Peckerwood Manor

While watching Lee Daniels' new movie, "The Deliverance," I was struck by the three lead actresses, Glenn Close, Andra Day and Demi Singleton, by how believable they were as a troubled, but close-knit, family. In one key scene, Close, the matriarch, tends to her adult daughter's hair, played by Day, and in turn, Day tends to her pre-teen daughter's hair, played by Singleton, while they all half-watch "Valley of the Dolls" on TV and chat about their day. It's a brief, near-throwaway scene, but it felt so real, so casually lived-in, that it almost seemed documentary-like - but much fuller, juicier, as much of this movie is before the horror kicks in.  This one haircare scene, I think, exemplifies why "The Deliverance" works so well, even with its minor missteps. The actresses, especially Close and Day, give masterful, but not showy, performances; they're relaxed in their characters' skin in a way few actors are. Likewise, Daniels'

Welcome, fellow trollops, to the latest edition of "Who's This Week's Thirstiest Ho?" Today's trio are drier than a months-old dead opossum on the side of the road, s o they need all the moisture they can get. First up, we have Richard Dreyfuss , a phlegmatic, has-been actor who happily engages in "consensual seduction rituals," as he cheerfully termed it after being accused of whipping out his gherkin to a barely 20 year-old female writer in a studio trailer . "I remember my face being brought close to his penis,” said the writer. “The idea was that I was going to give him a blow job. I didn’t, and I left.” Those writers, so uptight.  Swing, baby, swing! But maybe don't swing when it comes to Richard's son, Harry , who in 2017 claims that his penis was groped and fondled through his pants when he was an underage teenager by none other than  Kevin Spacey,  all while an unwitting Richard was in the same room. The company you keep, amirite? On