Summer of Soul cleans up at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards; Doctor Strange reshoots are happening; Obi-Wan Kenobi returns; and a post about Paul Verhoeven reveals that many people don’t like sex scenes at all.
Weekend Box Office: Eternals is hanging on at No. 1. It has a domestic total of $118 million after 10 days, down from the totals reached to this point by fellow Marvel films Black Widow ($131 million) and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, reports TheWrap‘s Jeremy Fuster.
Congratulations: to Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), which won Best Documentary Feature and five other awards over the weekend at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards. Director Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson tied with Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin (The Rescue) for Best Director, and Summer of Soul also won Best First Documentary Feature, Best Editing, Best Archival Documentary and Best Music Documentary. Deserved!
Doctor Strange Reshoots: The Hollywood Reporter says Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the followup to 2016’s Doctor Strange, is undergoing what its sources call “significant” reshoots, though they disagree on how significant. One source cited by THR says other Marvel Cinematic Universe films have undergone bigger reshoots. Among the possible factors for the reshoots are actor availability issues and COVID-19 delays, but no one THR cites voiced any concerns about the story. Michael Waldron is writing the film, with Sam Raimi directing. Anyway here’s our recent interview with Waldron, who also created Disney+’s Loki and seems very hip to this whole multiverse thing.
Recommended Reading: I’m about a quarter of the way through Sara Gay Forden’s 2001 House of Gucci, the inspiration for the upcoming Ridley Scott movie of the same name, and it’s really fantastic — juicy, fast-moving, and rich with character detail. It also made me curious enough to Google what a bamboo-handle purse looks like.
Obi-Wan Kenobi Trailer: Here’s the new trailer for Disney+’s Obi-Wan Kenobi, which suggests that Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen) will again cross sabres. No Baby Yoda in this one but it does have Baby Luke so that’s something.
Comment of the Day: We got lots and lots of comments for our post on Paul Verhoeven’s sex scenes, in which he says directors shouldn’t be afraid to show sex because it’s a part of life. Joe Smith writes: “The issue is not Puritanism. The issue is that watching a sex scene seems creepy and voyeuristic to me. I don’t know why most others don’t see it that way. I have no business watching another couple have sex. It’s weird to watch it…even if it is just a movie scene.”
Another Comment of the Day: “As an avid movie-goer, I’m long tired of sex scenes. It’s like a crutch for a lack of credible storyline. In my 39 years of age, I could count on one finger exactly how many times a fellow movie goer remarked on a sex scene as something they enjoyed in a movie,” says Josh.
What About the Pro-Sex Scenes Argument?: No one in the comments section was brave enough to be the one to say “ME! I LOVE SEX SCENES!” So if you feel that way but are worried what your neighbors will think, bear in mind you can use a fake name. We’re all friends here.
May I Editorialize: I think filmmakers can and should push limits artistically and have no problems with cinematic sex, violence, et cetera. And yet I always want sex scenes to end quickly because 1. I often feel bad for the actors and wonder if they’ve been talked into doing something they didn’t want to do; and 2. Have you ever watched Revenge of the Nerds with your parents? But seriously, folks, if you’re using a sex scene to convey a passionate connection, my personal opinion is that you can do that better through crackling dialogue than with sweaty lighting and saxophones. The most believable on-screen cinematic chemistry I can think of occurs in Casablanca and The Princess Bride, neither of which have sex scenes. In fact, the most effective sex scenes I can recall occur in Verhoeven’s Basic Instinct, and those scenes work mostly because you’re afraid they about to turn into death scenes.
Did You Know Vin Diesel Has a Twin Brother? Here’s a thing with some movie references.
Main image: O.G. Obi-Wan Kenobi Sir Alec Guinness, who is not in Disney+’s Obi-Wan Kenobi, for a series of complicated reasons.
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I entirely agree with your editorializing regarding sex scenes in movies. For me, this scene from "It's a Wonderful Life" hottest scenes ever captured on celluloid. The sexual tension is almost unbearable! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc0Y_DKkuuU
Casablanca, the penultimate of writing, acting, directing and editing. Crisp dialogue full of double entendre because the censors forced America's puritanical nonsense on the filmmakers, so the screenwriters had to up their creative game. Add to that, there's only ever been one Lauren Bacall with eyes that could melt hardened steel in their gaze. If you listen to YouTube clip, Ms. Bacall accents the first letter of certain words just for sexual emphasis: "Okay. You know you don't have to act with me, Steve. You don't have to Say anything and you don't have to Do anything. Not a thing. Oh, maybe just whistle. You how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and....blow."
Oh, wow....kick starts my motor every time. Yeah, yeah, I know, TMI but you get the point. No, I don't like sex scenes. So if you ain't delivering "it" in the subtext, you ain't delivering "it" at all and no amount of naked flesh, writhing bodies, or faked orgasams are going to do "it" for you.
Completely agree. It's toe curlingly agonizing, waiting for them to kiss and when they do, the release is most gratifying.