many actors nominated for awards did with multiple scenes and lines and gestures in the buzzed-about movies of 2019.

Seeing it on a big screen highlighted the deep artistry of Yorick Le Saux, the cinematographer, too. Half the scenes in the film were worth framing and hanging on your wall. Greta Gerwig's LITTLE WOMEN turns out to be a true work of cinematic art, an instant classic, and for my taste maybe the best movie of 2019.

LATE NIGHT RUMINATION

Caught up with the Super Bowl halftime show on YouTube, loved the Latinx pride, especially the point that Puerto Rico is part of the USA (highlight: JayLo's daughter's extraordinary vocals) and Shakira's explosive opening (at 43 more energy than a typical kid on a sugar rush) (and JayLo at 50 with more stamina and moves than a teenage tennis player). They (Shakira and JayLo) and their teams should have been in charge of the Iowa Caucus results.

HUH

Had to be somewhere else and don't watch football anymore cause of the brutality and injuries. But I played in my high school years in the 1950s and used to love it, so when I arrived home after the halftime show and a little into the third quarter I put it on in the background while I did some night time chores and with a 10 to 13 score I thought at least it's competitive (unlike the ones I tried watching now and then in the last ten years) and then I noticed it seemed a little less brutal, in fact seemingly safer, and then in the last seven minutes of the game it got totally compelling and crazily entertaining. Huh.

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