YNMS x 2: "Richard Jewell" and "The Gentlemen
Friday, October 4, 2019 at 9:00AM by Ben Miller
It’s festival season, but new trailers keep dropping left and right, so let’s do a couple quick Yes, No, Maybe So’s staring with Clint Eastwood's latest sudden December drop, Richard Jewell. It's the true story of an innocent man put on trial by the media as a bombing suspect in the 1996 Summer Olympics. The Yes No Maybe So breakdown is after the jump...
Richard Jewell
YES
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If you saw I, Tonya or Blackkklansman, you’ll know what a talent Paul Walter Hauser is. He finally gets his chance to lead a film with this true story
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The biggest buzz is actually for Olivia Wilde, and I am all for it. Between this and Booksmart, whatever adulations people want to heap on her, you should firmly get behind it
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Jewell as a subject is tailor-made for a cinematic treatment
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It’s always nice to have Kathy Bates back in our lives
NO
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Eastwood hasn’t exactly had his fastball in a while. Plus, with his political leanings, it seems pretty clear where this story could go wrong
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Eastwood isn’t exactly seen as the most subtle filmmaker.
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Chris Feil said it better than me.
If folks want to praise Eastwood for his six month turnaround on this movie, then they damn well better do so for Lorene Scafaria as well.
— Chris Feil (@chrisvfeil) September 30, 2019
MAYBE SO
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Does any filmmaker know how to correctly use Jon Hamm?
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Cool, Sam Rockwell isn’t playing a racist!
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Writer Billy Ray does pretty well with these types of stories (Shattered Glass, Captain Phillips), but his scripts are all over the place tonally
I’m a cautiously optimistic maybe so, leaning towards yes. Yes for Hauser and Wilde, no for Eastwood. Richard Jewell comes out just in time for Oscar voting on December 13.
The Gentlemen
YES
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Guy Ritchie made his hay on a formula of British toughguys, so he seems to be returning to his wheelhouse
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I got so worried about McConaughey doing an English accent. Thank God he plays an American
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McConaughey unhinged is a great McConaughey. Killer Joe vibes
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I’m trying to pick out an MVP for the trailer, and it’s either the whipcrack editing, Colin Ferrell, or the wardrobe. Oscar nominated costume designer Michael Williamson (American Hustle) is on the job for this one
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Ritchie fills his films with great casts, and this is no different with Henry Golding, Michelle Dockery, Hugh Grant, Charlie Hunnam, Ferrell, Eddie Marsan and Jeremy Strong tagging along.
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Henry-Golding-shooting-a-gun-stupid.gif
NO
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There are an alarming amount of dudes in this film. Ritchie’s The Man from U.N.C.L.E spread the sexual wealth, but this seems too heavy on testosterone
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McConaughey and weed is a little played out at this point
MAYBE SO
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Hugh Grant’s accent was remarkably alarming. I kept expecting the regular Grant voice to pop out, so that might take some getting used to
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I've never known what to make of Hunnam. Is he a good actor? Nevertheless this looks like the most suited he has been for a role in a while
I’m excited for Ritchie to return to his genre, so firmly a yes. How about you? The Gentlemen comes out in January.
Reader Comments (26)
Clint loves to make movies. He's 89 years old. So yes, it is a feat that he's so prolific, and it makes sense that he's in a hurry.
If Lorene Scafaria is churning out movies at 90 that attract audiences and demonstrate her insatiable love of the form, I'll give her the credit I give Eastwood. What does Hustlers have to do with Richard Jewell? I also didn't realize Hustlers was a flawless film. The argument is so intellectually bankrupt that I'm not shocked it did well on Twitter.
And no, Clint outings don't automatically confer excessive praise and prizes. He very rarely crashes the Oscar race, despite persistent apoplexy from people who hated American Sniper. What's the problem?
I can't believe I'm saying this about a Clint movie, but Richard Jewell actually looks good.
I just wished "Richard Jewell" had a better title. Zzzzz
@JF, JF Christ, it was a joke. Chris was being arch, playing into the well-worn history of late-breaking Clint Eastwood film that sometimes hit big with Oscar (AS, Letters from Iwo Jima, Million Dollar Baby), sometimes don't (Gran Torino, Invictus, The Mule), but always garner automatic Oscar buzz mainly or on his name alone (Flags of Our Father, J. Edgar, Sully). Eastwood has had more misses than hits over the course of his directing career, but is afforded endless benefit of the doubt in Hollywood, which is why Chris' calling attention to Lorene Scafaria is great: She bootstrapped a project that has become a monster hit (with audiences and critics), pulling it together and turning it around quickly—and with a much lower budget (and far fewer resources and connections) than Eastwood typically has. As the old adage goes, "Sure he was great, but don't forget that Ginger Rogers did everything he did…backwards and in high heels." It's praise for <I>Scafaria</I>, not a knock on Eastwood.
Re: "If you saw I, Tonya or Blackkklansman, you’ll know what a talent Paul Walter Hauser is." Er, no. Hauser was nearly the worst part about both of those movies. Oof.
@JF, JF Christ, it was a joke. Chris was being arch, playing into the well-worn history of late-breaking Clint Eastwood film that sometimes hit big with Oscar (AS, Letters from Iwo Jima, Million Dollar Baby), sometimes don't (Gran Torino, Invictus, The Mule), but always garner automatic Oscar buzz mainly or on his name alone (Flags of Our Father, J. Edgar, Sully). Eastwood has had more misses than hits over the course of his directing career, but is afforded endless benefit of the doubt in Hollywood, which is why Chris' calling attention to Lorene Scafaria is great: She bootstrapped a project that has become a monster hit (with audiences and critics), pulling it together and turning it around quickly—and with a much lower budget (and far fewer resources and connections) than Eastwood typically has. As the old adage goes, "Sure he was great, but don't forget that Ginger Rogers did everything he did…backwards and in high heels." It's praise for Scafaria, not a knock on Eastwood.
Re: "If you saw I, Tonya or Blackkklansman, you’ll know what a talent Paul Walter Hauser is." Er, no. Hauser was nearly the worst part about both of those movies. Oof.
Excuse you, but Hunnam was actually great in The Lost City of Z.
Kathy Bates pops in the trailer as far as I am concerned,Hauser was v good in I Tonya,I love Clint A true Legend,no one like him,never will be.
I am confused as to why Hamm hasn't hit at the movies yet..
Does any filmmaker know how to correctly use Jon Hamm?
No. I lost all hope
I want to say no to the Richard Jewell movie on principle - Eastwood, December drop - but it's a remarkably compelling trailer and a story that needs to be told. So yes.
The Gentlemen - confession: I love the Guy Ritchie tough-Brit franchise. So again, yes.
Richard Jewel - I will reserve judgment but it feels like a no. It has a white man can't get a break vibe, so I wonder if it is primarily directed at Fox News viewers.
The Gentlemen - Unlikely. It feels stale and possibly racist.
No times two.
Look at that -- simplest decision I've made all day.
Tom Ford - I agree with you on principle, but Richard Jewell really was a white man who couldn't get a break, because everyone thought he seemed like a loser. And the actual Olympic Park bomber was a right-wing terrorist. It's a really fascinating story, and maybe Clint is just attracted to it because he likes real-life crime thrillers, like I do (I'm hoping).
JF hitting it on the head. I'm very concerned that people who have Conservative leanings are accused, by default, of leaning that way in any story that attracts or attracted controversy. And that because of ideological leanings they are anti-human.
How conservative is Eastwood as a filmmaker? American Sniper is political how? Unforgiven is pro-gun?
Tho the other ME is right about the title.
I don't think the tweet was a joke. I thought it was one of those apples-to-oranges hot takes that "sounds right" on the internet.
Just because Eastwood and Scafaria have one (fairly trivial) thing in common, the entire body of writing about that trivial thing MUST be perfectly equitable. If not, we have only bias to blame. Nevermind the limitless ways their careers, processes and products are different.
Chris Fail needs to STFU.
RICHARD JEWELL looks like a dud to me but indeed, I'm always down for Kathy Bates awards season buzz.
Wow. Moving Hauser and Bates way up in my predictions.
I'm a maybe on both. They both look like films that good be great or go drastically south.
What's wrong with a film with all dudes? Is there seriously not ever going to be an article or a film release without bringing up gender inequality? Besides, is ANYONE really clamoring for Guy Ritchie to even attempt female roles with anything but the anvil he wields in his filmmaking? I like him when he's at his best: WITH the guys.
What's so wrong with that? Testosterone is part of the world, too.
Also, and unrelated: Never understood the Sam Rockwell adoration. Just do not get it at all, especially for the role he actually won the Oscar for. Heinous.
Short answer for RICHARD JEWELL: yes.
Longer answer: despite the complications...
(THE 15:17 TO PARIS was by far the worst film I saw in 2018, and J EDGAR was also high on the crap list for its year. And the right wing politics that seeps through his films can be hard to take at times (The character in THE MULE was supposedly portrayed as unsympathetically racist in the first half but one couldn't help but feel that it was also framed as a justifiable racism. And whilst I think SULLY is his best film of the '10s, I also felt uncomfortable with its constant "authority is stupid" undercurrents.))
...I still hold him in high regard because of his career behind the camera, particularly in the '00s (the FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS/LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA double being the highlight) but also the '90s. Therefore I will always see a new Eastwood. (PARIS almost ruined that, but then he came back with the not-great-but-much-better THE MULE).
As for Guy Ritchie......nah. Even if it is a return to 90s form, he still did ALADDIN, one of the worst films of this year. He was good for his time, but I don't regard him as a great director.
I like Paul Walter Hauser and I'm glad he's getting a big time role but I don't know... Clint's been a miss as of late with the exception of American Sniper. The Gentleman looks alright though Guy Ritchie too is hit/miss.
Effective trailer- and no matter what his political views may be - Clint Eastwood is a skillful movie maker
I just think Jon Hamm is bad, it's not directors fault. He and January Jones lucked out with Mad Men. The parts were great and they fit them perfectly physically. No one accused them of being chameleons.
Would love to see Hamm in a 40's style film noir. He'd be great in something like an L.A. Confidential.
Jon Hamm would have made a fantastic Jay Gatsby, right?
The supportive mom who sees her son accused + Kathy Bates' talents = I think I'm going to move her to my Top 5 picks for Best Supporting Actress.
Now the BSActress is getting more interesting.