#damon wise

Always life-affirming to have a reunion with The People’s Pervert and everyone’s favourite filth elder – John Waters! Waters - who GQ magazine recently designated “a patriarch of unconventional manhood” – was in London on 11 November for an onstage interview and book-signing session at Rough Trade East last night promoting his latest volume of essays, Mr Know-It-All. Resplendent in a Dries van Noten ensemble, he immediately complimented the blood-red brothel-style onstage lighting (“Jazz lighting!” he enthused. “I feel like Julie London!”). He was effervescent as ever (as a raconteur Waters is a virtual bon mot-dropping machine. I could barely keep up!), but I especially loved his spirited and eloquent defense of his late mentor Andy Warhol (“Why is HE always the villain?”). Waters pointed out that Warhol was an early cheerleader of his films and in fact offered to provide the budget for Female Trouble (Waters demurred because then it would have been entitled Andy Warhol’s Female Trouble). And that Warhol took Federico Fellini to see Female Trouble! (Or was it Pink Flamingos?). The onstage journalist interviewing Waters asked a bit of a tired question along the lines of how Waters viewed the difference between film-making and writing books, but his answer was illuminating. Waters replied it’s all ultimately storytelling – and that anyway he’s motivated by curiosity about human behaviour. That underpins everything he does. Pictured: me, John Waters and Damon Wise. Read my epic 2010 interview with Waters here.

Ewan McGregor on Surviving ‘The Impossible’

WRITER’S NOTE: This article was written back in 2013.

While we endlessly applaud Naomi Watt’s emotional powerhouse of a performance in J.A. Bayona’s “The Impossible,” there’s no leaving out Ewan McGregor who is every bit as good. McGregor stars as Henry, husband to Watt’s character of Maria and the father of three young boys. After the Thailand beach resort they are staying at is laid waste by…

★★★⅔☆

3.58 stars for Damon Wise’s 689‑word review of “Nebraska” on Empire Magazine

http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=138163

Damon Wise is in firm control of the written word in “Nebraska,” however fans of D. W. may groan over the lack of analysis. The work is a summary-observation, “it’s worth noting” review.

Nebraska begins with an odd statement, in which Wise states that Payne “is starting to show his hand as a mainstream American auteur.” Payners worldwide will certainly scream out “Oscars?” as a way to acknowledge that the director has already arrived.

The majority of Nebraska is sophisticated summary, which is quite disappointing. Wise merely acknowledges facts that any Joe Schmo could point out if they have seen the flick. It’s shot in black and white, the story is seen through David’s eyes…the critic describes the action of the film without going all-in on critique.

Wise offers the essentials in Nebraska, but the thin commentary on the actors’ performance brings the work down…all the way down to AverageTown, and Wise is the Mayor.

The main players are referenced at the end of the Nebraska, but only with one or two sentences, which is the classic technique of an average review.

Will Forte, the co-star, “plays a very fine straight man,” which can be found in almost every review. The lead, Bruce Dern (who won Best Actor at Cannes), is awarded one sentence. A late reference to Tokyo Story fails to keep the reader awake. Hashtag snoozer. #snoozer

Nebraska is descriptive review that fails to offer more than the basics.

Buy Tickets: fandango.com/nebraska_164654

Original Post: e.xst.ma/tm/27XV

More Reviews: e.xst.ma/t/m/771355253

Rotten Tomatoes: rottentomatoes.com/m/771355253