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Adaptation First off, I found an old file the other day. It was a simpletext document created on Dec 18, 2000 at 9:41pm and modified at 9:48pm. I had written extremely brief comments on two films that I had seen, and I had never put those "reviews" up on my site. So, now is the time. This is those notes, slightly elaborated upon, largely from memory (not very good). For Proof of Life I wrote "Carusu - Marvin, craggy, cold." Which means that I thought that David Caruso, in a supporting role, was reminiscent of hero and icon, Lee Marvin. As David Thomson once wrote "Lee Marvin was the last of the great wintry heroes." That's to help explain the "cold" part I wrote. Proof of Life stars Meg Ryan and Russell Crowe -- in their infamous pairing which helped lead to the breakup of Hollywood-Montana sweethearts, Ryan and Dennis Quaid. Quaid would go on to have the most successful year of his career in 2002 in Far From Heaven and The Rookie, there was talk of an Oscar nomination, or even two, but only talk as it turned out. Far From Heaven was pretty great, and Quaid was fine in it; The Rookie is G-rated pablum about an aged ballplayer who goes back to the "bigs" at age 57 or something. Very moving, inspirational, and blah. But, it turns out a great British character actor, Michael Kitchen is also in POL. Kitchen has recently had his biggest success -- on British TV (and on PBS's Mystery!) as Christopher Foyle in "Foyle's War" (2002). Other appearances include: Lorna Doone (2000) (TV), The Railway Children (2000) (TV), Bill Tanner in The World Is Not Enough (1999) and GoldenEye (1995), Mrs. Dalloway (1997), A Royal Scandal (1996) (TV), Doomsday Gun (1994) (TV), The Trial (1993), Enchanted April (1992), as Clive in The Russia House (1990), The Browning Version (1985) (TV), Out of Africa (1985), King Lear (1982) (TV), Brimstone and Treacle (1976) (TV), Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972). Notable TV Guest Appearances include "A Touch of Frost", "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles", "Inspector Morse", "Lovejoy", and "The Professionals". Michael Kitchen was born on Halloween in 1948 in Leicester, Leicestershire, England. He is an Associate Member of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Anyway, Ryan hires a professional negotiator to obtain the release of her engineer husband, who has been kidnapped by anti-government guerrillas in South America. The negotiator is Crowe, the husband is David Morse; with Pamela Reed and the Polish actor Zbigniew Zamachowski (star of Three Colors: White [1994]) appears briefly as Crowe's driver. Directed by Taylor Hackford. Produced by Taylor Hackford and Charles Mulvehill. Original Music by Danny Elfman. Cinematography by Poland's Slawomir Idziak, born 1945, who also photographed Black Hawk Down (2001), The Last September (1999), Gattaca (1997), Three Colors: Blue (1993), The Double Life of Veronique (1991), the mini-series "Dekalog" (1987) -- and is also credited with co-writing the story for Blue (1993). By the way, you might want to click on the link to buy the Dekalog series through Amazon, it's Krzysztof Kieslowski's series of 10 one-hour dramas originally made for Polish TV in 1988 and 1989 and seen throughout the world in film festivals and cinematheque and museum programs. Though each episode is inspired by one of the Ten Commandments of the Bible, these are not Sunday school fables illustrating some simplistic moral lesson--the connections to the individual commandments are not always obvious and are often downright curious--but powerful, profound stories of love and loss, faith and fear. Kieslowski explores ordinary people flailing through inner torments, hard decisions, and shattering revelations, grounding his stories in the faces of their deeply human characters. The above "Bible" link goes to a Bible at Amazon -- a Catholic Bible! Born Again Christians look down on Catholics and, as an added bonus, think they are going to "Hell." Proof of Life is produced by Anvil Productions Inc., Bel Air Entertainment, Castle Rock Entertainment. Distributed by Warner Bros. Rated R for violence, language and some drug material. Runtime: 135 min. In the US you need to be 17 to see Proof of Life alone. In Spain, only 7. Also in that simpletext document: "And then on Sunday at 12:45 I met Pete at the Lumiere and we saw A Hard Day's Night." That just about sums that one up. If you've seen those clips of the Beatles in the 60s, in black and white, running around like it's a Monty Python sketch, that's pretty all you need to know. It's about an hour and a half of that. Others are more excited about this film than me, including, Roger Ebert, who loves it so much he has two different glowing reviews of it at the suntimes.com site: one and two. Saw Chicago.
Liked. Probably liked The Hours, surprisingly, the most of those four. I already wrote something about Chicago, but didn't remember so I wrote this: 9:45pm Wed 1.8.3 PG13 Galaxy Student $7 bought at 9:26pm. I saw this movie with my friend Amy Carroll. It was pretty good. Gere, who is usually rather an irritating actor is good here. Queen Latifah is surprisingly good as a prison warden or matron or something. Zellweger and Zeta Jones are both good. Chicago was good and Gere was better than usual, or even, ever. Previously in films we were supposed to find him charming, but here in this film the unsinkable sense of Gere's smarm was able to bubble up from his character's phony charm. It worked well. I'm not a big Gere fan, but along with all the other nominations, he should have been nominated too. Adaptation 1.15.3 11:45am Adult $5.75. Clever, funny, good performances, quirky, but not as good as Being John Malkovich. A tiny bit of a disappointment. But still quite good. Some very funny little bits. The Hours. CineArts Pleasant Hill. Thu 1.16.3. $5.75. Bought at 11:37am from Jason. John C. Reilly has now played the exact same character in three films in 2002: this, The Good Girl, and Chicago. And while he's good, this was too much. He's slipping on my list. This is pretty lazy. With The Hours I was expecting more of a "weepy" or "women's picture" but it's really good. The story is edited beautifully, and we are able to go back and forth to the 40s, the 60s and today without distraction. Streep and Kidman are outstanding. Julianne Moore is good too, but not as good as she was in Far from Heaven; a little less to do here. Ed Harris is okay, a little showy; Claire Danes is always a delight to see. The story revolves around three women in different eras who are all profoundly affected by the works of Virginia Woolf. with Stephen Dillane as Leonard Woolf, Miranda Richardson, Toni Collette, Allison Janney, Jeff Daniels, Eileen Atkins. Directed by Stephen Daldry. Screenplay by David Hare from Michael Cunningham novel. Produced by Robert Fox and Scott Rudin. Original Music by Philip Glass. MPAA: Rated PG-13 for mature thematic elements, some disturbing images and brief language. Runtime: 114 min. Tonight I went to the Castro for the first time in "ages" and saw a lost, forgotten SF noir, Woman on the Run with Ann Sheridan. It was thought lost, and recently this old original negative was uncovered. Very nifty, thrifty noir. Cheap, but --
-- back to Woman on the Run. 78 sweet minutes of tight, cleverly constructed, and efficiently executed noir. Got two cookies at Hot Cookie before the movie (peanut butter and peanut butter and milk chocolate chips [which, while good, is more like a ton of milk chocolate with a little bit of peanut butter cookie mixed in]). And a nice med popcorn and med Coke (which ran out too soon). I also had a headache and had luckily brought along two Excedrin which I just barely had enough Coke left to wash down. This was also a 2pm Saturday afternoon show, on a super gorgeous (sunny, not too cool) day in SF, and there was a huge turnout! I was in the third or fourth row back from the front (which is not a problem for me). (More on Woman on the Run below.) I saw The Pianist on Friday, Jan 17, 2003. $9.50. 3:00pm. Clay Theatre. I ended up more recently having a talk about The Pianist with a friend of mine on the AOL IM. I liked The Pianist, but she loved it. Anyway, I figured I would just post this IM conversation here as a review of sorts. Her name has been changed. This conversation took place over a month after I saw the film:
I have found myself recently, when I'm watching a movie, really noticing dogs. Like in my head I'm going, ohh look at that dog! Like a girl. But I am instantly drawn to what the dog is doing. And I've been seeing a lot of dogs in movies lately. In tonight's noir rarity at the Stanford Theatre and in at least two of the three noir films I saw at the Castro fest. My therapist would say it's a good thing. During January 17‚26 the Castro Theatre in San Francisco had a film noir retrospective they called... NOIR CITY. It was noir that was filmed in and/or took place in San Francisco... Now entering NOIR CITY... Hometown author and film noir expert Eddie Muller has chosen twenty films, all set in San Francisco, all glorious 35mm prints for the first annual Noir City Film Festival. Immerse yourself in ten nights of endless intrigue and timeless style, and see San Francisco as it will never be again. Presented in association with the San Francisco Film Society... I saw these three -- they were all quite enjoyable: Saturday, January 18. Woman on the Run. 2:00, 5:30, 9:10 A rarely-seen film noir classic revived! A fearful wife teams up with a crusading reporter to locate her husbandóthe terrified witness to a murderóbefore the killer can silence him. Fantastic city locations, including a spectacular rollercoaster climax at the once-thriving Playland. With Ann Sheridan, Dennis OíKeefe. (1950) 78m. Friday, January 24. Shakedown. 7:20 An ambitious shutterbug becomes the star photographer for a San Francisco newspaper, thanks to a nose for news and no discernible ethics. One of the most rarely-screened of all film noirs, featuring non-stop double-crosses and an appropriately dark conclusion. Directed by Joe Pevney. With Howard Duff, Brian Donlevy, Peggy Dow, Lawrence Tierney. (1950) 80m. Saturday, January 25. The Sniper. 3:30, 7:10 This groundbreaking film, shot entirely in San Francisco, is a fascinating early treatment of the serial killer theme. Truly the first of its kind, featuring inspired use of local backdrops. Nominated for Best Original Screenplay. Directed by Edward Dmytryk. With Arthur Franz, Adolphe Menjou, Richard Kiley, Marie Windsor. (1952) 87m. Here's some more IM dialogue:
Here's some Exp in Terror/SF history. Lost in La Mancha. Bridge. 1.31.3. 4:50pm. $.9.50. Sold by Elisa. A documentary on Terry Gilliam's failed attempt to film Don Quixote with Jean Rochefort and Johnny Depp.
Dateline: February 7, 2003: Might drive down to the Stanford today to see a rare Anthony Mann film noir, The Great Flamarion (I think he's a magician) with Erich von Stroheim and Dan Duryea and Mary Beth Hughes. The Stanford Theatre. 2.7.3. The Great Flamarion. 1945. 6pm. So, I did drive down to the Stanford and saw it! I saw a rare Anthony Mann b-noir last night at the Stanford, The Great Flamarion! The Great Flamarion, 1945, directed by Anthony Mann, very much a B picture. The director-who-also-at-times-acted, Erich von Stroheim, here plays a magician. There is a classic noir femme fatale woman (that means "black deadly woman woman") in this one who is married to Dan Duryea and he's a drunk, and they both work in the Great Flamarion's act. The Great Flamarion shoots a gun. And, well, he just kind of keeps on shooting, like, say, glasses they are holding or cigarets they are smoking ("they" being Duryea and M.B. Hurt), and so she talks the Great Flamer into shooting her husband on purpose. So anyway, she talks the Flamer into shooting her husband and they can say it was an accident because he (the husband) was drunk (which he would of course be, because he always is), so they do that. Of course the majority of the film is told via flashback from a dying Flamarian. This is all very similar to Double Indemnity, which is a near quintessential noir classic. So anyway, the woman is pretty classic in this one, she (Mary Beth Hughes) is totally lying to everyone, and before she even gets the Flamarion to kill her husband she's already got another guy on the side, and to boot, her husband isn't even really her husband! Cuckoo stuff, this. Mary Beth Hughes was a hard-boiled blonde in 40's "B" movies who remains a cult favorite. The Working Girls (1973), Dig That Uranium (1956), Las Vegas Shakedown (1955), Highway Dragnet (1954), Passage West (1951), Young Man with a Horn (1950), Inner Sanctum (1948), Caged Fury (1948), I Accuse My Parents (1945), The Lady Confesses (1945), Never a Dull Moment (1943), The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), Orchestra Wives (1942), Charlie Chan in Rio (1941), Dressed to Kill (1941), The Women (1939), These Glamour Girls (1939). She was born on November 13, 1919, Alton, Illinois, and died on the 27th of August 1995, in Los Angeles, California. On the way back from the Flamarion I got in a car accident with another guy. We both appear to be alright. It was, I assume, my fault. I ran into the back of his car. We were going about 30 mph or so, it was trafficky and we were on the freeway in the slow lane. I was about to get off at the Duboce/Mission exit. There were probably three car lengths in between us, then in the lane to our left was this big, old van, and the guy in the passenger seat was leaning halfway out the car and pointing, I looked over and then got caught up looking at him because I didn't know if he was trying to get over or what he was saying, and when I looked back, the traffic in front of me had stopped and I couldn't stop in time, and hit this guy's car. The whole front of the car is smashed. Here's the pic. The hood is smashed up and the front grill and bumper, the windshield wiper started going and used up all it's wiper fluid and I couldn't turn it off, but now it's stopped. I don't think any of the rest of the car was damaged, but I don't know. His back bumper was a little dented, hardly noticeable compared to what I got. His name was Victor and he was very nice. And I was very nice, and the cops were very nice. And young. I'm getting old. I think I was older than all four of the cops who showed up. The police came and wrote up a police report. The guy in the other car and I exchanged phone numbers. I can call a number the policeman gave me to get a copy of the police report. The car seems to be drivable... but this all totally sucks. Aftermath. That was written the night it happened. Now it's March 17 as I write this. There was a $500 deductable. Insurance also paid for a rental car for the week and a half my car was in the shop. First they gave me a big, bright yellow SUV, then I switched it for a new Volvo. They both had CD players, which was my only criteria. Car is back. Total damage approx $7000. Driving down, I burned a hole into my good shirt when some clove cigaret ash fell on it and I didn't notice. A friend of mine asked me "are you more upset about your shirt or the car?" Interesting question. Well, the car's been fixed as I write this, but, the shirt's irreplaceable. Although it lives on as a blankie for Mr C (see pic). The Quiet American. The Bridge. Ticket sold by "Joshua." Monday. 2.10.3. 4:40pm. $9.50. I had gone to see The Quiet Am. at the Bridge at 7:15 on Friday the 7th, but it was sold out. Here's some info on the original 1958 version. Now, onto the remake of The Quiet American, which was based on Graham Greene's The Quiet American, The Quiet American. I saw The Quiet American and liked it and Caine was great. If I'm judging who should win the Oscar between Nicholson and Caine -- if I'm judging strictly on performance, I don't know, I might go with Jack, but if I'm dealing with who I want to win in re who I want to have what and how many oscars, then I must admit I would love for Caine to get a lead actor Oscar to add to his two supporting ones. I know he wants it very badly. Nicholson seems to have been up on that stage so many times, maybe the academy will go with Caine. But Caine was completely ignored for the SAG awards. And The Quiet American is just released now and I don't know how many people will see it. That was written to someone who asked me about Nicholson v. Caine, and before Day Lewis (Gangs of New York) started gaining momentum. I am writing this on March 15, so we will find out soon! Brendan Fraser was fine as Pyle, but Tzi Ma was great as a co-worker/employee of Caine's and Do Thi Hai Yen was also very good as Caine's mistress. Usually this type of role is underwritten and a bit of a throwaway, but not here, and she was very good. Directed by Phillip Noyce. I was really tired when I saw Quai des Orfevres at the Castro at some time between Feb 14th and Feb 20th. I don't remember much of it. But Mick LaSalle liked it: Film noir. Starring Suzy Delair and Bernard Blier. Directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot. (Not rated. 102 minutes. At the Castro.). "Quai des Orfevres" (1947) is an excellent film noir from Henri-Georges Clouzot, the French director best known for "The Wages of Fear" (1952) and "Diabolique" (1955). "Quai" shares with those masterpieces a sophisticated understanding of human psychology and, if anything, has an even greater sense of atmosphere. He Loves Me He Loves Me Not; Lumiere; Sunday, Feb 23, 2003, 7pm; $9. Ticket sold by Lucius. Tagline: Every Love Story Has Two Sides. Audrey Tautou star of Amelie. And the film was definitely marketed as an Amelie type of film, which this wasn't. It was okay. It was pretty to look at. It was bright with colors, and Audrey Tautou is very cute. But the movie depends on a gimmick which I saw coming after about 3 minutes. I saw this movie with a girl, or woman, we'll call Veronica. She liked the movie much less than I did. This was technically, "a date". It was our first date. And we were both aware going into this thing that going to a movie was a bad idea for a first date. We even talked about it. We must have thought that if we acknowledged that a movie is a bad first date (since you don't really have much of an opportunity to talk, or make any kind of connection) that alone would counteract the fact that we were still doing it. But I don't think it did. I'lll try to summarize the rest of this. Unless I decide to start rambling instead. So, she was like, I really like you, but I don't feel any chemistry. She may have also used the word "spark." And I was like "Hmmmm, well do you think that you didn't feel a spark because you wouldn't have with me anyway, or because of something I did, or didn't, do, or some way I acted? I have this problem, I've found, where I don't always give off the right vibe right away. Comments?" So, I was asking her if what I was calling a sort of nervousness, was to her a case of no chemistry. "I never have chemistry with people, at least not right away, it's something I'm working on. I don't have much experience really in the whole dating thing yet really. But if you just didn't think I was attractive or whatever, then, there's nothing I could do or could have done, I guess." So, then she said something like, "Chemistry v. nervousness... I don't know, maybe we should go ahead and hang out again." So, then we talked on the phone (Thursday night) and I think that went really well. And I was going to go over to her place on Saturday, the first of March. So then, on Saturday she called to cancel. She had also been seeing another guy; she had had a first date with him the day before she met me (this is all sort of as far as I can remember), and then she had had a second date with him Friday night. And that went really well, and she really liked him and said she didn't feel right about seeing me that night. All of that was hugely disappointing, of course, but also totally understandable. So we parted amicably, I think they say, and I was like, if this doesn't work out for you please feel free to call me. So, I didn't really think I'd hear from her. But I did. More later... Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. Aud 6. Shattuck. With Jenny. 4pm. 2.27.3. Bargain: $6. Sam Rockwell as TV game show host/producer Chuck Barris. I saw CoaDM in Berkeley with my friend Jenny on a Wednesday. Sam Rockwell was very good as Barris. With Drew Barrymore (very good) George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Rutger Hauer, Krista Allen, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jerry Weintraub, Richard Kind, and Artie Lange. Dark and comic, but not quite a dark comedy. Well done. Clooney's Ocean's Eleven co-stars Brad Pitt and Matt Damon appear briefly in very funny cameos. Chuck Barris, Dick Clark, Jaye P. Morgan, Gene Patton (Gene Gene the Dancing Machine), Jim Lange, Murray Langston (the Unknown Comic) all appear as themselves in interesting documentary like segments speaking briefly about Barris. Directing debut of George Clooney. Screenplay by Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich) based on the book by Chuck Barris. Executive producers: Steven Soderbergh, Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, etc. A couple months before I saw CoaDM I bought the book, and two other novels, soon to be released as films: 25th Hour and Rabbit-Proof Fence. I ended up seeing both Mind and 25th Hour because it looked like they were going to be pulled, and I hadn't finished either book. Now (March 16), Rabbit-Proof is on it's last legs -- at the Balboa (it had been really successful and had a long stay at the Embarcadero, then it finally went to the Opera Plaza, but was only there one week, and now it's at the second run theatre, the Balboa, probably only until Thursday) -- and I still haven't read much. Dumb. I think I am just going to have to see it next week and cut my losses. The Life of David Gale. Vogue. 4:15pm. Sat. 3.1.3. Bargain: $6.75. R. Ticket sold at 4:14pm. I emailed a friend: "today I went and saw this movie The Life of David Gale. Which sucked. Kevin Spacey was irritating [and of course he's been great], and the movie/ story/ script were so bad, on so many levels it was laughable. And it was 130 minutes." But before I saw this shit David Gale, I emailed a few people, including my mom, the link to a critique of the film: "Ebert gives a rough review to David Gale for apparently political reasons... 'Let it be said this movie is about as corrupt, intellectually bankrupt and morally dishonest as it could possibly be without David Gale actually hiring himself out as a joker at the court of Saddam Hussein.' For the full review check this out." I also sent my mom this email: "Roger Ebert takes a break from films to write an essay entitled: Public Prayer Fanatics Borrow Page from Enemy's Script. Ebert points out something that I like to keep pointing out to the conservatives and religious fanatics: 'The pledge, written in 1892, had those words (under God) added to it in 1954 by politicians.'" So then Mom thought she was being smart and emailed me: "yeah yeah yeah.....Ebert should stick to his movies and not get his panties in a bunch over God being in the Pledge of Allegiance. Does he know that God is on his money too? Another thing, does Ebert give a zero rating to David Hale because of artistic failures... or because he wasn't happy with the way capital punishment was dealt with?" I don't know if my mom was drunk when she wrote that, or what, but I responded:
Gerry (R, 103 min.) 2:20pm. March 3, 2003. Embarcadero. With Jenny. Gerry was weird. About 8 people walked out on it. I thought it was way better than your average two-star studio, high gloss, big budget, committee approved mainstream shit. Let me say that first. This movie was directed by Gus Van Sant and starred Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's much less annoying brother, Casey Affleck. That is pretty much entire cast. These two guys are buddies who go hiking in a desert or the mountains and get lost. There are long takes of them just walking. And the dialog is all purposefully banal. At times I felt like, okay, let's get to the next scene -- one long, long tracking shot just followed them and kept both their faces in profile as they were walking went forever, Jenny nudged me when I dozed off briefly. This is one of those movies where people say "everyone either loves it or hates it" and movies where everyone either loves it or hates are usually movies that I think are okay. I'm in the middle. I'm kind of in the middle on this one. You could put it on the TV when it comes out on DVD and just let it play over and over and it could be used like a fireplace, just as ambiance. Wednesday, March 5, from the Treasures from the American Film Theatre Series, the Castro Theatre presents "The Homecoming at 2:00, 4:30, 7:00, 9:30. Chilling, mordant, hilariousóthis is easily the best film adaptation of Harold Pinter. Cyril Cusack, Ian Holm and Vivien Merchant head the peerless cast in this tale of a long-absent professor's return home to introduce his wife to his retired father and brothers. Directed by Peter Hall. (1973) 114m." I had never heard of this play or movie before and I loved it. The most dysfunctional of dysfunctional families. They need to release this movie on DVD so everyone can see it. It's wild. It's like a very very dark comedy, about child abuse, sexual perversion, fathers and sons and bitter and biting Irish. Or English. Don't know about that, but this movie was awesome! Thursday, March 6, 2003. All the Real Girls at the Lumiere. 7:30pm show, $9. Ticket sold by Zak. B+ from E! Online. Their review: "It's real all right. In fact, the second feature from critically acclaimed director David Gordon Green (George Washington) is so much like real life it may turn off people used to seeing typical, tidy Hollywood screen romances. Paul Schneider has been through all of the girls in his small, depressed North Carolina town. Zooey Deschanel is a novice at love who makes Schneider want to be better then breaks his heart. But by the time they get to that moment of truth, you'll have drifted through so many odd, fractured, romantic moments, non-sequiturs, silences and goofy inside jokes you'll think you've fallen upon someone's really embarrassing diary put to film. Green, who calls his work "redneck surrealism," makes messy poetry out of life's throwaway moments and all the things that other filmmakers might cut away from. And that's what makes this charming, strange film deserve all the love its characters keep trying to find." Well, I agree with most of that, I guess. I love Zooey Deschanel. It's taking me so long to get these films up, that I'm rushing them through at the end. Saturday, March 8, 2003. Old School at the Rheem. 5pm. $8. Ticket sold by Katy. Very disappointing, as most of these comedies are. There are a few laughs but this should have been a lot better. 30-something pals Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn and Luke Wilson go through a pre-midlife crisis. They rent a house in a college town and party. Very annoying ending, where the boys realize they have to grow up. Elisha Cuthbert from Fox's 24 has a small role as a hot co-ed. Okay, so remember that date I went on? We saw He Loves Me He Loves Me Not? And all that happened? Good. So anyway, Veronica called me Sunday afternoon. March 9. And she apparently still sort of seeing this other guy, but she had really liked talking to me, apparently, and decided she'd call. So we talked for a while, and then we were trying to think of something to do. We definitely weren't going to see a movie again. Right? So it was decided that she'd come and pick me up and we'd go to the Beach and, uh, see what was going on down there. But, by the time she got here it was cold and dark and that didn't seem like such a good time. So she was like, we could still see that movie we talked about. I'd rather have gone someplace like a coffee shop and just talked, or "chatted," but she wasn't into that I don't think, so we went to see Spider. Sunday, March 9, 2003. Spider at the Lumiere with Veronica. 7:30pm. $9. Sold by "Evol." Now, I don't know what I was doing, but it certainly wasn't creating any kind of intimacy. Physical or otherwise. It was like I was seeing a movie with my sister, that's just where I'm at in my very, very slow progression from child to man. Now, I like this girl, and I know that at least on some level she likes me, or did. And when she was feeling no chemistry, I was like, that's not a chemistry thing between us that is or isn't happening, that's me putting up a wall of defense or something. This wall kind of comes down after a little while, but well... afterwards she was like, "yeah, no chemistry again." Meanwhile, Monday, March 9, 2003. City of God. Empire 3. $6. 5pm. Sold by Stephen, at 4:56pm. Art/Foreign; 2 hours, 13 minutes; rated R. O. Roca, from the SF Chronicle give this little man sitting, clapping in the chair. That's the equivalent of three stars, I guess. O. says: "Relentless violence, casual murders, rape as revenge and children with guns: That is the reality of life in the Brazilian slums that inspired Fernando Meirelles' motion picture about a group of boys who grow up to be gangsters in one of the most dangerous ghettos on earth. Shocking but ultimately not as moving as it ought to be, Brazil's entry in the foreign-language Oscar race is brutal, tough to watch but impossible to ignore. The picture contains scenes of rape and other graphic violence." I think O. missed something and that is that this movie is more than just Kids-style in your face exploitation/social consciousness drama, it's as rich and layered and engrossing as the best of Scorsese's movies. Obviously I was reminded of Scorsese while watching it. Very cinematic. But back to the "yeah, no chemistry again" part: so I emailed her:
So she sent me an email where in the subject bar was "Prodigious and Glorious," and inside she wrote something like, "Of course you are :-) I never doubted it. I'll write more when I have something to say--" So that was Sunday and Monday. Then on Tuesday I had "therapy." And I talked about all of this with my "therapist." And he was all into "how did that make you feel" type stuff. So anyway, I wrote her another email, at the suggestion of my "therapist." But I wanted to write it also. Kind of like a here's the whole deal/what I'm thinking totally open "statement of purpose." I don't know if I should put that up on my site though. It's long. But it also might say a little bit about her, which I don't want to do. I mean we want to keep her totally anonymous. Well, I'll put it up for now...
So anyway, in that long email, I maybe say more about her -- and my parents, ha ha -- than I should, but in the interest of truth, proper mental health and artistic integrity, I went ahead. Now, I'm going to print her reply. It's short, and I may edit it a little, but not to hide, or cloud, the truth. What would be the point of that anyway? So, I sent that email to her very early Thursday morning. And then late Thursday morning she replied...
It is very late Sunday 16th now. I haven't heard back from Veronica again yet. But I did see Laurel Canyon today at the Empire 3. Medium popcorn and medium Coke. This movie was good, but not great. Good performances especially by Frances McDormand. Also Christian Bale, Kate Beckinsale, Natascha McElhone, Alessandro Nivola. Writer-director Lisa Cholodenko directed episodes of "Six Feet Under" and "Homicide: Life on the Street", and the film High Art (1998) starring Radha Mitchell, Patricia Clarkson and Ally Sheedy. Around this time I had been renting a lot of movies too. Quite a few films from 2002 that I missed, and wanted to see in case any of them needed to be put onto my Best of 2002 list. These all came from Le Video in San Francisco: I rented John Sayles' Sunshine State a few weeks before these ones listed below. Here's what I emailed my sister about it: "You might want to rent (new on video/dvd) from 2002, Sunshine State with Edie Falco, Timothy Hutton, Angela Bassett, Alan King, the great Clifton James (Experiment in Terror, The Untouchables, and as the Southern sheriff in Live and Let Die and The Man with the Golden Gun), the guy who plays Chandler's boss on Friends, Marc Blucas (Riley from Buffy)." Oh yeah, I rented Van Wilder. A bit of a disappointment. I mean I didn't expect it to be any good, but it was a little worse than what I was planning on. Although Ryan Reynolds is always charming and funny. There is an R rated version and an unrated version. I believe the unrated version contains extra minutes of the masturbation of a dog with extremely large testicles. 2.15.3 Blood Work (2002). Starring: Clint Eastwood, Jeff Daniels. Director: Clint Eastwood. A retired FBI profiler (Eastwood), who has recently had a heart transplant, is hired by a woman, to investigate the death of her sister, Gloria, who happens to have given McCaleb his heart! On the case, he soon deducts that the killer, who staged the murder to look like a random robbery, may actually be a serial killer Terry was trailing for years in the FBI. Can the aging McCaleb, who had intended to spend his retirement living on his boat in the Los Angeles harbor, and who can't drive(!), muster up the endurance to find the killer!?! Blood Work co-stars Jeff Daniels, Anjelica Huston, Wanda De Jesus, Paul Rodriguez, Dylan Walsh.After winning Oscars for himself for producing (Best Picture) and directing one of his best films, the dark western Unforgiven (which also won Oscars for Best Supporting Actor [Gene Hackman], Best Editing, and was nominated for Actor [Eastwood], Art Direction, Cinematography, Sound, and Screenplay) in 1992, Eastwood has directed 7 films and starred in 7 films (a total of 8 films, one he starred in but did not direct, and one he directed but did not star in). Except for In the Line of Fire (1993) directed by Wolfgang Petersen, none of these films have been really great, but there is a consistency of old school pared-down craftsmanship that kind of gets the story told quickly and efficiently with very little pointless tangential excursions so common in today's films. I have come to admire this aspect more and more and allow some of the artistic flaws or nonentities in his films. These films are: In the Line of Fire (1993), A Perfect World (1993), The Bridges of Madison County (1995), Absolute Power (1997), Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997) (which Eastwood does not appear in), True Crime (1999), Space Cowboys (2000), Blood Work (2002). 24 Hour Party People. "This electric British import captures the anarchy of Manchester's late-'70s punk-rock music scene." -- TVGuide. Based on a true story and with a wonderful lead performance by Steve Coogan as Tony Wilson. Directed by Michael Winterbottom. Murder By Decree. This is a Sherlock Holmes movie from the late 70s. Directed by Bob Clark of Porky's and A Christmas Story. Christopher Plummer is Holmes and James Mason is wonderful as a very sweet, old-fashioned Watson. But Mason is always great. He's one of the joys of cinema. The recent Jack the Ripper film, From Hell, seems to have borrowed liberally from this film. I've seen this film once or twice, but many years ago. The nice cast also features: David Hemmings, Susan Clark, Anthony Quayle, John Gielgud, Frank Finlay, Donald Sutherland, and Geneviève Bujold. Murder by Decree is available on a nice new DVD, which has some cool extras like an audio commentary with co-producer/director Clark, behind-the-scenes still gallery, and a poster and still gallery. Kavanagh Q.C. #2. Kavanagh Q.C. is a British TV series made around the same time as the Inspector Morse series and starring the same great man, John Thaw. He's a Perry Mason-like lawyer in this series. 2.17.3 The Criminal (1999). Tagline: Innocence Is No Protection Plot Outline: A musician is plunged into a world of femmes fatales, espionage, deceit, state-ordered executions and trial by media. IMDb User Rating: 4.6/10 (92 votes). Cast: Steven Mackintosh, Eddie Izzard, Natasha Little, Yvan Attal, Holly Aird, Bernard Hill. Written and directed by Julian Simpson. MPAA: Rated R for pervasive language, violence and some sexual content. Runtime: 99 min. I was up late working a lot during this period, some films I watched while working, and some I watched off and on while getting a little sleep. I don't remember much about this one. I think I might have rented it because I had seen Holly Aird on a couple of BBC America shows.
Igby Goes Down was funny and with the good cast and good performances -- but it somehow depressed me. But this may be because I forgot to take my anti-depressants that day? Tagline: Insanity is relative. Plot Outline: A young man's peculiar upbringing renders him unable to competently cope with the struggle of growing up. Cast: Kieran Culkin, Claire Danes, Jeff Goldblum, Jared Harris, Amanda Peet, Ryan Phillippe, Bill Pullman, Susan Sarandon, Rory Culkin, Celia Weston, Eric Bogosian, Cynthia Nixon, Glenn Fitzgerald, Gore Vidal. Written and directed by Burr Steers. MPAA: Rated R for language, sexuality and drug content. Runtime: 97 min. Barbershop starring Ice Cube, Eve, Cedric the Entertainer, Troy Garity (my sister went to college with this kid, he's Jane Fonda's son). This was pretty good, despite the uproar over one character making light of Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks, this film has it's heart in the right place and tells a sweet and positive story. 2.18.3 One Hour Photo. Was actually expecting to like this more than I did. At the end it felt a bit empty. Robin Williams was good, but not quite astounding. I really like Connie Nielsen. Tagline: There's nothing more dangerous than a familiar face. Plot Outline: An employee of a one-hour photo lab becomes obsessed with a young suburban family. With Michael Vartan, Dylan Smith, Erin Daniels, Paul Hansen Kim, Gary Cole, Eriq La Salle, Clark Gregg. Written and directed by music video director Mark Romanek. MPAA: Rated R for sexual content and language. Runtime: 96 min. Time Out. I didn't get a chance to watch this French film, which in France was called L' Emploi du temps (2001). Genre: Drama. Plot Outline: An unemployed man finds his life sinking more and more into trouble as he hides his situation from his family and friends. Stars Aurélien Recoing and Karin Viard. Directed by Laurent Cantet. MPAA: Rated PG-13 for sensuality. Runtime: 132 min / Spain:136 min. Country: France. Language: French. Kavanagh Q.C. #1. More Kavanagh with John Thaw. 2.21.3 Kavanagh Q.C. #3. More Kavanagh with John Thaw. Cracker #1. Cracker was a British TV series with Robbie Coltrane as a police psychologist with quite a few problems of his own (alcohol, smoking, gambling, cheating on his wife, overall disastrous interpersonal relationships with people). There are 9 or 10 2-hour episodes of Cracker, Shallow Grave's Christopher Eccleston is in the first half of them. This episode, "The Mad Woman in the Attic", features Adrian Dunbar as a man with amnesia -- did he savagely murder a woman on a train? Cracker #3. Robbie Coltrane returns in "One Day a Lemming Will Fly". Touching Evil. A 1997 BBC mini-series. Plot Summary: Touching Evil is a crime drama following the exploits of a crack squad on the Organised & Serial Crime Unit. Genre: Crime-drama. Cast includes Robson Green, Nicola Walker, Ian McDiarmid, Saskia Downes. 2.22.3 Cracker -- Best Boys. Kavanagh Q.C. #4. Cracker #6 -- Brotherly Love. 2.26.3 After Pilkington. Didn't get a chance to watch this British TV movie. After Pilkington (1987) (TV). Directed by Christopher Morahan. Written by Simon Gray. The great Miranda Richardson stars with Barry Foster (Frenzy, 1972), and Bob Peck. Regan (TV Movie/BBC). John Thaw series pilot from the 70s. The Sweeney -- episode: Big Brother. John Thaw is back as Regan in the series. Prime Suspect #5 -- Errors of Judgement?. Helen Mirren is always great in this, one of the greatest ever crime series. Here, Detective Tennison investigates a seemingly straightforward drug murder that she believes is linked to a smugly smooth crime boss. With John McArdle, Julia Lane, David O'Hara, John Brobbey, Steven Mackintosh as the evil villain, "The Street". Directed by Philip Davis. Written by Guy Andrews. 3.1.3 The New Guy. Despite Zooey Deschanel and Eliza Dushku, this high school farce about a nerd turned tough guy icon sucks. How did DJ Qualls get to the point where people were like, "let's get this kid a starring vehicle, asap!"? Night at the Roxbury. Slept through this one morning. Novocaine. Dark comedy with Steve Martin as a dentist who gets mixed up in murder, and adultery. Helena Bonham Carter is always good; with Laura Dern and Elias Koteas. Wet Hot American Summer. I saw this when it came out, thought it was funny, rented it again, and watched it while I was doing other stuff. Wacky spoof of 80s summer camp movies, with Elizabeth Banks, Paul Rudd, Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Michael Showalter, Marguerite Moreau, Zak Orth, Christopher Meloni, Molly Shannon, Amy Poehler. 3.10.3 The Quickie. Rather pointless straight to video Russian mafia tale with the great Jennifer Jason Leigh and Dean Stockwell, completely wasted. Knockaround Guys. Barry Pepper, Vin Diesel, Seth Green, John Malkovich, Dennis Hopper. Kids trying to decide if they want to be in the New Jersey mob or something like that. Cruel Intentions. I find this film completely entertaining. I've seen it a few times, and I have the very good soundtrack. The DVD contains some nice extras including deleted scenes and director commentary. Blue Crush. Lame. In late February I also joined Netflix. I rented: The Rules of Attraction. Good and bad. Some really neat things and ideas and performances, but in the end it seemed kind of shallow. Scooby-Doo. This film was not good, but not as terrible as I expected. It was really more of a children's film, and for them, it seemed harmless. I was drawn to this film because I thought the Scooby Doo dog was really funny, and he was. A high point in this film features Scrappy Doo. Black Adder II. Possibly my favorite of the four Black Adders. This one features Miranda Richardson, wonderful as the queen. 6 episodes on the DVD. Women. Haven't watched this European film yet. Miou-Miou, Guesch Patti, Marisa Berenson, Carmen Maura, Marthe Keller and Joaquim de Almeida star in this 1997 film, aka Elles.
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