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cynical behavior
2/21/05:
r.i.p.
Hunter S. Thompson (1937-2005)
I didn't like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas the first time that
I saw it. This was strange since Terry Gilliam is my favorite living
director and I had enjoyed reading the book. Aside from the fact
that Christina Ricci irked me so much that it resonated, I found the film
a bit too turbulent. Being turned off, though, didn't deter me from
appreciation, however, and likening it to a Dali painting, there were
pieces to be enamored of, just not an appealing overall
composition. One thing that I often figured was that I didn't do
enough drugs to completely get it.
Eventually the movie grew on me. I could
disregard my pickiness towards the drug influence, the extreme indulgence
and even Ricci. With help from a friend, I also came to appreciate
Thompson even further than as a crazed character channeled by Johnny Depp.
In some ways I enjoyed Bill Murray
more as Thompson in Where the Buffalo Roam. Less manic
and more John Winger (his character in Stripes), Murray gave
a far more accessible interpretation. Sure that movie isn't as fun
nor as funny, but it also doesn't give me nightmares.
Benicio Del Toro is far more favorable,
though, as Lazlo/Gonzo than Peter Boyle in Fear and Loathing in Las
Vegas. When you look at Gilliam's film, there is no mistaking
that Depp is Depp is Duke. He still looks like Depp. Del Toro
doesn't look like Del Toro. He looks like a fat Samoan. Compare
him as Gonzo with his character in The Usual Suspects or 21
Grams. Del Toro is the better actor if not the better peformer.
Now what will be the status of The
Rum Diary, the not-so-sequel to Fear and Loathing?
Depp has his character down, I'm sure. Del Toro is the man.
But where will the spirit of Thompson be without Thompson actually around?
I doubt that anybody today could accomplish the
same sort of gonzo journalism that he created. Who would pay such
a wild card? Certainly not the Rolling Stone of today, right?
I think most of his followers are a little too hyperactive and chaotic
as if inspired more by the film than the writing.
By taking his own life, the private man
Hunter S. Thompson gives way to further imitation and further cinematic
interpretation without us continuing our one-sided acquaintance via his
actual writings. As is the same for any suicide, I should now remember
him as a selfish asshole. I doubt he cares.
Well, since he's in hell, he might at least appreciate
a quote of his own, lifted from Generation of Swine:
"If there is, in fact, a Heaven and a Hell, all
we know for sure is that Hell will be a viciously overcrowded version
of Phoenix..."
2/20/05:
I haven't really seeked out celebrities
to ogle since my film school days when a few times I could be found standing
outside The Ed Sullivan Theater with the autograph hounds. I didn't
ask for autographs, though. The last time I did that (not counting
official book signings) was at a small Counting Crows gig in '94.
Still, I have seen and met famous
people by chance in many different places including Connecticut, Manhattan
and, recently, in Park City, Utah. The witnessing of such persons
never loses attraction, unfortunately. Even people who dislike a
particular figure get excited to see them, even if they regard the experience
with disdain.
Last night the commotion centered
around Hilary Duff, who was not technically DJ-ing but hanging in the
DJ booth. The pop star/actress doesn't have a lot of fans in the
hipster environment known as Misshapes (at NYC's Luke + Leroy's) but that
didn't stop many to forget their self-love long enough to contemplate
the validity of her appearance.
Even a dancing machine like myself
had to pause and take a gander. Yes, I am just another predicatable
human being, unfortunately. Plus, Misshapes is boring.
Never have I wanted to not move my feet to the same music that otherwise
will have me dancing up a storm. At least at Trash (at NYC's Rififi),
the crowd seems to be having fun. I barely caught glimpse of a smile
last night and when I did it was because of Hilary Duff's unbelievable
presence.
2/14/05:
Valentine's Day
Once again I am dateless on this Hallmark holiday of sickening mush.
My cynical alternate name for this day is Thanksgiving.
So here are my top 10 movies
for cynics:
1. Wish You Were Here - Emily Lloyd's
promising debut about a young woman who takes much of life, especially
love, as something of a joke.
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
- Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman shows us how easily it is to forget something
that we once considered the unbreakable power known as love.
3. Pierrot le Fou - How crazy is love
that it makes you blow yourself up with dynamite when it doesn't go your
way?
4. The Fisher King - Contrasting
a chronically indifferent Jeff Bridges with an insanely romantic Robin
Williams has some beautiful results but despite the fantastic metaphors,
it is hard to believe Terry Gilliam has faith in true love.
5. All The Real Girls - The ultimate
irony of love turning on someone who suddenly discovers it. Paul
Schneider should just blow himself up in the end.
6. Bananas - Woody Allen's life is a good
example of the sham known as love. His funniest movie is a good
example of the ridiculous extremes people go through for it.
7. Your Friends and Neighbors - Neil LaBute's
most wicked film could make you never trust a man again.
8. Casablanca - A classic film without
a happy ending. Humphrey Bogart is a good teacher of hard-hearted independence
and influenced all the resilient action heroes to come later.
9. Buffalo '66 - If you
chop off the ending with the heart cookies, Vincent Gallo's film shows
the perfect ignorance, denial and fear of romantic convention.
10. Gone With the Wind - Scarlett O'Hara
is one of the least attractive love interests, personality wise, in film
history and Rhett is right to put her in her place.
Anyway, I'll probably be watching Amelie
later because it at least makes me hopeful that where love is
absent (she can't possibly love this stranger), whimsical romance can
still exist in playful ways.
2/13/05:
Iraqi Election
Listening to the list of political parties and their vote counts, I couldn't
help but be reminded of Life of Brian. I think it would
be suitable for Iraq to have a party called the Front Front. It
could be relevant for many reasons and purposes.
For the Sunni population, I offer a favorite
line from Terrence Malick's Badlands:
""Consider the minority opinion,
but try to get along with the majority opinion once it's accepted."
(Martin Sheen as Kit Carruthers)
2/11/05:
Arthur
Miller (1915-2005) You gave young students
some great monologues to perform in Acting 101 (I preferred Proctor to
Loman, myself). You gave nerds hope by marrying the most beautiful
actress in the world (damn the Kennedys for ruining it). You even
defied a whole senate committee first with your integrity and second with
your creative response (The Crucible). I leave you with
a line you wrote:
"Honey, we all got
to go sometime, reason or no reason. Dyin's as natural as livin'. The
man who's too afraid to die is too afraid to live."
-Clark Gable as Gay Langland in The Misfits
2/6/05:
Super Bowl 2005 As
usual I get to work the night of the Super Bowl because I am not a real
man and do not like football and giant Italian grinders. What I
used to feel that I missed out on -the commercials -are now available
on the internet. The main interest for a film dork like myself,
though, is the new ads for summer blockbusters. I should know better,
of course; they advertise summer blockbusters during the game because
they are the movie equivalent of football. I guess it would therefore
make sense to advertise cricket and polo games during the Oscars.
I am jealous of football fans because of
the electronic pen. There are complete channels devoted to sports
and most of the time they're analyzing games with arrows and commentary.
Why not have a television show for movies in the same way? One of
the things I dislike about writing actual film reviews is trying to write
for people who haven't seen the movie and therefore trying to be as unspecific
and spoiling as possible. Yet, just as many people see movies as
watch football, I think. I would love to do a show on sunday or
monday night (opposite the football games during that season would be
fantastic) where I analyze the top films of the weekend. I could
use electronic pen to criticize mise en scene and blocking. I could
replay sequences in slow motion to show how badly edited they are.
I think pointing out such exact flaws and accomplishments would help filmmakers,
as well as ambigous audiences, in the same way my film teachers dissected
my own.
The problem with such a proposal
is that studios would never go for it. They will only release a
number of movie clips to the media and would otherwise be apprehensive
of my picky criticisms. I doubt that even Roger Ebert, who does
something similar with his shot by shot anaylsis for students, could have
the clout for such a project. Oh well, I'll keep the idea floating
around anyway.
Blog Archives:
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
September 2004
May 2004
April 2004
March 2004
February 2004
January 2004
December 2003
November 2003
October 2003
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