Sunday, August 8
· Recap of the Week – Andrew Cuomo allegations, Russian Olympic Committee
o I loved a description of Tucker Carlson’s effusive interview with Hungary’s dictator as his celebration of “International Authoritarian Appreciation Week.”
o John mocked Andrew Cuomo’s “defense” against his sexual harassment allegations, which largely consists of a PowerPoint of images of him not sexually harassing people – “Apparently his strategy for any crisis is ‘put together a PowerPoint and… that’s it.’”
o After getting busted for a doping scandal, Russia’s Olympic athletes were initially barred from competing under their country’s name, but apparently they’re allowed to be referred to as the “Russian Olympic Committee – As John pointed out, that’s like arguing that Harvey Weinstein has nothing to do with The Weinstein Company.
o John also didn’t think that banning the use of their national anthem for medalists was too much of a punishment either – “They got Tchaikovsky. That is more Russian than the Russian national anthem!”
· And Now This – “Daytime with Kimberly & Esteban” small talk
o The main joke here was Kimberly doing her best to give it her all and Esteban being a bit of a cold fish in response – My favorite bit was Kimberly exclaiming, “What is up?!” and Esteban simply replying, “I know.”
· Main Story – Purdue Pharma
o Almost 70,000 died of opioid overdoses last year – that’s staggering.
o Upon hearing that Purdue Pharma is being forced to pay an $8 billion settlement, the company is filing for bankruptcy, and the Sackler family might be removing themselves from leadership positions, John said, “It is weird to hear news that sounds so genuinely good.”
o But of course, “sounds so genuinely good” was the operative phrase – In truth, felony convictions against the company means that the Sacklers themselves are presently avoiding legal consequences, and the bankruptcy filing can be used as a way to make sure the settlement money isn’t coming out of Sackler pockets.
o “Doing a drug-rep ride-along is about as hands-on as you can get.”
o One positive was that John reminded us of a video they made for a previous story on the opioid crisis – because a laughably-obstructive deposition from Richard Sackler was only released as a transcript, not actual video, the show put together a reenactment of the deposition variously starring Richard Kind, Michael Keaton, Bryan Cranston,and Michael K. Williams as Sackler.
o In response to one family member arguing that the Sacklers can’t be held responsible for Purdue’s crimes, I liked John comparing to Lambchop and Shari Lewis – If Lambchop threatens to kill the president, Shari Lewis is the one who’ll get arrested “because Lambchop is a puppet who does whatever the fuck Shari Lewis tells it too!”
o I really liked how John looked at the question of compensation for the countless peole who’ve been harmed by the Sacklers’ relentless pursuit of profit, framing it not as, “How many billions is it right for you to pay?”, but rather, “How many billions is it right for you to keep?”
o One final bit of grossness – Because of 1) the Sacklers’ present and still-increasing net worth, 2) the small portion of the $8 billion settlement they’ll be paying themselves, and 3) the nine years they’ve been given in which to pay it, they’re likely to come out of this in 2030 richer than they are right now.
* * *
Not specifically Shang-Chi-related, but made by someone who’s as hyped to see Tony Leung Chiu-wai in Shang-Chi as I am. This awesome video essay explores Leung’s acting style and talent, articulating it in a really beautiful way. I like how he divides Leung’s acting approach into two different phases, the more expressive, emotional performances earlier in his career (like Hard Boiled) and the subtler, more naturalistic approach he honed while working with Wong Kar-wai. The analysis hits the nail on the head. Personally, I would also add that Leung now knows how to calibrate shifts from one method to the other within a single performance. His “second-phase” work is so layered because a lot of the emotions are stirring under the surface and you have to go looking for them, but then you’ll suddenly get a moment where his face is telling you the whole story. Think the tape recorder scene from Happy Together (peerless, my god,) or the roof-of-the-car scene from Infernal Affairs (if you’ve seen it, you know exactly what I’m talking about.) The first time you watch certain second-phase performances from Leung, you might think there’s not a lot going on, but scenes like these give you a roadmap to the rest of the performance, and the fuller, richer work opens up to you.
I’m obviously not expecting a Happy Together-level performance in Shang-Chi, but from the hints we’ve seen in the trailers, I do think we’re going to get that mix of subtle and expressive.
This delivery on, “Be careful how you speak to me, boy,” is so understated, so unassuming. It’s almost gentle, not the kind of line reading you’d typically expect from a Marvel villain. But that undercurrent of menace is absolutely there, and you can hear the “you’d better not cross me” within that.
And then in contrast, we don’t know much of anything about this moment in terms of the story, but I’m completely in love with it. Even apart from the supremely-cool use of the Ten Rings, there’s just something about Leung’s expression that pulls me in. I feel like I have a clear shot straight into Wenwu and his eyes are going to tell me everything. I’m still crossing my fingers that the screenplay is giving him worthy material to work with, but no matter what, I feel we’re going to see a complex performance from Leung in this film.
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