June 2017 – The Grouchy Editor

27Jun

Reviews in Short: June 2017

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Becoming Cary Grant

“Everyone wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant.” – Cary Grant

Well, maybe not everyone. Possibly not viewers of Becoming Cary Grant, a mostly cheerless yet spellbinding documentary about the demons haunting Hollywood’s most famous leading man.

The filmmakers use Grant’s own home movies, a melancholy musical score, and excerpts from the actor’s unpublished autobiography to tell the story of a 9-year-old Bristol boy who lost his mother (she was committed to an asylum), then as an adult went through a series of failed marriages, and who gradually invented the persona of “Cary Grant,” the enigmatic, charismatic star we all know from the movies.

It’s a sad — if incomplete — portrait of the man everyone wanted to be. Release: 2017 Grade: B+

25Jun

White Working Class

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by Joan C. Williams

Since November 8, there have been hundreds – possibly thousands – of published articles about that branch of humanity famously labeled “the deplorables” by Hillary Clinton. Many of these election postmortems are clueless and/or condescending attempts to dissect and explain (to liberals) the strain of American voter that supported and continues to support Donald Trump.

But some of these election analyses are insightful. Joan Williams’s White Working Class expands on a previously published essay and it’s mostly an evenhanded, enlightening study of the social gap between the country’s “Haves” (the elite) and “Have-a-Littles” (what Williams labels the “working class”).

Williams, herself a born-and-bred member of the liberal elite, occasionally slips into full-on Democrat mode (in praise of big government) and takes some unwarranted swipes at Trump (a pure racist, even when his supporters are not), but she also has the balls to lay most of the blame for our current House Divided at the hands of those who hold the most power: the elites.

It’s too bad she doesn’t stick to her strong point, the first two-thirds of the book when she concentrates on the evolution of class division. Toward the end of White Working Class, Williams cannot resist tackling a host of other societal ills: abortion, race relations, illegal immigration, etc., and allows her inner liberal to promote the usual progressive remedies. It’s almost as if, after hammering liberals on their class cluelessness, Williams felt the need to soften the blow.

24Jun

The Weekly Review: June 18 – 24

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One of the perks of running a Web site that very few people read is that, when you’re thinking,“I don’t feel like publishing any crap today,” you don’t have to publish any crap today.

And so until next week, please enjoy this picture of Nancy Pelosi.

17Jun

The Weekly Review: June 11 – 17

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.

*****

Good for C-SPAN, which finally got to broadcast something people wanted to watch. Well … at least for an inning or two.

*****

Sign of the Apocalypse No. 1

Sign of the Apocalypse No. 2

*****

If they are planning another reboot of The Addams Family, it will be a sad world indeed if they fail to cast Laura Prepon as Morticia.

10Jun

The Weekly Review: June 4 – 10

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Smug Dicks and Creepy Pricks

There was something very satisfying about watching Bill Maher, who regularly lectures Americans about how “stupid” they are, eat shit on his show Friday after getting busted for using the n-word.

There was also something pathetic about watching the comedian try to pass off his mea culpa as a “teachable moment” for all of us, rather than what it really was: a lame attempt to preserve his bona fides with fellow liberals – not to mention his show on HBO.

*****

Jared Kushner: Who the hell is this rich punk? Apparently he’s been charged by his father-in-law with saving the world, yet I am still waiting to hear him utter a single word.

They say Robert Mueller is investigating Kushner’s role in possible collusion with Russia. I don’t believe that. I believe Mueller is investigating whether or not the kid’s vocal cords have been removed.

*****

Trump doesn’t seem to understand – or worse, doesn’t care – that “the swamp” isn’t just composed of Democrats, the media, and Obama holdovers. It’s also composed of creepy conservative pricks like this guy:

05Jun

Flashman

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by George MacDonald Fraser

Flashman chronicles the misadventures of a 19th-century cad who, through sheer luck and an uncanny ability to be in the wrong place at the right time, manages to emerge a national military hero in Britain.

Imagine James Bond as a racist, misogynistic coward, and you’ll have the gist of this series (begun in 1969) about Harry Flashman, an unapologetic jerk in 1840s Afghanistan who deflowers dimwitted country girls, fornicates with superior officers’ wives and, when things go badly, as they invariably do, pins the blame on someone – anyone – else. Bottom line: Flashman is amusing, albeit forgettable, fluff.

03Jun

The Weekly Review: May 28 – June 3

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Homophobia Week!

*****

I was as surprised as anyone when the White House introduced new Press Secretary Gary Blackman at Tuesday’s daily press briefing:

*****

Apparently the Lifetime logo in movie ads is meant to be the equivalent of the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, or a symbol of quality, like whatever it is that Disney uses. But I’m afraid the logo is backfiring for some of us.

I was a bit intrigued by The House Sitter — until I noticed the dreaded Lifetime logo, at which point I thought: “ugh.”

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