Bart Chat As the Temperature Starts to Dip, Broadcast TV, and the Golden Globes
Greetings all,
Before we get to the silver screen, we have part two of “Save City Hall” by Quin Mathews. This episode goes into how much it would really cost to fix the building, you can see it here.
This is a good time to go out and see some good films. Pretty soon, there will be lots of Oscar talk, so now is the time to check out some of the films that will be discussed by people like Elijah and me.
This week, EVERYTHING playing at the Angelika and others around town is worth getting out of the house and seeing. Watching a film on a screening service is good, but you miss the sense of scale that the directors intended you to see these films. Here is a selection of what you should see at any of our fine theaters in the Dallas area.
“Marty Supreme” (you might want to watch “Uncut Gems” on Max to get you in the mood and tone of the Safdie Universe), “Hamnet” (the film I felt more than any other this year), “No Other Choice” (a film that shows the dark side of what losing a job means and how far people will go to get one), “The Secret Agent” (a film about Brazilian politics that resonates), “Song Sung Blue” (one of the better films about music this year), Jim Jarmusch’s new film that I have not seen yet called “Father Mother Sister Brother,” and the new Avatar film in that James Cameron seems to make 3D work as story not as a gimmick.
“Dead Man’s Wire” is Gus Van Sant’s latest film, which follows the 1977 true story of Tony Kiritsis, played by Bill Skarsgard, who kidnaps someone who has wronged Richard Hall, played by Dacre Montgomery. But it was really Hall’s father, played by Al Pacino, who screwed him. Having Pacino in the cast reminds one of “Dog Day Afternoon,” which has similar themes. The title of the film comes from the odd way Kiritsis attaches a gun with a wire to Richard Hall. Through the film, the tension grows, but it is depicted by the cool performance of Colman Domingo, who plays Fred Temple, a local disc jockey, whom Kiritsis calls. Matt Zoller Seitz observes, “There’s an economic and political framework for the characters’ decisions—a thing few films even think to provide—and Van Sant and company observe them with irony, wonder, and compassion.”
At the Texas Theatre, you can see Sundance Film Festival shorts from last year, without getting a cold. You can see them on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights. If you want to see some Sundance films this year, you can still get tickets to watch shorts online here. The Texas is also showing Park Chan-wook’s classic “Oldboy” and his new film, “No Other Choice.” They are also showing “Resurrection,” which is great to see on a big screen. But my first choice would be to see one of my favorite films, “Metropolis.” Many years ago, we commissioned an original score performed by the Dallas Chamber Orchestra, with live dance! This screening has the latest version of the film with a live original score by Austin composer & multi-instrumentalist David Didonato.
This new score includes elements of classical, electronic, metal, dance, vaporwave, industrial, and shoegaze. The live performance is on a double-necked guitar, accompanying pre-recorded drum beats, pianos, synthesizers, organ, and various other sequenced instruments, painstakingly synchronized to match the film.
And if you are keeping track, this is the 99th anniversary of the film.
If you have the Criterion Channel, this month, they are showing the work of Maya Deren, whose early experimental films inspired a generation and helped create the genre of dance film. The must-sees in this collection are the classic “Meshes of An Afternoon,” “At Land,” “A Study for Choreography for Camera,” and Rituals in Transfigured Time.”
Have a great week at your local cinema.
-Bart
Contrived or not, broadcast TV’s “reality” series pathfinders are lined up and ready to roll again.
The 50th edition of CBS’ Survivor will launch on Feb. 25th, with the show’s first heartthrob, former Dallasite Colby Donaldson, on board for a fourth go-around.
ABC’s The Bachelor is set to shatter more hearts for the 30th time on a yet to be announced date this winter.
The 29th edition of NBC’s The Voice, subtitled “Battle of Champions,” starts on Feb. 23rd with inaugural American Idol champ Kelly Clarkson of Burleson, TX back in a judge’s seat.
And Fox dredged up the odious Fear Factor Sunday night, with Johnny Knoxville replacing podcast kingpin Joe Rogan as host. It had been off the air for 20 years.
But in the legitimate unscripted drama arena, they’re all Lilliputians compared to the NFL. It’s bigger and better than ever, as it proved anew with the weekend’s five playoff games. Four of them went down to the final minute of play before a winner emerged. And Sunday night’s entry, a punishing 16-3 New England Patriots win over the Los Angeles Chargers, was a one-score game until early in the 4th quarter.
Final ratings aren’t in yet, but each of the five games is certain to obliterate the ratings for any of the aforementioned “reality” mainstays. Few if any gamble on who’s going to win Survivor, The Bachelor, etc. But millions gamble on both the outcomes and individual player performances of NFL games. And this only intensifies in the post-season.
Some have complained, and understandably so, that NFL games now are spread all over the broadcast, cable and streaming map. Saturday night’s Packers-Bears game for instance, was an Amazon Prime exclusive, It’s likely only a matter of time — and time may well be running short — before the Super Bowl ends up on a streaming service. The NFL’s “free TV” days are clearly an endangered species.
Regarding the Super Bowl, it’s now less than a month away, with a Feb. 8th kickoff on NBC (which also has another prime reality series, the 2026 Winter Olympics). Bad Bunny remains in place as the halftime entertainer despite all the “outrage” from mostly mega MAGAs who see him as an affront to English-speaking conservative Christianity.
But the grandly announced “All-American” alternative, supposedly being arranged by the late Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point organization, remains a mystery in terms of who’s performing, where it will air, etc. A spokesperson for Turning Point told TMZ there will be no further announcements until the day of the game. Which understandably raises suspicions regarding whether it will happen at all.
Pronouncements that the Turning Point show will crush the ratings for Bad Bunny’s performance are clearly beyond nonsensical at this point. The NFL will dominate as always. Just wait and see.
-Ed
Howdy,
After it looked like they might be gone for good after a diversity scandal and having to release their winners via press release rather than on a televised show, the Golden Globes are fully back, better or worse. And it's mostly for worse. Nikki Glaser hosted again this year bringing some light roasting but nothing like the Ricky Gervais days. She had a couple musical moments where she probably got to live out her Taylor Swift-coded fantasies and has a funny skit about the state of podcast ads in 2026 (she used to host her own weekly podcast that I suppose she quit doing around this time last year.) Nothing was particular memorable, but it seems like people like her and she'll probably get invited back next year.
Yet, the Golden Globes continue to be the fakest awards show that has ever existed. If you didn't know, the show was bought by right-wing media conglomerate Penske, who also owns Hollywood news outlets like Variety, Deadline, and Indiewire along with other random shows like the Country Music Awards, South by Southwest, and Dick Clark Productions. I suppose the awards really are voted on by some group of international reporters, but its not very clear who. The entire show is a gift to get the most celebrities on TV, which is why some acting categories had six nominees and why the show awards both movies and TV on the same night, in addition to splitting them into a drama and a comedy category.
Some of the more outlandish sponsorships last night included random UFC fighters walking on stage to stare menacingly at the audience to promote broadcaster CBS/Paramount's newly signed UFC deal. Worse, at every ad break a splash screen with the Kalshi betting platform's odds would pop up, advertising to viewers that they could make bets on who would win the next award before it was announced. Just uncouth. As for the actual awards, "Adolescence" once again swept, as it did at the Emmys last year. I'm sure the child star Owen Cooper is good, but he's only 16 and it seems so strange to be giving awards to children. "Hamnet" won many of the "Drama" film awards, while "One Battle After Another" took home the "Comedy" awards. Neither of those films is my personal favorite from the last year.
At the Modern in Fort Worth this weekend we are showing a British drama called "The Choral." Check out the trailer below and have a great week.
-Elijah