Constructor: Alan Arbesfeld
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (or harder, if you're not familiar with the subject's body of work) (4:49)
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THEME: ROBERT / DENIRO (64A: With 65-Across, subject of this puzzle, born 8/17/1943) — a tribute puzzle honoring the actor on (or, you know, near) his 75th birthday:
Theme answers:
Is this puzzle talkin' to me!?
I don't know if it's talkin' to me, but I'm talking to you, and I'm telling you this is the worst kind of tribute puzzle. DENIRO is a legend and this puzzle has some great movies in it, but a grid crammed (over-crammed) with (sometimes arbitrary) trivia is one of the least pleasurable solving experiences imaginable. Here, I'll let constructing veteran Eric Berlin explain the problem:
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Oh, and lastly, I leave you with the puzzle's final problem—one that is somehow as pedestrian as it is pertinent: his birthday is T O M O R R O W ...
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (or harder, if you're not familiar with the subject's body of work) (4:49)
Theme answers:
- CASINO (1A: 64-/65-Across work of 1995)
- THE FAN (7A: 64-/65-Across work of 1996)
- GOODFELLAS (18A: 64-/65-Across work of 1990)
- RAGING BULL (34A: 64-/65-Across work of 1980)
- DEER HUNTER (40A: 64-/65-Across work of 1978, with "The")
- TAXI DRIVER (53A: 64-/65-Across work of 1976)
- FILM STUDIO (10D: Employer of 64-/65-Across)
- COMEDY CLUB (25D: Venue for a 64-/65-Across movie of 2016)
The Fan is a 1996 American psychological thriller film directed by Tony Scott, and starring Robert De Niro and Wesley Snipes, based on the novel by Peter Abrahams. [...] The Fan got mixed to negative reviews from critics, as it holds a 34% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 29 reviews. // The film brought in $18,626,419 in the United States and Canada. The opening weekend brought in $6,271,406 and then dropped down 47.2% the subsequent weekend. (wikipedia)
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Is this puzzle talkin' to me!?
I don't know if it's talkin' to me, but I'm talking to you, and I'm telling you this is the worst kind of tribute puzzle. DENIRO is a legend and this puzzle has some great movies in it, but a grid crammed (over-crammed) with (sometimes arbitrary) trivia is one of the least pleasurable solving experiences imaginable. Here, I'll let constructing veteran Eric Berlin explain the problem:
Suffers! I haven't seen ABIE is soooo long, what the hell? You're gonna bring him out of retirement at the same time you trot out ARNE and ENTR' and REUP and ITER (!) TRAX (!?) and three-R, non-Aaron BRRR, sir? C'mon, stop, Stop. YOW. And, hey, there's HRE! I would love it if there were 2016 campaign t-shirts with typos that said "I'M WITH HRE!" and, say, a picture of Charlemagne or something. I would wear one of those. But I digress. This puzzle has ATITand a TEAT, and also an ASS. Fun. What's not fun: totally forced, non-movie-title trivia like FILM STUDIO (?) and COMEDY CLUB. I mean, I loved "King of Comedy" but ... wait ... what? 2016 movie??? what the hell movie is that? [goes to wikipedia] ... "The Comedian"??? What Is That? Here, I'll tell you what it is. Actually, I won't. I'll just quote this tiny bit from the wikipedia entry:
In North America, The Comedian was released alongside Rings and The Space Between Us, and was projected to gross $1–3 million from about 800 theaters in its opening weekend. It ended up debuting to just $892,021, finishing 21st at the box office. Deadline Hollywoodattributed the film's poor opening to negative critical reception and lack of award buzz, similar to Gold the week prior.
So COMEDY CLUB is not just an arbitrary phrase, it's a phrase related to a movie that almost no one saw. Unreal. Seriously, these long Downs are just "Can I find *anything* lying around DENIRO's long career and/or the entire world of movie-making that I can shoehorn into this space?" The aesthetic decision-making here is baffling. And "THE FAN"??? LOL, what? You're gonna put iconic stuff like TAXI DRIVER and RAGING BULL and GOODFELLAS in here and then try to sneak "THE FAN" (???) in there in the upper right, like I'm not gonna notice. Lesser pics chosen solely for their ability to fit in a grid symmetrically Do Not Belong. It diminishes the tribute.
Oh, and lastly, I leave you with the puzzle's final problem—one that is somehow as pedestrian as it is pertinent: his birthday is T O M O R R O W ...
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]