Johnny has been The Post’s entertainment critic, its leading voice on movies and theater, since 2018. He began at The Post as an entertainment reporter in 2015 before moving to New York, he was a theater writer/editor at the Chicago Tribune and was chief theater critic of Newcity Chicago. He is a voting member of the New York Drama Critics Circle. Johnny majored in theater at Illinois State University. He lives in the East Village.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is a podcast from wor Here again is Larry
Minty with the WR Saturday Morning Show. There is a
brand new list of the best neighborhoods in New York
and New York Post entertainment critic Johnny Oleczinski says, it's
just plain stupid. Why.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Okay, So I'll preface this by saying, this isn't a
gallop pole, this isn't Rasmussen. This is a study from
a real estate website called Niche. And I came across
and this study and was just so appalled by its conclusions,
such as they are the number one neighborhood in New
York City to live in is apparently Little Italy. Who
(00:43):
wants to live on Mulberry Street at any given time?
Maybe on Arthur Avenue, the the better little Lily in
the Bronx. But the food isn't very good. It's crowded,
kind of gross. And they're saying they've based this all
on schools and I'm public transit. Cost of living? Can
(01:03):
you believe that cost of living in Little Italy? You know,
your four thousand dollars studio? What great cost of living?
Number two? We're nearby it the theater district, the theater district,
which compass is times square, right, so you know, you
watch the ball fall and there are people living near
the falling ball.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
You could become friends with the characters on the street.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
You could learn to love the smell of vomit, you know,
just embrace it.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Can I take a guess at number three Ellis Island?
Speaker 2 (01:36):
At least that has some character kIPS Bay, kIPS Bay
where you know finance bros go to lead beij existences
and good for them, good for them. But I would
invest with vests and you know, some some beer gardens,
which you know that sounds nice. But I just found
(01:59):
this totally unbelievable. And only out of twenty five, only
five of the neighborhoods are outside Manhattan.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Oh, I wish you were Just what's number one for you?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
I live in the East Village. I love the East Village.
Though I almost said in that I write funny stories.
Is pat myself on the back? I almost you know
ding these villages said the East Village is the best
neighborhood to feel nervous when you're at target.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
All right. Picture of Dorian Gray.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Oh, I like the picture of Dorian Gray. It's on
Broadway and it stars Sarah Snook, who is the daughter
on succession. She's an incredible actress, one of those actresses
you always forget is Australian because her American accent is perfect,
but now she's doing a perfect British accent. She plays
twenty six roles in it, and the way it works,
so she plays every character in the show, and there's
(02:47):
all these screens that keep emerging, and so she starts
acting with herself a pre recorded characters in costume, and
then the screens intermingle, so you're seeing multiple At one point,
Sarah Snook has dinner with six other Sarah Snooks and
you can't work. Oh, it absolutely works, and you can't
quite believe what you're watching. It's I've never seen camera
work on stage quite like that. It feels very new,
(03:10):
and some of the other critics find it apocalyptic. You know,
are we gonna need actors at all soon? If twenty
six Sarah Snooks can entertain us for two hours?
Speaker 1 (03:20):
This is about everything. Hollywood's going crazy about AI too.
I mean, everybody's concerned they're gonna be replaced, and I
don't think so. I mean, it's never going to get
to that point.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
No, And this is different because with Ai you can
always sort of sense when something isn't quite real and
it bugs people with it lacks motaneity. But this is
she shot all her stuff before. It's it's just incredible
to watch. I gave it three and a half stars.
I would highly recommend people go see it.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Oh that's wonderful. I am so upset about snow White.
I wanted it to be great. I really did, because
I have granddaughters and I was dying to take them
to see snow White, and their parents, my daughter and
her husband, said you cannot take them to see it.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Okay, So I went to see it. I disliked it strongly,
I didn't fully hate it. And it's going to be
a huge flop, huge flop. It's going to lose about
it an estimated one hundred and fifteen million for Disney,
which is not why they make snow White remakes. They
make snow White remakes to make a billion dollars. That's
what they want. And there's reason a lot of reasons
(04:26):
for this one. I think there's of course, the Rachel
Segler fork. You know, it's bad when stars get political.
It's always bad when stars get political. But also I
wonder do your granddaughters do they love snow White? Does
that title still holds a lot of sway?
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Yeah, all the Disney stuff, But my daughter loved Disney,
So they might be an aberration. It might be a
little bit different. I know where you're going with this,
and I think they may be an aberration because they
grew up in their eleven years with snow White.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
It's a classic movie and it is. I was reading
our nineteen three thirty seven review of it in the
Post where we said this is going to change animation forever,
and it absolutely did. It was their first feature film.
But the songs are other than the famous ones. They're
kind of operatic, so you can't do some of those
songs again. Snow White barely talks and the Prince barely talks.
(05:17):
And then really all it is is the dwarves. You chores? Uh?
So they do a lot. No, they cleaned. They cleaned
the house so much in that movie, which is great.
I mean, we all need, you know, seven people to
clean our eyes. But how do you remake that? So
and as we learned, you you don't. You shouldn't.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
I've one of my favorite stories about snow White is
who is the little guy from Game of Thrones?
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (05:44):
I can't think of it any Yeah, but he can't.
Peter Dankler. Peter, he came out and he said, we'd
stink at Jeopardy. He came out and he said that
are they serious? Are they serious about this? Dwarves work
working and cleaning up in a cave, living together. Come on,
(06:04):
haven't we moved past that? And you know who got
upset about that? The little people actors and actresses that
were in Hollywood, and they said, are you kidding me?
We're not all Peter Diglitz, right, you know we're not
gonna get these roles unless you shut your mouth.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Well, and that's the more valid criticism is from them,
which is the dwarfs have been replaced by very creepy
cgi lawn gnomes and they're the only that they look
less real than the woodland creatures. It's very confusing, and
I was very just weirded out by the dwarfs. They
should have hired actors to play them. What's wrong with that?
Nothing's wrong?
Speaker 1 (06:37):
How is that more politically correct?
Speaker 2 (06:39):
There's just so much, there's this undercurrent of fear they're
all spineless, feckless, scared and look what it did. It
made them lose a lot of money.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Oh you know what I love. You can't go wrong
with Jason Statham. That's the movie that won this last week.
And you know what you're gonna get. It's like going
to McDonald's.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
He hasn't done a single different thing in twenty years.
But it is fun. He's a fun great action star,
and he's funny, you know, discreetly funny, even though you
can also kill you. No.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
I love everything everything he does, aside from the one
we just talked about with Sarah Snook. What else is
on Broadway that it's worthwhile?
Speaker 2 (07:15):
So I'm gonna say something that's not worthwhile, but I
need to I need to tell the people, and that
is Glengarry Glenn Ross, The David Mammott Play with Kieran Coulkin,
Bob Odenkirk, Bill Burr. I saw it this week, reviewed
it last night. It was two stars from me. It
is the dullest production of that show you can imagine.
(07:37):
And it's such a great show, and how do you
make it? How do you make it all? They're screaming
at each other the whole time.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Was I not clear when I said worthwhile? I look,
Professor Larry, I know someone who saw it and liked it.
But you know, it's a lot of money, so I understand.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Well, and when you pay a lot of money, when
you pay nine hundred dollars to sit near the back,
you're gonna find a lot of reasons to like things.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Yeah, is there something good, Sarah Snook?
Speaker 2 (08:03):
That is what I recommend seeing. And we're about to
have fifteen more openings in the next three weeks. Oh great,
So it's high time everyone's racing to get that Tony Great.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Johnny Olezinski, entertainment critic for The New York Post, Thank
you so much. Always great to talk to you. This
has been a podcast from wor
This is a podcast from wor Here again is Larry
Minty with the WR Saturday Morning Show. There is a
brand new list of the best neighborhoods in New York
and New York Post entertainment critic Johnny Oleczinski says, it's
just plain stupid. Why.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Okay, So I'll preface this by saying, this isn't a
gallop pole, this isn't Rasmussen. This is a study from
a real estate website called Niche. And I came across
and this study and was just so appalled by its conclusions,
such as they are the number one neighborhood in New
York City to live in is apparently Little Italy. Who
(00:43):
wants to live on Mulberry Street at any given time?
Maybe on Arthur Avenue, the the better little Lily in
the Bronx. But the food isn't very good. It's crowded,
kind of gross. And they're saying they've based this all
on schools and I'm public transit. Cost of living? Can
(01:03):
you believe that cost of living in Little Italy? You know,
your four thousand dollars studio? What great cost of living?
Number two? We're nearby it the theater district, the theater district,
which compass is times square, right, so you know, you
watch the ball fall and there are people living near
the falling ball.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
You could become friends with the characters on the street.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
You could learn to love the smell of vomit, you know,
just embrace it.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Can I take a guess at number three Ellis Island?
Speaker 2 (01:36):
At least that has some character kIPS Bay, kIPS Bay
where you know finance bros go to lead beij existences
and good for them, good for them. But I would
invest with vests and you know, some some beer gardens,
which you know that sounds nice. But I just found
(01:59):
this totally unbelievable. And only out of twenty five, only
five of the neighborhoods are outside Manhattan.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Oh, I wish you were Just what's number one for you?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
I live in the East Village. I love the East Village.
Though I almost said in that I write funny stories.
Is pat myself on the back? I almost you know
ding these villages said the East Village is the best
neighborhood to feel nervous when you're at target.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
All right. Picture of Dorian Gray.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Oh, I like the picture of Dorian Gray. It's on
Broadway and it stars Sarah Snook, who is the daughter
on succession. She's an incredible actress, one of those actresses
you always forget is Australian because her American accent is perfect,
but now she's doing a perfect British accent. She plays
twenty six roles in it, and the way it works,
so she plays every character in the show, and there's
(02:47):
all these screens that keep emerging, and so she starts
acting with herself a pre recorded characters in costume, and
then the screens intermingle, so you're seeing multiple At one point,
Sarah Snook has dinner with six other Sarah Snooks and
you can't work. Oh, it absolutely works, and you can't
quite believe what you're watching. It's I've never seen camera
work on stage quite like that. It feels very new,
(03:10):
and some of the other critics find it apocalyptic. You know,
are we gonna need actors at all soon? If twenty
six Sarah Snooks can entertain us for two hours?
Speaker 1 (03:20):
This is about everything. Hollywood's going crazy about AI too.
I mean, everybody's concerned they're gonna be replaced, and I
don't think so. I mean, it's never going to get
to that point.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
No, And this is different because with Ai you can
always sort of sense when something isn't quite real and
it bugs people with it lacks motaneity. But this is
she shot all her stuff before. It's it's just incredible
to watch. I gave it three and a half stars.
I would highly recommend people go see it.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Oh that's wonderful. I am so upset about snow White.
I wanted it to be great. I really did, because
I have granddaughters and I was dying to take them
to see snow White, and their parents, my daughter and
her husband, said you cannot take them to see it.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Okay, So I went to see it. I disliked it strongly,
I didn't fully hate it. And it's going to be
a huge flop, huge flop. It's going to lose about
it an estimated one hundred and fifteen million for Disney,
which is not why they make snow White remakes. They
make snow White remakes to make a billion dollars. That's
what they want. And there's reason a lot of reasons
(04:26):
for this one. I think there's of course, the Rachel
Segler fork. You know, it's bad when stars get political.
It's always bad when stars get political. But also I
wonder do your granddaughters do they love snow White? Does
that title still holds a lot of sway?
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Yeah, all the Disney stuff, But my daughter loved Disney,
So they might be an aberration. It might be a
little bit different. I know where you're going with this,
and I think they may be an aberration because they
grew up in their eleven years with snow White.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
It's a classic movie and it is. I was reading
our nineteen three thirty seven review of it in the
Post where we said this is going to change animation forever,
and it absolutely did. It was their first feature film.
But the songs are other than the famous ones. They're
kind of operatic, so you can't do some of those
songs again. Snow White barely talks and the Prince barely talks.
(05:17):
And then really all it is is the dwarves. You chores? Uh?
So they do a lot. No, they cleaned. They cleaned
the house so much in that movie, which is great.
I mean, we all need, you know, seven people to
clean our eyes. But how do you remake that? So
and as we learned, you you don't. You shouldn't.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
I've one of my favorite stories about snow White is
who is the little guy from Game of Thrones?
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (05:44):
I can't think of it any Yeah, but he can't.
Peter Dankler. Peter, he came out and he said, we'd
stink at Jeopardy. He came out and he said that
are they serious? Are they serious about this? Dwarves work
working and cleaning up in a cave, living together. Come on,
(06:04):
haven't we moved past that? And you know who got
upset about that? The little people actors and actresses that
were in Hollywood, and they said, are you kidding me?
We're not all Peter Diglitz, right, you know we're not
gonna get these roles unless you shut your mouth.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Well, and that's the more valid criticism is from them,
which is the dwarfs have been replaced by very creepy
cgi lawn gnomes and they're the only that they look
less real than the woodland creatures. It's very confusing, and
I was very just weirded out by the dwarfs. They
should have hired actors to play them. What's wrong with that?
Nothing's wrong?
Speaker 1 (06:37):
How is that more politically correct?
Speaker 2 (06:39):
There's just so much, there's this undercurrent of fear they're
all spineless, feckless, scared and look what it did. It
made them lose a lot of money.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Oh you know what I love. You can't go wrong
with Jason Statham. That's the movie that won this last week.
And you know what you're gonna get. It's like going
to McDonald's.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
He hasn't done a single different thing in twenty years.
But it is fun. He's a fun great action star,
and he's funny, you know, discreetly funny, even though you
can also kill you. No.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
I love everything everything he does, aside from the one
we just talked about with Sarah Snook. What else is
on Broadway that it's worthwhile?
Speaker 2 (07:15):
So I'm gonna say something that's not worthwhile, but I
need to I need to tell the people, and that
is Glengarry Glenn Ross, The David Mammott Play with Kieran Coulkin,
Bob Odenkirk, Bill Burr. I saw it this week, reviewed
it last night. It was two stars from me. It
is the dullest production of that show you can imagine.
(07:37):
And it's such a great show, and how do you
make it? How do you make it all? They're screaming
at each other the whole time.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Was I not clear when I said worthwhile? I look,
Professor Larry, I know someone who saw it and liked it.
But you know, it's a lot of money, so I understand.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Well, and when you pay a lot of money, when
you pay nine hundred dollars to sit near the back,
you're gonna find a lot of reasons to like things.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Yeah, is there something good, Sarah Snook?
Speaker 2 (08:03):
That is what I recommend seeing. And we're about to
have fifteen more openings in the next three weeks. Oh great,
So it's high time everyone's racing to get that Tony Great.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Johnny Olezinski, entertainment critic for The New York Post, Thank
you so much. Always great to talk to you. This
has been a podcast from wor
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