Who's Next To Croak?

[Fuzzy Dunlop]

RIP Mr. Marshall

http://splitsider.com/2016/07/film-and-sitcom-legend-garry-marshall-dies-at-81/

[wilder]

Arthur Hiller

[wilder]

Gene Wilder

[Reel]

You must be taking this one pretty hard

[Fuzzy Dunlop]

Jon Polito

http://deadline.com/2016/09/jon-polito-dies-big-lebowski-homicide-coen-brothers-1201812755/

[Reel]

Rest in Peace to Curtis Hanson... When I saw L.A. Confidential trending on twitter, I thought "oh god, tell me they didn't do a remake." I don't have an inkling of a memory from my one viewing of that film, it was too long ago and whatever cool spin on noir it was doing went completely over my head. If I saw it now, it'd be an entirely new experience. It's good to know there are movies out there that have always gotten a lot of respect, but I haven't given their proper due. Now it's considered his masterwork, so there's this added heft in watching it.

My favorite of his was always 'Wonder Boys', I love the structure of it and find it so easy to watch. It feels similar to a lot of other movies while still being completely it's own thing. A Little Lebowski with some 'Ice Storm' thrown in. It might be my favorite stoner film. The first time I saw it, I'd never seen a guy smoke that much onscreen and found it so interesting that he doesn't treat it like some pothead teenager and is obviously self medicating. It hits a lot of great notes and manages to achieve a drama that never gets too dark or self indulgent. It's actually a comedy about people going through hard times and just trying to keep each other afloat which lends to really sweet moments between characters. I think a lot of you would benefit from a rewatch if you haven't in awhile.


He also did the single best job of any director in capturing what that "Winter on the cusp of Spring" weather in the Northeast feels like

[Fuzzy Dunlop]

Oh man I am a huge fan of Wonder Boys. LA Confidential is obviously a great film but I must have watched Wonder Boys 50 or 60 times as a teenager. I was in love with the perfectly satisfying story structure as much as the mood of it, that tender-yet-sardonic melancholy. People really don't talk about that film enough when Best Of The 00's lists come up. And you're right about the seasonal thing, I don't think I've seen another film nail that time of year as well.

I don't think I've seen a film of his since 8 Mile...Wonder Boys and LA Confidential are definitely getting a re-watch this week. RIP Curtis.

[pete]

Radio Raheem

[wilder]

Thom Jones

His first book of short stories from 1993, The Pugilist at Rest, is one of my favorite books I've ever read, up there with Raymond Carver's What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. I don't know how to convey how special his writing is, just scan some of the Amazon reviews to get an idea of how it touches people. He only published three books total, and not since 1999, having suffered from temporal lobe epilepsy.

[Thom Jones'] stories deal with common themes of mortality and pain, with characters who often find a kind of solace in the rather pessimistic philosophy of Schopenhauer. Boxing, absent or mentally ill fathers, physical trauma, and the Vietnam War are also recurring motifs.

Thom Jones made his literary debut in The New Yorker in 1991. Within six months his stories appeared in Harper's, Esquire, Mirabella, Story, Buzz, and in The New Yorker twice more. "The Pugilist at Rest" - the title story from this stunning collection - took first place in Prize Stories 1993: The O. Henry Awards and was selected for inclusion in Best American Short Stories 1992. He is a writer of astonishing talent. Jones's stories - whether set in the combat zones of Vietnam or the brittle social and intellectual milieu of an elite New England college, whether recounting the poignant last battles of an alcoholic ex-fighter or the hallucinatory visions of an American wandering lost in Bombay in the aftermath of an epileptic fugue - are fueled by an almost brutal vision of the human condition, in a world without mercy or redemption. Physically battered, soul-sick, and morally exhausted, Jones's characters are yet unable to concede defeat: his stories are infused with the improbable grace of the spirit that ought to collapse, but cannot. For in these extraordinary pieces of fiction, it is not goodness that finally redeems us, but the heart's illogical resilience, and the ennobling tenacity with which we cling to each other and to our lives.

[Reinhold]

I heard carrie fisher died today of a heart attack.

[polkablues]

I heard carrie fisher died today of a heart attack.

She suffered a heart attack on a London to LA flight and is in critical condition, but is still alive at the moment, apparently.

[Fernando]

RIP Carrie Fisher 

[Lottery]

Princess, noooooooooo.

[Fuzzy Dunlop]

Miguel Ferrer

http://www.avclub.com/article/rip-miguel-ferrer-248741

[Lottery]

John Hurt

Damn, man.