Doc Corner: 'Tiger King' is a Disturbing Mess

By Glenn Dunks

Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness is the undisputed king of the internet right now. A zeitgeist that has steamrolled over a society that has been stuck inside, isolated with little else to do but binge and over-indulge on anything that distracts the mind and the body. Scratch beneath the veneer of its sneering Christopher-Guest-goes-to-the-trailer-park milieu and Tiger King proves to be lazy at best, morally corrupt at worst. Expanded out to an over-confident seven episodes, directors Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin dig their series deeper into grimy, ethically dubious territory with little of that digging towards something substantial.

The story of Tiger King, though, is certainly interesting. How could it not be considering the ever-escalating crime saga of Joe Exotic, a private big cat zoo owner and operator whose life gravitates towards weird and weirder. He’s a true drama queen...

Click to read more ...

Congrats to La Pfeiffer and "Henry Rose"

Michelle Pfeiffer's personal passion project, her unisex fragrances named after her son and daughter, have received terrific press since premiering about a year ago. They're far out of our price range but we wanted to say congratulations as they've recently received the Glamour 2020 Beauty Award for Best Fragrance and have also been doing well with men's magazines, too, logging strong sales for men's fragrances.

Filming French ExitWe didn't suspect that the reclusive goddess would stick around social media after launching her Instagram to support the fragrances but something about it suited her whims (yay!) and she has been fairly consistent since. She's not an oversharer, obviously, but it's a steady trickle. After years and years of scarcity for pfans it's nice to have her become something of a regular celebrity presence again. Plus her cat is soooo fluffy. We love.

Months before the novel coronavirus shut down Hollywood she completed work on her next leading lady role in French Exit. While the movie was expected to be released this fall in time for Oscar season we suspect that no films will have anything like secure release dates given how many have now been delayed. We'll just have to wait and see if and when Pfeiffer returns to the Oscar race at last.

2019's Best Screen Animals

Different lists each for our "Year in Review"

We had hoped to put the entire cast of Cats on this list of the big screen's best animal characters but alas... very few of them are worthy to ascend to the Heaviside Layer let alone our year end list of the best big screen animals! This list is dedicated to bunnies as those beady-eyed cuties had a rough year at the movies. They were used solely for unsettling mood, multiplying sybolism and raw meat (gross) in Us and later popped up as an instrument of toxic masculine shaming in Jojo Rabbit. Bunnies deserve better in 2020! Which filmmaker will answer the call and treat them well onscreen?

Without further ado let's talk the screen animals we fell hardest for at the movies this year.  

11 Dumbo (elephant)
Here's the thing. Tim Burton and Screenwriters and (presumably) Disney corporate were so intent on expanding the movie (it's 48 minutes longer than the original Dumbo!) that it keeps pointing to everything but the star mutant attraction. Dumbo is as adorable as his ears are big but he's a supporting player in his own movie. They lost the thread or Dumbo could've topped the list.

Click to read more ...

Tweeting to the Heaviside Layer

Amusing movie-related tweets curated for you this week...

The most depressing part of LITTLE WOMEN (1869) is not when Beth dies but when Jo's short story wins a prize of $100, reminding any fellow writers reading the book that freelance rates have remained roughly stable SINCE THE RECONSTRUCTION ERA

— Jennifer Morrow (@jenniferemorrow) December 27, 2019

Click to read more ...

How do you solve a problem like "Cats"?

by Cláudio Alves

With Cats horrifying audiences around the world, including possibly you, let's all step into a hot-air balloon and travel to the heavenly lands of speculation. You see, a screen adaptation of the silliest mega-musical in Andrew Lloyd Weber's repertoire (give or take Love Never Dies or Starlight Express) was already a dicey proposition, but it needn't be so doomed. But add to that the deranged incompetence of Tom Hooper and digital fur technology,and we have something for the pantheon of all-time bad movies.

What could have been done to avoid catastrophe? Many psychologically scarred movie-goers may be asking this question from the depths of the madness that now consumes them: Could this have been any different? Could it have been better? Could it have been good, even? Maybe…

Click to read more ...